Alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus). The fish is not common in Lakes Superior or Erie. (Image courtesy of Wisconsin SeaGrant)
This past year, the size of salmon in some Great Lakes
is getting smaller because their main food source is dying off in some
areas of the lakes. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham
reports:
Transcript
This past year, the size of salmon in some Great Lakes is getting smaller because
their main food
source is dying off in some areas of the lakes. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s
Lester
Graham reports:
In the 1960’s, fish and game officials introduced Pacific salmon such as chinook,
coho and
steelhead to control the invasive species alewife. That’s a small fish that moved
in from the
Atlantic. The salmon are popular fishing. But since the alewives are not native…
they’re
especially susceptible to quick weather changes. And fisheries managers suspect
competition
with zebra mussels for food also affects alewives. Recently, alewife populations
have crashed in
some places. Jim Dexter is with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources…
“The primary reason that there are not alewives in Lake Huron and you get
fluctuations in Lake
Michigan is related more to the climate. You know, now, zebra mussels are tied into
that, into the
equation at some point but not probably to the affect that the climate is having on
those.”
So, without as many alewives, salmon don’t have as much to eat… and they’re smaller
than usual.
Fisheries managers say the effect is probably temporary.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.
A growing number of electricity customers in Ontario are
using so-called smart meters, which will charge more for electricity
used during peak hours of the day. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s
Karen Kelly reports:
Transcript
A growing number of electricity customers in Ontario are using so-called smart
meters, which
will charge more for electricity used during peak hours of the day. The Great Lakes
Radio
Consortium’s Karen Kelly reports:
Right now, electricity customers in Ontario pay the same amount to run their
dishwasher at 6 p.m.
– during peak hours – as they do at ten in the morning. But it costs the province
more to produce
that power during peak times.
The heavy demand is a strain on Ontario’s aging electricity plants. So, the
province plans to
install smart electricity meters in every home and business over the next five years.
Ted Gruetzner is with the Ontario Ministry of Energy.
“It allows people to track their energy use depending on the time of day and monitor
when they’re
using power so they can turn their lights off at certain times or use their ovens or
dryers at
different times of day.”
That’s because electricity used during peak hours will cost consumers more. Ontario
is the first
jurisdiction in North America to use this system.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Karen Kelly.
A new barrier is being constructed to prevent the Asian carp
from getting into the Great Lakes. But this year, a Congresswoman
will seek money to keep an existing barrier in operation, as well. The
Great
Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chuck Quirmbach reports:
Transcript
A new barrier is being constructed to prevent the Asian carp
from getting into the Great Lakes. But this year, a Congresswoman
will seek money to keep an existing barrier in operation, as well. The Great
Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chuck Quirmbach reports:
The permanent underwater electronic barrier that’s being built in a canal near
Chicago is close to a temporary barrier that’s wearing out. But Illinois Republican
Judy Biggert
contends the new electronic fence will not be enough to keep out the voracious
invasive species
known as the Asian carp.
“Now I wish that I could say that with the construction of this permanent barrier
that our work
would be finished and the carp would never again threaten the Great Lakes, but I
cannot.”
Biggert wants to make the temporary barrier permanent, too. She also wants to make
sure there’s
federal money to operate and maintain both underwater fences over the long term.
So, Biggert is
seeking co-sponsors for a barrier bill that she says she plans to introduce early
this session of
Congress.
Her aides say she may also try to get the several million dollars needed for the
project put in the
budget for the Army Corps of Engineers. But many new domestic spending proposals
could face
a tough time in Congress, if conservatives try to reduce the federal budget deficit.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Chuck Quirmbach.
The Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus). (Photo by Mike McDowell)
The White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis). (Photo by Mike McDowell)
The Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis). (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.”
Most people think renewable energy is a good idea. It’s better
than burning fossil fuel to create electricity. But “green energy”
alternatives
can be controversial. Windmill farms are springing up all across the
nation.
Some people think the windmills are eyesores. But others say windmill farms
can help preserve the agricultural landscape by supplementing the income of
farmers. In the second of a two-part series on wind energy, the Great Lakes
Radio Consortium’s Linda Stephan reports:
Transcript
Most people think renewable energy is a good idea. It’s better than burning fossil
fuel to create
electricity. But “green energy” alternatives can be controversial. Windmill farms
are springing
up all across the nation. Some people think the windmills are eyesores. But others
say windmill
farms can help preserve the agricultural landscape by supplementing the income of
farmers.
The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Linda Stephan reports:
For 30 years, Matt Mauer raised crops and livestock on his farm about 10 miles from
the Lake
Michigan shoreline. Today, he’s in his backyard looking at the land now farmed by
his daughter
and son-in-law. Standing there, he feels a crop they’re not harvesting.
“The good Lord makes it windy all the time for us, so let’s use it, you know.
Because I’m like
everybody else. When I get up in the morning, I want lights.”
Mauer’s hoping to put four wind turbines on his family’s farm near Ludington,
Michigan. That
would power about 24-hundred homes. Nearby, a renewable energy company’s working with
other farmers to build a hundred turbines in the area. Mauer says many of his
neighbors want in
on the deal because they think wind energy could help save their farms.
“It’s hard to make a living just farming right now. And I consider the wind one of
the crops that
we could harvest. It will help keep farmers on the land. Like if, in this place, if
we could get
seven–thousand dollars a year, six-thousand dollars a year for four of them, that’d
make it a hell
of a lot easier to keep the people here and farm.”
The state government’s backing similar projects. It’s training financial advisors
to show farmers
how they can turn a profit with windmills.
But not everyone likes the idea. Some people who live in the area around the
planned windmills
say they’re worried the towers would destroy the region’s charm. That’s linked to
property values
and to tourism. And they don’t like the size of the proposed windmills. Each one
would be four-
hundred feet tall. The blades would have a diameter nearly as long as a football
field.
It’s a story that’s heard in many places. Cape Cod, Massachusetts, the prairies of
Illinois, and
around the Great Lakes. For example, a Michigan couple who wanted large-scale
turbines on
their property ended up losing a court-battle against local government that opposed
the plan. And
two turbines already in place in Mackinaw City – between Lake Michigan and Lake
Huron –
have some unhappy neighbors as well.
Thomas and Virginia Alexander’s home is about 15-hundred feet away from the windmills.
They’re in their eighties and they both wear hearing aids… but even without them,
they say the
windmills are loud…
Tom Alexander: “There’s things about it we don’t appreciate, at times the noise –
not always –
depending upon the wind and the direction.
Virginia Alexander: “Yesterday. Very noisy yesterday. The wind was high and they,
you could
really hear them.”
Tom Alexander: “Just a continual swish, swish, swish, swish, swish.”
Windmill developers say the sound is no louder than normal speech. But this noise is
different. It
goes beyond the frequencies of normal speech. The sound can travel long distances
through both
the ground and the air. They keep Virginia Alexander awake some nights.
Tom and Virginia Alexander’s son Kelly lives next door with his family. He calls
himself a
windmill victim. He has this advice for others:
“Don’t let them go in your backyard. There are places they can go. You don’t just
put those in
somebody’s backyard. I don’t think it’s right.”
A lot of people agree with the Alexanders. Even wind energy boosters concede that
location is
key to successful projects. David Johnson heads up the program for the state of
Michigan that’s
encouraging farmers to allow windmills on their land. He says turbines should be
constructed
where there’s lots of wind and few neighbors. But he says when people say ‘no’ to
windmills,
they should consider the alternative.
“So, does that mean that you should build another big coal-fired plant? Is that the
preferable way
of doing it with the global warming impacts and the mercury pollution and so on that
go with
that? Is that the choice that the public wants to make?
States across the nation are struggling to find the right balance between clean
energy and the
beauty of an uncluttered landscape. Few regulations are in place right now. More
and more,
communities will be facing the decision of whether clean energy and keeping farmers
on the land
is worth the price of adding wind turbines to the scenery.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Linda Stephan.
Wind turbines can be both a blessing for farmers, as a source of extra income... and annoying to the neighbors. (Photo by Lester Graham)
Wind farms of huge turbines are springing up along coastlines,
windy ridges and blustery farmland. Most of us see them from a distance.
The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chris Lehman recently visited some
of them up close… and has the first of two reports on wind energy:
Transcript
Wind farms of huge turbines are springing up along coast lines, windy ridges and
blustery
farmland. Most of us see them from a distance. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s
Chris
Lehman recently visited some of them up close… and has the first of two reports on
wind energy…
If you can imagine the sight… there are 63 wind turbines scattered across the
prairie farmland,
their huge blades sweeping around, capturing energy from the wind. Each turbine is
213 feet
high. You can see them from miles around. But it isn’t until you stand directly
underneath the
80-foot long blades as they rotate in the wind that you begin to appreciate their size…
(sound of wind from underneath turbine)
“This is probably a typical day. They’re probably producing at about 30 percent of
what they are
rated at, and probably on average, for a year, this is what you’d expect.”
Christopher Moore is Director of Development for Navitas Energy. The Minnesota- based
company opened the Mendota Hills Wind Farm in northern Illinois just over a year ago.
Q: “What are some of the highest levels that you’ve reached?”
“Each turbine is capable of producing 800 kw, and there are times when we’ve had the
windfarm
working at about maximum.”
Moore says the Mendota Hills Wind Farm produces enough electricity to power about 15-
thousand homes per year. It’s the first wind farm in the state of Illinois.
Brian Lammers is a Project Manager for Navitas Energy. He says the location is
ideal since it’s
windy here nearly all year long…
“The wind here is more robust in the fall, winter and spring. So we have more
production during
those months than we do during June, July, August.”
Unfortunately, the summer months are the months that most often experience peak
demand for
electricity. Because of that, and because it takes so many windmills to generate
lower amounts of
power, it’s unlikely that current wind energy will completely replace fossil fuel
generated power.
(sound of turbines)
On the flat prairies of Illinois, the giant turbines are the tallest structures for
miles around. You
begin to wonder about things like lightning strikes…
“We might have experienced one or two last year. The turbines are protected from
lightning. The
entire wind farm is grounded, so if there is a strike typically it will just be
grounded down to the
ground grid. There’s typically no long-term damage associated with a lightning
strike. But as you
can imagine, they’re the tallest structures around so there are periodic lightning
strikes.”
Q “What about a tornado? This is tornado country…what would happen if one came
through
here?”
“I don’t know. These turbines are built to withstand everything but a direct strike
from a tornado,
so I think the same thing would happen to a wind turbine that would happen to any
large
structure if they were struck by a tornado. You’d probably have some significant
damage.”
(fade up sound inside turbine)
Inside the turbine, there’s a distinct hum as the blades whirl away at the top of
the hollow shaft.
It’s about ten feet across at the base, and a metal ladder allows anyone brave
enough to climb all
the way to the top.
Despite the hum of the turbine’s blades up close, the sound fades away just a few
dozen feet from
the tower. But noise isn’t much of a concern for this wind farm. It’s in the
middle of a soybean
field and there are no neighbors nearby.
Noise is just one of the aesthetic concerns for neighbors of wind farms. Appearance
is another.
The Mendota Hills turbines are coated with a special paint that appears white in
bright sunshine.
But when the sun’s not out, the turbines appear grey, and seem to blend in with the
cloud-covered
sky.
Dennis Cradduck has 19 of the turbines on his corn and soybean farm. He says the
wind farm
hasn’t been a problem. Of course, he’s getting paid by Navitas for allowing the
turbines on his
land. But he says the wind farm has led to an unexpected benefit: getting to meet
people from
across the country who pull off the highway for a closer look…
“We get people almost on a daily basis that drive by on the interstate and see them,
and stop and
want to look at them, and they’re amazed at them, and most—about 99 percent of them
have been
positive comments. In fact, one fellow from North Carolina stopped the other day
and said ‘I wish
we’d build more of these around the country because we need renewable energy.'”
The prospect of more renewable energy is appealing to most environmentalists. But
some worry
that wind farms can be deadly to birds. A study by the National Wind Coordinating
Committee
found that wind turbines kill an average of two birds per year.
Another concern is that windmills disrupt the scenery. But the only view around
here is farmland
as far as the eye can see. And on this brisk day, it isn’t just corn and soybeans
being harvested: it’s
the power of wind.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Chris Lehman.
Alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus). The fish is not common in Lakes Superior or Erie. (Image courtesy of Wisconsin SeaGrant)
