September 2010
Volume XIX, Issue 10
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1. Trees: The perfect defense
NACD begins discussions with Department of Defense on future 'buffer zone' projects
The Department of Defense (DOD) understands it can be a difficult neighbor. When it built many of its test and training ranges throughout the United States in the 1950s and ’60s, DoD made a conscious effort to stay as far away from civilization as possible, understanding that the noise and dust created from its missions could be a nuisance to those living nearby. Over time, though, civilization began to inch its way toward a number of those bases. “A lot of our training is done at night,” says Jan Larkin, outreach coordinator for DoD’s Sustainable Ranges Initiative, “and people don’t like being awakened at 2 a.m. by a helicopter flying over.”
In an attempt to solve the problem, DoD, with the help of Congressional legislation in 2003, developed a program to create buffer zones around bases. Congress authorized DoD to work with willing land owners to combine funds with non-government organizations and/or state and local governments to purchase interest in land – usually conservation easements. DoD does not own or use this land, but maintains an interest that preserves compatible land uses. Called the Readiness and Environmental Protection Initiative (REPI), the program has been funded as a line item in DoD’s budget for the past six years.
In each project, DoD is able to offer part of the purchase price to the private landowner, organization or agency who owns the property. In the past, DoD has worked primarily with conservation organizations but is now exploring working lands groups (NACD is presently drafting a primer that will act as the foundation for its partnership with DoD).
Says Larkin, “DoD is continuously educating itself on all of its options for promoting compatible land use, and loves to surround its bases with forestland, farmland, ranchland, or open space whenever possible.
“Trees make great neighbors,” she says. “They don’t worry about the noise.”
In the southeast, DoD bases manage more than 730,000 acres of longleaf pine habitat in seven states. Because of this, DoD has been heavily involved in America’s Longleaf Restoration Initiative (ALRI), and has participated in a number of regional meetings, including one in June attended by NACD Forest Resource Policy Group (RPG) chairman Charles Holmes and Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in Charleston S.C.
The goal of ALRI is to help restore longleaf in the Southeast. Today, only 3.4 million of the original 90 million acres remain. DoD has placed an emphasis on protecting longleaf that is adjacent or in proximity of its installations. From 2005 to 2008, DoD spent $32 million on longleaf projects, and has helped to protect more than 35,000 acres of potential or existing longleaf near 10 military installations in the Southeast.
DoD’s interest in longleaf pine has helped bring it closer together with NACD. Last February, Bruce Beard, DoD’s REPI program director, joined Forest Service Deputy Regional Director Ken Arney and NRCS Southeast Regional Director Leonard Jordan to address the NACD Forest RPG at the NACD Annual Convention in Orlando, and helped to organize a panel session at the NACD SE Regional Annual meeting early this month on the present state of longleaf pine.
The February workshop panel was hosted by Charles Holmes and Frank Nalty, the chairman of the Alabama Soil and Water Conservation Committee, who has been around longleaf all his life. Having grown up in southern Alabama – the largest longleaf pine area in the world – Nalty manages his family’s 10,000-acre farm, 90 percent of which is longleaf.
The overflow audience engaged in lively discussion and raised good questions regarding longleaf, topics well-suited to Nalty’s experience. “So I started answering all these questions – how many trees per acres, how often do you burn it, what the financial side of it is.” That discussion helped to establish a relationship between Nalty and Beard, and this summer Beard invited Nalty and Holmes to take a tour of the Pentagon after which the men shared information with Beard about managing longleaf.
Says Nalty, a partnership between DoD and NACD only makes sense. “Conservation districts are already established in whatever counties those bases are in,” he says, “and districts get work done. By working with conservation districts, they’re going to get more bang for their buck.” Beard agrees, and is already searching for areas where the two groups may be able to work together on future projects.
“We’re certainly aware that the conservation districts in the states have a lot of influence on what happens to land use. It’s not an organization that our installations have normally worked with but we’re trying to educate them on all the things conservation districts have to offer,” he says.
For more information, visit the America’s Longleaf Initiative website at www.americaslongleaf.org.
2. Finding the right stewardship plan
Tom Schulz can still remember the words his father shared with him about the family forestland. It was a living insurance policy, he was told – something able to take care of the family in rough times. Schulz took over the 360-acre Minnesota farm in 1970, and today is quite proud of the forestland he manages – 40 acres in conventional forestry and nearly 70 acres in agroforestry (hybrid poplar trees). “To me, it’s awe-inspiring to see how these systems work for the good of the environment, but also how they provide fiber for man,” says Schulz.
It’s tough to argue against trees, he says. “Given that not everything is tillable, and not everything’s a pasture, those areas could just as well be growing trees.”
A friend to conservation districts since 1975, and the present secretary/treasurer for the Minnesota Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts, Schulz has long been practicing what he preaches. And thanks to a forest stewardship plan that Wadena Soil and Water Conservation District forester Anne Oldakowski crafted for him, these days he has better guidance to carry out his vision for the property.
“I had two plans done about the same time, one written by an independent contractor and the other by the district staff forester,” says Schulz. “I was much more pleased with the one that came from our staff because they listened to what my goals were more clearly and helped me to find those management practices that I wanted to implement on my forestland.”
The plan is much different from the “skinny, little 20-page document” the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources created for him in 1974. Schulz decided to have that first plan done because he had some red rot. He sold some of the timber from that harvest and used the rest to construct a new dairy barn. Today he more actively manages his forestland than ever before. His poplar stand is ready for its second generation after the first produced 25 cords per acre over its 12-year cycle. And last year Schulz harvested 23 of the 40 acres in conventional forestry, then replanted it this spring with three species: red pine, white pine and jack pine.
Schulz feels strongly that any landowner who has the opportunity to build a forest stewardship plan with a local district forester should strongly consider it. “They’re an independent source of information,” says Schulz. “They’re going to advise what the best solution is for my land, and they’re usually good about pointing out conflicts that might results from my goals for the land.”
Schulz has also experienced other ways in which having a stewardship plan can prove valuable. This year he applied for WHIP funding, but soon dollars for the program became sparse. “Because I had a forest stewardship plan, my application was elevated in the selection process,” he says.
3. Colorado tour showcases extent of beetle infestation
The son of a logger and sawmill operator in Colorado’s White River Valley, Gary Moyer has witnessed firsthand how local industry can help manage forestland, and also how the health of the forest suffers when industry sputters.
As much of Colorado’s forestland deals with a catastrophic outbreak of mountain pine beetle infestation, conservation leaders like Moyer are helpless due to the lack of industry in the area and the inability of federal agencies to act. Today, more than three and a half million acres in the area have fallen victim to infestation.
Determined to help solve Colorado’s forest problems, the NACD Board member and White River Conservation District officer helped to organize a two-day forest field tour in mid-August to show state and federal partners just how bad the problem is.
Tour participants were able to view sections of Grand County through the Winter Park/Granby area, and the White River Valley where they examined the effects of the spruce beetle infestation 60 years ago. The tour group also visited the Plant Materials Center in Meeker, which is owned and operated by two conservation districts.
The tour was well attended, and included representatives from the U.S. Forest Service’s Region 2 office, the Colorado State Forest Service, Department of Agriculture and NRCS, along with aides to Colorado congressmen and both U.S. senators.
The District also invited Dr. Jim Bowyer, a University of Minnesota forest products professor who specializes in wood utilization and deterioration. Bowyer offered ideas for potential uses for the dead timber. “What keeps sticking in my mind,” says Moyer, “is that after he got home he emailed me and one of the phrases he used was ‘The condition of your forests is horrific.’”
Moyer was pleased with the turnout and confident everyone got the message.
“In addition to brainstorming with professionals, our mission was to show the need to remove the dead timber with a goal of having a healthy forest in 50 years,” he says. If the infested trees remain, Moyer believes it could take the forest as long as 200 years to repair itself.
“There’s a perception out there that because this is lodgepole pine, that within 10 years this stuff will be down and rotted away,” says Moyer. “That’s not the case.”
The high-mountainous region experiences cold and dry weather, which limits the wood’s ability to deteriorate. According to Moyer, fungal activity requires a moisture content of 23 percent or better. Because of the dry climate, the equilibrium moisture content is 15 percent in the region. “And that’s not to mention the fact that you need to have 32 degrees or warmer to get fungal activity, temperature-wise, and Grand County, which is one of the most infected areas from this infestation, has an average of 16 frost-free days a year,” he adds.
Leaving the trees alone not only stunts future growth, but it presents hazardous risks. Dead pine needles on standing trees present a high risk for wildfire, while falling trees are becoming an increasing concern in the region. When trees are being removed from picnic grounds or utility alleys, crews are using two spotters and one cutter, instead of vice versa.
Solutions are limited. The lack of loggers and sawmills in the area makes it difficult for contractors to do the removal work affordably. The infested timber can still be used for pellets or poles, but extracting it for those markets is not cost-effective. And even though the lumber is salvageable, as NACD Forest Resource Policy Group member Orval Gigstad learned on the tour, it’s difficult to sell due to the blue streak the bark beetles create. Cellulosic ethanol could become an option down the road if the science is perfected, but even then the forest industry would need to experience a boom.
In terms of regrowth, Gigstad believes clearcutting may be the best answer. “They showed us some areas that had been clearcut 10 years ago, and on some of these mountain sides that was the only green area,” he says. Clearcutting can cost as much as $2,000 per acre, although Gigstad says there are a number of landowners who have done the work thanks to EQIP funding.
Solving forest problems like infestation is much different today than 30 or 40 years ago. “Back in those days, the Forest Service had a map and a guy on an airplane looking for signs of red-top trees to identify potential insect outbreak," says Moyer. "They were able to utilize the local logger and sawmill to stop that insect activity. They had the ability to write a timber sale in a timely manner and stop the insect infestation.”
Due to the threat of litigation, that is no longer possible. Says Moyer, in a perfect world, the Forest Service would have the power to act. “There’s a need for them to react like they do with fire. It’s an emergency that needs to be dealt with,” says Moyer, who admits such a power would only solve half of the problem. “Everyone agrees that the availability of a vibrant forest products industry is a necessity for the Forest Service to have the tools to react quickly, if they could.”
To learn more about the August forest tour, contact Matt Scott of the White River Conservation District at 970-878-5628 ext. 107, or via email at matt.scott@co.nacdnet.net.
4. Help celebrate NeighborWoods Month in October
National NeighborWoods Month is an annual October celebration to remind us of the value of trees in our communities. All around the country, in rural towns and big cities, special events and activities ranging from tree plantings to street festivals to youth programs will help “re-green” communities.
Led by volunteers in community-based efforts nationwide, NeighborWoods Month is coordinated through the Alliance for Community Trees, which supports local partners with event tools, national marketing, and media outreach to help draw attention to the importance of urban forests for building healthier communities.
Here are some ways districts can engage landowners to help green their communities this October:
Visit www.neighborwoodsmonth.org to register your event, download free tools and templates, and order local support materials.
5. Forestry Briefs
NACD signs on for 'Partners in Community Forestry'
Many conservation and natural resource districts help homeowners and communities enhance their green space, better manage stormwater runoff, reduce energy use and provide wildlife habitat. To help districts obtain information and build partnerships in this area, NACD has signed on as a cooperator of the 2010 “Partners in Community Forestry” National Conference.
Scheduled for November 9-11 in Philadelphia, this year’s event includes more than 35 general and concurrent educational presentations, exhibitors, urban forestry tours, technology user groups and networking opportunities.
The “Partners in Community Forestry” conference offers the latest in urban forest research, best practices in community tree management and models for strategic and sustainable partnerships. To learn more about the conference and register, please visit www.arborday.org/pcf2010.
New site makes its case for “Green Cities”
A new website highlights the social benefits of trees in urban settings. Green Cities: Good Health was developed thanks to assistance from the U.S. Forest Service Urban & Community Forestry Program and the University of Washington. The site states, “Recent research has revealed the environmental benefits provided by metro nature, such as improved air and water quality, energy savings, and reduced urban heat island effects. The social sciences provide additional evidence of benefits. Nearly 40 years of research shows that the experience of nature is profoundly important to human functioning, health, and well-being.” Visit the site at http://depts.washington.edu/hhwb.