Gardening in East New York by TandLRadio - YouTube

A video sent by a friend, Rey Pinder...

Wolf Hunting Elk - Yellowstone - BBC Worldwide Video

As herds of elk and bison are gradually weakened by the cold, one animal gets stronger - the wolf. Chased down by the pack, Yellowstone's herds have little resistence as the wolves move in for an easy kill.

The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law - Symposium Re: Accountability After Citizens United - April 29th

The Brennan Center for Justice held a day-long symposium on Accountability After Citizens United at the Greene Space at WNYC in New York City on April 29th. The symposium explored the current debate between shareholders and corporate managers over corporate political spending, new strategies to promote accountability through regulatory pressure points, and the constitutional tensions between the rights of associations and the rights of individuals.


Opening remarks by Brennan Center Executive Director Michael Waldman and keynote address by Hon. Cynthia L. Bauerly, Chair of the Federal Election Commission.





Panel 1: Can Shareholders Save Democracy?

Moderated by Ciara Torres-Spelliscy, with panelists William T. Allen, John Coates, Robert Jackson, Jennifer Taub.





Lunchtime remarks by Charlie Kolb, Committee on Economic Development. Introduction by Wendy Weiser, Director of the Brennan Center's Democracy Program.





Panel 2: Regulatory Pressure Points: New Strategies for Accountability

Moderated by Mimi Marziani, with panelists Ellen Aprill, Marc Elias, Bruce Freed, Holly Schadler.





Panel 3: The First Amendment Rights of Associations and Individuals

Moderated by Mark Ladov, with panelists Frances Hill, Dale Ho, Glenn Magpantay, Daniel Ortiz, Tobias Wolff.





Closing remarks by Sanford Lewis, Strategic Counsel on Corporate Accountability.

NYC DEP Punked by the Yes Men by Lissa Harris - Watershed Post

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No, the sticker above -- which, according to the Wall Street Journal, has been spotted near public faucets around New York City lately -- isn't the work of the NYC Department of Environmental Protection. It's part of a pretty slick anti-fracking campaign, complete with a website (www.nyc-dep.org) dressed up to look almost exactly like the DEP's actual site. There's also a fake "DEP" video, with instructions on how to tell if your water is safe. (Hint: Try to set it on fire.)

The stickers, and the official-looking fake website that goes along with them, appear to be the work of the Yes Men, a group of activist merry pranksters that specialize in the art of the well-played anti-corporate hoax. Just last month, they gulled the Associated Press into running a story declaring that General Electric would be returning its $3.2 billion tax refund to the U.S. government. And back in 2000, they famously impersonated the World Trade Organization via a fake website (www.gatt.org) that earned them an invitation to speak at a seminar on international trade in Austria. (A rather extraordinary drama then unfolded, in which the Yes Men's "WTO representative" spoke at the seminar, was hit in the face with a pie, and subsequently "died.")

Regular Watershed Post readers might recognize the name: The Yes Men were canonized just a couple of weeks ago, along with local anti-fracking activist and radio personality Sabrina Artel, in a ceremony conducted by the Rev. Billy Talen (himself a fellow anti-corporate prankster who performs exorcisms on cash registers, backed up by a gospel choir in full regalia).

Though DEP officials were quick to disavow the stickers, the anti-fracking sentiment behind the stunt isn't too far from their real views on the subject. Department officials aren't big fans of the idea of doing horizontal drilling for natural gas within spitting distance of the city's watershed. From a statement on the DEP's actual website:

While DEP is mindful of the potential economic opportunity that this represents for the State, hydraulic fracturing poses an unacceptable threat to the unfiltered water supply of nine million New Yorkers and cannot safely be permitted with the New York City watershed.

Photo by Flickr user prizepony. Published under Creative Commons license.

Ridgewood Democratic Club Meeting on April 29th - Meeting Theme "Earth Day and Our Environment"

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On Friday, April 29th the Ridgewood Democratic Club held their regularly scheduled monthly meeting at their historic 100 year-old clubhouse on Putnam Avenue in beautiful downtown Ridgewood.

The meeting was chaired by the amicable Jim Grayshaw, President of the Club. Assembly Member Cathy Nolan led off the agenda with a recap of happenings in Albany.

The theme of the meeting was Earth Day and our environment.

The first speaker was Shiobhan Ciresi who spoke on the issue of chemtrails (geoengineering). Her presentation was entitled “Chemtrails Worldwide Phenomenon Happening in Long Island and NYC Skies”. It was a fact-filled, thought provoking talk on this insidious threat being posed against mankind and Mother Earth by this technology. For more on her work, visit her website, Operation Humanity Transcending. Sign her petition by clicking here.

Here's a YouTube video by a friend, Sallie Elkordy, from Queens,of the Peace and Freedom Party on this phenomenon over our area. Visit Global Skywatch, for additional information...

The second presenter was Edie Cunningham who spoke on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) seeds and their wide-spread use in American agriculture by large corporate interests led by Monsanto Chemical Corp. Recently over at the Grist, David Roberts has published a provocative essay on the GMO's that I would recommend that anyone interested in the subject read.

Both speakers fielded numerous questions from the assemblage after their presentations.


The last speaker was Monica Sui a constituent of the 15th Senatorial District and an intern with the Human Rights Campaign, who provided details about her recent meeting with Senator Joe Addabbo on the Marriage Equality matter that may be considered during this legislative session. She informed the members that Senator Addabbo is looking for guidance on this matter from his constituents and she urged that everyone please contact his office voicing their support for this important civil rights initiative. Senator Addabbo can be reached by phone at 718-738-1111. For the record, local clergy and myself accompanied Monica during her meeting (pic from meeting) to Senator Addabbo's office.


The meeting ended with coffee, cake and pleasant post meeting conversation.


The Club's over 100 year old building recently sustained extensive water damge from the rainy spring and needs intensive repairs of the roof and ceilings. Therefore,  I would urge one and all to attend the RDC's Annual Dinner Dance on May 18th at Riccardo's by the Bridge in Astoria. 

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Volunteers Embark On Earth Day Cleanups by Roger Clark - NY1.com

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Volunteers all over the city spent Friday cleaning up recreational areas to mark Earth Day.

In Queens, the Hindu community took part in a cleanup of Jamaica Bay where offerings from religious ceremonies are creating environmental concerns.

The space, part of the National Park Service's gateway recreation area, is near the North Channel Bridge in Broad Channel.

"We come here and we make our offerings to the mother, because we believe the water for us is mother. She is a deity, what we worship. But at the same time we need to keep our mother clean, too. So after making our offerings into the water we should clean up after that," said Hindu Priest Chunelall Narine.

"We do promote a healthy environment, and although it's hard for some to understand the different situation that we're in, we do respect the community and we hope to clean up for Earth Day and to promote a good environment," said Clean-Up Volunteer Kamelia Kilawan.

For the past five years, park rangers have been working with the Hindu community to educate worshipers about the dangers posed to the environment and wildlife when leaving behind ritual items, like pieces of fruit and coconut shells.

"They can disrupt food chains and delay migration, they certainly can affect the water quality of Jamaica Bay," said Kathy Krause, Gateway National Recreation Area.

"It is our responsibility and duty to protect, to do whatever we can to protect the earth and keep the earth as clean as possible," said Hindu Community Leader Bhoj Dindiyal.

Other events across the city are focusing on green businesses and green cars.

Friday marks the 41st annual Earth Day celebration.

On Earth Day, Weiner Report Shows Republican Budget Proposal Would Severely Harm New York’s Environment

Today, to commemorate the 41^st annual Earth Day, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D – Queens and Brooklyn) released a report highlighting the dangerous impact of the proposed Republican FY 2012 budget on New York City’s environment, which if implemented, would cut $54.1 million from the fund that ensures clean drinking water for the City and cut $2 million in funding from Gateway National Recreation Area, the country’s largest urban national park.

Under the 2012 Republican budget proposal, funding cuts would also be made to numerous national monuments and historic sites in the New York area, including $900,000 for operating costs at the Statue of Liberty and $120,000 in funding for Governors Island National Monument.

In addition, nearly $400,000 would be cut from projects affecting Jamaica Bay and the Rockaways. These cuts would jeopardize all of the beach replenishment that has been conducted over the past decade by delaying the long-term prevention plan against storm damage that is currently underway. They would also delay the vital marshland restoration projects that have already begun, including the replenishment of Elders Point East, for which Rep. Weiner helped secure $1.5 million. Last month, Weiner announced $500,000 to help prevent erosion at Plumb Beach, but reduced funding to the Army Corps also places the future of projects like this at risk.

The GOP budget would also have a direct impact on park staff and visitors at Gateway National Recreation. Because national parks rely heavily on personnel for their operations, these GOP cuts would mean fewer park rangers at Gateway, especially in the summer when park visitation is at its peak.

In total, over $5 million in funding would be slashed for all national parks in the City and nearly $290 million would be reduced from National Parks Service nationwide. Visitor safety would be put at risk and visitor center and campsite hours could also be reduced significantly.

The proposal put forward by Republicans would also cut $2.8 billion, or 27%, from the Environmental Protection Agency.

“The draconian GOP budget proposal would slash vital funding for projects that protect our beautiful green spaces, national parks and waterways," Weiner said. “The future of our city’s natural treasures shouldn’t be subjected to the whims of Republicans in Washington who care only about appeasing the most extreme elements of their party.”

Full details of Weiner’s Report below:

The Republican FY ‘12 Budget Proposal Would Harm Gateway National Park

• Funding to Gateway National Park’s would be cut by $2 million, a 13% cut from FY10 levels. (NYC IBO).
• This would mean that there would be fewer park rangers in Gateway, especially in the summer when the visitation to the park is at its peak. This puts visitor safety at risk and could mean reduced visitor center and campsite hours. Park facilities would also deteriorate because they do not have the funding or personnel needed to maintain them.

The Republican FY ’12 Budget Proposal Would Cut Funding to New York Area Monuments and Historic Sites

• Funding for the African Burial Ground National Monument would be cut by $2 million
• Funding for the Castle Clinton National Monument would be cut by $19,000
• Funding for the Federal Hall National Memorial would be cut by $115,000
• Funding for the General Grant National Memorial would be cut by $270,000
• Funding for the Governors Island National Monument would be cut by $120,000
• Funding for the Hamilton Grange National Memorial would be cut by $4,000
• Funding for the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site would be cut by $11,000

The Republican FY ’12 Budget Proposal Would Cut Funding to the Statue of Liberty

• The Statue of Liberty would lose $900,000 in funding for operating expenses, 80% of which goes to personnel.

The Republican FY ‘12 Budget Proposal Would Harm Jamaica Bay and the Rockaways

• Would cut the Army Corps of Engineers funding for the bay by nearly $400,000.
• These cuts would jeopardize all of the beach replenishment that has been done over the past decade by delaying the long-term prevention plan for storm-damage that is currently underway. They would also delay the marshland restoration that has already occurred at some of the islands in the Bay.

The Republican FY ‘12 Budget Proposal Puts New Yorkers’ Health at Risk

• The Drinking Water Revolving Fund, which works to ensure that local residents receive clean and safe drinking water, would be cut by $54.1 million for NYC. (NYC OMB)
• The Clean Water Revolving Fund which works to ensures that local communities can provide clean and sanitary wastewater treatment services for their residents would be cut by $283 million for NYC. (NYC OMB)

Rep. Weiner, who has been endorsed numerous times by the New York League of Conservation Voters and the Sierra Club, has worked tirelessly to protect the environment over the course of his career in Congress. His district is home to Gateway National Recreation Area, the nation’s largest urban national park.

From working to combat Jamaica Bay’s vanishing marshlands, to hosting the first Floyd Bennett Field Blue Ribbon Panel to create recommendations on how to best improve one of the nation's most-visited national recreation areas, guarding Brooklyn and Queens’ natural beauty has always been at the forefront of Weiner’s agenda.

He has secured over $10 million in funding to replenish Rockaway beaches. This funding has been used to prevent shoreline erosion and design a long-term storm damage prevention plan through the use of groins and jetties. He secured an additional $6 million in funding to restore Jamaica Bay marshland, including 42 acres at Elders Point East. A marshland restoration project implemented by Rep. Weiner is underway at Elders Point West, with an additional 50 acres set to be restored at Yellow Bar Island.

Weiner has also secured over $14 million funding for Gateway National Park during his years in Congress.

Earth Day 2011 - RETRO Anti-Pollution Ad with Native American - 1970s

Many of us have seen this commercial a million times as children, and learned not to litter.

NATURE | Bears of the Last Frontier | Interview with Bear biologist Chri...

Nature joins adventurer and bear biologist Chris Morgan on a year-long motorcycle odyssey deep into Alaska's bear country to explore the amazing resiliency and adaptability of these majestic animals as they struggle to make a living in five dramatically diverse Alaskan ecosystems: coastal, urban, mountain, tundra, and pack ice.

Going Green in Queens Educates Earth's Caretakers by Howard Koplowitz > YourNabe.com

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Yilmael Diaz (r.) shows the art of correct planting during the Going Green in Queens conference. Photo by Steven Malecki

From making their own compost to Tree Pruning 101, Queens residents learned what they can do to help the environment during Going Green in Queens at the Al Oerter Recreational Center in Flushing.

Fred Kress, the main organizer of the event, said more than 500 people attended the Saturday event.

“Last year the turnout was lower,”he said. “This year was better.”

Mark and Elizabeth Kurtz of Middle Village said they came to the event to learn more about helping the environment.

The couple said they went to the event, where TimesLedger Newspapers was the media sponsor, to learn more about composting and conserving energy.

They said they had tried making their own compost before, but the worms “got so hot [they] ended up dying. We need some tips on how to keep them alive.”

Gina Baldwin, project manager of the New York City Compost Project in Queens, which works with the Queens Botanical Garden, led a workshop on making compost, or decomposed organic matter.

The compost is rich in nutrients that is used to complement soil.

Besides helping plants grow, Baldwin said compost also helps reduce food waste — such as egg shells, food scraps and fruit peels — from going into the garbage stream.

“Compost is like nature’s recycling,” she said.


Baldwin said more than a dozen items can be used to create compost, including hedge clippings, leaves, feathers, corn cobs, hair and nails.

She said the best compost strikes a balance between green materials, such as hedge clippings, and brown materials like coffee grinds and tea bags.

Worms are added to the compost supplies so they can eat the scraps and make the waste that creates compost.

“Fortunately, the worm poop is what we want,” she said, because the waste is high in nutrients.

The event also featured more than 50 informational tables, including companies promoting wind and solar energy and a group of St. Francis Prep students who conducted a project on the ecosystem around the Fresh Meadows school.

“We kind of wanted to take the idea of answering the question, ‘What’s in your backyard?’” said senior Kevin Tong. “What many people don’t know is within the soil are little organisms like bacteria that make the soil have more nutrients.”

“We found a lot of bugs,” said senior Kara Hammond. “You never think about how much is actually around.”

Hammond said the project “was interesting because there’s a lot more than you think is there, but it’s hidden.”

Harlem resident and Oregon native Melody Ross said she went to Going Green in Queens because she is running green volunteer projects for TimeBanks NYC and wanted to network with more green partners.

Ross said she used to do composting in her backyard in Oregon and wants to find other ways to help the environment in the city.

“We’re pretty much green hippies in the northwest so I’ve tried to find green things to do in the city,” she said.

A Rare View of Polar Bears - 60 Minutes, Bob Simon - CBS News

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A Rare View of Polar Bears

Bob Simon reports on the latest 'spy-cam' techniques used by wildlife filmmakers to show animals - in this case, polar bears - up-close and in a way audiences have never seen them before.

DEP Declogs Sewers, Helps Jamaica Bay by Ivan Pereira - YourNabe.com

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The city Department of Environmental Protection started its spring cleaning a little early and said it will not only result in less flooding in Springfield Gardens but also improve the Jamaica Bay ecosystem.

The agency announced Monday that it completed its work on the 12.2 miles of sewers under Linden and Springfield boulevards, where there have been several reports of flooding due to clogged storm drains.

For its initiative, DEP crews used Vactor trucks that suck the debris and garbage out of the sewers and transport the rubbish to a waste treatment plant in Manhattan before being shipped to a landfill. DEP Commissioner Cas Holloway said southeast Queens was chosen as the first location for the removal not only because of the complaints from homeowners who had to deal with the flooded streets, but also because of the area’s proximity to Jamaica Bay, where wastewater is discharged.

“We started this effort in Jamaica because we know that localized flooding is a problem for some residents and to protect Jamaica Bay — one of the ecological gems of New York City,” he said in a statement.

The trucks removed more than 1,500 tons of debris from the sewers that were clogging 20 percent of its pipe volume, according to the city agency. Some of the trash included tires, construction materials, large rocks and a 15-foot ladder, the agency said.

In 2001, the DEP installed an 8-foot-by-17-foot storm sewer in Springfield Gardens to deal with heavy floods in the area, but on several occasions, most recently in August, the neighborhood still experienced flooding during severe rain storms due to clogged drains.

Special sonar technology and closed-circuit cameras were used to pinpoint the exact locations of the debris in southeast Queens, the agency said.

The two $450,000 trucks contain a 30-foot hose that is inserted into the sewer through a manhole cover and sucks in the debris after the pipes are flushed by a separate water jet, according to the DEP.

The agency estimates that the cleanup reduced combined sewer overflow, which contains both wastewater and storm water, that goes into Jamaica Bay by 25 percent and will help improve the water quality in the ecosystem.

The bay has lost huge portions of its saltwater marshland due to a high concentration of nitrogen in the water. Four DEP wastewater facilities have been discharging the nitrogen into the bay and the agency has been working to fix the problem through several multimillion-dollar initiatives.


The DEP commissioner said the truck would be cleaning sewers in other parts of the city in the near future.

“Optimizing our existing sewer network is a key part of the NYC Green Infrastructure Plan, which will save New Yorkers more than $2 billion when fully implemented, and will dramatically reduce CSOs,” Holloway said.

Eric Rotbard's Electric Car - wnycradio

Think about it: a car you plug in at night, the same way you charge a cell phone. For decades, this has been the drawing-board dream of engineers and environmentalists. Now, electric cars are starting to actually appear on the roads...and this guy has one.

The Bald Eagle Making An Impressive Comeback In New York State | wgrz.com

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The history of the Bald Eagle in North America is a mixed one, at best. Despite being revered as the national bird and regarded as a symbol of America's power, this beautiful predator was driven to the brink of extinction.

In New York State, a number of factors led to the near disappearance of the eagle. Hunting, habitat loss, and the deadly insecticide DDT brought the state's population to one single eagle in 1975!

Three decades later, the eagle is enjoying a strong revival. The NY Department of Environmental Conservation reports near record numbers throughout the state, including in Western New York.

Kenneth Roblee is a Senior Wildlife Biologist with the DEC. He says, "This year, we in this region came up with a total of 51, this is a record total for our mid-winter count, and we may also end up with a record total count for the state." Loretta Jones, Founder of Hawk Creek Wildlife Center, adds, "We actually led the country in the re-introduction of Bald Eagles in the Lower 48 states, which is amazing, because we were down to one Bald Eagle...one."

As an apex predator, the eagle helps maintain an important balance of mammals and birds within natural communities, and may serve as a bellwether to human society as well. Roblee tells us, "We can end up with nuisance problems, with some species becoming too numerous, it can result in over-browsing of certain plant communities, so we need top predators, and the Bald Eagle is an important one."

Jones agrees, "The Bald Eagles are on the top of the food chain, and one of the most important things they do, is they're great barometers, they're great markers of the environment, and they let us know what we are doing to poison ourselves and our children, and that's really important!"

Even though news for the Bald Eagle is good for now, the species is not out of the woods yet. Threats such as disease, pollution, and even wind turbines pose a danger to this powerful yet fragile bird, and vigilance needs to be kept to guarantee the Bald Eagle continues to fly free.

"The test of our mettle will be if we can keep them here at these numbers," says Roblee. "We do need to be vigilant, not just for the Bald Eagle, but for many other species that require seclusion and specific habitat set asides."

Reviving New York's Rivers -- With Oysters! by Architect Kate Orff | Video on TED.com

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Architect Kate Orff sees the oyster as an agent of urban change. Bundled into beds and sunk into city rivers, oysters slurp up pollution and make legendarily dirty waters clean -- thus driving even more innovation in "oyster-tecture." Orff shares her vision for an urban landscape that links nature and humanity for mutual benefit.

About Kate Orff:

Kate Orff asks us to rethink “landscape”—to use urban greenspaces and blue spaces in fresh ways to mediate between humankind and nature.



Kate Orff is a landscape architect who thinks deeply about sustainable development, biodiversity and community-based change—and suggests some surprising and wonderful ways to make change through landscape. She’s a professor at Columbia’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, where she’s a director of the Urban Landscape Lab. She’s the co-editor of the new book Gateway: Visions for an Urban National Park, about the Gateway National Recreation Area, a vast and underused tract of land spreading across the coastline of Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and New Jersey.

She is principal of SCAPE, a landscape architecture and urban design office with projects ranging from a 1,000-square-foot pocket park in Brooklyn to a 100-acre environmental center in Greenville, SC, to a 1000-acre landfill regeneration project in Dublin, Ireland. 

"Perhaps the snazziest proposal is also the oddest, calling for oyster beds in the Gowanus Canal. The oyster reefs, as imagined by Kate Orff, would ease the impact of storms and filter pollution in the water. Orff’s fantastical future also includes a flupsy (for “flowing upweller system”) parade of oyster-filled boats along the Gowanus."

Samantha Henig, “Earl Versus the Oysters,” New Yorker, Sept. 2, 2010

Rockaway Public Hearing Announced on Proposed Natural Gas Terminal on February 8th

At the request of Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Brooklyn and Queens), the US Coast Guard has agreed to hold a public hearing for New York City residents on the proposal to build a liquefied natural gas terminal 23 miles off the Rockaway shoreline.



The formal hearing begins at 6:30 PM on Tuesday, February 8th at Beach Channel High School. It is preceded by an open house at 5pm. Public meetings will also be held in Long Branch, NJ and in Edison, NJ.

Liberty Natural Gas has proposed building a liquefied natural gas terminal and 44 miles of pipeline off the coast of New York. Weiner called on the US Coast Guard to hold hearings in New York City to ensure that area residents are able to discuss the proposal and hear from the relevant agencies firsthand.



In a letter to the Coast Guard, Rep. Weiner wrote, “To better understand the potential ramifications we need hearings in the affected communities—including the Rockaways. If we are going to make an informed decision, my constituents need to hear the proposal details directly from the responsible federal agencies and the company placing the pipeline.”

Secret Lives of Baby American Beavers Filmed - BBC - Earth News

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The secrets lives of beavers have been revealed by a new study.

Using discreet video cameras, scientists have been able to study the long-term natural behaviour of beavers "at home" in their lodges.


The tiny, waterproof cameras, inserted into beaver dens, show that beavers lead very different private lives when at home than when outside.


At home, the animals are surprisingly co-operative and scientists have even recorded baby beavers growing up.

Kits exhibited multiple sleep wake cycles lasting only a few hours, much like a human infant waking up every few hours during the night  -  Professor Cy Mott

"Much of what we know about beavers and their use of dens is limited to questions like 'what times of day do they go in and out of the den'", says Cy Mott, a biologist at Kentucky Wesleyan College, in Owensboro, US.


"Simply because, until recently, we haven't had the technology to follow their behavior within the den without potentially disturbing natural behaviour."


So Professor Mott and colleagues, Craig Bloomquist and Clayton Nielsen of Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, US, decided to study American beavers ( Castor canadensis ) denning on the Mississippi flood plain in south-western Illinois.


Beavers in this region declined drastically in the 19th and 20th Centuries, but have since recovered due to a ban on hunting them for their pelts.


The researchers used special "probe" cameras that do not disturb the beavers to record the animals' behavior in 23 colonies over the course of more than a year.

Beavers make sophisticated homes, either in dens burrowed into river banks, or more complex lodges.


Lodges are essentially dens built from wooden branches that are surrounded by water, the level of which beavers help maintain by also building wooden dams.


Video taken of beavers within 17 lodges and six bank dens revealed some surprising behaviours.


Living in their elaborate shelters, beavers were thought to be cut off from the outside environment.


But the video study shows that they exhibit regular patterns of behaviour, leaving to feed at roughly the same time every day, for example.


"This suggests that they may not be as cut off from the external environment as we think they are," says Professor Mott.

Male and female beavers appear to take equal responsibility for raising their babies, known as kits, perhaps because the young are so "high maintenance".


In the privacy of their own home, beavers also spend 95% of their time feeding, sleeping, and grooming.


"It supports the assumption that the relative security of the den is a place where they can exhibit behaviors that would be potentially dangerous outside of dens," says Professor Mott.


Baby Sleep


Another surprise relates to the private lives of baby beavers, and their sleeping patterns.


Baby beavers, and adults, follow a similar sleep schedule to humans, the researchers report in the journal Mammalian Biology.


Adults beavers tended to sleep at a similar time, though not all the adults fall asleep at once, perhaps to ensure the babies are looked after.


"Kits, on the other hand, exhibited multiple sleep wake cycles throughout the day and night, with each interval lasting only a few hours, much like a human infant waking up every few hours during the night," says Prof Mott.


Finally, "given that beavers are in incredibly close confines within dens, we fully expected to document aggressive behaviours," he explains.


Most social animals that live in close-knit groups tend to use aggression to establish a "pecking order" between individuals.


But "one of the most interesting things we didn't find was aggression within beaver colonies," Prof Mott told the BBC.

The researchers know of only two previous studies that attempt to explain what happens within a den, despite the fact that beavers spent considerable portions of their lives in these structures.


In one study, scientists cut away one side of a lodge to view the beavers directly via a glass panel, which likely disturbed the animals' natural behavior.


The other study consisted of a researcher "listening in" while outside the lodge, in an attempt to describe what was happening inside.


"To our knowledge, our study is the first to use long-term video data to follow behavior for months at a time, over successive years, and even during the period from birth of beaver kits until they disperse to find territories of their own," says Professor Mott.

Helping the Wild Birds of New York City - WNYC Radio - Video

New York City is a stopover on an ancient migratory path for birds called the Atlantic flyway. During the spring and fall migration, birds are often injured flying into plate glass windows, or become disoriented and exhausted by the bright lights at night. But unlike L.A., Chicago and Philadelphia, New York doesn't have a wildlife rehabilitation center. Instead, injured wildlife is cared for by an underground network of wildlife rehabilitators like Rita McMahon.

Jamaica Bay's Revival Begins with Mollusks by Gary Buiso - YourNabe.com

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Oysters, plants cleaning the plumbing like Ty-D-Bowl

Troubled Jamaica Bay is going from stinky to stunning!

Pilot projects using natural water cleansers such as oysters, and improvements to the sewer system are yielding tangible results, according to a report released by the city on Monday and — more important — those who live and play along the 39-square-mile bay.

“In the past, we would observe a plume of discolored water atop Paerdegat Basin [one of the bay’s inlets], and people would be driven from their patios because of the horrendous smell,” said John Wright, a board member of the Sebago Canoe Club. “We are very pleased to see the progress.”

The bay, part of the National Park Service, borders Brooklyn, Queens and Nassau County, and includes approximately 142 square miles of meadowland, marshes, dunes and forests and open water — habitats that support 91 species of fish and 325 species of birds, reptiles, amphibians and small mammals.

Humans, such as Wright, and his 220-member club will also be the beneficiaries of a cleaner bay, but there is still a long way to go before it’s as clean as it could be.

To that end, the Department of Environmental Protection has tweaked its Jamaica Bay Watershed Protection plan, focusing on upgrades to the wastewater treatment plants that dump approximately 300 million gallons of treated wastewater in the bay every day.

That water has a high concentration of nitrogen, which results in poor water quality that allows harmful algae to thrive. The algae diminish the bay’s oxygen, killing wildlife.

The city — compelled by law by the state to do so — announced that it would invest $115 million to improve the overall water quality and mitigate marshland loss in Jamaica Bay, the bulk of the money going to the installation of new nitrogen control technologies at the four wastewater treatment plants located on the bay. The money, along with $95 million taxpayers previously committed, will reduce nitrogen in the bay by nearly 50 percent by 2020.

Agency commissioner Cas Holloway said the mayor has made the restoration of the bay “a special priority” in the effort to improve harbor water quality throughout the region.

“We are on track to achieve the goals outlined in the [plan] that will substantially improve the overall quality of the bay’s ecology,” he said.

The report notes that the city has already planted 1,000 eelgrass marine plants as part of a $350,000 pilot program to evaluate the potential for establishing small beds, which are seen as beneficial to fish and mollusks; and restored 10,000 oysters to help filter excess nutrients from the water.

Decimated by Years of Pollution, Oysters Once Again Find Home in Jamaica Bay by Adam Lisberg - NY Daily News

Gregg Rivera pours oysters into Jamaica Bay near JFK Airport, part of $350,000 project to restore mollusks that have been absent for years.

Oysters left Jamaica Bay slowly, declining for decades from overharvesting and pollution, until they were just a memory.

Oysters came back Tuesday - by the bagful.

Under a gray sky, ecologists emptied the first of what will be thousands of oyster shells into the gentle waves of the bay - the beginning of a plan to rehab the reefs that once filled these waters.

"At one time, oysters were a navigation hazard. Ships were sinking just from coming into New York Harbor and hitting the reefs," said John McLaughlin, director of ecological services for the city Department of Environmental Protection.

He was standing on a boat slowly chugging to an underwater platform of old clam and mussel shells, where crews today will nestle up to 10,000 shells seeded with oyster larvae.

If years of planning and decades of cleaning up the bay work as hoped, the young oysters will survive and thrive - and encourage new life.

"They're a keystone species," McLaughlin said. "The water quality in the bay is the best it's been in a very long time."

DEP has poured $624 million since 2002 into improving the four sewage plants that dump into Jamaica Bay. Another $244 million worth of work is planned by 2014.

The tab for the oyster bed project is $350,000, and it has taken years of coordination with agencies and advocacy groups.

They used computer models of water currents to find the best home for the oysters - a long-neglected site surrounded by rotting wood pilings in the shadow of Kennedy Airport.

The marshes around the bay have been eroding over time - and the DEP hopes the oysters can help with regrowth.

If the oysters can reestablish a foothold, they'll help filter the water, improve its clarity and enable it hold more oxygen.

"A single mature oyster can filter 30 to 35 gallons of water a day. If you multiply that by a lot of oysters, that's a lot of water," McLaughlin said. "Restoring oysters, restoring the wetlands, restoring the eelgrass. These are all parts of the puzzle that over time should begin to have an effect."