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Concerning Conservation Wake Soil and Water Conservation District ~ Fall 2021

Updates from the Wake SWCD Annual Report

While the 2020-2021 annual report is not officially released yet, there are some great highlights that we can share! In 2020, Wake SWCD was awarded a National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) grant for implementing cover crops on qualifying farmland. The grant provided $95,820 in financial and technical field assistance to farmers, training on the benefits of cover crops and grazing cover and encourages long-term adoption of best management practices (BMPs) that improve soil health in Wake County.

A cool season cover crop of cereal rye that has been established through the NFWF grant to reduce soil erosion and nutrient runoff from a crop field near Knightdale and the Neuse River.

For Program Year 2020-2021 the staff implemented 19 NFWF Cover Crop Contracts on 750.14 acres and paid out a total of $54,451.70 in grant funds to farmers in Wake County. The cover crops reduced 437 tons of sediment, 5,000 pounds of nitrogen and over 200 pounds of phosphorus from entering streams in Wake County.

A multi-species cover crop mix of cereal rye, crimson clover, Austrian winter pea and tillage radish that has been established through the NFWF grant to improve soil organic matter, soil quality and increase the soil's resilience to severe weather.

While the application period for the grant has closed, there is still work to be completed in executing the final contracts that will utilize the remainder of the funds in the coming months.

Recent News

Farm Bill Changes

In early July, the NC legislature approved changes to Senate Bill 605 / Session Law 2021-78. The farm bill addresses changes to laws concerning agriculture and forestry in North Carolina. Some of the categories with changes involved Voluntary Agricultural Districts, open burning laws and creating a general permit for animal farm operations implementing farm digester systems (captures gas to burn for energy).

Careers in Conservation Scholarships

Who are the conservationists of tomorrow?

Today's conservation students, of course!

At the beginning of each year, Wake County high school seniors and college students apply for Careers in Conservation (CIC) Scholarships to help fund their higher education. These scholarships are awarded by the NC Foundation for Soil and Water Conservation and made possible by generous donations from the Bowman Family.

To be eligible, students must declare a major in agronomy, agricultural engineering, agriculture sustainability, agriculture education, animal science, forestry, natural resource conservation or management, plant science, soil science, water management, water quality, wildlife management or other closely related degree programs.

As their local district, Wake Soil and Water Conservation District writes letters of support to strengthen students’ CIC Scholarship applications. Many of the students have participated in the Wake District’s education programs such as the Envirothon and/or Resource Conservation Workshop. We are proud to announce that out of the Foundation’s 18 recipients of $1,000 CIC scholarships for 2021-2022, two are Wake County students. Both young women are Resource Conservation Workshop alumni, having attended the week-long conservation camp on scholarships awarded to them by the Wake District Board of Supervisors.

Careers in Conservation Scholarship Awardees

Cassandra (Cassie) Bolton

Cassie Bolton is currently a junior at North Carolina State University with a major in Conservation Biology and a minor in Agroecology. Due to several new experiences, she has a desire to become more involved in animal agriculture and meaningful work that connects people to agriculture. One semester Cassie was involved with the High Country Food Hub in Boone, NC -- an online farmers market that makes it easy for people to buy directly from local producers. Cassie saw how this service connected hundreds of local Blue Ridge farmers to hundreds of local community residents simply by making access readily available and convenient. She would like to work with a similar program to make it less difficult for people to support small farms.

Last summer Cassie worked at 1870 Farm near downtown Chapel Hill that provides a first-time farm and rural life experience for many urban children. Cassie helped the summer campers care for the farm animals that included goats, alpacas, horses, donkeys, chickens, pigs, and a young calf. She also helped the children learn how to fish and take care of the small farm garden. Watching the campers’ faces light up in awe and wonder upon meeting the farm animals was the highlight for Cassie. She would now like to expand her career work to include helping people understand where their food comes from and the important role of sustainable animal agriculture.

This summer Cassie has been a busy volunteer with the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle building garden boxes across Raleigh, installing fish attractors at Harris Lake with the NC Wildlife Resources Commission, caring for animals at the Wake County Animal Center, and working with the Partnership Raleigh Conservation Corps to manage invasive species populations and maintaining trails at several city parks.

You can see why this is the second CIC Scholarship that Cassie Bolton has received for her insatiable curiosity and willingness to roll up her sleeves to learn. Congratulations Cassie!

Leah Jordan Freeman

Leah Freeman is a rising sophomore at North Carolina A&T State University, majoring in agricultural education and minoring in agricultural business. She maintains a high GPA and is passionate about achieving a bachelor’s degree in agriculture to honor her family’s legacy of working the land on farms and in gardens throughout many generations.

As Leah herself puts it “ I see a need for more African Americans in agriculture, and I want to be a part of closing the gap. I want to spread knowledge to the children of my community to inspire them to grow not only food and fiber, but to grow as professionals and community leaders.”

Leah is a hands-on learner and is working hard to gain experience in gardening. This past spring, she started her first garden with her father and it yielded a bountiful harvest of squash and zucchini. Leah also attended the Youth Food Summit where she worked closely with others to learn proper vegetable harvesting techniques at the Raleigh Food Bank Garden.

This summer Leah was excited to land an internship at the NCSU Research Farm in Clayton. For eight hours a day, she learned how large scale agricultural research is facilitated by working with crops such as strawberries, corn, soybeans, melons and tobacco. Leah liked that each day was jampacked with learning about the plants that impact our economy and daily lives. By the end of her internship, Leah was both surprised how much she learned in two and a half months about running a large scale crop operation and grateful for the experience.

Leah Jordan Freeman represents the next generation that will carry on the legacy of working lands while educating others why it is important to create just and equitable food and farming systems that conserve natural resources and strengthen communities today and in the future.

Environmental Education Opportunities

Conservation Poster Contest

Wake County students in 4th and 5th grade that enter this year's "Soil and Water -- Yours for Life" poster contest will learn the answers to the following questions:

  • What lessons did we learn from the Dust Bowl?
  • Who is the NC native known as the "Father of Soil Conservation?"
  • What are the 3 steps in the soil erosion process by water?
  • What are best management practices (BMPs)?
  • How do these BMPs work to prevent erosion, build healthy soil and combat climate change?
  • Why is it important to protect topsoil? Why should people care?
The photo above shows an impending dust storm in Boise City, Oklahoma. The 1930’s Dust Bowl was a 10-year ecological apocalypse that forced many farmers to leave their farms during the Great Depression. Poor farming practices along with severe drought, high temperatures, and tremendous wind storms blew the lifeless soil away. Typically North Carolina is not included on Dust Bowl maps, but our state had gullies as deep as any on the Great Plains.

Students will research and illustrate a best management practice (BMP) on their 22” x 28” poster. Their challenge is to artistically showcase a BMP used by NC farmers and explain the science behind how it works to reduce soil erosion, build soil health, store carbon, and make the soil more resilient to severe weather associated with climate change.

North Carolina native Hugh Hammond Bennett lifted America out of the Dust Bowl, making soil conservation a national priority and sparking a worldwide conservation movement. Today we are still seeking ways to protect, restore and enhance soil with its dynamic life-filled and life-giving properties. “Take care of the land and the land will take care of you.” ~Hugh Hammond Bennett, Father of Soil Conservation, 1881-1960

Wake District provides a study guide, rubric, and other online resources to participating teachers and students. The posters will be judged by a panel of community partners with watershed expertise and an appreciation of children’s artwork that blends the best of science knowledge with artistic elements. The Top Ten poster winners will be recognized at the 56th Annual Conservation Awards Celebration sponsored by the Friends of Wake Soil and Water Conservation District. At this virtual event in December, the Top Ten poster winners will be recognized, and the Top 3 poster winners will be announced and presented cash awards.

The annual Conservation Poster Contest is sponsored by Wake Soil and Water Conservation District and Novozymes North America Inc.

GOOD NEWS! Last year's 1st Place 4th and 5th grade posters, depicting the theme "We All Live In A Watershed," won top honors at the 2021 Area IV Conservation Poster Contest that judged entries from 11 neighboring counties.

Envirothon: Call for Wake County Teams

What kind of questions do Envirothon teams have to answer? After carefully studying the photo above, select the one correct answer from the choices below:

  1. It’s a bird.
  2. It's a plane.
  3. It's Super Man!
  4. It's impossible to tell.

Did you answer “It's a bird”? If so, then you’re a well-studied Envirothoner, especially if you could specify that the bird is an Eastern Screech Owl as distinct from a Barred Owl, Boreal Owl, and Great Horned Owl. You’d be voted Team Captain if you also knew which of the four owl species is not native to NC (answer: Boreal Owl). It's questions such as these that challenge middle school and high school students and make them think the Envirothon is a hoot!

Envirothon teams are comprised of five middle school or five high school students that work together to answer questions like these that challenge their knowledge of aquatic ecology, forestry, soils and land use, wildlife, and current environmental issues. In addition to the five written tests at the NC Envirothon, high school teams must also prepare a 10-minute oral presentation that solves a given natural resource problem with best management practices that they have studied.

Each fall, Envirothon teams are recruited from middle and high schools across Wake County. Wake District provides support to student teams and their adult Team Advisors by coordinating study sessions, introducing students to resource professionals, and writing practice tests. This prepares the teams to compete against other teams from 10 neighboring counties at the Area 4 Envirothon in March. Teams compete for cash awards, “expert topic” medallions, and a Top 7 score that will allow them to advance to the state competition in April for more prizes and recognition.

Wake District’s Board of Supervisors sponsor team registration fees for Wake County teams earning the privilege to advance to the NC Envirothon. Last year, seven out of 11 Wake County teams competed at the state Envirothon. To illustrate just how competitive the Envirothon can be, Wake County’s Subchronic Exposure team from Enloe High School in Raleigh missed the state championship by a razor-thin 1.7 points. Learning to be gracious in defeat is also one of the most important lessons that very disappointed students learn!

Ideally, the Envirothon is an in-person event with hundreds of middle and high school students competing outdoors at a large park or farm. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the 2020 Envirothons were cancelled. Last year, both 2021 Envirothons took place online. The format of this school year’s competitions will once again be determined by the status of COVID come March and April 2022.

2021 Fall Big Sweep

After being cancelled for three seasons due to COVID, Wake County Big Sweep is back! Throughout the months of September and October, volunteers will roll up their sleeves and “sweep away” the unhealthy and unsightly litter in our local streams, lakes, wetlands, parks, and neighborhoods. No matter what site they choose, volunteers will follow outdoor safety precautions and the COVID protocol of 3 Ws: Wear, Wait, Wash.

Wake County Big Sweep is part of the Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup where 122+ countries remove litter from beaches and coastal shorelines around the world. Wake County’s volunteers intercept litter before it travels downstream via the Neuse and Cape Fear rivers, to the NC coast, and out to the Atlantic Ocean.

Cleanups have already started! The first two Big Sweeps were held at Lake Johnson and Upper Crabtree Creek.

Former Wake County Commissioner Yvonne Brannon (right) poses with a sign that she removed from Lake Johnson during the park's Fall Big Sweep and Craft Happiness Cleanup. This two-in-one event was made extra special by Foothills Brewing of Winston-Salem that sponsored an Appreciation Luncheon for all 70 volunteers. Thank you Foothills Brewing!
Big Sweep volunteers in canoes and kayaks removed 450 pounds of litter from Upper Crabtree Creek on September 25th. Thank you to Hanson Aggregates-Crabtree Quarry for renting the watercraft and treating all volunteers to breakfast and lunch. We thank veteran Zone Captain Art Ross for his 10+ years of leading Big Sweep cleanups at this challenging site and welcome new Zone Captain Richard Arnold who has taken up the kayak paddle!

The 2021 fall schedule lists a total of 17 litter cleanups in five Wake County municipalities. Eleven of these cleanups are open to the public, while six are private cleanups for school students or other groups. The updated Big Sweep fall schedule and volunteer liability waiver can be found on Wake District’s website, which is linked below:

Finally, Wake County now has a new Big Sweep Coordinator! Learn more about her below!

Warm Welcome to New Conservation Staff

Wake SWCD has hired Loren Hendrickson as the new Conservation Specialist!

Loren is a Florida native who grew up learning the value of nature. He graduated from the University of Florida with his Bachelor's degree in Economics, before moving to North Carolina to earn his Master's degree in Sustainability from Wake Forest University. After earning his master's degree, he worked as an AmeriCorps service member working on environmental programs for the Piedmont Triad Regional Council. He is passionate about conservation work and committed to protecting our natural resources.

Loren Hendrickson joined the Wake Soil and Water Conservation District office on September 1, 2021.

Wake SWCD has hired Alex Heinemann as the new Big Sweep Coordinator!

Alex is a Delaware native who grew up watching Steve Irwin and fell in love with our natural world and it's resources. Following her passion, she graduated from the University of Delaware with a Bachelor's in animal and wildlife management sciences. She has experience with volunteer and environmental education coordination through nonprofits, education centers, and Fish and Wildlife agencies. When she isn't working, Alex enjoys spending time with her horse, fishing, doing yoga, hiking, or laughing with friends and family.

"I love working with people and creating the next generation of environmental stewards to reduce our environmental impact." - Alex

Alex Heinemann will join the Wake Soil and Water Conservation District office on October 1, 2021.

Welcome to the Team!

Fall Meetings and Closures:

October 13, 2021 at 1:30pm - Wake SWCD Board Meeting

November 10, 2021 at 1:30pm - Wake SWCD Board Meeting

November 11, 2021 - Veterans Day, Office Closed

November 24-26th, 2021- Thanksgiving, Office Closed

December 8, 2021 at 1:30pm - Wake SWCD Board Meeting

If you have any questions or need assistance, don't hesitate to email us at swcd@wakegov.com or call 919-250-1051.

Agricultural Services Building, 4001-D Carya Drive, Raleigh, NC 27610
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