Green Saves Green Meeting Minutes

Monday, October 3, 2022

5:30 p.m., Pasquotank County Library

Present: Karl Brandspigel, Sharon Burtner, Nita Coleman, Phil Donahue, Marlene Greer, Steve Harris, Rodney Johnson, Brian Lannon, Bobby and Jane Plough, Rob Powell, Anne Radke, Julie Robinson, John Stolarczyk, Jared Tardiff, Ruth Wells, Sheila Wrenn

Chair Report (Nita)

We had a successful exhibit at the Celebrating Sound Waterways event put on by the Chowan Edenton Environmental Group. Our table featured several hands-on activities for kids, including testing river water turbidity and temperature, and a river-friendly dollhouse. At the event, we met and spoke with folks from the Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuary Partnership. They have grant funds available and are looking for projects to support in our area. We discussed the student water quality testing program, kayak launch, and a potential environmental education center at COA. They were excited about our work and encouraged us to apply. Information on applying for grants should be out by the end of October.

Albemarle Watershed Watch (Rodney)

NC University professors asked us to do extra sampling this month following the heavy rain from Hurricane Ian. They are looking at the effects of “Weather Whiplash” on water quality. We will pull an additional 7 samples on Wednesday at the same sites we normally sample and send them off for analysis. We will do our normal sampling on the third Wednesday of the month.

Fall Litter Sweep and Campus Cleanups (Nita and Marlene)

We are doing a cleanup of Halstead Extended 9-11 a.m. Oct. 22. No signup. Just show up.

We have three schools signed up for Campus Cleanups. We expect to get more. Marlene requested volunteers to help with the students.

Jane and Bobby noted they still have litter cleanup supplies in their barn, if needed. 

Student Environmental Education (Julie)

We met with Dexter Jackson-Heard, director of ECPPS education, to present our Student Environmental Education Opportunities program. The program includes Campus Cleanups, Field Trips, Roots & Shoots, and Campus Tree Planting. Dexter was thrilled with the program and its possibilities. Said he’d like to see a tree planted in the courtyard of every school. He mentioned the names of a few teachers who he felt would be excited to participate. He plans to share the flyer Julie created with the school principals.

One of our field trips we are planning is water quality testing. A Zoom meeting is set for Monday with Sarah from the Elizabeth River Project. We’d like to model our program after the one ERP operates. There is a liability concern with water testing on the water. What we plan to do is have students do shoreline sampling. If it’s to be done in a deep water area, we’ll get the water for them in a bucket, and they can take samples out of the bucket. We’ll have more details on this field trip opportunity after the Zoom meeting. 

Steve mentioned Pasquotank Soil & Water Conservation may have some funds to support our student water quality testing program.

GSG will offer mini-grants of $200-$250 to teachers who implement a Roots & Shoots project with their students. The information and link to the application are on our website. Our plan is to support four Roots & Shoots projects per school year. Julie has two teachers who have already expressed interest, plus the ongoing “Bottle Graveyard” project at NEAAAT.

It was asked if entities other than the schools – such as the YMCA, Boys & Girls clubs, Port Discover, and Scouts – could participate. The group agreed these organizations will be eligible. 

It was suggested it would be beneficial to provide teachers with a complete package – field trip and how it ties into curriculum. Have the lesson plan already done. Without this, teachers may see these opportunities as extra work. There also is a financial commitment if going off campus. Anne advised it costs $2/mile for buses.

Brian and Steve both indicated they have not had much success in getting participation in outdoor learning from schools, either through ARC&D projects and promotions or Steve’s experimental farm. We hope as we get a few teachers to participate, more will learn about it and want to participate.

It was noted we need to manage our Environmental Education programs so as not to put too much of a burden on our organization.

Upcoming Events

Camden Heritage Festival, Saturday Oct. 8. Jared advised the GSG exhibit will focus on heritage. There will be some hands-on water quality and soil sampling activities for kids. 

Tree Giveaway, Workshop and Planting, Feb. 18, 2023. We’re getting 300 big shade tree seedlings from the NC Forest Service. Instead of the drive-by giveaway we’ve done the last two years, we will have a program at the Museum of the Albemarle. Jane and Bobby will talk about trees and wildlife. The owner of Wild Birds Unlimited will talk about trees and birds and why they need one another. Jared will talk about getting the right tree in the right place and what to do to keep it thriving. We need to pay $100 to reserve the classroom at MOA.

Earth Day 2023. Let’s start thinking about what to do for Earth Day next year. It’s on a Saturday. Please share your ideas. 

Next GSG meeting will be 5:30 p.m. Monday, November 7 at the Pasquotank County Library.