- Posted by: Susie Kocher
By Carli Baker | Staff, reposted from the Daily Californian
Ten weeks ago, two strangers in a green Volvo picked me up from my house to begin to a life-changing adventure in the northern Sierra Nevada mountains. Our destination was nestled deep in the sleepy town of Meadow Valley: the University of California Forestry Camp, a 98-year-old university-owned camp dedicated to nurturing the next generation of foresters and natural resource managers.After a three-hour drive getting to know my driving buddies, listening to Fleetwood...
- Posted by: Susie Kocher
Here's the weekly forest news digest from Greg Giusti:
Nearly half of western wildfire costs go to California, ALYSON KENWARD/and UROOJ RAJA, Climate Central, 08/29/2013
With one of California's largest-recorded wildfires still burning largely uncontained and threatening water and electricity for millions, the total bill for fighting U.S. wildfires in 2013 is now likely to soar well past $1 billion. By the time the blaze is put out, which could be weeks from now, California's Rim Fire will likely be among the most expensive wildfires of the year. In fact, during the past 10 years, $4...
- Author: Bill Stewart
- Posted by: Susie Kocher
By Bill Stewart, Co-Director, UC Center for Forestry, originally published at http://www.calforests.org/what-twenty-years-of-concerted-public-safety-oriented-forestry-looks-like/ on September 13, 2013
The 2013 Rim Fire that burned across large areas of the Stanislaus National Forest and Yosemite National Park brought national attention to the issue of how to increase the resiliency of forests to survive wildfires. There is considerable well-documented evidence that fuels are no longer limiting fires in the Western US and that they are getting larger and more expensive to...
- Author: Kim Ingram
- Posted by: Susie Kocher
Reposted from the UCANR Green Blog
Thinning a forest of woody materials has multiple objectives. It can increase the resiliency of the remaining trees from the effects of fire, drought, pest and disease; it can improve habitat quality for wildlife including watersheds; and it can make it easier for firefighters to protect human lives and livelihoods when a fire is burning. There are several ways thinning is carried out: cable logging, feller bunching, conventional tractor skidding, hand-thinning and piling, and mastication. One of the issues with thinning is the disposal of biomass that is non-merchantable (e.g., branches, tree tops, small diameter trees)....
- Author: Jeanette Warnert
- Posted by: Susie Kocher
Reprinted from the UCANR Green Blog
Every year, the day after Thanksgiving, Susie Kocher bundles up her children, gathers the extended family and hikes into the Lake Tahoe Basin forest to find a Christmas tree.
“It’s my favorite part of the season,” Kocher said. “Having the fresh, living thing in the house really...
