Calling all beekeepers! Registration for the 29^th Annual Alabama Beekeeping Symposium is now open. The symposium is set for Feb. 3, 2024. The Alabama Cooperative Extension System beekeeping team is excited to offer a packed agenda in Clanton, Alabama at the Clanton Conference and Performing Arts Center.

Jack Rowe, an Alabama Extension forestry, wildlife and natural resources regional agent, said the team is looking forward to hosting the event and has a great agenda planned.

“James Tew, a well-loved apiculture specialist, started this symposium 29 years ago, and it has remained popular with hundreds of people in attendance each year,” Rowe said. “Here, we are looking forward to 2024 with excitement and anticipation.”

Chinese privet (Ligustrum sinense) and other invasive privets in the genus Ligustrum are a serious problem for many homeowners, farmers, foresters, and land managers in Alabama.

Privet control often seems impossible because of its aggressive growth, prolific root and stump sprouting, copious seed production, and widespread seed dispersal by birds and other animals. However, with the correct approach and diligent follow-up treatments, privet can be effectively controlled.

The following recommendations for widely available privet control options can be used across a range of land management scenarios. This is not, however, exhaustive as certain herbicides used in forestry and rights-of-way are not covered.
 

In episode 9 of the Alabama Cooperative Extension System’s From the Ground Up! Podcast, Meredith Shrader joins host Brian Brown to talk about home invaders. Shrader is the lead diagnostician for Auburn University’s Plant Diagnostics Laboratory. The duo discusses how to keep creepy crawlies out of the home during autumn and winter months.

Following forestry best management practices in timber harvesting helps prevent or reduce nonpoint source pollution. They are important in avoiding sediment problems at stream crossings.

Forestry best management practice (BMP) guidelines prevent or reduce nonpoint source pollution to a level compatible with water quality goals. Sediment causes the most concern in timber harvesting. Rainfall on bare soil leads to soil erosion, and when soil reaches a waterway, it becomes sedimentation. Stream crossings are a direct link for sedimentation if BMPs are not properly implemented. Loggers use stream crossings to access timber on the other side of a stream that may not be accessible otherwise due to constraints such as property lines, terrain, road access, etc. Forest road stream crossings must support the weight of loaded log trucks, while skid trail stream crossings are often of lower structural quality and serve the temporary need for dragging (skidding) trees from the other side of the stream to the log landing or deck. Skid trail crossings are temporary crossings that need to be removed and close-out BMPs implemented once the timber harvest is completed. Close-out BMPs help reduce or prevent sedimentation issues. BMP recommendations (guidelines) exist for different road and skid trail crossing methods. Stream crossing selection, location, and application of BMPs before, during, and after timber harvesting activities are critical to water quality protection.

As the youth e-cigarette epidemic continues to trend, new generations are positioned for a lifetime of nicotine addiction. Approximately 2.55 million United States middle- and high-school students reported current e-cigarette use in 2022. New data reveals that nearly 800,000 teens vaped for the first time in the past year. When it comes to youth vaping, a critical time-out is needed to clear the air and determine fact from fiction.

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