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?

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

What Are Climate Forests?

When it comes to absorbing massive amounts of carbon and locking it up for centuries, there’s no better place in the world than western Oregon to grow trees for a thousand years. In the first half of the 1800’s when European and Russian fur trappers first moved into this territory to start massive fires to… Continue reading What Are Climate Forests?

A New Writing Project

More than a dozen years ago I distributed business cards of an idea that was called: Carbon Conscious Forestry. I was searching for landowners who wanted to increase tree redundancy and the resultant forest resiliency with no kill methods like canopy pruning rather than logging. But back then the notion of evenly spaced trees that… Continue reading A New Writing Project

Tree Farms Vs. Crop Farms

Last Fall while attending a protest of the Crush Timber Sale on Washgington State lands I had a conversation with an older man about how tree farming is not good for hydrology and not good for carbon sequestration. He once was a wheat farmer in Eastern Washington and in my opinion knew more about growing… Continue reading Tree Farms Vs. Crop Farms