A forest service specialist will present a seminar Wednesday [Jan. 11] on opportunities in agroforestry.
Greg Ruark, program manager for the USDA National Agroforestry Center will speak at 2:00 in Tully Auditorium of Thompson Hall.
Ruark received a B.S. in forestry and an M.S in forest soils from the University of Massachusetts. He completed a Ph.D. with a double major in soil science and forest ecology from the University of Wisconsin.
Agroforestry combines agriculture and forestry technologies to create more integrated, diverse, productive, profitable, healthy and sustainable land-use systems.
Ruark began his 20-year research career with the U.S. Forest Service in North Carolina, where he conducted studies on the productivity of forest soils.
He has been the national program coordinator for tropical forestry and biological diversity research. He has also served as the U.S. State Department lead negotiator on forest policy to the United National Convention on Biological Diversity. He has served as lead coordinator for the President's National Science and Technology Council's subcommittees on Biodiversity and Ecosystem dynamics and Resource Use and Management.
