Alabama Bat Blitz Video Posted to the Web

A video about the SE Bat Diversity Network Bat Blitz held on Bankhead National Forest in August 2008 has been posted to the internet.

Visit http://www.outdooralabama.com/video/wildlifevideos.cfm to view the video & learn about Bankhead's bats & inventory efforts.

The Winston County Natural Resources Council was a sponsor of the Bat Blitz.

Winston County Assign-A-Highway

Hello! My name is Crystal Till and I am the program manager for Winston County’s very newly launched program called Assign-A-Highway. Through a partnership with Northwest Alabama Council of Local Governments (NACOLG) and Northwest Alabama Association of Resource, Conservation and Development and with help from Mr. Henshaw and the Winston County Office of Alabama Cooperative Extension System and of course our local county government we will be working with probationers assigned to our program to provide sustained litter removal from our roadsides. These probationers will be assigned to the program as part of their probation terms. We will then assign a section of highway roadsides that the probationer is responsible for keeping clean for the duration of the probation term. While the litter removal is unsupervised I will be regularly checking assigned areas.

This program is still in the very early stages of development however, it is being modeled after what has proven to be a very successful program in the state of Virginia. One of our goals in addition to utilizing the manpower of our probationers to clean up our area are to educate our community about litter problems. We hope to show how litter removal will contribute to the success of Winston County in many ways such as increasing tourism, enhancing industrial recruitment and reducing trash and debris that flows into our streams and lakes, thus improving water quality.

We are very excited about getting things “off the ground” to clean up our roadsides county wide.

Volunteers Needed for Tree Planting on Bankhead

The Bankhead National Forest & Wild South have scheduled a volunteer day to plant longleaf pine seedlings in the Black Pond Area on February 14. Volunteers will meet at the planting site at 9 AM. Anyone interested in volunteering can contact Janis at Wild South (256.974.6166) or Stephanie at Bankhead (205.489.5111).

2009 Regional Forestry Event

The Alabama Natural Resources Council and the State TREE FARM Committee are sponsoring three regional forestry field days in the fall of 2009.
These events will serve as a public platform to present the Helene Mosley Memorial Award and the Outstanding County Natural Resources Council Awards.

Cullman County Natural Resource Council, along with Alabama Forestry Commission personnel from Winston County have held several meetings preparing for the one day event.

Any WCNRC members who would like to be involved in the planning of this field tour can call me for more information.

This event will be held during the month of October 2009 in Cullman County, possibly near the Jones Chapel area. Our next meeting will be Wednesday March 4th at the Jones Chapel VFD at 9:00 am

Chris Wright Selected for State Invasive Species Team

Chris Wright, Winston County Manager with the Alabama Forestry Commission, has been selected to be a member of their Invasive Species Team. The team will be focusing on cogongrass as part of a U. S. Forest Service competitive grant. Chris is a registered forester and also serves as chairman of the Winston County Natural Resources Council.

Managing Feral Hog Damage Seminars

A series of seminars will be held in late February and March about managing feral hog damage.  The closest one to Winston County is the Tuscaloosa seminar on Friday, March 20th, 2009.  You can click on the program flyer on right for a larger view.  If you would like a copy of the program flyer, give me a call or send me an email.

EQIP News Release

Alabama NRCS Announces Sign-up Cutoff Dates for Key Farm Bill Program

AUBURN, Ala., January 14, 2009 – State Conservationist Gary Kobylski with the USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) announces January 30, 2009, as the cutoff date for several resource concerns under the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). Applying for EQIP is continuous; however, selecting applications for funding is completed periodically through batching periods with specific cutoff dates.

EQIP is a voluntary program that provides financial and technical assistance to farmers and ranchers who face threats to soil, water, air, and related natural resources on their land.
The 2008 Farm Bill authorized Special Emphasis funding for two new areas: Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Beginning Farmers and Ranchers. Kobylski said “In Alabama, we have allocated special statewide funds to these areas along with Limited Resource Farmers and Small Scale Farmers. These two new special emphasis areas along with Limited Resource Farmers are eligible for increased payment rates. The sign-up for these special emphasis areas is continuous, but the batching date for current applications is January 30, 2009.”

Kobylski also announced sign-up for the new Precision Farming Incentive. This is a continuous sign-up with a batching date of February 13, 2009. Cropland producing annually planted crops in the following counties is eligible for 2009: Baldwin, Barbour, Cherokee, Coffee, Colbert, Covington, Dale, Escambia, Geneva, Henry, Houston, Jackson, Mobile, Monroe, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone, and Madison.

The Precision Farming Incentive is designed to encourage the adoption of variable-rate application of nutrients and pesticides and promote the use of GPS-enabled precision agricultural technology and equipment. The goals of the Precision Farming Incentive include improving water quality by targeting areas for reduced nutrient and pesticide application, reducing runoff and leaching of pesticides, enhancing soil quality through reduced erosion and soil compaction and energy conservation through accurate and efficient application of crop inputs.

Eligibility requirements on EQIP are available on the
Alabama NRCS website under “Programs” (http://www.al.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/eqip09/index09.html).
For more information, contact your local Natural Resources Conservation Service office, listed in the telephone book under U.S. Department of Agriculture.