Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, September 4, 1995 TAG: 9509060013
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: HOLIDAY
SOURCE: CATHRYN MCCUE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The expansion will house classrooms, laboratory space for student and faculty research, a greenhouse and a geographic information systems lab for computerized mapping of natural and cultural resources.
College spokesman Tom Rickard said the environmental science program, the first of its kind in the state when it was established in 1970, has ballooned from 23 students in 1990 to 107 students this year.
The expansion also will house a lab dedicated to a water quality monitoring project at Smith Mountain Lake - a nine-year joint effort of the college and the Smith Mountain Lake Association.
Volunteers take samples from around the lake every summer. Under the auspices of biology professor Carolyn Thomas and chemistry professor David Johnson, the samples are analyzed for nutrients, algae and other environmental indicators. The results paint a picture over time of water quality in the lake, which has seen tremendous residential growth in the last several years.
A recent increase in the lake's algae content prompted the program's volunteers this year to also take samples from tributaries flowing into the lake at 19 sites to try to find the source of pollutants.
Students lobby for local recycler
Backed by a group of environmentally minded Virginia Tech students, a local business beat out an international corporation earlier this year in a bid to pick up the pop cans, bottles and other recyclables around the campus.
Bob's Refuse of Christiansburg won the three-year contract over Waste Management Inc., said Tech recycling coordinator Larry Bechtel. The contract pays between $30,000 and $40,000 a year, he said.
"They lobbied the university to divorce itself from WMI and pick a local contractor," Bechtel said.
The students questioned WMI's global environmental record, said Earl Blanchard, a 20-year-old environmental sciences major who heads the campus-based T.R.E.E., or Taking Responsibility for Earth and the Environment.
"Initially we just wanted to get the information out," Blanchard said. The students put up fliers, sent letters to Tech officials, and worked with Bechtel to allow Bob's Refuse to bid on the contract.
Blanchard said that in the past, the recycling bins on campus sometimes stayed full for two or three days because WMI's local agent was located in Salem and couldn't empty them often enough. He feels Bob's will provide better and more prompt service.
"Plus, you're supporting a local guy rather than a multi-national corporation, so the money is going back into the community," he said.
Blanchard said T.R.E.E., an activist group with about 13 active members, will focus next on the flap over Tech's coal-fired boilers and the university's proposed new boiler.
Broken wing? injured paw?
For several years now, Dorothy Runion has mended legs, cleaned feathers, fixed beaks and performed various other medical miracles on wildlife - all in the basement of her Roanoke County home.
Runion works as a veternarian technician by day, and in her off hours tends to the dozens of possums, squirrels, raccoons, the occasional deer, hawks and a host of other bird species that come through the Roanoke Wildlife Rescue doors every month. With help from several volunteers, Runion rehabilitates injured and orphaned animals for release in the wild.
If you find a wild animal, approach with caution, use heavy gloves or a blanket before handling the animal, keep the animal quiet and warm and minimize its contact with humans. Observe unattended young carefully to determine if they are truly orphaned. Mothers sometimes leave their young temporarily while feeding.
Call Roanoke Wildlife Rescue (540) 989-3798. The clinic is open Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Friday through Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
(Donations of money, food, cages and many other items are welcome.)
by CNB