4-H Club's 10 Year Anniversary

The Appalachian Trailblazers 4-H club has been in existence for ten years this year.  This group of homeschooled youth was formed by a group of parents wanting to explore homesteading related topics.  They explored chickens, gardening, cooking, sewing and rabbits.   As the club grew, the topics they explored expanded too- archery, hiking, robotics, dog agility, film-making, cake decorating and more!  In addition to exploring great topics, they performed community service, from picking up trash, to gardening, visiting nursing homes, food donations and more.  Members excelled at competitive events such as public speaking and project records.   It is rewarding to see the youngest members of the group now leading the group!   Congratulations to a great group of dedicated, dynamic and active people.

Farmworker Safety Program Featured in NC Medical Journal

An invited summary of the Mountain Pesticide Safety and Outreach program for Christmas tree farmworkers in western NC was recently published in the North Carolina Medical Journal. County Extension Director Jim Hamilton and Mountain IPM Specialist Jill Sidebottom summarized 8 years of programming for predominantly Spanish-speaking farmworkers on pesticide safety, general farm safety, and pest scouting. From the abstract:

This article showcases the outcomes of the Mountain Pesticide Education and Safety Outreach program, a collaborative effort between Christmas tree growers, cooperative extension, farmworkers, farmworker health outreach staff, and others to reduce pesticide exposure and on-farm injuries. Lessons learned during the project that can be adopted by other communities will also be shared.

 

The complete article can be viewed HERE.

Project WET

Project WET – April 28, 2012

Space limited – email englandle@appstate.edu to reserve your space today!

Appalachian State University’s Southern Appalachian Environmental Research & Education Group and Watauga County Cooperative Extension Service invite you to join us for training in the use of the Project WET curriculum.  This professional development workshop supports public school teachers and non-formal educators who want to enhance their environmental education skills. 

Project WET promotes teaching about water resources through hands-on, investigative, easy-to-use activities.  The extensive curriculum guide has > 60 multidisciplinary water-related activities for students from kindergarten through 12th grade.  Project WET activities are designed to complement existing curricula, and the activities fulfill objectives and educational standards in the sciences, as well as other disciplines, from fine arts to health.

WHAT: Project WET Workshop*

WHEN: Saturday, April 28, 10 AM – 5 PM

WHERE: Camp Broadstone, Boone, NC

WHO: Pre-service and in-service educators who are working towards state EE certification; anyone interested in professional development in environmental education

INSTRUCTOR:  Thomas Randolph, Lead Interpretive and Education Ranger, Mt. Jefferson State Natural Area

* This workshop counts for 6-hrs of credit towards Criteria I for all those enrolled in the North Carolina Environmental Education Certification Program.

Registration required: There is no registration fee, but this workshop is limited to 20 participants.  To register, email Laura England at englandle@appstate.edu.

"Water-Friendly" Cleaning

The United States has the world’s 4th largest supply of fresh water in the world.  Our access to clean water is unprecedented, allowing us to turn on the faucet any time of the day or night and have clean water to use and drink at our convenience.  Many times we take water for granted in the southeast because it does seem plentiful, its not until its contaminated or unavailable that we think about it.

Everyday activities like doing the dishes, and using Phosphate-free detergent in your dishwasher help protect our surface waters.  Phosphate detergents have been banned in 16 states, because they have been known to harm surface waters.  It is the chemical that helps our dishes sparkle!  I would prefer sparkling river waters over sparkling dishes.   

Summer Algae in River

Phosphate is a nutrient, and what happens is when everyone uses phosphate fertilizers and phosphate dish detergents, excess phosphates end up in our river systems causing algae to grow.   If you’ve ever floated down the New River in August, it’s sometimes hard to paddle through all the algae.  When the algae dies and starts decomposing, a process called eutrophication occurs, which uses the oxygen in the river that is available for aquatic organisms.  This can be a problem in lakes, rivers and our oceans.  Make sure to check the labels and purchase phosphate free dishwasher detergents! 

Since we are in the of four major watersheds, the Watauga, New, Catawba, and Yadkin River basins, we can affect many water systems downstream.   Living in the mountains at a high elevation and knowing that gravity works, all of our streams flow down the mountain and into larger river systems.  For example the Watauga River flows west into Tennessee and converges with the Holston River, which flows into the Tennessee River and eventually makes its way to the Mississippi River.  So how we treat our water in the High Country affects many people and wildlife down stream.

To get you started on being water wise, Watauga County Cooperative Extension is promoting the Clean Home, Clean Watershed “water-friendly” home starter kit. The U-Mix-It Safe Spray bottles are available at the Cooperative Extension along with recipes on how to make homemade solutions using inexpensive natural ingredients such as vinegar, baking soda, lemon juice, essential oils, and other natural cleansers and disinfectants.

The spray bottles are made in the USA from 25% recycled plastic milk containers.  The “water-friendly” recipes are printed directly onto the plastic where they will never wash off and are always available for quick and easy reference. These unique kits make it easy and fun for households to adopt safer alternatives that will help keep pollutants out of our nations watersheds.  The bottles are available at the Cooperative Extension for $3 each.  All proceeds go toward Water Resource Protection Programming in Watauga county.

An extra bonus:  By not using harsh chemicals to clean in your home, you are protecting the life of your septic system!   You are responsible for ensuring that your septic system is safe and working properly. A failing septic system is a health risk or your family and the community and may be causing harm to the environment.  It is recommended to not put any chemical cleaners down the drain into your drains including drain cleaners, household chemicals, paints, paint thinners, solvents, oils, grease, medicine, matches, cigarettes, pesticides, etc.  Not flushing anything down the toilet except toilet tissue and human waste will help your septic system function properly.  It is also very important to have your tank checked and/or pumped on a regular basis, every 3-5 years depending on use.    For more information on septic care, click to http://www.soil.ncsu.edu/publications/Soilfacts/AG-439-13/

Permeable Pavers Workshop - June 19th Boone, NC

Permeable Parking lot and Bio Swale

Most parking lots form puddles. As those puddles grow, gas, oil, trash, and other pollutants accumulate until the storm water flows into a storm drain and into a creek. But this does not happen at the new Casey and Casey Law Office parking lot in downtown Boone. In fact, when rainwater lands on this parking lot, it infiltrates and disappears from the surface! Pretty amazing! This is beneficial to the nearby creek because it cleans, cools, and slows the water down.

Under this permeable parking lot, there are layers of gravel and aggregates allowing the water to infiltrate before flowing into the creek.   Dr. Bill Hunt of the NC State University Stormwater Team will be in Boone on June 19^th for the Permeable Pavers workshop providing permeable pavement research and informative insights on innovative stormwater management. 

NCDENR Division of Water Quality is updating their Permeable Pavement Design Chapter. The revised design guidance will promote the use of permeable pavements across most of the footprint of North Carolina. The revision will focus on two design alternatives: infiltration-based permeable pavement and detention-based permeable pavement. How each is credited, designed, constructed, and maintained will be the focus of the workshop. Permeable pavement is poised to become one of the most frequently used stormwater practices in the state, come and learn the details!

This workshop is designed for Engineers, Landscape Architects, Water Quality and Stormwater Administrators, Land Surveyors, Regulators, Planners.  It will cost $125, if registering at least 1 week in advance. If registering within 1 week of the workshop date, the fee goes up by $50.  Fees include refreshments, lunch and workshop materials.  Cancellation Policy: There is a $25 cancellation fee if canceling up to the date of the workshop. There will be no refunds for no-shows.

This workshop offers 6 PDHs (professional development hours) for professional engineers and surveyors. Other professionals may appeal to their respective boards to obtain professional education credits. We will provide a certificate of attendance at the conclusion of the workshop.

To REGISTER ONLINE, please select the link 

http://www.bae.ncsu.edu/stormwater/training/permeable_pavement.html

If paying by check, make your check payable to NCSU-BAE. We also accept Visa, Mastercard and American Express.
If paying by check, please mail your check and copy of your registration form to:
NCSU-BAE
Campus Box 7625
Raleigh, NC 27695
Attn: Christina Shepard

Instructors

• Faculty of NCSU Department of Biological & Agricultural Engineering including Dr. Bill Hunt, Ryan Winston, and Brad Wardynski
• Representatives from NC DENR including Annette Lucas and Boyd Devane

Contact Christina Shepard for questions about registration: chrissie_shepard@ncsu.edu or 919-513-2192.

Greening our Creeks

Participants installing live stakes on Kraut Creek.  Photo courtesy of Donna Lisenby

It was a perfect day to green the creeks on St. Patties day in Boone.  52 participants came out for the "Greening our Creeks" day hosted by the Watauga County Cooperative Extension.  Participants took home a total of 2,500 live stakes including Elderberry, Buttonbush, Silky dogwood, Silky Willow, and Ninebark.  Thousands of feet of stream will be planted this week to protect our rivers!  As part of the workshop, participants also planted 50 ft of Kraut Creek behind the new Synagogue in town. 

These native woody plants have extensive root systems that stabilize the soil on stream banks during rainfall and high water flow.  The shade produced by the shrubs help maintain the cooler temperatures that our mountain fish and aquatic life need to survive, while the leaves help provide habitat and food for insects and fish. (Leaves fall into the stream, aquatic insects eat and live in the leaves, trout eat the insects) “Greening our Creeks” with vegetation is really important because it acts as a filter to prevent sediment, fertilizers, pesticides, bacteria, pathogens, and heavy metals from entering our rivers.

Wendy Patoprsty would like to thank BB&T for sponsoring the lunch provided to the participants, and National Committee for the New River, the Watauga River Partners, and Brushy Fork Environmental for the expertise they provided, and A&T State University grant for providing the free plants. Live stakes need to be installed while they are dormant, and because this event was so well attended, we will be hosting another live stake giveaway day in the fall. 

Photo courtesy of Donna Lisenby