Wanted ! Mount Graham red squirrel
Reward ! $250 US Dollars per squirrel
All Mout Graham squirrels considered, regardless of condition.
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| Economy | |
| Arizona Spends $1.25M to Save 250 Squirrels | |
| 2010-06-18 | |
Arizona is spending $1.25 million to build bridges for endangered squirrels over a mountain road so they don't become roadkill and then monitor their health.
While most suburbanites may be baffled why anyone would protect a pesky squirrel, these are Mount Graham red squirrels, a breed once thought to be extinct. Only 250 of them are known to live near the top of Mount Graham. The Federal Highway Administration grant will be used to build rope bridges over the lone road through the squirrels' habitat, according to Arizona Department of Transportation Community Relations Director Timothy Tait. The DOT plans to install 41 of the "canopy tunnel crossings" at a cost of $400,000. Another $160,000 will be spent on cameras to monitor the bridges, and the rest of the money will fund a project to monitor the rodents. That works out to about $5,000 per squirrel. | |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #16 Tree rats are part of chairman asskickers saved jobs program. (It is a Federal Grant of squirely jobs, but don't bet the illegals won't be playing Tarzan.) |
| Posted by: Muggsy Glink 2010-06-18 20:28 |
| #15 The background to this is that Mount Graham is a superb site for a major national observatory, which Arizona wanted very badly to complement Kitt Peak NO and goes all the way back to Lowell Observatory. Yep, I remember that. I remember the cartoon in the student newspaper feature the laid-back peace sign-flashing red squirrel, and the "mutant zombie astronomers from Hell" muttering, "Scopes...scopes...scopes..." As I recall, the story goes...once upon a time Arizona was much wetter, and squirrel populations interbred freely across the mountains and valleys. But then it dried up, and the squirrel populations on various mountains were "stranded" there, so that they evolved separately. However that hasn't been that long ago, in geologic time, so that the Mt. Graham red squirrel differs only slightly from the standard-issue red squirrel. Are these small differences worth millions to preserve? And if so, how are you going to get the squirrels to cross at the squirrel bridges? I don't know. But I do know that "Mutant Zombie Astronomers from Hell" would make an awesome name for a rock band. |
| Posted by: Angie Schultz 2010-06-18 20:21 |
| #14 Wife needs a new coat: Wanted ! Mount Graham red squirrel Reward ! $250 US Dollars per squirrel All Mout Graham squirrels considered, regardless of condition. |
| Posted by: Varmint 2010-06-18 19:59 |
| #13 #8 Won't stop them from crossing the road... True. But it will separate those who can adapt from those who did not. Darwinism at work. At the last installation I was stationed at they had a lovely tree lined main road. In the spring the young squirrels that learned to use the utility wires across the road or who leap between branch were around come the next year to add to the population unlike their cousins that took the ground route. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2010-06-18 16:47 |
| #12 Meanwhile out here ia WA state, we have the Ebey's Prarie National Refuge with State Highway 20 running through it for about 750 feet. Regular, W-shaped guard rails are not in keeping with the rustic nature of this grassy scenic vista, so something north of $750k was spent replacing them with wooden rails and posts. Drove past them the other night, it is certainly refreshing to see that the waving grasses aren't visually spoilt by galvanized steel abominations. (said abominations would have cost about a third of the rustic new-york state sourced wood.) |
| Posted by: USN, Ret. 2010-06-18 14:33 |
| #11 Big Blue Squirrel Book page 92 IIRC. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2010-06-18 13:27 |
| #10 AASHTO has Live Loads for bridge design, but I don't see "squirrel" or "rodents" in there anywhere |
| Posted by: Frank G 2010-06-18 13:22 |
| #9 Looks like they need a narrowish ribbon bridge, maybe windey and twisty for |
| Posted by: Shipman 2010-06-18 13:19 |
| #8 Won't stop them from crossing the road... |
| Posted by: wt 2010-06-18 10:23 |
| #7 The background to this is that Mount Graham is a superb site for a major national observatory, which Arizona wanted very badly to complement Kitt Peak NO and goes all the way back to Lowell Observatory. However, Mount Graham is covered with endangered critters. Including, of all things, five unique species of trout (fish), and a pretty, parrot sized bird called the elegant trogon. "...biologically isolated for millennia, the higher elevations have provided refuge for relic populations of plants and animals with adaptive strategies rooted in Pleistocene ice age environmental conditions." In other words, it is the mountain equivalent of Madagascar. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2010-06-18 10:21 |
| #6 Mmmm, Sunday gravy w/ squirrel. |
| Posted by: ed 2010-06-18 10:16 |
| #5 Here in Appalachia we call 250 squirrels 'lunch'. |
| Posted by: Parabellum 2010-06-18 10:08 |
| #4 And where are the little hamster wheels the squirrels can use to alternatively power all that gear? Enviro-friendly my ass. |
| Posted by: ed 2010-06-18 09:50 |
| #3 Does that bridge come with little signs and those conveyor walkway thingies like airports have to help the squirrels get to the bridge? I hope the bridge at least has a little squirrel shuttle. Of course, they'll need squirrel security to check if Taliban suicide squirrels are bringing exploding nuts onto those shuttles. |
| Posted by: gorb 2010-06-18 09:45 |
| #2 KIDDING RIGHT?????????? |
| Posted by: armyguy 2010-06-18 07:49 |
| #1 Nuts! |
| Posted by: twobyfour 2010-06-18 01:53 |