Cornell Cooperative Extension Community Horticulture

Cornell Cooperative Extension of Clinton County in Plattsburgh, NY seeks an enthusiastic and creative horticulture educator to conduct educational programs for home and market gardeners via workshops, media, writing and personal contacts. Also coordinate Master Gardener volunteers; supervisor is Amy Ivy.
Bachelors degree in horticulture or related field and 1 year experience required, also basic knowledge and experience in gardening and strong interpersonal and writing skills. Excellent benefits, EOE.

For full details see: http://counties.cce.cornell.edu/clinton/

From ePestWorld
The online newsletter for members only of the National Pest Management Association

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

U.S. demand for home and garden pesticides (sometimes referred to as consumer pesticides) is projected to increase 4.8 percent per year to $1.7 billion in 2011. Gains will rebound from a difficult period, which was characterized by slow volume growth and price declines in the first years of the decade.

Although most leading active ingredients have maintained their market presence for years, new product introductions - featuring more convenient packaging, safety features, or different formulations, such as ready-to-use and superconcentrated versions - will boost demand. These and other trends, including market share, demand and company profiles, are presented in “Home & Garden Pesticides,” a new study from The Freedonia Group, Inc., a Cleveland-based industry market research firm.

Click here for the entire article.

Now is the perfect time to curl up with seed catalogs and pick vegetable varieties for summer gardens. To see how various varieties have worked out for thousands of other gardeners, check out Cornell’s Vegetable Varieties for Gardeners Web site.

The full article from the Cornell Chornicle Online is available here.

Also find other article in the Chronicle Online here.

Hello! I’m Michael Miles and I’ve been working in the Cornell Nutrient Analysis Laboratory helping upgrade our laboratory technology. Part of doing so includes updating and redesigning the lab’s website. I have redesigned it based largely on the CALS departmental website design to keep a consistent look and feel. We hope to go “live” very soon. Below is a sneak preview of that website for review:

New website: http://cnal.cals.cornell.edu

On behalf of the lab, I’m asking that you review the web pages before we go “live”. Please send me your honest and constructive feedback so we can address any issues.

Some things that would be nice to know:

* you can’t find something you’re looking for

* missing information

* something seems in the wrong place

* typos

* incorrect or old information

* broken links

* navigational issues

* weirdness

* pages not being rendered properly (please tell me what browser, version, and operating system your using)

* you don’t like the design or would changed some aspect of it

* any other concerns that you have

Please note: Since this is a “preview”, you may encounter some pages that may still be under construction. Also, our website address will still continue to be http://www.css.cornell.edu/soiltest after the new redesign launch.

VERY IMPORTANT: Please do NOT use any of the Order or Submission forms on this site. We are in the process of updating all the forms and they are not yet ready to be released or used.

I welcome your feedback!

Thanks,

Michael Miles

Cornell Nutrient Analysis Laboratory

An announcement from Paul Curtis:

Dr. Jay Boulanger joined Cornell University Cooperative Extension in early December as a new Extension Associate working with deer management programs.

Dr. Jay R. Boulanger, Extension Associate/Deer Program Coordinator Department of Natural Resources, Cornell University
Room 106, Rice Hall
Ithaca, New York 14853-3001
e-mail: jrb69@cornell.edu

Dr. Jay Boulanger conducts white-tailed deer research and management activities with the Department of Natural Resources at Cornell University. He received a Ph.D. in Wildlife Science from Cornell University in 2007 and an M.S. in Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences from South Dakota State University in 2001. His research interests include human-wildlife conflicts, wildlife fertility control, wildlife disease, and human dimensions of wildlife. Dr. Boulanger served six years as a Wildlife Biologist with the New York State Animal Health Diagnostic Center at Cornell University and three years as a Wildlife Specialist with USDA Wildlife Services. His past research has included surveys of archery and muzzle-loader deer hunters and the development of a bait station to vaccinate suburban raccoons against rabies. Dr. Boulanger is a Certified Wildlife Biologist with The Wildlife Society.

This program is from Cornell Cooperative extension of Onondaga.

The program focus is caring for trees in public places to assure healthy trees. Stewards learn a lot about trees and do a lot of good work. Participants have all levels of expertise and interest in trees and in gardening. A pet project is the native plant garden at the zoo.

Check out these brochure and contact Fran Lawlor if you have any questions.

CommuniTree Stewards program (pdf)

2007 planting (pdf)

Does your county have any similar volunteer programs? Is there interested in having something like this?

If you are on campus some Monday you might be interested in our seminar series. Here what we are offering spring 2008:

http://hort.cals.cornell.edu/cals/hort/news-events/seminars_series.cfm

Here’s a site with some great images to help your volunteers and gardeners grasp some simple botany.

http://waynesword.palomar.edu/termfl1.htm#milkweed

By Dr. Steve Bratkovich (Project Manager for Recycling and Reuse, Dovetail Partners, Inc.)

It’s estimated that today there are nearly 4 billion urban trees in the U.S., with another 70 billion trees growing in metropolitan areas. As urban land in the U.S. expands, so do the urban forests. Urban land in the lower 48 states increased from 2.5% of total land area in 1990 to 3.1% in 2000, an area about the size of Vermont and New Hampshire combined. Researchers from the U.S. Forest Service project that urban land in the coterminous U.S. will nearly triple in size to over 8% by 2050, an area larger than the state of Montana (Nowak 2005).

Utilization of urban trees for wood and paper products is still in its infancy. However, the idea is drawing more attention from researchers, community officials, arborists, tree care firms, and wood-using industries including bio-energy producers.

Questions that often arise when discussing the potential for urban tree utilization include:
. How much wood is in our urban areas?
. What are the major constraints to utilizing this wood?
. Are there viable examples of urban tree utilization industries?
. Can bio-energy play a role in urban tree utilization?

This report addresses these questions and concerns.

The full report is available here.

Virginia Cooperative Extension is seeking to fill our Ag agent position ASAP. Advertising dollars are in short supply, so I am asking your help in networking with Master Gardeners and their acquaintances, or other contacts you may have elsewhere in the horticulture world.. Do you have a listserv by which you could distribute the following announcement? Your help would be greatly appreciated. This particular position is responsible for the Master Gardener Program in Roanoke.

Employment Opportunities Available with Virginia Cooperative Extension

The following localities have Associate Extension Agent positions available: Roanoke, Alleghany County & Bath County

Associate Extension Agents are professional faculty who has area responsibilities in their program specialty. They must be able to determine program needs of their audiences and design educational programs to address those needs. They will deliver programs to a targeted audience, evaluate and report the results.

The following position is open:

Assoc. Ext. Agent, ANR – Posting #071024 - Roanoke

This position will specialize in Horticulture, working closely with community leaders, Extension Leadership Councils, and with the Greenhouse and Nursery Industry to identify and prioritize issues, problems and opportunities. The agent will deliver programs and provide research-based information to their targeted audiences.

For qualifications and specific details and/or to apply, visit: www.jobs.vt.edu and search on the posting for which you wish to apply. Parties interested in the Roanoke location should contact Leslie Prillaman at 540/772-7524 or lesliep@vt.edu prior to submitting application, to ensure proper routing. EO/AA Employer