Forests
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It’s no surprise that weather has a big effect on crop development this time of year. The floods in the Midwest have been particularly bad for farmers, but other regions have also experienced impacts from frost and other extreme weather. Here is a sampling of recent stories I have read that caught my eye. AgWeb:…
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The Atlantic magazine posted an interesting article this week about the migration of trees from one region to another. Of course the trees don’t actually pick up their roots and walk away, but over time some areas see a decline in saplings while other areas see new growth. What surprised the scientists quoted in the…
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In spite of removal of many trees from around urban areas, some pockets of old-growth forest still remain. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution wrote about a few such remnant forests around Atlanta in an article earlier this week which noted that these forests have been recognized by the Maryland-based Old-Growth Forest Network. You can read about it here.…
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Lee Shearer of the Athens Banner-Herald posted an interesting story today about land use changes across Georgia in the past few decades. Climatologists know that changes in land from bare group crops to forests can cause changes in the local climate because of how it changes the energy balance. Similarly, changing land from fields to…
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Sammy Fretwell of The State has published two related stories this week on the growth of very large farms which are replacing forests in South Carolina. In one article it says that “In the past four years, out-of-state agribusinesses have purchased nearly 10,000 acres in the Edisto River basin, chopped down forests and established mega…
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With the return of drought conditions to parts of the Southeast, the number of wildfires is on the rise, especially in Florida. The fires are particularly bad in the southern part of the Florida peninsula where the drought is growing, but the fires are being seen in other parts of Florida as well as some…
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The Warnell School of Forestry at UGA published a story about the impacts of the current drought in northern Georgia on pine trees there. Here is an excerpt from the story describing how drought impacts the trees: “Drought stresses and weakens trees, making them more likely to be attacked by bark beetles. Under drought, trees…