Shwedagon Roses

Heading out in a bit to the airpot to start the journey north to the Htamanthi WS. Planes and boats and legs. Image above is from yesterday's visit to Shwedagon. [NOTE: Am moving out of internet contact and this will be my last post for a couple of weeks].

Repairs

Arrived to Yangon this morning, and, as usual, walked over to the Shwedagon Pagoda to get through some of the jet lag. Lot of re-gilding and repairing going on. [NOTE: I imagine there is a lot of merit associated with repairing the roof of the main pagoda, i.e. the one containing the eight Buddha hairs].

Here We Go Again

Packing the duffel (see Duffel Bag). Back to Yangon, then Mandalay, then Homalin, then a long boat ride to Htamanthi, and, finally, a short boat ride to Nam Sa Bi. Twenty-five days of community forestry in the Upper Chindwin. [NOTE: Goes without saying, but I love my job].

All Melody/#2

Yeah, I know it's Columbus Day, but I have a few things to finish up before heading off to Myanmar tomorrow (see Back To Nam Sa Bi). On the off chance that many of you viewing this are not in the office, I am posting a 13:13 minute clip of Nils Frahm playing two new pieces in the Resident Advisor studio in London. Story is, Frahm stopped by with a Juno, Fender Rhodes, drum machine and tape delay, and performed two brand new songs,"All Melody" and "#2." Happy Columbus Day. 

Route Set

Oldest son, Case (see Case and Phaeroom and Bouldering), is back setting routes at the Go Vertical Indoor Rock Climbing Gym in Philadelphia. [NOTE: And very happy about it]. 

Back To Nam Sa Bi

Got my visa–or e-visa, I should say–and all systems are go for my trip back to the Upper Chindwin next Tuesday. Laying out a Village Management Area (VMA) in the buffer zone of the Htamanthi Wildlife Sanctuary, clearing transect lines, setting stakes, sloshing around in streams, correcting for slope, and trying not to fall down. Should be great fun and I am very much looking forward to getting back to work with my friends from Nam Sa Bi (see Nam Sa Bi Field Crew).  

Pulpwood Logging

A close-up of one of the wonderful dioramas at the Louisiana State Exhibit Museum (LSEM) in Shreveport. Shows an early (1930's?) logging operation in a stand of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.). The workers are loading pulpwood (for paper) on the truck and five sawlogs have been stacked by the road. Amazing amount of detail here. [NOTE: There are 22 dioramas in the musuem, each depicting some aspect of Louisiana’s agriculture, technology, and natural resources during the Depression era. The displays were produced by a team of local artists and model builders under the direction of diorama artist, Henry B. White].

Building the Hermitage

Over eight years ago I built a little cabin in the Catskills (see Hermitage). Great fun and a lot of work. A wonderful place to spend a fall or winter evening reading a book of Chinese Zen poetry and sipping a cup of tea.  While the wood stove roars. Fondly thinking about those evenings now that the weather around here is starting to cool off. [NOTE: That's a People and Plants International cap hanging on the pole with my shirt. A collectors item].

Resource Needs Assessment

Gumring Jungkum (WCS Myanmar Program) takes notes during a Resource Needs Assessment (RNA) interview in Tikon (see Faces of Tikon and Three Jumps to Tikon). As is shown, most of the interviews were conducted by flashlight at night when people had returned home from their fields; welcome cups of hot tea were routinely provided by the households.

The RNA interviews are used to document the species and quantities of plant resources that households harvest from the forest each year, i.e. the demand. These are followed up with transect inventories to quantify the density and size-class distribution of each resource, i.e. the supply. Management planning is then undertaken together with the villagers to see what can be done to balance supply and demand and move local patterns of resource use to a more sustainable level.

[NOTE: If all goes well (visas and stuff), I should be heading back to the Upper Chindwin on October 14].