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Education News >> Subjects >> Forestry
Forestry News
Timber and tree owners have been hit especially hard the last several years by tornadoes, hurricanes, ice storms and other U.S. disasters.
Remember, trees damaged by fire or storm may entitle the owner to a federal tax deduction in the form of a "casualty loss". This includes losses to both timber and shade trees. You still must attempt to salvage the trees for any remaining value to qualify. A forester can help you with this...
Casualty losses occur when sudden, unexpected and unusual events damage your trees. The first step toward claiming that loss is to document the damage. Take pictures to show the actual property damage before cleanup efforts begin. In most cases you have until April 15, 2010 to report a "casualty loss" of any 2009 damage.
Catastrophic Events, Tree Damage and the IRS originally appeared on About.com Forestry on Friday, February 3rd, 2012 at 11:00:31.
So, you have either decided to plant some trees or create a new forest plantation. Let me help you find a nursery or seedling source that can provide you with trees. I will suggest companies that can supply you with equipment necessary to the task of tree planting. There are excellent sources that can be contacted via the Internet. Some of these sources actually offer discounted tree and some of the trees are actually free.
Find Sources for Tree Seedlings and Saplings
Find Sources for Tree Seedlings and Saplings originally appeared on About.com Forestry on Thursday, February 2nd, 2012 at 09:53:20.
Transporting firewood presents a very real threat to the American forests by spreading harmful tree insects. Invasive species including the Asian longhorned beetle (ALB) and emerald ash borer (EAB) can be carried into new areas of the country on firewood.
To date, ALB and EAB have been detected in a total of 13 States and without intervention the continued spread of these pests is likely. USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is concerned and developing strategies to help limit the insect's spread. Here is my report called Using Firewood in Regions with Emerald Ash Borer Infestations
Using Firewood in Regions with Emerald Ash Borer Infestations originally appeared on About.com Forestry on Monday, January 30th, 2012 at 04:32:05.
Don's Question: I am interested in how plants lift water. I walked by one of my wife's tomato plants this week end, and it was wilting. So, I watered it. I walked by again about 10 to 15 minutes later, and it was standing upright. It had lifted the water about 5 feet. How does this plant or a tall tree do this?
Steve's Answer: All plants depend on root osmosis, hydrostatic pressure, capillary action and transpiration. Non-woody plants (like tomatoes) depend on all those, plus turgor pressure, to stay rigid. Trees are a little more complicated and create their own rigid structures called roots, trunks and limbs.
Tree roots seek out water and absorb soil solutions through osmosis. Negative hydrostatic pressure attracts nutrient-filled water through a wick, made up of xylem cells (using capillary action), to limbs and leaves hundreds of feet high. Leaf pores called stomata open to capture carbon dioxide for photosynthesis but necessarily lose massive amounts of water from evaporation into the Earth's atmosphere. This water loss from plants is called transpiration.
This loss of water starts the effect all over again...
Gas Exchanging Stomata Pore - Getty Images/S. Lowry/Univ Ulster
How a Tree Absorbs and Uses Water originally appeared on About.com Forestry on Monday, January 23rd, 2012 at 06:47:46.
Rare Pignut Hickory in Maritime Forest - Photo by Steve Nix
Most of the Atlantic and Gulf coast is bordered by a "sand strand". The profile of this border is a landscape starting at the sea's edge and developing inland from beach to dunes to zones of woody vegetation called the "dwarf maritime forest". As the name suggests, there can be stunted tree growth due to the harsh conditions that trees constantly undergo surviving severe weather, salt and poor soil.
Atlantic maritime dune woodlands and maritime uplands are an overlooked, misunderstood forest community and under significant threat from both natural and man-made causes. Maritime dune forests are composed of deciduous, coniferous, and broadleaf evergreen trees. These trees include live oak, sabel palm , magnolia, holly, loblolly pine and a rare pignut hickory at Nags Head Woods.
Nags Head Woods is one exception to the idea of an upland ancient dune being stressed. Find out more about our beautiful maritime forests and especially the Nature Conservancy's Nags Head Woods Ecological Preserve.
Atlantic Dune Woodlands and Maritime Uplands Ecosystem originally appeared on About.com Forestry on Wednesday, January 18th, 2012 at 03:06:01.
Since the beginning of the 2007 economic downturn, forest industry sector mills have closed and terminated jobs with major local and regional economic impact. If you live in US timber country you have seen the result of the downturn with 1009 sawmill closures, 15 pulp mills down and 148 major secondary mills shut down, resulting in the loss of 294,000 full-time jobs. Nearly all timber regions in the United States have been effected.
An article, Forest Sector Reeling During Economic Downturn, written by United States Forest Service Inventory and Analysis (FIA) experts and published in The Forestry Source suggests that both global and domestic issues have caused worsening economic conditions in the forest industry.
This article reports that the "paper side of the forest sector has been most heavily influenced by global economic trends and (a decrease) in global markets for pulp-based products. The solid-wood side of the forest sector has been influenced primarily by domestic driving forces--the principal components being the drop in new residential construction from 1.7 million units annually to 450,000--and a decline in home remodeling as residential mortgages tightened and home sales dropped."
Lumber production is now down by 40% and equals recession burdened 1984's output. One "bright spot" seems to be a North American increase in timber-based exports to China, but even this will not support the industry until the US housing market rebounds.
Housing Downturn Causes Timber Harvest Slump originally appeared on About.com Forestry on Monday, January 16th, 2012 at 10:28:11.
Seasoned wood always starts best when aged for at least 6 months. Properly stacked firewood does not necessarily need to be under a shelter but may need a tarp during very wet seasons. You need to burn wood only when its moisture content has dropped to less than 20 percent. This lower moisture content is almost assured when split wood is exposed to daily drying conditions typical in summer and fall. Storing fire wood outdoors is perfectly fine when stacked and slightly off the ground.
Start stoves or fireplaces with newspaper and dry, resin saturated, coniferous kindling. When using this method, increase wood size from ignition until the largest split piece easily ignites. Stoves burn best and stay clean when the fire is hot. Remember that proper airflow is critical for maintaining proper burning. Proper airflow requires regular ash removal from your wood-burning stove.
Fireplace Image, Digitalshay/Flickr.com
How to Burn Wood originally appeared on About.com Forestry on Wednesday, January 11th, 2012 at 18:42:04.
Every discipline has it's own unique terminology. Here are 50 terms essential to understanding forests and communicating the language of forestry and related forest resource sciences.
For more terminology related to forests and forestry:
- The Complete Forest Resource Glossary
- Terms Related to Logging and Timber Harvesting
- Botanical Terms Related to Plants and Trees
- Essential Wildfire Terms
50 Essential Forestry Terms originally appeared on About.com Forestry on Wednesday, January 11th, 2012 at 03:30:46.
Our world forests have never been looked upon with such scrutiny, some would say a scrutiny we can ill afford. We need to cut - we need to preserve; we need to plant - we've planted too much; we should burn - we should never burn; we have a human obligation - we have an ecosystem obligation.
Who is right? Each view is staunchly defended. Each has radically differing agendas. In any event, they all come about as a result of a very real concern for the future of our forests and the resulting effect on the earth.
Let me try to give you a brief introduction to these differing beliefs. I have come to think of these views as the pantheistic, radical environmental, channeled environmental, and traditional environmental points of view.
- The Pantheist
- The Radical Environmentalist
- The Channeled Environmentalist
- The Traditional Environmentalist
Take this quiz to see where you fit as a forest environmentalist: Environmental Forestry Profile Quiz
The Environmentalist Forestry Movement - Forestry and the Environmentalist originally appeared on About.com Forestry on Monday, January 9th, 2012 at 01:25:02.
Heating efficiency of firewood is a product of how wood progresses through three stages of burning. In the first stage, wood is heated to the point where moisture is released. As the wood is losing moisture, its chemical composition is changing into volatile charcoal. The second stage is where moisture is mostly removed and actual flames burn off the volatile gases and liquids stored in the charcoal. Finally, the third stage occurs when the charcoal burns down and can be seen when coal embers glow. This is called "coaling".
This process can differ, depending on the species of tree, and very unique to conifers and hardwoods. What happens in these stages form the foundation of a species' heat value and determines the desirability of a wood as fuel. Read more in my article: Finding and Using Firewood for Home Heating
Stages In The Wood Burning Process originally appeared on About.com Forestry on Thursday, January 5th, 2012 at 12:50:31.
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