Restoring prairie from cropland has well-known benefits to soil health – at least to the soil directly underneath the prairie.  How might prairie strips, or contour plantings of native prairie species embedded in row crop fields, affect the surrounding soil and crops? This Digital Café will feature Dr. Marshall McDaniel, Associate Professor at Iowa State University, who will discuss this question and provide key answers.

This is a replay of NCAT’s third annual national conference. This free virtual convening will feature renowned speakers and showcase farm stories that make the connection between our changing climate, healthy soils, and farm productivity and resilience. We will hear from farmers and ranchers who are producing food, fiber, and fuel in ways that restore and maintain landscape health and mitigate greenhouse gases. We will hear from producers who have come to understand the centrality of carbon to agroecosystems.

Join us for this webinar during which we will discuss biological nutrient management in organic agriculture using a resource-conserving approach to nutrient management that builds soil nutrient retention, cycling, and delivery capacity.

Maximizing Your Nitrogen Fertilizer Dollar is a 4-part webinar series where participants can join academic, extension and grower experts to discuss maximizing N-use efficiency using available tools, BMPs, and new technology. This is the 4th and final video in the series with a different perspective on nitrogen management by looking at how livestock affects the whole farm nutrient balance and maximizing the use of nitrogen in manure with speakers Christoph Wand (OMAFRA) and Dr. Andy VanderZaag (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada).

This webinar series was developed by the Forest Ecology Working Group to increase the understanding and integration of forest ecology, applied science and habitat management principles across all levels, programs, and regions of the USFWS, and with our partners.

Urban landscapes are diverse and can provide unique habitat opportunities for pollinators and other beneficial invertebrates. However, habitat loss in urban areas is a driving factor of insect decline. Small urban farms and community gardens are great locations to add in native habitat pockets, strips, hedgerows, gardens, and more. At the same time, these habitats can be designed to offer many added benefits for wildlife, crop production, water quality, stormwater management, education, and the community!

Come join Kass Urban-Mead, Xerces Pollinator Conservation Specialist, NRCS Partner Biologist, for an adventure exploring how wild bees use the woods--from the leafy forest floor to the tippy top of the canopy. Although we usually think of bees busy in our gardens, flower patches, and meadows (which is true!), that is not the only place they are found. In fact, in the northeastern US up to 1/3 of our wild bee species may rely on forest habitats for at least a part of their life cycle.

Grasslands in the Great Plains, and elsewhere, are rapidly disappearing. Grasslands provide critical habitat for a variety of wildlife, including pollinators and other invertebrates. Join Xerces Biologists, Sarah Hamilton Buxton, Ray Moranz, and Rae Powers to learn about the ecological and social value of rangelands, management practices to support pollinators, and critical actions to maintain native plant diversity on rangelands.

This 5-part focused lecture series introduces the fundamental principles of forest habitat management. The series is taught by Brenda McComb, emeritus professor at Oregon State University.

Series Objectives:

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Forest Ecology Working Group, National Conservation Training Center, and Migratory Bird Program developed a 12-part lecture series to address the 50-year decline of 3 billion birds through partnerships, conservation science and forest management. The series tells a compelling story about forest bird population declines, partnership opportunities, and forest management actions that can support bird population recovery and sustainability. Partner’s in Flight was a partner and co-host of this series in celebration of our 30 year anniversary!