• Ducks Unlimited, Corps Agree to Conserve Habitat
  
• New Jersey Wetlands Get Wider Buffers
  
• Petition Opposes Landfilling of Arsenic Treated Wood
  
• Federal Agencies to Fund Forest Restoration
  
• Oil Spill Funds Protect Oregon Marine Wildlife
  
• Australian Research Helps Predict Climate Change
  
• Highway Project Could Harm Great Smokies
  
• Blank Foundation Supports Atlanta Greenspace
  

Ducks Unlimited, Corps Agree to Conserve Habitat

D.A. Young, executive vice president of Ducks Unlimited, and Dominic Izzo, principal deputy assistant secretary of the Army for Civil Works, cosigned a Memorandum of Understanding today that provides a foundation for collaboration between the two organizations.

"The memorandum represents a shared commitment to our nation's wetlands," said Young, noting that the U.S. has lost more than 50 percent of its original wetlands. "We are pleased to have the Corps as a partner and we look forward to our working relationship. With our shared strength, we have a tremendous opportunity to conserve and restore landscapes inhabited by waterfowl and hundreds of other wildlife species."

Collaboration between the two organizations is expected to impact a variety of landscapes in the United States. The two organizations have begun designing a demonstration project in the Upper Susquehanna River Basin in New York.

Future plans include the restoration of meanders in the channelized portion of Arkansas' Cache River and work in other areas of mutual interest, including the Louisiana Coast, the Chesapeake Bay, San Francisco Bay, the Pacific Northwest, as well as river systems such as the Mississippi, Missouri and Illinois.

"Ducks Unlimited is a leader in wetlands and wildlife conservation," Izzo said. "This partnership combines our expertise toward the worthy goal of conserving wetlands and associated habitat for migratory waterfowl which in turn provides a healthy, diverse and sustainable environment for wildlife and people."

Ducks Unlimited, one of the world's leading wetland and waterfowl conservation groups, notes that the latest numbers from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) show that breeding duck numbers are down this year. In its annual report on breeding ducks and spring habitat conditions, the USFWS estimates that total breeding duck populations fell 14 percent from a year ago, to 31.2 million birds.

Experts are pointing to dry conditions and a late spring in key breeding areas as the cause of this decline.

"In general, habitat conditions are very poor, most species populations are down, and production is expected to be quite low in the west and the north," noted Ducks Unlimited's chief biologist, Bruce Batt.

New Jersey Wetlands Get Wider Buffers

The rule amends the state's Fresh Water Protection Act (FWPA). Commissioner Bradley M. Campbell signed the final rule earlier this month.

"The NJDEP recognized that precious habitat was not getting the projection it deserved under the law and they acted," said Jason Patrick, scientist at Environmental Defense. "Commissioner Campbell and the NJDEP deserve praise for following through and making this important rule final."

Under the new rule, more wetlands statewide will now warrant a 150 foot buffer, rather than a 50 foot buffer as was the norm under existing regulations. The improved buffer zone regulation will not only increase the wetland acres protected but will also provide multiple environmental and economic benefits to the taxpayers of New Jersey, Patrick said.

"Wetlands are the cornerstone of a healthy environment," said Patrick. "They serve as spawning ground and home to a vast array of animals, act as a natural water filtration system and provide valuable open space."

Environmental Defense used a Geographic Information System to analyze the most critical wetland habitat areas in the state. The data concluded that many valuable areas were not being adequately protected under the FWPA.

The new rule is the result of the work of Environmental Defense and the NJDEP to ensure that New Jersey's wetlands habitat is preserved.

Petition Opposes Landfilling of Arsenic Treated Wood

More than 138 million pounds of chromated copper arsenate (CCA) are used each year to treat about 5.4 billion board feet of lumber, timbers, utility poles and other products, according to recent industry figures.

The national environmental and public health group wants the EPA to require that the treated wood be sent to hazardous waste landfills. Beyond Pesticides told the EPA that the waste should be disposed in lined landfills to prevent leaching of arsenic.

"The disposal of arsenic treated wood with ordinary community waste, allowed under the current exclusion from hazardous waste regulation, constitutes an warranted public health and environmental threat and is in violation of the agency's standards," said Jay Feldman, executive director of Beyond Pesticides.

The petition, filed under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), cites the failure of EPA to regulate arsenic in accordance with its own hazardous waste regulations. The wood fails the EPA's Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP), intended to simulate conditions in a landfill.

The petition urges the agency to reverse a 22 year old exemption for arsenic treated wood and wood products that was issued as a temporary exclusion.

"The rule was promulgated in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act's notice and comment requirements," the petition states. "Even assuming that the rule was valid for a short term temporary exemption from RCRA, it certainly cannot legally support the permanent exemption from RCRA regulation is has become."

The EPA entered into an agreement with the manufacturers of arsenic treated wood on February 12 that began a two year phase out of some uses of the treated wood. Beyond Pesticides and more than a dozen other organizations have also petitioned to ban all the heavy duty wood preservatives, filing a formal petition in December 2001 to ban CCA and pentachlorophenol, and filing another petition to ban creosote in February 2002.

The groups maintain that the hazards of continued use are too great and safer alternative products and materials are now available.

Federal Agencies to Fund Forest Restoration

The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), the Bureau of Land Management, the Coquille Tribe, and Umpqua Watersheds will meet during the next 30 days to prioritize restoration projects to be funded in the Big Creek watershed, downstream from where the illegal logging occurred northeast of Myrtle Point, Oregon

"The restoration fund agreement settles a motion for sanctions against the government for this illegal conduct," said Kristen Boyles an attorney with Earthjustice.

The environmental groups, represented by Earthjustice, include Umpqua Watersheds, Oregon Natural Resources Council, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, and Institute for Fisheries Resources.

"The government allowed harmful logging to go forward, and now they are required to do the right thing by funding restoration," said Penny Lind, executive director of Umpqua Watersheds. "We also hope that these sanctions serve as a deterrent to future illegal logging."

In late December 2001 and early January 2002, the BIA allowed Lone Rock Timber to log a timber sale that had been stopped by court order due to risks to protected coho salmon. A federal district court judge granted an emergency motion to a conservation group, Umpqua Watersheds, that halted further illegal logging.

The emergency motion came too late for several acres of native forests that had already been clear cut.

"We can't put these big trees back; they are gone forever," said Francis Eatherington of Umpqua Watersheds. "But the money for restoration work can help undo some of the environmental harm."

Oil Spill Funds Protect Oregon Marine Wildlife

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has announced the completion of the Oregon Education Project, a component of the Tenyo Maru Oil Spill Restoration Plan. The Oregon Education Project is designed to inform boaters, aircraft pilots and other coastal visitors about how human disturbances can impact nesting seabird colonies.

The education project is intended to provide additional protection to nesting seabirds to help compensate for the loss of seabirds after the Tenyo Maru oil spill. The spill occurred on July 22, 1991, when the Japanese fishing vessel Tenyo Maru collided with the Chinese freighter Tuo Hai in heavy fog northwest of Cape Flattery on the north Washington coast.

About 475,000 gallons of oil and fuel spilled as the Tenyo Maru sank, and thousands of seabirds were killed. Many of the seabirds were believed to have come from Oregon seabird colonies.

High quality posters were produced for distribution around the state, and a large interpretative panel was designed and erected at 11 ports along the Oregon coast. The panels were installed last week near boat launch facilities at the Port of Brookings/Harbor, Port of Port Orford, Port of Gold Beach, Port of Bandon, Charleston Marina Complex, Port of Newport, Depoe Bay, Pacific City Dory Launch, Netarts Bay, Port of Garibaldi and Hammond Marina.

The educational messages on the posters and panels alerts the public to the sensitivity of seabirds and marine mammals, gives guidelines for operating boats near colony sites, and requests that all boats remain 500 feet away from the rocks and islands along the Oregon coast.

Funding for the Oregon Education Project was provided by the Tenyo Maru Oil Spill Natural Resource Trustees and is one of many restoration projects now underway. The trustees include the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), Makah Indian Tribe, and the state of Washington.

"We are extremely pleased to be completing this project and greatly appreciate the funding provided by the trustees," said Roy Lowe, refuge manager for the Oregon Coast National Wildlife Refuge Complex in Newport, Oregon. "The posters and panels will assist us in our continuing efforts to protect the incredible concentration of seabirds that nests along the Oregon coast."

The USFWS administers all of the rocks, reefs and islands along the Oregon coast as part of Oregon Islands and Three Arch Rocks National Wildlife Refuges. More than one million seabirds nest on these refuges.

Australian Research Helps Predict Climate Change

"Our collaboration with Australia in the establishment of this site represents an exciting expansion of the ARM program and our ongoing quest to understand and predict the earth's climate," said Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham.

The Darwin Site, which begins formal operations on July 30, is the fifth site established since DOE created the ARM program in 1989, and it is the first site established with an international research partner. The ARM program works to refine the atmospheric radiation and cloud physics in global climate models, improving simulations of climate change.

The other ARM sites are located in the southern Great Plains and the North Slope of Alaska, and in the tropical western Pacific (TWP) with individual sites situated on the islands of Manus and Nauru. The sites have been selected for their diversity and the global importance of their climate and cloud conditions.

The ARM program concentrates on the complex role that clouds play in the energy balance of the climate system. Clouds are the single largest factor in regulating the absorption of solar energy by the earth and an important factor in regulating the loss of infrared energy from the earth, which may be altered due to rising levels of greenhouse gases.

"The ability to measure cloud properties and weather regimes during extreme conditions of droughts and monsoons and the equally important transitional weather periods provides an important, new set of data for analysis and interpretation that has not yet been captured," said Dr. Thomas Ackerman, chief scientist for ARM. "And since this information is available to anyone through the ARM web site and archives, we are contributing significantly to the entire field of atmospheric science through the scientists who access ARM data to conduct their experiments and analyses."

The Darwin site will feature state of the art instrumentation for collecting data at the surface of the Earth as well as in the atmosphere, which is then used in computer models. The measurements are crucial to understanding both cloud properties, and the effects of clouds, which represent the greatest uncertainty in understanding global warming and climate change.

"These efforts support a deeper understanding of the environmental changes that are occurring, and will lead to more accurate climate models. Currently, our models indicate a temperature increase of two to six degrees in the next 50 to 100 years," said Ackerman. "The variation of just a few degrees could mean drastic changes to regions and populations and how they prepare for such impacts, so it is important we increase our knowledge on the role clouds play in climate change so our projections are as accurate as possible."

More information about the ARM program is available at: http://www.arm.gov

Highway Project Could Harm Great Smokies

The agencies have approved plans to widen 2.6 miles of Highway 321, roughly doubling the size of the road and moving it closer to Dudley Creek, portions of which lie within the borders of the park. Approval from the Corps was necessary because it oversees alterations of waterways, such as Dudley Creek, that are considered navigable.

All but one of the 11,646 comments submitted by the public to the Corps was in opposition to the project.

"This project should not have been approved," said Judy Takats of the World Wildlife Fund's southeastern rivers and streams field office. "Even the Corps acknowledges that this project will negatively impact the special environmental resources of the area."

The project will alter Dudley Creek and the surrounding area by relocating and straightening the stream channel and removing trees. In 1998, the state of Tennessee ranked Dudley Creek "excellent" for fishing.

"The Smokey's are a gem for our region and should be protected at all costs," said Vesna Plakanis, a Park advocate from Gatlinburg, Tennessee. "The Corps thought so little of the park, they didn't even hold public meetings. We feel the Corps made this decision in a vacuum. They completely ignored the input of local citizens and common sense."

The road project is in an area known as the Southeast Rivers and Streams Ecoregion, home to more freshwater aquatic species than any other terrestrial area on Earth.

Blank Foundation Supports Atlanta Greenspace

The grants represent the first round of green space projects to be funded in the Foundation's three year environmental initiative to improve the quality of life in the core of metropolitan Atlanta by increasing open space for public use. The Foundation plans to grant between $20 and $30 million to preserve green space through 2004.

Funded projects will preserve 430 acres for open green space, recreation and education. Six of the projects are land acquisitions, aimed at preserving critical wildlife habitat and wetlands, and protecting stream buffer zones along tributaries of the Chattahoochee River and along the South River.

The Foundation announced its environmental initiative in December 2001 and began accepting letters of intent for projects in February 2002.

"The clock is ticking on Atlanta's ability to preserve green space and parks," said Elise Eplan, co-director of The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation. "Livable communities and a world-class city depend on open space for public use. We have a rapidly closing window of opportunity to save Atlanta's remaining green space. The good news is we've received high response from partners in many sectors who are committed to act now."

Foundation grants will help restore and renovate Atlanta's oldest park, Grant Park, and create parks for the Vine City and Carver Homes communities. The Carver Homes project is a potential model for urban redevelopment incorporating green space and recreation areas.

One project along Utoy Creek in Southwest Atlanta will provide an outdoor classroom for environmental studies at The Beecher Hills Elementary School and create additional walking trails for area residents. Other grants support park advocacy efforts, establish a fund for technical assistance to organizations working to preserve green space, and create a dedicated loan fund to be invested in projects within Interstate 285.

The Conservation Fund will receive $2.15 million to develop a revolving loan fund for land acquisition within I-285, and the Trust for Public Land will get $1.7 million to support the acquisition of three priority conservation lands in DeKalb County and the city of Atlanta, including properties that include wetlands, open fields and wooded areas.

"With this initiative, The Arthur M. Blank Foundation has stirred new energy among nonprofit conservation organizations," said Harvey Young, coordinator of the Georgia Community Greenspace Program at the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. "It gives new emphasis to the roles that grassroots neighborhood and community groups can play in conserving urban land. This is civic leadership of a very high order."

Arthur M. Blank, one of the founders of The Home Depot, created The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation in 1995. Since that time, Foundation and personal grants issued by the family have totaled more than $78 million, with about $37 million planned in 2002.