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The tremendous success of the Master Gardener Volunteer Program across the country,with more than 45,000 graduates, is a reflection of the nationwide interest in plants and gardening. Programs include students of all ages from diverse social, ethnic, and educational backgrounds.
The need for a model educational program to empower individuals and communities to assume responsibility for environmental stewardship has never been greater.
A new model program, The Master Gardener/Environmental and Community Stewardship Program, has been developed in order to incorporate environmental and horticultural topics and encourage successful environemntal stewardship education for adults. Combining horticultural and environmental education with related community volunteer projects provides a logic vehicle to encourage practical environmental stewardship.
In 1993, a modification of the Master Gardener volunteer program was created to focus on ecological principles for environmentally sound gardening. The new program is called the Master Gardener-Environmental and Community Stewardship (MGECS) program and addresses important environmental concerns in Middlesex County, N.J. Program participants receive more than 100 hours of training in horticultural and ecological principles and are required to share their knowledge with others through volunteer activities monitored by cooperative extension staff. Volunteers encourage home comporting, recycling of grass clippings, proper fertilization techniques, and least-toxic pest control in the home landscape and garden. Trained volunteers have helped more than 16,000 people during the past 2 years through lectures, demonstrations, telephone contacts, and newspaper articles. Since the MGECS program began in 1993, the number of volunteer hours per person during the first year has increased by 30% compared to the traditional Master Gardener program offered from 1989 to 1992. This new program is an effective model to encourage practical environmental stewardship through community volunteer action.
Today's fast paced and technology-enriched lifestyles require that many traditional educational seminars and workshops be transformed into “sound bites” of “edu-tainment” if Extension is to keep pace with clientele needs for specific and timely information that's useful and straight to the point. To remain a viable source of timely research-based information, Extension can stay ahead of this curve by utilizing today's technology to inform and educate the public on current issues or outbreaks. This presentation will highlight two such cases where technology delivery systems were utilized to maximize audience size and create an informed public in as short amount of time as possible. Public Service Announcements (PSA's) televised over New Jersey's Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), New Jersey Network (NJN), addressed water conservation and landscape issues during the recent northeastern drought. The potential viewing audience is over eight million people, including all of New Jersey and parts of Pennsylvania, Delaware, New York, and Connecticut. The second case study will highlight a fully interactive CD-ROM on the Asian Long Horned Beetle (ALB) that was created within 12 months of the pest's discovery in Jersey City, N.J. This CD-ROM, containing curricula, PowerPoint presentations and evaluative tools, is currently being used throughout the northeast and in Canada for the most recent infestation of ALB. Filming for both Rapid Response efforts was done with a Sony DSR-500 DV Cam Camcorder and a Canon XL-1 Camcorder. Digital editing was completed on an Apple G4 running OS X with Avid Express Meridian Non-Linear Editing Software version 4.5 with 3D effects, Apple Final Cut Pro 3.0, Adobe After Effects 5.5, and PhotoShop 7.0. Stills were taken with a Sony Mavica and Nikon CoolPix digital cameras.