Thin Red Line

The first thing you need to do if you want to manage a wild population of rattan plants is to quantify the number and size of individuals in the population. This is accomplished by conducting a forest inventory. I spent the last two days in the village of Sobphouan in Bolikhamsai Province, Laos training WWF project staff (see Management Planning) how to do this. As is shown above, the first step in the inventory is to lay out out a 20 m line along a designated bearing in the forest. We used a bearing of 270º and a line of bright red nylon.

The next step is to carefully look within a 5 m strip on either side of the red line for rattan plants. Operational word here is "carefully". This step can be tedious, but it is important to go slow and not miss any plants.

The final step is to record the species and size of each rattan encountered in a fieldbook. Three simple steps that can ultimately make the difference between sustainable management and resource depletion. [NOTE: That's Bansa Thammavong (WWF Laos) and Le Viet Tam (WWF Vietnam) laying out the line; Ou Ratanak's (WWF Cambodia) hand is holding the fieldbook (thx, guys)].

Bolikhamsai Landscape

Another shot of the Nam Theun river, this one looking back toward the beautiful karst formations of Bolikhamsai Province in Laos where the rattan inventory training was conducted last week. More on this later.

Boats From B-52's

Boats made from the jettisoned fuel tanks of B-52 bombers docked in the Nam Theun river of Bolikhamsai Province, Laos. Aircraft-grade aluminum joined with rivets. Lasts forever. These shiny, streamlined boats are about 50 years old and used daily. Gifts from the U.S. Air Force.

Management Planning

Spent a large part of the last two days in this room talking about work plans, logframes, inventory protocols, growth data, and sustainable harvest levels with Thibault Ledecq, Regional Manager of the WWF Rattan Project (shown above), and the project managers from Cambodia and Vietnam. We need to produce 3,000 tons of sustainably harvested rattan from project villages in Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. For IKEA. Over the next three years. This will be fun. [NOTE: Those are my rattan size-class histogram doodles shown on the whiteboard in the background].

Priority Seats

This was the scene at Gate C2A at the Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok as I waited for Thai Airways Flt. 574 to Vientiane, Laos. I was 17 hours into my 19 hour flight from New York, and was intrigued to see that Buddhist monks were listed first on the Priority Seats close to the check-in counter. Before elderly people, people in wheelchairs, pregant women, and mothers with babies.  I'm pretty sure, however, that a monk would get up and readily give his seat (with a small bow) to any of the other parties listed. 

Tree at Rockefeller Center

One of the things I did last weekend was go see the Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Center. Unfortunately, there were tons of people out doing the same thing - or looking at the window displays at Saks Fifth Avenue (Land of the Bubblemakers) across the street. Which is where I took this picture. Crowded, but great fun. A wonderful place to be for Christmas. 

Let There Be Light

My daughter Amy (shown above) and I got the Christmas lights up on the house last weekend. It was already dark when we did it, which added a whole new dimension to the endeavor. Little vials of light illuminating the darkness. [NOTE: We are using 5mm, energy efficient LED lights on the house - and the tree inside].

Apple Store GCT

Noticed this last weekend when I was in Grand Central. What a clever place to put an Apple Store. Just in time for Christmas...

Rohatsu 2011

Today is the first day of Rohatsu Week, a time when Zen Buddhists traditionally commemorate Buddha's enlightenment by practicing long periods of zazen, or seated meditation.  I will be doing a lot of my sitting on a Cathay Pacific flight to Laos later this week.

Am initiating a new project in collaboration with the WWF Greater Mekong Programme to work on the sustainable management of rattan at the village level in Laos and Cambodia. Fits nicely with the work that I have been doing in central Vietnam over the past two years (see Where Are Those Transects II, Dakrong Workshop, and Rattan Bundles). [NOTE: Image above from Shwedagon Pagoda shows golden Buddha sitting under a bo tree (Ficus religiosa L.) that was reportedly grown from a cutting taken from the original one at Bodh Gaya in India (see Another Bo Tree). Nats - and Burmese monk - to the right, look on reverently].

History of the World

Lovely stop action by Kevin Parry showing the history of the world - and beyond - in three minutes. Love the angry asteroids killing the dinosaurs and scorching all the trees at 0:53 and the Pilgrim killing the local with a sneeze at 1:50. Not sure the ending will come to pass, but this is a delightful piece of video. Best at full screen. With the volume turned up. Happy weekend. [NOTE: Music is "Thick As Thieves" by Kalle Mattson].