Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) University has added a free Webinar on "Neighbors Against Bad Bugs - Volunteer Group," by Jodie Ellis of Purdue University.

"In addition to information about emerald ash borer, EAB University has expanded the curriculum to include Webinars on hemlock woolly adelgid, thousand cankers disease, Asian longhorned beetle, and viburnum leaf beetle," said Robin Usborne, Michigan State University communications manager. "The EAB Webinars themselves are being updated so that participants will have the latest information."

EAB University is a series of free Webinars on topics such as recent research on EAB and other invasive pests and diseases, what homeowners need to know to recognize and manage EAB, preparing municipalities for EAB, and many other useful and interesting subjects.  EAB University is funded by the Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry, and was developed by Michigan State University, Purdue University, and the Ohio State University communications specialists who have been dealing with the invasive pest since it was discovered in North America in 2002.

Secretary Mary Dougherty-vanDam worked with the U.S. Department of Labor in human resources before coming to the Forest Service. Before that assignment she homeschooled her children and traveled throughout the United States and Western Europe with her consultant husband.

Cooperative Fire Specialist Maris Gabliks administers the State Fire Assistance Program and is fire liaison to the St. Paul, MN, office, and prescribed fire and smoke management specialist.  He also works with Forest Fire Mutual Aid Compacts.

Property Disposal Specialist Nathaniel B. (Danny) Grant works with the Federal Excess Property programs. He comes to the Forest Service after 17 years as a civilian with the U.S. Air Force.                           Back to Top

The Glacierland Resource Conservation and Development Council, of Green Bay, WI, recently completed a project titled "Phytosanitation Workshops and Catastrophic Event Wood Utilization Planning," which was funded by the Wood Education and Resource Center. A key outcome of the project was development of a "response plan" addressing urban and suburban trees that are damaged and killed as a result of natural disasters. To view a copy of the model plan click here. For additional information about the plan, contact Don Peterson at 906-875-3720.                                      Back to Top

The ROMI software program is a powerful tool that simulates rough mill operations. The Virginia Tech Department of Wood Science and Forest Products, and the U.S. Forest Service's Northern Research Station and Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry Wood Education and Resource Center partnered to upgrade and improve the functionality of ROMI. Using ROMI 3.1, businesses can test various scenarios to improve rough mill performance, reduce costs, and find the lowest cost lumber grade-mix purchases. The usability of this portion of the program was improved by incorporating a new open source statistical software package-basically simplifying the use of the application for industry. Copies of ROMI 3.1 can be obtained by contacting Ed Thomas at 304-431-2324. For additional project details, contact Urs Buehlmann at 540-231-9759.                Back to Top