U.S., CANADA COMMEMORATE WAR OF 1812
FOR THE 200TH ANNIVERSARY of the War of 1812, the National Park Service has assembled a website
listing commemorations along the Star-
Spangled Banner National Historic Trail
( www.nps.gov/stsp/historyculture/1812-
links-and-resources.htm), mostly in
Maryland and Virginia. North Carolina
also has its own events planned (nc1812.
ncdcr.gov), but it’s the Canadians who are
making the biggest fuss about it, with a
federal website commemorating the war’s
anniversary ( www.eighteentwelve.ca) and
a tourism website listing events in Canada
and the U.S. ( www.visit1812.com).
5,000,000
That’s the area of international
waters (in kilometers) in the
Atlantic Ocean known as
the Sargasso Sea.
THE GOVERNMENT OF BERMUDA
WANTS IT DECLARED A MARINE
PROTECTED AREA THROUGH
INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENT.
NAMED FOR THE SARGASSUM
WEED FOUND FLOATING IN THE
AREA, IT’S DEFINED BY THE GULF
STREAM ON THE WEST AND THE
NORTH ATLANTIC, CANARY, AND
NORTH ATLANTIC EQUATORIAL
CURRENTS ON ITS OTHER SIDES.
And it’s these currents that
endlessly entrap more and more
plastic flotsam, hence the
call for “protection.”
HE NEW YORK STATE CANAL CORPORATION SAYS the Erie Canal will
open as usual this spring, despite
flooding last year that overtopped dams and scoured new
channels around locks. Heavy
spring rains in the Mohawk
Valley, combined with a one-two
punch delivered by Hurricane
Irene and tropical storm Lee,
closed the canal system last
summer, stranding hundreds of boaters who needed it to reach their destinations.
According to Canal Corporation spokesman R. W. Groneman, the flood sent water out
of its channel, over and around the gates, sweeping gatehouses off their foundations. Groneman said that by late October, 150 barge-loads of trees, rock, and other
debris had been cleared, and a final price tag for the repairs was unknown. “There is
no dollar sign yet, [but] it’s going to be millions of dollars,” he said. “These are the
kinds of things you don’t get off the shelf at Home Depot.” Groneman said repair
work would continue for the rest of the year, but the Erie should open on time in
May. “We take as much precaution as we can,” he said of the difficulties brought by
the 2011 storms, “but sometimes you just can’t plan for Mother Nature.” — C.L.
This nearly a century-old canal power
house was no match for Irene.
