4-H Teams Gearing up for the North Carolina Wildlife Habitat Evaluation Program State Competition

Posted on April 9, 2010 by kmfaber2

WHEP logo
Interest has been strong for the upcoming North Carolina Wildlife Habitat Evaluation Program (WHEP), April 24, 2010. Eighty junior and senior level youth from eight counties will compete in the 2010 State Competition at the Jordan Lake Educational State Forest in Chapel Hill, NC.

WHEP is a national 4-H program that teaches about the fundamentals of wildlife management, develops team and leadership skills, and provides an opportunity for 4-H members to work with natural resource professionals.

NC WHEP is run out of NC State University Extension Forestry and has been growing every year since 2000. "Our state teams are consistently placing within the top 10 in the nation," states Renee Strnad, Extension Forestry Environmental Educator and NC WHEP Organizer. The 2009 NC Team placed 6th Overall and 4th in the Written Wildlife Management Plan at the National Contest in Louisiana. An article written by previous national competitor and Henderson County 4-H club member, Caleb Worrell, appears in BlueRidgeNow.com and explains how his experiences with WHEP and other 4-H naturalist activities have shaped his interest in natural resources.

NC WHEP is sponsored by the State Council of Quail Unlimited. Their sponsorship provides awards at the state level for teams and individuals, as well as covering the registration cost and some travel to the national contest. "It can be very expensive to send teams of six people across the country to compete at the national level," explains Strnad, "so in addition to studying and preparing for the national contest, the county representing North Carolina at the national level must do a lot of fundraising to help cover their travel costs."

The first place senior team from the State Competition this year will have the opportunity to represent North Carolina at the National WHEP Invitational in July in Los Alamos, New Mexico.

For more information, contact Renee Strnad at 919-515-5518 or renee_strnad@ncsu.edu

Pollen Count Soars To Record Levels

Posted on April 9, 2010 by kmfaber2

Excerpted from the Technicianonline.com – April 8, 2010
By Arth Pandya, Staff Writer

Wednesday's Raleigh Pollen Level, 3,524 Grains Per Cubic Meter Set An Area Record

Like a dusting of snow, tree pollen has covered much of North Carolina this week after a quick transition from winter into a warm spring.

Pollen levels in North Carolina reached record highs this week, with the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ Air Quality Division recording the highest concentrations since air quality agencies started measuring pollen in the late 1990s. According to John King, associate professor of tree physiology (at NC State University), pollen usually reaches its peak during late March and early April. King added that the cause of record pollen levels has been the sudden change in weather. However, King said he believes the pollen levels have hit their highest point for this season. "The pine pollen has peaked. It should start declining from here on out," he said.

Read the complete article in the Technicianonline.com

More About John King

NCSU Boasts a Great Lumberjack

Posted on March 30, 2010 by kmfaber2

newsobserver.com blog / Campus Notes -3/29/2010

An N.C. State student is one of the nation's top collegiate lumberjacks.

Logan Scarborough recently won the STIHL TIMBERSPORTS Southern Collegiate Challenge, a regional competition. He will now compete in the national competition In Oregon in late August.

I've read this story three times now and I'm still not entirely clear what the competition entails, though from the fantastic photo you see on the left here, it involves some serious wood chopping. _{(Photo credit: ESPN)} And it appears he clinched the regional championship by his deft handling of a stock saw.

According to this news brief from the NCSU website, Scarborough, a forestry student, barely missed advancing to the national tournament a year ago. Good luck to him. The national tournament will be televised by ESPNU.

Read about Logan's capture of the 2009 Wildcard

ISTF to Hold the 3rd Annual Spring Symposium, “REDD After Copenhagen: Emerging Practices and Policies

Posted on March 29, 2010 by kmfaber2

Artwork - two trees The NC State Chapter of the International Society of Tropical Foresters (ISTF) is happy to announce that on April 16, 2010, it will be hosting the 3rd Annual Spring Symposium; “REDD After Copenhagen: Emerging Practices and Policies”.

The event will be held in on the campus of NC State University, Jordan 1216, from 8:30 am to 3:30 pm. Speakers and panelists from the World Bank, Winrock International, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, Duke University, the University of North Carolina and North Carolina State University will gather to present their expertise and discuss policy, social and scientific considerations of REDD.

Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) grabbed global attention following the Global Climate Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009 as a viable mechanism for an immediate reduction in global emissions. However, much about this mechanism remains uncertain. In this symposium we will examine how current REDD projects function and how they can be improved. Discussion in this symposium will address how REDD can move forward as a functional international program to mitigate climate change and give better value to forest ecosystem services.

To REGISTER for the event, please visit http://ncsu.orgsync.com/org/istf. With registration, breakfast, lunch and parking are provided for.

*POSTERS Welcome. Posters that are related to forest carbon or climate change are welcome and will be displayed at the symposium. Please contact Liwei Lin (llin@ncsu.edu) for submission. Deadline: April 9, 2010

*PHOTO CONTEST Announcement. Pictures related to forests and people in tropical environments are welcome and will be displayed at the symposium. There will be prizes for 3 winners and publication at SYLVANET. More details about the photo contest can be found at: http://ncsu.orgsync.com/org/istf. Deadline: April 9, 2010

For more information, contact Charles MacIntyre, President ISTF, cwmacintyre@gmail.com.

Get Up, Get Out and Go!: NC State Research Tackles Childhood Obesity

Posted on March 10, 2010 by kmfaber2

NEWS RELEASE
Contact: Caroline Barnhill | NC State University News Services | 919.515.6251

Local middle students students participate in an activity with a ranger in Cuyahoga Valley National Park Getting children involved in finding ways to become more physically active can not only make them more aware of local recreational opportunities, but can even help increase their own physical activity. That’s the result of a study examining the role of seven national parks in contributing to the health of today’s youth. The study was conducted by researchers from a variety of disciplines at North Carolina State University and other U.S. universities and funded by the National Park Service.

The researchers developed pilot programs aimed at increasing the awareness of health benefits from participating in recreational activities at national parks and increasing physical activity by park visitors.

Dr. Myron Floyd, professor of parks, recreation and tourism management at NC State, specifically examined the use of Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio by studying area middle-school students.

“We decided early on that engaging the community in activities the park had to offer would be crucial in developing this pilot program,” Floyd said. “We had local 6th and 7th graders actually create the tagline to promote the program: Get Up, Get Out and Go!. The students also helped us determine what types of activities would get them interested enough to head out to the park.”

Local middle students students participated in an activity with a ranger in Cuyahoga Valley National Park. The program comprised a series of events at Cuyahoga Valley National Park that began with a kickoff event, featured weekly activities such as scavenger hunts and fishing lessons, and concluded with a festival. Advertisements of the program and its events – designed by the students themselves – were placed in local papers, on bus boards and at health fairs.

Floyd’s team compared awareness levels before and after the program and found out that the Get Up, Get Out and Go! worked. The study showed a significant increase in the level of awareness of Cuyahoga Valley National Park and its different offerings – 31 percent before the program was implemented versus 65 percent after the program – among the targeted youth population, with a reported increase in the percentage of participants who intended to visit a national park in the future – 18 percent before the program versus 51 percent after the program. Researchers also reported evidence of an increase in physical activity that was associated with the program’s activities.

“This study was important because it showed that engaging kids early on in the program planning process was important. A lot of the ideas we had for park activities, we quickly found out were not of interest to the children,” Floyd said. “It is imperative that we engage children in finding solutions that get them to be more physically active – whatever environment that may be in.”

The research was published in the Journal of Physical Activity and Health.

The Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management is part of the university’s College of Natural Resources.
Learn more about PRTM research in the areas of livable communities and healthy living, human dimensions of built and natural environments, and sustainable tourism and economic development.