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Popular Discussions
- Clearing the Air: Outdoor Wood Boilers Face Regulation (35)
- Lumber, Chips, and Sawdust: For Sawmills, There’s No Such Thing as Waste (13)
- Autumn Olive (12)
- Tale of the Tick: How Lyme Disease is Expanding Northward (11)
- Indian Pipe (9)
- The Haitian Landscape (8)
- Wood Worse than Coal? (7)
- Forests Can’t Fight Climate Change (7)
- Wood Pellets (7)
- It’s Time to Reconsider Spring and Summer Bird Feeding (5)
- Beware of Encroaching Forests (5)
- First Snow (5)
- Bears Fattening Up for Winter’s Slumber (5)
- Opening Camp (5)
- Wet Weather Wondering (5)
Woods Whys Archive
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What is Shade Tolerance and Why is it so Important?
Shade tolerance is the relative capacity of tree species to compete for survival under shaded (which is to say, less-than-optimal) conditions. It is a tree trait, a functional adaptation that varies among species. Because of its outsized influence on tree survival and stand growth, shade tolerance is a pillar of silviculture. Foresters everywhere commonly rank tree species on a continuum… (more)
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What Is Forest Stand Structure and How Is It Measured?
Once upon a time, forest stand structure meant age structure. Areas of forests containing similar-aged trees were called even-aged stands, and areas with trees of multiple ages were considered uneven-aged stands. It was all quite straightforward. Stand structure was defined by how many trees were present in each age class within a given stand. It was beautiful. This view of… (more)
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Do Tree Stems Freeze in Winter?
Trees are about half water, maybe a little less in winter. And if the temperature drops low enough, the water in even the most cold-hardy tree will freeze. Since ice crystals can shred cell membranes, a hard freeze can be devastating to living tree cells, leading to dead leaves, branches, and even whole trees. But most trees actually live through… (more)
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What are Indicator Plants?
Indicator plants are peculiar to a certain place. Though they aren’t necessarily rare, they don’t grow just anywhere. They tolerate only a narrow range of growing conditions, so their presence in a forest signals some distinctive aspect of that place. Not all plants are so uniquely characteristic of specific conditions. Really, most aren’t. In the dizzying complexity and variation that… (more)
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How Do I Choose Which Trees to Cut?
“I want to cut some firewood but don’t want to jeopardize my valuable timber trees. How do I choose which trees to cut?” You can make firewood from most any hardwood, but you can only make sawtimber from those with the best form. Even in a down market and with expanded options for selling fuelwood, it still pays to know… (more)
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Why Are Some Trees Pollinated by Wind And Some by Insects?
Pollen is to trees what sperm is to animals. It carries the tree’s male genes; it is the male fertilizing unit of woody plant reproduction. Typically, pollen appears in spring as a powdery cloud of fine, yellowish grains. Each tiny grain is a single cell, encased in a tough, ridged, or spiked coating. When inhaled by susceptible people, these grains… (more)
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What causes those white splotches on tree bark? Are they bad for the tree?
Those white paint-like bands across the bark are lichens, and they are as normal and natural a part of healthy forests as are warblers. There are several others present on this tree and throughout the woods. Lichens exist in beautiful diversity, and the vast majority of them do absolutely no harm to trees. Better still, lichens play several vital roles… (more)
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Why Is the Treeline at a Higher Elevation in the Tetons than in the White Mountains?
Trees grow where they can. And they are surpassingly capable, making do in an impressive array of conditions around the globe, including many harsh places. But there are limits to their versatility. There are some natural environments where trees simply do not grow, thrive, or even survive, such as near the tops of the bigger mountains. As you hike up… (more)
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Does an Acre of Hilly Land Contain More Land Than an Acre of Flat Land?
Every acre contains the same measure of land regardless of whether it is steep, bowl-shaped, or the Great Plains. This is due to long-standing conventions of land surveying and accepted procedures for determining ownership boundaries. There is definitely a catch, however, in that not every measured acre contains the same amount of ground surface. In other words, you’d need a… (more)
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What Is the Difference Between Red Knots and Black Knots?
Knots in trees occur where a branch has been surrounded by continued growth of the bole. When the bole is sawn into lumber, or peeled to make veneer, the branch sections included in the lumber or veneer show up as knots. Whether a knot is red or black was determined back when the tree was growing. If a branch and… (more)