Hernando County Cooperative Extension Service will present “Ouch! What Was That?” on Tuesday at 10 a.m.at the Forest Oaks Government Center, 7479 Forest Oaks Blvd., Spring Hill. The speaker is natural resources agent Joan Bradshaw. Participants will learn to identify stinging and biting creatures that can be found in one’s yard. Free. No registration required, but seating will be limited. Please call 754-4433 for more information.

Over 700 prople have registered for this year’s Sixth Annual Parent Institute, to be held Tuesday from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at West Hernando Middle School. The event is open to all Hernando County parents, even if the children attend private schools or are home schooled. Free childcare will be provided for 3- to 12-year-olds from the Hernando County YMCA. For more information, please visit the Hernando County School District’s Web site at www.hcsb.k12.fl.us.

Region’s water supply must be protected

With groundwater supplies in Central Florida increasingly stressed by population growth, a recent meeting of 37 cities in the region, hosted by the St. Johns River Water Management District, was another wake-up call that Florida’s water supply is finite.

During the meeting, the Withlacoochee River was conceptually discussed as a possible alternative water supply source. Given that conceptual discussions can be a precursor to planning, the Withlacoochee Regional Water Supply Authority and its local government members of Citrus, Hernando and Sumter counties and the city of Ocala should heed this wake-up call by planning now for the inevitable.

The first step in planning for the inevitable is for the authority and its member governments to develop a plan for future water needs based upon projected consumption and supply. Such a plan would enable better management of future water needs and provide a factual basis for resisting any water transfers in the future.

The next planning step is for the authority and its member governments to identify and assess alternative water supply sources. In this regard, two alternative sources stand out — conservation and desalination.

The husbanding of our water resources through the application of water conservation measures is the region’s most effective and least costly alternative water supply source. Accordingly, the region’s general indifference toward water conservation must end before its precious water resources become priceless commodities.

Conservation-oriented rate structures rewarding stewardship should be adopted. Permitted water allowances and lawn-watering restrictions should be enforced. Reuse water for golf course irrigation and rain sensors for residential irrigation should be the norm. Deed-restricted communities should embrace Florida-friendly landscaping. And residents should make every drop count by practicing common-sense water conservation measures.

A regional desalination plant, as publicly proposed by Citrus County Commissioner Gary Bartell in September 2000, also makes environmental, economic and political sense.

Environmentally, a desalination plant would contribute to the preservation of our fresh water supply and the ecosystems it sustains by reducing the demand on our ground and surface waters.

Economically, co-locating a desalination plant with Progress Energy’s Crystal River energy complex would optimize its power generation capacity and make it economically feasible for the producer and consumer.

Politically, the region would strengthen its hand against the possibility of any future water transfers by practicing the “local sources first” principle that water transfers must only occur after all alternative means have been exhausted.

Given the growing demand on the state’s water supply and the recurring eyeing of our region’s waters, it is crystal clear that Florida’s water resources are no longer inexhaustible.

Thus, it is imperative that the Withlacoochee Regional Water Supply Authority and its local government members move forward with conservation and desalination as the planning cornerstones for the region’s future water supply.

The Chornicle

St. Marks Wildlife Refuge, Wakulla Saturday, October 27

View thousands of monarch butterflies as they prepare for their long journey across the Gulf of Mexico to wintering grounds in the mountains of Mexico.

Staff and volunteers provide educational sessions. Great photo opportunity. 850 925-6121

The Old Wakulla County Courthouse is a rare example of the very functional and simple public buildings constructed in Florida during the latter part of the nineteenth century. Of three existing wooden courthouses in the state, this one is the least altered.

Local tradition suggests that the midpoint of the central hall on the first floor served as the bench mark for all surveys in the town of Crawfordville. This point is indicated by mitered boards which converge on the central point where once a round copper plate was placed as a marker. Additional credence was added to this tradition by the fact that G.W. Tully, the contractor, was a surveyor.

An Historical Sites Specialist said that “much of the character of the Old Wakulla County Courthouse is derived from the configuration of the steeply pitched roof. The four intersection gables and the central belvedere (cupola) add prominence to the otherwise simple, square, frame building.”

The building was completed in 1894. The specifications called for it to be made of the best heart of pine.

Source: Wakulla Chamber of Commerce

There’s a gas shortage that won’t hurt you at the pump but might take the air out of your next party.

Tina Mason owns a party supply store. She said in the last year helium has gone up $20 a bottle. Someone’s got to pay to have helium.

“We have to raise our prices,” Mason said. “People don’t like it, but you just have to raise them. Unless they just want to put air in the balloons and just have them sitting on the ground. If they want the balloons to raise up in the air, then you got to have helium.”

NASA also uses helium to purge the space shuttle’s fuel tanks. It’s used to cool magnets used by MRI machines as well.

Demand for the world’s most stable element has basically made world markets unstable.

“With demand continuing to increase and stagnant supplies right now, we do see a problem,” Hans Stuart of the Bureau of Land Management said.

The problem, according to Stuart, is there are no new supplies of helium.

Imagine helium supplies are like balloons. The more we use, the higher prices will go until there’s none left.

You might notice in other ways. Publix no longer gives free balloons to children because of the helium shortage and increased expense.

The Bureau of Land Management handles the majority of the nation’s helium supply. It said just like gasoline, disruptions at helium plants overseas contribute to part of the helium supply problem.

The cranes are returning to Citrus County. A flock of whooping cranes once on the verge of extinction is on the way to the Bay area.

In February, after the flock arrived in Citrus County, a major storm struck the area. Tornadoes killed 20 people and wiped out 17 of the 18 cranes.

But that didn’t deter organizers from trying again. In its seventh year, Operation Migration continues with the hope of saving whooping cranes nationwide.

A young group of whooping cranes are on an almost 1,300-mile journey to a refuge in Chassahowitzka. The birds, born in captivity, left the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge and are being led by ultralight aircraft to Citrus County. They will make several stops during the trip that’s expected to take at least two months.

“Nobody really thought that this would happen, or it was such a slim possibility of something like this happening,” Sarah Palmisano with the U.S. Fish And Wildlife Commission said. “Protocols weren’t written.”

The young cranes that died earlier this year were likely shocked by a nearby lightning strike and drowned in rising waters. To avoid a similar tragedy, organizers discussed moving the wintering spot from Citrus County to somewhere new.

However, they decided to keep things the same. And organizers are hoping this operation, now in its seventh year, will prove successful and re-introduce the endangered but powerful white birds with black wing tips back into the wild.

The whooping cranes are expected to arrive in Citrus in December.

Other cranes have also died from different causes through the years. The adult flock in the wild is at about 52 cranes.