Portland State University has developed an online catalog of aquatic invasive species (AIS) education and outreach materials.
This searchable inventory of AIS outreach materials is available to all users and has a dynamic web interface that allows registered users to input their own education and outreach materials as well as having a peer review and ratings system for material evaluation to help maintain a high standard for submissions. New users may wish to browse through the system before using the search features to get a better idea of the types of materials available. Organizations that have developed outreach tools that are available for distribution are encouraged to register and use the dynamic interface to upload a record of their own materials.
In addition to the inventory of materials, they are in the process of developing an image gallery where AIS images can be downloaded for non-commercial use in the development of new materials.
Click on Title link to view entire article. Thanks to Chuck O'Neill, Cornell University, for the submission.
HONG KONG — The Chinese government unveiled a detailed plan on Tuesday to limit pollution in China’s lakes by 2010 and return them to their original state by 2030.
The State Council, China’s cabinet, ordered strict regulation of the release of wastewater, the closing of heavily polluting factories near lakes, the improvement of sewage treatment facilities and strict limits on fish farms, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
The council also banned the use of pesticides with highly toxic residue near large lakes as well as detergents containing phosphorus.
While national leaders in Beijing have shown greater interest in recent months in cleaning up the environment, their efforts have frequently met resistance from provincial and local officials more interested in maximizing economic growth.
Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
The algae on Lake Tai in China last year signaled a crisis that is threatening fishers’ livelihood.
Click on Title link to view entire The New York Times article.
Conservation organizations that work to preserve biologically rich landscapes are confronting a painful realization: In an era of climate change, many of their efforts may be insufficient or beside the point.
Some scientists say efforts to re-establish or maintain salmon runs in Pacific Northwest streams will be of limited long-term benefit to the fish if warming makes the streams inhospitable. Others worry about efforts to restore the fresh water flow of the Everglades, given that much of it will be under water as sea level rises. Some geologists say it may be advisable to abandon efforts to preserve some fragile coastal barrier islands and focus instead on allowing coastal marshes to migrate inland, as sea level rises.
And everywhere, ecologists and conservation biologists wonder how landscapes already under preservation will change with the climate.
Click on Title link to view entire The New York Times article.
A newly-updated version of the widely-read and respected book, The Fundamentals of Urban Runoff Management manual is available to the public exclusively on the North American Lake Management Society's website. You may download it in two versions: low-resolution and high-resolution. The low-resolution document is suitable for on-screen reading and lower-quality printing. The high-resolution version contains higher-quality graphics and is suited towards printing. There is no printed copy planned at this time.
Please click on this link http://www.epa.gov/region1/neaeb2008/ to find out more information about the upcoming meeting of the New England Association of Environmental Biologists (NEAEB), to be held in the heart of the White Mountains in New Hampshire, from March 26-28th. Information regarding conference registration, abstract submittal, sponsorship opportunities, and more is now available online.
Click on Title link to view entire article. Thanks to Amy Smagula for the submission.
Zebra mussels - an invasive shellfish that can clog water pumps and pipes and could potentially wreck havoc on California's water and power system - which state officials confirmed this afternoon are in the San Justo Reservoir. County officials confirmed today that the reservoir delivered water to customers during a four-week period while the typical water supply was shut down.
A renowned biologist said today the zebra mussels found in a small reservoir south of Hollister may have been in the basin for years and hitched a ride over the Rocky Mountains to get there.
Dr. Daniel P. Molloy also said a soil bacterium - which could be commercially available within two years - acts as a toxin and can kill 70 percent to 90 percent of the mollusk and its close cousin, the quagga mussel, when applied.
Another western state confirmed its first zebra mussel - an invasive species found recently in waters south of Hollister - present in a reservoir there, the Colorado Division of Wildlife reported.
Doug Krieger, a senior biologist with Colorado Division of Wildlife, said the agency has been searching for the pesky mollusk in the state after they were found in Kansas.
The Colorado Division of Wildlife confirmed two weeks ago the species found in Lake Pueblo - a reservoir about 100 miles south of Denver that feeds the Arkansas River and eventually the Mississippi River - were indeed zebra mussels, Krieger said."
Click on Title links to view entire articles. Thanks to Jane Dauffenbach of Aquarius Systems for the submission.
Alexandria, Virginia -- The BoatU.S. Foundation for Boating Safety and Clean Water has joined the Izaak Walton League of America’s campaign to help stop the spread of aquatic invasive species and is urging all recreational boaters who trailer their vessels to take the League’s “Clean Boats Challenge.”
The challenge is quiz at http://www.CleanBoats.org that educates boaters and anglers on how to inspect and clean their boats to ensure that lakes and streams are protected from non-native, aquatic hitchhikers.
“Taking the Clean Boats Challenge will give boaters and anglers the information they need to make personal choices that can help stop the spread of invasive species,” said BoatU.S. Foundation Director of Clean Water Programs Susan Shingledecker."
Click on the title for the complete news release. Thanks to Shawn Good for the link.
The Center for Watershed Protection announced Article 4 of theie Wetlands and Watersheds Series: "A Local Ordinance to Protect Wetland Functions." This article introduces a new type of model ordinance for local protection of wetlands. Existing federal and state wetland permitting programs address some direct impacts to wetlands, such as filling, but are not designed to regulate inputs of stormwater or other pollutants. Local development regulations can fill this gap in wetland protection since local governments typically have control over local land use regulations and decisions. An adaptable model Wetland Drainage Area Protection Ordinance is provided to protect wetlands from indirect impacts by regulating land development within areas draining to them.
(Washington, D.C. – January 17, 2008) Today, EPA, with state and national partners, released a comprehensive plan to reduce runoff and increase environmental and economic benefits for communities. The strategy will help reduce stormwater runoff and sewer overflows by promoting “green infrastructure” approaches, such as green roofs, trees and tree boxes, rain gardens, and porous pavements. Green infrastructure techniques, technologies, and practices reduce the amount of water and pollutants that run off a site. These tools have many other benefits, including cost savings, improved air quality, urban heat island reductions, energy savings, water conservation, and urban habitat creation.
The plan explains how states, municipalities, permitting authorities, and non-governmental organizations can use green infrastructure practices to meet water quality goals while sustaining their water infrastructure. The document, “Managing Wet Weather with Green Infrastructure Action Strategy 2008,” outlines ways to bring green infrastructure technologies and approaches into mainstream use for runoff and sewer overflow management.
This plan follows an April 19, 2007, agreement to promote green infrastructure as an environmentally preferable approach to wet weather management. It also represents a key set of actions that EPA and its partners are taking to reduce projected impacts of climate change. The plan, which includes 7 major implementation areas: Research, Outreach and Communication, Tools, Clean Water Act Regulatory Support, Economic Viability and Funding, Demonstrations and Recognition, and Partnerships and Promotion was developed by EPA, American Rivers, the Association of State and Interstate Water Pollution Control Administrators, the National Association of Clean Water Agencies, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Low Impact Development Center. More information on green infrastructure: www.epa.gov/npdes/greeninfrastructure/general
If you're planning to ice skate on a local lake or river this winter, you may need to think twice, according to scientists John Magnuson, Olaf Jensen and Barbara Benson of the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Their research is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
From sources as diverse as newspaper archives, transportation ledgers and religious observances, the researchers have amassed 150 years of lake and river ice records spanning the Northern Hemisphere. All show a steady trend of fewer days of ice cover.
If the pattern continues, only in Currier and Ives prints will ice skaters twirl across frozen rivers.
The records show that later freezing and earlier ice breakup occurred on lakes and rivers across the Northern Hemisphere from 1846 to 1995. Over those 150 years, said Magnuson, changes in freeze dates averaged 5.8 days per 100 years later, and changes in ice breakup dates averaged 6.5 days per 100 years earlier. The findings translate to increasing air temperatures of about 1.2 degrees Celsius each century.
Click on Title link to view entire article. Thanks to Anne Weinberg, US EPA for the submission.
EPA has received the final report of the Federal Advisory Committee on Detection and Quantitation Approaches and Uses in Clean Water Act Programs. "We appreciate the committee's effort, which will help EPA's continuing work to ensure sound science and effective permitting," said Assistant Administrator for Water Benjamin H. Grumbles.
The committee, which EPA established, concluded its work on Dec. 21, 2007. This report provides advice and recommendations on the development of a new and improved procedure for determining detection and quantitation limits, and how these limits should be used in NPDES permit reporting and compliance determinations. The committee considered challenging policy and technical issues related to detection and quantitation limits, particularly in those situations where Water Quality-Based Effluent Limits are below analytical method detection capabilities. The committee represented a balanced membership from the states, environmental community, environmental laboratories, industry, and public utilities. The final report is available at http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/methods/det .
Click on Title link to view entire article. Thanks to EPA's Water Headlines for the submission.
In December 2007, EPA posted the ninth and last release of the Water Quality Standards Database (WQSDB) http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/standards/wqshome/. Direct access to water quality standards (WQS) information has many benefits, including enabling more informed public participation in establishing and revising state WQS, as envisioned by the Clean Water Act. As part of EPA's efforts to enhance access to WQS information, EPA is assisting states in establishing state-level WQS databases on their own websites, so that the information can be kept current as states revise their standards. More information on this initiative is provided in the WQSDB Release 9.0 fact sheet.
The WQSDB organizes and displays WQS information in tables and maps, waterbody by waterbody. This information has been verified and approved by 54 states, tribes, and territories. EPA and the states are transitioning into a new way of providing public access to WQS information in which states can use either their own database or a copy of the WQSDB to manage and share their WQS information. This final version of the WQSDB is scheduled to be removed from the EPA website in February 2008. Thereafter, members of the public can access their state's WQS program webpage at: http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/standards/wqslibrary/links.html and can view the WQS documents upon which the WQSDB information is based at http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/standards/wqslibrary/ .
Click on Title link to view entire article. Thanks to EPA Water Headlines for the submission.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has released a new report, "Reducing Stormwater Costs through Low Impact Development (LID) Strategies and Practices," which contains 17 case studies from across North America that show the economic viability of LID practices. Using these practices in construction projects can lower costs while improving environmental results.
LID practices are innovative stormwater management practices to manage urban stormwater runoff at its source. The goal is to mimic the way water moved through an area before it was developed by using design techniques that infiltrate, evapotranspirate, and reuse runoff close to its source. Some common LID practices include rain gardens, grassed swales, cisterns, rain barrels, permeable pavements and green roofs. LID practices increasingly are used by communities across the country to help protect and restore water quality.
The report highlights examples that, in most cases, reduce project costs while improving environmental performance. Total capital savings ranged from 15 to 80 percent, with a few exceptions in which LID project costs were higher than conventional stormwater management costs. As LID practices become more common, it is likely that they will become cheaper to use.
Click on Title link to view entire article. From a US EPA News Release issued on Jan. 8, 2008. Thanks to Anne Weinberg, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for the submission.
21st Annual National Conference Enhancing the States' Lake Management Programs Building Partnerships for Improved Fisheries and Lake Water Quality
April 29 – May 2, 2008, Holiday Inn Chicago Mart Plaza, Chicago, Illinois
cosponsored by Chicago Botanic Garden, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, North American Lake Management Society in cooperation with: Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Bass Anglers Sportsman Society, American Fisheries Society
Each year for over two decades, State lake program managers have gathered in Chicago to discuss successes, evaluate obstacles, and explore new approaches for improving the States’ lake management programs. Our 2008 program focuses on the importance of fisheries in developing comprehensive lake management strategies. Accordingly, fisheries managers and specialists are encouraged to join us as we examine approaches for enhancing fisheries interactions with other lake management objectives such as water quality, recreation, and overall ecosystem health.
Leaders from statewide lake associations, also a target audience for this conference, will continue to receive training and guidance on nonprofit organization management while learning from the experiences of their sister associations from across the country. And together, State agency staff and statewide lake association leaders will explore new opportunities for future cooperation. Federal and local managers are invited to join in the lively discussions, both during the sessions and at special programs offered during luncheons and evening social functions.
For some, attending this annual conference has become a tradition. If you've not participated before, please consider joining us. We think you'll experience a truly unique opportunity to learn and share ideas on enhancing lake and watershed management programs!
The Trust for Public Land and the Smart Growth Leadership Institute, in partnership with the Association of State Drinking Water Administrators and the River Network are pleased to announce that Maine, New Hampshire and Ohio have been selected for the first round of demonstrations under a unique project to align State water quality protection and land use programs and policies to better protect drinking water sources. These three States demonstrated a high level of commitment to source water protection, as well as timely policy initiatives and support for finding linkages among State programs.
Click on Title link to view entire article. Thanks to Jane Dauffenbach of Aquarius Systems and EPA's Water Headlines for the submission.
There will be an aquatic invasive species conference to be held on Saturday, 16 February at the Milwaukee Hyatt Regency Hotel.
The meeting will focus on hydrilla as the "next wave" of invasion [in the north], with the objective of informing public policy in Wisconsin and Illinois with respect to being more proactive in addressing invasions.
More information and registration details are available at http://www.wlmd.org
Thanks to Jane Dauffenbach of Aquarius Systems for the submission.
Amazing Video of World's Toughest Animal | Wired Science from Wired.com: "Amazing Video of World's Toughest Animal By Brandon Keim January 14, 2008 | 8:42:33 AM
You'd never guess from looking at these clips that the millimeter-long tardigrade is the world's toughest animal, found from deep ocean to Himalayan mountaintops, able to survive at a single degree above absolute zero.
How tough are tardigrades? They require water to live, but in a pinch can drop their metabolism to a hundredth of normal and wait -- up to a decade if necessary -- until it's wet again. In this so-called cryptobiotic state they can shrug off lethal radiation doses and even the vacuum of space.
But for all that, if you've got a pond nearby, or even a patch of rocks and moss, you've probably got yourself some tardigrades. They're egalitarian as well as exceptional. And to help imagine them, take a look at these videos; maybe it's just Monday morning, but they seem simultaneously ethereal and earthy, more soulful than I'd ever expect a few thousand cells to be." You'd never guess from looking at these clips that the millimeter-long tardigrade is the world's toughest animal, found from deep ocean to Himalayan mountaintops, able to survive at a single degree above absolute zero.
Click on Title Link for more videos of the "water bear."
Here are two announcements for Northeast regional meetings being held this spring. Each Call for Papers is seeking talks on invasive species/aquatic plant management among other topics, so check them out if you have a paper you'd like to give, or if you'd just like to attend:
New England Association of Environmental Biologists (NEAEB)- Annual Meeting When: March 26-28, 2008 Where: Attitash Grand Summit Hotel and Conference Center, Bartlett, NH More Info: The call for papers and other conference information can be found online at www.epa.gov/region1/neaeb2008/, or by contacting Dave Neils at 603-271-8865 or dneils@des.state.nh.us.
New England Chapter of the North American Lake Management Society (NEC NALMS)- Annual Meeting When: June 13-14, 2008 Where: Lake Morey Resort, Fairlee, Vermont More Info: Susan Warren with the VT DEC is a contact, and can be reached at Susan.Warren@state.vt.us.
Thanks to Amy Smagula, NEAPMS Secretary for the submissiom
Under Executive Order 13423, which was signed in 2007, all federal agencies are required to improve water efficiency by 16 percent by the end of 2015. The U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado serves as an example of what can be accomplished. Their facilities have reduced water consumption by 36 percent since 2000, and were projected to further reduce usage by 41 percent by the end of 2007. They have implemented a comprehensive set of best management practices such as processing wastewater for reuse for irrigation, using water efficient landscaping, installing water efficient bathroom fixtures, and educating their members about water efficiency. They are focusing on best management practices that have a simple payback of 10 years or less, and they are active in the local utility's 5-year conservation plan.
On January 31 from 2pm to 3pm EST, Benjamin H. Grumbles, Assistant Administrator for Water, will discuss online during an "Ask EPA" Q&A session how using water more efficiently can help save you money and protect the environment. Questions can be submitted beginning January 29 until the session ends on January 31. For more information visit the EPA homepage at http://www.epa.gov
Humanity makes some 650 billion tons of plastic every year, and it's not going away -- not, at least, for a few thousand years. In the meantime, those trillions of polymer tons will break into ever-smaller pieces, eventually being absorbed by plants, animals and finally us.
This wouldn't be so worrisome if the chemicals added to plastic -- to make it supple, flame-retardant and generally miraculous -- weren't such a devil's cocktail of carcinogens, neurotoxins and endocrine disruptors. The problem is driven home poetically and frighteningly by Susan Carey's "Plastic Ocean," published in Best Life Magazine and anthologized in The Best Science and Nature Writing of 2007:
We're eating these plasticizing additives, drinking them, breathing them, and absorbing them through our skin every single day. Most alarming, these chemicals may disrupt the endocrine system -- the delicately balanced set of hormones and glands that affect virtually every organ and cell -- by mimicking the female hormone estrogen. In marine environments, excess estrogen has led to Twilight Zone-esque discoveries of male fish and seagulls that have sprouted female sex organs.
On land, things are equally gruesome. "Fertility rates have been declining for quite some time now, and exposure to synthetic estrogen, especially from the chemicals found in plastic products, can have an adverse effect," says Marc Goldstein, M.D., director of the Cornell Institute for Reproductive Medicine. Dr. Goldstein also notes that pregnant women are particularly vulnerable: "Prenatal exposure, even in very low doses, can cause irreversible damage in an unborn baby's reproductive organs." And after the baby is born, he or she is hardly out of the woods. Frederick vom Saal, Ph.D., a professor at the University of Missouri at Columbia who specifically studies estrogenic chemicals in plastics, warns parents to "steer clear of polycarbonate baby bottles. They're particularly dangerous for newborns, whose brains, immune systems, and gonads are still developing." Dr. vom Saal's research spurred him to throw out every polycarbonate plastic item in his house, and to stop buying plastic-wrapped food and canned goods (cans are plastic-lined) at the grocery store.
"Plastic Ocean" starts off by describing the discovery of the Eastern Garbage Patch, an area of the Pacific Ocean where floating trash now clogs an area twice the size of Texas. The climate change blog Celsias recently did an extended post on oceanic plastic and its tendency to accumulate up the food chain -- bad, bad news for billions of people who rely on seafood for protein.
I might not crunch my way to six-pack abs or write a novel in 2008, but I think I can scrap the bottled drinks and overly-packaged goods.
Video: From the Algalita Marine Research Foundation, founded by Charles Moore, who sailed through the Eastern Garbage Patch in 1997: "Depressed and stunned, he sailed for a week through bobbing, toxic debris trapped in a purgatory of circling currents. To his horror, he had stumbled across the 21st-century Leviathan. It had no head, no tail. Just an endless body."
Goose Creek Paddle
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About 80 of my closest friends and I hit the water on Sunday. It was
GREAT's first paddle of the season (the actual first one being cancelled
not once, b...
Voices Nominated for Social Media Favorite
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Mashable, a social media blog site, has declared June 30th as Social Media Day internationally. "Social media has changed our lives. It has not only changed...
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