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Johnny Boggs participates in Outreach Program on Earth Day |
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Written by Robert Herring
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SGCP Biological Scientist, Johnny Boggs, participated in the 2nd annual RiskFest 2008 in Raleigh, NC.
The theme for the 2nd annual RiskFest 2008 in Raleigh, NC was “Helping Urban and Rural America to Be Future-Ready.” RiskFest is an event designed, organized and facilitated by the USDA Risk Management Agency. The central purpose of the event is to involve a broad range of students, teachers, parents, and private and public professionals in dialogue and strategies to conserve both urban and rural environmental communities.
The interaction between the 6th – 8th grade students and professionals took place from 9:30 am to 12:00 pm, April 22, 2008. There were a total of twenty five stations positioned around the outside of Centennial Campus Middle School. Each station leader was responsible for talking to five groups of students for about 30 minutes.
Johnny spent his time talking about managing forest in the piedmont of NC to protect water quality. The questions from the students were good and very relevant. For example, one student asked how important are buffer zones around streams to wildlife? Johnny explained that the buffer zones play a significant role in ecosystem or watershed management because it provides food, shelter, nesting habitat, and other benefits for land and aquatic animals. In addition, the buffer zones reduce the amount of sediment and nutrient that reaches the streams.
From 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm there was a program for the station leaders and other professionals to discuss various threats and risk management factors in NC including our most recent drought.
Although this is a new outreach program, Johnny thinks it will continue to serve as a useful medium to share relevant information about the state and health of our environment to both students and other professionals. |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 24 April 2008 )
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