February 2008 Archives

The purpose of this lab is to use differential leveling to find the difference in elevation from Sci-Tech up to the library. The students are using transit levels and elevation rods. Part of the exercise is making the notes come out right.

I was looking for the dates (Nov. 5-8) for the Soc. of American Foresters Convention in Reno next fall, and discovered that the keynote speaker will be Michael J. Walsh, the executive director of the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX). CCX is the official marketplace for trading carbon credits under a cap and trade arrangement to reduce carbon emissions by industry. It is currently voluntary, but may become mandatory some day under new government regulations. We just heard a discussion on carbon trading at the Allegheny SAF meeting in Carlisle last week. Carbon trading raises many questions. Is it just a way for polluters to pay for continuing pollution or is it a serious effort to reduce pollution? Will the costs of running the market and the profits for the traders outway any benefits to society? I am certainly looking forward to hearing this speaker and attending the Convention!

Last week's Allegheny SAF meeting in Carlisle into some critical issues in forest management in our region. The Forest Management Practices assignment was to research the topic before the meeting and write a followup report based on the speakers' presentations. Here are the student reports (in their blogs) on these issues:

• Pennsylvania's Approach to Bioenergy/Ecosystem Services (Carbon Sequestration): Trent Ausherman, Kyle Peck, and John Westerfer.
• Carbon Credits and Trading Schemes: Andrew Baker, Josh Reiter, and Chance Yeckley.
• Cellulosic Ethanol from Forests. What is it? Will it work? Logan Droppa, Matt Reitzel.
• Utilization of Low ValueWood for Biofuel in Schools and Other Institutions: Dave Gillen, Tiffany Roddy.
• Natural Resources / Forestry Education. Trends and Issues: Darren Krebs, Ryan Thrush.
  

The Friday morning program at the Allegneny SAF meeting last week had two interesting presentations on the control of invasive plants in the region.

Dr. Don Davis, a forest pathologist from Penn State described the discovery of two species of Verticillium fungus that seem able to control the spread of Ailanthus altissima (tree of heaven). Dr. Davis noticed that stands of Ailanthus in the Tuscarora State Forest were diminishing and even dying. With his graduate students he isolated two species of soil fungi that seemed to be doing the quick. V. albo-atrum kills trees quickly and V. dahlia doesn't kill the trees outright but causes symptoms of morbidity and reduced growth. A lot of work remains to be done to determine if these fungi can be used on a wider scale to control the rapidly-spreading tree of heaven. Here is Dr. Davis' web site.

Mile-a-minute is a rapidly spreading weed in the mid-Atlantic. Originally from China, the variety in the US is thought to have come from China. Here is a link to more information on mile-a-minute.

Dr. Judith Hough-Goldstein from the University of Delaware described research to introduce a weevil from China that can slow down or suppress mile-a-minute. The stem-boring weevil, Rhinoncomimus latipes Korotyaev, attacks the plant from the inside. It won't kill mile-a-minute, but will reduce it to manageable levels. Here is the web page that describes the work and how to get weevils to try out on your own infestations.

This is my first try with Slide Share where I converted a PowerPoint slide to an online format.

Newsweek has an article by Jerry Adler commenting on the recent study published by the National Academy of Sciences on the rapid decline in the use and enjoyment of the outdoors in the USA in recent years. Look at my previous entry for a link to the article.

I'm not sure if Adler is serious, but he suggests that it may be a good thing that there are fewer people going outdoors to relieve crowding in national parks such as Yellowstone and Yosemite. However, there are thousands of state and local parks that aren't overcrowded. It is a tremendous loss to the the people of America if they lose the inclination to enjoy the outdoors. Who will support conservation and help make decisions on the use of natural resources if everyone is playing videogames all the time?

This CNN article summarizes a recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The researchers found that most indices of the use of natural resources have declined drastically since the 1980's. Visits to national parks and state parks, as well as the sale of fishing and hunting licences have all declined.by double digit percentages. (18-25%)

Quoting from the authors:

"Declining nature participation has crucial implications for current conservation efforts," wrote co-authors Oliver R. W. Pergams and Patricia A. Zaradic. "We think it probable that any major decline in the value placed on natural areas and experiences will greatly reduce the value people place on biodiversity conservation."

"The replacement of vigorous outdoor activities by sedentary, indoor videophilia has far-reaching consequences for physical and mental health, especially in children," Pergams said in a statement. "Videophilia has been shown to be a cause of obesity, lack of socialization, attention disorders and poor academic performance."

The term "videophilia" is a new one to me. But it sounds right describing the attraction people have to video games and computers. This raises serious questions whether the public will support responsible natural resources management in the future. It's no longer a conflict between preservationists and natural resource users (forest industries). Instead the struggle will be just to get people interested in going outdoors and enjoying the environment.

Click this link to see the full article, which was funded by the Nature Conservancy.