West Virginia University will host a combined meeting of the Southwide and Northeast Forest Disease Workshops Monday through Thursday, June 19-22, at the Canaan Valley Resort in Davis, W.Va.

�€?We are working on what promises to be an informative collaboration between the two working groups,�€? said Bill MacDonald, a WVU professor of plant pathology and one of the organizers of the event. �€?Plans are to have research papers, station reports, a pathology field trip, a student research competition and a photo contest.�€?

Diseases like chestnut blight, Dutch elm disease, and others have done millions of dollars in damage to American forests and pushed some tree species to the brink of extinction, MacDonald said.

The workshops will be attended by some of the leading researchers in the discipline and have been organized collaboratively with scientists from Auburn University and the USDA Forest Service.

�€?The Tucker County location is a real area of interest to forest pathologists, so the setting should add an extra dimension to the workshop,�€? MacDonald said.

For additional information, contact MacDonald at 304-293-8818, or macd@wvu.edu