News - May 2022


Turkey season changes aim to stabilize wildlife populations

Spring isn’t just for wildflowers and pollen—it’s also a time to hear wild turkeys gobble across Georgia and much of the Southeast. That telltale chortle is also a signal that turkey hunting season is about to open, although changes to Georgia’s state regulations will keep hunters on standby for a week or two longer this year. But the changes, say wildlife experts, will hopefully benefit both turkeys and hunters. Georgia’s turkey hunting season…

An image of the upper Chattahoochee River
Improving Georgia land conservation through algorithms

A team of University of Georgia researchers has created a model to help land developers and public officials identify the land that is best suited for conservation. Led by Fabio Jose Benez-Secanho, a former UGA graduate student, and Puneet Dwivedi, associate professor in the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, this first-of-its-kind algorithm considers a variety of factors not included in other models when…

An image of Joseph Olmsted and Donovan Robar
Despite pandemic separations, Warnell’s top seniors find connections

Donovan Robar isn’t going to sugarcoat it: Transferring to the University of Georgia in the fall of 2020 was just about the worst timing. Ever.   After attending West Virginia University for a portion of his undergraduate studies, his goal was to finish his pre-veterinary wildlife sciences degree through UGA’s Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources. He’d met a wildlife veterinarian (and UGA alumnus) while in West Virginia, and the…


Hundreds celebrate spring 2022 graduates at convocation

When assistant professor Gino D’Angelo launched into his convocation ceremony speech, he was practicing what he was preaching—which was, quite literally, to find your stage.    D’Angelo was one of three guest speakers to impart wisdom upon the 77 students graduating at the spring 2022 ceremony for the University of Georgia Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources. In addition to encouraging students to let fate blow them to new…


Seminar: Science for the conservation of wild cats

Dr. Roberto Salom Perez and Ms. Daniela Araya-Gamboa    

A patch knitted on a vintage wool sweater to fix a hole.
Crafting a career through nature and art

Jay Reddish holds up a designer knit dress. The colorful leaf patterns imprinted on its fabric, along with the wool fibers that create its structure, are tangible evidence of the path Reddish found to the University of Georgia.    From shoulders to hem, shapes of black walnut and water oak leaves mingle with native grape vines. Nearly all were foraged by Reddish, then arranged on the dress, rolled up tight and boiled in a vat spiked…


Scientists on the hunt for a tree’s tipping point

Sometimes things are fine—until they’re not. A boat capsizes. A bridge collapses. The stock market takes an extreme turn. These are examples of “catastrophe theory,” a tool in mathematics that can be used to describe a set of variables that combine, at a specific point, to completely change a system. It’s a framework that can be applied to a variety of scenarios, and now a University of Georgia scientist wants to use it to better understand…


Alex Hinson (MFR ’99): ‘You’ve got to be credible in your life’

As his career took shape over the years, forestry is always where Alex Hinson found his footing.  Raised on his family’s farm in South Carolina, his goal after college was to return home and run the family business. A growing part of this business involved timber production—something the family was warming to after experiencing the ups and downs of row-crop agriculture. Hinson received his undergraduate degree from the University of…


Dr. Walter Cook: Trail maintenance never ends

If you’re looking for the most interesting path, just follow Walter Cook.  The former parks, recreation and tourism management professor has been devising trails for decades, and even in retirement he continues to leave his marks on natural spaces across Georgia. Cook retired from his faculty position in 1996.  Last fall, family and friends gathered to celebrate Cook’s 90th birthday and were reminded of the legacy he’s left on…


Wendi Weber (MS ’97): ‘I love the mission’

On any given day, a range of issues might cross Wendi Weber’s desk. And by range, this could mean managing the country’s first marine national monument in the Atlantic, leading the multimillion-dollar Delaware River Watershed Program, or partnering to conserve the rich biodiversity of the Appalachian Mountains.  As regional director for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s North Atlantic-Appalachian region, Weber oversees activities on…

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