Sugar & 'Sang: Maple & Ginseng Husbandry on Your Forestlands
Saint Rose Academy School Auditorium
Mayfield, Lackawanna County
Saturday, September 11, 2010
9am - 4pm
$25 PASA members, $35 all others, includes lunch and ginseng planting stock.
Eric Burkhart, Shaver's Creek Environmental Center and Robert Hansen, Penn State Cooperative Extension
In a combination of indoor presentations and afternoon wood walks, participants will learn about forest stewardship around maple syrup and American ginseng. Discussion will encompass maple syrup collection and processing and American ginseng forest farming and husbandry. We’ll talk about markets and financial considerations as well as ecological relationships that connect these two forest products. Participants will gather information and guidelines for simultaneous forest farming of non-timber products and management practices that can be used to improve or maintain the health and long term productivity of a “sugar/sang bush”.
This event will be held rain or shine. Please come well prepared for the weather and for walking in the woods. This event is being sponsored by the Pennsylvania Women's Agriculture Network (PA WAgN), supporting women in agriculture by providing positive learning environments, networking and empowerment.
About the Presenters
Eric Burkhart is instructor and plant science program director for Shaver’s Creek Environmental Center. He provides training and outreach in botany and horticulture including teaching courses for the Penn State School of Forest Resources on agroforestry, woody
and herbaceous plant identification, and nonnative invasive flora. Working with partners such as the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), Eric also conducts research on native plants of economic and conservation importance (e.g., American ginseng and goldenseal) and offers practical guidance through related workshops and publications. Eric holds degrees in Economic Botany/Ethnobotany (B.A, Idaho State University) and Horticulture (M.S., Penn State University), and is completing a PhD in Forest Resources (Penn State University). A native of the Pittsburgh region, he currently lives in Pine Grove Mills, Pennsylvania.
Robert Hansen is County Extension Director in Tioga County and Extension Educator in Forest Resources and Maple Production with Penn State Cooperative Extension. He has a B.S. in Forest Resources from Utah State University, a M.S. in Forest Resources (emphasis in forest economics) from the University of New Hampshire and a D.F. (Doctor of Forestry) in Forest Resources (emphasis in forest ecology) from Stephen F. Austin State University. He has been in his current position with Penn State University for 21 years. He previously was an assistant Extension Specialist in Forest Resources and instructor of Forest Fire Mgt. with the University of Minnesota and a forester with the United States Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service on the Plumas National Forest in California.
Click here for directions, available on the Google Maps page.
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