The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

8-Ordno Weekly Times, Wednesday, July 6, 1988 Kirby A thletic winners The above students at Kirby the Clarke High School on June Andrea Hartmann, Tanya Centennial school were athletic win- 21st. The Kirby athletes won five of Ferguson, Shanon Haw'kshaw and ners in their age groups at the "the eight high-point awards. Curtis Dafoe. Clarke Track and Field meet held at Pictured above are: Glen Harris, Congratulations Provides Cancer Society with $5.5 million The Ontario Cancer Treatment and Research Foundation (OCTRF) will receive an additional $5.59 miflion in 1988-89, Health Minister Elinor Caplan announced today. The OCTRF operates eight - regional cancer centres and provides provides a variety of related cancer services services across the province. The new funding is in addition to a 4.4 percent percent increase granted earlier this year, and brings total funding for OCTRF to $69.4 million for 1988-89. It brings total funding for OCTRF and the Ontario Cancer Institute Institute (OCI) to $115.3 million, an increase of approximately 13 percent percent over last year. Fifty percent of cancer patients in Ontario receive treatment in the OC1-OCTRF system; the rest are seen by doctors working in hospitals outside the system. "Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in Ontario,'* Mrs. Caplan said, "It affects people of all ages, and has touched most of us personally personally through friends and relatives. "Escalating the war against cancer has priority status in the ministry," Mrs. Caplan added. ' In August 1986, $200 million in new funding for major cancer projects projects was committed to redeveloping redeveloping The Princess Margaret Hospital and two regional cancer clinics in Hamilton and London, as well as construction of a new clinic in Sudbury. Sudbury. To ensure Ontario's efforts at battling cancer are as effective as possible, and in line with the reorganization of the Ministry of Health, Mrs. Caplan also announced announced that she is creating the position of cancer care co-ordinator for the province to oversee the future direction direction of all aspects of cancer prevention prevention and treatment. As well, the ministry is expecting to receive a consultant's -report, commissioned last March, dealing with the long-considered merger of OCI and OCTRF. The new coordinator coordinator will take an active role in implementing this report. "The co-ordinator will also review funding of all cancer care projects both within, hospitals and those provided through OCI/OC- TRF," Mrs. Caplan said. The Federation of Ontario Naturalists FON Conservation Centre, Moatfield Park 355 Lesiuill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, M3B 2W8 Phone; (4-16) 444-8419 '\ J by Marion Strebig Whaf have they done to the trees? Heavy with growth the trees in our ravine move in the warm wind, an apparently unbroken canopy of lush green. With such a vista, talk of death seems out. of place. But a closer look reveals some treetops thinly leaved like early spring and others with bare grey branches thrusting up through the leaves. As it is a city ravine near a major highway with cars spewing nitrogen oxide, one might expect to see signs of distress. 1 Last weekend 1 was hiking along back roads on the Bruce Peninsula watching for orchids. I found orchids, orchids, bul I also found many deciduous trees in a poor shape as those in the city ravine. Trees which should have been an cniyyinrnl lm. die eve. and a - ,-tuiv i he tirai exhibited the same signs of dieback as the trees in our city ravine. There are historical records of tree decline in the past, but these were usually local and confined to one species. This new. epidemic of dieback is widespread and" affects both deciduous and coniferous trees. In Europe the forests of Germany Germany and Scandinavia have suffered suffered extensive damage. In Quebec dieback affecting sugar maples has devastated the maple syrup industry. industry. Now maple bushes in Ontario Ontario are exhibiting many of the signs of decline, undeveloped leaves, premature colour and dying branches. The common stress factor appears appears to he atmospheric pollution which hv its nature knows no boundaries. boundaries. In the mountains of the "a '■■!'! i.nuisliips of Quebec the*" precipitation is so acidic that the ph is sometimes as low as 3.5. A ph of 7.0 is neutral and vinegar has a ph of 3.0. In some sugar bushes in this area the forest floor which ought to be covered with maple seedlings has almost no understorey growth. Until recently the official wisdpm was that Ontario did not have a problem. Any decline could be explained explained by natural catastrophes like drought and insect infestation. Lately, however, the experts have begun to talk about impending. disaster in our forests. Professor Tom Hutchinson of the Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Toronto, who has been doing research on forest decline, refers to dieback as the AIDS of trees. Research on just how atmospheric atmospheric pollution affects a tree's ability to survive suggests that the process is insidious, acting on the mineral elements in the soil. For instance, instance, aluminum which is present in soil but is normally harmless because it is insoluable, is dissolved by acidic precipitation, and appears to affect a plant's ability to absorb key nutrients like calcium and magnesium and other micronutrients. Five years ago, John Lojeck, a biologist working in the Elmira area, began to treat dieback symptoms symptoms in his own trees with that old gardener's remedy-bone meal. He also added bloodmeal and lime to counteract the acidity of the soil. Over the next four years the health of his trees improved so dramatically dramatically that he began to get requests for his formula. Eventually his attempt to save his own trees became a business called Canagro Agricultural Products. Last fall he applied his mixture to several maple bushes in his area, and now he is getting orders from Quebec and Vermont. The proof that whatever is happening has to do with nutrient deficiency lies in the improvement of the fertilized trees. Unlike chemical fertilizers, this organic fertilizer is slow- releasing, does not burn and returns important nutrients and micronutrients to the soil. But we can't fertilize all of Ontario, Ontario, The problem will have to be tackled at source. That means reducing air pollution. In order to promote public awareness of the seriousness of the problem,, Dale Willows whose woodlot was fertilized fertilized last fall with aft aerial application of John l.ojeck's fertilizer, has called FOREST DECLINE; A Conference Conference on' Causes and Solutions. Although the technical experts, including including John, will all be there, the language of the conference will be aimed at concerned citizens. James Bradley, who is, luckily for us, Ontario's Minister of the Environment, will officially open the conference. Both federal and provincial governments and the forest industry will be represented at the conference. The international scene will be covered by speakers from the U.S. and Europe. Although it opens in Toronto, the conference moves to Muskoka and there are field trips to forest decline sites around the province. The conference will be about death. But the important thing is that, now the problem has been of- fically acknowledged, we can get on with finding solutions. If you've been worrying about dying trees and would like to" be part 6*--cne solution, telephone the OISE conference conference office (416) 926-4711 and come to all or part of the conference.! conference.! Durham Recycling New Summer Wear BATHING SUITS From Infant to Adult in all sizes and cblors HIS and HERS Plus Just Arrived SOCKS SOCKS SOCKS Footlets, Anklets, Soccer socks, Knee Highs J YOU NAME IT - WE'VE GOT IT at WENDY B's Department Store organized a conference August 8- 7 THE ORIGINAL FOUR-IN-ONE GENUINE PEWTER BOX 1. Top is pinned for use as brooch. 2. Earrings (store in lid) 3. Storage Box. 4. Pendant. 'E, O N, MAIN STREET ORONO 983-9757