PM Intranet: Public Affairs: Example Media Awareness Tour

National Plant Materials Center Invites Members of the Media to Tour Facility

The National Plant Materials Center is inviting members of the media to visit the 285 acre facility.  Media Awareness Tours of PMC facilities can help create awareness among the general public as to what the Program does and what the private landowner can do to contribute to a better environment where ever they may live in the United States. 

What reporters see…
Upon visiting Beltsville, members of the media quickly realize that the Plant Materials Center is one of the best kept ecological secrets in the region.  With the Center’s 285 acres of trees, creeks, forests and farmland it is a living Chesapeake Bay biosphere designed to filter, buffer and purify many nutrient and sediments before they enter the Bay.

What they learn…
Members of the media learn the National program has been responsible for developing breakthroughs in plant-science technology that has greatly increased the ability of agencies and organizations to restore devastated regions of the Chesapeake Bay which include portions of six states.  And, they have learned that the Center partners with other conservation organizations including the Chesapeake Bay Program and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. 

The hook…
Using the proverbial hook to get a story on a current issue, reporters learn that much of the hard work of planting grasses in the Chesapeake Bay over the last decade is being threatened this summer due to large algae blooms (in some cases ten-miles wide) that are expected because of heavy rains last year that washed large amounts of nitrogen from excessive fertilizing into the fragile Bay’s ecosystem. These blooms will choke out much of the available oxygen killing the grasses and the marine life which depends on these plants.   

A Key Message for all PMCs…
Most importantly, members of the media walk away with a realization that the Plant Materials Program is national in scope and has 26 regional facilities all of which are on the front lines of important national environmental issues. 

Last Modified 08/21/2008

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