The EAB quarantine expands in NY.  More here for full rule by NYS Ag and Markets.

Maps

Quarantine_Enforcement_Map_041513_1.pdf   Northwest of Syracuse…

A new book is almost on the shelf.  Thom McEvoy, professor emeritus of Univ VT extension forestry has written a book titled the same as this blog entry.  I'll attach the flyer, and paste some content below.  I haven't seen the book, but look forward to receiving my copy soon.

Peter

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About the book…

It took nine years to complete this project for reasons explained in the book’s Preface. The book contains stories of…

Just wanted to give everyone a heads up that MING needs to perform some simple but necessary maintenance on this site on Wednesday, March 27. They will need to take the site down at 10 pm Pacific for about 3 hours during which they will simply show a message asking folks to check back later. Thanks in advance for your patience while they tune up the site!

The March 20, 2013 webinar was on the opportunity for forest owners and foresters and loggers to thin woodlots to improve tree growth, vigor, and health.  The outline of the webinar included: the context for thinning, what to expect from thinning, forest development and clues for thinning, selecting the correct trees, strategies for thinning, and cautions plus concerns. 

Thinning provides an effective strategy for woodland owners to improve the growth of their trees.  If the…

Penn State University Cooperative Extension, via Dave Jackson (many remember Dave from his great webinar a few months back) has released a new fact sheet on the use of basal bark treatments to control undesired hardwoods in woodlots.  Dave reviews the protocols for using basal bark treatments, including the dose and strategy for using the common forest herbicides in basal bark application.  Dave also shares his recent research on how to time treatments to use significantly less chemical…

Several of the presentations being offered through the ForestConnect program relate to the NYFOA Initiative "Restore New York Woodlands."  To aid those who saw the presentation, and those who didn't, I provide here links to the presentations as downloadable pdf files.  For more information about the…

Conifers are an important and visually distinct component of the northeastern landscape.  They are important because of those qualities that allow them to be utilized for lumber, pulp, biofuels, fence posts, etc.  They are also important because of the diversity they bring to the woods for wildlife, aesthetics, and watershed protection.  Learning to identify conifers is fun, and relatively easy given the few common species we will find in a local woodlot.



The webinar on conifer…

Hardwood tree identification is an important first step towards understanding and valuing our woodlots.  Once we can identify each species, we can begin to assign different values to those species, and the roles they play in helping us achieve (or impede) our ownership objectives. 

Hardwood tree identification goes beyond looking at leaves.  Leaves are apparent for only a few months of the year, and even then leaves are…

Hi All:

Tax tips to help you obtain your legal tax savings associated with timber related revenue.

Pete

TaxTips2012-Final.pdf

Hi All:

This just out from our friends at the USDA Forest Service Northeastern Area.

For your information and for sharing…

Just posted on the U.S. Forest Service Northeastern Area website. A new/updated publication titled Federal Income Tax on Timber: A Quick Guide for Woodland Owners   This document is a the 4^th version of a document that started as the Federal Income Tax on…

Stress is a common and normal component of trees in forests and sugarbushes.  Stress can be classified by a number of factors, including duration, extent, severity, source, and the context of the tree.  By understanding the stress agents that trees must contend with, owners and managers can anticipate the problem, help forests develop in ways that the likelihood of stress is reduced, reduce the impact of the stress on the trees and ensure that recovery from stress is a thorough and…

Woodlot owners who are interested in harvesting trees will want to work with carefully chosen foresters and loggers.  Many good foresters and loggers are available, and they can help owners accomplish their ownership objectives.  Laurel Gailor of CCE Warren offered a webinar on this topic on November 21, 2012.  Links and attached files are available here.

noon recording

Evening recording…

I thought a discussion of woodland owners in G.B. was interesting (here).  The article give a brief profile of a few owners, why they bought their land, what they plan, and the arrangements of ownership. It seems there is some concern in that region about a fungus that is killing the ash trees, which they call "ash decline."  This seems to be different from what we know as "ash decline" in…

Today's ForestConnect webinar was on the topic of "Management for the Next Forest."  More simply stated, what barriers limit successful forest regeneration, and what management options will overcome these barriers.  This is a topic that attracts some broad attention.  However, patterns of forest regeneration vary across the Northeast, with fewer restrictions often where there are fewer deer.  Deer and interfering vegetation are the common barriers that many owners and managers…

The ForestConnect webinar on June 20, 2012 focused on understanding the legal implications of different options and opportunities for transferring land from one owner to another.  Typically this might involve transfers between generations, but other transfers were addressed.  Attorney Elizabeth Sillin offered an outstanding context to understand the different types of ownership transfer options, and provided examples for how those transfers might be implemented.  For those interested in this…

I recently had the good fortune to join a group hosted by the foresters at Landvest near Kane, PA for a walk and talk in the woods.  There were 8 of us in total, from Landvest, PSU Cooperative Extension, Cornell University Cooperative Extension, and Cotton-Hanlon. Beech is a nice species, but due to the confluence of invasive insect & fungus, the tree interferes with other species and a multitude of ownership objectives.  The question at hand, as a general context for the gathering, was…

Dr. Thomas Seeley never ceases to impress audiences with the clarity and richness of his presentations.  Today's webinar was no different.  Participants learned the key features of a desirable honey bee hive tree, how the scout bees communicate and debate the virtues of the tree they visited, and the process of moving the swarm into their new home. To quote one participant commenting about the quality of the webinar... "David Attenborough couldn't have done it…

My thanks to Mark Whitmore for a great webinar on EAB status, management and pesticide guidelines.  My apologies for the delay in providing links to the webinar recording.  As you will see, there are reasons to remain optimistic about the near term future of ash, but also some essential planning that must take place.

Noon webinar link here

Evening webinar link…