Josh Mogerman's Blog: Saving Wildlife and Wild Places

They Came from the Canal!: Asian carp brilliance in the form of a U of C poster

2010-04-24T21:29:09Z

As the entire Great Lakes region awaits a final answer as to whether the U.S. Supreme Court will engage in the ongoing Asian carp crisis, there was some much needed levity interjected in the public debate this week from, of all places, the University of Chicago.

It was love at first sight the moment I spied the blood-red letters of “They came from the canal” screaming from the top of the U of C’s Earth Week poster in faux-classic horror movie style. Having spent so much time on the Asian carp issue, I was totally hooked by the mock hysteria evoked by the gloomy graphics and a pitchfork-wielding bighead carp. Completely brilliant. I had to have one.

So I started making calls. First to the University Press Office. Then to their Sustainability Office where I chatted with director Ilsa Flanagan about the image which had been emblazoned on posters and T-shirts all over the South Side campus. After fawning over the illustration a bit, we talked about what had motivated such an engaging graphical treatment of water pollution:

“We wanted it to be fun. Environmentalism can be all gloom and doom…and sometimes our students too…”

…And that’s certainly true. Admittedly, we greenies can be at times…un-fun. And, U of C is not exactly considered a party school…

“We were looking to engage in a different way. The hysteria over the carp, while hundreds of other invasive species threaten the Great Lakes, can sometimes feel like one of those 1950’s movies…”

And that’s the kernel that drove designer Tom Tian, a fourth year poli-sci student at University of Chicago (he is also a cartoonist and former Managing Editor for the University’s newspaper, The Maroon). Since the office of Sustainability didn’t seem to have any posters or T-shirts, I went straight to the source. He couldn’t help me either…but he was good-natured enough to answer an avalanche of email questions about his inspiration for the image (Creature from the Black Lagoon), whether he was scared of the carp invasion (“No red-blooded man should be terrified of Asian carp, or fish of any variety, for that matter.”), and whether he had tasted one of the fish given all the “eat ‘em all” stories in the news of late (originally from Beijing, he has tasted other carp species which are popular “and delicious” throughout Asia, but no silver or bighead carp have hit his dinner plate).

So, why am I making such a big deal about this? Well, aside from being seriously cool and pretty funny, the design does two things:

It creates a highly engaging visual image of water pollution. The carp sucks you in, but it points to broader issues of water quality and waste. This is extremely valuable because, short of oil slicks and acid-bubbling streams, water pollution is not very visual and extremely un-sexy (the NY Times' excellent Toxic Water series aside). And it is an issue of every-growing importance will be vexing us more as the scarcity that experts have been predicting for some time begins to kick in…

It highlights the broader importance of the whole Asian carp issue. Whatever happens, the extreme danger from invasive species and the less obvious issues of crumbling infrastructure are now very firmly in the public’s consciousness. And I think we will see some very positive results to these issues in the future. Frankly, that is largely because of the engaging nature of Asian carp---summarized nicely in this poster.

I’ll continue to hassle the U of C people until I can get my hands on some of their carp swag. A big poster would look great in NRDC Chicago’s sunny offices, which sadly lack much artwork on the walls… But more importantly, I will pat them on the back for a brilliantly engaging execution that could help get folks involved down the line.

FirstEnergy’s Bayshore Plant: A Real Live Bass-o-Matic!

2010-04-22T03:59:08Z

The curious case of the Bayshore coal plant near Toledo, Ohio made me wonder if Dan Aykroyd has any involvement with the facility's owner, FirstEnergy (he doesn't). After all, the aging coal plant on Lake Erie is eerily similar to his brilliant and classic Bass-o-Matic sketch from Saturday Night Live. As if the toxic air pollution and climate changing CO2 emissions from this 55-year old coal plant are not enough, NRDC, The Western Lake Erie WATERKEEPER Association, Lake Erie Charter Boat Association, and Ohio Environmental Council have called upon the plant owners to address the ongoing aquatic armageddon resulting from this facility's woefully inadequate water intake system. Before you discount this as the whining of tree huggers and fishermen, take a look at these mind-blowing estimates from the Ohio EPA about Bayshore's fish-killing tally:

Kills more than 46 million fish per year when fish are slammed and caught (called impingement) against its cooling water system screens
Kills more than 14 million juvenile fish and more than 2 billion fish in their larval form when they pass through the water intake screens and through equipment inside the power plant (called entrainment)
On average, kills 126,000 fish a day caught on the screens and 6 million fish a day that pass through the screens.

And here’s the thing, Lake Erie is one of the world’s most productive fisheries, so there is a real economic cost to this. My colleague Shannon Fisk had it totally right when he was quoted in an AP report on this issue:

They haven't factored in the economic impact this fish-killing machine has on Lake Erie

First Energy’s coal plant sits on one of the most important parts of the lake, near a massive spawning area for walleye. These are good eatin’ fish (aside from the massive amounts of mercury that they have metabolized due to plants like Bayshore) with significant value to both recreational and professional fishermen.

This is all preventable. Modern cooling towers would eliminate 95% of the fish kill and greatly reduce the plant's illegal dumping of super-heated water back into the lake. FirstEnergy and Ohio EPA, however, are monkeying around with a cheaper reverse louver solution, even though a U.S. EPA consultant has already evaluated that approach and determined that the slats won’t work… Perhaps Ohio should follow the leads of New York and California where steps are being taken to outlaw this sort of ludicrous damage. Because, while the Aykroyd sketch always makes me smile, a real life Bass-o-Matic is no laughing matter.

If you agree, the Ohio EPA is accepting written comments until May 29, 2010 on a proposed permit renewal that would not adequately stop First Energy’s Bass-o-Matic from continuing to grind up fish.

Helping Honeybees: Pesticides make it a tough time for pollinators

2010-03-26T23:25:23Z

Bee life ain’t easy. And lately, its been getting a lot harder.

Recent press reports show that an array of stressors are taking a significant toll on America’s bees. Pesticides are at the top of the list, but you and I can probably identify with some. It seems that poor diet and a heavy workload are really making things a drag for the typical honeybee. No doubt, those are things that impact a lot of us---but for bees, they are deadly.

The toxic environmental stew of pesticides, fungicides, and invasive species that seems to be the root of the perfect storm that spawned Colony Collapse Disorder have not abated. Add to that an array of new and highly bee toxic pesticides and you’ve got trouble. But there is more.

Miller-McCune recently had an article noting significant problems that have arisen from beekeepers using corn syrup as food in the absence of pollen, the insect’s proper food which is getting harder and harder to find on the road.

And Washington Post detailed a dangerous cycle that has started as commercial bee hive numbers have dropped---the remaining beekeepers are trying to pick up the slack with fewer bees. And the results aren’t pretty. Nationally, commercial beekeepers are reporting 30-50% bee losses over the winter. And in some cases, CCD has struck and taken out over 80% of some beekeepers’ bees. And that means fewer bees to pollinate crops this year.

But last week, pesticides stepped back into the spotlight. The scientific journal PLOS One published a study showing just how pervasive these chemicals have become in the environment, with three out of five pollen and wax samples from nearly two dozen states had at least one pesticide present. Further, their samples showed more than 120 different types of pesticide in various wax, bees, and hives that were tested.

But thanks to strong work from NRDC’s litigation team, there will be one less thing stressing bees : spirotetramat. After rounds of legal wrangling in federal court, the bee-toxic pesticide may no longer be sold or distributed because it entered the marketplace illegally. Known as Movento, Ultor, and Kontos, Bayer CropScience’s new pesticide is now illegal to buy, sell, or transport in the United States after NRDC and Xerces Society successfully argued that it was approved through a flawed registration process.

Bayer has asserted that spirotetramat is a “greener” pesticide and safe for beneficial insects. However the suit partly in response to concerns from beekeepers that systemic insecticides – like spirotetramat – cause delayed or chronic harmful effects on bee broods, and that Bayer did not conduct sufficient studies to determine spirotetramat’s impacts on bees. EPA itself observed that existing studies showed “increased mortality in adults and pupae, massive perturbation of brood development, early brood termination, and decreased larval abundance.” Now, we are not asserting that this chemical has anything to do with CCD, but there are lingering concerns that it is incredibly damaging to bees. In a year when bee losses are so high, it seems quite appropriate that this stuff will not be out there until it is proven to be safe.

Why does all this matter? Bees are incredibly important. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, bees pollinate $15 billion worth of crops grown in America. USDA also claims that one out of every three mouthfuls of food in the typical American diet has a connection to bee pollination. Beyond that, they are incredibly cool. Who couldn’t identify with a critter that dances to blow off steam after a tough day at work? NRDC will continue to do what we can to make those workdays just a bit safer.

Federal Ocean and Great Lakes Policy - Are My Boogie Boarding Rights at Risk? (no.)

2010-03-10T20:49:54Z

My colleague Thom Cmar had an interesting experience on Wisconsin Public Radio this morning. What was billed as a discussion of Great Lakes and ocean policy devolved into an ugly free-for-all about a supposed plot by the Obama Administration to abolish recreational fishing?

Sparked by an odd article on ESPN.com, recreational fishermen around the country are being told that the Obama Administration’s Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force is gunning to take their rods and reels and boats out of the Great Lakes and oceans. Two key concerns I’ve heard voiced:

The Task Force is no longer taking comments.
The interim reports have no references to the value of recreational fishing and, apparently more importantly, no guarantees that angling won’t be eliminated.

I will leave an in-depth evaluation of the policy to Thom and our Oceans Team, but I will point out that comments have been accepted on this policy for months now---including at public hearings held in Cleveland, Providence, Honolulu, San Francisco, and New Orleans.

And, I notice that the interim report’s national policy also does not reference surfing, boogie boarding, or synchronized swimming… Is there a movement afoot to eliminate those activities from our public waters too? Well, I’d be supportive as it relates to that last one---but the fact is that none of these sports are any more in the firing sights than angling and recreational fishing.

Rather than being conned to fight this policy, recreational fishermen should be supporting it. After all, this is about encouraging the federal government to better coordinate their actions, and to work with the states and stakeholders, to clean our waters and ensure that our fisheries remain strong. Recreational fishing is an important part of the Great Lakes economy, contributing $1.5 billion to the economy in 2006. We need to ensure that our Great Lakes are healthy, so we can continue to enjoy fishing far into the future.

From a Great Lakes perspective, I thought this was good news as our fresh water oceans were being elevated to the same level of protection and coordination as our ocean coastlines which normally garner far more federal attention. I think that just because the policy docs have not specifically stated that recreational fishing (or boogie boarding) are important, doesn’t mean that those needs are not being considered.

In the meantime, I’ll add oceans policy and cleaning the Great Lakes to the growing list of issues we apparently cannot talk about publicly without becoming mired in rhetoric unhinged from reality. Recreational fishermen are a vibrant part of the conservation economy. They are strong advocates for clean water and healthy ecosystems. And their needs should be considered in these policy arenas. More importantly, I think that just because the policy docs have not specifically stated that recreational fishing is important, doesn’t mean that those needs are not being considered.

Hey, don’t take my word for it. Read the document that discusses the national policy at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/assets/documents/09_17_09_Interim_Report_of_Task_Force_FINAL2.pdf

And it seems the concept of marine spatial planning is of the most concern---take a look at the doc on that and note that there is nothing in it about the elimination of recreational fishing: http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/ceq/initiatives/oceans/interim-framework

And listen to the WPR interview online at: http://www.wpr.org/webcasting/audioarchives_display.cfm?Code=jca

In the meantime, I am going to lock up my boogie board for safe keeping just to be sure!

UPDATE: Not that we need confirmation, but both FOX News and MediaMatters do confirm that the fishing ban story is bunk... Heck, Deadspin too. When was the last time those three outlets agreed on an issue? Any issue? Maybe never... Plus, ESPN has offered a clarification of the story that sparked this whole silly kerfuffle---the comments make for interesting reading...

The Crude in Syncrude: ugliness at the tar sands duck trial

2010-03-03T15:51:25Z

You want to know just how tone-deaf the tar sands industry and their Big Oil backers are? Yesterday, in a trial over the death of 1600+ ducks that had landed in a toxic mining runoff lake, lawyers for the Canadian tar sands company Syncrude lambasted wildlife officials for shooting ducks with a camera instead of a shotgun.

The high profile trial revisits the shameful 2008 incident when the water birds drowned in the company’s tailings pond. Apparently, horrific images of oiled and incapacitated birds (like the one above) abound in the trial and that seems to have Syncrude’s lawyers particularly worked up. Rather than owning up to their own responsibility for creating the situation (they plead not guilty and say they couldn’t have predicted it), the company’s lawyers took exception with the photos being taken in the first place. According to the Globe and Mail:

One particularly poignant sequence of images showed a duck being circled by a raven, then attacked and eventually eaten. A second raven then joins in. The pictures, taken by a senior Alberta wildlife biologist, are disturbing.

But Syncrude lawyer Robert White attacked the biologist, Todd Powell, for taking photos of the attack rather than shooting the distressed duck.

“What was more important to these people? Horrifying us with pictures of these ravens eating that poor duck? Why not put that poor thing out of its misery and shoot it?” he said. “They were far more interested in bringing photographs of that poor thing being eaten alive, which makes me sick to my stomach … than they were looking after the suffering of that animal.”

Hmmm. Sick to his stomach from the horrible death of birds incapacitated by merely coming into contact with the toxic slop that Syncrude created? Sick to his stomach to see WATER BIRDS drowning after coming into contact with their improperly managed waste? (The article notes that the wildlife folks were indeed forced to gun down dozens of birds.)

The lawyer complained that wildlife officials were using the suffering birds like props in a play, but let’s not forget that Syncrude created the whole drama. And sadly, it’s a drama that is likely playing out regularly. Surely not 1600 birds at a time, but last year’s Danger in the Nursery report illustrated a very ugly toll being taken in one of the most important regions of the world for migratory birds.

The death of these birds is hardly the worst or most ugly aspect of the tar sands industry’s woeful environmental record. The impact that they are having on the region’s water (Susan Casey-Lefkowitz has some ugly data on that aspect of Syncrude's operations in her recent post), the health concerns from nearby communities, the insanely high carbon emissions associated with the extraction and processing of this goo, and the moonscapes stretching to the horizon of the Boreal forest are all arguably much worse sins. But the images of tarred birds are undeniable.

And blaming the folks who brought them to the world’s attention? Well, that’s just crude...

Gefilte Fish: The solution to world peace and Asian carp?

2010-02-27T19:10:30Z

I did a double take to make sure I wasn’t reading The Onion when I saw an AP article about Asian carp and gefilte fish in the Washington Post this week. For the uninitiated, gefilte fish are ground up fish cakes that pop up on dinner tables for Jewish holidays---kinda like hamburgers packed in gooey gelatin. Often, one of the main ingredients is carp, so it is no surprise that a fishery pulling tons of invasive Asian carp out of the Illinois River would be looking to cash in.

Gefilte fish will be in high demand during the coming Passover holiday, so Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been asked to step in to help resolve a tariff issue that is holding up the transfer of nine containers of Asian carp fillets from Illinois to Israel. Hillary is taking on the challenge and chuckling all the way. So are writers dusting off their limited Yiddish repertoire (I am fighting the urge).

But hey, this is exciting right? Unleash the Jewish palette on the Asian carp and problem solved. We do like to eat…

Except, if you look around my family’s Passover table, its clear Gefilte fish isn’t the solution. I love the stuff---but the cold, sort of gritty and gooey texture is a real turnoff for many. I’d guess half of the guests at my last Seder turned their noses away from the stuff.

This isn’t to say that we shouldn’t be yanking the Asian carp out of our rivers every chance we get. They are a dangerous invasive species. They don’t belong here. And as long as they threaten the Great Lakes we have to take every action that will help to minimize the propagule pressure on the fish to move into our freshwater seas.

But Gefilte fish isn’t the solution.

Nor is promoting Asian carp meat to a hungry public.

It is attractive to imply that we simply unleash our dinner plates on the problem and I’ve seen it suggested by politicos who don’t want to do the hard work it will take to protect 1/5 of the world’s fresh water. But we cannot eat enough of these things fast enough to eliminate the very real threat to the Great Lakes. And, as I’ve blogged before, creating a market for these fish also creates a community with a financial incentive to keep them around. The number one rule of a fishery is to keep the population just big enough for tasty species to persist and breed so that you can pull out more tomorrow.

To paraphrase one of “the four questions” from Passover: Why is this fish different from all others?

Because we need to eradicate them.

Waiting for America’s taste to change (and Israeli fish factories), just won’t get it done. In order to avoid an Asian carp exodus from our rivers into the Great Lakes, we need to fix our policies and crumbling infrastructure to permanently ensure that invasive fish like the Asian carp can no longer move between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River. Anything else is just satire…worthy of The Onion…

Gefilte Fish with Carrots image by PlaysWithFood via Flickr

Of Carp and Kingfishers: Chicago and Guam are not so far apart

2010-02-05T20:05:31Z

In my previous job, I would often encounter 1/3 of the world's Micronesian kingfishers; curiously colorful little birds from Guam with black bands on their eyes that make them look a bit like a cartoon burglar.

No, not on an island in the Pacific. You can't really find them there anymore...

I would see them in Chicago's Western suburbs.

For the last couple decades, Brookfield Zoo has been home to a big chunk of all that is left of the world's entire population of this bird. They've been extinct from their home range on the island of Guam since the 1980s, wiped out quite by accident.

During World War II the island was a bomber refueling base and it turned out that one of those flying fortresses was carrying more than the normal ordinance. Stowaway brown tree snakes found their way from the planes onto the island where they quickly made short work of the native bird species that had not evolved to deal with similar predators. The problem wasn't immediately evident. Once folks realized why the island's birds were disappearing, all that was left to do was grab up the few that were left and try to breed them elsewhere.

Some new critters in Chicago have had me thinking of the kingfishers a lot lately.

Asian carp are the new brown tree snakes. As these new invasive species are quickly spreading out in Chicago’s waterways the invasive fish threaten to do incredible damage to the Great Lakes ecosystem. I know I am comparing apples and oranges here, as the carp are not predators that will eat local fish---instead, they simply outcompete the locals. They won't send all the other species into extinction, but they could decimate the fishery and make fundamental changes to the ecosystem.

So, with the experience of the kingfishers and multitudes of other invasive species stories, you would think that officials would be scrambling to close the door on any entrypoint that the carp might have in order to protect the ecosystem that represents 1/5 of the world’s fresh water.

You'd think wrong. This quote from the Washington Post over the weekend sums it up nicely:

"It seems to me we are in denial," said Lindsay Chadderton, aquatic invasive species director for the Nature Conservancy's Great Lakes Project and one of the researchers who found the Asian carp's genetic fingerprint in Lake Michigan. "By the time we understand the severity of the problem, it's too late. Prevention is the only cost-effective way of dealing with this."

Chadderton's point on cost-effectiveness is especially worth noting.

Before I left the zoo, one of the birds born there was shipped back to a breeding facility on the island of Guam where a native bird reintroduction program is being planned. The snakes are still present, so there have been discussions of how to protect the birds and reduce the snake numbers. I have heard discussions that the program involve a small army of observers who literally cage the base of trees to ensure that snakes cannot move up the trunks to get at the birds. Sounds involved and expensive, eh?

Yet, I heard something similar in an Illinois Senate hearing on the carp problem last month. Since there is hesitation to temporarily interrupt commerce and close a single waterway here in Chicago, the feds have already scoped out the waterways that the carp would likely use to spawn in the Great Lakes and are looking into what it would take to create barriers to exclude the invasive fish from entering them.

There are 22 such waterways...

While I applaud the proactive nature of that research, it strikes me as expensive and inefficient, not unlike fencing an island full of trees, eh?

We have a couple unusual opportunities with the carp that do not come up in most other invasive species narratives. An obvious single point of introduction that can be addressed, as well as the attention of regulators and the public. It took a few decades to ascertain the impact that the snakes were having on Guam. Here, Fish and Wildlife Service officials stated that test results showing carp DNA in Lake Michigan's Calumet Harbor isn't yet a big problem. They would not be worried until they could observe 200 or so in the harbor. We seem to have missed the lessons left by the multitudes of casualties from these invasions: once you observe alien species in large numbers, you've pretty much already lost the battle. And it's an expensive fight to get back into from both a financial and ecological perspective---just go to the zoo and ask the Micronesian kingfishers.

Guam Micronesian Kingfisher (Todirhamphus cinnamominus cinnamominus) image by coracii via Flickr and Creative Commons

Poisoning Flipper: Chemicals Flushed in Chicago Wreak Havoc on Dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico

2010-02-03T23:57:27Z

The Chicago Tribune had a chilling reminder about the broad reach of water pollution this week. It seems that toxic chemicals from the metal plating process are getting flushed into the sewers here in Chicago, fortifying our wastewater with even more carcinogenic yumminess.

As Michael Hawthorne’s article details, perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) and a range of other associated chemicals are dangerous not only because they have nasty impacts on human health; but also because once they are discharged into streams and lakes, they hang out for a long time. Andrew Wetzler noted in a strong Switchboard post:

Well, PFCs are one of several “persistent organic pollutants” or “POPs”--which also includes chemicals such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), chlordanes (CHL), DDT and its metabolites, and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs)--that don’t readily degrade in the natural environment. As Hawthorne notes, because POPs are so long lasting, once they are emitted into the air or the water they move around, and a lot of them end up in the Arctic. They also tend to bioaccumulate. That is, concentrations of POPs are higher in animals as one moves up the food chain from, for example, fish, to seals, to things that eat seals. And what eats seals? Polar bears.

Read his post. There’s ton of scientific literature out there on the impact this stuff, along with Teflon and Scotchguard, is having on the people and creatures to the north.

And from my previous gig, I can tell you it spreads to the south too.

The Chicago example is pretty illustrative here…and highlights some of the many gripes we have about this region’s water infrastructure (have you read about Asian carp or the decontamination issues?). Waste water around here gets flushed into the Chicago River and eventually makes its way through the Mississippi into the Gulf of Mexico.

In the Gulf, just like up north, it ends up accumulating in the fatty tissue of top predators. In this case, bottlenose dolphins. That’s right, Chicago’s chemical slop poisons Flipper.

Before starting at NRDC, I worked for the Chicago Zoological Society (they run Brookfield Zoo) and had the pleasure of regular interactions with Dr. Randy Wells---a scholar so respected for his knowledge of cetaceans that a children’s book about him was entitled “Dolphin Man.” Through the Society’s Dolphin Research and Conservation Institute, he runs the world’s longest-running study of a wild dolphin population from Sarasota Bay, Florida where he has observed the resident dolphins for 40 years.

Early on in his study, he noticed that first-born dolphin calves in the area have a much higher mortality rate than successive generations. Why? Well, a process called “depuration” moves 80% of those persistent organic pollutants out of momma dolphin’s fatty tissue and into the milk she uses to feed her newborn. Inadvertantly, she is giving the first calf a toxic shotof stuff like DDT, PCBs, and PFCs. It's not the only factor that reduces that first calf’s chance of survival, but it’s a big part of the mix.

And it’s a real reminder about how broad the impact of our pollution can go.

Dolphin photo courtesty of Chicago Zoological Society.

Asian Carp: "I feel like I was in a [bleeping] prize fight”

2010-01-15T04:18:16Z

Folks outside the Midwest might be scratching their heads wondering what all the hubbub is about with these Asian carp… Here on Switchboard, we’ve talked a lot about the ecosystem, legal, and infrastructure issues around the problem. But we haven’t really talked much about their impact on quality of life---that’s the easiest part to show.

I ran into the clip below on the TwentyNow blog’s posting entitled, “Why is this boater wearing a helmet…” That question is answered in the first 90 seconds of this video (but be warned, you might want to turn off your speakers at work or around kids):

I love the "That was like a [bleeping] right cross to the chin!” comment…

The footage was shot near Ottawa, IL which is southwest of Chicago near the confluence of the Fox and Des Plaines Rivers. Also in the area is Starved Rock, one of the region’s most gorgeous state parks. People flock there to see its chimney rock formations (I think it is particularly gorgeous in the winter when the waterfalls freeze). The park isn’t really affected by the growing infestation of invasive species in the nearby waterways. But it does beg the question about what impact the growing Asian carp problem could have on Illinois tourism. And eventually the tourism throughout the Great Lakes region.

In the debate over whether immediate, temporary action should be taken to prevent the big fish’s advance on Lake Michigan, much has been made of the impact a short-term closure of the locks would have on barge operators. But very little attention has been focused on what an infestation of Asian carp in Lake Michigan could mean to the much larger tourism industry. Statewide, $30.8 billion was spent by visitors to Illinois in 2008, yielding $2.1 billion in state and local taxes and generating 303,500 jobs according to the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau. Sure, plenty of that money goes to my hometown of Springfield and its fantastic Lincoln sites, not to mention the rest of the state. But there’s no doubt that a huge chunk of that comes to Chicago and Lake Michigan is a big part of the city’s pull. As my colleague Henry Henderson so eloquently asked in a recent blog post, “What happens if a kid gets whacked by one of these whopping fish on Oak Street Beach?” Well, it won’t help tourism…

And it won’t help the tens of thousands of Chicagoans who enjoy the lake shore that is so central to all that makes this city livable. Nor will it help the thousands of people fishing and sailing out of this city, which boasts one of the largest fleets of privately owned boats in the nation.

Watching that video, and plenty of others just like it on YouTube, you can understand how life has changed in places with invasive Asian carp infestations. In Peoria, where the fish are packed to the gills in the Illinois River, residents feel like water skiing and jet skiing are no longer possible in their home waterway. I’d hate to see the same thing here in Chicago… I don't want to have to buy a helmet for my lakefront strolls.

Eat 'em All? "Silverfin" Cannot Save the Great Lakes

2010-01-10T00:37:56Z

Slimehead, yum. Patagonian toothfish, tasty! What, you’ve never eaten orange roughy or Chilean sea bass? The fishing industry has done a masterful job of rebranding their catch to create new markets. And some folks, I think naively, now suggest that a new marketing program will unleash the American appetite to avert the Asian carp crisis currently gripping the entire Great Lakes region.

Asian carp are large invasive fish that out-breed and out-compete native species in the Mississippi River watershed and now threaten to make their way into the Great Lakes where most regulators and biologists fear that the carp will decimate an already stressed ecosystem. We have been advocating some important short- and long-term actions that must be taken to safe guard 1/5 of the world’s fresh water and billions of dollars in industry. It’s a big, ongoing, fight that goes to the Supreme Court next week.

In the crush to avoid an ecosystem tragedy, one novel way to fight the fish is gaining a bit of traction in online comment forums in the region. Eat ‘em. In fact, Andrew Wetzler wrote a great Switchboard post on this, complete with recipes, a year ago.

But, if you ask around, these fish have a horrible reputation. Many folks say they taste horrible (I’ve seen references to tasting like oil and rancid fish). Others complain about long, detached bones that can make the fish a nightmare to cut and eat. And so, the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources had a straight-faced suggestion on how to unleash American mouths on the problem.

Rebrand them as “silverfin.”

The new name would eliminate the unsavory rep that plagues the fish now. Plenty of folks are adamant that the naysayers are way off base because Asian carp taste great. In fact, Duane Chapman a USGS scientist with lots of first-hand knowledge of these fish says they are yummy and even has a series of YouTube videos that show how to cut around the bony problem.

The rebranding of orange roughy and Chilean sea bass has been deadly effective…their populations have plummeted so far due to their newfound popularity that we shouldn’t even be eating those species anymore. So, according to some, Louisiana’s solution is the way to go. Let’s eat ‘em all, problem solved, right?

Wrong.

I understand where the folks in Louisiana are coming from, since the silver and bighead carp have been in their waterways for decades. They are throwing up their hands and saying, “if you can’t beat them, eat them.” And I suppose that makes sense in places that have already been overrun like Louisiana, and in the Illinois River.

But when dealing with an invasive species that has not yet established itself, we should be looking for a very different outcome---eradication. As my colleague Henry Henderson astutely points out, we probably cannot eat enough of the Asian carp to eliminate them before they reach Lake Michigan (they are six miles away and given the lack of urgency from regulators, probably closer). And by developing a market for them you would quickly establish a bunch of folks with a vested interest in keeping the fish around for profit. That’s the last thing we need in an already politically charged battle to protect the lakes.

Even worse, it creates the false notion that this problem will be solved without real policy and infrastructural change. And that won’t work…we have to deal with the Asian carp problem directly. Let’s temporarily close the locks to ensure the fish don’t make a run…errr, swim for Lake Michigan. More to the point, let’s get down to the tough work of figuring out how we can re-establish a real separation of the ecosystems.

Afterall, when have you ever been able to eat your way out of a problem? Gluttony is one of the seven deadly sins, not a reliable long-term solution.

Fish_17 image by kate.gardiner via Flickr

Big Win for Bees: judge pulls bee toxic pesticide

2010-01-06T21:42:02Z

There are a lot of chemicals on the American market.

And seemingly more are introduced every day to help make our lives simpler, houses cleaner, and lawns greener. We use them, assuming that they have gone through an appropriate process to ensure that these chemicals cannot harm us or the environment. Sadly, that process seems to have failed recently with some pesticides called Movento and Ultor. No, you aren’t in any danger…

…but your food might be…

Movento and Ultor are trade names for a new pesticide called spirotetramat. In June 2008, EPA approved Movento for nationwide use on hundreds of different crops, including apples, pears, peaches, oranges, tomatoes, grapes, strawberries, almonds, and spinach. This, despite very significant concerns from scientists and beekeepers about the product’s toxicity to honey bees. And sadly, those concerned folks did not get a chance to voice those concerns because the pesticide’s approval process went forward without the advance notice and opportunity for public comment that is required by federal law and EPA’s own regulations. In addition, NRDC’s legal experts feel that the EPA failed to fully evaluate the potential damage to the nation’s already beleaguered bee populations or conduct the required analysis of the pesticide’s economic, environmental, and social costs.

But, hey, it’s the New Year, so I am staying positive. And there is good news about this particular chemical. NRDC and Xerces Society challenged the illegal registration of spirotetramat and won in December. A federal court in New York invalidated EPA’s approval of the pesticideand ordered the agency to reevaluate the chemical in compliance with the law. The court found that EPA "utterly failed" to comply with the law and gave "no explanation whatsoever for these shortcomings." The court’s order goes into effect on January 15, 2010, and makes future sales of Movento illegal in the United States.

In bringing this lawsuit, NRDC sought not only to protect bees but also to force reform in EPA’s evaluation practices for pesticides and other chemicals. Bees are hardly the only thing that the current process systematically fails to evaluate, such as the environmental effect of pesticide mixtures. In the real world, pesticides aren’t used alone but in combination with other pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, etc. The synergistic effects can be highly toxic even where a single pesticide is deemed safe.

The court’s decision forces Movento to be pulled from store shelves. Some might think this is a dramatic move, but the stakes are high. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), bees pollinate $15 billion worth of crops grown in America. USDA also claims that one out of every three mouthfuls of food in the typical American diet has a connection to bee pollination. Yet bee colonies in the United States have seen significant declines in recent years due to a combination of stressors, almost certainly including insecticide exposure.

So EPA and Bayer CropScience (the pesticide’s maker) will need to start the chemical registration process over. And when they do, you can be sure that they will hear NRDC, beekeepers, and scientists expressing concern over Movento’s potential impact on beneficial insects such as honey bees. It won’t be a surprise, since EPA’s review of Bayer’s scientific studies found that trace residues of Movento brought back to the hive by adult bees could cause “significant mortality” and “massive perturbation” to young honeybees (larvae). Let’s hope that this issue gets more play with the regulators when the process moves forward…

…and more importantly, let’s hope this is a reminder to EPA of the importance of the process. We can’t mess with American bees without messing with the American food supply.

Honeybee 7-09 image by wmspics via Flickr

Wolf Litigation: a snowball’s chance…

2009-12-28T22:53:39Z

I’ve been meaning to note the NRA’s involvement in the Northern Rockies wolf fight for weeks now.

I am not surprised that the National Rifle Association is trying to intervene in the case; it is clearly an issue that their members care about. No, what struck me was a truly weird narrative included in the organization’s filing. To be a part of the case, the NRA had to show that their members were impacted by wolves and to do so they included some pretty wild testimony.

As outlined in an article in the Helena Independent Record, an NRA member from Nevada detailed his "most memorable and probably most life-threatening encounter with wolves" on a 2005 hunting trip in Montana:

[The NRA member] said he and his guide heard wolves howling throughout the morning, and "suddenly the woods came alive with elk and the guide and I were overrun with a herd of about 40 elk stampeding past us ..." He said the snow was too deep for he and the guide to move, so they watched as they were surrounded by 30 wolves in what appeared to be three packs.

Oh my, given the threatening reputation that some folks attribute to these critters, I can understand the concern. Sure, there has never been a documented case of wolves killing humans in the United States, but a good storyteller should never let something like that get in the way of the narrative.

[He] said they watched as three wolves attempted to take down a young calf, but the cow elk kept protecting it.

"In a move that could have had dire consequences, the guide and I decided to try and save the calf by throwing snow balls at the wolves," [he] said. "We managed to hit the wolves a few times and they retreated back to where some of the other wolves were waiting below."

He said the cow and calf escaped, and the wolves eventually dispersed.

Wow. Tough guys stand up for elk with nothing but their bare fists and…snowballs. Gutsy. Really, they owe the wolves a debt of gratitude because that is one of the coolest stories I have heard.

But the bravado of these heroes aside, it does raise an interesting disconnect. Given the killing machine rhetoric about wolves out there, it’s shocking that the blood-thirsty carnivores could be so easily scared off. Frankly, I am not sure the pit bulls in my neighborhood would be so easily dispatched.

Well, anyway, it’s a great story. Thank goodness the hunter and his guide were able to scare off those bad wolves and protect those helpless elk. Hey, do you think they resumed their own elk hunt the next day?

Whitebark Pine: An unlikely tree in the spotlight

2009-09-24T21:31:35Z

Last year I had a chance to wander into the Wind River region of Wyoming with journalists, academics, and NRDC experts interested in getting to the bottom of the climate catastrophe that is unfolding in the region's whitebark pine tree forests.

For a city kid like me, the area is thoroughly, mind-numbingly gorgeous.

But perhaps not for long.

What we saw was also harrowing...a real life climate disaster in progress...with tree after tree succumbing to a mountain pine beetle invasion opened up as the high elevation forests are warming more quickly than most areas of the country. Sadly, despite our best efforts, until this is a disaster that most Americans are wholly unaware of...

But now two events in recent weeks will help more people to see what we saw in Wyoming. The whitebark pine tree is going to be in the spotlight.

Next week Ken Burns' newest documentary series on America's National Parks will run on PBS. And Yellowstone National Park---our first national park and arguably still our crown jewel---will be front and center. It is an ecosystem built upon and anchored by the whitebark pine.

And, unrelated, this week a federal judge put Yellowstone's grizzly bears back on the federal Endangered Species list. One of the main reasons cited in the decision was the plight of whitebark pine. You see, the pine nuts that the tree creates are like grizzly Haagen-Dazs---high in fat and protein and essential for momma bears in the fall when there is nothing of similar nutritional value on the landscape. There are clear correlations between birth rates for bears in the region with the whitebark pine cone crops---the more there are, the more likely that moms can squeeze out multiple surviving cubs. And there is an inverse proportion between human-bear conflicts and cone production---when there aren't a lot of cones, the bears are forced to head to lower elevations to find food near human communities. Less food means fewer cubs and more conflicts with people. That spells trouble for the bears as a recent census of whitebark pine trees in the regions shows that in some areas more than 70% of them are gone. And it shows the clear wisdom in the federal court decision---clearly, these magnificent critters need help.

And there's a third thing coming up---us.

NRDC has been focused on this issue for some time. We've petitioned the Fish and Wildlife Service to add the tree to the federal Endangered Species list. And, in partnership with the US Forest Service, we've coordinated an innovative research project to map the whitebark pine die-offs throughout the entire Greater Yellowstone ecosystem. It involved flying over and mapping damage to the entire 20 million acres of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. And while the data is still being crunched, as noted above, initial indications are not happy-making.

Whitebark pines create the conditions necessary for the other plants and animals to thrive in the area. And in the discussions about climate change, energy legislation, global warming denial, and Copenhagen we should remember what is going on in Yellowstone. It is a climate change horror story---a natural wonder that we might already be a victim of climate change. Oh there's hope---if we take action in the region and globally, I am confident we can stave off disaster...but tick tock. As the west heats up a fragile balance that has existed for millennia is quickly falling apart. Those changes are noticeable at higher elevations where small changes have huge impacts. And as a foundational species, Whitebark pine are likely heralds of problems we will see throughout the U.S. The trees are being assaulted by mountain pine beetles which are able to move into higher elevations and attack in greater numbers due to milder winters that no longer kill off their larvae. This threat is exacerbated by the increasing rate of infection by a non-native pathogen, white pine blister rust. The trees have no defense for the invaders and are now in danger of being functionally eliminated in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem in the next 10 years.

Which is why we will be focusing on the issue strongly next week.

Check back to NRDC.org for a deep investigation of the issue with NRDC experts, the top academics working in the field, and even a celebrity documentarian focused on national parks...now, who could that be?

deadtrees_147 image by jmogs via Flickr

Fair Wolf Hunt? Good questions in Idaho...

2009-08-21T17:31:20Z

I really enjoy reading Rocky Barker's columns and blog at the Idaho Statesman. I don't always agree with what he says, but he is a thoughtful and genuine voice that helps me cut through the shouting on both sides of the heated wildlife issues in the Northern Rockies.

And he's a hunter. Which is the source for his most recent blog entry and it's a doozy.

What's considered fair chase for wolves in Idaho?

As hunters in Idaho and Montana gear up to go looking for their own big bad wolf, it's a very, very good question.

Last year, in the short window when hunting was legal after the animals were taken off the Endangered Species List (and then returned after some strong legal work from Earthjustice, NRDC, and the rest of the groups fighting the current "delisting" effort), it was clear there were plenty of hunters who never bothered to ask that question.

There were the hunters who staked out Wyoming's elk feed lots and quickly shot one of the most recognizable wolves on the planet, the male from Yellowstone's Druid pack lovingly known as "Limpy." There was a hunter in Idaho who chased a wolf down on a snowmobile and killed it, because it was traveling near his horse pasture (but had done no harm).

And as Rocky notes,

In 2008 a Wyoming man chased a wolf 35 miles on his snowmobile before he shot it. He considered fair chase.

But this point is perhaps the most interesting:

You can shoot members of Ketchum's celebrity Phantom Hill pack, which love to hang out along Idaho 75. But is that really fair chase?

Hmmm. What will happen to those famous packs that have gotten a bit more comfortable with humans? The packs that move in and out of Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks? The packs that the tourists who travel to both states have come to know? (Look at the photo on Matt's blog post to get a real sense of this issue...)

Rocky doesn't say it, but I'll bet he is wondering...will more of the wolves that people know best be the first to get gunned down because they are used to tourists? And how big of a black eye will that give the states?

More importantly, what will it do to the bigger wolf population in the region? Rocky notes:

Wolf advocates will likely go to court soon and take a shot at stopping the hunt altogether. They will be talking about genetics, metapopulations and pack dynamics.

Partly. But there are new issues at play this time around, such as the delisting of wolves in Idaho and Montana, but not Wyoming. With wolf territories crossing state boundaries, it makes no sense ecologically or legally to delist one portion of a population.

Still, meaningful genetic exchange between the three subpopulations in the region is essential to sustainable recovery. That exchange is not happening much now between Yellowstone and central Idaho---and it will be less likely to happen, since hunting is allowed in the narrow and easily accessed Centennial range, which provides the best connecting corridor. .

Don't get me wrong. Just like Rocky, I don't think there is anything wrong with hunting---it can be an essential tool in managing stable and healthy wildlife populations. But this one's still too vulnerable and has not reached levels that scientists maintain are needed for lasting recovery. .

Rocky had a pretty funny post earlier in the week about an interaction with Idaho's Governor, Butch Otter. The Governor famously exclaimed that he'd be first in line for a tag in last year's proposed wolf hunt. So when the reporter asked about Otter's plan for this year, the Governor turned the tables and asked if Barker would buy a wolf hunt tag too. Barker did not really answer the question---he noted his own conflict and quoted Aldo Leopold to imply that even if he bought a tag, he'd not shoot.

There are plenty of scientists who hope that more hunters in Idaho will feel just as conflicted---not just about fair chase, but about shooting wolves in general---the fate of the greatest wildlife conservation story may just hang in the balance...

Honey Laundering: mystery bee malady may broaden an international crime wave

2009-05-26T19:56:41Z

Like millions of Americans, I spent a chunk of my holiday weekend in front of a barbecue grill. And I might have unintentionally opened myself up to a growing international crime spree in the process...

Swine flu has been the big world health story, but bees have their own worldwide illness. The mystery malady of colony collapse disorder (CCD) is taking its toll all over the world. And while there was seemingly good news that Argentinean researchers see some growth in world colony numbers, it has been more than overshadowed by much darker news. Just like H1N1, CCD is sweeping working its way around the globe with new reports of honey bee populations being quickly decimated in Japan. Press reports note that up to 50% of the country's bees have disappeared.

Researchers here and in Europe continue to wrestle with the causes of the disorder, which has resulted in record bee die-offs since it first appeared in 2006. Since then, U.S. beekeepers have been reporting losing an average of 33 percent of their hives for unknown reasons, according to government estimates. In the meantime, a bevy of sources are being investigated for links to CCD, including some pesticides.

All of this helps to explain a new international crime spree: honey laundering...

I'm not making that up.

The market share of domestic honey sales have fallen off by nearly 40% in the last two decades. And now, with fewer colonies in some parts of the country, there's a potentially lucrative opening in the already huge honey business. And unscrupulous traders have already begun cashing in by flooding the market with less-than-stellar sweet stuff. Honey cut with sugary water, or tainted with drugs (like the banned antibiotic chloramphenicol which can cause a fatal blood condition in humans), are becoming more common. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer found importers masking the country of origin for their products to avoid tariffs and slide contaminated products onto unsuspecting store shelves. Recent arrests in Chicago help illustrate the scope of the problem.

Now that grilling season has officially begun, think about your bee buddies who are responsible for the bounty at your table. Not only is honey in a lot of barbecue and basting sauces, but much of the stuff you toss on the fire was pollinated by bees. Whether it is asparagus, the alfalfa fed to beef cows, the avocados in your guac, or strawberries at desert, you probably enjoyed bee-reliant food over the holiday weekend. That shows just how important it is that we find a way to deal with CCD quickly to keep our Ag economy humming along...

But in the meantime, there's plenty you and I can do to limit the honey market for the bad guys. There has been a bipartisan effort to strengthen federal regulations around honey importation in the U.S. Senate---let your representatives know that the FDA should move these efforts forward. And, of course, its always best to buy local---ensure you are getting quality stuff by purchasing locally-produced honey (you can find local honey producers online or at buy it at local farmer's markets).

Honeybee photo by BugMan50 on Flickr