Water and Life in Floyd County, Virginia
2008 Earth Day Event - April 19 Floyd County High School
Whether you are a consultant, a vendor, a concerned citizen, or just want to know more, Your participation is invited. Plenty of space is available at the high school for displays of water and earth-care products and services, earth-related arts and crafts, food services and relevant stewardship and conservation information. Help is always welcome. Use the Earth Day 2008 signup form
The purpose of this event is Information Exchange. Vendors should expect to give away samples, literature, and advice, but there will be no sale of products at this event. It is a chance to develop relationships with potential customers, allies, and so forth.
Earth Day Program - Floyd High School - April 19
7:00 am - Doors open for display setup by exhibitors. Exhibit spaces in lobby are assigned on a first-come basis. Additional exhibit space will be set up in the old gym as required.
9:00 am - Doors open to the public. Exhibits will be open and this will be a chance to chat with people and exchange information. Coffee and snacks will be available for purchase.
9:30 am - Speakers begin presentations in the Auditorium (Speaker Schedule courtesy of Fred First at Fragments From Floyd).
There will be opportunity for you to ask questions and to talk with speakers after their presentations. Ongoing demonstrations and displays will be offered by FCHS students as well as by area agencies, organizations and enterprises.
9:30 Fred First
Fred First moved to Wytheville, Virginia from Alabama in 1975 and taught biology at WCC until 1987. Since 1989 he’s been a licensed physical therapist practicing locally and has also taught as adjunct biology faculty at RU. Since 2002 he’s written and photographed the “beautiful ordinaries” of life in Floyd County and shared these reflections on his blog, Fragments from Floyd, in his book, Slow Road Home, and by way of NPR essays and his columns in the Floyd Press and Roanoke Star Sentinel. He lives in northeastern Floyd County on the headwaters of the South Fork of the Roanoke River.
PRESENTATION ~ Fred will narrate his multimedia “Our Place in the World” that includes some sixty Floyd County digital images. His presentation offers a visually-rich and compelling invitation to forge deeper relationships with the landscapes we call home.
10:00 Tammy Stephenson
Tambera (Tammy) D. Stephenson is the Senior Water Supply Planner for the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. In this capacity, she works with localities in western and southwest Virginia in developing local and regional water supply plans. She has a B.S. in Business Administration from Old Dominion University and is certified as an Erosion and Sedimentation Control Program Administrator. Tammy serves on the Alleghany Highlands YMCA Board of Directors and Executive Board, President of the Alleghany Highlands Humane Society Board of Directors, Chairman of the Upper James River Roundtable/Mountain Waters RC&D, Chairman of the Alleghany Highlands Emergency Food and Shelter Board, and a member of the Council for Rural Development Board of Directors Tammy is married to Roscoe B. Stephenson, III, an attorney, and has three children: Nick, Sarah, and Daniel, and two stepchildren: Jane and Bo, one granddaughter by Jane and Joe, Antonia, and one granddaughter on her way (due early April) by Nick and Courtney.
PRESENTATION ~Tammy Stephenson will discuss the role of the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and particularly, her role there as she works with the region and localities in the development of their water supply plans. She will provide a brief overview of Virginia’s Water Supply Planning regulation which requires all localities in the Commonwealth to develop water supply plans that will become part of a statewide water supply strategy. In addition, she will identify policies that may impact the water supply and offer actions that everyone might take to conserve water inside and outside the home.
10:30 Rupert Cutler
Rupert Cutler of Roanoke, Virginia, is vice chairman of the board of directors of the Western Virginia Water Authority, a trustee of the Virginia Outdoors Foundation, and a former member of the Roanoke City Council (2002-2006). A native of Detroit, Michigan, he has an undergraduate degree in wildlife management from the University of Michigan (1955) and master’s (1971) and doctor of philosophy (1972) degrees from the Department of Resource Development of Michigan State University.
He has been the editor of the Virginia Game Department’s magazine, Virginia Wildlife, and the National Wildlife Federation’s magazine, National Wildlife. He has been assistant executive director of The Wilderness Society, senior vice president of the National Audubon Society, executive director of Population-Environment Balance, president of Defenders of Wildlife, and president of the Virginia Section of The Wildlife Society. Rupert was assistant secretary of the US Department of Agriculture in charge of the Forest Service and the Soil Conservation Service during the Carter Administration.
Since 1991, Dr. Cutler has resided in Roanoke where he has served as executive director of Virginia’s Explore Park, an outdoor living history museum, and founding executive director of the Western Virginia Land Trust.
PRESENTATION ~ Dr. Cutler will offer ideas regarding grass-roots measures for conservation of water supplies and protection of water sources. He’ll describe how easements can help keep working farms and forests going, to provide local food and fiber and protect watersheds. Reducing the amount of coal and oil-based electrical energy we use can reduce air pollution and slow climate change and global warming. We can reduce our “carbon footprints” in southwest Virginia and should encourage state and national legislators to help us manage our water and other natural resources and maintain a healthful environment.
11:00 David E. “Jason” Rutledge
Mr. Rutledge is a lifetime farmer, forester, horseman and father of four. He co-founded Healing Harvest Forest Foundation in 1999 along with community volunteers and fellow horse loggers. He has provided leadership as a visionary and practitioner of “restorative forestry” speaking on the issues of sustainable forestry and sustainable agriculture all over the United States. He was awarded the Rock the Earth Planet Defender title in 2006, has been featured on the cover of the Mother Earth News, Draft Horse Journal and has been featured on television for PBS, A & E Discovery Channel in the documentary “In The Company of Horses”. Jason has raised, trained and worked Suffolk horses for nearly thirty years. He is a native Virginian and lives on Ridgewind Farm in the Appalachian Mountains of Floyd County, a “born teacher who has done more than anybody else known to me to establish horse logging and sustainable forestry as a way of life and work among younger people. In my opinion, his educational efforts are worth whatever you may wish to invest in them.” Wendell Berry, December 31, 2007
PRESENTATION ~ Jason Rutledge will speak on the issue of water as being the most valuable product to come out of the forest. Since the forest is the largest landscape condition in our region it plays a vital part in our environmental quality. Jason practices restorative forestry that is ecosystem based, carbon positive and a part of ecological capitalism.11:30 David Crawford (no bio available)
11:30 David Crawford of Rainwater Management Solutions (Roanoke) ~ will speak on practical aspects of rainwater harvesting and other practical and sustainable ways to manage freshwater resources.
Following these presentations, there will be informal discussions with the speakers on topics of interest and you will have a chance to meet Jason Rutledge and the Biological Woodsmen of Healing Harvest Forestry Coalition along with the Suffolk Draft horses that are their partners.
Food and snacks will be available from local vendors.
Since its inception in 1970, Earth Day has been an annual opportunity for civic and church groups, schools and universities, municipalities and national organizations to take a fresh look at how we might work more effectively towards a healthier planet.
Come celebrate our place in the world with a focus on the topic: Water and Life in Floyd County. The April 19 event at Floyd County High School will be free and open to the public.
Speakers, panelists, vendors of water and nature-care-related products as well as water, soils and geology professionals will be present. They will meet with interested county residents who want to learn how to help maintain both adequate quantity and quality of water in the county.
We hope that you will be able to "take home" better water and soil management practices and apply them locally so that we begin a long-term improvement for the years ahead.
Additional details of event times, locations and topics will be made known in coming days on this site.
Help is always welcome. Let us know how you might want to volunteer for the day.
If you are interested in being involved in this effort sponsored by the Partnership for Floyd, use the Earth Day 2008 signup form.
Be sure to put April 19 on your calendar today!
David, some links we might someday put on the sidebar to add to what I hope will be a growing resource list related to water use and general Earthcare practices we might make use of in Floyd County.
Watersheds of Virginia
http://www.dgif.state.va.us/education/watersheds.html
US Drought Conditions
http://drought.unl.edu/dm/monitor.html
Waterblogged
http://waterblogged.info/
Posted by: Fred First | 03/20/2008 at 08:39 AM