• Klamath Basin Farmers Get $50 Million in Aid
  
• Missouri River Management Reforms Stalled
  
• Bill Would Sell Federal Land to Church Group
  
• Alabama Power Updates Emissions Controls
  
• Solar Power Promoted at Annual Conference
  
• Los Alamos Team Wins Recycling Award
  
• Insects Used to Control Washington Weeds
  
• Scented Flakes Confuse Gypsy Moths
  

Klamath Basin Farmers Get $50 Million in Aid

Farmers in the Klamath Basin faced last summer with no water for irrigation, as all available water has been diverted to protect endangered sucker fish and threatened coho salmon. Last month, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) issued an opinion stating that the Klamath Basin irrigation system threatens two endangered fish, the Lost River and shortnose suckers.

Last fall, several groups petitioned the UFSWS to remove the fish from the endangered species list, hoping to forestall water diversions this year. While the Department of Interior says more water is available for all purposes this year, the USFWS and Bureau of Reclamation are still required to protect water resources primarily for the sake of the endangered fish.

More than 100 landowners and managers attended a workshop in Klamath Falls last week to learn about a provision of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act (2002 Farm Bill) that set aside $50 million for the Klamath Basin. The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and the Klamath Soil and Water Conservation District conducted the workshop, which is one of several to be held on cost effective land management techniques.

The 2002 Farm Bill provides the resources to producers in the Klamath Basin to help address water conservation issues such as water quality and quantity and irrigation systems. NRCS will use a ranking system for fund distribution and will distribute funding throughout the life of the Farm Bill.

The 2002 Farm Bill also provides technical and financial assistance, conservation tillage and residue management techniques and noxious weed identification and control programs.

"Aid to Klamath Basin farmers is a key priority for the Bush Administration," said Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman. "These kinds of workshops help ensure that farmers and ranchers from the Basin area are fully informed of the benefits available to them."

In March 2002, President Bush established a cabinet level Klamath River Basin Federal Working Group to address concerns raised by farmers, ranchers, fisherman, tribes and others affected by the difficult conditions in Klamath. The Working Group will work with farmers and ranchers to implement these Farm Bill conservation programs.

The Farm Bill contains record level support for environmental stewardship, funding programs including the Conservation Reserve Program, Environmental Quality Incentives Program, Farmland Protection Program and the Wetland Reserve Program.

More information about the 2002 Farm Bill is located at: http://www.usda.gov/farmbill

Missouri River Management Reforms Stalled

Last Thursday, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) began a new round of talks on how best to balance the needs of different Missouri River users, including farmers, the barge industry, and protected wildlife.

Missouri River management has been debated for more than a decade, and the process had seemed close to a conclusion earlier this year when the USFWS ordered the Corps to allow a spring rise in river levels to protect endangered fish and birds.

Biologists for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service have given the Corps a 2003 deadline to alter dam operations to prevent the extinction of three species and to begin restoring the river. To balance ecological and human needs along the river, the biologists called for a spring rise during normal water years, once every three years on average - and not in years of drought or flood.

The Corps proposed a number of options to implement the order, and had planned to issue its final decision last month.

Environmentalists and officials from states in the upper Missouri River basin support the USFWS proposal for a spring rise and reduced flows in summer, which would help trigger spawning in endangered sturgeon and produce dry sandbars for summer shorebird nesting. The plan would also maintain water levels in northern reservoirs, essential to a multimillion dollar fishing and boating recreation industry.

A January 2002 report by the National Academy of Sciences supported the need for a spring rise to protect wildlife, and warned against allowing the barge industry, which provides the smallest economic benefits from the river, to dictate management policy. The barge and agricultural industries along the river "wield great political influence and may resist changes to traditional management policies," the report warned.

But President George W. Bush vowed during his campaign that he would maintain the status quo: regulating water levels to maintain a reliable flow for barge traffic, and to protect the fields of downstream farmers.

The White House is believed to have urged the USFWS and the Corps to reconsider their management proposals for the river.

"This action flies in the face of the Administration's repeated pledges to rely on sound science in environmental decision making," said Rebecca Wodder, president of the environmental group American Rivers. "Once again, the White House has catered to a influential industry and disregarded an overwhelming body of science, economics, and legal precedent."

More information is available at: http://www.usace.army.mil/inet/functions/cw/hot_topics/nas_moriver.htm

Bill Would Sell Federal Land to Church Group

By voice vote on Monday, the House cleared the Martin's Cove Land Transfer Act (HR 4103), which directs the Interior Secretary to sell about 1,640 acres in Natrona County, Wyoming, to the Corporation of the Presiding Bishop, also known as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Early members of the Latter-Day Saints (LDS) Church were caught in fierce blizzards in Wyoming as they traveled to the Rocky Mountains to avoid religious persecution in the east and midwest.

Rescuers from Salt Lake City found the starved and frozen survivors of a group called the Martin Company and shepherded them to a nearby cove, since known as Martin's Cove, in hopes of sheltering them from brutal winds. Almost 150 people died on that trek to Salt Lake City, and the church considers the land where they died to be sacred.

Until five years ago, the public did not have access to Martin's Cove. The LDS bought part of the Sun Ranch and signed a cooperative agreement with the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to allow public access.

The church provided a trail to the site and a new visitor's center offering interpretation and public education. The number of annual visitors is now at an all time high and continues to rise.

Over the last five years, the LDS Church has worked with the BLM to acquire the property through an administrative land exchange. James Hansen, the Utah Republican who chairs the House Resources Committee, introduced a bill to authorize sale of the land.

The bill transfers 940 acres to the LDS, provides for continued public access, and directs the proceeds from the sale to maintaining historic trails in Wyoming.

"I do not know why it would be in the federal government's best interest to retain the financial stewardship responsibilities for Martin's Cove when the LDS Church is not only willing to tell the story on their own dime, but to provide an ironclad guarantee in this legislation of free public access to the site," Hansen said in support of the bill. Hansen is a member of the LDS church.

Critics charge that the bill's passage would set a precedent for other federal lands to be sold to private groups with a special interest in the sites.

The legislation must still be reviewed and voted on by the Senate.

The House cleared two other public lands bills on Monday, including the Shoshone National Recreation Trail Management Act (HR 3936), which would authorize the use of federal funds to create and manage a 337 mile long system of trails for off road vehicle use on the Wasatch-Cache National Forest in Utah and adjacent BLM lands. Representative Hansen introduced the bill in March.

The other bill (HR 1906) would expand the boundaries of the Pu'uhonua O Hanaunau National Historical Park in Hawaii to include portions of the historic Ki'ilae village complex, several burial caves, and the upper end of a prehistoric royal sledding track. The bill authorizes about $5 million to buy about 397 acres.

Alabama Power Updates Emissions Controls

The equipment installed at Plant Gorgas in southern Walker County completes the first phase of a $500 million, multiyear initiative to install NOx reduction technology at Alabama Power plants. The second phase is already under construction at Plant Miller in Jefferson County, with completion expected in less than a year.

The third phase, also at Miller, is expected to be completed in spring 2005 with additional improvements scheduled for Plant Barry in Mobile County in 2006. Environmental improvements also are being made at other Alabama Power generating units.

The NOx reduction equipment at Gorgas is known as Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) technology. SCRs act like giant catalytic converters, transforming NOx into nitrogen and water.

The improvements at Gorgas are expected to reduce NOx emissions from the plant this summer by more than 40 percent compared to last year's ozone season. Since 1990, Alabama Power has cut its statewide NOx emissions rate - the emissions the company produces for each megawatt hour of electricity it generates - by 44 percent.

Since 1996, Alabama Power has cut actual NOx emissions by 13 percent, while boosting its electricity generation to meet public demand.

"The new technology at Gorgas is just one example of how we're working aggressively to reduce our impact on the environment. And our emission figures show it," said Charles McCrary, Alabama Power president and CEO. "But this is only the beginning. From now until 2010, we expect to spend $1.5 billion on environmental upgrades to meet future air standards."

McCrary noted that the improvements at Gorgas were completed a full year before they were required under federal law.

"We're not only meeting the requirements. We're doing better than required," McCrary said. "By the time we complete our 2010 expenditures, we will have almost as much invested in environmental control equipment as we do in the plants themselves."

Solar Power Promoted at Annual Conference

David Garman, DOE assistant secretary for energy efficiency and renewable energy, spoke Monday at the Solar 2002 conference, an annual conference of solar industry representatives.

"Our investments in solar energy are paying off," said Garman. "Thanks to the hard work of many of you at this conference and research and development efforts of the Energy Department's Solar Energy Technologies Program, together we are achieving the goal of reducing the cost of advanced solar energy technologies."

Garman noted that the Bush administration has proposed a 15 percent tax credit for the purchase of residential solar energy equipment. This tax credit is included in energy legislation passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Meanwhile, the DOE is working with the industry to reduce manufacturing costs and increase power output of solar cells that convert light into electricity, Garman added.

"We at the Department of Energy are committed to working in close partnership with industry to accomplish the goal of reducing direct manufacturing cost of photovoltics (solar cells) modules to $3 per watt by 2010 and to $1.50 per watt by 2020, along with achieving a total manufacturing volume of six gigawatts by 2020, of which 3.2 gigawatts will be installed domestically," said Garman.

The DOE is also promoting the building of "Zero Energy" homes by 2010. These homes will be designed to combine the latest energy efficient building envelopes, appliances, lighting, advanced controls and heating/cooling systems.

Los Alamos Team Wins Recycling Award

The team from Los Alamos traveled to Washington DC to pick up a 2002 White House "Closing the Circle Award" in the recycling category for their work. The White House Closing the Awards program is a national competition among all federal agencies.

The Nitric Acid Recovery System also won a Department of Energy Pollution Prevention Award, based on a competition throughout the DOE complex. Both awards acknowledge pollution prevention and recycling.

A common chemical process at Los Alamos' Technical Area 55 (TA-50) is purifying plutonium by dissolving it in nitric acid. In the past, the dissolved solution passed through a series of columns, and most of the plutonium was recovered from the solution.

The liquid waste, contaminated with nitrates, was then piped to the Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility at TA-50 and condensed. There, the acid was neutralized, and the plutonium stabilized for eventual shipment to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.

Faced with stringent regulations governing discharges of nitrates from TA-50, the Laboratory needed to slash the waste stream from the nitric acid dissolution process. The team's solution was simple: eliminate almost all the nitrate discharges to the treatment plant.

Beginning last April, the Nitric Acid Recovery System almost eliminated nitrates in the waste stream, and reduced the nitric acid used in processing operations to about 20 percent of the historic usage. The wastewater stream is now 99.98 percent pure water, with no measurable plutonium.

The system recovers nitric acid through fractional distillation, which separates chemicals with different boiling points. Water boils at a lower temperature than nitric acid, so almost pure water is removed from the top of the distillation column, while the reconcentrated nitric acid from the bottom of the column is reused.

The system took almost four years to develop.

Insects Used to Control Washington Weeds

Department land managers are working with Washington State University experts on the biological weed control program. Like other biological control methods, the weed devouring insects may reduce the need for chemical herbicides.

The WDFW says the insects have been tested to ensure they do not pose a threat to native wildlife or desirable vegetation.

"These releases are part of our continuing effort to use the best ideas and best available science in caring for lands that we manage or help manage," said Mark Quinn, WDFW's lands manager.

WDFW crews have released 7,000 stem boring weevils on the Wells, Sagebrush Flat and Swakane wildlife areas to control Dalmatian toadflax, an invasive, exotic plant that crowds out native vegetation. Another 2,200 weevils were released by WDFW on private lands managed under cooperative agreements, and 4,600 insects were released by the Foster Creek Conservation District on farms and ranches in northern Douglas County.

As their name implies, the stem boring weevils chew through the stems of toadflax, in which they overwinter and lay eggs, killing the weeds. The tiny weevils are black, up to an eighth of an inch long, and have a curved snout.

The weevil originally was imported from Europe to Canada and has dispersed into Stevens County, Washington.

So far WDFW has spent $4,300 on the weevil effort from its wildlife area and noxious weed control budgets.

Piper said the insects take two to three years to form colonies large enough to have a visible effect in reducing the number of the weeds. The introduced insects were tested by federal and state authorities before they were approved for use as biological weed control, Piper said.

Other biological control efforts in eastern Washington include the use of the knapweed flower/seedhead weevil to control diffuse knapweed, one of the toughest invasive weeds in Washington state. The golden loosestrife beetle, another European import, has been released to control purple loosestrife at the Washburn Island management unit of WDFW's Wells Wildlife Area and other sites in the Columbia Basin.

Critics of the programs point to studies like one released earlier this month showing that some insects introduced to control nonnative plants may instead feast on native vegetation, causing a problem larger than the one they were intended to solve.

Scented Flakes Confuse Gypsy Moths

Starting Monday, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) began spraying gypsy moth infestations on more than 15,000 acres in four counties. The treatment consists of small plastic flakes dropped from an airplane.

The plastic flakes carry the scent of the female gypsy moth. Female moths cannot fly and must use scent to attract their mates. The male moths, which can fly, use the scent to find the females.

The tiny plastic flakes, each about the size of a hyphen on a typewriter, create a sense that there is an abundance of females in the area. The male moths recognize the scent on the flakes and go looking for a mate in the wrong place.

The males that do not find mates will produce no offspring to eat the tree leaves this year or to infest the trees next year.

The mating disruption technique has been used across Indiana over the past few years, as well as in other places in the United States. It has proved very effective on smaller infestations where females are hard to find.

The plastic flakes pose no health threat to people, pets or other animals, the DNR says. However, the agency cautions that people who live in the treatment areas should avoid looking up at the airplane as it goes overhead.

Maps detailing the treatment sites are on the DNR Web site at: http://www.ai.org/dnr/

The gypsy moth was first brought to the U.S. from Europe more than 100 years ago, said Dr. Robert Waltz, Indiana state entomologist. The gypsy moth is capable of defoliating three million acres of forest a year, equivalent to about 70 percent of Indiana's forested acreage.

"The Indiana Department of Natural Resources has successfully held back introductions of this pest throughout Indiana for more than 20 years. Now that the gypsy moth is within Indiana's borders, however, residents can expect to see more of this pest throughout the next decade," Waltz said.