Eagles, Salmon, Redwoods: Tales of a Biocrat
Name:
Eagles, Salmon, Redwoods: Tales of a Biocrat
Date:
January 11, 2018
Time:
7:00 PM - 8:30 PM PST
Website:
http://www.siskiyoulandtrust.org/
Event Description:
The Siskiyou Land Trust will host a slideshow presented by Phil Detrich, long-time raptor and regulatory biologist in northern California. Detrich's career was inspired by the soaring hawks he watched as a teenager on a Kansas farm tractor. His experiences have ranged from climbing trees and capturing eagles, to bringing scientific input into prominent conservation policy issues. Detrich will share stories of raptors, protection of redwoods and salmon, as well as observations on the role of science in government, and the role of a diverse public in science-based policy. These are the stories of a "Bio-crat " -- a biologist in the bureaucracy. With the protections of the Endangered Species Act, California's Bald Eagles were beginning to recover from very low numbers in the early 1980s. Detrich was a member of tree-climbing crews who recovered egg-shell fragments from northern California eagle nests for pesticide studies, and brought nestlings down for reintroduction on the Channel Islands in southern California. Two decades later, populations are expanding across California, and an eagle born in Shasta County has successfully raised young on Catalina Island. As a regulatory biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Detrich helped develop protections and conservation plans for the northern spotted owl, and by the mid-90s, he served as lead biologist on the government legal team that worked to acquire the nine-square mile Headwaters Forest from the Pacific Lumber Company in Humboldt County, the last large stand of old-growth redwoods in private hands. After years of legal maneuvers, with protestors in owl suits chanting outside government buildings and Julia Butterfly defying loggers from her home atop a redwood named "Luna," late-night last-minute negotiations brought the issue to a successful conclusion. Detrich also worked among the Bush administration, Native American tribes, farmers, and PacifiCorp, negotiating the Klamath Basin Restoration and Klamath Hydro Settlement Agreements. Under these agreements, four Klamath River dams will be removed in 2020, the most important step in restoration of Klamath River salmon. Detrich now works as a consultant in long-term conservation planning, and assists in research on golden eagles and Swainson's hawks in Siskiyou County.