The Neuse Education Team used 1998 as a year to seek out new alliances. Whether it was hosting an agricultural conference in New Bern, leading a basin-wide tour with the Upper Neuse Basin Association or working with the
city of Goldsboro on alternative paving methods, the Neuse Education Team's 1998 efforts show the importance of partnerships in reducing nitrogen loading into the Neuse River.

Partnering with state and local governments, agricultural, environmental and urban organizations demonstrates this team's commitment to basin-wide education and the need to continue nurturing these and other professional relationships. Solutions do not always come in neat little packages. Basin-wide partnering ensures a broader range of possibilities.

Partnering has become more important now that most of the Neuse Rules have passed. It will take a concerted effort by local governments, the private sector and basin industry to ensure implementation that is both effective and fair.  I pledge that this team, along with the other North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service Agents in the Neuse River Basin, will do their part as outlined in the Neuse Rules. I challenge the other organizations involved to do the same.

Yes, 1998 was a good year for the Neuse Education Team.  The comprehensive nature of their program is serving as a model that other river basins will soon follow. But many educational challenges lie ahead. The Neuse Rules are now with us.  As 1999 progresses, we must all continue to work hard. Future generations are depending on us. As you read through this report, remember that each of these impacts will have long-term effects - ones our children and grandchildren will be most thankful for.

Jon Ort

The Neuse Education Team values partnerships greatly, as exemplified by the Neuse Crop Management Project. This project represents a partnership of growers, industry, commodity organizations, North Carolina State University
and the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service.

This project builds on the support that the Clean Water Management Trust Fund has provided to the team to develop four demonstration farms. Our partners include: N.C. Soybean Producers Association, N.C. Farm Bureau, N.C. Plant Food Association, N.C. Small Grain Growers Association, Royster-Clark, National Cotton Council, Southern States Cooperative, Dixie, and the Corn Growers Association.  Through additional support from Pew Charitable Trust
and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Neuse Crop Management project was born. The project will showcase nitrogen and herbicide-reducing best management practices (BMPs) located on four demonstration farms. The
farms will be used for in-field nutrient management training of agricultural consultants and commodity suppliers.
 

• In 1998, the Neuse Education Team partnered with other NC State faculty, the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and the Natural Resources Conservation Service to ensure that science-based methods are used to track nitrogen reduction in the Neuse. This partnership also refined a computer program to assist agency personnel, consultants and producers in developing nutrient management plans.
• Partnering with a Wake County developer, the Neuse Education Team is delivering septic system maintenance and landscape fertilization advice to home buyers. Builders are now including this information in the "closing" package given to homebuyers with septic systems.
• The Neuse Education Team, partnering with Johnston County, received a $3.8 million N.C. Clean Water  management Trust Fund grant.  The funds will establish an irrigation program in the rapidly urbanizing Smithfield area.
• The treated wastewater will be land-applied at agronomic rates instead of discharging directly into the Neuse River. From a water quality view, this project reduces the city's nitrogen loading to the Neuse River.
• Wilson County Extension faculty, along with the Neuse Education Team, helped the City of Wilson receive a $1.3 million stream restoration project grant from the N.C. Office of Wetlands.  The project focuses on the restoration of a badly degraded section of Hominy Creek, which flows through Wilson on its way to the Neuse River.
• Lower Neuse Partnerships:
Lower Neuse Tributaries Project - Launched in 1998, this project teaches citizens how various land uses - including agriculture and urbanization - impact water quality. Monitoring data was collected. Nutrient management and the use of an innovative peat filter were identified as appropriate BMPs to control nitrogen. This project is conducted jointly with the Craven County Health Department.
Town of River Bend - With Extension's help, the town received a $36,80 grant from the Division of Water Resources to improve stormwater management. This project involved Craven County Planning and the Craven County Health Department.

• The Neuse Education Team hosted "Agricultural Solutions for the Neuse River Basin" conference.   More 200 people participated in this conference. Ninety-five people attended the workshop on alternative animal waste technology.  Field tours focused on environmentally and economically sound BMPs that are appropriate for agriculture.
• In 1998 a total of 344 people participated in the Animal Waste Management System Operator Certification led by a member of the Neuse Education Team.
• The Neuse Education Team held 30 record-keeping workshops for 831 animal waste management systems operators in 20 counties in 1998.  Team member Mike Regans received a Search For Excellence Award from the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Foundation in recognition of his educational program on record keeping.
• Nutrient management plans may call for lower nitrogen rates; causing farmers to fear decreased yields.  In 1998, the Neuse Education Team, working with Wayne County agent Bob Pleasants, area growers and consultants, introduced petiole nitrate monitoring for cotton in 20 locations.  This practice allows growers to test the crop for adequate nitrogen and make any necessary adjustments, thus increasing farmers' confidence that the crop will remain profitable.
• In Johnston County the Neuse Education Team, working closely with Extension staff, built a constructed wetland at a commercial nursery in which wetland plants will be grown in nursery runoff water, and the water will be treated at the same time.
• The Neuse Education Team held a lower Neuse Basin workshop in 1998. The workshop allowed Soil and Water Conservation District, Natural Resources Conservation Service, and North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services personnel to be trained in siting two of the three BMPs - controlled drainage and riparian buffers - based on site conditions such as soil indicators and slope.
• In 1998, the Clean Water Management Trust Fund funded a project in the Neuse Basin ($329,520) to establish four demonstration farms throughout the Basin.  This project, "Demonstrating Nitrogen Reducing Agricultural Best Management Practices Systems in the Neuse River Basin", is an important part of the Neuse Education Team's efforts to work in a proactive fashion with area producers. The farms are located in Wake, Franklin, Wayne, Lenoir and Craven counties.  The farms will showcase agricultural BMPs that producers will be implementing under the Neuse Rules - nutrient management, controlled drainage and riparian buffers.

• Two urban stormwater BMP workshops were held in Raleigh and New Bern in 1998.  One hundred-fifteen engineers, planners and landscape architects learned about nitrogen-reducing practices in workshops held in New Bern and Raleigh.
• The Neuse Education Team installed an alternative-paving demonstration site in the town of Havelock, one of the 10 cities that will be affected by the Neuse stormwater rules. The site allows developers and homeowners to get a first-hand look at an alternative paving method.  As a result of this site, several inquiries were received as to its cost and function.
• The City of Wilson worked with the Neuse Education Team to install an innovative sand filter on a small commercial development site. This practice is useful when land costs are too high to allow for traditional sediment-control practices. Master Gardener volunteers are collecting water samples during storm events to determine the effectiveness of this practice.The data collected is used for research and education.
• The Cary WaterWise Gardener project trained four Master Gardener volunteers to deliver information on urban BMPs to homeowners.  The program established seven volunteer landscapes that serve as neighborhood demonstration sites. People learned proper ways to fertilize their landscapes and how they affect water quality in the Neuse River.
• The Neuse Education Team produced and distributed "The Neuse Starts Here," a public service announcement video, to television stations in the Neuse River Basin. The 30-second spot featured three urban BMPs and directed viewers to a web site and a phone number for more information.  The message played an average of four times a week over a six-month period reaching an average of 160,000 different households in the Neuse Basin on a daily basis.

The Neuse Education Team made educating citizens about the Neuse Rules a high priority in 1998. One of the first steps in adopting the practices outlined in the rules is to increase understanding of the rules. The Neuse Education Team agents crisscrossed the basin explaining Extension's educational role and the impact of the new regulations. The Neuse Team took advantage of all types of forums - from internal staff meetings to statewide functions - to better inform the people the Neuse Rules will impact.

• The Neuse Education Team, along with county Extension faculty, worked with state agricultural and regulatory agencies and farmers to form committees responsible for achieving agriculture's portion of the 30 percent mandated nitrogen reduction. These committees, known as the Local Advisory Committees, began an education and sign-up program for farmers and other landowners who must comply with the rules.
• Neuse River Basin Tour - The Neuse Education Team led a basin-wide tour for members of the Upper Neuse Basin Association - a group of government leaders and decision-makers from the Triangle area.  The seven-city tour highlighted urban, suburban and agricultural projects. The tour featured a dialogue, facilitated by the Neuse Education Team, where farmers and other lower basin officials discussed solutions with their upstream neighbors.
• Focus Group Survey - In 1998, the Neuse Education Team sought to tailor the focus of the educational programs offered. Ten questions, designed to identify constituent needs, were administered to 20 focus groups convened throughout the basin. The groups represented the Neuse Education Team's primary customers: local government representatives, business leaders and developers, turfgrass professionals, homeowners, foresters, agricultural producers and environmental organizations. As a result of the survey, the team is refining its educational efforts targeting these customers.