Tag: trail

Turning the Ski Slopes Green

  • Ski resorts are one of a growing number of businesses trying to be more sustainable (Photo by Baileypalblue, source: Wikimedia Commons)

Back in February, President Obama proposed $150 billion to employ people in “green collar jobs.” The idea was to create jobs that benefited the environment. But he also wanted to boost the economy. A ski resort wanted to be one step ahead. So it hired a new employee to help its 2,500 acres “go green.” Irene Noguchi reports:

Transcript

Back in February, President Obama proposed $150 billion to employ people in “green collar jobs.” The idea was to create jobs that benefited the environment. But he also wanted to boost the economy. A ski resort wanted to be one step ahead. So it hired a new employee to help its 2,500 acres “go green.” Irene Noguchi reports:

(sound of rustling cans)

Ross Freeman crawls into a giant recycling container. His legs are sticking out.

He holds a long rake and shuffles the cans inside.

“We actually fill this thing up to the brim with recycling. Ends up being 2,000 or 2,500 pounds of recycling we send off the mountain every 10 to 12 days.”

(sound of mixing cans around)

This is part of his job. Ross Freeman is the eco-steward at Stevens Pass. It’s a ski resort tucked in the Cascade Mountains in Washington state.

His official title is “Environment and Sustainability Manager.” Stevens Pass created that position last year, when it wanted to make itself more eco-friendly.

John Meriwether is director of planning and environmental services at the resort. He’s worked here for 16 years.

“The ski industry has changed a lot. And really, the biggest change I think is them realizing how much global warming is affecting their business. The industry as a whole makes a lot of snow and one degree difference in the climate can change that.”

Meriwether says ski resorts are pushing more money into fighting global warming.

Stevens Pass pledged to offset all its emissions with energy credits. It’s the only resort in the Pacific Northwest that does this.

Ross Freeman’s work is on the ground. He drags out furniture that can’t go in the landfill. He recycles rubber wheels from the ski lifts.

“Then the next moment I’m up in the office designing a policy for vehicle idling, then I’m applying for grants, applying for industry awards, then I’m out in the food and beverage world, talking to cooks and chefs in the kitchens to figure out how we can be more efficient and waste less food.”

All this is part of the resort’s efforts to meet the national “green” standards. The National Ski Areas Association has 21 environmental guidelines it wants resorts to follow. It’s called Sustainable Slopes. The Ski Association says 190 resorts endorse it, including Stevens Pass.

Ryan Bidwell is the executive director of Colorado Wild. It’s an environmental group that grades ski resorts. He says endorsing the Ski Association’s Sustainable Slopes guidelines is different than actually following them.

“To be a part of the Sustainable Slopes program, a resort just has to say, ‘Yeah, we agree with these principles.’ They don’t actually have to take any action. Sustainable Slopes contains a whole laundry list of fantastic ideas that
resorts can and should be doing, but there’s no accountability in the program.”

Bidwell’s group grades ski resorts on everything from recycling to the effect on old growth forests. So how “green” was Stevens Pass on the environmental score card?

“Stevens received a ‘C’ because it has some expansion plans that would extend the resort into currently undeveloped areas and would impact those sensitive areas. So they lose a few points on that side.”

But Bidwell says hiring an eco-steward like Ross Freeman is a step in the right direction.

(sound of feet crunching the snow)

Freeman says there are only a few jobs like his. But he hopes more ski resorts will start hiring folks like him when they go green.

For The Environment Report, I’m Irene Noguchi.

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Puppies, Poo, and Moose Tracks

  • Aimee Hurt, with the group Working Dogs for Conservation (Photo by Brian Mann)

Researchers and environmentalists are
experimenting with a new method for collecting
biological samples in the wild. They’re using
trained tracking dogs to sniff out everything
from rare plants to moose pellets. Brian Mann
joined the hunt in New York’s Adirondack Mountains:

Transcript

Researchers and environmentalists are
experimenting with a new method for collecting
biological samples in the wild. They’re using
trained tracking dogs to sniff out everything
from rare plants to moose pellets. Brian Mann
joined the hunt in New York’s Adirondack Mountains:

It’s early, the sun still tangled in the alder trees, when we set off
on foot down a
narrow logging road.

(sound of walking down the road)

Soon, Heidi Kretser with the Wildlife Conservation Society finds the
first evidence that
we’re not alone.

“These are moose tracks.”

New York’s moose population has surged in recent years, to move than
500 animals.
Researchers have been tracking moose using airplanes and radio collars.

But today, were tagging along behind a cheerful black lab mix named
Wicket.

(sound of dog’s collar jingling)

Wicket flashes back and forth across the trail, snuffling eagerly.
She wears a bright
red vest and that tinkling bell is designed to keep her from actually
meeting a moose
head-on.

Her owner and handler, Aimee Hurt, says using dogs to find biological
samples – everything from plants to rare birds – isn’t new.

“I think if you talk to a lot of biologists who’ve been out
in the field for
decades, ‘Oh yeah, my dog figured out that we were looking for —
whatever.’ And they
started honing in on it and helping out. So I really think that dog’s
have been
biologists’ partners for a long time.”

Hurt’s organization – Working Dogs for Conservation, based in Montana
– took the idea
one step further, training dogs in much the same way that police train
K-9 units.

Wicket knows how to find six different kinds of scat, including
mountain lion, grizzly
bear – and now moose

“She is an air-scent dog, which means there’s no tracking
involved — she’s
just sniffing the air for a whiff of scat.”

Heidi Kretser, with the Wildlife Conservation Society, says moose
droppings can tell a
lot about why these Clydesdale-sized animals are returning to New York, what they’re
eating, and how they’ll reshape this forest if their numbers keep
growing.

“By understanding the diet, we’ll get a better sense of what
habitats they
might impact long-term, since they eat 40 pounds of vegetation a day.”

(sound of birds and footsteps)

Wicket leads the team on long ramble through the radiant lime green
forest, and down
across a burbling creek.

(sound of creek)

We see moose sign everywhere – mule-sized tracks, maple trees
stripped of bark. And
then Wicket sniffs out her first pile of droppings.

“Whoopee, good girl. Very nice!”

More poop means better data. So the pellets are trucked away in a
plastic bag for the
trip back to the lab.

For Wicket, the reward is a few minutes of joyous play with a squishy
rubber ball.

(sound of squeezing toy)

“Let’s get to work!” (bell jangling)

Then the team is off again, with Wicket snuffling happily through the
trees. Biologists
hope to use the same method to study other wildlife – from grizzlies
to mountain lions.

For The Environment Report, I’m Brian Mann.

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‘Water Trails’ Mark Region’s History

  • Dave Lemberg from Western Michigan University envisions not only opportunities for water sports, but also opportunities to see historical sites along waterways. (Photo by Tamar Charney)

If you traveled this summer, you might have noticed more and more cars with canoes or kayaks on top. Recreation associations say paddle sports are growing in popularity. And so are efforts to give paddlers places to go. As the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Tamar Charney reports some of these places benefit more than just the person in the boat:

Transcript

If you traveled this summer, you might have noticed more and more cars with canoes or kayaks on top. Recreation associations say paddle sports are growing in popularity and so are efforts to give paddlers places to go. As the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Tamar Charney reports, some of these places benefit more than just the person in the boat:


It just stopped raining, which has made the air even more thick and humid than it was before. But there’s a slight breeze coming off the water.


(Sound of splashing, scraping, and paddling)


Dave Lemberg from Western Michigan University slides his yellow kayak into the St. Joseph River in Southwest Michigan.


“There’s a heron off to the right.”


We’re at the beginning of a water trail he’s helped to create. It is one of two pilot trails for The Michigan Heritage Water Trail Program.


His idea is that mapped-out water trails will lead you to places where you can put in and take out your boat, places to stop and stretch your legs for a moment, and places where you might want to stop and check out a historical bridge or museum you pass by. Lemberg wants to see these kinds of
water trails created all across the state.


“We are looking at this as a type of heritage tourism. Every river, every piece of coastline in the Great Lakes has a story to tell.”


As we paddle down the river, signs guide us from point to point. Along the way the signs tell about the history of the area, and refer to a trail guide that contains even more information.


“The country was settled on water trails; we just didn’t call them that.”


Water trails are popping up all over the country. Paul Sanford is with the American Canoe Association. Last month, the organization launched an on-line database of trails. There are more than four hundred of them. He says people new to the sport like them because they tell you where to go. And he says these days you don’t just find water trails in beautiful areas.


SANFORD: “You see more and more trails being developed in urban areas as a way to change public attitudes about a waterway that might have historically been pretty industrialized, pretty uninviting to local citizens as a recreational resource that folks are saying, ‘Hey wait a minute, we can have fun on this river.'”


LEMBERG: “Let’s see, let’s back up and go over there this channel seems to have disappeared.”


On the St. Joseph River, the water trail passes ruins of bridges, old mills, and other remnants of early settlements dating back to the 1800’s. There used to be bustling communities along rivers like this, but many riverside towns were left behind when the interstates took a different route. Dave Lemberg thinks water trails can be a way to revitalize some of these bypassed communities.


“So the vision is people paddling from bed and breakfast to bed and breakfast, eating in local restaurants, browsing in local stores. There’s where well be eating, on the deck up there, overlooking the river.”


After a morning on the river, we arrive eight miles downstream from where we started. One of the signs directs us up a creek to the Mendon Country Inn.


(Sound of door)


Gerard Clark is the chef and owner of this historic inn. He says the water trail has been good for business.


“Since the inauguration which was in August last year, we’ve a seen a three-fold increase in our canoe business which has impacted on lodging and as well as our dining facilities. We have a lot of city folk who come in who are so stressed out you can’t believe it, after a couple days on river and good food they unwind.”


Clark says the trail is drawing people from all over the region, and the hope is, paddle trails like this one will become a tourist draw in other places as well.


For the GLRC, I’m Tamar Charney.

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Group Seeks to Complete Ice Age Trail

  • Glaciers similar to this one carved the Great Lakes region's landscape during the Ice Age. (Photo courtesy of NASA)

A non-profit group is working to preserve part of the region’s glacial history. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Christina Shockley explains:

Transcript

A non-profit group is working to preserve part of the region’s glacial history. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Christina Shockley explains:


The group is building a national scenic trail where a glacier stopped and receded thousands of years ago in Wisconsin. The same glacier formed Lake Michigan. Landscape formations along the trail vary from cone-shaped hills to long, snake-like hills.


Nancy Frank is with the Ice Age Park and Trail Foundation. That’s the group working on the project. She says sometimes there’s no definite line of where the glacier was.


“It may be a band of about three miles or so of glacial material, that forms what they call the terminal moraine, which is as far as that glacier went.”


Frank says work on the trail began in the 1950’s. So far, 600 miles of it are done; at least 400 miles are left to go. A bill before Congress would make it easier to complete the trail. The ice age trail is one of only eight scenic trails in the nation.


For the GLRC, I’m Christina Shockley.

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Winter Birding: An Audio Postcard

  • The Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus). (Photo by Mike McDowell)

Despite the cold weather… there are some dedicated wildlife
watchers taking notes, taking photos and enjoying the outdoors. The
Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Ed Janus recently joined
four people in the snowy woods and fields to watch them as they watched
birds. He brings us this audio postcard:

Transcript

Despite the cold weather… there are some dedicated wildlife watchers taking notes,
taking photos and enjoying the outdoors. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Ed Janus
recently joined four people in the snowy woods and fields to watch them as they watched
birds. He brings us this audio postcard:


Noel Cutright: “There’s something happening 365 days a year. Whether it’s in June, in
the height of breeding season here in Wisconsin or in the depths of the winter, you
can
find birds just about anywhere.”


(bird song)


“I think people when they think about going birding in the tropics, they’re always
looking
for the new birds that we don’t have here in Wisconsin. And I was kind of surprised
at
how moved I was when I started seeing some of our birds down there.”


(sound of Bald Eagle)


Mike McDowell: “One way to get people who aren’t really interested in looking at birds
is watching something as lovely as a Bald Eagle. A good place to see them would be
Sauk City, along the Wisconsin River. One time I had a bald eagle there fly right
up into
a tree right next to me. Just a gorgeous view of it in the sun. You can watch them
fly
down from the trees and fly over the water and scoop down and grab a fish and bring it
up to a tree and eat it.”


NC: “Well, we’re starting up a bike trail here in downtown Port Washington. Very
protected. Very close to the lakeshore. I hear a chickadee calling here as we get
started.”


(sound of chickadees)


Delia Unsom: “We used to go out for walks a lot, and one day we were out and saw this
red-tailed hawk circling. And so, you know we were watching that but it was so far
away, so I went out and bought this little, tiny pair of binoculars…”


Chuck Heikkinen: “For twenty bucks.”


DU: “For twenty bucks. And then you start seeing birds up close and then before I
knew
it, Chuck had his own pair of twenty dollar pair of binoculars.”


CH: “Once you get really close to a bird with binoculars, you start to see things
you’d
never imagine.”


DU: “Like birds that we would just totally ignore before – for example sparrows.
Sparrows look so plain, but once you really get into birding, there are certain
sparrows
that are just beautiful.”


(sound of goldfinch)


NC: “Goldfinch flying over. They say ‘potato chip’ when they fly. ‘Potato chip,
potato
chip.'”


“Sometimes if you’re quiet and go out and sit in the woods or along the shore and
birds –
and you’re quiet and don’t make a lot of movement, you can get close to birds. Just
sit
down some place and let the birds come to you. It’s a good way to see them up close…”


(sound of Cooper’s Hawk under)


NC: “There goes a Cooper’s Hawk.”


DU: “Seeing birds is one thing, but hearing birds is another thing.”


CH: “After learning the songs of the birds, it’s almost like being in a symphony.
It’s just
incredibly beautiful sound. Almost like hearing the heart beat of the planet.”


(sound of cardinal under)


NC: “Single note call of a Cardinal. Northern Cardinal – just flew across the path
there.”


CH: “What it does, what it’s done for us I think has pulled the whole state into our
life.
Just all corners of the state we’re pretty well acquainted with because of birds.”


NC: “There’s a White-breasted Nut Hatch I just heard. Yank, yank, yank. Yank, yank,
yank.”


(sound of Nut Hatch under)


DU: “It’s easy to get obsessed with birds, you know? It really is easy. But think
about it:
it’s a great thing to be obsessed about. You know, if you’re going to have an
obsession,
why not something beautiful that gets you outdoors, it brings you out into nature, you
know that makes you happier. There’re just some gorgeous, fantastic days. You know,
in the past we wouldn’t have been outdoors. Now we’re always outdoors.”


MM: “Really all they need is a pair of binoculars and a little bit of time and it’s
great
exercise and why not?”


(bird song fades out)


HOST TAG: “Noel Cutright, Mike McDowell, and the husband and wife team
of Chuck Heikkinen and Delia Unsom watch birds in their home state of Wisconsin. Ed
Janus produced that audio postcard for the Great Lakes Radio Consortium.”

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