Pennsylvania Forestry Association
News You Can Use
|
|
A Message from PFA President Mark Ott
|
June was a glorious month this year with a great mix of rain and dry, cool and hot, cloudy and sunny. We continue to work on the multitude of neglected projects and making great headway.
The wood thrushes seem more prolific than they were early on. We counted 7 separate birds calling one evening. The whip-poor-wills continue calling but are tapering off. They were quite vocal in the middle of the month. A visiting nephew who was camping on the property complained that it was hard to sleep because of their call. To us, they are music to go to sleep by. To my granddaughter, they are misnamed. She is convinced they are calling her name – Krystaleigh, not whip-poor-will. If you get a chance to hear one, I think you will agree that their call is her name.
Our new and very small vernal pools continue to be fascinating. We saw one about to dry up and transferred many of the tadpoles from there to a better pool. That pool had the yearling snapping turtle in it. My granddaughter captured the turtle and, after we convinced her not to keep it as a pet, we released it in the stream about 75 yards from the pool. Within days, the tadpoles graduated to frogs and dispersed. Two days ago, the turtle was back. I am sure it is not as satisfied with the food source that remains, but it seemed to be enjoying its home pool anyway. Today we found bear tracks at the edge of the pool and in the pool itself. The water was settling after a good stirring by the bear. The turtle was not found. Perhaps bears like snapper soup?
On a UTV trip up to the ridge with Krystaleigh I stopped to show her the patch of Lady Slipper Orchids we had found the week before. As we walked off the road and into the pines, I caught movement to the side. Looking at the source we found a Coopers Hawk standing on the ground, wings outstretched. It was in distress and could not manage to hop up on a log. With gloves on, a quick capture was made. Being a Wildlife Courier for Wildlife in Need I knew where to take it and had the forms on hand for turning it over to a local wildlife rehabilitator. We hope to hear some day that it is ready to be release back where it was found. Had we not stopped to see the flowers, that hawk would likely be a pile of feathers in the woods.
Our Forester, Mike Eckley, was doing a timber inventory as part of writing a new forestry plan for us. He came upon a dead fawn in the Golden Winged Warbler cut. It had damage around the face and was essentially eviscerated. He took pictures and sent them to a contact at the PA Game Commission where the killers were identified as coyotes. The graphic description that came back was that coyotes go for the face and guts, bobcats go for the hams and bears take the whole thing. In a landscape where the deer herd is in balance, most does will drop their fawns in a short window of time. This overwhelms the predators. Some fawns will fall victim, but the majority of them will quickly become too fast and nimble to remain prey for long. Our wild and wonderful forests have an ongoing drama of life and death along with their beauty and bounty. You just need to get out there and see it. I encourage you to do so as often as you can.
PFA remains busy with our first Zoom Board meeting and work continues on the Summer issue of PA Forests, which will be dedicated to the 125
th anniversary of the PA DCNR Bureau of Forestry. Please, take time to enjoy it when your copy arrives.
The Forest Heritage Committee is working together with The Ned Smith Center for Nature and Art to create a virtual tour of the museum in Caledonia State Park. They are also working on funding for a feasibility study of establishing a new venue in the planned new Michaux State Forest office building.
The Tree Farm Committee is busy working to get inspections done during the current health crises. They are considering the Tree Farmer of the Year nominations and looking for new leadership as Gay & Harold Thistle plan their move to NY state. Tree Farm is also working with the American Forest Foundation on the Family Forest Carbon Program for private forest landowners. This has the potential to benefit landowners, however, there are many hurdles that need to be negotiated and bumps that need to be smoothed out.
The Annual Symposium Committee is pulling together an exciting 5-day virtual event. The theme is
Change in PA Forests. This is scheduled for October 26-30 from noon to one each day. We will be sending out information on registering to attend. Watch for updates, get it in your calendar and please consider attending each of these sessions.
Enjoy the summer season outdoors. Be safe,
Mark Ott
President
The Pennsylvania Forestry Association
|
|
PFA 2020 Board of Directors Election
|
Voting for the PFA Board of Directors is online this year! There is still an opportunity to vote by mail as well, however if you would like to see the biographies of our slate of candidates, please check out the page on the PFA website!
|
PA Forests 2020 Summer Awards
|
Request for Nominations:
Sandy Cochran Award for Excellence in Natural Resource Education
The Pennsylvania Forestry Association is seeking nominations for the 2020 Sandy Cochran Award for Excellence in Natural Resources Education. This award honors individuals or programs designing, developing, and implementing educational programs focused on the conservation and management of Pennsylvania’s natural resources. Nominations are by letter of support and include background information on the nominee, such as would be included in a vita. As well, the nominator should provide information on program focus (e.g., water, forests, recreation, wildlife), principle audiences affected (e.g., adults, students, youth programs, resource professionals), geographic area targeted (e.g., statewide, region, county, school district), and, if possible, behavior or impact changes linked to the program. Each nomination must also include three letters of support for the nominee. Deadline for application is September 1, 2020.
For more information or to submit a nomination, contact the Pennsylvania Forestry Association, Attention: Cochran Award Chairman, 300 North Second Street, Suite 1002, Harrisburg, PA 17101 or email:
[email protected].
|
|
Call for Nominations: The Pennsylvania Forestry Association’s
Mira Lloyd Dock Outstanding Woman Conservationist Award
#
Honor Character Respect
Celebrating the value of the contributions of women to Pennsylvania’s natural resources, the Pennsylvania Forestry Association is pleased to announce the Mira Lloyd Dock Award. Mira Lloyd Dock is recognized as the first Pennsylvania woman to lead the way in forest conservation. In order to honor her outstanding contributions to the foundation of forest conservation in the Commonwealth, her skills as an advocate for Penn’s Woods, and her diligence as a “Friend of the Forest,” it is only appropriate that PFA names this award for her. Ms. Dock’s character and motivation set the example for future women of conservation, who PFA wishes to recognize for their professional and/or personal commitment with this award.
Award Criteria
Nominations shall be made in the form of a letter, not more than two typed pages long, with content based on the following criteria:
1.
Forest Conservation Activities
2.
Effective Outreach
3.
Engagement with others/building collaborative relationships
4.
Commitment to learning/resource-based knowledge
5.
Additional Recognition related to Natural Resource Conservation
The award will be announced at the Pennsylvania Forestry Association Annual Symposium.
The deadline for nominations is September 1, 2020. Nominations are welcome from any interested individual or group. Membership in the PFA is not a requirement for the nominee or those submitting a nomination. For more information or to submit a nomination, contact the Pennsylvania Forestry Association, Attention: PFA Awards Committee, 300 North Second Street, Suite 1002, Harrisburg, PA 17101 or email:
[email protected]
.
Mira Lloyd Dock (1853-1945), pictured above, was a botanist, educator, author, civic leader, conservationist, and activist.
|
|
Call for Nominations:
JOSEPH T. ROTHROCK AWARD
Each year at its annual meeting, the Pennsylvania Forestry Association (PFA) recognizes an individual, organization or group’s significant contributions to the public recognition of the importance of Pennsylvania’s forest resources in the same tradition and spirit of Dr. Joseph T. Rothrock. Dr. Rothrock served as the first president of PFA and earned the title, “Father of Forestry in Pennsylvania,” through his untiring efforts to promote the forest conservation movement in Pennsylvania.
NOMINEES FOR THE AWARD WILL BE EVALUATED ACCORDING TO THREE SELECTION CRITERIA
1.
Value of contributions to the continued conservation of Pennsylvania’s forest resource. (60%)
2.
Public recognition and stature of the individual in the field of resource conservation. (30%)
3.
Other Unique or special considerations which demonstrate a long term commitment to conservation. (10%)
Nominations for the award should address these three criteria in appropriate detail.
Nominations are welcome from any interested individual or group. The deadline for nominations is September 1, 2020. Membership in the PFA is not a requirement for the nominee or those submitting a nomination. For more information or to submit a nomination, contact the Pennsylvania Forestry Association, Attention: Rothrock Award Chairman, 300 North Second Street, Suite1002, Harrisburg, PA 17101 or email:
[email protected]
.
|
|
Keystone 10 Million Tree Partnership
|
|
The Fall Tree and Supply Request form is now open for you to submit your fall planting projects! It is open through
Friday July 17, 2020.
Here are some details from Eric Livelsberger:
"Unlike past seasons, plants and supplies will need to be picked up from the staging districts listed in the form. The supply staging district will be open weeks prior to the plant staging district to minimize the space that we will utilize at each location. There will be two scheduled weekends that you can pick your plants up, one in September and October, at all staging districts except for Bradford, Susquehanna and Tioga counties. If you have a larger request (1,000 plants or more) and you do not have a mode of transportation to pick them up, please email me and we will work on a direct delivery.
We are still working on firm staging district dates at this time and we will send out another mass email with this information once we finalize with the supplier and staging districts.
For now, please select the district of your choice. Once the schedule is released we will work on an alternative if those dates conflict with prior engagements on your schedule. We appreciate your flexibility.
This fall’s containerized seedlings are provided by Octoraro Native Plant Nursery, based in Kirkwood, Pennsylvania. Each species will be arranged in flats of 25."
The Partnership is looking at planting approximately 32,000 trees across Pennsylvania through the fall and early winter.
|
|
We invite you to participate in a survey, which is designed to help us gauge how agroforestry is being practiced across Pennsylvania. Your responses can help DCNR understand need in order to assist in broader adoption of agroforestry practices.
Agroforestry describes a suite of practices that combine trees with annual or perennial crops and/or livestock to provide economic and ecological benefits to farmers and forest landowners across the landscape. There are five broadly recognized agroforestry practices. How it is practiced depends on landowners’ interests and production goals, as well as existing conditions:
- Riparian forest buffers: permanent stands of trees/shrubs planted along streams or water bodies
- Windbreaks and shelterbelts: rows of trees/shrubs planted and managed as part of a crop or livestock operation to control soil erosion, manage snow drift, or provide other benefits.
- Alley cropping: agricultural or horticultural crops cultivated between rows of crop trees
- Silvopasture: a combination of trees/shrubs, forage, and livestock simultaneously and intentionally managed to enhance production
- Forest farming: combination of trees/shrubs managed to shelter shade-tolerant specialty crops (such as ginseng, ramps, fiddleheads, and mushrooms).
This survey builds on information learned in a 2004 Penn State survey of Pennsylvania farmers and forest landowners. This survey revealed that many respondents were interested in implementing agroforestry practices on their land but lacked the information and access to technical support to do so.
In response to this need for assistance, Penn State partnered with DCNR, USDA, Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture, and producers across the state to conduct trainings and peer-to-peer education about agroforestry.
This 2020 survey will help us gage to the success of these efforts and help direct future support. We have preliminary good news, in that the 2017 Census of Agriculture, Pennsylvania ranked number one in the country for respondents that practice agroforestry on their farms!
Please take a few minutes (15 or so) to help us focus our outreach and education programs!
Many thanks to you as participants, and to the Pennsylvania Forestry Association and the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau for their support of this survey!
Tracey Coulter - Agroforestry Coordinator, DCNR
|
|
Bureau of Forestry Strategic Plan Survey
|
|
The Pennsylvania DCNR Bureau of Forestry is in the process of writing a new Strategic Plan that will set the bureau’s mission and overarching goals. It guides how the Bureau provides leadership in forest management and conservation on both public and private lands in urban and rural areas. The survey linked below is intended to obtain input pertaining to the new Bureau of Forestry Strategic Plan. Please feel free to forward the link to this survey to others. Opinions about these critical strategic questions will prove valuable in the planning process. The survey should take approximately 10 minutes to complete. The survey link will remain active until August 31, 2020.
|
|
Improving Forest-Bird Habitat through Forestry
|
|
Penn State Extension
-
Registration Deadline: July 7 - 28, 2020
The Improving Forest-bird Habitat through Forestry LIVE webinar series will cover how to integrate standard silviculture practices and habitat management for birds to meet multiple objectives.
When
Jul. 7, 14, 21, and 28
(3:00 PM - 4:00 PM ET)
Webinar Access
The link to access the webinar is provided immediately upon completion of registration in your registration confirmation email.
Participants will learn the habitat requirements for a suite of focal species, including Wood Thrush, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Golden-winged Warbler, Ruffed Grouse, and others; and how to use common forestry practices to meet habitat requirements.
Penn State Extension is presenting this webinar series in partnership with Audubon Pennsylvania. The webinar series will provide advice from a variety of experts including, Audubon PA, Penn State Extension, U.S Forest Service, PA Game Commission, and the Natural Resource Conservation Service.
Educational Goals
To train natural resources management professionals and landowners in sustainable forestry practices that benefit birds, while still meeting commercial, recreational, and aesthetic goals; and provide forestry professionals with the knowledge and skills to attract a new and diverse clientele.
Who Should Attend?
Forestry, wildlife, and other natural resource management professionals as well as interested forest landowners.
Credit Information
Society of American Foresters Continuing Forestry Education Credits will be provided for attending the LIVE webinar sessions.
|
|
Pollinator Series: Bee Biodiversity in Pennsylvania
|
|
Penn State Extension-
Registration Deadline: Wednesday, July 15, 2020
Did you know Pennsylvania is home to over 430 species of bees? Learn all about the bees of Pennsylvania at the Pollinator Series: Bee Biodiversity in Pennsylvania LIVE webinar!
When
Wed., Jul. 15, 2020
(3:00 PM - 4:15 PM ET)
Webinar Access
The link to access the webinar is provided immediately upon completion of registration in your registration confirmation email.
To Be Covered
- How the species are different from each other
- What species are native to North America
- How you can help conserve bees
Pollinator Series
This and other webinars in the Pollinator Series seek to increase awareness of issues surrounding pollinator health, management, and pollinator habitat. Each webinar will target a variety of stakeholders, including the general public, homeowners, scientists, conservation groups, beekeepers, and growers.
|
|
Virginia Forestry Summit 2020
|
Join the Virginia Forestry Association, Virginia Chapter of the Association of Consulting Foresters, and Virginia Division of the Society of American Foresters for our first-ever
virtual
Forestry Summit!
This Summit will take place August 12-13, 2020.
Registration for the 2020 VA Forestry Virtual Summit will open in July! Visit the
official Summit Website
for event updates!
|
|
Earth Day Wildflower Seed Packets Available for Free
|
|
We have some leftover wildflower seed packets that were never able to be used for Earth Day festivities this past April. The Association would like to offer them free of charge to the membership with a small fee for shipping/postage costs. There is a minimum order of 10 packets and a maximum order of 100. The fee for shipping 10-50 packets is $7.50 and for 51-100 is $15. If you would like to place an order please send an email to
[email protected].
|
|
60-day Public Comment Period
|
|
The American Tree Farm System® (ATFS), a program of the American Forest Foundation, announces a second 60-day public comment period during the review process of the ATFS Standards of Sustainability.
The ATFS Standards are the benchmark for all ATFS forest certifications and its national network of certified inspectors and certificate holders. All certifications are third-party audited.
During this review period, running from
June 2 through August 2
, the public is encouraged to provide feedback on the proposed 2020-2025 Standards of Sustainability, which reflect comments submitted during a first public comment period, conducted earlier this year. In addition, the public is also invited to submit feedback on the Requirements for Independently Managed Groups (IMGs).
Additional communications with links to participate will be sent once the comment period opens on June 2nd.
|
|
Forestry News You Can Use
|
|
AFF Policy Team Helping Increase Private Land Accessibility to Carbon Markets
|
|
American Forestry Foundation
- This month, Senators Braun, Stabenow, Graham, & Whitehouse introduced the Growing Climate Solutions Act, a new bill that recognizes the entry barriers that prevent private landowner participation in carbon markets and provides solutions. AFF, along with several other conservation partners, helped refine this piece of legislation to enable it to bring innovative and credible options to landowners to access reliable information about markets and qualified technical assistance providers, including third-party verifiers, such as the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) and American Carbon Registry (ACR).
|
|
Northeast Forestry Struggles Amid Covid-19
|
|
Eric Kinglsey, July 10, 2020 - American Agriculturalist
COVID-19 has hurt demand for paper and pulp, and biomass is struggling against renewables and oil.
Biomass, pulpwood and saw logs make up almost all the wood harvested in the Northeast.
Each is important to the sustainability of the region’s forestry industry, but due to the current state of the economy the industry is facing a handful of economic challenges as well as a few opportunities.
Housing starts, a reliable indicator of market health, has enjoyed a sustainable climb the past couple of years. But it collapsed once the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
With that said, lumber prices have held reasonably steady. This is due to mills in the Southeast, Pacific Northwest and Canada electing to reduce capacity and, therefore, limit supply to reflect the decrease in demand. In addition, the forestry industry was largely deemed essential across the U.S., so in many places building has continued.
Even with the drop in housing starts and home sales slowing nationally, home repair and remodeling has increased significantly. Home centers such as Lowe’s and Home Depot have reported record demand. Most of that demand is from small-quantity purchases, but these “little sales” add up.
Tough times for mills
Most Northeast mills — though not all — operated at close to “normal capacity” in spring and mud season. Inventory of logs and sawn lumber has grown to record levels, which could be a sign of tough times ahead. Adding to this surplus may be the stall in building permits across the Northeast, as towns and cities have been operating at reduced capacity due to COVID-19.
A bright spot for hardwood mills is that export markets have recovered somewhat as workers return to manufacturing businesses in places such as Asia.
Through the spring and early summer, log prices have softened partly from normal spring and mud season conditions, and partly from pandemic effects. Overall, this summer will tell us more about the solid wood market.
Shrinking residuals, CLT potential
Anyone who purchases a cylinder (log) and sells a rectangle (board) needs a market for everything that’s not in that rectangle. The market for this residue has shrunk, and this is a dangerous sign for a healthy industry. The restart of Old Town, Maine’s, softwood mill has been welcome news, but that has been offset by the Jay, Maine, explosion that decimated the Androscoggin Mill’s pulp processing capacity.
Cross-laminated timber (CLT) is a market that has lots of unrealized potential in the Northeast. These large-scale, prefabricated panels can be used for construction and are favorable due to their solid engineering and strong design while also being lightweight. While there is promise for this resource and market, ground has not yet been broken on a CLT manufacturing facility in the region. Given its high potential, future plants, if built in the region, are likely to use spruce or fir lumber. Long term, this could also provide a market for hemlock and potentially white pine, as promising research out of University of Massachusetts Amherst suggests.
Biomass looks bleak
In short, at least for the foreseeable future, it looks like biomass electricity will not be viable without public support. This conclusion comes from a combination of the cost to pay staff and facility operations, the fuel per megawatt-hour to run these facilities, and more. Renewable Energy Certificates are available for some facilities. For those that qualify, these may be a key piece of their operations. However, once offshore wind and other lower-cost renewables establish a foothold in the region, the biomass electricity industry will largely be uneconomical. In addition to wood being used for electricity, it’s energy can also be used for heat. There are many biomass heating projects that have traditionally competed very well in the Northeast and rural areas that rely on oil for heating. However, the return of low oil prices may spell limited near-term growth for wood heat. These facilities have been bolstered by the existence of Thermal Renewable Energy Certificates (T-RECs) in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and soon Maine for wood heating, which can provide significant money to support these operations.
Pulp and paper uncertainty
The health of pulp and paper is very mill-specific. The product mix of these mills has shown to be critical during COVID-19 due to tissue, paper towels and wipes being in very high demand.
Some specialty uses are very strong. Packaging demand is increasing as large distribution companies such as Amazon, UPS and FedEx report increased use of their delivery services.
There has been a drop in demand from printing and writing paper because of schools and offices closing, and halted brochure use from lack of traveling consumers
There are many questions for the pulp and paper industry that will have to be answered:
- How will work-from-home be integrated into companies and what does that mean for paper demand?
- Will reliance on online shopping and grocery delivery become the norm?
- What market shifts will be temporary and which ones structural?
What we do know is the current recession is bigger than anyone expected, and the economic reopening has left many unanswered questions. Ultimately, the solution lies in millions of individual decisions to get an idea of what the “new normal” will look like.
Emerging industries
An emerging industry is a new wood-based insulation facility under construction in Madison, Maine. This plant expects to begin commercial production in 2021 and will use softwood chips to create home wood fiber insulation for the residential and light commercial construction market.
Companies have been looking across the Northeast for new opportunities in biofuels, biochemicals, cross-laminated timber, nanocellulose and more.
For better or worse, the forest industry is accustomed to boom-and-bust cycles and is experienced in handling them. Northeast markets are incredibly well-positioned compared to other parts of the country, and the forest resources and supply infrastructure is incomparable to other regions.
In addition, the region’s consumers live near Northeast timber markets.
This time presents an opportunity for the forestry industry to develop new technology and test product innovation that can attract new markets while maintaining traditional markets.
Kingsley is a partner in Innovative Natural Resource Solutions LLC (INRS), a natural resource industries consulting firm with offices in New Hampshire and Maine.
Source: Farm Credit East, which is solely responsible for the information provided and is wholly owned by the source. Informa Business Media and all its subsidiaries are not responsible for any of the content contained in this information asset.
|
|
Scientists identify genes tied to ash trees' resistance to emerald ash borer
|
|
The Emerald Ash Borer has decimated ash trees over the past two decades since the invasive insect was introduced to the United States. Recently, international scientists have identified specific genes on EAB-resistant ash trees which will hopefully aid in breeding resistant trees.
Find the full article
here.
|
|
Study in Philadelphia Links Growth in Tree Canopy to Decrease in Human Mortality
|
|
Philadelphia, PA, June 16, 2020 - The first city-wide health impact assessment of the estimated effects of a tree canopy initiative on premature mortality in Philadelphia suggests that increased tree canopy could prevent between 271 and 400 premature deaths per year. The study by
Michelle Kondo
, a Philadelphia-based research social scientist with the
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Forest Service
, and her partners suggest that increased tree canopy or green space could decrease morbidity and mortality for urban populations – particularly in areas with lower socioeconomic status where existing tree canopies tend to be the lowest.
The study, "Health impact assessment of Philadelphia's 2025 tree canopy cover goals," examined the potential impact of
Greenworks Philadelphia
, a plan to increase tree canopy to 30 percent across the city by 2025, on human mortality. The analysis is one of the first to estimate the number of preventable deaths based on physical activity, air pollution, noise, heat, and exposure to greenspaces using a tool developed by public health researchers in Spain and Switzerland called the Greenspace-Health Impact Assessment
Recently published in the journal The Lancet Planetary Health, the study is available through the Forest Service's Northern Research Station at:
https://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/59911
Kondo and her partners estimated the annual number of preventable deaths associated with projected changes in tree canopy cover in Philadelphia between 2014 and 2025 under three scenarios of increased urban green space. They found that increasing urban tree canopy to the Greenworks Philadelphia goal of 30 percent in all neighborhoods could prevent 400 deaths annually, but lesser increases in tree canopy still resulted in reduced mortality. A 5 percentage point increase in tree canopy only in areas without trees could result in an annual reduction of 302 deaths citywide, researchers found, and a 10 percentage point increase in tree canopy cover across the city was associated with an estimated reduction of 376 deaths
“This study supports the idea that increasing tree canopy and urban greening efforts are worthwhile, even at modest levels, as health-promoting and cost-saving measures,” Kondo said.
Current tree canopy in Philadelphia ranges from 2 percent to 88 percent, with an average 20 percent urban tree canopy coverage based on 2014 data.
“In recent weeks, as residents of many cities experienced quarantine conditions, we experienced a heightened need for public green space,” Kondo said. “While the COVID-19 pandemic has meant that we need to pay attention to our proximity to other people and take precautions to limit our contact, time outside in parks and forests has been critical to maintaining our mental and physical health.”
Find the original article
here.
|
|
Snags Have Finally Been Rebranded as Habitat Trees
|
|
By Cara Giaimo July 8, 2020
- A hardy tree can lose branches in a windstorm, get hollowed out by insects and birds, or even be split by lightning and remain standing. Although such trees are not necessarily alive themselves, they’re almost always full of life: they may be roosts for bats and marsupials, nut hideouts for squirrels and woodpeckers, scaffolds for moss and bryophytes, or sap dispensaries for insects and fungi. Many conservationists advocate for protecting these multi-use structures, colloquially called “snags” and known to ecologists as “habitat trees.”
According to the authors, the first known written call to save habitat trees came in 1819, from a little-known German forest scientist named Karl Friedrich von Sponeck. Knowing how his advice might be received, von Sponeck framed such trees as a kind of necessary ugliness. “It may seem strange to many people that it is advised to conserve old hollow trees,” he wrote. “But for a certain period, they will certainly prefer to find some deformed, old hollow trees in the forest than to see thousands of younger, more beautiful trees dying back.”
Over the course of the nineteenth century, as people became more concerned with the welfare of birds—especially insect-eating ones, which were considered particularly useful — this idea spread somewhat, the authors write. In the 1860s, one German ornithologist, Constantin Wilhelm Lambert Gloger, “demanded that all German governments instruct forest officers not to cut down hollow trees,” and called for the planting of species, like oaks, that would likely become hollow in the future, the authors write. (Indeed, Gloger was so devoted to hollow trees, he tried to copy them: he was one of the first people to put up bat boxes.)
In Central Europe, this idea received a lot of pushback from forest managers, who were concerned that keeping habitat trees standing would reduce the health of the forest overall. But there were stealthy champions in their ranks: there’s evidence that some employees preserved such trees “clandestinely, against the instructions of their supervisors,” the authors write.
By the late 1800s, the authors write, a certain amount of respect for hollow trees had spread across Europe and to the United States. In the early 1900s, American hunters and trappers “frequently called for the conservation of den trees” that housed their target animals. A few ecologists also started looking into who exactly lived in habitat trees. But through the 20th century, chopping down so-called “faulty trees” was still the order of the day in many parts of the world, including Australia, India, Europe, and the United States, the authors write. Even “veteran trees”—enormous old trees whose cultural impact matches their ecological one—started to lose standing as timber production became more and more efficient.
It wasn’t until the 1970s, as the idea of conservation for its own sake began to gain prominence, that the idea of protecting such trees went mainstream, the authors write. The term “habitat tree”—a successful rebrand—appears to have been coined in the late 1970s, by foresters in Australia. In the decades since, ecologists have investigated “the previously neglected importance of habitat trees for the conservation of species groups,” from tiny sap-eating beetles to large endangered mammals like sun bears.
Now, habitat tree preservation is a vital part of conservation plans both
statewide
and
backyard
. Urban arborists
even create them
, often out of trees that might otherwise be cut down.
As the authors point out, this was a slow burning idea: “It took nearly 200 years to widely implement the trend-setting ideas of far-sighted 19th-century foresters and natural scientists who called for the protection of habitat trees,” they write. And that timeline is almost certainly too short: Hollow trees have played important roles for much longer in indigenous societies from
North America
to
Australia
.
It makes you wonder: What are we totally overlooking now that, in a few centuries, we’ll wish we’d kept around?
Find the original article
here.
|
|
Penn State Vector-Borne Survey
|
In response to the growing concerns on ticks and tick-borne diseases in the commonwealth, Penn State Extension is developing a vector-borne disease team.
To best serve you and different at-risk groups, we have launched a survey through Qualtrics to better understand the current knowledge the public has on ticks, tick-borne disease, and tick bite prevention and control. More information on the team and the survey can be found in the write up in
Penn State News.
We are trying to get as wide a distribution as possible and to get responses from a range of demographics. If you have a moment, we would appreciate responses from you and members in your group and if you have any organizations that you work within Pennsylvania (professionally or personally), we would certainly appreciate your forwarding this to those groups.
You can access the survey
here. Please keep in mind this survey is limited to folks over 18 and those currently residing in Pennsylvania.
Thank you and please let me know if you have any questions.
|
|
How Small Family Forests Can Help Meet the Climate Challenge
|
|
Susan Benedict on her family's tract of land near State College, Pennsylvania. COURTESY OF THE AMERICAN FOREST FOUNDATION
|
|
As efforts grow to store more CO2 emissions in forests, one sector has been overlooked — small, family-owned woodlands, which comprise 38 percent of U.S. forests. Now, a major conservation initiative is aiming to help these owners manage their lands for maximum carbon storage.
Tim Leiby had wrapped up a fun but fruitless early-morning turkey hunt and was enjoying an old John Wayne flick when I arrived at Willow Lodge near Blain, Pennsylvania. A few flurries drifted down on this unseasonably cold May morning. After a quick scan of antlers mounted on virtually every wall of the cozy hunting lodge, we headed out for a socially distanced stroll through what Leiby calls “our little piece of heaven.”
This 95-acre woods in south-central Pennsylvania’s ridge-and-valley country is a hunting and hiking refuge co-owned by eight families. As much as he loves it, Leiby knows it could be even better. The forest is still recovering from heavy logging in the 1980s, and it’s full of invasive or unwanted plants — he points out striped maple, princess tree, and barberry — that do little for wildlife and keep desired hardwoods like oak and hickory from regenerating. “Barberry is a terrible invasive around here,” Leiby says. “It’s choking out the ground cover.”
Small family-owned forests like this one make up 38 percent of U.S. forests — together more than 1.5 times the area of Texas, and more than any other ownership type. While most owners want to do right by their land, they rarely have access to the needed expertise or resources. That, however, may be changing. In April, the environmental nonprofits The Nature Conservancy (TNC), American Forest Foundation (AFF), and Vermont Land Trust announced two new programs, powered by a $10-million rocket boost from the tech giant Amazon, to funnel funds from carbon emitters to small landowners like Leiby eager to grow larger, healthier forests.
Program leaders estimate that if scaled up to 4 million acres of family-owned forest (slightly larger than Connecticut), the initiative could offset 18.5 million tons of carbon emissions by 2031. If the projects meet an ultimate goal of signing up 20 percent of U.S. forest landowners, forests could sequester up to 2 billion tons between 2030 and 2100. That’s not going to save the climate — in 2018 alone, the U.S. emitted 5.4 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide — but it could make a dent, roughly like taking 6 million cars off the road for seven decades.
Families “own more forest land across America than another other group, even more than the federal government.”
The recent announcement also represents the first hint of how Amazon will spend some of the $100 million that it announced last fall,
with lots of fanfare and few details
, it would devote to nature-based climate solutions. Experts say it could open the door to get family forest owners off the sidelines and into the fight against global climate change.
“This is the first attempt I’m aware of that is trying to capture a substantially large share of that cohort of forest owners,” says Mike Kilgore, a professor of forestry at the University of Minnesota.
Yet few forests are managed optimally for carbon sequestration. Today, throughout much private forestland, fast logging rotations, “high-grading” that strips out the largest, most valuable trees, and rampant invasive species compromise forests’ ability to pack on carbon and keep it locked away. It’s not that small landowners don’t care about trees or biodiversity — survey after survey finds that they do, passionately. But few have forestry expertise or hire professionals to help with sustainable management, according to Forest Service research.
|
|
Time Leiby co-owns his 95-acre forest near Blain, PA with eight other families. Gabriel Popkin/Yale E360
|
|
That’s a problem, because “family forest owners rule,” says Brett Butler, a Forest Service researcher who runs the
National Woodland Owner Survey
. “They own more forest land across America than another other group, even more than the federal government.”
Environmental groups have sought to direct payments from donors and polluting companies to forest owners in exchange for improved management that boosts carbon storage. To establish credibility, such programs must rigorously measure the sequestered carbon. So far, payments have gone mainly to land trusts, public forest owners, or even to entire tropical states or countries, where large forests can sequester enough carbon to justify monitoring, reporting, and verification expenses.
For family forest owners, carbon markets have offered only tiny payments and required contract terms that were too onerous for most owners, who strongly value privacy and dislike long-term restrictions on their land, according to Marla Markowski-Lindsay and Paul Catanzaro of the
Family Forest Research Center
in Amherst, Massachusetts. A survey they conducted of Massachusetts forest owners found little participation in existing carbon markets, consistent with surveys conducted elsewhere in the country. “We found interest,” says Markowski-Lindsay, “but there seemed to be some barriers.”
“It’s virtually impossible for small family forest owners to participate” in carbon markets, says Josh Parrish, who directs
TNC’s Working Woodlands
program, which connects owners of 2,000-acre-plus forests to such markets. “It’s complex and expensive.” To bring family forest owners into the fold, Parrish and his colleagues “quickly realized we had to be much lower cost and more efficient, but still maintain the scientific rigor around forest carbon measurements and forest carbon verification.”
The family forest program is being funded by tech giant Amazon, which has a $100 million partnership with The Nature Conservancy.
Last fall, the effort got a big boost. After years of resisting taking action on climate change, the online retailer Amazon abruptly reversed course in September and announced
a $100-million partnership with TNC
to implement natural climate solutions. What those solutions would be still needed to be figured out. TNC staff told the tech giant they believed they could break the family forest logjam and get thousands of mom-and-pop landowners into the carbon game. The trick was offering to pay landowners for the additional carbon they would store if they adopted one or both of two well-established sustainable forestry practices: growing forests longer before harvesting, and removing invasive plants and small trees that compete with and stunt the growth of larger trees. In April, The Nature Conservancy, the American Forest Foundation, and Amazon announced the opening of the
Family Forest Carbon Program
to landowners; TNC and Amazon are also supporting a smaller companion program in Vermont.
The program will cover most of the cost of each practice and pay for a consulting forester to help each landowner develop a sustainable management plan designed to enhance not only carbon storage but also wildlife, water quality, and other ecosystem services that forest landowners value. Leiby has signed a contract that will compensate him for forgoing future income-generating harvests and allowing trees to grow to maturity. He hopes the cash and professional advice will also help him manage invasive species and attract more wildlife.
|
|
 |
Hickory leaves emerge on Tim Leiby's forest, a sign of progress toward bringing back native hardwoods. GABRIEL POPKIN / YALE E360
|
|
|
|
Unlike previous programs requiring up to 99-year contracts, the Family Forest Carbon Program commits landowners for only 10 to 20 years. Program leaders have developed accounting methods that model how carbon stocks will change under the two sustainable forestry practices and verify the gains by comparing measurements of carbon accumulated on a sample of enrolled forests with control plots that do not employ the practices. Those methods should mostly eliminate the need for boots-on-the-ground forest inventories that can cost thousands of dollars per site, cutting monitoring and verification costs by three quarters, according to AFF.
Importantly, say program designers, carbon-enhancing practices are expected to also increase both biodiversity and timber value, making the Family Forest Carbon Program, in theory, a classic example of the kind of win-win that environmentalists seek. “Both of these practices not only store more carbon on the landscape, they also, in the long term at least, generate more timber more sustainably,” says Peter Ellis, a TNC forest carbon scientist. “If you defer your harvest, you can actually get more, higher-quality timber over the next 100 years.”
Still, a typical landowner will not earn a windfall from the program. Someone enrolling 100 acres of forest — a typical small landholding in the U.S. — would stand to earn around $24,500 over 20 years from the program, according to figures provided by AFF. A harvest once trees are mature might add a comparable amount. Most forest owners do harvest trees from their land, though with varying frequency and intensity.
The modest return doesn’t bother Susan Benedict, who along with her brothers is enrolling some of the land they own near State College, Pennsylvania in the program. She and her siblings don’t need their forest to turn a profit; she just doesn’t want to lose money by forgoing a timber harvest to allow trees to grow larger. “My goal is to develop income streams that will for sure take care of the taxes” she pays on the land, she says. “As long as we can pay the taxes, we can keep it.”
Critics of the program argue that carbon markets disincentivize companies from actually reducing their emissions.
Profit is also low on Leiby’s priority list; he has “no idea” how much he might earn from the Family Forest Carbon Program, he says. “The top priority really is having a healthy, sustainable forest for my kids and hopefully someday my grandkids.”
Most outside experts I spoke to said the program’s design should avoid some of the stumbling blocks that have turned off landowners in the past. They cautioned, however, that enrolling thousands of people owning millions of acres will be a daunting task.
The 20-year contract is a good length of time, says Catanzaro, of the Family Forest Research Center. “It’s a nice balance” — long enough to accrue real carbon gains and short enough to not make landowners feel constrained.
“There will be landowners who will be extremely interested in this,” says the Forest Service’s Butler. “But how many there are, how many acres they own — that’s going to be really interesting.”
Not everyone in the environmental community is on board. Sam Davis, a conservation scientist with the advocacy group
Dogwood Alliance
, says carbon markets can disincentivize companies from actually reducing their emissions. Such markets also funnel money to landowners who are, if not rich, at least well-enough off to own land, rather than to low-income communities that are often most harmed by industrial pollution, Davis says. “Carbon markets tend to act as a license to pollute,” he says.
|
|
Family-owned forests, such as Susan Benedict's (above), comprise more than a third of U.S. forests. COURTESY OF THE AMERICAN FOREST FOUNDATION
|
|
In April, TNC and AFF started signing up landowners. Almost immediately, the coronavirus pandemic forced them to hit pause. The organizations developed a social-distancing protocol for forester visits and have cautiously reopened signups. For this initial pilot phase, they aim to sign up 100 Pennsylvania landowners holding 8,500 acres capable of sequestering 195,000 tons of carbon. After working out the kinks, program leaders hope to start enrolling forest owners around the nation.
In addition to Amazon, companies including International Paper; Domtar, a pulp and paper maker; and 3M are supporting the program’s build-out, though how much money each is putting in is not public. Amazon has pledged $7.3 million to support the Family Forest Carbon Program, including paying for monitoring and verification costs during the pilot phase; the rest of the $10 million will support the Vermont program. It has also committed to buying $5 million of carbon credits produced by the two programs. The tech giant’s role is not to prop up the programs indefinitely, but rather to use its visibility and market power to “catalyze” a carbon offset marketplace that a wide range of buyers can eventually support, says Kara Hurst, Amazon’s head of sustainability. “There’s a lot of good signaling to the marketplace that this is something people are going to want,” she says.
After wrapping up my tour of Leiby’s woods, I drove down the road to what the TNC’s Parrish half-jokingly calls the “Parrish experimental forest” — a 200-acre woods he and his wife own. As we hiked down old logging roads, he pointed out places where he’d created gaps now filled with beech, hickory, and oak seedlings, while overhead the tallest trees soared to greater heights. Elsewhere were logs that he’d felled carefully to avoid damaging other trees. These are the kinds of practices he hopes the family forest program will spread across the Appalachians and beyond.
“In a well-managed forest,” he says, “it doesn’t even look like I cut a tree.”
|
|
PFA Forest Heritage Committee and Ned Smith Center Plan for a Series of Forest Discovery Center Videos
|
|
On June 29, 2020, a meeting was held at the Ned Smith Center for Nature and Art to explore the idea of producing a series of videos, similar to "Ned Talks", providing virtual tours. The tours would showcase the Caledonia Forest Heritage Discovery Center while also promoting forest conservation and stewardship.
There were two groups in attendance: NSCNA was represented by John Booth, Adam Steppy, Emily Rosmus and Hunter Kauffman. PFA Forest Heritage Committee was represnted by Peter Linehan, Richard Lewis and Wayne Kober. There was a brief tour of the Ned Smith Center's new Gallery Display which showcases original Ned Smith art that was acquired and returned to the collection!
The group gathered in the outdoor classroom (socially distanced), and discussed a possible collaboration on airing videos showcasing the Caledonia Discovery Center. The PFA members provided background on the center, and that it may not be open the the public for the foreseeable future. Because of this fact, the Forest Heritage Committee has been brainstorming ideas to virtually showcase the Center. They have come up with a vision on an online series of short videos that provide a virtual tour.
There are a number of major educational elements of the Caledonia Forest Heritage Discovery center. There are showcases on Smokey Bear, Forest Fire Fighting, Forest Fire Towers and Forestry Conservation Heritage. One of the goals for the committee is to identify which subjects best showcase what the Center has to offer. They must also search for an organization that can produce the video series. Once they are produced there will be the challenge of dispersing them online and advertising them.
The PFA members were inspired by the NSCNA Ned Talk video series that is available online. It would be a great platform for the subject matter at the Caledonia Center. Some ideas are Smokey Bear, Forest Fire Fighting, Fire Towers, Safety and Equipment and Forest Conservation History. The Center has three rooms with displays that can be highlighted.
The NSCNA staff described how Ned Talks came to fruition: so far there are 11 videos aired between 5 to 10 minutes long. Most of the production was done in house by NSCNA using a cell phone camera, believe it or not, with specialty items such as graphics and drone images done by professionals. Each video has cost in the varying hundreds depending on the length and challenges involved. It was proposed and agreed to that the PFA and NSCNA partner together on a pilot episode about the Caledonia Forest Heritage Discovery Center with the goal of producing and airing a Ned Talk by September 2020.
The first step in producing the pilot video will be a visit to the Caledonia Center for a tour and planning. This is an exciting moment for the Center since the grand opening couldn't happen. Hopefully, this will showcase the hard work and time put into our Forest Heritage! Be on the lookout for the videos upcoming!
|
|
The Pennsylvania Forestry Association | 1(800) 835-8065 | [email protected] | www.paforestry.org
|
|
STAY CONNECTED | #ForestProud
Check out the PFA Facebook page by clicking the icon below. Stay up-to-date with the latest news!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
