Fire Rages Across America

It is the same story every year this time. Wild fires across the dry parts of America i.e. mostly in California, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas and this year Colorado also. The southern states mentioned here are known for their dry, arid and rugged landscapes. During summer months when mercury hits 100+ the surroundings become so dry that a small spark is enough to start a major blaze.

This has been happening with clockwork precision every year.. at least since 2008 when I began following the news and events here. It is hard for the thousands of people who are evacuated from their homes, harder for those who actually lose their homes to the fire. Then there are millions of $$$s spent on fire fighting and reconstruction.

I wonder if there could be any preventive measures that could be put in place so that this tragedy doesn't repeat year after year. This way everyone will be happy and there is no collateral damage to the environment.

Life Forms in Sheldon Lake State Park

While at Sheldon Lake State Park and Environmental Learning Center I happened to spot some species of urban wildlife such as chameleon, and turtle. Of course there were signs warning us of alligators, armadillos, rabbits, and other species we didn't see any. Here are the more pictures of Sheldon Lake and the state park area.

The Beauty in the Beast

The Beauty

Picture courtesy: Internet (Santa Rosa Lioness Club

She walks like a river
Swaying and swirling
Beautifying the world around
With her thunderous roaring laugh.

It is not a wonder she commands
respect and fear from one and all
Adored by humans, feared by animals
She reigns supreme in the jungles

The lioness that nurtures
The cubs, feeds the pride, and
Rules the Jungle
Is now in a state so Fragile

That hunters, and poachers
Bay for her blood and fur
while governments look on
and do nothing to protect her...

Possum Sighting in McKinney

Image via Wikipedia

This evening there was a small incident of wildlife sighting in our apartment complex. I went to the apartment office to collect mail and as I stepped out of the door my eyes traveled upwards towards the entrance arch and there it was a large white and black coated animal. It looked like a huge rat but only difference was that it was bigger. The animal sat there frozen, motionless and for a moment I wondered if it was a decorative doll that the management of the apartment had placed for the recent Halloween festival. I stood still and watched it for sometime and sure enough it moved its head and stared at me. I retraced my steps and called the apartment staff and asked them if they had noticed anything outside their door.

One of the girls there looked me incredulously and stepped out with me and the moment her gaze fell on the strange looking creature a scream escaped her lips: "Oh! My God. It is a Possum." Then the frenzy of activity started, she called a colleague of hers who came, saw and went back to get her phone so she could take pictures of the creature.

As for me I was fascinated by this sighting. Having been in Texas for the past four years I hadn't seen any wildlife except dead armadillos, turtles, rabbits, and snakes during my drives in the countryside. This is the first instance when I came face to face with a Opossum or Possum. The animal looks like a huge rat with a mixed black and white coat. McKinney is indeed close to nature if these kind of critters can be seen in our apartment which is surrounded by retail stores and showrooms.

Water - the Elixir of life

Water - The Elixir of Life 

A compound that contains just two elements
Two atoms of Hydrogen and one of Oxygen
Seems amazing nobody can live without one
The world would not exist without this essential liquid

We people don't seem to value this gift of god
We think that the water supply to our homes will never end
We wash, clean, bathe, and waste it without thinking for a second
We might be a little more respectful of this gift of god

On this day, let us make a solemn vow,
That we will utilize as little water from now,
That we will conserve it for the future starting now,
That we will share the resources we have with fellow men and animals

Remember! access to clean drinking water is a basic human right
But how many people in the world have this thought
Most people are busy living a life rather than think about water
Water maybe everywhere but very soon there wont be a drop to drink

Do we want to live in such a world?
A world where nations fight for water
Friends become enemies,
Families become feuding relatives
Brothers would kill each other for water

Young couples would not have children
because they can't afford to pay the water tax
That is when the world would come to an end....

Wildfires ravage homes and wilderness areas in Texas

News reporting is mostly about scams, crimes, and other negative aspects of the human society. When I hear about political scams, businesses exploiting workers, etc I just nod and go on with myself. It is only when I listen to news about gruesome crimes and harm to the environment that I get deeply affected. Since the past couple of days I have been listening to the news about wildfires that are burning several pristine wilderness areas in the State of Texas, US.

Nature, wilderness, forests, wildlife, and birds have so little left after what we humans have consumed, and now even their shrinking habitats are being threatened. The first threat is from the ever-greedy human being and then the next threat is mother nature herself, who rears up as floods, hurricanes, thunderstorms and sometimes as wildfires.

Every year during summer bush fires are common in rural Texas but this year it has been extremely severe. Texas has been suffering from drought which has limited water resources drastically. As a result the vegetation and forests have become extremely dry and susceptible to fire. This summer has been extremely severe thanks to the drought, temperatures have been constantly over a 100 deg F. I remember three years ago when I came here new if summer temperatures rose only to about 102 or 103 and that too only for a day or two. Unfortunately this year has not been so, triple digit temperatures have burned down for the past month or so.

Earlier this year in April 2011 Possum Kingdom State Park was consumed in a wildfire that devastated several thousand acres of pristine forests. Now in August, 2011 it is a repeat incident in which 6500 acres of wilderness areas have been consumed and the fire is spreading. Hundreds of firefighters are working hard, day and night to combat and contain the fire but in vain. Several residences close to the fire have been evacuated and now the residents are not sure whether their homes will be safe when they return.

What caused the fire? It is the dry wood from dead trees, twigs, and dry grass in the forest that easily catch fire in the heat of the sun. In countries like India where there are several hundred poor people who live by collecting firewood for cooking and sometimes to sell to others, the forest wastes are effectively used. In America there are no such abjectly poor people. Even the poorest of the poor drives a car and lives in a home with central air conditioning and heating, so nobody collects or uses the dead wood in the forests.

Moreover the state parks officials consistently maintain the park very well in such a way that insects and pests that eat dead wood and compost it can't thrive in state parks. This adds to the problem of dead wood and fire-susceptible state parks. The result is wildfires summer after summer.

I feel sad for the people affected and sadder for the animals and plants in the park that are now homeless, and perhaps lifeless too. Anyway I hope this fire doesn't happen ever again anywhere in the world and we can Save our forests for the future.

At home in India-Homa

Continuing my saga on the trip to the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma. For starters it was a pretty long (3.5 hours) drive through the prairie lands of North Texas and Southern Oklahoma. The drive was pretty boring except for the colorful spring blossoms that line the highways. There were blue, yellow, pink, and other colored flowers moving in the wind.

After what seemed like an eternity we finally pulled into the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge and were greeted by a large American Bison grazing beside the road. We stopped to take a closer look and get some pictures of the giant beast that was grazing away oblivious of the attention it was getting.

Wild Bison grazing in Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge

After spending some time at that site, we moved to the swank, and sprawling visitors center-cum-nature museum. Every wildlife sanctuary, national park I have visited be it in India, Nepal, Bhutan or US has an information center/ museum/ history center meant to provide information about the park's history, geography, wildlife, etc.

A giant mural at the visitor's center

The only difference is that in India the information centers are built with earthy materials like stucco, concrete, and brick and are mostly not air-conditioned. Here the building was built of wood, metal and drywall and of course it is centrally air-conditioned and heated. The natural history museum/ visitors center was one great documentation of the park's history, flora, and fauna. There were two huge stuffed wild bison's welcoming the visitors into the display area. There are numerous other stuffed creatures displayed in almost their natural settings. The museum is pretty interactive and simulated, the small theater showcases films on the night creatures of the park.

Stuffed animals on display

Stuffed animals on display

After spending about 45 minutes (short, we need at least 2.5 hours to see the museum thoroughly) we moved to do a short hike at the Lost Lake area. More tomorrow.

US set to allow guns inside national parks - The Boston Globe

I read a news report titled US set to allow guns inside national parks - The Boston Globe and this is quite a news. I am pretty sure that the happiest people as a result of this law will be in the state of Texas. Living here I have come to know that most native Texans love their freedom and their guns. This the land of cowboys and the wild west where not too long ago people survived by the law of "Who shoots first lives".

Personally speaking I would say this is indeed a victory to personal choice, but a defeat to humanity. Victory for personal choice to carry guns is sad because that means the crime in National parks has gone up forcing the authorities to enable visitors to arm themselves for self defense. Defeat to humanity because despite all this modern development, prosperity and improvement of quality of life people still resort to crime to make a living.

I wonder if we as humans are on retrograde motion. Humans are the only animals that can choose their actions and if crime is increasing that means more and more humans are giving up their thinking ability and just becoming like animals, grabbing what they want, whether it belongs to them or others. I wonder whether this madness will ever end.....



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Houston Zoo - Fantastic Collection of Exotic Animals

I thought I had finished with my Houston trip, but I was going through some of my pictures and I realized that I had completely bypassed some exotic locations such as the Museum of Art, the Zoo and other places we visited in Houston. The Houston zoo was the first I visited in the US and I am pretty impressed with the collection of animals and the number of people visiting the place. Kids, parents and young people everyone yelling, squealing and happy to see the animals... I saw some really rare and exotic species of animals here... some of which I had never seen in my life. The Giraffe with its long neck, the large and regal grizzly bear, numerous exotic varieties of animals from Africa, South America etc.

One thing left me a little dazed... shelters for large mammals like the Leopard, Tiger, Lion etc were so small that these cats hardly had any space to move around and stretch their legs. In a continent-sized nation like America and particularly in Texas where everything is Texas Sized,... I wonder why these enclosures were so pitiably small... I hope this will be rectified soon... The sea lion demonstration was too good...