August 2011 Blog Posts (17)

Voters continue to value the nation’s forests highly, particularly as sources of clean air and water and places for wildlife to live. The survey found most voters are personally familiar with the nation’s forests: two-thirds of voters (67%) say they live within ten miles of a forest or wooded area. Voters also report…

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There are many reasons you might want to prune your tree. Maybe some of the branches have storm damage or the tree has simply grown too tall. Or maybe you just want to trim it to be more aesthetically pleasing. These are all perfectly good reasons for pruning a tree, but before you do, be sure you’re doing it properly. You wouldn’t want to cause unnecessary stress for your tree or even worse, make it susceptible to disease and even death.

 

Two unadvisable pruning practices are…

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Do trees grow faster with more carbon in the atmosphere.  According to an article in the New York Times from a year ago, they do!  

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It’s estimated that today there are 4 billion urban trees in the U.S*.  It is no wonder research is being conducted on the quality of urban forest carbon credits.  

A recently published report in Urban Forestry and Urban Greening, authored by Neelam, Poudyala, Siry, and Bowkerb, investigates the issue and summarizes the following in the their abstract.

"While the urban forest is considered an eligible source of carbon offset credits, little is known about its…

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Here's a link to an article from my hometown, Pittsburgh, PA. Sounds like a good deal if the City gets some of the damaged and diseased trees removed, wider planting locations and some new trees planted. Can't wait to see the movie.

 

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Many  people know the obvious benefits trees provide—like saving energy, improving the quality of air and offering shade—but trees serve other purposes that often go unrecognized.





Some uncommon benefits of trees include:

• Protecting our water—Trees reduce runoff and erosion, prevent…

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Typically old trees are big, but what other characteristics do old trees demonstrate. Neil Pederson of the Department of Biological Sciences at Eastern Kentucky University,  summarizes six characteristics in his abstract. 

(1) smooth or “balding”…

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Do those bright, plump berries in your backyard look just ripe enough to eat? Or does that exotic, aromatic plant look like the perfect addition to your floral arrangement? Before you chow down on the unidentified berries or decorate with the mysterious flower, make sure you’ve done your homework.…

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By Dr. Alex Shigo

 Science is an orderly process of collecting, connecting and recording information about natural systems. Science is understanding. Science is mind.

Art is a process requiring skills to produce a product or performance considered attractive or pleasing. Art is doing. Art is muscle.

Arboriculture is the cultivation of trees. To cultivate healthy, attractive and safe trees both mind and muscle must be used. Arboriculture is…

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You might notice some small changes on American Grove.  For example, the default photo has been changed to a photo of Tulip Poplar…

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Aug. 2, 2011, 9:32 AM EST

MANSFIELD, Ohio (AP) -- A storm has destroyed half of an Ohio oak tree that played a key role near the end of "The Shawshank Redemption."



The 1994 movie was filmed in and around an old prison in Mansfield in north-central Ohio, and the tree is where Morgan Freeman's character finds money and a note left by Tim Robbins' character.



Bing: 'Shawshank Redemption' movie clips



Malabar Farm State Park manager Louis Andres told the News… Continue

Below is an comprehensive article on the history and future of The American Chestnut from Georgia Forest Watch Quarterly Newsletter, Summer 2011 by Darren Wolfgang.  Complete Article PDF (page 14).

by Darren Wolfgang : Forest Ecologist

The American Chestnut (Castanea dentata), once common throughout the Eastern United States, was highly prized for

its abundant nut crops, rapid…

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 The Tree Benefit Calculator allows you to make this simple estimation. Input your location by zip code to find your climate zone, add the tree s

pecies and size, and…

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by Deborah Byrd @ Earthsky.org

The BBC reported on Monday (August 1, 2011) that a Chinese professor has discovered the most massive fruiting body of any fungus yet documented, growing on the underside of a tree in Hainan Province, China. He and his team described their finding in the journal Fungal Biology.  The length of the fungus is 10 meters (33 feet). It is 80 centimeters (31 inches) wide and weighs half a metric tonne (about half a ton).…

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Last winter I was attending an organizational meeting to plant 100K trees in DeKalb County sponsored by Nalley Automotive.  The program leader kicked the meeting off by having us introduce ourselves and describe one event that led to our passion for trees.  I had to think about this, but remembered my older brother, Ted, who has since passed, planting a tree at my elementary school.  Ted was about five years older than me and outside of family time there were not many moments when we…

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We’ve all heard the adage, “If walls could talk…”—but have you ever wondered what trees could say? American Forest historians can tell you.



American Forests, a nonprofit advocate for the protection and expansion of our nation’s forests, has documented more than a dozen historic trees that endured the…

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