Thad

Tongass Forest is the largest national forest in the United States. Tongass consists of 17 million acres, that's bigger than West Virginia! It has many islands along the southeast coast of Alaska. Juneau, the state capital of Alaska, is in Tongass. It has Scita Spruce trees and Western Red Cedar trees. It is home to bears, salmon, fish, eagles, whales, otters, wolves, and Scita black-tailed deer. First, I believe Tongass organisms have some of the most interesting relationships because all the nonliving and living organisms need each other to survive and influence each other. Second, the sun influence these organisms. Last of all what might make Tongass become endangered?

The sun influences both plants and animals and they need the sun to survive. First plants need the sun to grow. The chlorophyll lets plants absorb the sun’s energy. That energy is used to grow in a process called photosynthesis. Next, the trees, such as Maple and Alder trees, have leaves they fall off because of the shortened sunlight as winter approaches. This happens when trees don’t have enough light to feed the leaves. It is almost like the tree is hibernating for the winter. Third, the animals need the sun. It gives animals warmth which they could not survive without because they would freeze to death. Last, the animals need the sun to see. Animals like bears and eagles need light to see and hunt. If they can’t see they would die of hunger. Plant eaters also need the sun to see so the carnivores that eat them they can run away from. This is how the sun influences plants and animals.

What might make Tongass National Forest endangered? Carnivores, herbivores, and plants depend on each other to survive. If one goes extinct, the whole food chain would be damaged. For example, if the shrubs that Scita black-tailed deer eat grow at a rapid pace that the deer cannot control the plant would not be able to get enough water and die and the deer would not have enough food and die, then the wolves would die because there would not be enough deer to eat. Second of all, logging could change Tongass. Already logging is changing Tongass National Forest is changing because people are cutting down trees which is making animals, like bears, lose their shelter. Furthermore, global warming, which is the world’s temperature rising, could damage Tongass National Forest. It could make Tongass super dry and start a wildfire, which could wipe out all of Tongass. That is how the Tongass National Forest can become endangered.

Non-living and living things share a relationship and influence each other in this unique ecosystem. First, abiotic factors in ecosystem influence biotic factors. Abiotic things, such as plants and shrubs, influence herbivores that eat them and are the second factor in the food chain (The sun being the first.). Second, the herbivores influence the ecosystem. They do this by helping keep plants under control so they don't use up all the water and die.Also by supply carnivores with food these organisms are the third factor of the food chain. Next, carnivores influence the ecosystem. These biotic factors are the fourth factor of the food chain. They keep herbivores under control so they don’t eat all the plants. They also provide waste material for the decomposers to re-introduce back into the soil. This makes the soil rich with nutrients so plants can re-grow. Last, of all, the decomposers which are the final factor to the food chain influence the ecosystem. The decomposers are things like mushrooms and worms, which turn dead animals into nutrients for the soil. This is how abiotic and biotic factors interact in an ecosystem.

In conclusion, Tongass is a interactive ecosystem that works together survive. Tongass could become endangered. Let’s help tongass survive so the U.Ss biggest national forest doesn't get destroyed.

You may have heard that the cheetah is the fastest animal in the world. It's not, it’s the peregrine falcon. It can reach speeds up to 200 miles per hour.But even the fastest animal in the world is threatened .DDT was the cause.

DDT was used by farmers to keep insects from eating their crop, but it affected peregrines. What happened was a bird ate an insect that had been contaminated with DDT, then the peregrine ate the bird that had been contaminated with DDT. That caused the peregrine’s egg shells to thin and break when they were laid.This disease dropped the peregrines population to 12% of normal in the United States.Canada's peregrine falcons where also suffering from DDT. DDT dropped the peregrine falcon’s population by hundreds .

How we have helped

The peregrine falcon started making a comeback in 1972. DDT was banned and the recovery project started to take place.What the recovery projects did was they would take an egg from the peregrine’s nest and take it to a lab where the eggs were raised until they were there weeks old. Then they were placed on hack sites or artificial nesting sites where they were fed by caretakers until they learned how to fly and had developed hunting skills.When they had become independent enough, they were released into the wild. More than 600 peregrine falcons have been released. These recovery projects made it possible to declassify of the peregrine falcon from the endangered species act in 1999.

Reasons to Still be Concerned

The peregrine’s successful story of the environment and the Endangered Species Act is amazing. However, the peregrine still needs to be protected because it winters in the south where DDT is still in use.Also peregrines are still scarce in some places that they used to nest in. We need to keep helping the peregrines’ numbers grow.

In the book Kongi and Potgi by Oki S Han the stepmother and Potgi wanted to make Kongi do all of the hard work so she can't go to the ball but animals helped her do the work,so kongi goes to the ball secretly.Then kongi's slipper fell off and the prince grabbed it.After that there was a search for the girl that the slipper fit and it fit kongi and she married the prince. Potgi and the stepmother were forgiven and spent the rest of their time helping others.

thad

The story the gift of the crocodile by judy sierra is about a stepmother and stepsister that want to make damura miserable. But grandmother crocodile gave her a beautiful sarog and outfit to go to the ball and the prince wants to marry her.So they tried to kill her but pushing her off a cannon into crocodile infested water. Then she lived and married the prince and crocodiles chased into the forest never to be seen again.

In the book The Golden Sandal by Rebecca Hickox the stepmother and stepsister wanted to make Maha miserable by making her do all of the work but a little red fish helped her do work without the stepsister or stepmother knowing.So the stepmother and stepsister made Maha stay home and carry heavy water jugs. But the little red fish fish gave a beautiful outfit to her and she went to the party without the stepmother and stepsister knowing.Then Maha lost a golden slipper and the son off a merchant founded the slipper and wanted to marry the person who owned it. So the mother off the son fond Maha and she married the son. The stepsisters hair fell off.

Haunted House

HI my name is Mike I am going to tell you a story about a haunted house.Believe it or not this really happened to me.It was a bright sunny day in the middle of summer break.I walked outside. The sun felt warm on my skin. The bird were chirping the most beautiful song and the trees were green.I walked down the street going to my friends house across the street.When I was half way there some boys started chasing me with a bat.

I started running towards the old rickety house at the end of the street .Like always it was as big as 12 school buses and as long 11 of the of the world's biggest snakes biting each others tails.All the windows were on their hinges like someone had took a hammer and cracked them off their hinges.There were poky vines garding the yard. The only way to get to the front door was a narrow path that a bunch of spiders, and bugs crawled across.There seemed to be a light blue light coming out of the windows . The gates were 12 feet tall and covered in the poky vines.From what I hear the house used to belong to a old creepy man named Herman Gulch.

I ran towards the house knowing that the boys would not follow me in because of the stores the townspeople tell about the house.I did not believe the stores at that time so I ran and unlatched the cold bumpy gate quickly and shut it and ran into the house and opened the black rotten door. When I shut the door I heard a lock sound I turned around and tried to open the door but it wouldn't budge,I walked in. I felt a cold dark feeling. It haunted me as I walked in.

When I walked in I saw a kitchen that everything in it was rotting. It was so disgusting I felt like barfing. Next to the kitchen was the living room with surprisingly no damage to it at all.In the living room was a black tv a nice white couch and a brown chair with the back turned so if someone was sitting in it I could not see. I walked in amazed at the shape of the room.The floor felt hard against my feet

Suddenly someone spoke “who dare venture into my mansion”in a deep voice it was coming from behind the brown chair.

I felt so scared that I could not move. The only thing I could do was stand there and keep my eyes on the spot where the voice had came from. I stood there like that for a while.

Finally I got over being scared enough that I could move. I walked back slowly but who talked came out.

The creature had a light blue glow that lit up the whole room .The creature looked surprisingly like what the townspeople describe of a ghost.I thought maybe that the stories are true.

Then the ghost said “Hello I want your soul”.

As soon as the ghost said soul I ran as fast as I could across the living room through the tiny little white door in the back of the clean room I opened it and at that second everything in sight turned light blue. It didn't matter that much to me at the time because I could still see objects but they were just light blue.

Inside the room was a spinny chair tucked under a smooth desk on the desk was a computer some papers. The rest of the room had nothing not a single thing on the hardwood floor on the other side of the room was a door.

I ran through the door which opened up to a big hall of staircases not really caring I ran up one then I heard the ghosts’ voice I thought where is it. Then I realized that it was blue just like every thing so I could not see it. Then I noticed a red piece of carpet I ripped it off the floor and though it. Luckily it hit the ghost and got stuck in him. Then I ran into a room at the top of the staircase. There was a sword in the corner of the room. The ghost followed me in, I used the sword and cut the ghost in half. Everything turned back to normal. I ran out of the house and went to my bed and slept the rest of the day.

The End