VOCATION VACATIONS, THE BRAINCHILD OF BRIAN KURTH, 37, was conceived during seven years’ worth of bumper-to-bumper musings while commuting to and from Chicago. His conclusion? Think outside the cubicle. Kurth’s Portland, Oregon-based company, started last May, organizes mini-sabbaticals for people needing both a relaxing few days off and a chance to try on a new profession for size. He matches people with “occupational mentors,” experts in their fields, and lets the magic of innkeeping or urban horticulture do its trick. “A vocation vacation is a blend of reality TV meets Fantasy Island,” says Kurth.

Illustration by Zohar Lazar

For example, visit Amity Vineyards, set in the rolling hills of Oregon’s pinot noir country, where you’ll shadow the 70-acre property’s legendary vintner, Myron Redford. Learn everything from harvesting to bottling, then sample a glass of your hard work. Or train Peruvian horses with Mary Folberg and Rich Ovenburg at the Four Mountains Ranch in the hills west of Portland, and at workday’s end stay in a country bed-and-breakfast like Pheasant Valley Orchards, an organic farm in Hood River. The company’s four other options involve brewmasters, gardeners, raceway managers, and bed-and-breakfast owners, all throughout Oregon. Hook up with one of these pros and you just might get the occupational makeover you need to jump-start a second career.

DETAILS: VocationVacations trips last one to three days and include mentoring and accommodations (prices start at $300; 866-888-6329, ).

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Take a hydrogen atom, comprised of one proton and one electron. Strip the electron and run a car. That’s the basic premise behind the energy efficiency crowd’s latest craze, the fuel cell—a unit that facilitates the chemical reaction described above using compressed hydrogen gas and oxygen, and creates electricity for a car’s motor. Because fuel cells generate power chemically rather than through combustion, they produce zero emissions—a fact that’s caused some experts in the field to tout the fuel cell as a potentially sustainable alternative to fossil fuels.

Honda’s FCX, Courtesy Honda

When Chicago introduced three hydrogen-fueled city buses in September 1995, Mayor Richard Daley drank a glass of lukewarm water collected from their tailpipes as a testament to the fuel cell’s environmental cleanliness. The fuel cell itself emits no particulate matter and just trace amounts of hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxide—both major contributors to ozone-depleting smog found in higher amounts in gasoline vehicle emissions. In terms of efficiency, most passenger vehicles utilize only 15 percent of the energy available in a gallon of gasoline, while the fuel cell takes advantage of at least 40 percent of hydrogen’s energy potential.

The fuel cell’s most oft-hyped virtue is its potential to be an entirely renewable energy source. And the average fuel-cell vehicle can travel about 170 miles at 55 mph before needing more hydrogen. But its introduction to the mass market is a still long way off. First, the question of how to establish a renewable source of hydrogen—ideally from wind, solar, or geothermal generators—has yet to be answered. (Hydrogen is currently manufactured from fossil fuel, which undermines the zero-emissions goal in the cradle-to-grave fuel cycle.) Second, the technology to produce fuel cells is very expensive. The price tag for each Chicago fuel-cell bus was nine times the usual $200,000 cost of purchasing a city bus, and many hydrogen-powered passenger cars cost more than a million dollars.

But the most significant hurdle to mass-production of fuel cell vehicles may be the chicken-egg quandary of establishing fuel-station infrastructure. In order for dealers to begin selling fuel-cell cars, hydrogen filling stations would need to start rooting themselves across the nation. Otherwise, the auto industry will be forced to bank on customers willing to take a leap of faith—buying a car under the assumption that fuel stations will pop up along the highway like weeds. This is risky business in a less-than-buoyant economy.

Despite obstacles related to cost and infrastructure, however, many major car companies are currently experimenting with the fuel cell. Jim Kliesch, a research associate at the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (a non-profit that works with businesses and public interest groups to promote both economic prosperity and environmental protection) estimates that 20 or 30 years will pass before the fuel cell passenger vehicle will be common in suburban driveways. Even after leasing five fuel-cell powered FCX hatchbacks to the city of Los Angeles this year, Honda PR manager Andy Boyd agrees with Kliesch. “It’s a fuzzy crystal ball,” Boyd says. “Tomorrow, someone could hit a major technological advance.”

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“Do you want to push it?” 33-year-old Kathy NiKeefe asks from the driver’s seat of her 2001 VW Golf TDi. I lift my hand toward a button on the dash labeled “veggie switch” in cut-out letters. Once the button is pressed, the car’s engine switches from diesel to used vegetable oil stored in an extra tank in the trunk. NiKeefe, a Santa Fe, New Mexico-based political activist, spent the weekend enrolled in a class, converting her car’s engine for this purpose. It’s a process that involves rerouting fuel lines and wiring a dashboard switch, but can be done at home by anyone with some mechanical savvy, diesel engine knowledge, and tech support.

The veggie switch allows the converted diesel engine to run on straight vegetable oil.

We are cruising down New Mexico’s Old Las Vegas Highway, a frontage road that runs along I-25. I add pressure to the switch, expecting a Chitty Chitty Bang Bang moment where the car lurches, coughs, and then transforms. “Nothing happened,” I say, somewhat disappointed. “Exactly!” she says, laughing. We are still traveling at 50mph, whizzing past piñon and juniper shrubs. The only difference is that now the engine’s power source comes from a six-gallon tank filled with used fryer oil from a dumpster behind a Japanese restaurant—obtained for the bargain price of free.

Straight vegetable oil, known as SVO, can power any diesel engine. Unlike fossil fuels, SVO is renewable— made by recycling waste oil destined for stock-feed, lipstick, or a landfill. With a few modifications to diesel vehicles (namely adding a separate fuel tank and extra fuel lines), you can run a car on vegetable oil with only a five percent loss of fuel economy. Start the engine on petro-diesel or biodiesel and let it warm up for three minutes, then flip the veggie switch, and off you go.

Charles Anderson, 30, the proprietor of a small Missouri business called , educates the public on the fuel potential of vegetable oil and sells diesel engine conversion kits. Anderson describes himself by declaring what he is not: “I’m not a stark-raving tree hugger or a farming Republican with a beer belly. I’m just inherently cheap and love things that are out of the ordinary.”

Throughout 2003, Anderson conducted SVO tests in Japan, which showed that the fuel released almost no nitrous oxide or carbon dioxide emissions. This preliminary research is positive news in terms of stalling the greenhouse effect and reversing ozone-depletion. Also noteworthy: According to the EPA, running a car on vegetable oil cuts sulfur dioxide emissions, a primary cause of acid rain, by at least 50 percent.

A major incentive for making the switch to SVO is cost—the fuel is available free-of-charge from almost any local restaurant, most of which pay waste management companies to dispose of old fryer oil and are happy to have veggie-mobile owners haul it away. Anderson says Japanese restaurants are bar-none the best sources of SVO because they dispose of cooking oil regularly and their fryers are some of the cleanest in the restaurant business.

According to Anderson, there are currently over 1,000 cars fueled by veggie oil on the highways of the U.S., mostly in Central California. While this number is negligible compared with the 213 million passenger vehicles in the counrtry, it’s a good start.

Want to find out more? Check out our green fuel guide:

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HAVING CYCLED FOR A MONTH through Rome, Venice, Florence, and Tuscany—all the requisite stops on the Italian cultural tour—I’m ready to trade espresso for a Gatorade and art for adventure. Hiking the five villages of Cinque Terre crosses my mind, but I want something with more options. On a tip from a telemark skier I met in the Italian Alps, I pedal 40 miles from Genoa into one of the hippest multisport destinations east of Chamonix: Liguria’s Finale Ligure, a string of four villages on the mountainous Mediterranean coast midway between Genoa and Nice. This is where Italians ditch their handcrafted heels for sportier shoes. It’s the Italian Riviera with attitude, a Cinque Terre for trail-hungry jocks.

The towns of Finale Ligure form a belt of pink-tiled rooftops between the putty-colored beaches and the lush hillsides of the Maritime Alps. Three of the four—Finalmarina, Finalpia, and Varigotti—feel like charming mountain towns dropped onto some of the Riviera’s most pristine, beautiful beaches. Less than a mile inland is the elegant walled village of Finalborgo. Bikinis and boardsports run rampant, but unlike many other resort villages in coastal Italy, the action also goes inland—from epic mountain biking to world-class climbing. And because the Maritime Alps insulate Finale from cold weather, adrenaline addicts flock here year-round.


Finale Ligure has the local climbing community to thank for its makeover from a retro vacation spot to a sporting hub. In the late 1960s, locals started tagging the surrounding 200-foot cliffs with bolted routes, attracting climbers from all over Europe. By the 1980s, the business community had gotten wind and soon began transforming the run-of-the-mill resort into a hotbed for adventure sports, retrofitting old hotels into cycle-friendly carbo stops. The area garnered attention in the late eighties with a Blue Flag rating, the European eco-label awarded to beaches with excellent environmental management.
Sitting at a cafe in the middle of Finalborgo’s pastel piazza, I order an espresso and a slice of farinata—an oily local flatbread made from chickpea flour and rosemary—and watch an Italian anomaly unfold: grandmas on rusty single-speeds with bread-filled baskets sharing cobblestone alleyways with ‘biner-toting out-of-towners on dual-suspension mountain bikes. This is the Italy I’ve been looking for. The only question running through my mind: Which sport to try first?

Climbing

ON THE ROCKS: One of Finale Ligure’s 2,000 bolted routes

Climbing
WITHIN A 12-MILE RADIUS of Finalborgo, rock walls and outcroppings offer 36 linear miles of sport climbing. With 20 main crags, the area has 2,000 bolted routes ranging in difficulty from 5.5 to 5.14b (4 to 8c according to the French system climbers use in northern Italy). The majority of routes fall between 5.9 and 5.11, but there are also a number of beginner climbs. With only four days to play, I barely have time to scratch the surface.
At eight sharp on my first morning, a tatty VW bus pulls up to the door of Hotel Florenz, near Finalborgo. It’s inhumanely early, considering last night’s midnight pasta-and-valpolicella binge. The door slides open and I squeeze into the middle bench seat between a bag of gear and Lorenzo Cavanna, a mountaineering guide with BluMountain, Finale’s sole climbing and canyoneering outfitter. The scene reminds me of trips to Joshua Tree—the van, the gear, the token dog, climbers packed in like sardines. The notable difference is that we’re passing neolithic cave dwellings on our drive to the routes.

We arrive at a crag called Monte Sordo, a local favorite, with 79 bolted routes. The rock is pietra del Finale, a soft, whitish limestone that changes color with the position of the sun. After a 20-minute hike through an olive grove, I’m nose to nose with a fish fossil embedded in the calcareous base of Introspezione Elettrostatica (“Electrostatic Introspection”), a tricky 5.10c face climb. Because of the pores in the rock, everything looks like a hold. But most of the plentiful features prove worthless and I’m forced into a creative scramble. Dangling 100 feet above the ground, I sit back in my harness and soak up the bird’s-eye view of the Ligurian Sea. Other standout crags include Capo Noli, a seaside site east of the beach at Varigotti, where climbers can traverse a 1,300-foot horizontal route 20 feet above the sea spray. There’s also a worthwhile series of inverted strength climbs at Grotta dell’Edera, an impressive cave that’s within walking distance of Monte Sordo.
For local info, pop into Rockstore (011-39-019-6902-08, ), in Finalborgo’s piazza, where you can hook up with a guide from BluMountain () or check the message board to find climbing partners. Full-day guided excursions are $184 to $205 per person.

Biking

Biking
DITCH ANY NOTION that biking in Italy requires shaved legs. In a country where road bikers often enjoy more celebrity than movie stars, Finale is a refreshing change—fat-tire riders flood the backcountry. The area’s five bike shops carry an array of full-suspension mountain bikes, body armor, and loose-fitting, modish clothing made for playing in the dirt. And because this is Liguria, a region rife with wild herbs, crashing in the bushes is like diving into a spice rack.
From Finalborgo, a short off-road jaunt plugs serious mountain bikers into a trail system that extends for more than 300 miles. From the singletrack, bikers can enjoy views of the rugged Maritime Alps, to the north, and the colorful beach umbrellas speckling the shoreline below.
After fueling up on half a roll of Ringos (Italy’s answer to the Oreo), I ride three miles northwest of Finalpia to a trailhead at Altipiano delle Manie. A 16-mile loop provides a dramatic change of topography (seaside to alpine) in the first mile, then delivers fast singletrack through peach and lemon orchards, dense forest, alpine meadows, and palm-lined beaches.
To add dimension to the trails, Mauro Bertolotto, the president of the local bike club, commissioned Erik Burgon, the 21-year-old former prodigy of Canada’s Flow Riders freestyle team, to build Europe’s first North Shore-style bike park, on a main thoroughfare just outside Finalborgo’s wall. The grand-opening celebration, on May 11, drew freestyle devotees from all over Italy. Burgon’s obstacles include a raised wooden roller coaster 787 feet long, teeter-totters, and ladder bridges.
A mandatory pit stop between rides is the Outdoor Cafe (011-39-019-68-0564), on the piazza in Finalborgo, where you can rent full-suspension Kona bikes for about $24 a day. The cafe doubles as Italy’s headquarters of the International Mountain Bicycling Association (). ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø the cafe, you’ll find a mechanic for on-the-go tune-ups. Local bikers who gather here are more than willing to help with derailleur problems or point riders in the right direction. IMBA provides free maps of the trails around Finale. Guides are available for $16 per person per full day with a group of six or more.

Windsurfing

DEEP BLUE: Carbo unloading off the shore of Finalpia

Windsurfing
Windsurfers may be a dying breed in the United States, but the sport is alive and kicking on the Italian Riviera. Throughout the year, sailboard enthusiasts enjoy the three-mile stretch of beach between Varigotti and the village of Noli, 2.2 miles northeast, that curves into the cornflower-blue Mediterranean, creating a playground of smooth, flat water. In the summer, the steady 13-mile-per-hour breezes provide ideal conditions for beginners and experts alike (one of Italy’s best competitive windsurfers, Fabrizio Amarotto, lives here), and sea temperatures rarely drop below 60 degrees. The pace picks up in October with the arrival of Tramontana, a heavy wind from the north that can produce gusts up to 30 miles per hour, especially at sunrise and sunset. Even when this phenomenon occurs, the sea remains subdued and boards slice the waves like hot knives through butter—perfect conditions for doing tricks. The Varigotti Windsurfing School (011-39-019-69-87-60, www.bagnimariella.it), open June through September, offers seven-hour group lessons for about $125 and private lessons for $26 an hour, including rental. Beginners can rent a board and sail for $9 to $12 an hour.


ACCESS + RESOURCES
GETTING THERE: From the States, fly via Milan or Rome to Genoa, 40 miles northeast of Finale Ligure. Most domestic and international airlines don’t require a fee to transport your bike unless it’s your third checked bag. By car, take the A10 from Genoa, drive 40 miles toward Ventimiglia, and exit at Finale Ligure (check out for local car-rental companies). By train, take the direct line to Ventimiglia and get off at the Finale Ligure stop (not all trains allow bikes; check schedules at the station). By bike, take state road 1 (Via Aurelia) and pedal 40 miles from Genoa to Finale Ligure; if there’s heavy traffic, this route will usually get you to Finale in less time than traveling by car.
LODGING: The HOTEL FLORENZ (doubles, $79-$93 per night; 011-39-019-69-56-67, ), a 40-room renovated 18th-century convent just outside of Finalborgo, has a restaurant specializing in Ligurian food, an outdoor pool, mountain-bike rentals, and an on-site guide. The owners, Lorenzo and Sara Carlini, are well versed in the area’s history, trail system, climbing sites, wines, and olive oils. ** CASTELLO VUILLERMIN (011-39-019-69-05-15, ) lets you live a fairy tale on the cheap. The castle turned youth hostel, dating from the early 20th century, sits on a hillside in Finalmarina, overlooking the Mediterranean. Choose between dorm-style bunks and four-bed family rooms ($11 to $12 per person per night). ** The SAN MARTINO (011-39-019-69-82-50) and LA FORESTA (O11-39-019-69-81-03) campgrounds, less than four miles east of Finalmarina, have campsites that go for $9 to $11 per night. Surrounded by pine and oak forests, the campgrounds are located on bus routes (buses run twice a day from the Finale Ligure train station).

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Hybrid vigor has long been a trusted tenet of biology: Cross a shiny red tomato with a frost-resistant tomato, and chances are you’ll get a superior offspring that’s both beautiful and cold hardy. A similar idea gave rise to the auto industry’s new breed of hybrid cars– they combine the fueling convenience of gas-powered cars with the energy efficiency of electric batteries, adding up to something that beats all other vehicles on the market in terms of great gas mileage and low emissions. For instance, hybrid vehicles can travel up to 700 miles– roughly the distance from Seattle to San Francisco– on a single tank of gas. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, the hybrid reduces smog-forming emissions (namely, nitrogen oxide and particulate matter) by 90 percent.

2003 Toyota Prius, Courtesy Toyota

The culmination of years of research in the race for the ultimate in fuel efficiency, the hybrid is a not-so-mean green machine– basically a gasoline-driven cross between a common internal combustion engine and a battery. The battery kicks in at idle speeds making stop-and-go city driving ultra-efficient, and on long stretches of highway, the battery automatically takes charge while coasting.

Unlike a full-electric vehicle, the hybrid’s battery is self-contained and recharges while tapping the brakes, thus requiring no plug-in. “Battery technology alone didn’t progress as environmentalists had hoped,” says Kliesch. Although the goal of zero tailpipe emissions had been met, electric cars were expensive, and did not have the range to drive significant distances without a long sojourn to recharge.

But the fuel system isn’t the only aspect of hybrid cars worthy of a green star. While their designs tend to look like something on Frank Gehry’s sketch pad, these cars are extremely aerodynamic– upping the fuel-efficient ante. Plus, the material used to build cars such as the Honda Insight and Toyota Prius is lightweight, high-strength aluminum alloy. The combination of a sleek shape, low weight and energy efficient engine works like lean Lance Armstrong climbing the Alpe d’Huez.

While Japanese auto makers are leading the pack in marketable hybrid technology, U.S. car companies are also catching green fever. Ford, GM and DaimlerChrysler have all created hybrids slated to debut in the next five years. And there’s good news for four-wheel drive fanatics: The hybrid engine can also effectively be implemented in S.U.V’s.

Joanne Shore, a senior analyst for the DOE’s Energy Information Administration, classifies hybrids as “advanced technology vehicles” because of their low pollution-output and potential to displace a significant need for foreign oil. For the last two decades, the US has been responsible for one-quarter of the world’s oil use, according to the DOE. Passenger vehicles typically account for more than 40 percent of that oil, swallowing more than 336,000 million gallons per day. Without an expensive facelift to America’s fuel-station infrastructure, the hybrid is the most viable option for minimizing gas consumption and vehicle pollution, according to Kliesch. It’s a technology marriage environmentalists have been clamoring for, and even though the hybrid’s innate virtues sell themselves, the government offers additional incentive—a $2000 tax deduction for purchasing one.

So what would Kliesch drive? “No question,” he says. “The greenest vehicle out there is the hybrid.”

Want to find out more? Check out our green fuel guide:

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Making ethanol is a bit like following a recipe from an old Farmer’s Almanac: Grind corn into flour; add water and enzymes to turn the flour into sugar; add yeast until you have a syrupy concoction; strain the solids out; distill. Essentially, ethanol is a taste-bud killing moonshine with a 200-proof kick. Pour at least two-to-five percent gasoline into the mix and the low-budget liquor becomes usable in a gas tank. With the proper permit and a bit of time and effort, you could produce ethanol at home in your very own still. But considering the increasing availability of this cost-efficient green fuel at stations around the country, you’ll probably never want to.

Making ethanol, Courtesy Iogen Corporation

Election-year politics have brought ethanol into the limelight recently, with candidates hoping to woo Iowa corn growers before the straw polls, but an ongoing debate continues over its effectiveness and environmental benefits. Proponents say that widespread use of E85 (an 85 percent ethanol, 15 percent gasoline blend) could significantly reduce both oil imports and carbon dioxide emissions. But skeptics argue that the production of today’s ethanol, mostly made from milled corn kernels, burns fossil fuels and produces only 30 percent more energy than it takes to make.

Ethanol can be created from any starch or cellulose, and scientific and environmental organizations contend that “cellulosic” ethanol, made from crop wastes or grasses, will become a valuable source of energy once technology evolves to make it cheap enough to mass-produce. Cellulosic ethanol also has a slew of environmental benefits: up to eight times more energy than corn ethanol, low impact on water, soil, and air quality, and the ability to be manufactured from naturally-grown and widely available materials like prairie grass.

While companies like , a Canadian biofuel company, research ways to make cellulosic ethanol commercially viable, corn-based ethanol is only affordable to consumers through tax subsidies. E85 currently costs only a few cents more per gallon than gasoline and is much higher octane, with a rating of 105-to-110 as opposed to 87 (the average for regular unleaded gasoline). But E85 provides only about 75 percent of the energy of gasoline. This means higher per tank prices along with limited mileage ranges. Ethanol-optimized vehicles (capable of running only on ethanol) do, however, achieve gas mileage superior to that of gasoline-powered engines.

Unfortunately, many consumers who could be using ethanol aren’t aware it exists. Currently, the auto industry offers at least 20 different models of cars and trucks capable of using E85 without modification, like Ford’s Taurus and Explorer, Chevy’s Silverado, and Dodge’s Caravan. Labeled “flex-fuel,” these vehicles account for more than three million autos on the road, and across the U.S. more than 240 gas stations offer an E85 pump. But the Department of Energy estimates that only 82,000 drivers have ever filled their tanks with E85. Why the lack of interest? Jim Kliesch, research associate at the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, says very few flex-fuel owners know that their cars are capable of fueling up on the fruits of the Heartland. ()

Ron Lamberty, interim executive director of the South Dakota-based American Coalition for Ethanol, and the owner of two flex-fuel vehicles—a Chevy Tahoe and Ford Taurus—touts E85 as an answer to the country’s reliance on foreign oil. “Aside from the clean-air benefits, every gallon of E85 means it’s one less gallon of oil we have to buy from outside the country,” he says.

Added bonus: Since ethanol burns at a lower temperature than gasoline, it incinerates more completely, reducing the particulate matter in auto exhaust. Increased use of the starch-derived fuel could help U.S. cities like Houston— which has held the Environmental Defense Fund’s dubious distinction of “America’s Smoggiest City” since 1999— to clean up their acts.

Want to find out more? Check out our green fuel guide:

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THE WATER:

Colorado River
File Under: Toxic threats The Case: Since 1997, 1.7 million tons of perchlorate—an ingredient in rocket fuel—has leached from defense-industry sites and turned up in groundwater and crops in Southern California irrigated by the Colorado River. A 1999 EPA report suggests that four to 18 parts per billion of perchlorate should be considered dangerous, and numerous studies have linked the substance to tumors and thyroid pathologies in adults. Meanwhile, some sections of the Colorado have perchlorate levels up to nine parts per billion. The Crystal Ball: In April, the Bush administration reportedly told EPA officials not to talk about perchlorate until the National Academy of Sciences completes its review of the chemical. California senator Barbara Boxer, who has introduced two bills on perchlorate contamination and a community’s right to know about it, plans to keep pushing on the issue. “I will continue to fight attempts by the Department of Defense to be exempted from state and federal hazardous-waste cleanup laws,” she says, “so that taxpayers and local water districts don’t have to bear the burden of cleaning up someone else’s mess.” Contact: Environmental Protection Agency, 202-272-0167,

THE WATER:
Mattaponi River, Virginia
File Under: Threatened wetlands The Case: Eastern Virginia’s Mattaponi River, a tributary to the York River and one of the most pristine coastal systems in the state, is the proposed site of a 1,500-acre drinking-water reservoir that would serve approximately 600,000 residents in four counties and four cities. Two serious problems: First, constructing the reservoir, which involves building a 70-foot-tall, 100-foot-wide earthen dam, would destroy 400 acres of wetlands—potentially the largest single wetland loss in Virginia since 1972. Second, the local Mattaponi and Pamunkey tribes fear the reservoir would adversely affect shad populations, which they rely on for food. The Crystal Ball: Newport News mayor Joe Frank hasn’t presented an alternative to the reservoir, but local activists have come up with a few of their own. They argue that water needs could be met by dredging existing reservoirs, using water from nearby cities, or desalinating ocean water. Contact: Virginia Marine Resources Commission, 757-247-2200, THE WATER: Yuba River, California
File Under: Endangered habitat The Case: The California State Water Resources Control Board released a decision in 2001 that could require the Yuba County Water Agency to let out up to 1,000 more cubic feet of water per second than what was required in a 1965 agreement—a move lauded by conservation groups and booed by the Yuba County Water Agency. The YCWA wants the water for its customers—local townships and irrigation farmers. Conservation groups want to preserve one of the best remaining chinook salmon and steelhead runs in the West. “This is a classic water dispute, and stuck in the middle are the poor fish,” says Chuck Bonham, an attorney with Trout Unlimited. The Crystal Ball: Currently, the decision is tied up in litigation, and it may be months before the fish actually get any water. Contact: Trout Unlimited, 800-834-2419,

THE WATER:
Maalaea Bay, Maui, Hawaii
File Under: Reef destruction The Case: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has a plan to extend an existing breakwater in this harbor by an additional 466 feet, turning the wind-whipped Maalaea Bay into a safer and larger area for boaters. But in order to build the $16 million concrete-and-rock buffer, workers will have to blast through 4.8 acres of living coral reef—home to 120 marine species, including endangered hawksbill turtles—possibly altering the Maalaea Freight Train, the world’s fastest ridable wave. The Crystal Ball: Surfrider Foundation is raising funds to hire independent consultants to review the Corps’s plan, and will go to court if necessary. Contact: Surfrider Foundation, 949-492-8170, ; Sierra Club Maui Chapter, 808-579-9802,

THE WATER:
Gunnison River, Colorado
File Under: Whitewater war The Case: Thanks to rapid population growth along Colorado’s Front Range (the area is expected to double in population in the next 40 years), developers want to tap the Gunnison River for their future water needs. But more water withdrawn from the Gunnison could choke Black Canyon—a popular stretch of whitewater in the Rockies. Local paddlers are riled. The Crystal Ball: Front Range growth isn’t slowing down, but the answer is not to siphon off more surface water. “If Front Range residents would use water more efficiently, they wouldn’t need to take it from the Gunnison River,” argues Drew Peternell, a Trout Unlimited attorney. Contact: Trout Unlimited, 800-834-2419,

THE WATER:
Deschutes River, Oregon
File Under: User conflict The Case: Of the 28 U.S. rivers that have management plans requiring permits for use, the Deschutes is the only one that has not implemented a permit system. Commercial guides love the status quo, but private boaters are suing state parks to introduce a first-come, first-served plan that would issue permits and manage the traffic on this wild waterway. Private boaters are willing to take a chance on regulated (and possibly reduced) access if it means they won’t play second fiddle to commercial outfitters. The Crystal Ball: For the past six years, the BLM and local government agencies have failed to approve a permit plan, and it’s unlikely they will anytime soon. Contact: National Organization for Rivers, 719-579-8759,

THE WATER:
Rio Grande, U.S.-Mexico Border
File Under: International incidents The Case: Since late 2000, the U.S. government has locked horns with the Mexican government over water use along the 1,885-mile Rio Grande, more than 800 miles of which forms the U.S.-Mexico border. Mexico currently owes the U.S. 326 billion gallons of Rio Grande water, according to allotments designated in a 1944 water-sharing treaty. The debt, exacerbated by severe drought in the region, has angered Texan farmers in need of water. The Crystal Ball: Mexico is water-strapped and will most likely default on a large part of the debt. Bottom line: Until it rains, the lion’s share of owed water will have to wait. Contact: American Rivers, 202-347-7550,

Big Wins

Now for the good news. Though water disputes often wind up in court—and never leave—here’s something really refreshing: seven worthy fights that had a beginning, middle, and happy ending.

THE WATER:
Gauley River, West Virginia
File Under: Victory for paddlers The Case: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has managed the gates of West Virginia’s Summersville Dam since the 1960s. Local rafters got water time on the 26-mile stretch, covered with more than 100 Class III-V+ rapids, only if they were lucky enough to be on the river during a random release. In the mid-1980s, rafting outfitters, hoping to spark the region’s flagging economy, convinced the Corps to arrange a release schedule for six weekends every fall. Business has been brisk ever since, and the Gauley hosted the 2001 World Rafting Championships—a first in the U.S. Will it stick? Yes. The whitewater industry brings in $9 million to $10 million to the local economy during the fall releases. Contact: Class VI River Runners, 800-252-7784,

THE WATER:
Hudson River, New York
File Under: River cleanup The Case: Until the late 1970s, General Electric dumped toxic PCBs into the Hudson. But Congress’s 1980 Superfund Law mandating that corporate polluters pick up the tab for their own messes would put a stop to GE’s ways. In 2002, the EPA stuck GE with a whopping $490 million tab, which will cover the cost of dredging 40 miles of the upper Hudson. Will it stick? Very likely. Despite GE’s $22 million anti-cleanup advertising campaign, the EPA issued a 2002 Record of Decision mandating that the cleanup start in 2006. Contact: Riverkeeper, 800-217-4837,

THE WATER:
Orange County Coastline, California
File Under: Surf’s up again The Case: Since 1972, the Orange County Sanitation District had exploited Clean Water Act loopholes and spewed 240 million gallons of partially treated sewage—every day—into the Pacific Ocean. By 1999, bacteria counts had pushed above the legal limit in Huntington Beach, California (a.k.a. Surf City). The resulting beach closures shut out surfers until, fed up, they banded with environmentalists to petition for the return of clean waves. Their efforts spurred the OCSD to start a chlorination program last summer and to install a full-filtration system by 2013. Will it stick? Probably. The OCSD has been on board thus far. Contact: Surfrider Foundation, 949-492-8170,

THE WATER:
Kennebec River, Maine
File Under: Dam demolition The Case: Until four years ago, the Edwards Dam—a 25-foot-high, 917-foot-wide timber plug—blocked ten migratory fish species, including Atlantic salmon and endangered sturgeon, from spawning upstream. After a decade of fighting for fish rights, the Kennebec Coalition convinced the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that the ecological consequences outweighed the benefit of the modest hydropower output, and in July 1999, FERC decommissioned the dam. Will it stick? Yes. Dam-removal momentum is picking up—since 1999, environmental groups have helped unplug more than 100 across the nation. Contact: American Rivers, 202-347-7550,

THE WATER:
Mono Lake, California
File Under: Lake resurrection The Case: For years, Los Angeles dipped its straws into tributaries that feed Mono Lake, causing water levels in the lake to fall, increasing salinity levels, and threatening insects and shrimp that are key to the food chain. With the ecosystem in danger in 1994, the Mono Lake Committee’s 16-year grassroots campaign persuaded the California State Water Resources Control Board to limit L.A.’s water rights and establish sustainable water levels for Mono Lake. Will it stick? Very likely. Lake levels are up eight feet and are expected to continue rising. Meanwhile, Los Angeles has initiated wastewater-recycling and low-flow-toilet programs. Contact: Mono Lake Committee, 760-647-6595,

THE WATER:
Salmon River, Idaho
File Under: Keeping it wild The Case: In 1988, the Forest Service permitted outfitter Norm Guth to construct four cabins and a lodge on the Salmon River, specifically on a pristine stretch along the Montana state line in the Salmon-Challis National Forest that was protected by the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968. The environmental organization Wilderness Watch cried foul, arguing that development is prohibited on any river protected by the act. After a 12-year legal crusade, the U.S. District Court in Montana ordered the removal of Guth’s Camp—now called Whitewater West (Guth sold the cabins a few years ago)—and the rehabilitation of the shoreline by 2005. Will it stick? Maybe. In the next few months, Idaho senator Larry Craig—who believes the cabins provide access to underused public land—will attempt to topple the court ruling. Contact: Wilderness Watch, 406-542-2048,

THE WATER:
Richland-Chambers Reservoir and Trinity River, Texas
File Under: Creative wetlands The Case: Faced with a population boom in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, the Tarrant Regional Water District constructed 240 acres of wetlands to channel river water into the Richland-Chambers Reservoir. The wetlands will provide a natural filtration system for pollutants between the Trinity River and the reservoir, serve as habitat for area waterfowl species, and meet the growing water demands for Dallas-Fort Worth. Will it stick? Yes. The pilot program is running without a hitch, and the TRWD plans to build 1,760 more wetland acres by 2010. Contact: Tarrant Regional Water District, 817-335-2491,

Jump In: How to Get Involved

You might think water conservation groups have bigger concerns than your local creek. Not so. The work of their grassroots foot soldiers (that means you) can have the most immediate impact on a stream. Says Matt McClain, marketing director of the Surfrider Foundation, “We just want people to take ownership—become a member and volunteer, or pick up trash at your hometown beach.” Here are some ways to get involved. Pay the annual membership fee. Your dollars help fund research projects, advertising campaigns, lobbyists, and lawyers—lots of lawyers. Volunteer your time, and sweat a little. You could find yourself taking samples from local lakes, inviting experts on the Clean Water Act to speak about its finer points, or writing grants to sympathetic foundations. Commit democracy. Advocates propose local, state, and federal legislation (like that which protects endangered species’ habitats), speak at public hearings, and work with environmental groups’ national branches to devise policy campaigns to present to Congress. Listed below are organizations that need your help. WATER WARRIORS

AMERICAN RIVERS (202-347-7550, ) seeks to maintain the protected status of 160 rivers under the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. Each spring, AR names America’s most endangered rivers; the 2003 list includes the Klamath River and the Rio Grande. Battlefront: fighting to preserve the Columbia River’s endangered wild salmon and steelhead populations.

AMERICAN WHITEWATER (866-262-8429, ) fights for recreational access to rivers and maintains an excellent database of current river flows on its Web site. Battlefront: the decommissioning of the Dillsboro Dam, on North Carolina’s Class II-IV Tuckasegee River.

EARTH ISLAND INSTITUTE (415-788-3666, ), founded by late enviro great David Brower, assists local environmentalists in preserving and restoring waters under siege, such as Russia’s Lake Baikal and Alaska’s Inland Passage. Battlefront: ending the cruise- ship industry’s practice of dumping sewage and other waste into U.S. oceans, which is still legal thanks to an exemption granted under the Clean Water Act.

NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY (212-979-3000, ) works to protect wetlands, rivers, and lakes that are habitats for numerous bird species. Battlefront: revitalizing the Mississippi River’s adjacent wetlands from Lake Itasca, in Minnesota, south to Cairo, Illinois, to reestablish it as the major U.S. north-south flyway.

NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION (734-769-3351, ) works with U.S. and Canadian governments to curb water contamination in the Great Lakes and targets air polluters as the leading source of mercury contamination in the Great Lakes basin. Battlefront: stopping Lake Michigan from shrinking; excessive urban demand has dramatically reduced water flow into the lake.

NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL (212-727-2700, ) litigates to protect drinking water, works to create marine preserves to stop on- and offshore development, and fights to enforce water-rights laws across the western U.S. Battlefront: attacking attempts by the real-estate-development, oil, chemical, agriculture, and mining industries to rewrite the Clean Water Act and weaken protections for some 80 percent of the nation’s water. Their efforts would reopen trout streams, wetlands, and headwaters to pollution.

OCEAN CONSERVATORY (202-429-5609, ), with more than 900,000 members and volunteers around the world, protects newly discovered marine species and organizes International Coastal Clean-Up Day each September. Battlefront: combating overfishing; in the last 50 years, commercial harvesting has reduced large-fish stocks by 90 percent.

SURFRIDER FOUNDATION (800-743-7873, ) concentrates on coastal conservation and water quality, with an eye toward maintaining clean water and recreational access to surf breaks. Battlefront: establishing a marine reserve at Tres Palmas, a surf break near Rincon, Puerto Rico, that’s home to the Caribbean’s last large expanse of elkhorn coral.

WATERKEEPER ALLIANCE (914-674-0622, ), founded in 1992 by Hudson River fishermen, is now a global collective of 114 groups (with alliances in Bolivia, Costa Rica, and the Czech Republic) assigned to protect entire watersheds. Battlefront: halting mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia, which leaches mercury into the water table.

Water Heroes

Barry Dana: The River Voice

The Law Man
Colorado Supreme Court justice Gregory Hobbs calls CHARLES WILKINSON “the poet of western water laws.” While the 63-year-old University of Colorado law professor does have a way with words—he wrote the lyrical conservation classics Fire on the Plateau and Crossing the Next Meridian: Land, Water, and the Future of the West—Wilkinson also carries a big policy stick. “He is a very powerful and weighty voice on every issue he gets involved in,” says Simeon Herskovits, 39, an attorney with the Taos, New Mexico-based Western Environmental Law Center. Wilkinson was a key consultant on environmental issues for the Clinton administration and is now working on plans to scale back massive water-diversion projects in Colorado and the Southwest, and building support for demolishing dams, like the four behemoths on Washington State’s Lower Snake River. Though President Bush ixnayed that idea, Wilkinson is still optimistic. “In water law, you can’t think in four-year segments,” he says. “Those dams are stupid, and they’re going to come out.” Spoken like a true poet.
—JAMES GLAVE

The Surf Warrior
In the mid-1990s, San Diego-based water activist and surfboard-shop co-owner DONNA FRYE noticed many surfers complaining of strange symptoms, from rashes to eye infections to numbness in their limbs. Frye, 51, suspected that the problem was in the water. She was right: Storm drains, pesticide-treated crops, and leaking septic systems were all running straight into the ocean, in many cases at prime surf breaks. In 1995, she established Surfers Tired of Pollution (STOP) and began mapping the location of storm drains, lobbying in Washington for clean-water legislation, and working on local water policy. Her efforts have paid off. San Diego posted warning signs at drain locations and has cleaned up its act—86 percent of the city’s 102 beaches were rated good to excellent by a local enviro group. In 2001, Frye was elected to the city council, where she’s now waging a battle against a planned expansion of SeaWorld in Mission Bay and working to create the San Diego River Park. “The politics of pollution don’t intimidate me at all,” says Frye. “I just want to give the public back their ocean.”
—MICHAEL HOYER

The Fighting Spirit
When Hudson Riverkeeper ALEX MATTHIESSEN, 39, isn’t patrolling the Hudson in his motorboat to catch polluters in the act, he’s filing lawsuits. In three years as executive director of the Garrison, New York-based Riverkeeper, dedicated to protecting the Hudson River watershed, Matthiessen, son of writer Peter Matthiessen, has transformed the group from a squad of 11 to a company of 22 staffers, prosecuting more than 130 cases against Hudson polluters annually. In February he helped win the largest Clean Water Act award ever when New York City coughed up a $5.7 million penalty for discharging sediment into Esopus Creek, part of a watershed that serves nine million people. Now he’s trying to decommission the Indian Point nuclear facility, a potential terrorist target 22 miles north of Manhattan. But he claims his greatest contribution has been recruiting 15 local Hudson watchdog volunteers. “If we’re going to change the way we think about water protection, everyone has to be part of the dialogue,” he says. “It’s going to take a citizens’ army to do that.”
—KATE SIBER

The Mad Professor
When TYRONE HAYES, a 36-year-old biologist at the University of California at Berkeley, first started dating, he would take women out to the swamp to collect frogs. These days he’s married and has a small army of eager students catching the critters from Montana to East Africa. “Amphibians’ permeable skin makes them particularly susceptible to pollutants,” says Hayes. “That’s why I’m using them as a tool.” Five years ago, he uncovered evidence suggesting that atrazine, the most widely used weed killer in the world, stunts development of male frogs’ larynxes—disastrous for any young hopper who wants to call for a mate. Though the world’s leading atrazine producer, Swiss chemical company Syngenta, commissioned Hayes’s original study, it is now trying to counter his findings. Even so, Hayes has succeeded in drawing attention to the herbicide’s potential dangers, including the possibility it could cause cancer in humans. He is currently conducting amphibian studies on the North Platte and Missouri rivers.
—°­.³§.

The River Voice
In the late 1980s, BARRY DANA, 44, a member of the Penobscot tribe of Maine, established an outdoor education center on an island in the Penobscot River to teach kids outdoor living skills. But when students began to develop headaches and rashes from air- and waterborne pollution discharged by the nearby Lincoln Pulp and Paper Mill, he was forced to move the camp. A decade later, Dana, now chief of the Penobscot Nation and a national champion whitewater canoeist, is leading a fight to stop paper mills from dumping a toxic cocktail of dioxins and PCBs into the river. “I want the mills to have zero discharge into the river,” says Dana, “and I want them to lay claim to producing the most environmentally sound paper in the world.” It hasn’t been an easy fight, since the paper industry is a major political force in Maine. Dana’s been threatened with jail time, cited with contempt of court, and thrust into a complex legal debate over tribal sovereignty. But for the chief, it’s all just part of the job: protecting his people and their waters.
—SAM BASS

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