Carlton Owen lecturer to share insights from longleaf pine ecosystem
Contact: Vanessa Beeson
STARKVILLE, Miss.—Kier Klepzig, director and research entomologist at the Georgia-based Jones Center at Ichauway, will present Mississippi State’s 2026 Carlton Owen Lecture on April 24.
The annual event, hosted by MSU’s College of Forest Resources, takes place at 10 a.m. in Thompson Hall’s Tully Auditorium.
Part of the university’s celebration of Earth Month, Klepzig will deliver the public lecture “Resistant Trees, Resilient Ecosystems and the Long Life of Longleaf Pine,” exploring the ecology and management of longleaf pine ecosystems.
“We are honored to have Dr. Kier Klepzig present our Carlton Owen Lecture,” said Wes Burger, CFR dean and director of the Forest and Wildlife Research Center. “As a conservationist who works to ensure forested landscapes are managed and productive, he has assembled a team of experts who demonstrate and practice natural resources management and conservation.”
A Chicago native who earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Wisconsin, Klepzig has spent nearly a decade at the ecosystem research organization in Newton, Georgia.
“For my lecture, I hope to take people on a journey through the longleaf pine ecosystem that once stretched across 90 million acres from East Texas to Virginia. This fire-adapted, resilient, open-canopy savanna dominated the landscape but has declined to just 4% of its original range, making it a focus of major restoration efforts.”
The Jones Center at Ichauway is a nearly 30,000-acre property founded by the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation, and it has grown from a quail hunting preserve into a leading research center for the ecology of longleaf pine ecosystems and associated biodiversity. The privately funded center manages this diverse landscape and partners with universities, including Mississippi State.
“I think our relationship with Mississippi State grew stronger when Dr. Wes Burger joined and later chaired our advisory committee,” Klepzig said. “His invitation to give this lecture is a big honor. He’s been an influential advisor and a good friend who has had a huge impact on the center over the past five years.”
The MSU lecture series was established more than 30 years ago by Greenville, South Carolina, resident and 1974 MSU graduate Carlton Owen. The annual lecture focuses on natural resource conservation and leadership.
Learn more about MSU’s College of Forest Resources at www.cfr.msstate.edu.
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