The goal of this four-part online speaker series is to engage a wide variety of community members to discuss and better understand climate change and its effects on coastal forests in northeastern U.S. Participants will be able to better understand new strategies to create more resilient forests. Because the speaker series is online, it is […]
forestry
Making Maple Syrup in Your Own Back Yard
March 3, 2021 Presented By Tom Worthley, UConn Extension As winter winds down, and you’re considering outdoor, low-risk activities, making a small batch of maple syrup at home with your family might be a fun and healthy choice. This webinar will provide all the essential information you’ll need to get started, from identifying which of […]
Fallout from tree mortality recently caused by insect pests
May 27, 2020 Presented By Tom Worthley, Extension Professor and Forester, UConn Dept. of Extension Recently, insect pests affecting trees, particularly emerald ash borer and gypsy moth, have caused the deaths of trees in varying degrees of severity, from individual trees to entire stands. And with so many folks taking physically-distant recreational time outdoors – […]
Connecticut’s Changing Forests: What it Means for Carbon Dynamics and Climate Resilience
May 11, 2020 Presented By Dr. Robert Fahey, UConn Department of Natural Resources and the Environment Forests represent an important potential component of climate mitigation strategies and are increasingly being promoted as an important solution in addressing global climate change at local to global scales. However, the forests of Connecticut are entering a period of […]
Learning from Cottontails: Successes and Challenges of the Young Forest Initiative
April 20, 2020 Presented By Lisa Wahle, Wildlife Management Institute, Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Young forest and shrubland, and the wildlife species that depend on these areas have been in decline for many years due to anthropogenic development on natural lands and the normal maturation of forests. The designation of the New England […]
Oak Mortality in Eastern Connecticut
May 29, 2019 Presented By Douglas Emmerthal, Program Leader CT-DEEP Forestry Division and Todd Bobowick, Resource Conservationist NRCS State Forester USDA-NRCS Stress factors affecting oak trees in eastern CT including drought, defoliation due to gypsy moth caterpillars, and impacts of native opportunistic pathogens have caused the deaths of oak trees on tens of thousands of […]
The Slow Storm: Tree Mortality in Connecticut from Invasive Insect Pests
Tom Worthley, UConn Associate Extension Professor, Forestry recently wrote a compelling report (below) on Connecticut’s tree mortality rates, and how and why they are dying. You don’t need to go far to see what Tom is talking about. Just outside our windows here at the UConn Cooperative Extension building in Haddam, we were all saddened […]
Dealing With Storm Damaged Trees
On May 15, 2018, late in the afternoon, a striking example of one of those “severe weather events” we see quite often these days passed through my neighborhood in Higganum. Severe winds, downpours, lightning and thunder all were part of a wicked and deadly storm that ripped limbs from and uprooted trees, downed powerlines and […]
The Emerald Ash Borer Beetle on the UConn Campus
CLEAR’s Tom Worthley recently discussed the Emerald Ash Borer beetle and its impacts on the UConn Campus with UConn Today. Read the full article on the UConn Today website, link below. Big Changes in Store for UConn’s Trees and Yours
Citizen Science and the Connecticut Woodland Owner: New Extension Forestry program assists woodland owners with monitoring wildlife habitat
Scott Matties was checking his mailbox one late winter afternoon when he saw three shadowy figures cut across Ridge Road heading for his property. The shadows did not move like dogs. Domestic cats are not that big, he thought. He dashed to the back of his house and froze: three young bobcats trotted across his […]
Connecticut’s Forest History
May 31, 2016 Presented By Tom Worthley, Project Manager UConn CLEAR, UConn and Jeff Ward, Department of Forestry and Horticulture, The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station Aligned with the theme of Connecticut’s Changing Landscape, but looking much farther back in time, we will discuss the natural forces and human land-use activities that have shaped the composition […]
This is Nuts!
By Tom Worthley, Associate Extension Professor, Forestry UCONN Cooperative Extension Wow, there were tons of acorns this past fall…literally tons. At least it seemed so, in my yard alone! There really were lots of acorns in many areas, and this phenomenon does occur every now and then, why is that? Why the great abundance of acorns […]
Roadside Forests: Management Solutions for Storm Resilience
December 8, 2015 Presented by Tom Worthley, UConn CLEAR, and Jeffrey Ward, CT Agricultural Experiment Station This webinar will highlight the forest stand conditions along roadsides that contribute to the tree issues we encounter during high-intensity wind-storm events. It will also explore how traditional arboriculture and silviculture by themselves have not adequately addressed the management […]
Ricard Receives Provost Award in Public Engagement
UConn Extension is pleased to announce that Dr. Robert M. Ricard, Senior Extension Educator; has been selected by UConn for the Provost’s Award for Excellence in Public Engagement in the Non-Tenure Track Faculty category. Bob has acquired a distinguished state, regional, and national reputation for his scholarship, teaching (formal and informal), and service. All three […]
Update on the Emerald Ash Borer in Connecticut
February 10, 2015 Presented by Nancy Marek, UConn Extension Forestry and Chris Donnelly, CT DEEP Urban Forestry Coordinator The emerald ash borer is a small, shimmering green, non-native insect that kills ash trees. Learn about the biology of the pest, how to identify an ash tree, what efforts are currently being used to control and […]
Stormwise: Increasing the Storm Resilience of Trees
July 23, 2014 Presented by Mark Rudnicki, UConn Associate Professor, Forest Ecology, Department of Natural Resources and the Environment Connecticut is a state with magnificent and plentiful forest cover, but we have a continuing problem with trees causing power outages. The STORMWISE initiative, developed at the University of Connecticut, seeks to integrate outreach, education, research […]
Connecticut Tree Wardens’ Association
– Article by Bob Ricard Approximately 85 tree wardens, deputy tree wardens, urban forestry volunteers, and others gathered in Glastonbury, March 20th, for the Tree Wardens’ Association of Connecticut, Inc., 22nd Annual Dinner Meeting. The primary purpose of the meeting was to conduct the business of the state-wide organization, founded in 1992 by UConn Extension […]
Time-Lapse Nature Photography
The UConn Stormwise program recently tweeted a link to a very cool time lapse video of a forest created by filmmaker Samuel Orr. Samuel took 40,000 still images from his front window over a 15-month time period and created a short film that shows how a forest changes throughout the seasons. The video is called […]
Connecting Sustainable Woodland Management and High School Technical Arts Programs: An Initiative Creating Educational Opportunities for Local Wood Utilization
-Article written by Tom Worthley, UConn Extension Forestry- During a conversation in 2010 between myself and a teacher from the industrial arts department at Haddam-Killingworth High School, the suggestion was made that the School District could continually grow, harvest and process a portion of the annual lumber needs for the shop class from part of […]
Forestry's Tom Worthley Featured in UConn Today Article
UConn Extension Educator Tom Worthley is highlighted in UConn Today for his work in the UConn Forest studying the invasive Japanese Barberry shrub. Check out the article Controlling Japanese Barberry Helps Stop Spread of Tick-borne Diseases.