Friday, May 31, 2019

Deer / Forest Management Book Now Available


A group of 12 wildlife/forestry biologists has just published a book on deer management titled "Deer Management for Forest Landowners and Managers." The book is based on their collective decades of research, teaching, consulting, and managing white-tailed deer in the northeastern states.

The book is designed to help forest landowners and managers, public and private, develop programs to reduce deer density and impact on forest resources. The book will also help agency biologists, college educators, consultants, and hunters understand the needs of forest landowners/stewards in managing deer impact.

This is the first and only book written for those who manage deer and deer impact on private forestlands such as small woodlots and on public forestlands such as state and/or national forests. It covers the what, the why, the how, the where, the when, the by whom, the how much, and for how long details of deer management on forestlands affected by overabundant deer herds. The book integrates the science of deer biology with human dimension factors of values and culture.

The book describes deer management at the actual level of management – the individual forested property, whether a small woodlot of perhaps 20 acres or a larger commercial forest operation, state park or national forest encompassing hundreds to thousands of acres.

These forestlands are where negative deer impact affects goals for natural resources and are where managers integrate all aspects of deer management: hunting, management to counter deer impact, habitat manipulation, maintenance of access roads used by hunters, and human dimension factors such as culture and values of hunters and other stakeholders.

The book is printed by CRC Press and is available now in paperback, hard cover and e-book formats. There is a website (www.deer-management-book.com) that describes the book, provides information on how to order the book, and includes endorsements by forestry and wildlife experts.”

Wednesday, May 29, 2019

Bipartisan Bill Introduced to Fight Lyme and other Tick-Borne Diseases


In a bipartisan effort to improve research, prevention, diagnostics, and treatment for Lyme and other tick-borne diseases, U.S. Senators Susan Collins, of Maine, and Tina Smith, of Minnesota, today introduced the Ticks: Identify, Control, and Knockout (TICK) Act.

If passed, it would be the highest amount ever approved for the fight against tick-borne diseases.

Click below to watch Senator Collins introduce the measure on the Senate floor.


Click here to read the full story. 

From Lymedisease.org
News: May 24, 2019

Friday, May 24, 2019

Make Informed Decisions on the use of Glyphosate Herbicides

With all the recent press surrounding herbicides containing the active ingredient Glyphosate (e.g. Roundup), I wanted to share some resources that will help you make informed decisions concerning it's use. Please feel free to share these resources with those who have questions or concerns. The Q & A follows nicely with the recorded webinar.

Penn State Extension Recorded Webinar:
https://psu.mediaspace.kaltura.com/media/GlyphosateA+The+World%E2%80%99s+Most+Controversial+Herbicide/1_vj6qje37
Glyphosate: The Worlds Most Controversial Herbicide
Presented by Dr. Jason Ferrell, Director of the Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants, University of Florida. 
Reports about the harmful effects of glyphosate continue to be in the news. Whether it is toxicity to frogs, cancer in rats, or potentially carcinogenic effects in humans, this world-leading herbicide is commonly discussed.  In this presentation we will review these claims and discuss the strength of the science.  We will also frame these claims in a proper context to help us understand glyphosate and whether it has a future in our society.


Glyphosate Questions and Answers:
By Kaci Buhl and Bubl, Oregon State University 
Oregon Master Gardener Coordinators 
Several Master Gardeners and members of the general public have called on Extension to provide guidance on glyphosate use. Kaci Buhl (OSU Statewide Pesticide Safety Education) and Chip Bubl (OSU Extension Horticulture/General Agriculture) collaborated to develop a list of Q&As that might be helpful to you and your MGs, when you receive glyphosate-related questions.


Monday, May 20, 2019

To Remove or Not to Remove, That is the Question


I often get asked, is it worth the time, effort, and money to remove invasive plants. Now we have a study that shows it just might be. Researcher Erynn Maynard-Bean, Penn State University, tried to answer that question in a section of woods belonging to Penn State and managed as part of the arboretum known as Hartley Woods. She found that after seven years of invasive shrub removal natural regeneration of native plants exceeded the abundance measured in unmanaged forest understories with low levels of shrub invasion. This research highlights the capacity for that system to rebound following invasive plant removal.

By Jeff Mulhollem
May 14, 2019
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Removing invasive shrubs to restore native forest habitat brings
a surprising result, according to Penn State researchers, who say desired native understory plants display an unexpected ability and vigor to recolonize open spots.

"The regeneration of native plants that we saw where invasive shrubs had been removed exceeds what we expected from looking at uninvaded parts of the forest," said researcher Erynn Maynard-Bean, who recently earned her doctoral degree in ecology.

"We believe that's because invasive shrubs take up residence in the best spots in the forest. They are most successful where there are the most resources — sunlight, soil nutrients and water. Then, when invasive shrubs are removed, the growth of native plants in those locations beats expectations."

She drew that conclusion after participating in a long-term project in the Arboretum at Penn State, which involved repeated removals of a suite of 18 invasive shrub species and closely monitoring the growth of native plants. That removal experiment was initiated by Margot Kaye, associate professor of forest ecology. In the experiment, after invasives were removed over seven years, plant diversity, native understory species abundance and overstory tree species regeneration, increased.

The study took place in a woodlot known as the Hartley Wood, a unique old-growth tract of about 42 acres adjacent to what is now a municipal park in State College, PA, where the mostly oak, hickory and maple trees escaped the loggers' blades.

Significantly, Maynard-Bean noted, the research demonstrates that simply assessing the abundance of invasive shrubs and native plants in a forest can minimize the perceived negative impacts that invasive shrubs have on native plant numbers.

"We found that seven years of invasive shrub removal boosted natural regeneration of native plants that exceeded the abundance measured in unmanaged forest understories with low levels of shrub invasion," she said. "In this study, in which invasive shrubs have been prominent in the understory for more than 20 years, an ambient sampling approach underestimates the effect of invasive shrubs and the benefits of their removal."

To read the rest of the story click here.