Article

2010-06-18 Economy

Arizona Spends $1.25M to Save 250 Squirrels

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Posted by Fred 2010-06-18 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11128 views ] Top

#1 Nuts!

Posted by twobyfour 2010-06-18 01:53|| 2010-06-18 01:53|| Front Page Top

#2 KIDDING RIGHT??????????

Posted by armyguy 2010-06-18 07:49|| 2010-06-18 07:49|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2010-06-18 09:45|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2010-06-18 09:50|| Front Page Top

#5 Here in Appalachia we call 250 squirrels 'lunch'.

Posted by Parabellum 2010-06-18 10:08|| http://sidemeat.wordpress.com/ 2010-06-18 10:08|| Front Page Top

#6 Mmmm, Sunday gravy w/ squirrel.

Posted by ed 2010-06-18 10:16|| 2010-06-18 10:16|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2010-06-18 10:21|| Front Page Top

#8 Won't stop them from crossing the road...

Posted by wt 2010-06-18 10:23|| 2010-06-18 10:23|| Front Page Top

#9 Looks like they need a narrowish ribbon bridge, maybe windey and twisty for ~~estethic~~ er ~~esthetic~~ er, looks. First, we must study the high end weigh of the squirrels population and the odd more that 3 of them are standard deviants or bridge haters (which happens in rodenia more than you might think).

Posted by Shipman 2010-06-18 13:19|| 2010-06-18 13:19|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2010-06-18 13:22|| Front Page Top

#11 Big Blue Squirrel Book page 92 IIRC.

Posted by Shipman 2010-06-18 13:27|| 2010-06-18 13:27|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2010-06-18 14:33|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2010-06-18 16:47|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2010-06-18 19:59|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2010-06-18 20:21|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2010-06-18 20:28|| Front Page Top

23:28 gorb
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