Issues
Below, please find Jenna's answers to the 2014 Independent Weekly questionnaire.
INDY Week Candidate Questionnaire
2014 Soil & Water Conservation District Supervisors - Wake County
Full Legal Name: Jennifer Austin Wadsworth
Name as it Appears on the Ballot: Jennifer (Jenna) Austin Wadsworth
Office Sought/District: Wake County Soil and Water Conservation District Supervisor
Date of Birth: 11-16-1988
Home Address: Cary, NC 27511
Mailing Address (if different from home): P.O. Box 10771, Raleigh, NC 27605-0771
Campaign Web Site: www.JennaWadsworth.com
Occupation & Employer: Soil and Water Conservation District Supervisor; Co-Founder of a non-profit; Independent Political, Non-profit, & Corporate Consultant
Home Phone: (919) 915-0896
Email: Jenna@JennaWadsworth.com
1. Why are you seeking the office of Soil & Water Conservation District Supervisor?
I was born in Raleigh, but I grew up off a dirt road on a family farm—my grandparents’ farm—in Johnston County, which raised corn, soybeans, tobacco, cattle, and hogs. I am a proud graduate of the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics (NCSSM) in Durham—where I currently sit on the Alumni Association’s Board of Directors. In December 2011, I graduated Magna Cum Laude from North Carolina State University with majors in Political Science—with a concentration in American Politics—and Women’s and Gender Studies and a minor in English. Family is first and foremost to me. I live in Cary, and I help my father with the family farm in Selma, where I’ve been known to climb up on a Farmall tractor and where I’m putting into practice the Best Management Practices (BMPs) we push farmers to install on their farms here in Wake County. I’m no stranger to hard work, and that’s what I’ve spent the last four years doing for the people of Wake County as a Soil and Water Conservation District Supervisor.
In 2010, we made history in North Carolina with my election to the Wake County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) Board of Supervisors when I became the youngest woman ever elected to any public office in the state. As voters, you put a lot of faith in a bright-eyed, twenty-one-year-old who was hopeful in her ability to do something different in the stagnate political climate which voters on both sides of the aisle had grown to loathe. Four years later, I am again asking for your support, but this time I have a record of service which I believe will speak volumes for how grateful I was—and still am—to have the chance to make a difference in Wake County, and in North Carolina.
I am humbled by the opportunity to serve Wake County in this role. I am proud of my work on the Wake SWCD Board of Supervisors, and I hope that county residents give me the chance to continue serving them. In the past four years, the Wake SWCD has engaged in some of our most innovative projects and collaborative partnerships with community leaders in conservation in order to best protect, conserve, and preserve the vital natural resources in Wake County. As a Supervisor, I have voted to provide educational and financial assistance to land owners and users who qualify for crucial technical assistance necessary to protect water quality, properly manage agricultural resources, and conserve the county’s natural resources and wildlife.
Having grown up on a family farm, it has been important to me to focus on farmland preservation and local foods enhancement in this role. I have been an outspoken supporter of the District’s Keeping the Farm Workshop which provides farmers with the resources necessary to keep their farms in their families for generations to come.
With my leadership, the District entered into a Market Based Conservation Initiative (MBCI) program with the U.S. Marine Corps and the NAVY. The MBCI program preserves open space and restricts development under a vital military flight path. This initiative serves to benefit national security and advance military training while helping landowners and farmers who had land under the flight path.
Securing an easement on Mac Country Acres of just over 45 acres of prime Wake County farmland along an unnamed tributary to Steep Hill Creek is one of the Wake SWCD’s biggest accomplishments, and this serves as a lasting reminder of the late Caroline MacNair Carl and her love of the land. Steep Hill Creek is a tributary to Lake Benson, which is one of the county’s major drinking water supplies. Our easement on one of the few remaining farms just outside Raleigh city limits will protect drinking water and air quality for the foreseeable future.
I have been a zealous advocate for and a volunteer with the District’s environmental education programs for grades K-12. I’m currently working with conservation partners across the state to fund a mobile soils trailer stock-full of soil science materials which will travel North Carolina, providing vital educational resources to all students. The educational learning trailer is currently on display at the State Fair. This September 11, I partnered with Activate Good and N.C. Big Sweep in recruiting nearly 90 volunteers from Exploris Middle School to clean up over 140 pounds of trash and recyclables in the Crabtree Creek watershed. Last year, I held a cleanup in the same watershed to clean trash and debris along the roadway. Around 1600 volunteers a year work with the Wake SWCD through the Big Sweep program, and last year we collectively collected 27,639 pounds of litter. Our volunteers donated over 3,979 hours of time, saving Wake County an estimated $88,924 while beautifying our scenic landscapes and enhancing water quality.
I deeply care about Wake County’s future, which is why I have spent countless hours in classrooms and at after-school programs with our students to teach them about soil science and water conservation. With the help of the Wake SWCD’s excellent environmental education coordinator, I would plan lessons, design worksheets, and create soil centers where students could see how healthy soil helps create products used in their everyday lives. I love putting on a chef’s hat and apron when transforming a classroom into the Soil Café, where soil is served up to students to divide into its 6 major ingredients on placements placed on the students’ tables. Touring the JC Raulston Arboretum with our top 10 fifth-grade environmental poster contest winners and their families to learn about stormwater practices was a learning experience for me and the children because I was seeing what conservation looks like through their eyes. I have also served as a judge at the Area IV (consists of 11 counties, including Wake County) Public Speaking Contest for 7th and 8th graders, helped Wake County high school teams prepare for the Oral Presentation component of the NC Envirothon Oral Presentation state-level competition, have found college and grad student interns for a Wake SWCD program, have volunteered at the Area IV Envirothon competition for middle and high school students, and worked with my fellow Supervisors to judge the top 10 environmental poster contest posters annually. Every year, I have helped select Wake County high school students to attend the statewide Resource Conservation Workshop held at N.C. State each summer. This has truly been an important—and I believe meaningful—focus of my first term.
I know that this race is not about me, nor is this race about politics or partisanship (and this is, in fact, a non-partisan position). This race is about people—about each and every person in Wake County, whether she lives on a farm in Knightdale or in a neighborhood in downtown Raleigh—and putting good public policy into place that betters the lives of those people. This campaign is about making people proud to call Wake County home—now and for years to come. That’s what the last four years of my service has been about, and that’s what will be the focus of my continued service to this county and its people.
Vote for someone who will put people first. Vote for proven progress this fall.
2. What are the most pressing natural resources issues in the county?
As Wake’s population continues to increase, so do the number of natural resource concerns the county will face as a result of increased use and development. I want people to call Wake County home, because that means people are continuing to settle here for the high quality of life offered to residents. Part of what makes major population centers attractive is access to pristine parks for recreation and scenic open space; healthy, locally-grown foods and a healthy economy—which the Wake SWCD works to ensure through our work in the Agribusiness sector; great schools that foster a child’s lifelong desire to learn—schools which we work with to provide teachers with environmental education materials and students which we provide both academic and extra-curricular opportunities to learn about soil science and the natural world. Folks want to know that when they go home at night, cut on the tap, and use water to cook food for their families that what they are drinking is safe. The Wake SWCD has worked diligently to help clean-up both Falls and Jordan Lake, while also ranking projects which occur in an area with a waterway listed on the EPA’s 303(d) list of impaired and impacted streams as priority projects that have the potential to better the drinking water and water quality concerns for the largest number of our county’s residents.
Above all, the most pressing natural resource issue in Wake County is the rate in which we are losing farmland. Farm Bureau conveyed that the 2007 Census of Agriculture reported 827 farms in Wake County. The 2012 USDA Agriculture Census reported 783 farms remaining in the county. In all likelihood, that number has decreased. Interestingly, the average farm size in our county is between 30 and 150 acres, which is why our work at the Wake SWCD really matters to what are primarily family- and smaller farmers. We are not a county whose agricultural community consists of the bigger, corporate farms. Moreover, we have more farmers markets than any other county in the state at 15, and we boast an additional 12 certified roadside farm markets. This suggests that there is a niche for these smaller farms and a growing desire by county residents to consume locally-grown products. That is just one of the innumerable reasons why I served on the committee to create Wake County’s Agriculture Economic Development Plan.
Nationally, there has been an increase in the age of the farmer and a nearly 20% decrease in the percentage of new farmers (i.e. farmers who have been farming on their current operation for less than ten years) from 2007 to 2012. USDA’s data suggested that farmers whose primary occupation was farming tended to be older and male. USDA’s data also showed 40% of farm owners working off the farm for at least 200 days, with many of the less traditional farmers being younger, more racially- and gender-diverse operators.
In 2030, Millennials will outnumber baby boomers. Millennials are overwhelmingly in favor of more walkable communities, and value aspects of community life like access to farmers markets, local food, scenic open space and parks when considering what enhances their quality of life. This is an important consideration as our population in Wake County continues to become younger, and perhaps this suggests how we should approach the next generation about engaging in non-traditional agriculture (i.e. community gardens, work in food deserts, etc.) and in prioritizing county funding for departments which protect water quality, rural vistas, and local foods.
Having grown up on a family farm, farmland preservation has been a large focus of mine over the past four years. I have attended local work group sessions with farmers across the county to hear what they have to say are the resource concerns they are facing from Holly Springs to Wake Forest; I take that information to heart and use it to help craft our list of priorities for the year ahead.
Our top crops in Wake are soybeans, wheat, hay, and tobacco. What many likely don’t realize is that our county is the 7th in the state in our nursery and greenhouse production with $20.5 million annually in nursery production occurring here. While agriculture is not the business it once was for the state, the economic impact of this industry is nothing to sneeze about. The N.C. Department of Agriculture evaluates Wake County’s Agricultural/Agribusiness industry at a whopping $73 million. The Wake SWCD is the only county department that provides technical services to this industry, and our FY2014 budget was a mere $431,982. We know how to do a lot with a little, but it would make it easier to service this important sector of our economy with additional support from those who make budgetary decisions for the county. We shouldn’t have to fight county leaders for enough paper to put in our copiers and a half-time support staff position (which, by the way, was not funded this year, despite having had our support staff eliminated several budget cycles ago) when we have already proven our worth and our value to taxpayers time and time again. I contend that the devaluation of our work is arguably a devaluation of the larger agricultural community—a community which continues to contribute to the climate and atmosphere which make Wake County a great place to live, work, play, and raise a family.
3. How do you plan to address these issues? Please be specific.
The environmental education of our citizenry—and most especially of our youth—is of paramount importance to me because I believe that it is through the fostering of future stewards of conservation that we can leave this world a little better than we found it. In that vein, I will continue to actively support and engage in the development of innovative environmental education programming not only for our K-12 public and private school students, but also for all county landowners, farmers, and educators. We estimate that we provided information to over 3,520 citizens in the last year alone on nutrient loading and erosion problems commonly experienced by homeowners in Wake County. Our environmental education lessons were taught to over 731 youth and 394 families in 2014. As more people learn of the services we provide, we have seen a perpetual increase in the demand of our educational outreach activities.
The Wake SWCD’s current leadership has been able to accomplish as much as we have in large part due to the collaborative partnerships we establish when working on projects which require input and support from multiple stakeholders. Our Agriculture Economic Development Plan, which helps both farmers and producers while stimulating the local economy, was adopted by the Wake County Commissioners in 2013 after unsuccessful attempts since 2010. This arduous process required us to bring a diversity of perspectives to the table in order to best design a plan that would really benefit the agribusiness community as a whole. I am proud to have served on the Wake County Agriculture Economic Development Plan Team. Representatives from the farming community, nonprofits supporting farmland preservation and local foods, Farm Bureau, AgCarolina Farm Credit, WakeMed, USDA, North Carolina State University, and Triangle Land Conservancy came together to help us create a sound, non-partisan, economic policy that even received the support of North Carolina’s Commissioner of Agriculture, Steve Troxler. Our ability to work with multiple players and stay focused on our goal created a situation where we received increased media attention and expanded awareness of our work amongst county residents, thereby creating an environment where we were able to place more pressure on our County Commissioners to pass this much-needed plan to preserve agriculture, support a growing local foods economy, and provide resources to our hardworking farmers and agribusiness community. Pursuant to N.C.G.S. 106-744, the official adoption of this plan also created the opportunity for our county to apply for farmland preservation grants which can be used for agricultural development projects and conservation easements at a lower percentage match rate (15%) than if the plan had not been supported (30%). This is an illustrative example of the power of the collaborative partnerships which I have been a supporter of during my tenure on the Board of Supervisors and which I will continue to support moving forward.
Additionally, the Wake SWCD annually hosts a Keeping the Farm Workshop for county landowners and farmers. This is another example of a successful, voluntary program which we provide to county residents with the help of both public and private partners. Farmers receive vital information about entering into solar, wind, and hunting leases; applicable public safety and property posting laws; legal pathways for preserving the family farm for generations to come; and updates on available technical and fiscal programs of interest. Despite being rescheduled two times as a result of snow and inclement weather, 130 Wake County landowners attended the 2014 Keeping the Farm Workshop. We’re excited for the 2015 KTF Workshop, and I hope to see even greater attendance than we did in 2014.
4. What, if any, permanent water conservation measures should be implemented in Wake County? What usage goal, in gallons per day, should be set for residential customers? Industrial/ commercial customers? How can the county achieve these reduction goals?
First, it would be unprofessional to suggest implementation of permanent measures of any kind on matters that are not within the Wake SWCD’s, or even Wake County's, jurisdiction. Public water supply sources in Wake County are managed by either the City of Raleigh or the Town of Cary. Although we partner with municipal and non-profit organizations to educate our citizens on good stewardship of water resources, only Raleigh (and the towns where it supplies water) and Cary should determine supply status, restrictions, and management at times of drought or emergencies.
Second, Wake Soil and Water Conservation District, by General Statute, is a non-regulatory entity who has successfully worked with landowners to protect natural resources—especially our water quality—for almost 50 years through VOLUNTARY conservation efforts. Our conservation plans and best management practices installed on the land help conserve water and other natural resources, as well as improve water quality and soil heath. We have always promoted voluntary conservation of our water resources by citizens, landowners, and businesses.
5. On a related note, which do you favor—voluntary or mandatory measures? Which do you believe is more effective and why?
As previously stated, the Wake Soil and Water Conservation District, by North Carolina General Statute, is a non-regulatory entity. In this capacity, the Wake SWCD has successfully worked with both public and private landowners to protect natural resources—especially our water quality—for almost 50 years through VOLUNTARY conservation efforts. Our conservation plans and best management practices installed on the land help conserve water and other natural resources, as well as improve water quality and soil heath. We have always promoted voluntary conservation of our wildlife, forestry, water, and natural resources by citizens, landowners, and businesses.
6. Thousands of Wake County residents rely on groundwater and domestic wells for their drinking water. How should the county address the quantity and quality needs of those customers?
The best management practices that the Wake SWCD uses to protect water quality and improve soil health also reduce the amount of nutrients entering the water courses of our surface and ground water. Ground water QUANTITY issues are part of the ongoing workload of our local planners and the NCDENR’s Division of Water Resources. They are the permitting and regulatory agencies who tackle the community wells issues that withdraw large quantities of ground water. The Wake SWCD farmland preservation efforts help maintain large areas for groundwater recharge. Active and healthy farms and forest are the best sources of groundwater recharge.
7. Identify examples of how the district can best balance agricultural/rural and urban interests in regards to soil and water conservation.
One of the finest examples of how the Wake SWCD can best balance agricultural, rural, and urban interests in regards to our work with soil and water conservation is our demonstration horse farm at Black Horse Run. Black Horse Run is located in the Falls Lake Watershed, and is a mixed-use development containing both agricultural space and suburban neighborhoods. Through the installation of various projects to filter runoff—including a rain garden, a rain water collection system trapping water runoff from the barn roof that is directed to underground cisterns, and a manure composting system—the Wake SWCD installed projects which are now used to educate the public on reducing nonpoint source pollution into nearby waterways. We also installed livestock exclusion fencing to prevent the horses from having unrestricted access to streams on the property, resulting in their opting to drink from automatic waterers which were installed throughout the pasture. A 25-foot buffer of thick, native vegetation was created between the stream and the pasture in order to further filter nonpoint source pollution from pasture runoff while decreasing erosion.
In the adjacent housing development, we used CCAP funds and technical assistance to reduce stormwater runoff resulting from impervious surfaces. Two landowners, in particular, practically had a small creek running through their yards during heavy rains because the stormwater runoff had created an extreme case of gully erosion. A stormwater ditch was installed and outfitted with composting materials to help decrease the velocity of the runoff and filter the pollutants before recharging the ground water supplies. One of the landowners worked with the SWCD to install a rainwater cistern which he uses to water his garden.
For additional examples of how we balance our urban and rural work to best serve the citizens of Wake County, please see the response to question 8 about the use of economic incentives to protect natural resources.
8. How should economic incentives be used to protect the area’s natural resources? What are the financial resources for these incentives?
Currently, the Wake SWCD works with landowners and land users to provide both technical and—when strict funding criteria are met—fiscal assistance on projects. State and Federal cost-share assistance programs help citizens install invaluable conservation practices in the county—with many of these practices benefiting the larger population and area than where they are installed. In the 2013-2014 Fiscal Year, 44 cost share contracts were written to address varying natural resource concerns countywide. $107,884 in reimbursements from both state and federal funds were paid to Wake County landowners who completed contracts on installed conservation practices. The Wake SWCD worked with landowners to write conservation management plans covering over 1,371.8 acres of forest and farmland. We oversaw the installation of nearly 795 acres of Best Management Practices (BMPs) that help improve water quality, and we prevented just under 2000 tons of sediment from reaching streams and rivers through completed conservation practices.
The most-used resource by the Wake SWCD is the North Carolina Agriculture Cost Share Program, which helps us address problems stemming from nonpoint source pollution on agricultural lands. This voluntary cost share program allows us to work with farmers and agricultural land renters to identify best management practices (BMPs) best suited to the specific farm in order to develop and enact conservation plans that oversee the implementation of those BMPs that will allow that farmer to be successful. We rank applications received by criteria which takes into consideration the most pressing natural resource concerns in Wake County while also providing residents with the tools they need to be productive and efficient in tackling their conservation concerns, especially when solving the micro-level problem has macro-level benefits for water quality, wildlife, and natural resources. For example, installing field borders around agricultural crops on a farm could reduce runoff and keep both sediment and nutrients out of waterways, thereby enhancing drinking water quality and reducing the cost of drinking water treatment for all county residents over time. Similarly, installing composters for the safe storage of organic waste or building exclusion fencing that keeps cattle or horses out of streams are both ways that water quality can be aided while simultaneously helping the farmer combat the effects of erosion and nutrient runoff. The Ag Cost Share program more directly benefits the farmer through cost sharing on programs that help to minimize farm field erosion that reduces the need to apply nutrient-containing substances to the crop or area through practices like conservation tillage, planting of critical areas, prescribed grazing of livestock, the installation of agricultural wells, sod-based rotation, and an assortment of other practices. The North Carolina General Assembly continues to fund this program because it preserves the family farm, our state’s original business engine, while helping it move into the future with increased productivity.
Another voluntary, incentive-based program which we use to improve water quality in Wake County is the Community Conservation Assistance Program (CCAP). Similar to the Ag Cost Share Program, CCAP works to install BMPs, usually after a conservation plan is created. However, the CCAP focuses on urban, suburban, and rural lands not directly involved in agricultural production, which has resulted in partnerships with homeowners, businesses, schools, parks, and other landowners in order to provide educational, technical, and financial assistance in stormwater management and in bettering water quality. This past Fiscal Year, the Wake SWCD installed 9,664 square feet of BMPs through CCAP. We have worked with Wiley Elementary School to reduce erosion and create an outdoor learning environment. We partnered with Morrisville to reduce erosion off a ball field and install pet waste receptacles along the walking trail in the park. We are ensuring the upkeep and maintenance of a large-scale partnership with the City of Wake Forest where the Wake SWCD helped install three rainwater cisterns that save residents from paying for up to 100,000 gallons of water a year that can be used to clean town vehicles and fill brine trucks or street sweepers. CCAP has helped us help residents throughout the county who needed rain gardens or riparian buffers installed on their property in order to control flooding, protect property from severe erosion, and to filter runoff—especially runoff which otherwise would run directly into a tributary of a major drinking water source without having nonpoint source pollution filtered from it.
If the farmer receives either of these funding sources, (s)he is required to maintain the conservation practices and keep them in compliance for the length of time designated in their agreement—usually for a set number of months up to ten years, depending on the conservation practice installed. As a Supervisor, every year I visit randomly selected sites from across the County with our technical staff where we have installed a variety of cost share projects. We perform these spot checks in order to ensure that these sites have remained in compliance and that county, state, and federal funds have been wisely appropriated.
These and other cost share programs make a big difference in the lives of Wake County residents. I believe in being mindful about how we spend state and federal resources, because that money comes from somewhere and it could just as easily be used somewhere else. We are respectful of that and we strive to get the biggest bang out of a buck, because we know how to stretch a dollar. For every dollar of state or federal money spent, many more come back in increased productivity and efficiency of the farmer, in decreased costs to taxpayers having to pay for drinking water purification and sediment removal from their water source, in increased travel and tourism dollars for enhancing open space or scenic recreation areas, and in jobs kept here in the county and state by the engineering and project staff employed to install the BMPs. We aren’t giving people a handout; we are giving them a hand up.
9. Land use policy impacts the quality and quantity of our natural resources, including drinking water. In light of Wake County’s rapid growth, how should the conservation district work with planning and zoning departments to protect the area’s soil and water from urban runoff?
Wake Soil and Water Conservation District received the support of Wake County's Planning Board for the Wake County Agriculture Economic Development Plan that addresses the issues facing Wake County land issues. The Plan was endorsed by the Wake County Board of Commissioners in 2013. Many issues addressed in the plan require a constant working partnership between all the entities and stakeholders in the agricultural, conservation, and economic development space. The Plan was designed to partner and communicate on the successful non-regulatory model of the Wake Soil and Water Conservation District. URBAN run-off issues are regulated by Wake County's Environmental Services under the County's UDO, or by the individual city/townships in Wake County. Both regulatory efforts and non-regulatory successes help Wake County maintain balance in its service to our citizens. This is of utmost importance now that Wake County’s population has exceeded one million residents and is expected to continue to grow by roughly one kindergarten classroom a day for the foreseeable future. As more people choose to call Wake County home, we must be mindful of our natural resources and encourage stewardship of the land by continuing to work with both public and private landowners, as well as with our students through the award-winning environmental education programming the Wake SWCD offers.
10. Crabtree Creek and parts of Crabtree Valley Mall parking areas consistently flood. Is this an area of concern for stormwater runoff? Identify other areas in the county with similar problems and how they should be mitigated.
In the 1970s, the Soil Conservation Service (now the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service) in the Wake Soil and Water Conservation District office constructed ten flood control structures to prevent loss of life and damage to humans and the environment in flood prone areas in Wake County. Eleven structures were designed, but only ten were approved by local entities at the time. Since the '70s, Wake County has grown significantly in both the rural and urban areas. We are delighted that the structures continue to protect our citizens and even provide recreational facilities in some locations (Bond Lake, Lake Crabtree, Shelly Lake, Lake Lynn, and others). However, as Wake continues to grow, the District will continue to work with all partners in discussions on how to address all the difficult issues that impact encroachment in our natural flood plains, wildlife habitat, soil erosion, groundwater recharge zones, and many other natural resources concerns.
11. Assess the effectiveness of the voluntary agricultural district, which is designed to increase the visibility of farms and to support Wake County farmers.
I am resolute in my commitment to farmland preservation and agricultural economic development in Wake County. One of the most effective tools that I have as a Supervisor—who is tasked with the job of addressing our largest natural resource concerns, most especially the rate at which we are losing farmland—is the Voluntary Agricultural District (VAD) program. In 2014 alone, the Wake Soil and Water Conservation District oversaw an additional 84 acres of farmland added to the VAD program. Wake County currently has just shy of 40 VADs, comprised of more than 50 landowners and nearly 130 parcels. We have preserved and protected over 5,700 acres of farmland through this voluntary program. That is a sizable chunk of land in a perpetually-developing county.
The VAD program enhances the identity of the agricultural community through voluntary preservation methods that reduce non-farm development and the negative effects of such development on lands actively used in agricultural, horticultural, or forestry operations. Not only does this program strengthen the farming community, but it also enhances the quality of life for citizens countywide who will benefit from cleaner water, as well as a clearly defined plant and animal habitat that is located elsewhere than their own backyards. Residents will also have access to a supply of nutrient-rich, fresh products grown on a local farm which provides local jobs, and scenic rural or open space vistas to enjoy throughout the county they have chosen to call home.
12. What funding issues are facing the Soil and Water District? How do you propose to ensure the district receives full funding? Are there alternative funding sources the district could explore? If so, what are they?
Wake Soil and Water Conservation District's biggest funding issues are limited staffing resources and a need for grants for new projects. During the 2008 recession, everyone had to manage cuts to staff and resources. Wake County's Soil and Water Conservation was cut more than any other county department. Ironically, as the building boom crashed, many landowners returned to agriculture and forestry and the demand on the services of the District actually increased! Currently, the District still maintains a wait-list to address the needs of our landowners, in the hopes that—like other county departments—at least some staff will be restored. The District also is seeking grant funds to assist Wake County's citizens with new projects such as the dry hydrants project to protect rural residents, and new environmental education projects to reach our growing number of children—who will one day lead us in protecting our natural resources. Increasing the technical staff in order to better address the requests for services from citizens remains the highest funding priority for the District.
Below, please find Jenna's answers to the 2014 Independent Weekly questionnaire.
INDY Week Candidate Questionnaire
2014 Soil & Water Conservation District Supervisors - Wake County
Full Legal Name: Jennifer Austin Wadsworth
Name as it Appears on the Ballot: Jennifer (Jenna) Austin Wadsworth
Office Sought/District: Wake County Soil and Water Conservation District Supervisor
Date of Birth: 11-16-1988
Home Address: Cary, NC 27511
Mailing Address (if different from home): P.O. Box 10771, Raleigh, NC 27605-0771
Campaign Web Site: www.JennaWadsworth.com
Occupation & Employer: Soil and Water Conservation District Supervisor; Co-Founder of a non-profit; Independent Political, Non-profit, & Corporate Consultant
Home Phone: (919) 915-0896
Email: Jenna@JennaWadsworth.com
1. Why are you seeking the office of Soil & Water Conservation District Supervisor?
I was born in Raleigh, but I grew up off a dirt road on a family farm—my grandparents’ farm—in Johnston County, which raised corn, soybeans, tobacco, cattle, and hogs. I am a proud graduate of the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics (NCSSM) in Durham—where I currently sit on the Alumni Association’s Board of Directors. In December 2011, I graduated Magna Cum Laude from North Carolina State University with majors in Political Science—with a concentration in American Politics—and Women’s and Gender Studies and a minor in English. Family is first and foremost to me. I live in Cary, and I help my father with the family farm in Selma, where I’ve been known to climb up on a Farmall tractor and where I’m putting into practice the Best Management Practices (BMPs) we push farmers to install on their farms here in Wake County. I’m no stranger to hard work, and that’s what I’ve spent the last four years doing for the people of Wake County as a Soil and Water Conservation District Supervisor.
In 2010, we made history in North Carolina with my election to the Wake County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) Board of Supervisors when I became the youngest woman ever elected to any public office in the state. As voters, you put a lot of faith in a bright-eyed, twenty-one-year-old who was hopeful in her ability to do something different in the stagnate political climate which voters on both sides of the aisle had grown to loathe. Four years later, I am again asking for your support, but this time I have a record of service which I believe will speak volumes for how grateful I was—and still am—to have the chance to make a difference in Wake County, and in North Carolina.
I am humbled by the opportunity to serve Wake County in this role. I am proud of my work on the Wake SWCD Board of Supervisors, and I hope that county residents give me the chance to continue serving them. In the past four years, the Wake SWCD has engaged in some of our most innovative projects and collaborative partnerships with community leaders in conservation in order to best protect, conserve, and preserve the vital natural resources in Wake County. As a Supervisor, I have voted to provide educational and financial assistance to land owners and users who qualify for crucial technical assistance necessary to protect water quality, properly manage agricultural resources, and conserve the county’s natural resources and wildlife.
Having grown up on a family farm, it has been important to me to focus on farmland preservation and local foods enhancement in this role. I have been an outspoken supporter of the District’s Keeping the Farm Workshop which provides farmers with the resources necessary to keep their farms in their families for generations to come.
With my leadership, the District entered into a Market Based Conservation Initiative (MBCI) program with the U.S. Marine Corps and the NAVY. The MBCI program preserves open space and restricts development under a vital military flight path. This initiative serves to benefit national security and advance military training while helping landowners and farmers who had land under the flight path.
Securing an easement on Mac Country Acres of just over 45 acres of prime Wake County farmland along an unnamed tributary to Steep Hill Creek is one of the Wake SWCD’s biggest accomplishments, and this serves as a lasting reminder of the late Caroline MacNair Carl and her love of the land. Steep Hill Creek is a tributary to Lake Benson, which is one of the county’s major drinking water supplies. Our easement on one of the few remaining farms just outside Raleigh city limits will protect drinking water and air quality for the foreseeable future.
I have been a zealous advocate for and a volunteer with the District’s environmental education programs for grades K-12. I’m currently working with conservation partners across the state to fund a mobile soils trailer stock-full of soil science materials which will travel North Carolina, providing vital educational resources to all students. The educational learning trailer is currently on display at the State Fair. This September 11, I partnered with Activate Good and N.C. Big Sweep in recruiting nearly 90 volunteers from Exploris Middle School to clean up over 140 pounds of trash and recyclables in the Crabtree Creek watershed. Last year, I held a cleanup in the same watershed to clean trash and debris along the roadway. Around 1600 volunteers a year work with the Wake SWCD through the Big Sweep program, and last year we collectively collected 27,639 pounds of litter. Our volunteers donated over 3,979 hours of time, saving Wake County an estimated $88,924 while beautifying our scenic landscapes and enhancing water quality.
I deeply care about Wake County’s future, which is why I have spent countless hours in classrooms and at after-school programs with our students to teach them about soil science and water conservation. With the help of the Wake SWCD’s excellent environmental education coordinator, I would plan lessons, design worksheets, and create soil centers where students could see how healthy soil helps create products used in their everyday lives. I love putting on a chef’s hat and apron when transforming a classroom into the Soil Café, where soil is served up to students to divide into its 6 major ingredients on placements placed on the students’ tables. Touring the JC Raulston Arboretum with our top 10 fifth-grade environmental poster contest winners and their families to learn about stormwater practices was a learning experience for me and the children because I was seeing what conservation looks like through their eyes. I have also served as a judge at the Area IV (consists of 11 counties, including Wake County) Public Speaking Contest for 7th and 8th graders, helped Wake County high school teams prepare for the Oral Presentation component of the NC Envirothon Oral Presentation state-level competition, have found college and grad student interns for a Wake SWCD program, have volunteered at the Area IV Envirothon competition for middle and high school students, and worked with my fellow Supervisors to judge the top 10 environmental poster contest posters annually. Every year, I have helped select Wake County high school students to attend the statewide Resource Conservation Workshop held at N.C. State each summer. This has truly been an important—and I believe meaningful—focus of my first term.
I know that this race is not about me, nor is this race about politics or partisanship (and this is, in fact, a non-partisan position). This race is about people—about each and every person in Wake County, whether she lives on a farm in Knightdale or in a neighborhood in downtown Raleigh—and putting good public policy into place that betters the lives of those people. This campaign is about making people proud to call Wake County home—now and for years to come. That’s what the last four years of my service has been about, and that’s what will be the focus of my continued service to this county and its people.
Vote for someone who will put people first. Vote for proven progress this fall.
2. What are the most pressing natural resources issues in the county?
As Wake’s population continues to increase, so do the number of natural resource concerns the county will face as a result of increased use and development. I want people to call Wake County home, because that means people are continuing to settle here for the high quality of life offered to residents. Part of what makes major population centers attractive is access to pristine parks for recreation and scenic open space; healthy, locally-grown foods and a healthy economy—which the Wake SWCD works to ensure through our work in the Agribusiness sector; great schools that foster a child’s lifelong desire to learn—schools which we work with to provide teachers with environmental education materials and students which we provide both academic and extra-curricular opportunities to learn about soil science and the natural world. Folks want to know that when they go home at night, cut on the tap, and use water to cook food for their families that what they are drinking is safe. The Wake SWCD has worked diligently to help clean-up both Falls and Jordan Lake, while also ranking projects which occur in an area with a waterway listed on the EPA’s 303(d) list of impaired and impacted streams as priority projects that have the potential to better the drinking water and water quality concerns for the largest number of our county’s residents.
Above all, the most pressing natural resource issue in Wake County is the rate in which we are losing farmland. Farm Bureau conveyed that the 2007 Census of Agriculture reported 827 farms in Wake County. The 2012 USDA Agriculture Census reported 783 farms remaining in the county. In all likelihood, that number has decreased. Interestingly, the average farm size in our county is between 30 and 150 acres, which is why our work at the Wake SWCD really matters to what are primarily family- and smaller farmers. We are not a county whose agricultural community consists of the bigger, corporate farms. Moreover, we have more farmers markets than any other county in the state at 15, and we boast an additional 12 certified roadside farm markets. This suggests that there is a niche for these smaller farms and a growing desire by county residents to consume locally-grown products. That is just one of the innumerable reasons why I served on the committee to create Wake County’s Agriculture Economic Development Plan.
Nationally, there has been an increase in the age of the farmer and a nearly 20% decrease in the percentage of new farmers (i.e. farmers who have been farming on their current operation for less than ten years) from 2007 to 2012. USDA’s data suggested that farmers whose primary occupation was farming tended to be older and male. USDA’s data also showed 40% of farm owners working off the farm for at least 200 days, with many of the less traditional farmers being younger, more racially- and gender-diverse operators.
In 2030, Millennials will outnumber baby boomers. Millennials are overwhelmingly in favor of more walkable communities, and value aspects of community life like access to farmers markets, local food, scenic open space and parks when considering what enhances their quality of life. This is an important consideration as our population in Wake County continues to become younger, and perhaps this suggests how we should approach the next generation about engaging in non-traditional agriculture (i.e. community gardens, work in food deserts, etc.) and in prioritizing county funding for departments which protect water quality, rural vistas, and local foods.
Having grown up on a family farm, farmland preservation has been a large focus of mine over the past four years. I have attended local work group sessions with farmers across the county to hear what they have to say are the resource concerns they are facing from Holly Springs to Wake Forest; I take that information to heart and use it to help craft our list of priorities for the year ahead.
Our top crops in Wake are soybeans, wheat, hay, and tobacco. What many likely don’t realize is that our county is the 7th in the state in our nursery and greenhouse production with $20.5 million annually in nursery production occurring here. While agriculture is not the business it once was for the state, the economic impact of this industry is nothing to sneeze about. The N.C. Department of Agriculture evaluates Wake County’s Agricultural/Agribusiness industry at a whopping $73 million. The Wake SWCD is the only county department that provides technical services to this industry, and our FY2014 budget was a mere $431,982. We know how to do a lot with a little, but it would make it easier to service this important sector of our economy with additional support from those who make budgetary decisions for the county. We shouldn’t have to fight county leaders for enough paper to put in our copiers and a half-time support staff position (which, by the way, was not funded this year, despite having had our support staff eliminated several budget cycles ago) when we have already proven our worth and our value to taxpayers time and time again. I contend that the devaluation of our work is arguably a devaluation of the larger agricultural community—a community which continues to contribute to the climate and atmosphere which make Wake County a great place to live, work, play, and raise a family.
3. How do you plan to address these issues? Please be specific.
The environmental education of our citizenry—and most especially of our youth—is of paramount importance to me because I believe that it is through the fostering of future stewards of conservation that we can leave this world a little better than we found it. In that vein, I will continue to actively support and engage in the development of innovative environmental education programming not only for our K-12 public and private school students, but also for all county landowners, farmers, and educators. We estimate that we provided information to over 3,520 citizens in the last year alone on nutrient loading and erosion problems commonly experienced by homeowners in Wake County. Our environmental education lessons were taught to over 731 youth and 394 families in 2014. As more people learn of the services we provide, we have seen a perpetual increase in the demand of our educational outreach activities.
The Wake SWCD’s current leadership has been able to accomplish as much as we have in large part due to the collaborative partnerships we establish when working on projects which require input and support from multiple stakeholders. Our Agriculture Economic Development Plan, which helps both farmers and producers while stimulating the local economy, was adopted by the Wake County Commissioners in 2013 after unsuccessful attempts since 2010. This arduous process required us to bring a diversity of perspectives to the table in order to best design a plan that would really benefit the agribusiness community as a whole. I am proud to have served on the Wake County Agriculture Economic Development Plan Team. Representatives from the farming community, nonprofits supporting farmland preservation and local foods, Farm Bureau, AgCarolina Farm Credit, WakeMed, USDA, North Carolina State University, and Triangle Land Conservancy came together to help us create a sound, non-partisan, economic policy that even received the support of North Carolina’s Commissioner of Agriculture, Steve Troxler. Our ability to work with multiple players and stay focused on our goal created a situation where we received increased media attention and expanded awareness of our work amongst county residents, thereby creating an environment where we were able to place more pressure on our County Commissioners to pass this much-needed plan to preserve agriculture, support a growing local foods economy, and provide resources to our hardworking farmers and agribusiness community. Pursuant to N.C.G.S. 106-744, the official adoption of this plan also created the opportunity for our county to apply for farmland preservation grants which can be used for agricultural development projects and conservation easements at a lower percentage match rate (15%) than if the plan had not been supported (30%). This is an illustrative example of the power of the collaborative partnerships which I have been a supporter of during my tenure on the Board of Supervisors and which I will continue to support moving forward.
Additionally, the Wake SWCD annually hosts a Keeping the Farm Workshop for county landowners and farmers. This is another example of a successful, voluntary program which we provide to county residents with the help of both public and private partners. Farmers receive vital information about entering into solar, wind, and hunting leases; applicable public safety and property posting laws; legal pathways for preserving the family farm for generations to come; and updates on available technical and fiscal programs of interest. Despite being rescheduled two times as a result of snow and inclement weather, 130 Wake County landowners attended the 2014 Keeping the Farm Workshop. We’re excited for the 2015 KTF Workshop, and I hope to see even greater attendance than we did in 2014.
4. What, if any, permanent water conservation measures should be implemented in Wake County? What usage goal, in gallons per day, should be set for residential customers? Industrial/ commercial customers? How can the county achieve these reduction goals?
First, it would be unprofessional to suggest implementation of permanent measures of any kind on matters that are not within the Wake SWCD’s, or even Wake County's, jurisdiction. Public water supply sources in Wake County are managed by either the City of Raleigh or the Town of Cary. Although we partner with municipal and non-profit organizations to educate our citizens on good stewardship of water resources, only Raleigh (and the towns where it supplies water) and Cary should determine supply status, restrictions, and management at times of drought or emergencies.
Second, Wake Soil and Water Conservation District, by General Statute, is a non-regulatory entity who has successfully worked with landowners to protect natural resources—especially our water quality—for almost 50 years through VOLUNTARY conservation efforts. Our conservation plans and best management practices installed on the land help conserve water and other natural resources, as well as improve water quality and soil heath. We have always promoted voluntary conservation of our water resources by citizens, landowners, and businesses.
5. On a related note, which do you favor—voluntary or mandatory measures? Which do you believe is more effective and why?
As previously stated, the Wake Soil and Water Conservation District, by North Carolina General Statute, is a non-regulatory entity. In this capacity, the Wake SWCD has successfully worked with both public and private landowners to protect natural resources—especially our water quality—for almost 50 years through VOLUNTARY conservation efforts. Our conservation plans and best management practices installed on the land help conserve water and other natural resources, as well as improve water quality and soil heath. We have always promoted voluntary conservation of our wildlife, forestry, water, and natural resources by citizens, landowners, and businesses.
6. Thousands of Wake County residents rely on groundwater and domestic wells for their drinking water. How should the county address the quantity and quality needs of those customers?
The best management practices that the Wake SWCD uses to protect water quality and improve soil health also reduce the amount of nutrients entering the water courses of our surface and ground water. Ground water QUANTITY issues are part of the ongoing workload of our local planners and the NCDENR’s Division of Water Resources. They are the permitting and regulatory agencies who tackle the community wells issues that withdraw large quantities of ground water. The Wake SWCD farmland preservation efforts help maintain large areas for groundwater recharge. Active and healthy farms and forest are the best sources of groundwater recharge.
7. Identify examples of how the district can best balance agricultural/rural and urban interests in regards to soil and water conservation.
One of the finest examples of how the Wake SWCD can best balance agricultural, rural, and urban interests in regards to our work with soil and water conservation is our demonstration horse farm at Black Horse Run. Black Horse Run is located in the Falls Lake Watershed, and is a mixed-use development containing both agricultural space and suburban neighborhoods. Through the installation of various projects to filter runoff—including a rain garden, a rain water collection system trapping water runoff from the barn roof that is directed to underground cisterns, and a manure composting system—the Wake SWCD installed projects which are now used to educate the public on reducing nonpoint source pollution into nearby waterways. We also installed livestock exclusion fencing to prevent the horses from having unrestricted access to streams on the property, resulting in their opting to drink from automatic waterers which were installed throughout the pasture. A 25-foot buffer of thick, native vegetation was created between the stream and the pasture in order to further filter nonpoint source pollution from pasture runoff while decreasing erosion.
In the adjacent housing development, we used CCAP funds and technical assistance to reduce stormwater runoff resulting from impervious surfaces. Two landowners, in particular, practically had a small creek running through their yards during heavy rains because the stormwater runoff had created an extreme case of gully erosion. A stormwater ditch was installed and outfitted with composting materials to help decrease the velocity of the runoff and filter the pollutants before recharging the ground water supplies. One of the landowners worked with the SWCD to install a rainwater cistern which he uses to water his garden.
For additional examples of how we balance our urban and rural work to best serve the citizens of Wake County, please see the response to question 8 about the use of economic incentives to protect natural resources.
8. How should economic incentives be used to protect the area’s natural resources? What are the financial resources for these incentives?
Currently, the Wake SWCD works with landowners and land users to provide both technical and—when strict funding criteria are met—fiscal assistance on projects. State and Federal cost-share assistance programs help citizens install invaluable conservation practices in the county—with many of these practices benefiting the larger population and area than where they are installed. In the 2013-2014 Fiscal Year, 44 cost share contracts were written to address varying natural resource concerns countywide. $107,884 in reimbursements from both state and federal funds were paid to Wake County landowners who completed contracts on installed conservation practices. The Wake SWCD worked with landowners to write conservation management plans covering over 1,371.8 acres of forest and farmland. We oversaw the installation of nearly 795 acres of Best Management Practices (BMPs) that help improve water quality, and we prevented just under 2000 tons of sediment from reaching streams and rivers through completed conservation practices.
The most-used resource by the Wake SWCD is the North Carolina Agriculture Cost Share Program, which helps us address problems stemming from nonpoint source pollution on agricultural lands. This voluntary cost share program allows us to work with farmers and agricultural land renters to identify best management practices (BMPs) best suited to the specific farm in order to develop and enact conservation plans that oversee the implementation of those BMPs that will allow that farmer to be successful. We rank applications received by criteria which takes into consideration the most pressing natural resource concerns in Wake County while also providing residents with the tools they need to be productive and efficient in tackling their conservation concerns, especially when solving the micro-level problem has macro-level benefits for water quality, wildlife, and natural resources. For example, installing field borders around agricultural crops on a farm could reduce runoff and keep both sediment and nutrients out of waterways, thereby enhancing drinking water quality and reducing the cost of drinking water treatment for all county residents over time. Similarly, installing composters for the safe storage of organic waste or building exclusion fencing that keeps cattle or horses out of streams are both ways that water quality can be aided while simultaneously helping the farmer combat the effects of erosion and nutrient runoff. The Ag Cost Share program more directly benefits the farmer through cost sharing on programs that help to minimize farm field erosion that reduces the need to apply nutrient-containing substances to the crop or area through practices like conservation tillage, planting of critical areas, prescribed grazing of livestock, the installation of agricultural wells, sod-based rotation, and an assortment of other practices. The North Carolina General Assembly continues to fund this program because it preserves the family farm, our state’s original business engine, while helping it move into the future with increased productivity.
Another voluntary, incentive-based program which we use to improve water quality in Wake County is the Community Conservation Assistance Program (CCAP). Similar to the Ag Cost Share Program, CCAP works to install BMPs, usually after a conservation plan is created. However, the CCAP focuses on urban, suburban, and rural lands not directly involved in agricultural production, which has resulted in partnerships with homeowners, businesses, schools, parks, and other landowners in order to provide educational, technical, and financial assistance in stormwater management and in bettering water quality. This past Fiscal Year, the Wake SWCD installed 9,664 square feet of BMPs through CCAP. We have worked with Wiley Elementary School to reduce erosion and create an outdoor learning environment. We partnered with Morrisville to reduce erosion off a ball field and install pet waste receptacles along the walking trail in the park. We are ensuring the upkeep and maintenance of a large-scale partnership with the City of Wake Forest where the Wake SWCD helped install three rainwater cisterns that save residents from paying for up to 100,000 gallons of water a year that can be used to clean town vehicles and fill brine trucks or street sweepers. CCAP has helped us help residents throughout the county who needed rain gardens or riparian buffers installed on their property in order to control flooding, protect property from severe erosion, and to filter runoff—especially runoff which otherwise would run directly into a tributary of a major drinking water source without having nonpoint source pollution filtered from it.
If the farmer receives either of these funding sources, (s)he is required to maintain the conservation practices and keep them in compliance for the length of time designated in their agreement—usually for a set number of months up to ten years, depending on the conservation practice installed. As a Supervisor, every year I visit randomly selected sites from across the County with our technical staff where we have installed a variety of cost share projects. We perform these spot checks in order to ensure that these sites have remained in compliance and that county, state, and federal funds have been wisely appropriated.
These and other cost share programs make a big difference in the lives of Wake County residents. I believe in being mindful about how we spend state and federal resources, because that money comes from somewhere and it could just as easily be used somewhere else. We are respectful of that and we strive to get the biggest bang out of a buck, because we know how to stretch a dollar. For every dollar of state or federal money spent, many more come back in increased productivity and efficiency of the farmer, in decreased costs to taxpayers having to pay for drinking water purification and sediment removal from their water source, in increased travel and tourism dollars for enhancing open space or scenic recreation areas, and in jobs kept here in the county and state by the engineering and project staff employed to install the BMPs. We aren’t giving people a handout; we are giving them a hand up.
9. Land use policy impacts the quality and quantity of our natural resources, including drinking water. In light of Wake County’s rapid growth, how should the conservation district work with planning and zoning departments to protect the area’s soil and water from urban runoff?
Wake Soil and Water Conservation District received the support of Wake County's Planning Board for the Wake County Agriculture Economic Development Plan that addresses the issues facing Wake County land issues. The Plan was endorsed by the Wake County Board of Commissioners in 2013. Many issues addressed in the plan require a constant working partnership between all the entities and stakeholders in the agricultural, conservation, and economic development space. The Plan was designed to partner and communicate on the successful non-regulatory model of the Wake Soil and Water Conservation District. URBAN run-off issues are regulated by Wake County's Environmental Services under the County's UDO, or by the individual city/townships in Wake County. Both regulatory efforts and non-regulatory successes help Wake County maintain balance in its service to our citizens. This is of utmost importance now that Wake County’s population has exceeded one million residents and is expected to continue to grow by roughly one kindergarten classroom a day for the foreseeable future. As more people choose to call Wake County home, we must be mindful of our natural resources and encourage stewardship of the land by continuing to work with both public and private landowners, as well as with our students through the award-winning environmental education programming the Wake SWCD offers.
10. Crabtree Creek and parts of Crabtree Valley Mall parking areas consistently flood. Is this an area of concern for stormwater runoff? Identify other areas in the county with similar problems and how they should be mitigated.
In the 1970s, the Soil Conservation Service (now the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service) in the Wake Soil and Water Conservation District office constructed ten flood control structures to prevent loss of life and damage to humans and the environment in flood prone areas in Wake County. Eleven structures were designed, but only ten were approved by local entities at the time. Since the '70s, Wake County has grown significantly in both the rural and urban areas. We are delighted that the structures continue to protect our citizens and even provide recreational facilities in some locations (Bond Lake, Lake Crabtree, Shelly Lake, Lake Lynn, and others). However, as Wake continues to grow, the District will continue to work with all partners in discussions on how to address all the difficult issues that impact encroachment in our natural flood plains, wildlife habitat, soil erosion, groundwater recharge zones, and many other natural resources concerns.
11. Assess the effectiveness of the voluntary agricultural district, which is designed to increase the visibility of farms and to support Wake County farmers.
I am resolute in my commitment to farmland preservation and agricultural economic development in Wake County. One of the most effective tools that I have as a Supervisor—who is tasked with the job of addressing our largest natural resource concerns, most especially the rate at which we are losing farmland—is the Voluntary Agricultural District (VAD) program. In 2014 alone, the Wake Soil and Water Conservation District oversaw an additional 84 acres of farmland added to the VAD program. Wake County currently has just shy of 40 VADs, comprised of more than 50 landowners and nearly 130 parcels. We have preserved and protected over 5,700 acres of farmland through this voluntary program. That is a sizable chunk of land in a perpetually-developing county.
The VAD program enhances the identity of the agricultural community through voluntary preservation methods that reduce non-farm development and the negative effects of such development on lands actively used in agricultural, horticultural, or forestry operations. Not only does this program strengthen the farming community, but it also enhances the quality of life for citizens countywide who will benefit from cleaner water, as well as a clearly defined plant and animal habitat that is located elsewhere than their own backyards. Residents will also have access to a supply of nutrient-rich, fresh products grown on a local farm which provides local jobs, and scenic rural or open space vistas to enjoy throughout the county they have chosen to call home.
12. What funding issues are facing the Soil and Water District? How do you propose to ensure the district receives full funding? Are there alternative funding sources the district could explore? If so, what are they?
Wake Soil and Water Conservation District's biggest funding issues are limited staffing resources and a need for grants for new projects. During the 2008 recession, everyone had to manage cuts to staff and resources. Wake County's Soil and Water Conservation was cut more than any other county department. Ironically, as the building boom crashed, many landowners returned to agriculture and forestry and the demand on the services of the District actually increased! Currently, the District still maintains a wait-list to address the needs of our landowners, in the hopes that—like other county departments—at least some staff will be restored. The District also is seeking grant funds to assist Wake County's citizens with new projects such as the dry hydrants project to protect rural residents, and new environmental education projects to reach our growing number of children—who will one day lead us in protecting our natural resources. Increasing the technical staff in order to better address the requests for services from citizens remains the highest funding priority for the District.