Carnivore Mystery: Why Fishers Thrive in East, Not West

Posted on June 24, 2014 by

Zoologists Scott LaPoint and Roland Kays weigh a weasel-like fisher in the wild. Fishers, which weigh 4 to 12 pounds, are fierce predators.

For weasel-like fishers it’s a good time to live in the East. The fierce little carnivores are reclaiming historic habitats, including the Bronx, New York. But it’s a different story for fishers in the West, which haven’t been as successful in repopulating areas they once roamed in the Pacific and Northwest.

Dr. Roland Kays in the College of Natural Resources at NC State University is part of a team investigating reasons for the regional differences and devising strategies for successful reintroduction.

This National Science Foundation and National Geographic Society funded research has been published online in Animal Conservation.

Yahoo Road Trip Video Tracks Wolfpack Timbersports Athlete in Training for US Championship

Posted on June 19, 2014 by rwgonzal

Griff Wilson focuses his talents now on the US Stihl Timbersports Collegiate Championship

Griffith Wilson, a sophomore in Forest Management at NC State University, is used to working hard. That includes the work he has put into becoming the winner of the US STIHL®TIMBERSPORTS® Southern Collegiate Qualifer. And now it counts toward the challenge he will face this weekend as he battles other great student athletes for the Collegiate Championship being held at the Norfolk Scope Arena, Norfolk, Virginia, June 20-22.

Griff has a natural talent for timbersports, AND he is a natural in front of the cameras. Yahoo on the Road, sponsored by RAM Country, tested both of those qualities recently when they came out to Camp Slocum on NC State’s G.W. Hill Demonstration Forest in Durham County, NC, to film Griff during one of his training sessions. They not only captured evidence of his talent and composure, but they also picked up on the Wolfpack passion for tradition and NC State’s history in Forestry.

Watch the Yahoo! Road Trip Video featuring Griff and the NCSU Forestry & Timbersports Club at Camp Slocum

Barry Goldfarb interviewed by Yahoo Road Trip Host, Marc Istook for the video

Catch the STIHL TIMBERSPORTS Collegiate Championship this weekend In Person or Stream it Live!

June 20 – Pro & College Qualifier Rounds 12pm-7pm
June 21 – US Professional Championships 5pm-8pm
June 22 – US Collegiate Championships & Team Relay Events 2pm-6pm

Devine Receives CESU National Network Award

Posted on June 6, 2014 by

Congratulations to Dr. Hugh Devine who has been awarded the 2014 Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units (CESU) National Network Award. This prestigious award is presented biannually to recognize individuals who have contributed substantially to the development, implementation or accomplishments of the CESU Network.

Dr. Devine is an Alumni Distinguished Graduate Professor in the Department of Parks, Recreation & Tourism Management and the Associate Director of the Center for Geospatial Analytics in the NC State University College of Natural Resources.

The CESU Network is a national consortium of federal agencies, tribes, academic institutions, state and local governments, nongovernmental conservation organizations, and other partners working together to support informed public trust resource stewardship. The CESU Network includes 354 partners, including 14 federal agencies, in seventeen CESUs representing biogeographic regions encompassing all 50 states and U.S. territories.

Dr. Hess’s Teaching Award Spotlighted in Eastern Wake News

Posted on May 22, 2014 by

NC State University Chancellor Randy Woodson (left) congratulates Dr. George Hess on winning the Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching.

NC State Chancellor Randy Woodson (left) congratulates Dr. George Hess(right) on winning the Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching.

A focus on sustainability and hands-on activities for students are what Knightdale Land Use Review Board member George Hess considers some of the reasons he was chosen to receive North Carolina State University’s Board of Governor’s award at the university’s commencement exercises earlier this month.

When Hess isn’t making recommendations to Knightdale Town Council about land ordinances, he is a professor in the College of Natural Resources at N.C. State, a position he’s held since 1996.

Read the complete article in the Eastern Wake News>>

Opinion – Insurance Industry Behind The Curve In Addressing Wildfire Danger

Posted on May 22, 2014 by

Firefighters douse final hotspots at David and Sherri Roberts home that was destroyed by fire 24-hours earlier on a hilltop in Escondido (LA Times)

Dr. Toddi Steelman, co-director of the Fire Chasers Project at North Carolina State University’s Department of Forestry & Environmental Resources and executive director of the School of Environment and Sustainability at the University of Saskatchewan, asserted in a Los Angeles Times Op-ed that while wildfires are inevitable, wildfire disasters are not; and that while we can’t control the natural world, we can control the built environment and the economic incentives that put us at risk.

Of great concern? That when it comes to wildfires, the insurance industry is behind the curve.

Read the complete article in the LA Times>>