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Upcoming Events
Till November 1
Photo Exhibit: A
Georgic Odyssey - Where Your Food Comes From
An
exhibit of 54 agricultural photographs by Edwin Remsberg,
college staff photographer.
Time: Mon-Thurs, 10 a.m.-8
pm, Fri-Sat, 11 a.m.-4 p.m., Closed Sunday.
Location: Stamp Students
Union Art Gallery, 1220 Stamp Student Union
Contact: Jacqueline Milad,
jmilad@umd.edu
Edwin
Remsberg, edwin@remsberg.com
October 30
A Georgic
Odyssey: Panel Discussion with Food & Agricultural
Experts
Oct. 30 -
The food factory - Manufactured foods, processed foods, &
foods of the future
Time: 1 to 2
p.m.
Location: Stamp Students
Union Art Gallery, 1220 Stamp Student Union
Contact: Edwin Remsberg,
edwin@remsberg.com
November 10, 2007
3rd Annual
Maryland Horse Conference
University of
Maryland's Equine Studies Program
Equine researchers, industry
leaders, & Extension educators will be giving
presentations on equine-related topics such as equine
nutrition & health, equine business management &
pasture management.
Keynote speaker: Dr. Clint
Depew, professor & Extension
specialist, Louisiana State
University.
Time: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Location: Montgomery
College, Germantown, Md.
Contact: Kelly Brannan,
kbrannan@umd.edu
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Leah
Menzies, an M.S. graduate student, reading SET pin
heights in a brackish marsh on the Nanticoke River,
Md.
As sea level rises, can the marshes keep
up?
Sea level has been
rising naturally at a rate of 1 to 2 mm/year. At the
same time, marshes naturally build up--accrete--over
time from accumulated dead vegetation and sedimentation
left by rivers and storms. Which is why we on the East
Coast have never had to worry about loss of coastal
wetlands caused by increased flooding. The problem is:
the rate of sea-level rise is escalating because of
global climate change. The question is, says Andy Baldwin, from the Environmental Science
and Technology
(ENST) department, "will the marshes be able to keep up
with the higher levels?" To find an answer, Baldwin,
along with ENST colleague Dave Tilley and Geography's Michael
Kearney, have just started monitoring tidal freshwater
marshes in the Nanticoke River
estuary on the
Eastern Shore. Baldwin and a graduate assistant just
finished installing surface elevation
table (SET)
measuring devices throughout the estuary, a large
subestuary of the Chesapeake Bay. This study is the
first systematic examination along the Atlantic Coast of
how tidal freshwater marshes are responding to the
accelerated
rise.
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Water, water everywhere.
Not.
Our lack of rain
puts the spotlight on how easily we waste water. And
wasting water stirs the ire of the university's own
Water Guy at water@umd.edu. Answering a few questions,
he tells it like it is:
Isn't water
plentiful? Specially with global warming and all those
melting ice bergs.
My toilet leaks all
the time. What should I do about it?
I have the deepest
well in my neighborhood. Why should I worry about
conserving water?
My neighbor washes
his car on the street. I've told him the dirty
water flows from the storm drain down the street right
into Baltimore Harbor, 300 yards from his car. He says
the water gets filtered first and to get off his
back.
At my weekend house
on the Eastern Shore, an automatic sprinkler
waters my two-acre lawn 3 times a week. Some
tree-hugger types are complaining I'm wasting natural
resources. My lush green lawn's a natural resource isn't
it?
How else you can
save water:
In the
bathroom
Preparing
food
Washing
dishes
Washing
clothes
In your yard:
Xeriscaping and
Conserving Water in the Landscape (PDF publication)
The Woods in Your
Backyard: Learning to Create and Enhance Natural
Areas Around Your
Home
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Carbon sequestration: Not for only trees
We usually think of trees
when we think about carbon-dioxide-eating plants. But,
says Brian Needelman,
of the Environmental Science
and Technology department, marsh grasses are big
consumers of the greenhouse gas, too. Needelman, an
assistant professor, believes that restoring 20,000
acres of tidal marsh in the Blackwater National
Wildlife Refuge could sequester up to 170,000 metric
tons of carbon dioxide per year. The refuge, on the
Eastern Shore south of Cambridge, was originally created
to protect migratory birds. A front-page Baltimore Sun
article features Needelman's research, which he's
conducting in collaboration with the Midwest Regional
Carbon Sequestration Partnership. See him tramping
through the tidal marsh on the accompanying online
video. |
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 Where does our food
come from?
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The debate continues: Organic vs. conventionally
grown food
A
lively panel
discussion
about organically grown and conventionally grown food is
captured on video.
Panel members Mark Kantor,
Nancy Brenowitz
Katz,
and Laura
Hunsberger
offer their expert insights. Kantor is associate
professor and specialist in nutrition and food safety,
Nutrition and Food
Science
(NFSC); Katz is a dietitian and Dietetics Program
Director, NFSC; and Laura Hunsberger is senior agent and
specialist in organic agriculture and ethnic vegetables,
University of
Maryland Cooperative Extension.
(RealPlayer
is required for viewing
video.) |
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Good
news for wine drinkers
Weary
of the bad news we hear all the time? If you are and you
like to drink wine, you're in luck! Food and nutrition
expert
Mickey
Parish
tells us wine consumed in moderation offers us numerous
health benefits. Get the facts from
Dr. Parish's
presentation, "Wine and Health,"
(pdf file) delivered recently during--what else?--a
tasting of wines produced in Maryland. Parish is chair
of
Nutrition and Food
Science.
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Wei's
Way
Cooperative State
Research, Education, and Extension Service, a division of USDA, has awarded funding to
University of
Maryland Cooperative Extension to develop a biosecurity program for the state's
small poultry flock growers. The grant will fund
workshops, training manuals, and other resources to help
farmers prevent the spread of diseases such as Avian
Influenza or Exotic Newcastle Disease. Congratulations
to program participants Jennifer
Timmons, researcher and regional poultry specialist;
Nathaniel
Tablante, Extension poultry veterinarian,
Virginia-Maryland
Regional College of Veterinary Medicine; Nickolas
Zimmermann, Extension broiler specialist,
Animal and Avian
Sciences department; and Pam King, Extension agent and specialist in agricultural
security and emergency management, Charles
County.
Congratulations to
Richard Just, distinguished professor, Department of
Agricultural and
Resource Economics (AREC), for winning the Quality of Communication
Award from the American Agricultural
Economics Association for his work in co-editing the book,
Regulating
Agricultural Biotechnology: Economics and
Policy. Also, a belated congratulations to AREC's
Lori Lynch for winning the association's Distinguished
Extension Program award in 2006.
Congratulations
to Edwin
Remsberg, our college photographer,
Marketing and Media
Services, for winning a first place award from the
International
Regional Magazine Association. He won in the photo essay category for a series
of avian portraits he took at the Maryland State Fair,
which were published in "Chesapeake Life
Magazine."
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