Achievement

Five Trainees presented the results of their oak wilt research at the MN Invasive Species Conference in Duluth, MN. Their presentations comprised an entire session & included findings on economic impacts & technical, sociological, & policy barriers to effective management. A summary of their findings was published electronically: isg-igert.umn.edu/news/OakWiltReportOct08.pdf. To further facilitate dissemination of the Trainee’s results, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MNDNR) asked IGERT faculty Rob Venette & Kristen Nelson to organize an oak wilt conference at Carlos Avery, MN, where the students to presented their findings to MNDNR & USFS staff, city & private foresters from many municipalities in MN. The participants broke into two groups and developed a set of management & research goals and strategies for how stakeholder groups could collaborate to achieve them. Thus, the student research findings were translated into management actions and a research agenda.