Region Archives: US East

Michigan State University researchers contributed to a recent amphibian-focused study that shed light on the ecological importance of red-backed salamanders. Scientists knew that red-backed salamanders were abundant in eastern North America, but a recent study found their densities and biomass were much higher than expected. The study marks the first time that the densities and biomass for this common, but rarely seen, species were calculated across the extent of its range… The incredible magnitude of red-backed salamander presence in the eastern North American captured in this study suggests that red-backed salamanders, and likely amphibians in general, play a more prevalent role in terrestrial temperate ecosystems than previously suspected… Unfortunately, just as scientists are beginning to understand the true magnitude of salamanders’ hidden biodiversity and ecological importance, a new wildlife disease that is particularly hard on salamanders is a looming threat and a serious concern for scientists and wildlife managers.

Michigan’s nearly 4 million acres of state forest land has something for everyone [and] the management of these forests has an impact on you. To ensure the long-term, sustainable management and health of the state forest the Michigan Department of Natural Resources has drafted a new State Forest Management Plan to serve as a guide for the next 10 years. This draft plan was collaboratively developed by DNR forestry, wildlife, fisheries and recreation planning staff. …The state forest was established in 1903 by the Michigan Forestry Commission. …Since that time… the state forest has grown to nearly 4 million acres. The management of Michigan’s state forest has evolved over time as well. …“With broad public review and thoughtful input to ensure a comprehensive State Forest Management Plan, we will continue that progress into the next 10 years and beyond,” said Dan Heckman, planning and modeling specialist with the DNR’s Forest Resources Division.

In the August newsletter from the Southern Forest Products Association you’ll find these headlines and more:

• Sustainability in the Southern Pine lumber industry is paramount, which is why more trees are planted than harvested each year. So why is Southern Pine so sustainable? SFPA has all the answers you need. 
• Southern Pine lumber shipments in June totaled 1.531 billion board feet (Bbf), 19% below May’s revised shipments of 1.887 Bbf. Exports of Southern Pine lumber (treated and untreated) are running 20% ahead of 2023 through the first half of 2024. They were up 16% in the second quarter of 2024 over the prior quarter and up 22% over the same period in 2023. 
• The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released a plan August 7 for implementing a new label program to boost clean American manufacturing by helping federal purchasers and other buyers find and buy cleaner, more climate-friendly construction materials and products. However, wood is not included in that list.

A destructive insect capable of devastating timber harvests is at “epidemic” level in Alabama, with the state’s forest management agency saying the problem is the worst it’s been in more than 20 years. The Alabama Forestry Commission (AFC) has issued an alert about the Southern pine beetle. The AFC said it has identified almost 5,000 trouble spots, with an average of 191 trees killed at each spot. “Unfortunately, this is the highest number of beetle spots we’ve experienced in the state in the last 23 years, State Forester Rick Oates said. “The agency has conducted aerial surveys in 51 counties so far, with more counties anticipated over the next couple weeks. Both Mississippi and Georgia are also counting numerous spots. So, it looks as if this is an especially active pine beetle year not just here in Alabama, but across the Southeast.”

Charles Tarver

Western North Carolina — The U.S. Forest Service’s Brushy Mountain logging project is cutting down a rare old growth forest near Highlands. The logging is demolishing the habitats of rare green salamanders and endangered bats. It is also introducing harmful exotic species and creating sources of erosion and sedimentation into beloved brook trout streams. And it is ignoring overwhelming public opposition to this project on public lands. The Forest Service’s decision to log this old growth forest also defies science and common sense. The stated purpose of the Brushy Mountain Timber Sale is to establish a wildlife opening in the forest. Multiple alternative sites nearby could provide the same wildlife opening benefits and entirely avoid destroying a unique old growth forest… Sadly, the Forest Service’s new proposed National Old Growth Amendment will allow even more old growth logging projects like Brushy Mountain, because of loopholes in the amendment that allow continued liquidation of old growth.

Ethan Tapper is a wild man on stage. The leader of the 10-member Burlington punk band The Bubs screams into the microphone and plays furiously on electric guitar while his band mates cavort happily around him in front of delirious crowds of hundreds of music fans. The chaos of the stage contrasts starkly with Tapper’s other life. The former Chittenden County forester left that post in June to focus on Bear Island, the 175-acre forest he manages in Bolton. …Tapper spends much of his time communing with trees and the serene life that thrives around them. Every now and then, Tapper’s dichotomous worlds collide. The Bubs release a new album, “Make a Mess” with a concert on Aug. 23 in Winooski. Less than three weeks later, Tapper launches his first book, a treatise on tough TLC for trees titled “How to Love a Forest,” on Sept. 10 at Burlington City Hall.

Greenville, S.C. —A new conservation easement on the Gillette tract will protect 2,100 feet of the Nottoway River frontage in southeastern Virginia, supported by a grant from the Enviva Forest Conservation Fund (EFCF). Managed by the Virginia Outdoors Foundation (VOF), this easement will preserve water quality, scenic beauty, and wildlife habitats, and reinforce protection for the river and its tributaries. The Nottoway River, a Scenic River and Blueway Trail flowing into the Albemarle-Pamlico Sound Estuary, will benefit from this effort, ensuring its ecological and scenic value for future generations. Brandi Colander, Chief Sustainability Officer at Enviva, said, “We are delighted to be a part of this significant milestone for environmental preservation and to assist with the conservation of another important easement along the Nottoway River.” Eligible for the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, the easement supports the river’s exceptional attributes and safeguards its environment.

An invasive insect with an insatiable appetite can cause serious problems for a favorite native moth that likes the same food source—even though the two are never in direct competition for a meal, according to new research, published in the journal Ecology and Evolution, from University of Wisconsin–Madison ecologists. Since the early 2000s, spongy moth caterpillars, an import from Europe, have flexed their gustatory muscle in Wisconsin by stripping entire stands of trees of their leaves during late spring and early summer in remarkably destructive feeding binges. …Because the spongy moth caterpillar ends its leaf-eating spree relatively early in the aspen tree’s growing season, the defoliated trees produce a second flush of leaves to capture enough energy to survive (if not necessarily thrive) through the winter and into the next growth year. … “By mid-summer, they produced an entirely new set of leaves that had, on average, an eight-times higher concentration of defense chemicals.”

EAST LANSING, Mich. — The benefit of Michigan’s 20 million acres of forests can be seen through a variety of lenses. Michigan forests play a key role in offsetting greenhouse gas emissions through carbon storage, provide wildlife habitats and increase biodiversity, offer ample recreational opportunities to the state’s population and visitors, and supply timber resources and other forestry products — which contributed to over $26 billion to Michigan’s economy in 2022… Research from a team of Michigan State University scientists shows there’s another benefit people derive from forests, but they might not recognize it: filtering and supplying clean drinking water. …“Generally speaking, most people understood that where there are forests, there’s cleaner and more abundant water,” Emily Huff, an associate professor in the Department of Forestry said. “However, they didn’t make the functional link that conserving forests results in cleaner drinking water.”

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Interim Commissioner Sean Mahar today announced $500,000 in funding is now available for the fourth round of the State’s ‘Regenerate NY’ Forestry Cost Share Grant Program. The grant program assists private landowners with growing the next generation of resilient forests to mitigate climate change, provide wildlife habitat, protect air and water quality, and supply a critical renewable resource. Funded projects will enhance efforts made through Governor Kathy Hochul’s ambitious 25 Million Trees Initiative to restore and sustain New York’s natural landscapes. …Interim Commissioner Maharw said, “This support gives private landowners the opportunity to foster biodiverse forests on their lands and increase the ecosystem benefits forests provide, including the absorption and storage of carbon. Private landowners may apply for grant awards ranging from a minimum of $10,000 to a maximum of $100,000.

This device corkscrews itself into the ground like a seed, and could just change the face of our planet! They are a newly created autonomous aerial seed that have some really cool and weird implications.

From the research paper: Aerial seeding can quickly cover large and physically inaccessible areas to improve soil quality and scavenge residual nitrogen in agriculture, and for postfire reforestation and wildland restoration. However, it suffers from low germination rates… Inspired by Erodium seeds, we designed and fabricated self-drilling seed carriers, turning wood veneer into highly stiff and hygromorphic bending or coiling actuators with an extremely large bending curvature, 45 times larger than the values in the literature. Our three-tailed carrier has an 80% drilling success rate on flat land… Our carriers can carry biofertilizers and plant seeds as large as those of whitebark pine. 

MAINE — The larvae of long, green beetles are winding their way under the bark of Maine’s brown ash trees in northern and southern pockets of the state. Known as emerald ash borers, the insects have decimated ash trees in the Great Lakes already. They likely will do the same here one day, local researchers said. But for 20 years, Maine has been preparing with a focus on protecting Wabanaki traditions and including Indigenous knowledge, an approach setting it apart from other states. Maine has also had more time to prepare: emerald ash borers were found in Michigan in 2002 and spread steadily eastward. They weren’t found here until 2018. …Joining together as the Ash Protection Collaboration Across Wabanakik, university researchers, state and federal forestry agencies, conservation groups, tribes and basketmakers planned their approach. They join Western and Indigenous approaches to science, research and decision-making.

Jeremy Turner and Laura French

…Jeremy Turner and his wife, Laura French, are professional foresters. They live on 330 acres in southwestern New Hampshire, land that long ago was cleared for a hilltop farm, and then abandoned. …Since they moved here 15 years ago, they have tried to harvest trees in a way that encourages the ecological diversity and complexity one might find in a much older forest. This includes not just trees but all forms of life, including plants and animals above the ground and below. …This approach is part of a growing trend in American forestry. Like Mr. Turner and Ms. French, more and more landowners, foresters, and overseers of public lands are trying to manage forests with the aim of promoting the values of ecology, a branch of biology that’s the study of the vital connections among plants and animals in a given place, and not simply the economics of harvesting timber.