--Kudos for CCE Master Gardener Volunteers

--Resource to help with inquiries about bed bugs.

--May 18, 2006 Cornell Invasive Species Forum

--Invasive Plant Council of NYS: MaM project of the Hudson Valley

--Cornell Lab of Ornithology seeks help from gardeners in My Yard Counts! project

--Northeast Symposium on Native Plant Education, Conservation and Gardening

--Grant opportunities

Kudos for CCE Master Gardener Volunteers. --- At Elmira Downtown Development's annual meeting April 26, 2006 CCE Master Gardeners Volunteers of Chemung County were honored with the following inscription on a plaque: "For their care and concern about the downtown environment and their tireless efforts at improving the city experience, we honor Cornell Cooperative Extension, Chemung County Master Gardeners program as 2006s Downtown Volunteers of the Year." Share your volunteers and programs kudos by sending notes to LJB7@cornell.edu.

Resource to help with inquiries about bed bugs. --- Check out this Harvard site. It is an excellent resource. One you can also direct consumers to: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/bedbugs/

Carolyn Klass - Cornell University's Insect Diagnostic Lab Other Cornell resources to help diagnosis: - Pest Management around the Home Pesticide Guidelines http://www.ipmguidelines.org/Home/Default.htm cce-hortdiagnostic-L -- An e-list diagnostic network for home and gardening issues. To join send an e-mail message to lyris@cornell.edu The body of the message should be: subscribe cce-hortdiagnostic-L "your name"

May 18, 2006 Cornell Invasive Species Forum --- The program details can be found at http://environment.cornell.edu/invasive To register for the all-day event, please send an e-mail message to Michele van de Walle (mjv28@cornell.edu) and indicate whether you will attend the lunch (provided).

Invasive Plant Council of NYS: Mile a Minute (MaM) project of the Hudson Valley --- Saturday, June 10th at Cliff House at Bear Mountain State Park the Mile a Minute (MaM) project of the Hudson Valley is kicking off its season with an event to train individuals who are interested in collaborating on the battle to push back the invasion of mile a minute in the Hudson Valley either as an individual or as a leader who will train others.

The purpose of the event is to train and provide knowledge to individuals in various areas of our mile-a-minute early detection and rapid response program for the lower Hudson Valley. You will learn identification and biology, inventorying and monitoring, control, and how to promote your efforts. We will also provide hand held GPS training.

For details contact Kristen Fix at kmfix@gw.dec.state.ny.us or 845-758-7015. For more info on mile a minute see the following website(s) http://www.ipcnys.org/sections/target/m1m_overview.htm http://www.css.cornell.edu/WeedEco/Published%20WT19-04-1071-1077.pdf

Cornell Lab of Ornithology seeks help from gardeners in My Yard Counts! project My Yard Counts! is a new citizen-science project that collects information about birds around residences in rural, suburban, and urban settings. Researchers are hoping to identify the features in yards that are most important to birds. Participants spend 20 minutes watching birds near their homes once a week from April to August. Data will be collected through the online eBird program. To learn more and to sign up for this free project, go to http://www.birds.cornell.edu/MyYardCounts.

Northeast Symposium on Native Plant Education, Conservation and Gardening Tuesday, June 27 - Thursday, June 29, 2006 Oswego County More info and registration at: http://www.esf.edu/outreach/NativePlants/

Grant opportunities -- November 1, 2006. The National Gardening Association http://www.garden.org/ and Home Depot http://www.homedepot.com/ have announced the 24th annual Youth Garden Grant Program. Over the last twenty-four years, NGA's Youth Garden Grants program has helped more than 1.3 million youngsters reap rewards and vital life lessons from working in gardens and habitats. Schools, youth groups, community centers, camps, clubs, treatment facilities, and intergenerational groups throughout the United States are eligible to apply. Applicants must plan to garden in 2007 with at least fifteen children between the ages of three and 18 years. Previous Youth Garden Grant winners who wish to reapply must wait one year andhave significantly expanded their garden programs. Applicants should demonstrate a child-centered plan that emphasizes children/youth learning and working in an outdoor garden. Areas considered for support include educational, environmental, or social programming; leadership; community support; sustainability; innovation, and need. Each winning program will receive educational materials http://fconline.foundationcenter.org/pnd/10002072/kidsgardening

For more information contact Lori Bushway
Phone: 607-255-5918