Forests
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Atlas Obscura had a fascinating story last year about some centuries-old trees found in the most unexpected place: growing out of cliffs along the Niagara escarpment. Because these trees don’t get very large due to their extreme exposure and difficult growing conditions, no one knew how old the trees were until a Canadian researcher collected tree cores…
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The latest Southern Regional Extension Forestry newsletter has been released, and it provides information on a number of opportunities for forest-related webinars, grants and some new experts that are available to help with forestry issues around the region. There’s also a new snake identification website which is discussed in the newsletter. You can read it…
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The Pine Integrated Network: Education, Mitigation, and Adaptation project, better known as PINEMAP, began in 2012 when Tim Martin, professor of tree physiology at the University of Florida, along with representatives from 11 southeastern land-grant universities and a host of other research cooperatives, proposed a five-year research project to determine how changes to climate could…
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The US Forest Service has a useful web site that serves as a resource center for topics on climate change and how it is likely to affect forests and grasslands in years to come. The site includes a number of modules on climate science, impacts of changing climate, and how land managers can respond. You…
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The Washington Post reported this week that in spite of the giant sequoias appearing to be almost indestructible, they are finding many trees are dying from the prolonged drought that has plagued California that past few years. If it is too dry, tiny bubbles form in the tree sap, forming what are like embolisms in…
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While most people think of wildfires as a Western phenomenon, events this year have pointed out that the Southeast is also an area that is ripe for wildfires. An recent article by Lyndsey Gilpin at https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-southeast-is-becoming-a-wildfire-hotspot/ describes the increases in wildfires in the Southeast over time. The article discusses whether wildfires are becoming more frequent and…
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High winds with gusts to 70 mph ahead of the cold front that is moving into the Southeast caused forest fires in North Carolina and Tennessee to flare up, resulting in a panicked evacuation of Gatlinburg TN late in the evening on the 28th. You can see pictures and video of the smoke and fire…