Pollinators — butterflies, bees and others — are key to farming, gardening and healthy diets. But globally, unfortunately, their populations are declining. Learn and see ways to help them, especially by growing the plants they need, in an expert talk called “Pollinator Habitat” in the Gwynne Conservation Area at Farm Science Review. It’s set for noon to 12:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 20.
See the full Gwynne schedule. The Review overall runs from Sept. 18-20. (Photo: Monarch butterfly, Getty Images.)
CFAES wildlife specialist Marne Titchenell presents “Common Frogs and Snakes of Ohio” from 10:30-11:30 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 20, in the Gwynne Conservation Area at Farm Science Review. It’s a look at your small, shy, helpful neighbors — American toads, green frogs, garter snakes and others — and the good they do for farms, yards and gardens. See the full Gwynne schedule. (Photo: Leopard frog, Getty Images.)
CFAES scientist Elizabeth Long presents “Protecting Pollinators from Pesticides” at 9 a.m. Aug. 15 in a webinar series hosted by CFAES’s Bee Lab. Find more details. It’s free to watch; use the “Guest Login” at 8:55 a.m. A 2016 article in the Christian Science Monitor reported on some of her research. (Photo: Honey bee, Getty Images.)
Members of the Greater Mohican Audubon Society lead a guided bird walk from 9-11 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 11, in CFAES’s Secrest Arboretum in Wooster, home to species like the indigo bunting shown here.
Admission is free and open to the public. Find out more. (Photo: Getty Images.)
About 4 out of 5 Americans support the Endangered Species Act, according to a new study led by Jeremy Bruskotter of CFAES’s School of Environment and Natural Resources. The act, approved by Congress in 1973, protects plant, animal, insect and fish species threatened by extinction, along with the habitats they need.
“Every time the ESA is in the news, you hear about how controversial it is,” Bruskotter said in a July 19 Ohio State press release about the study. “But the three most recent studies show that, on average, approximately 83 percent of the public supports it, and that’s sort of the opposite of controversial.”
Shown here is a bald eagle, America’s national bird, whose recovery is considered one of the act’s greatest success stories.
CFAES’s 2018 Bee Lab Webinar Series kicks off when biologist-author Olivia Carril presents “Identifying Common Bees of the Great Lakes Region” from 9-10 a.m., April 18. Carril is the co-author of The Bees in Your Backyard: A Guide to North America’s Bees (Princeton University Press, 2015), which the Bookseller Buyer’s Guide calls “The ultimate bee book for bee enthusiasts and experts alike.”
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.
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.
CFAES wildlife specialist Marne Titchenell presents “Common Frogs and Snakes of Ohio” from 10:30-11:30 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 20, in the 
“The wriggling Rembrandts will ‘crawl through kid-safe and maggot-safe paint, leaving behind painted trails.’ ”
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). 
Matt Reese of Ohio’s Country Journal recently went on his first salamander search and “