Spend 2 days in the woods this week

The ongoing A Day in the Woods series, co-sponsored by CFAES’ OSU Extension outreach arm, is hosting two events this week. Timber Harvesting: Things to Consider, Friday, Sept. 13, at the Zaleski State Forest CCC Camp in McArthur, provides details on timber sales, pricing, and meeting financial and environmental goals. The $12 registration fee includes lunch and materials.

The kid-friendly Family Day in the Woods, set for Saturday, Sept. 14, in Vinton Furnace State Forest, also in McArthur, features hands-on activities, a hay ride through the forest, interactive booths, details on local wildlife, and more. Free admission.

Click on the links for more information.

Come help celebrate Humboldt

Activities set for Sept. 13–14 in CFAES’ Secrest Arboretum in Wooster will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Alexander von Humboldt—explorer, geographer, and visionary naturalist whose thinking influenced Darwin. Included will be the Ohio premiere of a play called “Humboldt Unbound.” It’s all free and open to the public. Explore more here and here. (Image: Alexander von Humboldt by Joseph Karl Stieler via Wikimedia Commons.)

Ohio’s farm crisis: Flooding-tolerant forages?

A talk set for next week’s Farm Science Review will feature alternative forage plants that tolerate flooding and drought.

Why it’s important: Ohio’s hay supply for livestock is currently extremely low due to spring’s excessive rainfall. Growing flooding-tolerant forages to feed livestock could limit the risk from such rain in the future. (Photo: Tall fescue, James H. Miller, USDA Forest Service, Bugwood.org.)

Boosting BMPs

What’s keeping some farmers from changing their fertilization practices—changes aimed at reducing nutrient runoff and improving Lake Erie’s water quality? Skepticism more than anything else, CFAES behavioral scientist Robyn Wilson said in a recent story.

What’s the solution? Wilson speaks on the subject (“Designing Policies and Programs to Increase BMP Adoption Rates”) Sept. 12 at the Understanding Algal Blooms: State of the Science conference in Toledo. Registration runs through Sept. 6.