11/14/2019
With approval of my disability claim, and the Medicare card, the need to retire also landed on my doorstep (figuratively) for I have been homeless for a good part of three years. LBJ Enterprises may be missed, possibly , but certainly not forgotten. Too many good staff members and many, many, great moments After 30 years residing in Humboldt County, since I arrived in 1988 to go to graduate school at Humboldt State University (HSU) .I have finally moved out and am headed to Burnt Ranch, located in that rebellious Jeffersonian-like Trinity County. Humboldt was famous for w**d back then. Even Minnesotans where I was that summer before would roll their eyes and say something about pot. However, I had no idea how famous HSU was for wildlife It is undoubtedly the best school in the nation for that subject. I was lucky, but even more lucky yet to have Dr. Dave Kitchen as my adviser and to have Dr. Stanley Harris as my mentor.
After HSU, the forestry consulting firm NRM (Natural Resources Management) was critical to establish the highest proffessional standards for our work. It was the peak of the "timber wars," the Marbled Murrelet was listed the year I was hired and in 1991 I conducted my first MAMU surveys, and trained and evaluated most of the other MAMU surveyors throughout Humboldt and Del Norte, the prime areas for the birds and the 10% remainder of the ancient "old-growth" redwoods. After five years with NRM I broke away to form my own consulting company. Godwit Days was also born in 1995 and I need more flexibility at work to pursue my trust passion, birds! LBJ famously had the "County birding at-will clause.". This meant anybody could dash for a rare bird (having covered their work) without needing permission, and you could use the company rigs. We added a Botany department within a few years and worked extensively with the gravel miners on the Mad and Eel Rivers. Two oil spills were perhaps our most dramatic work, but the steady grind of the murrelet surveys and finding occupied old-growth stands was the driver. Murrelet surveys together with Spotted Owls provided the mainstay of our work for the next 22 years, and I closed up shop in 2017, after a few years of working as a solo biologist. I miss the crew (as you know) LBJ was a social company, and the staff will be the legacy. I was so happy to give fresh bird-orientated wildlife students their start in a highly competitive career. I called it the Biological Renaissance, as with increased environmental awareness, more listed species, and legal pressure, the industries were definitely in need of biological help. Jobs were available like never before. The crew of 1992 became legendary, but don't tell CDF&W or USFWS, at least three, as I recall, were hired straight out of the bars (Sidelines) on the Arcata Plaza. I couldn't not mention Godwit Days, it was a huge part of LBJ activities. Staff would lead trips, man booths and work the lights. One year in front of the community center at the end of the event, it was us with the keys and shutting things down, that which we had started three days earlier. I'm not mentioning names in this piece, but we all know who are some of the stalwarts that held Godwit Days together and moving forward in the early years. Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you. Nobody ever thanks their staff enough, I tried but still came up short. LBJ Enterprises was not just my company. It belonged to you through and through, and with that comes the glory, because remember Sublime in 1999 "Love is all we got"
Love of wildlife, love for each other, and a love and desire to produce the best possible bird work ever.
I have attached a few pictures of my spot. It's just off Hwy 299 at the Burnt Ranch USFS campground (signed). Just twenty yards down to the left, it's the only house there. All are welcome any time, I'm retired now so you will very likely catch me working in the garden, or on my Trinity Yard List. Humboldt was good to me, so good to me. It is a wonderful place and unlike many other biologists I had the luxury of spending my entire career in the same habitats and environment. Well over 1,000 dawn's in the Ancient Redwoods and as such Humboldt will always be sempervirens in my heart. .....🌲Everliving 🌲.....RWH
