Page 18 - 2005 DT 12 Issues

One Tough Bird condors were seemingly doomed to February General
extinction along with their meal tick- Meeting Notes
o California condors lead a ets. But condors were not the only
charmed life? At the brink of large birds common in the region dur- A motion was made and
Dextinction in 1983, these ing the last ice age. They were one of unanimously carried to increase and
magnificent birds were given a second three large scavenger species, which redistribute annual cash reserves
chance in life through one of the most included the western black vulture and from the current approved amount of
publicized and creative rescue efforts the teratorn. Fossils of all three have $130,000 for operations and $10,000
of the century. But scientists studying been found in the tar pits. reserve for an education scholarship
the La Brea tar pits near Los Angeles, Kena Fox-Dobbs, a graduate stu- account, to a total reserve of $140,000.
Calif. discovered that this is not the dent at the University of California, $80,000 will be allocated for opera-
first time the condor has managed to Santa Cruz, thinks that the diets of tions for one year; $50,000 will be
elude oblivion. The question is why? some condors may hold the clue to reserved in a Visitor Center Complex
Prior to the last ice age, condors why the condors survived. Building Fund; $10,000 will be re-
ranged from the coast of British Co- Ratios of nitrogen-14 and nitro- served for Visitor Center critical needs.
lumbia to Baja California and across gen-15 in bone collagen taken from La The education scholarship account,
Brea fossils of all three species originally set aside for the Red Rock
suggest that some condors Desert Learning Center (Oliver Ranch)
must have included various has been retired until the center is
amounts of marine mammals in operational. The completion date for
their diet. Chemical analyses of that project is not yet available. Pat
the condor fossils showed that Williams authored the proposal.
the birds’ diets didn’t change
Director Blaine Benedict and
much over a 25,000-year span. Vice president Ray Stafford presented
Analysis of the isotopes in fos- an excellent analysis of the financial
sils of the other two scavenger elements underlying the redistribu-
species, preserved between tion proposal.
35,000 and 10,000 years ago,
Treasurer Helen Barrett
suggests that those birds con- reviewed income and expenses year-
sumed only the remains of to-date, underscoring the need for new
the southern United States to northern browsers and grazers, such as ground sources of revenue since the Red
Florida. Only the California condor sloths and bison. Rock Colony contributions are at
Comparable data from condor fos-
survived to be rescued by humans. an end.
sils in other regions of North America
Near the end of the last ice age, Norm Wolin presented a plan
suggest that like the other two scaven-
about 12,000 years ago, many species to obtain a Red Rock Canyon chari-
ger species, condors in those areas
of large mammals disappeared from table license plate to generate
maintained a similar diet of grazers and
North America. Mastodons, wooly minimum annual income of $20,000
browsers. Without large marine mam-
mammoths, saber-tooth cats, giant (based on annual sales of 1,000 plates).
mals to sustain them, these condors
short-faced bears, dire wolves, cam- Petitions must total at least 1,000 sig-
went extinct leaving only their West
els, giant sloths succumbed for reasons Coast cousins to carry on the species. natures of Nevada residents to obtain
still being debated. California condors, the only remain- the plate. (see p. 5.)
The fossils of many of these ing coastal representatives of their
species are found at La Brea. Their de- kind, were tough enough and smart BLM Report
mise left the larder virtually empty for enough to beat the odds and more than Red Rock Park Manager Mark
scavengers that depended upon their a bit lucky. Let’s hope their luck Rekshynskyj gave a concise update on
carcasses for survival. As scavengers, holds out. ⌧ the plans for the Visitor Center Com-
Page 2 FORRC/March 2005