Environment

Bill Konstant serves as Program Officer for the International Rhino Foundation, traveling the world to build collaborative programs that help bring an end to poaching. As part of the Cincinnati Zoo Barrows Lecture series, Mr. Konstant will present “The World’s Rarest Rhinos” Wednesday evening April 23, providing a look at the last three decades of wildlife conservation, as well as a glimpse into what the future looks like for the world's five rhino species. Earlier, the Zoo’s Thane Maynard had a chance to talk with Bill Konstant about the world’s rhino population.

University of Wisconsin Professor of Anthropology Dr. Karen Strier is the opening speaker for this year’s Barrows Conservation Lecture Series. in her April 9 presentation, “Primate Conservation in the 21st Century: Insights from the Muriqui Monkeys of Brazil,” Dr. Strier will trace the behavioral, ecological, and demographic changes over her 30-year study of a growing population of one of the world’s most critically endangered primates. She spoke with the Cincinnati Zoo’s Thane Maynard about her findings, and what they mean for our rapidly changing world.

  It has been a long, long winter, and many of us can’t wait to get out and get our yards and gardens in shape. Campbell County Horticultural Extension Agent David Koester and Peter Huttinger, neighborhood garden coordinator with the Civic Garden Center of Greater Cincinnati, share tips and advice on what to do now to give your yard and garden a solid start for the growing season.

Over the last half a billion years, there have been five mass extinctions,  when the diversity of life on earth suddenly and dramatically contracted. Scientists around the world are currently monitoring a predicted sixth extinction, which this time around, will be  caused by us. In her book, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, author Elizabeth Kolbert describes traveling the world to document the mass extinction of species that seems to be unfolding before our eyes. She recently talked with Cincinnati Zoo’s Thane Maynard about her book, and what she’s discovered.

Tuesday morning will mark the first time companies discharging into the Ohio River Basin can buy interstate water quality credits to help farmers upstream control their pollution.

The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) is facilitating the trading. It says water quality trading is an "innovative market-based approach to achieving water quality goals for nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen."

Here's the thinking

  Where would we be without the honeybee? Our tea wouldn’t taste as sweet, sure, but honeybees also account for 80% of all insect pollination, so we’d have a lot  fewer fruits and vegetables to eat. Liz Tilton owner of TwoHoneys Bee Company, South Western Ohio Beekeepers Association (SWOBA) President Ray Babcock, and Beekeeper Sandra Murphy join us to explore the world of Honeybees.

  Our region is home to a wide range of interesting birds, and a migratory route for many others. And winter is the perfect time to view and enjoy them, either out in the woods or in your own backyard. But can you tell a Tufted Titmouse from a Black Junco or White-breasted Nuthatch?

Taking Root

Coming up this Thursday, a celebration of great plants for landscapes and gardens at the

Enforcement of new mercury standards for industrial and wastewater treatment plants along the Ohio River may be delayed and that has environmental groups concerned.

Documents show there are dozens of companies and municipalities with mercury monitoring requirements that dump into the Ohio River.

Mercury levels based on Great Lakes

Charlotte Adelman, co-author of The Midwestern Native Garden: Native Alternatives to Nonnative Flowers and Plants talks with Mark Perzel about the importance of the plants in your own backyard and how they play a role in a much larger ecosystem.

In a follow-up to our recent interview about the discovery of, and research into, elephant herpes, Lauren Howard, staff veterinarian at the Houston Zoo, joins Thane Maynard on this week’s Field Notes with more details of the devastating discovery that this disease killed on of the Zoo’s elephants and the critical research now taking place to assure it doesn’t happen again.

Former Cincinnatian Penny Jarrett joins Thane Maynard on this week’s Field Notes to talk about her current work for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and their efforts to protect the shorebirds that live and breed in the Little Estero Island Critical Wildlife Area near Fort Myers.