May 2011 Blog Posts (22)

There are over 1,300 Indiana Community Tree Stewards in Indiana who are advocating the benefits of the urban forest and sharing their urban forest knowledge and skills with others.

Join us by attending a two day workshop July 16th and July 23rd at Fort Harrison State Park.  Email plouks@dnr.IN.gov to register. 

Sponsored by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Community and Urban Forestry…

What will the south's forests be like in 2060? 23 million acres of it will be gone! Learn more about what is causing this drastic change in the Sustainable Community Forestry's latest blog update:

http://gfccommunityforestry.wordpress.com/2011/05/25/southern-forest-futures-project/

"American chestnuts — massive hardwoods highly prized for their timber, tannin and nuts — were all but lost a half-century ago to an Asian blight that killed 4 billion of them, decimating 25 percent of the Eastern U.S. tree canopy.

But years of efforts to restore the American chestnut are finally taking root across the country — and in the Louisville area.

Nuts from a major research farm in Virginia that were bred over 28 years to be blight resistant were planted at public and…

Urbanization expected to reduce forest area in South during next 50 years

Atlanta, GA -- The USDA Forest Service and the Southern Group of State Foresters released the first phase of the Southern Forest Futures Project report on Tuesday, May 17, which identifies areas forest managers will focus on to maintain southern forests in the coming years.

According to the report, urbanization,…

There are many obstacles to an abundant and healthy urban forest.  Traditional sources of these obstacles are public utilities (water lines, electrical lines, etc.), lack of natural resources (e.g. water, healthy soil, etc.), and lack of knowledge in regards to tree health and planting.  Solar energy and urban gardening present two new potential sources of conflicts with urban forestry.  Trees compete for sunlight very effectively, often at the expense of other uses of that sunlight, like…

This week Alaska and Maine are both celebrating their state arbor days, and both just happen to have a large, needle-bearing conifer as their state tree. Alaska’s state tree is the Sitka Spruce and Maine’s is the Eastern White Pine. Do you know which one is which?



A. This…

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently launched a new strategy to use “green infrastructure” in cities and towns as a means of reducing stormwater runoff.



Stormwater runoff is a…

The Georgia Urban Forest Council had their second annual fundraiser, ArborJam, at the Sweetwater Brewery in Atlanta with musician John Zedd.  Fun was had by all and it always amazes me to learn of our memberships skills/interests outside of their passion for trees which range from being a musician to reading…

Kentucky was honored recently with three awards at the Arbor Day Foundation awards banquet.  State Forester Leah W. MacSwords shared the following....

"I just returned from the Arbor Day Foundation Awards weekend. Kentucky had three award winners: the Appalachian…

Leafsnap is the first in a series of electronic field guides being developed by researchers from Columbia University, the University of Maryland, and the Smithsonian Institution. This free mobile app uses visual recognition software to help identify tree species from photographs of their leaves.

 

Leafsnap contains beautiful high-resolution images of leaves, flowers, fruit, petiole, seeds, and bark. Leafsnap currently includes the trees of New York City and Washington, D.C., and will…

The Atlanta Journal Constitution recently published an article, “Oak leaves at risk from curious caterpillar.” The article has been picked up by local television stations. The article is informative using sources such as the University of Georgia’s Warnell School of Forestry.  There are two points that have been discussed by experts since the article was published.   One is that oak trees are able to replace…

As many of you know, The Grove is expanding nationwide this year, rolling out 10 new states and territories in four rounds. We launched our first round of new states this spring, and have been expanding our Tree Match, Events listings and Blog posts to include resources pertinent to our newest members.…

By Gail Meads, Soil Scientist, GSM Services and Thomas Macfie, Soil Scientist, Soil Science, Inc.

(reprinted with permission from Tree Talks, Georgia Urban Forest Council's monthly newsletter)

Soil Scientists and other outdoor professionals in Georgia are exposed to deer ticks for many months of the year. Walking about in dense woods, briars, old fields, and kudzu patches are obvious places of tick infestations. However, relaxing in the…