Wildfires burned through more than 7 million acres in the U.S. last year. Fire managers think this year won’t be as bad. But the risk for wildfires is still high, even in the Great Lakes region. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Rebecca Williams reports:
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Wildfires burned through more than 7 million acres in the U.S. last year. Fire managers think this
year won’t be as bad. But the risk for wildfires is still high, even in the Great
Lakes region. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Rebecca Williams reports:
Federal fire experts say brush fires are more likely than usual in the region this spring.
Heavy rainfall last year made wild grasses grow, and because the region has had below-average
snowfall this winter, those grasses are still standing. As the snow melts, those tall, dry grasses could
ignite easily.
Steve Marien is a meteorologist with the Eastern Area Coordination Center. It’s a federal agency
that sends fire crews from the Midwest to big wildfires anywhere in the country.
“The higher fire potential over the Great Lakes may mean not sending fire crews to different parts
of the country if we have a day where we potentially could see strong winds and low
relative humidity. It may mean holding crews back and things like engines and aviation resources.”
Marien says the fire risk is especially high for much of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Rebecca Williams.
Plants and animals that come from overseas sometimes out-compete species that are native to the region. Scientists have long debated what makes the invaders so successful. One hypothesis is that invasive species have fewer natural enemies. New research supports this idea. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Rebecca Williams has details:
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Plants and animals that come from overseas sometimes out-compete species that are native to the
region. Scientists have long debated what makes the invaders so successful. One hypothesis is
that invasive species have fewer natural enemies. New research supports this idea. The Great
Lakes Radio Consortium’s Rebecca Williams has details:
Invasive animals and plants have fewer parasites and diseases than their native competitors.
That’s according to two new studies published in the journal Nature. In one study, researchers
analyzed parasites of 26 invasive species, including the zebra mussel.
Kevin Lafferty is an author of the study. He says when a foreign species invades a new area, it
leaves most of its parasites behind. He says importing those natural enemies might be a good
way to control invasives.
“There’s still several species, on average, about 13 parasite species back in the introduced
species’ home range, that we could consider for biological control, and of course an important
part of that process is to determine which ones might be safe, in terms of not infecting our native
species.”
A second study looked at nearly 500 plants that have been brought into the U.S. Researchers
found that plants that leave behind the most pathogens are the most likely to become invasive.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Rebecca Williams.
The Lake Erie water snake is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is developing a recovery plan for the snake – and people who live near the snake are also giving it a hand in recovery. Photo courtesy U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Many people are afraid of snakes. But along the shores of Lake Erie, residents are working to keep a threatened water snake in the neighborhood. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Rebecca Williams has more:
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Many people are afraid of snakes. But along the shores of Lake Erie, residents are working to
keep a threatened water snake in the neighborhood. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s
Rebecca Williams has more:
The Lake Erie water snake was listed as threatened three years ago. The snakes are found only
on rocky limestone islands in the western basin. And they can grow up to five feet long.
Their numbers have dropped recently because people are building houses on their shoreline
habitat. And in the past, people have killed the snakes out of fear.
Megan Seymour is a wildlife biologist. She works for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
She says, over time, most people have stopped harassing the snakes. Some
landowners have even posted signs saying, “Water snakes welcome here.”
“I think the best tactic for me has been to kind of explain the biology of the snakes, explain how
they have their own personalities, sort of… The more people learn about the snakes, the more
interested they become, and the more they start seeing it as some kind of interesting animal
versus a gross snake.”
Seymour is writing the recovery plan for the snakes. She says most wildlife recoveries take many
years, but because the locals are showing concern, she thinks the snakes will recover more
quickly.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Rebecca Williams.
People have been eating genetically modified vegetables and grains for several years. Now a genetically altered salmon might be headed for the market. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Rebecca Williams reports that a few hundred seafood retailers are planning to boycott the new fish:
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People have been eating genetically-modified vegetables and grains for several years. Now, a
genetically-altered salmon might be headed for the market. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s
Rebecca Williams reports that a few hundred seafood retailers are planning to boycott the new
fish:
The genetically-altered salmon grow twice as fast as other farm-raised salmon. The Food and
Drug Administration is deciding if it will approve the fish for human consumption.
If it gets to market, it might be tough to find buyers. That’s because of a boycott organized by
environmental groups.
Julie Francis is a restaurant owner in Cincinnati. She’s joining more than 340 chefs, seafood
distributors and grocers in the boycott. Francis is concerned that not enough is known about the
effect on humans and wild salmon.
“I really, being a chef owner, come from the background of, you know, ‘I want the best fish, I
want the best vegetables,’ and I just, it’s just, in my personality, to be concerned about things like
chemicals, and additives, and different things that we just don’t know, I don’t know that much
about.”
The seafood retailers plan to boycott genetically-altered fish until they feel it’s safe to eat. They
also want the FDA to insure that wild fish stocks won’t be harmed.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Rebecca Williams.
Water is of growing concern to people in the Great Lakes region, especially after this summer’s widespread drought. Now researchers are testing a device that could help Midwest farmers decide the best way to manage their water. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Rebecca Williams has more:
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Water is of growing concern to people in the Great Lakes region, especially after this summer’s widespread drought. Now, researchers are testing a device that could help Midwest farmers decide the best way to manage their water. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Rebecca Williams has more:
The device is called an electron moisture sensor. It measures the amount of moisture in soil, as deep as 3 feet below the surface. The sensor is hooked up to a hand-held computer that brings together soil data with information about weather and the type of crop being raised.
Rich Hoddup is an agriculture extension agent with Michigan State University. This year, he recruited several farmers to test the moisture sensor. He says the farmers are reacting to the system with optimistic caution.
“They’re looking at it and saying, well, it’s kinda nice to be able to understand what’s going on below the soil profile, rather than waiting until that crop begins to show symptoms of drought.”
Rich Hoddup thinks the sensors may allow farmers to increase their yields, by telling them when and where to add water to their crops. He plans to continue his research to see if the benefits to farmers will outweigh the high cost of the system.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Rebecca Williams.
A recent report says if you eat organic produce, your exposure to pesticide residues will be lower, but it doesn’t mean your food is free from pesticides. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Rebecca Williams explains:
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A recent report says if you eat organic produce, your exposure to pesticide residues will be lower, but it doesn’t mean your food is free from pesticides. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Rebecca Williams has more:
Researchers from Consumers Union and the Organic Materials Review Institute analyzed a variety of fruits and vegetables on the U.S. market: more than 94,000 samples collected over ten years.
They found residues on organic produce one-third as often as on conventional produce. And when there were residues on organic produce, the levels were lower.
Dr. Brian Baker co-authored the study. He’s not surprised to find pesticides on organic food.
“Everybody in the trade knows that organic is not a pesticide-free claim, it’s a process claim, and because there’re just so many ways that food can become contaminated, even with the best efforts of organic farmers.”
Baker says chemicals can drift from nearby fields onto organic food. And some pesticides can remain in soil for decades. Also, he says produce can be mislabeled as organic.
Even so, the study says organic food offers the best way to reduce exposure to pesticides.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Rebecca Williams.
The Asian longhorned beetle, native to China, is a serious threat to hardwood trees in the U.S. So far, populations of the beetle have been confined to Chicago and New York. Foresters are concerned that more non-native species will be introduced through expanded global trade. Photo courtesy of USDA-APHIS.
Forests in the Midwest may be under siege from exotic species more often in the future… partly because of international trade. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Rebecca Williams explains:
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Forests in the Midwest may be under siege from exotic species more often in the future… partly because of international trade. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Rebecca Williams reports:
The Asian longhorned beetle is native to China.
The beetle caught a ride to the U.S. in the wooden packing material of
imported goods. So far, the beetle has been found in New York and
Chicago.
Once a tree is infested with beetles, the best way to stop the beetles from spreading is to destroy the tree.
A National Academy of Sciences study predicts that threats to native species will increase as trade opens up between the U.S. and China. The authors say that China may become a new “donor region” for species that could become invasive.
Entomologist Deborah McCullough is an author of the study.
“You can kind of visualize this whole complex of insects and weeds and plant pathogens in Asia that haven’t had a pathway, they haven’t had a route to be brought to the country yet… and we really don’t know what all could end up coming in.”
Dr. McCullough says because China’s range of climates and plant life are similar to that of the U.S., many species that make it over here have a chance to become established.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Rebecca Williams.
Landscape Manager Jeff Culbertson sprays a Scots pine with thief repellant containing fox urine. The smell isn't too noticeable outdoors... but when a thief drags a conifer indoors, the repellant heats up and makes for a memorable Christmas. Photo by Nanci Ann McIntosh, University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Evergreen trees grace forests, campuses, and lawns around the region. Much to the dismay of landscapers and gardeners, some of those trees disappear this time of year, stolen by someone who may not quite get the idea of Christmas cheer. But some universities have found a way to fight tree rustlers. It involves a foul-smelling concoction that makes thieves regret taking a tree. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Rebecca Williams has the recipe for this nasty, yet effective repellant:
Transcript
Evergreen trees grace forests, campuses, and lawns around the region. And much to the dismay of landscapers and gardeners, some of those trees disappear this time of year, stolen by someone who may not quite get the idea of Christmas cheer. But some universities have found a way to fight tree-rustlers. It involves a foul-smelling concoction that makes thieves regret taking a tree. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Rebecca Williams has the recipe for this nasty, yet effective repellant:
About fifteen years ago, landscape managers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln had a big problem. Tree thieves were cutting down the best conifers on campus. And the landscapers were getting calls from local residents, whose trees were also disappearing. Dennis Adams is a forester at the University of Nebraska.
“It’d be, you know, trees that have good Christmas tree form, so blue spruce, concolor fir, some of the pines – white pine, scotch pine.”
Some thieves were easy to track. Jeff Culbertson is a landscape manager at the university. He says students were stealing trees during Thanksgiving break… and they weren’t always perfect criminals…
“We’ve had instances where the students, I guess didn’t do a good job or didn’t think anybody cared, but you could find the dragged marks of the tree through the snow to their fraternity or dormitory or something like that so in those cases I think it was pretty easy for them to figure out where the tree went.”
Campus trees are worth hundreds of dollars, so the university was eager to find a solution. Dennis Adams discovered a solution… literally. He found the recipe in an old magazine… 1 part glycerine, 10 parts water, and 2 parts… fox urine.
Jeff Culbertson says the fox urine makes Christmas tree thieves think twice…
“It doesn’t really smell like skunk. Maybe like an extremely strong cat urine sort of smell. Or dog, something that’s very concentrated. But you know normally you’re not going to smell that. So it’s pretty pungent.”
Culbertson says since the University of Nebraska began spraying conifers in the 80s, they haven’t lost many trees. He sprays 50 to 100 Christmas-tree size evergreens each year. He used to wear a plastic spray suit, but now he just keeps the wind at his back.
“When I do the fox urine, I don’t have many volunteers that want to help me with that. So I take on upon myself to do it. They mostly stand away from me, and they probably don’t talk to me too much that day either.”
Culbertson says there is one problem with this technique… when it’s cold out, you don’t notice the smell. So he started adding a dye… he sprays blue or red stripes on the trees where he sprays the fox urine. He says it makes the trees that much less attractive, and serves as a warning. And each year, the university lets the local papers know they’re spraying fox urine again.
But if a thief still chops down a tree and drags it into his house … Culbertson says he won’t likely do it again.
“It would be a smell that you’d have a hard time getting rid of.”
Culbertson recommends the method to anyone with a lot of trees to protect. He says the repellant is pretty affordable, and normally wears off after the Christmas season. Most of the supplies, sometimes even fox urine, can be bought at a garden store.
“I use a small, 3 gallon bottle sprayer, typical sort of garden sprayer people would purchase at the hardware store, garden center… And I try to use hot water. The glycerin is very syrupy kind of like corn syrup. So it helps to loosen it up, heat it up and make it less thick. I mix it up, take it out, and just spray the trees by hand.”
Both Jeff Culbertson and Dennis Adams think thieves are just looking for a cheap tree. But Adams still finds the thefts a little unbelievable.
“I think people have to be pretty desperate to steal a tree for Christmas. That seems like it’s kind of in the anti-Christmas spirit to steal.” (Laughs)
Other campus managers, meanwhile…have cooked up their own people repellant. The University of Idaho adds a few ounces of skunk scent. It makes their mix even more memorable.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Rebecca Williams.
Father Charles Morris installed a solar-wind hybrid system to make his parish less dependent on fossil fuels for energy. Other congregations across the country are taking similar steps to be more energy efficient. Photo by Arthur Cooper.
Even before September 11th, energy policy was being fiercely debated in the U.S. Now, such a policy has taken on even greater importance, and President Bush is again promoting what many environmentalists view as an outdated energy plan. They say his focus on renewable energy is insufficient. And protest against the plan is gathering speed. But some may be surprised at who’s helping to lead the way. Many religious leaders are voicing concern about America’s dependence on fossil fuels. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Rebecca Williams has the story:
Transcript
Even before September 11th, energy policy was being fiercely debated in the U.S. Now, such a policy has taken on even greater importance, and President Bush is again promoting what many environmentalists view as an outdated energy plan. They say his focus on renewable energy is insufficient. And protest against the plan is gathering speed. But some may be surprised at who’s helping to lead the way. Many religious leaders are voicing concern about America’s dependence on fossil fuels. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Rebecca Williams has the story:
(natural sound of birds, street sounds, wind)
Twenty minutes before Father Charles Morris will listen to confessions, he’s up on the rectory roof… inspecting his new solar panels and windmill. He’s perched three stories above the ground, so he has a clear view of his neighborhood here in Wyandotte, Michigan. It’s a sunny afternoon. But for as far as he can see, his roof is the only one that’s turning the sunlight into electricity. And he wants to change that.
“Even in a working class, industrial area such as Wyandotte, an inner ring suburb, if it can work here, it can work anywhere. If you would have homes all across the Detroit area, across Michigan, across other communities, that were to adopt this model, I think it would have a profound impact on the stress we’re placing on nonrenewable resources.”
Father Morris’ parish, St. Elizabeth Roman Catholic, is among the first congregations in the U-S to draw energy from the sun and wind. But he’s not alone in his mission to expand the use of clean energy throughout America.
Across the country, religious leaders are writing to Congress, rallying at SUV dealerships, and making their houses of worship more energy efficient.
St. Elizabeth is a winner of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star award. Four other congregations also won this year’s award, including a Sikh temple in Illinois, and a Lutheran church in Iowa.
This past June, Father Morris was up on his roof, standing above a gathering of 70 people. For those watching, the day held some miracles.
“During the blessing of the solar panels, it was a bright sunny day, no wind, and no wind all morning. But the moment that the prayer had finished for the blessing of the solar panels, and they were switching over to the blessing for the wind generator, and I walked over with the holy water to bless it, this gust of wind comes out of nowhere, and it starts to spin, just as it’s beginning to spin right now (windmill whirs).” “It was incredible, and people were going, ‘ooh, ahh.'”
While using alternative energy sources has immediate benefits at home, leaders such as Father Morris hope that enough people will save energy locally to have a broader impact.
Not only on energy policy but also on energy practices around the globe.
There are 18 Interfaith Global Warming Campaigns in the U.S. Kim Winchell directs the one in Michigan. Her group is concerned that America is ignoring global warming. Electricity generated from fossil fuel releases emissions that add to global warming. So Winchell’s group wants Americans to use less fossil fuel. Muslim, Jewish, and Christian leaders have joined the effort, which Winchell says fits their beliefs.
“All faiths – Christian, Muslim, Jewish – teach that life is sacred, and the created world is given into our keeping by God.”
But should all congregations run on alternative energy?
Critics say that solar and wind energy are not practical for poor or working-class neighborhoods such as the one served by St. Elizabeth because such systems cost thousands of dollars to install. But Father Morris believes in the long-term, the investment is worth it.
“Every dollar you save on energy is a dollar you can feed a hungry person, a dollar you can pay an employee a just wage, a dollar you can do outreach.”
To pay for his hybrid system, Father Morris took a risk – and drew from the parish savings. It may take 12-15 years to see a return on his investment. So he says some churches may hesitate to follow his example.
U-S Representative David Bonior attended the blessing at St. Elizabeth. He thinks the federal government should invest in renewable energy.
“We ought to provide some incentive, not only for churches, but for anybody who institutes energy wise devices. The government has a central role to play in moving us to a more efficient, technologically safer and cleaner environment.”
Some states are already offering incentive programs and grants. But the amount varies, because state energy conservation usually depends on federal funding.
Father Morris just got a grant from the state of Michigan. He used it to put in a solar thermal system to heat water. He’s also inviting schools and churches to tour St. Elizabeth.
“This is the living room; we’ve got the TV on at the moment…” (sounds of football game)
Father Morris lives in the rectory, and his entire first floor runs on solar and wind power. That includes his living room, bedroom, four offices, two computers…and a radio.
“Here’s one of those old fashioned radio/stereos. We’ll have to put the radio on and see what’s on.”
(sound of pop music)
“I don’t know what that stuff is.”
(sound of rapid change between stations)
“You see, this is being powered by solar right now and so the quality of life is the same, there’s no change.”
President Bush’s new energy plan is now being considered by Congress. But whatever the government does, Father Morris says the role for people of faith is clear: to be witnesses for the nation, one windmill at a time.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Rebecca Williams.
A sport fish native to the Great Lakes region is famous for its looks and its size, but overfishing and habitat loss have driven its numbers down. Now, some fish experts are helping the coaster brook trout make a comeback. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Rebecca Williams reports:
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A sport fish native to the Great Lakes region is famous for its looks and its size… but over fishing and habitat loss have driven its numbers down. Now, some fish experts are helping the coaster brook trout make a comeback. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Rebecca Williams reports:
Coaster brook trout, or coasters, cruise the near shore waters of Lake Superior most of their lives, and only swim into rivers to spawn. Male coasters turn vibrant red when they’re spawning. And the trout grow much larger than their inland relatives… an 8 pound fish is a trophy.
But coasters are rare, so Trout Unlimited is working with other scientists to boost their numbers. In the last 2 years, biologists have released baby coasters in 4 rivers in the Upper Peninsula.
Bill Deephouse is president of Trout Unlimited’s Copper Country chapter.
“You can’t protect all of these little creatures. So you put… and this certainly isn’t exact… but you put 10,000 fish in, you hope a few thousand of them make it. Maybe a few hundred make it to adulthood.”
The biologists say it may be some time before fishermen will feel one of the reintroduced coasters on the end of their lines. For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Rebecca Williams.
