Firewood is a hot topic (pun intended) for most woodland owners.  A recent survey showed that about two-thirds of owners have collected firewood for their personal use in the last ten years.  The research on firewood production and processing is limited, but there is considerable experience among people; some of whom have heated with wood their entire life.

A webinar on "Firewood from Private Woodlands was offered on September 16, 2015.  A link to the archive is…

Wildlife of all types excite and animate the interests of landowners and many others.  Foresters spend effort working to align traditional resource management with the owner objectives related to their values for wildlife.  Understanding of the needs of wildlife will provide new and stronger strategies to ensure that owners achieve their goals.  Gary Goff of Cornell…

June 19, 2013. Update on EAB in New York and Management Strategies for owners and communities.  Presented by Mark Whitmore, Cornell University Department of Natural Resources.  Emerald Ash Borer continues its spread in New York but it is important to consider that more than 95% of our forests are uninfested. Now is the time for action. With planning we can mitigate the economic impacts and hopefully buy time necessary to develop new management strategies. Learn where EAB is,…

Exploitive harvesting, including high-grading or diameter-limit cutting, and some natural disturbances have altered the species composition, condition,  and structure of northeastern forests to an extent that deliberate rehabilitation is necessary to return the forest to productivity and health.  Dr. Nyland will identify the types of conditions that characterize degraded stands and describe principles and practices that will help foresters and forest owners to bring a degraded forests to a…

The webinar by Steve Gabriel on 4/17/2013 about Forest Grown Mushrooms for Forest Health was well received by participants, and I think exceptionally well done. The topics ranged from production expectations and enterprise budgets to mushroom biology and production techniques.  Steve shared numerous great ideas based on his experience as a producer and educator. 

Noteworthy was Steve's encouragement to be more generous in selecting defective trees in the woods for use in mushroom…

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…

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…

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…

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…

Forestry labeled herbicides can be an effective means of controlling undesirable forest vegetation and may present fewer risks to the forest manager when compared to the use of chainsaws or brush saws.  They are used for achieving many objectives including: establishing desirable regeneration, increasing tree growth and timber production, creating and enhancing wildlife habitat, and controlling non-native/invasive plants.  This webinar highlighted forestry herbicide application methods,…

Many woodlot owners and maple producers are interested in better sawtimber production from their land.  Ten core best practices will help maple producers or woodland owners improve the volume and value of timber on their property.  Participants will learn about principles and strategies related to topics such as: why fast growth is important, the role of foresters and loggers, avoiding high-grading, protecting against…

At the biggest maple producer conference in North America, the NYS Maple Producers Association Winter meeting at the Veron Verona Sherill School, the woodlot/sugarbush management seminars were recorded as webinars to make them available to a broader audience.  This was a bit of an experiment, and we learned a few tricks, but also have something to share.

Following are the titles, links to the recording, and bit of a terse…

Invasive plants can cause considerable damage to forest (and other) ecosystem, limiting productivity, diversity, access, aesthetic appeal.  Control of these species can be expensive, and not done correctly can further aggravate ecological problems.

I have two recent presentations that might be of interest.  One presentation was offered for the Cornell University Cooperative Extension in-service training on November 15 - 17, 2011 in Ithaca, NY.  This training was for CCE…

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The ForestConnect webinar on September 21, 2011 by Mark Whitmore was on the status and management update for emerald ash borer.  The archived webinars are now available. 

The noon webinar link is http://breeze.cce.cornell.edu/p48568789/

The 7PM webinar link is …