May is Watershed Awareness Month in Pennsylvania. For more information and ideas about how you can help this important initiative, click here.
On Sunday, April 17, 2005, over 30 volunteers from the Greater Redstone Clearwater Initiative and Laurel Highlands Senior High School cleaned approximately three dumpsters worth of litter from Redstone Creek and Coal Lick Run in downtown Uniontown.
Read the April 24 article in the Tribune-Review about the cleanup.
Watch a PowerPoint slide show of pictures from the cleanup.
John Piwowar, President of the Greater Redstone Clearwater Initiative (GRCI), was named the 2004 Fayette County Conservationist of the Year by the Fayette County Conservation District for his work with GRCI. John thanked all the members of GRCI for their hard work and dedication, saying the award represents the efforts of the entire organization.
Kelly Kruper, former GRCI board member, was named 2004 Fayette County Conservation Educator of the Year by the Fayette County Conservation District.
CONGRATULATIONS JOHN AND KELLY!
The Greater Redstone Clearwater Initiative (GRCI) is proud to recoginze Kelly Kruper as the 2004 Greater Redstone Watershed Superhero. The Greater Redstone Watershed Superhero award is presented to one individual each year whose actions demonstrate exemplary personal commitment as a responsible steward of the natural resources in the Greater Redstone watershed. The award recipient is voted on by the GRCI board of directors based on nominations received from the GRCI membership. This represents the first year of what will become an annual award.
Kelly's efforts to promote environmental education in the classroom and to encourage active participation of high school students in caring for our watershed environment embody the leadership values needed to help improve the quality of life in our watershed community. Thanks to her dedication, countless Fayette County students are aware of the pollution problems affecting their environment. More importantly, Kelly's actions foster a sense of empowerment among these students that they can help solve these problems and improve their community on a local level through protection, restoration, enhancement, and conservation of our precious natural resources. These students represent our future and we are thankful that she has helped to instill the values of environmental stewardship in their lives. We hope that Kelly's dedication and standards with respect to environmental education and activism serve as an example to other educators and to the general public in the Greater Redstone watershed.
CONGRATULATIONS KELLY!
Growing Greener II is an important piece of legislation for groups like the Greater Redstone Clearwater Initiative (GRCI) that are striving to make positive changes to Pennsylvania's environment. This legislation is intended to provide critical funding to organizations like GRCI. The extremely popular Growing Greener program was started under the administration of Governor Tom Ridge. Please visit the following websites to learn more about this crucial initiative and how you can express your support for its passage.
The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) is a key federal law that provides, among other things, funding to clean up areas negatively impacted by past mining practices. This important law is set to expire in June 2005. To learn more about SMCRA and how you can express your support for its reauthorization, please visit the following websites.
The Charleston Gazette
Abandoned
Promises
The Pittburgh Tribune-Review
Funds
to fix abandoned mines drying up
The Office of Surface Mining
OSM
Budget Emphasizes AML Reauthorization
Abandoned
Mine Land Proposed Fee Reauthorization
Surface
Mining Law
The Abandoned Mine Reclamation Clearinghouse
The Pennsylania Department of
Environmental Protection - Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation
Pennsylvania's
Resolution on Abandoned Mine Reclamation
Of particular interest to the GRCI members was keynote speaker, Rick Eades of the Canaan Valley Institute. In his presentation he mentioned familiar threats such as AMD and airborne mercury and lead from coal burning power plants, as well as those threats still under the radar. The greatest of these came from endocrine disruptors, which are a series of synthetics such as birth control pills that imitate hormones in humans and livestock. Such chemicals were responsible for a mysterious sex change that occurred in smallmouth bass in the headwaters of the Potomac River. A United States Geological Survey study found sexual abnormalities in 79% of the fish sampled.
Although AMD is GRCI's top priority, the effects of synthetics and endocrine disruptors should be issues of concern for our watershed and others in the near future."
by Jason Miller
jason@moonstonewritings.com
