Great Lakes Echo (http://greatlakesecho.org/2013/09/)
State workers and environmental groups will use a federal grant to help get the Kirtland’s warbler off the list of endangered species.
The $171,000 grant will go toward a range of activities in Northeast Michigan, including the planting of two million jack pine seedlings, which are the only habitat the bird can nest in.
Mr. Great Lakes (Jeff Kart) reports from Bay City, Michigan’s Delta College Q-90.1 FM
.Sept. 27, 2013 – Mr. Great Lakes – Jeff Kart – The Environment Report by jeffkart
This week, Kart discusses a draft report on renewable energy in Michigan. Text at Mr. Great Lakes
Each month Echo commentator Gary Wilson recaps news from around the basin.
This week, Gary reflects on Great Lakes Week, the International Joint Commission’s recommendations to fight algal blooms and water use in fracking.
This August photographer Ken Scott captured this panorama, highlighting a storm front moving over Lake Michigan, near Northport, Mich. The photo was taken just before sunset, showing colorful clouds and a low hanging sun. This photo was featured on Earth Science Picture of the Day.
Scientists are linking the ear bones of fish to the water chemistry of the wetlands they visit.
The research is a new tool in figuring out just where fish travel and has implications for targeting wetlands for protection.
A football stadium may have green grass but does it have green habits? Each week, Great Lakes Echo highlights a Big Ten football stadium’s attempts to do the most to impact the environment the least. All schools have information on the stadium’s diversion rate – the amount of waste recycled instead of put in a landfill. Stadium: Kinnick Stadium
School: University of Iowa
Built: 1929
Capacity: 70,585
2012 diversion rate: 52 percent
Scouting report: The Iowa Recycling Team has united with other school organizations to keep game days clean before, during and after football games. During pregame activities, 26 recycling bins are placed at the gate entrance of Kinnick Stadium for fans to drop their materials as they enter, according to Eric Holthaus, recycling coordinator at the school.
In this series, Echo samples successful and ongoing restoration projects in each Great Lakes state. New York projects include extensive cleanup efforts at Buffalo Creek and the St. Lawrence River.
Architect-futurist: Think locally, act locally by Great Lakes Echo
For more than 30-years, Andrés Duany has sought to end suburban sprawl and urban disinvestment, both in American cities and around the world. Duany is credited with advancing the design aesthetic known as “New Urbanism.” The New Urbansim movement urges people to move beyond 20th century thinking, focusing on ideas that don’t cost money. Another important aspect of Duany’s aesthetic is climate change. He says that there is no evidence that the world will “beat” climate change and because of this western society will enter into a period of demoralization. Duany believes the way to avoid this depressing state is to act locally.
Michigan Rep. Bob Genetski, R- Saugatuck, has introduced a bill that would allow the state to compensate localities for fighting fires on state-owned land through the already-established Forest Development Fund. Wildfires strain the resources of small, under-equipped localities, he says.
Michigan is losing $229,491 in federal timber payments this year because of the budget sequestration — money that would otherwise be used for rural roads and schools, environmental work in the state’s three national forests and county wildfire projects.