Landscape Management

As a third goal, the North Carolina Department of  Cultural Resources is developing an environmentally based landscape management policy and environmentally sound landscape plan.

Objectives

The purpose of this policy will be to highlight environmentally sound landscape practices that should be adopted by all landscape managers within the department. This policy will be the equivalent of a farmer’s Best Management Practices (BMP) program. It will:

• Encourage land managers to carefully administer the use of herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, and fertilizers to minimize negative impact on the environment

• Promote the selection of culturally adapted plants that do not require chemical applications

• Encourage employees to adopt water conservation techniques, such as minimizing the construction of paved surface areas that increase stormwater runoff

An in-depth department-wide analysis of potential barriers to implementing all facets of the third goal is being conducted.

Accomplishments

Information has been gathered from a number of other organizations working on or having adopted similar policies and task force members have drafted a manual. The task force consists of:

• Scott Kucera of the North Carolina Maritime Museum (chair)

• Dr. Tom Glasgow, the Environmental Extension Agent from the Craven County Cooperative Extension (advisor)

Future Plans

Completion of a landscape management policy in the form of a manual that will be posted on DCR’s web site with a link to the Project Green web site.