Impression Evergreen

I'm drawn to water - lakes, ponds, waterfalls and especially rivers. Being near a still lake or reservoir has a peaceful, calming effect. I prefer rivers because they have an essence of ebb and flow. A wild river sculpts the land and is always changing. It's dynamic, constantly seeking a new course to carve its bed and flooding its banks to deposit fresh silt. A riverine landscape improves the scenery and offers the chance to study a wide variety of plants and wildlife. Throughout human history rivers have been the scene of important milestones. They have been crucial in determining political boundaries and defending countries. Most major cities of the world are situated on the banks of rivers. A river can be a great source of abundance or catastrophic destruction. As a result, people have developed ways to manage and control rivers to make them more useful and less disruptive to human activity. This summer we visited three rivers. The Rio Grande near Alamosa, Colorado, the

The Awesome Walrus Guest post by Theo Miller It was the frosty winter of 2006 and snow was falling from the Northeast. A sudden flash of light came from behind me, then everything went black. When I awoke, I thought I was back home, but there was no wind, frost or even snow on the ground. When I turned around, I realized what happened to the snow... There was a 25 foot tall, glass window and people were watching me. There were little kids, old kids, smelly kids and teenagers taunting me. The parents were on their phones not aware that kids were dangling themselves over the wall, almost falling into my habitat. It looked like I was going to have the same day for the rest of my life. One day a child got pushed into my enclosure. I brought him to the glass wall and showed his mom. I climbed a rock and gave him to his mother. That was the right thing to do until I realized I was out of my pen. Now the chase was on! The Zoo Crew chased me to the San Diego beach. I used my swimm