Forestry and Wildlife – Team Highlight

The Forestry and Wildlife team continues to meet the needs of our landowners and natural resource professionals across the state. Over the last couple of months, they have focused on conducting site visits, expanding their virtual programming, and producing the quarterly CU in the Woods newsletter. The team is in the second year of publishing its quarterly newsletter. The newsletter goes out across the state to their statewide distribution list and agents share it with their local landowners and forestry association groups. Here is a link to the newsletters: https://www.clemson.edu/extension/forestry/newsletter/index.html

The team continues to develop online content that is being delivered in a virtual format. Some of these programs are designed to target landowners and other natural resources professionals. All of their workshops for natural resources professionals have continuing education hours associated with them. A list of a few programs they have been offering:

• Women Owning Woodlands (four-part series in October and November)
  • Videos being created as part of the program:
    • Using a Consulting Forester
    • Conducting a Timber Sale
    • Cycle of Pine Forest
    • Prescribed Fire
•  Virtual Forestry Association Meetings
  • Fall Wildlife Food Plots
  • Privet Control
  • Practices to Enhance Water Quality
  • Our Forests and Forest Industry
• Flora and Fauna of the Longleaf Pine Ecosystem (two-part webinar)
• Pine Straw Management Webinar Series (four-part series)
• Food Plots for Fall Webinar
• Tractor and Equipment Safety Webinar
• Videos:
  • Understory Species ID of Longleaf Ecosystem
  • Bobwhite Quail Habitat
•  South Carolina Solar Habitat collaboration between Clemson University, SCDNR, and SC Audubon Society

The team has worked with the College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences, and Horry-Georgetown Technical College to develop virtual wildlife labs for the students. These labs have focused on the field characteristics of Northern Bobwhite Habitat. Agents have also been working with Horry-Georgetown Technical College with a wetland invertebrate sampling lab, and with the SC Governor’s School for Agriculture at John de la Howe to establish some herbicide demos.

Submitted by: Derrick Phinney, Natural Resources Program Team Director on behalf of the Forestry and Wildlife Team