Gradually, 33 tons of hand-carried rocks coalesce into a wall about knee high and nearly 200 feet long. It arcs along a contour line 2 feet below the typical low tide. Most of the time, the wall will be submerged, invisible to visitors to the Kukutali Preserve, co-managed by the Swinomish Tribe and Washington State Parks.
Over time, the sturdy but porous structure should capture sediment on its upland side and expand the shallow, gently sloping habitat for things like butter clams and littleneck clams.
As with any backyard garden, continual tending—in this case, by clearing rocks and algae from the clam-growing areas and digging into the sediment with sticks to aerate it—will be part of ensuring a productive harvest.
Clam gardens grow four times more butter clams and twice as many littleneck clams as unterraced beaches do, according to a study of dozens of ancient clam gardens around Quadra Island, British Columbia. Young littleneck clams planted in the centuries-old terraces grew nearly twice as fast, making more local protein available to shellfish harvesters.
[…] Crushed shell bits are expected to wash in and pile up behind the wall.
They can locally neutralize some of carbon dioxide that’s making sea water more acidic and less hospitable to shellfish as well as overheating the planet.
Some more information on clam garden designs:
Sequence of construction of three different clam garden forms, based on northern Quadra Island sites. Falling sea level during the Holocene means that the base of many clam garden walls, particularly those built on soft sediment, are often exposed during the lowest tidal windows today. Form 1. Clam gardens built on soft sediment beaches; (1a) Original unmodified beach surface with existing clam habitat prior to wall construction; (1b) Clam garden wall and terrace on same beach. Note clams and barnacle scars from original beach covered by clam garden wall and terrace sediment. Note also some boulders with barnacle scars from original beach moved into clam garden wall during construction. Stippled light coloured sediment behind wall indicates shell hash and coarse sediment that accumulated after wall was built, thereby expanding clam habitat; Form 2. Clam gardens built on bedrock shelf; (2a) Original bedrock shoreline; (2b) Wall built on same bedrock to create clam garden terrace. Note base of wall is not always accessible at low tide; Form 3. Clam gardens built on steep eroding bedrock shoreline; (3a) Original steep, eroding bedrock shoreline. (3b) Clam garden wall and terrace in same location. Rocks from mid to upper intertidal and supratidal are moved down slope to create levelled terrace at the elevation for optimal clam habitat. Note base of wall is usually not accessible at low tide.
Just as with a vegetable garden, Hatch says, clam gardens require regular care and demonstrate that people can interact with and harvest from nature in a mutually beneficial way. Tribes maintain the rock terrace as it weathers storms and waves. They remove seaweed, and dig clams strategically, selecting larger clams and making space for smaller ones. If they don’t till the beach, it can get too compact and low in oxygen for baby clams to take root. “People often refer to that as fluffing the beach,” Hatch says.
[…] Clams thrive in areas with a high stream flow, a mix of fine sediment, pebbles and shells, gentle wave energy and enough food.
With so many schools closing due to COVID-19, there are thousands of children who will be missing out on daily meals that they need to survive. I just donated to Feeding America. Every dollar they receive helps them feed up to 10 meals to people in need. Please consider contributing to a similar charity or local food bank if you can afford it. Cheers everyone, stay safe.
the inherent horor of being trans is knowing you are the single touchstone a cis person will probably ever have
im reminded of when i went to sit my philosophy exam and had an ex-officer as an invidulator. he asked me if i was trans, something i had no obligation to answer. but if i didnt, i would be cagey. i would now paint an image of all trans people being rude in his mind, so i said yes
that invidulator asked me why, as a trans student, i should have my rights respected if there are so few of us
and instead of rightfully getting pissed off, i had to remember that i am currently representing a community of millions to a single man in a room with just the two of us in it. i could be the deciding factor on how he conducts behaviour with trans people in the future. what if he gets called to invidulate again in 20 years time and has another trans student? what if he remembers the one he met before, and instantly assumes he knows our community?
so i explained to him why i should have rights. and i used my words carefully, because if i slip up even once i have now put a trans person in danger, because he has made a choice based on me
trans people dont get to be angry. cis people always joke about how we demand a space, or we demand the right name, or we demand they bow down to us
think very carefully, did that trans woman demand that you use the right name, or did she correct you? did that trans man hold you at gunpoint, demanding you let him piss in public, or did he look like he wanted to use the disabled toilet to avoid bothering you all together. did the nonbinary trans person have you on your knees begging for forgiveness, or did they ask nicely for you to be mindful of their pronouns?
the transphobic narrative is one of victimhood, meanwhile if i even use the wrong tone cis people will act as a child does, and they will demand that the next trans person they meet apologise
every trans person you meet is aware of this too. we’re all very tuned into the fact that we are ambassadors, and that we never asked to be that. i dont want to have to very carefully consider ‘will a curt answer mean someome later dies’, but every day of my life i do
and cis people need to know that. to be trans is to literally walk on constant eggshells of cis fragility. its why when we see a new trans celebrity we have to desperately hope they dont do stupid fucking shit like caitlyn jenner did. because now everyone thinks trans women are like her. because now negotiations for our right to exist unmolested have gone back another 20 years
and tbh, cis people are pathetically weak. a trans person asked you to use the right name? that did not happen in a vacuum. that trans person has met 50-60 cis people today who refused
If you didn’t see the post I reblogged earlier–there was a catastrophic earthquake in Nepal. At least 1,200 people have died. Kathmandu was badly hit. It’s a city of over a million people. They’re going to need food, water, and shelter on top of medical help and search and rescue.
Food and bottled water are already running short. People are afraid to go back inside and are sleeping outside despite the cold.
If you can donate here are some reputable charities, who are already on the ground helping in the rescue efforts. And if you cannot donate, please consider reblogging.
you can also donate to your local Red Cross in your country and you can often select to apply the money “to where the need is greatest.”
When donating to charity it’s a good idea to check http://www.charitynavigator.org/ to make sure your money is being put to good use and the charity is not a scam.
