Minnewaska State Park, Gardiner, NY – Monitoring and Managing Ash (MaMA) Training Workshop

We will be presenting a free workshop Thursday, 9/19, 9 am-12:30 pm at the Minnewaska State Park office, Peter’s Kill Area parking lot, 5080 Rte 44-55, Gardiner, NY 12525 on how to respond to Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) to both mitigate damage from this invasive beetle and promote long-term ash conservation. Using the Monitoring and Managing Ash (MaMA) framework (see www.MonitoringAsh.org), crucial actions can be taken by landowners, citizen-scientists, and natural resource professionals at each stage of EAB invasion, ranging from pre-infestation to when virtually all an area’s ash have been killed. You’ll learn how to recognize EAB’s signs, which management responses are appropriate, how to participate in MaMA’s citizen-science projects, and how resistance breeding offers great hope for ash’s future. In the MaMA framework, it’s never too late or too early to take steps for ash conservation!

The workshop consists of two parts:

Part 1, 9:00-10:15, includes how to recognize EAB signs, considerations for treating or cutting ash, and why leaving some live ash standing is important for ash conservation. It also includes an introduction to MaMA’s interactive Lower Hudson map prioritizing actions for each locality and to MaMA’s citizen-science projects helping detect healthy trees for potential use in resistance breeding.

Part 2, 10:30-12:30 (optional), consists of hands-on training in MaMA’s citizen-science projects promoting long-term ash conservation by facilitating detection and selective breeding of naturally occurring trees having some EAB-resistance.

Continuing education units: DEC Pesticide Applicator (3 Forest; 3 Ornamental & Turf); NYS Nursery and Landscape Association (3.5 CNLP), International Society of Arboriculture (1.25 Arborist; 1.25 BCMA Practice), and Cornell Cooperative Extension (3 Master Naturalist). Earning these credits requires attending both Parts 1 and 2.

Pre- registration encouraged; for workshop registration or questions, email outreach@MonitoringAsh.org or call the Ecological Research Institute’s MaMA program at (845)- 419-5229.

This workshop is funded by the Lower Hudson Partnership for Regional Invasive Species Management and presented by the Ecological Research Institute in collaboration with Minnewaska State Park.