September 30, 2005
#251
1) EMC/ADEM Public Meeting Scheduled Oct. 4 & 5
2) Katrina Damage to Wildlife and National Wildlife Refuges
3) New Report: Lead in Jefferson County Housing
4) BEN Notes: Cahaba River Society's Lilypalooza, 2005 Solar Home Tour, BAS 41st Annual Fall Bird Count, ECOFEST 7, TREASURE Forest Conference, Alabama Wildflower Society's Fall Annual Meeting, Grow Alabama
Please mark your calendars for the following special events:
EMC Public Meetings
The Alabama Environmental Management Commission (EMC), the state commission that oversees the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM), is conducting public meetings as part of their strategic planning process. More >>
October 4th - Tuskegee University, Patterson Hall (College of Veterinarian Medicine), Tuskegee, Alabama
October 5th - Troy University, Adams Center Ballroom, Troy, Alabama
To learn more about the EMC's Strategic Plan, please download the plan at http://www.adem.state.al.us.
SEC's ECOFEST 7
The Southern Environmental Center at Birmingham Southern College will be holding their 7th annual ECOFEST Celebration - Thursday, October 6th, 6-9 at WorkPlay. To view their invitation, go to: http://www.bsc.edu/sec/news/default.html.
Alabama Environmental Educators Consortium Conference
A very timely conference about the environmental challenges facing the Gulf and Alabama - check out the Consortium's "Sustainability, Opportunities, and Problems - Humankind in a Changing Environment" Conference. To be held October 7-8 at Vulcan Park and Samford University in Birmingham. An impressive agenda. For registration info go to: http://www.ncseonline.org/ALEEC/.
Alabama Wildflower Society - Annual Meeting
Fall is on the way - and so is the Alabama Wildflower Society's Annual Fall Conference which is scheduled for October 14-16 in Montevallo and Bibb County. Complete conference and registration information can be found at http://www.alabamawildflower.org/blanche-calendar.htm.
Alabama Coastal Birdfest 2005
Start making plans for Alabama Coastal Birdfest 2005, which is scheduled for October 20-23. To download the week-long listing of activities, go to http://www.alabamacoastalbirdfest.com.
1. EMC/ADEM Public Meeting Scheduled Oct. 4 & 5
The Alabama Environmental Management Commission (EMC), the state commission that oversees the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM), is conducting public meetings as part of their strategic planning process. The present plan was adopted in April 2004. The EMC strategic planning standing committee is holding meetings across Alabama to seek additional citizen input and monitor the effectiveness of the current plan. Last week, three meetings were held in Sheffield, Guntersville and Anniston Alabama. Between 30 to 60 people attended each meeting, with 12-18 citizens making comments at each event. Trey Glenn, ADEM's director, attended each meeting, along with members of the Commission. Next week, the EMC will be holding two more meetings in Central Alabama. They are:
October 4th - Tuskegee University, Patterson Hall (College of Veternarian Medicine), Tuskegee, Alabama
October 5th - Troy University, Adams Center Ballroom, Troy, Alabama
Two additional meetings will be scheduled in late October in Selma and Coastal Alabama. To learn more about the EMC's Strategic Plan, please download the plan at http://www.adem.state.al.us.
2. Katrina Damage to Wildlife and National Wildlife Refuges
The following are some of the initial wildlife damage assessments reported by the US Fish and Wildlife Service as a result of Hurricane Katrina.
• National Wildlife Refuges covering nearly 365,000 acres have been closed. In Alabama that includes the Bon Secour NWF.
• Sea Turtles: About 50 sea turtle nests along the Alabama coast were lost. All ten of the nests at Bon Secour NWF were destroyed.
• Alabama Beach Mouse: Primary dunes, which are typically the beach mouse's habitat have been destroyed. In addition, 90 percent of the secondary dunes were destroyed.
Go to - http://www.fws.gov/southeast/katrina/ to receive the complete wildlife update on Katrina. Also - if you want to learn more about the environmental impacts of Katrina and Rita, the Mobile Register has written some very detailed and informative stories about what has happened to the coast environmentally. Go to -http://www.al.com/weather/hurricane/mobileregister/.
3. New Report: Lead in Jefferson County Housing
According to a new report released by the Citizen's Lead Education and Poisoning Prevention project, 663 homes in Birmingham have been identified to have known lead hazards. The vast majority of these units were identified because they have poisoned at least one family of children. Eighty housing units are known to have poisoned multiple families.
The report focuses just on the housing units that are known lead hazards (the units that have been tested) through health records. The problem is widespread, with over 25 communities possessing housing units with lead hazards.
To acquire the entire report and recommendations, call the Jefferson County Committee for Economic Opportunity (JCCEO) at 205-785-2920.
4. BEN Notes: Cahaba River Society's Lilypalooza, 2005 Solar Home Tour, BAS 41st Annual Fall Bird Count, ECOFEST 7, TREASURE Forest Conference, Alabama Wildflower Society's Fall Annual Meeting, Grow Alabama
Cahaba River Society's Lilypalooza - The Cahaba River Society will be holding their annual "Lilypalooza" tonight (Sept. 30th) at the McWane Center. For details about the event visit the CRS website at http://www.cahabariversociety.org.
2005 Solar Home Tour - The 2005 Solar Home Tour in Alabama is scheduled for Saturday, October 1st at 9:00 A.M. in Blount County. For directions contact Stephen and leave an email at greenworks@juno.com or call 205-429-4120. For additional info about solar tours nationwide go to http://www.ases.org.
BAS 41st Annual Fall Bird Count - The Birmingham Audubon Society will be holding their 41st Annual Fall Bird Count on Saturday, October 1st. If you are interested in participating in this wonderful event, call Greg Harber at 251-2133 or Sharon Hudgens at 477-5390.
ECOFEST 7 - The Southern Environmental Center at Birmingham Southern College will be holding ECOFEST 7 on Thursday, October 6th from 6:00 to 9:00 at WorkPlay (5th Street and 23rd Ave. South) in Birmingham. Tickets are $50. For more info go to http://www.bsc.edu/sec or call 205-226-4934.
TREASURE Forest Conference - The 22nd Annual Alabama Landowner and TREASURE Forest Conference will be held on October 6-7 at Auburn University's Hotel and Conference Center. For details about this informative conference go to the Alabama Forestry Commission's website at http://www.forestry.state.al.us or the Alabama Forestry Association at http://www.alaforestry.org .
Alabama Wildflower Society's Fall Annual Meeting - The Alabama Wildflower Society will be holding their Annual Fall Meeting on October 14-16 at the University of Montevallo Ramsey Conference Center, Room 121. To register call Keener Morrow at 205-620-2520.
Grow Alabama - Want fresh and organic foods delivered straight to your doorstep? Call Grow Alabama at 205-991-0042 or visit their website at http://www.growalabama.com.