This is the best time of year for finding EAB infestations. Several localized ash trees with woodpecker damage is a good sign to followup. Take pictures, gps coordinates and report new infestations (especially finds not mapped by DEC) to: https://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/72136.html

I found this tree while out walking my dogs, I would have been skiing if there was enough snow. I returned to peel and verify using a draw knife. Then…

New Online Tool Helps Producers Estimate Carbon Stored in Soil --- https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/national/home/?cid=STELPRDB1119532 ;

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New Online Tool Helps Producers Estimate Carbon Stored in Soil ---…

Many of you have visited Cornell's Arnot Teaching and Research Forest over the past year and noticed some big changes, namely several large regeneration harvests aimed at replacing aging stands with new ones that are as good or better as the old ones in terms of future quality and value.  For those of you who won't make it back there anytime soon but are interested in following the progress, I'll provide periodic updates here.

Cradles and Cables

We are a clever lot when it comes to helping our kids settle into bed at night. Apparently, the story of how Jack broke his head fetching a pail of water, with Jill falling down the well after him, or the charming bubonic plague ditty “Ring Around the Rosie,” is supposed to calm small children. The veiled threat about abandoning an infant in a tree on a windy night always made my kids hush up. “Rock-a-bye baby, in the treetop; when the wind blows, the cradle will…

Decline of Garlic Mustard  @ 5:14

Timber Theft

Only the crunch of gravel mars the predawn quiet as a truck, headlights off, rolls to a stop. Working quickly, professional bandits round up your unsuspecting timber. As your herd of prized trees is prodded toward the tailgate ramp, their soft mewling is barely audible amidst all the rustling…

While it does at times parallel cattle rustling, with skilled thieves whisking away a few exceptionally valuable trees in an early-morning or weekend raid, timber theft…

All of us are using more heating fuel this season than in recent winters, and there is still plenty of cold weather to come. It’s bad enough that our wallets are thinner, but those who heat with wood have the additional burden of more time spent lugging in fuel. And to add insult to injury, uninvited guests occasionally show up with the wood.

Firewood, I’ve been told, comes from “trees” which seem to be covered in “bark,” under which insects can hide. As the wood we bring inside warms…

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…

Golden Goose Forestry

Paul Hetzler

What do you call a dairy farmer who spends decades improving the genetics of a herd, then abruptly sells all the best animals to start a new herd from scraggly, unproven stock? Crazy, perhaps, or foolish at the very least, right? (Or maybe someone with a gambling debt).

Under normal circumstances, no livestock farmer culls their best animals to start over with random ones. Yet it’s common for a woodlot owner to sell all the large,…

Forget About Reforestation

Paul Hetzler

“Squirrels have been criticized for hiding nuts in various places for future use and then forgetting the places. Well, squirrels do not bother with minor details like that. They have other things…

Thanks for Giving

Paul Hetzler

Many historians feel the Pilgrims would have all perished during the winter of 1620 if not for food provided by the Wampanoags, on whose land they settled. The following spring, the Wampanoags gave the Pilgrims seeds to plant, as well as a tutorial (possibly an App; we can’t be sure) on the production, storage and preservation of indigenous food crops including corn, beans, and squash.

That fall—no one is sure if it was October or…

Hi, Everyone.

I searched the web for New York State landowner liability and found the attached document. It looks a little dated but the content might be accurate.

Liability%20considerations%20for%20NY%20Woodland%20Owners.pdf

Then I searched this site and noticed that the posts on this topic here were from 2012 - 5 years ago.

I need to confirm for someone…

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…