Weekly News Roundup – July 20, 2012

Aislinn Maestas | Last Updated: January 8, 2016

Want to know what National Wildlife Federation was up to this week? Here is a recap of the week’s NWF news:

2012 Farm Bill Conservation Programs ‘Essential for Great Lakes Restoration’

July 17 – As the U.S. Congress deliberates the final shape of the 2012 Farm Bill—which contains the largest source of conservation funding in the federal budget—the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition is urging federal public officials to support strong conservation provisions which are essential to restore the Great Lakes.

Farm Bill conservation programs protect water quality by providing financial support to farmers to take specific actions on their farms to protect the environment, such as protecting wildlife habitat or controlling pollution. These programs are instrumental in helping prevent manure and excessive fertilizer from flowing off of farm fields and into rivers, streams and the Great Lakes, which can cause toxic algae blooms, which close beaches, kill fish and harm local businesses.

The primary agriculture and food policy tool of the federal government, the Farm Bill awards more than $500 million per year to farmers in the Great Lakes states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

And here are highlights from NWF in the News:

UPI: Michigan lawmaker wary of Enbridge plans
The Austin Chronicle: School’s Garden Bulldozed
MLive.com: Protestors create ‘human oil spill’ to remember Kalamazoo River disaster, object to Enbridge pipeline plans
Missoulian: Missoula school wins recognition for outdoors education
KRQE: Sportsmen back access bill
Radio: David Mizejewski and Dr. Amanda Staudt both wrapped up radio tours this week. David tapped the popular movie buzz to do 5 interviews on Amazing Spiders. Their stunts would make Spidey proud. Outlets included “Kid’s Place Live” on Sirius/XM satellite radio. The core audience for that channel is kid’s 6-12 so David brought the magic of real wildlife home to the conservationist of the future. He took listener calls too! Amanda connected man-made carbon pollution and global warming to this summers extreme weather on 6 stations from coast to coast. This included KMOX in St. Louis, the news powerhouse for most of the Midwest. From these efforts interviews were also book for Be Out There, wolf and polar bear conservation as well and an open invitation for David to join the fun on “Kid’s Place Live” at anytime.
TODAY video: Amazing animals that can beat the heat