I remember a phone conversation I once had with my father, a news junky, during a season at an outdoor education center in Ohio. He told me he had good news: the war had ended. I was a little shocked. I had not heard the news in months and had no idea we had sent troops to some far away land. Unless they showed up on our 468-acre piece of forest, I would have never known they were anywhere. Life has not changed much for me since then. I still live in a bit of a void up here in our beautiful mountains.

We don’t have a lot of time to hear what is happening in the world beyond. This is a great blessing in some ways, but how much is going on in the world that would benefit us as Outdoor Educators? We strive to keep our lessons relevant, but we miss so much of what is happening beyond our tiny communities of like-minded teachers. So I have decided to add a weekly blog post to help us all keep track of what is happening in our world and even in our own back yard.

The Casey’s June Beetle is a little less than an inch long. It is whitish or brown with brown and cream colored longitudinal lines down its wing covers. It is found in only a small area of Riverside County, California, just over 50 miles from High Trails. The females are rarely seen as they crawl along the ground. The males fly just above the ground for a few hours on late spring nights, looking for a mate. This endemic beetle once covered a large area from Palm Springs to Indian Wells. They have now shrunk to just two populations spread out over an 800-acre habitat that is made up, in a large part, of private and developing land. Their habitat is shrinking fast, and until recently their future seemed doomed.

Dan Bowman

This month, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service set aside 567 acres of vital habitat for the protection of the Casey’s June Beetle and it has been listed as an endangered species. These steps are important to allow their small little place on this earth to remain suitable for their survival. Click here to read the full story.