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.