This month marks a year for Dr. Charles Barrett as water regional
specialized agent (RSA) for UF/IFAS Northeast District. This district spans
Jacksonville, the Suwannee River Valley and the Nature Coast. I caught up with
him during Urban Landscape Summit 2017 and he was kind enough to
speak with IrriGator about his RSA experience thus far.
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| Dr. Charles Barrett - Regional Specialized Agent, water resources |
What attracted you to the Water RSA position?
CB: I did my PhD research in agriculture (ag) irrigation and best management
practices for water and nutrient management. That’s what got me interested in
it. And being a Florida resident my whole life I understand the importance of water
to Florida. If there’s something I can do to help out I’m excited to do that.
What are the most critical water issues in your district?
CB: We have some new basin management action plans coming into
place. My role with IFAS extension is education about what this means for our
residents in the district. It’s a very rural area, so I'm getting the message out
to farmers and small communities so that they understand what the implication
of a basin management action plan is and how they can get prepared for it.
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| Dr. Barrett (middle) presents at an irrigation demo |
Also, out of the 31 listed Outstanding Florida Springs (OFS),
we have 17 of them in my district. That’s a large majority. OFS in the new water bill got special attention so if you have an OFS in your basin management
action plan you have even more stuff you have to pay attention to. There’s a
lot coming down the pike and I feel there’s not a whole lot of education going
on about that. This is where we step in and give the science and information. I
feel we have to do a much better job of getting information out to people.
Being almost a year into this position are you satisfied
with how the work is coming along?
CB: I feel like I’m starting to get the lay of the land which is
the most critical part in any job. There was nobody before me to tell me what I
needed to do - which is exciting but sometimes a challenge because you’re kind
of making up your own road map as you go. You’ve got to do a needs assessment
and figure out where the big fires are and start working on putting those fires
out first. In my area, being that it’s predominantly ag, a lot of the
identification of the nutrient loads in the rivers and in the springs has been
identified as ag-related. That’s the big fire right now, to get those
guys to understand how important best management practices are. How it’s not
only important to enroll, but the rule has now changed that you have to verify
your implementation of it. That means good record-keeping. It’s a lot of
education on that.
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| Read Dr. Barrett's article on soil sensors & irrigation scheduling |
If I can say anything is a success, it’s just making
relationships right now – working with the water management district, working
with FDACS, working with DEP and the Suwannee River Partnership has been huge up
there. We meet regularly and we talk about these issues. We have a really tight-knit group. So I think the biggest success so far is that I’ve been able to get
on board with those guys and to work hand-in-hand with the guys that are trying
to get this information out. We’re all working together. I’d like to see more
success on the side of getting things done, but that comes with time.
Before I met you I knew you from Twitter. Can you talk about
why you joined Twitter and some benefits of maintaining a digital presence?
CB: I created an account on Twitter right when I first started
as a water RSA. I went through the professional development academy, or new
agent training, and it was brought to my attention how that media stream could
be useful in your career. I figured like-minded people might find some of the stuff
that I find interesting interesting to them. That’s why I got on it. I didn’t
think anybody was looking at it! I see you on there with IrriGator and you’re
always picking up stuff that I miss so it’s awesome. If I find something, or you
guys find something, we can all share it along. I thought I’d never be on
Twitter, I’m not a social media type of person. But it’s kind of cool.
Read profiles on Water RSAs James Fletcher and Dr. Lisa Krimsky.
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