Agriculture vs. Forestry???

Traditionally this has been a complicated relationship; two formidable forces vying for the landscape, resources and, of course, our hearts and minds. Well maybe it isn’t that dramatic but there definitely is a competitive, mutually exclusive distinction out there between forestry and agriculture. Having worked in both I have heard a fair share of choice words and derisive statements that both sides have leveled against the other.

The similarities and shared interest between agriculture and forestry are obvious though; most simply that both are working lands that we cannot do without. Much of our region’s forestland is located on farms too. I wish I could say that FFB was personally going to end this rift and bring both sides together. However, many people and institutions are and have been working tirelessly to promote a sustainable landscape of both forest and farms.

Agroforesty, as the name implies, is a practice of using both agricultural and forestry technologies together to benefit the land, its productivity and the diversification of the farm operation. Agroforestry includes practices like forest farming (ie. growing or gathering non timber forest products) and silvopasturing, which is a practice that uses trees in grazed pastures to enrich soil and provide cover to livestock and create a new income stream for the farmer. For a more thorough list of practices and descriptions click here and go to the About Agroforestry heading.

Agroforestry is not new or one of these “fringe” applications, however. Along with some traditional forestry practices, for instance, agroforestry projects have been accepted practices for several USDA conservation and cost-share programs.

To read the full story go to the Forestry For the Bay News site.
(Edited from Forestry For the Bay newsletter by Craig Highfield.  February 17, 2010.)

Announcing Penn State Wildlife Webinar Series

The Pennsylvania Forests Web Seminar Center is pleased to announce a "Wildlife and the Plants They Love to Hate" short series on the first Monday of every month live at noon and again at 7 p.m. Learn how to un-invite some of your wildlife friends by planting a different menu of floral entrees while nurturing your native plants. This series begins on March 1. Each seminar will last approximately one hour.

March 1, 2010: Guess Who Is Coming to Dinner
Find out who's cohabitating in your chimney or developing an attitude in the attic or slithering through your salad greens. Check out who is dining in your den or hammering the hostas. Learn how to evict a murder of crows, a gaggle of geese or a rhumba of rattlesnakes, then you might be able to---Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.

April 5, 2010: Deer Resistant Plants
The deer are coming, the deer are coming. . . and they are staying to dine on your landscape and garden plants. Find out how to co-exist with deer by planting what they least like to eat. There is hope for your garden.

May 3, 2010: Native Plants
Be part of the Green Movement. Start by enjoying the natural beauty and learn to recreate part of it in your own landscape. Be enchanted by the showiest of the native perennials and see which of these you can identify in your area.

June 7, 2010: Rabbit Resistant Plants
Here bunny, here bunny; most of us find rabbits endearing from a very young age. However, sometimes there is just one bunny too many . . . they can easily multiply so much that sheer numbers destroy your landscape and your garden. Learn how to minimize damage from these furry critters through plant selection.

Live seminars are scheduled for the first Monday of every month at noon and 7 p.m. Each session is recorded and loaded onto the Web Seminar Center along with a copy of the presentation and any handout materials. So, if you are unable to participate in the "live" session, a recording of it will be available for you to view at your convenience. Of course, none of the interactive elements will be available when watching the recording.

To participate in the live seminars you must register and have a "Friend of Penn State" user ID. The "Register Now" page on the website will walk you through this process. If you are a member of the Penn State community, you already have your User ID, but we would ask you to register on the website so that you can receive reminders of upcoming programs.

Participation in the web seminar does not require any special software. To view live and previously recorded seminars all you need is a high-speed Internet connection and sound.

USFS Northern Research Station New Publications

A list of the newest publications from the USFS Northern Research Station is now available.  This publication list is definitely worth your time to persue!
The Northern Research Station provides leading-edge forest science and technology applications to serve a wide range of clients in the 20-state region of the Northeast and Midwest.  Check out our this link where you can view and print the online versions or order paper copies of the publications.

Here are a couple that may be of interest:

GTR-NRS-52. A Guide to nonnative invasive plants inventoried in the north by Forest Inventory and Analysis. Olson, Cassandra; Cholewa, Anita F. 194 p.

The Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program of the U.S. Forest Service is an ongoing endeavor mandated by Congress to determine the extent, condition, volume, growth, and depletions of timber on the Nation's forest land. FIA has responded to a growing demand for other information about our forests including, but not limited to, soils, vegetation, down woody material, and invasive plants. The intent of this guide is to aid FIA field staff in identifying 44 invasive plant species in the 24-state Northern Research Station region (Maine south to Delaware west to Kansas and north to North Dakota). However, this guide can be used by anyone interested in learning about these invasive plants. It contains distribution maps, short descriptions, space for notes, and numerous pictures of each plant.

GTR-NRS-48. Effects of herbicide concentration and application timing on the control of beech root and stump sprouts using the cut-stump treatment. Kochenderfer, Jeffrey D.; Kochenderfer, James N. 10 p.
Application costs and efficacy for two concentrations of herbicide and treatment time intervals were determined for cut-stump treatments applied to American beech (Fagus grandifolia Ehrh.) to control root and stump sprouts in central West Virginia. Glyphosate as GlyproTM (53.8 percent a.i.) was applied to the outer 2 inches of beech stumps from trees ?6.0 inches in diameter at breast height within 0 to 1 and 3 to 4 hours after cutting. In addition, the effects on efficacy of using two concentrations of GlyproTM (50 and 100 percent) were also evaluated. This study demonstrated that a 50-percent solution of GlyproTM was just as effective as a 100-percent solution and that an applicator could wait up to 4 hours after stems had been cut before applying the herbicide, without reducing efficacy.

Regeneratig Hardwood Forests Webinar

The PA Forests Web Seminar Center is pleased to announce the January program. David R. Jackson, Extension Forester, Penn State Cooperative Extension-Centre County, will be presenting Regenerating Hardwood Forests: Managing Competing Plants, Deer, and Light on Tuesday, February 9th at noon and again at 7 p.m. Each seminar lasts approximately one hour and qualifies for 1.0 Society of American Foresters CFE, Category 1-CF.

The regeneration, or re-growth, of forests requires that sufficient numbers of desirable trees seedlings become established following a timber harvest. Often times, regeneration is not easy. Regeneration failures and re-growth of less desirable tree species is common. Competing plants, over-browsing by deer, and insufficient light to the forest floor interfere with tree seedling establishment and growth. Forest sustainability is threatened without adequate forest regeneration. This presentation will provide information on key practices used to successfully establish hardwood forest regeneration.

Live seminars are scheduled for the second Tuesday of every month at noon and 7 p.m. Each session is recorded and loaded onto the Web Seminar Center along with a copy of the presentation and any handout materials. So, if you are unable to participate in the "live" session, a recording of it will be available for you to view at your convenience. Of course, none of the interactive elements will be available when watching the recording.

To participate in the live seminars you must register and have a "Friend of Penn State" user ID. The "Register Now" page on the website will walk you through this process. If you are a member of the Penn State community, you already have your User ID, but we would ask you to register on the website so that you can receive reminders of upcoming programs.

Participation in the web seminar does not require any special software. To view live and previously recorded seminars all you need is a high-speed Internet connection and sound.

To view upcoming seminars schedule click here.