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Sep 30, 2019
A team of School of Environment and Natural Resources (SENR) faculty and staff at The Ohio State University were awarded $482,000 from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service for “Leveraging Education and Research to Promote Maple Syrup Production in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.” The funding is made possible through the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS): Acer Access and Development Program (Acer), which supports the efforts of States, tribal governments, and research institutions to promote the domestic maple syrup industry.
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May 24, 2018
Imagine a company has just purchased a large parcel of land with significant acreage of mixed hardwood-pine forests, but the company wants to clear the land and plant it entirely to another species. You are part of a team employed by the company and tasked with determining the best management strategy to maximize forestry products and rates of return. Forestry management students at The Ohio State University were given this real-world scenario as part of their final project in the ENR 5320 Forest Management course taught by Roger Williams, associate professor of forest ecosystem analysis and management in the School of Environment and Natural Resources.
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Feb 22, 2018
The emerald ash borer (EAB) has killed millions of ash trees in Ohio, the Midwest and eastern North America, including possibly yours. But there are ways to help your woods bounce back. For starters, you should scout for invasive plants on a regular basis, said Kathy Smith, forestry expert at The Ohio State University. If you find any, you should root them out. With fewer trees in your woods and more gaps in the canopy, “the concern is that non-native invasive species can quickly get out of hand,” Smith said. She named buckthorns, honeysuckles, garlic-mustard and kudzu as a few of the many invaders you should watch for.Woods hit by ash borers also may need selective thinning, seedling planting and changes in the owner’s management goals, Smith said, all depending on how many ash trees died and what kinds of trees remain. Harvesting timber may need to be reduced in some cases. Smith will speak on the topic at the Ohio River Valley Woodland and Wildlife Workshop near Cincinnati on March 17. The event offers 15 sessions on subjects including birds, bats, trees, bees, ponds, and timber and wildlife management. It’s for landowners in the Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana tri-state region. It’s also for anyone else interested in conservation.
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Jan 4, 2018
The latest edition of the Ohio Woodlands, Water, and Wildlife Newsletter is available on-line. Learn about the importance of oaks for wildlife and the forest products industry, a new resource for Ohio woodland owners, meet your new natural resource economist and discover the busyness of beaver.
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Jul 2, 2017
Building Ohio State: From Forest to the Renovation of the Thompson Library was among the most popular exhibits presented by the Ohio State University Libraries, said a library official. On display through May 14, the exhibit examined the past, present and future of Ohio’s forest resources and told the story of the unique connection and history shared between The Ohio State University and Ohio’s forests. “The final visitor count was 1,732. This makes Building Ohio State the third highest attended exhibition out of the past four years,” said Ken Aschliman, exhibitions coordinator for the University Libraries. “This exhibition was special for us because it was the first exhibition where the spark came from outside the University Libraries. By working with community partners and partners across the university, the project brought a lot attention to the history of Ohio’s forests, the history of OSU, and the recent renovation of Thompson Library.”
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Jun 8, 2017
A June 20 tour in northern Ohio will show how trees get turned into products, including Amish-made lumber and furniture. “We hope people find it an eye-opening experience,” said co-organizer Kathy Smith, a forestry expert at The Ohio State University. “A lot goes into that process.” From Forests to Furniture starts on Ohio State’s wooded Mansfield campus, where Smith and colleagues Amy Stone and Marne Titchenell, both also with the university, will give talks under the trees on owning woodlands, managing wildlife and dealing with the deadly emerald ash borer pest.
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May 22, 2017
The ENR 5320 Forest Management Class during spring semester 2017 conducted a competition to develop the best forest management strategy. Students were presented with a real world scenario and challenged to identify the best management strategy to maximize forest products and rates of return.
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May 4, 2017
Put 100 teenagers in the woods for a week, in a place with spotty cellphone service, and you’d think they’d be bored. But teach them about the nature there, allow time for fishing and swimming, offer the occasional climb up a 10-story oak tree, and “the kids really seem to love it,” said Marne Titchenell, co-director of the Ohio Forestry Association’s 66th annual Forestry and Wildlife Conservation Camp. The camp is June 11-16 at Ohio FFA’s Camp Muskingum on Leesville Lake in eastern Ohio. It’s for students who have completed 8th grade through those who have just graduated from high school. Its goal is to introduce campers to trees, birds, bugs, mammals and more, including how to manage them.
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Feb 22, 2017
Stephen Matthews, assistant professor of Wildlife Landscape Ecology in the School of Environment and Natural Resources will discuss Ohio’s Forests – Planning for Threats: Climate Change, Invasives, and More at the March 1 Science Café. Once covering nearly 95 percent of Ohio, forests have been, and still are, rich sources of industry, recreation, clean water, biodiversity, and beauty that underpin our well-being. Research, teaching, and outreach at The Ohio State University has helped nurture Ohio’s forests and people, and a new exhibit at the iconic Thompson Library highlights Ohio’s forests: Building Ohio State. Yet, threats to the vitality and usefulness of Ohio’s forests continue to emerge. The presentation will discuss emerging threats and management challenges faced in our forests and relay how current management aims to maintain the services forests provide.
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Feb 13, 2017
A new exhibit presented by the Ohio State University Libraries tells the story of the unique connection and history shared between The Ohio State University and Ohio’s forests. Building Ohio State: From Forest to the Renovation of the Thompson Library examines the past, present and future of Ohio’s forest resources. On display through May 14, the exhibit features interactive opportunities to learn about Ohio’s forest resources, shows examples of forest products, and highlights sustainable forest management and its continuing role in education, sustainability and economic development in the state of Ohio. The William Oxley Thompson Memorial Library, Ohio State’s main library, underwent a complete renovation from 2006 to 2009 that not only transformed the building into a 21st century research library and campus hub, but also restored the original 1913 library to its historical grandeur.
