winter

A new, open access article co-authored by Michael Barnes, Eric Watkins, Kevin Frank, Bryan Runck, and Marylee Murphy has been published in HortTechnology. This study quantified psychological stress of golf course superintendents during the wintertime and identified specific environmental variables that drive or alleviate that stress.

Barnes, M. R., Watkins, E., Frank, K. W., Runck, B. C., & Murphy, M. S. (2026). Wintertime Stress among Golf Course Superintendents: Identifying Environmental Triggers and Anticipatory Responses. HortTechnology, 36(5), 1025–1029. https://doi.org/10.21273/HORTTECH05982-26

Learn more about our research! A new, open access article by Kristen Jakstis and Michael Barnes has been published in Global Environmental Psychology. The authors reviewed the literature and found that winter is a neglected season, especially in the area of human-nature-interactions. Winter-nature interactions are just as important to understand as other seasons' interactions.   

Please join the Metropolitan Council and the University of Minnesota Turfgrass Science group f

By Dan Sandor

Check out our team’s latest efforts in educating the public about our work.  We have a newscast segment, a video, several podcasts and an article!

WCCO’s Good Question: What Does This Extended Winter Mean for Our Lawns? featuring Sam Bauer

Beyond Beekeeping podcast interview by Mindy Holahan Peters featuring James Wolfin

WCCO’s Smart Gardens featuring Jon Trappe on March 24, and Sam Bauer on March 10 and March 3

By Maggie Reiter, Graduate Research Assistant