Jan-Feb 2000 Atlantic Coast Watch Newsletter

8/9/2019 Jan-Feb 2000 Atlantic Coast Watch Newsletter

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RI Oil Spiller Pays Dear

During a fierce January 1996 storm , the tug Scandiacaught fire. Thisvessel and the oil barge it w as pushing, the North Cape, grounded on MoonstoneBeach in South Kingstow n, Rhode Island. 828,000 gallons of hom e heating oilspilled, killing some nine milli on lobsters and doing severe harm to many species ofshellfish and birds as well as to the local economy. It was the worst oil spill in thestates history.

In a series of recently announced settlement agreements the bargesowner, Eklof M arine Corporation, agreed to hand over substantial sums to

compensate for the damage it caused. Over and above a record-breaking$8 million crim inal fine, the company w ill pay a total of $10 million to affectedlobsterm en and at least $18 milli on for lobster restoration and other efforts tobenefit affected w ildli fe and habitats.

Am ong the innovative aspects of the deal, says maritim e lawyer DennisNixon of the University of Rhode Island, was the wi llingness of the company andits insurers to pay for o ff-site mitigation measures far from the afflicted beach.Acquisition of land that is not coastal, protection for m igratory bird nesting areas inMaine, and lobster restoration effort s in Narragansett Bay as well as throughoutBlock Island Sound, are all included. I was surpr ised that the parties came to-gether on this, says Nixon . I cant say for sure why it came out this way. But itwasnt a pretty case, and there may have been the feeling that if it d ragged on itwould get w orse for the companies.

For Rhode Islands South County, the settlement protects some key piecesof open space that, in this sprawl-prone region, might otherwise have soon beendeveloped. More broadly, says Narragansett Baykeeper John Torgan at Savethe Bay, The settlement puts the whole industry on noti ce. It makes it very clearthat we have a very low tolerance for oil spill ers. Rhode Island feels it simp lycannot afford another disaster like that. URL: www.savethebay.org

Heavy Weather for Wild Atlantic Salmon

Last summ er Trout Unlimit ed and the At lantic Salmon Federationjointl y filed legal action to w in Endangered Species Act (ESA) protection fo r wi ldAtlanti c salmon. Where once as many as 500,000 wild Atlanti c salmon may have

spawned in New England rivers, no more than 150 currently return to spawn ineight Maine rivers that are the focal poin t of the lawsui t. Extinction loom s ahead,say the conservation ists, if stronger measures to protect these tiny num bers of fishare not taken soon (Atlantic CoastWatch, September-October 1999).

In November the Fish and Wildlife Service and several other federalagencies posted a proposal to list the Gulf of Maine Distinct Population Segmentof Atlantic salmon as endangered under the ESA. As part of the determinationprocess, the agencies scheduled th ree publi c hearings in M aine to get local reac-tions to the idea. These were heavily attended despite icy w eather and describedby Trout Unlimi ted spokesperson M aggie Lockw ood as very emotional and pretty rough. (Continued, p. 7)

January-February 2000

News For Coastal Advocates

RI Oil Spil l

Wild Atlantic Salmon

Sayings

New Institutions

Publications

Keys Coral Damaged

Base Wars

Fishers Risks

Hog Rights

Rare Parrot Protected

Jersey Open Space

Canadian Oil Stir

Recurring:

People; Awards; Species &Habitats; Products; Grants;

Report Cards; Job Openings;

Upcoming Events

Atlantic CoastWatch

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Atlantic CoastWatchis a bimonthlynonprofit newsletter, free of charge,

for those interested in theenvironmentally sound develop-

ment of the coastline from the Gulfof M aine to the Eastern Caribbean.

The newsletter is available atwww.susdev.org


2/8

Sayings

Because of PCB-laden sedim ents stemming from now-idle General Electriccapacitor plants at two sites along the Upper Hudson River, a 200 mile stretch of itremains an EPA Superfund site. EPA advisor ies recommend that citizens severelylim it their consum ption of fish from the river. Even as continu ing EPA researchsuggests that PCB contamination in the Hudson River Valley w ill r emain above

acceptable limi ts for the entire 40 year period it is studying, founding HudsonRiverkeeper John Cronin warns of a new threat to the river s environmentalquality: m assive reindustrialization.

No fewer than six new power plant proposals seek to draw water from theriver, says Cronin in a New YorkTimesop-ed piece. Other projects proposedinclude a gas pipeline, a garbage terminal, and shoreline paper, cement , andchemical recycling p lants. The prob lem, the author continues, is that Hudsonreindustr ialization is an issue that has no venue, wi th decision-making responsi-bili ties spread widely between federal, state, and local agencies. The solution headvances: compulsory regional planning built around a new comm ission or otherentity that can give the river the comprehensive protection it needs.

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In January, the WashingtonPostran a compelling expose about stealthcollusion between South Florida sugar growers anxious to hamper US ArmyCorps of Engineers plans to take their Everglades land out of cane production,and a nonprofit recipient of their financial support, the Citizens for a SoundEconomy. In Florida, meanwhile, conservationist Nathaniel Pryor Reed told theMiamiHerald that wor se tim es may lie ahead. Without a plan and a consensus asto w hat should happen next, he said, the 700,000-acre Everglades Agricultu ralArea stands poised to become South Flori das version o f the Los Angeles valley: acarpet of condos far more damaging than the carpet of cane fields.

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To Atlantic CoastWatch:

RE: your Novem ber/December story concerning the court rejection of Mr.and Mr s. Stutchins dock proposal: I thought I wou ld offer som e insight since I wasthe environm ental consultant who submitted the application in federal court.

It is absolutely true that the appli cant needed a variance from the Villagesordinance that limi ts the seaward extent of docks to 75 feet or a poin t where thedepth of w ater is 2 feet at low tide. The mi tigating circumstances: 1) while the dockwas longer than 75 feet, there are several docks on either side of appl icantsproperty that are longerthan proposed, 2) these other docks are of the floatingvariety and were directly responsible for the l oss of tidal wetlandsince they rest onthe harbor bo ttom at low tidethe applicants dock was designed to protect tidalwetlands by not resting on the bottom , and 3) the Village permitted a floating docktwo years earlier, longerthan the applicants and w ithout requiring an Environmen-

tal Impact Statement.

In retrospect, it m ay have been better to appeal a Village denial in StateCourt before proceeding to federal court. At the hearing, it was interesting to havethe State of New York Div ision of Coastal Resources (NYSDOS) testify how theapplicants dock (a total o f about 690 square feet) having simi lar effects as 200,000square foot platforms that were built over the Hudson River in Manhattan, NewYork. But then, governments have always been good at taking away personalrigh ts. Unfortunately, I was not able to convince the judge, but that was my faultand that is life.

Joseph Enrico, Ocean Consul tingOceanside, NY

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Atlantic CoastWatch

Vol. 4, No. 1

A project of the SustainableDevelopment Institute, which seeksto heighten the environm ental qualityof economic development efforts, in

the Atlantic coastal zone and in forestregions, by communicating informa-tion about better policies and prac-tices. SDI is classified as exempt fromfederal income tax under section501(a) of the Internal Revenue Codeas an organization described in section501(c)(3).

Board of D irectors

Robert J. Geniesse, Chairm anRoger D. Stone, PresidentHart Fessenden, Treasurer

Hassanali M ehran, SecretaryEdith A. CecilDavid P. HuntFreeborn G. Jewett, Jr.Gay P. Lord

Advisers

Willi am H. Draper IIIJoan Martin-Brown

Scientific A dvisory Council

Gary Hartshorn

Stephen P. Leatherm anJerry R. SchubelChristopher Uhl

Staff

Roger D. Stone, Director & PresidentShaw Thacher, Proj ect ManagerRobert C. Nicholas III, Contributing

EditorLaura W. Roper, Correspondent

Sponsored Projects

8th Annual Environmental FilmFestival in the Nations Capital

The festival w ill t ake place all overtown from March 16 through 26.Feature, docum entary, archival,animated, and childrens film s allincluded. Most events free of charge,many include discussions. URL:www.capaccess.org/eff

Trees for DC

The festival will tak e place all

over tow n from M arch 16 through26 . Feature, documentary, archi-

val, animat ed, and childrens film sall included. Most events free of

charge, many include discussions.URL: www.capaccess.org/eff


3/8

New Inst itut ions Proliferate

In January the University of Rhode Island, whose Coastal ResourcesInstitute is already well established as a leader in the field, announced the launch ofa new environmental sciences center to share space on the South Kingstow n

campus. The new center, already the beneficiary of $1 milli on in federal m oney, willfocus on land use, grow th management, and other aspects of sustainable develop-ment.

Rhode Island thus became another of several Atlantic coastal states w ithofficials creating o r proposing m ajor new entities to address coastal and m arinemanagement issues. Others:

z New Yorks Governor George Patak i floated what he referred to as the

Hudson River Valley equivalent of the Woods Hole Oceanographi c Institute.The Henry Hudson Institut e for Riverine and Estuar ine Research, hesaid, would need an annual budget of som e $50 mill ion and a 500-personstaff to study the river valleys ecology. Next step: approval and planningmoney from the state legislature.

z The University of M assachusetts is forming a new Graduate School

of M arine Sciences and Technology that, according to Dean Brian J.Rothschild, will establish the school as a major player nationally andinternationally. Citing the role that universities had played in improv ingU.S. agricultu re during the nineteenth century, Rothschild said that a crit icalcurrent need is a blue revolution featuring a blend of aquaculture andbetter protection o f natural coastal and mari ne resources.

z A new M aryland Center f or Agro-Ecology, initially to be headed by the

states form er Governor Harold Hughes, wi ll help protect the Chesa-peake Bay by supporting research to improve farm ing and forestrypractices in the watershed. Funding is expected to come from private aswell as publ ic sources.

With Appreciation

Atlantic CoastWatchexpresses special thanks to the Fair Play Founda-tion of Wilming ton, Delaware, for renewing its major support for our publ ication.We would like also to extend our appreciation to these individual donors who m ademost welcom e donations in December, 1999 and early 2000:

Richard W. Angle, Jr.Wendy W. BenchleyDouglas H. BankerLouis W. CabotEdith A. CecilLeslie Cron inJ. Winston Fow lkes IIIJames L. GaultEllen H. Kelly

115 readers generously responded to our 1999 solicitation, donating a totalof $30,643, almost quadruple the $8,465 received from 58 readers in 1998.

Fully tax-deductible contributions remain an urgent need, and maybe sent t o At lantic CoastWatch, 312 1 South Street NW, Washington, D.C.

20007.

People

Ornithologist William B. RobertsonII , 75, died at his home in Homestead,FL. His pioneering scientific effor tsranged from measures to saveport ions of the Everglades NationalPark from wi ldfires by burning them,to careful studies of sooty terns in theDry Tortugas. He especially lovedfieldwork, reported the Miami Herald.Out there he could hide from bossesby pretending his radio did not w ork.

M ary Doyle, formerly dean of theUniversity of M iami School of Law andcounsel to Interior Secretary BruceBabbitt, has been named head of thenew South Florida EcosystemRestorat ion Task Force. This entitywi ll coordinate the m assive, $7.8bill ion, 20 year Everglades restorationeffort. Ms. Doyle is an expert in waterlaw. Her late husband Jim Webb,who died in 1997, was for many yearsa leading activi st in the struggle toprotect the Glades.

New Executive Director of theAssociation f or the Preservation

of Cape Cod (APCC) is the bio log istM argaret A. Geist . A long-tim e Caperesident and environmentalist, Geistsees her principal challenge as that offinding ways to slow grow th andpreserve open space.

Rhode Island is the only Atlanticcoastal state w ith an environmentalombudsman, a position created lastfall by Jan H. Reitsma, new directorof the states much-criticized Depart-ment of Environm ental M anagement(DEM). The winner from am ong 27applicants was Thomas D. Getz, aformer DEM administrator who m orerecently had w orked and lived inColorado.

Ending a 30-year Coast Guard careerthat included a number of environ-

mental assignments, Vice AdmiralRoger Rufe recently took the helm aspresident of the large and influentialCenter for M arine Conservation.

After a tour of duty as admin istratorfor EPAsmid-Atlantic Region III, W.Michael McCabe has become theagencys deputy administrator.McCabe previously held severalpositions on Capitol Hill, most recentlyas an aide to Senator Joseph Biden.

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Ellen H. KellyHunter LewisCaroline Macomber

Enid C.B. OkunEric OstergaardClyde E. Shorey, Jr.Simon Sidamon-EristoffEllen I. SykesMary M. Thacher


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Awards

Northeast Florida Sierra Club

chairman M aurice Coman receivedthe M imi and Lee Adams Environ-mental A dvisory Board Award onDecember 10 for h is work on num er-ous projects that resulted in reducedair pollution and in preservation of theOkefenokee National Wildlif e Refuge.

The South Carolina WildlifeFederation recognized accomplish-ments in protecting the statesenvironment. Charleston residentM ary Pope Hutson, the first womannamed to the S.C. Departm ent ofNatural Resources, was cited as a rolemodel for her concern for and forti-tude in pursuing the protection ofnatural resources. Tibwin Planta-tion, becoming an observationdestination for conservation andschool groups, received the landaward. The industrial award wasgiven to Santee Cooper for itscommitm ent of m ore than 18,000acres as state wildlife m anagementarea. Norfolk Southern wasrecognized for work to provi de habitatfor endangered red-cockaded wood-peckers. Other award winnersincluded Elizabeth Pickens, conser-vationist of the year, RobertGooding, Wes Cooler, the WilsonFamily, and among organizations, the

Mountain Chapter of the NationalWild Turkey Federat ion. URL:www.scwf.org

The Virginia Departm ent of Envi-ronmental Quality and the Chesa-peake Bay Program recognizedVirginia members of Businesses forthe Bay for steps to prevent Baypollution. Winners were: SiemensAutomotive Corp., Newport News;Uniroyal Goodrich Tire M anufac-turing, Scottsville; Denise Jeffries,commercial recycling coordinator for

Newport News; and Newport Newsand Fauquier Counties. URL:www.chesapeakebay.net

The recipient of the inaugural Sus-tainable Florida Award f or Out-standing Performance from theGovernors Council fo r Sustain-able Florida was the Regatt a PointMarina, first in the state to providefree sewage pumpouts at every slip.URL: www.dep.state.fl.us/law

Publications

The tri-state Chesapeake Bay Foundation, which for 30 years has beenstriv ing to protect the Bay and its resources, is being cited by the World Bank -managed Global Environment Facility as a guide for how environmental non-governm ental organizations in other nations might fashion viable, successfulprograms o f their own. Available to NGOs seeking assistance is a CBF report,Building Blocks forEnvironmental NGOs: Lessons from the ChesapeakeBay Foundation. E-mail: [email protected] or msanio@wor ldbank.org

Reefk eeper International, the coral reef conservation organization, hasissued an updated version of its 103-page Conservation Action Guide, The Casefor MarineFishery Reserves in Fisheries M anagem ent . The guide is based on33 scientifi c papers covering 24 no-take zones around the w orld . Tel. (305) 358-4600. E-mail [email protected]

M uddy Water s: The Toxic Wasteland Below A mericas Oceans,Coasts, Rivers, and Lakes(1999) offers graphic descript ions of the contaminatedsediments accumulated there and suggestions as to what citi zens can do about i t.The books principal author is Beth M illemann, former executive director of CoastAlliance; Cindy Zipf , executive director of Clean Ocean Action, provides casestudies from the New Jersey shore. The two organizations published the report inpartnership wi th the Am erican Littoral Society . Tel. (202) 546-9554; E-mai [email protected]

Voyage to the Nort h Star(Carroll & Graf 1999), is a starkly vio lent novelabout a doom ed Depression-era cruise, from Long Island, NY to Baffin Island off thecoast of Labrador, aboard a miscast 225-foot luxury yacht. Author Peter Nicholsloads up this fragile craft with a vivid cast of characters including a bloodthir sty,hunting-crazed owner, his libidinous daughter, an incom petent British captain, and agloomy hero signed on as a coal stoker who tries vainly to avert disaster. Ravereviews cite Melville and Conrad in describing this finely wrought tale, whichdisplays keen knowledge of the sea and the powerful emotions a dangerousvoyage arouses.

In the childrens book Grouper M oon(Aurelia Press 1999) author CynthiaShaw traces a Nassau groupers course toward the species annual spawningaggregation, and a local boys fascination w ith the fish and suspicion o f skindivingtour ists. Scientifically sound and artistically attractive, the book offers insightsabout fishery management and Caribbean island development. [email protected]

Groundings Damage Keys Coral

On January 5, the Florida Park Patrol to ld the Miam i Herald, the 96-footmegayacht Caluha 2was cruising on autopil ot near Basin Hill Shoals off Key Largo

wi thin the John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. The captain had gone below tobandage up a passenger who had stubbed a toe. Soon after he returned to thehelm, the ship plowed into what a sanctuary biologist described as a very pro-fusely decorated reef.

No one was injured aboard the vessel, which was soon pulled off the coral,but the reef itself was badly w ounded. The grounding w as one of many thatoccurred within the hard-pressed sanctuary during the New Years weekend hol idayseasonand one of about 550 recorded each year. Damage from such events joinspollu tion, coral smuggl ing, storms, bleaching, and stress from rising seawatertemperatures as a reason for deterioration in one of the nations most beautiful andmost vulnerable ecosystems.

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Species & Habitats

Last season b iologist Paul Spitzercounted about 300 migrating loonsalong M arylands Choptank River,reports Bay Journal, the ChesapeakeBay Newspaper. The total w as animprovem ent over 1998, when Spitzercounted only about 200 loons, but wasthree to four times below the num bersof a decade ago. Spitzer attribu tes theloon decline, as well as reducednum bers of nesting ospreys in recentyears off Gardiners Island at theeastern end of Long Island, NY, toreduced num bers of the small, youngmenhaden on which they feed.URL: www.bayjournal.com

No one know s why, but Long IslandSounds lobster popu lation hasundergone a massive dieoff since lastSeptember. Catches from the Sound,usually the nations third largestlobster fishery after Maine andMassachusetts, are dow n by over 50%as researchers scramble to identifythe cause.URL: ww w.savethesound.org

Thanks to effort s by the SouthCarolina Coastal ConservationLeague and Ducks Unlimited, apermanent conservation easementnow protects the entire eastern tip ofKiawah Island from developm ent.Much of this land, known as Little Bear

Island, had been slated to become 18hom esites. It is an impor tant nestinghabitat for the painted bunting, one ofNorth Am ericas more colorful andless abundant b irds.URL: w ww .scccl.org

Relief for the horseshoe crab, aspecies relentlessly harvested inrecent years for use as bait by eel andconch fishermen, is at last at hand.After years of protests by the Na-tional Audubon Society and otherconservationists, the Atlantic States

MarineFisheries Comm issionrecently ordered a Coast-wide 25percent reduction in harvests. Addi -tional protection for Delaware Bay,where m igrating shorebirds gatherannually to feast on horseshoe crabeggs, was also recomm ended. Theenvironmentalists had argued for a50% cut, but came away half satisfiedafter a long battle.URL: ww w.audubon.org/campaign/horseshoe

Explosion on Cape Cod, Deal on Vieques

Early in January, the EPA dealt another blow to mi litary authority over the22,000 acre Massachusetts M ilitary Reservation (MMR) on Cape Cod. Already deepin negotiation about a plan to shift control over most of the base to civilians (AtlanticCoastWatchSeptember-October 1999), the M MRs top brass has now been rockedby EPAs new order to clean up longstanding accumulations of unexploded shells,missiles, and bazooka rounds at various sites on the base. EPA, alleging that toxiccontamination f rom the ordi nance was leaking in to the Capes aquifer system, actedunder p rovisions of the federal Safe Drinking Water Act.

What alarmed the m ilitary was not just that the cleanup would furthercurtail training activiti es on a single base. It was also that the EPAs order set anational precedent that could involve outlays of billions of dollars to clean upunknown quantities of unexploded ordinance at m ilitary installations all over thecountry.

Some expected that Puerto Ricos Vieques island, a U.S. Navy bom bingrange since World War II and recently the subject of heated debate and a temporarybombing halt, would become the next high-profile cleanup target (AtlanticCoastWatch, September-October 1999).

Instead, in a deal recently struck between the Puerto Rican governmentand the White House, the people of Vieques wi ll get $40 mi llion in return forallowing the Navy to resume bombing part of the island with dum my w eapons for alimi ted period.

In a referendum to be held sometim e before February 2002, they w ill thenchoose between granting the Navy full use of the bom bing range and getting anadditional $50 million, or rejecting the money. Should they vote no, the Navyagrees to halt all training on Vieques by May 1, 2003, and clean up the bombingrange.

New England Fishers: New Rules & Risks

Tightening catch limits and regulations compel New England fishermen totake greater risks. One examp le is the chill ing tale of Portsmouth, N.H. fishermanJohn Rosa, as reported the Boston Globe.

On Christm as Eve when nobody else was working, Rosa steamed aboardhis 37-foot Bella Juliato fishing grounds 70 miles out to sea and hauled aboard agood, legal catch of cod and po llock.

His transmission qui t on Christm as morning. No one heard his radio callfor help as breaking w aves threatened to swamp the drifting boat. Activating his

EPIRB (emergency radio beacon) brought out a Coast Guard cutter, which tossed aline to Rosa and began towing him back to port . The trip took 14 hours, during wh ichthe cabin-bound Rosa was repeatedly smashed into the ceiling and floorboards ashis vessel was tossed in tow .

Once ashore, the battered Rosa slept for 20 hours straigh t. On New YearsEve he headed out again as captain of a borrowed boat, the Cherry L. Again hebroke down in bad w eather and was towed into Cape Cod.

Hopping m ad at the regulators, fellow fisherman Dave Damon told theGlobehe was cutting expenses and wou ld qu ite likely take as many ri sks as Rosahas: You pu t anyone in a corner and theyre going to go extreme.

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Products

Scientists at the Salk Institute f orBiological St udies in San Diegohave found a way to make grass growless quickly by manipulating a genethat regulates production o f a steroidhormone. It stimulates plant growth in

the same way that steroids wo rk withanimals and athletes. Ai r and waterquality stand to benefit w hen Salkgrass goes comm ercial.

In South Carolina, reports AssociatedPress, Clemson University profes-sor Serji Am irkhanian has devel-oped a way to keep used asphaltshingles out of dumps by recyclingthem for use as pavement.

Grants

In Jacksonville, FL, reports the DailyNews, city staff members had thebright idea of converting an oldwastewater tr eatment facility into Sturgeon City. The old sewagetanks would provide new hom es forendangered shortnose sturgeons andthreatened Atlanti c sturgeonthelatter a species still found at the mouthof the nearby New River. Other plansfor the 27-acres downtow n site includean environm ental education center, arestaurant, a marina, and a shellfishnursery. By last November, said the

paper, Sturgeon City had garnered$73,000 in state and federal grantmoney.

Funding to restore coastal habitats isnow available as a result of a newcollaboration between NOAAFisheries and the AmericanSportf ishing AssociationsFishAm erica Foundation, reports theEPA newsletter Coastlines. Initialgrants support eight restorationefforts including an oyster reef in theLafayette River near No rfo lk, VA. Tel.Chris Doley, (301) 713-0174.

Supporting The NatureConservancys wo rk in New Jersey,as well as that of the Trust for PublicLand and the New Jersey Conserva-tion Foundation, are new landconservation grants totaling $9.35million from the Doris Duke Chari-table Foundation. In December thefoundation also announced $4.7million in grants for land conservationin Rhode Island.

Hog Rights for Sale

A major headache for North Carolina duri ng last falls period of heavyflooding w as that many hog farms and accompanying w aste lagoons lie within the100-year floodplain. Overflow ing or breached lagoons launched torrents of pollu-tion into the watershed.

Now the states Department of Environment and Natural Resources(DENR) has embarked on a program to reduce the prob lems dimensions by buyingup permi ts to operate feedlots from will ing hog farmers located w ithin the 100-yearfloodplain. Conservation easements wi ll enable such farmers to continue someforms of low-intensity farming and livestock raising if they also develop soil andwater conservation p lans and accept the states help in imp lementing them and inshutting down the lagoons.

DENRs goal is to buy out 15 low-lying hog factories by m eans of this$5.7 mill ion program, funded by the federal Clean Water Management Trust Fund.Tel. (919) 733-2302.

New Protection for Rare Parrot

In Domini ca, the West Indies, authoriti es recently declared the world s firstyear 2000 national park at Morne Diabotin, straddling the highest volcanic peak inthe eastern Caribbean. This wooded site is the last remaining nesting and foragingarea for the Imperial Amazon Parrot or Sisserou, the rarest Amazon parrot on earthLess than 200 individuals remain alive.

For many years international conservation ists have struggled to save thishabitat from deforestation and agriculture. But no proposal came to fruiti on until atiny nonprofit o rganization, the Rare Species Conservation Foundation (RSCF)in Loxahatchee, Florida, resolved to put i tself deep in hock to save the bird.

Under the $1,086,000 plan to acquire 1301 pri vately-owned acres wi thinthe reserve that RSCF Director Paul Riello hammered out, the Dominican govern-ment supplied $336,000 as well as more than 7,000 acres of adjacent parrot habitat

Grants to RSCF toward the acquisiti on t otal $545,000. The balance of$205,000 that it forwarded to complete the deal leaves RSCF $205,000 in debt, butRiello expressed no regret about taking prompt action that his institution can illafford. He acted just in time. No sooner had the ink dried than the governmentdeclared snap elections. Negotiations with the new government, already in place,would have started from scratch. E-mail [email protected]

Open Space for Jersey

Two years ago New Jerseys Governor Christie Whitm an announcedthe bold goal of p rotecting a mill ion acres of the states land300,000 of thesebefore she leaves office in 2002. Already the prog ram, involv ing pri vate as well aspubl ic sector projects, is 100,000 acres along the track.

The Nature Conservancy of New Jersey scored one no table victory byconvincing a retirem ent-comm unity developer to hand over 4,160 wooded acres inthe biologically important Pine Barrens in return for the right to expand an existingcomplex elsewhere. Putting together the deal, wo rth some $2.5 milli on, cost infinite tim e and patience, says the Conservancys Michael Catania. It is also amodel that he hopes to replicate elsewhere. Tel. (908) 879-7262

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Reports

According to the Am erican PlanningAssociation, six states warrant topranking as exemplary m odels forgrow th management planning.Included among the six are RhodeIsland, New Jersey, and Mary land.

In a report recently issued by TroutUnlimited, Friends of the Earthand Am erican Rivers, nature isthri ving as a consequence of fastgrow ing numbers of dam removalproj ects around the US. As oneexample, the groups cite theSoudabascook Stream in Maine, towhich spawning salmon returned forthe first t ime in 200 years after a damwas removed last fall.

Restorations

By declaring Centredale Manor inNorth Providence, Rhode Island aSuperfund site, the EPA has expe-dited the cleanup and restoration ofthe long-suffering WoonasquatucketRiver. Addi tional federal cleanupfunds allocated to the project w illexpedite hazardous waste cleanupsfrom a barrel reclamation facility anda chemical plant, says EPA, and theseeding of vegetated caps onriverbanks will control the migration ofdioxin contamination into the r iver.

In the Rhode Island tow n of Coventry,reports the Providence Journal, thecleanup of some 16,000 barrels ofhazardous chemicals illegally dumpedon a pig farm began more than 22years ago. The farm, which belongedto the late Warren V. Picil lo, was thestates first Superfund site. Complet-ing the cleanup o f chemicals andcontaminated soil and water is socomplex a task, EPA project m anagerAnna Krasko told t he paper, that sheexpects it to take another 20 years.

EPA , other federal agencies andGeneral Electric have achieved w hatthe company calls a landmarksettlement to clean up PCBs in theHousatonic River and its floodplain.As part of the settlement, the com-pany has also pledged $45 mill ion toclean up and revitalize a contaminated250-acre property in Pittsfield, MA.This is said to be one of the nationslargest brownfields investments.

Salmon, Continued from p. 1

Speakers at all three sessions expressed fears that federal pro tection fo rthe salmon populations would also give federal agencies more authority to regulateaquaculture, blueberry and cranberry cultivation, and loggingall impor tantelements in the eastern Maine economy. In Machias Senator Olympia Snowe,who is runn ing for reelection, delivered a barnburning 25-minute speech. Sheargued that the irresponsible and deeply flawed listing proposal would cast along and dark shadow over the region. Senator Susan Collins expressedsimilar thoughts in Machias, and Governor Angus King chimed in at the Ellswo rthhearing, warning of federal intrusion into p rivate lives and property.

Some participants stood up for the fish. Trout Un lim iteds Jeff Reardonnoted that despite numerous ESA salmon listings in the Pacific Northw est, Washing-ton and Oregon are still there. A student delegation showed up in M achias wearingfish costumes and bearing a banner reading Can Angus, not Salmon. But conser-vationists admit they were outgunned at the hearings. They say this was notunexpected and that the hearings were rigged in favor of anti-wild salmon forces.

Paul N ickerson, a Fish and Wildlife Service biologist, argues that much ofthe fearm ongering is exaggerated and in some instances just dri vel. There hasbeen some progress in protecting the Maine popu lations, he adds, including anoutright ban on wi ld salmon fishing, replacing the previous catch-and-release rule.

After the end of the pub lic comm ent period on March 15, the agencies willreview all comm ents and developments and later determine w hether to list wi ldAtlantic salmon as endangered, drop the listing to the threatened category, orwi thdraw the proposal. Despite the heavy shelling, Trout Unlim iteds Lockwoodremains pretty confident about the final outcome.

URLs: ww w.gpo.ucop.edu; ww w.tu.org

Canadian M aritimes Oil Stir

Hearts are beating faster in eastern Canada, reports the Halifax Herald,about the prospects for m ajor oil and gas discoveries off the coasts of Nova Scotiaand Newfoundland. One well off Nova Scotias Sable Island is already producinggas, and more than $700 mi llion wo rth of li censes to explore the Scotian shelf haverecently been issued. The paper cites a prediction that wi thin 10 years the New-found land wells will be producing over half of Canadas light and m edium crude oil.

Debora Walsh, East Coast manager of the Canadian Association ofPetroleum Producers, says that the amount of exploration now under wayrepresents a significant comm itment on the part of the industry. But, she adds, itis premature to believe, as some people now w ould l ike to, that the reserves w ill

prove to be sufficient to trigger a boom equivalent to the one in the North Sea,transforming the traditionally have-not provinces of eastern Canada into the SaudiArabia of North America. At the moment, this is all making more people nervousthan excited, Walsh admits. Next year w e will be in a lot better a position toassess where we really are, after companies have undertaken further seismiciniti atives. Its a wildly exciting piece of business as usual.

Despite the uncertainties, conservationists were quick to warn of threats tolobster, salmon, and herring fisheries, and criticize authorities for handing outexploration permits too qu ickly. Elizabeth M ay of the Sierra Club of Canadasaid she was flabbergasted by the official actions. URLs: ww w.capp.ca,www.sierraclub.ca/national

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Upcoming Events

M arch 5-11. Subtrop ical Ecology o f the Florida Keys Workshop, Pidgeon Key. URLwww.GustavWVerderber.com

March 9-12. 29th Marine Benthic Ecology M eeting, Wilm ington, North Carolina,hosted by the University of Nort h Carolina, Wilmington . URL:www.uncwil.edu/cmsr/bem2000/reg.htm

April 10-14. 25th Annual Eastern Fish Health Workshop d iscussion on Coral ReefDisease, Plym outh, Massachusetts. E-mail [email protected]

April 14-17 . Third Annual Am erican Wetlands Conference, San Francisco, andM ay 6-8. Boston, sponsored by the Terrene Institute, the national coordinator ofAm erican Wetlands Month. URL: ww w.terrene.org/awm .htm

April 15-19. 15th Annual Symposium U.S. Chapter of the International

Association of Landscape Ecology and 2nd Conference of The Walt D ineenSociety, Fort Lauderdale. URL: ww w.ces.fau.edu/iale2000/index.html

April 17-19. National Watershed Outreach Conference, San Diego, sponsored byEPA, the University of California, and the County of San Diego WatershedWorking Group. URL: www.epa.gov/owow/watershed/outreach/events/aprilconf.html

M ay 15-18. 3rd Annual Agro-ecology Conference: Eco-touri sm on Public & PrivateLands in Florida, Palm Beach Gardens, sponsored by The Florida Center forEnvironmental Studies. URL: w ww .ces.fau.edu/projects/AgroEcology/ecotourconf/

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URL: www.susdev.org

Job Openings

Save The Bay needs an environmen-tal attorney, a mem ber of the RhodeIsland Bar. Contact Maureen Fogarty,Save The Bay, 434 Smith Street,Providence, RI 02908.

ReefKeeper International, Miami,Florida , is conducting a search for afull-tim e Florida conservation associ-ate. E-mail [email protected]

The Nat ional Oceanographic andAt mospheric Administration , has

job opportuni ties at its M ilford, CT,Washington, DC, Taunton, M A, WoodsHole, MA, Miam i, FL, Silver Spri ng,MD, Camp Springs , MD, Suitland, MD,

Pasagoula, MS, Charleston , SC,Norfo lk, VA, and Sterling, VA, offices.URL: http://search3.usajobs.opm .gov/wfj

The World Wildlife Fund, Washing-ton, DC seeks a full-tim e comm unica-tions officer. Five years experience inpublic relations, journalism, orbroadcasting desired. URL:www.worldwildlife.org

Documents

Jan-Feb 2000 Atlantic Coast Watch Newsletter