Migrating Birds Hurt by Communication Towers

Every year, more than 5 thousand new communications towers
are erected throughout the United States. They’re needed for cell
phones,
television and radio stations and 911 networks. But at this time of
year,
these towers become deadly obstacles. It’s estimated millions of
migrating birds are killed each year when they collide with towers in
their
flight path. As the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Karen Kelly reports,
there’s a growing consensus that something needs to be done:

One Man and a Wheelbarrow

  • Using donated boats and motors, more than 200 tons of trash and junk has been pulled from the river during the last two years. Pregracke is looking toward new rivers now.

One man is on a campaign to clean up the nation’s rivers. He’s not
pushing a public relations campaign… he’s pushing a wheel barrow. Last
year alone he picked up 200-tons of trash along the Mississippi River.
The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports… now he’s
moving on to other rivers:

Volunteers Put Their Beliefs to Work

It’s been called a domestic version of the PeaceCorps. AmeriCorps is a
service learning program that puts young people to work in communities
around the country. It was an early priority of the Clinton
administration, and since the project was established four years ago,
more than 100-thousand people have participated. AmeriCorps members
work in schools, churches and for non-profit groups, such as Habitat for
Humanity and the Red Cross. One of the newest AmeriCorps chapters was
established last fall in the middle of the Adirondack Park in New York
State. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Todd Moe reports:

Rediscovering the Alvar

Imagine you’re wandering through the woods on a trail shaded by trees.You turn a corner, and suddenly, you’re standing at the edge of a rockygrassland plopped down in the middle of a Northeastern forest. Theseseemingly misplaced grasslands are known as alvars and theGreat Lakes is one of only two regions in the world where they occur.The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Karen Kelly visited one of theseunique sites and met two local volunteers who’ve become the unofficialcaretakers: