Peter Smallidge's Blog (111)

Relative Density, Stocking and Tree-Area Ratio

Dr. Susan Stout (USFS, retired, Research Forester Emerita) presented a ForestConnect webinar on June 21 that explained the history and utility of relative density.  Dr. Stout explained relative density in the context of "stand density index", "tree-area ration" and ultimately the stand stocking charts as developed by Gingrich. All these designed to provide a metric to understand competition among trees and improve production per acre.

The link to the webinar archive is…

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Added by Peter Smallidge on June 21, 2023 at 6:30pm — No Comments

Woods and Park Restoration Hastings-on-Hudson_bids_welcomed

(I haven't seen this type of project before, and thought it interesting and worth sharing here.  See contacts below if you have questions. Peter)

The Village of Hastings on Hudson herby invites the submission of proposals

for:

email for information:  Aaron Podhurst <apodhurst@hastingsgov.org>



Hillside Woods and Park Restoration Project Management and

Other Landscaping and Horticultural Services:

Village of Hastings-on-Hudson…

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Added by Peter Smallidge on August 2, 2022 at 2:00pm — 2 Comments

Extreme Weather Forestry BMPs

Today's (20april2022) ForestConnect webinar was by Steve Roberge of UNH, NH state extension forester.  Steve was presenting from work done at UNH about tactics that loggers and foresters use, voluntarily, to stabilize their logging site and ensure they can continue to access and work their job during extreme weather events. Winters are often without snow or freezing and ground conditions might limit production. This…

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Added by Peter Smallidge on April 20, 2022 at 9:30pm — No Comments

GPS and GIS - for the rest of us

- check back for details on the webinars 15 sept 2021 and 17 nov 2021

Garmin GLO 2 https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/645104 ;

Added by Peter Smallidge on September 15, 2021 at 12:00pm — No Comments

SWCD 2021 Ecological Function, Production & Restoration

On March 11, 2021 we had the pleasure of working with colleagues from Yale School of Forestry (Dr. Joe Orefice) and a private consultant (Jeff Jourdain) to zoom with natural resource professional of the NY Soil and Water Conservation District Annual meeting.  The session we offered was titled "Restoring Ecological Function and Production to Woodlands." This blog is our way to share documents mentioned during that training or otherwise of interest to participants and practitioners in…

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Added by Peter Smallidge on March 2, 2021 at 4:30pm — No Comments

Woodland Pollinators

The 2020 webinar season started and ended with presentations about pollinators. 

I'll add to this blog over the next few days. Check back as I gather more information to share.

The February webinar was by Dr. Sheldon Owen of West Virginia University. The archive is linked here.

Habitat needs and management for the Monarch…

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Added by Peter Smallidge on December 16, 2020 at 2:00pm — No Comments

Limiting Deer Impacts to Forest Regeneration

There is no shortage of evidence to document that deer negatively impact the forest 

regeneration process. A presentation on 12/8/2020 for Penn State University Cooperative Extension addressed the basic strategies to limit deer impacts and some tactics within the deer exclusion strategy.

Slides 2 and 3 include several resources that relate to the topic, include links to scientific papers that are publicly accessible.  

The presentation here as a pdf. …

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Added by Peter Smallidge on December 8, 2020 at 10:30am — No Comments

sugarbush thinning

With the close of 2020, and the 4th year of the sugarbush thinning project at 

Cornell's Arnot Forest, I preparing for a variety of "maple schools" that will happen. With the pressures of covid, most of these will be online. 

Some people will benefit from a printed copy of my presentation, which I share here.  I'll make updates as necessary.

Link to the most current version of the sugarbush thinning presentation.

(full slides) …

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Added by Peter Smallidge on December 7, 2020 at 11:00am — No Comments

Management of Small Wooded Parcels

This blog is a link to the webinar on this topic on Wednesday March 18, 2020.  

Best Practices on a Small Wooded Acreage.

Many woodland owners have parcels that are “small” compared to other owners. These parcels are endearing to the owners, and provide many opportunities for activities to ensure they remain healthy and support the owner’s interests.…

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Added by Peter Smallidge on March 15, 2020 at 2:30pm — No Comments

Emerald Ash Borer and Ash Management

Currently there are some ares of NY (and the NE) where the emerald ash borer (EAB) impact has resulted in significant mortality of ash, yet other areas without evidence of mortality. The unfortunate reality is that EAB will almost certainly infest all acres of NY woodlands that have ash, and the result will be widespread mortality. 

There are efforts at finding biocontrol agents, and we can remain optimistic that those will prove effective. These scientists are suggesting that while…

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Added by Peter Smallidge on August 20, 2019 at 8:39am — No Comments

Slash walls to protect forest regeneration: contracts, costs and preliminary effectiveness

The attached was provided at the New England Society of American Foresters meeting in Burlington, VT.

  • CITATION: Smallidge, P.J. and B.J. Chedzoy. 2019. Slash walls to protect forest regeneration: contracts, costs and preliminary effectiveness. Presentation on 3/28/2019 to the New England Society of American Foresters, Burlington, VT. Images and narration residing at http://CornellForestConnect.ning.com…

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Added by Peter Smallidge on June 18, 2019 at 5:24pm — 1 Comment

Timber Taxes

Many woodland owners harvest timber, yet wonder how to handle (optimize) the tax liability.  The "go to" website is www.timbertax.org

Another resource is from the USFS Timber Tax team and their annual timber tax "tips" attached here  TaxTips2018.pdf

Added by Peter Smallidge on November 20, 2018 at 12:46pm — No Comments

Cull Tree Treatment

If you enjoy working in your woodlot and struggle with the undesirable trees that you may not have time and skill to safely fell, this study is designed to find a solution for you.

Many woodland owners have a large number of undesirable trees, or large trees, they would like to kill, yet they lack the skill or time to safely fell these trees. Felling also may not be desirable because of the risk of damage to nearby…

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Added by Peter Smallidge on September 30, 2018 at 7:41pm — No Comments

Forest Vegetation Management - FVM Network

Cornell's ForestConnect program is facilitating a network of forest vegetation practitioners to identify research needs and collectively build knowledge of safe and effective techniques. This network will focus on vegetation management in forest and woodlot environments using herbicide, mechanical or livestock methods. 

   You can help this network and identify needs…

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Added by Peter Smallidge on September 5, 2018 at 9:01am — No Comments

Rehabilitating Degraded Woodlands

Almost 3 million acres of forest in the Northeast is poorly stocked from some combination of exploitive harvesting, poor soils, disease, or insect infestation. An additional 7.5 million acres is one poorly executed harvest away from being of degraded condition. Exploitive harvesting, also known as selective cutting, high-grading or diameter-limit cutting, is a destructive and…

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Added by Peter Smallidge on December 23, 2017 at 9:37am — No Comments

Controlling Thinning - Some Concepts and Methods

The title of this blog is that of the recent webinar by Dr. Ralph Nyland, presented on June 21, 2017.  The webinar is archived at www.youtube.com/ForestConnect and there is a direct link below.

Ralph focused his presentation on three topics. 

  1. How much residual basal area (relative density) should you leave during a thinning? The short answer is 60% relative density, allowing regrowth to 80% before thinning again.…
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Added by Peter Smallidge on June 21, 2017 at 9:30pm — No Comments

Sugarbush Management

Sugarbush management is an important part of the responsibility of maple producers to ensure healthy and productive trees.  Like all the duties of a maple producer, learning how to manage your sugarbush will take some time, involve learning new skills, benefit with assistance from others who are more knowledgeable, and take some time to achieve mastery.

An article…

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Added by Peter Smallidge on January 5, 2017 at 9:00pm — No Comments

Google Earth and Web Soil Survey

Google Earth and Web Soil Survey

Google Earth Pro is free software that allows the user to visualize specific locations any place on 

earth.  Google Earth Pro (GEP) is available free to download from this web URL  https://www.google.com/earth/download/gep/agree.html

Woodland owners can obtain useful data from GEP.  GEP allows the user to draw property boundaries, locate positions…

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Added by Peter Smallidge on October 20, 2016 at 2:30pm — 1 Comment

Ecology and Management of Ferns in Northeastern Forests

I just came across a new Forest Science Fact Sheet publication by Dave Jackson of PSU on the ecology and management of ferns.  If you're dealing with ferns, this is a great resource.  I've pasted the first paragraph below, and linked to the full publication. The publication is developed in the context of Pennsylvania's forests, but the message and content has application…

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Added by Peter Smallidge on September 29, 2016 at 12:30pm — 3 Comments

Roadside Forest Management: Tree-by-Tree

Roadside trees present special considerations for management given their crown may have an imbalance of sunlight and thus crown architecture, and because if the tree fails the consequences may impact transportation or public utility

rights-of way.…

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Added by Peter Smallidge on September 13, 2016 at 11:00am — No Comments

Forum

Story in Northern Woodlands Magazine on Deer Impacts

Started by Brett Chedzoy in Woodlot Management Aug 8. 0 Replies

This Spring we had an opportunity to speak with writer John Litvaitis about the big picture of deer impacts on the hardwood forests of the Northeast.  I posted the original story from the summer edition of Northern Woodlands to the…Continue

Ash blonding effect on lumber quality

Started by Jeff Joseph in Woodlot Management. Last reply by Jeff Joseph May 5. 2 Replies

Question: In Peter Smallidge's most recent "Ask a Professional" column for NYFOA's Forest Owner magazine he stated that some log buyers will reject ash that shows outward signs of "blonding" on the bark. Is this because the wood will change…Continue

The American Chestnut: A New Frontier in Gene Editing

Started by Brett Chedzoy in Woodlot Management May 2. 0 Replies

https://www.asbmb.org/asbmb-today/policy/042823/the-american-chestnutInteresting discussion the difference between efforts with the American Chestnut and other…Continue

Growing Black Locust for Pleasure and Profit

Started by Brett Chedzoy in Woodlot Management Apr 20. 0 Replies

In early March I was invited to present on the opportunities for growing black locust as a timber cash crop at the Rural Landowner Conference in Allegany County.  Ryan Trapani from the Catskill Forest Owners Association asked afterwards if I would…Continue

Recording links for Ruffed Grouse, American Woodcock and Wild Turkey webinars

Started by Brett Chedzoy in Woodlot Management Apr 11. 0 Replies

On March 29th and April 5th the Southern Finger Lakes Chapter of the NY Forest Owners Association and Audubon NY hosted virtual presentations by experts from the Ruffed Grouse Society, American Woodcock Society and National Wild Turkey Federation. …Continue

What Constitutes a Healthy Forest?

Started by Brett Chedzoy in Woodlot Management. Last reply by Diane Frances Mar 23. 3 Replies

In March, 2021, Peter and I had the opportunity to organize a day-long training for the annual Water Quality Symposium (annual conference of SWCD and NRCS professionals from around NY) titled: "Restoring Ecological and Productive Function to…Continue

Building slash wall with skid-steer

Started by James Gray in Woodlot Management. Last reply by James Gray Jan 19. 2 Replies

Hello everyone, looking for feedback on plan to build a slash wall with a skid steer and fork attachment.The timber harvest is at a nature center, clearcutting a red pine plantation (1 ac) and aspen stand (1 ac) and group selection on a oak stand…Continue

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