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July/August 2008 Newsletter

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Special Feature: 2008 Virginia EE Conference
Funding and Award Deadlines
Upcoming Events
Partner Updates and Resources
Your Virginia
Assorted Items of Professional Interest

Litter Picks NEW!
Fun Fact

2008 Virginia Environmental Education Conference

Funding and Awards Deadlines

Conservation Landscaping Contest August 1, 2008
The Chesapeake Conservation Landscaping Council (CCLC) is seeking entries.   This competition celebrates properties around the Chesapeake Bay watershed that adhere to the CCLC’s “Eight Elements of Conservation Landscaping.”  These “Eight Elements” include guidelines that promote clean ground water, good wildlife habitat, and healthy soils.   
 
Winning entries will showcase gardens that are both beautiful and environmentally friendly.  Sites may be residential or non-residential, and must be located within the Chesapeake Bay watershed (which covers sections of MD, VA, PA, DE, WV, and NY).  Novice gardeners, students, schools, businesses and professionals are all welcome to enter up to three sites each. 
 
Contest applications and the “Eight Elements” guideline list can be found on the CCLC website www.chesapeakelandscape.org.  Applications due August 1 and winners will be announced in mid-September.  
 
Applications being accepted for monies from sale of Chesapeake Bay license plates until October 1; $393,086 available
The Chesapeake Bay Restoration Advisory Committee is accepting grant applications to conduct Chesapeake Bay-related education and restoration activities. The grants are funded with monies from the sale of the special Chesapeake Bay license plate “Friend of the Chesapeake.”
 
Grant funds will be awarded in May-June 2009. To be eligible for receiving a grant, applicants should submit proposals emphasizing environmental education or restoration and conservation of the Chesapeake Bay. Projects focusing on environmental education should increase public awareness and knowledge about the Bay, and projects of a restoration and conservation nature should be action oriented. Grants are awarded for one year, except in special circumstances. Grant funds may not be used to supplant existing state or local general fund appropriations.
 
More information on the Chesapeake Bay Restoration Fund, including the application, grant guidelines, and a catalogue of past projects can be found at http://dls.state.va.us/cbrfac.htm. 

Upcoming Events

Please see Calendar of Events for a listing of public programs and professional development offerings.  For a list of professional development opportunities for educators, visit www.vanaturally.com/summer.html

Partner Updates and Resources

Welcome New Partners

New Web Site Helps Kids Identify the Healthiest Fish to Eat
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency launched a new Web site at www.epa.gov/fishadvisories/kids/ to help children and their parents choose the healthiest fish to eat, using interactive stories and games. The site has been selected as the August site of the month by kids.gov, the official kids’ portal for the U.S. government.

Whether they catch their own fish or buy it at a store, children and their parents can use the Web site to learn how to select fish that are low in contaminants. The Web site includes stories focusing on different methods of obtaining fish, along with interactive games, to teach children ages 8-12 how to recognize common fish species and use fish advisories.

Your Virginia

Virginia Natural Resource Agency News
For the latest information about VA’s seven natural resource agencies visit www.naturalresources.virginia.gov/Agencies/agency.cfm and click on the agency link you need.

Assorted Items of Professional Interest

For more EE resources, visit http://www.vanaturally.com/vanaturally/partner_resources.html For up-to-date news about national environmental education opportunities, consider subscribing to EE-News, a twice-monthly email bulletin provided by the North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE). www.naaee.org

Litter Picks

Hello Virginia Naturally Newsletter Subscribers!
My name is Sheila Barnett and I have been working for the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) for three years. I have been a part of the Office of Recycling and Litter Prevention. Recently, DEQ reorganized. I am still the litter program coordinator. I will also be managing the Virginia Naturally (VaN) program and am now part of DEQ’s Educational Outreach team. As a part of Educational Outreach, I will have more opportunities to support local governments through the VaN program. The VaN program encompasses a much bigger picture than just litter which will allow me more time and resources to assist you with your local programs.
 
The news about litter that I put into a “Litter Picks” monthly newsletter will be incorporated into the VaN Newsletter and will be put into a special heading pertaining to litter. Please continue to share with me stories about what is happening in your jurisdiction that pertain to litter, and anything else that you would like to share for the VaN Newsletter. My contact information remains: smbarnett@deq.virginia.gov or (804) 698-4055.
 
Non-Competitive Litter Prevention and Recycling Grants
I have been authorized to start processing payments for the litter prevention and recycling grants! Please send me the performance and accounting reports ASAP and I will put your P& A in the queue to be processed for payment. The sooner you get your P&A into me, the sooner you will receive your funding! Please send me all of the pages (7 – 10). For an application to be complete, I will need a P&A regardless of whether or not you received funding last year. If you have any questions, please contact me at smbarnett@deq.virginia.gov or (804) 698-4055. The deadline for P&A’s to be postmarked is August 31, 2008. Any that are postmarked after this time will need to go before the Fund Board for consideration. Please don’t miss this deadline. You can download the performance and accounting report by going to: http://www.deq.virginia.gov/recycle/programs.html Scroll down to where it says “The Non-Competitive Litter Prevention and Recycling Grant is Now Available.” The application package is available both in PDF and Word format.
 
Special Project Grant Funding Apply Now!
The application for the special project grant funding has been posted. Go to: http://www.deq.virginia.gov/recycle/programs.html and scroll down to where it says “Special Projects Grant Funding.” The applications MUST BE RECEIVED by September 18, 2008. The application is available both in PDF and Word format. I will need to receive a signed original in the mail.  If you have any questions, please contact Sheila Barnett at smbarnett@deq.virginia.gov or (804) 698-4055.
 
Assign-a-Highway News
Northampton County reported that 12 probationers worked a total of 136 hours to collect 53 bags of trash along 42 miles of roadway in June. Those figures show that 2.68 tons of trash was collected along 14 percent of Northampton County’s roads which saved the county more than $2,000 in hourly wages. For more information about the Assign-a-Highway program in Northampton County, contact Gwen Thompson at info@co.northampton.va.us or (757) 678-5296.
 
Scott County’s litter control officer, Jake Dougherty utilizes more than 30 county probationers and a handful of community service workers to clean up illegal dump sites. In Fiscal Year 2007 – 2008, 65.4 tons of trash was cleaned up along 79 miles of county roadways. 44.5 tons of trash was removed from 22 illegal dump sites. For more information about the Assign-a-Highway program in Scott County, contact Jake Dougherty at jdougherty@scottcountyva.com or (276) 386-6521. To view a video story about Scott County’s Assign-a-Highway program, go to: http://www.timesnews.net/article.php?id=9007351
 
For more information about the Assign-a-Highway program, visit the website at: http://linux.uppertnriver.org/assign/ or contact Carol Doss at (276) 628-1600.
 
Web Link of Interest:
Check out Keep Norfolk Beautiful’s “Follow that Trash” video. It shows what happens to trash and how it is disposed: http://www.norfolkbeautiful.org/News/news_article.asp?dielcitra=411
For more information contact Holly Carson at holly.carson@norfolk.gov

 

Fun Fact

 

A full city bus replaces a 1/4 mile of traffic.

 

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