West Johnston HS Team Wins Second Place and $20K at Envirothon

Posted on August 13, 2009 by kmfaber2

The talented West Johnston High School Envirothon team, the Sequoias, placed second overall out of 45 teams from the U.S. and Canada at the 2009 Canon Envirothon held in Asheville, NC, last week. A team from Penncrest High School in Pennsylvania took first place. This year marks the best showing ever for a North Carolina team at the North American Envirothon competition.

Each student member of the Sequoias, Stephanie Tolar, Frankie Johnson, Lewis Braswell, Erin Lineberger and Thomas Lineberger, was presented with a $4,000 college scholarship. Sponsored by the Johnston County Soil and Water Conservation District, the team’s advisor is Melody Lineberger and their team coordinator is Donna Tolar. A number of North Carolina State University faculty and staff had the honor of providing guidance to the team throughout the year.

Envirothon is actually the culmination of a series of competitions that began during the past school year, testing understanding of complex environmental issues and knowledge in five technical areas: aquatics, forestry, soils, wildlife, and biodiversity. The Sequoias scored 1st in three of the five areas – forestry, soils, and biodiversity.

Erin Lineberger, who will be starting as a freshman in the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources this fall, was recently named as an NC State University Park Scholar. The Park Scholarship program is among America’s most prestigious undergraduate merit scholarship programs.

The Sequoias Envirothon Team

The Sequoias members pictured above left to right Melody Lineberger, team advisor, Lewis Braswell, Frankie Johnson, Thomas Lineberger, Erin Lineberger, and Stephanie Tolar.

College of Natural Resources Researchers Featured in "Fresh Water" issue of RESULTS Magazine

Posted on August 12, 2009 by kmfaber2

From FRESH WATER: Research to protect the Earth's Life Support System – RESULTS magazine, Summer 2009

Keeping it Clean Downstream – Dr. Perver Baran and Dr. Hugh Devine – Downpours often pollute North Carolina’s waterways when stormwater washes oil, gravel, pollen, and other debris off the pavement into nearby streams. One inch of rain on a one-acre parking lot can send 27,000 gallons of water gushing into storm drains. NC State researchers have developed practices for controlling such runoff and are helping craft state and local regulations to limit its impact in the future. As part of a larger research project, Drs. Devine and Baran used geographic information science techniques and technologies to measure changes in stormwater runoff between conventional and cluster developments in Brunswick County. Read the complete article in RESULTS

Researchers Restore Lost Wetlands – Dr. Doug Frederick – Wetlands and streams, pieces of North Carolina’s natural landscape, have been lost over time as land across the state has been cultivated for farming, paved for transportation, or built into residential and commercial property. But NC State researchers are working to restore the natural order to some of these areas, improving wildlife habitats and water quality in the process. Where wetland destruction can't be avoided, wetland banking offers a viable option. Enter Dr. Doug Frederick, forester and wetland mitigation bank expert. Read the complete article in RESULTS

RESULTS: Research and Graduate Studies at North Carolina State University is published three times yearly by the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Studies.

Browse past issues of RESULTS here

FAA: Bird Strike Was Cause of RDU Flight's Emergency Landing

Posted on August 11, 2009 by kmfaber2

WRAL.com – August 10, 2009

The Federal Aviation Administration says a bird strike started an engine fire that forced a Northwest Airlines Airbus A320 to make an emergency landing at Raleigh-Durham International Airport Sunday morning. Airline officials said 153 people were on board Flight 1546, which left RDU for Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

Passengers reported hearing a loud boom just after take off, then seeing a huge flame from the engine. Within 20 minutes, the pilot turned the plane around and landed safely. There were no injuries.

"The initial investigation revealed that the engine on the right side of the aircraft ingested a large bird and was seriously damaged," FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said Monday. "The aircraft will remain at RDU until the engine is replaced." The engine will undergo a more detailed examination after it's removed from the aircraft, Bergen said.

Sunday's strike marks the fourth reported at RDU this year. Two other strikes caused no damage and one caused minimal damage. According to the FAA, there were six significant strikes at RDU from 1990 to 2007. RDU spokeswoman Mindy Hamlin said the airport uses several proactive strategies to help keep animals away from aircraft. That includes regular grounds keeping, making the area unattractive to wildlife and loud pyrotechnics to scare off birds spotted any time of day.

Hamlin said there is also constant communication among pilots, air traffic control and ground crews.
"So, if the air traffic control tower sees there are birds in the vicinity of the airport and the airfield, they will let us know, and we can go out an disperse them," she said. "The pilots, if they see birds near them or around the airfield, they will let the air traffic control tower know as well."

The FAA will also look at the airport's mitigation plan to see if there should be any changes to how it handles animals near aircraft, Hamlin said. The plan is already subject to an annual FAA review.

Bird-aircraft collisions are not unusual, but they are being more scrutinized since Charlotte-bound US Airways Flight 1549 ditched into the Hudson River in January after striking a flock of Canada geese after takeoff from New York's LaGuardia Airport. Both engines on that aircraft were knocked out and all 155 people aboard survived after the plane's pilot, Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, safely guided landed it into the Hudson River. That incident led the FAA to release of its bird strike database. The report revealed that airplane collisions with birds have more than doubled at 13 major U.S. airports since 2000.

A team of researchers at North Carolina State University has also studied flying-bird strikes for more than a year in an effort to figure out the best way to manage the situation. "We want to know how often they cross runways, what time of day they do this," said Liz Rutledge, a PhD student at N.C. State. "(We're seeing) the geese stay within 3 to 5 miles of the airport, so we think its critical to look at these areas." Rutledge said findings suggest airports could reduce the bird strike risk by moving retention ponds.

RDU is considering putting screens over its ponds to keep birds away.

Read the article and view video on WRAL.com

Learn more about Liz Rutledge's research and those of others in NC State's Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences Program in "For the Birds" in the Winter 2008 CNR Magazine