Author: Site Owner

Natalie Love wakes up each morning to the sounds of songbirds. “What a good way to start your day,” said Love, who lives in the Appalachian Mountains in central Pennsylvania.

Natalie and her husband Donald are working to improve the healthy, structurally diverse forests that provide many benefits for wildlife. By doing so, they’ve also improved their access to their forests, fought off undesired invasive plants and improved the aesthetics of their forest land.

“Sustainable forestry is benefitting our personal lives as well as wildlife,” she said. “We want to build an inviting place for the golden-winged warbler.”

The golden-winged warbler is a vibrantly-colored migratory songbird that breeds and nests in the United States and spends its winters in Central and South America. On its breeding grounds, the warbler requires expansive forested landscapes comprised of young forests, and patches of shrub land interspersed among forests of various ages that the warbler needs for nesting.

Early successional habitat on the bird’s breeding range, the Upper Midwest and Appalachian Mountains, has declined over the past 50 years as aging forests have come to dominate huge expanses.

Both game and non-game species that rely on younger forests are in decline, including the golden-winged warbler, which has suffered a 66 percent population decline since the 1960s. This major shift in the age classes of forests is the result of a lack of fires in recent years and unsustainable forestry practices that do not result in healthy, structurally diverse forests.

The Loves and other private landowners are voluntarily stepping up to manage for diverse forests on their land. With the help of USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and other conservation partners, they are implementing a forest management plan to establish and improve young forests, or early successional habitat, on 70 acres.

By controlling invasive weeds and selectively removing trees, the Loves have attracted a variety of songbirds and wildlife. They have also created an aesthetically appealing wooded setting that has enhanced their property for family and visitors to the Airbnb cottage on their land. Through this management, they’ve been able to create walking trails on the land and enhance wildlife viewing opportunities.

“We found that people like the woods,” Love said. “They like to walk the trails and experience nature up close. We have been able to provide a place for people to explore nature and leave the woods better than what we moved into.”

In addition to NRCS, other partners included Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Game Commission, American Bird Conservancy and Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, who helped the Loves through the planning and implementation processes.

“We liked the idea of bringing birds in and having specialists help us be good stewards of the land,” said Donald Love.

Scientists for Indiana University of Pennsylvania and Cornell University are monitoring the response of wildlife to the forestry work, and have surveyed songbird response on the Love’s forests that were enrolled in Working Lands for Wildlife (WLFW).

“In only a couple of years since they have stepped up management, the diversity of songbirds is already impressive in the Love’s WLFW forest,” said Jeff Larkin, golden-winged warbler breeding habitat coordinator for the Indiana University of Pennsylvania and American Bird Conservancy. “We have recorded 29 species of songbirds including several at migratory species such as wood thrush, Louisiana waterthrush, scarlet tanager, indigo bunting, prairie warbler, ovenbird and hooded warbler.  We have also detected the nocturnal songster, the eastern whip-poor-will.”

Habitat restored for the golden-winged warbler also benefits many other species, including songbirds like indigo bunting and prairie warbler, as well as game species like American woodcock, wild turkey, deer and grouse.

NRCS provides technical and financial assistance to the Loves through WLFW, an NRCS-led partnership that restores key working landscapes using target species, such as the golden-winged warbler, as barometers for success. Since 2012, the agency has helped landowners restore more than 13,000 acres of early successional habitat in the Appalachian region, including 8,000 acres in Pennsylvania alone.

“Most forest land in Appalachia is privately owned, making landowners pivotal to the bird’s success,” NRCS Chief Jason Weller said. “Stewardship-minded landowners, like the Loves, are stepping up to help the golden-winged warbler and other wildlife while also managing healthy, more productive forests.”

Today’s guest blog features the USDA-NIFA Food Virology Collaborative (NoroCORE- Norovirus Collaborative for Outreach, Research, and Education), a food safety initiative with the ultimate goal to reduce the burden of foodborne disease associated with viruses, particularly noroviruses. Norovirus is the leading cause of foodborne illness in the United States accounting for around 5 million of the 21 million annual cases associated with contaminated foods. Cost of illness is estimated to be billions of dollars per year.

By Dr. Elizabeth Bradshaw, NoroCORE extension associate, and Dr. Lee-Ann Jaykus, NoroCORE scientific director

Even if you have not experienced a norovirus infection personally (consider yourself fortunate!), you probably know someone who has or have heard of an outbreak of the “stomach flu.”  Most people know norovirus by its symptoms: a couple of memorable days of vomiting and diarrhea, sometimes with a fever and a headache.

These maladies are caused by 27-nanometer viruses—tiny, even by virus standards.  The norovirus “bugs” are so good at infecting us that they have been called the “Perfect Human Pathogen.”  It is so virulent that a person can become sick within a few hours of consuming as few as 20 virus particles.  There are about 21 million cases per year in the United States alone, with about 800 deaths.

The NoroCORE team has taken up the challenge to understand and control food borne virus risks.  Led by North Carolina State, NoroCORE is a multi-disciplinary collaborative of 30 researchers who are top scientists in the fields of basic, food and environmental virology from 25 universities.  Their goal is to reduce the burden of foodborne illness associated with viruses.  NIFA supports the project with a $25 million Agriculture and Food Research Initiative grant.

NoroCORE’s six primary objectives are molecular virology, detection, epidemiology and risk analysis; prevention and control; extension and outreach; and education and capacity building. Collaborators work with each other, often across institutions and disciplines, which leads to the development of better tools and skills as well as shared resources and knowledge.

NoroCORE also has a massive outreach component with input from more than 200 stakeholders that includes members of government and public health agencies, food production and safety groups, restaurant and cruise line industries, manufacturers of sanitation and hygiene products, testing laboratories, and a variety of commodity and trade organizations. This was an integral part of NoroCORE’s design to ensure that the research being done is immediately applicable to real-world needs. Education is also a component of NoroCORE because knowledge must be shared to be useful.

NIFA invests in and advances agricultural research, education and extension and seeks to make transformative discoveries that solve societal challenges.

It’s that time of year – books, backpacks and a BBQ!   That’s right – Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) is preparing for its annual Farm to School Community BBQ, a much anticipated back-to-school event that kicks off the school year.  The following guest blog features inspiring initiatives MPS has implemented to serve local foods to its 35,000 students in the district.

Since 2011, MPS has sourced fresh produce, meats, baked goods and other products from local farmers and manufacturers.  Purchasing local foods supports Minnesota farms and small businesses and provides opportunities for students to learn how their food is grown by extending farm to school efforts beyond the cafeteria and into the classroom with visits from farmers and taste-tests.

Farm to school also helps to support another USDA initiative designed to enhance school meals – the What’s Shaking? Creative Ways to Boost Flavor with Less Sodium initiative.   Using local foods means that school nutrition programs are preparing more meals from scratch, allowing them to control the amount of sodium. Farm to school gets students engaged and excited about school meals – and with the community BBQ, both kids and their families get a sneak peek at what’s going to be on the lunch menu for the new school year.

By Kate Seybold, Farm to School Coordinator, Minneapolis Public Schools

What better way to ring in the new school year than by celebrating the bounties of local produce that farmers harvest during the back-to-school season?  Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) is hosting its Fifth Annual Farm to School Community BBQ – a community event built around fresh food, families and fun! The event brings together MPS students and their families, school staff, local farmers and vendors, True Food Chef Council members and other community partners in celebration of Minnesota Farm to School Month and our farm to school program.

It’s also a great opportunity to give the community a taste of our school food! This year, we expect around 1,000 attendees to join our local food celebration, which generates student excitement and family awareness about the abundance of local fresh fruits and vegetables that farmers grow in our area and that we serve on school salad bars and in delicious, made-from-scratch recipes featured on our school lunch menu!  The evening will be filled with tons of roasted corn and other farm to school foods – along with dozens of fun activities and live music.  The highlight of the night is the corn-shucking contest to see who can shuck the most ears of corn in only a few minutes.

The 2016-2017 school year marks the fifth year of MPS’ Farm to School Program.  Since 2012, MPS has worked with small to mid-size, sustainable growers in our area to incorporate a variety of vegetables and fruit into our school meals.  New farm to school foods are often introduced as a trial-run on the menu to allow us to gauge students’ responses and make decisions about moving forward with items.  Last year, students went crazy over the roasted cauliflower and the fresh honeydew melon – they loved them!  This year, we’ll buy everything from Brussels sprouts to kohlrabi to sweet potatoes, from more than 15 local farms.   The sweet potatoes are featured as sweet potato jo-jo’s and in our “Beets and Sweets” menu item – which are roasted sweet potatoes and beets.  The kohlrabi is made into a fresh slaw with carrots, apples and ginger.

Along with buying local, our farm to school program works closely with our community partners to provide food education and to interact with the broader community through our Minnesota Thursdays meals, True Food Taste Tests, Jr Iron Chef Competition, farmer classroom visits, and much more.  These activities encourage students to be more adventurous eaters and educate them about where their food comes from.

Our farm to school initiative has also helped us meet and exceed the guidelines to keep sodium minimal in school meals.  Also, less food seems to go to waste with fresh, flavorful scratch-cooking.   At the end of each school year, we ask our school nutrition staff to complete surveys about popular farm to school menu items among their students.  This information helps us to decide which items we would like to procure the following year through our farm to school program.

Building our farm to school program has been a learning process.  We decided the best way to help other districts join this local food movement would be to share all the lessons we learned along the way! Our recently published Farm to School Toolkit has tools and resources that have been developed since the program’s inception in Minneapolis.

To learn more about farm to school programs, check out the Community Food System’s Webpage and to explore local and regional food systems in your community, visit the Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food Compass and the USDA Farm to School Census.   Also, USDA’s What’s Shaking? Creative Ways to Boost Flavor With Less Sodium, a national sodium-reduction initiative, fosters creative ways to boost flavor and maximize taste to support efforts to lower the sodium content of school meals.

By Jessie Goodkind, American Forests

Greetings from American Forests’ newest policy intern! Following in the footsteps of a previous intern, I want to tell you a story to help explain a motivator in my pursuit of a position protecting America’s natural bounties.

My story begins 3,500 years ago, when a bald cypress sprout first made its way out of rich, moist swampland in the middle of a wild peninsula jetting out from the bottom of North America. It would be named Florida about 3,000 years later.

As a sapling, the cypress spent his formative years growing slowly but surely in peace and isolation, with only occasional visitation from an alligator swimming near his ever-expanding knees, or a migrating bird perching in his branches. His closest friend began growing 1,500 years after him just 40 feet away. Their friendship would last longer than the Roman Empire, and her beauty and his strength were unparalleled.

After few thousand years, his branches reached higher and his trunk stood wider than any other bald cypress in the entire swamp, and unbeknownst to him, the world. In fact, his massive size and strong presence became a landmark to native people as they meandered through the swamp’s watery maze, boughs pointing the way. By the 1800s, Florida visitors began navigating the wetlands to marvel at the magnificent tree and his lovely companion.

In the 1920s, after thousands of nameless years the tree was christened “The Senator,” a regal name bestowed upon him honoring a Florida state senator who donated his land, on which the tree grew, to become a public park. Over the next nearly 100 years, thousands of Floridians, and even a U.S. president, flocked to Big Tree Park to see The Senator standing proudly by his friend who came to be called Lady Liberty.

As a girl, I visited them. I was transported to a different time while gazing at their natural beauty. I remember how small they made me feel, and yet simultaneously so connected to nature. Many people probably think of the swamp as an undesirable place, but to a true Floridian, there is nowhere more special. They give us our wildlife, fresh water and a secret retreat from tourist-packed beaches and theme parks. The Senator and Lady Liberty were local treasures and very beloved.

The Senator, even in old age, was a sturdy fellow. He withstood lightning, hurricanes and all Mother Nature’s trials. Only one thing was able to overpower him: the carelessness of humans. In a moment of selfish thoughtlessness a young woman decided to use the safe haven The Senator created in the swamp for all the wrong reasons. She lit a fire at his base to light the night while she indulged in drug use, and although it was not her intent, she brought The Senator to his cypress knees in January 2012. He was the fifth oldest tree in the world.

By the time the firemen came, Lady Liberty had watched her companion burn down from the inside out. I remember hearing the news, which spread through central Florida as fast as the fire had.  Our community was heartbroken to learn of the loss of one of our most iconic members.

I was already nearing the end of my undergraduate career. It was too late to suddenly change majors and become an environmental scientist (I was studying political science), but The Senator’s story had lit a different kind of fire in me, a passion for making preservation and conservation of our nation’s forests and ecosystems a priority in my life. When, as a graduate student, I saw an opening for an internship blending politics and environmentalism at American Forests, I jumped on the opportunity.

American Forests even has a Big Tree program, which began in 1940 with a call to Americans to locate, measure and protect the biggest of a hundred different species of trees. Joseph L. Stearns was inspired to appeal for this project due to a very similar story to The Senator; a giant yellow poplar near Asheville, N.C. was burned down from two hunters’ careless mistake. Today, the registry boasts 705 champion and co-champion trees, the largest of which is General Sherman in Sequoia National Park, and is updated annually; 2016 will be released soon!

One of the first mentions of The Senator by American Forests is in the magazine from July, 1929 in The Sovereign Cypress, a piece praising the tree’s “marvelous size and antiquity.” The Senator is mentioned again by a reader’s letter in the 1940 journal and was listed in the first official registry of big trees the following year along with scores of other impressive trees around the country, some of which are still on the registry today.

The Big Tree program allows other Americans to experience the majesty of some of our land’s largest wonders. I couldn’t be more excited to get to work to ensure that future Americans have the same chance to feel inspired by and connected to our forests as I did when I first saw The Senator.

If you’re interested in learning more about American Forests and big trees, visit our Big Tree Program page. You can also read more about the fire that killed the Senator in an earlier blog post, Saying Goodbye to the Senator or in our magazine at Death of the Senator.

Many people know that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is the agency tasked with administering the Animal Welfare Act (AWA).  But did you know that this is the 50^th anniversary of that Act?

In 1965, a Dalmatian named Pepper was stolen from her backyard by a dealer, who then sold her to a hospital.  Pepper was used in research and subsequently died.  The public outcry was, understandably, enormous, including coverage in several major magazines.  As a result, Congress passed the Laboratory Animal Welfare Act – the precursor to the AWA – in 1966, and tasked the U.S. Department of Agriculture to ensure the health and wellness of animals used in research.

Although the AWA has been updated and modified many times since 1966, its goals remain the same – ensuring the health and wellness of regulated animals.  Congress amended the AWA to refine the standards of care for regulated animals and add provisions to cover animals used for commercial breeding, for public exhibition, and those transported commercially.  The AWA also prohibits animal fighting, with stiff penalties for anyone who owns fighting animals or sponsors/promotes the events.

And while the AWA doesn’t regulate private pets, we do help out in natural disasters.  When Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana, many pet owners wouldn’t leave without their pets, resulting in tragic consequences.  Right on the heels of Katrina, Hurricane Rita also slammed into Louisiana.  Employees from APHIS rushed to save approximately 14,000 pets.  Since then, we’ve created an Emergency Programs division to work with FEMA and other organizations to help develop plans and training specifically for disaster-related animal issues.

We know that it’s incredibly important for individuals involved in AWA-covered activities to understand the law and its requirements, so we opened the Center for Animal Welfare in 2010.  The center provides science-based guidance and learning opportunities for our employees and our stakeholders.  They consistently share information with the animal welfare community through meetings and other types of outreach.

While a lot has been accomplished in 50 years, we couldn’t have done it without our dedicated team of animal care employees who are resilient, resourceful and responsive to the humane needs and welfare of animals, and the support of our stakeholders and the public.  Our work is not done.  We will continue to seek ways to refine the AWA’s protections to ensure the health and wellness of all regulated animals.  We look forward to working together with our stakeholders and the public to ensure the next 50 years are as productive as the previous ones.

In Menomonie, Wisconsin, there is a 155-acre, three-parcel farm, whose purpose is to educate and demonstrate natural resources conservation. As part of their curriculum, Chippewa Valley Technical College (CVTC) Agricultural Program students perform farm work there in an outdoor classroom environment.

“The Red Cedar Demonstration Farm gives students a hands-on opportunity to plant, scout fields, monitor growth, harvest, write nutrient plans, take soil samples. Really, it’s a full farm laboratory for students,” said John Sippl, Dunn County Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) District Conservationist.

The farm began through partnership. “In 2015, a partnership was formed,” Sippl says. “We started implementing soil health practices, nutrient management standards, no-till, and cover crops.”

The partners – NRCS, Dunn County Land and Water, University of Wisconsin-Extension, and the CVTC – presented a demonstration and educational farm idea to the county board. They agreed to a five-year lease to implement conservation practices to educate students, partners, and the community on soil health and its benefits.

“They saw different agencies coming together to form a truly interactive partnership to look at conservation management,” said Dan Prestebak with Dunn County Land & Water. “This was instrumental to the committee approving our ideas for the project.”

When the partners first visited the site, they saw the effects of wind erosion, but also saw the potential for improving the health of the soil.

But what about now? Students plant corn, small grains, and soybeans. No-till is used on the majority of the land and cover crops are also being used after each crop harvest. Students learn how to use tillage equipment on a control strip, to compare to no-till areas, where conservation practices are implemented.

“We’re seeing results!” said Sippl.

Cover crops are also planted on the field, a multi-species mix of a winter annual, a brassica species, and clovers.

“With multi-species cover crops on the ground, we’ve seen an abundance of wildlife—more than we’ve ever seen before,” said Sippl.

The soybeans had winter rye cover crop drilled in and will be harvested for grain in the summer. Corn fields were aerial seeded with a winter cover crop when corn was still standing. Lime and urea are also being applied for nutrient management.

“By incorporating crop diversity into the system, we saw better infiltration rates in just one years’ time,” said Sippl.

“We’re demonstrating it is possible to utilize no-till and cover crops, build organic matter, change the biological diversity in the soil, infiltrate more water, decrease erosion, increase soil health and more,” said Sippl. “We have an opportunity to show how conservation efforts can make an impact long term. We’re all excited to see the difference conservation can make in educating our next generation.”

CVTC has a unique partnership with the local implement dealers to allow students to use equipment for educational purposes. “We bring students to learn; we look at agronomy, marketing, and the financial side of harvesting. We’re excited to be a hands-on member of this partnership,” said Mark Denk, CVTC Instructor.

The main goal for the demo farm is conservation education. “NRCS, Dunn County Land & Water, UW-Extension, and CVTC. We’ve always had a good relationship, but this project has really strengthened that relationship and it’s been great for the students and community also,” said Prestebak.

Few realize that Oregon produces 99 percent of the hazelnuts in the United States. That means that an accurate forecast of hazelnut production in the Beaver state assists the industry in determining marketing plans and price. To do that, USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service runs a joint project with the Hazelnut Marketing Board of Oregon, which allows us to measure the most accurate production yields and forecasts for hazelnut production possible. This project is called the Oregon Hazelnut Objective Yield Survey.

When it comes to forecasting production of a particular commodity, there are various methods we can use. Predominantly we survey growers to get their estimate of their own farm production. We combine the farmers’ responses with objective yield measurements. In brief, we use the objective yield survey to count and measure the crop prior to harvest so that we can see what kind of crop we can truly expect by the end of the growing season.

To conduct the Oregon Hazelnut Objective Yield Survey, we randomly select hazelnut orchards that represent the bearing acreage within Oregon. Factors we keep track of include the age of trees and variety. Once an orchard is selected and the producer grants permission to enter an orchard, the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) enumerators randomly select trees and branches from which to pick the nuts and send them to our laboratory for processing.

Once in the lab, nuts are counted and samples are selected to peel off the husk. We then measure the size of the nut and crack it open to determine if a kernel is inside the shell. All results are entered in a computer and summarized. That sounds simple but careful steps are taken along the way to ensure all documented procedures are followed consistently. The objective yield analysis helps ground-truth the survey and builds an accurate picture of the upcoming harvest.

Pest and weather impacts have made this work more challenging in recent years, yet by following consistent procedures our results provide solid, objective statistics that those interested in hazelnut production can rely on.

We conduct all these measurements from 180 different orchards during the first two weeks of August. Since the results have such a strong impact on the hazelnut industry, we make sure the data are published as soon as possible. The culmination of all these efforts was the report for 2016, in which we forecast Oregon hazelnut production for 2016 to be 38,000 tons. If realized, this will be a 23 percent increase from the 31,000 tons produced last year and above the five-year average of 37,200 tons.

As Deputy Under Secretary, I have the honor and the pleasure of traveling to schools across the country to see our programs in action.  Through my visits, I’ve had a chance to meet with hundreds of dedicated school administrators and school nutrition professionals, hearing countless testimonials of how they strive every day to serve students nutritious foods that will help them succeed in the classroom and grow into healthy adults.  As a former school nutrition director myself, these visits are one of the most rewarding parts of my job.

Now, as students return to school and we all turn our thoughts to the year ahead, I can’t help but to be inspired by what’s to come.  More than 50 million children attend schools that participate in the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program.  These students are experiencing school environments that are healthier than ever, with balanced meals, healthy snacks, nutrition education and consistent messaging about the importance of healthy eating.

And the proof is in the pudding – or in this case, the low-fat yogurt!   School breakfast has taken off, setting children up for success by ensuring they get a nutritious meal to start each and every day.  Participation in school breakfast has climbed steadily from approximately 10.5 million in fiscal year 2008 to more than 14 million children in fiscal year 2015, an increase of more than 32 percent.  Across the board, students are eating more fruits and vegetables – to the tune of a 16 percent increase in vegetable consumption.  And they are exposed to new nutritious foods through increasingly popular farm to school programs – now at more than 42,500 schools nationwide – that bring fresh, local produce onto kid’s trays and into their diets.  It’s clear that the healthy eating movement is gaining traction in our schools.

Equally as important, millions of low-income children are now guaranteed access to meals at school through the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP).  CEP is an optional cost-sharing partnership between the federal government and school districts in high-poverty areas that allows eligible schools in lower income areas to serve nutritious lunches and breakfasts to all students at no cost.  This greatly reduces the administrative burden on schools and eliminates the stigma associated with free or reduced priced meals.  Close to 8.5 million students from more than 18,000 schools across the country participated in the program in school year 2015-16.  We look forward to another year of success stories of knocking out child hunger with the Community Eligibility Provision.

But before we move full speed ahead into the new school year, I encourage everyone to take a moment to celebrate the progress that’s been made.  From school nutrition professionals to manufacturers, teachers to parents, students to principals, community leaders to farmers: We should all be proud of the role we’ve all had in shaping the healthy eating movement that will nurture generations of children for years to come.

Thank you to all who have contributed to that progress, and cheers to a healthy and successful school year!

In this guest blog, Iowa State 4-H Youth Development program leader John-Paul Chaisson-Cardenas takes a look at several ways 4-H is embracing the cultural diversity of its participating youth to make sure youth of color feel welcome as the U.S. student population grows more diverse.

By John-Paul Chaisson-Cardenas, Iowa State 4-H Youth Development Program Leader

While the foundational elements of 4-H—experiential learning, positive youth development, et al.—are well-suited for cross-cultural and multicultural contexts, some of the language and traditions of 4-H may not be as culturally relevant to many youth.

In 2014, Iowa 4-H began to intentionally move beyond inclusion to belonging.  We expanded on the previous work of our national partner, 4-H National Headquarters, to redevelop programs that reflect the positive cultural knowledge that many of our youth already have.  4-H National Headquarters is part of USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), provides funding and national program leadership to 4-H.

In 2015 we created the first Culturally-based Youth Leadership Accelerator (CYLA).  CYLAs are not programs themselves; rather, they are launching pads for underrepresented and underserved youth into local 4-H learning communities. They are designed to use cultural strengths and culturally-based narratives to: introduce and strengthen the relationship between youth of color and local programs; introduce volunteers, staff, and faculty to culturally based leadership development work; and connect underrepresented youth to post-secondary education and resources available to them.

The model was designed so that youth of color are not isolated, but instead, help transform their local 4-H programs with increased cultural relevance and diversity.

One of our CYLA programs, Maize, brought together nearly 100 Latino and Native American youth from across the state. Maize has grown to 160 youth this year.

The name Maize, known in English as corn, is the staple food of most of the indigenous peoples of pre-Columbian North America, Mesoamerica, South America and the Caribbean. Many Mesoamerican and North American Indian legends share that humans were created from maize. A youth retreat in April used the symbolism of corn/maize to represent the coming together of Native American, Latino and other Iowa traditions, aspirations and cultures.

Based on our success with Maize, the Iowa 4-H program created a second retreat in April, called Ujima, which brought together 90 African-American and African immigrant youth. Ujima is the third principle of Kwanzaa and represents collective work and responsibility.

This fall, Iowa 4-H will release online curriculum and training resources so other states may replicate the model. In 2017, we plan to add a third accelerator to serve Asian-American and Pacific Islander youth.

Often it is not about teaching youth something new, but about connecting youth to something ancient – their roots.

NIFA invests in and advances agricultural research, education and extension and seeks to make transformative discoveries that solve societal challenges.

By Megan Feeney, American Forests

Tree-SMART Trade is a series of policy initiatives that are currently being developed in order to combat the perilous effects of invasive species on native trees. These suggestions have originated from the work of a group of scientists within the field of forestry in an attempt to address threats to tree health.

Studies have shown that there is a direct link between the increase of trade and the expanding impact of various invasive species. This has been a continuous element associated with trade in the United States, dating back to the nation’s founding. With spikes in international trade over the past several decades, specifically trade with Asia, wood borer insects, such as the Asian Long-Horned Beetle, have been on the rise.

While trade is often accepted as a positive element to global relations, cultural exchange and economic opportunity, trade is having an increasingly negative impact on forest health. As native trees to North American did not co-evolve with these imported pests, they lack the necessary defense to combat these new species. Local governments and homeowners are then forced to accept the tremendous economic burden associated with invasive pests. From aspects of tree removal, decline in property levels and loss of health benefits, the troubling impact of imported species impacts all levels of society.

Invasive species, such as the Emerald Ash Borer and White Pine Blister Rust, continue to devastate the health of forests in their respective regions. The Emerald Ash Borer, which is unintentionally imported through solid-wood packaging, has wreaked havoc on cities, such as Cincinnati, causing a tremendous reduction in the area’s tree canopies. Blister Rust, an imported fungus, has proven to be quite damaging to the health of the white bark pine, which is the first tree eligible for protection under the Endangered Species Act. It is important to note that blister rust has been an ongoing issue, one which American Forests has been attempting to address for more than a century.

Tree-SMART Trade attempts to address a variety of forestry concerns by building upon current programs that target invasive species. These area’s consist of rethinking how commodities are packaged, addressing species outbreaks quickly, working with trading partners to address the issue, limiting the number of live woody plants allowed into the country and instituting penalties for companies that fail to comply.

While American Forests does not concentrate on aspects of international or domestic trade, it is important to recognize the impact that these practices have on our nation’s forests, urban greenspaces and communities. Tree-SMART Trade’s initiative to reduce the spread of new pests through methods of early detection and programs focusing on rapid response measures coincide with American Forests’ mission in forest conservation.

Lovett, Gary M., et. al. “Nonnative Forest Insects and Pathogens in the United States: Impacts and Policy Options.” Ecological Applications, 26.5 (2016): 1437-455.

http://www.caryinstitute.org/sites/default/files/public/downloads/tree_smart_trade.pdf