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| This Week's Titles: |
| Small
Caterpillars In Fruit Trees |
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Southeast Georgia County
Trains Future Leaders |
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| Urban
Progress Gobbling Up Farmland |
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| Singing
Insects In North Georgia |
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| Georgia
Now Experiencing Mild Drought Conditions |
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| Small
Caterpillars In Fruit Trees |
1:38 |
Many people fear a small caterpillar
will make a mess in their fruit trees. |
Eastern tent caterpillars
are found across the entire state, and are found in plum trees,
black cherry trees, and other fruit trees. Wayne Berisford,
a scientist with the University of Georgia's College of Agricultural
and Environmental Sciences says most people see these caterpillars
while they are young. "Well the larvae is what most people see
and they're fuzzy, full grown they're about on an inch and a
half sometimes two inches long, pale brown with black stripe
on their back, they're pretty distinctive larvae. The adults
are out for only a short period and most people don't recognize
those." Wayne Berisford with the College of Agricultural and
Environmental Sciences, who adds Eastern tent caterpillars cause
little damage, and the trees will not die. Sometimes they eat
the leaves from the trees early in the spring, but the leaves
come back, and little damage is noticed. If you want to remove
them from a fruit tree, take a stick and place it inside a triangular
shaped web where the larvae are present, and remove the web,
along with the larvae. John Harrell, University of Georgia College
of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, reporting from Tifton. |
Links to audio files:
(files include a brief quote from the source for your use.)
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| Southeast
Georgia County Trains Future Leaders |
1:35 |
A county in Southeast Georgia
is working to build and maintain strong leadership in the county
and community. |
If any community is going
to be successful, it must have strong, solid leadership. In
Charlton County, a start-up grant from the Community Leadership
Initiative led to the development of a leadership training session
called Charlton Forward. Terry Thigpen, a county extension agent
in Charlton County says the training included trips to Atlanta
and Jacksonville, FLA to see leadership in action. "We had units
on socio-economic perspectives, looking at the local data, we
had units on state government in fact the class took a trip
to Atlanta to state government up there to observe that in action
as well as our local area and actually looking to the Jacksonville
area to see how we could interact with the Jacksonville area
." Terry Thigpen with the University of Georgia's College of
Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. Participants recruited
for the class included representatives from education, business,
and civic groups in Folkston and Charlton County. Around fifteen
people took part in the first class offered last year. Seventeen
people are currently taking part in the 2004 Charlton Forward
training session. John Harrell, University of Georgia College
of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, reporting from Tifton. |
Links to audio files:
(files include a brief quote from the source for your use.)
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| Urban
Progress Gobbling Up Farmland |
1:43 |
Many Georgian's are concerned
about urban progress gobbling up farmland. |
In 1954 Georgia had about
twenty-four million acres of farmland, and about 165,000 farms.
In 2003 the number had shrunk to about 10.8 million acres of
farmland, and about 49,000 farms. John Bergstrom, an agricultural
economist with the University of Georgia's College of Agricultural
and Environmental Sciences says most of the areas of concern
are in urban areas like Atlanta, Macon, Augusta, and Columbus.
He adds Georgian's have indicated they would be willing to pay
a tax if it would help protect land currently used for agriculture.
"Maybe like a checkoff program on the state income tax form
to fund purchase of agricultural conservation easement programs.
And we did find that people were willing to pay that tax in
exchange for preserving farmland in the state." John Bergstrom
with the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
Most Georgians surveyed believe the protection of farmland is
needed for environmental protection, and the family farm should
be preserved in Georgia. But they also indicate farmland near
urban areas needs the most protection. John Harrell, University
of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences,
reporting from Tifton. |
Links to audio files:
(files include a brief quote from the source for your use.)
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| SInging
Insects In North Georgia |
1:35 |
After a long period of silence,
some tiny insects will emerge and sing their way across North
Georgia. |
The insects called magicicadas
normally emerge and sing their song every seventeen years. Since
the last big sing by these insects was in 1987, this is the
year they will once again sing. Paul Guillebeau, an entomologist
with the University of Georgia Extension Service says the area
affected by the singing should be from Atlanta, then North.
He adds magicicdas normally begin singing in early to mid May.
People are used to cicadas being out during the summer around
July, and the common name for them is July flies, these will
come out in May and what makes them unique is the potential
abundance, there may be hundreds of thousands per acre." Paul
Gullebeau with the College of Agricultural and Environmental
Sciences, who adds magicadas do little damage to trees they
sing from. The song they sing is also short, since they begin
dying away in June. John Harrell, University of Georgia College
of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, reporting from Tifton. |
Links to audio files:
(files include a brief quote from the source for your use.)
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| Georgia
Now Experiencing Mild Drought Conditions |
1:42 |
Mild drought conditions have
returned to Georgia. |
Wet conditions in 2003
broke the five-year drought that had chocked the state with
dry soils, and short water supplies. So far, 2004 has been dry,
with rainfall for the year several inches below normal. David
Stooksbury, the State Climatologist and Professor of Engineering
at the University of Georgia says so far, the drought of 2004
is a mild one. "Because of below rainfall in March and the first
half of April, most of the state is now in what we would classify
as a mild drought. Parts of the state are in best shape is the
extreme Northwest corner, and then extreme Southeast corner.
The remainder of the state though soil moisture is extremely
low." David Stooksbury with the College of Agricultural and
Environmental Sciences. The state climatologist says there are
concerns as the state moves into late spring and early summer,
since soils normally begin drying out in May, and June begins
the season for scattered afternoon thunderstorms. Once summer
begins, the only hope for widespread rainfall would be for a
tropical weather system to move towards Georgia. John Harrell,
University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental
Sciences, reporting from Tifton. |
Links to audio files:
(files include a brief quote from the source for your use.)
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