“Threats to Our Forests:  Bugs, Beetles, and Blight"

– Guest Speaker Cheryl Nelson, Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

Cheryl Nelson is a forester with the Forest Health Response Team.  She has been with the MDNR for seventeen years and for two-and-a-half years with the Forest Health program.  She is a graduate of Michigan Tech. 

The presentation will cover forest health issues such as beech bark disease, oak wilt, hemlock wooly adelgid, gypsy moth, emerald ash borer, and heterobasidion root disease. Future risks include spotted lanternfly, and Asian longhorn beetle.

- Rod Denning, forester at Oceana Conservation District, will facilitate the webinar and will discuss programs available to forest owners like the Forestry Assistance Program (FAP).

Rod has a B.S. in Forestry from Michigan State University and a M.A. in Geography from Western Michigan University. He is retired from Grand Valley State University – Annis Water Resources Institute and currently one of twenty district foresters across the state who work for the Michigan Forestry Assistance Program (Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development). Rod’s service area includes Oceana, Newaygo, and Muskegon counties and his home office is at the Oceana Conservation District in Shelby.

This event is a virtual webinar and registration is required. Click here to register.