Appalachia--Science in the Public Interest

Summer 1997 Number 52

DEMONSTRATION CENTERS

Livingston:

This June will be long remembered for the dedication of the M.E. Fritsch Nature Center and the Michael Francis Zalla Nature Trail. The four-part event occurred during one of our most rainy spring spells on record. Yet despite the weather it was the largest turnout we have ever had at ASPI. We don't know what we would have done had it been sunny. A number of potential participants canceled when they heard predictions for flash floods. The Nature Center, while incomplete, does have a finished wheelchair access rock ramp, furnishings by Mark Spencer, the Gene Wilhelm bird collection on exhibit, a 330 year old hickory disk polished and detailed by Bonnie Chinn, and a substantial display of materials, maps and posters. The Zalla Nature Trail is marked and cleared, the first of three components of our emerging trail network. Hikers regard it as very beautiful.

Mount Vernon:

Amid the wettest and coolest spring in our living memory we still had a bumper crop of vegetables on our 16 raised beds -- formerly a blacktop parking lot. We had fifty pounds of broccoli, fifteen bushels of mustard, loads of cabbage, radishes, onions, beet greens, Swiss chard, lettuce, endive, kale, kohlrabi, spinach, and peas and more peas. Peanuts, tomatoes, Jerusalem artichokes, peppers, celery, and herbs are on the way. Neighbors want to know how to build their own greenhouses and raised vegetable beds. We are planning a study on the value of such small town gardening -- for the individual, the community, and the world as a whole.

Appalachian Voices:
Al Fritsch wrote an essay for the Lexington Herald on Appropriate Technology in Appalachia prior to the AT Fair. We have received numerous visits and enquiries resulting from that piece.

International Outreach:
In late 1996, ASPI volunteers Mark and Trina Schimmoeller traveled to Santa Barbara, Honduras, to continue the alternative stove project that Mark began the previous year. During their month they made 14 solar cookers in the Santa Barbara environs and 15 efficient wood-burning elbow stoves. The improved stove designs use locally available fire-baked roofing tiles, adding durability and more cooking space for larger families. The team also designed an interior stove with baffled fire chamber and chimney. The sunny days allowed them to demonstrate solar cookers extensively, which was enthusiastically received due to increasing difficulty in finding firewood. Back to Peru: Mark Schimmoeller and Joshua Bills will be going back to the higher elevations of southern Peru to extend the word and technology of solar cooking to people with no wood alternative -- but plenty of sun. ASPI only sends experienced people who are accustomed to using a particular appropriate technology, have some proficiency in the language, are invited, and are willing to have the local folks assist in improving the designs. Travel funds have again been obtained from the Kentucky Jesuit Mission.

ASPI Publications

APPALACHIAN HIGHLANDS: A FIELD GUIDE TO ECOLOGY.
by Gene Wilhelm, Ph.D. ASPI Publications, 1997.

This book, intended for general readership, has the modest goal of introducing the primordial principles of ecology in the specific aerial setting of the Appalachian Highlands. After briefly describing the setting and the structure, functions, and levels of ecology, cycles and rhythms are emphasized because of their empirical expression on a daily, seasonal and annual basis. Ecokeys and vignettes follow and constitute the bulk of the book. Believing that one picture is worth a thousand words, many color photographs -- all taken by the author -- reinforce the short written sketches.

It is hoped that the reader will use the book as an introductory field guide to the natural history of the Appalachian Highlands, thereby becoming more earth literate and able to raise self-consciousness and commitment to earth-human sustainability everywhere.

This book may be obtained from ASPI Publications (address below). The author is expecting to use this field guide as background while conducting ecotours next year of the six-state central Appalachian region. He has broad experience in conducting such tours in various parts of this country. For more information contact aspi@a-spi.org. (Complete address below)

Resource Assessment Service

We are now in the process of gathering information for the guidebook on Environmental Resource Assessments. It is a massive undertaking being directed by Al Fritsch, who is not performing any assessments until the project is completed. Each of the eleven sections is reviewed by a technical consultant, who has expertise in that particular field. These sections along with supplementary materials taken from ASPI technical papers and other sources are being edited by Mary Davis and David Cole. We have sent requests to a third of the RAS assessed organizations to select examples of their achievements after the assessment period, so that these may possibly be included in the book (photos and descriptions). We hope to see the draft copy finished by the end of summer.
Appalachian Sustainable Forest Center

Logging has been halted in the Daniel Boone National Forest. Congratulations to all who worked on this issue, especially Kentucky Heartwood. Little did we know when the issue was raised six years ago that such a victory would occur. Now the DBNF has a chance. Newsletter now on Home Page: Thanks to the splendid work of Janet Powell our AppalFor Home Page had 130 visits per day in the most recent recorded month. We are pleased with its widespread interest and attention and have been adding more material including this newsletter. If you desire to receive our newsletter exclusively on the Internet, please drop us a line. We want to save trees.
School Outreach:

A second school year has been completed with over a hundred schools and nearly 10,000 students and teachers reached, more than doubling the previous year's record. These programs were funded in part by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

ASPI Home Pagehttp://www.a-spi.org

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