Master naturalist program set

Grass is greener...

Don Gardner

Extension agent

Updated: Jan 30, 2014, 8:30 PM

Published: Jan 29, 2014, 4:58 PM

This morning was either a winter wonderland or much ado about nothing. I would like to see snow, but we are not the best of drivers on dry roads and ice adds adrenaline to an otherwise pleasantly uneventful commute. Either way, I hope you protected your pipes, pets and plants.
Has this latest cold snap caught you yearning for a warm spring? Would you like to discover the remarkable environmental stewardship efforts being accomplished by federal, state and private business and industry on a daily basis right here in your area? Or are you looking for a good excuse to get out and enjoy the area in the company of an interesting and diverse group of your neighbors?
The Coastal Georgia Master Naturalist Program is back this spring. Each session is an all-day class every Wednesday from April 2- June 4. Each class meets at a different venue in Chatham, Liberty, Effingham and Bulloch counties.
We will start at Mary Kahrs Warnell Education Center with an introduction to ecosystems. Republic Landfill will be the venue for recycling, waste-to-power, birding and habitat creation. Skidaway Institute of Oceanography will be our host for ocean ecosystems, oysters and shellfish, sand sharing, dredging and sea level rise with a trip to Wassaw Island. The Savannah President Street Water Treatment Plant and Industrial & Domestic Water Plant provide tours of water use and environmental stewardship.
We will study marsh, maritime forest and coastal development issues at Melon Bluff and Dunham Farms. Urban impacts will be explored at the Coastal Georgia Botanical Gardens, including recycling, mosquito control, parks and recreation, animal control and urban forestry. We will explore the challenges to agriculture at Ottawa Farms.
Fort Stewart’s longleaf savanna ecosystem management program, endangered species and invasive species management programs are always a highlight of the course. Georgia Southern University’s Wildlife Center provides an excellent program on wildlife identification and ecology, backyard wildlife, wetland ecology and wildlife rehabilitation.
It is an interesting and educational tour of local environmental issues and the local professionals managing resources we depend upon daily but tend to take for granted, or just never knew existed. The 10-week class costs $200 per person for the first 30 paid applicants and includes the site costs for course activities, Master Naturalist ball cap, shirt and certificate, all training materials and handouts.
If you are interested and have time to devote to the class, you can register through UGA Extension at Glynn County, 325 Old Jesup Road, Suite 110, Brunswick, GA 31520, or email me at dgardner@uga.edu, or call at (912) 554-7578.

Gardner lives in Keller and is the UGA extension agent for Glynn County, serving South Bryan.

Record April boosts Savannah's container trade at port

The Port of Savannah moved 356,700 20-foot equivalent container units in April, an increase of 7.1 percent. - photo by Provided

GardenCityTerminal — The Port of Savannah moved 356,700 20-foot equivalent container units in April, an increase of 7.1 percent. - photo by Provided

Bryan County News

Updated: May 23, 2018, 1:59 AM

Published: May 23, 2018, 2:00 AM

The Georgia Ports Authority's busiest April ever pushed its fiscal year-to-date totals to more than 3.4 million 20-foot equivalent container units (TEUs), an increase of 8.8 percent, or 280,000 TEUs, compared to the first 10 months of fiscal 2017.

"We're on track to move more than 300,000 TEUs in every month of the fiscal year, which will be a first for the authority," said GPA Executive Director Griff Lynch. "We're also anticipating this to be the first fiscal year for the Port of Savannah to handle more than 4 million TEUs."

April volumes reached 356,700 20-foot equivalent container units, up 7.1 percent or 23,700 units. As the fastest growing containerport in the nation, the Port of Savannah has achieved a compound annual growth rate of more than 5 percent a year over the past decade.

"As reported in the recent economic impact study by UGA's Terry College of Business, trade through Georgia's deepwater ports translates into jobs, higher incomes and greater productivity," said GPA Board Chairman Jimmy Allgood. "In every region of Georgia, employers rely on the ports of Savannah and Brunswick to help them become more competitive on the global stage."

To strengthen the Port of Savannah's ability to support the state's future economic growth, the GPA Board approved $66 million in terminal upgrades, including $24 million for the purchase of 10 additional rubber-tired gantry cranes.

"The authority is committed to building additional capacity ahead of demand to ensure the Port of Savannah remains a trusted link in the supply chain serving Georgia and the Southeast," Lynch said.

The crane purchase will bring the fleet at Garden City Terminal to 156 RTGs. The new cranes will support three new container rows, which the board approved in March. The additional container rows will increase annual capacity at the Port of Savannah by 150,000 TEUs.

The RTGs will work over stacks that are five containers high and six deep, with a truck lane running alongside the stacks. Capable of running on electricity, the cranes will have a lift capacity of 50 metric tons.

The cranes will arrive in two batches of five in the first and second quarters of calendar year 2019.

Also at Monday's meeting, the GPA Board elected its officers, with Jimmy Allgood as chairman, Will McKnight taking the position of vice chairman and Joel Wooten elected as the next secretary/treasurer.

For more information, visit gaports.com, or contact GPA Senior Director of Corporate Communications Robert Morris at (912) 964-3855 or rmorris@gaports.com.

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