Show Whe Lifestyle tribune Jialt Section W Sunday December 6 1987 Page FASHION W-- 4 FOOD W-12 1 3 Business of 3 3 1 entific papers available to keep up with the changing information “What’s happening in ornithology today is like what’s happened in the medical advances for man It’s almost impossible to keep up with everything that’s available It’s a constant process That’s one of the reasons for all the bird books and magazines Each one offers something different and valuable What I can’t keep and use for classes I put through my fireplace” There’s no best bird guide for her She uses them all — depending on what she needs She prefers the illustrated guides not those with photos Photographs are misleading she said capturing one bird at one instant The second n copy of her favorite guide is It’s barely holding together The first one got so bad she had to punch three holes on each page and keep them together with ring binders “I retired the first one before it fell By Judy B Rollins Assistant Lifestyle Editor RICHMOND Cache County — The crummier and colder the weather the better are the chances for finding Dr Janet Lee Young consulting and contractual ornithologist at home As early in the spring as possible and as late into the fall as someone wants her Dr Young must be out and about making a living — studying birds for fun yes but more important for profit Resting under the carport at her rented frame house on three acres in the farm community north of Logan is Minimus the name pasted on the camper on her compact truck The truck takes her to the job The camper is her officeliv-in- g space while there Slightly standoffish seeming a little patriarchal behind her house is a wooden barn still standing after the heavy snowfalls of several winters ago knocked down some less hearty of its ilk in the Cache Valley well-wor- ld apart” Dr Young said a good birder works into and can’t buy into it Good equipment helps but more important is patience getting out and sitting inconspicuously watching for the birds “The patience pays off If there’s patience sometimes you don’t need binoc- Dr Young proudly points out the wooden pegs and old nails holding the barn together witness to its struction 1880s con- ulars” Minimus (named for the least or smallest of the chipmunk and flycatcher species) it is but big enough Lying-dow- n space in the camper is slightly over 6 feet so Dr Young 5 foot 10 (“I was born tall”) slender with dark long hair rolls out her foam pad and sleeping bag sticks her feet in the space under the ice box so her head is by the door Dr Young is in an state of preparedness — ready to go except for groceries — should she be summoned Her attitude seems more one of high adventure than desperation She speaks of herself with good humor There’s eagerness and energy for what’s ahead almost-perpetu-- al Height isn’t the only thing separating her' from the stereotyped weekend birder She wears Levis turtleneck flannel shirt and tennis shoes not to convince she’s an outdoor person but because she is way Making do has been a seven-yea- r of life for Dr Young determined to stay with ornithology the profession for which she’s trained academically and where her heart is The problem is that contractual work is hard to come by Since edilcation is suffering economically and ornithology seems at the bottom in the pedagogical pecking order there’s less and less chance to fill in academically A year’s contract as a sabbatical replacment in 1982-’8- 3 at Pacific Lutheran University Tacoma Wash is the only real job she’s had The rest is scramble and pickup — Canyonlands Field Institute in Moab community education classes nature programs for children and adults survey work and environmental impact studies for industry She spent part of another year working in a huge office building in Seattle doing paper work for the State of Washington Department of Social and Health Services Environmental Laboratories Section Office of Public Health Lab From her office in the Smith Tower Building an old Seattle skyscraper she watched the birds outside The people the traffic the cost of living missing the mountains and getting out of the lab and back into field work brought her home to Utah watched the gulls and the pigeons stories up on my windowsill It was definitely not my lifestyle” Dr Young’s bird interest began at age 5 when her father suggested that she might slow down a robin by sprinkling salt on the tail For a while she was the ‘‘I 15 n r Avki£'5£V' r &- ' V'u !" f & ! AIW X BIRDS p'- t - ’ XX "m tfjp ft- Hi f f: - At V - V NjittifhncriciLi IMS M It ‘‘It i " - i — v t 1 v n i -- fik 4 Vy-K 2 ii 4 A ''- - s' 1 i- -r I 'ki Photo by Lynn R Johnson Consulting contractual ornithologist Dr Janet L Young makes living doing what she enjoys most — scourge of Midwestern flocks She came to Utah State University for a master’s degree in zoology and later a doctorate drawn by the collage of mountain scenes on the college catalog cover and to study ornithology with Keith L Dixon a biology professor Once here except for the teaching year in Washington she’s eked out a living However the chance for a permanent position is appealing a job ensuring income and stability not waiting for the next chance to work Since her educational background and professional expertise are Intermountain Area birds Mf-- working outside doing survey work studying the birds She comes home to the peaks of Richmond she’s best qualified although not limited to working here Her interest in animals too is evident Her running and traveling companion is a husky Kokolik named for a river in Alaska She shares her house with a harnessed and tethered cat that can’t reach a pair of zebra finches in a cage by her front picture window “They’re lovely birds Great friends of mine” To be at Dr Young’s house is like goheaven She has all ing to bird-lovmanner of birding flotsam and jetsam posters and calendars hanging on her er g walls and equipment stuffed and ceramic birds on the mantel in her front room There are stacks of natural history birding and National Geographic magazines taking up floor space waiting for long cold winter days spent in contemplation In a comer bookshelf are her birding books not there for casual identification should a new species fly by but the tools for her professional trade Ornithology information is changing rapidly Electronic technology is adding information unthought of 20 years ago It takes studying ail the books and sci bird-feedin- Before college she’d intended to be a veterinarian until a high school adviser talked her out of an animals-oriente- d profession and almost out of birds That’s why late this fall she encouraged Utah junior high and high school women at a Utah MathScience Network vocational fair that they could and should be veterinarians or anything else they wanted Richmond suits her She’s an Ohio country girl who grew up around chickens geese and animals She keeps chickens and geese (most notably Charles and Princess Di because of the royal mess they make) in the bam She sells fertilized brown eggs to regular customers Cache Valley is a good place for birds She’s a member of the Cache County 200 Club a group looking for and identifying 200 species On a good day it’s possible to identify 100 species Often it takes years the closer the birder comes to exreaching 200 She said in a two-hocursion during the right time of year a good class trip involves students identifying 35 species She spent most of the summer away from home in the cornfields around Ames Iowa doing ornithological survey work It makes sense that ornithology is seasonal especially in Utah where summer months are relatively short and an ornithologist must do what she can while the birds are here It’s not seasonal when she teaches bird identification and behavior to groups — from Boy Scout troops to senior citizens who finally have time to find out about what’s always interested them “I have all kinds in my classes — USU faculty spouses retired medical doctors professors — all with an interest in birds That’s what gets them there” Dr Young said when working with children it makes good sense to concenmore trate on the larger better-know- n spectacular ones — and hope the birds cooperate There’s an immediate payoff to seeing and identifying hawks herons gulls sandhill cranes ducks The educational progression is from the larger to the smaller birds That way the children feel like they're seeing and doing something “I had a group of children on a field trip and we saw over 50 Swainson hawks The kids were impressed” Her purpose is teaching an awareness of creatures sharing the earth each with a special and unique place “My concern is for environmental See W-- 9 Column 1 Design by Steve Baker The pros and cons of giving up the smoking habit I used to be a healthier person when I was smoking cigarettes And it was the cigarettes that made me healthier It’s not a case of my being less healthy today because I'm 10 years older and starring to fall apart a lot faster The truth is that I am bothered more by hay fever than I used to be when I smoked and my tissues were toughened by two packs a day My nasal tissues have become weak and wimpy since I stopped hammering them with smoke since I gave them this soft easy life they now enjoy My respiratory system used to be able to stand up against anything — cigars pipes cigarettes visits to Los Angeles But no more One whiff of pollen from some deceptively delicate posy and I start running off at the nose as well as at the typewriter A Consequently the cure for my hay fever is obvious: Start smoking again But I'm not going to and not just zealots because all the are already hyperventilating over the heresy I have written here today I will not take up demon weed again because I enjoy life without holes burned in my polyester leisure suit And of course whatever toughen- anti-smoki- i ing effect smoking may have for the first 30 or 40 years of the habit even- tually evaporates The smoke-strengthen- nasal defenses finally weaken and then crumble You end up with both the smoking and the pollen making you sneeze Your hay fever attacks are doubled if you smoke Nonetheless my experience does demonstrate that smoking isn’t 100 percent harmful At least one time out of 100 you are better off smoking It's kind of like vehicle seat belts There are a couple of situations where you may be better off without a seat belt — for instance when you are wrestling romantically with somebody at a drive-i- n movie But wearing a belt is the safer bet in nearly all other circumstances (Wrestling romantically can be hazardous to your health if her boy friend plays left animal for the Seattle Seahawks) Similarly you are safer in the long run to shun cigarettes but the truth is no matter what the crusaders try to tell you there are situations where you are better off smoking For instance mosquitoes never bothered me when I was a smoker And it wasn’t just the acrid cloud about my person Smoking seems to change your taste and smell It drives away mosquitoes And members of the opposite sex If you are a single person and you live in terror of members of the opposite sex throwing themselves at you for God’s sake keep on smoking There are other benefits to smokanti-smoki- ing: You get to sit at the back of the airplane People who sit at the back of the airplane live longer than people who sit at the front of the airplane — about half a second longer if the plane encounters a mountain Smokers don’t have to pay to have their windshields tinted against the sunlight The film of smoke inside the car eventually does the job You don’t have to worry about zealots sitting down next to you the way the rest of us do And if you smoke long enough and hard enough you don’t have to anti-smoki- save up for retirement Conversely giving up cigarettes isn’t 100 percent beneficial Not smoking has its drawbacks: A person's suckling instinct has to have some outlet If you don’t smoke you have the tendency to nibble on chocolate chip cookies and po- - tato chips I no longer burn holes in my polyester leisure suit but it is spotted with chocolate And my entire wardrobe is heavily salted If you’re not smoking you don’t get the chance to quit for a few days every now and then and experience the unique high of intense nervousness When you don’t smoke you miss out on all those friends and relatives who care so much about you that they are always nagging you about how to live your life People still love you when you don’t smoke but you don’t get so much proof of it Bill Hall is a columnist and editorial page writer for the Lewiston Morning Tribune Idaho a Salt Lake Tribune group newspaper |