Commissioner Dave Upthegrove—elected on the promise to defend Washington’s legacy forests—has unveiled a conservation plan so flawed it resurrects the methodology of “ghost forests” of the U.S. Forest Service in the ’80s and ’90s. The Phantom Forest Phenomenon In the late 20th century, the Forest Service indulged in a forest-management fiction: they provided data that… Continue reading Upthegrove’s Phantom Forests
One of Tallest Firs on Fire
… helicopter bucket drops had knocked down open flames in the canopy and crews had ringed the base with sprinklers and hand-built containment lines to keep fire from spreading on the forest floor, according to the Coos Forest Protective Association and federal officials. An infrared drone flight detected lingering heat inside a cavity roughly 280… Continue reading One of Tallest Firs on Fire
Congratulations to Dave Upthegrove
“Upthegrove defeated Republican Jaime Herrera Beutler with 52.88% (1,836,388 votes) to 46.89% (1,628,286 votes), according to results released Nov. 11 by the Washington Secretary of State. Upthegrove has represented District 5, which includes parts of Kent, on the county council since 2014. Voters elected Upthegrove to a third, four-year term on the council in 2021.… Continue reading Congratulations to Dave Upthegrove
Atmospheric Microbiology In Forestry
In asking ChatGPT: “Help me find published papers on forest microbes in the atmosphere” the results provide 15 papers on the subject, yet we have no access to these “published” papers.
Canopy Access Advancements
While almost every adult has a memory of climbing a tree when they were a kid, few will ever climb as high or study branches as closely as canopy biologists. In working with them I’ve learned so much about how much a canopy can offer, as well as how much we still have to learn.… Continue reading Canopy Access Advancements
Remote Sensing Vapor Pressure Deficit (VPD)
Farmers who grow food in greenhouses are constantly monitoring temperature and humidity to optimize growth rates. The ability to monitor these two data sets is inexpensive enough that it is perhaps the first and easiest observations to apply to forest protection via remote sensing. Currently remote sensing in forestry is primarily based on aerial and… Continue reading Remote Sensing Vapor Pressure Deficit (VPD)
Older Forests Boost Climate Cleaning Hydroxides (OH)
Runaway greenhouse gas emissions would be far worse if it wasn’t for the wonderful atmospheric molecule OH: “It initiates the reactions that break down airborne pollutants and helps to remove noxious chemicals such as sulfur dioxide and nitric oxide, which are poisonous gases, from the atmosphere,” said Christian George, an atmospheric chemist at the University… Continue reading Older Forests Boost Climate Cleaning Hydroxides (OH)
People Are Starting To Notice
In the early stages of this project it’s expected to not get much attention, yet attention is what we’re starting to get. Yesterday a Climate Change blog created by a top executive in the social media monitoring sector mentioned our work here. ———————————————–> We see inspiring examples flowing through Sunflower every day, from around the… Continue reading People Are Starting To Notice
Protection or Profession?
In our upside down world the “normal” profession of forestry looks nearly the opposite of a life-long drive to work for greater forest protection. In today’s world a professional forester succeeds by undermining limits of what can be done, while the forest protector succeeds by strengthening these limits. A forest protector knows once elder trees… Continue reading Protection or Profession?
Official Launch Day
Let the record show that at the end of April 1st, 2023 this website officially opened its doors to web crawlers, commonly referred to as search engine bots or spiders. This means the website will ping more than a hundred search engines with all future posts. This however is not a launch on social media,… Continue reading Official Launch Day
Arcata Community Forest
Ran across a post on Facebook this evening from forest protection legend Greg King, who was praising Arcata Community forest for its commercial logging of its city’s high use recreational areas. Back in the 90’s and early 2000’s myself and a now since departed forestry professor Dr. Rudy Becking took issue with this work being… Continue reading Arcata Community Forest
Aggregate-Gradient Ecology
When it comes to restoring ecosystems to optimize sequestration we have many teachings from the past, but we need new teachings as well. As in we need to do more than just restoring the food chain and creating better habitat for indicator species which are chosen because they are good indicators of an ecosystem’s overall… Continue reading Aggregate-Gradient Ecology