February 24, 2004

Environmental Watch: Last meeting on sustainable forest plan

OLYMPIA -- The Washington State Department of Natural Resources will hold two public meetings in March to review the preferred alternative for sustainable forestry.

These are the last in a series of 15 public meetings about the two-year study of sustainable forestry in Western Washington state trust forests.

Meetings will be held Wednesday, March 10, 6 to 9 p.m. in Chehalis, and Thursday, March 11, 6 to 9 p.m., in the King County Library Service Center, 960 Newport Way N.W., Issaquah.

The selected preferred alternative will be examined in the final EIS.

DNR Director of Communications Todd Myers said the agency manages 1.4 million acres of forestland in the western part of Washington. One percent of that is harvested each year, with money going to school construction, county boards and universities. For more information, see http://www.dnr.wa.gov.

BIRV now just Resource Venture

SEATTLE -- The whole name was hard to pronounce, but the acronym was tough to remember. Now the Business and Industry Resource Venture is trying to keep it simple. What we knew (or didn't know) as BIRV is now just the Resource Venture.

Resource Venture is a program of the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce and is supported by Seattle Public Utilities. The group provides local companies with information on waste prevention, water conservation, stormwater pollution prevention and sustainable building to help them make informed decisions.

Resource Venture's new address is 1301 Fifth Ave., Suite 2500, Seattle, WA 98101-2611.

Clean Air for Kids seeking volunteers

SEATTLE -- Volunteers are needed for Clean Air for Kids. The organization conducts home environment assessments in Pierce County to help create healthier home environments. Volunteers receive 40 hours of training on environmental hazards such as mold, moisture, dust, arsenic and hazardous household products.

Training will be offered on Wednesdays from March 17 through April 28, 6:30 to 7 p.m. For more information, call (253) 798-2954.

NEBC talk on new wastewater rules

SEATTLE -- The Olympic chapter of the Northwest Environmental Business Council March 3 meeting will include a presentation on wastewater.

Betsy Cooper, a wastewater treatment department administrator with King County, will speak on the recently released draft policy from EPA on blending regulations, and how to handle and discharge water during peak flow conditions.

The presentation will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the McCormick and Schmick's Harborside on Lake Union, 1200 Westlake Ave., Seattle. Cost is $30 for members and $45 for non-members. For information contact NEBC at (888) 609-NEBC or visit the Web site at http://www.nebc.org.

HAZMAT training courses in April

SEATTLE -- Two hazardous materials courses administered by the Environmental Resource Center will be held in Seattle in April.

A hazardous waste management training course covers waste characterization, container marking, waste minimization, emergency response and land disposal certification. This two-day seminar also addresses laws relating to identifying and shipping hazardous waste, and how to comply with new emission standards for hazardous waste generators.

A certification training course, DOT 49 CFR Transportation Regulations, will cover issues such as how to classify, package, label and ship hazardous materials in accordance with DOT regulations.

Both courses take place at Wyndham Seattle Tacoma Airport, 18118 Pacific Highway S. The hazardous waste course is April 20 and 21, and the DOT training course is April 22. For information, call (800) 537-2372.

Skiers enlisted in global warming fight

ASPEN, Colo. (AP) -- A national environmental group hopes to enlist skiers and snowboarders in the effort to reduce greenhouse gases, warning that global warming poses a major threat to the industry.

The Natural Resources Defense Council has teamed with the National Ski Areas Association to try to educate ski area customers about what is says will be shorter winters and warmer temperatures over the next 50 years.

Daniel Lashof, science director of the council's climate center, said no one can accurately predict how global warming will change the climate of a specific area.

Lashof is touting a program, "Keep Winter Cool," that promotes alternative energy use, such as wind power, and energy efficiency. It also backs legislation that would require the United States to reduce its greenhouse gas production.

Old Oregon hatchery gets $1M upgrade

BUTTE FALLS, Ore. (AP) -- It leaked like a sieve, grew bumper crops of moss and looked more like a Roman ruin than like a fish hatchery.

But after a $308,000 overhaul the 89-year-old Butte Creek Fish Hatchery pond now runs like a dream, teeming with tiny fish after the upgrading turned one large old pond into five state-of-the-art raceways for fish.

Fed with modern and adjustable water pipes and lined specially for cleanliness, the pond is the newest part of the hatchery's nearly $1 million face-lift.

The pond's first graduates, 75,000 young coho salmon, were trucked to the Rock Creek Hatchery along the North Umpqua River last week. Those that survive will return in the fall of 2006.

The new pond is just the latest phase of the massive rebuilding of one of Oregon's oldest fish hatcheries. There is also a new water intake system, leaky pipes were repaired and the building where eggs are incubated and hatched was rebuilt.

In two years the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has spent about $846,000 on the project.

Another $300,000 has been approved, but not spent, on a pollution-abatement pond to treat used hatchery water as required by federal law.

EPA: Biscuit salvage plan harmful

GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) -- U.S. Forest Service salvage logging plans for the 2002 Biscuit fire promise to cause long-term damage to key salmon streams already suffering from poor water quality, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says.

EPA urged the Siskiyou National Forest to limit salvage logging to areas designated for timber harvest under the Northwest Forest Plan, known as matrix lands, and drop plans to log extensively in key salmon watersheds and undeveloped forest known as inventoried roadless areas.

The 2002 Biscuit fire burned 500,000 acres in southwestern Oregon. It has become the focus of an intense debate over whether it is better to salvage timber killed in wildfires to speed up restoration of fish and wildlife habitat, as the Forest Service and timber industry want to do, or leave forests to recover naturally, as environmentalists and some ecologists advocate.