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Saturday, Aug. 29, 2009

Sarah Lim: Honoring endangered species

Tears and sweat mixed with joy and pride as Skyhawk danced to honor the endangered buffalo, eagles and salmon during the opening reception of the "Endangered Species of the California's Central Valley" exhibit at the Courthouse Museum.

It was a typical August evening in Merced; however, the heat didn't stop people from joining Skyhawk to celebrate the conservation of wildlife.

There was once an abundance of wildlife native to the Valley. However, human settlements inevitably presented a threat to wildlife and their habitats. According to Robert Edminster, author of "Streams of the San Joaquin," the Pre-Columbian animals no longer found in the Valley floor include grizzly bears, black bears, tule elk, pronghorn antelope, San Joaquin ground squirrel, San Joaquin antelope squirrel and the gray wolf.

Naturalist John Muir spent some time in the Twenty Hill Hollow, six miles north of Snelling, as a shepherd from the summer of 1868 to the spring of 1869. During his brief stay, Muir observed the decreased number of native animals in the area. In his work, "A Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf," he writes, "Since antelopes have been driven away, the hare is the swiftest animal of the Hollow." When speaking of the presence of coyotes (or California wolves), he lamented that the traps and poisons of sheep-raisers caused the decline of the coyote population.

Ironically, to the settlers, exterminating such wildlife as coyotes was a defense mechanism. Beavers, for example, had made their homes along the Merced River before the settlement in Merced Falls and Snelling began. A battle between the beavers and local people took place in 1871, as the beavers diverted the water away from the Merced Woolen Mill by cutting and destroying trees and building dams in the ditches. Major Murray of Snelling took the matter into his own hands and trapped six beavers in three days.

It's also important to note that the conservation effort began as early as the turn of the 20th century in the Central Valley. One story told by Robert Edminster in his book is how Henry Miller saved the last three dozen tule elk on one of his ranches in the Tulare Lake Basin in Kern County. Because of such efforts, the Department of Fish and Game issued more than 100 tule elk tags in the hunting season for the year 2000.

An important step in conservation is to increase awareness through education. To do so, the Courthouse Museum awarded six transportation grants to the following schools to bring their students to visit the exhibit: Charles Wright Elementary, Ada Givens Elementary, Alicia Reyes Elementary, Hopeton Elementary, Elmer Wood Elementary (Atwater) and Elim Elementary (Hilmar).

For more information about the "Endangered Species of the California's Central Valley" exhibit, please visit the Courthouse Museum on Wednesday through Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. Admission is free.