July 31, 2018
Carrie Zamonski, of Brookhaven, Pennsylvania, is spending her summer at the beach -- but she's not there just for a vacation. Zamonski, a senior majoring in environmental resource management and minoring in watershed and water resources and marine science, is an intern at the Bald Head Island Conservancy in North Carolina.
July 25, 2018
Researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences examined the use and user-friendliness of SILVAH-Oak — short for Silviculture of Allegheny Hardwoods — a decision-support tool developed by the U.S. Forest Service for making silvicultural decisions in mixed oak forests.
July 23, 2018
Throughout the eastern United States, forests of eastern hemlock, Tsuga canadensis, are under attack by a tiny invasive insect with an insatiable appetite for these giant trees. This attack is causing the decline of eastern hemlock and as a consequence, it is driving the disappearance of a variety of birds that are specialized to them, according to a recent study.
July 12, 2018
How forests respond to elevated nitrogen levels from atmospheric pollution is not always the same. While a forest is filtering nitrogen as expected, a higher percentage than previously seen is leaving the system again as the potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide, say researchers.
June 22, 2018
This spring, Penn State DuBois was the first university to participate in the inaugural Alternative Break Service Program at Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Although this is the first time the memorial has hosted an alternative break program, students in the Penn State DuBois Wildlife Technology program have participated in work at the site for five years, reclaiming areas that are former strip mines.
June 18, 2018
Charles H. “Skip” Smith, the Penn State alumnus and philanthropist whose giving has fueled the creation and supported the growth of The Arboretum at Penn State, has made a major new gift to enrich this University resource. Smith and his sons, David, Jeffry and John, have committed more than $1.8 million to launch construction of the Bird Garden in the Arboretum, which will be designed to attract birds year-round and educate the Arboretum’s many visitors.
June 18, 2018
Elizabeth Boyer is an Associate Professor of Water Resources in the Department of Ecosystem Science and Management at Penn State University.
June 14, 2018
How do a landscape and its people evolve through time? SOILS 499A & B examined this question, and focused particularly on the role natural resource management has played in the evolution of culture, society, and civilization in Ireland.
June 8, 2018
A graduate student in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences recently was named the recipient of a scholarship from the Soil Science Society of America.
June 1, 2018
Burning trash in the backyard has long been known to cause air quality concerns, but a recent Penn State study sponsored by the Centre County Recycling and Refuse Authority has found that the longtime practice of burning trash also puts harmful toxins in the soil.
May 10, 2018
Five alumni recently received 2018 Outstanding Alumni Awards from Penn State's Forest Resources Alumni Group. The purpose of these awards is to recognize outstanding graduates of the former School of Forest Resources and the Department of Ecosystem Science and Management in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences.
May 1, 2018
The cruel truth is that throughout the white-tailed deer's range only about half of all fawns live to see their first birthday — most are killed by predators. However, they have a much better chance of surviving if they are born in farmland rather than in forest, according to Penn State researchers, who collaborated with Pennsylvania Game Commission deer biologists.
April 27, 2018
Dr. Patrick Drohan and Dr. Heather Gall received a grant (the Harbaugh faculty scholar award) from the College of Agriculture at Penn State to collaborate on urban green infrastructure education via their classes. As part of this grant's activities, Dr. Drohan's SOILS 404 (Urban Soils) class visited Greenfield Elementary School this past week to speak to 5th graders about soil and why it matters to people in cities.
April 27, 2018
A group of students in the Penn State DuBois Wildlife Technology program partnered with local and state organizations to help improve the habitat of a wild trout stream in the area.
April 1, 2018
Researcher, author and educator Kevin McGowan will recount the results of his 30-year study of more than 2,500 individual crows -- including their home and family life, flock life, and crow-human interactions -- at 5 p.m. on April 4 in 112 Forest Resources Building on Penn State's University Park campus.
March 23, 2018
Jason Kaye, professor of soil biogeochemistry, is the recipient of the Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences' 2017 Alex and Jessie C. Black Award for Excellence in Research. The honor recognizes a tenure-track faculty member in the college whose significant accomplishments include exceptional and original agricultural research conducted at Penn State.
March 23, 2018
Jason Kaye, professor of soil biogeochemistry, is the recipient of the Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences' 2017 Alex and Jessie C. Black Award for Excellence in Research.
March 20, 2018
Investment from Penn State alumnus and leading philanthropist Charles H. “Skip” Smith will enable The Arboretum at Penn State to fulfill its longstanding vision for a garden that will attract and sustain native pollinator species of birds and insects.
March 7, 2018
A good way to describe ramps, it has been said, is to note what they are not. Ramps are not leeks, nor are they scallions or shallots. Ramps look like scallions, but they're smaller and have one or two broad, flat leaves.
March 1, 2018
Josh Hersl, a senior forest ecosystem management major in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, has experienced a few roadblocks and detours on the road to reaching his dreams.
February 22, 2018
Sky Templeton, a junior majoring in forest ecosystems management with a minor in biology, is passionate about forestry, education and minority representation, and is exploring all three interests as a student in the College of Agricultural Sciences.
February 12, 2018
A video developed by Wildlife and Fisheries Science graduate student Danielle Williams offers a behind-the-scenes and “inside-the-box” view of the secret and busy life of a nesting bluebird.
February 8, 2018
Lillie Langlois, researcher and instructor, studied aerial images to map natural gas development in Lycoming County over a number of years. Langlois and her colleagues found that linear infrastructure like pipelines and roads had a bigger impact on carving up forests — and affecting the wildlife habitat within them — than the drilling well pads themselves.
February 5, 2018
Lauren Onofrio is a Biology major with a minor in Forest Ecosystems. She has worked under Laura Leites in the quantitative forest ecology lab since fall 2015 and plans to pursue an M.S. in Ecology with Dr. Leites in fall 2018.
February 1, 2018
Agroforestry could play an important role in mitigating climate change because it sequesters more atmospheric carbon in plant parts and soil than conventional farming, according to Penn State researchers.
January 25, 2018
In the big woods of Pennsylvania's Northern Tier, the home range of the average white-tailed deer is more than twice as large as that of a deer in urban or agricultural areas of the state. Penn State researcher Duane Diefenbach documented that phenomenon early on in his work, but it did not occur to him it might be representative of many different mammal species around the globe.
January 16, 2018
Jonathan Duncan recently joined Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences as an assistant professor of hydrology in the Department of Ecosystem Science and Management.
January 15, 2018
What local communities can do to assist the more than 3 million Pennsylvania residents served by private wells and springs to have potable drinking water for their homes and farms will be the topic of a web-based seminar offered by Penn State Extension on January 17.
January 4, 2018
Today, as hatchery fish become more expensive, and as interest in sustainable environments grows, fishery scientists are looking closer at wild trout populations to understand how these resilient fish survive in challenging settings.
December 19, 2017
Small-holder farmers in Kenya have the capacity and desire to play a major role in the scale-up of biofuel production from agroforestry, according to a Penn State forest economist, who led a study in the East African country.
