Site Discussions

As a forester and practicing wildlife biologist and avid woodsman, I have known that jays, as well as squirrels, chipmunks, and others, cache acorns. However, it was not until attending some oak-specific silvicultural training (SILVAH-Oak) that I learned jays have a propensity for caching acorns in canopy gaps, so they’re more likely to remain viable if and when they germinate. Unlike chipmunks, for example, who cache in groups (horde-caching), in which a lower proportion of acorns germinate and even fewer survive if the cache is in insufficient sunlight.

Could be worse! I feel very fortunate that my central NH Tree Farm is dominated by red oak - it is the win-win tree for timber and wildlife with excellent sawlog value, excellent firewood qualities useful in thinning stands for home utilization and also periodic mast crops which seem to feed all manner of rodents, mammals and birds. 

I say “Hooray” for the Oak Fairy. With a little more aggressive thinning I’d hope for more oak seed regeneration in the sun-dappled openings of my small woodlot. I fear the Beech Fairy or Hemlock Fairy or Red Maple Fairy is at work in my woods and I congratulate you for attracting a more benevolent wee folk. We don’t have any sugar maple fairies anymore where I own property - too acidic and dry.

On my many walks/hikes over the years, throug the forest of middle Tennessee, some years there are an abundunce of squirres, rabbits, and the plants they feed on.  Some years, very scarce.  A forest ranger told us recently, that is the way mother nature controls the population of her animals.  Fat years and lean years. Some oak trees do not bare acorns every year.  Last year 2010 was the first time in 38 years that the oaks on my two acres did have acorns on them.  I was also told that oaks do not bare fruit until they are 50 years old. I do not think that is entirely true of all oak trees, because I do have some oak trees that did bare in 2010, that are not more than 20 years old.  Oaks are slow growing trees, and I suppose there is a maturity process there. Just mostly my opinion.

My bar makes a whirring sound as it runs. The bar isn’t smoking and the oil is getting through. There were some minor burrs that I filed off and I can’t seem to find any other problems. I’m kind of new at this so I’m not sure if this sound is normal or not.

I have about 4 acres of eastern red cedar in Picton Ontario, along the north shore of Lake Ontario. Didn’t think much of them at first, and my farming neighbours curse them because they’re so invasive in pasture lands, but I’ve grown to respect and admire them. They are survivors, and as they mature each specimen seems to develop a distinctive shape and personality. The more senior trees seem to develop wonky branching patterns, producing an enchanted forest setting. Our soil is quite thin, with limestone not far below. I’ve had to cut a number of them for various reasons, and after a day of feeding the chipper shredder the heady aroma on my clothes fills the house. 
I know the blue berries are used in gin making, but are there any other edible uses?

Driving home a couple weeks ago, just as light was fading into dusk, we saw an unusual wild creature flash across the road and into the woods toward the ravine on one side of our street.  It was tawny yellowish, long and thin, perhaps ‘ropey’ is the best word to describe it, with a long rope-like tail.  Just before it reached the woods, it swiveled its head to look directly at us—a cat-like but almost human looking face.  Very startling. 
  Having spent much time as a kid and young adult in the then undeveloped central Adirondacks, I know this was no bobcat! A neighbor has spoken about a fisher cat that has frequented our area, but no—this was not that.  We have wildlife corridors in our area connecting to some larger tracts—I’m thinking this youngish animal was passing through (and very quickly, at that!).

Living in one of the counties where Mike did much of his work, we grew to respect him greatly as an example of somebody who embodied that elusive but profound middle ground: supporting the economic use of our forests while taking a long-term vision that took in more than immediate profits and a broader view that included the forests’ inherent ecology.

Alex,

It is all site related. On the very best site the trees will rebound with many suckers and be left with internal damage as seen in the photos.
  On the worst sites, high, dry, poor soils the tree may or may not send out suckers. If they do there are not enough to sustain the tree. The tops tend to slowly die back.
One thing that is common on both sites is that if the tree has a large limb ripped from the main trunk, they generally fail. Insects get into these wounds and then 6-8 years later the woodpeckers will begin the work the area for bugs. The tree will snap off after 5 or 10 years of woodpecker activity at this wound site.

Patrick

Another way to promote big bucks is to encourage hunters to shoot does.  Massachusetts for example issues lots of doe permits and allows shooting does in the modern firearms season.  Taking the pressure off the bucks equalizes the doe/buck ratio, keeps the deer populations from fluctuating wildly and helps to promote forest regeneration.  And there are some very nice bucks taken.

Great info thanks a lot.  I’ve been doing quite a bit of study in Centennial woods here in Burlington and have been curious about ice damage, especially in some of the maple trees as I know they can get wonky.  What have you observed about limb growth post-damage?

This comment came in as a letter to the editor.

NW, I just picked up the summer 11 issue and was reading Stephen Long’s story about Mike Greason the forester.I logged for over 17 years until calling it quits in Jan 2011 for economic and personal frustrations with whole Forest Products industry,While I did work over the years for Consulting Foresters I never waited by the phone for their woodlots or timber sales.Mr Greason seemed to have an ethical view of a foresters duty while working with landowners.I will also agree a foresters pay should be based on a set fee not a percentage of gross sales nor do I feel it is ethical for larger logging operations to have “consulting/procurement foresters” on staff,presenting the landowner with the perception of looking out for landowners silvacultural interests.I dont feel foresters should be allowed to market wood from a timber sale either,I guess Im just soured from the corruption/misrepresentation I saw in Southern New Hampshire’s woodlots from consulting foresters who didn’t quite have Mr. Greasons silvacultural morals.

Robert Claxton
Nottingham NH

Hi:
Kind of like Mark in Maine, I grew up with a crosscut saw and an axe, and with a lot of firewood to cut.  We had a good double-bitted “splitting” axe, wedges and a sledge hammer.  Now that I’m much older, I finally learned to put a polished cutting edge on the axe that you can see your reflection in.  In smaller rounds up to 15” or so, the axe explodes the wood.  Probably a lost art, but with a neighbor or two setting the wood up on “chopping” blocks, I can beat most hydraulic splitting rams, and that’s fun for an old man.

Thank you thank you thank you for speaking out on this issue.  I believe it is (and has been) THE major issue threatening the environment globally (but especially in the US since the 1600s).  I recently completed a Master Naturalist course here in NYS and was more than a little surprised and disappointed that population growth was never even mentioned…not once…except where deer were concerned. It was quoted, “There are 1.5M deer in NYS”, and control measures were outlined (hunting, fencing, etc.)  the major gist of which was, that deer are a problem that need to be exterminated so that foresters can grow more maple trees. But the fact that there are 19.3M people in NYS?  Not a mention of their existence or impact. Foresters want to control deer so they can have their commercially valuable monoculture of hardwoods, but fail to acknowledge that their “deer problem” is created by the fact that humans continue to garner every scrap of earth for themselves and mold it to their liking—pushing all other creatures out of habitat – not just deer—even to the brink of extinction.  “Environmentalists” that push for crops of “desirable” woods so more and more people can build more and more houses and furniture? It just doesn’t make sense.  Fifty years ago the youth movement had already figured out that population growth was a problem.  I believed in zero population growth back then – and stuck to that promise in my own life.  I also have refused to build or buy a new house – preferring to take what was already in existence. The insanity of leaving decaying cities behind to bulldoze lovely fields and decimate stands of trees to build yet another housing development named “The Pastures” or “Woodland Hills” to accommodate more people is just pure, human insanity. As noted in another comment on this page, the earth may yet save itself from humanity with a massive virus (or a series of cataclysmic global events), but the lovely earth that used to be – is really gone forever.

Wow! This is a big change on the part of Northern Woodlands. A few years ago I asked the editor to acknowledge the impact of population growth on our forests and he refused. Vermont Woodlands Association also refused. The Forest Ecology Newtwork of Maine is the only forestry related group in New England that I know of that acknowledges the population growth issue on its web site. In fact the director Jonathan Carter recently agreed to serve on the advisory board of the New England Coalition for Sustainable Population. Is there a Vermont forester out there who would be willing to serve on the board or the advisory board of Vermonters for Sustainable Population (www,vspop.org)If we want to preserve our forests and probably even the earth we must stabilize population. The argument can even be made that this is a bigger issue than global warming.

See today’s http://www.vtdigger.org for an op ed on population growth and post a comment there for a larger audience to see.

We are now seeing forest acreage in New England actually declining for the first time in decades because of population growth and development.

Thanks so much for speaking out on this issue.

Sadly, nature usually takes a hand in the overpopulation of any species by introducing a controlling factor. I also believe in zero population growth but it seems that the only folks that choose this option are well educated and usually middle class (or at least economically in a position to make choices!). I have some concern that the people choosing not to breed are the genes that we would prefer to propagate??  Again, kind of a catch 22 situation.  I intend to get a copy of the book mentioned by Carolyn in East Wallingford…. thanks for the suggestion.

Hi Folks:  This is a terrific article.  I teach middle school science and we are currently learning about classification and species.  This is an interesting article that should spark quite the conversation in my classroom!  Thanks.

The leaf pigments that appear red or orange are absorbing light at the other end of the spectrum (blue and presumably ultra violet, the wavelengths damaging to DNA).  They appear red because that is the color not absorbed but reflected.  Chlorophyll appears green because it absorbs at two different peaks, one at shorter and one at longer wavelengths.  You can do “dark” experiments with plants by working in green light.

I can say is, read Stewart Brand’s book, Whole Earth Discipline: An Ecopragmatist Manifesto. Brand takes a hard look at the subject with a clear eye and talks about not only what CAN be done, but also what is ALREADY BEING DONE. Unlike most other writers addressing issues related to overpopulation and climate change, he discusses things on a global scale. It’s an inspiring work, and helps keep the blues at bay.

After reading this book, I thought for the first time that maybe we’re not screwed, after all.

Perhaps the best way we can help the environment is to not have children. My husband and I chose this option and are involved in charities that help needy children that are already here.

Despite the chance of no extra credit-I am the logger,hunter,Con Com,ZBA,etc.To believe there is an acceptable outcome for these numbers is wishful thinking.Potable water,fertile ground,air&residual; chemicals in food today;the concept of feeding all with our assets is at best wishful thinking.Contrary to popular belief there is an end game on all of the numbers games.To think or project otherwise is foolish.The truth to our planet resides in our population numbers,out of control,yet reality.I would apologize if this is considered the wrong venue or a rant.Would there be another realistic observation in my opinion,i would surely entertain the debate. 

                                                            J.L.Hume in N.H.