To celebrate Nebraska Invasive Species Awareness Week, invasive species professionals will be hosting Zoom webinars throughout the week! Join us on Tuesday, May 26 at 1 p.m. CT to learn about invasive eastern red cedar trees and their environmental and ecological impacts.

Pre-registration required:  REGISTER HERE

About the program: Schramm Park State Recreation Area in eastern Nebraska is a popular destination for hikers, families, and wildlife enthusiasts. The park features over 300 acres of oak woodlands, riparian forest, and eastern tallgrass prairie habitat. In recent years, Schramm was designated a demonstration site for habitat conservation in the Nebraska State Wildlife Action Plan, resulting in the creation of a habitat management plan for the park. In this plan, eastern red cedar encroachment was identified as a major problem for the health of the park’s oak woodlands.

Eastern red cedar trees are a native species with invasive tendencies that can quickly take over fire-adapted ecosystems in the absence of periodic fire. In 2024, with the help of state and federal funding, contractors were hired to remove over 98 acres of red cedar trees as the first step in restoring our oak woodlands. In this presentation, learn about the ongoing woodland restoration project at Schramm and the science behind it, as well as strategies that we’ve used to educate and engage the public in our restoration efforts.

About the presenter: Jen Ruyle is an Outdoor Education Specialist for the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission based at Schramm Park State Recreation Area. Jen went to school to study biology, completed an undergraduate research project on dung beetles, and then went on to obtain a master’s in entomology. After many outreach presentations, educational events, and classroom visits to teach about insects, she realized her true passion was environmental education. She has been working as an educator for 10 years. In her free time, she is an avid gardener and is slowly converting her family’s acreage to native plants and trees.

There will be opportunity for a Q&A with Jen after the presentation.