treeman wrote:
...I had my bets on the "Canopy researchers can learn form (sp) us" thread. While I still have your ear, I want to ask about this specific posting from your viewpoint as a top research climber. What is your reaction to reading this posting? Would it create a welcoming feeling or polarize you by being talked down to? I had not paid it much attention personally until you posted. It had me snooping a bit closer on the recent content on this forum. My immediate rereading of the post made me want to rename it- How to loose friends and alienate people....

I hadn't read that post. It looks like Joe was focusing on a particular research climber and then made a tactical error by appearing to extend that climber's practices to the general research climbing community. As usual it's a bad idea to generalize about any one group of people. I'm sure Joe has all kinds of war stories about idiosyncratic research climbers he's bumped into over the years in Panama.

The only thing I can compare it to is the birding world where some ornithologists have a low opinion of birders. It's the expected tension between professional scientists and amateurs. Same with pro arbs and rec climbers, the pro's tend to look down their noses at weekend climbers. But... those are broad generalizations. In reality there's a tremendous opportunity for productive exchange of information and support between these various groups. In birding the concept of citizen science has really taken hold. The Cornell Ornithology Lab is leading the way with the eBird data_base_ and woodland breeding bird surveys which allow citizen birders to make important contributions to scientific research.

So how can rec tree climbers have a role in supporting scientific research? Rec climbers are in a unique position to do breeding bird surveys when they climb in the forest. Staying in a fixed position (except for vertical movement) for 3-6 hours in a tree allows an observer to ID by vocalization or visual all bird species present in the vicinity of the tree. Documenting tree height, girth and species could be very useful for a research data_base_. Photographing and documenting canopy life forms: plant, insect and other on a regular basis could provide very useful information. Rec climbers have the potential to be the outlying eyes and ears for the research community, scientists can't be everywhere. Will Blozan (Google "Tsuga Search") in North Carolina is an excellent example of a non-scientist climber who is making a tremendous contribution to publicizing and understanding the ongoing Eastern Hemlock ecodisaster and is making huge and effective effort to save the tallest remaining Eastern and Carolina Hemlock in the east. In Georgia the Maher brothers have done some great work using their technical tree climbing skills to assist in pollen collecting and cross-fertilization of blight resistant American Chestnut. I really hope that the rec climbing community can become more involved in the efforts to understand and preserve healthy forest and canopy ecosystems. Maybe a forum on the rec climber and citizen science can be a part of the Rendezvous '08 agenda.
-moss