Mississippi State University, in conjunction with Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks and Delta Wildlife, will host a symposium exploring the use of LMAV Joint Venture Desired Forest Conditions and Traditional Management tools for Bottomland Hardwood Management Jan. 15-16 at the Delta Research and Extension Conference Center in Stoneville, Miss. The Jan. 15 program will include 20-minute presentations (15 minutes for presentation, five minutes for questions). A panel discussion will take place Jan. 16.

Bottomland hardwood ecosystems are important ecologically, economically, and socially and have been managed within public lands, using a variety of protocols, for quite some time. Private non-industrial landowners are interested in effective management of their bottomland hardwood resources, for timber and wildlife values.

Numerous tools have been developed to manage bottomland hardwood systems for a diversity of products, and one technique — Desired Forest Conditions — has received regional attention. There is concern about the goals and outputs of traditional versus the DFC management systems. The symposium will assemble scientists and managers of bottomland hardwood systems and determine current knowledge on the topic.

Research gaps will be identified and future research needs will be determined to ensure that landowners have sufficient knowledge to make decisions regarding which management actions are appropriate for their land resources.

Details and registration are available at http://www.cfr.msstate.edu/wildlife/hardwoods/register.asp. Registration is $30 and includes breaks and lunch both days. Registration will be available at the symposium as well, but will not include lunch. If you need assistance, contact Laura Andrews at (662) 325-6694, (662) 552-8371 or [email protected].