Another really great podcast. I had never considered the impact of the clouds of passenger pigeons on the environment. Will try to get through the linked papers. Thanks!
Great episode. Man, I wish to have been born back in the early 1800’s sometimes. The amount of wildlife that was everywhere had to be astonishing. Keep up the good work.
I’m not sure if even explaining the importance of how fire works in ecosystems will really change some peoples opinion on not liking wildfire smoke, up here in Canada in the boreal forests fire is still incredibly important to the ecosystem and they like to just monitor the fires if they’re far enough away from human habitation when they start naturally from lightning strikes in the summer and if they’re not out of control but that decision changes if they are starting to go towards any settlements while out of control or if they were started by accident by humans in which case they try to put the fires out quickly and completely or bring them under enough control so that they don’t burn through towns if it is possible for that to be avoided and with the fire the resulting damage to peoples property and the necessity of large evacuations and rebuilding efforts but everyone in the northern states last summer still complained about how the fires effected the air quality from the huge amounts of smoke blowing south since it was a very prolific fire season and there were fires in practically all of the provinces and territories at the same time for a while, I don’t think most Canadians liked the smoke either and we complain about it too especially if it’s causing health issues but we also all learned about how the boreal forests and fire regeneration work together in school so we understand why it’s an unavoidable fact of life here. I think it’s more likely to be well received if you focus on how healthy forest ecosystems have a variety of different plant species that can benefit from different environments and that those phone-pole pine plantations near towns that city people sometimes mistake as forests don’t actually have as many animal species living in them because it’s a monoculture so by cutting down a few trees or a few dozen trees in a few places to create clearings and leaving some branches and logs there on the forest floor to mimic a tree blowing over, it’s actually improving the living conditions for some of the animals and providing better habitat for the ones who were already living there and improving biodiversity, we had a tornado go there the pine plantation near town a few years ago and it’s incredible how things are so dramatically changing in that area as things are beginning to grow back into the area that was cleared by the blown down pine trees, there used to be no undergrowth but now it’s covered in a huge variety of bushes and small trees now and it’s got some deciduous trees now in addition to the conifers.
Pigeon roosts and nest colonies surely had a similar effect on forests as fires do--killing old vegetation, opening up the canopy, and putting nutrients back into the soil.
During the end of the ice age passenger pigeons ranged all the way to California, they’ve found multiple individuals in la brea. I’m interested if you guys have any opinions on the ice age extinctions and their relevance to modern day management practices.
Another really great podcast. I had never considered the impact of the clouds of passenger pigeons on the environment. Will try to get through the linked papers. Thanks!
Great episode. Man, I wish to have been born back in the early 1800’s sometimes. The amount of wildlife that was everywhere had to be astonishing. Keep up the good work.
We will be the people that bring it back for ourselves and future generations!
@ I hope so!
@@lewishiggins393 🙌
I'm new to y'alls channel, and I'm glad I found you guys. Keep up the great work, fellas.
Glad to have you join us!
Cool
A good one. Can you imagine walking up on one of those roost spots in the woods lol.
Golly, that would be an experience! 😆
I’m not sure if even explaining the importance of how fire works in ecosystems will really change some peoples opinion on not liking wildfire smoke, up here in Canada in the boreal forests fire is still incredibly important to the ecosystem and they like to just monitor the fires if they’re far enough away from human habitation when they start naturally from lightning strikes in the summer and if they’re not out of control but that decision changes if they are starting to go towards any settlements while out of control or if they were started by accident by humans in which case they try to put the fires out quickly and completely or bring them under enough control so that they don’t burn through towns if it is possible for that to be avoided and with the fire the resulting damage to peoples property and the necessity of large evacuations and rebuilding efforts but everyone in the northern states last summer still complained about how the fires effected the air quality from the huge amounts of smoke blowing south since it was a very prolific fire season and there were fires in practically all of the provinces and territories at the same time for a while, I don’t think most Canadians liked the smoke either and we complain about it too especially if it’s causing health issues but we also all learned about how the boreal forests and fire regeneration work together in school so we understand why it’s an unavoidable fact of life here. I think it’s more likely to be well received if you focus on how healthy forest ecosystems have a variety of different plant species that can benefit from different environments and that those phone-pole pine plantations near towns that city people sometimes mistake as forests don’t actually have as many animal species living in them because it’s a monoculture so by cutting down a few trees or a few dozen trees in a few places to create clearings and leaving some branches and logs there on the forest floor to mimic a tree blowing over, it’s actually improving the living conditions for some of the animals and providing better habitat for the ones who were already living there and improving biodiversity, we had a tornado go there the pine plantation near town a few years ago and it’s incredible how things are so dramatically changing in that area as things are beginning to grow back into the area that was cleared by the blown down pine trees, there used to be no undergrowth but now it’s covered in a huge variety of bushes and small trees now and it’s got some deciduous trees now in addition to the conifers.
Pigeon roosts and nest colonies surely had a similar effect on forests as fires do--killing old vegetation, opening up the canopy, and putting nutrients back into the soil.
During the end of the ice age passenger pigeons ranged all the way to California, they’ve found multiple individuals in la brea.
I’m interested if you guys have any opinions on the ice age extinctions and their relevance to modern day management practices.