We finally had a nice day, the first in weeks, to welcome us on a Saturday and it could not come any sooner for these two green activists.Today was the day when we would be doing a tour of a park and cemetery to look for ground squirrel burrows. We are doing this on a Saturday because Layla and I are directors of a local environmental group, a group which has kept our local city from using poison to kill ground squirrels since it causes havoc to the eco-system of the area, and causes raptors to starve to death.
So, today we journeyed to these parks, where we are taking an inventory of the ground squirrel burrows so we can manage them and move them away from the grave sites and baseball diamonds, and into areas where they will not be in danger from humans. To do this, we use sonic repellers, and other non-lethal methods. We do not trap them, but simply help convince them to move to another area of the park or cemetery.
So, for our fifth day of our Green Year, we spent two hours walking around, finding the ground squirrel holes, putting the location on a map, and then putting dirt over it. We put the dirt over it to see if it is still an active hole. If it is, then the ground squirrels will easily get through the loose dirt, and we will know what areas to concentrate on for repelling ground squirrels.
Total Ground Squirrel Burrows Found: Over 100. Birds saved by taking over the program for the city from pest controllers; dozens if not hundreds.
