Month: March 2018

These CFAES courses are on fire (sign up!)

Hey, Ohio State students: The courses described in this story are taught during Autumn Semester. Course enrollment for Autumn Semester 2018 begins at the end of March and runs through mid- to late April. So sign up soon if you’re interested!

Students at The Ohio State University have a unique opportunity to take a two-course sequence that culminates with a real prescribed burn and certification.

The courses, offered by CFAES’s School of Environment and Natural Resources (SENR), teach about fire ecology, fire’s role in ecosystems, and managing controlled and wild fires. In the end, students prepare for and conduct a prescribed burn. Continue reading →

March 22: World Water Day event at Ohio State

Ohio State is recognizing World Water Day with a Water Awareness event from noon to 3 p.m. this Thursday, March 22, in Great Hall Meeting Room #2 in the Ohio Union, 1739 N. High St. on the Columbus campus. Some 16 programs from Ohio State and the Columbus area will share displays on their efforts to protect water.

Some of those programs are part of or have partners from CFAES. They include Ohio Sea Grant, the Wilma H. Schiermeier Olentangy River Wetland Research Park, the InFACT Discovery Theme, the Sustainable and Resilient Economy Program, the Global Water Institute, and the TerrAqua student organization.

Admission is free and open to the public. Get details.

Speaking of salamanders (and their friends)

The 2018 Ohio Amphibian and Reptile Conference is tomorrow, Tuesday, March 20, in the Nationwide and Ohio Farm Bureau 4-H Center on Ohio State’s Columbus campus. Online registration has ended, but you can still register at the door, space permitting ($45; $25 for students; lunch not included). Learn more.

Continue reading →

Salamander gander, part deux (slideshow)

See seven Ohio salamanders in the slideshow below, whose photos come from CFAES’s Getting to Know Salamanders in Ohio bulletin, now out of print but available as a PDF.

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Spring means a salamander gander

Matt Reese of Ohio’s Country Journal recently went on his first salamander search and “could not believe what we found!” He quotes Marne Titchenell, wildlife specialist in CFAES’s School of Environment and Natural Resources, and mentions the college’s Getting to Know Salamanders bulletin.

Continue reading →

Check out these students’ stories

Discover Stone Lab’s Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program through the eyes of three students from CFAES. Then, after you do, check out the rest of CFAES’s engaging new Stories website.

Stone Lab is Ohio State’s water science-focused campus on (and in) Lake Erie. (Photo: CFAES REU student Madeline Lambrix, Ken Chamberlain, CFAES.)

So you want to learn more about butterflies

Today, March 14, is National Learn About Butterflies Day, and one way you can do just that is to bookmark TheBuzz@OSU and visit often. It’s a blog run by Denise Ellsworth, director of CFAES’s Honey Bee and Native Pollinator Education program, and it’s full of news about pollinators, both the kind that buzz and the ones with big, colorful wings.

Another way: Check out a butterfly-boosting CFAES fact sheet, written by Denise, too, that can help you make your spring planting plans. (Photo: sindlera, iStock.)

On the beach, and what it’s worth

Brent Sohngen, professor in CFAES’s Department of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics, has received a grant from Ohio State’s Ohio Sea Grant program to determine the economic value of Lake Erie’s beaches — useful information for estimating, say, the economic hit from harmful algal blooms.

Which Lake Erie beach do you value most? Leave your reply below. (Photo: Lake Erie near Sandusky by Mampfred, iStock.)

‘Plenty of optimism’ at OEFFA conference

Reporter Debbi Snook provided a good account of last month’s Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association annual conference in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Of note, check out the comments at the end of the story by a CFAES student/family farmer who, judging from his comments, seems very much on the ball (as, yes, one would expect a CFAES student to be!) regarding matters such as soil moisture, organic matter and profit margins.

Ten CFAES faculty and staff members were among the 80 or so presenters at the conference.

Snook was one of four panel members for a discussion called “15 Minutes of Fame: Forming Strong Relationships with the Media.” She covers “the good life in Cleveland” — food, travel, history and outdoor recreation. You can follow her on Twitter at @DebbiSnook1.