Northwest Arkansas Times from Fayetteville, Arkansas • Page 6

NwftiWMl Japt. 15, T975 ARKANSAS ECO-LOGtJE By PEGGY FRIZZELL TIMES Staff Writer The headline read "Ozark Society Plans Annual Cleanup Float" and in all innocence, that's a I thought it would be. But Monday morning, the day after that alleged float along 11'A miles of river between Maumee and Buffalo Point, I was ready to sue somebody on charges of misrepresentation. Because, let me tell you, there wasn't any floating to it. The entire day was spent churning water to make the boat go forward.

Er, eanoe, that is. It all came about two weeks ago when Joel Freund, owner of The Bow and Stern (a canoe and kayak shop) dropped off a news release on the upcoming float scheduled for the weekend of Sept. 6 and 7. He said he'd be going down for the second leg of the float on Sunday and offered me the seat in the bow. Having floated down rivers a few times before and then only for two or three miles when the water level was up and the current fairly swift, I thought, "Gee, what a nice It certainly was.

But I'm not through complaining yet, and neither are the muscles in my back--especially those between the shoulder blades. When I.woke up last Monday the only part of my body that wasn't aching were my kneecaps. They were sunburned. The Buffalo River. So many people who have floated it, hiked along it, and camped at its edges have proclaimed its beauty.

And even when my arms felt like they would break off at any minute, I was awed by the tall, smooth rock bluffs, the crystal-clear water, and the tree-studded embankments. Looking over the side of the canoe--and paddling all the while, mind silky green algae clung to the rocks in such a way as to resemble the hills and valleys of the Ozarks when viewed from an airplane. With each stroke of the paddle, tiny and large fish alike darted away. I watched, amazed at being able to view this underwater environment so often hidden in murky waters. I was transfixed with the idea of being able to glide through the waters as sleekly as those fish did.

While underwater the fish swam gracefully above water I was thrashing trying to remember everything Joel kept saying about how to stretch forward to pull the water back while using my left hand as a level to turn the paddle's blade and feather it (one of the many canoeing words added to my vocabulary that day) back to where I could start the whole process over. Meanwhile, my right hand was supposed to be loXver on the paddle's handle as well as willing to twist to accommodate the feathering motion. My body was supposed to bend forward with each stroke and then remember to right itself again before the next stroke. (This last was advice from Joel who said if I stayed bent forward the whole day, my back would be extremely sore the next day. I have a few questions for Joel the next time I see him with reference to sore backs and the like.) All that was for just one stroke.

And when my body: tired of paddling Just on the right side of the bo'at and I switched sides, I had to learn the process all over again. Joel also tried to show me the draw and scoop strokes so that, as bowsman make that bowswoman I could steer the ship around any craggy boulders designed to tear apart the canoe if hit headon. But although I halfway mastered the strokes (I knew how I was supposed, to move the paddle even if my body didn't respond similarly) I never figured out which would make the boat go to the right or to the left in time to get out of the way of the rock ahead. So I devised my own system and when I saw a log rearing its head a few yards further down the river I simply said "UH-OH!" I'll have to admit it. That JoePs smart.

It didn't take him long to catch onto my system at all. The Ozark Society has been holding this float along the same stretch of river each summer for nine years now. This year, the 60 to 70 canoeists who showed up generally agreed that the litter problem along the national river had improved. That was somewhat proven in that the winners of the first prize canoe--Mike Moriarty and George McAllister of Little Rock--had a total of 29 points while last year's winners had been able to accumulate 39. Mike and George barely edged out the Fayetteville team of Steve Wilcox and John McCann who in enough trash to equal 28Vz points.

Among the many points brought in by all those participating were a refrigerator (valued by judges at three points and these points were split among three teams) and a huge piece of scrap iron (valued at one third point) that belonged to a bulldozer which went over the edge of the cliff a while back. Several tires were lugged in also, as were dozens of burlap bags filled with paper, cans, bottles and other assorted junk including the trash from the canoeists' lunch break. A camaraderie among the canoeists was present despite the gentle squabbling about who saw that beer can first. Our find of the day was an empty quart-isezd Coke bottle. (We may not have won any prizes but that bottle brought in a dime.) Some of canoes had a system Worked out one person dove for underwater treasures while the other paddled or with one person paddling while the other scoured the river banks.

There are hazards to this system such as when one man lost his female partner. But he didn't worry too much about it since he had the food and figured she'd find him when she got hungry. She did. For a while Joel was doing the underwater scavenging for our canoe. But as the afternoon sun continued to beat down, unchecked by any clouds in the clear blue sky, I insisted that I do my share of the dirty work and joyously jumped into the water after three rusty cans half-buried in the river mud.

And I didn't even overturn the canoe in doing The bond of fellowship strengthened considerably as we commiserated with each other about how we were ever going to last for three more miles. And the tireder we got, the weirder the jokes. As we passed under the Highway 14 bridge, we discussed the possibility of getting one of the semi-trucks off the bridge and down into the river so we could tow it in for points (Yeah, looking back the jokes were even sicker than I remembered.) But eventually everyone arrived at Buffalo Point (the former Buffalo River State Park) where the National Park Service rangers were waiting to haul away the trash and: the prizes were ready to be claimed Besides the first and second place teams, other winning teams included Dwayne Bell and Steve Cheyne both of Fayetteville; Bob Fisher and Ralph Roseburg' both of Conway; Greg Weedham and Dale Doty both of Fayetteville; Joe White and Larry Coleman both of Little Rock; Carol Spears and Kim Bowman boih of Vaccinations For Plants May Ward Off Disease EDITOR'S NOTE: The following, article on plant research was prepared by Ilie Public Office of Ui.e... National Science Fouutlaliori, Two meet whit walking along a dusty roat One of peers up at th sky and asks. "DD you thin it will rain?" not," his frieiv replies.

"The doctor is supposoi to come over and vaccinate corn crop. 1 That little' scene is not as fai fetched as it sounds. Groups botanical researchers are hare at work studying the cliseasi mechanisms of plants in lh. hope of someday soon deve loping techniques or inimunizin. crops to disease.

The researchers do not like Ip label the process "immuniza lion" because the effect on plants fron what we call immunization ir man and animals. the principle is the same to induce a plant to create its own defenses against a possibl disease invasion. A A LOSS In lly: U.S. alone fttrmers are estimated to lose 15 per cen; of; their" annual, crops to plan pests'. A world threatened by i i food shortages cannot tolerate such losses.

And the problem may getting worse, according to Di Peter Albersheim of tin. University, of Colorado. He co makes crops more snse.eptible to devastating plagues. "Plants are resistant or susceptible to due'lb their genetic makeup," he explains "In the a population we have a great variety of different people, some of whom will be susceptible and others resistant to any particular disease. Bui we have deliberately bred pi-ants to be as uniform as possible, so if a virus or bacterium or comes and infects: oij.e of those plants, you call, be -that the entire field, is going to be susceptible, ani that much of the field will be infected." Such a disaster in the U.

S. in 1070. A hybrid strain or corn wilh "Texas male- sterile cytoplasm" became very popular for the ease; which it could be late, the farmers learned that variety was particularly susceptible to the fungus that causes 'Southern leaf blight. The epidemic caused the loss of about $1 billion worth of livestock feed the largest known loss to a planl'discase in one s.cason. NO WHITE CELLS Albersheim is' studying the chemical reactions that occur when a plant is invaded by a disease-causing microorganism.

"Animals have while blood cells; that eat up foreign cells." he! says. "In, plants we don't have! (hat. We have chemicals thai are poisonous to the foreign cells and stop their growth. But these poisons are synthesized only if the plant knows the pathogen is there. And we want to know how the plant that the pathogen is coming before it gets there." Tlie chemicals produced by the plant to kill the invader are know as phytoalexins.

Resistant plants, invaded by harmful pathogens, appear to sacrifice a few of their cells to the pathogen. This appears to give time to the neighboring produce enough cells phy- toalexins to kill the invader. In a susceptibly ptant the first cells iiivaded do not die immediately. The pathogen multiplies quickly and spreads throughout the plan before it can respond by producing enough phytoalexins. What is it that causes the resistant plant to sacrifice a few cells, but ultimately survive? Albersheim theorizes that some substance within the invading pathogen signals its prepuce to the resistant plant.

If these substances coulcl be identified and produced chemically, they could perhaps be applied to plants. Hopefully, the susceptible plants could then 3egin producing phytoalexins early enough to resist a sub- RABBIT SERUM Perhaps the most unusua ievelopmenl in the field too recently at a sugarcan Plantation in the foothills of th Rocky Mountains. In his laboratory at State University at Bozeman Dr. Gary Strobel extracted protein from sugarcane sus ceptible lo eyespot disease an injected into rabbits. He later drew blood serur Irom the animals end treated sugar plants with it.

To hi amazement, the plants becam immune to the disease lh first lime disease immunity hai been shown to be passed from an animal to a plant It to go not feasible, however wound injecting rabbi sequent invasion. HEAT-KILLED Luis Sequeira glnviin of the Wisconsin have such BACTERIA and Arthur University or induced just a reaction in tobacco slants by lifting Ihem wilh leal-killed bacteria. They liscovered that the treatment caused the plants lo become 'esistanl, not to any one but lo a wide variety of diseases caused by bacteria, "ungi. and virus. The response is multi-faceted.

nariaged and to Kelman one have indc- inile substance from Hie intercellular fluid of the tobacco plant. substance seems to make the plant resistant lo bac- erial infeclion but is not for the immunity to a virus or fungus. The treatment with heat- milled bacteria is not applicable anti-bodies into every suga plant. But there are more prac tical weapons emerging. Strobel, working wilh Dr Gary Steincr of the Hawaiiar Sugar Planters' Association has, also managed to identifi extract from the fungu" that causes eyespot disease ii sugarcane the chemical poison causing activity (The fungus i closely related to the one tha causes Southern leaf blight in Stroebcl notes that for ycari plant researchers have been capitalizing on the natu'ra resistance that some plants have for certain diseases.

A experimental farms botanists pxpose new strains of plants i a Those that then bred for crs. But, "The plant causing organism resist disease are is at the mercy breeder of the elements," Strobel explains "If we could simplify the job so thai laboralory, could be done in the could make massive basis. Bacleria composed of rather large nolecules too large to spray mto a field. Scqueiivi and Kel- uan have thus begun to look nstdc the bacteria in an al- empt to find a smaller cheini- al component "that might be much faster progress. P1 n( and patholog isls in Hawaii are already using Strpbel's and Steiner's toxin in their laboratories to acquire new clones of disease-resistant sugar cane.

By exposing the test plants to small amounts of Ul toxin they can determine whether (he plant are naturally resistant or susceptible to the fungus. The quite scientists are still comfortable wilh esponsible esistance. for triggering the They have managed to isolate ne type of protein from the that seems to have the ace "immunizing" effect, and re currently searching for an ven smaller component. In addition, Sequeir'a and Kel- In addition, Sequqeira and Kelman are transferring their search from tobacco to other ants. They believe the proce- ure can be effective for toma- oes, potatoes, beans, apples, nd other crops.

notion that what they are after are "vaccines" for plants. As Albersheim noles here are important differences between animal and plant i systems. Nevertheless, he notes, At the molecular level, where something must occur to protect the phint, there will be i i Exactly how the new chemicals can best be applied to plants remains a subject study. "We must know the chemical basis for disease resistance." A i declares. "Then we can develop particular methods that will lend themselves to plants.

Today we can't even envision what those methods might be." look-A-Ligers Three "liger" cubs a rare mixed breed of lion and Hg- er are shown in Osaka Zoo Tuesday, the day after Tama, a four-year-old tigress, gave birth'to them. Two of the three cubs died within three days of birth but the surviving cub, now In an iiicuhator, Is likely lo survive KS the world's only known living "liger," according lo mo spokesman, Grand Canyon View Is Dim You had belter get a 1 clear look at one of nature's wonders, the Grand lanyon, before air uollutior drms the view. Thai's the prediction based on air quality monitoring devices ocated on the rim of the canyon! These devices show a definite increase in air particles luring the past three years This air pollution is carried on he wind from Los Angeles anc other cities hundreds of mile, away. But things are getting worse. Energy development has come the Southwest.

Within lundred-mile radius the irand Canyon, six enormous "-oat-burning power plants are being built or arc already use. One of them is just north the canyon at Lake Powell -he largest power plant in the vorld! Even if these plants can chieve federal air quality tandards, which some ob- ervers doubt, at least a small ercentage ol pollutants will a Sulfur oxides, ydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, articulates--substances a re transformed in the air into a compounds. No one really knows what, arm will befall our natural But it is almost ertain a Ihe a i a Itimately will veil the exquisite larity and muddy the subtle oloring of one of our most recious legacies. 00 YOU KNOW THIS BOOK 11 YOU SHOULD Your place in Eternity will be decided by what's written on its Enrol) now in a FREE Home Bible Study Program. Learn for yourself what the Bible teaches.

Please furnish information about tnc Free Home Bibtc Study Course. I understand there is no obligation. Cily Mai! To Bible CorrnsiHutrliico Course Old Wire Road, I'ayetleville Petition Asks World To Take Care Of Earth EDITOR'S NOTE: As a folloTV-Hp -to I li international EARTHCAKE conference held at New York "in" the National Auduhoh Society and the Sierra Cliih are circulating worldwide a petition culling nations to cease violating rights to environment proteclion. The petitions will be presenter! lo United Nations Secretary-General Kurf Wald- The full text of the petition follows. on the petition is available frnin EARTHCARE, 777 U.N.

Plaza, New York, N.Y. 10017. Fayetteville; and Jim Bell of Hot Springs with Andv Rogers of Monroe, La. All the kids there were about seven or eight youngsters were winners too as (he incoming Ozark Society president, Steve Wilson, awarded them each a dollar bill. (Having canoed only one clay, we didn't expect to win anything and so donated our trash free of charge!) After the prizes were awarded, the weary and sunbaked crowd trudged to their cars and pickups glad to get started on the journey home to a soft bed.

As I very gingerly picked up my exhausted body placed it in the car, I couldn't believe my ears as I heafd myself saying, "I can't wait til 'next year!" "Three years ago, actin upon the recommendations the United Nations Stockholn Conference on 1 the Huma i Genera Assembly declared that safi guarding Ihe. environment is prerequisite to 'the enjoymen or basic human righls eve Ihe right to lite Eac government is responsible fo securing such rights. "For Ih'e first time in Earth' history, our species has th capacity to violate the environ merit on a scale that endanger the existence of all species. Th leedless exploitation of natur and Ihe careless use of sources already threaten our in leritors with a world physicallj and spiritually impoverishes We must act now to renounc such a perilous course and conduct our affairs in harmony wilh nature. "We have little time to re shape our global eommunily The next 30 years will produc a doubling of world population and an even greater explosion of expectations.

REORDER VALUES "We shall not cope with the consequent stresses on social organization without first re- i values i recognition thai human life is part of nature. Our decisions must he grounded in ecological principles. "The biosphere comprises myriad interrelations between a a animals, land, air and water. We can modify some ecosystems, y. enhance them, but we' not abuse Ihem.

Given -'piir elementary knowledge, lye cannot press the limits and capacities of natural systems without incurring the gravest danger. We are not immune' lo' 'the of ecological breakdown resulting from irreparable acts. "Regardless of our political, economic or social organization, the lessons of natural science must guide all human affairs. Despoliation of natural environments denies science keys lo hotter understanding and enriching all life. Without environmental protection, short-term i gain impairs economic slabilily in Ihe longer span of time.

No new development should proceed until its environmental impact has been appraised. RATIONAL USE "The drive lo exploit, regardless of consequences, must yield rational use of natural resources. Human needs must bo met, excessive demands rejected. "The nations, gathered at the 1972 Stockholm Coherence on he Human Environment pro- that protection of the luman environment is the 'duty of all They also agreed that their responsibility secure natural systems from disruption is a necessary con- lilion to achieving fundamental a rights. Too seldom have commitments been honored.

"Daily, Governments violate 5iir human rights by ignoring intimacy between the natural and a environments. Such behavior threatens he security of nations, in- iividually and collectively. "After the Stockholm Con- erence we hoped that Governments would move quickly to vert harm to Nature and adopt policy of Eartheare which reates the conditions for ssuring a rights. Too 'ttle has been dono. "Members of the United Na- ons have welcomed petitions ceding lo assure fundamental ghts.

We add our own, as asic as any received before, ur right to receive protection our common global environ- lent must be honored." THERE'S GOT Two Million More Although the United Slates pulalion is' growing at less an one per cent a year, the lion will add nearly two illian people in 1975. High Birth Rate Africa's birth ratet is almost ree times higher than thai of jrth America and Europe. Its alh rale Is twice that of rlfi America. For now, folks have put up with pretty strange contraptions while trying to" keep their and families warm. But today, there's a better way electric heat.

Electricity's a versatile, man-made energy that can be generated by a variety of natural resources Including coal and nuclear. This flexibility the supply of electricity now and In the future and Insures good energy management and conservation of our natural Electric heating has come a long way. So if you're still putting up with out-dated heating contraptions. It's fault but For more information on electric heat and estimated operating costs, call SWEPCO or your heating contractor. ELECTRIC HEAT IT'S PROVING BETTER ALL THE.