A new survey by the Pew Institute for Ocean Science finds sturgeon populations are severely depleted throughout the world, including in the Great Lakes region. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Erin Toner reports:
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A new survey by the Pew Institute for Ocean Science finds sturgeon populations are severely depleted throughout the world, including in the Great Lakes region. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Erin Toner reports:
Sturgeon are called “living fossils” because their bodies are virtually unchanged since the time of the dinosaurs. The only species native to this region is the lake sturgeon. Nancy Auer is a fish biologist with Michigan Technological University.
She says sturgeon populations in the Great Lakes dropped severely in the 1850’s because of overfishing and because dams were built that blocked migration routes. She says now there are only a couple of places where sturgeon are somewhat abundant.
“One is the St. Clair River area and Detroit River are and one is up in Lake Superior in the Portage Lake area and these stocks are some of the last ones that have free capacity to range throughout the Great Lakes system.”
Hour says the state of Michigan has closed all sturgeon fisheries in an effort to boost populations. Other Great Lakes states are developing lake sturgeon management plans.
Farm real estate values are at record levels in the region, according to the
U-S-D-A’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Erin Toner reports:
Transcript
Farm real estate values are at record levels throughout the region, according to the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Erin Toner reports:
The value of farmland and buildings in the Great Lakes region averages close to three thousand dollars an acre. That’s an all-time high in most states. In some places, the value of farmland went up fourteen percent from last year.
The USDA report says low interest rates and competition for land is helping to drive up prices. Dave Lehnert is with the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Michigan. He says farmers are facing competition from developers who are buying up valuable agricultural land near cities.
“The closer you get to cities, people are more willing to drive further, people are even driving an hour and a half to work, they just like to be out in the country so they have to compete with people who want to by farmland for housing developments.”
Lehnert says he’s seeing a lot of small and mid-size farmers selling their land to large farming operations, and to developers.
The ozone layer helps to protect Earth from UV radiation. (Photo courtesy of NASA)
A new study shows the ozone layer decline is leveling off. Ozone 10 to 20 miles above the Earth protects the planet from the harmful effects of UV radiation. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Erin Toner reports:
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A new study shows the ozone layer decline is leveling off. Ozone 10 to 20 miles above the Earth protects the planet from the harmful effects of UV radiation. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Erin Toner reports:
The study says a leveling off in the ozone layer decline follows a 1987 international agreement. It established controls for chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs. The chemicals were used in air conditioning, refrigeration, and industrial cleaning.
Scientists say CFCs are the primary source of ozone destruction. Betsy Weatherhead is with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. She says despite the encouraging news, the ozone layer is still depleted.
“That means high UV radiation, which means that we still have to be vigilant about protecting our skin, protecting our eyes, and taking special care with our children.”
The study observed small increases in the ozone layer in some regions, but researchers say because CFCs stay in the atmosphere for decades, it may be forty years before the ozone layer is significantly repaired.
Great Lakes researchers are looking for volunteers to help search for an invasive aquatic plant that can choke out native vegetation, and make it tough to fish or boat. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Erin Toner reports:
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Great Lakes researchers are looking for volunteers to help search for an invasive aquatic
plant that can choke out native vegetation, and make it tough to fish or boat. The Great
Lakes Radio Consortium’s Erin Toner reports:
Universities and Sea Grant programs throughout the region want people to search bays
and inland lakes for a non-native plant called hydrilla. It’s been found in waterways in
southern states and on the East Coast. Researchers want to make sure hydrilla doesn’t
gain a foothold in the Great Lakes.
Howard Wandell is an inland lakes specialist at Michigan State University. He says
hydrilla forms a net of vines at the surface of the water.
“It’s difficult to motorboat through and obviously trying to cast fishing lures through it is
very difficult if not impossible. And of course then just the idea of even trying to swim
in it, people are very repulsed by the idea of trying to go out and try to recreate in this
tangled mass of vegetation.”
Wandell says hydrilla also blocks sunlight, which can kill native water plants.
Later this month, a group of students and professors
in the Great Lakes region are holding a national conference aimed at creating more diversity in the environmental field. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Erin Toner reports:
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Later this month, a group of students and professors in the Great Lakes region are holding a national conference aimed at creating more diversity in the environmental field. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Erin Toner reports:
The Minority Environmental Leadership Initiative at the University of Michigan is holding the conference. It’s for students, leaders of environmental non-profit groups and government agencies, and environmental faculty at universities.
Professor Dorceta Taylor says the conference will look at why the level of minority hiring in the environmental field is still so low, and what can be done about it.
“The environment affects everyone, and it could be a far more effective movement if it involved a larger cross section of the population.”
Taylor says many environmental organizations say they’d like to hire more minority graduates, but don’t know how to find or recruit them. Organizers say they hope the conference will connect employers with minority students looking for jobs.
A new study exposed rats to common farm chemicals and found that the effect of the chemicals lasted multiple generations. (Photo by Tamara
Bauer)
A first-of-its-kind study supports the theory that some common agricultural chemicals can cause reproductive problems that are passed down through generations. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Erin Toner reports:
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A first-of-its-kind study shows some common agricultural chemicals can cause reproductive problems that are passed down through generations. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Erin Toner reports:
In the study published in the journal Science, pregnant rats were exposed to high doses of two commonly-used chemicals: a fungicide used mainly by wine makers and a pesticide that replaced DDT.
The study showed the toxins caused low sperm counts in the rats’ male offspring down through four generations. Washington State University biologist Michael Skinner led the research team.
“This is a brand-new phenomenon; the fact that an environmental toxin can cause at all a multi-generational disease state, is something we didn’t know existed.”
Skinner stresses that the level of chemicals used in the study were above the level anticipated to be in the environment. But he says the research supports the idea that such toxins are causing permanent reproductive problems in men in some parts of the world.
A study of more than 18,000 farmers shows a link between neurological symptoms and long-term exposure to agricultural chemicals. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Erin Toner reports:
Transcript
A study of more than 18,000 farmers shows a link between neurological symptoms and
long-term exposure to agricultural chemicals. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Erin
Toner reports:
The study by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences included data on
farmers in North Carolina and Iowa. The farmers answered questions about lifetime
exposure to herbicides and insecticides, and about their history of neurological
symptoms.
Dale Sandler is chief of epidemiology for the NIEHS. She says 20 percent of the farmers
in the study experienced 10 or more neurological symptoms – some years after the
exposure.
“Dizziness, light-headedness, tremor, loss of vision, headache, fatigue. These are, as you
know, non-specific and people have these symptoms unrelated to pesticides, but they’re
also classic signs of pesticide poisoning.”
Sandler says the goal of the study is to find ways farmers can apply pesticides in a safer
way. She says future studies will look at links to long-term neurological diseases, such as
Parkinson’s.
Garlic mustard looks like any average weed, but because it's
an exotic species in the Midwest, it doesn't have any natural predators. That means it can push out native plant species and disrupt ecosystems in Great Lakes states. (Photo by Corbin Sullivan)
The corn bread pudding was a crowd favorite, but volunteers made everything from salads to bread to lasagna to several Mexican dishes, each with the distinct flavor of garlic mustard. (Photo by Corbin Sullivan)
People attending the benefit assess the available choices,
each with the invasive species garlic mustard as an ingredient. Before and after the meal, the crowd got some lessons on invasive species and ways to help keep them in check. (Photo by Corbin Sullivan)
Of all the non-native plants and animals that have invaded the Great Lakes region, garlic mustard is one of the most prolific. The leafy green plant is an invasive species that can be found in people’s backyards, in wetlands, even growing through cracks in concrete. Invasive species can hurt natural areas by displacing native plants. So to get rid of garlic mustard, people are dumping it in landfills or killing it with herbicide. But a nature group in Michigan has found a better way to deal with it – by eating it. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Erin Toner attended a benefit dinner where garlic mustard was featured in every single recipe. Toner produced this audio postcard:
Transcript
Of all the non-native plants and animals that have invaded the
Great Lakes region, garlic mustard is one of the most prolific. The
leafy green plant is an invasive species that can be found in people’s
backyards, in wetlands, even growing through cracks in concrete.
Invasive species can hurt natural areas by displacing native plants.
So to get rid of garlic mustard, people are dumping it in landfills or
killing it with herbicide. But a nature group in Michigan has found
a better way to deal with it – by eating it. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Erin Toner attended a benefit dinner where garlic mustard
was featured in every single recipe. Toner produced this audio postcard:
“Hi, I’m Jeremy Emmi. I’m the executive director of the Michigan Nature Association. There are a lot of invasive species out there that people don’t know about. Most people have invasive species in their backyard or their woodlot or their farm and they really don’t know they’re there. Garlic mustard is actually pretty simple to deal with, although very labor intensive.
“And the way we deal with it is pulling it, and that’s really the best way. You can use herbicide, but because it grows in such pristine habitats a lot of the time you don’t want to use herbicide because you don’t want to kill the native plants that are around it. So you’re in a catch 22. So really the best way is just to pull it.”
“Hi, I’m Natalie Kent. I’m the GIS technician and development associate for the Michigan Nature Association. I was helping out at one of MNA’s workdays and we were removing garlic mustard and I was working with my coworker Sherri. And we were coming back home and we were talking and she said she had had garlic mustard in salad the weekend before. And I said “Oh, you can eat it.” And she said “Oh yeah, it’s edible, you can have it fresh in salads, you can cook it like spinach.” And then the first thought that popped into my head was, if we can eat it, why are we throwing it away?
“…It looks different, depending on when you see it. In early spring, it’s in the form of a basil rosette and it sort of looks similar to a violet leaf, similar in the shape. But to me, I always tell people it looks like Pac Man.”
“My name is Ruth and I am eating something called Jade Soup, which I think is essentially a broth with lots of boiled garlic mustard leaves in it and actually it’s very good. It kind of tastes like a spinach soup, kind of, but it tastes good and mild and not at all overwhelming which you might think it would be. And also the garlic pesto bread is absolutely fabulous.”
“I’m Cynthia and I was born in Detroit, Michigan. Oh, I think it’s great. It has a slight zing and zip to it. It’s refreshing. It’s the kind of thing that would cleanse the palette after a heavy meal. It’s really an enjoyable plant.”
I’m Clifford Welch, and I’m a retired professor at Michigan State University and my retirement’s devoted to ecological restoration. I spend now almost 70 percent of my time on invasive species. The invasive vegetation is a huge, huge problem. What I have is a bunch of dishes that have garlic mustard in it. This is what I really need to taste, here’s the garlic mustard right here, and I’ve never eaten it before and I’m anxious to see what this tastes like.
(sound of chewing)
“It has a mustardy taste to it. It needs something on it, though, badly.”
“I’m Mary, and I was about to try – this is a cheese ball with garlic mustard. It’s actually good, it adds a, I don’t want to say peppery flavor, but I guess a garlic flavor to the cheese. It is good. So if somebody’s willing to take the time to harvest it, you can add it to things and I guess it’s supposed to be really healthy based on the literature. It has a lot of Vitamin A and Vitamin C in it. We’re all trying to eat healthier these days.”
HOST TAG: The voices of people trying foods made with mustard garlic: an invasive species that naturalists are removing from the wild and eating, rather than throwing it away. Our audio postcard was produced by the GLRC’s Erin Toner.
The emerald ash borer is a pest that kills ash trees, and is spreading quickly throughout the Midwest. (Photo by David Cappaert, courtesy of
invasivespecies.gov)
Scientists and government officials are focusing on what they call “gateway areas” in their fight to stop the spread of the Emerald Ash Borer. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Erin Toner reports:
Transcript
Scientists and government officials are focusing on what they call
“gateway areas” in their fight to stop the spread of the Emerald Ash Borer.
The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Erin Toner reports:
Emerald Ash Borer beetles have killed or are killing more than 15
million ash trees in Michigan, surrounding states and one Canadian province.
Deb McCullough is an entomologist at Michigan State University. She
says right now, infested or dead ash trees are being chopped down and
destroyed. But she says there’s not nearly enough government funding to
target all of the infested areas.
“So a decision has been made at a national level to focus what
federal funding is available on what we’re calling the gateways, the areas
that would let Emerald Ash Borer move into the rest of the country or into
the rest of the North America.”
McCullough says federal resources are being spent to stop Emerald
Ash Borer from spreading to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and from spreading
deeper into Ohio, Indiana and Ontario.
Thanks to a large grant, an environmental journalism school will now be able to offer a "boot camp for environmental reporters." (Photo by Andrew Eldridge)
An environmental journalism program that trains college students and professional reporters has won a multi-million dollar grant to expand. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Erin Toner reports:
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An environmental journalism program that trains college students and professional reporters has won a multi-million dollar grant to expand.
The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Erin Toner reports:
The 2.2 million-dollar grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation was awarded to the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism at Michigan State University.
The Knight Center trains students and journalists to research, report, and write about environmental issues. Knight Center director Jim Detjen says the money will allow the program to set up a national “boot camp” for environmental reporters.
“These are complicated issues, scientific issues often, that have legal aspects to it as well, so it’s critical to train journalists about these very important issues fairly, accurately, and have a good strong scientific basis to what they’re saying.”
The Knight Center also plans to expand its international programs, develop online courses, and create a textbook for college students about environmental reporting.
