This summer, Dr. David Coyle, Coordinator of the SREF Forest Health and Invasive Species Outreach and Education Program (FHIS) (southernforesthealth.net) helped organize and participated in 4 workshops on forest health threats and management for forestry and natural resource professionals in 3 states. These workshops included classwork and fieldwork and represented a collaboration between FHIS, SREF, and other Extension programs and state partners.
The 2016 Southern Regional Extension Forestry Annual Report offers a snapshot of the collaborative projects that the SREF office worked on with the 13 Southern Land-grant Universities and other key partners during the year. The breadth and scope of projects, programming areas, and project impact numbers demonstrate the impressive reach and efficacy of the southeastern natural resource and forestry Extension community.
The results of the 2016-2017 Southern Regional Extension Forestry Awards for Excellence. 24 projects with 62 unique project contributors were honored with gold, silver, and bronze awards based on votes from Extension peers.
Extension professionals attended a workshop on wildfire prevention and mitigation organized by SREF and NCSU Cooperative Extension during NC State Extension Conference in Raleigh, NC.
Clemson Extension forestry welcomed Dr. Puskar Khanal to its Extension Forestry faculty in August, 2016.
State Extension units, the Southern Regional Extension Forestry (SREF) office, and other agencies have several wildland fire resources for use in the southeastern region of the United States with a particular focus on rural wildland-urban interface (WUI) areas.
Dr. Sharon Jean-Philippe, leader of the University of Tennessee Forestry, Wildlife, and Fisheries Department's forestry curriculum concentration in Urban Forestry, recently accepted an appointment in Extension along with a promotion to Associate Professor.
