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PERC Reports

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Volume 18, No.1, Spring 2000

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IN THIS ISSUE

Going With The Flow

Nestled between a national park and a proposed wilderness area and cut through by the beautiful Virgin River, Utah’s Horse Valley Ranch is probably one of the West’s most coveted pieces of real estate. Despite its potential value on the open market, the owners had no desire to create a landscape of ranchettes or endangerContinue reading "Going With The Flow"

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Corn Can Do

Plastics made from plants is an idea that scientists have touted for years, but no one was able to bring it to the marketplace. That has changed with an announcement from Cargill Incorporated and Dow Chemical Company. In a joint venture, the firms plan to build a $300 million facility in Blair, Neb., to manufactureContinue reading "Going With The Flow"

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Harvesting Toxic Waste

Bananas are growing in a mine drainage tunnel in Leadville, Colo. Along with carrots, spinach, beets, and broccoli, these crops may provide the solution to cleaning up one of the nation’s most polluted Superfund sites. Entrepreneur Frank Burcik, president of Water Treatment and Decontamination International, created the underground greenhouse to remove toxic heavy metals fromContinue reading "Going With The Flow"

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Old Growth Rising

Breaching the Edwards Dam on Maine’s Kennebec River last July to help fish had an unexpected benefit for furniture-makers, wood craftsmen, architects, musical instrument-makers, and even pen-makers. Old growth timbers have been salvaged from the dam’s foundation for use in a host of wood products. Most of the trees were taken from the Maine woodsContinue reading "Going With The Flow"

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Greening Nepal

Once-denuded slopes in the foothills of the Himalayas are showing signs of green again. In Nepal, local community groups are managing the forests, deriving income from the timber, and also protecting watersheds and a variety of rare birds, mammals, and flowering plants. In 1957, the government nationalized the forests, but it had neither the willContinue reading "Going With The Flow"

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