By Rick Thom Philmont Scout Ranch in the Cimarron Mountains of Northern New Mexico is the largest outdoor youth camp in the world. Each year over 22,000 young men and women from throughout the U.S. come to Philmont to experience adventure and learn outdoor skills. Thanks to the Philmont Visiting Forester Program, my friend, Greg [read more]
Caring for your woods can be daunting. Where does one start? What programs exist to help you manage your land? Who do you contact? In addition to your state forestry agency, the Women Owning Woodlands website at womenowningwoodlands.net offers numerous tools and resources for landowners and their families who want to sustainably manage their woods. The Women [read more]
City planners and urban foresters now have a resource to more precisely select tree species whose growth will be a landscaping dream instead of a maintenance nightmare. The U.S. Forest Service's Pacific Southwest Research Station recently published a technical manual and launched the most extensive database available cataloging urban trees with their projected growth tailored to specific geographic regions. [read more]
According to the USDA Forest Service study 2013–2027 National Insect and Disease Forest Risk Assessment, 81 million acres of forested land have hazardous conditions for disease and insects. To learn more about the National Forest Health Monitoring Program, please join the following webinar on Wednesday, November 30, 2016 at 11 am EST: Research Contributions to Forest Health Monitoring Dr. Frank Koch [read more]
By Emily Bazydlo Looking for a fun an innovative way to teach youth to identify plant pests and diseases in their communities? Check out Plant Heroes, an educational campaign by the American Public Gardens Association with support from the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Serivce and Forest Service, offers free downloadable educational materials with fun characters [read more]
The American Tree Farm System (ATFS) announced this week that the Defrees family of Oregon are the 2016 National Outstanding Tree Farmers of the Year. Father and son duo, Lyle and Dean Defrees, along with their family have been protecting their forested land, the wildlife habitat it provides, and the water supply that runs through [read more]
By Emily Bazydlo On a normal day, walking into the National Building Museum in Washington, DC brings a sense of awe, and the two large wooden panels on the main museum floor add to it. The two-story high panels advertise one of the museums new exhibits, Timber City. The Timber City exhibit showcases elegant models [read more]
By Emily Bazydlo The ecologically valuable Anacostia River in Maryland and Washington, DC, once known widely for high levels of pollution, is recovering thanks to the power of local partnerships. A main source of pollution in the Anacostia is stormwater runoff. Stormwater runoff is rainfall that flows over the ground surface and is the number [read more]
By Sara Pezzoni Repeat photography is the practice of taking photographs of a specific location at two or more different times. It is a powerful visual resource for scientific study and education in forest and landscape management. From working forests to wilderness areas, such photographic pairs or sequences can help us understand ecosystem processes, and [read more]
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s (APHIS) Hungry Pests campaign has partnered with the Nature Conservancy’s Don’t Move Firewood campaign for the first-ever Firewood Awareness Month. The goal of Firewood Awareness Month is to raise public awareness about firewood movement as a forest pest and disease pathway using [read more]
