eBase USA Blue Ridge

Project Video Update

eBase USA Blue Ridge Take 4 from Eldon Karr on Vimeo.
Inspired by Robert Swan, polar explorer, who established the world's first eBase in Antarctica to serve as a self-powered educational center to balance our energy demands with a commitment to protect our remaining natural environment; this video features a local effort at establishing the world's 3rd eBase in the USA in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.

Hope for Our Beloved Hemlocks

For several years, we have been quietly experiencing a devastating loss in our Southern Appalachian Forests. The Eastern Hemlock has been slowly destroyed by the woolly adelgid, a imported predator insect from Japan, first noticed in Richmond, Va. in 1951.

Only in the past decade have I noticed massive losses of the trees that provide dark, cool environments even during the heat of summer to promote healthy streams that provide habitat for native brook trout. The brook trout are still here but the water temperature of our mountain streams is rising.

In today's Roanoke Times, I was particularly pleased to find the story of a Virginia Tech research team working to stop destruction of Appalachia’s iconic hemlock trees unleashed a new microscopic weapon in the fight against the tree-killing woolly adelgid.

According to the Roanoke Times story, "Tech entomology professor Scott Salom and graduate student Katlin Mooneyham seeded infested hemlocks on private property near Mountain Lake in Giles County with about 1,000 laboratory-grown eggs of the Laricobius osakensis, a newly discovered beetle species from Osaka, Japan, that preys almost exclusively on the woolly adelgid."

Pursuant to a recent commitment to change the course of this blog, I want to share this news with my neighbors that share my deep love for our "Garden of Eden" natural environment in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. I pray that we will see the return of our majestic hemlocks that have provided storybook setting for our lives for generations.

Is it time to change our course?

I've been thinking about all of the wasteful expenditure of our energy for decades. Indeed, I've focused upon that almost exclusively for the past four years. And, I've found solace in realizing that I am not alone with my negative perspective. Ironically, I've been encouraged with assurances that my viewpoints have been right.

Junkie for dopamine highs, that I am, I have continued to focus upon what is wrong with the direction our society (school of fish) is heading toward. Just today, I experienced yet another high when I read my good friend Dan Smith's dissatisfaction with the loss of elderly journalists to the vague benefit of greedy young publishers and stockholders.

Another "downer" that I got a "high" from was a report that "The Crooked Road" foundation or organization was dumping its efforts to become designated as a "National Heritage Trail." Don't misunderstand, these highs I receive are not necessarily enjoyable to me. They merely confirm my addiction to being "right."

With that said, (apologies for the cliche), I decided it might be time to change course with the posts on the Bent Mountain blog. This will not be easy for me, but I will try to offer more positive, and hopefully more inspirational, perspectives regarding our community.

Apple Ridge Farm, one of our shining stars in our mountain community, has requested my volunteer assistance in developing the world's third e-Base. The world's first e-Base was established on King George Island in Antarctica as a vision of Robert Swan, OBE, the only human to walk to both the North and South poles. The mission of the e-Base is to educate about balancing the accelerating human appetite for energy while preserving our wonderful natural environment.

The second e-Base was opened in the Interpretive Center of the Pench National Park in India in 2011.

And now thanks to the leadership of James Bray of Akzo-Nobel, LLC, we eagerly look forward to establishing the world's third e-Base USA at Apple Ridge Farm in the Blue Ridge Mountains.




E-Base USA Blue Ridge from Eldon Karr on Vimeo.
Inspired by Robert Swan, polar explorer, who established the world's first eBase in Antarctica to serve as a self-powered educational center to balance our energy demands with a commitment to protect our remaining natural environment; this video features a local effort at establishing the world's 3rd eBase in the USA in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.