Invasive Species Seminar Series Starts June 4

MANSFIELD, Ohio -- The Ohio Woodland Stewards Program is holding a four-part seminar series for gardeners, landscapers, homeowners and others on invasive species, the problems they cause and how to deal with them.

The seminars will take place from 7-9 p.m. on June 4, June 11, June 18 and June 25 in 129 Riedl Hall on Ohio State University’s Mansfield campus, 1760 University Drive.

Invasive species are species that aren’t native to a place but arrive through people’s actions, either by accident or on purpose. They tend to spread fast and can reduce or wipe out native species by eating, shading, crowding, damaging, infecting or outcompeting them.

The stewards program is part of Ohio State University Extension, which is the statewide outreach arm of Ohio State’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES).

The series topics and speakers:

• June 4: Emerald ash borer and Asian longhorned beetle. Both are non-native wood-boring insects. Emerald ash borer has killed millions of native ash trees in Ohio and beyond and continues to spread. Asian longhorned beetle has been found so far in only one place in Ohio but attacks many types of trees, not just one as the ash borer does. OSU Extension’s Amy Stone will discuss how to recognize signs of infestations and the best ways to manage them.
• June 11: Further threats to trees and shrubs. Stone and Kathy Smith, also of OSU Extension, will cover gypsy moth, viburnum leaf beetle and hemlock woolly adelgid -- non-native insects that damage or kill their respective host plants -- and looming thousand cankers disease, which is fatal to walnut trees.
• June 18: Threats to woodlands and wildlife. Marne Titchenell and Eric McConnell, both of OSU Extension, and Craig Hicks of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will detail deadly white-nose syndrome in bats; the harm done by invasive plants to wildlife and to Ohio’s $22 billion-a-year forest industry; and the literal and figurative deep impact of feral pigs, which are now in southern Ohio.
• June 25: Invasive plants in the landscape. Smith will look at the problems caused by buckthorn, garlic-mustard, autumn olive, bush honeysuckle and more, and will show how to identify and control them.

Registration is $15 per seminar or $45 for all four seminars. The series flier and a registration form can be downloaded at http://go.osu.edu/UuP (pdf), or register and pay online at http://go.osu.edu/UuN.

The registration deadlines are May 30 for the June 4 seminar or for the complete series of four, June 6 for the June 11 seminar, June 13 for the June 18 seminar, and June 20 for the June 25 seminar.

Participants in the series are eligible for up to 6 hours of continuing education credit under the Ohio Forest Tax Law program.

For more information, call 614-688-3421, email ohiowoods@osu.edu, or go to http://go.osu.edu/UuK.

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