August 3, 2005
#248
1) Important Environmental Programs Receive Federal Funding
2) Sen. Shelby Announces Plan to Enhance Sea Lab
3) Birmingham's Red Mountain Park Making Progress
4) New EPA Proposed Rule Will Ensure Cuts In Alabama Air Pollution
5) BEN Notes: AWF Conservation Awards, National Geographic Magazine Profiles Hurricane Ivan, Nature's Lens Opening Reception, SouthWings Looking for Pilots and Supporters, New Urban Forestry Fact Sheets, Wilderness First Responder Course
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In honor of Shirley West and the Turtle Point Environmental Science Center earning the Alabama Wildlife Federation's Conservation Organization of the Year award, I have chosen the following passage from Joan Maloof's - Teaching the Trees: Lessons from the Forest . - Pat Byington - Publisher
"The most courageous thing a teacher of teenagers and young adults can do is to try to break through the cool demeanor our usual interactions require. Bare the depths of your feelings; show what moves you. In doing so you will expose yourself to ridicule; that is why it takes courage. You must be brave enough to bear the laughter.
The best teachers know this already, and it is not just in my classroom that students see a different, deeper, way of being in the world. Their literature teacher is moved by poems of a certain poet, and they can feel some warmth from that fire themselves. They respect the admiration their philosophy teacher feels for a particularly brilliant mind; they sense the indescribable flood of emotion created in their painting teacher by a particular piece of art, or in their math teacher by an elegant theorem. They are familar with humans celebrating the creations of other humans - a beautiful and good thing - but they are less accustomed , I sense, to seeing a human celebrating the nonhuman. Wonder? awe? respect? for a paramecium? a snail? a tree? I try to show them that these things, too, are worthy of praise, of rescue.
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1. Important Environmental Programs Receive Federal Funding
Last week, before leaving Washington D.C. for its August recess, the U.S. Congress passed Interior Appropriations, Energy and Highway legislation. Here is a list of environmental programs that will benefit from these new laws.
Interior Appropriations - (for more details go to - http://shelby.senate.gov/news/record.cfm?id=242107 )
Cahaba River National Wildlife Refuge - $421,000 - Championed by Rep. Spencer Bachus, the Refuge will add 350 acres, thanks to the Land Water and Conservation Fund.
Moundville Archaeological Park - $500,000 - Funds to begin renovation of the area and to preserve the archaeological treasures.
Center for Estuarine Research at the University of South Alabama - $500,000 - To conduct vital ecological research in the Gulf Coast and Mobile Bay areas.
Alabama Department of Environmental Management - $500,000 - To conduct field training for Alabama water and wastewater operators across Alabama.
Safe, Accountable, Flexible Efficient Transportation Equity Act
Talladega Mountains Natural Resource Center in Clebourne County - $800,000 - Located near I-20 in Clebourne County, this program will boost eco-tourism and interagency cooperation in the region. Additional details - http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/al03_rogers/tallamtnres05.html or http://www.jsu.edu/depart/epic/Choccoloccovfs.htm
Birmingham Jefferson County Transit Authority Bus Rapid Transit - $100 million - Development of a reversible lane on I-65 for buses and high occupancy vehicles.
Energy Bill
Coastal Impact - $16.3 million - Championed by Sen. Jeff Sessions, these funds from oil and gas revenues will be dedicated to coastline conservation and restoration and a coastal comprehensive management plan. Go to - http://sessions.senate.gov/press.htm for additional details.
2. Sen. Shelby Announces Plan to Enhance Sea Lab
According to the Mobile Register, Senator Richard Shelby is seeking to create a fisheries research facility at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab through the Commerce and Justice appropriations subcommittee. The facility, which would run as a satellite of the National Marine Fisheries Service office in Pascagoula, "will provide increased opportunities for collaborative research" among federal, state and university researchers.
Along with the fisheries research facility (which will need an appropriation of $5 million), Senator Shelby is seeking funds for the following environmentally related projects:
- $5 million for land acquisition to preserve coastal ecosystems along the Perdido River in Baldwin County and wetlands near Grand Bay.
- $1 million for land acquisition for the Village Point Park Preserve in Daphne.
- $1 million for the Gulf Coast Exploreum Science Center in downtown Mobile.
For additional information about Senator Shelby's conservation and environmental education efforts go to http://shelby.senate.gov/news/record.cfm?id=239466 .
3. Birmingham's Red Mountain Park Making Progress
Earlier this year, U.S. Steel offered a steeply discounted 1,108 acre tract of land in the heart of Birmingham to the Black Warrior-Cahaba Rivers Land Trust. Here is a progress report on the efforts to create Red Mountain Park.
* The Black Warrior-Cahaba Rivers Land Trust has received a $100,000 grant from the Hugh Kaul Foundation to establish the Red Mountain Park Community Development Fund. This fund, which is held at the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham has helped launch the fundraising campaign.
* Local leaders have created the Red Mountain Park Steering Committee. The group is committed to raising the funding necessary to purchase the land ($7 million), help determine and fund park amenities (estimated at $26 million) and set up the park's long term management.
* A new "Friends of Red Mountain Park" has been created, along with a website.
To learn more about this new park in Birmingham, Alabama, which will be larger than New York City's Central Park, go to http://www.redmountainpark.org .
4. New EPA Proposed Rule Will Ensure Cuts In Alabama Air Pollution
According to an August 1st Environmental Protection Agency press release, the agency is proposing a federal implementation plan to require power plants in Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) states to participate in one or more of three separate cap and trade programs.
"With today's action, we are another step closer to cutting and capping power plant pollution in the eastern United States by almost 70 percent below today's levels," said Jeff Holmstead EPA's assistant administrator for air and radiation.
Alabama is one of the 28 CAIR states who will be required to reduce power plant pollution. The reductions will include annual sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions, annual nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions and ozone season NOx emissions.
To learn more about the proposed rule, go to : http://epa.gov/cair/fs20050801.html
5. BEN Notes: AWF Conservation Awards, National Geographic Magazine Profiles Hurricane Ivan, Nature's Lens Opening Reception, SouthWings Looking for Pilots and Supporters, New Urban Forestry Fact Sheets, Wilderness First Responder Course
AWF Conservation Awards - The Alabama Wildlife Federation will be holding its Governor's Conservation Achievement Awards on August 12th in Montgomery. Some of this year's recipients include: Turtle Point Environmental Science Center - Conservation Organization of the Year, U.S. Steel - Conservationist of the Year, and Senator Bradley Byrne - Legislative Conservationist of the Year. To learn about all the award winners and the event on the 12th, visit the AWF website.
National Geographic Magazine Profiles Hurricane Ivan - Check out this month's National Geographic Magazine, which profiles hurricanes and their devastating effects. Hurricane Ivan's impact on communities along the Alabama coast is examined. You can view the incredible before Ivan/after Ivan photos at http://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/0508
Nature's Lens Opening Reception - Check out Anne DelBene's beautiful photography on Saturday, August 27th, 3-5 p.m. at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens Library. The show, titled - "Tis a beautiful season" - will run from August 27 to October 29th. You can learn more about Anne's work by visiting her website at http://www.natureslens.org .
SouthWings Looking for Pilots and Supporters - Want to join the "air force" for Alabama's environment? Check out SouthWings, a unique organization that uses volunteer pilots to fly conservationists around Alabama and the state, documenting, researching and monitoring environmental impacts. To learn more about this exciting group, visit their website at http://www.southwings.org or contact Taylor Barnhill or Jackie Dobrinska at 800-640-1131 or taylor@southwings.org .
New Urban Forestry Fact Sheets - The Alabama Urban Forestry Association has recently produced four (4) new fact sheets for public distribution. They include:
- Invest in your trees - hire an arborist
- Tree City USA
- How to select a tree
- Stop, Don't Top
To receive a copy of these fact sheets, contact Shelley Green at info@aufa.com
Wilderness First Responder Course - Camp McDowell will be offering a Wilderness First Responder course on December 8-16. For more information about the course, and accommodations, contact Joey Jarrell at outreach@campmcdowell.com .
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