Tuesday, July 27, 2010

GIS Services Help Make Important Decisions

The LandmarkJCM GIS department can be extremely helpful when developing property.

Wouldn't it be nice to know if a particular use is underrepresented in an area, say a 10 minute drive from your site. It would be even nicer to know if the population within that ten minute drive spend more or less than the average consumer on the particular product or service you are selling.

What user should you be marketing for the vacant store in your shopping center?

Contact Jim McCulley at LandmarkJCM to learn more about this valuable service.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Chesapeake Bay Update - Farmers Viewpoint


Chesapeake Bay TMDL Allocations Pose Big Task

Submitted by Editor on Fri, 07/09/2010, Lancaster Farming

Chris Torres
Staff Writer

The extent of agriculture’s role in the development of the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for the Chesapeake Bay remains unclear.

But it appears likely that farmers will have to do more than what they are currently doing to get the nation’s largest fresh water estuary cleaned up.

According to draft allocations released last week by the Environmental Protection Agency, nitrogen and phosphorus levels across the bay will have to be reduced to 187.4 million pounds and 12.5 million pounds a year, respectively, to maintain a healthy ecosystem.

That’s more than a 24 percent reduction from the approximately 247.5 million pounds of nitrogen and 16.62 million pounds of phosphorus that currently enter the bay each year.

Sediment allocations will be released in August.

According to the EPA’s news release, the “loadings were determined using the best peer-reviewed science and through extensive collaboration with the states and the District of Columbia.”

The allocations will be used as the basis for developing watershed implementation plans, which each state must complete, detailing what they will do to achieve their respective nutrient reductions.

The plans are due to the EPA by Sept. 1. A draft TMDL will be released Sept. 24, followed by a 45-day public comment period. Final watershed implementation plans are due Nov. 29 and the final TMDL, barring any setbacks, will be released Dec. 31.

Pennsylvania, in particular the Susquehanna River basin, is the largest contributor to nitrogen runoff in the bay as well as the second largest contributor to phosphorus runoff.

The Keystone State will have to reduce its share of nitrogen by another 38 million pounds per year to 76.77 million pounds and phosphorus by a little more than 1 million pounds to 2.74 million pounds.

Excess nitrogen and phosphorus feed algae blooms in the bay, which in turn take oxygen away from fish and other wildlife that need it to survive.

The ag sector, while it has reduced its share of nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment going into the bay by roughly 50 percent in 25 years, is still the biggest source of nutrient pollution in the waterway.

When it comes to farms, Harry Campbell, science advocate for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, said the focus will not necessarily be on developing new conservation practices or technologies, but on getting those farms without conservation or nutrient management plans to their legal baseline first.

“Quite frankly, I think we’re going to be talking about getting at some of these smaller farms,” he said. “These are farms that have small acreage, that may have been skipped when the focus was on larger farms. We need to reach out and work with those folks.”

Getting to smaller farms is proving to be a challenge in some areas, especially Lancaster County, where many small farms are owned by Plain Sect farmers who do not take government assistance on religious grounds and often farm within a few feet of a small stream or tributary.

The EPA has made it known that the county, with its large number of dairy farms, is an area of focus for reducing nutrient runoff.

This week, meetings were held between the agency and the county’s conservation district staff and others to discuss farms in the Watson Run and Muddy Run areas.

A Wednesday night meeting at the Lancaster Farm and Home Center set deadlines for 88 farmers in the Muddy Run area of the county to get their required conservation and manure management plans up to snuff.

Farmers will have until Sept. 3 to let the district know whether or not they have the plans up to date.

Don McNutt, administrator of the Lancaster County Conservation District, said farmers that respond by that date will be placed on a low priority list for EPA on-farm evaluations.

Farmers who do not respond will be placed on a high priority list for inspection.

All farmers in the Muddy Run area have until Dec. 3 to get their plans together.

Failure to do so could result in some farms being designated as a Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO), which would require more permitting by the federal government.

Based on visits the conservation district staff has done over the years, McNutt estimates around one in three farmers in the entire county does not have either a conservation or manure management plan or both.

State law, according to McNutt, requires all farmers to have a plan detailing how they handle soil and water movement on the farm (conservation plan) and if they handle manure, a manure management plan.

McNutt said the overall plan, while doable, will be challenging because his staff as well as staff at the county’s private consulting firms are overbooked as it is.

EPA conducted a series of inspections last September of farms in the Watson Run area, mostly Plain Sect, where they found most of the farmers lacked either plan.

McNutt said that while many farmers are doing a lot of good work in terms of farming practices, there are many barnyard issues that need to be addressed, along with solving the issue of getting livestock out of streams when there is already little acreage for them to graze on.

Persuading farmers to develop plans that detail how they are addressing their soil and water as well as how they are handling manure, he said, will be crucial to show that farmers are at least doing something about their issues.

“As little as five to 10 years ago, there were farmers saying some farms need to be regulated and some do not. That’s why there is sort of a re-education out there,” he said. “It’s sad that nobody was posting any environmental speed limit signs when they were put in place. Then, all of a sudden the signs went up and people were asking, ‘when did that go up?’ ”

John Hines, deputy secretary for water management at the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), said the allocations are slightly more stringent than what the state developed as part of its Chesapeake Bay Tributary Strategy in the mid-2000s.

Hines said he is happy to get the allocations because it presents a clearer picture for how the state will develop its watershed implementation plan, which is due to the EPA by Sept. 1.

Three work groups are developing the implementation plan, including an ag work group. Hines said the ag group is coming up with ideas for better accounting of current conservation practices, how to use federal dollars to put in more practices, and how to better utilize nutrient trading as an incentive.

The watershed implementation plan will subdivide Pennsylvania’s overall nutrient allocation between the smaller watersheds as well as point-source polluters (wastewater treatment plants) and nonpoint-source polluters (farmers).

Hines said ag’s role will be key in getting best management practices (BMPs) on the ground.

“I think ag is going to play a key role in this process. I think ag is going to play a key role in the development of BMPs,” Hines said. “There is going to be expectations coming out of this process for all of us to do more.”

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Green for Green, More Press

The Nations Building News features an article about the Delaware Green for Green Program. Howard Fortunato, Green Building Professional with LandmarkJCM and President of the Green Building Council is quoted.

This is a great program for Delaware and will help stimulate new home sales in the absence of the Federal Tax Credit.



Monday, July 12, 2010

Money Available to Pennsylvania Landowners!!


From Amy N at LandmarkJCM:

Last week Mick and I attended a meeting hosted by the NRCS and USFWS regarding the new PA Bog Turtle Initiative associated with their existing “Wetlands Reserve Program”.

The PA Wetlands Reserve Program is a 15-year old program which receives its annual funding as part of the Farm Bill. The WRP is a landowner incentive program which places privately owned low-quality or degraded wetlands in a Conservation Easement that are then subject to wetland restoration and/or enhancement activities. The NRCS pays 100% for all restoration/enhancement activities, (as well as 100% of all closing costs/fees associated with placing the wetland under a CEA), and the landowner is also paid according to the attached payment schedule based on the type of activity and the type of easement; (There are 3 enrollment options: Permanent Easements, 30-year Easements, and “Restoration Only”; see attached sheets).

In order for a landowner to be eligible for enrollment into the program, they must have owned the property for at least 7 years. In order for a wetland to be eligible for enrollment, it must be “restorable” such as former or degraded wetlands, farmed wetlands, prior converted cropland, etc., and it must be a minimum of 10 acres in size.

The significance of the new PA Bog Turtle Initiative is that all of the above eligibility requirements for enrollment into the program are waived if the wetland contains Bog Turtles, or if the wetland is high quality potential Bog Turtle habitat within close proximity to a known Bog Turtle colony. In other words, landowners can now enroll wetlands into this “restoration” program if they have Bog Turtles, no matter how large it is and even if the wetland is already a high functioning wetland needing no restoration. PA is placing a high priority on enrolling privately owned wetlands that have Bog Turtles into the program and landowners will receive $3,900-$12,000/acre to enroll Bog Turtle wetlands, depending on which county they are in. The NRCS will monitor and maintain the wetland for Bog Turtles into the future, although it did not seem like at the meeting they had all of the details regarding monitoring and future funding for habitat maintence quite worked out yet.

PA has secured approximately 3.3 million dollars for 2010 for this program. However, PA’s fiscal year ends September 30th and they do not anticipate receiving this much funding for the program in 2011 unless they can demonstrate that the program can be successful. So, their goal is to enroll as many private landowners with Bog Turtle wetlands as possible by September 1st so that they can receive comparable funding for the program in 2011. We were invited to this meeting yesterday, along with a number of other consultants and PA Bog Turtle Surveyors, so that we will be able to spread the word to anyone we may know that has Bog Turtles in Southeast PA, and so we can speak knowledgably about the program to the public and to our clients.

If we know of anyone who may be interested in receiving money for placing their Bog Turtle wetlands into a Conservation Easement, we should have them contact Bonnie Dershem directly, immediately. I also have a packet with additional information about the program, including enrollment applications. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

LandmarkJCM Boasts one of the Top 5 Green Building Verifiers in the Country

Reprint from recent NAHBRC Verifier Update Report:

Celebrating Our Verifiers Extraordinaire

As the National Green Building Certification Program celebrates moving past its 1,000th certification, we wanted to take an opportunity to thank all of our Accredited Verifiers for serving as in-field ambassadors for the program and the National Green Building Standard.
In particular, we also want to give a special shout out to our highest-volume verifiers. These individuals have distinguished themselves by providing verification services for 25 homes or more since they received their accreditation.


As of June 8, 2010, Joe Gordon has the fourth -highest volume of Verifiers in the Nation. Moved from 5th place to 4th!

Joe Gordon is an Environmental Scientist and Green Building Verifier working out of our Georgetown, Delaware Office. As one of the most experienced Green Building Verifiers in the country, Joe can add real value to your project. For example, he recently alerted a builder about a faulty insulation installation just before it was covered with drywall. This saved the builder from building a less energy efficient home with unhappy customers.

To learn more about the benefits of Green Building and how LandmarkJCM can help you, contact Howard Fortunato.

Congratulations Joe!

Smart Growth Clashes with Storm Water Regulations

Everyone says it is a good idea, encourage development where there are opportunities for re-development or where there are already utilities and infrastructure.  Stop sprawl by creating urban centers where people can live, work and play.

All of this means higher density development but concentrated in a smaller area allowing the preservation of natural resources.

Many consumers are now deciding that this is how they would like to live.  Governments, Environmentalists and others are applauding the idea.  So what's the problem?

New, more stringent storm water regulations being implemented by Federal and State governments make smart growth nearly impossible.  These rules want to encourage infiltration, reduce impervious surfaces and make storm water BMPs larger.  All of these things potentially conflict with "Smart Growth".

NAHB has published an article about this here: http://nahbenews.com/nahbehs/issues/2010-07-02/4.html

For more information on Smart Growth and Storm Water Rule Changes, contact Joe Charma or Keith Rudy at LandmarkJCM.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Federal Government Refuses to Pay Storm Water Fee


From the NAHB Environmental Issues Committee Newsletter:

http://nahbenews.com/nahbehs/issues/2010-07-02/3.html


The Federal Government (EPA) has mandated that the District of Columbia, reduce the amount of storm water run-off.  In response, DC has mandated a storm water fee to be paid by all property owners.  The problem:  The Federal Government owns 20% of the land area of DC and refuses to pay the fee.

Jim McCulley of LandmarkJCM serves on the NAHB Environmental Issues Committee which meets again in September in New York City.