May 2008

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Newsletter Post Cards
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401 Rules - Public Comment Period

The post cards are very important. I only got about 30 of the 401-Rules post cards returned from the previous newsletter, and I know we can do better than that! PLEASE send in the post cards: best to do it today! Since the comment period has not yet begun Please note that this post card is to be returned to FOWL (Ohio EPA will throw it out if it is received outside the comment period), and I will get it to Randy Bournique at the proper time. Of course you can also make copies of FOWL post cards and have others send them in as well.

Patricia Cook is putting together an "I Love Wetlands" art show for youngsters (pre-voting age) at the West River Branch of the Elyria Public Library for the month of August this year. If you kids, parents, or teachers out there know of art in any medium (sculpture, painting, drawing, collage, etc.) that has a wetlands theme, you can submit it to Patricia at lightningbug54@yahoo.com or call 324-7522. The plan is to award small prizes. Submissions need to be brought in to the library by noon on Friday, August 1. There is no charge for entering or viewing this show, and we hope loads of people stop in and take a gander. See entry form on p 3, and mail to the FOWL address.

Dr. Wendt was the Head Veterinarian at the Cleveland Zoo for many years. He served on the Columbia Township Zoning Board and helped structure set-back regulations that helped protect his community from over development. He and his wonderful wife Susan cared for many sick and injured animals in their home and on their property, where they have raised and released Trumpeter Swans for many years.
Dr. Wendt was a life member and strong supporter of the efforts of Friends of Wetlands, and was a founding Board Member of the Firelands Land Conservancy. He many times warmly welcomed both groups on tours of his 250 acres of fields and rich forest that are now under conservation easement, driving groups down on the hay wagon behind his tractor. Ray and I have caught beautiful bluegill and bass in one of his lakes, and he encouraged us to return for Smallmouth Bass in the Rocky River which runs through the place.
Dr. Wendt passed away on April 12. The loss of this great, good, wise man will be deeply felt; I weep as I write. He left much good behind him in this world.

We'll do it again at the Wheelers' place - the Homer Page Farm on the Vermilion River. The suggestion has been made to make this picnic vegetarian, and to do the pig roast in the autumn. That sounds good to me, and I hope our many vegetarian members will come with scrumptious food! This issue has been one of some contention, so all our vegetarians are warmly encouraged to make believers out of the rest of us!
This year I was thinking it would be really nifty to raise the tipi at the picnic; great fun! I think it would be a really fine thing, too, if someone would like to take charge of activities - games, races, contests, etc. As usual, I am rushing to get this newsletter out in time for this event, and apologize for the short notice. Please come, support FOWL, have a great time and make this picnic the finest and best-attended ever!

I remember how the American Media Machine made such a big deal about how the Soviet Union simply fudged production figures to make it look as though they were meeting the goals for their five-year economic plans. I sense a lot of that sort of thing going on around here these days, too.

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Everything went wrong on this mailing. The post card stock was too heavy and jammed every 2 cards (with 900 to print). The copier jammed unto torturous levels (I though I'd have to take the rest of the cards to a printer's).

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What an honor it is to know that there are 150 people and families who have chosen to become Life Members of Friends of Wetlands! It saves them renewal hassles and me bookkeeping tribulations.

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I attended part of an benefit event at Baldwin Wallace College on Saturday, April 19 sponsored by SEA, with bands playing, informational booths, pizza and drinks, and a good time. The proceeds were to be divided between an organization called the New Agrarian Center - and FOWL!
I just received a check from Keith Hanson, head of SEA, for $602. This most warmly appreciated, especially as expenditures have dropped the FOWL bank balance pretty low these days.

I presented a power point (my first ever! thanks to Patricia, who showed me how to use the program) at the Ohio Environmental Vernal Pool Training workshop in New Albany, near Columbus. Ray and I drove down and had a great time at a great event.

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Open the presentation large 8.9MB file (PowerPoint on your system is not needed)

I have dreamt for 30 years, as I spent spring in a classroom, of doing what I did this March, April, and May. Here are some highlights.

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I still have a few more stops to make before summer sets in, and am available for plants surveys upon invitation. The best contact would be email, but you may call me, too. I have mentions in the database about invitations, but many are very old.
I'm interested in how many acres, how much if any wetland, how much woods, and how big around the trees are. I will do the survey for free if I can get to it, but donations are very welcome (this service normally would cost several hundred to perhaps a thousand dollars) - especially with the cost of gasoline! I can't do mosses or lichens, and I'm still working on grasses, but most other stuff I have a fairly good handle on.
If you care about your land, a plant list is a valuable thing to have, and can stimulate self-education about plant identification and ecology. I always recommend as a first field guide the Newcomb's Wildflower Guide, which has fine drawings (much better than photographs!) a keying system that is fairly simple to use.

Please see post card to request survey.

I am very pleased to be able to announce that my newly created CD in power point format with bundled reader is available now for sale and distribution.
The CD is entitled, "Native Orchids of Ohio" and consists of over 100 slides, mostly pictures with identification of orchid or habitat, and a few text only slides.
The reader software enables even those without power point to be able to view the show upon any computer monitor screen by a user friendly click onto the labeled reader icon.
Cost is $10 per CD.
Of course, slide shows with my live commentary are also available.-  respectfully submitted, Tom Sampliner 216-371-4454; email tomsam265l@hotmail.com

Denny Jordan is a robust character who teaches geology at Wooster High School. He lives near Shreve, but he and his wife have 10 acres of woods and wetlands in Lorain County's Henrietta Twp. A few years ago they purchased and additional 19 contiguous acres of wet old forest for purposes of conservation, protection, and passive enjoyment.

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When an industrial thug visits a blatant and vicious attack on a rare and treasured piece of habitat, one would hope that the authorities would make an appropriate response. Those of us whose agency it is to protect the environment must not temporize and rationalize but do our duty and act with dispatch and firmness – not to punish but to restore and ensure that future damage does not occur.

more... Also, please see post card.

Two Brecksville Reservation volunteer naturalists came across a trap with 137 salamanders (135 of them Spotteds) that had been placed in a vernal pool there. Parks spokeswoman Jane Christyson said that these animals represented about half the Spotted population in the pond.

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Mary Gade, the top US EPA regulatory official in the Midwest, was corporate attorney before she was appointed to the Chicago office in 2006.  Unfortunately for her tenure, she tried to do her job.

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Kristy should have been off work at 5:00, but I just got an email from her in response to a request at 6:30.
As always, I have been hugely helped by the staff of the Ohio Environmental council, and in particular by Jack Shaner, their Public Affairs Director; Kristy Meyer, Director of Clean Water Programs; and David Celebrezze, Director of Water and Air Special Projects. Their expertise, their resource base, their responsiveness, and their support are always invaluable. I cannot recommend too strongly that you consider the $35 annual membership. Ohio's environment would be much the worse for wear if it were not for these indefatigable and deeply committed champions of our land, air, and water.

Check out the OEC online. Click the DONATE NOW tab to contribute.

The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Water Resources Compact, aka the Great Lakes Compact, or GLC, needs to be approved by all the legislatures of the eight states within the Great Lakes Basin  before it can be ratified by Congress. Most of the states and the 2 provinces have done so, and Ohio is one of the last obstacles to the Compact’s consideration in Washington D.C.

more... Also, please send in post card.