Yang 24 Form

Double-Crested Cormorants on L. Ontario

The rise and fall of cormorant populations has been linked in the last decade to the reduction of DDT, the rise of round goby as a food, and the pressure from fishermen.  Only a few islands in eastern L. Ontario and the north shore of Canada support the breeding colonies with hundreds of pairs, but both DEC and Wildlife Management in Canada have killed or removed nests to reduce population.

Because I see the cormorants on Braddock Bay and and other areas along the shore, I have been fascinated watching them.  Sometimes they create long, single-file lines, flying just on top of the waves.

Their twig nests are high in trees inland, but they fish and dry wings on old branches sticking up in the water.

I would not like to see these amazing birds be 'culled' or nests removed.  Photo from Univ. of Oregon.  For more on the EPA's concern about Double-Crested Cormorants: http://www.epa.gov/med/grosseile_site/indicators/cormorants.html

IJC Hearing June 6, 2012 - 7 pm - Quest School Hilton NY

NOTE: The University of Illinois "Carbon Capture Report" [a website that tracks perceptions in climate change, carbon capture and more] picked up this post: http://hydro.carboncapturereport.org/cgi-bin//profiler?key=westspit.blogspot.com&pt=4

The International Joint Commission (IJC) was established by the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 to help manage the use of shared waters between Canada and the United States. In the 1950s, it approved construction and operation of a hydroelectric power project in the St. Lawrence River near Cornwall, Ontario and Massena, New York for the purpose of producing hydroelectricity, enabling seaway navigation, and providing flood protection to Lake Ontario.

The IJC invites stakeholders to participate in this dialogue about a new approach, currently under development, to regulating the flows through the Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River (LOSLR) system. The new approach would take a step toward more natural water levels and flows in order to improve environmental conditions in the system, particularly on Lake Ontario, and would maintain most of the economic benefits of the current regulation regime. The IJC will consider the comments made during this dialogue before finalizing a formal proposal and scheduling public hearings on the new approach.

Overall Objective for the Dialogue
The Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River (LOSLR) system is home to nearly 12 million people, and a variety of interests, including shoreline communities, recreational boating, commercial navigation, hydroelectric power, municipal and industrial water uses, and the environment. While fluctuations in water levels and flows are mainly determined by mother nature, regulating the flows through an international hydropower project also has an influence. Dialogue participants are invited to discuss how a new approach to regulation would affect water levels and flows, and each of the various interests on the lake and river.

To discuss issues regarding the draft new approach with experts and stakeholders throughout the LOSLR system. The desired outcomes include: Resolution of outstanding questions to the greatest extent possible; Deeper understanding of the issues by all participants, including the IJC, governments and stakeholders throughout the LOSLR system.

Wake up New Yorkers ~ fresh water under threat by fracking

Extend the moratorium on issuing fracking permits until June 1, 2013, A7400-A/S.6261 -- Contact this link to send message to Governor and Legislature: Riverkeepers Action Alert on Fracking.

Immense water coming into L. Ontario

This is October 8, 2011 -- incredible water flow over both Horseshoe Falls and the American Falls.

Paddle-to-the-Sea ~ a Great Lakes Treasure

Holling Clancy Holling's 1941 classic, "Paddle-to-the-Sea" about a boy and his carved canoe, begins at Lake Nipigon, Ontario Canada. A First Nation boy carves a wooden model of an man in a canoe and sets it free to travel the Great Lakes to the Atlantic ocean. The story follows the progress of the little wooden Indian on its journey through all five Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River, finally arriving at the Atlantic Ocean. Read about the incredible adventures on L. Superior all the way through each Great Lake. An incredible tale! See what teachers are doing.

sweet smell

Milkweed is in full bloom ~ July 1.

cormorants

When angles of cormorants fly over and perch on the upturned tree roots on the sandbars, I'm amazed how much they are off the general radar. Fish-diving birds make their home on Braddock Bay - spending summer days airing their wet wings.









Yang 108 Form:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IlhW5UIu_U

migration

So, here is a captive hawk posing for a photog, but it's an amazing spectacle altogether.

The hot winds are still blowing in turkey vultures and others from the south. The fogs and rains of this month give cover for migrating birds.

willow

Despite reports to the contrary, spring has sprung.

April can be a wild month

Torrential downpours mixed with sleet and winds bringing in migrations of birds, April is a wake-up call.

GreatLakesRestoriation website launches - seeks comments

Here it is: http://greatlakesrestoration.us Oh boy . . . . NOTE: Funding is on the 'chopping block' - March 30, 2011

Make a comment: Great Lakes & Mississippi River OY Interbasin Study is seeking comments

before dawn

the world is white and blue

Got a good idea? $40M is out there

UP TO $40 MILLION AVAILABLE FROM EPA FOR GREAT LAKES RESTORATION
PROJECTS

(CHICAGO – Feb. 25, 2011) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced that the agency is requesting applications from states, municipalities, tribes and nonprofit organizations for new projects to protect and restore the Great Lakes. President Obama has proposed a total of $300 million in funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative in Fiscal Year 2011, with approximately $40 million of that total allocated to EPA for distribution through this competitive grant program. The final budget is subject to Congressional appropriation.

“These grants will support critical work to protect the Great Lakes, which provide drinking water to 30 million Americans and support a multi-billion dollar economy,” said EPA Region 5 Administrator and Great Lakes National Program Manager Susan Hedman. “This year we are particularly interested in projects that create new jobs – for instance, using a conservation corps model for environmental restoration.”

Grants are available to fund a wide range of projects, including work to target invasive species, to reduce the impact of toxic substances and nonpoint pollution, to protect public health, and to clean up heavily contaminated “Areas of Concern” around the Great Lakes Basin.

"The work funded by these grants will help to ensure that Great Lakes water is safe to drink, the fish are safe to eat, and that beaches and waters are safe for swimming and recreation," said Hedman.

Applications are due by noon on April 11. Webinars on the application process will be held at 10 a.m. on March 9 and March 17.

See more information about applying for GLRI grants at
www.epa.gov/greatlakes/fund/2011rfa01/. More information about the
Great Lakes Restoration Initiative is at www.greatlakesrestoration.us/.

CONTACT:
Anne Rowan, 312-353-9391, rowan.anne@epa.gov
Mick Hans, 312-353-5050, hans.mick@epa.gov
GreatLakesNews is hosted by the Great Lakes National Program Office of USEPA:
http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/
SUBSCRIBE: Send a blank message to:
greatlakesnews-subscribe@lists.epa.gov

wind and waves

The March winds are coming early – it's mid-February and while the garden catalogs are open, there's still a lot of snow and ice all the way out into the lake. Out on the island it's mysterious and wintry.

Is a storm coming?

While a major 18" snow was predicted for tonight and tomorrow, Feb. 2, it veered off to the northwest and skittered across us with sprinkles of ice coming directly off the lake.

ice walk out to island

Greg and I hiked across the frozen bay to the island today, January 23.

Oh baby, it's cold out there . . . one ice fisherman had set tipups all over Salmon Creek just past the bridge. We were, obviously, the only ones out there in the minus –1 windchill – frozen faces, three deer across the road when we turned around.

map of here . . .

Here

Qigong ~ Eight Piece Brocade

December at dusk

Angles of geese coming into the bay on winds from the far west are finding little open water on the bay today at dusk in mid-December. Ice as far as the sandbar, endless roaring of waves with no break, it feels like it does just before we're about to get a storm from the prairies of Manitoba. Posted by Barbara