By Phil Sammon, Forest Service, Public Affairs Specialist

Today, President Barack Obama, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Nancy Sutley, Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality and Ken Salazar, Secretary of the Interior, hosted the White House Conference on America’s Great Outdoors, a gathering of leaders from communities across the country who are working to protect their outdoor spaces.

 The USDA Forest Service is proud to join the Natural Resources Conservation Service and other USDA agencies in supporting the Get Outdoors Initiative to motivate healthy lifestyles and activities.

 The goals of this Presidential Initiative coincide with one of the Forest Service’s primary missions – to actively support, promote, and fund numerous related programs, projects, and initiatives with wide-ranging missions and goals.  In fact, just this week, the Forest Service has made a few announcements in this area.

 On Wednesday, Agriculture Secretary Vilsack announced the availability of Forest Legacy Program grants to protect sensitive lands in 33 states and territories. These local projects can provide the background for local conservation education and interpretive programs associated with local, state and federal programs aimed whose goals and missions are closely related to healthy lifestyles, conservation education, and the challenge of reconnecting Americans and American families to the outdoors.

 Also this week, the Forest Service announced major challenge cost-sharing opportunities for the More Kids in the Woods program, whose mission is to provide more natural resource and nature experiences to children across the country. These future leaders will be better able to make sound environmental and natural resource decisions if they have developed an understanding and an ownership of the public lands this agency manages.

 In speaking about the More Kids in the Woods initiative, Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell commented that this and related programs are vital in opening doors to urban and rural kids and their families through projects that promote healthier lifestyles while preparing them to cope with conservation issues of the 21st century: climate change, water quality and sustainable management of natural and cultural resources.

 We look forward to hearing from people around the country over the coming weeks and months as part of the America’s Great Outdoors initiative, and to continuing our work with our state, local, and private partners help us to raise environmental and conservation awareness, and to help prepare future leaders for this agency, and for our country.

Listening to President Barack Obama’s remarks are  (L to R) Council on Environmental Quality Chair Nancy Sutley, Environmental Protection Agency Lisa Jackson (standing behind Ms. Sutley), Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Department of Defense representative, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrator Dr. Jane Lubchenco, and Housing and Urban Development representative

by Jamie Welch, Grade 8, Worcester Preparatory School

The town of Berlin recently received $12 million dollars in grants and low-interest loans from the USDA Recovery Act.  The purpose of these grants was to renovate and update the Berlin Wastewater Treatment plant.  These upgrades are necessary because of the growing demand for wastewater treatment in the town of Berlin, and the new tough environmental requirements handed down by the State of Maryland and the EPA.  When the updates are complete, the plant will be able to process effluent down to near drinking water quality.

I recently visited the wastewater treatment plant and took a look at how the money from the USDA is being used.  Bearing Construction is the company in charge of overseeing the upgrades, some of which include reworking old equipment. Another part of the plan is the installation of a state-of-the-art piece of technology called an SBR, or Sequencing Batch Reactor.  This device works with bacteria in three different chambers to get rid of most phosphorous and nitrogen, down to almost drinking water quality.  “It’s a better quality than [the water] that most people get out of their wells,” said Jane Kreiter, Director of Water and Wastewater in Berlin.  The treated effluent is then pumped by pipeline to a spray irrigation site on Purnell Crossing Road in Libertytown, Maryland where it is used to water trees and crops.

The town has plans in the works for a second spray irrigation site in Newark which, when competed, would eliminate the need for dumping treated effluent into the coastal bays.  Many people are concerned about having the spray site in their backyards.  Kreiter is quick to point out that in Florida, people are already using treated wastewater to clean their cars and water their plants.  She says that the public is just not well informed on this, because we’ve never really had to conserve water like in Florida.  Kreiter adds that the sprayed effluent will have no negative effects on the groundwater table and aquifers.  The final decision about the new spray site will be made at a meeting of the Worcester County Commissioners some time in the near future.  If approved, the spray irrigation project is projected to cost an additional $6 million.

Kreiter says that they hope to have the upgrade and expansion project in Berlin completed by December, but adds that the recent bad weather has pushed them far behind where they should be.  When completed, this plant will be the largest wastewater treatment plant in Maryland that spray irrigates.

Touring the Berlin, MD Wastewater Treatment Plant construction site are (l-r) Dr. Merle Marsh, Director of Special Projects, Worcester Preparatory School; Jane Kreiter, Director of Wastewater; student reporter Jamie Welch, Worcester Preparatory School; and James C. Latchum, Superintendent of Wastewater, Berlin, MD.

Berlin, MD Superintendent of Wastewater James C. Latchum (l) with Worcester Prep reporter Jamie Welch.

Today I testified before the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Environment on the important issue of the upcoming reauthorization of the Department’s Child Nutrition Programs. We have a great opportunity right now to combat child hunger and improve the health and nutrition of children across the country, and we cannot let this moment pass us by. Read more »