California Wildfires Destroy Condor Sanctuary, at Least 4 Birds Still Missing

One of the many wildfires raging through California has destroyed a sanctuary for endangered condors, and the fate of at least four of the birds remains unknown.
The Dolan Fire on Friday scorched an 80-acre condor sanctuary operated in Big Sur by the group Ventana Wildlife Society, the San Jose Mercury News reported. In the process, it took out a remote camera that was monitoring a condor chick nesting in a redwood about one mile away. Ventana Wildlife Society Executive Director Kelly Sorenson said the baby's parents flew away as the fire advanced.
"We were horrified. It was hard to watch. We still don't know if the chick survived, or how well the free-flying birds have done," he told the San Jose Mercury News. "I'm concerned we may have lost some condors. Any loss is a setback. I'm trying to keep the faith and keep hopeful."
The imperilled chick, named Iniko, was born April 25. Its name is of Nigerian origin and means "born during troubled times," according to the Ventana Wildlife Society website.
In addition to Iniko, at least four other wild condors remain unaccounted for, and it is not yet safe for biologists to search for them because the fire continues to burn, Sorenson told the San Jose Mercury News.
Still, there is reason for hope. The Ventana Wildlife Society pointed out that, in the last 20 years, five out of six condor chicks sheltering in nests in the path of wildfires survived. This is because the redwoods the birds nested in protected them from the flames.
Sorenson told NPR that he had been pleasantly surprised when a condor chick survived another Big Sur fire in 2008.
"We were convinced there was no way the chicks could survive the fire," he said. "Sure enough, a chick survived and we named it Phoenix."
The Dolan Fire ignited last Wednesday in Los Padres National Forest, according to The Associated Press. It is one of hundreds of fires raging in the state that have so far killed at least seven people, burned almost 1,300 structures and forced around 170,000 people to flee their homes during the coronavirus pandemic.
A man has been arrested as a suspected arsonist in connection with the Dolan Fire specifically. However, University of California, Los Angeles scientist Daniel Swain said the climate crisis means California's wildfires are more likely to grow larger and spread more quickly once they start.
"What happens when they start burning, what is the character of those fires, and is it changing?" Swain told E&E News. "The answer is yes."
The Dolan Fire has spread to more than 20,000 acres and is 15 percent contained, according to InciWeb.
The California condor has so far been a conservation success story. In the 1980s, there were only 22 of North American's largest birds left in the wild, according to The Associated Press. They were captured and placed in a captive breeding program that began re-releasing the birds into Los Padres National Forest in 1992.
There are now more than 100 condors in Central California and around 340 in the wild altogether. The breeding program celebrated the birth of its 1,000th chick last summer.
The Ventana Wildlife Society has used its sanctuary to release birds raised in captivity back into the wild since 1997, according to the San Jose Mercury News. The fire destroyed pens, a research station and other facilities, and the non-profit is now raising $500,000 to rebuild.
"The fire is a setback, but condor recovery is going in the right direction," Sorenson told the San Jose Mercury News. "We need to rebuild to keep it going in the right direction."
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Wisdom the mōlī, or Laysan albatross, is the oldest wild bird known to science at the age of at least 70. She is also, as of February 1, a new mother.
<div id="dadb2" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="aa2ad8cb566c9b4b6d2df2693669f6f9"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1357796504740761602" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">🚨Cute baby alert! Wisdom's chick has hatched!!! 🐣😍 Wisdom, a mōlī (Laysan albatross) and world’s oldest known, ban… https://t.co/Nco050ztBA</div> — USFWS Pacific Region (@USFWS Pacific Region)<a href="https://twitter.com/USFWSPacific/statuses/1357796504740761602">1612558888.0</a></blockquote></div>
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Comparing rime ice and glaze ice shows how each changes the texture of the blade. Gao, Liu and Hu, 2021, CC BY-ND
Ice buildup changes air flow around the turbine blade, which can slow it down. The top photos show ice forming after 10 minutes at different temperatures in the Wind Research Tunnel. The lower measurements show airflow separation as ice accumulates. Icing Research Tunnel of Iowa State University, CC BY-ND
How ice builds up on the tips of turbine blades. Gao, Liu and Hu, 2021, CC BY-ND
While traditional investment in the ocean technology sector has been tentative, growth in Israeli maritime innovations has been exponential in the last few years, and environmental concern has come to the forefront.
theDOCK aims to innovate the Israeli maritime sector. Pexels
<p>The UN hopes that new investments in ocean science and technology will help turn the tide for the oceans. As such, this year kicked off the <a href="https://www.oceandecade.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030)</a> to galvanize massive support for the blue economy.</p><p>According to the World Bank, the blue economy is the "sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods, and jobs while preserving the health of ocean ecosystem," <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412019338255#b0245" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Science Direct</a> reported. It represents this new sector for investments and innovations that work in tandem with the oceans rather than in exploitation of them.</p><p>As recently as Aug. 2020, <a href="https://www.reutersevents.com/sustainability/esg-investors-slow-make-waves-25tn-ocean-economy" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Reuters</a> noted that ESG Investors, those looking to invest in opportunities that have a positive impact in environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues, have been interested in "blue finance" but slow to invest.</p><p>"It is a hugely under-invested economic opportunity that is crucial to the way we have to address living on one planet," Simon Dent, director of blue investments at Mirova Natural Capital, told Reuters.</p><p>Even with slow investment, the blue economy is still expected to expand at twice the rate of the mainstream economy by 2030, Reuters reported. It already contributes $2.5tn a year in economic output, the report noted.</p><p>Current, upward <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/-innovation-blue-economy-2646147405.html" target="_self">shifts in blue economy investments are being driven by innovation</a>, a trend the UN hopes will continue globally for the benefit of all oceans and people.</p><p>In Israel, this push has successfully translated into investment in and innovation of global ports, shipping, logistics and offshore sectors. The "Startup Nation," as Israel is often called, has seen its maritime tech ecosystem grow "significantly" in recent years and expects that growth to "accelerate dramatically," <a href="https://itrade.gov.il/belgium-english/how-israel-is-becoming-a-port-of-call-for-maritime-innovation/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">iTrade</a> reported.</p><p>Driving this wave of momentum has been rising Israeli venture capital hub <a href="https://www.thedockinnovation.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">theDOCK</a>. Founded by Israeli Navy veterans in 2017, theDOCK works with early-stage companies in the maritime space to bring their solutions to market. The hub's pioneering efforts ignited Israel's maritime technology sector, and now, with their new fund, theDOCK is motivating these high-tech solutions to also address ESG criteria.</p><p>"While ESG has always been on theDOCK's agenda, this theme has become even more of a priority," Nir Gartzman, theDOCK's managing partner, told EcoWatch. "80 percent of the startups in our portfolio (for theDOCK's Navigator II fund) will have a primary or secondary contribution to environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria."</p><p>In a company presentation, theDOCK called contribution to the ESG agenda a "hot discussion topic" for traditional players in the space and their boards, many of whom are looking to adopt new technologies with a positive impact on the planet. The focus is on reducing carbon emissions and protecting the environment, the presentation outlines. As such, theDOCK also explicitly screens candidate investments by ESG criteria as well.</p><p>Within the maritime space, environmental innovations could include measures like increased fuel and energy efficiency, better monitoring of potential pollution sources, improved waste and air emissions management and processing of marine debris/trash into reusable materials, theDOCK's presentation noted.</p>theDOCK team includes (left to right) Michal Hendel-Sufa, Head of Alliances, Noa Schuman, CMO, Nir Gartzman, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, and Hannan Carmeli, Co-Founder & Managing Partner. Dudu Koren
<p>theDOCK's own portfolio includes companies like Orca AI, which uses an intelligent collision avoidance system to reduce the probability of oil or fuel spills, AiDock, which eliminates the use of paper by automating the customs clearance process, and DockTech, which uses depth "crowdsourcing" data to map riverbeds in real-time and optimize cargo loading, thereby reducing trips and fuel usage while also avoiding groundings.</p><p>"Oceans are a big opportunity primarily because they are just that – big!" theDOCK's Chief Marketing Officer Noa Schuman summarized. "As such, the magnitude of their criticality to the global ecosystem, the magnitude of pollution risk and the steps needed to overcome those challenges – are all huge."</p><p>There is hope that this wave of interest and investment in environmentally-positive maritime technologies will accelerate the blue economy and ESG investing even further, in Israel and beyond.</p>- 14 Countries Commit to Ocean Sustainability Initiative - EcoWatch ›
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