Northern Saw-whet Owl Banding

A couple of weeks ago I was able to experience a saw-whet owl banding project near Rifle, Colorado with Kim Potter, a wildlife technician with the US Forest Service and a licensed owl bander. Kim has been banding owls near Rifle for many years, and over a couple of nights throughout the fall Kim invites the public to come watch the banding.

When I arrived to the site, I noticed a small crowd gathered around a bonfire, with the red lights on their headlamps turned on. As I walked closer, I realized that Kim was holding a Northern Saw-whet Owl in her hand! She had caught this owl in a mist net by playing a recording of the species' call to attract it. After carefully removing the owl from the net, she outfitted it with a unique aluminum band on its leg, which identifies the individual. Kim recorded information such as age, sex, weight, and wing and tail length. After gathering the information Kim then released the owl back into the night by perching it on a tree branch. That was the only owl that was caught that evening (Kim suspects that the full moon made it easy for the owls to see the mist nets), but I was able to help out on a net run, checking for caught owls, and take down the nets at the end of the night. 

Northern Saw-whet Owls (Aegolius acadicus) are one of the smallest northern owls (about the size of one’s fist) and are found in the western portion of Colorado year-round. They are found in most woodland habitats, with densities highest in coniferous forests at moderate elevation. Much remains to be learned about saw-whet owl populations, distribution and movements, behavior, and breeding biology. Efforts such as Kim's owl banding help us to learn more about this amazing Rocky Mountain bird.

Why I Bought My Chevy Volt

It's time to get off foreign oil while creating American jobs!

For 13 years I've driven a Toyota hybrid-electric Prius. The Prius saved some gas and helped reduce smog. But with the Chevy Volt, the technology finally exists to go carbon (and oil) free in personal transportation.

I purchased a new Volt about a month ago and I have yet to use one drop of gas! From performance, luxury and functionality standpoints, the Volt far exceeds the Prius. But the real benefit with the Volt is its ability to drive without using gas. Unlike the Prius, which uses electricity and gas, the Volt uses electricity then gas. Each time you charge the Volt's 16 kWh battery pack, you get up to 50 miles of gas-free driving (note that the car is rated 38 miles per charge, but when I drive the speed limit, I easily get 45-50 miles per charge). If that charge runs out, a gas engine kicks in and powers a generator that supplies electricity to the electric motor. Thus, the driving range on the Volt is similar to any car (in excess of 300 miles). If you are an average commuter. who drives less than 50 miles per day, you can drive without using gas as long as you recharge each night.

In my case, I have solar photovoltaic panels on my house that generate 5,000 kWh per year. The Volt uses 10 kWh per charge, or 3,650 kWh per year, if I drive 50 miles every day of the year. With the solar panels supplying electricity to the grid in excess of the amount of energy my car uses in a year, I'm literally driving using the sun!

With the available incentives, the cost of a Volt is such that I could not afford NOT to buy it. Here's the simple math:

$39,212 (MSRP; includes destination fee)
-$3,000 (manufacturer's rebate on all 2012 models)
+$526 (handling fees)
+$1,667 (Basalt sales tax)
=$38,404 (subtotal and amount financed at 0% over 72 months no money down)
-$7,500 (federal tax credit)
-$5896 (state alt fuel vehicle tax credit)
=$25,008 net total cost to me

With 0% financing over 72 months and no money down (offered on all 2012 models; 0% over 60 months is available for 2013 models), I pay $533/month for 6 years. However, I am taking the two tax credits and the sale of my Prius ($10k) and putting those monies into one savings account totaling $24,396. Using this savings to pay my monthly payment of $533, I don't make a payment out of my own pocket for 45 months. By month 45, I will have paid $0 out of pocket and saved an additional $12,318 at $3,285 per year in gas cost (relative to an SUV at 20 mpg driving 16,000 miles/year or 45 miles per day). If I drive less than 50 miles per day, I will literally NEVER use gas again. The charge costs me zero out of pocket since my solar panels generate the electricity. However, a night's charge without solar power generation is 10 kWh or about 80 cents.

Even better, since the car rarely uses its brakes (it slows itself down with its regenerative braking) and since the engine rarely runs (resulting in no oil use, no filter, fluids, belts, engine ware, etc.), maintenance costs are essentially zero, saving at least $2,000 over 45 months. The car is genius:  Each month it sends me an email (yes, the car sends me emails - connected via satellite) of a complete remote diagnostic maintenance review of the car, informing me if it needs maintenance work. This includes informing me when the air in a tire is low.  From my iPhone, I can ask the car to warm its interior space so that on chilly mornings I get into a warm car. I can also check on the status of a charge, start the car, lock or unlock the doors, or find the car via satellite, among many other things. Standard options include free On Star (phone, satellite, emergency connection), free satellite radio, energy efficiency data screen, touchscreen controls, and the list goes on and on.

The car is absolutely silent with no combustion of fossil fuels. It feels more akin to flying a jet or playing some high-tech video game. Oh, and I did I mention that the car has a "sport" mode that makes it lightning fast and fun to drive? The perks seem endless!

But how can anyone afford such a car? When all costs and savings are tallied, if I sell the car at month 45 at the Kelly Blue Book estimated residual value of $18,000, I will literally make a net "profit" of $8,318. Here's the math on that:  At month 45 I will still owe $14,000 on the car (but again, no cash has come out of my pocket to this point; tax credits and the sale of my old Prius paid everything to that point), add to that the $18,000 sale of the car plus $12,318 in gas savings and $2,000 in maintenance savings, and you get $18,318 less the sale of my old Prius for $10,000 results in the $8,312 net profit.

Try the new American made Chevy Volt; reduce our dependency on Middle Eastern oil, create American jobs, reduce air and noise pollution, and save some money along the way.

Putting the Garden to Bed

Putting my garden to bed is almost as exciting as prepping my garden for spring planting.  It’s also my favorite time of year in the Roaring Fork Valley; colors ablaze on every horizon, the air crisp and the sunshine sharp, there is nothing more rewarding then harvesting the last of the season’s bounty and laying to rest that special piece of earth.

Just as any farmer needs the winter to rest and restore for the next bustling season, the garden, too, must lay dormant over winter and recuperate for spring planting. For the gardener, this process can be very simple, especially if you know what resources are available locally. The basic idea is to pull out this season’s crops, aerate the soil, load heaps of natural fertilizer and mulch on top, then water in. That’s it! The worms, microbial life and cool, dormant months of winter will take care of the rest. What’s more, year by year all that mulch you throw on top builds new soil and act as a natural weed barrier come spring.

ACES' Hallam Lake organic garden after being put to bed for winter.

Here’s the step-by-step how-to:

1) Take out all remaining crop residues and throw these in the compost for future soil amending. If you have livestock, you can feed sunflowers, brassicae stalks, and leftover greens to the animals. However, don't give your animals the nightshades, like potato plants, eggplants or tomato plants!

2) Once only soil remains in your beds, rake them out lightly to minimally aerate the top few inches.

3) Pile a whole bunch of manure atop your beds. Usually you can get manure from a local rancher or farm. Goat, llama and rabbit manure can go on the beds fresh. Horse, chicken, pig and cow manure should be semi-cured (at least 3 months). Add 1-6 inches of manure to your plots.

4) Tuck your plots into bed under a nice, thick layer of leaves. I find leaves to be the best mulch since they break down quickly, encourage healthy worm populations, and provide essential nutrients to the soil. I suggest oak, aspen, cottonwood, and my favorite, willow leaves. Willow leaves actually contain indolebutyric acid, a rooting hormone that promotes plant growth. Avoid conifers, as their needles are very acidic and will change the pH of your soil. Look for bags of leaves by driving through neighborhoods during an autumn weekend when everyone is raking their lawn. Or rake your own!

5) Finally, give your beds a good soak with the hose. After watering, let your beds rest until spring. You will find much of the manure and leaves have decomposed into rich topsoil in which seedlings will thrive!

What Could be Better Than a Powder Day?

Imagine something so monumental that residents of an entire town would drop everything to celebrate. An entire population would leave work, skip school, drop what they were doing, and party like there was no tomorrow.  Picture a parade, fireworks blasting from all directions, banquets, grand balls, open bars at local establishments, and bands playing throughout the night in town... What kind of event is cause for merriment of this scale?

125 years ago today the first passenger train rolled into Aspen. The Denver and Rio Grande Railroad Company had been making steady progress through the mountains, and on November 1, 1887, their arrival in Aspen caused the entire town to drop everything in boisterous revelry. Len Shoemaker, a longtime forest ranger in the Aspen area, describes this historic day in Aspen’s history in his book Roaring Fork Valley.  Len recalls the momentous occasion from the point of view of his mother and sister, who were passengers on the inaugural trip from Carbondale to Aspen. The pair also participated in the grand jubilee, along with the entirety of the Aspen community. Shoemaker writes, “ to them it was a spectacle beyond words, or for words, for they seldom if ever quit talking about it...”

Len also points out the Roaring Fork Valley’s appreciation for the railroad company “whose action had fulfilled their dreams and their hopes.”  “Many expressions of appreciation were made to the visiting [D. &R. G] officials,” says Shoemaker,  “but the real sentiment of Aspen’s citizenry was expressed by Judge Downing at the banquet, when in response to a toast, he raised his champagne glass and said:

"There, here’s to our Aspen, her youth and her age; 

We welcome the railroad, say farewell to the stage; 

And whatever her lot and wherever we be, 

Here’s God bless, forever, the D. & R. G."

What could cause this kind of celebration of hope and gratitude now?