News - September 2023


Climate Change, Fire & Southeast US Forest Resiliency


Forestry professor receives national award for research

A leading researcher in forest harvest scheduling and landscape planning at the University of Georgia has been honored by the Society of American Foresters for his work.   Pete Bettinger, the Leon "Buddy" Hargreaves Jr. Distinguished Professor in Forest Management at UGA’s Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, has received the 2023 Award in Forest Science from SAF. The award recognizes distinguished individual research in any…

A home is surrounded by water at night, with the moon reflected in the water
Floods, predators, prey: Understanding human-jaguar relationships, animals’ movements

When a GPS collar drops off of a jaguar, you have to go find it.   Often, this means hiking through brush until you stumble upon it in the woods. But for Wezddy Del Toro Orozco, a doctoral student in the University of Georgia Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, this meant a jump into the water. Specifically, at the Mamiraua Sustainable Development Reserve, a part of the Amazonian forest that floods for several months out of…


Dr. Aniruddha Belsare

Dr. Aniruddha Belsare spoke as part of the fall 2023 Warnell speaker Series.

Headshot of Brooks Mendell
ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: Brooks Mendell (PhD ’04)

‘You have to take chances to do great things’   It was almost a challenge. Brooks Mendell had just earned his Ph.D. and was starting as a professor at Warnell when one of his committee members asked a tongue-in-cheek question: “How does it feel to be the world expert in something nobody cares about?” Of course, that wasn’t exactly the case—forest finance was a respected specialty within the industry. But it lit a spark for Mendell. “My…


"From elephants to wildfires: The contrasting consequences of ecological connectivity"

Erin Buchholtz spoke as part of the Warnell Seminar Series.

Russell Wilson holds a sturgeon
Foraged finds: Student learns fermenting during projects' off-seasons

A handful of years ago, Russell Wilson was getting ready for deer season.  Walking through the woods near his home in Northwest Georgia, he stumbled upon a vine dripping in purple fruit. “I just started shaking the branches and I got a ton of muscadines,” said Wilson of the native grape variety. “And then I made some muscadine wine.” The discovery became a past time for Wilson, now a master’s student at the University of Georgia Warnell…


Georgia Fish & Wildlife Research Coop Unit

Carolyn Belcher stands on a dock
Alumni spotlight: Carolyn Belcher (PHD ’08)

‘Warnell made the most sense’   Not long after she began her role as marine fisheries chief for Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Coastal Resources Division, Carolyn Belcher faced a big problem. Specifically, a 70,000-ton problem. When the cargo ship MV Golden Ray capsized in St. Simons Sound near the Port of Brunswick in September 2019—within sight of Belcher’s office—it posed an issue far different from the typical questions of…


Taking flight for feral hogs: Graduate student’s project investigates pigs’ patterns of destruction

Along with flooding, droughts and pests, farmers must contend with another large, smelly problem: feral hogs.   Every year, Georgia farmers are left with millions of dollars in losses thanks to damage done by these animals. Across the country, according to the USDA, wild pigs cause more than $1.5 billion in crop damage.   But gauging the extent of the damage in large crop fields can be difficult from the ground. So, University of…

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