About North Central Florida Renewable RC&D Council
“We represent practical solutions to serve the clean water and renewable energy needs of our fellow citizens in five counties through conservation and alternatives to fossil fuel consumption in balancing Creation’s care.”
WHO WE ARE AND WHAT WE DO:
The Council is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation in the state of Florida since 1989. Because we are part of a national orgnization begun in 1962, RC&D Councils are best described by clicking here.
Five counties have chosen to join the Council area with letters to the chief of USDA’s Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS): Alachua, Bradford, Citrus, Marion and Union. We are also in a position, following the unfunding of all RC&D Councils nationally in 2011, to reach out to counties like Levy and Gilchrist 2012.
Steering Committee members for these counties are:
Alachua County: Don Post, the Council’s principal founder and first Chairman;
Bradford County: Salatheia Jenkins Brown;
Citrus County: Lou Paveglio;
Marion County: Dr. Tom Lane and Craig Conrad;
Union County: Chris Etherton and Jimmy Tallman.
AT Large: Tom Cunilio, Dave Reed, and Brian Condon
The Council is not yet funded but relies on individual memberships ($25/yr.), corporate ($500) and government sponsorships ($1,000-$2,000). Members or sponsors formally bring to the Steering Committee their interest in applying for project development in the following NRCS program areas: Community Development, Land Conservation, Land Management including Renewable Energy and Water Conservation on private land and Soil Conservation on public land.
The Council’s first Five-Year Plan of Work contains four projects:
- A Waste-Wood Marketing Coop for smaller landowners to assist in procurement of woody biomass for the GREC (Gainesville Regional Energy Center) contracted in our 15-county region.
- Marion County horse bedding disposal through macro and micro gasification projects for large and smaller horse farms via Development is by Council corporate sponsor – the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association.
- Implementation of a national “Woody BUG” Plan (Biomass Utilization Group) through a “Bluegrass to Biomass Outreach” program now before funding reviewers. Although funding was denied for the proposal submitted in 2010, Outreach efforts continue in the area of satellite grinding facilities and logging debris harvest.
- Water Conservation on private and public land via production and marketing, with four Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) Councils, of a well-known xeriscape flowering legume ground cover, the ornamental perennial peanut.
- Community Development at the Lawyey (Bradfrod County) recreation center.
Our 2011 board of directors was elected at the annual meeting in November and includes nine talented individuals from as far away as Cedar Key and Lakeland and as close to home as High Springs.
Our Project/Steering Committee now has 12 members and is composed of at least one representative from each county and includes leaders from retired UF Forestry faculty, such as Don Post and ICBE’s Mark Van Soestbergen, the 2010-2011 Chairman elected at the September, 2010, meeting.
Our office phone has been moved to the Chairman’s Seagle Building office in Gainesville until further notice. That number is 352-367-1144 at Mark Van Soestbergen. The farm-office near High Springs continues to house the library, files, equipment used in agroforestry design. The Council’s registered agent is still Tom Cunilio.