THE Deforestation Thread (merged)

[BabyPeanut]

Plus ash is the best for firewood.

[Liamj]

More info on US forests:

http://www.x-cd.com/mcss04/S01a.pdf
MASSIVE FOREST DIEBACK
ALLEN, CRAIG D.
U.S. Geological Survey, Jemez Mountains Field Station, Los Alamos, NM 87544
In coming decades, climate changes are expected to produce large shifts in vegetation distributions,
largely due to mortality. However, most field studies and model-based assessments of vegetation
responses to climate have focused on changes associated with natality and growth, which are inherently
slow processes for woody plants—even though the most rapid changes in vegetation are caused by
mortality rather than natality. This talk reviews the sensitivity of western montane forests to massive
dieback, including drought-induced tree mortality and related insect outbreaks. This overview illustrates
the potential for widespread and rapid forest dieback, and associated ecosystem effects, due to
anticipated global climate change.

Discussion of same:
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/09/298439.shtml

[BabyPeanut]

http://forests.org/articles/reader.asp?linkid=38880

Source: Copyright 2005, Knight Ridder
Date: February 11, 2005
Byline: Robert S. Boyd

WASHINGTON — Despite a booming population and urban sprawl, the United States has gained 10 million acres of forests since 1990. That's enough trees to cover all the land in New Jersey twice.

[Liamj]

I'd no more trust an out of context KnightRidder quote than eat depleted uranium. Here in Aus the feds 'discovered' millions of ha of forest in early 1990s by redefining what is a tree.

[Cyrus]

Yes! Bushes and dead underbrush are NOT trees!

[Cyrus]

I would appreciate that this topic is updated once in a while as I am conducting a study on this. Thanks in advance!

[frankthetank]

Around here were having problems with oak trees. Some disease is killing them off.

[Cyrus]

is this happening in epidemic proportions?

[Ludi]

In Central Texas we have "oak wilt" and "live oak decline" which are disorders that affect weakened trees. It's very sad; huge tracts of land are covered with dead trees. We're expecting to get it on our place in the next couple years although since we don't graze our land or otherwise abuse it our trees seem fairly healthy. But we're planning for the worst and planting other kinds of trees.

[Cyrus]

But we're planning for the worst and planting other kinds of trees.

There is the problem! Due to climate change and other factors...reforested trees usually die rather quickly! At least that is what is happening over here in Illinois. We replace huge dead trees with tiny parkway trees which dont make it through the winter!

[ararboin]

Whatever you do, don't plant red cedar, although like the cockroach, it will survive almost any diversity. I consider it the poison ivy of the tree world. In central Nebraska, there are thousands of acres of red cedar covering hillsides, all because the state likes to sell them to landowners as windbreaks.

Then they spread like a blight on the land. When I have nothing better to do on a balmy winter day, I grab my long handled clippers and terminate a couple hundred of those red rats.

But the state nursery continues to foist red cedars on unsuspecting landowners. Our tax dollars at work.

[threadbear]

Holly trees spread like wildfire in the Pacific Northwest too. Weird huh?

[Heineken]

I love redcedars. They add beauty and atmosphere to any landscape, they stay green (or purplish) through the winter, and their berries are avidly consumed by birds, who also use it for cover. The wood lasts forever in ground contact and so makes the ideal fencepost. I burn a lot of it in my woodstove.

The wood is beautiful and aromatic and repels bugs, so it's great for lining drawers and for furniture construction.

Redcedar is easy to transplant and makes a great screen.

The bark and fluting on the trunk of an old cedar are lovely to behold.

[Ludi]

We have the native Ashe juniper, called "cedar," which has taken over since the prairie was destroyed. No shortage of cedar here....

[eric_b]

In Central Texas we have "oak wilt" and "live oak decline" which are disorders that affect weakened trees. It's very sad; huge tracts of land are covered with dead trees. We're expecting to get it on our place in the next couple years although since we don't graze our land or otherwise abuse it our trees seem fairly healthy. But we're planning for the worst and planting other kinds of trees.

Pity about the oak trees. Nothing like a 200-400 year old oak
tree to give an area some character. We've quite
a few nice oak trees scattered about where I live. I almost
think they look better in the winter when you can see the
gnarled branches better.

I've heard about this Oak disease - hoping it doesn't turn
up in these parts.

First we lost the American Chestnut years ago to a fungus
'imported' from China. That was a huge, awesome tree that
used to be prolific east of the Mississippi. Then all those
nice shady Elm trees. Losing all the oaks would just leave
a few lightweight tree species, at least where I live.

-Eric

[Liamj]

More drought for US northwest, incr fires likely.
Interesting that not 'record' warm or dry spells, just confluence of several low-than-normal factors makes for major impacts.

Drought in the Northwest May Be The Worst Since 1992

This winter's extraordinary warm weather and low snowpack could produce the kind of drought not seen in the Northwest since 1992, when wildfires burned hundreds of thousands of acres throughout the West while Puget Sound-area residents faced mandatory water rationing, experts say.

Further, climate scientists say, this year's dry weather in the Northwest may not be an anomaly -- it could be part of a trend that will require major adjustments in the management of water, fish, forests and other natural resources.

Philip Mote, a University of Washington (UW) climate researcher, and Richard Palmer, Director of the UW Center for Water Resource Management stated that while all the conditions are being met for a drought similar to that seen in the region in 1992, many government officials and policy-makers, especially on the west side of the Cascades, are still telling people "everything will be fine," he said.

The two scientists are part of the UW's Climate Impacts Group, an interdisciplinary scientific consortium that applies the tools of climate science to assess both short-term weather and long-term climate change (global warming). What they have found, in the short term, is that February was one of the driest months on record, though it is too early to determine if Cascade snowpack levels will be at their lowest in the past 50 years.

Western Washington has already had a few small forest fires -- typically unheard of during this usually soggy time of year. The essential identity of the Pacific Northwest, our wetness, is under threat. Even with a return to normal precipitation, the UW scientists said, the low snowpack means the streams, on average, will be at about half their normal flow.

Oddly, this year has neither been the driest or warmest ever, Mote noted. Precipitation is just 75 percent of normal, and there have been other years with a greater number of warmer days, he said. Mote stated that the problem is that whenever the Northwest got precipitation, it was warm, which explains why the snowpack is only at about 15 percent of its normal level.

This kind of weather pattern is just what the climate group has predicted could become routine given the impact of global warming on the Pacific Northwest. Neither scientist is saying that this year's weather can be directly attributed to climate change.

The evidence is accumulating that this drought should not be viewed as a one-time emergency, both scientists said, but rather as perhaps a glimpse into what will become routine for the near future. The Climate Impacts Group has taken the global estimates of climate change and applied them to the region predicting a long-term trend of rising snow lines, declining snowpack overall, significantly reduced stream flow even with normal (or, perhaps increased winter) precipitation.

All the focus now is on the snowpack, the drought and the human demand for water, the scientists said, but this trend -- if it continues -- will also have significant environmental impacts on Northwest flora and fauna that may be hard to imagine now.

http://www.fema.com/emanagers/2005/nat031005.shtm

ta http://urbansurvival.com/week.htm for bringing to attention.

[Cyrus]

Thank you for resurfacing the topic! Since my last post to this topic i have removed 10, yes 10, fallen trees in my yard!! What is going on??

[maverickdoc]

Thank you for resurfacing the topic! Since my last post to this topic i have removed 10, yes 10, fallen trees in my yard!! What is going on??

I think they are falling

[threadbear]

Every summer seems to get drier than the last for the past 8 years.(Pacific Northwest) Last August was super wet and extremely hot, and we had fungus we had never seen before. It seemed much like Ontario. Now it's March and it's bone dry. Weird. I love the dry winter, but am scared to death of forest fire this summer.

Hate to say this, but I think water is going to turn out to be a bigger issue than oil. The two are linked as desalination plants require some form of energy to produce fresh water, I think.

[WebHubbleTelescope]

I love redcedars. They add beauty and atmosphere to any landscape, they stay green (or purplish) through the winter, and their berries are avidly consumed by birds, who also use it for cover. The wood lasts forever in ground contact and so makes the ideal fencepost. I burn a lot of it in my woodstove.

The wood is beautiful and aromatic and repels bugs, so it's great for lining drawers and for furniture construction.

Redcedar is easy to transplant and makes a great screen.

The bark and fluting on the trunk of an old cedar are lovely to behold.

Carp is a lovely fish with exquisite flesh which refreshes the palate when smoked.
Pheasants are a lovely bird with radiant plumage and tasty to boot.
Eurasian milfoil is a lovely aquatic plant harboring gamefish.
African bees are lovely insects which produce nectar from the gods.
Zebra mussels are geometric wonders of nature.

No they are all opportunistic alien species which take hold in new regions due to you know who.

Anybody that thinks the monotonous dirty-red specks that dot the New Mexico landscape represents natural history needs to study up a bit. Art can exist as panoramic view of semi-arid desert just as it can as a finely-crafted cedar chest. We always have to consider trade-offs.

One other thing: the "easy to transplant" property of red cedar. That's similar to saying that carp are adaptable and milfoil spreads easily.