This year’s series focused on liberty and responsibility, environmental laws and Ohio wildlife, natural resources and quality of life. The goal of the series was to engage with this theme through examples of application of environmental laws and policies in the state of Ohio.
On January 1, 1970, President Nixon signed the National Environmental Policy Act into law. One of its stated goals was “to promote efforts which will prevent or eliminate damage to the environment and biosphere and stimulate the health and welfare of man.” Later that year, Nixon ordered the establishment of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which had the responsibility of maintaining and enforcing national standards under a variety of environmental laws. Nixon went on to sign other laws focused on environmental health, including the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act and the Endangered Species Act. This began a nearly six-decade period in which U.S. citizens were expected to take more responsibility for their actions in the natural environment, including wildlife, ecosystems and human health. Throughout this time period, some individuals and communities objected to new restrictions on liberty with respect to use of natural areas. This tension remains to this day and can be seen throughout discussion of national laws and local policies (such as urban planning initiatives, environmental justice advocacy, state priorities, regulations and incentives related to land-use and energy development).
The Effects of Phosphorus Management in the Lake Erie Watershed from 1969 to Today
Nov. 7 / --
Presenter: Dr. Laura Johnson, Director, National Center for Water Quality Research, Heidelberg University, Tiffin, OH
Lecture Date: November 7, 2019
Historically, cultural eutrophication of Lake Erie was a major concern and through efforts by the United States and Canada starting with the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA), Lake Erie largely recovered by the mid-1990s. However, over the past decade Lake Erie has been experiencing a recurrence of harmful algal blooms (HABs) in the western basin and an increase in hypoxia in the central basin. The National Center for Water Quality Research at Heidelberg University has been monitoring major tributaries to Lake Erie for up to 45 years. In the agricultural watersheds (e.g., Maumee and Sandusky Rivers), long-term trends in loads and concentrations indicate that total phosphorus (TP), which consists of particulate and dissolved P, has decreased since the mid-1970s, whereas dissolved reactive P (DRP) has been increased drastically in the mid-1990s. Trends in the Cuyahoga River, which is dominated by point-source inputs of P, are quite different—TP and DRP decreased in the mid-1970s and have since remained consistently low. Thus, increased DRP and HABs appear to be associated with recent patterns in agriculture such as broadcasting surface fertilizers, build-up of P at the soil surface, unnecessary fertilizer application, increased soil compaction from large equipment and increased tile drainage intensity. Encouraging best management practices (BMPs) on farmland focused on DRP loss, such as the 4Rs and nutrient management, rather than particulate P and erosion should help decrease the severity of HABs in the future.
Using Low-Cost Sensors to Improve the Spatial Resolution of Air Quality Measurements
Presenter: Dr. Andrew May, Assistant Professor, Department of Civil, Environmental & Geodetic Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
Lecture Date: January 23, 2020
This talk was co-sponsored by the Ashland University College of Arts and Sciences.
Across the US, air pollutants regulated under the Clean Air Act are monitored at fixed-location sites. Based on these measurements, the majority of the US does not experience air quality issues. However, these measurement sites may be sparsely distributed through space. Dr. May will discuss two of his projects that seek to address this issue by providing data with improved spatial resolution in areas where people live, work and play using low-cost sensors. These projects include deploying sensors on a transit bus to provide regular, repeated measurements in an urban environment and collaborating with high schools near Columbus, OH to establish a network of sensors throughout the local community. Improved spatial resolution can provide better estimates of localized air pollutant concentrations and better protect children, the elderly and other groups who may be more sensitive to poor air quality.
Wind Turbines Beneath Their Wings: The Toll of Green Energy on Wildlife
Presenter: Megan Seymour, Wildlife Biologist, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Columbus, OH
Lecture Date: February 18, 2021
This event was originally scheduled for March 26, 2020.
Megan Seymour is a Wildlife Biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the Columbus, Ohio Ecological Services Field Office, where she has worked for the past 20 years. Her primary duty is to implement various facets of the Endangered Species Act, including listing, consultation, recovery, habitat conservation planning and delisting. Megan was the lead FWS biologist for the Buckeye Wind Habitat Conservation Plan, which resulted in the first incidental take permit for Indiana bats and wind power in the nation. She is currently leading the development of the Blue Creek Wind Farm HCP and contributes to many other wind power and bat initiatives. Megan has served on the USFWS’s Indiana bat and wind working group and on the Northern long-eared bat listing team. Megan was a founding member of the Ohio Wind Working Group in the early 2000’s and led the Wildlife Action Team. Megan received her Bachelor of Science degree, cum laude, in Wildlife Management from The Ohio State University, School of Natural Resources, in 2000.
