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Two views of the Buffalo Harbor, looking south toward Lackawanna, New York, then and now, 1973 and 2021. The 1973 picture is from Wikimedia, by George Burns, HERE, and the 2021 picture is used with the permission of Kathleen Reynolds.
Then
and now... I know that history is
relative and for most people it starts with the day they are born, but as a
historian, and an older one at that, it frustrates me when people say “...the
environment is worse today, then at any time before...”, because I remember
how it was in the 1970’s.
I
remember Iron Eyes Cody, the "Crying Indian" in the "Keep
America Beautiful" TV commercials of the early 1970’s, crying about the
litter covering the American landscape. Before
New York state, and eight other states passed “Bottle Laws” to reward people
for returning their used bottles and cans, I remember seeing all the trash
scattered, everywhere along the roads1.
I
remember going to Point Gratiot, a park along the Lake Erie shoreline in
Dunkirk, New York; in the 1970’s, and hearing one of my parents say “Look! look!
there is a live fish in the lake, you might not ever see one again!”. Did you know that the Buffalo River caught
fire on January 24, 1968, the Rouge River in Detroit burned on October 9, 1969
and the last time the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland was on fire was on June 22,
19692? All these rivers pour
into Lake Erie, no wonder it was polluted and almost lifeless! Now the fish are back, HERE,
and so are frogs and turtles, HERE.
Some
of my older readers may remember these things as well, but my younger readers
will not.
Then and Now...
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The Buffalo Harbor in 1973, looking south towards Lackawanna, New York; future site of Buffalo Harbor State Park; by George Burns, July 1973, from Wikimedia, HERE and HERE.
In
the early 1970’s the “Rust Belt” was the “Steel Belt”, and it was the
industrial heartland of the America. Today
the land behind the Buffalo Harbor, which is now the Buffalo Harbor State Park,
is the Tifft Nature Preserve, a 264-acre nature refuge dedicated to
conservation and environmental education.
In the 1950’s and 60’s, what is today the Tifft Nature Preserve was used
as a dumpsite for Buffalo city garbage.
In 1972 the City of Buffalo purchased this land, and by 1973 had moved
two million cubic yards of trash from Squaw Island (today’s Unity Island) and
dumped it there. The two million cubic
feet of solid municipal waste was enclosed in clay and covered with soil to
make what is today called the “Mounds”. In
1976 this area became the Tifft Nature Preserve.
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The Buffalo Harbor, todays Buffalo Harbor State Park, looking south in April 2020. This is the same area which was photographed in July 1973 by George Burns. These photographs were taken from the top of the “Mounds” in Tifft Nature Preserve. Photographs by the Author.
Silent Spring...
In
1962, Rachel Carson authored Silent Spring, a book about the adverse
effects of the indiscriminate use pesticides, on the environment.
 |
“50% Dichloro Diphenyl Trichloroethane (DDT)
insecticide powder container, circa early 1960s”, by Xanthis, from Wikimedia, HERE. |
I
remember when you didn’t see many birds.
Fifty years ago, it was a thrill to see a hawk in a tree alongside a
road. Now they are as common as house
sparrows.
We
can thank DDT for the lack of birds, which affected them by thinning their eggshells,
causing a rapid decline in their numbers.
Fifty years ago, there were no Bald Eagles, haliaeetus leucocephalus;
Peregrine Falcons, falco peregrinus; Ospreys, pandion haliaetus;
or Wild Turkeys, meleagris gallopavo; in the Buffalo City limits or in
the whole of the Western New York area, for that matter.
Today
they are routinely seen in Western New York and inside the city
limits of Buffalo! A couple of weeks ago
I saw a Bald Eagle cruising up Cazenovia Creek, just outside of Buffalo, New
York, apparently searching for a fish for dinner. A week ago, I saw an Osprey flying over the
Inner Harbor in Buffalo with a fish as big as it was, in its clutches, heading
back to its nest in Tifft Nature Preserve to feed its hatchlings. Three times in the last ten years I have seen
a Peregrine Falcon dive on a pigeon in my backyard and make a meal out of it,
and I live just outside of the Buffalo city limits. And three other times I have found the
remains of a pigeon in my backyard, killed in a falcon attack that I didn’t
see. Turkeys which fifty years ago were
absent from Western New York, are now so common that they are road hazards; in
fact, about 15 years ago, one flew out of a tree, along a roadside and hit the
side of my car! Today, I also see Wood
Ducks, aix sponsa, and Common Loons, gavia immer, regularly in
Cazenovia Creek, inside Cazenovia Park, in Buffalo, New York.
Today,
all these species of birds, have a conservation status of “least concern” which
means that their populations are increasing.
All have benefited from the reduction in the indiscriminate use of
pesticides, in the reduction of pollution, and in the 1973 Endangered Species
Act. In the case of the Wood Duck, it
also benefited from the increase in the Beaver population.
The
birds are back!
What about the mammals?
An Eastern Coyote running through Wilkeson Pointe Park, near the Buffalo Harbor State Park, on the inner harbor. Photograph by the Author.
Not
only the birds, but the mammals are back, too!
Fifty
years ago, White-tailed Deer, odocoileus virginianus, were scarce and as
a kid it was exciting to see one in the woods or alongside the roads as we sat
in the back seat of a car. Today, they
are so common that that they are pests and road hazards, and due to the number
of fatalities caused by collisions with deer, they could be considered to be
more dangerous than bears3.
In
the 1970’s there were no Eastern Coyotes, canis latrans var., or
Beavers, castor canadensis, in Western New York, and American Black
Bears, ursus americanus, weren’t common and could only occasionally be
seen in the Allegheny Mountains of southwestern New York state.
An “American Beaver”, by Steve, from Wikimedia, HERE.
Today
my wife and I often take my granddaughter down to Cazenovia creek to look for
the beavers, since there are two breeding pairs that I know of within a half
mile (800 meters) of my house, living in the banks of the creek (for more on
the beavers I regularly see, read “The Ever-Elusive Bank Beaver ©”, HERE,
and watch my videos HERE,
HERE
and HERE). Now, I also regularly see Eastern Coyotes
near my house and American Black Bears have become so common that they raid
birdhouses and trashcans for food in the outer suburbs of Buffalo. In fact, in 2009 a yearling black bear was
killed by a car, on the elevated section of the New York State I-190 that goes
around and over the downtown Buffalo, not far from the harbor!4
The
mammals have come back too.
A Great Blue Heron, ardea herodias, on the shores of the Buffalo Inner Harbor at sunset, photograph by the Author.
To
paraphrase the Captain’s speech in Cool Hand Luke, from 1967, “What
we've got here is failure to remember”!
The environment is very clearly better than it
was fifty years ago, although that isn’t to say that things can’t be improved
upon, because they can. But we’ve come a
long way, baby!
Don’t forget to come back next week and read “Survival Uses of Lip
Balm ©”, where we will talk about the different survival hacks and wrinkles you
can use a tube of Lip Balm for, and why you should always carry a tube with you.
I
hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me
on YouTube at Bandanaman Productions for other related videos, HERE. Don’t forget to follow me on both The
Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE,
and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube. If you have questions, as always, feel free
to leave a comment on either site. I
announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at
bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.
That
is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!
Notes
1 In
1971, Oregon was the first state to pass a bottle law that required that
beverage containers be returnable. By
June 15, 1982, when New York state signed its bottle law into effect, a total
of nine states had bottle laws, which not including Oregon and New York, were Vermont,
Maine, Michigan, Iowa, Connecticut, Delaware, and Massachusetts.
“State Bottle Deposit Law In Full Effect
Tomorrow”, by Edward A. Gargan, September 11, 1983, The New York Times,
2
These weren’t the only times these rivers burned either, it is estimated that
the Cuyahoga River burned 15 times, before this! All of this was before the 1972 Clean Water
Act, the Great Lakes Agreement between the United States and Canada, or the
formation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1970.
“Smoke on the
Water: 50 Years After the Cuyahoga Fire”, by Vince Guerrieri, June 20, 2019,
Popular Mechanics
3 “The
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates there are
approximately 1.5 million auto deer collisions per year, resulting in damage
losses of around $1.5 billion USD, which works out to an average cost of $1,000
per accident.? State Farm Insurance
Agency also supports these statistics, and goes on to report that, in the year
2004, there were 150 human deaths in the United States that were directly
linked to car deer accidents.
The
bear is often considered to be one of the most dangerous animals in North
America.? As a combined group, polar
bears, black bears, and grizzly bears are responsible for 5 to 10 human
fatalities per year in North America.? Comparing
this statistic with the 150 human deaths caused in 2004 by auto deer
collisions, one might come to the conclusion that the most dangerous animal in
North America is, in fact, the White Tail Deer.”
“Car Deer Collisions in the
United States”, by Ellen Bell
4 This
wasn’t an isolated incident either, just 13 days earlier another yearling black
bear was struck and killed by a car on Route 400, in East Aurora, N.Y., less
than 20 miles from Buffalo. The UPI
reported the accident as happening in Aurora, New York, which is over 100 miles
(160 km) from Buffalo, but that was an error, as the incident was widely
reported in the local Buffalo news, as happening in East Aurora.
“Black bear cub killed
on N.Y. interstate”, by UPI,
Sources
Bell, Ellen; “Car Deer Collisions in the United States”, [© 2021
Streetdirectory], https://www.streetdirectory.com/travel_guide/57694/car_accidents/car_deer_collisions_in_the_united_states.html, accessed May 8, 2021
Gargan, Edward A.; “State Bottle Deposit Law In
Full Effect Tomorrow”, September 11, 1983, New York Times, [© 2021 The New York
Times Company], https://www.nytimes.com/1983/09/11/nyregion/state-bottle-deposit-law-in-full-effect-tomorrow.html#:~:text=Now%20nine%20states%20%2D%20Oregon%2C%20Vermont,it%20by%20the%20beverage%20industry, accessed May , 2021
Guerrieri, Vince; “Smoke on the Water: 50 Years After the Cuyahoga
Fire”, June 20, 2019, Popular Mechanics, [©2021 Hearst Magazine Media, Inc.], https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/a28106182/cuyahoga-river-fire-cleveland-epa/, Accessed May 4,
2021
Tifft
Nature Preserve, “About Us”, [© 2021 Tifft Nature Preserve], https://www.tifft.org/about-us/,
accessed May 5, 2021
UPI, “Black bear cub killed on N.Y. interstate”, May 27, 2009, [© 2021
United Press International, Inc.], https://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/05/27/Black-bear-cub-killed-on-NY-interstate/41561243443431/?ur3=1, accessed May 6, 2021
Wikimedia; “Aerial
View Of Bethlehem Steel Plant At Lackawanna On The Lake Erie Waterfront South
Of Buffalo. Waste Effluents Are Monitored Throughout This Area”, by George
Burns, July 1973, Environmental Protection Agency, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AERIAL_VIEW_OF_BETHLEHEM_STEEL_PLANT_AT_LACKAWANNA_ON_THE_SHORES_OF_LAKE_ERIE_JUST_BELOW_BUFFALO._WASTE_EFFLUENTS_ARE..._-_NARA_-_549472.jpg, accessed May 3, 2021
Wikimedia, “American
Beaver”, by Steve, July 4, 2007, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:American_Beaver.jpg, accessed May 8, 2021
Wikimedia; “Bethlehem Steel Plant On The Lake Erie Waterfront South Of
Buffalo”, by George Burns, July 1973, Environmental Protection Agency, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BETHLEHEM_STEEL_PLANT_ON_THE_LAKE_ERIE_WATERFRONT_SOUTH_OF_BUFFALO_-_NARA_-_549511.jpg, accessed May 3, 2021
Wikimedia, “50% Dichloro Diphenyl
Trichloroethane (DDT) insecticide powder container, circa early 1960s”, by
Xanthis, August 12, 2012, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDT, accessed May 3, 2021
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