North Dakota State University's Albert K. Ekre Grassland Preserve will host the Ekre Field Day in Walcott, North Dakota, on Sept. 30. The event is free to attend and is designed to highlight the purpose of the Ekre Preserve and showcase the research conducted over the years.

“This is a great opportunity for researchers, land managers and community members to connect around shared interests in prairie conservation and applied science,” says Kevin Sedivec, NDSU Extension rangeland management specialist.

Session topics include the following:

• Ekre background, range research and grazing systems – Kevin Sedivec, NDSU Extension rangeland management specialist
• Prairie and wetland restoration: Increasing forage production while increasing ecological integrity – Shawn DeKeyser, NDSU professor
• Chemical trials for leafy spurge and perennial cool-season invasive grasses – Annie Bahe, NDSU graduate research assistant
• NDSU beef herd and hormone detection research – Garrett Havelka, NDSU Beef Teaching and Research Unit manager
• Fringed orchid research – Jacob VanDress, NDSU graduate student
• Riparian improvement through cattle grazing – Ben Menapace, research specialist at the Central Grasslands Research Extension Center
• Native bee surveys – Trebor Hall, NDSU graduate student
• Fire and woody encroachment research – Dillon Fogarty, NDSU rangeland ecology assistant professor

Registration starts at 9:30 a.m., and the field day will end at 3:30 p.m.

To register for the event, visit ndsu.ag/ekrefieldday.

NDSU Agriculture Communication – Sept. 11, 2025

Source: Justin Clarke, 570-878-5369, justin.r.clarke@ndsu.edu

Editor: Dominic Erickson, 701-231-5546, dominic.erickson@ndsu.edu