This&That cont’d Enviro News
So, Mr. Bush, about that Dead Zone… U.S. ocean lovers will be surfing at their computers on April 20.
That’s when the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy will release an online draft of a historic report about the state of the nation’s oceans—the fruit of the Commission’s labours since September 2001. Environmental groups have been holding their collective breath and will be scrutinizing the outcome, according to Ian Miller, Washington Field Coordinator for the Surfrider Foundation. The last report of this kind—released in 1969—resulted in the establishment of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and guided U.S. marine regulations for the past three decades. In stating the need for the report, Congress cited the loss of 20,000 acres of coastal wetland every year, the 7,700-square-mile “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico and the fact that half of the U.S. population now lives on the coasts. The report will be posted at
www.oceancommission.gov.
Georgian Bay nominated for Biosphere Reserve Ontario’s Georgian Bay coast could join special places like Clayoquot Sound and the Central Amazon on the list of UNESCO International Biosphere Reserves. A local group rumoured to be associated with the Bay’s booming population of sea kayakers has put together a nomination to the United Nations, the first step in the long process. For more info, contact Greg Mason:
gimason@thegreenpages.ca.
Other News
World-Class kayak collection saved The Canadian Canoe Museum in Peterborough, Ontario, will reopen on May 1. The museum closed down in October 2003 after a tough couple of years of reduced donations and a depressed tourism market. Nobody was sure if or when it would reopen. The collection isn’t just canoes. The CCM houses the world’s largest collection of canoes, kayaks and related watercraft—over 600—including Arctic skin kayaks. The operating budget has been drastically cut by almost half. To raise operating funds, the museum is selling memberships, which include unlimited admission for about $60 per year. Visit
www.canoemuseum.net for info.
We are stardust, we are golden If you go down to Woodstock (Ontario) on June 11, 12 or 13 this
summer, you’ll be in for a big surprise. Rural fields will be filled not with hippies but with Canada’s first “outdoor outdoor” expo—The Great Canadian Outdoor Expo. The idea was that outdoor-show visitors had to get themselves back to the garden, so to speak, instead of just wandering around dazed, scarfing back fudge and caramel corn and getting sucked into demos of the Miracle Shammy. Visitors will be able to test kayaks, watch on-water demos and get paddling lessons on a real live pond. Groovy.
www.greatcanadianoutdoorexpo.com.
Sleeping bags catch the flu
Call it the “chicken effect”—when a bird catches the flu in Asia, a kayaker feels the chill in Canada. The feathers in many sleeping bags come from Asia, where the avian flu epidemic has reduced market supplies of quality down and sent prices flying the coop.
12 Early Summer 2004
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