FTB 37 - Ras Al Khor, Dubai

Ras Al Khor ("Head of Creek") is a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance, located smack in the middle of one of the fastest-growing cities.  In the center, a grey heron and flamingo catch shade and look for food.  Background - Burj Khalifa, Earth's tallest building.

Ras Al Khor Wildlife Sanctuary lies at the head of Dubai Creek, along the Central Asia-Africa flyway.  These tidal mudflats, mangrove swamps, and desert wetlands provide migrating birds a rest stop at the edge of endless dunes that make up the Arabian Peninsula's Empty Quarter to the southwest.  Birds use Southeast Louisiana's barrier islands in a similar way before crossing the Gulf of Mexico.  I visited Ras Al Khor in early April while staying in Sharjah.

Waterway edges have been drastically altered by humans and surrounded by buildings.

Water taxis carry folks between sides of Bur Dubai (Old Dubai) upcreek from Ras Al Khoor.  Edges of the creek are lined by wharfs, restaurants, malls, hotels, and other built interventions.

Restoration of Ras Al Khor began in 1985.  Camel had previously grazed the area barren.  Hydrologic disconnection from tidal energies comes from upstream dredging, built developments, and pollution barriers.  Tidal shifts are artificially created by a pump station at the head of the creek.  

Access to Ras Al Khor is barred except for select spots.  Here is public birdwatching blind, constructed with traditional date palm fronds woven together. Last year 15,000 people visited the location.  Bayou Sauvage in New Orleans (a city with 25% Dubai's population) hosts 50,000 people annually.

Ras Al Khor Wildlife Sanctuary provides binoculars, tripod telescope, and identification books for guests.  Nice touch.  Here is another grey heron.

For more on the Ras Al Khor wetland and its story, take a look at “Ras Al Khor – Eco-tourism in constructed wetlands: post modernity in the modernity of the Dubai Landscape”.  Chris Ryan, Heba Aziz, and Ivan Ninov have written a a readable, short academic paper on Ras Al Khor and the development around it.  It also contains more info on "The Lagoons", a huge residential development currently under construction next door, marketing luxury life and boating in the wetlands.  

FTB36 - Barrier Island Shifts, Documented

Between 1984 and 2007, Karen Westphal* used time-lapse aerial photography to document shifting barrier islands along the Louisiana Coast while longshore transport, breaking waves, built structures, and other factors impact the movement of sand and sediment. Check out the links:

• interactive photo-map of multiple Louisiana delta complexes and chenier (coastal ridge) plains, 1984-2007
• photo pairings of Louisiana shoreline comparing 2001 + 2005 (pre- and post-Hurricanes Katrina + Rita)
• photo pairings of East + West Louisiana shorelines 2005-2007 (post-Hurricanes K+R)

I find the following images to be very helpful in understanding the processes that Karen has documented.

Barrier island accretion through drumstick model.  The opposite can also happen, as an island is split by wave washover.

Grand Isle, Lousiana.  Photo taken from edge of beach.  Note how currents have dropped sand loads between beach and rock wall.  Birds often hunt here.

From Andrew Barron of Barataria Terrebonne National Estuary Program (BTNEP)

relatively new delta lobes of the Mississippi River, now constrained to the Balize delta course

older geologic features, well below the surface

Southeastern Louisiana is disappearing.  It's well-known, and it's a complicated equation.  Levees and human-made hydrologic barriers prevent Mississippi River sediment from building land atop fault lines while industry drains subterranean oil reserves and salt domes.  Trade channels have altered salinity throughout the Pontchartrain Basin while Gulf wetlands are devastated by salinity intrusion through exploratory oil canals.  The region's urban areas are subsiding after pumping all water away from development, drying out soils that rely upon water for structural stability, and replacing swampland with impervious surfaces.  That's not all, but it's a start.  Long story short: in the history of development along the lower Mississippi, natural systems have not been given due attention.  Engineering did not beat out nature, and we are now short of breath (and money) trying to catch up.  Natural systems shift and adapt, often more slowly and powerfully than human-built systems.  The barrier islands of Louisiana are a great example of this.

*Karen is a scientist working for National Audubon Society's Louisiana Coastal Initiative and is involved coordinating the Louisiana Master Naturalist Program.  I'm stoked that she shared this with me, I hope you enjoy it.

FTB35 - archaeological artifacts (updated 3-16-15)

from Wealth and Physical Stamina:

SUNDAY, JANUARY 25, 2015

PAST TENSE PRESENT TENSE

Between 2008-2013 WNPS documented short-lived bands worthy of replay.  Many of these tapes were never released to the public as members went on to other projects.  As these 4-track master tapes resurface, we will digitize + compile them here with downloadable links.  You can also listen via Youtube, with tracks listed.  

family treasure trove:
Sparrowhawk
Nervous Juvenile
Firebrand (download here, see below for stream
Heat Rash (download here, see below for stream)
Brothers (download here, see below for stream)
Relax Band

Here are some old WNPS cassette releases to listen to:
WNPS01: Skin Shit - Prom Teeth
WNPS02: Gas Explode - Shrivel, Squirt, Implode
WNPS05: Necro Hippies - Sore Throat
WNPS06: Fisher Cat - Apocalypse
WNPS07: Fisher Cat

FTB34 - Paths to Land

The old dusty "Freedom to Build" thought that the processes for legally accessing vacant property around town were quite hard to interpret.  This veil has contributed to a skewed sense of who can access vacant property to enliven neighborhoods, and should be lifted!   We pored over documents, visited sites, and interviewed folks until all of our brains' water evaporated.  The outcome was the tri-fold "Paths to Land Use" pamphlet. 

Download it here.  It's a tri-fold, so it looks wacky until it's folded.  

Labyrinthine processes created + intertwined consciously, worded in a foreign tongue... "Post-Kelo Era"?

FTB33 - "Water on Display" from 1968

explanation of environmental processes with mid-1900's graphic design

In 1968 the United States was waking up to industrialized population growth's adverse effects on natural systems that we rely upon, and the US Geological Survey compiled 100+ graphics from public presentations explaining complicated hydrologic + geologic processes.  "Water on Display" documents posters by USGS's Water Resources, Conservation, Computer, Geologic, Topographic, Marine Research, and Recruiting Divisions.  

Take a look! You can download it HERE (28MB medium resolution) and HERE (9MB low res).  I've reduced the resolution to create a manageable filesize. Hopefully this hard-to-find document can be of interest to others working with public environmental education and have renewed relevance as water management issues continue to shape the future of our existence.  See the Data Center (formerly Greater New Orleans Community Data Center) report: The Water Workers: Workforce Opportunities in Water Management in Southeast Louisiana

The USGS still has reports available on all sorts of detailed topics via their maps + publications, lending programs with their library, and localized project sites such as Water Resources of Louisiana.  This is from San Diego's brand-new 9-story Central Library, which houses a high school, art gallery, event space, and more.  

connection

Golden Orb Weaver (Nephila clavipes) web successfully cornered this wasp nest at an abandoned camp east of Bayou Boeuf's mouth along Lac Des Allemands.  Wasps not using nest anymore.  "Check mate."  Perhaps some wasps survived.  The Orb Weaver's web spread across a wide opening adjacent to this corner.  The spider was dead and dried on the web, testifying to their silk's strength.  Curious of the timeline of these events.

Landscape Ecologist Richard Forman talks about a web of urban growth patterns, culture, natural systems, and our world's future through a bioregional perspective on human development.    See Max Cafard

New Orleans' Adventure Playground

 Black Cat Moving supports Parisite Skatepark.  "Affordable, experienced, and reliable. (504) 302 8598."

Parisite Skatepark has grown from a DIY Bring-Your-Own-Ramp park to an official New Orleans Recreation Development Commission recreation space. Interspersed throughout the permanent concrete ramps, Parisite sretains elements of an adventure playground, with loose parts all around - movable and available for interpretative use by park participants. 

loose parts at Parisite, large and small.

By Lady Allen of Hurtwood's standards*, there are two official "adventure playgrounds" that I know of in the US -- many more if you count informal spaces.  This lack of much-needed exploratory learning environments for youth  is connected to the liability insurance required for public play spaces: widely-recognized codes and standards (ASTM International) guarantee safety and longevity of play structures by describing approved construction materials, designs, and methods.  What are acceptable safe "best practices" for playground elements that are impermanent and open to interpretation, with risk as an essential park of play? 

Charlie Thomas in New Orleans, from the first Preservation Skateboards ad.  When static forms are a part of a playground, the flexibility of how we interface with these forms determines the possiblities for play.  Variation in form + imagination + flexible tools = infinite possibilities of interaction.

Enter skateboarding: a relatively brand-new form of recreation, it is the 3rd most popular teenage sport in the United States and sorely underrepresented in most parks systems.  Based in free-form creativity and exploration of our environment, some cities have even developed skatepark master plans (Seattle Citywide Skatepark Plan is a great example of this).  ASTM F2334-09 - "Standard Guide for Above-Ground Public Use Skatepark Facilities" specifies methods for safe skateable space, which can be moveable and open to interpretation.  By creating specifications for accepted replicability, these ASTM standards allow for municipalities to accept + insure skateparks instead of pulling out bulldozers in fear of someone hurting themselves.  By paying attention to ASTM Standards, Parisite Skatepark's DIY features were not demolished by the forces that be, and instead have been accepted by a recreation department looking for relevant ways to provide for local youth. 

Is it best to take something as organic, spontaneous, and alive as adventure play and codify it for acceptance?  How far can a "best practice" be stretched to balance invigorating, innovative, efficient usage of our world with safety?  I can't answer that. But if it is a means towards folks of all ages accessing otherwise-nonexistant physical, unprescribed, and interactive environments, I'm for it. 

Will free play keep humans from becoming cyborgs?  Not by itself, but it's a start!

*"There was a wealth of waste material on it and no man-made fixtures. The children could dig, build houses, experiment with sand, water or fire and play games of adventure and make believe." via Play and Playground Encyclopedia