|
Concerns about State Selenium Standards |
|
Proposed numeric water quality selenium standard for Great Salt Lake were recently submitted to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by the Utah Division of Water Quality (EWQ) after a relatively large-scale but short-term study of selenium in the open waters of the lake. On May 18 of 2009, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) submitted a letter to the EPA outlining the agency's concerns that this proposed standard represents a "take" of migratory birds in violation of the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA). The USFWS letter further states that "implementation of the standard
would be
insufficient toward long-term conservation of the Great Salt Lake's
migratory bird resources". The proposed standard is based on
concentration of selenium in avian eggs that would result in a 10%
reduction in hatchabillity. The USFWS recommends instead that the
selenium standard be set at a no effect concentration.
Click here to listen to KUER's recent RadioWest program entitled "Selenium and the Great Salt Lake" (original air date: 6/16/2009). The program includes an interview with Lynn de Freitas, FRIENDS Executive Director.
|
|
|
GSL Minerals Expansion Threatens GSL Ecosystem - WE NEED YOUR HELP |
|
Great Salt Lake Minerals Corporation (GSLM) has submitted an amended permit application to construct the GSLM Solar Evaporation Ponds Expansion Project. The proposed expansion would add approximately 91,000 acres of solar evaporation ponds on the lake, impacting 80,000 acres of waters of the United States, including wetlands, in or adjacent to the Great Salt Lake in Box Elder County, Utah. As a part of the proposed expansion, GSLM has applied for water rights to over 350,000 acre-feet of water. Deadlines for public comment are July 7th (Water Rights permit) and July 9th (ACOE permit).
|
|
|
Black Maps by David Maisel |
Photographer, David Maisel, was short-listed in 2008 for the Prix Pictet Prize, a prize for photography concerned with the theme of sustainability, for his extensive photographic series called Black Maps which highlights the “undoing of the natural world by wide-scaled human activity” and includes images from Owens Lake in California and our own Great Salt Lake.
|
|
|
American White Pelicans In Trouble |
Due to concerns about effects of increasing numbers of breeding pelicans in Idaho on native trout populations and recreational fishing, the Idaho Fish and Game (IDFG) has drafted a plan to manage American White Pelican populations. Click on 'read more' for additional background, information about how you can submit comments to the IDFG, and an op-ed peice by Chuck Trost, retired professor from Idaho State.
|
|
|
Saline Lakes Around the World |
|
The proceedings of the International Society for Salt Lake Research (ISSLR)
10th International Conference and 2008 FRIENDS of Great Salt Lake
Issues Forum, Lakes Around the World: Unique Systems with Unique
Values' (Natural Resources and Enviornmental Issues publication, Volume XV, 2009) is now available. Many of the articles in this publication involve resarch at Great Salt Lake.
|
|
|
|
<< Start < Prev 1 2 Next > End >>
|
| Results 1 - 6 of 7 |
Winter 2009
