Winston County Extension Office to Hold Open House at New Office Location

The Winston County Extension Office will hold an Open House at our new office location at 9:00 to 11:00 a.m on Wednesday, March 31st.  This new office is located at the John Nichols Building on Highway 195.  This building is located just south of the Double Springs Post Office in what was formerly the Winston County Health Department.  The new office space is more modern, and it is handicap accessible.  We'll have some refreshments, and you can also meet representatives from the other offices that are located in the building.  You can print a copy of the invitation here.  We hope that you will be able to stop by and see our upgraded offices.

Upcoming Rock Creek Watershed Management Project Meeting and Bacteria Blitz

Here are a few upcoming activities that I hope will interest you.

•On April 8th, at 7pm at the Traders and Farmers Bank Building in Addison we will have a Rock Creek Watershed Management Project Meeting. We will be presenting a draft of the Rock Creek Watershed Management Plan, and would really appreciate your help with putting on the finishing touches!

•On April 9th, at 6:30pm the Traders and Farmers Bank Meeting Room in Double Springs, we will be giving a short presentation of the results of the Bacteria Blitz (over 40 sites sampled on February 5-6th) during the Winston County Smith Lake Advocacy, Inc.(WCSLAI) Annual Meeting.

•On April 10th, at 9am at the Dodge City Restaurant in Cullman, we will be giving a similar presentation about the results of the February Bacteria Blitz during the Smith Lake Environmental Preservation Committee (SLEPC) Spring Meeting.

•We will have our Spring Bacteria Blitz Friday and Saturday, April 9-10th.

•We would like to offer Bacteriological and Water Chemistry Monitoring workshops for certification with Alabama Water Watch on Friday April 9th. We need at least 8-10 participants for the each workshop.

If you need more information or are interested in participating in the monitoring workshops or Bacteria Blitz, please contact Mona Scruggs at (251)282-9998.

Thanks and hope to see you soon!

March Council Meeting

The Winston County Natural Resources Council meeting will be held at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, March 18th at the U. S. Forest Service Office in Double Springs. At this meeting we will have a draft agenda for the Winston County Natural Resources Field Day to be held on April 30th.

There will also be a report on the successful Arbor Week Tree Sale that was held in February.

Prescribed Burning Websites

Daryl Lawson, a Registered Forester at Alabama A & M University, recently sent me an e-mail about websites that promote prescribed burning on Alabama forestland. If you have a moment, you may want to visit these websites. Prescribed burning is almost universally supported by forest management experts, yet the practice is little used by most forestland owners in North Alabama. These websites could help promote the practice among private forestland owners in this part of the state. Daryl has also included a link to the Fire Dawgs Facebook page. The Fire Dawgs is a student organization at Alabama A & M dedicated to prescribed burning.

GoodFires

Visit My Forest

Alabama Prescribed Fire Council

AAMU Fire Dawgs

Rock Watershed Meeting and Bacteria Blitz

The February 4th, Rock Creek Watershed Management Project meeting was very productive. Quite a few stakeholders participated, despite the terrible weather conditions. During the meeting we reviewed the project goals and also discussed the current progress of the project. Stakeholders provided us with very important information regarding pollution in the Rock Creek Watershed. In addition, we were able to discuss different outreach strategies for getting the greater community involved in the project. All of this valuable information is being processed and we plan on having a draft plan ready within the next month or so.

The Smith Lake Bacteria Blitz and Bacteriological Water Testing Training sessions led by Alabama Water Watch were also successful. Twenty-six volunteers throughout the Smith Lake Watershed were certified as Bacteriological Water Monitors, and about 40 sites were tested for E. coli during the Bacteria Blitz! AWW personnel will report on Blitz results at the upcoming April 9th WCSLAI meeting, and at the April 10th SLEPC meeting.

Thanks to all who helped to organize and participated in these activities!

We are planning another Rock Creek Watershed Meeting as well as Bacteria Blitz for the first part of April. We will keep you posted on dates and times, and hope to see you there!

For more information on this project please contact Mona Scruggs at (251) 282-9998.

Arbor Week Tree Sale

The Winston County Natural Resources Council conducted another successful Arbor Week Tree Sale this year. Johnna Franks with the Alabama Forestry Commission heads up this effort by locating and ordering a good variety of trees and ornamental plants. This year's sale fell during a period of unseasonably cool weather, but buyers still came out. Some trees may still be available through Friday, February 26th, call 489-5014 for more information.

Article on White-nose syndrome in Birmingham News

The Birmingham News included an article today on White-nose syndrome which is devastating bat populations from New York to Tennesse. View the article on al.com to learn more. All caves on Forest Service lands in Alabama, including Bankhead National Forest, are closed to recreational caving in efforts to stem the spread of this fungus.
http://blog.al.com/birmingham-news-stories/2010/02/bat-killing_fungus_spread_rais.html