Publication Type: Oral Presentation
Abstract: In Florida, revegetation projects can cost >$1000 per acre due to the need for vegetative propagation and/or lack of seeded ecotypes. The mission of the USDA, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Brooksville, Florida Plant Materials Center (PMC) is to develop commercially viable selections and sources of native materials. Four new releases from the Brooksville PMC program should greatly reduce the cost of revegetation projects in Florida because, in addition to their other attributes, they were selected for mechanized propagation and planting. ‘Citrus’ maidencane (Panicum hemitomon) selected germplasm released in 1998 and a blue maidencane (Amphicarpum muehlenbergianum) to be released in 2007 are both important vegetatively propgated wetland species developed by this program. Maidencane is a native perennial, warm season, semi-erect grass that is adapted to aquatic or semi-aquatic sites, while blue maidencane (a.k.a., ‘goobergrass’ because of its geocarpic seed production) occurs in transitional areas between flatwoods and depressional landscapes. ‘Ghost Rider’ purple bluestem (Andropogon glomeratus var. glaucopsis) selected germplasm was released in 2006 and a lopsided indiangrass (Sorghastrum secundum) will be released in 2008. Purple bluestem is one of the most important species found on native range sites and is usually found around water bodies and in wetter flatwoods sites; lopsided indiangrass is one of the most easily recognized and most important upland grass species on Florida. Field production and mechanical harvesting protocols have been developed for both of these species. For more information on these and other restoration plants native to Florida, visit the Brooksville PMC website (http://www.fl.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/pmc/flplantmaterials.html).

Publication Type: Abstract
Abstract: A national perspective will be given on the invasive species-related work that is being pursued by the 27 USDA-NRCS Plant Materials Centers across the United States. The role of partnerships established for which the NRCS Plant Materials Centers provide assistance for revegetation and restoration after major environmental events; e.g., fire, invasive species removal, and other catastrophic events will be discussed. Safe guards and plant development protocols taken at our nation’s Plant Materials Centers will be conveyed.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: With this project, I hope to gain a clearer picture of the relationship between women and plants in Hawai`i. In addition, I am interested in how that relationship has changed both the plants and the women who have tended/harvested/worked/used/thought about/taught them. Hawai`i presents a unique opportunity for understanding the evolution of the relationship between plants and women because of the incredibly strong connection between the Hawaiian people and the land. This paper will briefly examine where colonialism has led this connection and focus on the relationship between women and plants with regards to several styles of plant work. For the purposes of this project, they are the following: education, medicinal and cultural uses of plants, lei-making, and conservation efforts.

Publication Type: Poster Presentation
Abstract: Food processing canneries, especially the ones using raw fruit, nut, and vegetable base materials, generate various types of food processing by-products or non-hazardous wastes, which their constituents are dependent on the source of raw material and the substances associate with the canning processes. An expansion of land-applied non-hazardous wastes is projected to rise because of the public concerns regarding environmental impacts and economic restraints of their disposal to landfill or incineration, and because of presumed inherent agricultural benefits. This practice is important not only for the recycling nutrients back to the soil, but also for minimizing those elements of concern (e.g., nitrogen, sodium, chloride, and trace elements) that would otherwise be concentrated elsewhere. Public concerns on the impacts of food processing by-products, which contain low pH, high TDS, and trace elements, may impair soil quality after its application on California farmlands. The major goal of this work was to develop the best management practices of sustainable reuse food processing by-products as a soil amendment on California farmlands. We monitored fates of food processing by-products through soil profile, crop removal, and their movements that may influence soil chemical properties and trace element accumulations in plant tissues on various field sites with the history of receiving food processing by-products under the Program established by Dept. of Environmental Resources, Stanislaus County. The preliminary results from this study will be discussed.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This paper is about bureaucratic response regarding to the An-Shun Plant case. The company was a state owned enterprise when pollution happened. And the company was privatized in 1994. The chemical pollution became infamous and was publicly announced by the EPA, Environment Protection Agency, of Taiwan in 2001. It was because the affected cancer rate of the community residents was higher than the other communities. The health of community citizens was affected physically and psychologically because of the existence of the toxic pollution. Three communities’ citizens, including Shan-Gon, Lu-Er, and Shih-Chao, were affected by the pollution. The chemical pollution had been existed in the communities over 60 years according to the history of An-Shun Plant. The community citizens’ dioxin rate in their blood was tested to be higher than citizens from other areas in Taiwan around 2001. 40 million US dollars’ budget, about 1.3 billion NT dollars, for 5 consecutive years was passed in 2005 as compensation for the chemical pollution in the communities. The role of government bureaucrats became important since they were responsible for environmental policy making.