LIVEThis American Land - Meeting A Growing Fire Challenge; Ghost Gear; Healthy Farms ,Cleaner Water; Birth of Upper Mississippi River Refuge
Meeting a Growing Fire Challenge - In Colorado, residents are learning the more they invest in protecting their water sources, the safer their communities will be in meeting increased wildfire threats. They are creating more wetland resilience, and working with local water utilities and power companies to protect this crucial resource. This is especially critical work since funding cutbacks in the U.S. Forest Service, and in state funding has many westerners alarmed that the firefighters they need may not be available during dangerous wildfire season. Ghost Gear - Dedicated volunteers on Hart Island in Maine are trying to protect seabirds from deadly abandoned fishing gear. Hundreds of thousands of metal traps are scattered all over the planet. They don't degrade naturally like former traps made of wood. We meet some of the ocean protectors cleaning up, as part of the Center for Coastal Studies. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is among those working for tougher regulations internationally to clean this up. Veteran science correspondent Miles O'Brien of the PBS Newshour introduces us to those working to get rid of these death traps. Healthy Farms ,Cleaner Water - Farms are living systems. Farmers say, do a lot of things right, and production takes care of itself. One Iowa farmer uses rotational grazing, just like bison herds did on their own hundreds of years ago. "Ecological solutions" pay off environmentally and economically. Going above and beyond that, he conducts farming that enhances wildlife. With millions of acres across the U.S., even a little fertilizer and lost topsoil makes a difference in protecting clean waters downstream. Birth of Upper Mississippi River Refuge - What do an out of work liquor salesman and hundreds of motivated suffragettes have in common? They teamed up in the 1920s to create the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge. This 260 mile long sanctuary stretches through Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Illinois. During prohibition, the federal government was about to drain fishing areas on the Mississippi and turn it into farmland. Instead, the newly created "Izaak Walton League" flooded lawmakers with letters saying "not so fast!" Now marking 100 years, the refuge has welcomed millions who have enjoyed these healthy waters.
Series Website: http://www.thisamericanland.org
Recent and Upcoming Airings
11.211/9 12:00 pm