Wednesday, February 24, 2010

River Kids Go Above and Beyond




On February 20th, the St. Louis River Kids of New City School hosted their 2nd Annual Polar Bear Pickup at North Riverfront Park. The River Kids, who range from 4th grade-10th grade, aim to help clean, protect, and preserve water sources in St. Louis.




Their Mission:
  1. To learn about rivers and associated issues
  2. Teach others about these issues and propose solutions
  3. Take action on issues and clean the rivers

At the Polar Bear Pickup, the River Kids collected trash on both sides of the river, even canoeing across to access the opposite bank. Their efforts not only helped restore the beauty to the park, but also helped a community of beavers living on the other bank. I was happy to be part of such a great event and to see such interest from kids.

As a reminder, there are many other litter pickup events coming up if you would like to do your part! The 2010 Confluence Trash Bash will be held on March 27th from 9:00-12:00. Please register online here. Let's think like the River Kids and go above and beyond!

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Upcoming Litter Pick-up Event


I know what you're thinking... How can I get outside, fight the cold, and pick up some trash!? Well this Saturday, February 20th, the St. Louis River Kids are hosting their Annual Polar Bear Pick-up at North Riverfront Park (1/4 mile south of I-270 on Riverview Blvd) from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM. It's not t00 late to get involved! Register by email at riverkids@newcityschool.org. This is one of several upcoming clean-ups in the area so if you can't make this one, stay tuned for more info.


Fight the cold! Come on be bold! It's for the environment I'm told!

Monday, February 15, 2010

King River


Note: this post is going to be a little… atypical. I’m blogging about this event because I feel so strongly about these issues; I personally think the subject matter is a “great story,” if not in the traditional sense of this blog.

A couple of weeks ago, the Coalition sponsored a showing of the documentary King Corn, and its companion, Big River, at the Tivoli Theater in St. Louis. I, along with two volunteers (one of whom is an AmeriCorps alumna who did stormwater education in Maine), manned the booth in the entry way and answered questions before and after the film from the nearly 100 attendees.

If you haven’t seen King Corn, I highly recommend it. I first saw this documentary as an undergraduate in an Environmental Sociology course, and it completely revolutionized the way I see the food system in the United States.

King Corn is the story of two friends, Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis, from Boston who travel to a small town in Iowa to grow an acre of corn. These recent graduates find out what it’s like to be a modern farmer as they follow the process of growing corn from planting to the various uses for this ubiquitous kernel.

What they found was that farming is heavily dependent not only on chemicals and machines, but on government subsidies—it would be impossible for smaller farmers, in particular, to turn a profit without aid from the Fed.

And yet, every year, literal mountains of corn are grown. After the Earl Butz changed the policy of the Federal government to start paying farmers to grow more corn in the 1970s, we had so much corn that we had to start finding more uses for it.

As it turns out, the vast majority of the corn grown in Iowa can’t be eaten; in fact, Ian and Curt discover that the corn they grow tastes oddly similar to sawdust. Most of the corn grown in Iowa becomes feed for confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs). Thus, when we eat most beef, pork, or poultry, we’re really eating corn.

Another significant portion of the corn grown around the country is intensely chemical process to extract sugar to make (not surprisingly) high fructose corn syrup. Found in everything from soda to candy bars, high fructose corn syrup is a less expensive—and less healthy—alternative to sugar. Lay a graph of the exponential increase of the production of high fructose corn syrup next the increase in obesity and diabetes, and things start to make a little more sense.

So how does this all relate to water, you ask? Excellent question. Here’s how:

When it rains, all of the pesticides, herbicides and fertilizer not taken up by plants are washed into streams and rivers. Agriculture, as many of you in other parts of the state are aware, is a major source of pollution in our waterways—as well as a significant contributor to the “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico. This is the subject of the follow up to King CornBig River—filmed by the same two friends during the floods in Iowa just a few years ago. They follow the stream that drained their acre all the way to the Mississippi, then paid a visit to the shrimp fishermen of New Orleans, whose industry has all but collapsed due to the irresponsible behavior of cities and farms upstream. Since no aquatic organisms can survive in the dead zone, many people can no longer make a living.

(Side note: Big River only begins to tell the polluted runoff story, and leaves out almost completely anything about problems stemming from urban areas. So if you’re looking to show people something that talks about stormwater issues as a whole, this is a good place to start—but not finish.)

What’s the point? Well, the point is that it’s all tied together—what we choose eat, how we choose to grow it, what happens to our health, and what happens to the environment. Because we grow so much corn, our food is cheaper, but we also pay a much bigger price in the degradation of our health and environment. King Corn, and now Big River, drove that home for me. Everyone who attended, my fellow volunteers included, felt a strong sense of urgency and desire to change the system after viewing these films. I highly recommend them both to anyone who eats food or drinks water in this country.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

What's with that E. coli at the Lake of the Ozarks?


Greetings from the Lake of the Ozarks! Caroline Toole, here, working with LOWA (Lake of the Ozarks Watershed Alliance) and AmeriCorps (MO Clean Water AmeriCorps Program, hosted by MO River Communities Network (MRCN)), in service to our community!

LOWA has been putting the finishing touches on the watershed management plan (WMP) for the Lake of the Ozarks (LOZ) and this month I’d like to discuss some of the strategies outlined in the WMP for maintaining and improving the water quality and health of LOZ. When we mention the Lake of the Ozarks these days, the general public often thinks of E. coli, even before they think of Party Cove! Such is the power of the media. The Lake of the Ozarks does not have an E. coli problem yet. Like any other lake, when hard rains come down, material gets washed into the water body from the watershed and last spring, the LOZ Cove testing program sampled according to their testing schedule which, unfortunately, was right after a heavy rain. Lots of E. coli was found through out the sites being tested and then, a few days later, most of that E. coli was gone. This golden opportunity to educate the public about how lakes work was lost as the results, for whatever reason, were withheld. The rest of the testing season showed almost no E. coli at all. All this being said, E. coli is still an issue at the Lake; and, people still want to know what is in the cove waters where they swim and recreate. Sometimes the Cove testing program does find isolated hotspots of E. coli, and then MDNR steps in to trace the bacteria and find the source of that hotspot. One of the “Strategies” (big ideas to tackle the specific issues of sediment, bacteria, and nutrient loading at LOZ) proposed by LOWA in the WMP is to establish more testing at the Lake. Presently, isolated studies are performed by graduate students from time to time, but the 5-year Cove testing program for E. coli being conducted by MDNR (LOWA volunteers collect the water samples for MDNR so that more coves can be tested each season) only samples a small section of LOZ each season and the 5-years is approaching its fourth season. More testing will not, in and of itself, reduce any of the loads to the Lake, but citizens want to know about all of their coves, not just a select few each year.

Several Strategies are proposed by LOWA in the WMP to reduce the amount of bacteria currently entering the Lake and to address the issue of future population growth along the shorelines of LOZ. One set of Strategies specifically targets the wastewater issue at LOZ both from the short-term and the long-term. In the short term, the WMP proposes to establish two programs. One, a Pump-Out Program, has already been tried by LOWA at LOZ on a small scale using a couple of small grants from MDNR. In this program, residents with septic tanks are educated about proper maintenance of their septic tanks and why proper maintenance is so important to the health of the watershed and the Lake. Then those residents who attend the workshop can apply for a discounted pump-out with a local reputable pump-out company. The second program is called Pump Don’t Dump and is targeted at recreational boaters, educating them about why they should take the extra time and expense to properly dispose of the wastewater from their boat’s holding tank instead of just releasing the waste into the lake. This program also picks up from an earlier effort by LOWA which resulted in a brochure of many of the pumping stations at marinas and RV parks around the Lake. That brochure needs to be updated and expanded.

In the long-term, the wastewater issue at LOZ is being addressed by LOWA in terms of proposing the establishment of a Lake-wide sewer district to coordinate the efforts of communities and municipalities, help find funding for their efforts, and to begin the long process of getting rid of the many on-site traditional septic systems around the shoreline that are trying to function in areas simply not suited to that mode of wastewater treatment. This is a huge, highly charged issue that LOWA is tackling. Over 30 years of studies have all said the same thing. To avert a future problem, the septic tanks in areas ill-suited to septic tanks around the Lake’s shores need to be eliminated. LOWA realizes that several types of wastewater treatment will need to be utilized and many sources of funding will need to be found. However, as all of the stakeholders for the Lake of the Ozarks rally to work together, LOWA is confident that the Lake of the Ozarks will remain the vibrant, healthy jewel we all know and love. By working together, we can ensure that the Lake of the Ozarks will continue to be one of the Midwest’s premiere vacation spots and a wonderful place to live, work, and retire.

Friday, February 12, 2010

Attending MNRC


I felt like I had died and gone to heaven when I attended the Missouri Natural Resource Conference last week. Being involved in Americorps allows me to take part in events that I normally would have not been involved in! The opportunity to network with organizations who protect the environment was priceless. A lot of the professionals I met were people I had been communicating with via e-mail for upcoming JRBP (James River Basin Partnership) programs. This conference was paramount to developing relationships with individuals who work regularly with the partnership.
My AmeriCorps group also united for our quarterly meeting. I learned even more about the activities the other members are hard at work on! I am starting to notice a trend in having canoe races as a possible community outreach and fundraising event. This is so exciting! One thing I love about our meetings together is sharing new fundraising ideas for our water protection groups!

That was awesome!

Finally after months of planning, Kaven, the District Technician from Soil and Water, Lesly from MDC and I, gave presentations to the 5th graders in Texas County. The kids didn’t know what they were in for when we told them if they didn’t pay attention and answer questions correctly, they’d get their fingers bitten off! Their eyes got big, but they watched closely as our “Keller-ville” had a big rain storm and all the “fertilizer” and “top soil” and “sludge” from the local factory went into the streams and lake in the sad, un-planned city of Keller-ville. Of course they immediately perked up when they realized that really, the bad pollutants were actually Kool-aid! But let me back up a few steps. The presentations given were a part of the poster contest that the Soil and Water Conservation District in partnership with Top of the Ozarks RC&D organized for Texas County. We discuss how all things eventually lead to the water sources, and how we have to be careful of what we do and even what type of cleaners we use. Farming and logging are big sources of revenue down here, so we also discussed how while those things are necessary, the operators of those businesses need to have an environmentally safe plan. The kids got it, they asked questions, and ultimately realized that without water, we have no life. They also had great ideas of what they can and already do, to help keep our waters safe, because after all, it's our job! After the Summersville presentation yesterday, I asked one of the boys if he enjoyed our presentation. He enthusiastically answered, “That was awesome!” He kept his fingers.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

january: Matisse Creek Cleanup Level 2 WQM







Hey Everyone!






So 2010 was kick started with a lot of Stream Team activities going on. I am now a Level 2 Water Quality Monitor and will soon a level 3, which means my data can and will be used by the state and other authorities. My most recent event was a big clean up at Matisse Creek in South County. It was cold, muddy and fun! Especially since I got to play with some heavy equipment!


Aside from that, I have been working with the folks at the Confluence to plan a huge Trash Bash coming up on March 27th. Locations include the Confluence, Creve Couer Park, and St. Charles. After the clean up there will be lunch, Trash Artists, and raffles; so if you're interested come join us!

Bonkers 4 Birds!

January found me Bonkers 4 Birds!

Our partners at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' National Great River Museum http://www.mvs.usace.army.mil/rivers/museum.html developed the program for 4th and 5th grade classrooms as part of their educational outreach programming. I enjoyed co-teaching the program to ~150 area students.

Bonkers 4 Birds teaches students basic bird identification techniques utilizing things like bird posture, size, color, and field markings. Students learn to use binoculars and to sketch birds using what they have learned about field markings.

Each class chooses a bird species that they research together, then each student individually submits a drawing of the class bird. Student artwork is judged, with 2-3 winners per class chosen for inclusion in this years Bonkers 4 Birds book published by the Corps. Students with published artwork are celebrated with a book signing event at our annual Wings of Spring Migratory Bird Festival in May.

The Wings of Spring Migratory Bird Festival is week long celebration of the annual migration of hundreds of species of birds along the Mississippi River Flyway, one of the most significant in the world. For more information please visit this site: http://www.ngrrec.org/index.php/education/168

January Blog about the Food Bank.


Volunteering at the Central Missouri Food Bank

by Lance Mallette

For Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service the MRCN staff volunteered at the Columbia Food Bank. We were to meet at 9AM at the Food Bank and volunteer until noon. I had been there only once before and was reminded of how many people the Food Bank serves. The Food Bank is the huge warehouse that distributes food to the various Food Pantries in the Columbia Area. The MRCN staff joined about 15 other volunteers and bagged frozen noodles from 800 pound boxes on pallets to smaller bags then re-boxed and stacked on a pallet for distribution. We took turns scooping, bagging, twist-tying and labeling. The Food Bank always accepts volunteers and I could tell some of the people that were there volunteering had done so regularly. They knew one another and knew where the break room was located.

The Food Bank is one of my favorite entities on the planet, as America has an excess of food, it frustrates me to see people being hungry or food insecure (not knowing where your next meal is coming from). The Food Bank is supposed to be used as an emergency food, for when food stamps run out or when the food budget gets compromised due to unforeseen expenses. As the economy continues to not recover, the Food Banks needs rise as more people have food emergencies/financial troubles. Americans have a funny way of dealing with the food insecurity and hunger in their nation. We generally say hunger does not exist in America and ignore the problem, or we blame the hungry for lacking the merit necessary to succeed and thrive in life. Food insecurity and hunger has drastic affects on kids. Normal cognitive and physical development is hinged on meeting daily nutritional requirements. I have always felt strongly that people deserve to be treated with dignity when in financial trouble, both adults and kids, and the Food Bank strives to do that for its clients. I encourage everyone to check out the links below, especially the Missouri Hunger Atlas.

This is a link to the World Health Organization’s Health Impact of the Global Food Security Crisis. http://www.who.int/food_crisis/en/index.html

This is a link to the Central Missouri Food Bank’s web site. www.centralmofoodbank.org

This is a link to see how your county is doing on the Food Security front. I really like this map! http://missourifamilies.org/mohungeratlas/counties/.

The UN FAO now estimates that about 1.02 billion people go hungry each day. That is about 1 in 7 globally. The UN goal is to eradicate hunger by 2025. Here is a link about this. http://www.un-ngls.org/spip.php?article1399.

This is another link about global food security. http://www.un.org/issues/food/taskforce/index.shtml. The UN website is a good place to start research if anyone is interested.


Have a great February AmeriCorps!

Lance

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Missouri Smallflows Annual Conference

At Table Rock Lake Water Quality, I also help organize events for the Missouri Smallflows Organization. For the last couple of months I have been preparing for the annual conference in Columbia. The conference was held January 18-20. This event is hosted to provide educational opportunities for onsite wastewater professionals to learn about new technology in their field. We had speakers from many different areas, including Joyce Hudson from the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington D.C. It was interesting speaking with her about the steps that MSO is taking to promote education for our wastewater professionals. She was impressed with how the organization is taking steps to accomplish this. Vendors from the onsite wastewater field also participate to promote their products. This event allowed me to gain knowledge on the different types of advanced treatment systems available for wastewater treatment. The MSO Conference was a great success and many participants stated that it was great conference. For more information about the conference, go to the Missouri Smallflows Organization website, www.mosmallflows.org.

Monday, February 8, 2010

My First Stream Team cleanup of 2010: Matisse Creek












Hello Everybody,
A significant portion of my time at the Missouri Natural Resources Conference at Tan-Tar-A Resort in Osage Beach, Mo, was spent learning about various riparian related projects throughout the state; so I was rather eager to get directly involved on a stream clean up, as soon as I got back home. My previous stream cleanups have been on branches of the River des Peres on Engelholm Creek and the River des Peres in University City. My focus had been in the mid county region of St. Louis County; So I welcome any opportunity to learn and explore rivers and streams in the St. Louis area. I joined Mo Stream Team 211 and volunteers from Meramec Community College-South County Campus for a clean up of two sites in South St. Louis County. The first site was on Matisse Creek and the second site was near the soccer fields bordering I-55 (A stone’s throw from the Meramec River). Matisse Creek flows behind the community college separating it from the surrounding residential properties. The south county campus of Meramec Community College, like many schools in the area (elementary, secondary, and collegiate) can be considered a “streamside school” in that it is located near a water source. Before Saturday’s clean up event, Matisse Creek had not been a site of a cleanup, so we did not know what we expected to find. Despite the lower, but fortunately above freezing temperatures, more than 15 volunteers contributed their efforts to dirtying themselves cleaning the stream (At least I know I did, I believe at the end of the cleanup I was wearing more mud than I had anticipated). The creek seemed typical of most urban streams in the area, with signs of moderate stream bank erosion, and both household and automotive litter. The trash found along the bank was mostly items from the community college such as Styrofoam cups, aluminum cans, plastic bottles, and nacho trays. Other items included, oil containers, miscellaneous barrels, an old fire hose, and other everyday items; In addition to the garbage found on the stream, there were A LOT of vehicle tires. At the stream behind the campus, I personally found and hauled out at least 4 tires (not an easy task when filled with water, mud, and concrete). I believe it is safe to say that in all we found over 10 tires and multiple bags of trash that we removed from the two sites. Though we did find a lot of trash, we also found what we believed to be a natural spring located behind the campus. The second site was pretty interesting as well, as it contained an abandoned bathhouse, a Ford Gran Torino (yes a car), and a substantial amount of bottles, cans, and Styrofoam. I felt that this cleanup was a great opportunity for me to get out of my neck of the woods, meet new people and go to a new area and contribute my time and effort along with people concerned about their environment. Though we volunteers got a significant amount of litter removed, there is more litter removal to be done. It is my hope that with the discovery of the spring and Spring time approaching more cleanup efforts will be undertaken along the Matisse Creek.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

MLK Day of Service


The week of Martin Luther King Day, I headed just down the street to Operation Food Search, a St. Louis area food bank, the largest distributor of free food in the bi-state area.

Operation Food Search (OFS) is comprised of small offices tacked onto a humungous warehouse, approximately half of which is full of food. One function of OFS is to distribute the food it receives in bulk to shelters, food pantries, soup kitchens and senior centers. In addition, OFS conducts “Operation Frontline” to educate families about nutrition and healthy cooking. In one corner of the warehouse is a small test kitchen in which volunteer chefs and nutritionists create healthy meals from items commonly found at a food bank.


Another project OFS heads up is “Operation Back Pack,” which endeavors to make sure that childr
en who rely on meals from their schools don’t go hungry over the weekend. Each Monday, these children return backpacks to OFS. Throughout the week, volunteers and OFS employees pack these backpacks with food for the weekends, and they are returned to the kids on Friday afternoon. When I was there on Thursday, the tally of bags that had been packed was almost two thousand!

OFS also endeavors to be as eco-friendly as possible. Cardboard boxes and mixed paper are recycled. Additionally, OFS accepts unwanted furniture and scrap metal that they sell to organizations that either reuse or recycle them. The money they get from these green initiatives also goes to buy food to feed the hungry in St. Louis.

My job for the day was to tackle the bins of food donated from various food drives across the area and sort them into emptied banana boxes. Each of these boxes went to a needy individual or family, and in two hours, I filled close to twenty! It was great cause and an awesome organization, and I’m glad I got the opportunity to be of
service in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.