ISSUE 80: WEEK OF May 4, 2020
Recent News
Regional News

  • ForestryWebinars.Net Managed by SREF Offers Automated Wrap-Around Services for Webinar Delivery
  • Timing Prescribed Fire to Maximize Longleaf Pine Growth
  • Clemson’s Extension Forestry Spring Newsletter Articles
  • Southern Area Wildland Fire Response Plan Related to COVID-19
  • MSU Extension Forestry-The Overstory Newsletter New Issue
  • New Economic Contribution Numbers About the NC Forest Sector



National News

  • Forest Service Debuts State-by-State Statistics on Carbon as Part of National Greenhouse Gas Reporting
  • Factsheet on New USFS Wildfire Risk to Communities Map Site
  • Webinars on Wildfire and Insurance for Landowners/Homeowners
  • New Publication: Igniting Research for Outdoor Recreation: Linking Science, Policy, and Action
  • Facilitating Programs for Women Landowners
  • Lessons Learned- Conversion of In-Person Forest Landowner Workshop to Online Program 
  • Forest Science and Journal of Forestry Team Up to Compile Articles on Southern US
  • Amazon Invests in AFF & TNC’s Family Forest Carbon Program
  • National Stay-At-Home Weed Wrangle Online Event



Funding Opportunities

  • USDA RREA Grant For FNR Extension Accepting Applications
  • USDA Announces $15 million for Conservation Innovation Grants
  • USDA Announces State Acres Wildlife Safe Initiative Program (SAFE)
  • USDA Rural Development Launches COVID-19 Resource Webpage

Job Opportunities

  • MS Forestry Commission Forester
  • UF Extension & Teaching Forest Economist 
Regional News
ForestryWebinars.Net Managed by SREF Offers Automated Wrap-Around Services for Webinar Delivery
The Webinar Portal, a product created and managed by Southern Regional Extension Forestry (SREF), is a multi-discipline web platform used to promote and deliver live and on-demand webinars focused on forestry, conservation, climate science and other natural resource disciplines. The portal today is a feature rich webinar hosting platform with built-in workflow functionality to help webinar providers focus on the webinar content, not the logistics of marketing, certification, registration, survey's, testing, follow-up, ratings, feedback and impact analysis, and hosts over 100 live professionally presented webinars per year and with on-demand viewing of over 740 archived webinars. The portal is the winner of the 2011 USDA Forest Service’s Two Chiefs’ Partnership Award and has over 21,000 subscribers, with the Portal's training reaching over 56,000 individuals with over 254,000 webinars viewed. All webinars are provided free of cost to viewers and more than 56,000 participants have reviewed the webinars, with an average 4 out of 5 rating. The Webinar Portal site can be found here. Questions about using the portal and how it works can be directed to Leslie Boby ( [email protected]). 

Timing Prescribed Fire to Maximize Longleaf Pine Growth
USDA Forest Service researchers have completed research on prescribed burning timing to maximize longleaf pine growth. Longleaf pine needs fire to thrive, but if seedlings burn too late in the growing season, they may not have enough energy to re-grow their scorched leaves and replenish their starch reserves before spring of the next year. Research indicates that when seedlings are so short that a prescribed fire is likely to scorch all of their needles, fire should be applied between March and May, as the seedlings still have starch reserves. The studies were conducted on the Palustris Experimental Forest and Winn Ranger District of the Kisatchie National Forest in Louisiana, where researchers measured the stem growth and crown architecture of longleaf pine saplings and seedlings and the starch content of their stems, shoots, and woody roots, as well as measured fascicle photosynthetic rates. To find the compete article, please visit here .

Clemson’s Extension Forestry Spring Newsletter Articles
Clemson University has released its Spring Clemson Extension Forestry and Wildlife Newsletter. This issue contains articles and news segments covering a variety of topics, including upcoming changes to the women owning woodlands program, the diseases and pests faced by newly flowering dogwoods, and the new varieties and novel species coming to wildlife planting. To find a full copy of the newsletter, please visit here . 
Southern Area Wildland Fire Response Plan Related to COVID-19
An Area Command Team from the Southeast Regional Coordinator Cohesive Wildland Fire Strategy has worked with a variety of state, federal, tribal and local agencies to develop the Southern Area Wildland Fire Response Plan related to COVID-19. Several people involved with Southeastern Cohesive Fire Strategy have provided input, feedback and edits that were incorporated into the document, which contains recommendations and suggested best management practices and is not a policy nor standard. This will serve as a “living” document that will be tweaked as needed as the world moves through this challenging time. Find a full version of the plan here. 

MSU Extension Forestry- The Overstory Newsletter New Issue
The Mississippi State University Forestry Extension publication, The Overstory, is here to bring you information through a variety of outlets back during this period where County Forestry Association meetings, Field Days, as well as Short Courses and Workshops are being cancelled or postponed for an undetermined period. The new version will focus on an effort to keep forest landowners across the state aware of the most current information available concerning forest markets, provide subject matter viewers would like to be covered, and inclusion of a question and answer segment. Also in the newsletter, in an effort to gauge current forest industry activity, information has been gathered from consultants, loggers, landowners, and industry representatives, and MSU Extension has created a webpage to assist business owners with the new government assistance programs. The newsletter issue can be found here . 

New Economic Contribution Numbers About the NC Forest Sector
Extension Specialists at NC State University have recently prepared a short infographic factsheet concerning the NC forestry and forest product industries. In 2018, the forest sector contributed about $34 billion to the NC economy, supporting over 150,000 jobs in various wood-based industries and $1.4 billion in exports. The full infographic can be found here . 
National News
Forest Service Debuts State-by-State Statistics on Carbon as Part of National Greenhouse Gas Reporting
For the first time, a new publication by the USDA Forest Service, titled “Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Removals from Forest Land, Woodlands, and Urban Trees in the United States, 1990-2018,” delivers an overview of the status and trends of greenhouse gas emissions and removals from forest land, woodlands, hardwood products, and urban trees nationally for 49 U.S. states. Data on the role of forests in the carbon cycle is critical to many stakeholders in decision-making that will shape the future of the Nation's forests. Estimates include the movement of carbon from the atmosphere into living trees, dead wood and soil as well as emissions from forest fires. The only state not included in the report is Hawaii, where data were not available.
The resource update is available online through the Forest Service’s Northern Research Station and can be found here . 

Factsheet on New USFS Wildfire Risk to Communities Map Site
The USFS has recently released their new free, easy-to-use Wildfire Risk to Communities interactive map site, complete with interactive maps, charts, and resources to help communities understand, explore, and reduce wildfire risk. This interactive website can help identify where wildfire hazard mitigation and planning efforts are most needed, prioritize mitigation efforts in the states or counties with the greatest risk, and find resources to help mitigate and manage risk. The website was created by the USDA Forest Service under the direction of Congress and is designed to be a starting point to help community leaders, such as elected officials, community planners, and fire managers, to be able to assess and reduce risk to homes, businesses, and other valued resources, and no technical or mapping skills are required, making the interactive website very versatile and useful for diverse users. A fact sheet, accessed here, has been composed in order to help users navigate this new service. The map site can be found here . 

Webinars on Wildfire and Insurance for Landowners/Homeowners
The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has announced the arrival of two new free 60-minute webinars that will share guidance on how residents can prepare their home to withstand a wildfire and how to prepare their finances to recover from a loss. The first, Wildfires and Insurance: Learn How to Prepare Financially on May 6th at 1:00pm Eastern time, will feature inventory insurance experts Janet Ruiz from the Insurance Information Institute and Nicole Mahrt-Ganley from the American Property Casualty Insurance Association. They will address questions about protecting yourself and your property, including important home insurance tips such as how to do an insurance check-up to prevent underinsurance and the right way to make a home inventory. As a follow up, NFPA will be hosting a second webinar, Wildfires and Insurance: How to Protect your Property from Wildfire, on Wednesday, May 20, 1:00 pm Eastern, featuring the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS) on what actions residents can take to prepare their home and immediate (noncombustible) zone. Advance registration is required for both webinars, find the link to register for the first webinar here and the follow up one here . NFPA recommends registering even if you cannot participate in person, so you will receive notice when the recorded webinar is available. 

New Publication: Igniting Research for Outdoor Recreation: Linking Science, Policy, and Action
A new publication on the future of outdoor recreation and tourism management in the U.S. and globally that includes 17 articles by leaders in the field of outdoor recreation and public lands tourism has been published. Public lands provide opportunities and settings for people to experience nature and the outdoors, and these outdoor experiences are important for human health and well-being and result in visitor spending that benefits local communities. The articles touch on challenges and opportunities in recreation and tourism management and suggest new directions and ways of thinking about how people interact with nature and natural resources. The publication strives to show that new research, tools, and frameworks are needed to help find new ways to conceptualize outdoor recreation and enhance the ability of public land managers to provide outdoor experiences while protecting natural and cultural resources. One goal of this publication is to stimulate further questions, catalyze new thinking about recreation, and prompt institutional changes in how outdoor recreation and tourism are planned and managed on public lands. The full publication can be accessed here . 
Facilitating Programs for Women Landowners
Researchers from Wisconsin have published new scholarly article on efforts for engaging women landowners in stewardship. Nationwide, women woodland owners are increasingly taking on the primary decision-making role for their land, and in Wisconsin and beyond, most existing landowner outreach efforts target mixed-gender audiences. Research completed for the article included exploring how facilitation techniques can be incorporated into a women-centric workshop to increase women landowners' confidence, knowledge, and readiness to take action in forest stewardship. Additionally, the article highlights three core techniques Extension workshop developers can use to promote landowner learning and engagement: creating space for participant-driven open dialogue, generating opportunities for peer-to-peer learning, and enabling participants to receive personalized advice from professionals about their land. The full article can be accessed here .

Lessons Learned- Conversion of In-Person Forest Landowner Workshop to Online Program 
A newly published report showcases the results of online programs to enable Extension to reach new audiences. As part of the Woodland Stewardship Education (WSE) program, a noncredit, self-paced online version of a long-running woodland stewardship Extension program, The Woods in Your Backyard (WIYB), was debuted in 2016 to reach property owners unable to attend traditional workshops. The lesson-based, activity-driven course provides a wide range of resources, tips, and techniques for small woodland owners and managers. This article describes the development of the online course, presents noteworthy participant demographics, exemplifies improvements we have made in response to participant input, and discusses the course's impacts. Others in Extension can benefit from information about the strategies and lessons learned for successfully converting an existing Extension program to an online offering. Participant feedback led to several program improvements, and the online course has proven to be an effective means for imparting an important stewardship ethic. The full article can be accessed here . 

Forest Science and Journal of Forestry Team Up to Compile Articles on Southern US
The Society of American Foresters’ journals, Forest Science and Journal of Forestry, have teamed up to compile recent articles about the southern region of the United States. The full collection can be browsed now for free and exists to support the expansion of the understanding of forestry research and practice in the region. This list of publications include Forest Science and Journal of Forestry articles. The full compiled list can be found here .

Amazon Invests in AFF & TNC’s Family Forest Carbon Program
AFF recently announced that Amazon has committed a $7.3 million investment to support the Family Forest Carbon Program in Pennsylvania, a program created in partnership with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and the American Forest Foundation (AFF), which will launch in Pennsylvania and expand in the Appalachians and other U.S. regions. This donation comes as a part of Amazon’s plan to be net zero carbon by 2040. Amazon has already committed a total of $10 million to restore and conserve 4 million acres of forest in the Appalachians and other U.S. ‘Regions in Partnership with The Nature Conservancy. This donation demonstrates the significant role family forests play as a climate mitigation solution. The Family Forest Carbon Program provides an avenue for family forest owners to generate income from their land and make tangible progress towards carbon sequestration. To read the full announcement, please visit here .

National Stay-At-Home Weed Wrangle Online Event
Quarantine means time at home and Weed Wrangle partners are getting out into their own yards to help free neighborhoods from invasive plants. The Stay-at-Home Weed Wrangle is a one-day, nation-wide, volunteer effort to help rescue public parks and green spaces from non-native invasive species through hands-on removal of especially harmful trees, vines, and flowering plants and anyone can join. Participants are challenged to choose one invasive plant that has been nagging them in their own space and plan and implement a mission to eradicate it in the next two weeks. When participants have completed their work, they’re welcomed to share a before and after photograph to [email protected] and Weed Wrangle will post them on their Instagram and Facebook pages. While specific events were launched earlier this year, the promotion aspect is ongoing. To find out more, please contact [email protected] or visit here.
Funding Opportunities
USDA RREA Grant For FNR Extension Accepting Applications
The USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) is accepting applications for its Renewable Resources Extension Act (RREA) Capacity Grant which provides funding for extension activities related to forestry and natural resources at land-grant universities. The purpose of this funding is to assist states in carrying out an extension program designed to assist forest and range landowners and managers in making resource management decisions based on research findings. Forest and rangeland resources include vegetation, water, fisheries and wildlife, soil, and recreation. Awardees are required to email submit SF-425 Financial Reporting documents to the appropriate USDA office. Questions concerning this grant can be directly to Eric Norland at [email protected] . A full document of program-specific resources can be found here, and other resources and application information regarding the grant can be found here . 

USDA Announces $15 million for Conservation Innovation Grants
NRCS has announced a $15 million investment through the Conservation Innovation Grants program to help support the adoption of innovative conservation approaches and inspire creative problem-solving solutions on agricultural lands and private forests and to improve natural resources. CIG is a competitive grants program that supports development, testing and research of conservation technologies, practices, systems and approaches on private lands, and have helped spur new tools and technologies to conserve natural resources, build resilience in producers’ operations and improve their bottom lines. This year’s priorities are water reuse, water quality, air quality, energy and wildlife habitat, and this year will be the first time water reuse is offered as a priority. Grantees must match the CIG investment at least one to one, and all U.S.-based non-Federal entities and individuals are eligible to apply. CIG applications must be submitted here by 11:59 p.m. EDT on June 29, 2020. 
USDA Announces State Acres Wildlife Safe Initiative Program
The USDA Farm Service Agency’s Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) has announced the State Acres for Wildlife Enhancement (SAFE) program, which allows producers to install practices that benefit high priority State wildlife conservation objectives by using targeted restoration of vital habitat. This cooperative conservation effort is based on locally developed conservation proposals that address highest priority wildlife objectives, with the goal of restoring vital habitat in order to meet high-priority state wildlife conservation goals. Through this program, landowners establish wetlands, grasses, and trees, and these practices are designed to enhance important wildlife populations by creating critical habitat and food sources and by protecting soil and water health by working as a barrier to sediment and nutrient run-off before they reach waterways. SAFE proposals may be developed and put forth by a Federal, State, or local agency, or by a private organization, and ideally, all partners will develop proposals under a cooperative and collaborative agreement. Submit proposals by June 19, 2020. Please direct questions to Amy Roller at [email protected] , view this fact sheet here to learn more, or visit here to find your local service center and USDA Farm Service Agency office.

USDA Rural Development Launches COVID-19 Resource Webpage
The USDA’s Department of Rural Development has launched a COVID-19 resource page to keep customers, partners, and stakeholders continuously updated on actions taken by the Agency to help rural residents, businesses, and communities impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak. This webpage includes links to pages covering the latest news and information updates from the CDC and the USDA on their actions and/or responses to COVID-19, as well as factsheets and FAQs relating to this ongoing crisis and notifications for stakeholders. Click  here to access the COVID-19 resource page.  
Job Opportunities

MS Forestry Commission Forester
The Mississippi State Forestry Commission is currently accepting applications for a Forester I position in Lee, Tippah, Pontotoc, and Union counties (deadline May 8, 2020). Applications should be submitted through the Mississippi State Personnel Board website, found  here . All applications and/or transfers for Forester positions must include a copy of their current registered forester’s card with their application. Click  here  to find links to additional details on this job position.


UF Extension & Teaching Forest Economist
The University of Florida School of Forest Resources is hiring a non-tenure track Extension Forest Economist for a position that is 60% Extension and 40% teaching. Qualifications for the position include a masters degree and 10 years of experience or a doctorate. Other qualifications include excellent written and verbal communication and interpersonal relationships. To find out more, click here. Applications will be reviewed starting May 15.


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Southern Regional Extension Forestry | www.sref.info | [email protected]