The impact of climate change
We are finding, coaching and training public media’s next generation. This #nprnextgenradio project is created in southern California, where five talented reporters and a visual journalist are participating in a week-long state-of-the-art training program.
In this project we are highlighting the experiences of people whose lives are being affected by climate change.
Santa Clarita’s Sand Canyon horse hero
Habeba Mostafa reports on how climate change has impacted horses and other animals, and how local heroes, such as Tita Brown, coordinate efforts to save them.
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- IT’S ALL ABOUT THE HORSES: Tita Brown communicates with her newest rescue, four-month-old Apple Jack, at her rescue and rehabilitation center, Tita’s Place, in Santa Clarita on March 16. Brown’s love for horses began when she was a child, where her determination to work hard for her passion allowed her to buy her first horse during her high school years. Though she branded herself a “horse girl,” she hadn’t professionally worked with horses, or even as a professional horse hauler, until the early 2000s. Brown’s first job as a fire hauler came during the 2003 Simi Fire. Ever since, she has been responsible for coordinating with various horse owners in Southern California, ensuring that all horses, owned or wild, are safe from the intensity of the fires. When reflecting on the trend of fires within the last decade, Brown said, “It seems like we’ve had a lot more bigger fires, I would say, over the last six years.”Fire season in Southern California typically ranges from July to October. The Santa Ana winds, with their low moisture and high intensity, contribute to the rapid spread of fires. Brown said with the Santa Ana winds, “All bets are off, because you just never know what’s going to happen, how fast it’s going to come.” Brown said there are multitudes of reasons for the increase of fires, attributing them to the Santa Ana winds, the continuous drought, and even the building of new infrastructure. “We don’t get rain like we used to, so the fire season has gotten longer for us,” Brown said. With the lack of rain, and the mountainous environment resorting back to a brown color scheme, she sees more fires on the horizon.
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- CALMING THE HORSES: Sometimes when Brown or her team goes on a rescue, the horse is nowhere near its own equipment, so Brown has an array of harnesses in her trailers ready to use, to help lead and secure the horses. The brown bumper protects the horses’ heads if they toss them while in the trailer.The circumstances can be chaotic, and sometimes extra measures are necessary such as giving the horses tranquilizers, or blindfolding them to get them into the trailer. “It can get pretty hairy sometimes, but we try to be proactive, rather than reactive,” Brown said. Her main focus is calming the horses quickly due to the gravity and time sensitivity of the situation.
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- BUILDING THE RESCUE RESPONSE: Brown’s company, TB Farms Inc., is a full-time horse hauling operation. In 2005, she had only one truck and trailer. Now, she has four trailers and two full-time drivers, as well as part-time drivers who can help if she needs to utilize four trailers at once. On average, Brown and her crew rescue hundreds of horses each year.As Brown’s company has grown over the years, she has noticed a difference in the strength of the Santa Ana Winds. In 2008, during the Sayre Fire, she said the winds were blowing at 70 miles per hour. She said, “I think it was one of the worst ones that we ever did. We were pulling horses out of the backyards. The wind was blowing too hard. The sparks were everywhere.”
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- NO ANIMAL LEFT BEHIND: Brown’s rescue operation isn’t just for horses. She rescues other farm animals, such as pigs and donkeys as well. She has also provided her trailers to rescue animals in the Topanga Canyon, including tigers and wolves. Although animals like these are typically in cages, she provides the transportation.
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- THE IMPORTANCE OF GRASS: Retired horses, stabled at a farm Brown manages, graze on grassy fields. Brown said the lack of grass in the region is one of her concerns. According to Brown, a contributing factor in the increase of heat is asphalt. She said, “You’re taking out more of the lush environment, the trees, the things that shade the Earth.” In addition, Brown adds, “the grass is 10 times cooler than if you stand in the middle of a housing complex.” With the increase of new buildings in newly cluttered cities, such as Santa Clarita, Tita recognizes the importance in maintaining a natural, plant-based environment.