Cancun erosion on the move

Erosion in the aftermath of last year's Hurricane Wilma is endangering parts of the resort of Cancún, Mexico.

"Erosion has shrunk its beaches to the point that waves at high tide lap against the verandas of some of the newly renovated hotels," reported The Guardian of London.

"After Wilma, the Mexican government spent $19 million to dredge the ocean floor and rebuild eight miles of beach with 2.7 million cubic meters of sand. After the dredging was completed last spring, the beaches were nearly double their pre-hurricane size and tourists returned in droves. Just a year later, the beaches have shrunk again, to less than 20 metres (65 feet) at mid-tide in the tourist zone, and swimmers are forced to clamber down meter-high ledges of sand to reach the water."

An artificial reef off the coast is being planned to help contain the sand. In the meantime, however, sections of the beaches are lined with sandbags.

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Idaho gets its first formal wine region

Click on maps to enlarge

Wine historians will circle April 9 on their calendars. That's the day Idaho gets its first American Viticultural Area, or AVA.

The U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau has designated Idaho's Snake River Valley as an AVA. That distinction brands the southern portion of the state, extending along the Snake River east to west from the Twin Falls area into Oregon as the 236th AVA in the nation.

"There's a lot of different soil types, there's different micro climates and a lot of opportunities for growing a lot of different types of grapes," said Brad Pintler, president of the Idaho Grape Growers and Wine Producers Commission, and general manager of Sawtooth Winery.

"This AVA is over 5.3 million acres and right now we have a little under 2,000 planted, so there's a lot of valleys that have a huge amount of potential and I think we will see a lot of new investors and a lot of new wineries," he added.

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