The Forestry Source - December 2010 - (Page 1) Source News for forest resource professionals published by the Society of American Foresters December 2010 • Vol. 15, No. 12 Contract Brings Jobs, Energy, and Healthier Forests Five-Year Progress Report on the White Mountain Stewardship Project I N T H I S I S S U E 2010 National Convention Recap Nearly 1,500 forestry and natural resources professionals and students attended the 2010 SAF National Convention in Albuquerque, New Mexico. For those who couldn’t make it to this year’s gathering, The Forestry Source offers highlights from the event. Page 8. An overview of forestry and natural resources master’s degree programs in the United States Although many US universities continue to offer traditional graduate forestry degrees, numerous forestry programs have merged with or moved into broader departments, schools, and colleges. We compared the graduate programs at all 50 SAF-accredited and candidate forestry programs in terms of requirements, degree differences, and trends in graduate-level forestry education. Page 12. Field Tech: A forester’s wish list What’s on your list this holiday season? Here’s a look at some interesting products to consider. Page 13. Here’s how to build a weight table for loblolly pine. This article describes the construction of a single-entry weight table for managed stands of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) for Montgomery County, North Carolina, using a multiple-entry weight equation for loblolly pines in North Carolina and Virginia. Page 14. BCAP is back: USDA revises rules for biomass crop assistance program. The Biomass Crop Assistance Program is intended, according to the US Department of Agriculture, to address “a classic chicken-and-egg challenge.” Page 20. L By Steve Wilent ocation, location, location is a rule of thumb for real estate values. Supply, supply, supply is the mantra for the forest products industry, especially when it comes to biomass. Wood pellet producers, biomass power plants, and small-log mills may have the best locations, but without a reliable, long-term supply of raw material, location doesn’t count for much. This was the thinking behind the development of the White Mountain Stewardship Project on the Apache and Sitgreaves National Forests (ASNF) in east-central Arizona. Like many other national forests in the inland West, the two million acres of federal land had a severe forest health problem. With vast swaths of overcrowded and stressed ponderosa pine, forest managers warned that the foresters were at risk for high-intensity wildfire. Risk turned into reality in 2002 with the Rodeo Chediski fire, the largest in Arizona’s history, which burned nearly 470,000 acres, including more than 176,000 on the ASNF; destroyed about 450 homes; and forced the evacuation of 30,000 people. Large fires struck other areas of the West that summer as well—the Biscuit in Oregon and the Hayman in Colorado—making forest health a national issue. ASNF forest managers, environmentalists, the local timber industry, and other Jim Pitts, a silviculturist with the Apache and Sitgreaves National Forests, at a site treated under the White Mountain Stewardship Project in 2006. Before treatment, this stand of ponderosa pine, adjacent to summer homes and a campground, had more than 400 trees per acre and a basal area of 130 square feet per acre. The treatment reduced stocking to 80 trees per acre and 60 to 70 square feet of basal area per acre. interested members of a local committee called the Natural Resources Working Group, formed in 1997, had been working to address forest health and resolve conflicts over small-scale treatments, and the fires served as a catalyst for greater coop- Marijuana on US Forestlands: An Interview with Forest Service Officer Tracy Perry M arijuana cultivation on public and private timberland in the United States is big business. On US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land alone, more than four million plants were eradicated in fiscal year 2008, more than half of the 7.5 million plants found growing outdoors and destroyed in the United States that year, according to the US Department of Justice. A conservative estimate of the potential street value of the plants is $10 billion. (See “Marijuana” page 4) Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department D E PA RT M E N T S 2 6 7 13 15 16 17 Editor’s Notebook In Brief Industry News Field Tech People in the News Continuing Ed. Calendar Classifieds More than 17,000 marijuana plants were found and eradicated at three sites on the Angeles National Forest in July. Trees at this site were cut by growers to provide more sunlight for the plants. eration and concrete action locally and nationally. The year after the Rodeo Chedeski fire, Congress approved legislation that allowed federal agencies to enter into 10-year stewardship contracts in which private entities are paid for conducting land management activities. For the working group, this offered a golden opportunity to pursue a larger-scale forest health project. “For a decade or more, all of us understood that we had some issues—the smalldiameter trees that were building up—and the social license for addressing this crystallized with the Rodeo Chediski fire,” said Sue Sitko, The Nature Conservancy’s White Mountain program manager. “We had been trying to find small-scale solutions, and when the fire happened, more people and groups got on board.” Most working group members saw the health of the local timber industry as the key to healthy forests. “We saw the stewardship contract as an administrative mechanism for guaranteeing a long-term supply [for local forest products companies]. Just going small contract by small contract, there was no guarantee,” Sitko said. The White Mountain Stewardship Project, initiated in August 2004, was designed to help restore forest health while providing a long-term supply of material for the wood products industry and, at the same time, reduce the risk of wildfires, improve wildlife habitat, and stimulate employment in communities in the area. The contract’s main objective is to treat about 150,000 acres over the 10-year contract period. It requires that a minimum of 5,000 acres per year be offered to the contractor, Future Forests LLC, a partnership between two local businesses: Forest Energy Corp., (See “White Mountain” page 3) Steve Wilent Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Forestry Source - December 2010 The Forestry Source - December 2010 2010 National Convention Recap Editor’s Notebook In Brief Industry News An Overview of Forestry and Natural Resources Master’s Degree Programs in the United States Field Tech: A Forester’s Wish List Field Tech Here’s How to Build a Weight Table for Loblolly Pine People in the News Continuing Ed. 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