Crushed-Up Mussels, Great Lakes Cruises & a Clean Energy March

via SVSS

As heard on Friday Edition, May 11, 2012, 9 a.m. Eastern, on Delta College Q-90.1 FM …

March in May

Students in the Bay City area will be marching for clean energy on Saturday, May 19.

The Students March for Clean Energy will begin at 11 a.m. at Pershing Park in Bay City, and go to Veterans Memorial Park.

The march is being organized by area environmental group the Lone Tree Council.

The march is meant to support conservation, and the development of green energy sources. The group says such sources can be substituted for the coal plants and gasoline that’s now consumed for electric generation and transportation.

The group is inviting students to join in the march at Pershing Park, just east of the Sage Library, and march down Midland Street to John F. Kennedy Drive and south to Vets Park.

A Spring 350 Picture Event will be held at the park at noon. The Saginaw Valley Sustainability Society also is participating. The event is meant to bring attention to climate change. Students, families and area residents are invited.

The 350 refers to a global grassroots movement to combat climate change, involving thousands of volunteer organizers in more than 188 countries.

Take a Cruise for $10-25

You can learn about the Great Lakes by floating on the Great Lakes.

Michigan Sea Grant Extension has announced Summer Discovery Cruises for 2012. This is the 11th year that Sea Grant has organized the cruises.

Cruises depart from Lake Erie Metropark, with cruises on the lower Detroit River and Lake Erie, and Lake St. Clair Metropark, cruising Lake St. Clair.

There will be more than 20 educational cruises around themes including Fisheries, Wildlife, Wetlands, Shipwrecks, Lighthouses, Weather and Shipping.

Cruises for educators wanting to enhance the use of Great Lakes content in their teaching also are available. The cruises run from 2 and a half to four hours, and cost $10-15 for children and $20-25 for adults.

More information is available online at discoverycruises.org.

The Beachmaker

There’s a new weapon in the fight against zebra mussels.

It’s a zebra mussel crushing machine called the Beachmaker.

As reported in Great Lakes Echo, the Beachmaker sucks up invasive zebra mussel shells and crushes them into sand-like particles.

The device, invented by a Wisconsin man, can reportedly crush a dump truck’s worth of dead mussels in an hour.

And the crunched up remains only take up a third of their original space.

What to do with the crushed up mussels, environmental impacts, and legal and permit requirements still remain for the device.

But it’s something that Great Lakes beach managers will be investigating this summer.

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Great Lakes Commercial Fishing Numbers, Early Gypsy Moths & a Super-Efficient Home

Temporarily adopting the persona of “The Catfish.” 

Try these on, from Friday Edition, 9 a.m. Eastern, Delta College, Q-90.1 FM, Public Broadcasting, NPR, Excellent.

Flying Caterpillars of Defoliage

The Gypsy moths are hatching, and it’s much earlier than expected.

Staffers with the Bay County Gypsy Moth Suppression Program say they’e found have a few gypsy moth egg masses that are now hatching.

Officials say it’s the earliest time in the year that staffers have noted hatchings throughout the county.

Courtesy Bay County Gypsy Moth program

The population is still “extremely low,” but you should keep an eye out for tiny, 1/8th-inch caterpillars crawling around your neighborhood.

When these caterpillars hatch, they climb to the highest point they can reach and wait for the wind to blow them to a new area, and food.

Gypsy moth caterpillars feed on trees. They can defoliate large trees in a few weeks, invade yards and recreational areas, and become a general nuisance to people living in infested areas, officials say.

If you live in Bay County and feel the gypsy moth population on your property is increasing or have questions concerning invasive insects, you can call the Gypsy Moth program at (989) 895-4195 to make sure your area is surveyed.

A Year of Energy for $857?!

A Saginaw County homeowner has been awarded – again – for energy savings.

Connie Rynalski of Saginaw Township first saved on energy costs at her home, through various efficiency measures. Then, she was awarded an Earth Day prize of $3,000 for going above and beyond in her energy-saving efforts.

The award came from Cobblestone Homes, a Freeland-based homebuilder which conducted an Energy Challenge among almost 100 of its homeowners.

They were challenged to save the most in utility usage compared to energy use projections during a 12-month period.

Rynalski beat the energy projections for her home by the highest amount, paying $857 for an entire year of energy costs, including heating. That’s compared to more than $3,000 for a typical, 1,900-square-foot home.

Cobblestone Homes has partnered with the Dow Chemical Co. in recent years to build Michigan’s first Net-Zero Energy Homes in Midland and Bay counties.

New Commercial Fishery Assessment on the Great Lakes

How much is Lake Huron worth?

From the GLMRIS assessment

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has released a report on the valuation of commercial fisheries in the U.S. waters of the Great Lakes, Upper Mississippi River and Ohio River basins.

The Commercial Fisheries Baseline Economic Assessment is part of Great Lakes and Mississippi River Interbasin Study.

The report summarizes the latest annual harvesting data from state-licensed and tribal commercial fishing operations. The data will be used to help forecast impacts from potential aquatic invasives like the Asian carp.

The report says the average commercial harvest level in the U.S. waters of the Great Lakes is estimated at 19.3 million pounds of fish, with an associated average value of $22.5 million.

The report lists Lake Huron’s commercial harvest level at 3.5 million pounds, with an associated value of $4.6 million.

Lake Huron contributes 18.3 percent to the total commercial harvest of fish on the Great Lakes and 20.2 percent to the total value of Great Lakes fisheries.

The lake has seen a decline in commercial harvest levels since 1989. The maximum harvest level in the 1990s was 5.3 million pounds, accounting for almost 21 percent of the total commercial fishing harvests on the Great Lakes.

The top harvest level since year 2000 has been about 4.7 million pounds, or about 25 percent of all commercial fish harvesting in the Great Lakes.

The report examined data from 1989 to 2009.

The study plans to release an assessment later this year on recreational fishing.

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Catfish by Denise Chan

New Book Tells Story of Average Joe and Michigan’s Last-Known Wild Wolverine (Interview)

'The Lone Wolverine' is published by University of Michigan Press

A new book tells the story of Michigan’s last known wild wolverine, which died in the Thumb in early 2010.

The book is by Liz Shaw, a former reporter for the Flint Journal; and Jeff Ford, a former Deckerville high school science teacher.

The book, titled “The Lone Wolverine: Tracking Michigan’s Most Elusive Animal,” was released this month.

(This interview with Shaw aired April 27, 2012, on Friday Edition, Q-90.1 FM, Delta College.)

The wolverine, a female, was found dead by hikers in a Sanilac County marsh in March 2010. The death was attributed to natural causes. The wolverine was about 9 years old.

She is now on display at the Bay City State Recreation Area in Bay County’s Bangor Township.

(Below is a longer interview with Shaw and Scott Seeberger, which also aired on 90.1 FM)

Researchers Breed Arctic Cod, for the First Time, As Sea Ice Melts

This one’s a little beyond the Great Lakes, but interesting nonetheless …

Photos and video courtesy Vancouver Aquarium.

Biologists at the Vancouver Aquarium have announced a milestone: They’ve successfully hatched and reared Arctic cod, in a lab. It’s the first time in North America, and probably the world.

This one is important for many reasons, the Canadian researchers say:

Not only are Arctic cod a keystone species, playing a big part in the food chain, but sea ice is melting faster in the Arctic than scientists had predicted (and those predictions were pretty grim).

Arctic cod, termed as “at risk” by Environment Canada, live nine months of the year under the ice. Less ice, possibly less time to live, so it’s important to study how climate changes will impact these creatures.

But since these cod live most of their lives under the ice, they’re not the easiest species to study, from the cost of accessing their remote natural habitats to the challenging weather conditions under which they have to be studied. See some b-roll below.

How many hatchlings? The biologists say they’ve reared several hundred cod to the juvenile stage, working over six months. The process has all been documented and promises to have beneficial research implications.

“Rearing Arctic cod is a delicate and intensive process, and the early development stages are critical to the livelihood of the cod,” says Danny Kent, curator at the Vancouver Aquarium.“The Arctic cod larvae and eggs are extremely fragile and require meticulous and constant expert care to thrive. Successfully bringing the larvae to the juvenile stage could be a stepping stone to future research on this very important species.”

Arctic cod live in parts of Northern Canada, including the Beaufort Sea, the Arctic Archipelago, Hudson Bay, Baffin Bay, and along the coasts of Labrador and Newfoundland. They’re called a key species because they’re a primary food source for narwhals, belugas and ringed seals — which polar bears, and Inuit communities, depend upon for sustenance.

Arctic cod are kind of a “canary in the cold mine” for the Arctic ecosystem, you might say.

“Scientists are seeing increasing ocean temperatures, even in the Arctic,” according to John Nightingale, president and CEO of the Vancouver Aquarium.

“What we don’t know today is how this change will impact key species like the Arctic cod. Successfully rearing Arctic cod at the Aquarium means scientists can study aspects of their lives that previously were difficult, if not, impossible to study.”

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Be Aware of Michigan Fishing Proposals, and a Poll on Littering

A queen snake (large) and western lesser siren (inset). Via Michigan DNR/Jim Harding.

As heard on the April 13, 2012, Environment Report,

part of Friday Edition at 9 a.m. Fridays on Delta College radio, Q-90.1 FM

Trout, Pike and Queen Snakes

What do you think of fishing regulation proposals?

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources wants to know. The DNR is planning a public meeting and comment session on Monday, April 23.

The meeting is from 7-9 p.m., at the Bay City State Recreation Area in Bangor Township.

DNR officials plan to discuss several statewide fishing regulation proposals.

Those include:

• Brook trout daily possession limits for Upper Peninsula streams
• Northern pike size and possession limits
• Size and possession limits for muskellunge
• And, prohibiting the recreational take of a newly listed species of special concern. Those are, the queen snake and a long, eel-like salamander called the western lesser siren.

More specific information on the proposals will be available at the meeting, to be held in the park’s Visitor Center.

You also can study up at the DNR web site at michigan.gov/fishing.

The meeting, again, is from 7-9 p.m. on Monday, April 23, at the Bay City state park in Bangor Township.

Green Becoming the ‘New Normal’ 

Earth Day is coming up, on April 22, and people are finally starting to get the drift of sustainability.

A new survey by the Shelton Group says being eco-friendly is becoming more common among Americans.

Those surveyed say getting caught throwing trash out of the car window is more embarrassing to them than getting caught cheating on their taxes.

The national poll also found that unfriendly behaviors, like driving a gas guzzler, are becoming socially unacceptable these days.

Other things that people surveyed said they would more embarrassed to be caught doing than littering include:

• Smoking cigarettes
• Not using a seatbelt
• Not recycling plastic bottles
• and, letting the water run while brushing their teeth.

The researchers say they think being green will eventually become the new normal, because the percentages have reached a tipping point.

One more item worth mentioning: Those surveyed were asked what would encourage them adopt eco-friendly behaviors.

The top responses included penalties, fees, rewards, incentives, and education.

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Adopt-a-Beach along Saginaw Bay, and a Gust of Great Lakes Offshore Wind Support

As heard on the April 6, 2012, Environment Report, part of Friday Edition at 9 a.m. Fridays on Delta College radio, Q-90.1 FM.

Alliance for the Great Lakes

A statewide Adopt-A-Beach program is looking for help in the Saginaw Bay area.

Via windpoweringamerica.gov

Statewide coordinators for the volunteer program are holding informational sessions throughout the state.

One will be held on April 21 at the Bay City State Recreation Area, during the park’s Wetland Wake-Up Day events.

The Adopt-a-Beach program uses volunteers to collect data on beach conditions. That data is shared with local, state and regional health officials, and used by the Alliance for the Great Lakes to help set standards for coastal areas.

The session planned for Bay City is an introductory training session by the Alliance. It will be held on April 21, 10 a.m. to noon, inside the Saginaw Bay Visitor Center, located at the Bay City state park.

For more information, see the Alliance website at greatlakes.org.

Great Lakes Offshore Wind Energy Consortium

Plans for offshore wind projects have received a gust of support in the Great Lakes.

The governor of Michigan recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with 10 federal agencies to enhance the coordination of offshore wind projects in the lakes. Gov. Snyder was joined by the governors of Illinois, Minnesota, New York and Pennsylvania.

The aim is to promote the efficient, orderly and responsible evaluation of offshore wind proposals for the lakes, according to the Great Lakes Commission.

The agreement (pdf) is modeled after similar ones signed between 10 states on the East Coast and the U.S. Department of the Interior.

The agencies in the Great Lakes agreement include the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and other agencies that have regulatory roles or federal interests related to permitting offshore turbines in the lakes.

The Memorandum of Understanding will establish a Great Lakes Offshore Wind Energy Consortium to coordinate and expedite the review of proposals for offshore wind projects.

According to the Obama administration, offshore wind energy resources in the Great Lakes could yield tremendous economic and environmental benefits. Offshore wind in the lakes has the potential to produce more than 700 gigawatts of energy. That’s about one fifth of the total offshore wind potential in the United States.

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Mussel Management, Science & Trouble in the Great Lakes

As heard on the March 30, 2012, Environment Report, part of Friday Edition at 9 a.m. Fridays on Delta College radio, Q-90.1 FM.

Mussel Management 

The state has introduced an updated plan to prevent the introduction and spread of aquatic nuisance species.

Public comments on a draft state management plan are being taken until May 1.

Beyond preventing the introduction and spread of invasives like Asian carp, the plan aims to limit the harmful effects of invasives in Michigan waters.

New actions and enhancements to existing actions are outlined in the document.

Top priorities of the draft plan include a continued push for federal action to physically separate the Great Lakes and Mississippi River basins. That would involve changes to the sanitary and ship canal in Chicago.

The plan also proposes cracking down on Internet and pet shop sales of nonnative species that could cause problems in the lakes.

Comments are being taken through May 1.

You can find out more at michigan.gov.

Freshwater Science

Speaking of invasives, the National Science Foundation is out with a new report on freshwater mussels and the consequences for ecosystems.

According to research by the University of Oklahoma, almost 70 percent of freshwater mussels are considered threatened in some way.

Researchers say mussels need plentiful water to thrive, and healthy fish to reproduce.

In the Great Lakes, freshwater mussel populations have been harmed by invasive zebra and quagga mussels, native to Eastern Europe.

At the moment, the human need for water is the biggest danger to freshwater mussels, researchers say.

Habitat destruction, fragmentation from dams, and an intense drought in the southern plains have all contributed to destruction of mussel beds, according to the report.

Water filtering done by freshwater mussels provides a benefit for humans.

So one future priority in research is to come up with monetary values for the services that freshwater mussels provide.

Photo: For decades, freshwater mussels were harvested and made into fancy buttons. Credit: Illinois State Museum.

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A New Beach, Events & an Earth Day Contest to WIN

As heard on the March 23, 2012, Environment Report, part of Friday Edition at 9 a.m. Fridays on Delta College radio, Q-90.1 FM.

Photo by Eli Duke.

New Beach

Bay County plans to clean up a public beach in Pinconning.

The county has received $10,000 from ITC of Kawkawlin. The company builds transmission lines for power distribution.

County Executive Tom Hickner says the gift from the company will be used for beach improvements at Pinconning Park, a county owned campground and recreation spot in Pinconning Township.

The county plans to clean the existing beach there, and groom and prepare the surface. Then, about 900 yards of fresh sand will be brought in to replenish the shoreline.

The county also will construct a small changing booth and fresh water shower for swimmers.

Solar-powered channel markers for boats also will be installed at a nearby boat launch.

Earth Day Events

Earth Day is Sunday, April 22.

Several events are planned in Bay County and local cities and townships.

They include: a Bangor Township “Green Team” and Waste Management Used Battery Drop-Off at Bangor Township Hall, a Bay Soil Conservation District Tree Sale, and a Bay County Earth Day Electronics Recycling Drop-Off at the Bay County Fairgrounds.

In addition, there will a Mayor’s City Wide Clean Up event, and the Annual Ed Golson Earth Day Compost Giveaway in Bay City.

You can find specific information on each event at the Bay County website.

WIN It

Saginaw Bay WIN is funding one great environmental idea for Earth Day.

WIN, which stands for Watershed Initiative Network, is holding a Facebook contest (pdf).

It’s looking for nonprofits to submit ideas for environmental projects, summed up in 50 words or less.

Topics include:

• Conservation;
• Public Access to Natural Resources;
• Natural Resource-based Recreation or Education; and,
• Energy Efficiency.

Ideas will be posted to WIN’s website and Facebook page.

The idea that receives the most votes, or “likes” on Facebook, will receive a $1,000 grant.

There also will be a random drawing for gift cards. You can find out more at saginawbaywin.org.

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Beach Cleaning, River Restoring & Asian Carp Stopping

Lots of ‘ings’ on this edition of The Environment Report. Heard Fridays @ 9 AM on Q-90.1 FM, Delta College:

Photo by z287marc

Friday, March 2, 2012 (audio):
1 

Beach boosters are planning another wellness event for June at the Bay City State Recreation Area.

This year’s Beach Wellness event, on June 23 at the Bay City state park, will include a run and walk, volleyball tournament and classic car cruise.

The event is a fundraiser to help keep the shoreline clean at the Bay City state park.

There will be 10K and 5K runs, a 5K walk; and a kids quarter-mile run.

The tournament will feature four-person volleyball teams competing on the public beach at the Bay City state park.

The sixth annual Beach Wellness event is being organized by the Save Our Shoreline property owners group.

Registrations are now being taken by members of Save Our Shoreline.

2

Efforts to restore rivers in Northern Michigan are being highlighted by a nonprofit Grayling group.

The group, called Huron Pines, has published a new website that show a variety of river restoration accomplishments in Northern Michigan.

On the website, you can search for road and stream crossings, and streambank erosion sites by watershed and county.

The group says many accomplishments listed at the site have involved completing BMPs, or Best Management Practices, at problem sites.

These practices involve methods that reduce the movement of sediment, nutrients, chemicals and other pollutants from the land to the water.

Examples are tree and shrub plantings, and culvert or bridge replacements at road and stream crossings.

The website address is www.northernmichiganstreams.org.

3

National Geographic recently featured a familiar fish as its Freshwater Species of the week.

It was the Asian carp, which comes in varieties like silver and bighead.

So far, only a few of the carp have been found in the Great Lakes, and efforts are ongoing to keep them from an becoming established species in the lakes.

The Obama administration has committed more than $50 million to a 2012  Asian Carp Control Strategy.

That includes increased efforts to monitor and catch carp iin rivers that connect to the Great Lakes.

Officials also will be testing scent-based lures, an acoustic water gun and improved electric barriers.

The U.S. government has already spent more than $100 million on keeping the bighead and silver Asian carp from invading the Great Lakes.

Just this week, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a petition by Michigan and other states to install nets in Chicago area rivers and speed up a study on a permanent separation of the Great Lakes and Mississippi River basins.

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36 Against a Weak Ballast Water Permit, Michigan Green Schools & Landfills Filling Up

The Delta College Q-90.1 FM Environment Report, heard Fridays at 9 a.m. as part of the award-winning Friday Edition segment.

The report for Feb. 24, 2012:

More Green Schools 

Schools in Bay County are encouraged to become part of a Michigan Green Schools project.

In 2006, then-Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed the “Michigan Green School Act.” The law grants a “Michigan Green School” designation to any public or private school in in the state that meets certain criteria.

To become a Michigan Green School, a school must achieve 10 of 20 possible points for environmental and energy-saving measures in an academic year.

There are currently four designated Green Schools in Bay County:

• Bangor West Elementary School;
• Christa McAuliffe Middle School;
• Lincoln Elementary; and,
• Pinconning High and Middle Schools.

The Bay County Environmental Affairs and Community Development Department is serving as the clearinghouse for all schools in Bay County under the project. The application deadline for this year is March 1.

Blasting Weak Ballast Standards

Dozens of environmental and conservation groups say a proposed federal ballast water permit to keep invasive species out of the Great Lakes is too weak.

Comments were due this week to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on a proposed permit to regulate ballast water discharges from commercial vessels.

Conservation groups assert that the permit still leaves the Great Lakes and other U.S. waters vulnerable to the introduction and spread of invasive species—and does not adhere to the Clean Water Act. Invasive species already established in the lakes via ballast water discharge include aebra mussels, spiny water fleas and round gobies.

The groups are asking the EPA to

• Adopt a zero-discharge standard for invasive species;
• Adopt the most protective technology standards nationwide;
• Adopt standards for lakers, or ships that stay within the basin; and,
• Develop a faster implementation timeline to implement new technology standards.

A coalition of 36 groups teamed up to  submit comments on the proposal. Their comments say the permit, as written,  leaves the Great Lakes and other U.S. waters vulnerable to the further introduction and spread of invasive species, and does not adhere to standards of the Clean Water Act.

The groups submitting the comments include

• the Alliance for the Great Lakes;
• Great Lakes United;
• the National Wildlife Federation;
• Natural Resources Defense Council; and,
• the Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council.

The EPA is due to issue a final permit by Nov. 30.

24 Years Left

Do you need another reason to recycle?

Via Michigan landfill report, DEQ

Michigan landfills have about 24 years of disposal capacity left, according to a state report.

The Department of Environmental Quality report (pdf) says the volume of solid waste sent to landfills in the state dropped by about 1 percent in 2011.

Waste disposed of by Michigan residents and businesses increased by about 3 percent. Waste imported from other states and Canada decreased by about 13 percent.

DEQ officials say they expect Canadian waste volumes will continue to decrease during the next year under a commitment from the province of Ontario.

Still, Canada remains the largest source of waste imports into Michigan, accounting for more than 15 percent of all waste disposed of in Michigan landfills.

Next to Canada, the most out-of-state waste into Michigan comes from Ohio and Indiana.