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Contest: Hip Indicator Sought

Every year, retired Maryland politician Bernie Fowler dons a pair of white tennis shoes, calls in the cameras and reporters, and wades out into the waters of Chesapeake Bay. Fowler remembers the good old days - before pollution, erosion and red tides - when he could wade far out into clear waters and still see his feet. How deep he can get today before the tennies disappear in the murk has become his own and the community's informal measure of the success of efforts to improve the bay's environmental health.

The annual stunt, widely known as the "Chesapeake Bay tennis shoe index," provides an indicator of the bay's health that's easy for the public and the press to embrace. Can anyone think of something equally accessible for San Francisco Bay?

In preparation for the State of the Estuary Conference coming up in March 1999, its organizers - the S.F. Estuary Project - will be publishing a brief assessment of the "state" of our ecosystem using leading ecological indicators recently developed by local scientists and environmental groups. We'd like our own tennis shoe-style indicator to add a little spice to the science. The index must be environmentally meaningful and appeal to the citizenry and media. It can relate to any aspect of Bay or Delta health.

The winner will receive a $75 gift certificate to Footlocker (to buy your own pair of tennies) and free entry to the three-day State of the Estuary conference. Entries must be received by December 1, 1999.

Mail to Ariel Rubissow Okamoto, ESTUARY newsletter, P.O. Box 791, Oakland, CA 94604. Please include your name and phone number.

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