Construction is set to begin on a $6 million face-lift to restore terrain near Pikes Peak Highway in Colorado.
The Rocky Mountain Field Institute said the eight-year project will restore the area near Elk Park and another nearby creek to repair damage caused by water running off the gravel road, The (Colorado Springs) Gazette said Wednesday.
The runoff has carved out massive unnatural gullies, and the wetlands below have become choked with sediment, threatening aquatic life and the Colorado Springs water supply, the newspaper said.
The paving of the upper 12 miles of the highway is expected to be completed by 2012 at a cost of $1 million a mile.
Copyright 2007 by United Press International
Related stories:
The James Webb Space Telescope model is flying to Germany
The model of the James Webb Space Telescope has been making a lot of "orbits" around the world, and is now slated to "land" at the Deutsches Museum in Munich, Germany from October 13-28, 2008.
Scientists reveal effects of quantum 'traffic jam' in high-temperature superconductors
(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, in collaboration with colleagues at Cornell University, Tokyo University, the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Colorado, have uncovered the first experimental evidence for why the transition temperature of high-temperature superconductors -- the temperature at which these materials carry electrical current with no resistance -- cannot simply be elevated by increasing the electrons' binding energy. The research -- to be published in the August 28, 2008, issue of
Nature -- demonstrates how, as electron-pair binding energy increases, the electrons' tendency to get caught in a quantum mechanical "traffic jam" overwhelms the interactions needed for the material to act as a superconductor -- a freely flowing fluid of electron pairs.
Drier, warmer springs in US Southwest stem from human-caused changes in winds
Human-driven changes in the westerly winds are bringing hotter and drier springs to the American Southwest, according to new research from The University of Arizona in Tucson.
Scientists test system to forecast flash floods along Colorado's front range
People living near vulnerable creeks and rivers along Colorado's Front Range may soon get advance notice of potentially deadly floods, thanks to a new forecasting system being tested this summer by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colo.
James Webb Space Telescope full-scale model coming to COSPAR meeting in Montreal
The full-scale model of the James Webb Space Telescope resumes its world tour with a stop in Montreal. The model will be on display July 13 - 20 in conjunction with the 37th Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) Scientific Assembly.
Study finds personal and Web-based support equal weight loss success
Findings in the
Journal of the American Medical Association on the largest weight loss maintenance study to date reinforce Kaiser Permanente’s approach to obesity prevention. The combination of both personal contact and web-based support are identified as the key to successful, long-term weight management. Kaiser Permanente’s Center for Health Research in Portland, Ore., was the coordinating center for the Weight Loss Maintenance Trial of 1,032 overweight and obese adults and provided five of the study co-authors.
Purdue lab works to improve conditions at indoor swimming pools
Researchers at Purdue University have determined how certain airborne contaminants are created when chlorine reacts with sweat and urine in indoor swimming pools, a step toward learning how to reduce the formation of "volatile disinfection byproducts" that cause respiratory irritation.
Scientists outline novel approach to ecosystem management
Traditional ecosystems in which communities of plants and animals have co-evolved and are interdependent are increasingly rare, due to human-induced ecosystem changes. As a result, historical assessments of ecosystem health are often inaccurate. A team of scientists present a new approach to management efforts in a paper posted this week on Frontiers e-View, the online prepress publication site of Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, published by the Ecological Society of America. The researchers suggest that such efforts should focus less on restoring ecosystems to their original state and more on sustaining new, healthy ecosystems that are resilient to further environmental change.