Natural Resources University

Dr. Mick Hellickson joins Deer University again to compare deer management in South Texas and the Midwest. Mick was born and raised in Iowa and grew up hunting in that agricultural environment, but then moved to South Texas for graduate school and now works there managing deer herds. Mick will review the most important limitations he faces managing deer in these very different environments.

Taking the first steps into using prescribed fire can be daunting – Which tools are needed? How do you develop a plan? Where you can find help and consultation? Look no further! In this week's episode of Fire University, Dr. Marcus Lashley sits down with John Stivers and John Gruchy, both with years of experience helping private land owners get started with using prescribed burning, to discuss the basic tools and resources landowners need to begin burning. From drip torches to ATVs to contractors and technique, this episode covers a wide array of information to help you get started with fire management.

Everything from grasshoppers to a bison graze and can have drastic impacts on vegetation on which many other wildlife species depend. Unsurprisingly, many wildlife managers are therefore interested in understanding and using grazing animals to create the unique places where animals, or in the case of the blowout penstemon, unique plants, thrive. In this wide-ranging discussion, Adam talks to The Nature Conservancy's Marissa Ahlering about how grazing impacts wildlife and how we can creatively use grazing to manage wildlife habitat. More on Marissa Ahlering: https://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/who-we-are/our-people/marissa-ahlering/ Find Dr. Ahlering's research here: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=86moVcEAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao Including her research on cattle grazing and grassland birds. - https://wildlife.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jwmg.1049 More on blowout penstemon - http://outdoornebraska.gov/blowoutpenstemon/ More on patch burn grazing from our friends at Fire U: https://fireuniversity.libsyn.com/episode-04-patch-burn-grazing-as-a-strategy-to-manage-grassland-communities

In this episode of Pond University, we talk with Amie Robison, an Aquatic Ecologist from Robison Wildlife Solutions in Oklahoma. Amie, who is also known as "The Pond Lady", has over 20 years' experience helping landowners and homeowner communities manage their ponds. Amie provides invaluable advice on how to start planning now for management that you should consider in the spring. She discusses everything from dams and sediments, to vegetation and fish. She also shares some interesting stories and case studies from her work in Oklahoma, including a mysterious pond slime that can actually move on its own! Anonymous feedback survey: https://purdue.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1IhSN3DPQpowBPU Robison Wildlife Solutions website: http://www.robisonwildlife.com/ Amie's social media: https://twitter.com/The_Pond_Lady www.instagram.com/the_pond_lady www.facebook.com/OklahomaPondLady www.youtube.com/channel/UCXKgHkxpE1bkgep39rb1nEA Fish Nerds podcast: https://www.fishnerdspodcast.com/ The Woman Angler and Adventurer podcast: https://thewomanangler.com/ The Ologies podcast: https://www.alieward.com/ologies Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life, by Lulu Miller: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Why-Fish-Dont-Exist/Lulu-Miller/9781501160271 Mysterious pond slime in Nebraska: https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/aquatic-ecologists-are-struggling-to-identify-this-bizarre-moving-goo/ Mitch's profile page: https://ag.purdue.edu/fnr/Pages/Profile.aspx?strAlias=mzischke&intDirDeptID=15 Mitch's twitter: https://twitter.com/TheAussieWahoo Megan's profile page: https://ag.purdue.edu/fnr/Pages/Profile.aspx?strAlias=mlgunn&intDirDeptID=15 Megan's twitter: https://twitter.com/_TFFP Pond and wildlife management website: https://extension.purdue.edu/pondwildlife/ Natural Resources University website: https://naturalresourcesuniversity.libsyn.com/ Purdue's Department of Forestry and Natural Resources website: https://ag.purdue.edu/fnr/Pages/default.aspx Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant website: https://iiseagrant.org/ Contact us! https://extension.purdue.edu/pondwildlife/contact-us/

We get asked all the time "what's the best food plot forage to plant for deer?" Well, as hunters and managers, we were interested in that question too. Bronson, Steve, and Marcus discuss a food plot forage selection project conducted by former graduate student, Jacob Dykes. Cereal grains, clovers, and brassicas all have different growth rates and maturation dates, making their quality and nutrient profile change over the hunting season. What's more, the availability of certain nutrients in the naturally occurring plants affect which food plot forages deer may favor, or avoid, and this depends on the time of year, and from place to place. So, what may be the most selected forage on your property, may be different a on property a few miles away. Research video on the topic: https://youtu.be/WUKEAtW6pqs

Fire was playing an important role in upland hardwood ecosystems when the current mature oaks germinated a century ago. While those mature oaks are still common in the overstory, the next generation of oaks to replace them are not present across much of the central hardwoods and Appalachian regions. Instead, fire exclusion over the last several decades allowed mesophytic (moisture-retaining) species like sweetgum and red maple to get established and begin a transition to non-oak dominance in these forests. In this week's episode of Fire University, Dr. Marcus Lashley sits down with Dr. Heather Alexander of Auburn University and Dr. Steve Brewer of the University of Mississippi to discuss the role of fire in ensuring oak forests continue to flourish into the next generation, how changes in fuels and flammability affect our ability to burn, and why the problem is more complex than just reintroducing fire. Want more? Check out our video showing why the encroachment of non-oak species affects our ability to burn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sYbisKFdsI&ab_channel=UFDEERLabIFAS Alexander et al. 2021. Mesophication of Oak Landscapes: Evidence, Knowledge Gaps, and Future Research. BioScience. https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/advance-article/doi/10.1093/biosci/biaa169/6117972 UF DEER Lab Twitter: https://twitter.com/UFDEERLab UF DEER Lab Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ufdeerlab UF DEER Lab Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ufdeerlab/ UF DEER Lab YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5orPZezH2fNGe97ZHAb9Hg

How can prescribed fire be used creatively to create and enhance habitat for wildlife? Dr. Marcus Lashley, Assistant Professor and Extension Wildlife Specialist at University of Florida and host of Fire University, joins the podcast to tackle this question, and we take a deep dive into prescribed fire as a habitat management tool. Habitat University Listener Feedback Survey >> Resources discussed in the episode Fire University Episode 3 – Where to get information, experience, and collaborators to meet prescribed burning objectives - https://fireuniversity.libsyn.com/episode-03-where-to-get-information-experience-and-collaborators-to-meet-prescribed-burning-objectives Fire University Episode 4 – Patch-Burn-Grazing as a strategy to manage grassland communities - https://fireuniversity.libsyn.com/episode-04-patch-burn-grazing-as-a-strategy-to-manage-grassland-communities Natural Resources University - https://naturalresourcesuniversity.libsyn.com/ Southern Fire Exchange - https://southernfireexchange.org/ Coalition of Prescribed Fire Council - http://www.prescribedfire.net/ Prescribed Burn Associations - https://research.cnr.ncsu.edu/blogs/southeast-fire-update/prescribed-burn-associations/

In this episode of Pond University, we talk with Scott Wagner, a Certified Agricultural Engineer with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Scott has worked on pond construction and maintenance (among many other things) for over 18 years. Scott discusses the importance of proper planning and permitting for pond construction, and conducting annual inspections for maintaining your pond. He also provides a bunch of useful information and resources for pond management, including potential financial assistance for conservation projects. So, if you are thinking about building a new pond, or need help fixing a leaking pond; hopefully, this episode can help you. USDA-NRCS website: http://www.in.nrcs.usda.gov NRCS Ponds - Planning, Design, Construction Handbook: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/16/stelprdb1246427.pdf NRCS Field Office Technical Guide: https://efotg.sc.egov.usda.gov/#/details Web Soil Survey: https://websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov/app/ Indiana Soil and Water Conservation Districts: http://wordpress.iaswcd.org Indiana DNR Division of Water: https://www.in.gov/dnr/water/ Indiana Waterways Inquires Request Portal: https://www.in.gov/waterways/ Indiana 811: https://indiana811.org/ IDNR Lake and River Enhancement Program: https://www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/2364.htm NRCS Pond Inspection Checklist: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/nrcs144p2_030195.xls Mitch's profile page: https://ag.purdue.edu/fnr/Pages/Profile.aspx?strAlias=mzischke&intDirDeptID=15 Mitch's twitter: https://twitter.com/TheAussieWahoo Megan's profile page: https://ag.purdue.edu/fnr/Pages/Profile.aspx?strAlias=mlgunn&intDirDeptID=15 Megan's twitter: https://twitter.com/_TFFP Pond and wildlife management website: https://extension.purdue.edu/pondwildlife/ Natural Resources University website: https://naturalresourcesuniversity.libsyn.com/ Purdue's Department of Forestry and Natural Resources website: https://ag.purdue.edu/fnr/Pages/default.aspx Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant website: https://iiseagrant.org/ Contact us! https://extension.purdue.edu/pondwildlife/contact-us/

We may have more acres to burn than we have time, personnel, and resources to burn it. It is imperative that our tools become more efficient especially with ever-growing societal constraints and considerations. In this week's episode of Fire University, Marcus Lashley sits down with Kevin Robertson, Morgan Varner, and Kevin Hiers at the Tall Timbers Research Station where they discuss the socio-ecological complexities of fire ecology and delve into the upcoming technological revolution leading us into the next generation of prescribed burning. Twitter: https://twitter.com/UFDEERLab Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ufdeerlab Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ufdeerlab

Most hunters and managers are aware of the benefits of prescribed fire on deer habitat. Fire can be used to set back plant succession (reduce the woody vegetation) and stimulate the growth of forbs (increase the herbaceous vegetation). In the Southeastern US, deer nutrition is often limited during the summer when bucks are growing antlers and does are producing fawns and lactating. Often limitations in summer nutrition is addressed with warm-season food plots, but what about addressing this need with prescribed fire? Today we visit with former MSU Deer Lab graduate student, Rainer Nichols, and discuss his project where he compared plant quality and biomass response to dormant-season and growing season prescribed fire. Rainer examined the impacts prescribed fire phenology and mechanical stump sprouting have on summer nutritional carrying capacity for deer. Diversifying the timing of prescribed fire between the dormant and growing seasons led to increased summer nutrient availability at the landscape level, and mechanically creating stump sprouts from woody plants led to increased available nutrition on a localized level. Combining these two management actions to target summer nutritional limitations can better help deer meet nutritional demands and reach their full potential.

Welcome to the third episode of Pond University! In this episode, we talk with Sandy Clark-Kolaks, the Southern Fisheries Research Biologist with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Sandy has worked on fisheries management projects for over 13 years, including improving fish habitat in reservoirs and lakes. Today, Sandy talks about the importance of fish habitat and describes the different types of fish habitat you can add to your pond or lake. Plus, building fish habitat structures makes for a great winter project and a frozen lake can allow you to place these structures in the exact location you want! Indiana DNR Private Pond and Lake Management website: https://www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/3614.htm Friends of Reservoirs (FOR) is a tax-deductible non-profit foundation dedicated to protecting and/or restoring fisheries habitat in reservoir systems nationwide. Their website is: https://www.friendsofreservoirs.com/ Mitch's profile page: https://ag.purdue.edu/fnr/Pages/Profile.aspx?strAlias=mzischke&intDirDeptID=15 Mitch's twitter: https://twitter.com/TheAussieWahoo Megan's profile page: https://ag.purdue.edu/fnr/Pages/Profile.aspx?strAlias=mlgunn&intDirDeptID=15 Megan's twitter: https://twitter.com/_TFFP Pond and wildlife management website: https://extension.purdue.edu/pondwildlife/ Purdue's Department of Forestry and Natural Resources website: https://ag.purdue.edu/fnr/Pages/default.aspx Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant website: https://iiseagrant.org/ Contact us! https://extension.purdue.edu/pondwildlife/contact-us/

For as long as people have been interacting with wild animals, they have been manipulating the places where wild animals live. So, is habitat management the oldest job in the world? Join Adam and Jarred as they chat about the history of wildlife habitat management, dig deep into the central premise of habitat management – plant succession – and introduce the five tools for habitat management that Aldo Leopold described in his 1933 book, Game Management. Learn more about plant succession and its relationship to wildlife habitat by checking out the resources below: Iowa's Forest Birds - https://store.extension.iastate.edu/Product/15963 Managing Your Woods for White-Tailed Deer - https://edustore.purdue.edu/item.asp?Item_Number=FNR-596-W Grassland Successional Chart - https://extension.purdue.edu/pondwildlife/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/GrasslandSuccession_wFNR.png Wildlife Habitat Education Program - https://fwf.tennessee.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2020/07/1_2020-WHEP-Intro-Acitivites.pdf

Fire and herbivory have always been important disturbances in grasslands and their interaction may be particularly important for wildlife habitat. In this week's episode, we talk to Dr. Sam Fuhlendorf of Oklahoma State University and Bob Hamilton of The Nature Conservancy about using patch-burn-grazing to mimic that natural process. Strategic use of prescribed fire and cattle may lead to habitat improvements for wildlife while increasing cattle production. Related peer-reviewed papers: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0234983 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378112719318821 https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1365-2435.13083

Knowing where to get information, training, experience, and help is critical to success in prescribed burning. In this episode of Fire University, Marcus Lashley talks with fire professionals Zach Prusak and Andy Rappe to discuss the tools and resources available to fire practitioners and private landowners no matter where you are and why collaboration throughout the fire community is imperative to everyone's success.

Some hunters think Chronic Wasting Disease is no big deal, some hunters even think CWD is good for a state wildlife agency because the disease will bring with it an abundance of federal funding. Our interview with Jason Sumners of the Missouri Department of Conservation, and Cory Gray of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission will fully explain the issues this disease brings to wildlife management agencies.

In this episode of Fire University, Dr. Marcus Lashley visits old friends and colleagues Dr. Craig Harper, John Gruchy, and Jordan Nanney and discusses burning in upland hardwoods. The conversation focuses on habitat improvement for white-tailed deer and wild turkey, as well as implementation strategy to maximize success. Enroll now in our free wildland fire course. Available to all! This podcast is supported by listener donations - thank you for being a part of this effort. For more information, follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube!

What do you picture when you hear "habitat"? Habitat is one of the most important concepts in wildlife management, but what does it actually mean? Join Adam and Jarred as they define "habitat" and discuss why its use is a "panchreston problem." We'll explain what the heck "panchreston" means and discuss why we should be careful about how we talk about habitat to minimize confusion and clarify objectives. Jarred and Adam will also explore why defining and using habitat correctly is important in helping landowners and managers construct and achieve their management objectives. Learn more about habitat as a panchreston problem in (Kirk et al. 2018. Our use, misuse, and abandonment of a concept: Whither habitat.Ecology and Evolution 8:4197–4208). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5916312/

Welcome to the second episode of Pond University! In this episode, we talk with Purdue Extension Educator David Osborne. Dave has been helping landowners manage their ponds for over 20 years and has a wealth of knowledge on many pond management topics. Today, he talks about how your pond changes during winter and things that you can do to prevent negative impacts on fish populations. Please see below for useful links: Dave's profile page: https://extension.purdue.edu/Ripley/profile/osbornda Dave's video recommendation "Great Small Waters": http://www.rayscott.net/sales/gsw.php Mitch's profile page: https://ag.purdue.edu/fnr/Pages/Profile.aspx?strAlias=mzischke&intDirDeptID=15 Mitch's twitter: https://twitter.com/TheAussieWahoo Megan's profile page: https://ag.purdue.edu/fnr/Pages/Profile.aspx?strAlias=mlgunn&intDirDeptID=15 Megan's twitter: https://twitter.com/_TFFP Pond and wildlife management website: https://extension.purdue.edu/pondwildlife/ Natural Resources University website: https://naturalresourcesuniversity.libsyn.com/ Purdue's Department of Natural Resources website: https://ag.purdue.edu/fnr/Pages/default.aspx Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant website: https://iiseagrant.org/ Contact us! https://extension.purdue.edu/pondwildlife/contact-us/

Just when are deer most attracted to acorns? You might think - all the time! And hey, you may be right. In this episode with former MSU Deer Lab graduate student Moriah Boggess, we review his research where he monitored deer acorn use throughout the year and see that deer can be attracted to acorns much later in the year than you might expect. This can have important implications when hunting during the post rut.

Where do bucks go during hunting season? Does hunting pressure change where bucks spend time? In this episode Bronson, Steve, and former MSU Deer Lab graduate student Colby Henderson, review research findings from a 2-year study where about 50 bucks were marked with GPS-enabled collars and we monitored their movements throughout a hunted landscape over the hunting season. First, what is habitat "selection"? Selection is a measure of how much time an animal spends in a particular vegetation type relative to how much of that vegetation type exists on the landscape. For example, if hardwood forest is only 5% of a property and deer spend 50% of their time there, then selection for hardwood forest would be very high – deer are differentially selecting for hardwood forest relative to the amount available to them on the landscape. We compared not only what vegetation types bucks selected, but also what hunters selected, and how that changed over the hunting season. Twitter: https://twitter.com/MSUDeerLab Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/msudeerlab/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/msu.deerlab YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDOZeiPref8vhAHkULM3IGg

Welcome to the very first episode of Pond University! Pond University is hosted by Mitchell Zischke and Megan Gunn from Purdue University and Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant. In this first episode, we talk with Purdue Aquatic Sciences major Logan Halderman about all the different parts of the pond ecosystem. Please see below for useful links: Mitch's profile page: https://ag.purdue.edu/fnr/Pages/Profile.aspx?strAlias=mzischke&intDirDeptID=15 Megan's profile page: https://ag.purdue.edu/fnr/Pages/Profile.aspx?strAlias=mlgunn&intDirDeptID=15 Pond and wildlife management website: https://extension.purdue.edu/pondwildlife/ Purdue's Department of Natural Resources website: https://ag.purdue.edu/fnr/Pages/default.aspx Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant website: https://iiseagrant.org/ Logan's book recommendation "The Founding Fish": https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374528836 Mitchell's Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheAussieWahoo Megan's Twitter: https://twitter.com/_TFFP Contact us: https://extension.purdue.edu/pondwildlife/contact-us/

Welcome to Habitat University! In this introductory Episode, Habitat University co-hosts Jarred Brooke and Adam Janke discuss the vision for the podcast and how it fits into the new collaborative science-based podcast series called Natural Resources University. Jarred and Adam share information about their background, what they do as state wildlife extension specialists, and where they plan to take this new podcast exploring the in's and out's out of wildlife habitat management and conservation in the U.S. Learn more about Jarred and his work here: https://extension.purdue.edu/pondwildlife/wildlife/ Learn more about Adam and his work here: https://naturalresources.extension.iastate.edu/wildlife Twitter: https://twitter.com/Habitat_U Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/habitatuniversity/

Fire University is a science-based podcast covering the latest research in fire ecology and how it relates to management of wildlife and plant communities. In this first episode, Dr. Marcus Lashley sits down with communications specialist Charlotte Nowak to introduce this series on fire ecology. Twitter: https://twitter.com/UFDEERLab Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ufdeerlab/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ufdeerlab YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5orPZezH2fNGe97ZHAb9Hg

In this first episode, meet the team of researchers and extension specialists that make up the Natural Resources University network! Subscribe to NRU for all episodes or join an individual series on its respective podcast feed. Fire University | Dr. Marcus Lashley Deer University | Dr. Bronson Strickland & Dr. Steve Demarais Habitat University | Adam Janke & Jarred Brooke Pond University | Dr. Mitchell Zischke & Megan Gunn Twitter: https://twitter.com/NR_University Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nr_university/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Natural-Resources-University-101131418502616 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ-uehW5nyQ8uZMDSHG_low