Georgia Receives $55,000 Grant from NSSF to Promote Hunting

The Georgia Department of Natural Resources has been awarded a grant for $55,000 from the National Shooting Sports Foundation to expand opportunities for hunters.

The state is one of nine to receive funding from NSSF through its Hunting Heritage Partnership program. NSSF, the trade association for the firearms, ammunition, hunting and shooting-sports industry, has provided more than $4.3 million in grants to 38 state agencies over the past nine years to support programs that promote hunting and target shooting.

The agency's project, which will be coordinated with Alabama and Kentucky, will assess the best ways to encourage and assist hunter-education graduates to become active hunters and hunting-license purchasers. The project will focus on developing "next step" guidance for hunter-education graduates.

"The future of hunting in Georgia relies on establishing new generations of hunters," says Dan Forster, director of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Wildlife Resources Division. "This grant will help make it possible for state wildlife agencies to obtain practical and specific tools and resources to help hunter-education graduates take the next step toward becoming hunters."

NSSF developed the Hunting Heritage Partnership grant program to assist state agencies nationwide in their attempts to help hunters locate land on which to hunt and easily access state hunting information plus encourage newcomers to start and then continue hunting.

"NSSF grants to state agencies are making a difference," said Chris Dolnack, senior vice president and chief marketing officer of NSSF. "Programs are being launched to benefit hunting and target shooting that otherwise might never have gotten off the ground in these challenging economic times."

The grant program is helping NSSF fulfill its goal of increasing participation in hunting and target shooting by 20 percent by 2014.

"I congratulate the Georgia Department of Natural Resources for earning this NSSF grant. By increasing the number of sportsmen in America we increase the funding available for wildlife conservation and for building target shooting ranges, thereby preserving our American heritage well into the future," said Joshua W. Dorsey IV, vice president of operations at Smyrna-based Glock Inc. and a member of the NSSF Board of Governors.

-----

Community News You Can Use
Click to read MORE news:
www.GeorgiaFrontPage.com
Twitter: @gafrontpage & @TheGATable @HookedonHistory
www.ArtsAcrossGeorgia.com
Twitter: @artsacrossga, @softnblue, @RimbomboAAG @FayetteFP

Governor's Office Grant Helps Prevent Underage Drinking

/PRNewswire/ -- The Georgia Governor's Office for Children and Families (GOCF) awarded a $60,000 grant to The Council on Alcohol and Drugs to prevent and reduce underage drinking through a statewide website, stopalcoholunder21.org. The grant also provides for radio PSAs and newspaper print ads in ten counties in Georgia determined to be most at risk via a 2010 Underage Drinking Needs Reassessment conducted by Georgia State University and The Council on Alcohol and Drugs.

Underage drinking and the consequences of juvenile alcohol use are serious issues in the state of Georgia. The Georgia Governor's Office for Children and Families (GOCF) has awarded a $60,000 grant to The Council on Alcohol and Drugs to prevent and reduce underage drinking by providing a statewide website, stopalcoholunder21.org.

The website includes features designed to help parents, youth, educators, alcohol retailers and others. Those features include downloadable:

* Public Service Announcements for Radio Broadcast
* Newspaper Print Ads
* Parenting Manuals for Parents of Children Ages 6-11 / 12-14 / 15-18/ and 19-20
* 1/2 Hour Video: "The Worst Drug of All"
* Video Vignettes on various topics related to Underage Drinking
* Resource Links to Other Web Sites related to Preventing Underage Drinking
* Additional Print Resources


The grant also provides for radio PSAs and newspaper print ads in ten counties in Georgia determined to be most at risk for underage drinking via a 2010 Underage Drinking Needs Reassessment conducted by Georgia State University and The Council on Alcohol and Drugs. The counties being served by the grant's Media Campaign are Ben Hill, Bulloch, Candler, Catoosa, Fannin, Lanier, Lowndes, Walker, Wilcox and Worth Counties.

This program is made possible with funding from the Governor's Office for Children and Families under a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Enforcing the Underage Drinking Laws Block Grant Program, CFDA 16.727.

-----
Community News You Can Use
Click to read MORE news:
www.GeorgiaFrontPage.com
Twitter: @gafrontpage & @TheGATable @HookedonHistory
www.ArtsAcrossGeorgia.com
Twitter: @artsacrossga, @softnblue, @RimbomboAAG @FayetteFP

HHS increases total LIHEAP funding available to help low-income families to $3.9 billion

Georgia's allocation will be $86,178,083.

Today U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced the availability of additional funding to help eligible low-income families meet their home energy needs, bringing the total made available since October 1 to $3.9 billion. These funds will go to states, tribes and territories under the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and are available under the terms of the latest continuing resolution.

"Much of the country has already experienced a very cold winter," said Secretary Sebelius. "Today's additional funds will help struggling families keep safe and warm for the remainder of the season."

LIHEAP assists qualified families with their home energy needs such as heating in the winter, cooling their homes in the summer, and insulating their homes to make them more energy efficient and reduce their energy costs. By doing so, families are less likely to have to choose between paying their energy bills and other necessities, such as food or medicine. Energy assistance can reduce illness or the risk of fires that can break out when households turn to using candles or space heaters because they cannot pay their electricity or gas bill.

The block grant funds released today supplement two previous releases of funds under continuing resolutions in Fiscal Year 2011.

"As temperatures drop, heating costs can pose a serious challenge for struggling families," said David A. Hansell, HHS acting assistant secretary for children and families. "At the start of a new year, these additional LIHEAP funds will help ease the financial burdens for many families."

A complete list of funds available to states today is below:
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/news/press/2011/liheap_allocation.html

Individuals interested in applying for energy assistance should contact their local/state LIHEAP agency. For more information, go to: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ocs/liheap/ or http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ocs/liheap/brochure/brochure.html.

-----
Community News You Can Use
Click to read MORE news:
www.GeorgiaFrontPage.com
Twitter: @gafrontpage & @TheGATable @HookedonHistory
www.ArtsAcrossGeorgia.com
Twitter: @artsacrossga, @softnblue, @RimbomboAAG @FayetteFP

Georgia Events Mark 10th Anniversary of Wildlife Grants

From monitoring swallow-tailed kites along the coast to surveying rare fishes in highland rivers, the federal State Wildlife Grants Program has funded wildlife conservation across Georgia since 2000. Yet most Georgians never knew it.

Next week, the state Department of Natural Resources will celebrate the 10-year anniversary of State Wildlife Grants with events highlighting wildlife stories and successes the grants helped make possible.

Public events Sept. 10-11 will offer close-ups of rare creatures and special habitats, like bog turtles at Chattahoochee Nature Center in Roswell and pitcherplants at Doerun Pitcherplant Bog Natural Area near Moultrie. It’s all part of Teaming with Wildlife Week. Teaming with Wildlife is a national coalition and the leading advocate of State Wildlife Grants.

Linda May, environmental outreach coordinator for DNR’s Nongame Conservation Section, said the goal is raising awareness. The State Wildlife Grants Program “is very crucial to the work we do,” May said.

The grants fund work benefiting wildlife and their habitats, specifically the 90 percent of our nation’s species not hunted, fished for or on the Endangered Species List. The focus: Keep common species common and prevent wildlife from becoming endangered, protecting them and their habitats before they become too rare and more costly to protect.

The stable funding for state fish and wildlife agencies has been critical to the recovery and conservation of many species, fulfilling a responsibility to save them for future generations.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said that in the current economic climate, “the program ensures that states will have the necessary resources to help conserve their highest priority wildlife, plants and habitats – an investment that will pay dividends for years to come.”

State Wildlife Grants have been used for land conservation such as the acquisition of Silver Lake Wildlife Management Area near Bainbridge; habitat restoration, including more prescribed burning to benefit longleaf pine ecosystems; and research, such as sandhills surveys and habitat assessments that could help keep the gopher tortoise – Georgia’s state reptile – off the endangered species list.

Nongame Conservation Section Chief Mike Harris said the work is done strategically, guided by the State Wildlife Action Plan. This comprehensive plan required for State Wildlife Grants and developed by Georgia scientists, sportsmen and the public guides DNR efforts to conserve biological diversity.

State Wildlife Grants also draw matching money and work from conservation partners. The overall impact is at least double the roughly $1.5 million Georgia receives each year.

Jerry McCollum, president of the Georgia Wildlife Federation, which helped found the state Teaming with Wildlife coalition, noted that the grants program is not guaranteed. Congress decides funding annually. “For sportsmen and conservationists in Georgia … a constant vigil is required,” McCollum said.


-----
Community News You Can Use
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
Follow us on Twitter:  @GAFrontPage

Georgia Wins Race to the Top

Governor Sonny Perdue today(August 24) announced that Georgia was selected as a winner by the U.S. Department of Education for the second round of “Race to the Top” grants. The state is projected to receive $400 million over four years to implement its plan.

“While this has seemed more like a marathon at times, now the real race begins,” said Governor Perdue. “I want to thank our Race to the Top teams, including teachers, principals, superintendents and other education professionals, for their hard work in preparing a great application. This is truly a unique opportunity to implement a Georgia-created plan that will accelerate our work in improving student achievement.”

Two weeks ago, a team of five Georgia education professionals traveled to Washington, D.C. to present Georgia’s application to a five-person panel of evaluators. State Board of Education Chair Wanda Barrs, State Superintendent of Schools Brad Bryant, Gwinnett County Public Schools Superintendent Alvin Wilbanks, Governor Perdue’s Director of Policy Erin Hames and Governor’s Office of Student Achievement Executive Director Kathleen Mathers made up the Georgia team.

The Race to the Top fund is a $4 billion grant opportunity provided in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) to support new approaches to improve schools. The fund is available in the form of competitive grants to encourage and reward states that are creating conditions for education innovation and reform, specifically implementing ambitious plans in four education reform areas:
· Adopting standards and assessments that prepare students to succeed in college and the workplace and to compete in the global economy;
· Building data systems that measure student growth and success, and inform teachers and principals about how they can improve instruction;
· Recruiting, preparing, rewarding, and retaining effective teachers and principals, especially where they are needed most; and
· Turning around our lowest-achieving schools.

“I am so pleased that Georgia has been named a winner of Race to the Top,” said Superintendent Bryant. “Going for Race to the Top has never been about just the money, but more about further development of our foundation to drive increased student achievement. But now that we have the additional resources, we can put an even greater focus on implementing that foundation for the benefit of Georgia's students.”

Georgia’s application was prepared through a partnership between the Governor’s Office, the Office of Student Achievement, the Georgia Department of Education and education stakeholders. Four working groups and a fifth critical feedback team consisting of teachers, principals, superintendents, higher education faculty, non-profit and informal education organizations, state policy makers, and members of the business and philanthropic communities developed the ideas for inclusion in the state’s application.

Recommendations focus on strengthening traditional and alternative preparation programs for teachers and leaders, supporting teachers more effectively in the classroom, evaluating teachers and leaders with consistent and objective criteria that inform instruction, and rewarding great teachers and leaders with performance-based salary increases.

The application also calls for Georgia to adopt and implement common curricular standards and internationally-benchmarked assessments that indicate Georgia’s ability to compete within a globally-connected economy. The State Board of Education adopted these standards in July.

Twenty-six local school districts have signed on to partner with the state in implementing Georgia’s Race to the Top plan. These districts, which make up 41 percent of public school students in Georgia, include: Atlanta, Ben Hill, Bibb, Burke, Carrolton, Chatham, Cherokee, Clayton, Dade, DeKalb, Dougherty, Gainesville, Gwinnett, Hall, Henry, Jones, Meriwether, Muscogee, Peach, Pulaski, Rabun, Richmond, Rockdale, Spalding, Valdosta and White. The participating districts include 46 percent of Georgia's students in poverty, 53 percent of Georgia’s African American students, 48 percent of Hispanics and 68 percent of the state’s lowest achieving schools.

Georgia added three school districts, Dade, Peach and Pulaski, to the 23 districts that applied in the first round as part of its Phase II application. The three new districts were chosen to align federal School Improvement Grants with Race to the Top.

The state will work closely with these systems to implement the ideas contained in the application. 50 percent of the funds awarded to Georgia will be distributed to the local partners to meaningfully enact the Race to the Top reforms. The state will study the effectiveness of these practices to identify and scale up those that prove to be effective.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation selected 15 states, including Georgia, to benefit from technical assistance for Race to the Top application development. The states were selected based on how well poised they are to win Race to the Top based on progress in education policy and reform. Georgia partnered with The Parthenon Group, a consulting firm based in Boston, which specializes in part in education reform.

-----
Community News You Can Use
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
Follow us on Twitter:  @GAFrontPage

Georgia Broadband Projects Receive Almost $13 million for Rural Communities

Governor Sonny Perdue announced August 4 that three new Georgia broadband projects will receive almost $13 million in federal funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. All three projects are designed to bring high-speed Internet access to unserved homes and businesses in rural communities.

“Broadband access is vital in the 21st century,” said Governor Perdue. “We firmly believe that with the right resources the communities that will benefit from this grant can compete with any other community in the world.”

Windstream Corporation received two of the three awards, which were announced August 4 as part of a second round of funding from the U. S. Department of Agriculture. The first award totals $6.9 million and will be matched with an additional $2.3 million in outside capital. Windstream will extend its broadband network to 29,000 people, 750 businesses and 50 other community institutions in areas throughout North Georgia, including Baldwin, Blairsville, Clarkesville, Cleveland, Cornelia, Dahlonega, Dawsonville, Helen, Hiawassee, Ivylog, Juno, Macedonia, Mineral Bluff, Morganton, Notla Township, Suches, Tallulah Falls, Three Sisters Mountains, Tiger, Toccoa, Turnerville and Young Harris.

The second award of $5.1 million will be matched with $1.7 million from Windstream to provide broadband services in Alapaha, Ashburn, Berlin, Canton, Coolidge, Dalton, Ellaville, Funston, Irwinville, Jasper, Lyerly, Manchester, McRae, Menlo, Milledgeville, Montezuma, Morven, Norman Park, Pavo, Toccoa, Trion, Unadilla and Woodland. The service expansion is expected to benefit 44,000 people, 2,000 businesses and 120 community institutions.

Meanwhile, Blue Ridge Telephone Company is receiving $853,768 to bring broadband to its service area around Blue Ridge, benefiting 1,000 people and 16 businesses.  The company is matching the award with $284,590.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, new jobs will be generated in the short term as both companies move forward with implementation, and the economic development promoted by high-speed Internet services could lead to longer term job creation as rural areas become more competitive in economic development projects.

With these latest awards, Georgia projects are receiving over $109 million to expand broadband services. Governor Perdue previously announced awards totaling almost $96 million.

Last week's announcement continues Georgia’s efforts to expand broadband access that started with the Wireless Communities Georgia Program. Georgia’s strategic approach to the issue of broadband access has made the state highly competitive in the federal funding process.

Governor Perdue began working to bring broadband to rural areas of the state in 2006 when the General Assembly, at his request, appropriated funds to expand wireless broadband access. The OneGeorgia Authority, chaired by Governor Perdue, established a program separate from Wireless Communities Georgia to assist rural communities in establishing broadband networks.


-----
Community News You Can Use
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
Follow us on Twitter:  @GAFrontPage

UGA Traffic Injury Prevention Institute awarded $836,470 grant

The University of Georgia Traffic Injury Prevention Institute has been awarded an $836,470 grant from the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety to continue its education and training programs in the areas of passenger safety education, young and senior driver education and community programming.

For 24 years, GTIPI has assisted the GOHS in meeting congressional requirements by designing and delivering education that improves safety while traveling in a vehicle. The institute has been a leading resource in traffic safety education in Georgia.

GTIPI has four main training and community education initiatives: Child Passenger Safety Technician Certification, Georgia Teens Ride with PRIDE (Parents Reducing Incidents of Driver Error), CarFit and the Online Safety Store. Each area is designed to reach target age groups or address a critical traffic safety issue.

Law enforcement, emergency medical services, health departments, Cooperative Extension educators and fire departments across the state participate in GTIPI’s training and distribute educational materials. Onsite training is conducted at GTIPI’s facilities in Conyers as well as regional locations across the state.

Parents and young children benefit from safety professionals and volunteers who achieve national certification in the 32-hour Child Passenger Safety Technician training.

“Even though child safety seats are used by parents more than 90 percent of the time, four out of five seats are installed incorrectly,” said Frankie Jones, GTIPI’s director. “The CPST certification qualifies volunteers to teach parents how to do it right.”

GTIPI’s course, “Georgia Teens Ride with PRIDE” is for parents and their new teen drivers.

“Almost two-thirds of teen fatalities in our state aren’t buckled up,” Jones said. “PRIDE trains instructors how to deliver safe driving tools to their community. PRIDE helps parents make it through the process of their teen getting a license without ‘losing their cool’ and helps teens learn how to avoid crashes.”

Designed for mature drivers, CarFit helps seniors stay behind the wheel longer and more safely.

“CarFit is a non-threatening way to educate seniors about how to stay safe and comfortable in their car,” Jones said.

The Online Safety Store is the primary source statewide for print and electronic traffic safety resources for consumers, educators and professionals. GTIPI manages distribution of materials from the GOHS website, www.georgiahighwaysafety.org.

For more information, see http://www.ridesafegeorgia.org or call GTIPI at (678) 413-4281, or toll free at (800) 342-9819.

By Andrew Turnage
University of Georgia

-----
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page

Grant Provides Health Care for Uninsured Working Adults

Nearly 1.7 million Georgians are without health insurance -- in Lowndes County that represents more than 18,000 residents who do not have any type of health insurance, of those, approximately 7,000 are uninsured working adults.

Valdosta State University’s College of Nursing received a five-year, $1.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Health Resources and Services Administration to assist the Lowndes County Partnership for Health (LCPFH) in providing medical services for the uninsured employed adults in Lowndes County.

The Partnership Health Clinic, located at 205 Woodrow Wilson Drive, Valdosta, Ga., operates under the leadership of the LCPFH, which is a community-based organization with the mission to improve the health of citizens within Lowndes County.

Currently, the clinic operates with five full-time staff members and numerous volunteers, including physicians, nurses and other health professionals. The clinic is open limited hours on Tuesday and Wednesday and two Saturdays per month. The clinic provides non-emergency health care treatments, referrals to specialists and lab services free of charge.

The grant, Project Health Link, will enable the clinic to expand its hours of operation to five days per week and double the number of patients treated. Under the supervision and instruction of Valdosta State’s nursing faculty, undergraduate and graduate nursing students will rotate through the clinical site and provide patient assessment at the advanced and basic clinical levels.

“The clinic will offer nursing students a unique opportunity to receive hands-on, outpatient care and help them become proficient in patient, family, and community education health care skills,” said Dr. Jean Temple, associate dean of the College of Nursing. “The focus will be on teaching-learning experiences, development of clinical nursing skills at the advanced practice and basic clinical skills level, and using evidence-based models of health in promotion and culturally sensitive best practices.”

According to Temple, who serves as the director of Project Health Link, the faculty-guided learning experiences will meet the College of Nursing course objectives while simultaneously serving the health care needs of the working uninsured citizens of Lowndes County.

Valdosta State’s College of Nursing has been a part of the LCPFH since its beginning in 1997. Temple, along with Dr. Anita Hufft, dean of the College of Nursing, serve on the LCPFH Board of Directors, and numerous nursing faculty members volunteer their services.

“Project Health Link allows for the development of a formal partnership between the Lowndes County Partnership for Health and Valdosta State’s College of Nursing,” Temple said.

The LCPFH will provide a facility that will enable Valdosta State’s faculty to meet their clinical requirements and a location for clinical experiences for the students.

“This project is a continuation of the long term relationship that the Lowndes County Partnership for Health has had with the College of Nursing since 1997. The Partnership for Health has benefited greatly from student and faculty involvement in its various programs,” said John Sparks, executive director for the LCPFH “This grant will greatly expand the clinic’s capacity to meet the health care needs of Lowndes County uninsured residents.”

For more information on the LCPFH, visit http://www.lcpfh.org/.

-----
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page

Georgia Announces Specialty Crop Grant Program

The Georgia Department of Agriculture (GDA) is pleased to announce a new grant program to fund projects that enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops. The Specialty Crop Block Grant Program was established by the 2008 Farm Bill.

The GDA has set up a competitive grant process to award these federal funds in 2009. GDA will be administering funds totaling $909,576.44 for the development of projects that will support and enhance the competitiveness of Specialty Crops in Georgia. GDA intent is to fund projects that can produce the highest degree of measurable benefits to Georgia’s specialty crop producers in relation to each dollar spent.

Projects that benefit the following specialty crops are eligible; Fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, horticulture, Christmas trees, turfgrass/sod, and nursery and greenhouse crops are eligible specialty crops.

GDA is seeking applications from organizations that seek to enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops in Georgia including; non-profit organizations and corporations, commodity associations, state and local government entities, colleges, and universities. Applicants must reside or their business or educational affiliation must be in Georgia.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) Rules state: Grant funds will NOT be awarded for projects that solely benefit a particular commercial product or provide a profit to a single organization, institution, or individual. Single organizations, institutions, and individuals are encouraged to participate as project partners.

Grant applications must be submitted by 5:00pm on July 17, 2009. Please refer to the links on this page for the grant application, guidelines, and additional information.

GDA will accept grant applications with a value of up to $150,000 and a minimum of $10,000. Grants will be awarded for up to three years. Once all applications are submitted to GDA, each one will be carefully reviewed and evaluated. All GDA approved projects will then be developed into one grant submission to the USDA. Upon approval from USDA, GDA will notify applicants (sub-grantees) of their status. No final awards to any sub-grantee will be made until a final grant award is made to GDA (grantor) by USDA. Final approval is expected by September 30, 2009, but is subject to change.

For questions or additional information contact:
Georgia Department of Agriculture
Specialty Crops Block Grant Program
19 Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. SW
Atlanta, GA 30334
or email: grants@agr.state.ga.us

-----
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page

Georgia Teams With Three States to Conserve Sandhills

Georgia and three neighboring states will use a $1 million federal grant to increase the quality, quantity and connectivity of prime sandhill habitat, benefiting gopher tortoises and possibly 54 other sandhill species in need of significant conservation measures.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently announced the funding as part of the agency’s State Wildlife Grants Competitive Program. Georgia is joining with Alabama, Florida, South Carolina and conservation groups in each state to provide $1.66 million in matching money and work.

The Multistate Sandhills Ecological Restoration project could help keep gopher tortoises off federal endangered or threatened species lists and provide for the long-term conservation of Southeastern sandhill species varying from southern hognose snakes to Bachman’s sparrows and striped newts.

One goal is restoring nearly 38,600 acres of priority public and private sandhill sites over the next three years. The focus in Georgia? Rebuilding habitat, said Matt Elliott, a Nongame Conservation Section program manager with the state Department of Natural Resources.

“Depending on the area, we’ll be doing prescribed fire, removal of sand pine (and) planting of longleaf pine,” said Elliott, who will coordinate work in this state.

Sand pine is not native to Georgia sandhills, which are areas of deep sandy soils with longleaf pine and scrub oak species, especially turkey oak, in a low, open-tree canopy over drought-tolerant shrubs, grasses and cactus. Rated a conservation priority in each of the four states’ Wildlife Action Plans, sandhills range from southern Alabama to across Georgia’s Coastal Plain, far down the Florida peninsula and into the Carolinas. The habitat is a type of longleaf pine forest, considered one of the most critically endangered ecosystems in the world.

Sandhills have been degraded or destroyed by development, conversion to uses such as timber and row-crop agriculture, and a lack of natural fires that keep invasive hardwoods at bay and promote the growth of grasses that provide forage for gopher tortoises and other wildlife.

The large-scale restoration needed for sandhills reaches beyond individual states. The project will target high-priority sites, banking on help from partners such as The Nature Conservancy and Project Orianne, a private effort to restore federally protected eastern indigo snakes throughout their range.

Work will include increasing controlled burning, removing invasive species, controlling hardwood trees and shrubs through mechanical and chemical means, and replanting longleaf pines. At least a fifth of the restoration will be on private land. Surveys of plants and birds will help measure the impact. Gopher tortoise surveys will contribute to management of these long-lived, slow-to-reproduce animals.

The tortoise, Georgia’s state reptile, is a keystone sandhills species. Gopher tortoise burrows are used by more than 300 species of invertebrates and a number of invertebrates. Healthy tortoise populations are critical to wildlife diversity in Southeastern upland habitats. Yet, the species is federally threatened west of the Mobile and Tombigbee rivers in Alabama and Mississippi, and there are two petitions to list it as threatened in the eastern part of its range.

The sandhills project actually has roots in a partnership called the Gopher Tortoise Candidate Conservation Agreement, which the four states formed in 2007 to develop a tortoise conservation strategy. Georgia is also wrapping up a sandhills inventory aimed at assessing conservation needs of rare plants and animals. “That helped us pinpoint the areas where we wanted to work” in the multi-state effort, Elliott said.

Related initiatives include a Healthy Forest Reserve Program by the Natural Resources Conservation Service to restore sandhill habitats along Georgia’s Fall Line and a Wal-Mart Foundation-funded project within the DNR’s Nongame Conservation Section to educate teachers about sandhills.

The four-state project is ambitious, Elliott agreed. But, considering the other projects also focused on conserving sandhills, “It all sort of adds up,” he said.

-----
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.artsacrossgeorgia.com
Arts Across Georgia
www.politicalpotluck.com
Political News You Can Use

The Tubman Museum Creates State-of-the-Art Classroom with $150,000 Grant from AT&T

The AT&T Foundation, the philanthropy arm of AT&T*, has awarded a $150,000 grant to the Tubman African American Museum to create a new classroom which will utilize the latest technology to extend the Museum’s educational outreach both inside and outside of the facility. When the new 49,000 square-foot museum on Cherry Street is completed, all of the equipment and technology featured in the AT&T classroom will be transferred to the new classrooms.

The Tubman African American Museum is an internationally recognized institution and an important cultural and educational resource for the area. Educating people about African American art, history, culture and the promotion of harmony among all races is the mission of the Museum. In pursuit of this mission, the Tubman Museum offers a diverse spectrum of educational programs, including Children in the Arts after-school and weekend classes; student workshops for third and fifth graders in language and math; and the state’s only African American Heritage Summer Camps for youth, ages 7 to 12.

The grant will be used to join and convert two upstairs exhibit galleries into one large Art, History, and Technology Classroom where students, teachers, and museum educators can utilize on-site laptop computers, wireless internet access, multi-media projectors and screens, digital video cameras and video editing equipment and software to create a fully-immersive exploration of the importance and impact of African American art, history, and culture.

The Tubman Museum is working closely with the IT professionals and educators of the Bibb County school system, along with the school systems of Monroe and Houston, to ensure that the most appropriate software and hardware is being selected for this high technology classroom. Formed by the Tubman Museum, this Technology Committee is made up of six IT Professionals representing over 90 years of combined experience in the field of computer technology and communications. Members of this committee include Josh Epps, Director of Information Technology with Fickling & Company and Chair of the committee, Rob Betzel, President of Infinity Network Solutions, Thane Good, Director of Field Services with Cox Communications, Julie Christopher, Chief Information Officer with the Bibb County Board of Education, Wally Reeves, Technology Director with the Houston County Board of Education, and Neil Rigole, Director of Instructional Technology with the Monroe County Board of Education.

The new technology will not only enable Tubman to enhance current educational offerings within the museum setting, but will also allow the Museum to introduce a critical new element to its educational programming-distance learning. Distance learning will enable the Museum to expand its audience, bringing the museum culture and the benefits of an arts education to students and teachers throughout Middle Georgia and the state of Georgia.

“This announcement is the perfect example of our community coming together to make education the top priority. The funding that AT&T is putting into this high technology classroom is wonderful news! Bibb County School District became involved in this project by helping the Tubman to identify the best educational tools that will compliment those that students use in the school classroom and at the museum. This new classroom is a wonderful learning environment that will benefit our community,” stated Sharon Patterson, Superintendent for the Bibb County School System.

“We’re respectful and supportive of our own diverse workforce, and we’ve invested to create programs to support diversity in our customers and partners. We will continue to invest time, talent and resources to strengthen our communities by supporting underserved populations and promoting education programs that create economic opportunity”, said Terry Smith, AT&T Regional Manager-Regulatory and External Affairs –Georgia.

“This generous gift from the AT&T Foundation will not only help us create a much needed, state-of-the art classroom space in our current facility where students both onsite and through distance learning can learn more about African American art, history, and culture, but it will also help us transition this high-tech educational equipment and capabilities to even larger classrooms when we open our new, 49,000 square-foot museum. This grant is a gift that will keep on giving, helping us to dramatically expand the impact, outreach, and unique educational offerings of the Tubman African American Museum”, shared Dr. Andy Ambrose, Executive Director for the Tubman Museum.

“This announcement is great news for the Tubman African American Museum,” said Chambliss. “This facility serves the community as an educational and cultural resource, not only for Macon, but the entire state. I’m pleased to offer my support for the Tubman Museum as it continues to provide additional opportunities to study and explore African American art, history and culture,” shared Senator Saxby Chambliss.

-----
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
Follow us on Twitter: @GAFrontPage