Birds Steer Clear of Buildings

As fall bird migration nears its end, scientists in Chicago are seeing what they say is an encouraging trend. Fewer migrating birds are hitting the windows of tall high-rises. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Jesse Hardman has more:

Transcript

As fall bird migration nears its end…scientists in Chicago are seeing what they say is an encouraging trend. Fewer migrating birds are hitting the windows of tall high-rises. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Jesse Hardman has more.


Scientists at Chicago’s field museum say an estimated one hundred million birds die every year after hitting windows. They say many of those deaths come during annual migrations. Bird expert Dave Willard says he’s been patrolling Chicago’s McCormick Place convention center for twenty years…collecting winged casualties of fall migration.


Willard says those numbers are starting to go down.


“In 1996 we might have picked up anywhere between five hundred and one thousand birds in the fall, this fall it will be probably under fifty.”


Willard and his colleagues suggest bright light confuses night migrators who use the stars and moon to navigate. He says this year’s drop in death is a direct result of a city initiative asking buildings to pull window shades and dim lights at night. Willard says other Great Lakes cities like Toronto are trying similar programs.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium I’m Jesse Hardman.

Migratory Birds Cleared for Landing

Like many cities on the Great Lakes, lakefront park space is at apremium… but in Chicago, a conservation group is trying to change thatby converting an airport used for small planes, into a landing space formigratory birds. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Jesse Hardmanreports from Chicago:

Transcript

Like many cities on the Great Lakes, lakefront park space is at a
premium… but in Chicago, a conservation group is trying to change that by
converting an airport used for small planes, into a landing space for
migratory birds. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Jesse Hardman
reports from Chicago.


The Lake Michigan Federation has presented the city with a plan to replace
the ninety-one acres along the Lake with wetlands, dunes and a prairie.
Cam Davis is the group’s Executive Director.
He says their proposal fits perfectly into the city’s renewed emphasis on
natural environments within an urban setting.

“The whole point of this is to really give people the chance to experience
nature first hand. Not to just see it in a display, but to see it first
hand. That means fishing, that means snorkeling, that means birding.”


Meigs Field is scheduled to close almost exactly a year from now…and
Chicago Mayor Richard Daley is guaranteeing a waterfront park, in some form,
will take its place.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Jesse Hardman.

International Team Attempts River Revival

Only seventy-nine large floodplain rivers are said to remain in theworld. These rivers are unique for their ability to divert seasonalfloodwaters into large wetlands, creating habitat for an incrediblevariety of plants and organisms. The Illinois River, flowing west andthen south from Chicago, is one large floodplain river that has seenbetter days. Pollution, agricultural development, and dams have wipedout much of its wetlands and wildlife over the last century. But now,an exchange with diplomats and scientists in Brazil may bring new lifeto the Illinois, and provide a blueprint for how to revitalize riversaround the region. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Jesse Hardmanreports:

Transcript

Only seventy-nine large floodplain rivers are said to remain in the world.
These rivers are unique for their ability to divert seasonal floodwaters
into large wetlands, creating habitat for an incredible variety of plants
and organisms. The Illinois River, flowing west and then south from Chicago, is one
large floodplain river that has seen better days. Pollution, agricultural development, and
dams have wiped out much of its wetlands and wildlife over the last century. But now,
an exchange with diplomats and scientists in Brazil may bring new life to the Illinois, and
provide a blueprint for how to revitalize rivers around the region. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Jesse Hardman reports.


When Rip Sparks, a river biologist at the University of
Illinois, first set eyes on the Upper Paraguay River and its Pantanal
wetlands during a trip to Brazil five years ago, he was astounded.


“I talked to commercial fisherman I went to fish restaurants that were based
completely on what is harvested from the river. And this reminds me of
historical accounts of the wonderful fishery that existed along the Illinois
River”


After returning from his trip, Sparks began to compare the health of the two
rivers. But he wanted to make sure Brazilians learned from his research as
well, so he joined the Illinois Nature Conservancy in inviting
representatives of the Upper Paraguay area to see first hand how not to
treat a river.


(sound of airplane taking off)


Governor Dante Martins de Olivera, from the Brazilian state of Matto Grasso,
pauses as he looks down at the muddy brown river through the window of an
eight-seat jet airplane. Governor Dante, seated across from Biologist Rip
Sparks and Illinois Nature Conservancy officials, relaxes in his seat and
begins to tell stories of the Upper Paraguay.


(sound of Portuguese)


Dante says his river supports farmers and ranchers who understand and use
its floodplain, a system which allows excess water to expand into adjacent
wetlands.


Doug Blodgett, a Nature Conservancy biologist, draws Dante’s attention to a
large levee about five thousand feet below the plane. He explains how these
manmade earthen embankments helped to drain a portion of the river’s
floodplain for farming.
Blodgett says land protected by levees along the Illinois produce only one
percent of the state’s crops, but take up 200,000 acres, half the land
along the river’s main wetland area.


Dante nods in agreement…he says he can see, looking down at the river, how
too much habitat and natural resources have been sacrificed for farming
along the Illinois. But he warns those on board not to overreact.


“You can’t put the environment in a dome. We need to take social questions
into consideration. Create jobs and feed the people. My government has taken
this into consideration…taking care to avoid problems like you have in the
Illinois River that will probably take one hundred years more to restore”


Micheal Rueter, conservation director for the Illinois Nature
Conservancy, says his group has already begun a plan to restore wetlands by
buying up farmland along the river, and re-connecting leveed areas to the
Illinois’s natural path. But he says the plan isn’t intended to drive
farmers out of business.


“We live on a working landscape…and we recognize that we need to work with
the people who live on that landscape. To find the mix of public and private
goods that can be produced on the land.”


The pilot carrying this group of river-watchers finally lands the plane
midway along the Illinois River at a small airport in Peoria. The Nature
Conservancy has organized a lunch with local community and environmental
leaders to meet Governor Dante and discuss the restoration of the Illinois.


(sound of luncheon, Portuguese)


Dante offers to form an exchange where Illinois scientists and
conservationists can come study the Upper Paraguay and Pantanal area…and
some of his scientists can travel to the U.S. to research the Illinois
River.
He then tells a story about fishing on the Upper Paraguay.


He gets a laugh from the lunch crowd as he holds his hands a good three feet
apart…describing the fish he says he reeled in one day.


(sound of laughing)


With the help of river aficionados like Governor Dante…the Illinois will
hopefully begin to flow a little more freely, like it used to…and in turn
itself become an example for other regions in the area…of how best to treat
a river.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Jesse Hardman.

Battling Invasive Species

After spending the last two summers fighting against the Asian long horned beetle, government agriculture officials say the Great Lakes region remains threatened by a group of invasive species. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Jesse Hardman reports:

Transcript

After spending the last two summers fighting against the Asian long
horned beetle…government agriculture officials say the Great
Lakes region remains threatened by invasive species. The great
Lakes Radio Consortium’s Jesse Hardman reports.


U.S. agriculture deputy secretary Richard Rominger says
the appearance of gypsy moths in the Great Lakes Region, an insect which
kill trees and plants by consuming their leaves, is this summers
biggest worry.

“Gypsy moths will eat the leaves off the
trees they probably start with the oak trees the like those, then they’ll
eat anything including the shrubbery in your yard. In the last year gypsy
moths defoliated at least a million acres in Michigan. So that’s the
potential.”

Rominger says other invasive species they’re battling include the
round goby…an aggressive fish which is competing with fish in Lake
Michigan for habitat…and the purple loose strife, a plant which
grows quickly and crowds out surrounding plants.

Agriculture officials say they will experiment with different
programs aimed at controlling invasive species…including the use of
other exotics that prey on the problem species.

For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Jesse Hardman.

Highway Threatens Sacred Tribal Lands

A Minnesota highway relocation project is getting national attention as
Native American tribes are attempting to stop state and federal projects
from destroying tribal lands. The Highway 55 re-route would cost an
estimated 100 million dollars and would provide a faster route from
downtown Minneapolis to the local airport and Mall of America. A
Minnesota tribal group says that if construction for the highway takes
place, they will lose sacred land. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s
Jesse Hardman reports: