In response to the problems, and the costs, of wilding conifer control (ODT, 28.12.11) there is considerable scope to mitigate much of these costs with the recovery of saleable wood in the form of saw logs, post timber (roundwood), firewood and the potential income from chipping residue for boiler fuel.
The latter is becoming a serious contender as a source for alternative energy to fossil fuels, a project I had been investigating for much of last year. And there is a huge potential source of biomass, particularly from wilding clearance.
But the precise effect of pine bark beetle plagues on the nitrogen cycle and carbon cycle is highly variable, says a research group led by the University of Idaho, who have used an ecosystem model to simulate outbreaks.
Yesterday they published their findings in the Journal of Geophysical Research.
DuPont Chemical produces a herbicide, called Imprelis®, that was developed by its scientists to be “a post-emergent broadleaf weed control product that provides turf professionals with an innovative solution to control a wide spectrum of broadleaf weeds.”
Unfortunately, this herbicide is being blamed for damaging or killing trees – primarily Norway spruce and White pine.
The damage has been reported throughout the U.S. Midwest, in East Coast states, and as far south as the state of Georgia.
On August 9, the United States will makes its case to the London Court of International Arbitration that British Columbia is subsidizing timber prices for pine-beetle damaged trees.
The London Court of Arbitration is the body Canada and the U.S. selected as the final level of appeal for disputes under the Softwood Lumber Agreement.
The details of the U.S. claim have not yet been made public.
Seven square miles of woodland are to be wiped from the West landscape as the battle to control a virulent tree-killing fungus intensifies.
The Forestry Commission and private landowners in Cornwall, Devon and Somerset are being forced into a rapid programme of felling to combat the spread of phytophthora ramorum, which was first discovered in the region in 2007.
ONTARIO, CANADA, April 26, 2010 (Viewpoint) - The mountain pine beetle (MPB) kill in British Columbia is a catastrophe and the epidemic will affect the development of forest product markets. The scale and magnitude of the MPB infestation is so large that it warrants comparisons to the "spotted owl crisis" 20 years ago, which resulted in dramatic increases in western timber prices and eventually lifted prices and production in other US and offshore timber baskets.
REGINA — Every time another elm tree becomes infected with Dutch elm disease (DED) and is cut down on Nathaniel Bowen's tree-lined street in Regina, he can't help but feel sad.
"It's hard to see 80 years of history wiped out by a DED infection," said the 30-year-old, who's seen two trees on his street in Lakeview fall victim to the disease. "I couldn't imagine how my street would look without them."
A $494,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture grant will study how the spread of cogongrass affects Alabama's pine forests. In recent decades the health of many loblolly pine forests in the state and Deep South has been deteriorating, said Stephen Enloe, invasive plant specialist at AU's College of Agriculture.
Forestry is the state's top manufacturing industry, according to the Alabama Forestry Commission. There are about 22.7 million acres of timberland in Alabama, accounting for about 70 percent of the total land area of the state.
