UK Bear research was highlighted on The Nature Conservancy's web page.
Recent Awards:
Josh Brinks, recently took 2nd place at the 2009 UK Graduate Student Interdisciplinary Conference poster session. The conference was held on April 3, 2009.
April 2009 – Doug McLaren received one of the thirteen University of Kentucky’s Make a Difference Awards, an award aimed at encouraging, collecting, managing, and rewarding constructive proposals that reduce time and costs, and improve safety, efficiency and service. McLaren’s suggestion was to alter landscaping for better visibility.
Dec 2008 - Michael Shouse received a 2009 Alexander Goetz Instrument Support Program for his project titled Distinguish Invasive Exotic Species and Native
Vegetation Using Hyperspectral Remote Sensing.
Aug 2008 - Andrew Whittle received the Student Scholarship Award from the Organization of Fish and Wildlife Information Managers (OFWIM).
July 2008 - Tom Barnes received a certificate of appreciation from the USDA Forest Service (rangelands group) for help with the Celebrating Wildflowers Website.
Stringer, Jeff - Fellow of the Society of American Foresters.
SAF honors those members who have provided outstanding contributions to the Society and to the forestry profession with the title of Fellow. The goal of the Society is to recognize approximately 5% of its members with this honor. The requirements are a “strong, continuing commitment through direct SAF volunteer activities, and exemplary action, sustained leadership, and advancement of the forestry profession.”
Congratulations to those involved in producing the Kentucky Woodlands magazine – the publication received the 2007 “Gold Award for Excellence with High Distinction” from Southern Regional Extension Forestry. This is the highest award issued for Extension programming by SREF. Faculty and staff directly involved include Jeff Stringer (Co-Editor with Diana Olszowy), Billy Thomas (Associate Editor) and Renee Williams (Assistant Editor).
March 2008 - Will Bowling (MS - Cox/Maehr) and Matt Weand (PhD - Arthur) took 2nd and 3rd place, respectively, at the 2008 UK Graduate Student Interdisciplinary Conference poster session. This marks the second consecutive year that Forestry graduate students have taken 2 out of the 3 awards for the poster session. There were 35 entrants from a variety of disciplines.
Alexander, Heather. 2007. University of Kentucky’s Woman’s Club Fellowship. This is a non-service award that recognizes superior achievements as a UK doctoral student.
Barnes, Tom. 2007. Naturalist of the Year. Kentucky Society of Natural History.
Bahm, Matt. Oct 2007. 2nd place in the student presentation competition at the Natural Areas Conference in Cleveland, OH for "Rehabilitation of native prairie remnants in the northern Great Plains utilizing fire and herbicide" by Bahm, Barnes and Jensen.
Graves, Don. Environmental Leadership Award from the Kentucky Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet. Presented at the Governor’s Conference on the Environment awards banquet. Oct 2007.
McLaren, Doug. 2008. Outstanding Member Service Award from the Kentucky / Tennessee Society of the Society of American Foresters.
McLaren, Doug. Outstanding Individual for Excellence in Environmental Education for 2007 from the Kentucky Association for Environmental Education (KAEE). Sept 2007.
Matt Weand (First Place Poster): "Who controls carbon storage? The influence of atmospheric pollutants, tree species and microbial activity on soil carbon and nitrogen recycling” at the University of Kentucky Graduate Student Congress Interdisciplinary Conference on Friday, April 13, 2007.
Heather Alexander (Third Place Poster): "The use of prescribed fires to regenerate ecologically and economically important oaks in eastern Kentucky” at the University of Kentucky Graduate Student Congress Interdisciplinary Conference on Friday, April 13, 2007.
McLaren, Doug. Whitaker Extension Award from the Gamma Sigma Delta honor society for One Acre at a time. Mar 2007.
"Smooth Brome Control and Native Plant Response to Herbicide Treatment in Eastern South Dakota" by Matt A. Bahm, Thomas G. Barnes, and Kent C. Jensen. Poster presentation at the 60th Annual Meeting of the Society for Range Management in Reno, NV; February 10-16, 2007. Won 2nd Place in the PhD poster competition.
A picture from Doug McLaren's Kentucky Forest Leadership Program won first place in the Lamotte Company Environmental Education Photo Contest. The award was a $500 merchandise certificate.
Adkins, Josh. 2007. best student paper award, Kentucky Chapter of the Wildlife Society Meeting held at Rough River State Park.
Recent Books:
Rare Wildflowers of Kentucky by Tom Barnes, Deborah White and Marc Evans has just been released by the University Press of Kentucky. The authors are extension professor in the department of forestry at the University of Kentucky, and Botanist and Ecologist for the Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission. This is the 4th book written or photographed by Tom Barnes.
Rare Wildflowers of Kentucky provides an introduction to Kentucky's signature rare plants with 220 full-color photographs by naturalist and award-winning photographer Thomas G. Barnes. The book draws attention to the beauty of Kentucky's old-growth forests, prairies, wetlands, and other habitats while focusing on the state's endangered flora.
The authors note that as of this year, 275 plant species in Kentucky are considered endangered or threatened, with more than 50 potential additions to the list. The book includes an overview of ecological communities and the ways in which they are threatened, an explanation of how various plants have become endangered, and suggestions for conservation and preservation.
The Bluegrass State's rare wildflowers take center stage with gorgeous color photography and descriptions, organized by habitat. Rare Wildflowers of Kentucky will appeal to any nature lover, and the inclusion of references, a complete list of scientific and common species names, and a list of each plant's endangered status makes the book especially useful to gardeners and to botanists and horticultural professionals.
Recent Extension Activities:
Barnes, Tom. 2006. Elected to a two year term as president of the Kentucky Native Plant Society.
Graves, D.H. Reforestation of surface mined lands in Kentucky - A Commonwealth Collaborative
Recent Research Grants:
Arthur, M., McEwan, R., Rieske-Kinney, L. “Alteration of below ground processes during ecosystem invasion: Lonicera maackii in the forests of central Kentucky”. $14,000 from 11/1/06 to 10/31/07.
Fei, Songlin, Lynne Rieske-Kinney, and John Obrycki. 2006-2009. Monitoring the Invasion of Hemlock Wooly Adelgid in Kentucky. USDA-CSREES. 3 years at $74,712.
Fei, Songlin and David Maehr. 2006-2009. Spatial Animation Software for Analyzing Wildlife Telemetry Data: A New Tool for Research and Teaching. USDA-CSREES. 3 years at $11,254.
Recent Research Publications:
Brooks, R.P., G.P. Patil, S. Fei, A. I. Gitelman, W.L. Myers, and E.D. Reavie. 2007. The next generation of ecological indicators of wetland condition. EcoHealth. 4: 176-178.
DZIALAK, MATTHEW R., MICHAEL J. LACKI and
SHAWCHYI VORISEK. 2007. SURVIVAL, MORTALITY, AND MORBIDITY AMONG PEREGRINE FALCONS REINTRODUCED IN KENTUCKY. J. Raptor Res. 41(1):61–65.
Fei, S. 2007. The Geography of American Place Names and Trees. Journal of Forestry 105: 84-90.
Fei, S. and K.C. Steiner. 2007. Evidence for increasing red maple abundance across the United States. Forest Science 53: 473-477.
Fei, S., K.C. Steiner, and J.C. Finley. 2007. Stocking equations for regeneration in mixed-oak stands. USDA, Forest Service, General Technical Report SRS-101: 55-59.