Earth Day, Every Day

by Les Hamashima

For scientists, environmentalists and government agencies, the work to keep clean the air we breathe, the water we drink and the fields we farm is continuous. So is the fight to understand how a subtle change can wreak havoc on an entire ecosystem, and how man can give an endangered species a new lease on life. Despite the tremendous differences from project to project, geography to geography, many have one amazing tool in common – SAS software.

Saving our animals
Of the nearly 2,000 endangered or threatened species around the world, SAS helps protect many of them. For some, like the black rhino, the work begins at the most basic level – obtaining an accurate census of animals in the wild.

Husband-and-wife zoologists Drs. Sky Alabhai and Zoe Jewell use SAS to help some of the oldest creatures on earth. Through their Portugal-based organization Rhinowatch, they developed a noninvasive monitoring technique that is safe, inexpensive, sustainable and statistically reliable. Based on the ancient art of footprint identification, this wild-animal monitoring technique uses digital cameras, databases and statistical analysis to determine whether a new hoofprint matches those of a rhino already on file or if it comes from a new animal. The information is fed to area antipoaching units to give them a better idea of where to patrol to protect southern Africa's rare rhinos.

Computerworld magazine deemed the work of Rhinowatch so remarkable that Alabhai and Jewell received a Smithsonian Award in 2002. Now, on the heels of that success, the researchers are working to adapt the program to help other endangered species.

The Florida Marine Research Institute (FMRI) examines manatee death rates and causes over time. This data, combined with the numbers and locations of live manatees found during yearly surveys, allows biologists to develop population model projections. Researchers also use SAS to assess manatee habitat associations and travel.

SAS helps in the study of three species of sea turtles, too. FMRI collects information about turtles from Florida, the Caribbean and Bermuda, helping shape the understanding of turtle age, growth, pattern of migration and nesting site capacity.

For more than two decades, the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), headquartered in Cambridge, England, has conducted research at Bird Island, South Georgia, on the integrated understanding of predator-prey interaction. BAS uses satellite tracking to study the movements of albatrosses over the vast expanses of the southern oceans. The researchers then use SAS to access, analyze and graphically map the results.

Having identified principal albatross feeding areas as they relate to the distribution and abundance of their main prey – and having assessed existing overlap with commercial fisheries – the research revealed that the long-line fisheries of the Southern Ocean pose a significant threat to the survival of these species.

No one can dispute the need to protect and manage fisheries worldwide. Back in Florida, FMRI works to balance the needs of the environment with those of commercial fishermen – not always an easy task. But a 5-million-record database tracks landings of commercial fishermen 10 years back. SAS analyzes these records, dispersing information that helps state and federal management agencies shape strategies for long-term management and real-time quota management of commercial fisheries.

As part of a Ph.D. program, Rohan Pratt helped save one of the wonders of the natural world: the Great Barrier Reef. Pratt began his work to restore life on damaged coral reefs, seeking to develop new techniques for transplanting coral fragments and identifying the biology of suitable corals for transplanting. He measured mortality and growth of corals over three years of field work at Australia's Lizard Island. The results generated, using SAS, showed that most species and coral colonies are suitable for transplantation – an important find for scientists working to save this ecological landmark.

Protecting our environment
Like many governing bodies, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) turns to SAS to help protect human health and to safeguard the natural environment upon which life depends. One way the agency carries out this part of its mission is by making vital information available to citizens. Specifically, the EPA's Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards provides an extensive collection of air pollution data in the form of Internet maps, charts and other graphical representations at its AirData Web site. Through the site (www.epa.gov/air/data) the EPA makes billions of pieces of air pollution information data available to Congress, foreign governments, researchers and corporations, with a user-friendly and intuitive interface.

Air quality is also the main concern of Environment Canada's Air Quality Research Branch, which carries out research into the chemical and physical character of the atmosphere and its changing composition due to man-made and natural causes. Atmospheric scientists work in the fields of acid rain, greenhouse gases, ozone layer depletion, toxic chemicals, smog, human health and transboundary transport between the United States and Canada. The researchers use SAS as a key tool for data quality control, data archiving, data analysis and various scientific products such as graphs and tables for journal papers. In the end, Environment Canada is able to develop understanding and share knowledge about air quality with the Canadian public, industry, government policymakers and the scientific community at large.

Charged with managing and sustaining the health, diversity and productivity of public lands in national forests and grasslands, the U.S. Forest Service serves as the nation's "forest census taker." Its Forest Inventory and Analysis Program inventories the condition of forest resources and analyzes the change in these resources over time. Because of growing volumes of data – a database covering Oregon, Washington and California alone held more than 1 million tree records – the department built an integrated database for quick and efficient reporting. Another SAS project allows the Pacific Northwest Research Station to manipulate various kinds of natural resource data and modify it to meet changing internal data standards.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) plans to clean up the legacy of environmental damage from defense materials produced during the decades-long Cold War, and one important focus has been on the remediation of contaminated ground water. Networks of groundwater monitoring wells at the South Carolina Savannah River Site periodically sample the water for a host of contaminants. However, before a reliable sample can be collected from a well, volumes of water must be pumped. This water usually cannot be discarded simply by pouring it on the ground because it could contain too many contaminants. If contamination is found, it must be treated – a costly enterprise. Dr. Cary Tuckfield, manager of the Statistical Consulting Section at the department's Savannah River Site, and his team developed a decision-support solution using SAS to ensure a cost-effective decision process. Using this application, DOE has cut wastewater treatment costs in half.

In Pennsylvania, the state Department of Environmental Protection's Bureau of Water Supply and Wastewater Management used SAS to develop its statewide drinking water information system, which comprises a detailed inventory of all drinking water facilities in the state as well as 2.9 million drinking water sample analysis records. The Division of Drinking Water Management reports that the necessary monitoring of more than 70 contaminants at various sampling points at different frequencies and schedules is now a much easier task.

This is just the beginning of a much brighter and more environmentally sound future for the earth and its inhabitants. The partnership between technology and conservation gives SAS an opportunity to help protect animals and natural resources in a variety of incredible and innovative ways around the world. With technology such as SAS working behind the scenes, this Earth Day will offer a more hopeful glimpse into the years to come.