Vol. 8, No. 12, December 2012 |
 Printer-Friendly PDF Version |
2013 SART Planning Meeting Agenda
January 28 – January 30, 2013
The Shores Daytona Beach, Florida
Monday, January 28, 2013
| Begin | End | Activity or Event |
| Noon | 1:00 | Registration |
| 1:00 | 1:05 | Welcome |
| 1:05 | 1:15 | Call to Order – SART Chair |
| 1:15 | 1:30 | 
Welcome (Invited) |
| 1:30 | 2:00 | 
State Emergency Management |
| 2:00 | 2:20 |
2012 Foreign Animal Disease Exercise |
| 2:20 | 2:40 |
Vector Control |
| 2:40 | 3:00 |
Topical Storm Isaac – The Palm Beach County Response |
| 3:00 | 3:30 | Break |
| 3:30 | 5:00 |
USDA: Part of the SART team |
| 5:00 | Adjourn |
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| 6:00 | 7:00 | Welcome Reception |
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
| Begin | End | Activity or Event | |
| 8:00 | 5:00 | General Sessions - Choice of three certified classes
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| 5:00 | Adjourn |
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
| Begin | End | Activity or Event |
| 8:00 | 8:30 | MIMS Project |
| 9:00 | 10:00 |
SART Annual Awards |
| 10:00 | 10:30 |
Break |
| 10:30 | 11:30 |
Bovine Emergency Response Plan |
| 11:30 | 12:00 | Wrap-up and Closing Remarks: SART Chair Dr. Joan A. Dusky |
Pederson to Present at 2013 Florida SART Planning Meeting
Lisa Pederson is Beef Quality Assurance Specialist with North Dakota State University Extension Service and the NDSU Dickinson Research Extension Center.
 Lisa Pedeson, NDSU |
She will present a one-hour presentation on the "Bovine Emergency
Response Plan" to help first responders address crashes (vehicular) involving cattle being transported.
Lisa began her duties as North Dakota's Beef Quality Assurance Specialist in April of 1999. She is responsible for the beef and dairy beef quality assurance programming for North Dakota's adult and youth audiences.
The mission of the Beef/Dairy Beef Quality Assurance programs is to maximize consumer confidence in and acceptance of beef by focusing the producer's attention to daily production practices that influence the safety, wholesomeness and quality of beef and beef products through the use of science, research and education initiatives.
Lisa attended Colorado State University, receiving bachelor degrees in Agricultural Business and Animal Science; and a Masters degree in Farm and Ranch Management and Livestock Production.
Lisa is the fourth generation raised on her family's cow-calf and sheep operation located near the Southwestern Colorado town of Durango. She is married to Chad Pederson and, with his family, operate a ranch near the north central South Dakota town of Firesteel, where they raise registered and commercial red angus cattle and registered quarter horses.
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Jatropha – agro-sustainable bio-diesel?
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Jatropha curcas is a poisonous, semi-evergreen shrub or small tree, reaching a height of 20 feet). It is resistant to a high degree of aridity, allowing it to be grown in deserts. The seeds average: 34.4 % oil that can be processed to produce a high-quality biodiesel fuel, usable in a standard diesel engine. |
Last year the SART Sentinel ran a short feature on Camelina sativa and its potential as a bio-diesel fuel and a bio-lubricant. Several Florida growers are now experimenting with the plant and testing its economic potential.
Another plant which is cultivated – still on a very small scale – in Florida (although varieties grow wild in the Sunshine State) and has promise in the bio-diesel fuels market is Jatropha curcas (common name "physic nut"). Jatropha is a small, subtropical tree that produces seeds that give 27-40 percent oil. The tree is drought-resistant and can be grown on marginal, even infertile lands with little management, thus promising – at least in theory – that it will not compete with food crops. Jatropha reseeds quickly and has myriad genetic variations.
Jatropha experimentation is still in the early stages because it exhibits a number of problematic tendencies such as resistance to domestication, unpredictable yields and, when grown in quantity, an unknown effect on the environment. One also needs to be cautious handling Jatropha however because it contains compounds that are toxic, which may explain why it is resistant to pests.
Jatropha cultivation has other possibilities, too. The processed "cake" from which the oil has been extracted can be used for fish or animal feed (if detoxified), biomass feedstock to power electricity plants, or as biogas or high-quality organic fertilizer. It can also be used as a bio-pesticide and for medicinal purposes.
[Note 1: In November 2010, Eric Layton visited a farm near Arcadia, Florida that was growing different several varieties of jatropha, all planted in 2009: 50 acres with plans to double. Layton's video (informative, but poor camera quality) is available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-v8KoLvbpWY. The farmer bought a majority of his seeds via the Internet, varieties from India, Malaysia, South America and Africa. He discusses weather, planting methods, irrigation, spacing, yields and varieties planted. The amount of jatropha planted will create several thousand gallons of oil to be turned into bio-diesel to help offset the farm's rising fuel costs.]
Jatropha curcus in Florida |
[Note 2: San Diego-based SG Biofuels (http://www.sgbiofuels.com/) has worked with jatropha for several years. Backed by U.S. aircraft manufacturer Boeing and significant financial investors, it is testing genetically "boosted," high-yield jatropha seed in India, Guatemala and Brazil.]
[Note 3: The UF/IFAS Tropical Research & Education Center in Homestead has begun a program of experimentation with jatropha: http://trec.ifas.ufl.edu/jatropha/.]
[Note4: Chart of Jatropha curcus – Genus Distribution Map - http://florida.plantatlas.usf.edu/Genus.aspx?id=652.]
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SW Counties "beef-up" Technical Rescue Capabilities
Story by John Haven, UF College of Veterinary Medicine
Photos courtesy April Bodemann, Lee County Sheriff's Office
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In November, southwest Florida's animal technical rescue capability made a quantum leap forward. During the week of November 5, the UF College of Veterinary Medicine "VETS" Disaster response team, conducted two, two day Large Animal Technical Rescue - Operations Level courses, and with the help of FDACS, delivered two caches of equipment for technical rescue.
The first of the two day trainings was conducted at the Polk County Sheriff's Office, which has a large contingent of deputies that specialize in large animal issues, and animal cruelty investigations. The second was coordinated by the Lee County Sheriff's Office, which has developed a multi-agency/multi-county Region VI "Technical Large Animal Emergency Rescue Team". These deputies, come from
Lee, Highlands, Glades, Desoto, Collier, Charlotte, Sarasota, Hendry and Okeechobee. This may serve as a model for the other RDSTFs as these caches of equipment are deployed around the state. Both of these counties have already secured the assistance of veterinarians to assist in sedation, medical evaluation in the field, etc, and in both cases they participated in the course.
The two day course covers getting team members up to speed on basic knots, moves into mechanical advantage systems for lifting and hauling, basic safety, animal behavior and animal first aid, using the lifting systems, rescue glide and webbing patient movement systems, and performing a mud rescue. In Lee County, we were able to stage a trailer accident and horse extrication (no live animals were used during the training exercises).
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Equipment used for the rescue scenarios was equipment in the RDSTF caches. In completion of the training, both teams were given a rescue scenario requiring the use of most of their equipment, and requiring them to appoint a leader, use ICS to organize themselves, set up the systems, and perform the rescue without the assistance of the instructors. Not only did both teams do well, but the Lee County team did it under the added pressure of ABC and NBC news cameras rolling!
Next is the delivery of the equipment cache for RDSTF 1 to Walton County Sheriff's Office in January. That will be followed by the delivery of the final two caches and the final two-day Large Animal Technical Rescue Operations Level courses in Martin and Volusia Counties the week of Feb 25th 2013. Volusia County Fire Rescue Service recently had a horse mud rescue, so they will significantly benefit from the equipment and the training.
As a FEMA/DHS approved course, (one of the only ones of its kind) funds can be used to schedule this course. It is the hope of Florida SART and the VETS team, that refresher training can be scheduled in the coming years to help the 7 teams develop, and to add new members from surrounding counties. In the meantime, the VETS team has already been approached by provide scenario specific training to some teams using local funds. Please contact John Haven (havenj@ufl.edu), Director of the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine, and leader of the VETS team, for any questions about animal technical rescue training or response.
The Lee County Class |
Agricultural Crimes Unit Completes First Livestock Rescue
Sgt. Hodges notes that The Lee County Sheriff's Office Agricultural Crimes Unit has received agricultural rescue calls in the past, but they have never had the equipment or the certified training to respond effectively.
"When we found out about the training and equipment [offered through SART], it was a huge asset to our agency," he says. "We work real close with the other sheriff's offices in the state. We all belong to a state organization the Florida Agricultural Crimes Intelligence Unit. In Region Six, we put together a Task Force to respond to livestock emergencies. It consists of agricultural deputies from several sheriff offices and the Alva fire department."
On Monday, November 19 Sgt. Hodges' office received a call about a heifer that had fallen off the bank into the Orange River and was unable to climb out. Arriving on scene, the Lee and Collier County members of the Region VI Sheriff's Technical Large Animal Emergency Rescue Team found that the ground was soggy, collapsing and presented a problem for proper use of the rescue tripod. So the team got inventive with ropes, and a neighbor's canoe. They cleared fallen brush and limbs, and finally got a rope around the cow: "Thank you rope and knot training!" Using the ropes they were able to guide the cow to a cleared part of the bank. "She had been in the water 5-6 hours and was tired," Hodges says.
He noted that the team had a difficult time finding the cow because the people who discovered her had no GPS to pinpoint her location. Once they found her they quickly improvised and even had back-up plan using chemical immobilization (a large animal sedative delivered with a dart gun, the dosage adjusted for the size of the animal) and a roped hoist using a large oak tree limb.
Sergeant Randy Hodges 96-168
Lee County Sheriff's Office
Agricultural Crimes Unit
The Polk County Class  |
For an informative overview of the Florida Agricultural Crimes Intelligence Unit, go to http://www2.highlandstoday.com/business/agri-leader/2011/dec/28/lrnewso1-agricultural-crime-fighters-ar-340782/ and read a story called Agricultural Crime Fighters by Ann O'Phelan published on December 28, 2011 in "Highlands Today," an edition of the Tampa Tribune.
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Under the Radar
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GPS – What responders need to know ….
There is a great deal of information on line about GPS and in an emergency, you may very well be required to understand and operate with GPS.
The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based navigation system made up of a network of 24 solar-powered satellites shot into orbit by the U.S. Department of Defense (which refers to the system as NAVSTAR). These satellites orbit the earth at a distance of about 12,000 miles. Constantly moving at about 7,000 mph, they make 2+ orbits in a day. GPS works 24/7 in any weather conditions, anywhere in the world – free. In the 1980s the system became available for civilians.
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The satellites transmit signals, and earth-bound, often hand-held receivers triangulate a position. It takes three satellites to calculate 2D positions (latitude and longitude) and track movement. With four or more satellites in view – at least electronically in view – the receiver can determine 3D position (latitude, longitude and altitude). Once the position is determined, your hand-held receiver can calculate other information: speed, bearing, track, trip distance, distance to destination, sunrise/sunset time and more.
Today's GPS receivers are accurate to within 15 meters, thanks to their parallel multi-channel design. Receivers equipped with WAAS (Wide Area Augmentation System) can improve accuracy to about three meters. The U.S. Coast Guard operates a system of land-based towers called Differential GPS (DGPS) for enhanced accuracy.
Problems tracking with GPS may be caused by high buildings and mountains (both unlikely here in Florida) or dense brush/overhanging trees and a battery short on power. And receivers won't work inside a building or under water.
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From Facebook |
Florida SARC Helping Recruit Volunteers
for Wild Animal Refuge Relocation
The Peace River Refuge and Ranch http://peaceriverrefuge.org and www.facebook.com/peaceriver is moving to their new location and they need volunteers to help build new animal habitats. This wild animal sanctuary will move 150 rescued wild animals to the new Ocala National Forest facility by March, 2013, but first, new habitats and a sanctuary infrastructure need to be built.
Florida SARC www.flsarc.org is participating in the volunteer coordination and construction process. Work takes place every Saturday and Sunday until approximately mid-February, 2013 (with work days during the week to be announced).
Volunteers must be over 18 years old. No specific skills are required, but any physical limitations must be disclosed. You must be comfortable working outdoors in the woods with limited facilities. Work shifts are available for as little as 4 hours.
"We are currently working on some sort of lodging," volunteer coordinator Lisa Stoner says, "but there is none yet. You are welcome to bring a tent, campfires are always fun and some meals will be provided."
Contact Lisa Stoner for a volunteer application and to coordinate a schedule volunteer@peaceriverrefuge.org, office: 352-625-7377, cell: 352-789-1487. Peace River Refuge & Ranch, 640 NE 170th Ct., Silver Springs, FL 34488.
Coming Soon – 2012 Census of Agriculture
The Census of Agriculture is conducted only once every five years across the U.S. According to USDA, the Census is used to make important policy and business decisions that impact people across our nation.
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USDA Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsak says
that "well-informed policy decisions have a positive impact for all of us. Even for families in our biggest cities, a strong rural America means an abundant food supply, cleaner water, extraordinary outdoor recreation, and more. That's why it couldn't be more important to make sure that all of our nation's farmers and farmland are accurately accounted for."
NASS mails the Census in mid December with a return deadline of February 4, 2013. The informational web site is at http://www.agcensus.usda.gov. There is a FAQ page which USDA urges agricultural officials to study in order to answer questions about the Census. "Remind agriculturalists that their information is totally confidential. The results of the Census show the strength and diversity of U.S. agriculture. It's farmers' voice, their future and their responsibility."
Questions, comments or concerns regarding the upcoming Census can be directed to Sue King (sue.king@nass.usda.gov) or Krissy Young (krissy.young@nass.usda.gov) in NASS.
West Nile … or Other?
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Responding following an emergency presents many challenges and opportunities. Finding a dead bird could be an indication that West Nile virus is loose in a population. While that is by no means certain, the bird carcass should be handled with gloves or an inverted plastic bag and either disposed of in routine trash or perhaps discussed with health department responders.
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A reminder: FVMA Promotes Disaster Preparedness
According to the Florida Veterinary Medical Association at www.fvma.org, Florida seems more vulnerable than any other state in the union to a variety of natural and manmade disasters because of its easy accessibility. Floods, wildfires, hurricanes, tornadoes, chemical leaks, pandemics and medical emergencies are just a few of the disaster possibilities. Florida already has experience in dealing with its share of damaging hurricanes.
Because of this history, it is imperative that veterinary practices in Florida have Disaster Preparedness Plans to keep their businesses, staffs, clients and patients safe. Those same plans can also help the veterinary practices quickly recover after the disaster.
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The FVMA, in cooperation with the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine, and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, is working to safeguard animal and public health in Florida. Two organizations make disasters their specialties – the Florida Veterinary Corps and the Vets Team.
The Vet Corps provides infrastructure for veterinarians and their staffs during disasters by coordinating resources, providing workers' compensation, medical and liability coverage and ensuring the Florida Incident Command System rules are used. To learn more about that corps and/or to join, click here.
The VETS Team also provides help in disaster relief. For information on that group, click here.
FVMA encourages each member to have a disaster preparedness plan in place. To find out how to begin the task and to get a detailed outline on implementing your plan, click here.
"EDEN – not the garden
EDEN, the Extension Disaster Education Network http://eden.lsu.edu/, formed the Agrosecurity Program Area Work Group (PAWG) to address challenges concerning the security of production agriculture and the food supply.
One of the first tasks was to create pilot workshops called Strengthening Community Agrosecurity Preparedness. Workshops empower local extension personnel and other community partners to:
- Build capacity to handle agricultural issues during an emergency or disaster.
- Improve networking among stakeholders who can plan for and respond to emergencies.
- Develop Community Agrosecurity Planning (CAP) teams to establish or enhance agrosecurity.
Participants that attend the pilot workshops interact through team building activities that begin development of the agricultural component of their local agricultural emergency operations plan (i.e. Emergency Support Function #11 Agriculture and Natural Resources), standard operating guidelines, and an emergency resource list. These tools help communities improve disaster preparation, prevention, mitigation, response and recovery efforts. Instructors use guidance provided by the National Response Framework and the National Incident Management System to facilitate these efforts.
Where are they now?
Liz Serca Dominguez has re-married and is soon returning to Florida with her husband. A graduate of UF and Florida's first SART Coordinator, she worked for FDACS-DAI under the supervision of Dr. Greg Christy.
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Liz Serca Dominguez talks about the SART program at the 2006 EARS Workshop May 6-7, 2006. |
In August 2006, Liz accepted a
challenging position in Texas to get their SART program – called the Texas State Animal Resource Team (TXSART) – up and running. Her official home for two years was the Texas Department of Agriculture and her job description, as their first "Coordinator for Emergency Management," was to oversee the agency's preparedness and response operations.
Liz left TXSART after two years to work with the American Red Cross as Texas State Program Manager and Special Representative to FEMA Region 6. She was a founding board member and former officer in the National Alliance of State Animal and Agricultural Emergency Program (NASAAEP). As part of the state membership group for Texas, she currently holds an individual membership. Liz is still a Red Cross volunteer in the Central Texas Chapter. As of December 7th, Liz Serca Dominguez writes, "I will be a 'free agent' as I am moving to Jacksonville with my husband who has accepted a job as a Port Engineer at Naval Station-Mayport."
Welcome home, Liz (eserca628@hotmail.com).
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About the SART Sentinel |
The SART Sentinel is an e-mail newsletter prepared monthly by the members of the Florida State Agricultural Response Team. Past issues of the Sentinel are archived on the Florida SART Web Site www.flsart.org. If you have a story or photo that you would like to have considered for publication in the SART Sentinel, please contact the editors. Editor: Rick Sapp, PhD, Technical Writer, under contract with the Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services, Division of Animal Industry rsa5@cox.net Associate Editor: Joe Kight, State ESF-17 Coordinator, Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services, Division of Animal Industry Joe.Kight@freshfromflorida.com [top] |
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