Wetlands

Lac Saint-Pierre Biosphere Reserve

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Between Montreal and Quebec City is the beginning of the St Lawrence Estuary, near the city of Trois-Rivières. (One of the dozen tributaries here has islands at its mouth, making it look like three rivers). The UNESCO Biosphere includes this large wetland lake and many islands in the seaway and tributaries, making it an excellent site for birds. Its great blue heron rookery is quite famous, but may be difficult to access. I chose to visit the Ecological Park of Anse du Port, because it has a very long boardwalk out through the wetland all the way to the lake, with a three story viewing platform to view container ships passing in the main channel. From the boardwalk, I saw several great blue heron, two beaver, a raccoon, a woodpecker, ducks (above), bittern, and a half dozen other types of birds. Binoculars or a telephoto lens camera would be helpful, but sometimes the birds come quite close.

César E. Chávez National Monument

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I returned here today to see the exhibits, as they were closed when I visited last year. The black & white photos of the Delano grape strike and Chávez’s hunger strike remarks are particularly moving. Pesticides were not regulated at all then, and labor was denied rights by growers. Chávez’s national boycott of grapes helped change both.

Today, growers drain rivers, lakes, wetlands and water tables, even as the western half of the country suffers in drought. In Kern County, where the Monument is, the Kern River no longer flows to the Kern Lake, due to diversion for agriculture. In order to sell more produce, growers are ruining the environment for fish, animals and people. Climate change and some farming practices also exacerbate Valley Fever, a deadly fungal infection spreading in California & Arizona.

Agriculture is a trillion dollar industry in the US, with $150 billion in exports. But Big Ag prefers to blame Democrats, rather than face the fundamental challenge of the climate crisis. Big Ag needs to convert farm equipment to electric, and they need to stop using fossil fuel to ship their produce around the world. They also need to cooperate to restore wetlands to sequester carbon.

César Chávez devoted his life to raise awareness and lead civil disobedience to make change. He acknowledged that in the struggle against the rich and powerful, poor people only have their lives “and the justice of our cause” on their side. Today, we need more people to be just as devoted to stop the climate crisis.

Wisteria, photographed in my previous visit in 2021.

Click to see my photos of all national park units in California, or click to read an updated site visit here.