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DECEMBER 20, 2000
SPECIAL "YEAR IN REVIEW" issue:
    1 - Keeping An Eye On Things
    2 - Variety is the Spice of Life
    3 - Message Sent
    4 - Vermont Rocks
    5 - Recount Needed

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Welcome to our special "Year In Review" edition. The following highlights some of 2000’s significant events, issues, and environmental accomplishments.  Thanks for your support!

1 – Keeping An Eye on Things
For the third straight year the MASSPIRG Education Fund won an AmeriCorps grant for the "Community Water Watch" program.  The program, which seeks to clean up and improve the quality of local waterways, supplements community-based efforts in five areas of Massachusetts: Boston, Lowell, New Bedford, Springfield, and Lowell.  A prime component of the Water Watch project is environmental education, where kids and adults can learn how to locate possible sources of pollution and to test the water for contaminants.  This year alone, Water Watch volunteers organized 61 cleanups and removed 170 tons of trash from local rivers.  To learn more about this program, as well as other MASSPIRG initiatives, visit www.pirg.org/masspirg or contact MASSPIRG at (617) 292-4800.

2 - Variety is the Spice of Life
The Connecticut River Watershed Council juggled a variety of projects this past year.  They helped kick off an initiative to restore free flowing water to the Connecticut River from Vermont rivers that feed into the Connecticut.  Staff members evaluated dams in Vermont that currently prevent the free flow of water into the Connecticut and considered whether dams could be removed or should be preserved based on historical importance.  Another CRWC focus this year was cell phones and the towers that transmit their signals.  The Council held workshops in New Hampshire and Vermont this fall to consider placement and design of cell towers.  In addition, CRWC put together a handbook on cell tower regulations to help communities understand their rights in setting tower standards.  For more information on these projects, contact CRWC at (413) 529-9500.

3 – Message Sent
MassRecycle focused on its "buy recycled" message this year at two big events.  The Fourth Annual Massachusetts Recycles Day lasted more than a month with over 100 communities involved in putting together recycling events for more than 200,000 participants.  This year's celebration, which is part of the America Recycles Day national campaign, focused on the theme: "For Our Children's Future, Buy Recycled Today!"  In addition to this statewide event, MassRecycle was also a critical partner in the Buy Recycled Emporium this summer in Vermont along with Federation member Northeast Resource Recovery Association.  The Emporium highlighted a host of products made out of recycled rather than virgin materials.  Look for the Emporium again in June 2001 in Hyannis, MA.  For more information contact MassRecycle at (617) 338-0244.

4 – Vermont Rocks
This was a good year to live in Vermont.  While residents increasingly considered how development pressures are changing the landscape, two Federation members, The Vermont Land Trust and The Nature Conservancy of Vermont, protected land for people (to borrow a phrase).  VLT protected over 18,000 acres of land this year, thanks in part to the third-largest land conservation project in Vermont's history.  Areas around the Deerfield River, North Montpelier Road in Calais, and along the Appalachian Trail in Killington are just some of many places conserved for future generations.  TNC expanded to more than 245 acres its Otter Creek Swamps Natural Area and enlarged the North Pawlett Hill preserve which is home to several peregrine falcons.  As part of its 40th anniversary celebration, TNC launched the Hub Vogelmann Science Fellowship.  The fellowship is open to Vermont graduate students doing research on natural history or conservation science.  For more information on what VLT has accomplished this year, visit www.vlt.org.  For more information on TNC's activities in Vermont, and in other New England states as well, visit www.tnc.org.

5 - Recount Needed
Over the past year, over five thousand organizations worked to pass the federal Conservation and Reinvestment Act (CARA), which would provide $45 million for parks, open space, historic preservation, wildlife, and coastal conservation.  While the bill did pass the House of Representatives in May and had the support of more than 60 Senators, targeted opposition and a lack of time kept the bill from final passage.  However, under the pressure to pass CARA, Congress did dedicate a new conservation funding package worth $12 billion over five years.  Some local beneficiaries of new state and local grant money this year include the West Banch of the Penobscott River in Maine, the Ossippee Mountains in New Hampshire, Taconic Ridge in the Massachusetts' Berkshires, the Great Mountain Forest in Connecticut, Long and Ell Ponds in Rhode Island, and the Nulhegan Watershed in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom.  For more information, call the Appalachian Mountain Club at (617) 523-0655 or the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests at (603) 224-9945.

There Is Still Time Before the Holiday
If you still have not sent out those holiday cards, why not chose the easy environmental way…Season's e-Greetings. They are free, fun, and good for the environment. Just go to www.GreenForNewEngland.org to send your card today!

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