East Coast Agritourism Webinar Series Available From NC State University

Posted on March 3, 2010 by kmfaber2

NC Tourism Extension logo NEWS RELEASE

Changes in the economy combined with fluctuations in agricultural income and the desire to preserve land and resources has placed increased pressure on farmers across the nation to examine alternative economic opportunities. Many farmers are turning to agritourism as an entrepreneurial response to increase on-farm sales of their value-added products and services and generate revenues directly associated with recreational and tourism activities.

To assist agricultural enterprises and communities expand into agritourism, NC State University Tourism Extension, in partnership with Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station and NC Cooperative Extension Service, is offering a 5-part East Coast Agritourism Webinar Series. "Introduction to Agritourism," the first webinar in the series was offered March 2, 2910. Approximately 70 farmers, extension agents, and tourism researchers and practitioners from across the Eastern United States logged on to participate in this exciting, interactive webinar.

"Introduction to Agritourism" included a presentation and discussion of agritourism including defining agritourism, examples of agritourism, impacts of agritourism in the U.S., helpful agritourism resources and more. The presenter was Dr. Samantha Rozier Rich, an Assistant Professor and Tourism Extension Specialist at North Carolina State University.

Four more webinars on additional agritourism-related topics will be offered throughout March and April 2010.
For more information and to register for the East Coast Agritourism Webinar series visit http://www.ncsu.edu/tourismextension/Webinar Series.html.

Summer Camps Deliver Large Payoffs for Campers, Do they Deliver for the Local Economy As Well?

Posted on March 2, 2010 by kmfaber2

smiling summer campers Dr. Michelle Gacio Harrolle and Dr. Samantha Rozier-Rich of the Department of Parks, Recreation & Tourism Management at NC State University are addressing that question as part of an economic impact study of summer camps in Western North Carolina.

The study is being conducted in partnership with the North Carolina Youth Camp Association and the American Camp Association. A similar study in 1998 showed camps in Buncombe, Jackson, Henderson and Transylvania counties generated nearly 100 million dollars for local communities.

Read more about their study in a story posted by WHKP 1450 AM RADIO

Researchers Receive Top Honors for Risk Analysis Paper

Posted on February 23, 2010 by kmfaber2

USDA Forest Service News Release – February 16, 2010
Contact: Perdita Spriggs, pspriggs@fs.fed.us or 828-259-0542

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC – A collaborative effort among USDA Forest Service, North Carolina State University, and Canadian Forest Service scientists recently received top honors from the Society for Risk Analysis (SRA). Researchers co-authored a paper titled, Evaluating Critical Uncertainty Thresholds in a Spatial Model of Forest Pest Invasion Risk. The paper explores the role of increased uncertainties in pest risk mapping and was among five papers selected in the 2009 Best Paper Awards category. The award was presented at the SRA’s December annual meeting in Baltimore, MD.

Co-authors Frank H. Koch (North Carolina State University), Denys Yemshanov (Canadian Forest Service), Daniel W. McKenney (Canadian Forest Service), and William D. Smith (Forest Service, Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center) published the paper in the SRA journal Risk Analysis (September 2009). Using Sirex noctilio, a nonnative woodwasp recently detected in the United States and Canada, the researchers analyzed how uncertainty in risk models could change a risk map’s outcome and, consequently, its reliability as a decision support tool. Risk maps are used by forest land managers, decision makers, and regulators to address quarantining, monitoring, and controlling invasive species.

Bill Smith notes, “The most important aspect of this research is to facilitate the Agency’s compliance with the Data Quality Act that ensures the quality of statistical information disseminated by USDA agencies.” The authors believe their analysis of the uncertainties associated with an invasion model’s underlying assumptions, especially given the spatial context, is unique and innovative. The research also encourages additional investigation regarding severe uncertainties, including the role humans play in facilitating non-native forest pest spread.

“This is an outstanding honor,” says Danny C. Lee, Eastern Threat Center Director. “Risk mapping is an important decision-making tool that enables land managers to anticipate potential forest threats and respond accordingly. Advanced research to refine these tools encourages long-term forest sustainability.”

For additional information about risk mapping, or to download the paper, please visit http://www.forestthreats.org.

For More Information: Contact Frank Koch at (919) 549-4006, email fkoch@fs.fed.us or Bill Smith at (919) 549-4067, email bdsmith@fs.fed.us.

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About EFETAC
Established in 2005, EFETAC is actively developing new technology and tools to anticipate and respond to emerging forest threats. Headquartered with the Southern Research Station in Asheville, the Center also has offices in Raleigh and Research Triangle Park, NC. Visit http://www.forestthreats.org for additional information.

About SRA
The Society for Risk Analysis is a multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, scholarly, international society that provides an open forum for all those who are interested in risk analysis. Please visit http://www.sra.org for more information.

Research a Natural for Our Graduate Students

Posted on February 19, 2010 by kmfaber2

student The Fifth Annual NC State University Graduate Student Research Symposium will be held Wednesday, March 10, 2010 from 1:30 to 4:00 pm at the McKimmon Center at NC State.

Come see the 191 poster presentations representing research being conducted in 60 graduate programs from all of NC State's colleges. Twenty-two College of Natural Resources graduate students are presenting.

The symposium showcases the outstanding quality and diversity of graduate research at NC State. This event is interesting whether you are a faculty member, a student, an alumnus or a member of the community interested in the research being done at NC State.

Turn out and talk with graduate students about their research.
Learn More at http://www.ncsu.edu/grad/research/symposium.html or email david_shafer@ncsu.edu .

Harold C. Blanchard Named 2009 Distinguished Alumnus by NC State University College of Natural Resources

Posted on February 12, 2010 by kmfaber2

NEWS RELEASE – February 9, 2009
For Immediate Release:
Contact: Tilla Fearn 919.513.4644 or tilla_fearn@ncsu.edu

Butch Blanchard accepts award from natural resources dean Robert Brown The College of Natural Resources at North Carolina State University is pleased to announce the selection of our 2009 Distinguished Alumnus. Harold C. “Butch” Blanchard ’63 of Whiteville, N.C. was selected in recognition of his distinguished career as a forest manager and his many contributions to his profession, his community and the college. Blanchard accepted the honor January 29, 2010 at the NC State University Alumni Association’s “Evening of Stars” Gala in Raleigh.

Blanchard attended what was then the NC State School of Forestry on a four-year scholarship from the Continental Can Company. Later, he was awarded the George K. Slocum Scholarship. Blanchard earned five varsity letters in three track-and-field sports at NC State and was recognized as an ACC Outstanding Scholar-Athlete in 1963. Several years after graduating, Blanchard and his father, a practicing forester, began a forestry consulting business. Operating today as H.C. Blanchard and Associates, the company has provided land and timber sales, appraisals and forest management services for landowners with 275,000 wooded acres.

Harold C. "Butch" Blanchard One of Blanchard’s many contributions to the college was serving as president of the North Carolina Forestry Foundation Board of Directors. During his term, Blanchard led a reorganization and consolidation of funds that pushed foundation assets over $1 million, helped retire the mortgage debt on the Hofmann Forest and later was instrumental in establishing active management of the forest to fund numerous undergraduate and graduate scholarships.

According to Blanchard, he “was proudest at a scholarship dinner when (he) counted 26 undergraduate and graduate scholarships funded from Hofmann Forest receipts.” Blanchard left the board of directors in 1985 to assume the responsibility of Hofmann Forest manager, a position he held for 23 years. Under his management the forest returned more than $13 million to the college in needed support; support which played an incalculable role in the college’s growth into the national leader in natural resource education, research and service it is today. In addition to his support of the college over the years through his professional responsibilities – in 1998 Blanchard and his wife, Peggy, established the Harold E. and Gerda C. Blanchard Endowed Scholarship for young men and women who begin their studies at Southeastern Community College and continue their studies in natural resources at NC State University.

Blanchard is a member of the Society of American Foresters, the North Carolina Foresters Association, the North Carolina Society of Consulting Foresters, the National Woodlands Association and the Forest Farmers Association.

Active in his home community, Blanchard is a charter stockholder of Topsail National Bank and served on the board of Columbus National Bank where he assisted in its successful merger with successor Triangle Bank. When not working Blanchard acts in local theater productions and had a role in "Bastard Out of Carolina" directed by Angelica Houston; is a 12 time national sailing champion of Tanzer 16 sailboats; is a deacon, elder and sunday school teacher at Whiteville First Presbyterian Church; and played a major role in the founding of the North Carolina Museum of Forestry in Whiteville, North Carolina.