How do you balance production and conservation?  This was the theme of this year’s 8th annual Manure Expo; held on July 15th.  Sponsored by Penn State University’s College of Agricultural Sciences, this event was held in State College, at the Rock Springs Agricultural Progress Day Site.  Attendees ranged from manure handlers, applicators, and brokers, to the general public.  The goal of this year’s expo was to educate on ways to obtain optimum crop growth while minimizing the environmental risk.  What are some of these ways?  With help from new and improved technology, demonstrators showed safe ways to put manure into soil.  When this is not done properly, nitrogen is released into the air and phosphorus is added to run-off.  At the Expo a total of eight states were represented by university speakers.  These included: Penn State University, Cornell University, University of Delaware, University of Maine, University of Maryland, Michigan State University, and Virginia Tech.  Also speakers from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Region III, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, the USDA Agricultural Research Service, and the Pennsylvania Agricultural Ombudsman gave talks.  Following the expo a “White Paper” will be constructed grasping discussed methods to managing livestock manure and poultry litter.  This “White Paper” will also cover some grey areas that are in need of further discussion.

Did you know?
• About 20% of the pollution in the Chesapeake Bay comes from animal manures and poultry litter.
• Pennsylvania has about 8,500 dairies and over 55,000 milk cows.
• New York and Pennsylvania are ranked 3 and 5 nationally in dairy production.
• Between PA, NY, MD, VA, DE, WV, NJ, and OH there are over 1.6 million milking cows.
Would you like to attend a Manure Expo? Well you can; the 2011 expo will be held in Nebraska for the 1st time.

Let’s put our heads together.
What do you think will be the major nutrient reducers in the future? Can you think of ways that state/federal procurement can use organic fertilizer? What are ways states can address soil phosphorous build up? How can point to point source nutrient trading be accelerated?

This fall, EPA will travel all around the Chesapeake Bay watershed to hold 18 public meetings to discuss the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL), or the strict “pollution diet” to restore the Bay and its network of local rivers, streams and creeks.  After EPA issues the draft TMDL on September 24^th, the agency will go on the road for the 45-day public comment period to get your feedback.  So pack some snacks in the car and throw on your favorite driving music, and join in the Chesapeake Bay public meetings road trip!

From the southeastern coast of Virginia all the way up to New York State, citizens in the watershed will have a chance to hear more about the new nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment limits for the watershed.  Starting at the National Zoo in Washington DC on September 29 and ending in Romney, WV in early November, public meetings will be held in each of the six states and D.C. that are part of the Chesapeake Bay’s far-reaching watershed.  One meeting in each state will also be broadcast online via webinar for those unable to attend in person.

Do you live in the Chesapeake Bay watershed?  Are you interested in learning about the Bay TMDL and how it will help improve waters in your area as well as the nation’s largest estuary?  EPA wants to hear your suggestions as it seeks to protect human health and the environment by improving water quality in the bay and its vast drainage area.  And check out the Bay TMDL web site (http://www.epa.gov/chesapeakebaytmdl/) for information on how to submit formal comments to EPA on the Bay TMDL.

I’m planning to attend the meeting in Lancaster, PA on October 18…what about you? Visit the Bay TMDL website to find a public meeting near you.

While typical city kids spend their summer vacations far away both from school and nature, this year more than seventy students in three cities in the Mid-Atlantic Region participated in EPA’s Student Environmental Development Program (SEDP). This six-week program held every summer provides environmental and leadership training to eighth-grade students in the Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington DC metropolis areas.

The students (a diverse group of high-achieving rising 8th graders) had classes taught by experienced professionals from EPA and their local communities, providing the real world perspective of a college course at a much younger age. They covered a wide variety of environmental issues (from air pollution to lead to children’s asthma) and emphasized those directly relevant to the students’ communities. On the water side, students had modules on groundwater pollution, ocean science, and learned about the condition of the watersheds where they live. Field trips supplemented the classroom learning and provided firsthand experience with nature to kids who don’t get the opportunity on a regular basis. They also had workshops to cultivate leadership skills, such as public speaking and team building, so that they could better share the environmental knowledge they gained with others.

At the end of the program, the students perform self-developed skits on a topic of their choice at EPA Headquarters in Washington. This year, students presented their skits for EPA Deputy Administrator Bob Perciasepe (in the past EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson has also participated in the event). It was thrilling to watch the students transform from talking quietly and nervously in front of the group at the beginning of the program, to speaking with poise in front of such high level EPA officials – a great opportunity for growth!

Since SEDP began in 1993, 1,140 students have completed the program. And with the knowledge and excitement the students have brought back to their communities, the ripple effect has surely been felt far beyond just the students who directly participate.

I know I would have loved a program like this when I was in 8th grade, so if you know an aspiring middle school student who would enjoy participating in SEDP (or if you are interested in learning more about the program yourself), visit the program’s website for more information: http://www.epa.gov/region03/ee/sedp.htm

EPA thinks it is crucial to educate the next generation of environmental leaders, as well as learn from their fresh ideas and perspectives. What are your children or other young people in your community doing to help the environment? What can they teach you about environmental protection?

Like gardening?  Interested in attracting birds and butterflies?  Well, you can do all of this and help prevent stormwater from entering local streams.  By creating a rain garden, you can direct water from your downspouts to your garden and reduce your own water use as a bonus!
A rain garden is an attractive landscaped area with native plants that don’t mind a summer rain.  The rain garden is designed to naturally collect water that runs off your roof, driveway and other paved areas.  It is a sustainable and economic way of dealing with rainfall as nature intended.  Also, a rain garden slows down and reduces the volume of rainfall runoff before it enters the stormwater system. 
I’m inviting you to join the Mid-Atlantic National Estuary Program in their campaign, Rain Gardens for the Bays!  This unique campaign works closely with EPA Region 3, Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, Center for the Delaware Inland Bays, Maryland Coastal Bays, DE Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control and other organizations, to green our neighborhoods and protect our streams and bays. 
By installing a rain garden, you are not only keeping rainwater on your property but you are saving time by lowering landscaping maintenance and doing your part to protect the environment at the same time.
Want double the water saving benefits? Connect a rain barrel to your downspout and use the collected water to keep your rain garden and other landscaping green and attractive to birds and bees.
For more information on how to create your very own rain garden visit Rain Gardens for the Bays

Have you installed a rain garden?  If so, tell us about your experience and register your rain garden here. Haven’t installed one yet?  Tell us why not, and if you would consider creating your very own rain garden.

I don’t know about you, but when I think of trading I think of cards, coins, stamps, and other collectable items. I’m here to tell you about a different kind of trading going on in our Mid-Atlantic Region. It’s called water quality trading. You might ask, “How can you trade the quality of your water?” Water quality trading programs are fairly new, and are being implemented throughout the United States under the Clean Water Act. How Water quality trading works is, within a watershed there are sources of pollution (in many cases treatment plants and industrial manufacturing plants). When one source has a greater pollutant reduction need than another, a trade can be made allowing both sources to achieve the best possible water quality goals set for their specific watershed.

In the Mid Atlantic Region, there are currently 4 established trading programs. These are:

These programs are put in place to control the pollutants nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment.

What are the benefits of trading?

1. Cost-effective way to reduce pollution without compromising environmental protection
2. Faster way to achieve pollutant reductions
3. Use of trading as a tool may enable a watershed to achieve its water quality goals

So…What do you think are other potential benefits to such a program being created?

Learn more about EPA’s policy in their first “how-to” manual on designing and implementing water quality trading programs, or Take the Fact or Fiction Quiz.