COVINGTON, Ky. - The Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission is slated to vote on loosening water-pollution regulations at its meeting this week in Covington.

The proposed changes would give states the ability to opt out of pollution-control standards for the Ohio River, which supplies drinking water to 5 million people.

When it comes to natural resources such as water, said Gail Hesse, Great Lakes water program director for the National Wildlife Federation, state boundaries are arbitrary and regional water standards remain critical for managing the 981 miles of river as a connected system.

"We continue to have new and emerging issues that the river faces, and so now is not the time to be retreating from those standards," she said. "Despite the gains that we've seen over the course of the last 40 years of Clean Water Act program implementation, we still have challenges that we need to address."

Voting commissioners represent the states bordering the Ohio River Valley. Kentucky's commissioners were appointed by Gov. Matt Bevin and include Charles Snavely of the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet, Lt. Gov. Jenean Hampton and C. Ronald Lovan, president and chief executive of the Northern Kentucky Water District.

The commission's deliberations on these standards are not open to the public and, while thousands of public comments have been submitted in opposition to the proposed changes, Hesse said the commission has offered no response.

"We really don't know or understand the thinking of the commissioners behind this proposal," she said, "nor how they have discussed or deliberated on the input of the thousands of public comments they've received."

Hesse said the Ohio River is heavily used by industry and power companies, but added that it's important to make sure that their discharges don't pollute waters downstream. She said she thinks cooperation among states is the most effective way to protect the Ohio River for communities and wildlife.

Nevada climate advocates say the impacts of climate change are only getting worse in the Silver State. They're now demanding Congress make it a priority and address what they call a dire situation.

Rep. Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, introduced the Extreme Weather and Heat Response Modernization Act earlier this year and said it will provide the Federal Emergency Management Agency the "flexibility" to expand mitigation measures against extreme heat, which includes cooling centers. The legislation has made it out of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee with bipartisan support. Titus said if it doesn't pass this term, she vows it'll be one of the first pieces of legislation she will introduce in the upcoming session. Titus says extreme heat and drought go hand in hand.

"The Colorado River contributes greatly to our economy; $104 trillion is the annual economic activity that comes from things that relate to the Colorado River," Titus said. "It sustains 16 million jobs throughout the seven states that are part of the Colorado River Basin," she explained.

Titus contends that keeping the river and Lake Mead sound will be a positive for tourism, jobs and agriculture in Nevada and throughout the Western U.S. This week the U.S. House passed the Water Resources Development Act which Titus says includes provisions that will help sustain water resources in Nevada. The bill faced little opposition and now heads to the Senate, before being sent to the president.

Roberto Renteria, a member of the nonprofit Make the Road Nevada, said this year the Silver State endured increased extreme weather events such as record-breaking wildfires and relentless heat waves, making it difficult for folks to endure.

"These are not climactic events, they are urgent calls for action. The wildfires have burned more than 58,000 acres in our state, putting at risk our communities, wildlife and economic vitality," he said.

Renteria added the extreme heat simply cannot be ignored and contends the public health crisis disproportionately impacts those who work outside as well as those with low socio-economic status.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and its partners have received a $4.5 million grant from the federal America the Beautiful Challenge program to restore more than 2,000 acres of oak and prairie land up and down the Willamette Valley. The project will draw on partnerships across 22 public, private and tribal sites to restore native plant species such as camas, and reduce fuel for wildfires.

Lindsay McClary, restoration ecologist with the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, said these oak and prairie lands have deep cultural significance as a source of food, medicine and hunting grounds.

"Really, these landscapes were maintained by traditional tribal practices and they were relied upon as such. So restoring these habitats is really like restoring cultural life ways to the Willamette Valley," she explained.

Once widespread, only 7% of oak habitat and 1% of prairie habitat remain in the state. This is in part due to the impacts of fire suppression, so one piece of the restoration plan is prescribed burning.

McClary said Kalapuya fire practices shaped the Willamette Valley, and that removal of fire has invited in too much plant growth, making the area more susceptible to wildfires, and added that oak and prairie habitats require constant disturbance, and the role of fire in ecosystems is often misunderstood.

"I think this project is really going to help shift and change that social conversation where we can embrace fire as an important tool when it's done correctly," she continued. "And it's going to lead to a reduction of those catastrophic wildfires that nobody wants to live through and experience."

Oak trees are known to support biodiversity like few other trees are able to. From large wildlife who graze on the acorns down to the many species of fungus that grow with them, oak trees are known to support at least 2,300 species. McClary said slowing down and observing the trees, will help people more fully appreciate them.

"From top to bottom, there's a whole little city of creatures that are existing or relying on a single oak that we really just don't notice," she said.


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Christmas, it turns out, is for the birds, at least for those that will be counted this year in the National Audubon Society's Christmas Bird Count.

The nearly monthlong bird count takes place around the country. Birders will go through a circled area with a 15-mile radius, counting the number of birds they see or hear.

Steve Sheffield, professor of biology at Bowie State University and vice president of the Maryland Ornithological Society, said the data gathered across the country will help map the trends and movements in bird populations.

"You can look at the population trends of each of the species and see where they're headed, whether their trajectory is up or down or whether they're stable," Sheffield outlined. "You can also look at where you are seeing the numbers. You're getting an idea of how the birds are moving due to climate change."

For counters who can identify bird calls, Sheffield noted they only need to hear a bird in order to count it, which helps with species flying silently, such as owls.

Sheffield emphasized collecting a century's worth of data is invaluable to bird conservation efforts. Birds, he added, are often a strong indicator of the overall health of ecosystems and are easily found and measured the world over.

One of the trends the bird count tracks is what Sheffield called "irruptive species," those forced to move south because food supplies in their local ecosystems run low.

"We get these birds showing up, like snowy owls, evening grosbeaks, purple finches, red-breasted nuthatches," Sheffield observed. "You could go several years and you won't find any of them. All of a sudden, one year, you have many of those species. That tells you some information about their habitat conditions."

The bird count begins Dec. 14 and goes through Jan. 5. The count is conducted by thousands of volunteers in more than 20 countries in the Western Hemisphere.


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