Displaying items by tag: forestry
Outgoing Smokies forester Kristine Johnson leaves behind a legacy of science and communication
Citizen Times: Smokies forester bids adieu to her arboreal home
Good read here from the Asheville newspaper about the retirement of Great Smoky Mountains National Park Supervisory Forester Kristine Johnson.
In her three decades at the Smokies, she has tackled issues ranging from exotic and invasive plants to the slow and disastrous demise of the park’s hemlocks due to the hemlock wooly adelgid.
“‘The work we do includes forest health in all aspects,’ said Johnson, who is retiring this month after more than 30 years in the Smokies,” Frances Ligart reported. “Her career has been devoted to reducing the introduction into the park of exotic plants, insects, and diseases.”
Part IV: Clear-cut controversy. Thoughts and prayers
Citizens and scientists weigh in on controversial TWRA logging plan
For months, Tennessee Lookout has bird-dogged a Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency proposal to clear at least 1,000 acres of hardwood forest in the Bridgestone Centennial Wildlife Reserve in White County to create habitat for dwindling bobwhite quail.
Hellbender Press has published most of the stories, with much appreciation to Tennessee Lookout. Most recently, the online news outlet reported that legal hurdles had been cleared to allow TWRA to proceed, at least for now, with its game-bird reintroduction plans at the expense of acres of approximately 65-year-old hardwood forest.
Though it was not Hellbender’s original reporting, on our end the social media response to the articles has been thoughtful and reasoned — with, of course, occasional disagreements among commenters. With permission from the posters, I’ve compiled an edited and abridged recitation of some comments, which were too good to languish in the social media ether.
Ancient civilizations, natural resources and the rise of tree conservation
Part I of this three-part series examines how the development of civilizations and rapid population growth gave rise to forest tree domestication. Parts II and III will discuss the role that the University of Tennessee’s Tree Improvement Program has played in forest sustainability by contributing to the productivity and health of Tennessee’s present and future forests.
Wood and lumber figured prominently in ancient civilizations, ranging from everyday use for warmth, cooking, and shelter to specialty uses like veneers for furniture and construction with scented woods.
No matter what continent or hemisphere, as human civilizations evolved from collections of nomad hunter-gatherers to the steel, brick, glass, and mortar cities of today, the impact on forested land proportionally increased. As villages became towns and, eventually, cities, forests were harvested in an ever-increasing radius around the population centers. Wild animals and plants were also harvested in the same manner, drastically altering ecosystems and causing massive erosion.
Nations that quickly exhausted the best trees in their limited forested lands, like ancient Egypt and Greece, met wood demands for construction or specialty products by importing wood from other nations. The then-rich forests of Lebanon and Cyprus were harvested to export timber to countries suffering from a timber famine.
- forestry
- ut forestry
- tree improvement program
- history of conservation
- walnut orchard
- wood
- lumber
- veneer
- furniture
- ecosystem
- erosion
- king artaxerxes
- roman empire
- lebanon
- cyprus
- egypt
- ancient greece
- timber harvest
- domestication
- trait
- select
- propagate
- refine
- test
- bred
- agricultural experiment station
- land grant
- university
- tennessee valley authority
- tva
- tree
- tennessee division of forestry
- seed
- budget cut
- research
- eyvind thor
- landowner
- coniferous
- hardwood
- christmas tree
- scott schlarbaum