Rebecca Schultz’ sculptures are inspired by the forms and materials utilized by Indigenous peoples to build traditional fish traps, along with Hester-Dandy substrate samplers, a tool used to collect macroinvertebrate samples from freshwater. Schultz’ compelling take on these forms are exhibited in Tookany Creek, in High School Park, Elkins Park, PA. A World in Our Streams combines creative artworks and conservation science to explore the dynamic habitat of aquatic macroinvertebrates.

Jeanne Dodds, Endangered Species Coalition Creative Engagement Director, shares a conversation with Rebecca Schultz about her creative project A World in our Stream, and how this project fits into her larger creative practice supporting biodiversity conservation.

Jeanne Dodds: What are aquatic macroinvertebrates, anyhow? What makes them such fascinating and ecologically significant species? And amazingly, some macroinvertebrates are pollinators…. tell us how that works!

Rebecca Schultz: Macroinvertebrates are animals without a backbone that you can see without using a microscope or magnifying glass. This includes insect larvae–such as dragonflies, damselflies, stoneflies, and mayflies–who spend more of their lives in the water than they do on land. Many flies live only weeks, days, or even minutes after they emerge from the water as adults–they don’t have mouth parts to eat–and they focus primarily on reproducing before they die. Freshwater snails, worms, and crustaceans like crayfish and their smaller cousin called scuds are also macroinvertebrates. 

One of the important things about macroinvertebrates is that they are excellent bioindicators. They help us to assess the health of a water body, because they live most of their life in the stream and different ones are more or less sensitive to pollution. So if you find certain species–for example, caddisflies, which I found in the stretch of Tookany Creek where I installed my sculpture–that are very sensitive to pollution. So their presence indicates that the creek is healthy. The other thing about macroinvertebrates is that some–like the stonefly–are pollinators, or they are food for other pollinators, such as hummingbirds. In short, they’re a critically important part of watershed ecosystems.  

JD: Why do you think it’s important to recognize and pay attention to less well known species, such as macroinvertebrates? 

RS: I consider myself pretty knowledgeable about the natural world and local ecosystems, but I didn’t know anything about macroinvertebrates until I took the training on them. This lack of knowledge was reflected in the audience for my artist talk–so many people came up to me afterwards and thanked me for raising awareness about these creatures that most of them have never thought about. 

I think this awareness is particularly important because insects are a critical component of our ecosystems. They make up over two-thirds of the world’s 1.5 million known animal species, and current estimates indicate that 40% of insect species are in decline, and a third are endangered. Habitat loss, the use of pesticides and climate change are the most significant threats. So learning about macroinvertebrates is the first step to being motivated to protect their habitat. 

JD: How did you make the connection between your creative practice and  themes of macroinvertebrate habitat in your current project, A World in Our Streams?

RS: For a number of years, the impetus for my creative work has been to help repair the relationship between us humans and the more-than-human world by reconnecting us with the ecosystems that surround us. I believe that doing so is critical to our collective survival in the face of the climate and biodiversity crises. 

Watersheds have evolved as the ecosystems I’m particularly interested in–they are the essence of what scientists are increasingly calling the critical zone, where rock, water, plants, fungi, and–based on newer science, microbes–interact with each other to create the foundation for life. And, where I live, our environmental challenges center on water–how to adapt to heavier rainfall and stormwater runoff, combined sewer overflow, and flooding due to heavier rainfall. It’s important to me to have some baseline scientific knowledge of the ecosystems I work with, so in 2022 I became a streamkeeper with the Tookany/Tacony-Frankford Watershed Partnership (TTF). I monitor a section of Tookany Creek once a month, and through that work have attended trainings to better understand how to assess the health of watersheds. I was offered the opportunity to get certified as a Save Our Streams monitor, which entailed learning how to sample and identify macroinvertebrates. And I became really fascinated with them! 

JD:  How did you develop the relationship between your artwork and the location of High School Park and Tookany Creek? Why and how is this place specifically important to your work? 

RS: I moved to this area in 2016, after 20 years of living in the San Francisco Bay Area, where the regional parks were one of my favorite places to spend time. High School Park is a 10-minute walk from my home, and while it’s small, it’s mighty! For thirty years, our neighbors have worked diligently to restore diverse native ecosystems, from a meadow to woodlands, to the stretch of Tookany Creek that runs through the Park. It’s such a special place. 

In the last 8 years, I have learned so much about native ecosystems–much of that from the relationships I’ve built with local environmental organizations, like Friends of High School Park and the Tookany/Tacony-Frankford Watershed Partnership (TTF). Tookany Creek winds through Cheltenham Township on its way to the Delaware River; through my volunteering as a streamkeeper and the continued evolution of my practice, I’ve become more and more connected to this landscape. So much so, that when my stepson passed away in January, our family planted a tree for him in High School Park. We all visit the tree–an American Persimmon–regularly. It has become a site of solace for us, in the face of profound grief. 

JD: Please tell us a bit more about your artistic practice, specifically, your previous projects at High School Park involving watersheds and soils.

RS: About ten years ago, I re-focused my creative practice on visual art, after decades of making theater and performance art. At the same time, I was becoming more aware of the scale of the intertwined climate and biodiversity crises, and wanted my work to be a response. As I became more interested in art and ecology, I wanted to start making outdoor installations with natural materials. In 2020, during covid, I asked Cynthia Blackwood, the park manager, if I could do some installations in High School Park. I was very grateful to have the opportunity to experiment in this way. The following year, my friend and fellow artist Julia Way, who was on the Friends of High School Park board, started a summer outdoor art program. I collaborated with Brenda Howell on the piece Walk the Green Path, which created a pathway through the native meadow, with signage about the common, latin, and Lenape names of medicinal plants that were growing there. In 2023, my community-engaged, participatory art and community science project Mapping Our Watershed was also part of the summer series. 

Also in 2023, Cynthia was in the process of creating a “stumpery” in the Park, and asked me if I would make a stump sculpture with pieces of trees that had been cut down. Tree stumps and fallen trees are the site of rich ecosystems, including plants, mosses, lichen, fungi, and insects. Once I had finished the piece, Cynthia put native plants in around it. I visit the stump sculpture every single time I’m at the park, because it is constantly changing and evolving. It is now a collaboration with thousands of other living things, what I call my more-than-human relations. This piece inspired me to want to create more sculptural habitat, and led me to A World in Our Streams. 

JD: What do you hope that audiences and participants engaged with this project take away from their experiences with the installation and macroinvertebrates?

RS: I hope they gain a greater understanding of, and appreciation for, aquatic macroinvertebrates, so that they are more motivated to conserve and protect them as an essential part of our watersheds. In Cheltenham Township, water is one of our most pressing environmental issues–how we will adapt to increasing heavy rainfall and the resulting stormwater runoff, and how we will protect the biodiversity that keeps our watersheds healthy so that they are more resilient. My work is grounded by an intent so beautifully captured by Senegalese environmentalist Baba Dioum: “In the end we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand; and we will understand only what we are taught.”

I also want audiences to understand that art is an important vehicle for imagining and constructing the world we want, a world where we acknowledge and step into our role as a part of ecosystems, not separate from it. I was in France recently, and had the incredible experience of seeing cave paintings that were made 27,000 years ago. Our ancestors had short and hard lives, but they still made art. It’s essential to our humanity. 

JD: Is there anything else about the project you’d like to share with the ESC audience?

RS: This project has been a lesson in resilience and flexibility. I installed three sculptures woven from willow branches, inspired by the forms of indigenous fish traps, in Tookany Creek the day before my artist talk. I also put two sculptures inspired by Hester Dendy macroinvertebrate samplers into the stream, tied to cinder blocks. That night, there was a storm where we had nearly an inch of rain in an hour and 35 mph wind gusts. I came back the next morning, and the woven sculptures were almost completely destroyed. One of the Hester Dendys was nowhere to be found. Water is extremely powerful. I quickly rebuilt two woven forms, that are shorter and more densely woven than the first set, and installed them in the creek. It’s now been more than two weeks, and they’re doing okay. They’re actually collecting leaves and other natural debris, which is a good thing. They’re evolving in collaboration with the creek. On August 24th, I will co-facilitate a workshop with my friend and collaborator Ryan Neuman from TTF, where we will sample macroinvertebrates from the sculptures and see what we find! 

A World in Our Streams exhibit is sponsored by the Endangered Species Coalition Pollinator Protectors campaign, in collaboration with Friends of High School Park.

Photo credits: @jwayprojects and @djibrinemainassara

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WASHINGTON, D.C. (June 24, 2024) — 

In a show of bipartisan support for wildlife conservation,  U.S. Senator Padilla (D-CA) and U. S. Representatives Don Beyer (D-VA) and Ryan Zinke (R-MT) announced new legislation to protect wildlife movement and migration.   The Wildlife Movement Through Partnerships Act, which will be introduced in the U.S. House next week, establishes a new program to provide financial and technical assistance to states, Tribes, and regional partnerships for the conservation of wildlife migration routes and connectivity.  The bill would also direct the U.S. Geological Survey corridor mapping team to provide technical assistance to states and Tribes and collaborate with federal and state agencies and tribes to map movement areas. 

“Ensuring wildlife movement is one of our most important tools to address the biodiversity crisis, especially in the face of climate change,” said Susan Holmes, Executive Director of the Endangered Species Coalition. “This bill is a step forward to healing the landscape, lessening the effect of roads, fencing, and habitat loss on some of our most critically endangered species.  By providing funds for states and tribes to protect wildlife migration and movement, this bill is a win for wildlife such as the ocelot in Texas, the Sonoran pronghorn in Arizona, and the California Tiger Salamander. The Endangered Species Coalition thanks our House and Senate leaders for introducing this important bill.”

“With one in five migratory species facing the threat of extinction, recognizing connectivity corridors can help us understand biodiversity loss and better protect the migration patterns of iconic American species, like the Pronghorn,” said Representative Don Beyer. “Our Wildlife Movement Through Partnerships Act would provide the necessary grants and technical assistance to enhance wildlife connectivity and enable the collection and analysis of data on wildlife movement areas. Additionally, this bill would support the U.S. Geological Service mapping efforts that track wildlife movement to accurately identify active corridors and migration patterns. I thank my colleagues and conservation leaders who worked with us to craft this important bill and urge my colleagues to support it as we seek to protect our wildlife diversity by ensuring that species can move freely across landscapes and access vital resources.”

With a 69% of loss of abundance in mammal, bird, reptile, and fish species since 1970 globally, biodiversity loss and the disruption of natural wildlife habitats are among the nation’s greatest conservation challenges. Connecting habitats by protecting corridors enables species to migrate, access resources for survival, and better adapt to changing landscapes and climate. Many endangered species, such as the red wolf, Florida panther, ocelots, grizzly bears, and the red-cockaded woodpecker, struggle due to habitat fragmentation resulting from roads and poorly planned development.  A 2021  report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) calls for wildlife corridors as part of an integrated strategy to address both climate change and biodiversity loss. This past February, the first of its kind United Nations (UN) report on the State of the World’s Migratory Species revealed that one in five of the migratory species on the UN’s global list are threatened with extinction, and of these, the North American species are experiencing faster declines than other regions. Identifying key sites along migratory pathways and increasing management effectiveness of protected and conserved areas are among the top recommended priority actions. 

A one-page summary of the Wildlife Movement Through Partnerships Act is available here. 

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Email your senators and ask that they oppose ALL anti-wildlife amendments on spending bills.

A pair of measures would stop any progress in saving North Atlantic right whales and Rice’s whale, found only in the Gulf of Mexico. Just last week, a 2-month old right whale calf was gravely wounded by a boat’s propeller, causing an injury that may push this species closer to extinction. This highly endangered species urgently needs the protections that Congress is seeking to deny in this appropriations bill.

Other proposals from the House include:

• Reinstating the flawed Trump administration rule delisting the gray wolf in 44 states;
• Blocking protections for Northern long-eared bats;
• Prohibiting the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating rodenticides that cause excruciating pain and death in big cats and other animals that consume poisoned prey;
• Delisting the Greater Yellowstone population of grizzly bears from the Endangered Species Act–paving the way for sport hunting;
• Preventing sage grouse from receiving protection and more.

The Senate can stop these attacks on wildlife from becoming law–but your senators need to know that you will support them if they block these amendments.

Please email your senators today and ask them to protect endangered species by ensuring that these amendments are not included in the final appropriations bills.

Thank you for your commitment to wildlife and wild places.

Susan Holmes
Executive Director
Endangered Species Coalition
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For immediate release:

February 3, 2023

Contacts:

Erik Molvar, Western Watersheds Project, (307) 399-7910, emolvar@westernwatersheds.org 

Joe Bushyhead, WildEarth Guardians, (505) 660-0284, jbushyhead@wildearthguardians.org 

Today, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) released a preliminary finding that removing Endangered Species Act protections for grizzly bears in two ecosystems–Greater Yellowstone and the Northern Continental Divide–“may be warranted.” The finding, issued in response to petitions filed by the states of Montana and Wyoming, will start a formal review of the species’ status in those areas. The Service denied Idaho’s separate request to delist all grizzlies in the continental United States.

“Idaho’s proposal to delist all grizzlies in the lower 48 was laughable,” said Erik Molvar, a wildlife biologist and executive director for Western Watersheds Project. “We’re happy to hear that the Fish and Wildlife Service hasn’t slipped so far from reality as Idaho’s politicians.”

“However, we’re disappointed to hear that the Service will consider delisting the Northern Continental Divide and Greater Yellowstone grizzlies to appease the states of Montana and Wyoming,” said Molvar.

“These grizzly populations are still genetically isolated from each other and some half-baked plan to ship Northern Continental Divide grizzlies to the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem does not overcome the distinct lack of state support for a sustainably connected grizzly bear population.”

An estimated 50,000 grizzly bears once roamed the western United States. But with the arrival of European colonizers to North America came efforts to eradicate the species. Subject to government-funded bounty programs, grizzlies were relentlessly poisoned, trapped, and shot across their range. By the 1930s, grizzly bears occupied just 2% of their original range in the continental U.S. By 1975, the year the Service listed grizzlies in the lower-48 at “threatened” under the ESA, only 700-800 bears remained in several small, isolated populations.

Grizzly bears have expanded modestly since listing. The grizzly population in the lower-48 has grown to about 1,900 bears, with most concentrated in two “recovery zones,” the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem (GYE), which includes and surrounds the eponymous national park, and the Northern Continental Divide ecosystem (NCDE), in northern Montana. 

Yet grizzly bears occupy only about 6% of their historical range in the lower-48. Grizzlies also continue to face a number of threats, including lack of population connectivity, habitat loss and fragmentation, and dwindling food sources. And they remain persecuted: bears are often killed in response to conflicts with livestock released to graze in their core habitat.

“The Fish and Wildlife Service reached the right result on Idaho’s petition,” said Joe Bushyhead, endangered species attorney with WildEarth Guardians. “But we strongly oppose attempts to delist grizzly in Yellowstone and Northern Continental Divide ecosystems. Delisting these isolated populations of grizzlies will violate the terms of the ESA and hamstring efforts to recover bears elsewhere in the lower-48. The Service should not confuse the growth of just two bear populations with recovery.”

If the Service were to delist the GYE and NCDE bear populations, the agency would need to also find that bears in the two areas amount to “distinct population segments”–isolated populations that, like a species or subspecies, can receive their own ESA protections. But Service has identified the lack of connection between Western grizzly populations (and the resulting consequences on the species’ genetic health) as a stressor affecting all listed bears in the lower-48.

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WASHINGTON— Conservation and wildlife advocacy groups are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Endangered Species Act this year, commemorating five decades of effective and crucial protection for imperiled animals and plants.

Passed nearly unanimously by Congress and signed into law by Richard Nixon on Dec. 28, 1973, the Endangered Species Act continues to be a bedrock environmental law for the United States. The Act has been tremendously successful at preventing species that are protected under it from going extinct. The Act has saved countless imperiled species, and 90% of the plants and wildlife listed under the law are recovering on schedule to meet the timetables in their recovery plans.

“This year, as we celebrate 50 years of the Endangered Species Act, we know its role in maintaining biodiversity is more important now than ever, especially as we face a worsening climate crisis and mass extinction,” said House Natural Resources Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva. “From protecting critical habitat to creating recovery plans, the Endangered Species Act has facilitated the recovery of species like the humpback whale and bald eagle, while also protecting iconic species like grizzly bears, sea turtles and jaguars. We know this milestone is also a time to reinvigorate our defense of Endangered Species Act protections. Each year, Republicans ramp up their attacks to undermine science-based decisions about listing, delisting, habitat protections and recovery, so they can more easily dole out favors for polluters. We stand ready to continue our fight for species and their habitats over the next 50 years and beyond.” 

“For 50 years, the Endangered Species Act has been our safety net for fish, plants and wildlife on the brink of extinction,” said Bob Stanton, former director of the U.S. National Park Service. “As we look to the next 50 years, we owe it to future generations to fully fund and strengthen the law that protects our nation’s wildlife heritage.”

More than 1,747 imperiled species of plants, fish and wildlife in the United States were protected by the Endangered Species Act as of 2019, according to a peer reviewed study. Only 26 have gone extinct or are possibly extinct after being placed on the list of protected species. However, many other plants and animals — like the Bishop’s ʻōʻō, Guam broadbill and Tacoma pocket gopher — have disappeared while waiting for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to make decisions on whether to protect them. 

Despite its strong track record, and the support of 90% of American voters, the Endangered Species Act continues to face political threats. In 2017 more than 400 organizations signed a letter to members of Congress opposing efforts to weaken the law. This year provides an opportunity to reflect on the law’s successes, as well as find ways to strengthen it to protect imperiled plants and animals. 

In celebration of the Endangered Species Act, conservation and animal advocacy organizations will be hosting events, releasing reports and launching a website to honor this historic law. These include holding an awards ceremony for people and organizations working to save imperiled animals, educating members of Congress about the importance of the Endangered Species Act and sponsoring a series of murals highlighting endangered species. 

___

Contact:    

Stephanie Kurose, Center for Biological Diversity, (202) 849-8401 x 103, skurose@biologicaldiversity.org
Derek Goldman, Endangered Species Coalition, dgoldman@endangered.org
Perry Wheeler, Earthjustice, (202) 792-6211, pwheeler@earthjustice.org
Regan Downey, Wolf Conservation Center, (914) 763-2373 x 110, regan@nywolf.org

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