'Conservation Where You Live’
The 32^nd anniversary of Earth Day on April 22 saw USDA employees around the country involved in a number of initiatives designed to promote the environment and conservation. In Madison, Wis., employees from two USDA agencies teamed up in a unique way, at one location, to let homeowners know about a variety of resource-friendly ways to not only build but also landscape their homes.

Those techniques were on display at a research demonstration house in Madison, Wis., run by the Forest Service’s Forest Products Laboratory. That’s where employees from the Forest Service and the Natural Resources Conservation Service teamed up “to show environmentally minded homeowners some ways to practice resource conservation while, at the same time, create a more livable house and yard,” explained Karen Martinson, FS program manager for the demonstration house.

Sergio Perez (left), an NRCS plant technician with the agency’s Plant Materials Center in East Lansing, Mich, and FS research facilities engineering technician Cindy Hanson are getting ready to plant an Indigo silky dogwood shrub. The plant is part of a landscaping plan developed for the yard of a research demonstration house in Madison, Wis., run by the Forest Service’s Forest Products Laboratory. Employees from FS and NRCS teamed up at that site to show environmentally minded homeowners some ways to practice resource conservation while, at the same time, create a more livable house and yard. They most recently promoted their innovations on Earth Day, April 22. --Photo by Renae Anderson

The working theme of the event could be described as “Conservation Where You Live.”

Gordie Blum, FS public affairs director at the Lab, noted that, from the permanent wood foundation to the composite shingles on the roof, the four-bedroom, two-story unoccupied home showcases moisture-resistant building practices, the latest in energy efficient appliances, and 'green building’ technologies advocated by leading building science specialists with the Forest Service.

“For example,” he pointed out, “the roof shingles are a locally produced composite shingle, made from recycled plastic milk jugs and sawdust, that uses waste products to produce a heavy, durable roof cover.”

Mike Ritter, FS’s assistant director of wood products research at the Lab, added that blown-in cellulose insulation made from recycled newspapers restricts excessive airflow within the cavities and provides the house with R-20 walls and an R-38 ceiling.

Sue Paulson, FS public affairs specialist at the Lab, said that other innovative technologies and products being used in the home included low emission paints and stains, and carpeting made from recycled materials.

“A little dirt under the fingernails is good for the soul,” concludes NRCS public affairs specialist Renae Anderson (right), as she and Ken Keeley, an architect with the American Society of Landscape Architects, plant native grasses in the yard of the Madison house. --Photo by Barb Jansen .

NRCS employees focused on the landscaping around the residence, as part of an agency initiative called the “Backyard Conservation” campaign. Dave Burgdorf, the NRCS plant materials specialist based in East Lansing, Mich., with the NRCS National Plant Materials Program, explained that, as an example of their efforts, some of the shrubs and grasses they had planted around the Madison house were “xerophytic species.” “That means,” he said, “they’re adapted to dry conditions.”

Bob Snieckus, the NRCS national landscape architect at the agency’s headquarters office in Washington, DC, noted that “We plan to create such gardens as a 'sensory garden,’ to encourage visitors to touch the plants, and a fragrance garden, featuring aromatic plants.”

“Through this 'Backyard Conservation’ effort,” affirmed Barb Jansen, an NRCS visual information specialist at the agency’s Wisconsin State Office in Madison, “we bring, to the city, the conservation practices which are employed in rural America--which promote clean air and good water and which benefit people and wildlife as well.”

“This demonstration project illustrates the innovative and environmentally friendly uses of agriculture and forestry projects,” said Secretary Ann M. Veneman, who toured the Madison home on Earth Day. “Through projects like these, we can bring conservation techniques into the homes and backyards of America.” •
--Richard Lindeborg

We Rolled Up Our Sleeves
It’s all part of its mission for USDA to provide financial assistance for economic development to rural residents around the country. But recently, in southeastern New Hampshire, a big dose of 'employee elbow grease’ was part of the deal.

That’s because nine employees from Rural Development offices in New Hampshire and Vermont volunteered their time and labor to apply a protective stain to 336 feet of a ten-foot-high fence and a storage shed at the “Inn at Deerfield,” a facility for individuals with Alzheimers Disease and dementia.

The Inn had received a $1,654,500 Rural Development Community Facility loan to construct the 32-bed residential assisted living facility. According to Gregg MacPherson, a rural development specialist at the RD area office in Concord, N.H., the loan covered the cost of the 9,400 square-foot building on 10.6 acres of land and all the amenities needed to create a homelike atmosphere for its patients.

“The facility was even able to obtain a used car. They removed the motor and encourage the patients to sit in it and go on imaginary trips,” said Carolyn Chute-Festervan, a housing outreach specialist at the RD field office in Epping, N.H.

“Isn’t this what Tom Sawyer once did?” quips RD’s Linda Woodard (standing), as she and RD’s Karen Boudreau apply a protective stain to a ten-foot-high fence at the “Inn at Deerfield” in New Hampshire. --Photo by Carolyn Lawrence .

“Because the Inn is licensed at the support residential care level,” added Linda Woodard, an RD rural rental housing technician in Concord, “it is able to provide services in nursing, psychiatry, pharmacy, dentistry, and podiatry.”

However, after the Inn at Deerfield was completed and all of the loan funds were spent, two items were still missing. “It still needed a shed to store both summer and winter lawn maintenance equipment, and there were 336 feet of wooden fence that needed to be stained,” said Joe Silveira, an RD construction analyst in Concord.

So MacPherson, Silveira, and Bill Richard, owner of Pilot Construction in Portsmouth, N.H., took action. They obtained donated materials from several local companies in New Hampshire. Then Jolinda LaClair, RD State Director for New Hampshire and Vermont, based in Montpelier, Vt., along with eight RD staff members, the project architect, and employees of Pilot Construction, provided the labor to finish the job.

“Specifically,” said Susan Farber, an RD rural development specialist in Concord, “employees of Pilot Construction built the storage shed. Then RD employees stained the shed and the fence that surrounds the Inn.”

“While making loans for health care facilities and other community projects is a common occurrence,” LaClair said, “having staff volunteer their time, to make sure the project has all its needs met, is not.”

“We stepped in,” added Karen Boudreau, an RD community facility technician in Concord, “and helped give the residents of the Inn at Deerfield a home they can be proud of.” •
--Carolyn Lawrence