UNIVERSITY PARK — In early 2025, Penn State Extension will offer a webinar series aimed at helping individuals create and enhance natural areas around their homes and make a positive environmental impact through simple stewardship practices. The “Woods in Your Backyard” series involves 9 webinars that will take place on Wednesday evenings from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. running from Jan. 15 to March 12.
This program is designed for landowners, land managers and conservation organizations. Studies show that the size of wood parcels smaller than 10 acres is increasing. This series is designed to assist in managing small parcels, but stewardship practices and forest ecology principles also apply to larger properties.
Participants will learn about:
Reasons to manage forests.
Forest ecology.
Creating and managing wildlife habitat.
Identifying and controlling invasive plants.
Forest health issues and management.
Forests and water.
Selecting native trees for various sites.
Establishing meadows and forests.
Creating plans for their property.
Each registrant will receive the full-color, 108-page manual, “The Woods in Your Backyard: Learning to Create and Enhance Natural Areas Around Your Home,” a $20 value. This self-directed book will guide participants through the process of developing and implementing projects to enhance their land’s natural resources. Additional resources will be provided to participants for downloading.
Books can be shipped to all U.S. states and territories, including Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Virgin Islands, Northern Mariana Islands and Guam. Participants from other foreign locations are welcome to register and join webinars, but books are not included in their registration for this workshop.
Partnering organizations include Forests for the Bay, Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources’ Bureau of Forestry, Pennsylvania Game Commission, James C. Finley Center for Private Forests at Penn State, and University of Maryland Extension.
Registration for the webinar series is required by Jan. 8, 2025, to receive the link to access the webinars. Registrants will receive a link to the recorded webinar within several days after the live webinar. The recorded lectures will be available for six months from the start of the event.
More information is available on the Penn State Extension website.
