Deer roaming at Cemetery Ridge. Image courtesy of UT Ag.

OAK RIDGE, TN — The University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture will host a Woods and Wildlife Field Day on Wednesday, October 15, 2014, on the grounds of the Forest Resources AgResearch and Education Center and UT Arboretum. The event is free, and the public is invited to attend.

The Woods and Wildlife Field Day is designed to help landowners with 10 or more acres of forestland as they make forest management decisions that will balance their goals related to the fiscal management of their property as well as wildlife and forest sustainability.

The program will begin at 8 a.m. EDT and will run through lunch. An optional 7 a.m. breakfast is available for forest professionals who wish to network and share experiences. Chris Erwin, director of southern forest conservation with the American Tree Farm System will be the luncheon speaker.

The field day will feature UT experts and professionals with private organizations as well as state and federal agencies as speakers and will include tours focusing on a variety of forest management topics including wildlife management, reforestation, forest health and best management practices. Specific topics will include intercropping of oak and pine, interpreting data from a forest inventory analysis, establishing constructed wetlands on small plots, integrated pest management monitoring and white-tailed deer management.

Lisa Muller, an associate professor in the UT Department of Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries, along with Jerry Middleton, a biologist with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, will give a special presentation on Tennessee bats and the UT Arboretum Bat Monitoring Project.

Also, Richard Evans, retired director of the UT Forest Resources AgResearch and Education Center and UT Arboretum, will help the community and the Institute of Agriculture celebrate 50 years of research and outreach at the UT Oak Ridge Forest by presenting an oral history of the facility. Evans retired in 2011 with nearly 40 years of service at the research center.

Kevin Hoyt, current director of the center and arboretum, is pleased to be hosting the field day in conjunction with the Tennessee Forestry Association’s 63rd Annual Convention being held in Oak Ridge October 15-17. “We hope visitors to the convention and visitors just coming out for the field day enjoy their day at the Arboretum, and we hope they learn about our center and about current research of relevance to industry as well as the small woodlot or family forest landowner,” Hoyt said. “Whether a landowner is interested in timber production, forest health or wildlife management, the staff and faculty of the center and the UT Institute of Agriculture are here to help,” he added.

Admission to the event is free and includes lunch, but advance pre-registration is encouraged for planning purposes. To pre-register call 865-483-3571, or send an email to utforest@utk.edu. To request an accommodation for accessibility, call 865-483-3571. For additional details about the program, visit the center’s website forestry.tennessee.edu.

Both the event and lunch are sponsored by the Tennessee Tree Farm Committee.

The Forest Resources AgResearch and Education Center headquarters and UT Arboretum are located 3 miles southeast of downtown Oak Ridge, on Highway 62. The address is 901 S. Illinois Avenue.

The center is one of 10 outdoor laboratories located throughout the state as part of the UT AgResearch system. AgResearch is a division of the UT Institute of Agriculture. The Institute of Agriculture also provides instruction, research and public service through the UT College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, the UT College of Veterinary Medicine, UT AgResearch and UT Extension offices, with locations in every county in the state.