- updating the Wildlife Management Plan,
- updating the species inventory,
- building interpretive signs and landscaping hiking trails, and
- making recommendations for habitat management projects that will benefit wildlife populations.

One of the species present at the Clayton, NC Wildlife Habitat is the great horned owl.

The 2010 species inventory cataloged 115 animal species and 124 plant species. Along with the species inventory, the intern created a habitat restoration project to convert a field of tall-fescue, a non-native grass with very little wildlife value, to native grassland.

In a separate project, another Fisheries & Wildlife Sciences student worked with a Sanford, NC company to develop their habitat according to a different set of requirements.  Through the NC Wildlife Federation and their Wildlife and Industry Together (or WAIT) certification program, the intern helped this company meet a different set of requirements by providing:
 

1) environmental education of employees and community partners about wildlife and their habitat, and
2) enhancing the wildlife habitat.
 

Through this program, the NCSU intern worked on the 200 acre habitat and assisted the company by:
- conducting comprehensive flora and fauna inventory by  compiling a list of vegetation, birds, mammals, and herpetofauna
- Meeting with the company Wildlife Habitat Committee to report and provide suggestions for the  WAIT certification
-  Incorporating GIS and GPS technology to produce a map of the grounds including the location of wildlife habitat projects
- Constructing a management plan for the grounds and helping the committee with paperwork for the WAIT certification process
- Working on special projects including -  wood duck boxes, raptor house, disking meadows, wildlife viewing areas, and coverboards
 

The two programs listed above vary significantly in scope and price.  While the WHC fees range from $900 - $2400 (depending on if you are a member), the NC Wildlife Federation charges only $25.  However the scope of the certifications is vastly different and each program should be thoroughly reviewed before making your choice.  Either way - if your company wants to demonstrate their “Greenliness” by establishing a Wildlife Management Habitat, IES can assist you in this worthwhile endeavor.

“Even at my age, in my work, I haven’t reached perfection.”

“I’ll continue to climb, trying to reach the top … but no one knows where the top is!”

("Sushi" by ZoeShuttleworth, on Flickr, under Creative Commons.)

So the man who may very well be the best sushi chef in the world, and who at 85 years of age could be long retired, or at least satisfied with what he has attained professionally, acknowledges that one of the key tenets of lean thinking, the pursuit of perfection, must go on.  He is not satisfied with status quo, no matter how good it is, and will not rest on his laurels.  What a challenge to us all!

• Managers Don't Really Want to Innovate: Ron Ashkenas suggests a few reasons why companies innovate poorly despite it being an acknowledged necessity, including using methodologies like Six Sigma that emphasize "slow, continuous improvement."
• Kaizen: The Key to Lean Healthcare? In contrast to Ashkenas, noted lean healthcare consultant Mark Graban suggests that kaizen with its bottom-up, rapid-fire opportunities for improvement can make a huge impact to an organization much more quickly than a top-down mandate.
• Skills Gap or Wage Gaps:  At the Manufacturing Innovations blog, Stacy Wagner examines the often-reported claim that manufacturers can't find skilled workers and suggests an unusual reason why.
• Manufacturing: Offshore Out; Lean In: In Industry Week, Jason Piatt urges manufacturers to implement lean methodologies to find cost savinges and maintain local production instead of concluding that offshoring is their only option

And locally:

• From NC to China: Reviving the state’s furniture industry: Did you know that China is the 5th largest importer of NC-made furniture?

What good reads did you find this week?

Stay cool and May the Fourth Be With You!

As I listened to his comments, I thought he came across as remarkably genuine, straightforward, and unbiased. This was coming from a man that had been in the heat of battle during the height of the fracking experience and controversy in Pennsylvania. I was impressed and still am, but there seemed to be something missing from his talk and I couldn’t put my finger on it until now.

His basic theme was that there is no perfect energy. There are issues with every single one of them. This is true. He went through some of the energy types and gave some examples of issues with all of them. Yes wind energy is great in many ways, but it can kill birds and bats and to some the wind turbines are beautiful and to others a noisy eyesore. Yes biomass, biopower and biofuels  are great in many ways, but they may require much more water than the others and are expensive. And solar is expensive (though getting less so), often doesn’t work when you most need it, and is beautiful to some and ugly to others. And coal has its issues with acid mine drainage and air emissions. And nuclear power has potential safety issues and no solution for nuclear waste disposal, and then there is hydroelectric power, and geothermal power, and wave power, and tidal power, and oil (who could forget BP), and natural gas (conventional or fracking) … they all have problems.

He told us that natural gas exploration via fracking did indeed have problems. He talked of some polluted potable water wells and issues with fracking wastewater disposal, and fracking site issues, and other concerns.  When it came to environmental pollution, however, he did not rate fracking as even being in the top five problems in his state. He also talked of the many economic benefits fracking has brought to Pennsylvania and elsewhere. His comments were quite relevant as fracking may soon be coming to our state, or maybe not.

In March 2012, the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) published a 337-page draft report “North Carolina Oil and Gas Study under Session Law 2011-276”. In this legislatively-mandated report, DENR concludes “After reviewing other studies and experiences in oil and gas-producing states, DENR believes that hydraulic fracturing can be done safely as long as the right protections are in place. It will be important to have those measures in place before issuing permits for hydraulic fracturing in North Carolina’s shale formations. A number of states have experienced problems associated with natural gas exploration and development because the appropriate measures were not in place from the beginning – forcing both the state and the industry to react after damage had already been done”. To this end DENR lists a number of immediate recommendations that should be put in place (20 in fact).

Two additional statements by DENR, however, address what Mr. Hanger did not address and what had been nagging me; that is, what about that which is not known. DENR states “North Carolina does not seem to have as great a separation between potential drinking water resources and the gas-producing zone; understanding the geology and groundwater hydrology of North Carolina’s shale formations will be critical to ensuring protection of drinkable groundwater”. Also they state “To our knowledge, no comprehensive studies are currently available on the long-term impacts to health from hydraulic fracturing for natural gas, and DENR is not qualified to conduct such a study. DENR recognizes that questions remain about health impacts”.

These are the two unknowns that we know about. What about the unknowns that we don’t know about? Fracking, as currently done, is a relatively new procedure so unknowns are to be expected. The knowns will take significant time to resolve. The time to discover and resolve the unknowns is, well – unknown.

Fracking has indeed had some positive impacts on this country. Natural gas production and supply is at an all-time high and prices have dropped accordingly. The supply is so great, in fact, that recent publications have indicated we are running out of places to store it. Natural gas is also considered to be clean, comparatively speaking, and is helping to phase out less clean coal burning power plants, among other things. Our water, however, is precious and considered by many to be our next gold, and long-term health impacts are a concern no matter what the activity may be.

Perhaps this considerable supply of natural gas our country is currently experiencing will work in North Carolina’s favor. This may have the supply-and-demand effect of delaying, to some degree, the implementation of fracking activities in North Carolina. If this turns out to be the case it may then give DENR and others an opportunity to more carefully evaluate concerns and develop protections for the known issues and more fully understand the unknowns.

Our Legislature appears to be moving forward rapidly with the opportunity for fracking of natural gas to be implemented in North Carolina. Ironically, fracking’s own success in creating a huge natural gas supply may ultimately give North Carolina more time to deal with the problems, the knowns and the unknowns, and, unlike some other states, do it right the first time in this state.

If you work an 8:00 to 5:00 job, Tuesdays suck!  In fact, Tuesdays suck worse than any other day of the week.  Monday?  Yeah, it sucks, but it sucks for everyone!  You come in refreshed from a weekend of freedom and frolic only to be confronted by work, oppression, and work.  But everyone is in the same boat, so Monday is basically a day of shared misery, so it isn’t too bad.  In my house, Monday is garbage day, which isn’t too bad, but any garbage created on Tuesday is yours for about a week.  Wednesday?  It’s Hump Day.  By lunch time on Wednesday, your work week begins to start rolling down hill.  You can begin to smell the weekend, like thirsty buffalo stampeding for water.  Thursday?  Thursday is Friday Eve.  You can’t hate Thursday.  TV is generally pretty decent on Thursday nights.  Besides in my house, Thurday nights is traditionally Chik-Fil-A night.  And if you take Friday off, then Thursday is your surrogate Friday. 

I know what you’re thinking… if you take Friday off, doesn’t that make Tuesday into Wednesday?  Technically, yes, but the “hump” in “Hump Day” doesn’t officially start until half the workweek is gone, or when you leave work on Tuesday.  So actually, Tuesday is still Tuesday, and it still sucks.  So what if you take Monday off?  Don’t be stupid.  If you take Monday off, then Tuesday becomes Monday, and it’s already freakin’ Tuesday.  You are teasing the fates, Pacho.  Friday?  Eight hours and it’s over.  And we get to wear blue jeans to work.  And 3 episodes of Ancient Aliens come on H2 on Friday nights.  Saturdays and Sundays are always gold, unless in-laws visit.

By the way, according to researchers from the London School of Economics, our moods are at their brightest on Saturday, with the weekend feel-good factor continuing into Sunday.  But while levels of contentment drop when the working week begins on Monday, it is on Tuesday that we reach our lowest ebb.

Besides, bad things happen on Tuesdays.  Black Tuesday was a Tuesday.  September 11th was a Tuesday.  Greek and Spanish cultures believe that Tuesday the Thirteenth is unlucky.  Our elected officials are chosen on Tuesdays. 

Tuesdays suck.

Star Trek is better.

Which day is your worst day of the week?

ShopBot was a Silver Sponsor of our 2010 "Manufacturing Makes It Real" Tour. And like every other manufacturer in North Carolina, they're invited to participate in the ongoing "Manufacturing Makes It Real" Network.

The next MMIR Network event will be May 16th at 1:30 p.m. at Glen Technical Fabrics, 1831 N. Park Avenue, Glen Raven, NC.  MMIR Network events are free and open to the public, but space is limited: RSVP today!

Other times I purposefully put myself into inspiration’s path – an expertly played sporting event (delete any of those in which I personally participate!), a musical performance, or involvement in the world of art, architecture and construction interwoven into our family pursuits are examples.

Monday evening, I attended the Celebrating the Engaged University Awards ceremony conducted on NC State University campus.  NC State, being the Land Grant University in North Carolina takes our mission seriously to extend the resources of NC State to North Carolina and beyond.  Typical engagements include application of science to clean up waterways; initiation of sustainable agriculture programs in third world countries; helping manufacturers produce their products in environmentally, and cost efficient manners.

Among these examples of exemplary service provided by NC State faculty, staff and students, I find the most inspiration from the stories of our NCSU students.  NC State has a long history of integrating service learning projects with our traditional curriculum.  In fact, we were recognized this past year on a National level for the depth, reach and results produced by innumerable service projects conceived, led and staffed primarily by NC State students.

Our students raise money and a lot of it for multiple, multiple causes (did I hear $50K from the Krispy Kreme Challenge?).  They volunteer in local class rooms, serving as role models and mentors for school age children.  They take Alternate Spring Break (I learned what ASP stands for!) to complete service projects in the poor countries of the world, Haiti, Central America, the Pacific Rim.

I am very, very inspired when, after hearing the individual awardee will be graduating from a very demanding curriculum, and after hearing a long litany of service projects in which the awardee participated, upon being asked “what do you do in your free time?”  The reply: "I volunteer”.

I am very inspired when I learn of students who not only conceive the idea of a new service project, then display the organization skills, the persuasion skills, and the overall demeanor to create their project and lead it to completion.  If this is not an entree into the world of entrepreneurship, I’m not sure what is.

Combine all this service work with 4.0 grade point averages, upcoming Fulbright scholarships and very bright futures, and well, yes, I am inspired.  I am inspired to take a look at my own life and wonder if these students can do it, why am I not contributing more of my skills to the world at large?  There is plenty of opportunity.

Where do you find your inspiration?

Mertek is an independent, family-owned business that designs and builds custom automation systems and consults on manufacturing solutions for clients of all sizes, up to and including Fortune 500 companies. They rely on years of manufacturing and industrial engineering experience, coupled with expertise in equipment design, to develop full-scale applications tailored to individual companies' needs for material handling, manufacturing, and testing equipment.

Mertek joined the MMIR Network in time to attend the members-only event last week on NC State's Centennial Campus. The Network will sponsor other members-only events in the future, but the next MMIR Network event is open to the public: May 16th at 1:30 p.m. at Glen Raven Technical Fabrics, 1831 N. Park Avenue, Glen Raven, NC. RSVP today!

That wisdom jives with my feelings about Friday!  So, in the spirit of preventing you from starting work that might not go well, I'm suggesting a few interesting articles I stumbled across this week. 

• China Takes Aim at the Profitable Heart of US Manufacturing: Chinese manufacturing is beginning to strengthen in heavy equipment manufacturing, the manufacturing sector the US has considered to be safe
• America, Fast and Slow: The Economy's Love Affair With Efficiency: Article puts forth that there are two American economies, the fast, efficient "tradable" economy (manufacturing) and the slow, "nontradable" economy (services). While the article is a bit political, it makes an interesting point about how the industries in the nontradable economy could benefit from the productivity and efficiency methods used in the tradable economy.  Sound familiar?
• Also, the Manufacturing Makes It Real Network members met with the Dean of the College of Engineering this week to share ideas

May your Friday the 13th be painless.  Let me know what you think of the articles and if you have found any thought-provoking articles this week.

That was many years ago, but the poignant whaaaaa of a train churning through the night still stirs my soul. Beyond the romance, trains helped our nation to develop. Those rail-bound cars connected our country by moving people, supplies, food, mail, and natural resources. Like the children’s story about The Little Engine That Could, the optimistic “I think I can, I think I can” is a metaphor for perseverance in attaining the American Dream.

Trains are part of our history, our culture, and our future. In the next couple of years, hundreds of millions of government dollars are available for developing next generation passenger rail cars and locomotives. And the remarkable goal is 100% American-made supply chains, meaning unprecedented opportunities for American manufacturers and suppliers.

So how to find out more and get in on the action? The NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership partnered with the Federal Railroad Authority with the mission of bringing together American manufacturers and rail car supply chain needs.

On May 8 in Orlando, a Next Generation Rail Supply Chain Forum will be held during the Manufacturing Innovations 2012 MEP National Conference. American manufacturers and suppliers are invited to come and learn about opportunities, requirements, and considerations to becoming part of the rail industry. Train car OEMs and tier one suppliers will be there for one-on-one dialogue. The event also features a keynote address, discussion panels, and a networking reception.

The first 150 manufacturers to register get in for free, after that its $300. Find out more about becoming part of the future of American rail transportation.