Ohio State’s Time for Change Week ends with a working weekend aimed at doing good things for the land, for native plants, and for a special Ohio State woods.
invasive species
Yes, there’s giant hogweed in Ohio (in some places): What to know and how to spot it
Giant hogweed, the nasty invasive plant that’s currently in the news — experts discovered it for the first time in Virginia recently — has been found in scattered places in Ohio for a number of years, especially in Ashtabula County in the state’s far northeastern corner.
This pest is near (but not yet in) Ohio
The spotted lanternfly, an invasive tree and fruit pest that was initially contained within Pennsylvania, has now spread to Delaware and Virginia, and CFAES insect experts worry the next stop will be Ohio. Read the story. (Photo: Lawrence Barringer, Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, via Bugwood.org.)
Let’s celebrate Ohio’s trees, while staying alert to these threats to them (especially 2 new diseases)
A workshop offered on May 23 is meant to grow your love of trees — and also to try to protect them.
Here are the swans that a-swim in Ohio
Depending on the time of year, your true love can find up to three swans a-swimming in, a-flying over or a-breeding in Ohio. The tundra. The trumpeter. The mute. One is an invasive species. One is the result of a successful reintroduction. Read more beneath the “7 th day” heading (scroll down). (Photo: Trumpeter swans, iStock.)
The carp at the door
“Asian carp remain an important threat to Great Lakes fisheries, especially Lake Erie,” says the lede of a Nov. 6 story by the Sandusky Register’s Tom Jackson. The story, covering a recent report by the Great Lakes Sea Grant Network, looked at the possible negative impacts, should the carp invade, on the lakes, their fish and their fishing. Ohio State’s Ohio Sea Grant program is a member of the network. The program’s Chris Winslow, Tory Gabriel and Jeff Reutter were among the coauthors of the report. Gabriel and Winslow have partial appointments with CFAES.
Face of nightmares
New details are available to you on the Asian carp species threatening the Great Lakes.
A new report by the Great Lakes Sea Grant Network looks at the possible impacts if the carps invade the lakes, identifies gaps in what’s known about the fish, and provides extensive educational materials for teachers, scientists, anglers and others — anyone with an interest in keeping the Great Lakes, including Lake Erie, healthy — for communicating the threat to the public.
Ohio State’s Ohio Sea Grant program is one of the network’s collaborators. Read Sea Grant’s press release about the report.
Shown here is a silver carp, one of the species in question. (Photo: Dan O’Keefe, Michigan Sea Grant.)
Invasive species in your woods and how you can stop them
Register by Wednesday, Oct. 11, for the Forest Health: Invasive Species workshop being offered by CFAES’s Ohio Woodland Stewards Program. It’s from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Oct. 18 at the Lodge at Allardale, 141 Remsen Road, Medina, part of the Medina County Park District.
The event, which is for landowners, gardeners and others, will look at the invasive plants, diseases and insects bugging Ohio; how to identify and monitor them; the harm they do to woods and wildlife if left unchecked; and options for controlling them.
Registration is $35. (Photo: European buckthorn, T. Davis Sydnor, Ohio State, Bugwood.org.)
This bug stinks. Can science sustainably stop it?
CFAES scientist Celeste Welty is part of a 15-state study looking at sustainable ways to control the invasive, non-native, crop- and home-bugging brown marmorated stink bug, shown here. Specifically, she’s studying a tiny wasp that preys on the stinker. CFAES scientist Andy Michel, meanwhile, is evaluating the pest’s impact on Ohio’s $2.5 billion soybean crop. Details on their work. (Photo: Susan Ellis, Bugwood.org.)
Thursday: Saving Ohio’s hemlocks
Dave Apsley, natural resources specialist with CFAES’s outreach arm, OSU Extension, presents “Ohio’s Eastern Hemlock Forests and the Threat of Hemlock Woolly Adelgid” at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 2, in Ashland University’s 2016-17 Environmental Lecture Series. Details. (Photo: Eastern hemlock, Bill Cook, Michigan State University, Bugwood.org.)