March 2, 2004

Environmental Watch: A fair for livable communities

TACOMA -- The Pierce County Livable Communities Fair will be held April 3 at Pacific Lutheran University. It will focus on projects and programs that can make local communities more livable in the face of the challenges posed by population growth.

Diane Braaten, fair manager, said, "We welcome any livable/sustainable idea that benefits neighborhoods and communities."

Booth registrations will be accepted through March 5. Booth space costs $50 for nonprofits and $150 for commercial organizations. For more information, call Braaten, assistant to the county executive, at (253) 798-6691 or Dick Ferguson, media and community relations, at (253) 798-3979 or visit www.livablepiercecounty.org.

The lighter side of haz-mat

SEATTLE -- Rick Gleason presents a talk on "Humor and Hazardous Materials" tonight at the Rock Salt Steak House, at 1232 Westlake Ave. N., Seattle, at the quarterly membership meeting of the Northwest Chapter of the Academy of Hazardous Materials Management. The dinner event begins at 6 p.m. with a no-host social hour.

Gleason will discuss a variety of federal environmental safety and health regulations.

"As professionals in the field, we should never take an accident or a near miss lightly, but we should not take ourselves too seriously," he said. Gleason spent 13 years with OSHA and WISHA as an inspector and consultant, and works at Prezant Associates as an industrial hygiene consultant.

For reservations call Peggy Willingham at (206) 392-9854 or e-mail peggy.willingham@alaskaair.com.

DDES expands permit center hours

SEATTLE -- Starting next week the King County Department of Development and Environmental Services will expand operating hours at the DDES Permit Center to 8:30 a.m. through 4:30 p.m., five days a week. The additional hours will allow more intake appointments and reduce the wait times for permit customers, according to DDES director Stephanie Warden.

DDES issues building and land use permits for unincorporated King County. Intake appointments can be scheduled by calling DDES at (206) 296-6797.

Volunteers needed for Capitol Lake work

OLYMPIA -- The Washington State Department of General Administration is looking for volunteers to help with plantings at Capitol Lake on March 27.

The interpretive center trail and mitigation site on the lake's south end was severely damaged by the February 2001 Nisqually earthquake. DGA, which owns and operates the park, agreed to restore the upland and wetland area.

Volunteers will attend from Stream Team, the Evergreen State College, the Squaxin Island Tribe, the Native Plant Salvage Project, conservation districts, National Resource Conservation Service, Olympia and Capital high schools, and YMCA Earth Corps. Plants and shovels will be provided.

Oregon considers tough rules on beaches

PORTLAND (AP) -- State officials are considering closing 25 percent of the sandy beaches on the Oregon coast to dogs, campfires and driving during the spring and summer to protect the western snowy plover, an endangered species.

Of those stretches, about half would be more tightly restricted to include bans on kite flying and bicycle riding because of the menace they are thought to pose to nesting plovers.

Oregon's coastal plover population is estimated at 100 adults, one-third the number of 30 years ago.

The rules would be among the toughest limits ever placed on the use of Oregon's coastal beaches.

The proposal, conceived by the Oregon Department of Parks and Recreation and open now to public comment, has upset many coastal residents who view it as a betrayal of state laws assuring the public access to beaches.

The provisions will change as the state reworks its plan in response to public comment, said Mike Carrier, director of the Parks and Recreation Department.

The beach restrictions are part of a state maneuver to avoid liability for harm that might befall coastal plovers, protected under the state Endangered Species Act since 1987 and the federal Endangered Species Act since 1993. The state could be sued for unlawful "taking" of a protected species if permitted uses harmed plovers.

DNR asks to boost logging by 30%

SEATTLE (AP) -- Logging on 1.4 million acres of state forest in Western Washington would increase dramatically over the next decade under new long-term goals sought by state Lands Commissioner Doug Sutherland.

Today the state Board of Natural Resources is expected to set the new timber target calling for at least 30 percent more wood than has been logged from state forests in recent years.

The board also is expected to dismantle other regulations that in the past decade prevented logging from reaching previous state goals.

The potential change alarms environmentalists who fear the combination could further threaten spotted owls and salmon runs, and possibly expose steep slopes and watersheds to stream-choking erosion.

Timber-industry representatives, however, say logging practices are much less environmentally damaging than in the past.

State managers insist they're only removing ecologically unsound or redundant rules that kept them from fulfilling their obligations to maximize the forests' economic potential.

The proposal will be open for public review until this summer, but it's not likely that the board will drastically change the plan, based on 2.5 years of research and reviews.

Vegas lifts some drought restrictions

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Water officials are relaxing some drought restrictions, saying that conservation measures last year cut water use in the Las Vegas area more than expected.

At the same time, the Southern Nevada Water Authority stepped up plans to bring more water to Las Vegas from surrounding rural areas while receiving a report that said limiting growth could cripple the regional and state economy.

The authority board approved easing bans on at-home car washing, misting systems and ornamental fountains for homes and businesses.

Resorts like the Bellagio hotel-casino, which features a prominent "Dancing Waters" attraction on the Las Vegas Strip, remain exempt from drought restrictions because they are considered essential to the area's tourism-based economy.

A 642-page report commissioned for the water authority said interrupting the area's growth cycle for any reason would have a damaging economic effect that would ripple through many industries.

Pat Mulroy, water authority general manager, said the study was designed to determine whether growth control would work as a means of drought management, and to provide an answer to other states relying on the Colorado River who ask why southern Nevada won't stop growing.

The water authority placed new emphasis on its plan to build a $1 billion pipeline by 2014 to import water to Las Vegas.