Hazwoper Training at NC State Prepares Students to Help in Gulf Coast Disaster

Posted on June 7, 2010 by kmfaber2

From NBC17 / MyNC.com – 6/4/2010
by Maggie Alexander

While the cleanup continues in the Gulf Coast, students in North Carolina are learning how to respond to disasters just like that one.

Linda Taylor teaches OSHA's Hazwoper, that's a safety training class at N.C. State. What students learn in the classroom can be taken down to the Gulf to help with the oil spill.

"We've had students contact us about what they need to do to go down and help with the oil spill so this is one option we can make available to them," Taylor said.

Read the complete story and Watch the video on MyNC.com.

Learn more about the Hazwoper course and the Environmental Technology degree in NC State's Department of Forestry & Environmental Resources

CNR Volunteers Help Habitat for Humanity – Wake

Posted on June 7, 2010 by kmfaber2

Myron Floyd volunteers on Habitat for Humanity -Wake house deconstruction project On a beautiful spring morning in May, volunteers from the NC State College of Natural Resources (CNR) went to work tearing apart a house on the shores of Lake Wheeler. No, they weren’t crazed, they were in fact helping families in Wake County obtain a greener, less expensive way to obtain building materials by volunteering with Habitat for Humanity – Wake (HFH) on one of their de-construction projects.

Many think of HFH as home builders, not destroyers, but the de-construction program offers opportunities for HFH to earn money for building projects plus provide an excellent service in “re-use” of building materials.

remilled wood for use by Habitat And faculty and staff are not the only volunteers from the college, giving their time and expertise to Habitat for Humanity – Wake. During spring semester, the student chapter of the Forest Products Society, along with several wood products faculty and graduate students, reprocessed untreated deck boards into interior baseboard moulding for Wake Habitat for Humanity. The boards were donated by Georgia Pacific after a drying study the wood products group did for GP.

4 volunteers from the NC State College of Natural Resources Volunteer for Habitat for Humnanity - Wake house deconstruction project. The May HFH deconstruction project's four faculty/staff volunteers [Dr. Myron Floyd (PRTM), Laura Johnson (ET), Melinda Hall (Business) and James Jeuck (Ext. Forestry)] are part of an ongoing program developed by the CNR's staff and faculty to come together and be of service to the community.

Other projects in the past year have included sorting food donations at the Foodbank, staffing the Wake County Library book sale, cleaning up litter in local parks and more. Over 30 members of the faculty and staff have turned out to participate with the CNR Volunteers, many for multiple projects.

New Natural Resources Book Focuses on Innovation and Enduring Change

Posted on May 12, 2010 by kmfaber2

Over
the past three decades, governments at the local, state, and federal
levels have undertaken a wide range of bold innovations, often in
partnership with nongovernmental organizations and communities, to try
to address their environmental and natural resource management tasks.
Many of these efforts have failed. Innovations, by definition, are
transitory. How, then, can we establish new practices that endure?

Book Cover - Implementing Innovation - Fostering Enduring Change in Environmental and Natural Resource Governance In her new book, Implementing Innovation-Fostering Enduring Change in Environmental and Natural Resource Governance, Dr. Toddi
A. Steelman argues that the key to successful and long-lasting
innovation must be a realistic understanding of the challenges that
face it. She examines three case studies – land management in Colorado,
watershed management in West Virginia, and timber management in New
Mexico and reveals specific patterns of implementation success and
failure. Steelman challenges conventional wisdom about the role of
individual entrepreneurs in innovative practice. She highlights the
institutional obstacles that impede innovation and its longer term
implementation, while offering practical insight in how enduring change
might be achieved.

Learn more and purchase the book from Georgetown University Press

Follow Dr. Steelman on Twitter

Toddi A. Steelman
is an associate professor in the Department of Forestry and
Environmental Resources at North Carolina State University. She is
coauthor of Adaptive Governance: Integrating Science, Policy, and Decision Making and Collaborative Environmental Management: What Roles for Government?

Floyd Shares Parks & Physical Activity Research with Australian Colleagues

Posted on May 6, 2010 by kmfaber2

Dr Myron Floyd Public parks and recreation amenities play an important role in facilitating physical activity especially in low income communities, according to Dr. Myron Floyd, a professor in NC State's Parks, Recreation & Tourism Management (PRTM) department and a lead investigator of Investigating Places for Active Recreation in Communities (IPARC) .

Dr. Floyd recently shared his research on the role of parks and recreation amenities in facilitating physical activity especially in low-income communities, the influence of race and ethnicity on leisure activity preferences, and environmental justice in relation to public parks when he received a Distinguished Researcher Travel Award from the University of South Australia. The award allowed him to travel to Australia to exchange active living, physical activity, and sustainable communities ideas with colleagues at UniSA and Deakin University. He also presented a paper at the International Symposium on Healthy People, Healthy Parks in Melbourne.

Dr. Floyd is the second international researcher to visit UniSA in 2010 as part of that university’s new Distinguished Researcher Award. UniSA is bringing five distinguished researchers to campus under the new program to boost research collaborations and outcomes.

Read Complete UniSi Coverage of Dr. Floyd's Visit

More about Research in the NC State University PRTM Dept.

Wake Mayors Commit to National Physical Activity Plan at NC State Greenway

Posted on May 5, 2010 by kmfaber2

NEWS RELEASE – May 4, 2010

Wake Mayors Commit to National Physical Activity Plan
Rocky Branch Greenway at NC State to be Site of Signing Ceremony

Join Advocates for Health in Action and North Carolina State University partners on May 5, 2010 as Wake County mayors formally sign proclamations adopting the National Physical Activity Plan .
The 2 p.m. event will also introduce the new Rocky Branch Greenway and the new Wake County Community Asset Map . Mayors Russell Killen of Knightdale, Ronnie Williams of Garner, Charles Meeker of Raleigh and mayors from other Wake County municipalities will sign the National Physical Activity Plan, a commitment to promoting physical activity among Wake County residents.

Advocates for Health in Action is a collaborative of 50 organizations whose mission is for Wake County to be a “community where healthful eating and physical activity are the way of life.” Following the signing, the mayors, who will be wearing tennis shoes, will tour the greenway with Sig Hutchinson, a greenways supporter.

Barbara Doll, water quality specialist for North Carolina Sea Grant led the Rocky Branch Stream Restoration and Greenway Project, a 10-year effort on the university campus.

Charlynne Smith, a research associate with the Recreation Resources Service and a doctoral student in the Department of Parks, Recreation & Tourism Management at NC State put her geographic information science knowledge and mapping expertise to work this past year to develop a spatial database to display a community asset map for Wake County.

The result? A comprehensive interactive map and GIS database of trails, greenways, parks, sidewalks and schools in the county that showcases the opportunities for physical activity and healthful eating choices available to the community. Recently, area teens used Smith's tool to display data they collected about the availability of healthful foods in their community.

Going forward, AHA partners and others will use the tool to identify opportunity gaps as they create an advocacy agenda to help shape the community.

Funding for the project was provided by the Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation.

Attend the Kickoff – Wednesday, May 5 at 2 p.m.
The Rocky Branch Greenway is located between Western Boulevard and Hillsborough Street, with the event to be held off Dan Allen Drive, near the NC State Student Health Services. Consider walking or cycling to join the event. Public parking is available with a credit card at Dan Allen parking deck near Hillsborough Street. Look for signage the day of the event for parking and event location.