Environment

Untapped: When your only potable water comes in a bottle

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By AMANDA PROSCIA
Capital News Service
FLINT — The view from the driveway is surprisingly normal: there is snow on the ground, the neighbors’ children are playing basketball in the street and the landscaping is meticulously manicured. Inside, family pictures adorn the walls, a television hangs above the fireplace and several houseplants complement the décor. This house could be any suburban home in the country. Except…various-sized water bottles fill drawers and cover countertops, and cases of bottled water are stacked in the mudroom. This is the home of Angel and Edeline Garcia, residents of Flint for the past 15 years and now victims of that city’s water crisis.

Arts & Entertainment

They’re back! 'A Beaver Tale: The Castors of Conners Creek'

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By AMANDA PROSCIA
Capital News Service
A beaver family’s reappearance near the Detroit River after the species’ disappearance more than a century ago inspired a book that appeals to both adults and children alike. Author and illustrator Gerald Wykes tells the story of the beaver family’s 2008 astonishing return in his book, “A Beaver Tale: The Castors of Conners Creek” (Wayne State University Press, $18.99)

Beavers appeal to children and adults alike, according to Wykes, who lives in Monroe, Michigan. “Beavers alter their environment to fit their needs, like people do, so it’s easy for readers to identify with them,” he said. His full-color illustrations and kid-friendly text create an easy-to-follow narrative of the discovery of beavers at the Conners Creek Power Plant on Detroit’s east side after residents noticed trees being mysteriously cut down. On the surface, it’s a children’s book, but Wykes’ storytelling is highly informative, even for adults.

Agriculture

White-nose syndrome killing little brown bats

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By AMANDA PROSCIA
Capital News Service
LANSING — Little brown bat populations are unlikely to recover from a wide-spread fungal disease anytime soon, according to a recent study. And if other bat populations follow suit, say goodbye to your margaritas! Bats are one of the largest global pollinators of agave – the plant that tequila is made from – and are diminishing quickly in the U.S.. “White-nose syndrome is the biggest wildlife catastrophe in America in the last 100 years,” said Rob Mies, executive director of the Organization for Bat Conservation – a national advocacy group focused on the preservation of bats and based in the Cranbrook Institute of Science in Bloomfield Hills. Although the report focused only on little brown bats, the model created by the study could be applied to all bat species affected by white-nose syndrome, said Wayne Thogmartin, a U.S. Geological Survey ecologist and one of the lead researchers on the study.

Arts & Entertainment

World Trade Center architect’s Detroit vision

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By AMANDA PROSCIA
Capital News Service
LANSING — John Gallagher profiles Japanese-American architect Minoru Yamasaki in his new book Yamasaki in Detroit: A Search for Serenity. Best known for his design of the World Trade Center in New York, a number of Yamasaki’s designs adorn Detroit’s urban landscape, including the One Woodward Avenue building (formerly the Michigan Consolidated Gas building). The city was Yamasaki’s adopted home. He moved from New York to a Detroit suburb in his mid-30s and remained in the area until his death in 1986. “The great irony is Yamasaki is known as the architect of arguably the most gargantuan project in the U.S., but mostly all of his other projects were very modest,” Gallagher said.

Amanda Proscia

Ukraine supporters hope election leads to EU

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By AMANDA PROSCIA
Capital News Service
LANSING — The victory of pro-European parties in the recent election in Ukraine is inspiring hope among Michigan’s Ukrainian residents that the country will eventually become a member of the European Union. The Communist Party won’t have a seat in the new parliament for the first time since the country’s independence from the Soviet Union. “The results are a strong statement,” said Vera Andrushkiw of Troy and vice president of the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation in Washington, D.C.

Although Andrushkiw said she’s pleased with the election outcome, she fears Russian President Vladimir Putin’s reaction in eastern Ukraine. Her major worry is Russian troops invading Ukraine’s port of Mariupol, which would provide easier transit to Russian-occupied Crimea, Andrushkiw said. She said that she hopes the major world powers will be more eager to help Ukraine in its conflict with Russia now that the election results demonstrate a pro-European attitude among the public.

Environment

Dams may be removed before they can fail

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By AMANDA PROSCIA
Capital News Service
LANSING — The recent failure of a northern Michigan dam puts a spotlight on the rest of the state’s aging inventory of water control structures. The dam on Big Sucker Creek in Emmet County’s Bliss Township forced the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to draw down the water of O’Neal Lake to investigate the cause of the failure. That left dry areas of the lake once used for fishing, canoeing and boating. O’Neal Lake dam’s failure raises questions about dams that inspectors have labeled “high hazard.”
Eighty-eight dams in Michigan previously received “high hazard” status following mandatory inspection. High hazard doesn’t mean a dam is about to fail.

Environment

Spiny water fleas thrive, disrupt all Great Lakes

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By AMANDA PROSCIA
Capital News Service
LANSING – Self-sustaining populations of the spiny water flea, an invasive species in the Great Lakes, suggest a greater problem, according to researchers. “They reflect a disruptive food web in the Great Lakes,” said Steven Pothoven, a research biologist stationed in Muskegon for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Despite its misleading name, the spiny water flea is a crustacean rather than an insect. Its diet consists mostly of zooplankton. Small fish can’t eat the spiny water flea because of its long, barbed tail spine, but larger species of fish such as an adult paddlefish can do so.

Environment

Air near chemical plant remains polluted long after closure

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By AMANDA PROSCIA
Capital News Service
LANSING — The air near a mid-Michigan chemical plant that was closed for cleanup nearly 40 years ago because it threatened the environment remains contaminated with chemicals, according to a new study. The study concludes that people living within six miles of the 54-acre former site of the Velsicol Chemical Co. “are still being subject to relatively high levels of HBB, PBBs, and DDTs in the air they breathe.” It was published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology. Those are among the chemicals that prompted federal regulators to designate the chemical factory in St. Louis, Mich., a Superfund site in 1982.