July/August 1998
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July/August 1998 |
For International Joint Commission reports, dial (519)257-6734 or (313)226-2170 ext. 6734, or visit our website at http://www.ijc.org(.)
Habitat 2001, a Workshop on the Future of Habitat Restoration and Protection in the Upper Great Lakes, brought together over 50 professionals from around Lakes Huron, Michigan and Superior to develop recommendations addressing aquatic and terrestrial habitat issues. In his opening remarks, Great Lakes Fishery Commissioner David Dempsey compared the concerted action needed to address the Great Lakes habitat crisis of today with the effort directed to the Great Lakes pollution crisis of the 1960s and 1970s. The workshop, which consisted of presentations, panel discussions and breakout sessions, was designed to inform participants of advances in habitat projects and initiatives, and to provide a forum for discussing the next steps in setting environmental objectives and indicators for each of the three lakes. Workshop proceedings can be found on the IJC's Great Lakes Water Quality Board website at www.ijc.org/php/publications/html/h2001.html. To inquire about obtaining a printed copy, contact the editors, Jeri Graham or Ed Iwachewski, Lake Superior Programs Office, 1194 Dawson Road, R.R. #12, Site 8, C-16, Thunder Bay, ON P7B 5E3. (807)768-1826; fax (807)768-1889.
If You Don't Measure It, You Won't Manage It: Measuring and Celebrating Incremental Progress in Restoring and Maintaining the Great Lakes reports on the Great Lakes Water Quality Board's October 1997 public meeting in Thunder Bay, ON. The meeting focused on the need for governments and Remedial Action Plan (RAP) stakeholder groups to adopt a step-wise approach to restoring water uses in order to sustain long-term remediation processes. Public meeting participants explored creative and practical ways of measuring and celebrating incremental progress and included key stakeholders from Lake Superior RAPs, the Lake Superior Binational Program and Lakewide Management Plan (LaMP) and other interested individuals. In general, participants felt that RAP and LaMP processes are sound but could be improved in many places. Further, the value and benefits of community-based processes have not been clearly nor broadly communicated. Continuous and vigorous oversight of these RAP and LaMP processes by governments and local stakeholders is needed to insure that we achieve the desired ecosystem results. The public meeting proceedings can be found on the IJC's Great Lakes Water Quality Board website at www.ijc.org/php/publications/html/thunder/ measure.html.
Health Research Findings Available on the Web
Would you like to know what researchers are finding out about human health and the environment?
The Health Effects Review is a quarterly summary of recent findings in the scientific literature on human health effects and environmental pollutants with an emphasis on pollutants in the Great Lakes ecosystem. The review is prepared under the direction of the Health Professionals Task Force of the International Joint Commission.
The current issue summarizes:
For the current and previous issues of the Health Effects Review, visit
www.ijc.org/rel/boards/hptf/reports.html on the World Wide Web.
Résultats de recherches sur la santé disponibles sur le réseau Internet
Aimeriez-vous savoir ce que les chercheurs découvrent sur la santé humaine et l'environnement?
Le bulletin Santé/Pollution : en bref présente un résumé trimestriel des découvertes récentes publiées dans les documents scientifiques concernant les effets sur la santé humaine et les polluants de l'environnement, plus particulièrement les polluants présents dans l'écosystème des Grands Lacs. Le bulletin est préparé sous la direction du Groupe de travail des professionnels de la santé, qui relève de la Commission mixte internationale.
Le dernier numéro résume les recherches suivantes :
Pour consulter le dernier numéro et les numéros antérieurs du bulletin Santé/Pollution : en bref, visitez le site Internet à l'adresse
www.ijc.org/conseil_board/health/health_pub.php.
Significant progress has been achieved by using prevention as a solution for the pollution problems in the Great Lakes ecosystem. Pollution Solutions: Promoting Pollution Prevention in the Great Lakes Basin highlights projects undertaken by 11 organizations to use pollution prevention to address the problem of toxic chemicals in the Great Lakes basin. This report fulfills the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Great Lakes National Program Office (U.S. EPA GLNPO) commitment to publish summaries of projects completed under three major areas of its competitive grants program: pollution prevention (this report); sediment assessment and remediation (Moving Mud: Remediating Great Lakes Contaminated Sediments, April 1996); and habitat restoration and protection (Mining Ideas: Turning a Grant Assistance Program into a Knowledge Base, April 1997). The pollution solution report and other pollution prevention information can be found on the internet at www.epa.gov/glnpo/p2.html. For more information regarding the report, contact Danielle Green, U.S. EPA, GLNPO, 77 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, IL 60604-3590. (312)886-7594.
The Quinte Watershed Cleanup, a public group dedicated to improving water quality in the Bay of Quinte, and the Bay of Quinte Remedial Action Plan (RAP) have presented the Bay of Quinte RAP Environmental Education Kit to local educators and school board officials. Six years in the making, the kit includes 48 learning activities designed for students at the intermediate and senior levels (grades 7-13), a computer game called "The Environmentally Friendly House," two videos, a full-sized poster from the International Joint Commission and the Bay of Quinte RAP poster in three languages (English, French and Mohawk). The kit will be distributed this spring to all schools in the Bay of Quinte watershed.
"The activities have been designed to provide educators with a user-friendly tool and students with hands-on learning employing real Bay of Quinte data," according to Queen's University Faculty of Education's Diane Lawrence, principal author of the kit. The activities provide a stimulating mix of classroom learning, team and group work, and field exercises. Students will measure bacteria levels at beaches and algae concentrations in open waters, calculate phosphorus inputs from sewage treatment plants, map wetlands and shorelines, study ecosystems, debate with local politicians and evaluate toxic substances in fish. For more information, contact Fred Stride, Secretariat, Bay of Quinte RAP Restoration Council (613)531-9600 or Manfred Koechlin, chair, Quinte Watershed Cleanup (613)962-9492.
1998 has been designated as the International Year of the Ocean by the United Nations. This designation provides governments, organizations and individuals with an important opportunity to raise public awareness of the important role the ocean plays in our lives. The Cornell Cooperative Extension/New York Sea Grant Extension Program and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) combined efforts to produce An Educator's Guide to the Year of the Ocean. The guide and accompanying poster were originally mailed in March 1998 to 58,000 seventh and eighth grade science teachers in the United States. To order a copy, contact the Office of Public and Constituent Affairs, NOAA, Washington, DC 20230.
A new 24-minute video, Rearing of Biological Control Agents for Purple Loosestrife has been produced by Cornell's Biological Control of Non-Indigenous Plant Species Program with funding from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The video shows natural resource managers, entomologists, horticulturists and educators how to rear host-specific enemies to control the plant. Biological control is the only long-term solution.
This new video complements a program produced by Cornell Cooperative Extension in 1997, Restoring the Balance: Biological Control of Purple Loosestrife. This earlier video reviews the invasion and spread of purple loosestrife, describes management alternatives and reasons for biological control. It highlights the importance of restoring plant communities in North American wetlands. Both videos are available at $24.95 (U.S.) each from the Cornell University Media and Technology Services AV Center, 8 BTP, Ithaca, NY 14850.
The Living Shores, is a new video designed to raise awareness of the near shore areas and give ideas to restore shoreland areas. The presentation uses state-of-the-art computer animation, showing what changes will occur when various management practices are implemented on the land. The video was cooperatively produced by the Minnesota Extension, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Wisconsin DNR and University of Wisconsin Extension. To order a copy at $17 (US), shipping and handling included, send a check payable to "WAL," P.O. Box 126, Stevens Point, WI 54481. For bulk orders, call 1-800-542-LAKE (5253).
Reducing Your Risk -- from Pesticides is the second publication in World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Canada's Reducing Your Risk series. This guide explains pesticide risks and offers practical suggestions for reducing our use and exposure, and improving the health of the environment. Reducing Your Risk -- from Pesticides, as well the first publication in the series Reducing Your Risk -- A Guide to Avoiding Hormone Disrupting Chemicals, are accessible on-line from WWF Canada's website at www.wwfcanada.org. Printed copies may be available on a limited basis by contacting Kim Bilous, WWF Canada, 90 Eglington Avenue East, Suite 504, Toronto, ON M4P 2Z7. (416)489-4567 ext. 261; fax (416)489-3611. Contributions towards the cost would be appreciated.
Eating Great Lakes Fish, a publication by Michigan Sea Grant, describes methods of filleting and preparing fish to reduce the amount of contaminants found in some species. The booklet describes what contaminants like DDT and PCBs are and how they get into the Great Lakes and its fish. To order, contact Michigan Sea Grant at 2200 Bonisteel Blvd., Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2099 and ask for publication number MICHU-SG-94-502.
Golf and the Environment: What Partners! is a colorful new poster giving 20 easy rules for making one of the world's most popular sports also one of its most environmentally friendly. The poster illustrates how simple it can be to protect the environment and turn a golf course into a model for ecosystem management that will increase its value to the community. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 Water Division, worked with the Terrene Institute to produce this poster in a series of informational materials on nonpoint source pollution. The 18-by-24-inch poster is designed for posting in club houses or community centers. To order a copy at $5 (US) plus $3.50 shipping and handling, contact Terrene Institute, c/o Order Department, P.O. Box 605, Dulles, VA 20172-0605. (703)661-1500; fax (703)661-1501; website www.terrene.org. For more information, including quantity discounts, contact Michelle Peña at Terrene, (703)548-5473; email terrinst@aol.com.
The Wildlife Habitat Council is one of three major partners of a new project called Backyard Conservation. To help develop news or feature stories regarding this effort, a news media kit has been developed containing a 28-page booklet; eight color transparencies of backyard wildlife -- the kind of wildlife better backyards attract; three color transparencies of countryside conservation -- the kind of conservation that farmers and ranchers have been using for years and that backyard conservationists can also use; a nine-minute introductory video on backyard conservation; and various briefs and general project background information. For more information, contact Ron Nichols, communication director, Natural Resources Conservation Service, 125 State Street, Room 4402, Salt Lake City, UT 84138. (801)524-5051; fax (801)524-4403; voice mail (800)384-8732 ext. 781-1035; email rnichols@ut.nrcs.usda.gov.
The growing need for a sustainable supply of clean water for domestic consumption, agriculture and industry calls for a more prospective view of the quantity, quality and availability of water resources, and thus for improved methodologies. Guidelines for Conducting Water Resources Assessment serves as a methodological guide for undertaking water resource assessment studies as well as a prerequisite to preparing basin and national master plans and environmental evaluation for a wide range of hydrological conditions. To order this, or enquire about other UNESCO publications, contact UNESCO Publishing, 1 rue Miollis, 75732 Paris Cedex 15, France. Fax 33 1 45 68 57 41. Website www.unesco.org/publishing.