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20 The Extension Express Rondi Niles Master Gardener Program Tolland County Extension Center The Master Gardener program for Tolland and Windham counties was held in Brooklyn this year, and once again we had an enthusiastic group of 35 students. Classes started in January and continued through April. After passing the exam, Master Gardener interns moved into the outreach portion of the program for the summer. We‘ve also ran several Garden Master classes, including three in a Landscape Design series, and one on ―Good Bugs, Bad Bugs, and Benign Bugs‖. We continued to get diagnostic help requests throughout the winter. We‘re looking forward to summer and fall! Jiff Martin Sustainable Food Systems This spring, Jiff released a new publication called Farmland ConneCTions that is intended to guide municipalities and land trusts on methods of farmland leasing. The guide emphasizes the potential to structure legal lease agreements that successfully balance the principles of environmental stewardship with farm viability goals. Jiff presented farmland leasing principles at a Law For Food lecture and participated on a panel about farmland access at the CT NOFA Winter Conference this winter. She planned a similar presentation about farmland leasing at the CT Farm Bureau Agriculture Planning & Zoning Conference for Municipal Leaders in late March. As a new Extension Educator, Jiff has been making an effort to visit all of the extension centers to meet the CES team. She is extremely grateful to all that have made time in their very busy schedules to strategize together.
21 The Extension Express Karen Filchak Windham County Extension Center Changing Homeowner‘s Lawn Care Behavior to Reduce Nutrient Losses in New England‘s Urbanizing Watersheds In 2007, a CSREES 406 New England Integrated Water Quality grant was funded. Connecticut, working with New Hampshire (lead PI), Maine, Rhode Island, and Vermont collaborated on a project that combined social science and environmental science research to investigate who has the most influence over residential lawn care practices of do-it-yourselfers and what should be done to minimize excess nutrient runoff from lawns. Karen Filchak (Educator, Department of Extension—CT Project and Outreach coordinator) and Karl Guillard (Professor, Department of Plant Science—Turf Nutrient Research) were co-PI‘s on the regional grant. Pamela Cooper (Special Payroll – Turf outreach) and Susan Munger (Master Gardener Coordinator - New London County) collaborated on the project by providing educational outreach in the targeted community. Connecticut‘s participating community was in the town of East Lyme. The following excerpts from the grant‘s ―Final Social Science Project Evaluation‖ (Eisenhauer, Stevenson & Peterson) provides a brief outline of the project. ―Nonopoint source pollution is a major threat to water quality, and the Changing Homeowner‘s Lawn Care Behavior to Reduce Nutrient Losses in New England‘s Urbanizing Watersheds project was designed to merge turf science, social science, and Extension knowledge and efforts into a concerted effort to change DIYers turf care behavior to protect water quality through the development and delivery of outreach and education.‖ ―Many beneficial research and extension outcomes have resulted from this project. The soil science research was used to develop regionally specific recommendations for fertilizer use to minimize negative water quality impacts. The social science research looked into lawn care behaviors, the underlying factors that drive that behavior, the correlates of environmentally responsible behavior, and important considerations for program delivery.‖ Connecticut‘s contributions were two-fold. A significant component of the grant involved Dr. Guillard‘s research and nutrient management recommendations for the New England region. This included separate recommendations for last date applications for northern and southern New England. The second component addressed the homeowner education (programs, newspaper articles, fact sheets, neighborhood workshops and exhibits) through Extension outreach education. The final reports for the two research components (social science and turf research) can be accessed at: http://www.usawaterquality.org/NESCI/Focus_Areas/Landscaping/pubs.html under Regional Reports.
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