Friends of Wetlands - Blog

The Spotted Salamander is Officially Ohio's State Amphibian

2010-06-14T12:28:00.001-04:00

Although the designation of a state amphibian may seem trivial to many readers, there is a deeper meaning to all of this. As one who worked on the campaign to establish the Spotted Salamander as the official symbol of the Great State of Ohio, I am very grateful that this measure has finally passed.
The thought process behind this effort stems from concerns over the loss of significant habitat in the state of Ohio. Ohio has lost over 90% of its wetlands and the pressure is unrelenting. Among the remaining Ohio wetlands, vernal pools in wet woods are especially vulnerable. These transitional niches that reside between land and water are amazingly productive and diverse. When vernal pools are destroyed, much more is lost than most people realize. On one hand, these systems help control run-off and reduce the risk of flooding, reduce siltation of streams and lakes and delay the impacts of human impact to the ecosystem by filtering and temporarily storing water from farms and impervious surfaces. They are instrumental in recharging ground water, which is the source of drinking water for many communities. On the other hand, the biological setting is dynamic with many nutrients being recycled through these vernal pools and giving both depth and breadth to the life to the natural diversity of the forest.
What does this have to do with the spotted salamander? One of the most beautiful representatives of this special habitat in Ohio is the spotted salamander (Ambystoma maculatum). Its image is adored by school children and adults throughout the state. It is found in all 88 Ohio counties. And unlike the bullfrog, it is only found in high quality habitats. As a representative of the Great State of Ohio, the spotted salamander stands for the best and highest quality natural environment. Its appeal is a stepping stone to the preservation of the finer things that Ohio offers its citizens. As a symbol for Ohio, we could hardly pick a better creature to represent what is good about Ohio.

Ray Stewart, President and Director of Communications, Friends of Wetlands

2010-05-22T10:59:00.005-04:00

A friend of mine from my NYC days, Jim Charles, is now the Artistic Director of the Cohoes Music Hall in Cohoes, NY. (http://www.cohoesmusichall.com/). His organization is competing in a on-line vote for a $50,000 grant from Pepsi.

His Proposal:

The Center For Disability Services and C-R Productions are combining forces to launch a program that will enrich the lives of 30 people with disabilities through the exploration of performing arts. The program will culminate with performances at the Cohoes Music Hall. The performing arts will act as a catalyst to achieve increased self esteem, independence, community inclusion, speech and language progress for the participants with disabilities. The program will consist of a group of individuals with disabilities and a number of staff, volunteers, and trained professionals in both theater arts and health fields.

Here is the link to show your support for community theatre and how it positively can affect the lives of others.

PLEASE HELP. VOTE ONCE A DAY, EVERY DAY UNTIL THE BALLOTING ENDS ON MAY 31.

Ontario bill blazes new trail in water conservation Will the Great Lakes states keep pace?

2010-05-22T08:01:00.000-04:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press release
May 20, 2010

Ontario bill blazes new trail in water conservation
Will the Great Lakes states keep pace?

Toronto – On Tuesday, the Ontario government tabled Bill 72, the Water Opportunities and Water Conservation Act. This bill sets the legal groundwork for Ontario to implement and regulate its commitments under the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River Basin Sustainable Resources Agreement, going beyond the baseline conservation requirements.
“When Great Lakes lawmakers shut the door to diversions, they also committed to addressing our own wasteful water use. With this bill Ontario steps ahead of the pack by legislating a conservation mandate,” said Derek Stack, Executive Director of Great Lakes United. “The real question is whether the Great Lakes states will keep pace.”
Pumping and treating water is a huge public expense that in Ontario can reach $80 million per month. Using less water lowers operating costs, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, and defers costly infrastructure expansion – often in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The benefits to the environment and ratepayers are clear.
If passed, The Water Opportunities and Water Conservation Act will encourage the creation and export of clean water technology, promote water conservation, attract economic development and create jobs.
Whereas some Great Lakes States such as Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Indiana are focussing all discussion on voluntary conservation measures, and others such as Illinois are likely to depend on existing regulations and programs, the province of Ontario is legislating change with the eye to export Ontario skills and technologies in the water conservation and treatment sector.
In Michigan, an Advisory Council was set up that recommended conservation goals and targets but the Council was disbanded before any public consultation on conservation took place, and the effort is now stalled. It’s much the same in Minnesota.
In Wisconsin the general approach is for voluntary conservation targets, while in cases of larger withdrawals and diversions the DNR is drafting rules on mandatory conservation measures. Waukesha has been a focal point in the state, having long sought access to Great Lakes water. But earlier this week Mayor Jeff Scrima balked at the $160 million price tag to purchase water from Milwaukee, Racine or Oak Creek. Instead, the mayor indicated city council would now consider improved treatment of local sources.
Ontario is retooling its economy to save taxpayers money and garner access to global water conservation and treatment markets valued at over $400 billion, and doubling every five to six years.
The province signalled its intention to pass the act in the Speech from the Throne earlier this year. Since that time, Great Lakes United has joined forces with other environmental and conservation groups, green businesses, labour representatives, and citizens to form the Ontario Water Conservation Alliance, in an effort to ensure Ontario implements the strongest conservation plan possible.
“Ontario is recognizing that when we reduce our water use, we use less energy pumping treating, and heating water, we lower our greenhouse gas emissions, and we reduce the burden on an overwhelmed and aging sewer system that annually leaks billions of gallons of untreated sewage,” said Stack, adding: “Laggard states should take note. The Ontario bill shows that the province believes conservation is not only possible, it is profitable.”

BP Spill Potentially Grows to Hundreds of Millions of Gallons of Toxic Soup - National Wildlife Federation

2010-05-18T20:23:00.000-04:00

BP Spill Potentially Grows to Hundreds of Millions of Gallons of Toxic Soup - National Wildlife Federation

Cornell lab of Ornithology Tribute to birds of the Gulf Coast

2010-05-17T21:35:00.000-04:00

Take a moment to enjoy these photographs of healthy birds the rely on the Gulf Coast to live, bread, and stop on their northward migration.

This month, as an oil spill looms in the Gulf of Mexico, we present a tribute to the vistas of saltmarsh, bayou, estuary, and barrier island. We've selected 17 species, photographed by members of our Flickr group, Birdshare, as reminders of the magic of the Gulf Coast.

More than 1,200 photographers have contributed nearly 40,000 photos to Birdshare over the last two years. Their photos cover the breadth of the continent and capture intimate images of birds both common and rare.

Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition

2010-05-16T08:36:00.000-04:00

House Moves to Restore Clean Water Protections,
Vital to Great Lakes Restoration, Economic Recovery

ANN ARBOR, MICH. (April 21, 2010)—The U.S. House of Representatives today introduced legislation that restores historic safeguards to wetlands, lakes and streams that millions of people depend on for drinking water, jobs and recreation.

“Reinstating clean water protections to U.S. wetlands, lakes and streams is a vital component of Great Lakes restoration and economic recovery,” said Jeff Skelding, national campaign director of the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition. “Millions of people will benefit from the swift passage of this bill.”

Rep. Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.) introduced America’s Commitment to Clean Water Act (H.R. 5088) today along with Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) and Rep. Vern Ehlers (R-Mich.)

“We applaud these Great Lakes members for introducing this bill and urge the rest of the Great Lakes congressional delegation to join this effort to pass the bill quickly,” said Skelding. “Delay in restoring protections will jeopardize many of our nation’s waters that supply drinking water, jobs and swimming, boating, hunting and fishing opportunities for millions of Americans.”

The compromise legislation restores Clean Water Act protections that were placed in doubt by U.S. Supreme Court decisions (Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (2001) and Rapanos v. United States (2006)) and Bush Administration guidance. These decisions placed millions of acres of so-called “isolated” wetlands and lakes, intermittently flowing streams, and wetlands adjacent to these streams at risk of losing federal safeguards, leaving them vulnerable to pollution and destruction.

“This legislation ends confusion over how to protect our nation’s waters and re-affirms safeguards that Congress originally intended and that were in place before the Supreme Court muddied the waters—nothing more, nothing less,” said Skelding. “Quick passage of this bill will benefit the Great Lakes and our economy.”

Wetlands provide essential services for people. Healthy wetlands supply and recharge drinking water; improve water quality; prevent erosion; provide habitat for wildlife, waterfowl, and fish; and support multi-billion dollar hunting, fishing, bird-watching and boating opportunities in the Great Lakes states. One acre of wetlands, according to researchers, provides $10,573 of ecosystem services.

Passage of the America’s Commitment to Clean Water Act is essential to protect and restore wetlands—a core component of the multi-year effort to restore the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes Regional Collaboration Strategy has a long-term goal of restoring 1 million acres of high quality wetlands in the region. More than 66 percent of Great Lakes’ original wetlands have been filled in or destroyed. In states like Ohio, over 90 percent of wetlands have been lost.

The Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition is comprised of more than 100 environmental, conservation, hunting and fishing organizations; museums, zoos and aquariums; and businesses representing millions of people, whose common goal is to restore and protect the Great Lakes.

NWF Action Fund Action Center

2010-05-04T19:46:00.001-04:00

My gut feeling is to try and stop what I'm doing, take a leave of absence from work and go to the gulf coast to pitch in to help with the oil spill cleanup and prevention effort. I hate just watching the news reports as the oil continues to gush unchecked. The best advice, though is not to go unless you already live in the area.

Seriously, it would cost me hundreds of dollars to travel, lodge and take care of myself on the road. Ironically, such an effort would burn a lot of fuel and provide very little relief. On the other hand, although it doesn't have the same visceral appeal, I could just donate some money where it would make a difference. I just sent some cash to the National Wildlife Federation to assist them in their response to the gulf oil spill efforts. I am confident that this is a much better use of my resources than making the trip.

NWF Action Fund Action Center

10 Things You Can Do to Help the Gulf Coast Clean the Oil Spill - Fresh Greens (usnews.com)

2010-05-04T19:34:00.001-04:00

10 Things You Can Do to Help the Gulf Coast Clean the Oil Spill - Fresh Greens (usnews.com)

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WORKSHOP Engineering in a Climate of Change: Making the Lakes Great

2010-04-20T18:29:00.000-04:00

The Government of Ontario, as indicated in its recent Throne Speech, wishes to make Ontario a leading exporter of new technologies and services for water conservation and treatment. With a renewed focus on water quality, Ontario will be looking to engineers for innovative technologies to safeguard water resources worldwide, including those in our own backyard.

Join engineers, academics, research scientists and community stakeholders on April 29th for a day-long discussion of the health and resilience of the Great Lakes, the largest system of fresh surface water in the world.

Engineering in a Climate of Change: Making the Lakes Great
Thursday, April 29, 2010
MaRS Discovery District, Toronto

Frogs: The Thin Green Line

2010-04-16T15:46:00.004-04:00

Frogs: The Thin Green Line - Introduction - Amphibians - Extinction - Allison Argo | Nature

Excellent Episode (50 minutes) that reviews the wonder of frogs and their evolution. The problem of Chytrid is explored in depth. This fungus may well be causing a mass extinction event.

EarthFest 2010

2010-04-15T18:23:00.002-04:00

FOWL will be at the zoo for EarthFest 2010. Come celebrate the 40th aniversary of Earth Day. Stop by our table and say hello, support FOWL or renew your membership.

Join Earth Day Coalition for a fun and exciting day at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo on Sunday, April 18th from10am-5pm as we proudly celebrate EarthFest 2010!

This year marks the 40th global anniversary of Earth Day. Cleveland will join London, Mumbai, Sydney, Rio de Janeiro,Beijing, Tokyo, and a host of other cities around the world in show-casing climate change solutions and making a clear call to action.

EarthFest is Ohio’s largest environmental education festival, and will feature over 160 exhibitors working to create sustainable environmental solutions in areas such as clean transportation,alternative energy, green home improvement, and local and organic foods. Other exhibit and activity areas will feature groups working in the ecological non-profit sector, environmental science, and children’s education.

World's 4th Largest Lake is Now 90 Percent Dried Up

2010-04-13T17:11:00.002-04:00

April 6, 2010 |

Not so long ago, the Aral Sea was the 4th largest freshwater lake in the world. Now, it's only 10% of its former size. In what the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is calling one of the most shocking disasters on the planet, the Aral Sea has literally all but dried up. So how does one of the most massive bodies of water in the world vanish?

COSI Lily Pad and Innovations in Energy Projects

2010-04-07T22:45:00.002-04:00

"LilyPad" - the exhibit area focused on watersheds in Ohio. We are now in Phase 2 of the project, and will be finishing it at the end of June this year - http://www.cosi.org/visitors/exhibits/lilypad/.

For Lily Pad, we are adding to the exhibit area we opened earlier this year. We are currently developing watershed and water quality experiences on graphics, videos, and touchscreen computer monitors. In order to supplement the visual content in the exhibit, we wanted to include photographs taken by people in our community. We are holding a photo contest, to ask for photographs related to watershed, which we will then use on the graphics and video monitors in the exhibit. If you are willing, could you please distribute the attached information to anyone at your organization or associated groups or individuals that you think might be interested in participating? Participants need to receive the contest information as well as the photo release document. The deadline for submission is May 7, 2010.

Teacher's Domain

2010-04-07T07:56:00.001-04:00

This video segment explains why Native people regard wetlands not only for their important ecological function, but for their spiritual value as well. For many tribes, wetlands represent life. They consider wetlands to be sacred places that must be protected from external sources of pollution, such as runoff from landscaping businesses and municipal discharges. The video segment was adapted from a student video produced at Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kansas. Open 1min. 21sec segment of video.
Teachers Domain, from PBS, includes a wealth of digital media like this accompanied by teaching materials. (See Background Essay.)
When searching for content at Teachers Domain, similar topics are suggested in a sidebar. For instance, see 'The Value of Wetlands'. If you are an educator or just want to educate yourself, bookmark this site and cruise its contents regularly.

Healing Our Waters©-Great Lakes Coalition

2010-04-05T07:34:00.001-04:00

Friends of Wetlands signed on to this letter which is excerpted here.

On behalf of the Ohio organizations of the Healing Our Waters©-Great Lakes Coalition, we ask you to support $475 million for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) in fiscal year 2011. Freezing funding for this multi-year initiative at fiscal year 2010 levels will accelerate the restoration of the Great Lakes, improving our nation’s environment and creating jobs.

Benefit of Lake Erie to Ohio
Lake Erie is a foundation of health, economic vitality, and recreation for millions of Ohioans. Unique among the Great Lakes, Lake Erie is the shallowest, warmest and most biologically productive. The Lake supports one of the largest freshwater commercial fisheries in the world and the largest sport fishery in the Great Lakes, producing more fish for human consumption than the other four Great Lakes combined.

The 11,649 square miles that make up Ohio’s Lake Erie basin are comprised of beech-maple, oak, hemlock, and hardwood forests, as well as marshes, vernal pools and bogs, rare oak savannas, lakeshore grasslands, sand dunes, and more. These habitats sustain more than 1,500 species of plants and animals. Threatened, endangered and rare species located within these extraordinary and unparalleled ecosystems include the wild lupine, Showy Lady’s Slipper orchid, four-toed salamander, Lake Erie water snake and the Karner blue butterfly.

While Lake Erie does so much for us, it desperately needs our help. Invasive species like the quagga mussel are crowding out native fish and wildlife. Antiquated sewer systems and failing septic tanks dump raw, untreated sewage into the lakes and its tributaries, making the waters of our beaches unsafe for swimming.

Funding to Restore our Great Lakes and Improve our Quality of Life
As you know, President Obama committed to a five-year, $5-billion program to implement the Great Lakes restoration and protection strategy. The $475 million provided for the GLRI to implement this plan in fiscal year 2010 is a strong start. However, we cannot let up now. Sustained, consistent funding is needed to keep pace with the urgent threats to the Lakes; make up for years of inadequate federal investment; fulfill the President’s promise; and ensure the GLRI’s long-term success.

Last year the President proposed and Congress supported the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, a new $475 million multi-year initiative to accelerate progress in restoring the Great Lakes. This new initiative puts people to work solving the most urgent problems facing the Lakes. Sustained investment of the GLRI this year will help clean up toxic pollution that poses a threat to people and wildlife; restore wetlands to improve water quality and provide wildlife habitat that is important to the region’s tourism industry; and prevent and control new invasive species that cost the region at least $200 million every year.

Conclusion
We are poised to make real progress in restoring the Great Lakes. This progress is critical not only for our environment but also our economy. The Brookings Institution showed that a $25 billion investment in cleaning up toxic sediments, restoring wetlands or preventing sewer overflows leads to at least $50 billion in economic benefit to the region and nation; including higher property values, new development, more recreational opportunities, new jobs, and a better quality of life! The longer we wait to make needed investments in the Great Lakes, however, the worse and more expensive the problems they face get.

Great Lakes problems won’t solve themselves. They need your help, which is why we urge you to support freezing funding for the GLRI in fiscal year 2011 at last year’s level of $475 million.

Mountaintop Removal

2010-04-04T11:01:00.002-04:00

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency made an unprecedented and historic move yesterday toward curbing the devastating practice of mountaintop removal coal mining. The new policy, effective immediately for pending surface mine permits, stipulates that the practice of valley fills - which bury streams and poison Appalachia's water sources - will not be permitted unless they meet a high standard.
While this is indeed a historic moment in the fight to end mountaintop removal, and we applaud the EPA for this decision, the policy itself could be overturned by a new presidential administration. We need to pass a law making it permanently illegal to pollute the waters of Appalachia.

WWW.iLoveMountains.org is making the following request:

Please help us pass the Clean Water Protection Act and the Appalachia Restoration Act, two bills which are currently in the U.S. Congress, to ensure that no administration can overturn policy and allow mountaintop removal to continue devastating the communities and environment of Appalachia.
Contact your Congressional representative about the Clean Water Protection Act (H.R. 1310) and your Senator about the Appalachia Restoration Act (S. 696) TODAY and urge them to cosponsor these bills.
Our goal is to pass this legislation THIS YEAR -- help us make this a reality by calling today!

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Coal Comfort - Margaret Palmer

www.colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor

Health Care Reform

Draft Rules Section 401 Water Quality Certifications (OAC 3745-32 and 45)

2010-04-01T10:05:00.001-04:00

The revision process is stalled indefinitely. Comments are still welcome. The following is from the Ohio EPA website. Please send in your comments to encourage the highest level of wetland protection.

The draft rules are available below. Notice has been sent out for interested party review. After considering comments and making changes, if necessary, to the rules, a public hearing and another public comment period will be scheduled.

Background

The federal Clean Water Act requires anyone discharging dredged or fill material into Ohio waters to obtain a water quality certification from Ohio EPA pursuant to Section 401 and a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers pursuant to Section 404. Ohio EPA’s review is to ensure that the projects comply with Ohio’s water quality standards.
The current Section 401 water quality certification rules, as they apply to streams, apply only in situations involving a pending federal permit, usually a Section 404 permit. Section 404 permits are required only for waterways that can be defined as waters of the United States. The definition of waters of the United States under the Clean Water Act no longer includes isolated wetlands and streams. However, these are considered waters of the state under Ohio Law (ORC section 6111.01). The Ohio General Assembly addressed this conflict for isolated wetlands in 2001 by establishing a state isolated wetland permitting program (ORC Chapter 6111.). This rule package addresses this conflict for isolated streams by establishing a state water quality permit.
Other draft revisions in Chapter 3745-32 combine and enhance procedural rules that help address some historical procedural ambiguities within the program. Rule 3745-45-02 is being rescinded because certification fees are now incorporated into state law (ORC section 3745.114).
For additional information about Ohio EPA's Section 401 water quality certification programs, visit the Ohio EPA Section 401 Water Quality Certification Program Web page and Environmental Mitigation and Special Permitting Section Web page.

Available documents

Letter to interested parties [PDF 121K]
Fact sheet [PDF 23K]
Draft Rules
For an amended rule text to be deleted is struck out and new text is underlined. For a new rule, all text is underlined. For a rescinded rule, text is left unchanged and “To Be Rescinded” is at the top of the first page of the rule.
Download all the draft rules to be rescinded here [PDF 43K] or download individual rules below.
Download all the draft amended and new rules here [PDF 62K] or download individual rules below.

A Great Time to Visit Vernal Pools

2010-03-30T18:46:00.004-04:00

The heavy rains in the second week of March have brought out woodfrogs, salamanders, and other amphibians to migrate to vernal pools and other wetlands. Across Ohio lots of small animals can be seen crossing roads and heading for vernal pools.

Salamanders and wood frogs migrate from their wintering sites in the uplands to vernal pools for breeding when the conditions are right. The ideal conditions are thawed ground, air temperature in the 40's, rain, little wind, and darkness. Early migrations such as this past week often are light in numbers of animals. More and larger migrations are yet to come.

If you go out on a rainy night to observe migrations, do be careful. Drivers will have trouble seeing "salamander people" on the road. Resist the urge to stop traffic to save amphibians. Don't become a statistic. If you find a location with significant roadkill, work with local authorities for road closings in future years. Once mole salamanders and wood frogs reach their vernal pool, breeding activities commence.

Visit this web site for more information, suggestions of books parents and children can check out from local libraries, and other ideas for finding science in cool vernal pools.

Rulings Restrict Clean Water Act, Foiling E.P.A.

2010-03-27T08:08:00.001-04:00

By Charles Duhigg and Janet Roberts – New York Times – February 28, 2010

Thousands of the nation’s largest water polluters are outside the Clean Water Act’s reach because the Supreme Court has left uncertain which waterways are protected by that law, according to interviews with regulators. As a result, some businesses are declaring that the law no longer applies to them. And pollution rates are rising. Companies that have spilled oil, carcinogens and dangerous bacteria into lakes, rivers and other waters are not being prosecuted, according to Environmental Protection Agency regulators working on those cases, who estimate that more than 1,500 major pollution investigations have been discontinued or shelved in the last four years.

Find My Cleanup

2010-03-25T19:03:00.003-04:00

Great Lakes United is pleased to announce the launch of a new website!

www.findmycleanup.org

Find My Cleanup is a community resource that will help connect people to the watershed cleanups happening in their neighborhoods.

Visit www.findmycleanup.org today and submit your clean up event or find out if there is a cleanup taking place in your region.
This is a new resource and we would appreciate your help in making it as useful as possible. Please Forward this email to a friend and encourage them to tell us about the cleanups happening in their region!

The site is developed and maintained by Great Lakes United, an international coalition to protect and restore the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River ecosystem.

For more information about our work, or to become a member, visit www.glu.org.

EPA Launches Web Forum on How to Best Protect America’s Waters

2010-03-18T17:51:00.000-04:00

Contact Ernesta Jones - EPA News Release – March 17, 2010
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is seeking public input on how the agency can better protect and improve the health of our waters. For a two- week period, EPA is holding a Web discussion forum on how the nation can better manage some of the most significant water pollution problems facing our nation. The feedback received on the online forum will help shape the discussion at EPA’s upcoming conference in April, Coming Together for Clean Water, where we will engage approximately 100 executive and local level water leads on the agency’s clean water agenda. "We look forward to reviewing the ideas and feedback from the public,”

said Peter S. Silva, assistant administrator EPA’s Office of Water. “This online discussion is for anyone who wants to share their best solutions for restoring healthy waters and creating sustainable communities across the country." EPA wants to receive input from water professionals, advocates, and anyone interested in water quality issues about best solutions—from planning, scientific tools, low impact development, to green infrastructure and beyond—in controlling water pollution and how resources can be better focused to improve these efforts.

To join the discussion: http://blog.epa.gov/waterforum/

Clean Water for All: County Leaders Speak Out for Clean Water

2010-03-18T17:48:00.000-04:00

The Conservation Leaders Network recently released a new report, “Clean Water for All: County Leaders Speak Out for Clean Water.” “This report tells the local stories of water pollution and destruction and the resulting harm and expense to communities. These stories remind us that to protect our local water supplies, property, infrastructure, and economies, we must look upstream to the many miles of trickling head-water and intermittently flowing streams and acres of wetlands that do most of the real work of storing and cleansing our waters. As these stories show us, we disregard at our peril these “non-navigable” workhorses of our watersheds. Unless we restore our commitment to their protection, their pollution and destruction over time will leave us with very costly reparations – and in some cases irreversible harm to our water resources.”

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2010-03-16T18:28:00.001-04:00

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Don't Forget About Lake Erie (IJC Public Meeting in Toledo)

2010-03-16T18:03:00.000-04:00

From Kristy Meyer at the Ohio Environmental Council

I wanted to make sure that you were all aware about a public meeting that the International Joint Commission will be holding on March 25^th at 7:00 pm at the University of Toledo, Lake Erie Center. They will be talking about the Upper Great Lakes Water Levels. Apparently, the study was undertaken because of concern about falling lake levels in the upper Great Lakes. There are some folks that are pushing hard to further control the amount of water that Lake Erie and Lake Ontario receive. It seemed to me that we should all be very interested in this study, particularly because they are talking about holding back water, which would impact Lake Erie and the amount of water within our Great Lake for wildlife, drinking water, manufacturing, agriculture, recreational opportunities, etc. Below is a link to a press release about these hearings.

Here is why you should attend:

The report Impacts on Upper Great Lakes Water Levels: St. Clair River concludes the first phase of a study of the upper Great Lakes. It examines the physical changes in the St. Clair River since 1962 and recommends that measures to remediate the increased conveyance, or water carrying capacity, of the river not be undertaken at this time. It also recommends that mitigation measures in the St. Clair River be examined as part of the comprehensive assessment of the future effects of climate change in the second phase of the study.
The IJC will consider the views of the public on the recommendations of its Study Board before it reports to the governments of Canada and the United States on matters related to the St. Clair River and their impacts on upper Great Lakes water levels.

FOWL Takes a Giant Step Forward

2010-02-27T12:13:00.000-05:00

At the meeting last Sunday the Steering Committee in charge of 're-booting' the organization made decisive progress on a number of fronts. A New FOWL Board of Directors and Officers were chosen.

Ray Stewart - President
Shirley Tomosillo - Secretary
Marge Diamond - Treasurer
John Pais
Mike Wagner
Daryl Davis
Helen Kopp
Kathleen Bradley

This is an excellent core of Wetland Stewards with a long history of contributing to FOWL. Among these board members we have a great pool of diverse talents. Their enthusiasm is delightfully strong. They are digging right in to do the work of the organization. Follow up on membership and tabling will continue on March 7th at the Presidential Offices (Rays' house) at 2pm.
There is still plenty of room for more members to step up and pitch in. We have immediate need for graphics/visual arts talents as we prepare materials for the Earthfest 2010 tabling at the Zoo and other locations. Let me know if you can help.
Membership
Based on the poll results from 31 respondents to the simple survey, membership contributions have been adjusted. Basic membership level is now $20 with a student/senior level of $10. The 'Lifetime' membership is discontinued. All those who have contributed at the lifetime level will continue to enjoy that status. With our new membership committee headed by Mike Wagner, we will be taking steps to assure timely updates of membership status and develop a routine process for keeping annual memberships coming in.

Non-profit status
The federal 501(c)3 application process will soon be streamlined with an online application. The cost will be greatly reduced. When this is rolled out in 2010, we will be moving forward with the non-profit application.
By-laws
A standard set of by-laws were introduced for the boards consideration. Several modifications were recommended. These will be the subject of upcoming board meetings with the goal of adopting them before the June 19th picnic/annual meeting/fundraiser.

Mascot
In other swift and decisive action, based on the results of our Simple Survey, FOWL has adopted the Spotted Salamander as its mascot.

Congratulations Ambystoma maculatum.

Friends of Wetlands New Mission Statement

2010-02-24T21:26:00.002-05:00

Although we haven't officially adopted it yet, this is the current version based upon board input.

Friends of Wetlands will encourage the highest quality of habitat protection for wetlands by

providing education on the functions and values of wetlands;
training citizen scientists to report data on local wetlands; and
promoting strongly protective public policy.

Further comments are welcome.

Funding for Louisiana coastal restoration in Obama's budget

2010-02-23T18:01:00.000-05:00

By Editorial page staff, The Times-Picayune

February 03, 2010, 6:29AM

Louisiana's fight to save its shrinking coastline will get vital help in the Obama administration's proposed 2011 budget, which includes $35.6 million for larger coastal restoration projects.
It's the first time that the Louisiana Coastal Area Ecosystem Restoration program has received federal construction funding, a significant milestone for the state.
"The fact that coastal restoration in Louisiana is one of the only new construction projects requested by the president ... is a clear message that the tide is turning,'' said Garret Graves, adviser to Gov. Bobby Jindal. "For over 80 years, our state has lost over 2,300 square miles of coastal land; finally the federal government can join us in implementing solutions.''
That's critically important given the short window of time -- less than a decade -- that experts say remains for restoring the coast.
Projects that have been designed and are ready to build will get $19 million of the money, with the biggest share going to build wetlands with sediment removed from the Mississippi River during routine dredging. That's a smart approach that makes use of a resource that's now being wasted.

Great Lakes News

2010-02-23T17:50:00.002-05:00

U.S. President Barack Obama and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson, in collaboration with 15 other federal agencies, have made restoring the Great Lakes a national priority.
Signaling a commitment beyond measure of past promises, in February 2009, President Obama proposed $475 million for a Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. This Action Plan describes how the Initiative will be executed from 2010 through 2014.

Notably;

Habitat and Wildlife Protection and Restoration, including bringing wetlands and other habitat back to life, and the first-ever comprehensive assessment of the entire 530,000 acres of Great Lakes coastal wetlands for the purpose of strategically targeting restoration and protection efforts in a science-based manner (pages 33-35)

This could be a great time to be a wetland advocacy group!

Spring Events

2010-02-21T08:43:00.001-05:00

With the FOWL newsletter down we are relying on electronic communications to our members. Spring is a very busy time. A variety of FOWL sponsored and other wetland events are being offered. Please pass this information on to anyone who might be interested.

March 13th Reptile Conference - Columbus
March 24th NEOWC Public Meeting 6-9:15pm - Canalway, Cleveland
March 28 FOWL Duck Walk at the Beaver Marsh 11am Peninsula
April 9 Ecowatch Green Gala Landerhaven
April 10 Managing Wetlands for Biodiversity Conference Ashland
April 15 Earth day at NASA Glenn 10am - 2pm Cleveland
April 17 OEC Vernal Pools Richland
April 17 WRLC Garlic Mustard Pull at Wendtwood 1 - 4pm - Columbia Station
April 18 FOWL at Earthfest Cleveland Zoo
April 24 FOWL Vernal Pool Hike at Denny Jordan's Amherst
May 6 & 7 Great Lakes Compact Meeting Ann Arbor Michigan

Organizational Meeting

2010-02-01T15:31:00.002-05:00

Press the play triangle for an important message.

Our next meeting on February 21st, at 2pm at the Elyria Public Library, West River branch near Midway Mall is open to all members. Hoping that more people will show up, we have selected this larger meeting space. Please come with ideas for tabling at Earth Day Events, nominations for Board Members, and plans for our future.

The 're-boot' Fowl Meeting Feb. 21, 2010

2010-01-17T09:30:00.000-05:00

Fowl Meeting Feb. 21, 2010
If you read the December Friends of Wetlands Newsletter you are aware that there are some dramatic changes taking place at FOWL. Our founder and president since 1991, John Katko, has resigned. He is spending much of his time in California these days.
In the interest of restructuring the leadership of FOWL we are meeting to consider how and where we go from here. The first such meeting was last week. Meeting minutes can be found at http://freindsofwetlands.pbworks.com. In two hours we barely got started with our agenda. Our next step is to develop a new board of directors.
Since John bore the burden of duties for FOWL, several new leaders are needed to take on and share responsibilities. FOWL will likely take a new direction and character as the leadership is reconstituted. We have begun a Call for Nominations to the FOWL Board of Directors. Our goal is to have a new leadership to present to the members in time for the FOWL Picnic on June 19th. I am beginning to think of this as a 're-boot' of FOWL since it looks like we are starting all over again. I hope it is more like an upgrade.
It is time that the organization rethink what it is about. Please consider adding your thought and talents to this process. Our next 're-boot' meeting will be on Sunday Feb. 21 at the Elyria Public Library, West River Branch at 2pm. See events.fowl.org for details. If you would like to contribute but cannot attend, you can email me or start a discussion at http://blog.fowl.org.

Ohio Reptile Research and Conservation Conference

2010-01-08T09:29:00.000-05:00

Registration is now open for the Ohio Reptile Research and Conservation Conference to be held on Saturday, March 13, 2010 in Columbus, Ohio. Sponsored by the Ohio Division of Wildlife and the Ohio Biological Survey, invited speakers from the Midwest will present findings of recent research and conservation projects involving Ohio’s snakes, turtles, and lizards.

The Conference will start with setup and registration from 8:30-9:00 AM. Paper presentations will commence at 9:00 AM. Lunch will be provided as part of the regular registration fee of $35 ($25 for students). All registrants to the conference will also receive an inaugural Ohio Wildlife Legacy Stamp (a $15 value). On-site registration fees are the same, but with no lunch. The conference concludes at 5 PM.

For details see: http://www.ohioamphibians.com/reptile/index.html

Phragmites partners with microbes to plot native plants' demise

2009-12-29T16:14:00.000-05:00

Phragmites partners with microbes to plot native plants' demise

Friends of Wetlands - Blog: Creating Shallow Water Wetlands

2009-12-29T14:45:00.000-05:00

Friends of Wetlands - Blog: Creating Shallow Water Wetlands

http://valleyforgewetland.shutterfly.com/
Join me at my wetland website by clicking on this link.

Creating Shallow Water Wetlands

2009-12-29T12:58:00.004-05:00

In the spring of 2007 a project was undertaken to build a shallow water wetland in a courtyard of Valley Forge High School, Parma Hts, Ohio. Looking back at my time spent working on this project, it is an amazing success. The school is using this wetland as a working lab for the biology, art and chemistry students. It really is true that if you build it they will come. There is never a day that we are not amazed by the activities of this man-made wetland. Check out the link to my website for this wetland and make sure you look at all the pages right of the home page. I was told many times that it was impossible to make this happen but as you will see in my website nothing is impossible if you really want it to happen. But of course, it is all up to you.

35 truck loads of hand dug clay was wheelbarrowed through the hallways and dumped in the front of the school. A total of 125 students, teachers , administrators and alumni worked to make this project a great success. It is planted with native pants and we will work to improve it as we go. The wetland has since been register with the National Wildlife Federation.

"Flash floods have increased in urban area over the last 20 years. This is in part by the loss of wetlands from Northeast Ohio and the urban sprawl that has occured leaving much of the land covered in concrete and putting the bulk of runoff in the sewers which quickly dump into streams and then major rivers.

This is a one of a kind project design of a wetland that will also be a nature center. The students will design a way to divert rain water from the school roof to the wetland, dig the wetland to specific standards for sustaining life, remove non-native species of plants and replace with native ones, stock wetland with wildlife, create learning posts and guide brochures, design a website, design and conduct tours for visitors, design hands-on experiments easily performed by students and grade appropriate according to state content standards.

LEARNING EXPERIENCES INCLUDE

. Working with adults and organizations

. Stewardship toward the wetland

. Knowledge of wetland ecosystem

. Organism identification

. Invasive species and management

. Water quality and water cycles through the seasons

. Need for wetlands to manage flooding

PLANTS INCLUDE: INSECTS INCLUDE: ANIMALS INCLUDE:

Nodding wild onion prairie Odantes (Dragon flies) Amphibians

Marsh milkweed Blue dasher Green frogs

Sky blue aster Eastern pondhawk Toads

New England aster butter Familiar bluet Reptiles/snapping turtle

Marigold wild senna Skimming bluet Sparrows

Purple coneflower prairie Common whitetail Finches

Showy sunflower prairie Widow skimmer Cardinals

Wild yellow iris Twelve-spotted skimmer Blue jays

Dense blazing star Black saddlebags Chickadees

Giant blue lobelia Common baskettail Tufted tit-mouse

Common mountain mint Dot-tailed whiteface Blue heron

Royal catchfly Eastern amberwing Green heron

Stiff goldenrod big bluestem Ruby meadow hawk Mallard ducks

Culvers root American rubyspot Canadian geese

Smooth Ironweed Violet dancer

Cup plant

At Valley Forge, we have created a living land lab to educate students about eleviating the flash floods around urban areas, wetland management, native vs. non-native organisms, classification of organisms, pollution, recycling, food webs, and populations." ( from Wetland pamphlet compiled at Valley Forge Highschool for tour of the Friends of Big Creek organization, 2009)"

This information was compiled by Jon Komar a biology teacher at Valley Forge HS and also Jim Wohl who is a Backyard Habitat Steward of the National Wildlife Federation and steering committee member of Friend of Big Creek Watershed.

Winter Solstice Spotted Salamander

2009-12-22T16:46:00.004-05:00

Spotted Salamander
Seen in Ohio Snow

As reported on Ohio Vernal Pool Partnership by Tim Mason, a spotted salamander was photographed on Sunday December 20th, 2009 walking across the snow at The Dawes Arboretum.

Now, doesn't this tenaciousness cold-blooded creature represent the spirit of Ohio better than the bullfrog that simply won't be seen for another 5 months.

When choosing an Ohio State amphibian, let's adopt this critter to represent our spirit, style and ruggedness in the Great State of Ohio.

Lake Erie wetlands break down harmful chemical compounds

2009-12-16T20:05:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Kathleen for bringing this to our attention:

COLUMBUS, OH – Beyond being a haven for wildlife and plant life, wetland areas provide the right mix of chemical compounds and physical characteristics to break down harmful pollutants, according to Ohio Sea Grant research from Dr. Yo Chin, Professor of Geology at Ohio State University.

Chin and his graduate student Ale Hakala have determined that over time, pentachloronitrobenzene (PCNB), an antifungal chemical now banned for use on most crops in the U.S., can be reduced to pentachloroaniline (PCA), a compound that should be more readily broken down by wetland bacteria.

Chin studied the process at Old Woman Creek National Estuarine Research Reserve in Huron, Ohio, using a technique he has perfected over more than a decade that slowly pulls water out of sediment in an oxygen-free environment. Keeping oxygen out is important because the main catalyst in the PCNB-to-PCA reaction is a form of iron scientists call iron 2 (or, Fe(II)). If even the smallest amount of oxygen gets in, the iron oxidizes to Fe(III), commonly known as rust, thereby ruining the experiment.

In the laboratory setting, when the water from the sediment had been chemically stabilized, the reaction turning PCNB to PCA was completed in two hours. But, surprisingly, the same reaction took one week when the team used water that hadn’t been stabilized—the way it would be found in the wetland. This discovery opened Chin’s eyes.

“Everything we’ve done, everything anyone has done with these pore waters, was based on manipulated compounds,” he says. “In nature, the compounds aren’t manipulated in that way, so the reaction takes a week instead of two hours. Doing it in the lab allows you to control things, but the take-home message here is that nature doesn’t want to be controlled.”

To read more about this Ohio Sea Grant-funded research, visit http://ohioseagrant.osu.edu/_documents/twineline/v31i4.pdf

The Ohio State University’s Ohio Sea Grant College Program is part of NOAA Sea Grant, a network of 30 Sea Grant Programs dedicated to the protection and sustainable use of marine and Great Lakes resources. For information on Ohio Sea Grant and Stone Lab, visit ohioseagrant.osu.edu.

###

Contact:Dr. Yo Chin, Ohio State University, chin.15@osu.edu, 614.292.6953

What's Next?

2009-11-12T20:07:00.002-05:00

John Katko, FOWL's founder and President for life has officially abdicated his position. He does so with the best intentions. Nonetheless, we are left without any clear transition plans. There is no process in place to succeed him. With the holidays quickly approaching, I doubt that any immediate action will be taken. I suggest that plans be made to call concerned members together in mid-January. Alice has, again, graciously agreed to host and accommodate a meeting similar to the picnic planning meeting of last summer. In the mean time, This blog would be an excellent place to propose agenda items, discuss concerns and provide opinions. The following is the text of John's most recent communication;

Hello all, I'm hoping that at least some of the group of people receiving this email will have some discussion about where and when an idea session concerning the future of FOWL (if there is to be one) can occur. Each person on this list has some resources and/or skills that would really benefit FOWL and make it a much more effective organization, from artistry to science knowledge to community involvement to understanding and interacting with government activities to organizing volunteer efforts to a hundred other gifts. If you know of anyone that should be included in this process I would be glad to add her/his name and email address. I am of the opinion that my "benevolent dictatorship" of FOWL (as Kathleen so sweetly puts it), while allowing a certain quick-footedness and strong direction, has stymied the group and held it back in many ways. I know that so many of our members and participants have a lot to offer, and hope some of them will take the opportunity to make FOWL their own, so to speak. One of the current most important resources for this development is the availability of people who can guide discussion in a positive and constructive way. My hope, then, is that an agreed meeting time and place be developed through communication among this group of people, so that I can put this as an announcement in the upcoming, probably very brief, newsletter (which I very much hope to have completed by the beginning of December at the latest). Unless advised otherwise, I think it would be proper to thus include any of FOWL's interested members in this process. I am not now planning on attending any such meeting; I feel it is important to remove myself from the discussion of FOWL's future and the decisions that are thereby reached since I won't be the main force behind it any longer. I would be delighted to consult with people who have questions and ideas if they choose. I hope not to lose all contact with FOWL activities; I especially love the educational aspects of wetlands natural history and would be delighted to provide what resources I have in this area in whatever way my circumstances allow. It would be extremely sad for me to witness the end of FOWL. After 18 years it has become a very important part of what I am. My experience with this effort has been trying, joyous, fulfilling, energizing, character-building, and full of companionship and humble gratitude and acknowledgment of the commitment and spirited intent of others. I do think of FOWL as more of a tribe than a formal organization (though it might be good to alter that) - of like-minded people who can come together to support a common passion without succumbing to the tragedy of amplified differences. One of the most consistent points that I got as feedback from the FOWL picnics is how much so many of the participants enjoyed the company of the others. After the initial responses - many of which expressed ideas about 501(c)3 status for FOWL, there has been little if any activity towards planning its next incarnation. I hope that people will communicate and let me know about any meeting time and place that is decided upon.

John

Correspondence with Denny Jordan

2009-11-04T17:27:00.000-05:00

I have just read the blog concerning the discussion of non-profit status for the group. I have heard (no personal experience) that there are some advantages to going non-profit, but it also creates a few handcuffs, and requires a large increase in time spent meeting, processing paperwork, and creates a need for someone or several someones to dedicate a lot of time just to the upkeep of the machinery of the non-profit. And often times the people that have to fill the bureaucratic positions lose the ability to do whatever their original goal was (field work, education or whatever). I have no reason to believe that becoming a non-profit would be bad, but I think it should be well discussed and not rushed into.

Ohio Prairie Association

On a total side note... As I get closer to retirement, I am attempting to put more time and work into my property on Baumhart Road in Henrietta Township. It has a channelized stream, headwaters of Beaver Creek, and some of the old stream meanders remain behind a here and there levee from the channelizing. Some of these do have use by frogs and salamanders, but I need to look at what I should do to protect or enhance the area. Part of the area was damaged by some BAD loggers using BAD techniques including the total destruction of one vernal pool and a skid road going right through another. I am a geologist by training and a generalist by nature. I am attempting to do a prairie restoration on part of the property and looking at constructing a pond/wetland. If there is a time for an evaluation of the existing pools in the spring it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for the e-mail and info. I had test holes for the pond dug yesterday and am waiting for the LCSW engineers to give their feedback. I am trying to do this the right way and have had consultation from some experienced people. A while back when we had purchased the second piece of property at that location my wife and I, both science teachers, had thought about having a teaching/learning place as a way to pass some time and stay involved. We have been huge fans of The Wilderness Center down our way and have used it with our students on several occasions as well as enjoyed some good old adult learning of our own through some of their many offerings. We envisioned a smaller version of that. The addition of the pond and creation of a sizeable prairie are for aesthetics, wildlife, preservation, my enjoyment and the possibility of education. I have worked with Randy Carmel (fellow teacher) down here on several prairie restoration projects. The two of us and several other adults are working with groups of Wooster students on restoration in the Wright Marsh area which is part of the Killbuck Marsh complex on Rt 226 just north of Shreve. The Ohio Division of Wildlife has kindly given us permission to work on about 10-15 acres of their land right by the parking area. We have a nice piece of prairie going with hopes to continue expansion over the full available acreage. I got into prairies several years ago after going to Leopold's "Shack" and visiting several existing native prairies, and several restoration projects. I was blown away and have been dabbling in it and learning tons ever since. I have a nice section of what used to be my yard down here that now flowers beautifully, attracts wildlife, and also doesn't need to be mowed! Thanks for the info with Mr. Blakeman and the Ohio Prairie Association, sounds like a great contact. I will definitely be in touch with them. After 15 years of playing, exploring, reading and picking people's brains I am still learning an incredible amount. Plus we are experiencing incredible growth here in Wayne Co and see the same in Holmes Co just to our south and watch as every year another prairie remnant goes under the bulldozer. We have been doing all of this as an educational process but are also trying to build a "safe and protected" seed bank.
Your visit last year was much appreciated. I would welcome the bio survey, and don't mind if a group shows up in the spring. If you think it is worthy I would welcome people showing up for a spring hike. The weekend of 4/17-18 sounds good right now. I will be heading to Arizona to visit my son and his family to assist in the welcoming of grandchild number 5 somewhere around 4/4. If all goes well we should be back before then.
I have a couple of maps of the property, including the ones that come with the Lorain Co Soil Survey bible (electronic version) and a regular quadrangle map, but would love to have a detailed map. I have played a lot with the google earth stuff also. I probably would need something with a 1 foot contour level to show much as the terrain is incredibly flat!

FOWL has been great for me, and I have not even been truly involved yet. I would like to see its membership and volunteer funding build, but worry about it becoming more structure and less function. A large part of FOWL's appeal I think is the field work and enjoyment of the outdoors. A lot of people not only dislike the "office work" but they dread it. The system has many advantages, but a long time ago someone said something about "paid directors" tend to become more like dictators. After a while it almost seems as though the raising of funds becomes more important than the raising of voices, and the enjoyment and education. And it seems that grass roots organizations maintain their passion and purpose longer. I know that funding and tax exemptions sound very appealing, but they come at a cost. And you and I through our jobs understand what processing large volumes of paperwork involves! Not one of my passions or strong points! And speaking of large volumes of paperwork, I think this has gone on long enough! Thanks for your help and I look forward to getting together with you all soon.
denny jordan

The Wilderness Center

2009-10-28T17:55:00.000-04:00

1) Hello everyone! Most of you know we hosted 2 vernal pool workshops this year. Well, yesterday, we started digging our very own new pool. This Saturday (October 31st) we are looking for volunteers to help us finish the digging. We’ll provide all the tools and lunch. It will be muddy work, but should be fun! We hope to do the final grading and berm-building, and seed it with annual rye. We’ll start at 10:00 and work until 12 or 12:30, then have lunch. You might want to bring a change of clothes! Please let me know if you plan to come so I can round up enough shovels, etc.

2) The other opportunity is setting up salamander transects on Thursday, Oct. 29th . Jack Taylor (OCVN 2009) and I laid out the lines and got everything ready. We need help hauling and laying out the brick coverboards. We’ll start at 9:30 and should be done before lunch.

Sorry for the short notice on theses events!

Carrie

Carrie Elvey, Naturalist
The Wilderness Center, Inc.
PO Box 202
Wilmot, OH 44689
330-359-5235

Portage Parks

2009-10-28T17:44:00.001-04:00

The Park District has an opportunity to do a wetland plant survey near Potter Creek in Suffield Township in order to fill some grant match hours we’ve promised.I am looking for volunteers and I thought of you right away, since you may be knowledgeable in this area! I would need a few helpful leaders to help out the other volunteers who may not be quite as experienced, but willing!
Would you be available Saturday November 7, Saturday November 14 or Sunday November 15?I am surveying a few key volunteers before I set the date.
Please let me know if you’d be willing and available to help out!
Thanks,

Susan Blair
The Portage Park District
128 North Prospect Street
Ravenna, OH 44266
330.297.7728

Friends of Wetlands Velvet Revolution?

2009-10-25T08:52:00.003-04:00

There has been a very interesting series of emails bouncing around among some of our members. I am taking the liberty of posting this discussion to the blog and hope that the discussion continues and broadens. A FOWL reformation may occur as these ideas bear fruit.
I have invited those people who were included in these emails to join the blog. If you would like permission to post, contact me, ray@fowl.org. If you would just like to read and comment to what others post, you do not need any additional permission.

It began with an email from Kathleen Bradley to the OEC.

I did not bring up Friends of Wetlands when we were discussing individual groups because our situation is different than most. FOWL is run under a benevolent dictatorship of John Katko (OEC board member), who is a renowned expert on Carex species and other flora and fauna related to wetlands. He lives for the environment and he is wonderful in that respect. And he is afraid on nobody.

We have gently suggested to John over the years the benefits of becoming a 501c3, but he does not want the restrictions on our political activities that come with that IRS status. We exist on donations and memberships. We do work with other organizations such as OEC, WRLC and CMNH.

We do primarily education on wetlands- their functions, values and why they need to be protected. We lead field trips in the spring to vernal pools- open to all. We publish a FOWL Newsletter several times a year and have a website, www.fowl.org that also keeps the information out there. We also have a blog. Ray Stewart is our knowledgeable web & blog guru and John's right hand man. Ray is a high school biology teacher in Elyria.

We also lobby for wetlands with elected officials, EPA and USACE reps and against, most times, developers and others with bad reputations for damaging the environment.

Since John has retired from teaching, he does consulting, free, as far as I know, on wetlands delineation type things. He is widely respected by Jim Bissell and others. He scopes out some wonderful properties to save them from the bulldozer. He has assisted at several of the OEC Vernal Pool trainings, as has Ray.

One of our most active members, Daryl Davis, has split off and helped organize the Brooklyn Center Naturalists. I'd like them to come on board as one of our groups, if they are interested.

Memberships in FOWL are still $5.00 a year for individuals, $10 for families and $50.00 for lifetime memberships. Be sure to check out our website- you'll learn a lot. Hope to see you at our spring field trips.

Best regards,
Kathleen Bradley

President Obama Takes Crucial Step for Wetlands

2009-09-15T16:38:00.001-04:00


Restoration efforts will benefit critical Louisiana coastal habitat.

"On the eve of the fourth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, President Obama took a crucial step toward saving Louisiana's nationally important coastal wetlands that provide natural hurricane protection, essential economic benefits and vital habitat for birds and other wildlife," says Dr. Paul Kemp, Vice President of Audubon's Louisiana Coastal Initiative and a recognized coastal expert. One of the worst disasters in our nation's history, Hurricane Katrina made its landfall in New Orleans on Aug. 29, 2005.

The White House Council on Environmental Quality announced it was creating a new federal interagency task force to coordinate the "economic and environmental resiliency" of Louisiana and the rest of the Gulf Coast region. Audubon and other conservation groups have called for White House intervention in what is widely viewed as a stagnant process – now overseen by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – for bolstering coastal wetlands.

Audubon and other national and regional conservation groups are urging bold actions to reconnect the Mississippi River to its delta in Louisiana, thereby allowing sediment and freshwater to maintain and rebuild coastal marshes that help lessen storm surges, provide critical wildlife habitat, protect oil and gas infrastructure, and serve as nurseries for shrimp and other valuable aquatic species. Primarily because of the separation of the Mississippi River from its delta by levees, Louisiana has lost more than 1.2 million acres of coastal land in the last 75 years, representing about 80 percent of all coastal land loss in the United States. Louisiana continues to lose the equivalent of up to 32 football fields of coastal land each day.

From: I Love Mountains

2009-09-11T18:07:00.001-04:00

We have great news!

The Obama Administration has heard you! Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency placed all 79 mountaintop removal permits they were reviewing on temporary reprieve. This represents the biggest step ever taken toward reining in the destruction of the Appalachian Mountains by mountaintop removal coal mining.

The release of a list of 79 permits begins a 14-day countdown in which the EPA regional offices must respond to the EPA headquarters' recommendations. While we applaud the current decision by the EPA, these permits could still be approved.

The EPA's announcement is part of a coordination procedure outlined in a "memorandum of understanding" between the Environmental Protection Agency, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the Department of Interior to deal with a backlog of permits held up by litigation over the past few years. The EPA has promised a more stringent and transparent review of all mountaintop removal valley fill permit applications, and as of today they have delivered.

The EPA is requesting public comment during these 14 days and we need to send them the message loud and clear to stand firm. No more mountains or communities should be blasted off the map.

However, the EPA is not currently set up to receive these comments, so we will be sending you an alert early next week, providing the tools you need to thank the EPA and to make sure the regional offices keep these mountains and communities safe from mountaintop removal coal mining.

In the mean time, we have set up a new page on iLoveMountains.org where you can see the location and track of the status of the permits pending before the EPA. You can view the permit map and see videos of nearby communities threatened by mountaintop removal at:

http://ilovemountains.org/epa-permit-list/

Filling of wetlands continues

2009-09-01T06:13:00.001-04:00

Sunday, August 30, 2009 9:23 PM

By Spencer Hunt

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

More than 477 acres have been covered since plan stalled in 2006

A state plan to better protect streams and wetlands from development stalled three years ago after business groups complained that it would cost too much to comply.

In the meantime, from 2006 to 2008, more than 477 acres of wetlands and 106 miles of streams were filled in, according to Ohio Environmental Protection Agency records.

"It's become more and more frustrating," said Trent Dougherty, staff attorney for the Ohio Environmental Council. "We're still living under rules that ultimately aren't as protective as these new rules would be."

When developers fill in streams and wetlands to build homes, shopping malls and offices, they must build wetlands and small streams to replace what they destroy.

But studies showed that these replacement streams and wetlands prove to be poor substitutes. That's when the Ohio EPA proposed new rules that would make developers make more exact copies of what they destroyed, down to the species of plants and the frogs, salamanders and insects that live in them.

But developers balked.

"With the severe economic depression we're in, it may not be wise to move boldly ahead with new rules and regulations that would slow development down," said Vincent Squillace, vice president of the Ohio Home Builders Association.

EPA officials say they're working with business and environmental groups on a compromise.

"It takes time to hear everybody, write things down and so forth," explained Linda Oros, an agency spokeswoman.

What does all of this mean to the rest of us?

Small streams are ecologically valuable because they provide habitat for fish and mussels and slow the flow of rain water, which in turn reduces flooding problems.

Wetlands shelter amphibians and insects and act as filters to keep fertilizers and pesticides out of drinking water supplies.

EPA officials used to think that simply replacing wetlands was good enough. But an agency report in 2006 found that half of the wetlands that developers built were either "poor" or "shallow, unvegetated ponds."

All of the wetlands surveyed in the report were in "banks," large pre-built wetlands where developers can buy shares to quickly satisfy their wetland repair and restoration obligations. Such banks are often miles away from the destroyed streams and wetlands they are supposed to replace.

The proposed rules include the kinds of plants necessary for different types wetlands, including skunk cabbage and sedges found in "forest seep" wetlands, and would grade the replacements on the number of animal species that live in them, including insect larvae.

"You're talking about getting back the true cost of the ecological loss," said Anthony Sasson, the Ohio Nature Conservancy's freshwater conservation coordinator.

"We're losing, environmentally, right now."

Jennifer Klein, the Ohio Chamber of Commerce's environmental policy expert, said the new standards would exceed federal rules and are unnecessary.

One recent change to federal standards, enacted in April 2008, lists wetland banks as the federal government's preferred option for developers. That appears to conflict with a provision in the state's proposal that replacement wetlands be built closer to construction sites.

Randy Bournique, supervisor of the agency's wetland permitting program, said there is nothing in federal law that keeps the Ohio EPA from enacting more restrictive, or protective, standards.

He said he's optimistic that a compromise set of rules could emerge in October.

shunt@dispatch.com

August 09 Newsletter

2009-08-29T18:29:00.002-04:00

The electronic newsletter for Aug. 09 is slower than usual coming out. Most have recieved the mailed version a few days ago. Silly me, while ramping up for school I chose to reformat the newsletter page using javascript that I barely understand. Dreamweaver has a little utility that is called spry. I am using a spry 'accordion'.
It would be helpful for members to send me comments about the change. Does it work for you? Is it better than before? Are there broken links or something unforgivable overlooked?
With school starting up, I will be tweeking as time permits. Outside input would be most helpful.

OVPP has new video series

2009-08-18T07:20:00.000-04:00

Nice job David!

Coming Events

2009-08-16T08:48:00.004-04:00

I just updated the FOWL.ORG web site. John combed through the various pages, including 'Art' and shared a number of comments and suggested some improvements. Most of these edits were long overdue. I really appreciate feedback from the website. Mistakes can linger on line for months if nobody points them out to me. Thank you to John, Robert and others who have helped make my work better.
Along with the tweeking, I have updated the Events page with a variety of new items. The Lorain County Fair is next week, plans for the FOWL Fall Picnic and Fundraiser are coming together, the OEC has a Clean Water Conference and Friends of Big Creek have some exciting Wetland programs in the near future.
So, get your calendar out and record these local wetland events.

If you can come to the fair and work the booth, please contact john@fowl.org to schedule a time.

Wetland Plant Givaway

2009-08-01T13:06:00.004-04:00

Kathleen B. says; "Hey- anybody want some free native water plants? Go see the wetland, even if you can't use the plants.

She forwarded this message from Jim Wohl;

On Wednesday, August 5 from 8:30am to 3:00pm Valley Forge High School
teacher Jon Komar and I will be removing an excess of Pickerelweed and some
Arrowroot from the Valley Forge Wetland. Probably half of it has to go. If
there is any one that would like these native water plants we are giving
them away for free. To learn more about our project visit:

http://valleyforgewetland.shutterfly.com/

All you have to do is bring with your garbage bags and carry away what you
want. They will grow in any standing water. I was told by Chuck Thomas,
naturalist with Cleveland Metroparks, that you don't even have to plant the
Pickerel weed, just throw it in the water and it will root itself. Valley
Forge High School is at 9999 Independence and York Rd in Parma Hts. All that
is not carried away will be composted at the school.

Jim Wohl, Wetland Project Coordinator

Steering Committee Member

Friends of Big Creek

Webcast on the Clean Water Act

2009-06-29T19:30:00.002-04:00

EPA's Watershed Academy to sponsor free July 1st Webcast on the Clean Water Act

EPA's Watershed Academy sponsors free Webcasts to help build the capacity of watershed practitioners from around the globe. On Wednesday, July 1, 2009, the Watershed Academy will sponsor the first in a series of Webcasts about the Clean Water Act (CWA). This first Webcast will provide an introduction to the CWA including a brief history of the Act, an explanation of technology vs. water quality-based approaches, and a brief overview of key components of the Act and related EPA regulations. The Webcast will feature William (Bill) Painter, Environmental Scientist with EPA’s Watershed Branch. Bill serves as a expert trainer on the CWA and is the author of a popular online Watershed Academy Web module, “Introduction to the Clean Water Act,” posted at http://www.epa.gov/watertrain/cwa/ . Registration is now open at http://epa.gov/watershedwebcasts. Archived audio versions of past webcasts are also available at epa.gov/watershedwebcasts

Northeast Ohio Watershed Council June Meeting

2009-06-29T19:12:00.004-04:00

This report on the meeting of the Northeast Ohio Watershed Council was provided by Kathleen Bradley. One day she may post to the blog directly.

The main portion of the NEOWC program on Thursday night was a presentation by the Cleveland Port Authority on their planned move. I will see if they have a power point program that can we sent to you. They are starting the implementation phase of moving the port from the lake front at the Cuyahoga River to the lakefront at E. 55th St. They are pledged to improve access to the lake at the old site which will be leased to developers of some kind. There will be opportunities for restoration at the river mouth and on the Cuyahoga River. They will have public hearings at each step along the way. I'll try to get those notices to you. The presentation was very long, so we did not get a lot else done. The Dike 14 Committee wants to present a rebuttal at the next meeting of NEOWC. I would suggest that Kristy also invite the Dike 14 Environmental Education committee, which is a separate group. Unfortunately I did not get Pam Davis' contact information at the Port Authority. I am sure you can google their website.

Kristy reviewed the high and mostly low points of the new Ohio budget proposal, Substitute HB 1, as passed by the Ohio house. It's now in the Senate Finance and Financial Institutions Committee. Some really bad news- oil and gas drilling are back for public lands, including Ohio Parks. The house removed state solid waste fees on construction and demolition and mixed solid waste proposed in the Governor's Executive Budget while stripping to the bone ODNR and EPA. The Senate plan rejects the the Coal Extraction Fee approved by the House. The Senate wants to DE-fund the Scenic Rivers Program. I have asked Kristy for the full information in e-mail format so we can share with our members.

We also had a great presentation by Gary Whidden on the history of the falls and cascades of the Cuyahoga Valley and what it could look like if the dams were removed and the area restored. I have asked Elaine Marsh to let us know when he will be presenting again. Well worth seeing.

I picked up material on the Adopt-A Beach program, part of Alliance for the Great Lakes. They are looking for groups to do once-a-week beach clean-ups- one group would only have to do it ONCE. In other words, a different group would do it each week. If someone wants to set up a FOWL or RRWC beach clean up (maybe one near a coastal wetland) I would be glad to help. Maybe this could be in the Mentor Marsh area, too. Alliance for the Great Lakes now has an Ohio office. Contact: April Mather, Ohio Outreach Coordinator. P.O. Box 30247, Cleveland, 44130. She actually lives in Berea. Telephone: 216-630-8140 amather@greatlakes.org. The website is www.greatlakes.org.

NEOWC is sending a letter to ODNR requesting the names of the Great Lakes Compact Advisory Committee members be made public with their contact information on the ODNR website.

The NEORSD grant for watershed coordinators was discussed. Contact me if you want more information. The deadline has been extended into sometime in July.

The next meeting will be Tuesday, August 25. Location TBA.

NEOWC is also desperately looking for a secretary.

Paddle Pictures

2009-06-28T17:27:00.006-04:00

Some pictures from the The Huron River Paddle 2009.

Click picture for larger image.

If you can't see the album, Huron River Paddle 2009, try this.

Huron River Paddle

2009-06-28T14:29:00.005-04:00

It was a perfect day for a paddle on the Huron River. The FOWL summer water event attracted a number of members and some neighbors of our generous hosts, Robert and Linda Wheeler. We agreed to paddle up stream even though the current was up following the heavy thunderstorms this week.

Conveniently, the wind was at our backs making for a gentle paddle.

We were stopped by a log jam across the main channel south of the turnpike overpass. Even a portage at this point was impractical. We chose to explore a side channel that looked blocked at first glance. We were able to get around several fallen trees and continue up stream, but not without incident. Alan’s canoe tipped in the narrow channel while climbing a riffle. I tipped my kayak trying to help. Things spilled into the water.

No one was harmed and the water was refreshing. We continued up the main channel where the current was steadily increasing. Progress became a challenge so we stopped and all rafted together for a casual water-powered drift back. Our conversation turned to the ubiquitous damselflies that would fly in tandem across the raft and even perch for a moment within arms reach. We talked in detail about their mating behaviors and anatomy.
Time passed quickly while the current did all the work. We shot back through the narrow channel and meandered back to the serene launch area at the Homer Page farm where we had started several hours earlier.

We snacked on cookies and watermelon that Alan had so thoughtfully prepared. I was shaken when I realized that my binoculars were missing. I assumed that they left my kayak when I fell out. I blamed my carelessness for the foolish loss. After kicking my butt and wallowing in self-loathing all the way home, as I was rinsing the mud out of the kayak I found the binoculars wedged under the seat. Hooray!!! All’s well. As I continued the cleaning I discovered that I had picked up a hitchhiker along the way. In that brief moment when my kayak was turned sideways, a crayfish jumped in and joined the flotilla. So instead of coming back from the river with less than when I stared, I actually came home with more.
Thanks to all who participated. Thanks for the memories.

Sounds of Ducks, Geese, and Swans

2009-06-16T18:07:00.003-04:00

After the great blockbuster weekend in Southern Lorain County centered around Findley State Park, I have a greater awareness of those talented individuals with an ear for birds. Hearing a bird is just as good a way to document its presence as seeing, maybe better.
If you want to hear the sounds of birds the Cornell Lab of Ornithology lets you listen online. As an introduction, try these wetland birds for a variety of sounds. If you like those try others. CD's with high quality nature recordings are not cheap. Allaboutbirds.org presents this digital content in a well organized and useful method.

Huron River Paddle

2009-06-11T08:28:00.002-04:00

Thanks to everyone who responded to the Huron River Paddle announcements. We will launch at 11:00 am from the back picnic spot at the Homer Page Farm. If you haven't responded, please email me if you intend to join in. Details can be found here.

2007 Dragonfly Conference Video

2009-06-06T21:11:00.002-04:00

I didn't know they were making a video during the conference. It was a great time and I still can't get enough of them. I was out today and found a Unicorn Clubtail! The usual pond dragonflies were present, widow skimmer, common whitetail, saddlebags, green darner, 12 spotted and a breif glimpse of a halloween pennant.

Devotion of Dragonfly Enthusiasts from Wildlife Matters on Vimeo.

Contact me if you want to go dragonfly hunting.

State Amphibian Legislation

2009-05-30T10:15:00.003-04:00

For years we have been asking that the state of Ohio adopt the Spotted Salamander as the official state amphibian. HB 57 reads:

Sec. 5.033. The salamander, Ambystoma maculatum, commonly known as the spotted salamander, is the official amphibian of the state.

This is simple and to the point. I just became aware that the Senate has come up with a different version. SB 81 reads:

Sec. 5.033. The salamander, Ambystoma maculatum, commonly known as the spotted salamander, is the official amphibian of the state.

Sec. 5.034. The frog, Rana catesbeiana, commonly known as the bullfrog, is the official frog of the state.

This additional line contradicts the first if you consider that a frog is also an amphibian.

So the question of biological systematics is one issue. How many layers of organisms rise to the rank of state symbol? If there is a state mammal, should there also be a state carnivore, state herbivore? There are probably no real or presumed guidelines for the systematics. Perhaps we should begin a campaign for another state insect, since the ladybug is a beetle; we could have a state dragonfly and a state damselfly. Within the damselfly category we could have a state jewelwing, a state spreadwing, a state pond damsel, a state bluet, a state sprite and an official state forktail.

But the argument is not about the various classifications that should be allowed. The question is which organism best serves to represent the qualities we value in Ohio. Do we want the omnivorous bullfrog that shows no preference for quality, just because it is big, or just because it may be the only frog that is known to the masses? Or do we prefer the spotted salamander to represent our natural environment as a delicate and precious balance worthy of our protection and appreciation?

FOWL picnic cancelled

2009-05-14T14:22:00.001-04:00

The FOWL picnic scheduled for Saturday, May 23, has been cancelled. My apologies to those of you who are planning to come.

Red-eared Sliders Seeking Home

2009-05-14T08:00:00.004-04:00

Patricia got the following email and it really is important that these animals are not released into the wild) that I am passing along:

from
Tracey Knierim
The Bat Farm
440-543-6399
tjncrew@aol.com

Hi Everyone

I'm hoping that one of you can help me. I know someone, who knows
someone, who has had 3 red earred sliders (Turtles) since they were
basically hatchlings. They are very friendly....will eat out of your
hand! Anyway, they have become too big for their tank and the owners
want to get rid of them. They said they called the zoo and they don't
want them. They are talking about just setting them free in the wild.
I have a problem with this because it is illegal for them to do this,
they could over take our local native species, and I'm not sure they
will know how to survive our winters.

Can any of you take these guys or know of someone or an organization
that could take them?

Clinic Construction in Twinsburg Wetland

2009-05-13T17:07:00.008-04:00

Last year I attended a workshop and had the pleasure of meeting the President of the Buckeye Forest Council, David Maywhoor. While we were listening to presentations he doodled out this drawing about the Cleveland Clinic development plans in Twinsburg.

Now we hear that the Ohio EPA and the Cleveland Clinic have come to terms that will protect the high quality wetlands on the site. Is this a case of the regulatory agency doing its job? Is the hospital recognizing the error of its ways? Will the wetlands continue to function essentially unchanged by construction activities? This would indeed be good news if we could accept it at face value. Vigilance is still the watchword. See full article at Ohio.com, The Akron Beacon-Journal.

TESHEKPUK WETLANDS SAFE, FOR NOW!

2009-05-12T19:47:00.006-04:00

There is a vast wetland complex in Alaska called Teshekpuk Lake. Like the ANWAR it is a potential oil extraction site. Rare and endangered species rely on this habitat for their survival. The National Audubon Society has made significant impacts on the oil politics here. See Audubon Issues & Action for details. For more background and enganging multimedia try the Cornell Lab of Ornithology 'Living Bird'.

Vernal Pool Hikes

2009-05-09T19:03:00.008-04:00

Our Vernal Pool hikes were absolutely delicious. Sometimes, I wish I could explore these places in stead of going to work inside a classroom without windows. On most days, it's easier for me to check the weather at my computer than to look outside!
Nonetheless, over the weekend we got to see the birth of a new growing season in the wonderful wild at the Babcock farm with the treasure of spring ephemerals in Happy Valley.
The woodfrog (thanks to Alan Tomko) in this picture is a representative of the delicate ecology on this farm that is likely to survive for future generations. We have documented significant vernal pools on this property where they breed and extensive upland habitat where they exist for the other 51 weeks of the year. This is a notable example of an amphibian that depends not only on the vernal pool wetland that we love to explore but also the adjacent upland that supports it during the 99% of its life when it is not breeding. All too often, the limited wetland protection that does occur ignores the essential supportive contiguous habitat that surrounds the wetlands.
The next week we returned to the luscious backwoods and riparian wonders on the McConnell property. After many visits and surveys of the property, there are still mysteries and plants that defy the identification of local experts. This is a deeply diverse habitat that is worthy of our admiration. Thanks to the birding skills of Brad Phillips I was able to watch the foraging habits of the Grey Cheeked Thrush as it stopped by the Black River Valley during its northward migration.
Such visits include the enjoyment of both the ephemeral and the migratory. We hold these moments precious with our photos, memories and with our community.

2009-05-05T10:00:00.004-04:00

A few images from past FOWL picnics:
The tipi was up one year at the picnic site.
Yrs truly bruising a guitar.
The Hoolgans at the 2001 Picnic.
Alan Tomko took this picture of a Spiny Softsell Turtle found along the riverbank.
The Smokin' Fez Monkeys were a huge hit at the 2008 picnic.
The inimitable Ralph McGinnis, one of the Hooligans, who played at several FOWL picnics.
Allison, Daryl's granddaughter, with a dulcimer. She's now a Junior in French Horn at the BW Conservatory.
A Wolf Spider with her progeny on her back. Kathleen Bradley LOVES spiders!
Alan Tomko made this frog cake one year. The next year he made a salamander cake...
A couple of fancypants after a sojourn at the river.
Best buds get some grub.
The 2003 picnic was a little wet for awhile; here's the tent community.
Tim Wallace, of the Hooligans and the Smokin' Fez monys, with his hommade banjo. Works good!
Fiddling around.
Dave with his small friend.
Angela licks the plate clean. Good good food!
Sunlight after the rain, 2003.
Haley and Brady snuggle up under the tent.
Gettin' down with the Smokin' Fez Monkeys!
A bluejay shows up at the festivities.
Jonah tills the picnic.
Robert Wheeler, our host, is the great-great grandnephew of Thomas Edison, whose siste married Homer Page, to whom this historic farm is dedicated.
May Weyburne (left), oneof the most sublime of all beings, is the mother of Jonah and Annie (she of the sandy britches); Mary Lowery (right), her best friend (they have travelled the world together) is a nurse in Alaska.
Haylee does her backbend. Whoa!
Kali and Nathan in teh tree.
The picnic site from atop the farm. That year the tipi was up.
The Huron River, at the picnic site, at rest.

llll

2009-05-03T08:50:00.003-04:00

Some more images from Huron. Sorry I haven't learned to do a better job of formatting text with images. From top to bottom:
* What the place looks like in late summer.
* The scene on April 25 at my back buttonbush pool, with a bed of Carex bromoides (Blunt Broom Sedge) in bloom with a few Marsh Marigolds interspersed.
* A Carex bromoides plant in full bloom.
* Marsh Marigolds in bloom. There are extensive beds of these around the pools.
* Yellow Water Crowfoot (Ranunculus flabellaris) in bloom in a little pool right beside my campsite.
* A little group of Ranunculus flabellaris in bloom

Over the last month I have heard the breding calls of the following species in the front Buttonbush pool: Western Chorus Frog, Spring Peeper, Wood Frog, Northern Leopard Frog, Gray Treefrog, American Toad, and Green Frog. Music to my ears!

On the morning of April 26 I saw and heard many warblers, including Yellow, Yellow-rumped, and American Redstart. There were Swamp Sparrows, very active Flickers and Downy Woodpeckers, and a courting pair of Rose-breasted Grossbeaks were streaking around all over the place, flying right past my ear!

2009-04-30T20:20:00.005-04:00

A few images from the 11 acres of prime swampland I bought in Huron County, from top to bottom.
* A mud minnow trapped (and released) from teh big swamp at the back. About 3 inches long, they apparently are not decisively predatory on amphibian eggs and larvae, as numerous frogs and some salamanders share this swamp.
* Among the frogs are Wood Frogs, shown here in amplexus (March 19) in a spot in the big swamp. The males cluck out their breeding call and when a female responds he climbs onto her back in an hours-long embrace, helping to squeeze the eggs out of her and fertilizing them with his milt when they emerge.
* A group of Wood Frogs in breeding frenzy. I tried to load the video I took of this - simply amazing! - but it wouldn't fit on the blog page.
* The mossy long oon which i sat while watching the Wood Frog lovefest.
* A skunk Cabbage bloom
* Tiger Salamander egss - the second record found in Huron County!

Wetlands Education Team West Geauga Local Schools

2009-04-12T20:23:00.001-04:00

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Wetlands Education Team West Geauga Local Schools

View more presentations from OhioEnviroCouncil.

Wetlands Education Team

2009-04-12T20:13:00.004-04:00

Irene McMullen sent this updated report.

The Wetlands Education Team is happy to report that we testified at a House Hearing for Bill 57 on March 25, 2009. Our testimony in favor of making the Spotted Salamander Ohio's state amphibian was very well received. Students from Central Intermediate School in Wadsworth and representatives from the Ohio Environmental Council and the Geauga Soil and Water Conservation District also spoke. We will all be in Columbus again on April 21, 2009 to testify before the Senate Committee on Senate Bill 81. Senator Grendell has been very helpful in this regard. Senate Bill 81 is also co-sponsored by Senator Hughes, the Chair of the Committee. The Wetlands Education Team will be traveling to Washington DC on May 11, 2009 to receive the President's Environmental Youth Award. We will meet with representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency and our legislators to talk to them about the importance of wetlands to all Ohioans. WET would like to thank everyone at FOWL for bringing so much support to the effort to have the Spotted Salamander designated as Ohio's state amphibian. We believe it will happen in this session because of your help and the assistance of many other dedicated citizens from around the state. So, thank you, FOWL!

It was a treat to meet Irene's young and dedicated students at the workshop. They are an inspiration.
See Teens for Planet Earth
also Christopher Columbus Awards
and U.S. Dept. of the Interior

Lisa Jackson at the National Press Club

2009-04-11T09:26:00.003-04:00

Kathleen forwarded this article published in Greenwire (a subscription service). I have edited it down to a few exerpts. Other articles on the topic can be found at:
prnewswire.com
watertechonline.com

Lisa Jackson's speech from yesterday's event--featured in today's Greenwire.

U.S. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson called on Congress yesterday to pass legislation that would set clear boundaries for federal wetland regulators. The federal regulatory scheme for wetlands has been a mess since the Supreme Court's fractured 2006 Rapanos-Carabell decision.
"There is anything but clarity on whether water means water and what wetlands are regulated," Jackson said at the screening of a PBS documentary on water pollution at the National Press Club in Washington. Wetlands are protected under the Clean Water Act as habitat for wildlife, buffers for coastal storms, sponges for pollution and recharge areas for aquifers.

Senate Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Sens. Benjamin Cardin (D-Md.) and Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) last week introduced a bill they say would restore Clean Water Act protections for many wetlands excluded after Rapanos and the 2001 Supreme Court decision, Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Jackson also said EPA needs to re-examine its policies on concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs. "We need change," she said. "We need change in everything from policy to enforcement." CAFOs are considered major contributors of nutrients to waterways. Excessive nutrients overfertilize waters, spurring algal blooms and lowering levels of dissolved oxygen that aquatic life needs to survive.

EPA predicts the CAFO regulation will prevent 56 million pounds of phosphorus, 110 million pounds of nitrogen and 2 billion pounds of sediment from entering streams, lakes and other waters each year.

2009-04-04T18:02:00.003-04:00

John says that there will be another newsletter soon so I composed an article about the OOS meeting. If you would like to read and respond to it before going to print this would be your chance to be editor/critic and help me make it better.
In my search for an image of the Giant Helicopter Damselfly I discovered the Encyclopedia of Life. It has the longest wingspan of any extant odonate, 7+ inches. Normally the damselflies are considered smaller, and more diminutive cousins to the dragonflies.

For your preview and feedback OOS-2009_draft.pdf

Green Eggs and Jam

2009-04-04T08:54:00.005-04:00

Nina Harfmann has shared with the OVPP some of her explorations. You can find her on her blog, NatureRemains.
She provided this link to an explanation about the algae symbiosis in salamander eggs.

backyard sedge

2009-03-30T21:07:00.002-04:00

This is a sedge from the laxiflora group - I think Carex plantaginea, but maybe C. careyana (will be able to tell better soon) - I planted in my back yard.

The staminate spikes have deep purple scales with their yellow anthers emerging.

The green culm (flowering stem) has purple ~bladeless sheaths from which are emerging the pistillate spikes with their delicate stigmas protruding, just aching for pollen.

The plant is about 6 inches high.

This is one reason we love the beauty of sedges.

big news

2009-03-30T19:10:00.002-04:00

I bought 11 acres of wet woods with a roadside building site near New London in Huron County. I should be able to see marsh marigold and skunk cabbage and hear peppers, wood, chorus, and leopard frogs from my front window. It goes back to a ~90-acres swamp woods that was designated a state reference wetland by Ohio EPA about 10 years ago. The place has been logged but the canopy is recovering and with some slash clearing and a little blackberry removal it should fit up splendidly. There are som eorchids in the area, and a local fellow found a tiger salamander in his basement - only the second record for Huron County: very exciting stuff! A big portion of the big swamp is for sale and I'm hoping to come up with some strategy for getting it protected.

2009-03-29T10:41:00.004-04:00

The OOS conference went well. It is always good to spend a day with people that are so well versed in their subject. Among other topics, there was a discussion of last years field trip to the Kokosing river. 21 people attended. As it turns out, several attendees were more interested in spiders than dragonflies. One member even seemed amused by the fact that these acarologists spend so much of their time on their hands and knees hunting for tiny creatures in the sand and gravel banks of the river. Imagine how useful it is to have a group even geekier than the odonatists!

Odonate Conference

2009-03-22T20:23:00.002-04:00

There is a dragonfly conference at Ohio Northern in ADA, OH next Saturday. I'm thinking about going. There won't be any real ondonates out yet, I don't think, but the people should be interesting. It would be nice to have some company anyone once to come along. There is no charge for the conference. If you register in advance you get lunch.

Ohio State Salamander

2009-03-14T19:13:00.003-04:00

There will be a hearing this Wednesday on HB57, the new House Bill to make the spotted salamander Ohio's official amphibian!

Shrimp Farming Impacts Coastal Wetlands

2009-03-14T17:23:00.003-04:00

I have heard that the huge demand for shrimp by industrialized countries has spawned a huge 3rd world coastal shrimp farming boom. The impact on coastal wetlands is enormous. The following article explains.

Habitat Destruction: Mangrove Forests - From ProQuest/CSA

Nowhere are the negative impacts on the natural environment more apparent than with shrimp farming and the associated destruction of mangrove forests²². In Asia, over 400,000 hectares of mangroves have been converted into brackishwater aquaculture for the rearing of shrimp. Farmed shrimp boost a developing country's foreign exchange earnings, but the loss of sensitive habitat is difficult to reconcile.

Tropical mangroves are analogous to temperate salt marshes, a habitat critical to erosion prevention, coastal water quality, and the reproductive success of many marine organisms. Mangrove forests have also provided a sustainable and renewable resource of firewood, timber, pulp, and charcoal for local communities. To construct dyked ponds for shrimp farming, these habitats are razed and restoration is extremely difficult.

Unfortunately, shrimp ponds are often profitable only temporarily as they are subject to disease and to downward shifts in the shrimp market. Growing political pressure in western countries may restrict the shrimp market in response to consumers' avoidance of environmentally-unfriendly products. More significantly, Japan's economy is experiencing difficulty at present, and Japan is the world's largest market for shrimp; when the market falls, ponds are abandoned. A return to traditional fishing is not always possible because the lost mangroves no longer serve as nursery areas which are critical for the recruitment of many wild fish stocks. Unemployment prospects cannot always balance short-term gains. It is clear that socio-economic effects are as important as pollution and ecological damage when evaluating the sustainability of aquaculture.

Citizen Scientists Recognized for Wildlife Survey and Monitoring Efforts

2009-03-09T19:15:00.003-04:00

The Vernal Pool Monitoring Workshops are, in effect, promoting citizen science by training volunteers across the state to document what they find in vernal pools and report back to a central clearing house at the OEC. It seems that ODNR is recognizing the effort. One of them is The Ohio Frog and Toad Calling Survey.

Thank you again, Kathleen, for bringing this to my attention.

Ohio Wildlife Stamp goes on sale in March 2010

2009-03-09T19:08:00.004-04:00

New Program Unveiled to Provide Additional Support of Ohio's Wildlife

Kathleen didn't know how to post an email forward so I will try something simple here. The original ODNR press release can be found online.

2009-03-08T16:41:00.002-04:00

Lookee what's risen from the dead. The FOWL Blog!

Well I'll be a ...

Live Wet or Die

2009-03-08T15:44:00.003-04:00

This ancient petroglyph seems to show an Avocet or some other shore bird out of proportion with a human. What were they thinking?

uploads - sounds and picture

2009-03-08T15:25:00.002-04:00

peeper%20sparse%20and%20chorus%20sample%20short.wav

Fez%20Monkeys.jpg

Let's see if these two uploads work; the top one is an audio file of peepers, and the other is a photo taken by either Ray or Patricia took of the Fez Monkeys at last year's FOWL pipcnic.

2009-03-08T15:03:00.001-04:00

Hi, Ray & John,

Last night must have been perfect for salamanders in Brecksville Reservation. Did you guys go out to see any 'manders last night?

Kathleen

News and Updates

2009-03-08T11:17:00.001-04:00

Use this space to keep members up to date or to suggest topics for the next newsletter.