Lately, with the patchy rain that has fallen in these parts, I’ve embraced the chance to bundle up and take long flights under the gray cloudy sky. I’m an outdoorsy kind of bird. None of that caged stuff for me. But, of course, no one really likes to be caged. That’s pretty evident lately with multiple reports of inmates escaping from the Lompoc prison camp.
The prison camp is a minimum-security prison for inmates who have committed lesser offenses.
How minimum is the security at Lompoc Prison? Apparently, pretty low. Four inmates have fled the prison since September. There were two missing when another two fled on Dec. 11.
Nearby residents have expressed some concern that the guys remain on the run. That’s a scary thought. I know I’d want some answers. But it seems logical that if you walked away from incarceration, you’d want to keep walking fast, and far, far, away. If that’s the case, it’s good news for concerned residents and not so good news for authorities looking to recapture them. And maybe figure out how these are escaping.
Until then I guess we all need to keep an eye out.
You know what the federal government has kept a close on eye on: tiger salamanders.
If you know anything about the salamanders, they have caused controversy. On the one hand environmental groups have argued they need saving—they’ve been on the endangered species list for years—while anyone wanting to start a development project has loathed to see one appear on their property. Moving around dirt on your own property and finding a tiger salamander will halt that project in a heartbeat, which if you’re a salamander, is pretty fast.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service approved a recovery plan (at a cost of $181 million) for the animals, pledging to preserve 34,000 acres of tiger salamander habitat.
Of all the items in the recovery plan, the one I’m most curious about is the one that vows to reduce vehicle-strike mortalities and reduce barriers to dispersal. Will they add crosswalks? Signs that indicate “salamander crossing”? In order to reduce barriers to dispersal, maybe they can confer with the Lompoc prison.
With salamanders addressed, maybe it’s time to work on a plan to preserve our ocean environment by eliminating the threat of oil spills. The Santa Barbara Channel is once again vulnerable to offshore fracking since federal agencies lifted a moratorium on offshore fracking in May.
It didn’t take long after that for oil company DCOR to apply to frack from Platform Gilda.
Though nothing has been approved yet, the Center for Biological Diversity believes the project will have no problem getting the required permits. Let’s hope that we can protect the ocean as vigorously as we did the tiger salamander. I have a feeling we need it a lot more.
The Canary loves her fishy friends. Send comments to canary@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Dec 15-22, 2016.
