Cleanup flusters Maumee Group

July 26th, 2010

http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20100725/LOCAL/307259918#

Journal Gazette – (front page of the Metro Section) Fort Wayne, IN

July 25, 2010

by Caitlin Johnston

Volunteers spent hours cleaning the Maumee River, replanting the banks along the way.

Photos by Cathie Rowand | The Journal Gazette

Abigail Frost King, left, and her son Canaan Eubank, 14, collect trash along the Maumee River on Saturday. Upper Maumee Watershed Partnership sponsored the Bi-State River Cleanup.

Tires. A Little Tikes sport coupe. DVD cases. A car door.

Sounds like trash in a junkyard or a city dump. But it’s litter found in the Maumee River.

The Upper Maumee River Watershed Partnership and local volunteers spent several hours Saturday canoeing down a two-mile stretch of the Maumee gathering trash as part of the Bi-State River Cleanup.

This is the first event the partnership has organized, but treasurer Abby Frost has led several outings on other parts of the river with the Save Maumee Grassroots Organization.

Volunteers used canoes and boats to scour the river and collect as much trash as possible.

But with limited time and minimal manpower, they had to leave a lot behind.

“There’s a lot of stuff we had to leave out there, which I wasn’t expecting to do,” said Chelsie Werling, 21.

“It reminds you that you need to take care of the river and why you want to protect it.”

A mayonnaise container, Axe body spray bottle and a small abandoned boat about the size of a canoe were all stranded in the river.

And then there were the ducks. About 2,000 plastic ducks were reported missing after the 22nd annual Duck Race fundraising event for Stop Child Abuse & Neglect.

Each canoe brought back dozens of the miniature ducks they found floating along the Maumee.

Despite cleanings done by local groups, trash continues to accumulate, said Greg Lake, Allen County Soil and Water Conservation District director. Lake also is the steering committee chair for the partnership.

“The sad part is, a lot of people who use the rivers the most trash it up,” Lake said. “It’s frustrating.”

Upper Maumee is the third active watershed project in Allen County, Lake said.

The group is looking to apply for funding from various state and federal sources to engage in conservation efforts, but first it must develop and submit a watershed management plan. The goal is to do so within the next year, Lake said.

The amount of trash in the river is just one indication of the effect humans have.

“People don’t understand the consequences of the things they do,” Lake said, citing examples of gutter drains and agricultural runoff.

Volunteer and activist groups allow people to get to participate and try to preserve local resources.

“This is kind of a hands-on approach that you can actually get people involved with instead of just sitting at meetings,” Frost said. “People want to feel empowered and like they can make a difference.”

cjohnston@jg.net

Posted in SM in the News! | No Comments »

Keep IT OUT of Our Water

July 6th, 2010

Everyone should hug a farmer.  Thank them for the food we eat and marvel at their ability to use the land for such bounty.  American farmers are people that made our country great.  I obey laws because that is what people do who live in a  civilized society.  Do you remember how people in England discarded their waste before the black plague killed 1/3 of the population (25 million people)?

In the 14th century people would throw their chamber pots’ contents out of their window and into yards and streets.  The rats would then walk through the feces while seeking food and finally carry it back to the larger rat populations.  The flees that resided on the backs of rats were also exposed to the waste causing the plague.  This is ONE theory of a disease called Black Death and is still studied today as one of the most deadly pandemics in history. Keep poop out of our water, just like what was enacted into federal law in 1973 –  called the Clean Water Act.  So leave our small farm owners alone for a moment; but immediately impose current law on factory farms that contain animals on an industrial scale.

http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/images/dead-pigs.jpghttp://farm4.static.flickr.com/3493/3238913955_894217462f.jpg
Sorry about the sick piggy picture…taken in Romania or Poland.           This diagram was a picture from Missouri

Why Factory Farms May Finally Be Held Responsible for Their Polluting Waste

By , Environment News Service
Posted on June 3, 2010, Printed on June 6, 2010
http://www.alternet.org/story/147093/

In a legal settlement that could affect the entire U.S. meat industry, the Environmental Protection Agency has agreed to identify and investigate thousands of factory farms that have been avoiding government regulation for water pollution with animal waste.

The settlement requires the agency to propose a rule on greater information gathering on factory farms within the next 12 months. It will require the approximately 20,000 domestic factory farms to report such information as how they dispose of manure and other animal waste.

The Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club and Waterkeeper Alliance filed the suit in 2009 over a rule that exempted thousands of factory farms from taking steps to minimize water pollution from the animal waste they generate.

“Thousands of factory farm polluters threaten America’s water with animal waste, bacteria, viruses and parasites that can make people sick,” said Jon Devine, an attorney with the nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council.

“Many of these massive facilities are flying completely under the radar. EPA doesn’t even know where they are,” said Devine.

More than 30 years ago, Congress identified factory farms as water pollution sources to be regulated under the Clean Water Act’s permit program.

But under a Bush administration regulation challenged by the environmental groups in this lawsuit, large facilities were able to escape government regulation by claiming, without government verification, that they do not discharge into waterways protected by the Clean Water Act.

Under the settlement reached May 26, the EPA will initiate a new national effort to track down factory farms operating without permits and determine if they must be regulated.

The specific information that EPA will require from individual facilities will be determined after a period of public comment. But the results of that investigation will enable the agency and the public to create stronger pollution controls in the future and make sure facilities are complying with current rules.

“The EPA’s rules have failed to protect our rivers and lakes from polluting factory farms,” said Ed Hopkins, director of Sierra Club’s Environmental Quality Program. “Gathering more information to document factory farms‘ pollution will lay the groundwork for better protection of our waters.”

The National Pork Producers Council expressed “deep frustration and anger” over the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s continuing efforts “to develop costly agricultural regulations that provide few if any additional environmental benefits.”

“With this one-sided settlement, EPA yanked the rug out from under America’s livestock farmers,” said Michael Formica, NPPC’s chief environmental counsel. “NPPC is looking at all appropriate legal responses to EPA’s disappointing course of action.”

Factory farms, also known as concentrated animal feeding operations, CAFOs, confine animals on an industrial scale and produce massive amounts of manure and other waste that can pollute waterways with dangerous contaminants.

These CAFOs apply liquid animal waste on land, which runs off into waterways, killing fish, spreading disease, and contaminating drinking water. The plaintiff groups cite EPA estimates that pathogens, such as E. coli, are responsible for 35 percent of the nation’s impaired river and stream miles, and factory farms are one of the most common pathogen sources.

“This agreement sets the stage for new Clean Water Act permitting measures that will add to producers’ costs, drive more farmers out of business, increase concentration in livestock production to comply and hurt rural economies,” said Randy Spronk, a Minnesota pork producer who heads NPPC’s environmental committee. “And the measures will do nothing really to improve water quality.

“Additionally,” said Spronk, “the settlement was negotiated in private and without consultation or input from the regulated farming community. This flies in the face of the Obama administration’s pledges to operate government more transparently. And, in this economy, the administration should be enacting measures that create jobs, not implementing regulations that put American farmers out of business.”

Today there are more than 67,000 pork operations compared with nearly three million in the 1950s. Farms have grown in size; 53 percent of them now produce 5,000 or more pigs per year.

“The record is clear — large CAFO operations, and many medium and small operations, commonly discharge pollutants into the surrounding environment,” said Waterkeeper Alliance attorney Hannah Connor. “What is also clear is that if we want to continue to drink, fish and enjoy water that is not contaminated with raw animal excrement, these discharges must be stopped.”

“We believe that the terms of this settlement will help reverse this industry’s history of bad behavior by improving implementation and enforcement of the law,” Connor said.

Litigation brought by these three groups has forced the EPA to revise its CAFO rules twice within the past decade to tighten the pollution control requirements on these facilities.

© 2010 Environment News Service All rights reserved.

Posted in Factory Farms (CAFO) | No Comments »

Great Lakes states’ 500 square miles of parking lots threaten water quality, walkability

July 5th, 2010

http://greatlakesecho.org/2010/06/17/great-lakes-states-500-square-miles-of-parking-lots-threaten-water-quality-walkability/       Great Lakes Echo –  June 17, 2010

http://www.utilitieskingston.com/Images/BypassSources.jpg

People ask me all the time about CSO’s / SSO’s (Combined  Sewer Overflow / Sanitary Sewer Outfalls).  Did the city plan poorly for our sewers? Why would 1/12th of an inch of rain cause all of our toilets and sinks water and stormsewers mix and discharge directly into the rivers, if the city/county were not to blame?  The answer is not that complicated like many others these days.  However, solutions are very expensive.

When Fort Wayne infrastructure was built around 1912 for our sanitary sewers (toilets) and stormsewers (the grates on the streets) they were two separate systems that were connected, toward the top, by a single pipe.  The sanitary sewers have a constant flow, the storm sewers surge with rain.  Since they are connected at the top with a smaller pipe, the mix of both pipes are released from the “outfall points.”  This pipe is a fail-safe type system, so when large rain events or flooding occurred, it would discharge into the waterways instead of coming up in your house.  This is not a bad idea, considering I am a homeowner as well.  SO ~ when built all those many years ago Fort Wayne, Indiana’s population was 52,057 in 1900 and 76,320 in 1912.  If you now count how many heads are flushing their toilets, that go to the same system that was built 100 years ago with some additions, the sewers are not able to process all that.  If you count the communities surrounding Fort Wayne that uses our “settling ponds” and infrastructure in 2010 …we are approaching 350,000 with the census numbers coming out soon.   Truly, the leaders of our city 100 years ago could not realize that the population would be so large and simply failed to plan accordingly.

Currently their are 42 CSO (Combined Sewer Overflows) or SSO (Sanitary Sewer Outfalls) discharge points locally, with 38 of those with permits allowing over 1 million gallons of water per day. These CSO’s are the combined “sanitary” (toilet water) and storm-sewer water are discharged out from these points with as little as a one-twelfth inch of rainfall or snowmelt.  In 2006 Save Maumee recorded 137 of these discharges.  Currently, the City of Fort Wayne reports on average 71 discharges per year and the Federal EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) allows 4 discharges per year.  Remember, what you flush down your toilet truly ends up in local streams. Be conscientious.

Pavement is one more component.  So in 1912 there were definitely not as many roads, sidewalks, driveways or roof tops.   Precipitation had a chance to “soak-in” rather than “run-off”.  The natural process of filtration through grasses (NOT the mowed kind) and trees allowed the water to release slowly and filter through ground water.  Now, when it rains the water is shed by running over pavement, picking up contaminants and loose soil.  It rinses off the oil, antifreeze, salt, lawn chemicals etc. and is quickly discharged into storm-sewers and is shed as fast as possible into nearby rivers and tributaries.  New stats from this Great Lakes Echo article discusses too much pavement stresses nearby streams.  Too much pavement and fast drainage and not enough productive green space may be topics of preponderance for the next 100 years.

Posted in Chemicals in YOUR water, How Fort Wayne, IN affects Great Lakes | No Comments »

Waste in Indiana Waterways

July 3rd, 2010

 http://www.nuvo.net/indianapolis/waste-in-indianas-waterways/Content?oid=1274149

 http://www.ehs.indiana.edu/img/no_dumping_button.jpg

 

Check this article out for yourself…but this excerpt is what I found interesting.  The Upper Maumee Watershed is also considered an impaired stream for PCB’s, heavy metals, Hg, Fish Consumption Advisories (FCA’s), E. Coli and nitrates.  The Upper Maumee remains on the 303 (d) list for impared waterways. Indianapolis is reflective of other larger municipalities like Fort Wayne, Terre Haute and Gary, IN.

NUVO – Indy’s Alternative Voice

“IDEM’s website houses a listing of all the impaired bodies of water in
Indiana, which IDEM completes for the whole state every two years.

 

For the West Fork of the White River in Marion County, the river is
listed as impaired for E. coli, PCBs in fish tissue and mercury found
in fish tissue. PCBs were once widely used as coolants and lubricants,
their manufacture has ceased due to health effects.

 

For the East Fork of the White River basin and the West Fork of the
basin 21 and 19 counties were listed with impaired waterways
respectively. Many of the impaired waterways are tributaries that will
eventually hook up to one of the forks of the White River. Causes for
the impairment of the waterways in both forks of the White River basin
were highly varied, including: E. Coli, impaired biotic communities,
cyanide, mercury in fish tissue, PCBs in fish tissue, sulfates, lead,
algae and taste/color.

 

In an article from the Muncie Star Press, Seth Slabaugh
recently reported that a Ball State University study in which 20
samples were taken from the West Fork of the White River revealed many
chemicals in the river which numerous cities use for drinking water.
These chemicals included: antibiotics, acetaminophen, anti-bacterials,
various other pharmaceuticals and DEET. According to the article water
treatment plants don’t treat the water for the above chemicals, and the
federal government is still in the process of working out what level of
pharmaceuticals is safe for treated drinking water.

 

So how does Indiana stack up comparatively to waterways around the
nation? According to data provided by the EPA, of streams that have
been sampled nationwide approximately 50 percent are in good condition
with the other 50 percent being impaired. The Indiana average is
slightly below the national average with 42 percent in good condition
and 58 percent impaired. Yet only slightly more than half of Indiana’s
rivers and streams have been assessed so far. Indiana lakes are in far
worse shape comparatively with 88 percent impaired and 12 percent in
good condition. All 59 miles of Indiana’s Great Lakes shoreline is
impaired.

 

EPA data shows that the cause for impairment in Indiana is most
commonly listed as unknown, while non point source pollution, and
agriculture generally make up most of the causes for impairment.
Industrial waste like that reported by Environment America does not
register as high on the larger scale.”

 

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Interesting Find of the Day

July 3rd, 2010

http://greatlakesecho.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/lakeerie1.jpg

I had Sandy Bihn from the Western Lake Erie Basin call and ask me what was happening upstream, “There are major problems in Western Lake Erie, we are having algae blooms comparable to the early 1980’s [just after the Clean Water Act became enforceable law].  Maumee Bay in this area is the outlet to the Maumee.

If you are interested in visiting this area, ask questions and see for yourself; the tour is  September 4th – Maumee Bay Tour – take a bus to Toledo, Ohio’s Maumee Bay and find out about the sediment load being deposited and removed from your waterways – call Jason Roehrig for interest or reservations (419) 782-8751

Greg Konger recommend I read the college textbook, “Living in the Environment/Fourteenth Edition” by G. Tyler Miller, Jr.  It explains our environmental condition clearly with an attention to details. In this book, it states the harmful affects of artificial light.

Here is the exerpt:

“Wesley College professor Marianne Moore and her colleagues have found evidence that artificial illumination can alter aquatic ecosystems and could ultimately decrease water quality. Minute zooplankton avoid predators by remaining well below the surface during the day and then rising to graze on algae at night. But artificial light from urban glows can discourage their nightly surface feeding. If their grazing is inhibited, algae populations could explode and these blooms would deplete dissolved oxygen needed by fish and decrease water quality.”

Posted in Blue Green Algae | No Comments »

Save Maumee’s Response to Attack on the Environment

May 11th, 2010

This is the letter to the editor in response to Terry Smith from Columbia City’s piece. (below)

Postcard from 1910

Written May 11, 2010
—————————-
Indiana is 94% reliant on coal-fired power.  Yes, energy independence from the burning of fossil fuels is a must.  If rolling black outs are a fear, consider putting a solar or wind powered system on your home and receive reimbursement for your investment on next years taxes and watch the savings add up over the lifetime of the house.  In In the 1970’s Germany had concerns about energy security concerns and began research and development.

“A federal Electricity Feed Law (StrEG) was adopted in 1991 and became the most important instrument for the promotion of renewable energy in Germany during the 1990s. It obligated public utilities to purchase renewably-generated power from wind, solar, hydro, biomass and landfill gas sources, on a yearly fixed rate basis, based on utilities’ average revenue per kWh. Remuneration to wind producers was set at 90% of the average retail electricity rate; for other renewable power providers, compensation was set at 65-80%, depending on plant size, with smaller plants receiving the higher subsidy level. The StrEG effectively subsidized the operation of commercial wind installations at 4.1 Euro cents/kWh, and jump-started wind power’s market breakthrough in the 1990s.   In addition, investment in wind power installations was also subsidized by a domestic, state-owned development bank, the Deutsche Ausgleichsbank, which offered low-interest, government guaranteed loans for new wind power development.” [Paul Runci. January, 2005  Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Technical Lab Report PNWD-3526]

Pro-consumer safety & health, cooperation, job creation and increased income are things that all Americans seek; not more of the same status quo of pollution spewing into our air, seeping into our water and contaminating soil.  The OLD mantra was, “The solution to pollution is dilution.”  The population grows at an exponential rate and dilution is no longer an option.

• Wastewater guidelines for coal-fired power plants were last revised in 1982. (Great Lakes Echo, Dec. ’09)
We need to genuinely clean up pollution rather than just shift it from the air to water. U.S. citizens depend on the services that
healthy streams and rivers provide at an extremely fundamental level. Anytime carcinogens are released into air, it eventually ends up in water and in soil.

• “Hatfield’s Ferry in Pennsylvania [considered the dirtiest coal-fired power plant in USA] has violated the Clean Water Act 33 times
since 2006; paid less than $26,000 in fines, but earned $1.1 billion in the same time period. Indiana power plants have discharged
other chemicals at dangerous concentrations, but few have ever been sanctioned for those emissions, nor were their discharge
permits altered to prevent future pollution.” (NY Times, Oct. 13, 2009)

• Fish Contamination advisories being issued on Indiana rivers, streams, and lakes are for PCB’s and mercury.” (IDEM, 2010)
Draft) “People living near some power plant landfills faced a cancer risk 2,000 times higher than federal health standards.” (EPA,
2007) Coal ash sites contain harmful levels of arsenic, lead, mercury and other toxins, which can leech out slowly and contaminate
drinking water sources or flood communities as happened in TN. The EPA so far has identified 49 coal ash impounds as “high
hazard” sites, meaning that a failure at one of the facilities could lead to the loss of human life. (Earthjustice, Dec 2, ’09)

• “If all states used electric energy as efficiently as the top 10 states in the nation, we could displace 62 percent of U.S. coal-fired
output.” (Amory Lovins-Rocky Mountain Institute)

•”Particulate emissions from coal plants cost Hoosiers $5 billion/year in health costs. Alternative energy create 4-5 times more jobs
than fossil-fuel and nuclear investments.” (Citizens Action Coalition, 2009)

Wind, solar, geothermal and energy efficiency are technologies that will create jobs, and benefit the health, environment, and pocketbooks of ALL Hoosiers to TRULY re-tool America for the future!

Abigail Frost-King

Save Maumee Grassroots Organization Founder
Watershed Expert
Master Naturalist

www.savemaumee.org

—————————————–

Save Maumee’s Letter to Editor was in response to this attack on Hoosiers’ health and well-being.

Hatfield Ferry Picture - The “dirtiest” coal-fired power plant in the USA

Northeastern REMC had been cautioning its users that by 2012 customers would be experiencing rolling brownouts or blackouts because the demand for electricity was increasing an average of 3 percent per year with no increase in supply.

How is the state of Indiana addressing this issue? The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission issued a mandate to the 31 electric utilities it regulates, including CCMU and NREMC, to reduce demand by 2 percent over the next 10 years. (See Order of Commission issued in Cause No. 42693, a copy of which I have in my office for your inspection.) That means that in 2020 I will have to disconnect my house from the grid for one-half hour each day, 365 days per year. For one-half hour of each day I can have no air conditioning, no furnace, no refrigerator, no hot water, no cooking, no plugging in my electric car, etc., etc. The list of my electric appliances goes on and on.

It is time for the governor of Indiana to tell the federal government to take a flying leap, send the mandates back to Washington, cancel the mandate from his own IURC, kick the greens out of Indiana, build a clean-air coal plant and keep Indiana humming. He could use a little backbone assistance from our elected representatives, too.

Drill for American oil now! Drill for American natural gas now! Build a coal plant now!

Buy a 10-year supply of incandescent bulbs and smash GE’s dangerous mercury bulbs. Power to the people.

TERRY L. SMITH

Columbia City

Posted in Local Pollution Story, SM in the News! | 3 Comments »

Primary’s over…election to come

May 6th, 2010

So politics are directly related to water issues….who gets the money and what issues will be addressed and which ones take priority?  Here is the 2009 Indiana State Senator Listing by District. (updated 3-25-10)

Click on one to see the
1. District of your Senator
2. First / Last Name
3. Party
4. Office Phone Number
5. Email Address
6. City Represented (or surrounding areas)
7. Total campaign contributions that legislators accepted from Utility, Coal, Oil, or Railroad Corporations (www.followthemoney.org)
8. 2008-2010 Average Percentage of Pro-Consumer Voting (v/s voting big business)

Pro Consumer Voting Recordpro-consumer-voting-record-2.jpgpro-consumer-voting-record-3.jpg

I thought you may want to know who should get the votes!

Posted in Lobby for Clean Water Act | No Comments »

Earth Day 2010 in the news

April 26th, 2010

Celebrate River Lovers!  LOOK what you have done for our 5th Annual Earth Day 2010 on the Maumee River!

The benthos community thanks you!

 

TOTAL TRASH REMOVED FROM OUR WATERWAYS TO DATE: 8.5 TONS!!!!

 

TRULY, THANK YOU!  This work could not be accomplished without YOU!

 Sunday April 18th,  2010 we had 267 official count of volunteers that worked so hard!  EVERYONE who works for Save Maumee Grassroots Organization and your rivers, do not receive any compensation of any kind.  100% of donations go to the expensive restoration technique materials.

 

YOU planted 3 acres worth of native riparian DNR approved seed underneath 1,000 sq ft. of erosion control mats and other barren areas to reduce erosion/sedimentation.

 

ed10.jpg

 

TREE PLANTING RECORD THIS YEAR!  – 60 River Birch, 40 Burr Oak, 50 Red Oak, 20 Pin Oak, 20 Swamp Oak and over 1,000 Weeping Willow Poles and Corkscrew Willow Poles!  Total tree count for this one day: 1,090 TREES

This Earth Day brings the total to just fewer than 2,000 trees planted on your waterways!

 

YOU planted over 300 native plant plugs (previously started seedlings)! These retain deep tap roots that hold them in place when the area floods. (after 5 years of growth)  ALL these hearty plants are able to live through drought or flood due to their deep tap roots and are ideal for our riverbanks…it is even improving the areas plant diversity! 

 

Our luxury item was planting 60 Raspberry Bushes & 8 Blackberry bushes

 

Fruit and berries on our rivers are disappearing for 3 reasons;
#1 They are understory trees/bushes and need wet/shady conditions to thrive.  (Raspberries like sun so they were placed appropriately)
#2 Most of the forested corridors along the riverbanks in Allen County have been removed, which would provide the canopy for these trees to grow.
#3. Rip Rap (large stones placed on both sides of the river and all foliage removed) to help with flooding issues downtown, but this causes the river water to run very fast downstream, pulling out all foliage on the stream banks because of the flashiness (water rising and receding very quickly.)  It makes it difficult for diversity to thrive.

 

Another Fun Fact: According to Forest Policy Research Org., 2008 – Trees can intercept and hold around 2 – 2.5 millimeters of rainwater- even a modest size rain event in which 10mm of rain might fall, that is still one-quarter of the rain.  Water that reached the soil below the tree is returned to the atmosphere over a period of several days. And thus has a significantly different impact on the timeline of future rain events.  So studies have shown that land-atmosphere interactions play a significant role in future climate projections; in addition to helping to prevent erosion that leads to suspended sediment that chokes flora and fauna in your waterways. Keep the trees and dirt in their place.

 

UPDATE to plantings: The trees, “poles” and plant plugs were under water for 1 week that began 4/27/10 …still waiting to see the water recede from the rain-storms on 5/21/10 and today is 5/30/10!

A Girl Scout Troop from Fort Wayne planted 15 flats of plants and about 20 trees Saturday May 29th on the St. Mary’s River by the Old Fort where some erosion is occurring.  These pre-grown plants are from OUR greenhouse that weren’t big enough to plant for Earth Day – Thank you to Julie BurkholderTutwiler!

 

 

 

Special THANK YOU from Save Maumee to the following people who helped bring all of us together this year! Our events are FREE but ALL donations go to projects like this one! Give till it hurts – OUCH!  The list is getting pretty long but unity and gratitude are so important to share!

*Forester Tom Crow & Allen County Soil & Water Conservation District
*Soaring Hawk Raptor Rehab – Great Owl, Horned Owl, Short-Eared Owl, Red-Tailed Hawk demo.
*Home Depot
*Top Notch Tree Service
*Heartland Restoration /Earth Source, Huntertown
*Lyle McDermont – rain barrel demo
*Partnership for Water Quality
*Local ACE’s Hardware
*City of Fort Wayne
*Fox Island
*New Haven and Fort Wayne Parks Department
*Old Crown Coffee on N. Anthony
*Health Food Shoppe on N. Anthony
*Camp Potowatamie
*Citizens Action Coalition
*Save Maumee Grassroots Org
*Bike Depot, ACRES Land Trust, USA Air Force – REUSABLE water bottles
*Hall’s Triangle Park
*American Rivers

*Sports & Spirits
*City Utilities Solid Waste Dept-
*Allen County Public Library Downtown
*The Brass Rail

*The Grateful Groove
*Andy’s Horse Tours and Rentals
*Grateful Productions
*The Wilderness
*Anthony Garr
*I CAN

*Our Healing Waters

*Wild Birds Unlimited

*  www.indianacomputerservice.com

*Red Lobster

*Wild Birds Unlimited
*Davis King, Jain Young, David Green, Indiana Computer Service
*Lydia Savitz – Port-A-Jon donation – NICE
*Grace Strahm, Ryan Bailey, Melanie McKinnley, Canaan Eubank, Ellen Lay, Peggy Rader, Jen Hancock, Dave Eberhardt, Greg Konger, Beverly Hume, Craig Thorn, Michelle Ferguson, Jennifer Fletcher, Mary Brady & Derek Dailey
*Heartland Communities Inc. 501 ©(3) – Gracious Fiscal Sponsorship for tax deductible contributions
…AND ALL OUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY WHO HELP EVERYDAY AS VOLUNTEERS – THANKS and if we forgot to include you DOUBLE THANK YOU! The heart of grassroots belongs to people who donate time or supplies or BOTH!

 

  ed12.jpg

 

Interesting things we PULLED OUT or WORKER: Award Winners 

 

Largest Trash– REMOVED FULL SIZED of the following…water heater, old steel manual plow, a car seat, 2 refrigerators, a furnace, a stove, 12 tires, 85 oz can of oil, 25ft. of a gas pipe, 15 ft. of unknown pipe, rugs and a car trailerhitch.

It took Senatorial Candidate (15th District) Jack Morris, Bryce Gustafson, Brian Foster, Wade, Marissa Jones, Greg Morricle, Sandman, Josh Jackson, Rickey Fuller, Harold Wallen, Peter Kauffman, Evan Hill and the guy in the blue shirt! The guys took the scrap in for recycling the next day!  SWEAT EQUITY!

 

Coolest Find – Morrell Mushrooms were found – ssshhhh it’s a secret where they grow!

 

Most Contaminated Trash– An 85 oz full can of oil found by local artist Rickey Fuller…along with all the kitchen appliances!

 

Largest Unified Group – Phi Theta Kappa – Honors Society from Purdue University

 

Funniest Trash – A red high healed pair of shoes found by Brenden Sears (8) Kerian Ward (11) and Elyssa Fuller (11)

 

Most potential to contain West Nile – 12 tires

 

Most berry bushes planted Winner: Bruce Allen planted all the raspberry bushes and also represented the Maumee River (and northeast Indiana) in Washington D.C. this year thanks to Healing-Our-Waters!

 

Got the most children involved: Gary & Nicole Jeffery

 

Most Fauna Love – Preston Arbuckle hung a Wrens’ Nest on the Maumee Riverbanks – from Wild Birds Unlimited

 

Most Interesting – Ashley’s family – brought us some old railroad lights (covers?) pulled out of the Maumee and they were given to Ellen Lay for art creation!

 

Celia Garza got the names for the thank you for all of our hard workers (FOR HOURS and HOURS) down on the erosion control project and I never got them!!! BOO! THANK YOU HARD WORKERS!

 

Total Miles of northern AND southern streambank cleansed – 1.5 miles – including “The Ravine” self-dug bike trail which is considered one of the top 10 self-dug bike trails in the USA.

 

Most FUN: Andy’s Horse Tours and Rentals – had 6 horses and a miniature pony to take you for rides on the greenway! – NICE! Their volunteers also painted faces!

 

Most Educational

Soaring Hawk brought a Short Eared Owl & Red Tailed Hawk and spoke about their habitat on the riverbanks – What beautiful animals!

 

Most Home-Useful – Rain Barrel Demonstration by Lyle McDermott to show us how to capture water and release during drier periods…great idea for watering a raingarden, food garden, or your flowers!

 

Jain Young – Herb Specialist took volunteers on an “Edible Herb Walk” to show what you are missing on your plate at home – native home grown food grown right here!

 

Grace Strahm – demonstrated what a watershed IS and how YOU affect it with an enviroscape demonstration.

Of course we needed something to keep ya’ll lively….
* Health Food Shoppe Snacks
* Coffee from Old Crown Coffee Roasters
* REUSABLE water bottles from ACRES Land Trust & U.S. Air Force

Oh Yeah ~ Quit buying water bottles that you use only once and throw away ~ STOP IT ~ Plastic is made from petroleum based products and is a long story.  Please consider watching “TAPPED” or “FLOW” – documentaries on your water and the exploitation that is happening – We gave out 300 water bottles donated by the U.S. Air Force and ACRES Land Trust to volunteers!

 

 ~ Save Maumee always supporting Local & Live Entertainment at our events~

*The Wilderness – BACK for the threepete! 3X have we’ve enjoyed these guys!
*Anthony Garr
*Grateful Productions ran the PA

PBS, FRONTLINE “Poisoned Waters”– an extremely informative program to help you understand non-point source affects that face watersheds today in the USA.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/poisonedwaters/

  

 

 

Indiana needs an Upper-Maumee Watershed Management Plan for our State!  The Upper Maumee Watershed Partnership is working toward hiring a watershed coordinator and then the plan will begin to form.  A watershed management plan is simply a list of priorities and measurable steps that will be taken toward improvement.  The Maumee is considered a low priority stream because it crosses political boundaries; City of Ft. Wayne, Allen County and State of Indiana…downstream seems to be somebody else’s problem?  Historically it has been surrounded by industry, landfills, CSO’s, brownfields and a Super-Fund Site.  We are asking for people who have a skill that are interested in participating in a steering committee group to address 11 situations with proposed solutions. Biologist, teacher, lawyer, accountant, writers, scientists, surveyor, doctor, zoning experts or dedicated citizens NEED to apply!  We truly want to help improve our water and it will take us all. www.uppermaumeewatershed.com

 ==================================

Upcoming Event Calendar:  YOU are NOT Powerless! ~ Voice visions & values more often and more loudly – SHOW UP for a meeting or an event in 2010!
————————————————


THIS TUESDAY June 1st  7:30AM – 8:30AM – YES IN THE MORNING  BP Protest at Fort Wayne BP Gas Station on Jefferson Blvd. & Fairfield
Want BP to clean up their mess NOW? It is effecting our food supply, they were outside of legal parameters for drilling, problems were present up to 6 weeks before the explosion….so show up and tell BP how you feel about the largest oil spill that affects us, our children, our oceans, our beaches, our fresh water & inlets, our land, our resources, our money, our animals, our air, and our plant life.

Watch this… BP DID know problems existed previous to the spill http://consequence09.org/2010/05/gripping-60-minutes-piece-on-gulf-oil-spill/

See yourself working at Save Maumee’s 5th Annual  Earth Day 2010 on Fort Wayne Public Access:
COMCAST channel 55 OR 57     VERIZON channel 25 OR 27

June 3,  –  at 8PM
June 6,  –  at 8PM
June 10 – at NOON
June 15 – at 6PM
June 16 – at 10AM

Save Maumee’s Canoe Clean-Up, Can YOU Clean-Up – Saturday September 18th 11AM – 4PM FORT WAYNE OUTFITTERS & BIKE DEPOT LOCATION  – Cass Street behind The Bean –  – Free canoe rental for participants for the day with a photo I.D.! It will be too late in the season for plantings…but never too late in the season for garbage removal and free paddling!  Free Canoes with I.D. from Earth Adventure on Main Street & Ft. Wayne Outfitters – first come, first serve (the website says Sept 4th but needs an update!)

Save Maumee Seed Harvest at Fox Island: – Saturday October 2nd OR 24th 1 PM – 4PM at Fox Island (date may change due to harvesting availability and best pickin’ date)

 

June 5, 2010 –   Help Walk for the Wetlands : Saturday from 9:00am to 11:00am www.lrwp.org

 

June 10, 2010 see National Serv-All’s Conservation Efforts from 8:00am to 10:00am at Eagle Marsh

 

June 26, 2010 – Riverfest on the banks of the St. Joe at IPFW – check it out!  Fun includes a zip-line, hot air balloon ride, fireworks, live entertainment rivers, live local music. Come & Celebrate the positive things about our rivers!  –  Steele Dynamics Inc. is title sponsor for RiverFest, sitting at the table with Save Maumee shows their dedication to transparency and best management practice to improve the health and wealth of our rivers!  http://ipfwriverfest.org/

 

July 24th – Upper Maumee Large Scale Clean-Up from Fort Wayne, Indiana to Defiance, Ohio – be part of the canoe fun! Still in the works – mark your calendar! Different launching spots with exit areas downstream and a ride back to your car!  Currently we have secured places for launching in Fort Wayne &  Defiance, OH! More to come on this! Email for reservations: abby@savemaumee.org

 

 

September 4th – Maumee Bay Tour – take a bus to Toledo, Ohio’s Maumee Bay and find out about the sediment load being deposited and removed from your waterways – call Jason Roehrig for interest or reservations (419) 782-8751  

 

September 25th – Scenic River Canoe Tour and Water Monitoring in Antwerp, OH – Call Jason Roehrig for details or reservations (419) 782-8751

 

 

The river thanks you from its bottom!  Invest in Natural Capital!

 

 Map for areas of concern…you can see the google map here and would

love your feedback/comments or your pictures :http://tinyurl.com/c3fm9v 

 

 email: savemaumee@yahoo.com

http://www.myspace.com/savemaumee  – MySpace Save Maumee

Twitter user name: savemaumee www.myspace.com/savemaumee  

A Greener Indiana http://www.agreenerindiana.com/profile/AbigailFrost

Facebook: Abigail Frost Save Maumee

 

 

Please help us to speak for your rivers…for your rivers have no voice! You spoke loud and clear on Earth Day and we ALL thank you for that!

 

Sincerely,

 

A. Frost-King

Save Maumee Grassroots Organization Founder

Master Naturalist

Watershed Expert

 

http://www.savemaumee.org/  

 

100% donations from you go only to best management practices for naturalization of riparian areas – this is what grassroots organizing is all about! ALL VOLUNTEERS~ All money came from Grateful Groove Fundraiser, Alysen Wade Lexicon Event, The Wilderness Band Fundraiser, Earth Day 2009, Canoe Clean-Up 2009, Sports & Spirits Bar & Grill and raised a whopping $27 dollars at the FREE event!  Namnaste to many small monetary donors! Save Maumee did not raise as much money as last year but we are very proud to supply you with these effective erosion control techniques for OUR riverbanks!


 

Published: April 19, 2010 3:00 a.m.

Trash-busters scour up Maumee

 

Devon Haynie
The Journal Gazette

 

Thumbnail

Photos by Samuel Hoffman”|”The Journal

Bruce Allen plants raspberry bushes for erosion control on Sunday as part of Save Maumee”s fifth annual Earth Day celebration to help clean up the river.

 
 

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Brenden Sears, 8, left, and Keiran Ward, 11, collect trash in the Maumee River on Sunday.

It was a little bit like a scavenger hunt along the Maumee River on Sunday, although clues were often bad smells and nobody wanted to touch what they found.

Sunday marked Save Maumee’s fifth annual Earth Day celebration near North Anthony Boulevard and Niagara Drive. About 100 volunteers gathered this year to plant seeds and pull objects they could from the muddy river.

“This year I pulled out a gas tank,” Abigail Frost, the event organizer, said as she stood on the banks of the river near a pile of trash. “This here is a trailer hitch. And this (she pointed to two metal poles) … I have no idea what this is.”

Frost started Save Maumee five years ago to get the community involved in keeping the river clean. She said she didn’t think much about Fort Wayne’s rivers until 2000 when she moved near the Maumee.

She was about to let her kids swim in the river when friends warned against it. Curious about how polluted it was, Frost started doing research. What she learned appalled her – the water was tainted by sewage, manure and dangerous chemicals.

“By 2005, I couldn’t shut my mouth anymore,” she said. “I had to take action.”

When Frost first started her Earth Day activities, she used her own money to pay for seeds to plant along the shore. Today, she depends on proceeds from T-shirt sales and horse rides throughout the day. She also accepts seed donations from people and the Little River Wetlands.

In the past, Frost and her volunteers have found computers, cell phones and plastic pink flamingos in the river. This year, volunteers also spotted a refrigerator.

Elyssa Fuller, 11, said although she absolutely hated cleaning her room, she enjoyed picking up the river.

“When people litter, it’s ruining the environment,” she said. “That’s why you come out here and put your time into picking up the river. It helps make the world a better place.”

dhaynie@jg.net

Posted in SM in the News! | No Comments »

Unacceptable Permits

March 30th, 2010

 Fish Kill

When I first read articles last year regarding Great Lakes fish kills from water intakes, I was intrigued at the way that energy producers are even able to get away with permits to do this.  Do they have permits or is it  just being done and they “suffer” through paying the fines? Either way this is perverse. Save Maumee stands by our words – More Oversite – FINES for illegal activity – Action FIRST, then study and show measurable results!

Sandy Bihn RiverKeeper said it best in this article…

“Fish are important to Ohio’s economy, providing an estimated 10,000 jobs and $800 billion in economic activity.”

She said fishermen “would pay thousands in fines and serve jail time if they did what Bay Shore does each and every day.”

How many people do you think 60 million fish per year would feed? That is how many fish are being destroyed by FirstEnergy Corps.- please write your legislator – find them here…

http://www.in.gov/apps/sos/legislator/search/

Energy Production Central

FirstEnergy to install devices to divert fish
Goal is reduction of kills at Bay Shore
By TOM HENRY
BLADE STAFF WRITER

http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100330/NEWS16/3300349 – March 30, 2010
The numbers are staggering: 60 million fish – 46 million of them adults – are killed each year by the powerful intake of FirstEnergy Corp.’s coal-fired Bay Shore power plant in Oregon.
Bay Shore’s intake also destroys 209 million fish eggs, and 2,247 million fish in their larval form annually by pulling them through screens and into the plant, according to a 2009 report generated by one of the utility’s paid consultants.
The annual carnage is believed to be one of the worst in the Great Lakes region, although Bay Shore is just a midsized facility.

FirstEnergy’s consultant passed the report along to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency last year after crunching 2005-06 sampling data for more than two years. The state EPA then spent the past year reviewing it.
So now, after a promise to toughen up requirements, what has the state environmental regulator tentatively decided to have FirstEnergy do about the problem?
Study it more.Beginning Monday, FirstEnergy will initiate a pilot project in which it will install reverse louvers – devices that resemble upside-down shutters – in the plant’s intake channel. The hope is that the slotted, angled devices will allow only a fraction of the fish from getting pounded to death against intake screens or drawn into the plant, where nearly all die.
The vast majority of fish, ideally, would be diverted around the plant.
The additional research is coming in lieu of a cooling tower, which can cost $100 million or more but save upwards of 90 percent of the fish swimming in the channel.
Financing such a device also could raise Toledo-area electricity rates more than 6 percent, according to information in a report the utility provided last year to a government consultant.
The potential impact on rates was made public during a March 3, 2009, meeting at Wynn Elementary School by Paul Novak, the Ohio EPA’s manager of surface-water permits and compliance.
Ellen Raines, FirstEnergy spokesman, said talk of a cooling tower is on hold until the research with reverse louvers is completed.
The Ohio EPA said in a proposed permit it issued for discussion recently that it will give FirstEnergy through the end of 2010 to see how the untested technology works, then spend nearly a year reviewing the data itself before issuing its finding by Sept. 1, 2011.
If all goes as planned, FirstEnergy will have until May 1, 2013, to break ground on permanent installation and can take until Oct. 1, 2014 to have it operating. The permit would be valid through Jan. 31, 2015.
That timetable doesn’t sit well with some people, such as Oregon activist Sandy Bihn.
She and members of the group she founded, Western Lake Erie Waterkeeper Association, have been campaigning for quicker, decisive action at the plant, which for 55 years has sat in the confluence of one of the Great Lakes region’s most productive fish nurseries, a highly sensitive area where the Maumee River meets the Maumee Bay.
They claim the Lake Erie fishery, though already one of the world’s best, hasn’t begun to scratch its potential.
Saving more fish could be an economic boon for the Toledo area’s depressed economy by stimulating the region’s tourism and recreation industries, they claim.
The Ohio EPA acknowledged last year and in its latest fact sheet that Bay Shore likely “impinges and entrains more fish than all of the other power plants in Ohio combined.”
Impingement is the act of death or severe injury caused to fish when water intakes slam them against screens. Entrainment is the word for eggs, larvae, and juvenile fish small enough to slip through the screens and get drawn into the plant, which operate at several hundred degrees.
“The permit delays action too long,” Ms. Bihn said. “Fish are important to Ohio’s economy, providing an estimated 10,000 jobs and $800 billion in economic activity.”
She said fishermen “would pay thousands in fines and serve jail time if they did what Bay Shore does each and every day.”
Ms. Raines and another FirstEnergy spokesman Mark Durbin said the utility believes reverse louvers have great potential to do the job affordably. The company believes it will be worth the time investing in more research, they said.
“We have a responsibility to our customers and company to make the right decisions,” Ms. Raines said.
Mike McCullough, an Ohio EPA environmental specialist, and Dina Pierce, an agency spokesman, said the state regulator can consider costs when setting permit requirements.
A cooling tower is “still a possibility” if the reverse louvers aren’t shown to be effective enough.
The Ohio EPA is attempting to get an 80 percent reduction in fish kills via impingement and a 60 percent reduction in entrainment to comply with a federal edict imposed on the states in 2004.
The federal mandate came in response to a lawsuit won by national environmental groups that had claimed the government wasn’t protecting fish enough by exercising the power it has under the Clean Water Act, one of the nation’s landmark environmental laws.
An April 22 meeting is being scheduled for the public to weigh in on this and other aspects of Bay Shore’s next water-discharge permit.
Contact Tom Henry at:
thenry@theblade.com
or 419-724-6079.

Posted in Coal's Contribution to Water Probs. | No Comments »

Save Maumee Earth Day Video on Public Access

March 27th, 2010

 Earth Day 2009035.JPGWalking the Walk!Erosion control mat secured!Plant PlugsGrace Strahm - true activist!Little Brother Radio Show got a TV!Face Painting for the Kiddies!Bird’s eye view of plantingsRed Tailed Hawk - Soaring Hawk Bird RescueAbby says THANK YOU PEOPLE OF EARTH for helping!Hangin’ bat box - 1 bat can eat 1,000 mosquitos in a nightSoaring Hawk Bird Rescue Demonstration

April 3, 2010 at 2pm – COMCAST channel 55
VERIZON channel25

April 5, 2010 at 10:49pm – COMCAST channel 55
VERIZON channel 25

April 6, 2010 at 2:49pm –  COMCAST channel 55
VERIZON channel 25

April 10, 2010 at 7:49pm – COMCAST channel 57
VERIZON channel 27
OR
April 10, 2010 at 3:19pm – COMCAST channel 55
VERIZON channel 25

April 13, 2010 at 4pm – COMCAST channel 57
VERIZON channel 27

April 15, 2010 at 7am – COMCAST channel 57
VERIZON channel 27

April 17, 2010 at 5pm – COMCAST channel 57
VERIZON channel 27

April 19, 2010 at 4pm – COMCAST channel 57
VERIZON channel 27

Earth Day 2009

SaveMaumeeLogo.gif~ Save Maumee ‘s 5th Annual Earth Day 2010 ~

~ SUNDAY April 18 ~

~ 11AM – 4PM ~

all ages ~ rain or shine ~  action & education ~ Free Fun 

HOW IT WORKS:
Please bring with you:
*  family and friends
(must have parent present if under 18)
* garbage bags / shovels
* muddin’ shoes
* gloves
* ponchos
* your able body if you don’t have anything on this list!
* Save Maumee will provide these things until supplies are gone!

We are establishing projects to clean up the Maumee River . These self-supported community projects will raise awareness about the condition of our local 3 Rivers and begin the slow process of reversing years of pollution.

**Sign in and REGISTER FIRST and listen/read any information being presented about your rivers in Indiana – please sign the liability waiver, or you cannot participate.  (just keeping the lawyers happy :))

See where to find the fun here:
http://www.savemaumee.org/upcomingevents.htm

 

Among other highlights to Celebrate the Fifth year of cleansing of your riverbanks & reclamation practices…(maybe after church?)

 

 

Kickoff at 11 AM ~ Partnership for Water Quality, Matt Jones to educate us about our rivers!

  • 1pm – Rain Barrel Demonstration by Lyle…

        ….DIRECTLY FOLLOWING RAINBARREL DEMO…

 

        *Enviroscape Demonstration on how OUR watershed works! – Grace Strahm

  • 2:30ish – Save Maumee STOMP – as we push all the soil down with our feet from the plantings!
  • 3pm – Soaring Hawk Bird Rescue Demonstration –

        ….DIRECTLY FOLLOWING Short Eared Owl / Red Tail Hawk demo…

 

        * Jain’s Edible Herb walk & identification – wanna know what that plant is?

 

 018.JPG

 

 

Other things happening all day ~

 

Throughout the day your LOCAL &  LIVE entertainment:

*Dave P., – Playin’ Earth Day since 2005!

*The Wilderness – BACK for the threepete! 3X have we’ve enjoyed these guys!

*Sum MorMorz – Debut for Save Maumee !

 

*Gene Faron – Biologist will be showing you life from the water under a microscope

 

* Face Painting  – need volunteers here

 

*Andy’s Horse Tours & Rentals – Horse Rides & Buggy on the Greenway – proceeds go to Save Maumee for 2011 but fee is primarily for transportation & food costs for the horses. PRICE POSTED call for reservations: Andrea (260) 350-7613 or (260) 562-3432

 

*Sports & Spirits bringing Pizza  –  SURPRISE TIME???

 

* Snacks from the Health Food Shoppe

* Coffee from Old Crown

* REUSABLE water bottles from ACRES Land Trust

 

You will be planting:

TREES from Soil & Water Conservation District & Forestry Service: River Birch, Burr Oak, Pin Oak, Red Maple, Swamp Oak, Willow (different native kinds coming in now)

 

 Planting Seed: – Planting Midwestern Prairie Grass Erosion Control Mix and a Riparian Seed Mix suggested by Earth Source Inc/Heartland Restoration & Save Maumee / Fox Island Seed Gathering’s Seed

*A BLEND of : Big Blue Stern & Canada Wild Rye & Indian Grass & Switchgrass & Prairie Dropseed
*New York Iron Weed/Tall Iron Weed
*Bergamot/Monarda – plant plugs grown in Top Notch Tree Service Greenhouse
*Gray Headed Coneflower – plant plugs grown in Top Notch Tree Service Greenhouse
*Common Milkweed (for butterflies) – plant plugs grown in Top Notch Tree Service Greenhouse
*Common Evening Primrose – plant plugs grown in Top Notch Tree Service Greenhouse

*Yarrow –
*Mullein –

 

These retain deep tap roots that hold them in place when the area floods. (after 5 years of growth)  ALL these hearty plants are able to live through drought or flood due to their deep tap roots and are ideal for our riverbanks…it is even improving the areas plant species diversity!  Of course some need more sun than others…we will try to plant appropriately!

 

TRULY, THANK YOU!  This work could not be accomplished without YOU! We are all volunteers here!

 

IMG_0047.JPG

 

Sidenote: We planted seed in 27 flats for Save Maumee on March 20th, 2010…if they are not ready we will NOT plant these flats on Save Maumee’s Earth Day. One section of the 85% salvage & recycled greenhouse roof blew off so we did not plant early enough in the growing season.  We’re concerned the plant plugs grown in Top Notch Tree Service/Save Maumee Greenhouse won’t be big enough.   We want them to have a better chance as larger plants to live and work on your riverbanks.  A Girl Scout Troop from New Haven/Hoagland stepped up to plant them about mid-May!

 

  Not planting blueberries – These delicious fruits come from the East Coast  – We only plant the ones that were growing here naturally before humans introduced them from distant places.  Instead Save Maumee donors have purchased blackberries & raspberries – good for jelly AND are native to this area!

 

 

TO DATE YOU & SAVE MAUMEE HAS: -REMOVED 7.5 tons of GARBAGE from the Rivers and Riverbanks of the Fort Wayne Area -PLANTED over 740 trees 700 lbs of DNR approved native riparian seed installed over 10,000 sq ft of erosion control mats planted 50 native fruit trees harvested 27 lbs worth of seed and raised awareness SUCCESSFULLY! All money came from Grateful Groove Fundraiser, Alysen Wade Lexicon Event, The Wilderness Band Fundraiser, Earth Day 2009, Canoe Clean-Up 2009, Sports & Spirits Bar & Grill, Craig Thorne and Greg Konger! Namnaste to many small monetary donors!

 

100% donations from you go only to best management practices for naturalization of riparian areas – this is what grassroots organizing is all about!

 

How do planting grasses and seeds help?

  • HOLDS DOWN SOIL: The No. 1  POLLUTANT is siltation / erosion / sedimentation is the #1 pollutant in our watershed. 
  • Grasses help to settle out suspended sediment in the water to help hold down the soil that could be washed away because there is nothing to hold down the barren soil when the water comes rushing down during a rain event. 
  • Grasses filtrate sediment by holding water for a longer period of time so the sediment settles to the bottom instead of traveling downstream. 
  • Removal of nutrients from the water before it passes downstream. 
  • Plants produce enzymes which will absorb and “eat” bacteria 
  • Natural removal of chemical pollutants like fertilizers and waste materials removes nitrogen, phosphorous and toxins from surface water. 
  • Creating more shade helps to create Dissolved Oxygen that is needed in the water for fish and other wildlife to “breathe.” 
  • Floods problems can be alleviated – grassy knolls and trees can capture, store and slowly release water over a longer period of time 
  • Protect shorelines through reduction of destructive energy from fast moving / rising water 
  • Alleviate pools of standing, stagnant water so West Nile will not have the opportunity to be passed on in the mosquito or human population

  ======================================================

 

Upcoming Event Calendar: 

YOU are NOT Powerless! ~ Voice visions & values more often and more loudly – SHOW UP in 2010!

Saturday September 18th  11AM – 4PM FORT WAYNE OUTFITTERS & BIKE DEPOT LOCATION  – Cass Street behind The Bean –

 – Free canoe rental for participants for the day with a photo I.D.! It will be too late in the season for plantings…but never too late in the season for garbage removal and free paddling!  Free Canoes with I.D. from Earth Adventure on Main Street & Ft. Wayne Outfitters

 

Save Maumee Seed Harvest at Fox Island : – Saturday October 2nd OR 24th 1 PM – 4PM at Fox Island (date may change due to harvesting availability and season changes for best pickin’)

 

April 15 – Indiana State Senatorial Candidate Jack Morris will have his campaign kick off at Pint & Slice and plans to listen to Save Maumee’s views on environmental issues.  Thank You for your positive environmental views Senatorial Candidate! He’s bringing his truck to Earth Day to get the big trash on Dwenger Ave. & Glasglo Ave. –  The end of East Wayne area on the banks of the Maumee !

 

April 17 through April 22 Eagle Marsh Earth Week – check out their website for details  

http://www.lrwp.org/

April 20 – Camp Scott Constructed Wetland Walk –  8pm-9:30pm on Oxford St .


April 22  – Fort Wayne ‘s Green Business Initiative at the Grand Wayne Center

http://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=837348

 

April 23 – Green ABC’s Debut from Waynedale Green Alliance at Anthis Career Center NOON – 2PM

http://www.fortwaynegreen.com/


May 1nd & 2rd  Sol-Fest at Fox Island – Celebrating the outdoors with food, music & sun.
http://allencountyparks.org/parks/fox-island/sol-fest-2008/

 

June 26, 2010 – Riverfest on the banks of the St. Joe at IPFW – check it out!  Fun includes a zip-line, hot air balloon ride, fireworks, live entertainment rivers. Come & Celebrate the positve things about our rivers!  –  Steele Dynamics Inc. is title sponsor for RiverFest, sitting at the table with Save Maumee shows their dedication to transparency and best management practice to improve the health and wealth of our rivers!

http://fortwaynehomepage.net/fulltext/?nxd_id=23485


July 24th – Upper Maumee Large Scale Clean-Up from Fort Wayne , Indiana to Defiance , Ohio – be part of the canoe fun! Still in the works – mark your calendar! 3 different launching spots so far with exit areas downstream and a party where all participants come together afterwards.  Currently we have secured places for launching in Fort Wayne , Woodburn , IN or near Defiance , OH ! More to come on this!

 

September 4th – Maumee Bay Tour – take a bus to Toledo , Ohio ‘s Maumee Bay and find out about the sediment load being deposited and removed from your waterways – call Jason Roehrig for interest or reservations (419) 782-8751  

 

September 25th – Scenic River Canoe Tour and Water Monitoring in Antwerp, OH – Call Jason Roehrig for details or reservations (419) 782-8751

 

FRIENDS! 

Jerry Hay, Author – A partner in river information sharing was left off the website! SORRY JERRY! We will fix this very soon! Lots of river information & maps here  http://www.riverlorian.com/riverslist.htm

     &

Save Maumee Grassroots Org., Healing Our Waters, Save the Dunes & Indiana Wildlife Federation – Our coalition of groups from Indiana descended upon Capitol Hill to ask for support of Great Lakes Restoration Initiative funding to; aid in stopping invasive species (most notably Asian Carp), cleaning up toxic sediments, stopping polluted runoff, preventing beach contamination, restoring degraded wetlands and protecting fish and wildlife resources.  Congressional action is needed on several regional priorities. Too much time has been spent avoiding issues. We met these activists during February’s Clean Water Week in Washington D.C.   Bruce Allen & Abigail Frost represented your waterways in north-east Indiana while meeting personally with the offices of:

 

Senator Richard Lugar
Representative Mike Pence
Representative Brad Ellsworth
Representative Andre Carson
Representative Baron Hill
Representative Mark Souder

Information packets were received by:

Representative Peter Visclosky
Representative Joe Donnelly
Senator Evan Bayh

 

Fort Wayne Mayor Tom Henry was even there! Meeting with Mark Souder! 

 

Monthly Meetings:

 

Upper Maumee Watershed Partnership – A monthly stakeholder group for the Maumee River that includes 4 counties between Ohio & Indiana

http://www.uppermaumeewatershed.com/

 

Friends of the Rivers – A monthly stakeholder group that wants to be your friend~river lovers! Ultimate goals include making our rivers swimable and cleaner than they are now! ~NICE~ Call Dan Wire (260) 580-7415 to get involved or http://ipfwriverfest.org/

 

===============================

 Why Save Maumee chooses Earth Day?

          “So long as the human species inhabits the Earth, proper management of its resources will be the most fundamental issue we face. Our very survival will depend upon whether or not we are able to preserve, protect and defend our environment. We are not free to decide about whether or not our environment “matters.” It does matter, apart from any political exigencies. We disregard the needs of our ecosystem at our mortal peril.” ~

~~ U.S. Senator & Congressman Gaylord Nelson ~ Earth Day Founder [EPA JOURNAL, April 1980]

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