Region Archives: US East

Nasa has extended the life of a key climate and biodiversity sensor for scanning the world’s forests which was set to be destroyed in Earth’s atmosphere. The Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (Gedi) mission was launched from the Kennedy Space Center to the International Space Station in December 2018, and has provided the first 3D map of the world’s forests. Data from the $100m sensor, which uses lasers to measure the structure and health of Earth’s forests, has helped scientists better understand drivers of biodiversity loss and global heating. It was going to be incinerated in the atmosphere at the start of this year. Now, after an appeal from forest experts, Nasa has changed its mind and extended the life of the mission. …It is understood that the sensor could last until the ISS is decommissioned in 2031.

WINGATE — For students who enjoy the outdoors and practical, hands-on learning, the innovative forestry and wildlife management program at Bald Eagle Area High School could be a great fit. Jade Thompson, the teacher who developed the program has taught the course since the 2017-18 school year. Thompson said the program is three periods a day, every day — 126 minutes — for the entire school year. The Bald Eagle Area school district owns hundreds of acres of woodlands that serve as the outdoor classroom. The school’s insurance company requires the students to be certified in chainsaw use and safety before they can use a chainsaw to harvest trees. …The students learn to operate the Wood Mizer LA30 saw mill to turn logs into boards. “This year, we’ve supplied 80% of the wood for wood shop, ag mechanics and forestry construction classes,” he said. They also get training to become Sustainable Forestry Initiative card holders.

MASSACHUSETTS — The New Forestry Deal is revised legislation that will encourage Massachusetts landowners to keep their land in forest rather than developing it and help both private and municipal forest landowners better manage their forestland. Massachusetts has 3 million acres of forestland covering 60% of the state that provides both ecological and economic benefits. However, most of our forests have been degraded and are at risk for further decline by many insects and other agents such as destructive storms. The social cost of greenhouse gas emissions as a result of forest decline and forest loss due to development is now estimated to be over $2 billion a year. Mark Ashton, professor at the Yale School of the Environment, stated, “Developing resilient forest landscapes is more important than focusing on carbon sequestration.” He has stressed the “importance of all levels of diversity in a climate-resilient forest.”

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Gopher tortoises imperiled by loss of habitat largely caused by human development should be placed on the endangered species list in four southern states, environmental groups said Wednesday as they prepared to sue the federal government over the issue. The Center for Biological Diversity and Nokuse Education filed a notice of intent to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over its decision last year not to list the gopher tortoise as endangered or threatened in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and eastern Alabama. The center noted there are some state-level protections for the burrowing tortoises but those generally require the animals to be moved from a development site and do not protect their habitat overall. The tortoises have lost 97% of the longleaf pine savannas where they lived for millions of years in the South.

More than 1,600 acres in the coastal plain will be added to the North Carolina Registry of Natural Heritage Areas. Weyerhaeuser, the largest private landowner in the North Carolina, has made an agreement with the state officials to voluntarily set aside eight tracts for the conservation of rare species and high-quality natural communities, such as tidal swamps and bottomland hardwood forests, the state announced Tuesday. The Registry of Natural Heritage Areas is maintained by the state’s Natural Heritage Program, part of the state Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. …These registered natural areas that will remain in Weyerhaeuser’s ownership provide important wildlife habitats and contribute to landscape resilience, state officials said, adding that while public benefits are protected by the agreement, the agreement does not allow for for public access.

METAIRIE, LA – With less than 40 exhibit spaces remaining, the Southern Forest Products Association’s (SFPA) 37th Forest Products Machinery & Equipment Exposition is closing in on a sellout. The three-day event will fill the Music City Center in Nashville from August 23-25, 2023, with 50,000+ square feet of exhibits. Make no mistake, this new era of work has arrived. An era of connected systems, responsive manufacturing, and innovative technologies – it will all be under a single roof at the 2023 Forest Products Machinery & Equipment Exposition. “A late surge in exhibit space sales has filled the hall with more than 160 exhibitors who are ready to showcase the latest machinery and technology,” said Eric Gee SFPA executive director. “We are proud to welcome 20 first-time exhibitors to the show floor, including some companies that have not participated in the past four shows.” Sponsored and conducted by SFPA every two years since 1950, this event includes everything from sawmill machinery to materials handling equipment

A state Senate panel Monday approved a bill that would temporarily allow some trucks to carry heavier loads on Georgia highways — and could pave the way for a plan to raise billions of dollars for road and rail improvements. The latest version of House Bill 189 would allow trucks hauling forestry and agricultural products to carry heavier loads until July 1, 2024. That would give lawmakers time to strike a compromise that would permanently increase truck weights while addressing the concerns of critics who say heavier vehicles would mean more potholes and traffic fatalities. The bill also would give lawmakers time to develop and sell a plan for billions of dollars of road and rail improvements to keep freight moving across the state.

With the return of spring come unwanted visitors known as invasive species. A relatively new addition to the not-welcome list is the spotted lanternfly. Discovered in the U.S. around 2014, the conspicuous planthopper was first found in Indiana in 2021. Since then, it has spread north from Switzerland County all the way to Huntington County. …Spotted lanternflies are robust feeders that prefer a good soft spot on leaves to suck out sap. This causes oozing wounds that lead to wilting leaves and dead branches. Matt Travis is the Spotted Lanternfly National Policy Manager for the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s Plant Protection and Quarantine program. That’s a mouthful, but basically he’s the country’s preeminent spotted lanternfly expert. …“Reporting is key, but once you get confirmation, especially adults, stomp it out,” Travis said. “If it’s an egg mass and you get confirmation, scrape it off and stomp the egg mass.”

The University of Minnesota and Superior National Forest have received a $375,000 grant from the U.S. Forest Service’s Wood Innovation Grant Program, matched by power company Minnesota Power and the NRRI to analyze the potential of using balsam fir to create “biochar,” which prevents the release of carbon into the atmosphere while producing a useful material for agriculture and other purposes. Using a low-oxygen kiln, the process produces charcoal that locks in carbon that would be released through normal decomposition or burning. It can then be added to soil to increase its productivity, or filtering stormwater. “As a material, biochar has a lot of beneficial environmental qualities – from improving the microbial health of soils for more productive crops to removing contaminants from stormwater runoff,” said Brian Barry, NRRI chemist and project lead. 

In 1987, Glen Johnson heard the call of the dusky gopher frog, which sounds like a snore. He was the first to report hearing its call since the 1950s. He found a breeding population of the dusky gopher frog at a pond on the Desoto National Forest in Mississippi. …Dusky gopher frogs are among the hundreds of species that live in longleaf pine forests. After nearly vanishing – about 99% of the longleaf pine acres growing in the year 1700 are gone – there are now about 5 million acres of longleaf pine ecosystem. When longleaf pines are healthy, other species can flourish along with them. Fire is an essential ingredient in a healthy longleaf pine ecosystem and across the South, land managers conduct prescribed fires to restore and maintain these ecosystems. On the De Soto National Forest, longleaf pine restoration has an added beneficiary, the dusky gopher frog. …And researchers continue to watch over the frogs.

ORONO — The Maine Spruce Budworm Task Force, formed in summer 2013 by the University of Maine Cooperative Forestry Research Unit, Maine Forest Service, and Maine Forest Products Council to begin preparing for the next outbreak of the eastern spruce budworm, has released an update to its 2016 Task Force report.  “The work of this Task Force has been important in focusing landowners and managers on a native insect that can  cause profound changes in the forests in Maine on a periodic basis,” said Patty Cormier, director of the Maine Forest Service. “I am grateful to the CFRU for their leadership in bringing together the Task Force to reexamine strategies and publish this updated executive summary.” …In late 2021, the task force held a workshop to revisit and provide progress reports on recommendations that were made in the 2016 SBW Task Force Report. 

INDIANA — Indiana educators are encouraged to apply for the 2023 Natural Resources Teacher Institute, which will be held June 19-23 at the Forestry Training Center at Morgan-Monroe State Forest. Hosted by the Indiana DNR Division of Forestry and Purdue University Forestry and Natural Resources, this week-long immersive professional development program will provide educators with the knowledge, skills, and tools to effectively teach their students about forest ecology, research, and management in Indiana. There is no cost to participants, and meals and housing are also provided. Daily activities include visiting public and private forest sites, touring forest industry facilities, and exploring forestry research through the Hardwood Ecosystem Experiment.

NORTH CAROLINA — There’s no arguing they’ve made a remarkable rebound after being nearly hunted to near extinction in the late 20th century in many places, including North Carolina. But have white-tailed deer been too successful in bouncing back from the brink after centuries of unregulated hunting? Of equal importance, are they now a threat to the very environment − some scientists argue − that regulators and biologists have worked so hard to protect to help them recover? “We’ve eliminated the controls on them,” said Dr. Doug Tallamy, an ecologist at the University of Delaware, referring to the eradication of top predators like mountain lions and wolves, “and we’ve created the perfect edge habitats for them. …That has some researchers mulling changes in how we approach deer management.

Maine’s small, family-owned logging companies would be able to safely train 16- and 17-year-old family members as future employees under a bill that an industry leader sees as long overdue.  …“Logging has been fundamental to the success of our state for centuries — creating good jobs, supporting working families, and providing essential economic activity across rural areas,” US Sen Angus King said. “As a new generation of Maine people considers careers in logging, we should be providing opportunities to explore the exciting field in a safe, managed way.” US Rep. Jared Golden said the bill “will allow young Mainers to get an early start learning the family trade.” ….A study by the University of Maine found that the total number of jobs in the logging industry in Maine declined 6% more than the national average between 2014 and 2021.

VIDEO STORY – Click the Read More to see the video. You’ve probably seen something like this before, a drone that can fly over a fertile area and drop seeds from the sky. But this project being led by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, takes the sky seeding method even further. This is what its developers call a self-burying payload carrier a way to more easily, quickly and more cheaply plant in the future.

In February, dozens of people attended a meeting about the Telephone Gap Integrated Resource Project. After years of planning, the Forest Service has a proposal to manage 70,000 acres of federal forest and private land primarily in Rutland County. That includes new logging in about 12,000 acres of national forest. The agency says this management will improve forest health, but some advocates say it’s a bad idea in the face of climate change. …It includes part of a 16,000-acre swath of forest that was once proposed for federal wilderness and that has no modern roads. If the project is approved, the Forest Service says this will be the biggest timber harvest in Telephone Gap since it became federal land. The area hasn’t been logged since the 1980s and ‘90s. …But there’s another underlying tension at play: The Forest Service and some advocates disagree over whether logging can make a forest healthier in the decades to come.