USGS Wildlife Veterinarian testing an American crow for previous exposure to the West Nile Virus (Photo courtesy of US Geological Survey)
We’re heading into West Nile virus season.
Rebecca Williams reports experts say it’s now a
seasonal epidemic:
Transcript
We’re heading into West Nile virus season.
Rebecca Williams reports experts say it’s now a
seasonal epidemic:
West Nile virus is at its peak between mid-July and mid-September.
You can get infected from a single mosquito bite.
Most people who get infected won’t get a serious case of it. But people
over 50 have a higher risk of getting really sick. The virus can cause
high fever, paralysis and even death.
Dr. Lyle Petersen is with the Centers for Disease Control. He says West
Nile Virus is here to stay. And he says even if your area hasn’t had an
outbreak recently, that doesn’t mean it won’t happen.
“We really can’t predict exactly when and where these outbreaks are
going to occur so everybody needs to take precautions.”
He says you should use insect repellants, repair window screens, and
drain standing water around your house.
A tern chick at Mille Lacs Wildlife Refuge in Minnesota (Photo courtesy of the US Fish and Wildlife Service)
There are few things as aggravating as getting stuck in a traffic jam. But for some drivers crossing a busy bridge from the U.S. to Canada there’s aggravation on top of aggravation. Joyce Kryszak reports that’s because a plan to build an additional bridge is being blocked by concern for a bird and a little fish that it eats:
Transcript
There are few things as aggravating as getting stuck in a traffic jam. But for some drivers crossing a busy bridge from the U.S. to Canada there’s aggravation on top of aggravation. Joyce Kryszak reports that’s because a plan to build an additional bridge is being blocked by concern for a bird and a little fish that it eats.
Every year, millions of people cross the mighty Niagara River on the Peace Bridge that connects Buffalo, New York to Canada. And many of them sit for hours in a traffic jam. The border crossing and passport checks slow things down. But there are just not enough lanes for all the traffic.
Ice delivery man Tim Holliday is one of those who is fed up with hours and hours of bridge delays.
“Like, I gotta go to the duty-free here, and when I’m coming out of here I have to go through customs and they always ask, what were you doing in Canada?” said Holliday. “I’m just sick of the hassles, you know?”
Transportation officials say a new bridge is needed. The traffic problems will only get worse. Because of increased trade, about eleven million additional travelers are expected to be using the Peace Bridge over the next decade.
And that’s a headache for Ron Rienas. He manages the busy international bridge crossing. He says building a new bridge would help with the traffic delays and help with national security.
“This is a border improvement project designed to address redundancy issues, security issues, traffic flow, all of those things, maintenance issues…all of those are impacted by not being able to proceed with the project,” said Rienas.
A second bridge has been designed. It’s a cable-stayed bridge with towers as high as the Washington monument.
Brian Higgins is Congressman for the area. He’s pushing for federal approval of the impressive cable design. He says the region needs an iconic symbol of progress.
“We are in the eleventh hour of a project that’s been going on for fifteen years. We need additional capacity at the Peace Bridge to promote the efficient, predictable flow of commerce between the United States and Canada – we need an iconic bridge, a signature bridge,” said Higgins.
But that signature bridge is exactly the kind of design that is dangerous to many birds.
And the Niagara River is a virtual highway for nearly three hundred kinds of birds. The cables can be invisible to the birds and they can fly into them and die.
Among those birds is the Common Tern. It’s an endgangered species.
Terry Yonker knows these and other birds better than most.
“We probably documented somewhere in the range of half a million birds, and there’s a common tern right there.”
Yonker is a scientist and a former Ornithological Society president. He wrote an environmental study that recommended against the bridge’s cable design because it could kill hundreds of different kinds of birds, including the endangered tern.
Yonker says even if it avoided hitting the cables by flying over the bridge, the tern would be stressed by such a tall bridge design. That’s because it has to make eight trips over the bridge each day to feed its young. But he says it probably wouldn’t make that many trips if the new bridge is any higher than the Peace Bridge.
“You raise that structure and they’ll have to spend a lot of energy doing that. They’ll maybe make five or six trips a day and that means one or two chicks are going to get less food out there,” said Yonker.
The other concern is a food source for the tern.
Fishery experts say the enormous piers would change water currents, eventually killing off the Emerald Shiner. That’s the tiny fish the endangered bird feeds on.
So a new design is being recommended: A lower bridge with smaller piers to protect the tern and the emerald shiner.
Federal and state agencies are working to find a way to mitigate the threat to the birds and fish by altering the plans for the new bridge. But environmental experts say you can’t mitigate extinction.
Environmentalists and some biologists say the common tern is more than an endangered bird. They say it’s a warning, about what happens when sound science is ignored for the sake of progress.
But, try explaining that to the people stuck in traffic for hours because a second bridge is being blocked to save a small bird and a little fish.
"Mysteries of the Great Lakes" is an IMAX film highlighting the threats to Great Lakes wildlife (Photo by Lester Graham)
There’s a new IMAX film about the threats to wildlife around the Great Lakes. Chuck Quirmbach has more:
Transcript
There’s a new IMAX film about the threats to wildlife around the Great Lakes. Chuck Quirmbach has more:
The film “Mysteries of the Great Lakes” highlights some less commonly known stories, like that of the massive fish known as the lake sturgeon. Biologists are trying to bring the threatened fish back to healthy numbers.
Ron Bruch is a key figure in the new movie. Here, he discusses a 120 year old female sturgeon he’s seen numerous times on spawning runs.
“I’ve gone through this ritual eight times with this fish, and each time I wonder if it’ll be the last. But she’s a survivor and maybe 50 years from now, she’ll come up this river looking for me, and I’ll be gone.”
The film also looks at possible health risks to bald eagles, and what invasive species are doing to native wildlife.
“Mysteries of the Great Lakes” has started its run in several U.S. and Canadian cities.
There is concern that new noises from energy research will disrupt the sage grouse's mating patterns (Photo courtesy of the US Fish and Wildlife Service)
The push is on to find more energy in
western states. And wildlife experts are trying
to figure out how some rare birds will react to
the increase in mining and gas exploration. Bob
Beck reports biologists studying sage grouse are
introducing new sounds into their research:
Transcript
The push is on to find more energy in
western states. And wildlife experts are trying
to figure out how some rare birds will react to
the increase in mining and gas exploration. Bob
Beck reports biologists studying sage grouse are
introducing new sounds into their research:
Gail Patricelli is a researcher from the University of California at Davis. She studies the
mating habits of birds. And she says the habits of the sage grouse are the most
interesting. The males gather each spring on their traditional mating grounds,
known as a lek.
“The males gather during the spring, puff up and strut around. The females come
down to the leks during their breeding season, to pick
a mate. So they basically comparision shop. You will see females move along the lek,
sometimes by themselves, sometimes with big groups of females. But then they pick who they are
gonna mate with, they mate with them, and then they leave. And that’s the end of their
relationship.”
Beck: “What’s odd about this, is this all sounds vaguely familiar.”
Patricelli: (laughs) “A lot of people say that, but humans are very different. It’s sort
of analogous to a singles bar where people are just going to hook up.”
(sage grouse sound)
Patricelli watches and listens to these birds at a mating ground in Wyoming. She’s
learning how males get the attention of females.
“They have some particularly cool behaviors where they produce a sound that
radiates from vocal sacks on their chests – which are very bizarre looking
structures. But the sound comes out of the vocal sack, so the male has to aim the
sound appropriately at the female in order to impress her to mate.
(sage grouse sound)
So it’s not just his ability to
have the biggest, loudest, flashiest signal, but also to actually aim it appropriately at the
female. He has to know how to put on a good show, but respond appropriately and
be sensitive to what the female is doing.”
But the search for more energy is bringing new gas drilling and big trucks closer to
sage grouse mating grounds. This is happening at the same time the birds’ numbers
are declining. Researchers’ fear is the noise from energy development is disrupting
the sage grouse’s ability to hear each other, which is critical.
(truck sounds)
To find out, Patricelli is introducing recordings of gas rigs and trucks into her
research. She wants to see if sage grouse can adapt to the noise.
“So, there’s things that a lot of animals do to deal with noise in the environment.
And sage grouse may or may not be able to do that. They are not the brightest
(laughs) birds in the world.”
Wildlife Biologist Stan Harter works for the Wyoming Game and Fish department.
He’s watching the research with interest. Biologists worry that the birds are leaving
their mating grounds, trying to get away from the noise. His fear is that if the birds
are relocating they might be putting themselves at risk.
“In my mind, the birds can maybe move over here and strut okay, but are they
getting good nesting conditions over there? Maybe not. Is there a way we can allow them to co-exist more friendly?”
Harter openly admits that the sage grouse has declined in the West to the point
where it could show up on the endangered species list. If that happens, it could shut
down major portions of the state’s important energy economy. Similar to how the
spotted owl shut down logging in the Northwest.
So, wildlife officials are trying to find ways to make the birds and energy
development co-exist. They’re hoping that Patricelli’s research will guide them, not
just in reducing the noise, but in developing a plan to protect the sage grouse
population into the future.
Whooping cranes have been abandoning their nests, and eggs, in search of food (Photo courtesy of the US Fish and Wildlife Service)
The experiment to create a migrating flock
of whooping cranes in the Eastern US is having a
parenting problem. Chuck Quirmbach reports:
Transcript
The experiment to create a migrating flock
of whooping cranes in the Eastern US is having a
parenting problem. Chuck Quirmbach reports:
About 70 whooping cranes now migrate between the Southeast US and the Midwest.
Wildlife experts have been hoping that more pairs of the birds would start hatching eggs
and raising chicks in the wild.
This spring, at their northern home in Wisconsin, several female cranes did lay eggs and
sat on the nests during cold weather. But when it warmed up, the adult birds abandoned
their nests to look for food.
George Archibald is co-founder of the International Crane Foundation.
“If there is a food stress, when it becomes warmer their drive to feed may increase much
more than when it’s cold.”
Some of the crane eggs were saved and hatched out by wildlife centers.
Hawaii's Superferry was met with initial excitement, but it quickly turned to environmental concern (Photo courtesy of Hawaii Superferry)
For decades, people who wanted to get from
one Hawaiian island to another have had one main
option: flying. So when plans were unveiled for
a high-speed ferry between the islands, Hawaiians
and tourists were initially thrilled. But growing
concern about the Superferry’s potential environmental
impact has turned the issue into one of the state’s
biggest legal battles in years. Ann Dornfeld reports:
Transcript
For decades, people who wanted to get from
one Hawaiian island to another have had one main
option: flying. So when plans were unveiled for
a high-speed ferry between the islands, Hawaiians
and tourists were initially thrilled. But growing
concern about the Superferry’s potential environmental
impact has turned the issue into one of the state’s
biggest legal battles in years. Ann Dornfeld reports:
David Dinner is board president of the environmental group 1000 Friends
of Kaua’i. He lives near this small beach on the island’s north shore.
Dinner says when endangered humpback whales come to Hawaii in the
winter to give birth, you can whale-watch right from this beach. Even
when he lived far from the ocean, he once witnessed a huge migration
from his window.
“I could see that the ocean was filled with whales. And I later found out that there were 6,000 whales around Kaua’i at that
time. So it was like wall-to-wall whales out there.”
When Dinner first heard about plans for a high-speed inter-island
catamaran, he was excited. But the more he and others learned about the
Hawaii Superferry, the more they worried about its effect on those whales.
Mother whales spend a lot of time just below the surface, pushing their
calves up for air. The concern is that the ferry’s twin hulls would strike the
whales at a speed of up to 45 miles per hour. That’s a lot faster than other
boats like cruise ships and tankers.
“The other boats that travel in this area generally go in the area of 13 to 15
miles an hour. So the Superferry is way beyond the speed of the other boats.”
Another big worry was that the car ferry could bring invasive species from
one island to another. For instance, mongooses decimated the Big
Island’s bird population. But Kaua’i doesn’t have mongooses yet.
Rich Hoeppner is founder of the Superferry Impact Group.
“We have an incredible selection of birds here. We have shearwaters,
albatross, the state bird – the Nene, is a land-dweller and endangered
species. So one pregnant mongoose gets on our island, our bird
population will be history.”
When activists learned that the state government had given Hawaii
Superferry the green light without an environmental impact statement,
they filed suit. Last August, the state Supreme Court ruled that the state
should have required an environmental impact statement.
Despite that, just two days later, Superferry made its maiden voyage to
Kaua’i.
Rich Hoeppner says two dozen surfers and kayakers blocked the
boat’s path to Nawiliwili Harbor for hours.
The next night, protesters crowded the harbor, and dozens more people
took to the water – some in traditional Hawaiian canoes. Protesters
filmed the action.
(sound of protest chants)
“After 3 hours, the ferry, which was at the mouth of the harbor, turned
around and went back to Oahu. It didn’t get to its dock. And it hasn’t been
back since!”
Hawaii Superferry says it takes the environment seriously.
Terry O’Halloran is Director of Business Development. He points to the
company’s efforts to keep invasive species from hitching
a ride on vehicles.
“We look under the hood, we look in the trunk, we look in the wheel wells,
we look inside the vehicles, and then a certain number of vehicles that go
through our security screening get a much more thorough screening and
inspection.”
O’Halloran says vehicles with muddy tires aren’t allowed on board in case
bugs or seeds are in the dirt. There are boot scrubbers for passengers,
too. On-board videos warn travelers about the dangers of invasive
species.
O’Halloran says Superferry also has a Whale Avoidance Policy that
includes avoiding the main calving areas during whale season, and
slowing down in whale zones.
“We have been able to spot and avoid the whales. We also have two dedicated
whale lookouts and their only job is to help the captain spot whales.”
Superferry is still making its Oahu-to-Maui trips. In a special session,
Hawaii legislators passed a law allowing the Superferry to keep
running while the state conducts an Environmental Impact Statement.
Protestors say that’s a terrible idea – and illegal. They’re pursuing
lawsuits in the state Supreme Court to dock the ferry until it’s clear the
boat is safe.
For The Environment Report, I’m Ann Dornfeld on Kaua’i.
Mangroves at Mary's Creek, St. John (Photo by Frank Olivier)
Baby fish are protected from predators by the mangrove roots. The algae that grows on them provides food for the baby fish, also. (Photo by Ann Dornfeld)
At this condominium complex in St. Thomas, the mangroves have been trimmed into a hedge that's too dense for bird habitat (Photo by Frank Olivier)
Northside St. Thomas fisherman Stanley Berry and his family rely on mangroves for the fish habitat they provide (Photo by FrankOlivier )
If you were a tropical fish living in the
Caribbean, there’s a good chance you would have spent
your youth darting between the roots of mangroves.
Those saltwater plants guard young fish from predators.
Mangroves also protect shorelines from erosion and
hurricanes. But now it’s the mangroves that need
protection. Ann Dornfeld reports:
Transcript
If you were a tropical fish living in the
Caribbean, there’s a good chance you would have spent
your youth darting between the roots of mangroves.
Those saltwater plants guard young fish from predators.
Mangroves also protect shorelines from erosion and
hurricanes. But now it’s the mangroves that need
protection. Ann Dornfeld reports:
It’s a brilliantly sunny, gusty day on St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. Stanley
Berry has backed his motorboat into an opening in this quiet mangrove bay. He’s
one of the island’s traditional French fishermen. He’s lean, bronzed and bare-
chested.
“I going yellowtail snapper tonight. I’m doin’ night fishing. See if I can catch
something tonight, God spare life.”
Berry says the red mangroves that ring this bay serve as a sort of daycare for the
young fish he’ll eventually catch.
“If you have to snorkel around and check it out, you’ll notice that all these little
fishes are different type of grouper, snapper, you name it all comes and all the
baby ones come and hang around in there so the big fish don’t eat ’em. It protects
’em. It’s real good for the fish to come and spawn in here and stuff.”
Mangroves’ dry branches are home to birds and lizards. Their roots prevent sediment
from the land from seeping into the water. And mangroves provide a buffer zone that
protects inland areas from storms moving in from the ocean.
As important as they are, these mangroves are at risk. David Olsen is director of the
US Virgin Islands Division of Fish and Wildlife. He says island natives understand
the value of the mangroves. But he says developers aren’t as appreciative. One
company wants to rip out the red mangroves on this bay for new construction.
“They would basically line the entire area with condominiums, have docks
basically filling the entire bay, eliminate all the traditional use, and plant a little
fringe of black mangroves.”
Olsen says developers have to leave some mangroves in their plans, because the
islands have a no-net-loss policy for wetlands. But the black mangroves they want to
plant don’t grow in the water. That means they wouldn’t serve as fish nurseries.
This is hardly an isolated incident.
“We have lost, in the Virgin Islands, probably 50 percent of our mangrove areas
over the last half a century.”
Rafe Boulon is Chief of Resource Management for the Virgin Islands National Park.
He says mangroves are often filled with dirt for new construction.
“Anytime people fill land, typically they’re filling mangroves because they’re
selecting nice calm bays and that’s where the mangroves are.”
Boulon says mangroves are in much better shape here on St. John, a 30-minute ferry
from St. Thomas. That’s because most of this island is a national park.
If you want to see firsthand why mangroves are so important, all you need is a mask
and snorkel. The water is kind of murky and golden from fallen leaves. But it’s rich
with sealife.
“Okay, so we just got out of the water, and we saw probably a dozen different
species of juvenile varieties of the fish you see when you snorkel or dive out in the
deep water. And they’re darting among the mangroves and chasing each other –
really, really playful.”
Boulon says for people new to the islands, mangroves can seem like a swamp. They
release methane as leaf litter decomposes. And the roots collect trash that floats in
from sea.
“So hence, if they’re dirty and smelly there’s no really good purpose for them –
however, they’re very, very important ecosystem here.”
The trick is to convince the scores of people who are building new homes on the
Virgin Islands of the value of mangroves, including a new wave of retiring baby
boomers.
For The Environment Report, I’m Ann Dornfeld in St. John.
Aleutian Cackling Goose (Photo courtesy of the US Fish and Wildlife Service)
Some migratory birds are heading North earlier
because of climate change. That’s causing problems for
some bird species. Lester Graham reports:
Transcript
Some migratory birds are heading North earlier
because of climate change. That’s causing problems for
some bird species. Lester Graham reports:
On their way north, the migratory birds check things out at each stop along the way. If
the leaves are budding and the days are warm, they keep going north. But because of
climate change they’re getting to their breeding grounds a lot earlier.
Johannes Foufoloupolus is a researcher with the University of Michigan. He says, for
example, in the Rocky Mountain region, robins are arriving early. And when they go to
their highland breeding grounds, there’s still snow on the ground.
“A robin eats worms and it can’t really tunnel through six feet of snow to get to the
worms. So, that might be a problem.”
Other birds arrive early to find one of their main sources of food, insects, are not
emerging yet. What makes it worse, in some species the females like to hook-up with
males who get to the breeding grounds early. But with not as much food and cold
snaps, it means some baby birds are not surviving as well.
For The Environment Report, this is Lester Graham.
On March 5, 2008 the Wisconsin Army National Guard airlifted 75
tons of mature trees to improve wildlife habitat in the Kettle Moraine State
Forest. The aviation training mission used UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters to
lift the trees on the east shore of Long Lake. (Photo by Steve Apps, courtesy of the Wisconsin State Journal)
There’s an old saying that goes ‘There’s more
life in a dead tree than a live one.’ That’s because
bugs and birds and burrowing animals can all find homes
in dead trees. Trees that are cut down are also sometimes
dropped into lakes to make habitat for fish. Chuck
Quirmbach reports sometimes getting the right tree to the
right spot requires some creative thinking:
Transcript
There’s an old saying that goes ‘There’s more
life in a dead tree than a live one.’ That’s because
bugs and birds and burrowing animals can all find homes
in dead trees. Trees that are cut down are also sometimes
dropped into lakes to make habitat for fish. Chuck
Quirmbach reports sometimes getting the right tree to the
right spot requires some creative thinking:
(helicopter noise)
It’s not every day you seen an upside down tree flying through the air.
But this Blackhawk helicopter is skimming along with a big tree dangling on a
line beneath it.
We’ll get to why in a moment. But to do that you’ve got to meet the guy who thought
up the idea.
Mark Sesing is sitting in his pickup truck. He’s
a wildlife manager – actually, a water specialist. He’s looking through the windshield at a
stretch of shoreline of Long Lake in Wisconsin.
“The habitat’s been stripped away. We’ve got piers; we’ve got boats, boathouses, we’ve got houses
and cottages. All that development has resulted in, I guess what I’ll call a
sterilization of the shore.”
On the other side of the lake there’s an area that’s a bit better for birds and fish.
But Sesing thought the wildlife needed a little help. He knew putting some dead
trees there could benefit the animals.
Put the crown of the tree in the water for the fish, so they can hide from predators
and lay eggs in the thicket. Put the trunk on the shore, and all kinds of animals can
make a home. Or birds can find bugs in the dead tree.
But there was a problem: you couldn’t get to the area with trucks without cutting a road down a steep hillside. And Mark Sesing was not interested in damaging more of the
shoreline.
So he got to thinking. Why not get the Wisconsin Air National Guard to help?
(helicopter sound)
So why would the Air Guard want to move trees? Practice!
Chief Warrant Officer Dirk Brandt is with the National Guard’s 832nd medical
company. He says practicing lifting trees and placing them on the shoreline could
help pilots and crew prepare for a med.-evac. lift in a war zone.
“If it was medical supplies, or critical medical supplies, since our unit is med.-evac., then the more we practice with, I guess you could say, ‘inanimate objects’, then the
better off when we actually physically have to do it.”
The airlift worked like this: first, one of the copters would hover over a forested
area about a quarter mile from the lake. That’s where trees had been cut down to
improve the health of the woods.
(hover sound)
Then, ground crew would grab a nylon strap hanging down from the aircraft and wrap it around a tree.
(helicopter lifting sound)
The helicopter would then go up. And carry the dead tree to the water’s edge.
(helicopter fades)
By the time the project was done, there were 23 dead trees placed along about a-
quarter mile of lake shoreline.
Wildlife managers will start watching the trees and collecting scientific data on the
project this summer. They estimate the trees will provide habitat for fish and birds for
the next ten to twenty years.
A conservation group says birds would get much needed help from President
Bush’s proposed federal budget. Chuck Quirmbach reports:
Transcript
A conservation group says birds would get much needed help from President
Bush’s proposed federal budget. Chuck Quirmbach reports:
The National Audubon Society and other organizations have been warning that
many bird species are in decline because of threats such as loss of habitat. The
President’s budget would put 36 million dollars more into wildlife refuges.
There’d be another eight million dollars for keeping track of bird populations and
helping migrating birds.
The Bush Administration has often focused on birds that are hunted. Greg
Butcher is with the Audobon Society. He says the budget initiative would help
wetlands birds:
“And that’s going to include ducks and geese that are hunted, but it’s also going
to include herons and terns, and other species that aren’t hunted. So it’s a very
habitat-focused initiative.”
Congress still has to act on the President’s budget. It contains many
controversial items, so that could delay final passage.
USGS Wildlife Veterinarian testing an American crow for previous exposure to the West Nile Virus (Photo courtesy of US Geological Survey)
