On Monday we'll aim to accomplish several things:
1. Discuss Watershed Monitoring and Evaluation (my presentation).
2. Review the suggested watershed assessment protocols and help you pick one for your watershed (unless you choose or have chosen to do a lesson plan instead).
3. Pick topic presentations for the rest of the semester, and collaborate on resources.
4. Discuss wikis and Wikipedia (please register with Wikipedia).
5. Ensure that you are familiar with all the available tools to complete the projects and products for the rest of the semester.
Feel free to explore any or all of the links above. I'll help you troubleshoot over the phone or when I see you Monday.
Jim 703-599-3643
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Templates Available
I've added links to tools on the right side menu for Templates and other items.
As before, these are provided to give you a jump start if needed. They are intended as suggestive and certainly not prescriptive. I will always welcome your creative approaches to developing and sharing information.
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
National Take-Back Prescription Medicine Initiative
September 29, 2012 (10:00 AM - 2:00 PM)
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has scheduled a way to safely dispose of unwanted, unused prescription medications. At the last event, on April 28, 2012, citizens turned in 276 tons of unwanted or expired medications for safe and proper disposal at the 5,659 take-back sites that were available in all 50 states and U.S. territories. When the results of the four Take-Back Days to date are combined, the DEA and its state, local, and tribal law-enforcement and community partners have removed over 1.5 million pounds (774 tons) of medication from circulation. For more information, see http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has scheduled a way to safely dispose of unwanted, unused prescription medications. At the last event, on April 28, 2012, citizens turned in 276 tons of unwanted or expired medications for safe and proper disposal at the 5,659 take-back sites that were available in all 50 states and U.S. territories. When the results of the four Take-Back Days to date are combined, the DEA and its state, local, and tribal law-enforcement and community partners have removed over 1.5 million pounds (774 tons) of medication from circulation. For more information, see http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.
Arlington, Falls Church receive funds to prevent stormwater runoff to Chesapeake Bay
Reprinted from the Post online edition.
Arlington, Falls Church receive funds to prevent stormwater runoff to Chesapeake Bay
Arlington County Vice Chair J. Walter Tejada (white shirt) and U.S. Rep. Jim Moran (center of check) accept funds from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation's Chesapeake Bay Stewardship Fund to help reduce stormwater pollution in Northern Virginia.
(Chesapeake Bay Program)
Arlington County and the City of Falls Church are asking local residents and businesses to roll up their sleeves and make a difference in their communities by reducing stormwater pollution.
Arlington County recently received $80,000 in matching funds from the Chesapeake Bay Stewardship Fund, which Arlington will use to continue the second year of its StormwaterWiseLandscapes Program. The program provides cost-sharing grants to residents, businesses and homeowner associations to install landscape projects aimed at reducing water runoff and pollution.
Rep. Jim Moran (D-Alexandria) said, “These grants help build local community efforts to clean the bay, leveraging resources and providing new and innovative approaches to fully restore the bay’s health.”
In Falls Church, the city has partnered with the EPA and the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, a non-profit based in Richmond, that is focused on building consensus between groups to implement voluntary actions to improve water quality.
Nissa Dean, the Virginia Director of the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, said the Alliance received $500,000 to work with community watershed organizations to convince residents and commercial properties to install green infrastructure practices that reduce storm water pollution and storm water volume.
“If you treat stormwater on site,” Dean said, “rather than letting it flow into a ditch in a nearby waterway or into a pipe infrastructure that then takes it to a wastewater treatment plant, then you're alleviating the burden on the city or state infrastructure, you're lowering those costs, and you're, at the same time, helping them reach their pollution-reduction goals.”
The Alliance plans on developing a manual and a training program, along with standards and practices for green infrastructure that can be installed on residential and non-residential properties to be used by other local watershed organizations throughout Virginia and the bay watershed. The manual and training program will enable volunteers to conduct stormwater audits in their local community and determine the best practices to use at individual properties. The Alliance will also offer financial incentives for people to install green infrastructure on their property.
Falls Church and the Alliance also have a unique partnership with the EPA to develop a stormwater game as a tool to engage schoolchildren and adults in a community competition to have the most river-wise home. Residents will be able to virtually change the landscape in their yard to improve the water quality in neighborhood creeks.
"The idea behind the game will be that it will get kids and their parents outside,” Dean said, “and offer real-world challenges, such as going outside and taking a picture of native plants or invasive plants, storm drains, pollution in the creek, things like that, and then creatively thinking about or using the practices that they learn about in the game to actually improve those things in the real world.”
The University of Maryland is partnering with the Alliance to developing a mobile tracking tool for phones and computers so people can input stormwater improvements they make so they can be tracked.
In Arlington, environmental planner Aileen Winquist said there were six runoff reduction choices available: Green roofs, rain gardens, conservation landscaping, cisterns, replacing walkways or driveways with pervious surfaces, and an infiltration trench, which she described as “more of an underground water storage area.”
The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation recently awarded $9.2 million in grants through its bay stewardship fund to six states, local governments, non-profits and the District of Columbia. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency funded $7 million, with the U.S. Forest Service, Resource Conservation Service, and corporate sponsors Altria, Wal-Mart, Wells Fargo and FedEx contributing the remainder.
This year, 25 percent of the applicants were awarded grants for priorities that are fairly specific, said Amanda Basso, program director with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.
"The pooling of the funding is key,” Basso said. “No one of the partners that we're funding with could achieve the kind of results we're getting with this pooled funding stream. And we're able to put money together where EPA can fund the water quality piece of a project, but the Forest Service can fund the reforestation part of a project, and the Natural Resources Conservation Service might fund the technical assistance to farmers. So it's putting money together where it makes the most sense.”
Arlington, Falls Church receive funds to prevent stormwater runoff to Chesapeake Bay
Arlington County recently received $80,000 in matching funds from the Chesapeake Bay Stewardship Fund, which Arlington will use to continue the second year of its StormwaterWiseLandscapes Program. The program provides cost-sharing grants to residents, businesses and homeowner associations to install landscape projects aimed at reducing water runoff and pollution.
Rep. Jim Moran (D-Alexandria) said, “These grants help build local community efforts to clean the bay, leveraging resources and providing new and innovative approaches to fully restore the bay’s health.”
In Falls Church, the city has partnered with the EPA and the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, a non-profit based in Richmond, that is focused on building consensus between groups to implement voluntary actions to improve water quality.
Nissa Dean, the Virginia Director of the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, said the Alliance received $500,000 to work with community watershed organizations to convince residents and commercial properties to install green infrastructure practices that reduce storm water pollution and storm water volume.
“If you treat stormwater on site,” Dean said, “rather than letting it flow into a ditch in a nearby waterway or into a pipe infrastructure that then takes it to a wastewater treatment plant, then you're alleviating the burden on the city or state infrastructure, you're lowering those costs, and you're, at the same time, helping them reach their pollution-reduction goals.”
The Alliance plans on developing a manual and a training program, along with standards and practices for green infrastructure that can be installed on residential and non-residential properties to be used by other local watershed organizations throughout Virginia and the bay watershed. The manual and training program will enable volunteers to conduct stormwater audits in their local community and determine the best practices to use at individual properties. The Alliance will also offer financial incentives for people to install green infrastructure on their property.
Falls Church and the Alliance also have a unique partnership with the EPA to develop a stormwater game as a tool to engage schoolchildren and adults in a community competition to have the most river-wise home. Residents will be able to virtually change the landscape in their yard to improve the water quality in neighborhood creeks.
"The idea behind the game will be that it will get kids and their parents outside,” Dean said, “and offer real-world challenges, such as going outside and taking a picture of native plants or invasive plants, storm drains, pollution in the creek, things like that, and then creatively thinking about or using the practices that they learn about in the game to actually improve those things in the real world.”
The University of Maryland is partnering with the Alliance to developing a mobile tracking tool for phones and computers so people can input stormwater improvements they make so they can be tracked.
In Arlington, environmental planner Aileen Winquist said there were six runoff reduction choices available: Green roofs, rain gardens, conservation landscaping, cisterns, replacing walkways or driveways with pervious surfaces, and an infiltration trench, which she described as “more of an underground water storage area.”
The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation recently awarded $9.2 million in grants through its bay stewardship fund to six states, local governments, non-profits and the District of Columbia. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency funded $7 million, with the U.S. Forest Service, Resource Conservation Service, and corporate sponsors Altria, Wal-Mart, Wells Fargo and FedEx contributing the remainder.
This year, 25 percent of the applicants were awarded grants for priorities that are fairly specific, said Amanda Basso, program director with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.
"The pooling of the funding is key,” Basso said. “No one of the partners that we're funding with could achieve the kind of results we're getting with this pooled funding stream. And we're able to put money together where EPA can fund the water quality piece of a project, but the Forest Service can fund the reforestation part of a project, and the Natural Resources Conservation Service might fund the technical assistance to farmers. So it's putting money together where it makes the most sense.”
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
For those working with middle schools:
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Sunday, September 23, 2012
Electric Vehicles in Manassas TODAY!
My friend Kayne Karnbach in the local EV community told me of an electric pickup on display today at the Manassas Museum at the EVA meeting. There will also be an electric BMW Z3 and a Tesla Model S.
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If you bring a drivers license you can test drive all of the above.
JAE
703-599-3643 (cell) or GoogleVoice: 571-482-8298
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Saturday, September 22, 2012
2012 Fall Forestry & Wildlife Field Tour Schedule
You might find these interesting:
Tours allow you to observe science-based management practices, become acquainted with public and private sources of technical and financial management assistance, and network with fellow landowners, natural resource professionals, and others. All tours are outdoors and held rain or shine.
-- Highland County, October 8, 2012, woodland management, $45/person, meeting at 8:00 am at Stonewall Ruritan Club.
-- Wise County, October 12, 2012, coal mining and fire management, $25/person, meeting at 8:30 am at University of Virginia College at Wise in the overflow lot at the end of Stadium Drive.
-- Prince Edward County, October 19, 2012, Civil War History, $30/person, meeting at 8:00 am at 2644 Farmville Rd., Farmville Va (Lowe’s parking lot).
-- Charles City County, October 24, 2012, The John Tyler Memorial Highway landscape legacies, $45/person, meeting at Charles City County High School.
Register and pay on-line: www.cnre.vt.edu/forestupdate and click on Fall Field Tours for details. Sponsored by Virginia Tech, Virginia Cooperative Extension, Virginia State University, Virginia Department of Forestry, and Virginia Forestry Association.
Four Mile Run Foam
Reposted from ARLnow.com:
The Arlington County Fire Department and the county’s Department of Environmental Services (DES) were called to Four Mile Run near Shirlington this morning for a report of a huge mass of foam accumulating in the creek.
It’s thought that the foam was caused by some sort of soap or detergent. Firefighters tested the foam using a chemical strip and determined that it was not hazardous, according to DES Office of Sustainability and Environmental Management Bureau Chief Jeff Harn. DES is now trying to figure out where the foam came from.
“County staff continue to investigate the issue and are trying to determine the source of the foam,” Harn told ARLnow.com. “However, the discharge that caused the foam is no longer occurring and no source has yet been identified.”
The Arlington County Fire Department and the county’s Department of Environmental Services (DES) were called to Four Mile Run near Shirlington this morning for a report of a huge mass of foam accumulating in the creek.
It’s thought that the foam was caused by some sort of soap or detergent. Firefighters tested the foam using a chemical strip and determined that it was not hazardous, according to DES Office of Sustainability and Environmental Management Bureau Chief Jeff Harn. DES is now trying to figure out where the foam came from.
“County staff continue to investigate the issue and are trying to determine the source of the foam,” Harn told ARLnow.com. “However, the discharge that caused the foam is no longer occurring and no source has yet been identified.”
Friday, September 21, 2012
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Saturday's Watershed Walk
On Saturday we'll meet at the eastern side of the H-B Woodlawn school,
We'll begin at 9am, and I'll aim to have returned to our vehicles by Noon. If you need to leave earlier, I can arrange that comfortably. Let me know in advance if possible.
We'll walk along Donaldson Run and then through Potomac Overlook Park before returning back to the school. We'll walk about four miles in three hours, and your feet will stay dry. Invite anyone who'll enjoy it.
If you're inclined, note that Clarendon Day will be underway by the time we finish. You can park in my neighborhood and walk to the food, music, and people-watching.
Bring a notebook or a clipboard you can write on while standing. This is an excellent dendrology walk.
View Larger Map
We'll begin at 9am, and I'll aim to have returned to our vehicles by Noon. If you need to leave earlier, I can arrange that comfortably. Let me know in advance if possible.
We'll walk along Donaldson Run and then through Potomac Overlook Park before returning back to the school. We'll walk about four miles in three hours, and your feet will stay dry. Invite anyone who'll enjoy it.
If you're inclined, note that Clarendon Day will be underway by the time we finish. You can park in my neighborhood and walk to the food, music, and people-watching.
Bring a notebook or a clipboard you can write on while standing. This is an excellent dendrology walk.
View Larger Map
Monday, September 17, 2012
Tonight at Arlington's Central Library
Garrett Peck
September 17 at 7 p.m.
Arlington Central Library
Arlington resident and historian Garrett Peck discusses his book, The Potomac River: A History & Guide.
I am giving a presentation at Marymount University from 5pm to 7pm and then will head straight there. If you go, please look for me after.
Sorry to those who may have looked for me at Barcroft on Saturday. I was working in WV.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Hokie Passport ID cards
Hokie Passport ID cards
Monday, September 17th and Tuesday September 18th from 11:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.
The Hokie Passport is the official identification card for Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. All faculty, staff, and currently enrolled students are eligible to get a card. If you already have a Hokie Passport, you do not need to get a new one.
A representative from the Hokie Passport office www.hokiepassport.vt.edu will be in Falls Church on Monday, September 17 and Tuesday, September 18 from 11:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. in the Resource Center Library located on the 1st floor at the Northern Virginia Center in Falls Church http://www.nvc.vt.edu/about/
Upon arrival, individuals should complete an ID request card and present photo identification such as a driver’s license or passport. A photograph will be taken, and the Hokie Passport will be printed.
Upon arrival, individuals should complete an ID request card and present photo identification such as a driver’s license or passport. A photograph will be taken, and the Hokie Passport will be printed.
There is no charge for your first Hokie Passport. A $20.00 replacement fee will be charged for lost/stolen cards. Payment can be made by check, payable to Treasurer, Virginia Tech.
If you have any questions, please contact the Resource Center Library at 703-538-8340 or library@nvc.vt.edu.
If you have a disability and desire any assistive devices, services, or other accommodations to participate in this activity, please contact the Graduate Student Services Office during business hours of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., 48 hours prior to the event, to discuss accommodations: Tel: 703-538-8327.
Monday, September 10, 2012
Tony Robbins DiSC Profile
Follow this link to participate in an online DiSC profile.
http://www.tonyrobbins.com/ue/disc-profile.php
http://www.tonyrobbins.com/ue/disc-profile.php
Friday, September 7, 2012
Invasives Presentation Template
Invasives presentation template - Focus on details of a specific plant (TEMPLATE 1), or alternatively, more generic descriptions of multiple plants found in a specific area (TEMPLATE 2).
So that you appreciate there are no boundaries, consider this amateur video regarding Ailanthus altissima, the Chinese Tree of Heaven.
I'm providing templates as a courtesy, but reluctantly. In my experience, every time I provide a model, example, prototype or template, students' first instinct is to mimic it. If you follow these examples you will certainly meet my expectations, but I wholeheartedly encourage you to stray!
So that you appreciate there are no boundaries, consider this amateur video regarding Ailanthus altissima, the Chinese Tree of Heaven.
Saturday Watershed Outing
What to bring: Writing tools, water shoes, and a bag for collecting paw paws (e.g., bread bag or Washington Post bag).
We'll hike less than two miles total. The Little Falls gauge is up a little, so we may be wading in water up to calf-deep (optional).
Call or text me if you're challenged in getting there, or need a ride. 703-599-3643
View Larger Map
We'll hike less than two miles total. The Little Falls gauge is up a little, so we may be wading in water up to calf-deep (optional).
Call or text me if you're challenged in getting there, or need a ride. 703-599-3643
View Larger Map
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Next Class Meetings - Sept. 8 and 10
I've not yet received feedback in the Doodle from everyone, but I have to make some decisions. I'll adjust the ANTICIPATION GUIDE further, but you can rely on it up to the end of September.
Please remember that field trips are always optional, and that you may bring significant others (spouse, kids, and interested friend), and they will be encouraged to participate fully, including long walks and dendrology quizzes!
Beginning with a field trip this Saturday at 9am (September 8), we'll meet over the next few weeks as follows:
Please remember that field trips are always optional, and that you may bring significant others (spouse, kids, and interested friend), and they will be encouraged to participate fully, including long walks and dendrology quizzes!
Beginning with a field trip this Saturday at 9am (September 8), we'll meet over the next few weeks as follows:
| MEETING | TOPIC(S) | LOCATION (map links) | ACTIVITIES |
| 2. September 8 | Field Exploration and Benthic profile / Channel Profile | Turkey Run (GWMP) Parking Lot C. | Intro to Dendrology Benthic macroinvertebrates; Groupwork - streamflow |
| 3. September 10 | Comparative Land Use Characteristics and Impacts Groupwork | Northern Virginia Center | Dendrology species list Watershed selection |
| September 15 | no meeting; optional watershed cleanup | Barcroft Park | An optional makeup for a missed class meeting or outing. |
| September 17 | no meeting | Explore your watershed | |
| 4. September 22 | Stormwater engineering and Watershed Restoration | Donaldson Run (park at H-B Woodlawn) | Ten Mid-Atlantic Invasive Wetland Plants |
| 5. September 24 | Watershed Physical Structure and Scale Watershed Evaluation and Monitoring, Part I | NVC | Watershed mini-presentations Coliform write-up and testing Carlsen (Ch. 4-6) |
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