Could Pheromones Control Invasive Ruffe?

In some parts of the Great Lakes the Eurasian ruffe, an accidentalimport, now makes up 80 percent of the fish, and might be crowding outalready-struggling native species. Now researchers at the University ofMinnesota believe they can use pheromones from the fish to reduce thespread of ruffe in the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’sChris Julin reports from Duluth:

Transcript

In some parts of the Great Lakes the Eurasian ruffe, an accidental import,
now makes up 80-percent of the fish, and might be crowding out
already-struggling native species. Now researchers at the University of
Minnesota believe they can use pheromones from the fish to
reduce the spread of ruffe in the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Chris Julin reports from Duluth.


Animals release pheromones to communicate with other members of their
species. Biologists found that Eurasian Ruffe release a particular
pheromone when they’re injured, or frightened.

“It’s the smell of fear as it were.”

Peter Sorenson is one of the University of Minnesota researchers who
identified the “alarm pheromone” in ruffe. He says it’s easy to extract the
chemical from the fishes’ skin, and then spread it in the water, telling
the fish, in essence to “keep away.”

“I’m not thinking of controlling them for the entire Lake Superior or
anything, but I’m thinking of keeping them out of dock areas in Duluth, or
if there’s a particular channel that they have to move through to spawn in
the spring, you might be able to keep them out of a few key areas.”

So far tests have been limited to the lab, but Sorenson hopes to work with
government agencies to try the technique in the Great Lakes.

For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Chris Julin in Duluth.

Exotic Carp May Invade Great Lakes

  • The big head carp may be the next invasive species to populate the Great Lakes. The fish native to Asia is moving through the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers. (photo courtesy Illinois Natural History Survey)

There may be two new invasive species coming to the Great Lakes. TheGreat Lakes Radio Consortium’s Jonathan Ahl reports:

Transcript

There may be two new invasive species coming to the Great Lakes. The
Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Jonathan Ahl reports.


The Big Head Carp and the Silver Carp are native to Asia. But
scientists have recently found increasing numbers of the fish in the
Mississippi and Illinois Rivers. Jim Stoeckl is a biologist with the
Illinois Natural History Survey. He says he expects the fish to continue
to move north.

“Right now there is no barrier at all to these
species traveling from one drainage basin to the other. So it’s very
possible that the big head carp and the silver carp, which is a related
species, may actually make it up into Lake Michigan in the next couple
years.”

Stoeckel says the big head and silver carp multiply quickly and could
dominate Midwest waterways. He says they are already posing a threat to
native fish in the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers including the paddle fish
and the gizzard shad. For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Jonathan
Ahl.

Commentary – Toxic Chemicals Impact Children

A new U.S. report documents a disturbing link between toxic pollutionand learning and developmental disabilities in children. The report,entitled Polluting our Future, echoes similar findings released lastmonth by a team of Canadian researchers. The Canadian report claims aconnection between environmental contaminants such as pesticides, smogand food additives and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder andother learning disabilities. For Great Lakes Radio Consortiumcommentator Suzanne Elston, the studies mark the end of a fifteen-yearsearch for answers:

Transcript

A new U.S. report documents a disturbing link between toxic pollution
and learning and developmental disabilities in children. The report,
entitled Polluting our Future, echoes similar findings released last
month by a team of Canadian researches. The Canadian reports claims a
connection between environmental contaminants such as pesticides,
smog and food additives and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder
and other learning disabilities. For Great Lakes Radio Consortium
commentator Suzanne Elston, the studies mark the end of a
fifteen-year search for answers.


Almost right from the minute he was born, our son Matthew was a busy
boy. By the time he’d started school, he was quite a handful. At ten,
he was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or
ADHD.

We’ve suspected all along that Matthew’s behavior was somehow linked
with a chemical imbalance. For years I couldn’t figure out how this
could’ve happened. When I was pregnant, I wouldn’t put anything in
my mouth or near my body that could possibly harm my baby – or so I
thought. I avoided everything from second-hand smoke to household
cleaners. I even went nine months without a cup of coffee. When it
came time to deliver, it was strictly au natural. As an infant,
Matthew was fed exclusively on breast milk until he graduated to our
own organically grown vegetables. Over the years, we’ve tried to
eliminate food additives and other possible chemical triggers from
his diet. In short, we couldn’t point to a single factor that could
be causing his behavior, or help to improve it. We even tried
Ritalin, with little success.

Now these two new reports have finally given us some insight into
what may have happened. Despite my precautions during pregnancy, I
was unknowingly exposed to all the environmental contaminants that
pollute the air and water in the Great Lakes basin.

As much as our son’s behavior is difficult to live with, his symptoms
are mild compared with some of the disabilities linked with
neurological toxins. According to the studies, mental retardation,
birth defects and autism are caused, at least in part, by toxic
exposure. The U.S. report says that disabilities in more than 360,000
children can be directly attributed to chemical exposure, and that
figure could go much higher. In total, 12 million U.S. children – or
one out of every six kids – has some kind of developmental, learning
or behavioral disability.

On a national scale, this is nothing short of a major environmental
disaster. We are permanently damaging our most precious resource. But
for the families who struggle with these children day to day, the
question becomes, “What now?’ After all these years of searching,
finally finding the possible cause of Matthew’s uncontrollable
behavior is cold comfort. Despite our best intentions in the world,
the damage has already been done.

Encouraging Smart Growth in Cities

Does it ever seem like there are just more people around than there usedto be? There are — and there will be more. Five decades from now, theU.S. population is expected to jump by fifty percent. That predictionis leading to increasing interest in how to manage all that growth. TheGreat Lakes area isn’t facing as strong of population pressures as someparts of the country, but those pressures still mean the face of theregion could look very different fifty years from now. The Great LakesRadio Consortium’s Emily Harris reports:

Transcript

Does it ever seem like there are just more people around than there
used to be? There are — and there will be more. Five decades from now, the
US population is expected to jump by fifty percent. That prediction is
leading to increasing interest in how to manage all that growth. The Great
Lakes area isn’t facing as strong of population pressures as some parts of
the country, but those pressures still mean the face of the
region could look very different fifty years from now.
The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Emily Harris reports.


The growing interest in actively managing urban growth is driven by
economic concerns, according to Joel Hirschorn, who has researched the
subject for the national governor’s association.

“If you don’t deal with the impacts of rapid economic growth, you will
stifle future economic growth.”

Hirschorn says a number of trends have accelerated with the
booming
economy — from crowded roads to disappearing open spaces. So
planners are
looking toward cities again. That’s a change US Senator Carl Levin can
agree with. The Michigan Democrat says plenty of Great Lakes cities are
ready and waiting for a new boom.

“We have a lot of vacant lots in the city of Detroit for instance or Pontiac
or Flint. And we have infrastructure, we have sewers, we have roads, we
have sidewalks which we have paid for already, which are not being fully
used. We have downtowns that are partly empty.”

(Sound of traffic report)

One of the most common complaints Levin hears is about traffic. More
people have moved out of the city, increasing the pressure on rural roads.
And the Great Lakes Region has a great deal to lose from this
trend.
According to the preservation group American Farmland trust, Pennsylvania,
Michigan and New York rank near the top of the list of states losing a
significant percentage of farmland each
year. But unlike on the US coasts, the pressure in the Great Lakes Region,
at least so far, is not all due to a jump in population. Ralph Grassy is
president of American Farmland Trust. He says the people already there
are
just taking up too much land.

“Take metropolitan areas like Chicago for example. Over the twenty year
period from 1970 to 1990, the population of the metropolitan area only grew
by four percent. And yet during that
period it consumed fifty percent more farmland for urban uses.”

The US Department of Agriculture says the country’s food supply isn’t
threatened by disappearing farmland. But Grassy says farms produce more
than just food.

“The people who talk about the commodities are thinking in a very traditional
mindset, that what farms produce are food and fiber commodities. And in fact
that’s true. But farms produce scenic vistas and open space and wildlife
habitat. They produce water quality — well managed farms are great filters
for water runoff. There are many other values that are really farm
products.”

Five Great Lake states have farmland protection programs that pay farmers
to not sell to subdividers. Of the three that do not — Illinois, Indiana
and Minnesota — Minnesota has the strongest zoning laws, according to
planners, who see both types of programs as useful management tools. But
Stuart Mack, a senior researcher with the American Planning Association in
Chicago
says the Great Lakes states have trailed much of the rest of the nation,
particularly the West, in actively using planning laws. He says part of
that has to do with how land is valued.

“If you talk to people in Oregon or Washington or Montana or Wyoming // they
have a much different view of the land. I would have to say it’s almost
spiritual in nature. Certainly a sense of stewardship. Their attitude
toward land is that land is more of a resource than a commodity. I would
say in the Midwest we don’t really have that kind of attitude toward land.”

Zoning has traditionally been a responsibly of local governments in the
Great Lakes area, although leaders at the state level are becoming more
active. For example, Wisconsin’s so-called Smart Growth Law offers local
governments incentive money for following state land-use guidelines. In
November, voters across Ohio will decide on a four-hundred million dollar
bond issue to preserve open space
and protect water sources, and clean up and redevelop former industrial
sites — sites known as brownfields. On the federal level, there is growing
interest in trying to help out. Michigan Senator Carl Levin.

“One thing we can do is handle our highway funds in a way which encourages
sustainable growth, for instance, putting a larger percentage of those
funds into mass transit. Another thing we can try to do is deal with the
brownfields issue.”

Senator Levin says those kinds of federal actions will be slow coming —
perhaps
slower than growth in Great Lakes communities, managed or not.

For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Emily Harris in Washington.

Park Service Investigates Snowmobile Use

Last year a coalition of environmental groups challenged the NationalPark Service, saying that it was violating its own mandate by allowingsnowmobile use on designated trails in the parks. The Great Lakes RadioConsortium’s Shula Neuman reports that the challenge to the park systemhas prompted the Service’s Midwest officials to monitor just what kindof impact snowmobiles are having on their parks:

Transcript

Last year a coalition of environmental groups challenged the National Park
Service, saying that it was violating its own mandate by allowing snowmobile
use on designated trails in the parks. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Shula Neuman reports that the challenge to the park system has prompted
the Service’s Midwest officials to monitor just what kind of impact
snowmobiles are having on their parks.


Pictured Rocks National Park sits on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. It boasts
42 miles of shoreline along Lake Superior, scenic cliffs and sand dunes. In
the winter, the park’s average snowfall of 29-inches attracts about
15-thousand snowmobilers. Park superintendent Grant Peterson says that most
of those snowmobilers are locals who know where they can and cannot travel
and are generally respectful of the park’s regulations. As a result,
snowmobilers and other winter recreationists get along pretty well. Still,
some skiers have expressed concern about the noise and exhaust that
snowmobiles produce. Peterson says it’s those issues as well as some less
tangible ones that need to be resolved.


“The biggest issue is how do we measure the impact.. there’s a
sociological component. Do other winter users find it has an adverse impact
on their enjoyment of the lakeshore with respect to snowmobilers.”


The quantity of snowmobilers in the national parks in the Western states
prompted a coalition of environmental groups, called the Bluewater Network,
to assert that snowmobiles were harming the environment. That’s because the
machines’ two-stroke engines release around 100 times more carbon monoxide
and 300-times more hydrocarbons into the air than cars. They also say, the
noise produced by snowmobiles disturbs wildlife. Their concern is that the
park service wasn’t doing enough about these problems. Senior advisor at the
Department of the Interior, Destry Jarvis, says that the Bluewater Network
was correct: current snowmobile regulations violated executive orders
established in the 1970s that mandated protecting the natural resources in
the parks above all other uses.


“The issue before us is, is this standard of it’s OK on frozen lakes
and unplowed roads in and of itself meet the standard of the executive order
and we concluded that it did not.”


To correct the inconsistency, the National Parks Service is expected to
release proposed changes to snowmobiling regulations in early October.
According to Jarvis, the changes would generally prohibit snowmobiles in
national parks with a few exceptions, such as permitting snowmobilers to
traverse the parks to get to private lands inside or nearby. Individual
superintendents can make the regulations even stricter if they determine
that snowmobiles are still harming the parks. But this requires monitoring
snowmobile use. And as Associate Regional Director Jim Loach explains, in
the Midwest there has been no unified monitoring system.


“You need the basic information first. What are the numbers that we
are talking about. Until we sit down and talk we don’t have those answers
and that’s one of the reasons we are coming together now, and that’s another
reason why there have been proposed changes on a national basis.”

For snowmobile activists though, the parks service is moving too fast to
tighten its restrictions on snowmobile use. Jeff Mausaulf, an activist with
the Snowmobile Association of Minnesota, acknowledges that snowmobile
engines aren’t the most efficient, but argues its unfair to target
snowmobilers with stricter regulations


“Snowmobilers are by and large environmentalists. They enjoy the
great outdoors. Anyone who is outside when its 25 below out and they love to
be out there, they want to protect the outdoors, they are not out there to
destroy it, they are out there to enjoy it and will do whatever it takes to
preserve that.”


Masaulf also says that there’s a difference between Midwest snowmobilers and
their western counterparts. In the west, smaller parks are crowded with
users who are there for only a few hours at a time. In the Midwest, he
says, fewer snowmobilers use extensive trail networks throughout the region
for long trips. Midwest park rangers acknowledge this difference too. And
they say that’s why Midwest parks are less likely to tighten the proposed
regulations. Still, the Interior Department’s Jarvis says that until each
park knows just how snowmobiles are affecting the park and until the
snowmobile industry comes out with a clean burning engine, the park service
has to establish more restrictive snowmobile regulations.


“We don’t want to prohibit people from using the parks in the
wintertime. It’s just that this particular machine violates the standards
that the parks are managed under.”


Midwest park officials met recently to establish a region-wide method for
monitoring the impact snowmobiles have on the parks. These systems should be
in place this winter. In about a year the EPA is expected to come out with
its regulations for quieter, more efficient snowmobile engines. However,
that may be too late. If it’s up to the park service, this winter may be
the last time snowmobiles travel on federal parkland routes. For the Great
Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Shula Neuman in St. Louis.

Slowing the Decline of Grassland Songbirds

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says grassland songbird populationsare declining more rapidly than any other North American species. That’s primarily because nesting habitat has been destroyed byagriculture and urban sprawl. Now, researchers in Minnesota arecombining old fashioned legwork and high tech equipment in hopes oflearning ways to stabilize the population of prairie songbirds. TheGreat Lakes Radio Consortium’s Dan Gunderson reports:

Transcript

The US Fish and Wildlife Service says grassland songbird populations are
declining more rapidly than any other North American species. That’s primarily
because nesting habitat has been destroyed by agriculture and urban sprawl.
Now, researchers in Minnesota are combining old-fashioned legwork and high
tech equipment in hopes of learning ways to stabilize the population of prairie
songbirds. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Dan Gunderson reports.

(Sound of disappearing birds)

The sun tries unsuccessfully to burn a hole in the fog as a government issue
sport utility vehicle pulls to the side of a narrow gravel road in northwest
Minnesota.


Early morning traffic hums by on U-S highway two providing background for the
the unseen birds who’s gentle calls fill the morning air.


“We have an extra mosquito head net if you’d like one.”

Christine Vatovic and Katy Brennan are veterans of these early
morning jaunts. They’re research assistants and their job is to find and monitor
the nests of secretive prairie songbirds.
Climbing over a barbed wire fence, they swish through the knee high
dew covered grass, looking for a small plastic flag that marks a nearly invisible
nest, on the ground under the thick vegetation.


“Oh wow, just hatched, I’ve never seen one that young before.”

The naked clay colored sparrow nestling is no bigger than a nickel and nearly
invisible against the dry brown grass of the nest.


The odds are about 50-50 this baby bird will be eaten before it’s old enough to fly
away from the nest.


Researchers believe as the birds nest on smaller grassland areas that remain
among the farm fields, they may be more susceptible to predators.
But what animals eat songbirds, and how often are nests destroyed. Until
recently those questions remained mostly a mystery.
After all, it’s tough to watch a nest that can’t be seen an arms length away.


Enter researcher Pam Pietz


“And this little thing is a black and white ccd board camera.”


The camera is about an inch and a half square, with a camouflage paint job.


“These are similar to the cameras used in security systems but have
been modified for outdoor use with waterproof housing and also for night
vision.”


A small cable runs to a battery powered VCR about 50 yards away. The system
captures four frames per second, 24 hours on each video tape.


Over the past three years the cameras have captured 70 predator attacks on
grassland songbird nests,
providing a wealth of information for researchers, including the identity of some
unexpected predators.


“The white tail deer is one of the most surprising to people because I
don’t think people expect deer to eat meat.”


The cameras have documented four cases where deer eat the young birds. The
tapes also show ground squirrels, mice, fox, badger and many other predators
taking nestlings, and sometimes
eating the parents too.


Pam Pietz says as a bird lover it’s sad to watch the nestlings destroyed
but as a scientist it’s a thrill.


“I mean you feel like a bit of a peeping tom here. You’re looking at
things few people have ever got to witness and it’s exciting to view those
events as macabre as they may be.”


Pietz says she doubts any predator specifically hunts prairie songbirds. Because
so many different predators show up on camera, she thinks in most cases they
simply happen upon the well hidden
nest and take advantage of the free lunch.


That means it’s unlikely songbirds can be protected from predators by fencing
nesting areas or trapping specific predators.
Pam Pietz says that leaves one obvious solution.

“If you have very little habitat for them to nest and they’re hit hard by
predators then you have a problem. As we’ve said managing the predators
is not likely to work for songbirds so the only hope for maintaining their
populations is making sure there’s adequate habitat.”


Experts say? Prairie songbirds are adaptable, they will quickly move in when
farmland is planted with conservation reserve program grasses.
It appears the birds are most successful in larger grassland areas, researchers
hope to learn how to manage habitat so the disappearing prairie songbirds will
have a chance flourish in the future.

For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Dan Gunderson.

Park Service May Monitor Snowmobiling

Before the snow begins to fall, members of the Midwest region of theNational Park Service will meet later this week to discuss a monitoringprogram for snowmobile use within the parks. The Great Lakes RadioConsortium’s Shula Neuman reports that this week’s meeting is the ParkService’s first attempt to implement a region-wide monitoring system:

Transcript

Before the snow begins to fall, members of the Midwest Region of the
National Parks Service will meet later this week to discuss a monitoring
program for snowmobile use within the parks. Shula Neuman reports for the
Great Lakes Radio Consortium that this week’s meeting is the service’s first
attempt to implement a region-wide monitoring system.


Although individual parks may have conducted their own studies into how many
snowmobilers are using the trails, until now there has been no unified
attempt to study the issue. Associate Director for the Midwest Region Jim
Loach says the parks service needs to fill in the gaps in its knowledge of
snow mobile use.


“The first thing is to get a handle on exactly what is occurring and what it
is we should be looking at so we can look at a standard that tells us
perhaps that things are fine the way they are, that we need to make some
changes in our management strategies or that different regulations are
necessary.”


Loach says parks service staff will meet with specialists in resource
management, air quality and regulatory measures so a monitoring program can
be put in place by winter. For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Shula
Neuman.

Commentary – A Dog’s Eye View

Walking for fitness or fun is a great way to rediscover the worldaround us. Great Lakes Radio Consortium commentator Suzanne Elston haslearned that how we view that world can also be colored by whom we walkwith:

Transcript

Walking for fitness or fun is a great way to rediscover the world
around us. Great Lakes Radio Consortium commentator Suzanne Elston
has learned that how we view that world can also be colored by whom
we walk with.

I’ve recently rediscovered the joy of walking, thanks to our dog,
Jessie.


Jessie’s taught me a lot. Retrievers have very sensitive noses, which
they like to keep close to the pavement. By watching her as she
snuffles along, I’m seeing things that I’ve never noticed before.


For example, our walks take us along rural roads and through a
neighboring subdivision, so we get to see a variety of flowers. While
some of the landscaped gardens are really quite beautiful, they can’t
come close to the riot of color and scents that wildflowers display
at this time of year. I wouldn’t have even noticed the wildflowers if
Jessie hadn’t tried to chase after the butterflies that flutter
around them.


I’m looking in ditches a lot more, too. And what I’ve noticed is that
there are hundreds of pop cans and bottles littering the countryside,
but I rarely see an empty beer bottle. I don’t think it’s because
beer drinkers are more responsible either. Where I live there isn’t a
deposit on pop containers, but there is on beer. I get the feeling
that a simple five-cent deposit on all pop cans would clean up the
ditches far faster than any community recycling blitz.


I never quite appreciated the value of trees until I walked with a
panting dog. Even on the hottest day, walking under the shady
branches of a tree immediately cools you down. I don’t know why
everybody doesn’t have a yard full of them. They do more to help the
environment that any other living thing that I can think of. They
take in carbon dioxide, a major contributor to global warming. They
store the carbon and release oxygen back into the air. They provide
protection against ultraviolet radiation and they cool the pavement
and the air. As few as three properly planted trees around a home can
cut air-conditioning bills by up to 50 percent in the summer and help
reduce heating costs in winter. No wonder dogs love trees so much.


The best part of walking Jessie is that I’ve learned that heaven’s
under our feet as well as over our heads. For those who care to look,
there’s an entire universe laid out at our feet. For the first time,
I’m noticing the tiny insects that scurry along and the valiant
wildflowers that take root in the cracks of the sidewalk. Jessie
flushes out beautiful yellow finches and tugs on her leash when she
sees sparrows hopping along the pavement in search of breakfast. When
we walk first thing in the morning, the sunlight dances on the
dew-soaked grass and makes it glisten like emerald velvet. The
pebbles on the side of the road glitter like precious jewels. This is
the kingdom of the early morning walker and Jessie and I are its
queens.

Prairie Under Siege

A hundred fifty years ago, seemingly endless prairie covered much of theMidwest. All that remains across the entire region is one half of onepercent of the original native prairie. Now, in Minnesota, one largearea is under siege. And federal, state and county officials, miningcompanies, and environmental groups are wrestling with the question ofwhat’s more important: rare native prairie, or the rich gravel depositsbeneath the prairie. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Dan Gundersonreports:

Transcript

A hundred fifty years ago, seemingly endless prairie covered
much of the Midwest. All that remains
across the entire region is one half of one percent of the
original native prairie. Now, in Minnesota, one large area is under siege.
And federal, state and county officials, mining companies, and
environmental groups are wrestling with the question …what’s more
important …rare native prairie, or the rich gravel deposits beneath the
prairie. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Dan Gunderson reports:


(Sound of prairie)

Standing atop the eastern shore of ancient glacial Lake Agassiz it’s not difficult to
imagine water rather than flowing fields of grain stretching to the horizon. The
prairie atop this ridge has been evolving since the lake receded from this beach
some nine thousand years ago. It’s considered one of the best dry prairies in the
world, and is home to several endangered or threatened plants and animals.


(Sound of truck)


However, A truck rumbling by in a cloud of dust is a reminder prairie is not the
only important resource here. Some of the richest gravel deposits in Minnesota
lie beneath this ground. Piles of gravel dot the prairie landscape.


The prairie is a subtle landscape, experiencing its unique plants and animals
takes time and patience.

(Sound of Prairie Chickens)


In early spring the strange spectacle of the prairie chicken mating dance echoes
across this ridge at sunrise.
In the fall, large flocks of sandhill cranes gather to begin their annual migration.
In summer, it’s home to dozens of relatively rare plants and animals.


{Sound of walking through grass}


As Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Prairie Biologist Peter Buessler
walks across a 160 acre prairie plot, surrounded on three sides by gravel pits,


“Just a second. There goes a regal frittelary, which is a rare butterfly.”

The state of Minnesota has identified 17 rare animals and 19 rare plants on this
site.
Researchers have been collecting insects here for six years and expect to
identify more than two thousand species, some as yet undiscovered.


The most notable insects here are the endangered eulers arctic and dakota
skipper butterflys.


This prairie was part of the nearly 20-thousand square miles of prairie that once
covered western Minnesota. Most of the prairie became farmland, only a few
fragments remain. This beach ridge escaped the farmers plow because it was
too dry and rocky, considered wasteland. But in the past 50 years gravel mines
have inexorably chewed up much of? the remaining prairie.


“I wish I’d a won the lottery back in the 1970s. That woulda been
great.”


Richard Pemble is a biologist at Minnesota State University Moorhead. In the
early 1970’s he helped complete the first survey of remaining native prairie sites.
He says nearly half of the areas identified
then as important, have since been destroyed.
He says it’s much like an architect watching historically significant buildings fall to
the wrecking ball.


“As a biologist I feel the same way as I see places I know as a
professional are so important are so significant and so unusual, to lose
those just makes your stomach churn. It’s really hard to take.”


The Department of Natural resources and private groups such as the nature
conservancy have purchased and preserved some prairie but state Prairie
Biologist Peter Buessler says the state cannot stop the destruction of what
remains .


“To save prairie you have to negotiate because us as citizens, the
public in general have not created a law that says prairie is endangered.”

Intricate negotiations over the future of the Felton prairie complex are underway .
A long term land use plan is being developed by the U-S Fish and Wildlife
Service, the D-N-R, private mining companies, and Clay county which owns
much of the land and the nearest gravel mine,


The plan will focus on county owned land, but it will likely also guide how the
county regulates private development in the future.

Private gravel company officials declined to be interviewed or were unavailable
for comment.


County commissioner Jon Evert represents Clay County. He says he’s committed
to reaching an agreement both sides can live with, but he admits not all county
officials share his viewpoint.


“Its one of those issues that seems to many people kind of
ridiculous that we’re going to stop taking mineral resources that are
essential for the continuation of civilization in this area to protect a few
butterflies. But it’s more than that. It’s an ecosystem that cannot be
replaced.”

As gravel resources diminish in the next twenty years there will likely be
increasing pressure to mine the high quality gravel under the Felton Prairie.
Prairie Biologist Peter Buessler says there will always be a danger the prairie will
be destroyed unless it receives permanent protection.


Buessler says small encroachments on the prairie are difficult to stop but the
long term effect may be disastrous.

The future of the Felton prairie complex and the gravel beneath it is expected to
be decided be decided by next year when a long term land use plan is
completed.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Dan Gunderson.

RIVER ZEBRA MUSSEL POPULATION DWINDLES (Short Version)

An invasive species common to the Great Lakes has disappeared from oneof the main rivers in the region. But scientists say the reason for thedemise of the zebra mussel on the lower Illinois River will not likelyhelp other bodies of water deal with the pest. The Great Lakes RadioConsortium’s Jonathan Ahl reports:

Transcript

An invasive species common to the Great Lakes has disappeared from
one the main rivers in the region. But scientists say the reason for the
demise of the Zebra Mussel on the lower Illinois River will not likely help
other bodies of water deal with the pest. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Jonathan Ahl reports.


Zebra Mussels once dominated the lower Illinois River in much the same way
it has other Great Lakes waterways. But now the fingernail-sized animals
have disappeared from the river, and state researchers say sedimentation may
be to blame.


“I think it is ironic that one that one thing we are
adding is bad and its killing something else that’s bad.”


But Pat Charlebois of the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant says sediment is even
worse for the river and not a solution to the Zebra Mussel problem.
However, researchers still plan to study the situation to see if there may
be some insight into stopping the spread of the invasive species. For the
Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Jonathan Ahl.