Press Releases

FROSTBURG, MD (April 25, 2013) – In honor of outstanding contributions to environmental education in Western Maryland, the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science's Appalachian Laboratory has selected the Forestry Technology Program at Allegany College as recipient of its 2013 Richard A. Johnson Environmental Education Award. Beginning with eight students in 1968, the program has grown to produce 580 graduates who are helping to manage our natural resources, as well as making contributions to the health of our urban forests.

FROSTBURG, MD (March 7, 2013)—Prairie dogs pull up stakes and look for a new place to live when all their close kin have disappeared from their home territory--a striking pattern of dispersal that has not been observed for any other species. This is according to a new study published in Science by behavioral ecologist John Hoogland, Professor at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science's Appalachian Laboratory. He has been studying the ecology and social behavior of prairie dogs in national parks in Arizona, South Dakota, and Utah for the last 40 years.

FROSTBURG, MD (January 28, 2013)--Since the climate began warming at the end of the last Ice Age, trees have had thousands of years to adapt to a warmer climate. But how will forests adapt to the rapid pace of current climate change? The National Science Foundation has awarded a $1.5 million grant to Drs. Stephen Keller, Andrew Elmore,Matthew Fitzpatrick, David Nelson, and Cathlyn Stylinski from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science's Appalachian Laboratory to study climate adaptation in forest trees and predict the areas where trees are most and least adapted to changing climates in the future.

SOLOMONS, MD (December 17, 2012)—Millions of tiny Atlantic menhaden swim in the Chesapeake Bay and are the favorite menu item of prized rockfish. They are also the heart of a major fish oil industry on the East Coast. However, their numbers have been declining.

CAMBRIDGE, MD (October 4, 2012) —The Horn Point Laboratory Oyster Hatchery of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science produced a record number of oysters in 2012 as part of its efforts for the restoration of Chesapeake Bay. In partnership with the Oyster Recovery Partnership and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, the Horn Point Hatchery produced more than 880 million oyster spat (young oysters that are attached to a larger oyster shell) this year. This is the fifth year in a row that production has exceeded half a billion.