WOOSTER, Ohio -- Ohio’s sixth annual Why Trees Matter Forum, a look at the social, economic and environmental benefits of trees in cities and suburbs, takes place Oct. 19 in Wooster.
Organizers say it’s for anyone interested in Ohio’s community forests, including landscapers, street-tree commissioners, plant nursery operators, local government officials, utility company workers, and economic and community development managers.
Included are keynote talks by Ralph Sievert, park forestry director, city of Minneapolis, “Community Forest: The Reality Show,” and Stan Gehrt, School of Environment and Natural Resources, Ohio State University, “Urban Coyotes Living in the Urban Forest.”
Featured, too, will be:
- “Why Trees Matter and Tree Campus USA Projects” by Jim Chatfield and Kathy Smith, both of OSU Extension’s Why Trees Matter Signature Program.
- “Planting Trees, Growing People” by Maureen Austin of OSU Extension and the Why Trees Matter program.
- “Ohio’s Non-native Invasive Pests and Your Trees” by Chatfield and Amy Stone and Joe Boggs, both also of OSU Extension and Why Trees Matter.
- A Secrest Arboretum update and tour by Ken Cochran, the arboretum’s program director. The arboretum is part of Ohio State’s Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center in Wooster.
Hours are 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. at the Hilton Garden Inn, 959 Dover Rd., Wooster, across from OARDC.
Registration costs $60 per person by Oct. 7, $70 afterward and is needed by Oct. 14. Lunch is included. A vegetarian option is available.
Register and pay online at http://go.osu.edu/E8h.
For more information, call 330-263-3799, e-mail troyer.43@cfaes.osu.edu, or go to http://woostercenter.osu.edu.
OSU Extension, Secrest Arboretum, OARDC, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Forestry and The Davey Tree Expert Company are the sponsors.
OSU Extension and OARDC are the outreach and research arms, respectively, of Ohio State’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences.
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