Many of the eXtension electronic information systems are using webcasts as a convenient educational method. The Livestock, Poultry Environmental Learning Center (LPELC) program sponsors monthly webcasts for interested individuals with the uplink originating from Iowa State University. The program joined forces with the Region 10 Pacific Northwest Water Quality team to take the webcast series on the road as we broadcasted from the 2010 Land Grant and Sea Grant National Water Conference in Hilton Head, South Carolina. The webcast was February 24th. The program included three presentations representing a wide range of animal manure management research topics. Greg Binford, Extension specialist from the University of Delaware, discussed research on nutrient losses from production-scale poultry litter piles that were stored in fields for at least 90 days. Gregory Evanylo, of Virginia Tech, highlighted a project in Virginia intended to increase the amount of waste being composted on farms. Darryl Finnigan, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Rural Affairs, presented an approach to increasing the adoption of best management practices on horse farms that builds upon the Ontario Environmental Farm Plan program. Darryl Finnigan, Ontario Ministry of Ag, talking about best management practics for rural horse operations. Participants across the U.S. viewed slides and speaker information shown on the screen in the foreground.   The webcast closed with LPELC team members discussing other interesting presentations and information learned at the water conference. Participants had the opportunity to earn continuing education units from the Certified Crop Advisers (CCA) and American Registry of Professional Animal Scientists for tuning into the 2 hour program. The speakers’ pictures and slides appear on the screen for participants during each talk. Before, during, and after the webcast, participants could ask questions, post comments, or share experiences with these topics. The questions and comments appeared on the website screen during the program. It was easy to join the discussion. Participants simply logged onto the free base site to see the slides and post comments. Instructions were posted with promotional materials and participants could log on early to make sure they would be included in the program. So how effective is this teaching method? Most participants are comfortable using computers and reported they liked the ease and convenience of taking part. There were 59 sites logged on with 84 participants. Most of the participants reported they worked with animal manure regulations or that they assisted producers with their farm manure management. Participation was at sites scattered throughout the U.S. with one site reported outside the U.S. Of those responding to the evaluation survey at the end of the program, 21 participants said they were using the broadcast to fulfill continuing education credits for their profession and 19 reported the program improved their knowledge of the subjects. All of the respondents reported they would join future broadcasts on similar topics.

Pacific Northwest Regional Water Quality Coordination Project Partners Land Grant Universities Alaska Cooperative Extension Service Contact Fred Sorensen: 907-786-6311 http://www.uaf.edu/ces/water/ University Publications: http://www.alaska.edu/uaf/ces/publications/ Idaho University of Idaho Cooperative Extension System Contact Bob Mahler: 208-885-7025 http://www.uidaho.edu/wq/wqhome.html University Publications: http://info.ag.uidaho.edu/Catalog/catalog.html Oregon Oregon State University Extension Service Contact Mike Gamroth: 541-737-3316 http://extension.oregonstate.edu/ University Publications: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/ Washington Washington State University WSU Extension Contact Bob Simmons: 360-427-9670 ext. 690 http://wawater.wsu.edu/ University Publications: http://pubs.wsu.edu/ Northwest Indian College Contact Charlotte Clausing: 360-392-4319 cclausing@nwic.edu or http://www.nwic.edu/ Water Resource Research Institutes Water and Environmental Research Center (Alaska) http://www.uaf.edu/water/ Idaho Water Resources Research Institute http://www.boise.uidaho.edu/ Institute for Water and Watersheds (Oregon) http://water.oregonstate.edu/ State of Washington Water Research Center http://www.swwrc.wsu.edu/ Environmental Protection Agency EPA, Region 10 The Pacific Northwest http://www.epa.gov/r10earth/ Office of Research and Development, Corvallis Laboratory http://www.epa.gov/wed/ For more information contact Jan Seago at 206-553-0038 or seago.jan@epa.gov
	The Project Land Grant Universities, Water Research Institutes and EPA Region 10 have formed a partnership to provide research and education to communities about protecting or restoring the quality of water resources. This partnership is being supported in part by the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). Our Goal and Approach The goal of this Project is to provide leadership for water resources research, education and outreach to help people, industry and governments to prevent and solve current and emerging water quality and quantity problems. The approach to achieving this goal is for the Partners to develop a coordinated regional water quality effort based on, and strengthening, individual state programs. Our Strengths The Project promotes regional collaboration by acknowledging existing programs and successful efforts; assessing program gaps; identifying potential issues for cross-agency and private sector collaboration, and developing a clearinghouse of expertise and programs. In addition, the Project establishes or enhances partnerships with federal, state and local environmental and water resource management agencies, such as by placing a University Liaison within the offices of EPA Region 10.
	Since many of the participants work with producers, those completing the evaluation reported working with a total of 2,050 producers. If the rest of the audience also extends the information to others, the broadcast provided new information for 8,100 producers around the participation sites. Given the convenience of hearing national experts without having to travel to a conference, this economical delivery method could become very important in the future. The broadcasts can be recorded and viewed at a more convenient time or used as part of an organized meeting. The programs can be available to any participant with a computer and internet connection. Airing the program from South Carolina where the experts were attending the conference minimized speaker costs and it showed the programs can be done anywhere and uplinked to the internet with a minimum of trouble. One of the keys to more successful webcasts is letting the public know when they are offered and how to join in. Educational webcasts are going to become a useful way for the public to gather the latest and best information conveniently. Greg Evanylo, Virginia Tech, talks about composting research done in Virginia and proper composting procedures to help maintain water quality. Greg Binford, of the University of Delaware, waits his turn to speak on poultry litter piles in the background.
	National Water Quality Program Areas The four land grant universities in the Pacific Northwest have aligned our water resource extension and research efforts with eight themes of the USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Animal Waste Management Drinking Water and Human Health Environmental Restoration Nutrient and Pesticide Management Pollution Assessment and Prevention Watershed Management Water Conservation and Agricultural Water Management Water Policy and Economics
	This material is based upon work supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under Agreement No. 2008-51130-04734.

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HOME | About | Calendar | Contacts | Links | PNW Water Updates | Sitemap NIFA National Water Quality Program This material is based upon work supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under Agreement No. 2008-51130-04734. all external sites will open in a new browser window page last modified on May 15, 2010