Author: Matthew Springer
Major Program: Wildlife Habitat and Damage Management Education
Beginning in the fall of 2018, Forestry Extension in with leadership from Renee Williams and Dr. Laura Lhotka launched a From the Woods Today radio show airing weekly at WRFL campus radio. As part of this new show, we included a Wildlife Sounds from the Forest segment to air each week. This segment was meant to bring attention to a common sound or situation encountered in Kentucky's forests that involved a single or multiple wildlife species. At this time there have been over 60 episodes of
Author: Stacy White
Human interactions with wildlife are increasing across the world as populations grow and available wildlife habitat shrinks or becomes more frequently adjacent to humans. Several species of wildlife are thriving within these new landscapes due to their ability to take advantage of many of the things humans either produce (i.e. agricultural crops) or create (i.e., human dwellings or predator free landscapes). In addition, over the last 50 years a cultural shift has occurred within the urban and r
Author: Lacey Kessell
The American Kestrel used to be a common sight perched on power lines and fence post along roads and open fields. With each year, less and less of these small falcons are being observed across the country. Since the 60’s their populations are declining by an average of 1% annually across the country (over a 50% population decline since 1966). Although there is speculation among scientist and wildlife biologist as to the reason of this decline, without a more widespread da
According to recent studies, in the last 50 years, bird populations have declined by nearly 3 billion birds across North American. That is about 1 out of every 4 birds.These numbers come from a series of databases including citizen science led programs such as the Christmas Bird Count and Great Backyard Bird Count. The Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) is an easy way for the community to engage with nature and create a real-time snapshot of bird populations in our area as well as acro
Author: Linda Hieneman
People, animals and plants are dependent on our Earth’s natural resources. Everything from the air we breathe, to the water we drink, to the soil we use for food production-these resources are vital to our existence. Therefore, it is important that we care for and respect these resources. Understanding how our daily choices affect our environment, we can conserve natural resources and protect our environment for present and future generations. Greenup County Extensio
Author: Samantha Saunders
In the fall of 2018, I was approached by eager volunteers about doing a deer harvest in the county. I knew that Bracken County hosted a program similar to what they were wanting to do, however it was too late in the year to get the program together. The plan was to do the program in November 2019. Those volunteers, the agriculture education teacher, and I got together for several planning meetings. The game warden met with us to discuss all of the logistics about the program and the things he re
