Month: April 2003

Taking Bite Out of Canine Confrontations

Humans have been living with dogs for some 12,000 years, using them for hunting, protection, and friendship. Yet as both human and dog populations have grown, so too have the problems between the species. Great Lakes Radio Consortium commentator Julia King has discovered that with warmer temperatures, the furless and the furry often find themselves nose to snout in public places:

Transcript

Humans have been living with dogs for some 12,000 years, using them for hunting, protection,
and friendship. Yet as both human and dog populations have grown, so too have the problems
between the species. Great Lakes Radio Consortium commentator, Julia King, has discovered
that with warmer temperatures, the furless and the furry often find themselves nose to snout in
public places:


Fifty-three million dogs live in the United States – more per capita than in any other country in
the world. One out of every three households here includes a canine companion.


Despite the fact that they drink out of toilets and roll in a wide range of things unspeakable, we let
them sit on our sofas, give us big slobbery kisses and ride in the front seats of our cars.


We like to think of our dogs as our better halves. And sometimes they are, with their wagging
bodies and their penchant for forgiveness. And because they forgive us our trespasses, we’re
inclined to do the same for them.


“Oh, don’t you worry,” said a gray-haired lady in the park recently. “My Rover wouldn’t hurt a
flea!” Meanwhile, her dog snarled at my left thigh. Eventually Rover grew bored of tormenting
me and I jogged (ever-so-gingerly) into the sunset unharmed.


But each year some four and a half million other Americans aren’t so lucky; that’s how many dog
bites are estimated annually in the U.S, according to canine aggression experts. Nearly 335,000
victims are admitted to emergency rooms each year. The insurance industry estimates more than
a billion dollars in dog-related liability claims annually.


Despite all the chew toys and rawhides we shower on them, dogs bite us. Not because they’re
bad, but because they’re dogs. They don’t know any of the good swear words. They can’t pound
their fists on the kitchen table, or throw plates when they’re really mad; instead, they have sharp
teeth.


We should love our dogs. But loving them doesn’t mean expecting them to be human; it means
acknowledging that they’re not.


As the weather warms up so, too, does the likelihood that humans and dogs will “mix it up” out
on sunny sidewalks and in public parks. That means those of us with dogs have some added
responsibilities.


Yes, yes… we know… Fido is a perfect dear, wouldn’t harm an ant. Just the same, please do us
all a favor and keep him on a leash.


(Bark!) Hey, ( Bark! Bark! Bark!) get back here!


Host tag: Julia King lives with a man, a kid, and a dog in Goshen, Indiana. She comes to us by
way of the Great Lakes Radio Consortium.

Maple Syrup Flows With Tradition

  • A demonstration of making syrup without modern tools. Hot rocks are placed into a hollowed out log to boil the sap. (Photo courtesy of the Geauga Park District)

April is the month for the highest maple syrup production in North America – and a time when many towns and villages in the Great Lakes states hold pancake breakfasts. The practice of tapping trees for syrup or sugar goes back centuries, long before European settlement. But as the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Mark Urycki reports, the methods used to make syrup have changed only a little with time and technology:

Transcript

April is the month for the highest maple syrup production in North America – and a time when
many towns and villages in the Great Lakes States hold pancake breakfasts. The practice of
tapping trees for syrup or sugar goes back centuries, long before European settlement. But as the
Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Mark Urycki reports, the methods used to make syrup have
changed only a little with time and technology:


In a world where sugar is infused in almost every processed food we eat, it’s hard to imagine a
world without it. But before Europeans introduced honey bees to North America, most native
Americans could only turn to the trees. In a grove of sugar maples, called a sugar bush, Park
naturalist, Dan Best, illustrates the painstaking way Indians boiled down the sap without metal
utensils. It starts with pouring the gathered sap into a hollow log.


“I’m taking this fire-heated rock that’s absorbed a lot of heat from the fire and placing the sap
in the hollow log here. All day and all night for days at a time to get any quantity of sugar made.


Later, white settlers brought cast iron cauldrons. And a bigger improvement in maple sugar
production came with the invention of tin sheet metal. That allowed farmers to pound metal
tubes, or spiles, into the trees and then hang lightweight buckets.


“Tin buckets, like I say, have been used for since the 1860’s. Some places, smaller sugaring
operations, today still find it feasible to use buckets. It’s mounted on a hole under the rim of the
bucket right on the metal spile, so you can keep it, you pivot it right on the spile and empty it into
a gathering pail and today most people use 5-gallon plastic buckets for gathering pails.”


Doesn’t this harm the tree to some degree to be losing sap?


“Not really, if you tap according to the guidelines roughly speaking for every foot of diameter
that you have you can have a bucket. You have to have a good 12 to 18 inch tree to be able to put
on a single bucket. You get up 24 inches so you can put two buckets on and so on but these days
you don’t put any more than three buckets on the trees – too many stresses these days on maple
trees. Between air pollution and the drought we’re having, and so fourth, that we really look
closer. Today’s producers look very close at the health of individual trees.”


(sound of horse team)


Traditionally, the buckets were emptied into a large holding tank. Draft horses like these pulled
the tank on a sled through the forest to a sugar house. Viola Skinner remembers her parents using
a team.


“The tank that we had in our sugar bush had a rail on it and it was drawn by horses on a sled and
with the rail on it we could all jump up and hang on to the rail and go for a ride and we thought it
was fun and games. We didn’t realize we were working dumping into the gathering tank, so
that’s how we did it.”


Amish farmers are still using that method. Fourteen states from New England along the Great
Lakes to Minnesota and Canada produce maple syrup. A common method today is to run plastic
tubing from one tree to another. Sap usually runs by gravity down to a holding tank, saving work
and lessening erosion caused by driving on steep slopes. The tanks of sap are then boiled down
in a sugar house – 40 gallons of sap to get one gallon of syrup. Hans Geiss looks over one
evaporator, which, like most, are fired by wood.


“Probably about 85 to 90-percent are still wood fired.”


So what degree of sweetness do you want here?


“If you take it up from an average of 2 % sugar to about 67 % sugar.


What happens if you’re a little too sweet or a little under sweet?


“If you’re very much below 66% sugar the syrup won’t keep, it will ferment. If it’s much over
67% it will crystallize in the can; it’s like rock candy on the bottom. So you got to be pretty
much right on.”


Maple candy has been the specialty of Debbie Richards’ family. Her grandparents built a sugar
house in 1910 and it’s been the family’s only business ever since.


Richards buys syrup from area Amish farmers to make candy. The sap runs when daytime
temperatures rise above freezing and nighttime temperatures drop below.


Did you have a later season this year?


Yes, quite a bit later. The last three years the season has started earlier than usual. The season
most commonly starts between Valentine’s Day and President’s day. Wasn’t until March that
most people tapped.


Simply because the weather was so cold?


“Right.”


Are there fewer people doing this as maple forests get cut?


“I wouldn’t say there’s fewer people doing it, but the size of the operations are smaller. With
developments going in and roads being widened a lot of the sizes of the farms are being cut
down.”


Although the season started late, Richards says this was a good year, with the sap having a high
sugar content. Sweet news for the maple syrup industry.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Mark Urycki.

Iron Ore Mining Tied to Cancer?

  • NorthShore Mining Company now operates the former Reserve Mine and Taconite Plant. Waste rock is deposited on land a few miles from Lake Superior. Questions remain about whether taconite fibers pose a human health risk. (Photo courtesy Cleveland Cliffs)

Researchers are trying to determine whether fibers found in taconite mined near Lake Superior might cause cancer. Taconite is a type of iron ore. The microscopic fibers found in some taconite rock are a lot like asbestos, and asbestos causes cancer and other serious lung diseases. Research is now underway that could determine whether the fibers in taconite can cause cancer too. The question is a classic example of the uneasy balance between protecting health and creating jobs. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Stephanie Hemphill reports:

Transcript

Researchers are trying to determine whether fibers found in taconite mined near Lake Superior
might cause cancer. Taconite is a type of iron ore. The microscopic fibers found in some
taconite rock are a lot like asbestos, and asbestos causes cancer and other serious lung diseases.
Research is now underway that could determine whether the fibers in taconite can cause cancer
too. The question is a classic example of the uneasy balance between protecting health and
creating jobs. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Stephanie Hemphill reports:


The fibers in taconite first made big news thirty years ago. Reserve Mining Company was
dumping its waste rock in Lake Superior, and the fibers turned up in Duluth’s drinking water.


People worried, and started drinking bottled water, until a special filtration plant was built.
Reserve was forced to dump its waste rock on land.


But the jury is still out on whether the fibers are dangerous.


Phil Cook is one of the people who discovered the fibers in the water supply. He’s a chemist at
the National Water Quality Lab in Duluth. He studied the fibers for years.


They’re so small, you can’t see them even with a regular microscope. Cook and his team had to
use an electron microscope to get a handle on the fibers.


“Hundreds of hours of looking at many fields of view and counting particles of all sizes and
shapes and identifying them specifically as to what their mineral nature was.”


Some of the taconite fibers turned out to be more cancer-causing than others. The most
commonly occurring fibers were less dangerous.


But Cook found that some of the fibers caused even more cancer than asbestos. After two years
of experiments on lab rats, Cook found the most dangerous taconite fibers had splintered off,
multiplying the number of fibers in the rats lungs.


“So there was some kind of slow leaching going on while the fibers were in tissue, and blocky
particles would become thinner fibers. So the number of fibers were increasing and the dose was
increasing.”


But the question is, does the same thing happen to people, and are people exposed to enough of
the fibers to worry about cancer?


NorthShore Mining Company currently operates the former Reserve mine and processing plant.
NorthShore monitors its fiber emissions. Millions of fibers pour from the smokestacks. But at
monitoring stations about a mile away, the numbers drop to a background level comparable to
cities out of the area.


But some people worry even that level could make people sick.


There are no national or state standards for fibers in the air.


There are some rules for workplaces. Miners and taconite workers are exposed to a lot more
fibers than people who live nearby.


Northeastern Minnesota has a much higher rate of mesothelioma than the rest of the state.
Mesothelioma is a rare form of lung cancer caused by asbestos. Some miners are concerned
taconite could cause mesothelioma too.


The state Health Department recently completed a study of taconite workers who died of
mesothelioma. The study found most of them were exposed to commercial asbestos used as
insulation as well as taconite dust. The study concluded the commercial asbestos was the most
likely cause of the miners’ disease.


But the study looked only for mesothelioma. Some miners say it should have looked for other
diseases too. David Trach is president of a Steelworker retiree group. He says 450 former mine
workers got x-rays, and 30% of them had some kind of lung abnormality. Only a very few of
them had mesothelioma.


“We’ve got to search out for those young miners that are working now so they don’t end up like
some of my friends did at LTV Steel that are in their 60s and 70s, and can hardly breathe.”


The Minnesota Health Department has file cabinets full of information about the health of miners
and taconite workers. But there’s no money to study the data looking for other lung diseases.
That’s because last year the Minnesota state legislature eliminated the money for the project.


There’s a lot riding on whether taconite fibers are safe. Officials in the area where NorthShore’s
plant is located, would like to use the plant’s waste rock to build roads, which would spread the
taconite fibers throughout the county. Until now the company has been prohibited from selling
its waste rock by the court ruling in the Reserve case.


Also, several companies have been prospecting in the region. New mines for copper, nickel, and
other minerals could provide much-needed jobs in a region hit by mine closures and cutbacks in
the taconite industry. But they could also be digging into the same rock where the taconite fibers
are found.


After the scientific studies are published, the Minnesota Health Department will conduct a
formal assessment of the risks – if any – of taconite fibers.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Stephanie Hemphill in Duluth.

Asian Food Stores Adding to Carp Problem?

  • An Illinois Natural History Survey intern shows off her catch (a bighead carp). Officials are concerned that human behavior may help the invasive fish get around the barrier on the Chicago River. (Photo by Mark Pegg, INHS)

Over time, invasive species have upset the natural balance of the Great Lakes. Now, officials are working frantically to stop a new threat, the Asian carp. The carp lives in tributaries connected to the Great Lakes. But there may be another route into the water system – through Asian food stores. As the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Karen Kelly reports, live carp can be purchased in many cities throughout the region:

Transcript

Over time, invasive species have upset the natural balance of the Great Lakes. Now, officials are
working frantically to stop a new threat, the Asian carp. The carp lives in tributaries connected to
the Great Lakes. But there may be another route into the water system – through Asian food
stores. As the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Karen Kelly reports, live carp can be purchased
in many cities throughout the region:


“This one in Chinese, layoo. This one in Chinese…”


York Alooah stands in front of a crowded fish tank at the 168 Market in Ottawa, Canada’s capital.
He points to the fat, foot and a half-long bighead carp swimming behind the glass.


The fish are brought to his store by truck from Toronto. They originate at farms in the southern
U.S.


Speaking through an interpreter, Alooah says it’s unlikely that a carp could escape during
delivery.


“They use a big truck and have the fish tank inside.”


Alooah says the fish can’t jump out because the tanks are covered. Still, the live sale of these fish
has many people worried. That’s why states like Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota and Ohio have
banned the possession of live Asian carp.


Several states are also asking the federal government to add these carp to a list of invasive species
considered harmful. That listing would make it illegal to possess them alive.


In Canada, there aren’t laws like that on the looks. But officials say they’re considering action.


Nick Mandrack is a research scientist with the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans. He
says Canadian researchers are keeping an eye on an Asian carp population that’s moving north up
the Mississippi River. They worry that the fish will migrate through a manmade canal into the
Great Lakes.


“If they were to become established, either through dispersal up from the Mississippi or
unauthorized release as a result of the live food trade, they could have enormous impacts on the
Great Lakes ecosystem, which would likely result in a dramatic decline in the biomass of game
fishes.”


That’s because two species of Asian carp eat the same food as small forage fishes. And those
forage fishes are what the larger gamefish rely on. The Asian carp are too big for the gamefish to
eat.


Researchers are also worried about two other species. The black carp could wipe out endangered
mussels that live in the lakes. And the grass carp destroys aquatic plants where native fishes live.


Mandrack has seen both the bighead and the grass carp sold live in Asian food stores. He and
others say that poses one of the greatest threats to the Great Lakes fish population.


(sound of fish scaling)


Back at the 168 market in Ottawa, York Alooah uses a long knife to butcher and scale a fish he’s
pulled out of a tank. He laughs when an interpreter asks if people ever leave his store with live
carp.


“When people buy, it’s not alive. He clean and kill and clean everything.” Is it never alive?”
“Never.”


In fact, the city of Chicago is hoping to guarantee that doesn’t happen. Officials want stores that
sell live carp to operate under permits. And the fish would have to be killed before it left the
store.


But not all fish is bought for consumption. There’s also concern about a Buddhist practice in
which captive animals are released into the wild.


Tookdun Chudrin is a nun with the MidAmerica Buddhist Association. She says the carp sold in
food stores are not likely candidates for release.


“I think that people would not buy such a large fish for liberation because they tend to get very
small animals and very often will put them in a pond at a temple.


And Chudrin says, Buddhists would want to know if the religious practice was harming other
animals.


“I think definitely if there were a sign saying that said putting these fish in the lakes could be
detrimental to other species, I think people for sure would heed that if this was going to endanger
others and the people knew it, I don’t think they’d do that.”


So far, only two Asian carp have been found – in the Canadian waters of the Great Lakes.
Another was released in a fountain in Toronto, just a few blocks from Lake Ontario.


Whether from pranks, or acts of kindness, some fear it’s only a matter of time before more carp
get into the water. They say the Great Lakes could become a giant carp pond, and many of the
species we’ve come to know would disappear.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Karen Kelly.

Government Bans Lead Candle Wicks

The government is banning candles that contain lead in their wicks. A consumers’ group says the ban comes decades later than it should have come. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:

Transcript

The government is banning candles that contain lead in their wicks. A consumers’ group says the
ban comes decades later than it should have come. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester
Graham reports:


A government agency, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, says it will ban lead-wick
candles beginning in October of this year. Lead is used in a small percentage of candles to make
the wicks straight. But lead can cause neurological damage, especially for infants and fetuses. In
the 1970s, the candle industry made a voluntary agreement with the government to stop using lead.
Peter Lurie is with the consumers’ organization, the Public Citizen’s Health Research Group.


“When the voluntary agreement failed, we re-petitioned the government and now, 30 years later,
we finally have what we all saw in the first place. In the meantime, of course, thousands of
American consumers have been needlessly exposed to significant levels of lead right there in the
home. And the blame for that can be put squarely at the foot of the industry and also to an agency
that simply didn’t do its job.”


The Consumer Product Safety Commission says it had an agreement with the industry. When it
became clear that the agreement was being violated, it took the action to ban the lead wicks.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.

“Problem” Cormorants to Be Killed?

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing a rule that would allow people to kill the Double-Crested Cormorant. The bird was once federally protected. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chris McCarus reports:

Transcript

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing a rule that would allow
people to kill the double-crested Cormorant. The bird was once federally
protected. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chris McCarus reports:


The double-crested Cormorants have become a nuisance because they eat a
lot of fish and their waste destroys trees and grass. The U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service wants tribes and conservation officials to identify Cormorants that pose a problem. They would shoot the birds with shotguns or destroy their
nests and eggs. Commercial fish farmers would also have the right to destroy
the birds.


Ray Rustem is with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. He
says wildlife officials will need a coordinated effort to be successful.


“Well, these are very intelligent birds and hunting is going to be a lot more
difficult because they will learn very quickly if there is a boat around they are going to get shot at
and they’re going to avoid those kind of things.”


In the ’70’s, the pesticide DDT had killed most of the double-crested Cormorants in the Great
Lakes region. They’ve since recovered and now number about 1 million.


The federal government is accepting comment on its proposal to kill these birds.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Chris McCarus.

Some Cities Unprepared for Bioterrorism

State and local officials say not all cities are prepared to respond to a bioterrorist attack. A recent federal report indicates more coordination is needed. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:

Transcript

State and local officials say not all cities are prepared to respond to a bioterrorist attack. A recent
federal report indicates more coordination is needed. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s
Lester Graham reports:


Federal agencies need to set benchmarks that define what is adequate protection from
bioterrorism and need to develop a way for cities and states to evaluate and share useful solutions.
Those are recommendations from the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of
Congress. The GAO found that state and local officials reported deficiencies in the number of
people needed, the coordination needed and the labs needed to address such things as
bioterrorism attacks or even new infectious diseases that can spread rapidly such as the West Nile
Virus or SARS. The GAO says the Department of Health and Human Services needs to work
with the Department of Homeland Security to get guidelines to state and local officials so that
they know what’s needed to protect the health of their residents.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.

Activist Family Sets Stage for Global Warming

Scientists predict global warming could have a devastating impact on the earth and its inhabitants. But a traveling theater troupe has managed to find something funny about climate change. As the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chris Lehman reports, the group “Human Nature” hopes to spread a message as well:

Transcript

Scientists predict global warming could have a devastating
impact on the earth and its inhabitants. But a traveling theater
troupe has managed to find something funny about climate
change. As The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chris Lehman
reports, the group “Human Nature” hopes to spread a message as
well:


Joyful Simpson’s middle name is Raven. So perhaps it’s only
fitting that she plays a raven in the play, “What’s Funny About
Climate Change?”


“I suppose the raven in mythology is known as a trickster or a
shape shifter. So she’s come in human form to both tease and
cajole and plead with the audience for their understanding and
their awareness.”


(sound of play: “You came, you actually came! I said that if we made a show about global warming sound like
it actually might be funny, that the humans would come. And
here you are…suckers!!”) (laughs)


(fade under)


“What’s Funny About Climate Change” is a three-person
comedy review. The three members are the Simpson family.
They call their theater group “Human Nature”. Their goal is to
raise awareness about the problems caused by global warming.


Jane Lapiner is Joyful’s mother. She says their group uses
theater as a political tool.


“With comedy and theater in general, people can be more
receptive to important ideas, as opposed to a meeting or a
conference.”


That’s why the Simpsons founded the Human Nature theater
group more than 20 years ago. Global warming’s not the only
thing they’ve written about. They’ve performed plays about the
timber industry, wolves, and Pacific salmon.


David Simpson writes most of the material. He says he tries to
inform people and make them laugh.


“I have to say this is an intelligent show…It’s a sophisticated
show, the humor is sophisticated. People are going to learn
something about climate change, they’re gonna laugh, and
they’re gonna think.”


(sound of play, actors singing)


Joyful Simpson says she was fairly involved with her parents’
theater group growing up. But when she left for college, she
started to pursue other ways to communicate her concerns about
the environment. Her journey eventually led her back to her
parents’ theater group.


The current tour is the first time she’s worked with her parents in
about seven years. She says her years away from her family
might have prepared her for her role in “What’s Funny About
Climate Change.”


“I’m not educated about it from a scientific perspective and
actually I think that I embody some of the societal doubt of
whether or not it is a real thing and I’m trying to break out of
that because I think that’s deeply ingrained.”


Joyful is young. She’s in her mid-20’s. And she says it’s crucial
that young people understand environmental issues.


“I have a lot of people in the older generation that I look up to
who are very active in the environmental and the political world
and I see some of that energy in my generation but we are
lacking in that field. And so I’m pushing myself to feel inspired
to take the torch and also trying to push others to understand our
responsibility.”


(more sound of play: Joyful Simpson: “Did you actually think
there was something funny about climate change? It’s the
biggest disaster in the history of the entire civilization and it
really is happening…”)


(fade under)


The Simpson family will be performing on college campuses
across the nation this spring.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Chris Lehman.

Farm Buffer Strips a Lasting Solution?

  • Tom Miller's farm in Central Illinois includes buffer strips that provide habitat and food for wildlife and keep chemicals and soil out of a nearby river. Photo by Jonathan Ahl.

Each spring, the seasonal rains and melting snow lead to millions of gallons of water entering rivers and streams around the Midwest. While that water is important for the rivers’ health, it brings with it soil, herbicides, and insecticides from farms. Programs designed to help keep soil and chemicals on the farm and out of the watershed are growing in popularity around the region. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Jonathan Ahl has more:

Transcript

Each spring, the seasonal rains and melting snow lead to millions of gallons of water entering
rivers and streams around the Midwest. While that water is important for the rivers’ health, it
brings with it soil, herbicides, and insecticides from farms. Programs designed to help keep soil
and chemicals on the farm and out of the watershed are growing in popularity around region. The
Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Jonathan Ahl reports:


It’s a cold Spring day on Tom Springer’s Farm. But the strong winds and light rain do not
dampen the spirit of Springer. He’s showing off strips of land that contain tall grasses that would
normally be farmland waiting for the Spring planting:


“What we’re doing, we’re trying to create shelter belts up against these food plots for the birds
and the wildlife to have shelter in the winter.”


Springer is referring to buffer strips. The long, narrow pieces of land that take up about one acre for
every 30 acres of this farm in Central Illinois. The strips provide food and habitat for wildlife
such as quail and pheasants. They also provide a “catch” for some of the soil and chemicals that
would otherwise end up in the nearby Mackinaw River. That’s why some groups call them filter
strips. Springer is taking part in several state and federal programs that pay him to take the land
out of production and convert it to these buffer strips. Springer says he likes having the wildlife
around and wants to help the environment. But he says the financial incentives are the essential
ingredient that makes his buffer strips a reality:


“It was getting to the point that us small-time farmers we’re going to get pushed out because of
the economics of it. So I went ahead and did this, and it’s really worked out good. It’s a different
way of farming. It really is. What I’m doing, I’m farming the wildlife. I’m farming the
conservation program.”


Depressed crop prices and growing expenses are making the buffers strips a more popular
alternative for farmers. Adding to the financial advantage are not for profit groups such as Trees
Forever and Pheasants Forever. They make contributions of time, materials, and expertise to
farmers like Springer. That makes it easier to build the strips that comply with the state and
federal subsidy programs.


Tom Miller is with Trees Forever. He says the government payments get farmers to consider the
program. But he says they stay in because they know what they’re doing is right for the
environment. Miller says farmers are learning the dangers of plowing their land right up to the
banks of rivers and streams:


“Typically in the past, it’s been whatever farmland was there they would farm up to the edge.
But I think increased awareness and education over the last ten years from local and state
agencies and non-profits helped farmers realize you can’t do that.”


Miller says his group’s Buffer Initiative and others around the Midwest are gaining momentum
and making a difference in cutting down on pollution in waterways. But not everyone believes
these buffer strips are the magic bullet to fight erosion and chemicals in the watershed:


“I would say they are necessary but they’re not sufficient.”


Terry Kohlbuss is the director of the Tri-County Regional Planning Commission, a central Illinois
governmental group that has pushed for numerous water clean-up programs. He says buffer
initiatives are good programs. But he says it is only a drop in the bucket in the fight to help
bodies of water:


“But the other important source of that accelerated flow of water through the natural drainage
system is from developed areas. The solution set here is that there are probably 15 to 20 or 30
different types of programs that need to be in place to really get after this problem successfully.”


Kohlbuss says land management plans that cover all types of land will be necessary if there is
ever going to be meaningful progress in keeping soil and chemicals out of the rivers. Other
critics of the Buffer Strip program say there’s no guarantee the program will last because farmers
are reacting to the subsidies. Tom Springer says he has heard the criticism that if crop prices go
up or the payments run out, farmers will give up on conservation programs:


“I think a lot of them, if the program burns out in fifteen years, they’re talking about tearing a lot
of these out. We’ll I’m not, I’m going to leave mine in. They are on sand hills that were always
burnt up in the fall, you know. Most of the time it wouldn’t make much of a crop anyway, so we
are going to use it for conservation measures.”


Organizers of the buffer strip programs hope all of their participants will have the same point of
view as Tom Springer. Meanwhile, they continue working on finding more farmers to sign up for
the program.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Jonathan Ahl.

RESEARCHERS FORECAST REGION’S WARMER FUTURE (Short Version)

Within three decades, summers in the Great Lakes states might feel more like summers in Kentucky and Oklahoma. That’s according to results of a two-year study conducted by a team of Midwest and Canadian scientists. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Sarah Hulett reports:

Transcript

Within three decades, summers in the Great Lakes states might feel more
like summers in Kentucky and Oklahoma. That’s according to results of a
two-year study conducted by a team of Midwest and Canadian scientists.
The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Sarah Hulett reports:


The study was conducted by the Union of Concerned Scientists and the
Ecological Society of America. Researchers looked into trends that have
already shown up in the region – including shorter winters, higher
annual average temperatures, and declines in winter ice on the Great
Lakes. The study projects potential problems for the region. Anglers
might find certain fish no longer thrive in warmer waters, and
communities that rely on winter tourism might find themselves hard hit.


University of Michigan biologist George Kling is the lead author of the
report. He says the findings point to a warming trend unlike anything
the planet’s seen.


“In the next 100 years, we will have the same amount of warming that has
occurred since the last Ice Age – 10-thousand years ago.”


The report outlines approaches for slowing the effects of global
warming. They include reducing greenhouse emissions and investing in
renewable energy.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Sarah Hulett.