News

A good summary of NCDEQ's in-lieu fee program (Division of Mitigation Services) via a FHWA Case Study webinar that was held yesterday.  The webinar can be viewed at https://connectdot.connectsolutions.com/p4qw9hzqvtk/

Summary is  at: https://www.environment.fhwa.dot.gov/ecological/ImplementingEcoLogicalApproach/Case_Study_NCDEQ.asp

The Carolinas Chapter of AEG has organized a reprise of our 2014 vapor intrusion conference at the Hilton Charlotte University Place on Thursday and Friday, Oct. 5 and 6. Since the first conference, a lot has happened in the world of vapor intrusion, including a change in the political scene and advancement of hot topics, such as trichloroethene (TCE).

The conference will feature nationally known speakers, including Henry Schuver of the U.S. EPA, Rod Thompson of IUPUI, and Blayne Hartman of Hartman Environmental Geoscience. We have organized a special afternoon session on TCE with focused presentations by research scientists, a risk assessor, and an attorney on that topic, followed by a panel discussion with these speakers that will take questions and comments from the attendees.

Gauging by the buzz in the community already, we hope this year's conference will bring more than the 215 professionals that attended our 2014 conference, and have moved this year's conference to Charlotte to be closer to attendees from neighboring states. We will offer continuing education units for geologists and engineers, as well as continuing legal education units for attorneys. Registration forms, speaker list, speaker biographies and abstracts are on the AEG website and on the AEG Carolinas Chapter website. These websites also have the link to the block of rooms reserved at the Hilton, at a special rate of $139 per night.

Click here to download the conference flyer.

Carnage Middle School (near downtown Raleigh) is hosting a Mother's Day Plant Sale May 8-11 to help support their Ecology and Botany programs.

More information can be found at http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0f4da4ae2ba2fa7-mothers. The greenhouse is located behind the main building. They also have slots available if you're interested in volunteering to help with the sale.

The 2017 NC Envirothon competition will be held on April 28-29, 2017 at Cedarock Park, Alamance County, NC.

Volunteers are NEEDED! The NC Envirothon competition can average about 500 students, parents and teachers attending the 2 day event, so we need a lot of people willing to help us pull off an event this size. There are a multitude of jobs to fill on both days. Come help for both days or just one if you can't make it to both days.

The NC Envirothon is an annual competition for high school and middle school students. The program consists of one-day area competitions held in March or early April and a two-day state competition held in late April or early May. The number of teams participating at area competitions is unlimited. The top seven (7) scoring teams in each area, plus the top scoring FFA team, compete at the state competition to represent NC at the National Conservation Foundation (NCF) Envirothon, a 5-day competition held in July or August. The NCF Envirothon hosts teams from participating states and Canadian provinces who have won their state or provincial event. Teams at the NCF Envirothon compete for recognition and scholarships by demonstrating their knowledge of environmental science and natural resource management.

The NC Envirothon has been providing quality education and enrichment opportunities to North Carolina students for 25 years. A leader in natural resource, ecology and environmental education, the Envirothon has been helping to develop NC’s leaders for the future.

For more information check out: https://sites.google.com/site/envirothonnc/home

 

CarWA is thrilled to announce and celebrate their 2017 Wetland Treasures sites! (click name to view a factsheet):

• Congaree National Park in Richland County, SC (owned by the National Park Service)
• Hobcaw Barony Wetlands in Georgetown County, SC (owned by the Belle W. Baruch Foundation)
• Kanuga Bog in Henderson County, NC (owned by Kanuga Conference & Retreat Center)
• Robertson Millpond in Wake County, NC (owned by Wake County)
• Scuppernong River Swamp in Tyrrell County, NC (owned by U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service)

And they have five field trips planned this spring, starting on April 29th. Space is limited for each trip, so register today.

·         Six slides per page color (9 pages) –

https://naep.memberclicks.net/assets/webinars/2017webinars/trumpadministrationwebinar-20170308-final-6slidesperpage.pdf

 

·         Two slides per page color (27 pages) –

https://naep.memberclicks.net/assets/webinars/2017webinars/trumpadministrationwebinar-20170308-final-2slidesperpage.pdf

 

·         One slide per page color (53 pages) –

https://naep.memberclicks.net/assets/webinars/2017webinars/trumpadministrationwebinar-20170308-final-1slideperpage.pdf

 

The NCAEP is offering scholarship opportunities for students to attend the NAEP Conference we are co-hosting in Durham March 27-30.  

If you know a student who might be interested in attending the conference please forward this information to them.  The application is due by February 15 and will cover the $200 registration fee and will include an NCAEP membership as well.

Click here to get to the scholarship site and get all the details.  Thank you!

I'm sure you've seen the emails, but we just wanted to remind everyone that we're co-hosting the NAEP Conference in Durham in 7 weeks. We look forward to having a strong contingent of North Carolina folks in attendance. The program includes some very interesting speakers, including Ted Boling from CEQ, Tim Profeta from Duke's Nicholas Institute, and possibly the new Secretary of NCDEQ. 

The conference website can be found at http://www.naep.org/2017-conference.

Please feel free to get in touch with any of the NCAEP Board members with questions! Look forward to seeing you there!

On 21 April 2016 Brock Hoegh, President of the National Association of Environmental Professionals, sent a letter to NAEP members and affiliated chapter presidents.  The letter summarized discussions re: NC HB2, during the April 2016 National Board Meeting in Chicago, which I attended.  In addition to complimenting the efforts of the NC chapter to plan the 2017 national conference in Durham, the letter stated:

"The Board wants to be clear in its position that it does not support discrimination or intolerance."

To read the entire letter, use this link. 

If you would like to comment directly to President Hoegh, please email him (naep@naep.org).  As I would like to document NCAEP member comments, please consider copying me (president@ncaep.org).

Ward Marotti

President, NCAEP

The Service is announcing a final rule that identifies Endangered Species Act protections for the northern-long eared bat. The final 4(d) rule, published in the Federal Register on January 14, 2016, identifies prohibitions that focus on protecting the bat’s sensitive life stages in areas affected by white-nose syndrome.

The Service listed the northern long-eared bat as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in April 2015 and established an interim 4(d) rule. At the same time we opened a 90-day public comment period on the interim rule to gather additional information as we worked to refine and finalize it.

http://www.fws.gov/midwest/endangered/mammals/nleb/