u/Anahata_Green

There is a wildfire near my home that has burned about 7,000 acres, including habitat for some rare or sensitive plants.

I live in the sagebrush steppe, which did not evolve the burn cycles of the prairie where fire recovery is quick and inevitable.

When land burns in the sagebrush steppe, it takes 50-100 years for recovery, assuming no invasive pressures from cheatgrass etc.

I've worked with local biologists and ecologists who have emphasized that 1) cheatgrass is replacing sagebrush steppe at most burn sites and 2) the biodiversity at those sites is pretty impacted.

Some of the burned areas were pristine wildflower habitat and I'm just mourning their loss. Other areas that burned were places where I and other local volunteers had previously planted sagebrush seedlings to help with city-wide rewilding efforts from previous fires.

I posted about this in a local subreddit and was told to "get a grip" and that I "must not have any friends" that I'm sad about the loss of  "a few plants" and "fucking sagebrush."

I'm not saying that the human side should not be considered (yes, no property or people were lost), nor am I a stranger to living through wildfires (I'm even friends with a hotshot firefighter).

I'm just sad that the place where I live (the fire started a mile from my house) will likely be robbed of its biodiversity in perpetuity.

There is a wildfire near my home that has burned about 7,000 acres, including habitat for some rare or sensitive plants.

I live in the sagebrush steppe, which did not evolve the burn cycles of the prairie where fire recovery is quick and inevitable.

When land burns in the sagebrush steppe, it takes 50-100 years for recovery, assuming no invasive pressures from cheatgrass etc.

I've worked with local biologists and ecologists who have emphasized that 1) cheatgrass is replacing sagebrush steppe at most burn sites and 2) the biodiversity at those sites is pretty impacted.

Some of the burned areas were pristine wildflower habitat and I'm just mourning their loss. Other areas that burned were places where I and other local volunteers had previously planted sagebrush seedlings to help with city-wide rewilding efforts from previous fires.

I posted about this in a local subreddit and was told to "get a grip" and that I "must not have any friends" that I'm sad about the loss of "a few plants" and "fucking sagebrush."

I'm not saying that the human side should not be considered (yes, no property or people were lost), nor am I a stranger to living through wildfires (I'm even friends with a hotshot firefighter).

I'm just sad that the place where I live (the fire started a mile from my house) will likely be robbed of its biodiversity in perpetuity.

I teach in the summer for a non-profit. I make the same amount per week that I did when I was hired in 2013.

They also pay us for only 20 hours of work per week, but the work we're required to perform actually takes 35-40 hours.

Some of the other employees are talking about asking for a raise, but we're in a right-to-work state, so I don't know how far we'll get.

(I also teach during the school year; the non-profit gig is just my summer job.)

Original Post : I would love to be able to visit this sub and not have to see posts and comments about killing birds

Original Text:

I am by no means claiming that invasive species do not pose threats, just that I thought this sub was about the joy of birdwatching, not extermination techniques.

Edit: Please don't argue about invasive species in the comments as this is not the point of my post. I'm simply saying I wish r/birding was focused solely on the joy of birding, not techniques for killing invasive species. I am not saying invasive species should go unchecked.

If you're arguing about the merits of killing invasive species, you clearly did not bother reading the post. Or you just don't care and are hijacking it to talk about a different topic.

Edit 2: I am not claiming the sub is inundated with posts about killing birds. I'm saying I wish it was completely free from those posts. I won't be responding to any more comments since people are downvoting innocuous, honest responses out of spite because they think I have a problem with keeping invasive species under control despite me explaining multiple times that I do not. It's okay to not want to read about techniques for killing birds and still understand why population control is important.

Edit for Hairiest-something who accused me of making a snarky comment and deleting it. I deleted my comment (which I believe said "you didn't read the post" or something similar) so you could read it and it wouldn't be automatically downvoted to hell by everyone who doesn't seem to understand that I can be for controlling invasive species and still not want to hear about killing techniques in r/birding. Every single comment I make is downvoted like crazy by people who did not take the time to read.

Some of you are just being cruel for no reason, accusing me of posting this identical post previously (I did not), accusing me of not being a real birder, etc. It's okay for me to understand the importance of controlling invasive species while not wanting to hear graphic details about killing birds.

As for those of you asking me to link to these posts and comments, I did not make a list of the ones I've seen over the past year because, well, why would I? One is fairly recent and most of it was in the comment section. I'm not claiming it happens all the time but I've come across it enough times that I felt compelled to post this.

To the person who called my edits unhinged: Here's one for you! I'm assuming you feel the need to put others down to feel good about yourself. I'm just a regular person with feelings. Nothing unhinged about it. What is unhinged is being cruel to a stranger for no reason.

Comments:

I just went and scrolled through 200 of the posts, so basically everything posted past few days, and didn't see a single mention or post about this except this one. This doesn't seem like a rampant issue

In my years of birding I have come across some things I didn’t like in the process, that is part of birding. You are going to find things you don’t like love on this sub and in birding. Hobbies are not perfect little escapes or sanctuaries

Ignoring a problem doesn't make it go away. Same as mindlessly downvoting things you don't like. Invasive birds ruin the joy of birding native birds. You cannot simply avoid the problems.

I have been here years and have never seen this. Who are you raging against?

Pearl clutching. Birding requires stewardship. If you don't want to protect birds and the environment then you're not a birder, you're just a larper

your snarky reply that you quickly deleted shows me that you're not a serious person. We'll take care of the environment so you can sit at home and feed your house Sparrows

Could you please post an example? Cos I haven’t seen one.

I’m sorry but I am a REGULAR on this and other birding subs, and I have not seen ANY POSTS promoting euthanasia.

If you want to see only one aspect of something, isn't that also known as gatekeeping?

This satire article about looksmaxxing incels' toxic masculinity is one of the funniest things I've read.

It's five a.m. It's still dark out. What the hell are the robins doing? Everything else (diurnal people/animals) is still trying to sleep. Why are those red-breasted little shits singing so loudly?

One time I woke up from a deep sleep in the middle of the night to hear a robin singing like its life depended on it. I checked the clock and it was 4:30 in the morning. 4:30 a.m. Let that sink in.

There are *no* robin emergencies at 4:30 in the morning. I *guarantee* it.

Robins need to start singing at 6 a.m. at the absolute earliest.

Sincerely, a light sleeper with insomnia.