Free Post Week 8

For this week’s free post I would just like to further elaborate on the importance of communication in the forestry field because of the amount of work outdoors in the actual “field”. I am really starting to notice the variation and percentage of error that comes from the measurements in this field. Professional DNR workers are expected to have accuracy and precision up to a certain percentage every time they take measurements. This brings forth the idea of an average or standard way of taking measurements.

It is important for all foresters of all parts of forestry to have acceptable terms of measuring trees so data can be relayed accurately. Trees can grow in odd ways and each tree can have multiple ways to be measured. I notice this in almost every lab and this understanding and greater vision of forests in general has come along with my first semester at MSU as a forestry major. I’m starting to look at trees in a different way. Without a standard of measuring trees, data could be off by a large percentile and can lead to decreased efficiency of usage of our forests resources.

In one of my classes this week I was shown a graph on the measurements of professional forester’s and the majority of these foresters underestimated the amount of biomass in a tree. This can prove costly as valuable resources are going to waste in an era of America that is focused on conservation and preservation in general. This has always been a goal in forestry, forest management, but as forestry emerges in America today the importance of this can be better recognized and understood by Americans already doing things like recycling. Perfect measurements make sure that logging companies are using all the possible timber from a forest cut and the task of ensuring this falls upon foresters.

So again there is that communication from foresters that are the key to effectiveness of preserving forests by using everything that is cut from. I’m starting to have a better understanding of the importance of good data and good measurements. This is something that has been presented in my classes at Michigan State and communicated in all my lectures and readings. Something that should really be stressed because it can only values everyone by protecting the planet.

Prompted Post 10/24: Practicing Your Knowledge

There tends to be a lot of fieldwork necessary for forestry or at least for the part of the field that I’m hoping to pursue. I preformed a hands-on experience that served as exam preparation for my Forestry Field Methods course. This course has taught me a lot of basic and fundamental ideas for forestry. I’m glad to have taken it my first semester at MSU to further spark my interest in my major. It is really apparent why this is one of the first classes taken in the forestry curriculum.

For some field exam preparation I went to Baker Woodlot, with a few classmates, and got some extra practice on compass navigation. This lab-heavy class depends on this idea of practicing certain skills for forestry rather than reading about them. It can be helpful to just go and do these exercises to develop the skills and experience to excel on the tests. I essentially quizzed myself by figuring out compass bearings to navigate to certain mapped out points in the woodlot.

The interesting thing I noticed was the previous night I had spent close to an hour reading and re-reading an article on compass declination. The article was rather confusing and difficult to understand because of being away from the field. Compass declination by itself can be confusing when trying to understand the difference between true north and map north. It’s Especially confusing sitting behind a computer screen looking at an expensive new compass with more functions then I thought a compass could originally have. When someone looks at a compass, the red arrow is pointing towards the North Pole and this can be several degrees off of north on a local map.

Now for East Lansing the magnetic declination is 6 degrees west. So when you are looking at North on a compass you’re actually looking 6 degrees to the West of North. 6 degrees may not seem like a lot but after traveling 300 feet the 6-degree bearing can be a lot more significant. Adjusting this declination can be confusing without actually using a bearing in the forest. So I found it most helpful to go to the woodlot and set it there.

Luckily, I was able to get enough practice to improve my confidence and was more than pleased when I received my exam grade; the highest grade of the class on my first official forestry exam was exceptionally satisfying.

Works Cited

"Reader Poll: Does Your Compass Have a Declination Adjustment?" Section Hikers Backpacking Blog. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Nov. 2013.

Free Post Week 7

My free post this week is about the lecture we had in one of my forestry classes this week that is directly related to this week's prompted post. The discussion is about biodiversity and the impact this has on the amount of carbon emission reduction. Biodiversity refers to the different types of species, and in this case trees, of ecosystems. Diverse ecosystems are helpful in numerous ways. Erosion prevention, species habitat, and disease control are all directly related to the number of organisms occupying an ecosystem. People at the higher ends of forestry research are focused on the future of the planet and tree management on a global scale.

The main topic of discussion is how more trees means more carbon dioxide taken out of the air and put into trees. Different types of trees hold more carbon and grow at faster rates than other trees. Any way you look at it, more trees in any given ecosystem increase the rate at which carbon dioxide emissions are being combated. But this idea of diversification brings in ideals of more efficient ecosystems at reducing global carbon dioxide levels. Could we plant enough of various types of trees to offset humans consumption of fossil fuels leading to most carbon dioxide emissions? All the facts lead to yes. Even if planting more trees falls short on this global idea, ecosystems still greatly benefit from the further diversification. Animals have habitats and homes of these newly planted trees and these trees aid in every day processes like water cycling. Types of birds live in specific trees and without these trees in some ecosystems they can become susceptible to predation. Diverse ecosystems have more species living and the circle of life can thrive.

A focus during class was on the invasive species side of biodiversity. Areas with a primary type of tree are at greater risk of total destruction if one invasive species comes in that targets that primary tree. All the trees can be wiped out by that invasive species and an entire forest can be decimated in less than a year. Resistant ecosystems are the diverse ones that have trees that can survive such invasive species allowing the forest to thrive and provide animal species a habitat.

Prompted Post 10/17: Contemplating Controversy

I found an interesting article on a current controversial topic, in forestry, where planting trees is starting to be used as a method to offset the increasing carbon emissions in the atmosphere. A newspaper reporter writes the article and presents a fair amount of bias from the opposing group of tree planting. The two groups are those for tree planting and those against. After reading the article, the context she uses to describe the European Conservation group, against tree planting, sounds very negative. The group doesn’t provide any evidence to use against the tree planting and the conservation group sounds very ignorant on the issue using the quote, “Tree-planting is a ‘phony climate fix’” (Houlder). The European Conservation group, Fern, is negative on the idea of tree planting in general and don’t back up their opinion with any information. Fern goes on to say that tree planting does, "nothing to combat climate change while exacerbating local environmental problems and the social inequalities, local tensions and access to land problems". They appear more concerned about issues on a local level. Hesitant to accept tree planting because of some of the negative consequences it will have on the community level.

I think that the facts are the most important thing to consider on this issue. It’s a simple as understanding that planting trees speeds up the amount of carbon taken out of the air. “The UK-based Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Management estimates that 458 tonnes of carbon dioxide are stored within one hectare of mature oak woodland” (Houlder). It’s as simple as that, trees store a large amount of carbon and reduces the heat produced from the appearance of this greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide traps heat in the atmosphere and most of the controversy on this subject is from the ignorant companies like Fern that won’t accept the facts and are too concerned with other minor issues associated with change. Change is always difficult but a big part of forestry right now is towards the management of ecosystems and requires change in the current system. Forests aren’t being treated well enough and will have irreversible consequences if this goes unchanged. Major scaled planting of trees is a great idea but will take time, especially if people remain skeptical and remain unaware of the impact that carbon emissions have on the atmosphere.

Works Cited

Houlder, Vanessa. "Trees Won't Cure the Greenhouse Effect: CLIMATE CHANGE: As Environmentalists Meet in Milan, Vanessa Houlder Looks at the Controversy Surrounding the use of Forestry to Offset Carbon Emissions:" Financial Times: 13. Dec 05 2003. ProQuest. Web. 17 Oct. 2013 .

Free Post Week 6

For this week’s free post, I decided to do some article readings related to the government shutdown’s impact on forestry. “Federal budget troubles spilled into the woods this week, with logging contractors receiving notices to stop harvesting timber on national forests” (Kramer). The governmental struggle in Washington D.C. has affected a logging company and disrupted the jobs of foresters that work with specific logging companies like this one. This logging company, Vaagen Brothers Lumber Co, has a specified time period on their timber sales that may have irreversible consequences attached to the, now 14 day, partial government shutdown. Seasonal changes can restrict the amount of logging that the company is able to preform and further damage the pay of everyone involved in the timber sales or entire operation.

The article goes on to describe the unexpectedness of the government shutdown. Timber companies were able to continue logging during the government shutdown of 1995. Tom Partin, president of the American Forest Resource Council in Portland, had this to say, "Now the Forest Service has issued a blanket policy that they want to have all projects cleaned up and put to bed within seven days," Partin said. "It came very quickly. It's a very short timeline that could and will impact a lot of companies." A very short notice on something so drastic is unfair to the workers in this operation and when pay becomes restricted lives can become changed. Partin plans to approach the government with lawsuits if the shutdown continues. Hopefully, too much time won’t have elapsed to terminally damage the operation.

Works Cited

Kramer, Becky. "National Forest Logging Suspended by Shutdown." McClatchy - Tribune Business NewsOct 12 2013. ProQuest. Web. 15 Oct. 2013 .

Prompted Post 10/10: Evaluating Sources

I found an article that wants to implement a plan to reduce the threat of invasive species into forests and to improve sustainability of those forests. They are effectively arguing the problem, which isn’t know by most Americans, that invasive species have a large impact on affected forests health. The way they relay information is effective and appointed to a general audience. “This is an outcome-based science plan rather than a conventional research agenda; it focuses on research, development, and applications to enable effective actions.” (Chornesky). So in a way, the author of this article is hoping to inform an audience that action needs to be taken to protect forests; hopefully, quick and effective action needs to be taken to fix the problem before it becomes a major issue.

By addressing the problems like the decrease of forest biodiversity and the decrease of forest productivity the author is arguing the significance of forests to everyone and a calling for preventative action. Again, there is that idea of preventative measures rather than fixing forests after they’ve been affected by invasive species. This addresses the idea of kairos that we’ve been discussing in class and calls for preventative forestry action now. People need to become informed on the importance of forests in water cycles and food yield that we depend on, as human beings, every day of our lives. Learning this sooner rather than later will benefit everyone and keep our forests healthy. Ideas like increased trade monitoring and better pest suppression seem like the basis of this plan. Preventative action makes the most sense to me because stopping the problem before it even starts is most effective. The purpose was clear and informative that forests are hurt from invasive species and plan action needs to be taken to stop them. Knowledge is key about forest management so I’m certain that this plan would be, at very least, a great start in the overall improvement of forest health on a global scale.

Works cited:

Chornesky, Elizabeth A., et al. "Science Priorities for Reducing the Threat of Invasive Species to Sustainable Forestry." Bioscience 55.4 (2005): 335-48. ProQuest. Web. 10 Oct. 2013.

Free Post Week 5

Controlled or Prescribed Burn

This weekend I found a very interesting and unique type of forest management called controlled burning. It’s amazing to think that burning a part of forest can actually promote that forest’s health and growth. The amount of debris and leaf litter on a forest floor can become very dry in times of drought and serve as a large risk factor in causing forest fires. Teams of foresters that use prescribed or controlled burning can move into these high risk forest areas and introduce fire into the ecosystem at ideal times. Preferable conditions allow for a very safe burn of the forest’s excess debris.

Controlled burning, to clean up after logging, can be done in two ways: broadcast burning or pile burning. Broadcast burning applies fire over a larger area of the forest and the waste materials burn at a lower temperature. With broadcast burning, the excess forest waste gives off less heat and this can contrast pile burning quite nicely. Pile burning is similar to a large bonfire and the concentration of burning waste produces a lot of heat that can damage the surrounding soil by sterilizing it. Pile burning also requires the gathering of all the forest debris and can be time consuming. Broadcast burning is the ideal and forest friendly type of burning.

The thing I found most interesting about this form of forest management is that controlled burns can combat tree disease. Healthy forest trees are naturally fire resistant and can handle the temperatures produced by broadcast burns but the invasive diseases cannot. So while cleaning up excess and unwanted competing forest vegetation, broadcast burns are also killing off invasive tree diseases.

Works Cited:

“Controlled burn.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia, n.d. Web. 8 Oct. 2013.

‪Santa Fe Water Fund, prod. The Nature Conservancy. YouTube. Youtube, 24 Nov. 2010. Web. 8 Oct. 2013.