We are entering the homestretch of the semester.  It’s been a good fall and it’s been nice to see the return of several of our important field trip experiences this fall after last year.  We were able to take a large number of our new first year students to Stone Lab for a day, restoring a tradition we established in 2017.  Unfortunately, we were not able to stay overnight due to some constraints with safely using the facility in light of COVID, but it was great introducing many of our new students to Ohio State's island resource.  We are anticipating the Stone Lab course offerings will be fully restored next summer, which is a wonderful enrichment opportunity we offer at Ohio State.

Stan Gehrt offers another unique enrichment experience for students via ENR 5364.01 (Mammalian Wildlife Biology and Management) each fall semester with a weekend field trip to Chicago to expose students to the field research and methods he uses in his longstanding work on urban wildlife in that city (photo shown is of a prior field trip).  See the Urban Coyote Research Project for more information about this work.  This trip is consistently rated a top experience of students in the class and it’s great to be able to offer it once again. 

Finally, as the holidays approach, I want to let you all know once again that you can buy Ohio State branded maple syrup.  The pint bottles make great gifts for friends and family.  The proceeds of these sales help fund student fellowships during the field season, with fellowships awarded to three SENR students in 2021.  In addition, broader SENR and Ohio State efforts to support maple production is going strong and expanding.  You can keep up to speed on maple developments at Ohio State by following the Ohio State Maple blog, which includes a recently posted Consumer’s Guide to Pure Maple Syrup prepared by OSU Extension educator Les Ober.  I found the guide quite informative as I’ve always wondered about the differences in maple syrup grades.

Wishing everyone a great Thanksgiving,

Jeff Sharp
Director, School of Environment and Natural Resources