Browse Environment Stories - Page 22

This time of the year, everyone is thinking of decking the halls with hollies and their colorful red berries, but you just may want to consider adding a touch of gold. Can you even imagine hollies with bright golden berries? These would show out in the landscape like small trees or shrubs adorned with a thousand little golden lights — and the same for the mantel! My preference, however, would be to see birds celebrating with a Christmas feast.

Cooler temperatures are needed this winter to avoid another disastrous peach season, according to Jeff Cook, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension County coordinator in Taylor and Peach counties. 

Tropical Storm Irma broke pecan tree limbs, knocked trees down and blew nuts off the trees and out of their shucks when it moved through Georgia in early September, yet University of Georgia Cooperative Extension pecan specialist Lenny Wells is still optimistic about this year’s crop. He estimates yields ranging from 85 to 100 million pounds.

Using grant funds from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the University of Georgia Center for Urban Agriculture has developed safety training for green industry employees. To date, these programs have reached more than 4,000 workers.

If this October’s temperatures didn’t have you craving pumpkin spice, you’re not alone. The entire state was about four degrees warmer than normal this year. While the dry, warm weather may have made it hard to celebrate the beginning of fall, it was great for Georgia agriculture, aiding in the harvest of cotton, peanuts and soybeans across the state.

University of Georgia natural resource economist Craig Landry will use his portion of a $1.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to study how the economy and the environment are affected when humans and coastal regions commingle. The four-year project is a team effort with researchers from Colorado, North Carolina and Ohio.

While there is no hard-and-fast method to determining the exact number of deer in a county or state, current population estimates are coming in at just over 1 million animals. Ultimately, the habitat quality in a particular area limits the number of deer hunters may see.

Zoe, a loggerhead sea turtle that lived at the Burton 4-H Center on Tybee Island, Georgia, for the past five years, was released on the island Saturday, Sept. 30. A large crowd of local residents and tourists gathered with cameras ready as Zoe was lowered into the water just south of the pier on Tybee Beach, where the sea turtle hatched.

What has 16 paws, eight hooves and three beaks? The answer can be found at Athens, Georgia’s Bear Hollow Zoo, and it’s not a fantastic beast. It’s a coloring book featuring some of the zoo’s most notable residents.

University of Georgia Cooperative Extension recently welcomed eight water educators to the organization. Formerly part of the Georgia Soil and Water Conservation Commission, the positions were transferred to UGA Extension by Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal.