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Agroforestry
Briefs
Nair Visits India to Assist in Agroforestry
In a visit to New
Delhi, India, in November, CSTAF Director P.K. Nair worked with leaders
in agroforestry to help strengthen collaboration in South Asia.
Nair served as a resource person
to the regional meeting organized by the World Agroforestry Centre, the
Ford Foundation and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research.
While in New Delhi, Nair gave a
keynote address at the 2nd International Agronomy Congress. The visit
provided Nair an opportunity to meet leaders in agroforestry from South
Asia and to promote the 1st World Congress of Agroforestry in 2004,
sponsored by the University of Florida.
Faculty and Collaborators Showcase Research
CSTAF faculty
showcased their agroforestry research at the ASA/CSSA/SSSA Annual
Meeting in Indianapolis in November. In oral presentations, Eddie Ellis described the Southeastern Agroforestry Decision
Support System, and Sarah Workman gave the presentation "Current
Status of Agroforestry in the Southeastern United States." Other CSTAF researchers presented four posters on
agroforestry research.
At the 17th International
Farming Systems Association Symposium in Orlando in November, Workman
gave a presentation. She and Michael Bannister moderated sessions, and
CSTAF faculty and collaborators presented their research.
Agroforestry
Program in Walton County
Agroforestry was
the subject of a program Nov. 20, 2002, in Walton County. As part of the
program Managing Crops and Livestock Production Under Pines, CSTAF’s
Mike Bannister gave a presentation to 28 landowners and four extension
faculty from Florida and Alabama on CSTAF activities and agroforestry
practices.
Florida
A&M Program
Florida A&M
University and the University of Florida commemorated their decade-old
two-plus-two program in forestry in September. In Celebrating Minority
Professionals in Forestry and Natural Resource Conservation: A Symposium
in September, CSTAF’s P.K. Nair and Mike Bannister delivered the
presentation "International Forestry and Agroforestry: Career
Opportunities for Minorities."
Honduran
Students
In a September
visit to UF, 37 Honduran students and three professors from the National
University of Agriculture in Catacamas, Honduras, learned about CSTAF’s
work. Mike Bannister described CSTAF’s role in agroforestry; Sarah
Workman discussed temperate agroforestry; and Eddie Ellis introduced his
decision-support system.
Ellis
Works in Quintana Roo
Eddie Ellis
visited Mexico in September to help the University of Quintana Roo
develop a spatial database for land use and forest management, and to
gather data on land use and vegetation.
Ellis is helping the university
and the Mayan Organization of Forestry Ejidos in the Mayan Zone in the
use of a GIS database to improve planning for Mayan communal lands, or ejidos.
Workman
and Ellis Work in Virgin Islands
CSTAF
and its partner The University of Virgin Islands are exploring ways to
maintain or enhance products derived from subtropical forests.
Through
the project Agroforestry in the Virgin Islands: A Participatory Survey
and GIS-based Analysis of On-farm Production and Marketing of Nontimber
Forest Products, CSTAF's Sarah Workman and Eddie Ellis visited St. Croix
in the Virgin Islands in early January to gather information about the
agencies and areas involved in the research. They met with university
and government collaborators including VI Department of Agriculture
officials, as well as with landowners who will participate in the
project. During their visit, they began the process of verifying
vegetation and communities that will be the subject of the research.
CSTAF's Mike Bannister and University of the Virgin Islands researcher
Manuel Palada also are partners in the project, which is funded by the
U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Workman
Leads Agroforestry Workshop CSTAF's
Sarah Workman will participate in the regional workshop on Harvester
Involvement in Inventorying and Monitoring Nontimber Forest Products in
Atlanta Feb. 27. Workman will serve as a facilitator for the workshop,
which is designed for land managers, harvesters, policymakers,
scientists and related professionals. The workshop will focus on
collection and cultivation of nontimber products on forestlands,
providing a framework for inventorying the products that are harvested,
and biological monitoring programs. The workshop will be held at U.S.
Department of Agriculture Forest Service's region 8 headquarters. It is
part of a national study funded by the National Commission on Science
for Sustainable Forestry. Workman is a regional liaison with the
Institute for Culture and Ecology on their grant to assess the
relationships between forest management practices, nontimber forest
products, and biodiversity in the United States.
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