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On Thursday, January, 12, 2016 at 3:00pm EDT, William Hohenstein will discuss methods and opportunities for incorporating Climate Change considerations into programming for Extension personnel and other professionals who assist producers in their operations. This is an excellent opportunity to find out how USDA can help Extension use climate tools, information and programs to enhance programming.
Register for this webinar now.

William Hohestein serves as the Director of the USDA Climate Change Program Office (CCPO), and is responsible for coordinating climate change research and program activities for the Department. The Climate Change Program Office provides coordination and policy development support for the Department’s climate change program. It serves as a focal point for support to the Secretary of Agriculture on the causes and consequences of climate change, as well as strategies for addressing climate change.

December 29th, 2016|Tags: End-of-Year Campaign 2016, wildlife|0 Comments

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Cerulean warblers spend part of the year in the Appalachian Mountains of North America as well as the Andes Mountains of South America. Photo by DJ McNeil.

What do biologists look for in a healthy forest? A diversity in the ages and composition of trees and occasional breaks in canopy to allow sunlight to reach understory plants. Healthy forests, just like healthy human populations, are sustained by a diversity of ages. Each group has a role to play in maintaining the whole community over the long term.

But healthy, diverse forests are on the decline across the eastern United States. A lack of natural and human-induced disturbances because of fire suppression and certain timber harvest methods have led the forested landscape to become largely homogenous.

These declines have had negative impacts on many different wildlife species, especially birds – like the cerulean warbler – that use different types of forests for different parts of their life cycle. Through a new project, the Appalachian Mountains Joint Venture (AMJV) is working with landowners and conservation partners to sustainably manage healthier forests, benefiting the declining cerulean warbler.

“Because three-fourths of the cerulean warbler’s distribution occurs on private lands, working with private landowners in this region is critical to the successful conservation of this songbird,” AMJV Coordinator Todd Fearer said about the cerulean warbler, which nests and raises its young in the treetops above the Appalachian Mountains.

AMJV, a partnership to restore and sustain native bird populations in the region, is working with landowners in West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Kentucky to provide assistance in managing healthier forests and restoring forests on mining sites. The AMJV is working with USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), American Bird Conservancy and more than a dozen other conservation partners to provide technical and financial assistance to help landowners plan and implement sustainable forestry practices.

“Fortunately, good cerulean habitat is best created using sustainable forestry practices that can improve the health of the forest stand and improve the future value of timber, so it’s a win for both the birds and the landowners,” Fearer said.

This project brings together many partners to assist landowners, including the National Wild Turkey Federation and West Virginia Department of Forestry. Photo by Kyle Aldinger.

Landowners have found these practices help to “reset the clock” on low-value forests by re-establishing a healthier and more valuable stand of trees.

The project has a goal to improve the health of at least 12,500 acres in priority areas. In its first year, the project led to the improvement of about 1,700 acres. The AMJV is also monitoring the response to forest improvement, tracking the use of these managed lands by cerulean warblers and other species.

The Regional Conservation Partnership Program, a Farm Bill conservation program administered by NRCS, is investing $8 million in this project, and partners are leveraging an additional $8 million.

“One of the greatest strengths of the Migratory Bird Joint Ventures is the collective resources the partners bring to the table,” Fearer said. “We have more than 20 AMJV partners across five states assisting with this project, contributing direct, in-kind and logistical support. This gives us the opportunity to address a range of cerulean warbler conservation needs at a scale not feasible by any one organization.” 

This project is part of a broader conservation effort in the East to help landowners manage for diverse forests. Through Working Lands for Wildlife (WLFW), NRCS has helped Appalachian landowners improve more than 13,000 acres for the golden-winged warbler, another iconic migratory songbird that relies on young forests for nesting.

“The Farm Bill provides landowners with a variety of tools to manage for more productive forests, including one-on-one technical assistance and financial assistance,” said Bridgett Costanzo, one of WLFW’s coordinators. “Every forest has different needs and resource challenges, and we work with landowners to tailor forest management plans to meet the needs of wildlife and their operations.”

Landowners wanting to participate in the AMJV’s effort for cerulean warbler are encouraged to reach out to the AMJV or their nearest USDA service center

As the traveling Forest Service representative, Teresa Butel helped facilitate the migration station by talking to students about different native bird species (Photo Credit: Julia Schwitzer, Wilderness Inquiry).

A young girl looks fearfully at the large wooden canoe bobbing on the water. She steps into the canoe and it moves. She yelps, and is given a reassuring smile by her boat captain. She gets settled holding her paddle tightly, convinced with every movement that the canoe will capsize.

The canoe takes off as everyone starts to paddle in sync in order to glide across the water. She begins to relax and enjoy herself, soaking up the sun, blue sky and fresh air. Before she knows it, the canoe is coming to dock, and she’s imagining her next adventure on the water.

This is common with first time participants to Wilderness Inquiry’s Canoemobile. As U.S. Forest Service intern Teresa Butel observed, “Sometimes participants are afraid to get on the boats in the water, but when the paddle is finished, they come back to shore with smiles and want to go again.”

Braving the wind and the waves, students got the canoe experience without even leaving the shoreline thanks to the creativity of the Wilderness Inquiry crew (Photo Credit: Julia Schweitzer, Wilderness Inquiry).

While traveling for 10 weeks with Canoemobile, Teresa acted as a U.S. Forest Service representative and boat captain. She was also a tireless French Voyageur, fearsome river monster and an adventurous bird during migration. All in the name of inspiring future conservation leaders.

For the past five years, the Forest Service’s Urban Connections program has partnered with Canoemobile; however, 2016 was the first time that a representative was able to travel as part of the crew. Teresa’s crew started in northern Minnesota and traveled to the East Coast including Boston Harbor, New York City, and Atlanta. They worked with over 3,300 people in 12 cities, meeting with partners in each area to organize school field trips, extended paddles and community days.

Canoemobile works with partners to incorporate land-based educational activities to inform people about the health of waterways in their backyard, recreation opportunities and how to be good stewards of nature.

#FSSQUAD – one of the students gazes out on Bemidji Park in search of a Bald Eagle that had just flown overhead (Photo Credit: Julia Schweitzer, Wilderness Inquiry).

One of Teresa’s favorite stops was in Bemidji, Minnesota, where students from The Low Incident Project, a group for students who are blind, deaf and hard of hearing, investigated the water quality of Lake Bemidji with the help of school interpreters. They tested PH, temperature, turbidity and phosphorous levels while introducing students to tools they could use as future scientists. At the U.S. Forest Service station, students learned about the Mississippi Flyway by acting out a bird’s migration.  

A canoe trip was planned after lunch, however, the weather didn’t cooperate, so the staff got creative. Students listened to a safety talk and had a relay race to become familiar with safety equipment. They learned basic paddle strokes and were eventually allowed to “take a ride,” with staff walking the canoe through crashing waves along the shore. Students and staff got soaked but left the experience with abated fears about stormy weather and a confidence in experiencing something new outdoors.

Turn your resolutions into real solutions with MyPlate, MyWins. (Click to enlarge)

Every January, Americans are bombarded with information about New Year’s resolutions. While many of us set our hopes high on January 1^st, our commitment to our lofty resolutions tends to dwindle over time.  In fact, by June, less than half of us are still committed to accomplishing our New Year’s resolutions! One reason for this waning interest is that our resolutions often are unrealistic, incorporating extreme goals and expecting immediate perfection. We sabotage ourselves with these strategies. Instead, starting with small steps and celebrating milestones along the way are shown to be more helpful strategies in keeping resolutions. As you begin thinking about your resolutions for 2017, I encourage you to start with MyPlate, MyWins.

Let MyPlate, My Wins be a resource to help you turn your resolutions into real solutions for a healthy new year.

Real solutions are small, practical changes that add up to a healthier lifestyle over time. Real solutions do not have an end date; they are changes that can be incorporated into Americans’ lifestyles to help maintain a healthy eating style long term. USDA’s MyPlate, MyWins meets Americans where they are and helps to build healthier eating habits from there, rather than setting unrealistic goals at the start. MyPlate, My Wins allows Americans to personalize their goals and eating habits to fit their needs.

If you are committed to making healthy changes in 2017, USDA is committed to providing you with resources to help you begin the new year in a healthy way. An updated MyPlate, MyWins page launched today will help guide Americans through the process of finding a healthier eating style. The Stories from Families and Individuals page has videos from relatable families about their healthy eating solutions. The page also features tips and solutions from our own MyPlate staff!

To motivate and guide you to achieve attainable nutrition goals, SuperTracker, USDA’s free online food and activity tracker, is hosting a 5-week MyPlate New Year’s Challenge. The Challenge will focus on the 5 MyPlate food groups and incorporating a healthier eating style into your life. I encourage you to get involved in this MyPlate New Year’s Challenge, and continue to use SuperTracker as a tool to track your progress into the future. The Challenge will start on January 2^nd; log in or create an account in SuperTracker and join the MyPlate New Year’s Challenge!

I am also happy to announce the launch of a new, animated MyPlate, MyWins video series. These videos give examples of simple changes you can make to your typical meals to decrease sodium, saturated fat, and added sugars. Do you need to grab breakfast at the local convenience store? Do you often order takeout after a long day at work?  These videos provide solutions that can actually fit in to your busy life and could make a difference for you.

MyPlate, MyWins will be launching one video per week for the next 5 weeks; visit the Make Small Changes webpage every week to view the latest video, and find ideas and tools to support you in the MyPlate New Year’s Challenge. To supplement these videos, meal-focused webpages will have additional nutrition information and tip sheets for more ways you can incorporate these small changes into your lifestyle.

MyPlate, MyWins will help guide you in your journey towards a healthier lifestyle in the new year. For more healthy eating tips and resources, visit ChooseMyPlate.gov, follow MyPlate on Facebook and Twitter, and sign up for email updates.

Frank Lake, research ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service’s Pacific Southwest Station, jots down some field notes after visiting a forest study plot in northern California. (Photo Credit: Kenny Sauve, Western Klamath Restoration Partnership).

Frank Lake grew up learning traditional practices from the Karuk and Yurok Tribes. He developed an interest in science which led to his career choice as a research ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service’s Pacific Southwest Research Station. As a young man, he didn’t realize how unusual the experience was of spending time in two parallel worlds.

The Megram Fire of 1999 was a turning point for Lake, and the Forest Service as well. It was one of California’s largest wildland fires ever and the agency grappled with how to restore salmon in the burned over watershed. Lake knew that local tribal elders considered “fire as medicine,” and an important part of the ecosystem. The link between fire and fish is through water, they told him, and “water is sacred to all life.” Fires could reduce the number of trees in overly dense forests and improve spring flow needed by rivers to support healthy fisheries.

“With the Megram Fire, we experienced how a big fire affected fish and watersheds, and the Forest Service really started to consider traditional ecological knowledge (TEK),” Lake said. Over the last 15 years, federal agencies established government-to-government consultations with regional tribes and other information sharing opportunities.  Lake wanted to learn more as an ecologist.

One recent example of this collaboration is Lake’s research on forests regarding canopy cover. The elders shared with Forest Service scientists the degree of tree canopy cover they considered ideal for their cultural needs. By correlating the characteristics of preferred landscapes, the scientists were able to reduce the number of study plots needed to complete their research, with a substantial savings of time and money.

“We needed to bring the tribal point of view into a contemporary context to achieve multiple resource objectives, such as mitigating hazardous fuels in a forest and restoring fire as a natural process that promotes good things like water and desired vegetation for traditional foods and basket making.”

 “Contemporary use of TEK to achieve desired management outcomes for an ‘all lands-all hands’ restoration approach is supported by USDA,” Lake said. “The next step with the Western Klamath Restoration Partnership is implementation, bringing TEK into forest research, planning and other landscape restoration strategies.”

Administrator Audrey Rowe visits the Young Women’s STEAM Academy at Balch Springs Middle School, where students established a school garden as part of their culinary arts program.

School gardens are gaining popularity across the country. In Texas, nearly 3,000 schools participate in farm to school activities. Some of these schools work with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension’s Learn, Grow, Eat, and Go program. Jeff Raska, a school garden specialist with the AgriLife Extension, works with numerous programs and offers practical advice to schools establishing a school garden. Here, he discusses the importance of a strong school garden committee.

By Jeff Raska, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Dallas County Texas

A school vegetable garden can be a wonderful outdoor classroom for studying natural science. Having worked with school gardens on and off for more than 25 years, I have seen many great school garden programs bloom, and then fade as time passes and school priorities change. For the last seven years, I’ve had the privilege of working with school gardens as a 4-H Club program assistant for Dallas County and have had the benefit of seeing a wide range of needs and challenges that schools face when trying to start a garden. However, the most successful programs have a few important things in place.

One of the first common elements is a dedicated garden committee. The committee can include teachers, parents, community members or school support staff. It’s important to have certain duties assigned to each member. For example, there needs to be a point person who reaches out for help when needed and maintains accountability. This is important because if the garden is funded by outside resources, such as grants or corporate sponsors, certain benchmarks must be met. I have honestly tried to talk some schools out of pursuing a school garden because they didn’t have a committee structure in place. The committee is important for success.

The committee needs to determine why they want to invest time and resources into a school garden program, and how it will benefit the students.  The committee should write a list of goals they want to accomplish and the benefits the school garden will bring. Then, they need to balance those benefits with the costs involved such as the startup and yearly maintenance fees; the time it will take out of someone’s daily school duties; the team it will require to schedule and carry out a garden program; and how they will incorporate the garden into the school’s lesson plans.  The committee can be responsible for start-up funding and long-term maintenance costs, as well as material procurement and maintenance schedules.

The committee should research and recommend a school garden curriculum that best fits the schools lesson plans and goals. I recommend the Learn Grow Eat Go Curriculum developed by the Texas A&M AgriLife Junior Master Gardener team through a USDA research grant.  It not only incorporates the horticultural aspects, but also teaches nutrition, cooking and a classroom exercise plan for a complete healthy living model. I incorporate a nutrition element in all school programs I teach (being primarily Title 1 schools) because nutrition education is important in low-income communities.

The people on the committee will change as the years pass (kids and parents move up, teachers move schools, principals change) so a good foundation committee needs to be established and put in place to keep the garden blooming for years to come. I never use the word sustainable in horticultural systems, as no natural eco system just sustains itself.  In the same way that an ecosystem evolves to climatic changes, understand that school garden programs must also plan to evolve to be able to enjoy long-term success.

Students show Administrator Rowe a cucumber proudly harvested from their garden. Members of the school staff, the Texas AgriLife Extension and parent volunteers all helped build and maintain the garden.