A Salty Subject

More and more environmental groups are making noise about the devastating impact winter salting has on the environment which is raising awareness and forcing lawmakers to look at alternative solutions.  In Canada alone, the country applies five million tonnes (over 110 billion pounds) of salt during an average winter.  This salt contaminates ground and freshwater, degrades habitat, alters aquatic ecosystems and causes corrodes critical infrastructure such as water pipes.

The massive increase to the salt content of soil located next to roads affects roadside vegetation; often killing the vegetation and impeding its ability to grow back.  Unfortunately, many invasive plants are well-adapted to high levels of salt, leading to a greater potential for invasive species to take over and spread along roadside communities. Researchers in Massachusetts found that road salt use directly aided the spread of invasive phragmites along the Kampoosa Bog in Stockbridge. 

Many wild animals such as moose, deer, cattle, woodchucks, squirrels and mountain goats require essential elements such as sodium in the springtime for bone, muscle and other growth.  Salt deposits exacerbate roadside collisions as the wild salt-seekers are drawn from miles away to lick the mass salt deposits left near highways and roads during the spring.

People living in snowy climates are well away of the devastating effects salt has on their vehicles, perhaps not on what can occur within their own bodies.  Excess salt can contaminate ground and freshwater; water that we drink and use to prepare food.  Not all the salt can be filtered out of the water and can pose health risks to those who require sodium-reduced diets or those with hypertension.

High levels of chloride in water can corrode plumbing and leach harmful metals into drinking water, posing health risks, particularly for people using well water. Corroded water pipes lead to breaks which can cause disruption in service and even flooding.  Not to mention that the elevated chloride levels can also corrode appliances using water such as dishwashers and washing machines.

Sustainable alternatives are being implemented in both Canada and the United States.  Many Canadian municipalities are using a more environmentally friendly de-icing agents such as a mixture of beet juice and salt.  Beet juice works in the same was as road salt, but the beet juice stays on the road longer, so it is not only effective, but requires fewer applications.  In Wisconsin, cheese brine; an industrial byproduct from the dairy industry that is normally dumped as waste, is being combined with salt to create a unique deicer.

More and more people are experimenting with sustainable salt solutions and hopefully in the near future less salt will be used.

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Are Lake Tahoe’s Aquatic Invasive Species Edible?

Aquatic invasive species pose a significant threat to Lake Tahoe. The establishment of non-native species impacts the lake's clarity and can result in the loss of important habitat for native species.

While agencies like the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency and the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center are working to monitor, study and eradicate invasive species, some might wonder, "what can I do?" Well, for starters, you can eat them — or at least some of them.

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Crayfish Boil

Ingredients

•     2 quarts water
•     1 medium white onion, peeled and quartered
•     1 lemon, quartered
•     1 bay leaf
•     2 large garlic cloves, peeled and halved
•     1 tablespoon kosher salt
•     3 pounds fresh live crayfish 

Full Recipe

Fried Bluegill Fillets Recipe

Ingredients

•     1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
•     1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
•     1/2 teaspoon salt
•     1/2 teaspoon lemon-pepper seasoning
•     1/4 teaspoon pepper
•     6 eggs
•     1-1/2 pounds bluegill or crappie fillets
•     1/2 cup canola oil, divided

Full Recipe

Invasive North American Rainbow Trout

Lake Titicaca is South America's largest lake by volume, holding 198 cubic miles of freshwater — more water than Lake Erie, but just a fraction of Lake Michigan.

The lake rests on the border of Peru and Bolivia in the Andes Mountains, and although the region is considered the tropics, Titicaca's cold water sends a chill through the body upon touch.

The islands in Lake Titicaca may be mistaken for natural ones, but rather are woven of totora reeds. The rafts are littered with houses for the Aymara who live on the water and rely upon the lake's fish to survive. But all of the karachi in the lake are considered threatened.

 

Explorers considered the lake unproductive since all of the fish species were small.  In 1935 Peruvian and Bolivian officials met and decided that they should consider introducing supplemental fish to the lake they share. They felt the karachi were not a sufficient food source to sustain the local population.

The United States was summoned to conduct a study of Titicaca, and M.C. James, the assistant chief of fish culture for the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries, was assigned the task.

The first round of transplants — lake trout fingerlings — arrived at the lake from North America in 1938. Compared with the tiny karachi, trout were a substantial source of protein swimming through the lake's waters.

In Lake Titicaca, the trout explosion transformed local fishing practices. Rainbow trout have been the most successful of all North American trout introduced to Lake Titicaca. They are now caught by hook, farmed, sold in local markets and served in restaurants.  However, many are worried that that the traditional fishing culture will disappear as the trout decimate the karachi numbers.

  

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