MISSISSIPPI STATE -- A four-day symposium at Mississippi State University will draw researchers, biologists and land managers concerned with enhancing, restoring and managing the prairies of the Southeastern United States.

The Southeastern Prairie Symposium will be May 14 through 17 in Starkville. Sessions will focus on prairie remnants, conservation, management and working grasslands in the region.

“The primary goal of this symposium is to compare effective approaches to prairie restoration and enhancement throughout the Southeast region,” said JoVonn Hill, a Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station associate researcher and one of the event organizers. “We want to identify broad-scale generalities in management practices and biota while recognizing differences at the specific ecosystem level.”

A keynote address is planned for each session. Speakers will focus on prairie conservation and management, prairie natural biota, and prairie working grasslands.

Participants will visit the Pulliam Prairie, a 200-acre, high-quality Black Belt prairie in Chickasaw County, and B. Bryan Farms and Prairie Wildlife Preserve, a 5,200-acre farm managed for agricultural production and wildlife conservation. Workshops on prairie green roofs, the insects of Southeastern prairies and insect collection methods will be conducted.

General registration is $150 per person, and there are options for individual day registration and field trips. Complete details and registration are available at http://www.cfr.msstate.edu/wildlife/prairie/. Contact Laura Andrews, 662-325-6694 or landrews@cfr.msstate.edu for more information.