The event at Forbes State Forest will focus on habitat management initiatives.
Conservation efforts that benefit the golden-winged warbler will be part of an event April 11 at Forbes State Forest.
Students from Dr. Carol Bocetti’s ornithology and principles of wildlife management class will see firsthand what they’ve studied when they attend a family-fun event at Forbes State Forest on April 11.
The event, which is open to the public, begins at 6 p.m. at the parking lot on the corner of Camp Run Road and Route 381, in Donegal Township, Westmoreland County.
The event will include a presentation on management efforts on a 240-acre habitat project to benefit the American woodcock and golden-winged warbler.
Cal U 2018 graduates Kristin Bomboy and Luke Gray will be the co-presenters. Their research includes territoriality, nesting, overseeing woodcock surveys and looking at all topics dealing with the aiding and response to the management.
“This demonstration is a public education event to show private foresters as well as other agencies what’s been done and how woodcocks have responded to it,” said Bocetti, a professor in the Department of Biological and Environmental Science.
The Partners for Fish and Wildlife, a conservation collaborative based at Cal U coordinated the work and monitoring program, with financial support from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.
Partners for Fish and Wildlife coordinator Jose Taracido spoke to Bocetti’s wildlife management students earlier this semester.
“This is a wonderful opportunity because our students will now be able to see what habitat enhancements he was talking about and then observe the birds' response to it,” Bocetti said. “Two alumni presenting really gives it a ‘Cal helping Cal’ touch.”
Following Bomboy and Gray’s presentation, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Bureau of Forestry, a habitat biologist from the Wildlife Management Institute, and the regional biologist for the Ruffed Grouse Society will lead a short tour of managed sites.
Along the way, wildlife enthusiasts and landowners will hear about opportunities to enhance forest and shrub habitat to attract greater wildlife diversity.
For more information, call the Forbes State Forest office at 724-238-1200.