Gen Z story, continued, this time with snakes
Is it time to expand your summertime reading list? See this week's nonfiction recommendations.
Last week, I introduced you to a young environmentalist, Sam Jenkins. Jenkins has a summer job trying to document gopher tortoises and their burrows in South Georgia. Click here to read the first part of the story, and read on to learn more.
Tell me about the rattlesnake you saw in mid-July.
Sam: “Yes, it was a big one. We wear boots to be careful all the time, but that day after we saw the Diamondback, we were especially on guard. Rattlesnakes could definitely be living in some of these gopher burrows.”
Editor’s note: Have you heard of rattlesnake roundups? Check the footnote to learn how this practice has changed in Georgia. 1
Could you share a bit about your studies at college?
Sam: “I was a biology major at Sewanee (The University of the South) with an emphasis in ecology. Sewanee has the unique ability to utilize the campus acreage for labs and such so I definitely enjoyed being in the field for a lot of my course work. I personally am a big fan of the birds, and really enjoyed taking ornithology, gaining a little bit more formal knowledge on the subject and getting to see some amazing birds throughout Tennessee.”
Was there anything about your childhood to suggest you’d seek an environmental career?
Sam: “Oh, yes, I spent a lot of time outdoors growing up and came to enjoy doing things outside with my family. I have an older sister, and she’s a marine scientist. As kids, my mom was in charge of my sister’s Girl Scout troop, and they went camping all the time. Mom always dragged me along too––in fact, I was sort of a mascot for the troop. I just loved camping and living outside. As I got older, I became more aware and focused on the interconnectivity of things in our environment. Like how water quality affects habitats and how habitats affect reproduction and how the climate and human activities affect everything too. I always like to remember how connected everything is.”
What's your favorite animal?
Sam: “The snow leopard. I think apex predators are incredible creatures. I admire the elusiveness and beauty of the big cats.”
What is your favorite natural environment?
Sam: “Growing up in the Southeast, I feel very comfortable in the hardwood environments. There is something about the greenery, and the landscape that’s very attractive to me. I like knowing what’s around me and acknowledging all the little aspects that make up an ecosystem. That being said, I love exploring, finding and learning about new things, so it’s hard to pick one specific environment over another.”
Do you consider yourself an environmentalist?
Sam: “Yes, definitely! I have a great appreciation and admiration for the natural world and hope my career will lead me to help protect and manage some of these beautiful sites. There are so many incredible aspects of nature that go unnoticed and therefore it fails to receive the necessary attention and maintenance. I think one of the most meaningful and impactful ways to improve conservation efforts and results is to get more people to care about the natural world.”
Are you a community scientist too?
Sam: “Yes, sure. Even though this job has us focused on gopher tortoises, I sometimes use iNaturalist to upload pictures of other critters or pretty flowers I see. I also use eBird and Merlin a good bit.”
Do you have anything educational to offer us? Books, documentaries?
Sam: “I have a few books that I’m reading, and I’ll mention some oldies that I’ve read or plan to get to soon.”
The Gulf, by Jack Davis. Sam: “The book is a fantastic American exploration story about the Gulf of Mexico.”
The Songs of Trees, and The Forest Unseen, by David Haskell. Sam: “He is a well-known biology professor at Sewanee and is a brilliant and famous author––a finalist for the Pulitzer, in fact. I loved both of these books. In The Forest Unseen, he spent a year visiting a single square meter of randomly chosen Tennessee forest and describes what happens to plants, animals and insects living there. In The Songs of Trees, he writes about how to observe trees, which he calls the great connectors, by listening to the sounds they make. 2
Silent Spring, Rachel Carson. Sam: “A great book that’s still relevant today, especially the points she made about the impact of pesticides.”
Waldon’s Pond, Henry David Thoreau. Sam: “A book that’s on my list, but I haven’t gotten to yet.”
American Buffalo, by Steven Rinella. “It’s a big book, and I’m working my way through it. Partly a hunting story, but mostly a history of how the buffalo has impacted American history.”
Podcasts or any digital media from Forrest Galante. Sam: “He’s an outdoorsman who is really into wildlife conservation. He’s not just out traveling and having adventures, but he is also a biologist hoping to educate viewers and listeners.”
Alapha-area sights. Top row, l-r: Carolina Milkweed, Great Purple Hairstreak, Eastern Pondhawk. Second row, l-r: American White Waterlily, Southern Two-striped Walkingstick, an Indigo Bunting. Photos: Sam Jenkins.
“Rattlesnake roundups” are contests calling for hunters to bring in as many snakes as they can catch in a year, at which point the snakes are slaughtered and sold for skin and meat.
Roundups are driving some species of rattlesnakes toward extinction. Rattlesnakes play a key role in the food web, especially in terms of rodent control. Many communities that used to hold roundups have successfully changed the focus of their revenue-generating annual events. For example, Claxton, Georgia, transformed its roundup into a Rattlesnake and Wildlife Festival, which includes no collection contest or snake killings. Outlawing Rattlesnake Roundups.
More about the book, “The Songs of Trees,” from The Atlantic: “I’ve taught ornithology to students for many years,” says Haskell, a natural history writer and professor of biology at Sewanee. “And I challenge my students: Okay, now that you’ve learned the songs of 100 birds, your task is to learn the sounds of 20 trees. Can you tell an oak from a maple by ear? I have them go out, pour their attention into their ears, and harvest sounds. It’s an almost meditative experience. And from that, you realize that trees sound different, and they have amazing sounds coming from them. Our unaided ears can hear how a maple tree changes its voice as a soft leaves of early spring change into the dying one of autumn.”
Upcoming:
This weekend I am getting trained to participate in creating content for the Xerces Southeast Bumblebee Atlas. I can’t wait, and no worries, you’ll be the first to hear how it goes and see the pictures! I’ll be learning in an outdoor classroom at Panola Mountain State Park.
The Great Southeast Pollinator Census will be Aug. 18 and 19. I hope you will join in the fun. I’m getting many social media notifications on this one, so with all the prolific promo, I expect it will be big!