Energy

Turtles vs. turbines

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An Ontario court has ruled in favor of a wind turbine project that put environmental groups at odds with each other.
On one side are supporters of an alternative energy project. On the other are those favoring the protection of a threatened turtle species and fragile soil.

Wildlife

Scary invaders threaten Great Lakes, environmentalists warn

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By Jon Gaskell

Capital News Service

LANSING— Beware the Northern snakehead. Beware the inland silverside. And beware a host of other invasive species prompting a recent report recommending spending billions to separate the Mississippi River from the Great Lakes. The Asian carp is the media darling that gets all the attention.  But according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, there are 39 other “high-risk invasive species” that might migrate through Chicago waterways and have the potential to wreak ruin on native ecosystems.

Of these species, 10 could potentially cause huge environmental damage, the agency said. “Asian carp are sort of the canary in the coal mine,” said Jared Teutsch of the Chicago-based Alliance for the Great Lakes.

Wildlife

Three cheers for the snake lady

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An Ohio activist dubbed “The Snake Lady” and a university researcher have been honored for their efforts to conserve the threatened Lake Erie watersnake. Kristin Stanford and Richard King of Northern Illinois University are among this year’s 18 recipients of the recently announced U.S. Fish and Wildlife’s Recovery Champions awards. According to a U.S. F&W press release, the pair has put in a combined 35 years of work to save the snake and its habitat. King has been working since the 1980s and identified early declines in the population and threats to the species. Stanford has “worked tirelessly to reach out to residents of the Lake Erie islands”  to teach them how to live with the snake.”

“The dedication of Ms. Stanford and Dr. King to the conservation of the Lake Erie watersnake, through both scientific methods and strong public involvement, has recovery efforts for this species to the point that the next step is  to propose removing it from the list of endangered and threatened species.  There is no greater measure of recovery success,” said Midwest Regional Director Tom Melius.

Wildlife

Plan approved to save endangered water snake

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By Gabriel Goodwin

LANSING —The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has finalized a plan to aid the recovery of the endangered northern copperbelly water snake because its Michigan population has diminished to mere hundreds due to habitat fragmentation and habitat loss, experts said. The short-term goal of the plan is to allow the population to reach sustainability, Barbara Hasler, fish and wildlife biologist for the agency, said. She said she hopes that will be the turning point for the species because the recovery plan’s focus is to stop the decline, reach a stable point and increase the number of copperbellies. The plan lays out a timeframe of about 30 years but “is very dependent on funding and the ability to do the identified actions to protect the population,”said Hasler, who is based in East Lansing. Professor Bruce Kingsley, chair of the Biology Department at Indiana-Purdue University Fort Wayne, said the northern copperbelly water snake population has been declining for at least 75 years and has been in a threatened status for more than 20 years.