Tag: natural habitat

Steering Cars Out of National Parks

  • Left to right, Federal Transit Administrator James S. Simpson, Deputy Interior Secretary Lynn Scarlett, Ohio Senator Mike DeWine and Ohio Representative Ralph Regula attended the press conference at the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. (Photo by Julie Grant)

The federal government is awarding nearly 100 million dollars in grant money over the next few years to reduce traffic in national parks. The GLRC’s Julie Grant reports:

Transcript

The federal government is awarding nearly 100 million dollars in grant money over the
next few years to reduce traffic in national parks around the country. The GLRC’s Julie
Grant reports:


The money is for alternative transportation projects,
including trains, shuttle buses, and bicycle trails. Federal Transit Administrator James
Simpson says each year there are nearly 700 million visits to America’s national parks
and public lands:


“And by and large those visitors have only one way of getting in and around these
national treasures: by car.”


The shuttle buses and trains are expected to reduce car pollution as well as traffic
congestion. Simpson says they are trying to help more people visit the public lands while
preserving the natural habitat and wildlife.


For the GLRC, I’m Julie Grant.

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ZOOS SET STAGE FOR WILDNESS (Part 1)

  • Today's zoo exhibits attempt to immerse visitors in the scene while also enriching the animals' lives. Some zoos are criticized for emphasizing appearances instead of the animals' well-being.

Zoos across the nation are putting their animals in more natural settings instead of cages. For some zoos, it’s done to make the animals’ lives a little more comfortable. But for others, it’s simply done to draw more people rather than to give the animals a better place to live. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham has the details in the first of a two-part series:

CONSTRUCTING NATURAL HABITATS (Part 2)

  • This grizzly at the St Louis Zoo is displayed in an exhibit that mimics its natural habitat. A whole industry has emerged to manufacture these exhibits.

At your local zoo – if you can suspend disbelief for a moment – you might find yourself in the middle of a tropical rainforest. Or a dusty African plain, watching the animals in their natural habitat. Of course, those wild settings are merely a façade. Clever construction techniques covering up concrete cages. In the second of a two-part series, the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports… the thought and planning behind the displays can be nearly as intricate as nature itself: