AmeriScan: May 15, 2002

• Another Huge Iceberg Breaks Off Antarctica
  
• Grasslands Reserve Program May Help Birds
  
• Refuge Concessionaires Could Swap Repairs for Rent
  
• Rainfall Variability Wiped Out Butterfly Populations
  
• Energy Agency Honors Alternative Fuels Projects
  
• Commuter Friendly Companies Win Awards
  
• U.S. Supports Marine Pollution Workshop in Jamaica
  
• National Conference Looks at Environmental Mediation
  
• Graduate Students Win Marine Science Fellowships
  

Huge Iceberg Breaks Off Antarctica

The new iceberg, dubbed C-19 to show its location in the Western Ross Sea, is the second to break from the Ross Ice Shelf in the past two weeks. On May 5, researchers spotted a new floating ice mass named C-18, measuring about 41 nautical miles long and four nautical miles wide.

C-19 is much larger than C-18, measuring 108 nautical miles long by 17 nautical miles wide. Both icebergs broke off from the Ross Ice Shelf, a large sheet of glacial ice and snow extending from the Antarctic mainland into the southern Ross Sea.

Warming temperatures appear to be responsible for the continuous calving of enormous icebergs over the past three years. In March, scientists reported two huge pieces of ice on separate sides of the Antarctic continent shattered and broke off.

On the Antarctic Peninsula, a piece broke away from the Larsen B ice shelf in the largest single event in a 30 year series of ice shelf retreats, reducing the shelf to a size not seen for some 12,000 years.

Also in March, on the coast of West Antarctica, another monster iceberg broke off the Thwaites Glacier, increasing concerns such events may lead to much bigger losses of stored ice.

Two years ago, in March 2000, one of the largest icebergs ever observed broke off the Ross Ice Shelf near Roosevelt Island. Designated B-15, its initial 4,250 square mile (11,007 square kilometer) area was almost as large as the state of Connecticut.

Most of that massive berg has broken up into smaller pieces. The largest remaining floe, designated B-15A, is now floating next to C-19, the newest breakaway ice mass, measuring about 1,836 square miles (4,755 square kilometers).

Iceberg C-19 was spotted by the National Ice Center using the latest satellite image from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program's Operational Line Scan Infrared sensor. The National Ice Center provides worldwide ice analyses for the armed forces of the U.S. and allied nations, U.S. government agencies and the private sector.

Grasslands Reserve Program May Help Birds

The GRP, like its sister programs, the Conservation Reserve Program and the Wetlands Reserve Program, is a voluntary, incentive based program that helps farmers implement practices that are beneficial to wildlife on their land. Participating landowners sign binding contracts to conserve marginal cropland for various periods of time in exchange for federal payments.

The new program will protect up to two million acres of grassland in 10, 15, 20 and 30 year contracts, as well as perpetual conservation easements, at a cost of about $254 million. Another $1.517 billion has been allotted to the Conservation Reserve Program, which will increase its total acreage enrollment from 36.4 million to 39.2 million. The Wetlands Reserve Program will get $1.5 billion to raise the program's total acreage cap to 2.275 million acres.

Conservation groups say the GRP will benefit grassland nesting birds, which are experiencing the steepest decline of all birds in the nation. Enrollment in the grasslands program will have a particular impact on the Prairie Pothole Region, which includes North and South Dakota, and parts of Montana, Iowa and Minnesota.

The GRP will conserve grassy cover habitat that will make nesting a less dangerous enterprise for ducks and many other migratory birds.

Jeff Nelson, who directs Ducks Unlimited's Great Plains regional office in Bismarck, North Dakota, notes that the prairies once formed one of the largest grassland tracts in the world.

"What once stretched endlessly across the Great Plains in a sea of grass is now one of the most vulnerable ecosystems in the world," said Nelson. "Although most of these lands are marginal in value for agricultural production, they are in most cases highly valuable and necessary habitat for a large variety of wildlife, as well as the ranching industry."

For more information on the GRT and the other conservation programs funded by the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002, visit the new U.S. Department of Agriculture website regarding the bill's implementation at: http://www.usda.gov/farmbill

Refuge Concessionaires Could Swap Repairs for Rent

The National Wildlife Refuge System Maintenance and Repair Act (HR 1370) would establish a new policy for private concessionaires who use federal property on wildlife refuges in for profit businesses. The bill would provide incentives for individuals or companies running such businesses to maintain and repair the structures they use.

There are about 20 refuges where concessionaires offer services ranging from boat rentals, bookstores, campgrounds, ferries, gift shops, interpretive tours and tour boats. A survey of refuge managers found a number of buildings, docks, restrooms and storage facilities to be in "extremely poor" condition.

Under current law, concessionaires who lease refuge buildings and properties must pay cash for their use. The 1966 National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act states "there shall not be included in the lease any provision for the alteration, repair or improvement of such buildings or properties as part of the consideration for the rent to be paid."

As a result, few concessionaires are willing to spend money to repair or maintain property to which they do not hold title. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), which has a maintenance backlog in excess of $630 million dollars, cannot maintain such properties either.

The bill passed by House on a voice vote Tuesday would allow concessionaires to maintain or repair any structure within the refuge where they work, as partial or complete compensation for the use of the land and facilities. The USFWS would determine whether a specific repair is warranted, and obtain estimates of the value of the proposed work.

Also on Tuesday, the House passed a bill (HR 4044) to extend an ongoing nutria eradication program in Maryland. Nutria are invasive South American mammals that destroy marsh vegetation, reproduce rapidly, and have no natural predators. There are between 100,000 and 150,000 nutria living in the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in Cambridge, Maryland.

Rainfall Variability Wiped Out Butterfly Populations

Since 1960, Stanford University population biologist Paul Ehrlich and his research group have been studying Jasper Ridge's Bay checkerspot butterflies, a recognized subspecies of the insect. But the last two Jasper Ridge populations went extinct in 1991 and 1998.

After examining 70 years of rainfall and population data, the researchers have concluded that extreme climate swings speeded up the Bay checkerspot's local disappearance. They report their findings in the April 30 issue of the "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences."

The Bay checkerspot is a subspecies of the checkerspot butterfly, which ranges from Baja California to Canada. (Photo courtesy Center for Conservation Biology)

Previous studies have looked at shifts in average conditions, or the effects of a single extreme climate event such as a hard freeze. The Stanford study examined the effect of climate variability on extinction, and tied the loss of the butterflies to rainfall variability.

"What we've done is develop a model describing how precipitation drives the changes in population numbers of the butterfly," said co-author Carol Boggs, director of Stanford University's Center for Conservation Biology and an associate professor of biological sciences. "We looked at how precipitation has changed locally in the last 70 years and found that the variability in precipitation had increased since 1971."

The drastic differences in rainfall created pressures the checkerspots could not overcome, Boggs explained. Rainfall must be timed just right to feed spring and fall plant growth, or the checkerspot caterpillars will starve.

The San Francisco Bay area checkerspots were listed as threatened in 1987 under the Endangered Species Act. Several other populations of the Bay checkerspot subspecies still exist, including a large source population in Morgan Hill with numbers in the tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands, and a small population in Edgewood County Park in the hills above Redwood City.

But the Stanford researchers say these populations could also vanish, due to climate variability, habitat loss and the isolation of the remaining populations.

"The advantage to having done this work is that we now thoroughly understand the mechanisms causing extinction, which can allow us to start thinking about and implementing interventions to save other populations [of checkerspots] in the Bay Area," said Boggs. "The Jasper Ridge populations were studied for almost 40 years, so we have an unusually good database to draw on to be able to understand what happened."

Energy Agency Honors Alternative Fuels Projects

The Department of Energy (DOE) announced its Clean Cities program National Partner Awards Tuesday at the 8th National Clean Cities Conference being held in Oklahoma City. The National Partner Awards honor companies, municipal agencies and individuals who have made long term contributions to advancing the use of alternative fuels in cars and trucks.

This year's award recipients include:

• SunLine Transit Agency, Thousand Palms, California, for long time use of alternative fuels in vehicles serving several desert communities in southern California.
• American Lung Association, for support of 26 local coalitions within the coast to coast Clean Cities network.
• The city of Tacoma, Washington, which leads the Northwest in use of biodiesel fuel derived from sources such as soybeans.
• Dallas County Schools in Texas, which uses clean burning propane in more than 600 buses in seven school districts.
• KeySpan Energy in New York, New York, for efforts to promote natural gas vehicles throughout New York and New England.
• Oklahoma Natural Gas in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, a public utility that uses natural gas to fuel more than 90 percent of its 1,000 vehicle fleet.
• ENRG Inc., Seal Beach, California, a company that has established more than 90 natural gas fueling stations from Tucson, Arizrona, to Vancouver, British Columbia.
• Richard Cromwell III, CEO of SunLine Transit Agency, received the AFV Hero Award, presented each year to an individual National Partner.

Eleven of the 80 Clean Cities Coalitions also received awards. The Outstanding Coordinator Award for 2002 went to Tim Gerlach of the Twin Cities Coalition, and Jill Egbert of the Sacramento Coalition received the inaugural award for Rookie Coordinator of the Year.

The Clean Cities Program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, supports public private partnerships that deploy alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs) and build the infrastructure to support them. The program takes a voluntary approach to AFV development, working with coalitions of local stakeholders to help develop the AFV industry and integrate this development into larger planning processes.

More information on the Clean Cities Program is available at: http://www.ccities.doe.gov

Commuter Friendly Companies Win Awards

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Christie Whitman recognized top executives from companies whose employee commuting programs help improve the environment and reduce the number of cars on the road. The companies are part of a program called the Commuter Choice Leadership Initiative that provides transportation benefits to employees and helps change commuting behavior by offering alternatives to riding solo in a car.

"Commuter Choice Employers represent the best of environmental cooperation, showing that a healthy balance sheet and a healthy environment can go hand in hand," Whitman said. "I hope that their leadership encourages others to take advantage of this extraordinary partnership opportunity."

EPA Administrator Christie Whitman bicycles to work with other EPA employees on Tuesday. (Photo courtesy EPA)

"I am pleased to recognize these pioneer agencies that are helping to expand the choices for commuters," said Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said. "By improving the choices available for commuters to get to work, they are playing an important role in reducing the overall impact of congestion and protecting the environment."

The Commuter Choice Leadership Initiative, sponsored by the EPA and Department of Transportation, makes it easier and cheaper for employers to provide commuter benefits to their employees. If half of all U.S. commuters worked for Commuter Choice Employers, air pollution and traffic would be cut by the equivalent of taking 15 million cars off the road, the agencies say.

Three-quarters of all trips made to and from work in the United States are by vehicles driven alone, the EPA estimates. Nine billion gallons of gasoline is wasted in traffic jams each year, about 800 times the amount of oil spilled by the Exxon Valdez.

Commuter Choice Employers must offer their employees at least one major commuter benefit such as $32 per month in transit passes, vanpool subsidies, or cash instead of subsidized parking spaces. Commuter Choice Employers must also offer three other commuter benefits from a list, including carpool matching, bike lockers, compressed work schedules and on site day care.

Commuter Choice Employers span from every business sector and region of the country and range from Fortune 500 companies with more than 40,000 employees to small businesses with fewer than five workers.

More information on the Commuter Choice Initiative is available at: http://www.commuterchoice.gov/

U.S. Supports Marine Pollution Workshop in Jamaica

The funds will help introduce environmentally sound port waste management guidelines to port and shipping managers throughout the Caribbean region. Representatives from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will attend the workshop from May 20-24.

One day of the workshop will be devoted to a visit aboard an EPA ocean survey vessel to familiarize participants with U.S. research capabilities. The Anderson carries sampling and laboratory equipment for monitoring ocean dumping sites and other coastal environments.

The ship normally operates on the Atlantic Coast and in the Gulf of Mexico, but is scheduled to dock at the Jamaican capital of Kingston from May 18 to June 1. During that time, the Anderson will offer an open house for schoolchildren and demonstration cruises for workshop delegates.

Workshop participants will discuss environmental management in ports, including port reception facilities, ballast water discharges, land based discharges and local case studies. Working groups will be held on dredged materials, hazardous wastes, and sewage and other organic wastes.

The government of Jamaica is hosting the workshop in collaboration with the London Convention - the abbreviated name for the 1972 Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter, which has 78 contracting parties including the United States. Other hosts include the secretariat of the United Nations' Caribbean Environment Program and the International Maritime Organization, the United Nations agency responsible for improving maritime safety and preventing pollution from ships.

The secretariat of the London Convention sponsors these types of workshops every other year, in conjunction with an annual meeting of its scientific group.

National Conference Looks at Environmental Mediation

Mediators, arbitrators and other conflict resolution professionals are in increasing demand to help resolve tough environmental struggles involving multiple stakeholders. The skills that they bring to their jobs have an enormous impact on both communities and the ecosystem.

From May 16-18, environmental mediators will meet in Tucson to discuss ways to improve and expand the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution. Participants are members of the Environment and Public Policy Section of the Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR), a nonprofit organization representing more than 6000 conflict resolution professionals.

The ACR conference follows a conference by the U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution (USIECR) at the same location.

Among the topics planned for discussion is what party or parties are best suited to monitor the field of environmental and public policy conflict resolution, and determine best practices for the industry. Participants will consider whether mediated environmental agreements have been implemented and whether they are working.

Other topics include the pros and cons of negotiated settlements, as seen by the various stakeholders in environmental conflicts, and strategies for helping people from different cultures find common ground over environmental issues.

Collaborative decision making processes are now used by many federal programs including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service and others. Conference participants will look at what types of disputes fall under each of these agencies, and what unique challenges may face mediators working with such agencies.

Graduate Students Win Marine Science Fellowships

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and Sea Grant fund the fellowships each year under the Graduate Fellowship Program of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

"We have high expectations that the Graduate Fellowship Program will pay dividends in terms of attracting highly qualified students to the important, and currently understaffed, disciplines of population dynamics and marine resources and encouraging them to seek employment with NOAA Fisheries following graduation," said Emory Anderson, program director for NMFS in the Sea Grant office.

The program provides support for up to three years for qualified students working towards a doctorate in population dynamics or related fields and up to two years for qualified graduate students working towards a PhD in marine resource, natural resources or environmental economics.

All four fellowships awarded this year were in population dynamics. The recipients include:

• Thomas Ihde of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, to study "Development and application of depletion models that accommodate ancillary information"
• Melissa Haltuch of the University of Washington, to study "Modeling human, climate, and habit impacts on the Pacific Northwest groundfish fishery"
• Yasmin Lucero of the University of California at Santa Cruz, to study "Investigating uncertainty in fish stock assessments"
• Stephanie Wood of the University of Massachusetts at Boston, to study "Dynamics of recolonization in a depleted population: A study of the gray seal (Halichoerus grypus) in New England"

This is the third year for the fellowship program; four fellowships were awarded in 2000 and another six were given in 2001. Of the 10 fellowships, three will either have completed their work or their support will have expired by June.

Each fellow is required to work with a mentor from NMFS who will provide data for his/her thesis or concur with a research project suggested by the student, serve on the fellow's committee, and host an annual summer internship at the participating NMFS facility. Fellows are required to work each summer of their fellowship at the participating NMFS facility either on their thesis or appropriate related issues.

The award for each fellowship is $38,000 per year to the Fellow's university to cover salary, living expenses, tuition and travel related to thesis research.