Student move-ins were on the rise this past weekend. I suspect most are graduate students and perhaps new faculty and staff. I’m not sure how widespread the rain was on Sunday, but here in College Park it brought unloading of moving vans to a halt for 30 minutes or so. Hopefully other areas had a lighter, soaking rain.
During the Hughes Center board meeting last week, held at the Wye REC, there was considerable conversation about the challenges for agriculture production and the downstream impact on water quality. Deer pressure in fields and forests was discussed. I’m familiar with the impacts of whitetail deer, but learned that Sika deer don’t browse; they ravish entire fields on the Eastern Shore. This topic has surfaced in a number of conversations recently. I can attest that deer on roads at night is more prevalent than I have seen in past years. Admittedly. I was a bit surprised to learn that the number of hunters is on the decline. I’m not sure that’s the case in Northern Neck Virginia, leaving something else to drive the increase in the deer population.
Last week the Wye REC hosted the Northeastern Weed Science Society Student Contest on July 27 and 28. The event welcomed 61 students from 6 U.S. and Canadian universities. Congratulations and thank you to Kurt Vollmer, Kelly Nichols, Veronica Yurchak, Dwayne Joseph, Andrew Ristvey, and the entire Wye crew for making this happen and bringing visibility to UMD!
I’m at the Clarksville REC this week for a couple of events. On Monday, the UME Workforce Development Internship participants shared their projects and takeaways from their 10-week experience. Perhaps you have been following their progress, as I have. This group has an extensive list of accomplishments that illustrates the bright future of our students! On Wednesday, I am back at Clarksville REC for the second day of the Stanton A. Gill Symposium hosted by the Maryland Nursery, Landscape, and Greenhouse Association. While unable to attend the entire event, I will have a chance to see some of our faculty in action and meet our partners and clients, plus get some much needed knowledge about plants and pests.
I am headed to Garrett County this week as well! I have been wanting to get around the state a bit more, and I happened to find an open day on the calendar that coincides with the county fair. While in the area, I will meet with the UME office, hopefully without being too much in the way during a very busy week for the team, and meet with some of our area friends and partners.
The weeks just fly by and this one is no different. There are so many good things going on across AGNR, in offices and in fields. It’s easy to fill the week promoting the impacts of the work.