28th Annual Forest Soils Conference
October 14th - 16th in Ohio
Join us in Ohio for the 28th annual AOP sponsored Central States Forest Soils Conference!
Download brochure and Registration form
This event has been approved by the AOP certification board for 12.5 CEUs.
For additional information and to register online click here
The theme for this year’s conference is ‘Change’. Join us and explore the impact emerald ash borer will have on Ohio’s forests and management strategies to minimize that impact and how the soils influence those strategies. Learn how forests and forest soils ‘change’ as the landscape is converted from an old growth forest, to a second growth forest, to an agriculture field. And finally, explore the changes that occur to soils in the urban environment, and how urban soils and other urban environmental factors influence the survival, growth and performance of urban trees and forests.
- Optional Lunch & Tour
Join Secrest Arboretum Curator KenCochran, for lunch and a tour of this
outdoor research laboratory and display gardens.
The arboretum features woodlands with many conifers and deciduous trees along with extensive plant collections.
Learn the role Secrest played in the early development of the Ohio Bureau of Forestry that eventually evolved into the Ohio Division of Forestry.
The mission for Secrest is to work through public/private partnerships, presenting programsand exhibits to impact Ohio’s communities and citizens through unique and compelling experiences of the natural world.
Agenda
Tuesday, October 14th : Troyer’s Dutch Heritage Restaurant, SR 97, Bellville, Ohio
4:00 – 7:00 pm: Registration
6:30 pm: Dessert and Beverages
7:00 pm: Welcome & Opening Program - Dr. Jerry Bigham, School of Environment & Natural Resources
Welcome: Dave Lytle, Chief, Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Forestry
Rich Gehring, USDA-NRCS State Soil Scientist
Soils of Ohio: Dr. Neil Smeck, OSU School of Environment & Natural Resources
Forests of Ohio: Dr. David Hix, OSU School of Environment & Natural Resources
Wednesday, October 15th
8:00 – 11:15 am: Smith Farm, Morrow County, Ohio.
• Examination of riparian and adjacent forest soils and forests, with particular attention to the role/
importance of ash species and the potential impact of their loss. Discussion of emerald ash borer including
identification, impact on trees and forest, alternative management strategies to minimize impact of EAB,
and influence of soils on management strategies.
• Introduction to role of forest soils in sugar maple decline.
12:15pm: Lunch, Maple Grove Church of the Brethren
1:15 – 4:30 pm: Crall Woods, Ashland County Park District.
• An in-depth look at the soil and forest characteristics of an old growth and second growth beech maple
forest and adjacent agriculture fields, including soil physical and chemical characteristics; carbon
sequestration; pit and mound topography; forest vegetation composition; diversity, and structure; and
woody debris.
• The role of forest soils in sugar maple decline
6:30 – 8:30 pm: Dinner at Troyer’s Dutch Heritage Restaurant
• Evening Program Naturalist David Kline - Learning More About Our Amish Neighbors
Thursday, October 16th
8:30 am – 12:30 pm: OSU/OARDC Campus, Secrest Arboretum, City of Wooster
• An examination of an Urban Forest Ecosystem, with particular attention to the urban soil and the impact
urban soils and other urban environmental factors have on tree and forest survival and performance.
• Discussion of impact of emerald ash borer on urban forest.
• A look at Ohio’s Street Tree Evaluation Plots, Shade Tree Evaluation Plots used to evaluate the suitability
of trees and shrubs for use in the urban environment.
• A look at the variability observed in a well-drained, medium textured soil (Wooster silt loam)