“NCTC Journal,” the newsletter of the National Conservation Training Center, is now online, delivering more information about events and activities on the Shepherdstown campus in timelier fashion. The news service will present information of interest to students, guests, and neighbors on a continuously-updated basis, from the opening page of the NCTC Web site.

 
 
 
 
 
 

Environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and Rice University professor Dr. Douglas Brinkley, author of a new book on Theodore Roosevelt’s conservation legacy, The Wilderness Warrior/Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America, addressed the first “Student Climate and Conservation Congress” at NCTC in late June. The four-day session brought 90 students from the Green School Alliance’s network of 3,000 schools throughout the United States to NCTC for sessions with environmental and economic leaders, with an emphasis on sustainable change in local communities and greater understanding of the interrelation between human economies and the natural environment.

How will wildlife adapt to the realities of global climate change? Executives from conservation and corporate America began to answer this question in June at NCTC, with a “Conservation Leadership Forum” on climate change adaptation by fish, wildlife, and plants. “We’re giving the conservation community a chance to identify core biological principles that can be carried forward to the public and to the new Administration,” says Rowan Gould, acting director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
 
 
 
 
 

There’s a new “inner beauty” to NCTC’s Division of Education Outreach. While the exterior of the campus education building remains the same, the interior’s main floor is getting a complete makeover in an effort to increase the efficiency of office space, which formerly housed about 13 employees in a single open area divided by office cubicles. The renovations subdivide the space into smaller work areas and will widen aisles. Additional sound paneling will be installed on the ceiling to adsorb noise, and the heating and air conditioning systems will get a long needed overhaul. The work is expected to be completed by mid-summer 2009.

Training needs in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over the next 10 years prompted a survey of 1,200 agency employees in June, as the National Conservation Training Center seeks to determine the type and manner of delivery of new courses in the second decade of the Shepherdstown training center's life. The assessment will have two phases – the short, focused survey already completed by employees, followed by structured interviews with the leadership of all Service regions and programs. Results will be posted on the NCTC Web site. "The outcome will be NCTC training and support that meets the needs of the agency in the future, enabling NCTC to better focus and prioritize its programs and services," says NCTC’s Chief Learning Officer, Dr. Rollie Jacobs.
 
 

 

How does a green campus grow greener? Many environmentally-sensitive design and construction concepts were built into the National Conservation Training Center campus when ground was broken in 1994. Its passive solar heated flooring, sunshades on south-facing windows, biodegradable dining utensils, and a worm farm for cafeteria table scraps are among the many NCTC features that have been embraced by the move toward greener operation of major Federal facilities. "The 'Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design' system of certifying a site or building -- popularly know as LEED standards -- did not exist when NCTC started," says NCTC deputy director Jim Willis. "But it's now one of the most recognized green standards, and NCTC plans improvements that will attain that certification. We will spend $5 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds in 2009 specifically for green infrastructure at NCTC." Look for these changes, among others: new water-saving toilets and plumbing fixtures; energy-saving hand dryers in restrooms; non-leaching, stainless steel chiller tanks that will minimize the leaching of zinc into the Potomac River; new air-conditioning and heating technology that enable both systems to "talk" to each other, preventing costly waste of energy during spring and fall temperature fluctuations; and alternative energy generation on campus that will cut the use of non-renewable power.

C-SPAN aired a two-part interview with Rice University professor and author Douglas Brinkley on June 21 and 28 about his forthcoming book on the conservation legacy of Theodore Roosevelt. C-SPAN host Brian Lamb conducted the interview on his weekly "Q & A" evening program; NCTC’s Roosevelt living room in its “Commons” building provided the setting for the April 30 taping, which focused on Roosevelt's creation of the National Wildlife Refuge System and other Federal land management systems, all of which are examined in Brinkley's new book, "The Wilderness Warrior/Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America." The interview highlighted many of NCTC's historical and archival objects found in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service collection, based at the Shepherdstown campus, and included interview with NCTC employees Steve Chase and Dr. Mark Madison, the Fish and Wildlife Service’s national historian.