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ASPI Saves Land From Logging

ASPI recently purchased two tracts of forest land totaling 72.5 acres, in order to save them from purchase and clear-cutting by a local logger. The land's immediate proximity to the Rockcastle River and lack of access would make it almost impossible to log without extensively damaging the area's ecosystem. This brings the total acreage at our Rockcastle River Demonstration Site to approximately 252 acres. We scraped part of the funds together from other projects, and Frank and Mary Fritsch provided a generous donation that covered the balance and assured we would not lose money on the deal. The original plan was for us to purchase the property and then sell it to the U. S. Forest Service.

The Forest Service recently sent us a letter restating their interest in purchasing the properties from us, and while our intention is to follow through with the original plan, we are going to take our time and assess the land's possibilities before selling. Our major consideration is that the Forest Service cannot purchase the land under any stipulation not to log it, but both parcels drain directly into the river, and we would stand a good chance of halting any plans for extensive logging of the land.

Ginseng Updates

Cancer Research - ASPI has been supplying ginseng root and leaf from Syl Yunker's virtually wild ginseng crop to Dr. Laura Murphy in Southern Illinois University for her cancer research. As a reproductive endocrinologist, Dr. Murphy has been studying the reaction of prostate cancer and breast cancer cells to the ginsenocides extracted from ginseng, and her most recent work has included testing on mice. Dr. Murphy has found:

— The greater the dose, the greater the inhibiting effect on cancer.
– The greater the duration of exposure, the greater the effect.
— The older the ginseng, the greater the potency (this has been known for millennia in the
Orient and is reflected in the selling price).
– The leaf extract is about 10 times as potent as the root extract and actually appears to kill
cancer cells rather than inhibit their growth.
— Breast cancer cells are more responsive to ginseng than prostate cancer cells.
– The Kentucky ginseng samples are much more potent than either Canadian or Wisconsin ginseng, although this may have as much to do with the method of cultivation as the place of origin.
— Ginseng appears to inhibit the spread of cancer to other organs.

Although the use of ginseng has yet to be scientifically studied in the treatment of cancer in humans, Dr. Murphy's study presents a possible alternative to current cancer treatments, without the same side effects. The study also demonstrates the importance of protecting our wild and virtually wild ginseng crops from early harvesting and over-harvesting.

Kentucky Solar Partnership

Joshua Bills solar work is beginning to receive the recognition it deserves around the state and nation. His installation of a solar charging station for our electric car at the ASPI office and his work on net metering have been included in several articles in local and regional newspapers, and he has been interviewed twice by Marie Mitchell with National Public Radio.

We received word on June 28th that ASPI has been awarded another grant from the Department of Energy under the "Million Solar Roofs" initiative for Joshua's solar work that will focus on media coverage and education, with a special focus on promoting and installing solar hot water heaters. Part of ASPI's match for the grant will be the installation of a solar hot water heater at the ASPI office in Mt. Vernon.

Summer Gardens

Organic Certification - We are in the process of being re-certified as an organic grower, which currently costs $10 for the certification and $15.75 for the soil testing. Starting next year, however, Kentucky will have to comply with the new national organic certification standards and the cost of certification will jump to $200.00, mostly due to the cost of training evaluators for the program. The new program is an unfunded federal mandate and it is up to the states to decide how to fund it. Kentucky's fee is actually quite reasonable, as some states will be charging up to $3,000. As a demonstration organization, ASPI may be allowed to remain at the $10 fee, but no guarantee to that effect has been given.

What's Growing - Jack Kieffer and Therese Tackett have been working hard on the Rockcastle River demonstration site garden (and Therese has the chiggers to prove it). In order to hold moisture in the soil during dry spells and to keep down weeds, they mulched the plants with straw. So far it has been a great help, but weeds still have to be removed. The Mt. Vernon raised-bed garden has been very productive so far this year due mostly to the heavy rains. Our first tomato ripened on June 26th, our earliest ever, and the 120 plants we have out this year will assure we have plenty to eat and give away to friends and neighbors.

The Rockcastle River Demonstration Center

Nature Center Improvements - Thanks to a generous grant from the Chicago Jesuit province, we will soon begin improvements on the nature center exhibits. A part-time nature center coordinator will be chosen some time in July to research and implement these improvements. When the improvements are in place, we will create a promotional video for the nature center which will be used to inform schools and other groups of the facilities and programming available at the center and encourage them to visit us. Funding for the video was provided by a generous gift from the Jonquil Fund.

The 2003 ASPI Simple Lifestyle Calendar - Good News/Bad News

The good news is that Mark Spencer has outdone himself once again and created the best calendar ever. The theme for 2003 is Mountains and Valleys, and focuses on the variety of landscapes from which the people of Appalachia create their homes, livelihoods and inspiration. Warren Brunner's photography is more subtle and evocative than ever before, and Mark's daily doses of wisdom and inspiration are almost sure to spur you to full enlightenment before year's end. We just hope enlightened people still need calendars!?
The bad news is that the price of the calendars has remained unchanged for at least 12 years, and revisiting the costs has made us realize that we need to raise our selling prices. The calendar is our primary fundraising item, and our research indicates that there is not a single environmental organization in the country selling a custom-designed calendar for even close to what we sell ours for. We also discovered that, with the new postage rates, we would be losing anywhere from $1 to $5 every time Martha mailed out a calendar order.

We realize that it was our inattention that put us in this position so we will implement the following plan to remedy the situation while trying to be as sensitive as possible to our loyal calendar buyers.
1) We will raise the calendar price a little each year for the next two or three years to lessen the impact on our supporters. 2) We will raise our postage and handling to cover about half of the shortfall this year and then monitor closely and adjust accordingly over the next couple of years. 3) If the price increase truly creates a hardship for anyone, we will be happy to make exceptions in individual cases. Thanks for your understanding and we hope you enjoy the 2003 ASPI Simple Lifestyle Calendar.

Al Takes Sabbatical -- New Director Settles In

For any of you that don't know already, Al Fritsch, co-founder and director of ASPI for 25 years, has begun his sabbatical and turned over the day-to-day management of ASPI to new director Ben Perry. Al will be finishing up some writing projects, consulting with ASPI on several active projects, and doing some lobbying on the ginseng issue, but will be spending most of the next year in North Carolina.

Al writes:

Friends,

My sabbatical is about to begin. I am asked to "rest for 12 months", and thus will spend the summer portion at Long Branch in the beautiful mountains 15 miles northeast of Asheville, NC. I will be staying at the "pond cabin", writing, sorting through the rest of my notes, and helping Paul and Pat Gallimore with gardening, and their hermitage-building program. By the way, they will need water-loving workers to help harvest a ton of their rainbow trout in mid-summer. Y'all come. There's plenty of space.

My address is at ASPI (I'll check in twice a week), no e-mail please.

Al Fritsch, SJ

From the new director:

Dear Friends of ASPI,

I began full time on June 3rd and I'm currently commuting twice a week from Lexington. I'm staying in the office three nights a week which reduces my commuting time and allows me to spend extra time planning and organizing in the critical, early stages of my tenure. My family (wife, boys 5, 7, and 10, stepson 18) is still in Lexington and we are researching ways to green-remodel our house in order to sell. We hope to move to the Mount Vernon area by next spring at the latest.
I am 44 years old, have undergraduate degrees in Psychology and Anthropology, and just completed coursework for a combined Master's degree in Environmental Systems and Geography at the University of Kentucky. I was in the construction business until 1985, owned a concession equipment and supply company from 1985 to 1998, and have dabbled in real estate and property management on the side, but my passion has always been appropriate technology and environmental issues. I finally gave in to this passion in 1998, and began taking part-time graduate courses in the Environmental Systems program while working for the company I sold my business to.

The following year I had a conversation with Al about his plans to give up the day-to-day management of ASPI, and when he and the board got serious last year about finding a replacement, I interviewed with them and was offered the position. I was hired primarily as an administrator with a generalist's knowledge of appropriate technology and environmental issues and I plan to spend the majority of my time grantwriting and fundraising, promoting ASPI, and managing the various specialists and employees that work on our projects. I will spend the balance of my time researching, writing, and working on projects that have a particular personal appeal to me. I am excited about the opportunity to carry on the work of such a unique, innovative and well-respected organization. We have a capable and experienced staff, and I am continually humbled by the generosity of our many supporters.

While I am still in the process of looking at a long-term vision for ASPI, a few ideas came to me immediately. First, there are too many people in the region that are not even aware of the existence of ASPI, much less the great work we have been doing for the past quarter of a century. I plan to take every opportunity to promote our work to local and regional audiences. Second, I plan to put more of a focus on outreach and application of appropriate technologies in our region. I think it is essential to find ways to make the ideas and applications of the appropriate technology/environmental movements desirable and economically viable for lower income people, and I plan to give this a great deal of attention over the next several years. Third, I plan to use my business experience to explore and implement ways to increase ASPI's financial self-sufficiency. This will allow us to spend more time on our project work and less time writing grants and fundraising.

I plan to keep the newsletter format basically the same for now, but I plan to use it a little more as a dialogue between ASPI and our readers, in order to take greater advantage of the combined contacts and expertise of our readers as I gain experience in the non-profit world. I encourage all of our readers to call, write, and e-mail with any ideas they may have regarding projects and ideas that are discussed in the newsletter. I also plan to use the newsletter to pass on contributions from other writers that shed light on issues related to our work.

Thank you so much for your continued interest and support, and you can rest assured that I will do all in my power to justify your confidence in ASPI.

Ben B. Perry
Executive Director
ASPI

ASPI 25th Anniversary & Rockcastle River Day

Our 25th Anniversary & Rockcastle River Day Celebration was a big success. The weather was beautiful and the river was in fine form. Most of the people we talked to said it was the largest River Day turnout they could remember and the largest canoe flotilla since at least the 20th anniversary. Mark Spencer’s 1:30p.m. solar house tour was the largest he had ever led.
The day turned out to be a fitting tribute to Jerry Waddle, the recently deceased champion of the Rockcastle River, to whom the day was dedicated. Jerry was undoubtedly watching the events with a big smile on his face, encouraged that so many would gather to honor him and the river he loved so dearly and fought so hard to protect. ASPI board member Paul Winther's impromptu acknowledgement of Al Fritsch's 25+ years of service to Appalachia through ASPI, was touching and well deserved.

Other highlights of the day included some picking by Dan Bond & Jason Strange which served as a warm up for several long sets of mountain music performed by Moses and Evelyn Hamblin and others that joined in as the afternoon wore on. In addition to canoeing, the river provided an opportunity to jump in and cool off, not to mention plenty of river mud for a good mud fight at one point in the afternoon.

Exhibitors invited to display their materials included:

Syl Yunker (Ginseng),
Mary Davis (Old-Growth Forests),
Bob Fairchild (various appropriate technology devices),
Paul Gallimore (Long Branch Environmental Education Center),
David Kennedy (Leaf for Life), and the
Kentucky Waterways Alliance (KWA).

We appreciate those that gave a little extra in May to help offset costs as well as the many generous folk that filled the donation jar during River Day. We must also acknowledge the extra time and effort put in by the staff and volunteers leading up to the event. A special thanks goes to the Kentucky Waterways Alliance for their generous donation, and KWA member Ken Cooke who organized the canoe float for many of the attendees. Thanks again to all those that contributed in some way to a successful 25th anniversary celebration and Rockcastle River Day!

(3-18-02 to 7-3-02) Martin Albert, Mary Ann Lambert, Joe Cayen, Steele Hinton, David Schmenk, Dominique Brown, Anne Woodard,
Glenna Altizer, Jeffrey Waters, Mark Heffernan, Liz Batson, Nancy Ross, Pat Bing,
Carolyn Vadala, Lou Ann Rank, Therese Hildebrand, Douglas Pifer, John Capillo/KEF,
Carol Ann Morrow, Tim Ferrell, Buddy Williams, Franciscan JPIC Office/Fr. Henry
Beck,OFM., Terry & Mona Tapp, Ian Rudick, Marian P. Lowry, Chad & Carolyn Jackson,
Bill Simpson, John Rausch/Home Missioners of America, Inc., Warren & Pat Brunner,
Dr & Mrs. A.E.T. Thomsen, Jill Shade, Richard Mercy,S.J., The Church of the Epiphany Ten Percent Committee, Beth Grendahl, Joan Scanlon,O.P./Dominican Sisters, East Bernstadt 4-H Group, Phillip & June Allen, Paul OBrien, John Hovekamp, Russ Tucker, Lou Niznik & Jan Blewett, Edward & Christina Fritsch, Ralph Kincad/Appalachia Rehab Associates Inc., Sr. Agnita M. Hill, Howard C. (Tony) Martin, Marikay Boles, Patricia Watlington, and the anonymous donors.