March 1 Conference for Ohio Natural Resource Professionals

MANSFIELD, Ohio — Why we need spiders, how a disease that kills trees could actually help forests, and what’s really going on when people and wildlife butt heads are just a few of the topics at the 2017 Ohio Woodland, Water and Wildlife Conference.

The event is an annual educational program for natural resource professionals and land managers. It’s from 8:45 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 1 at the Mid-Ohio Conference Center, 890 W. Fourth St. in Mansfield in north-central Ohio. Last year’s attendance was nearly 200.

Experts from conservation agencies and The Ohio State University will present 15 sessions in three tracks: woodlands, water and wildlife.

Tree wilts, invasives and conflicts with wildlife

Among the sessions:

• “A Tale of Two Wilts: Ailanthus and Oak,” by Joanne Rebbeck of the U.S. Forest Service in Delaware, Ohio, and Amy Stone of Ohio State University Extension. The session will look at oak wilt, a fungal disease that’s deadly to desirable oak trees, and ailanthus wilt, another fungal disease that Rebbeck and others are studying as a possible biocontrol agent for the invasive, non-native ailanthus tree, or tree-of-heaven, which can crowd out native trees.
• “Urban Pond Fisheries: Management Is Trickier than It Looks” by Eugene Braig of OSU Extension and Ohio State’s School of Environment and Natural Resources (SENR).
• “Spiders: The Thread that Holds Ecosystems Together” by Sarah Rose, also of SENR.
• “Human-Wildlife Conflict: Perception vs. Reality” by Joe Cepak of Cleveland Metroparks.
• “What the HACCP? Planning to Prevent the Spread of Aquatic Invasive Species” by Sarah Orlando and Tory Gabriel of the Ohio State-based Ohio Sea Grant program. HACCP is short for Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point planning.

Birds, bees, soils and stormwater

Other sessions will address soils, pollinators, stormwater — including using “floating islands” to improve water quality — stream restoration, Lake Erie’s migratory birds, and forest restoration and diversity.

Details on the conference and a link to online registration are at go.osu.edu/BpXx. The conference brochure, which includes the complete list of sessions and speakers and a mailable registration form, can be downloaded at go.osu.edu/BpXz.

Register by Feb. 22

Registration — which includes continental breakfast, lunch, refreshments and a resource notebook — is $60 by Feb. 14 and $80 afterward. The last day to register is Feb. 22.

For more information, contact ohiowoods.osu.edu or 614-688-3421.

SENR and OSU Extension’s Ohio Woodland Stewards Program are the event’s co-sponsors. SENR and OSU Extension are both in Ohio State’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences.