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In This Issue
Natural Disaster Planning--Protecting Urban and Community Forests
Forest Service Extends Cave Closures to Protect Bats
Determination on the Northern Long-Eared Bat Extended
The Year in Forestry
Wish Smokey a Happy 70th
Thousand Cankers Disease Fungus Discovered on a Weevil.
Oak Tatters Reappears in Iowa
Aerial Surveyors Prepare for Data Collection Season
The Forest Service and Massachusetts Host Conservation Easement Monitoring Training
Forest Service Smokejumpers Consulted on New Disney Movie
Sustainable Operations Tip-Water and Plastic Really Don't Mix
Behind the Forest Service Shield--Ann Steketee
Tips for Buying Timberland by Steve Butler
Upcoming Webinar

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HomeState & Private Forestry News
July 29, 2014
Natural Disaster Planning--Protecting Urban and Community Forests
CHICAGO--The Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry and the Forest Service's Southern Region hosted a scoping session with the American Planning Association, June 16-17, on the best practices necessary to protect urban and community forests as valuable green infrastructure before, during, and after natural disasters. This session on Hazardous Tree Management and Post-Disaster Recovery was attended by representatives from the President's Council on Environmental Quality, USDA Office of Homeland Security, FEMA (Federal Emergency Management  Agency), many other agencies, and organizations with the private sector. The results of the session are now posted on the Planning Association's Web site as a resource for planners and emergency personnel.

Forest Service Extends Cave Closures to Protect Bats

RUSSELLVILLE, Ark.--The Regional Forester for the Southern Region of the U.S. Forest Service has extended the closure order for all caves and mines on National Forest system lands until 2019 to help prevent the spread of white-nose syndrome, a disease fatal for many species of bats.

 

"Scientists are working on potential solutions to the spread of the disease," said Steve Duzan, Environmental Coordinator for the Ozark-St. Francis National Forests. "The five year closure period should allow scientists to flesh out findings, allow for laboratory testing of potential solutions, and allow field trials of white-nose fighting organisms. The closure will minimize spread of the disease due to humans transporting spores of the fungus to caves that presently have no white-nose spores in them." Read the rest of the news release at the Quachita National Forest Web site. Watch a short video on white nose syndrome on YouTube.

Determination on the Northern Long-Eared Bat Extended

Northern Long-eared bat
(Photo:  www.fws.gov)
WASHINGTON--On June 24, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe announced a 6-month extension for making a final determination on listing the northern long-eared bat (Myotis septentrionalis) as endangered. With the extension, the Service will make a final decision on listing the bat no later than April 2, 2015. As part of the extension, the Service is also reopening a 60-day public comment period and seeks input from States, tribes, Federal agencies, and other stakeholders about the status of this bat. The 6-month extension and 60-day comment period began on June 30 when the notice was published in the Federal Register. Get more information about the proposal to list the northern long-eared bat on the Endangered Species Web page for the Fish and Wildlife Service's Midwest Region.

Wish Smokey a Happy 70th

WASHINGTON--The Smokey Birthday card is now up and running on his Facebook page (with its own dedicated tab), for you to send a personal greeting. Smokey turns 70 on Saturday, August 9. 

In 1950 a badly burned bear cub became the living symbol for wildfire prevention.
The Smokey Bear character was created in 1944, and in 1950 a badly burned bear cub became the living symbol for wildfire prevention.  (Photo:  Courtesy Forest History Society, www.foresthistory.org)

Thousand Cankers Disease Fungus Discovered on a Weevil

INDIANAPOLIS--Research plant pathologist Jennifer Juzwik and microbiologist Mark Banik, of the Forest Service's Northern Research Station, assisted the Indiana Department of Natural Resources in its first detection of Geosmithia morbida, the fungus associated with thousand cankers disease.  The discovery also marked the first time the fungus was detected on an insect other than the walnut twig beetle.  Juzwik led a State-wide survey that revealed the fungus on small weevils that emerged from two stressed trees in a black walnut plantation in central Indiana. Learn more at the Indiana Department of Natural Resources Web site.

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Oak Tatters Reappears in Iowa
Oak tatters
Oak tatters primarily affects white oaks.  (Photo: Joseph O'Brien, USDA Forest Service, Bugwood.org)
DES MOINES, Iowa--A relatively new condition affecting emerging oak leaves, called oak tatters, is again appearing in Iowa.

 

The condition primarily affects white oaks, including white, bur, and swamp white oak. Red oaks are only occasionally affected.

 

Damage appears when leaves emerge in mid to late May. The leaves will appear lacy or tattered.  Heavily affected trees will produce new leaves that may not have tatters but may be smaller and lighter in color than normal leaves. Read a press release from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. 

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Aerial Surveyors Prepare for Data Collection Season
Scott Davis of the New Hampshire Civil Air Patrol demonstrates an aircraft safety check
Scott Davis of the New Hampshire Civil Air Patrol demonstrates an aircraft safety check.  (Photo: Tom Luther)
DURHAM, N.H.--Aerial surveyors from the New England States and New York attended a workshop hosted by the U.S. Forest Service and State of Vermont, at the Lebanon, NH, airport. Scott Davis (Civil Air Patrol) presented aviation and aircraft safety and regulations. Tom Luther described the applications and value of aerial survey data, coding issues, and updates to the Forest Service's GIS Aerial Detection Survey Handbook, and Florence Peterson demonstrated the Forest Service's Forest Health Mapping and Reporting Portal, which provides access to pest information, reports, and maps that incorporate aerial survey data, ground surveys, and satellite imagery. Bill Frament coordinated the sessions.
The Forest Service and Massachusetts Host Conservation Easement Monitoring Training

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa.--The Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation and the Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry Forest Legacy Program led a conservation easement monitoring training, on June 17, at Harvard Forest. Participants learned about monitoring requirements and discussed best practices for monitoring visits. The training culminated in a mock visit to demonstrate monitoring tools and techniques to engage landowners in the program. The Forest Legacy Program seeks to protect important forest lands threatened by conversion to nonforest uses.

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Forest Service Smokejumpers Consulted on New Disney Movie
Educational Activity book for the movie Fire & Rescue
The activity book teaches wildfire facts and campfire safety.  (Source:  www.smokeybear.com)
WASHINGTON--U.S. Forest Service smokejumpers served as wildland firefighting creative consultants for the new Disney animated movie "Planes: Fire and Rescue," which was released on July 18.  They will be included as behind-the-scenes extras when the film is released on DVD, and were included in a Disney Channel special on the making of the movie. The Forest Service partnered with Disney, the Ad Council, and the National Association of State Foresters to launch a series of wildfire prevention public service advertisements featuring scenes and characters from the movie, and an educational Planes: Fire & Rescue fire activity book, which is available on the Smokey Bear Web site. Learn more about the smokejumpers' participation from a Forest Service blog.

Sustainable Operations Tip-Water and Plastic Really Don't Mix

Plastic soup
Plastic soup. (Photo: Charles Moore. Source: http://plastic-pollution.org)

I haven't been able to get the beach off my mind.  Not because it's July, but because of these videos I saw some months ago.  This is a Sustainable Ops Tip on water, but this time it's not about water conservation per se....Click here to read more..   

Behind the Forest Service Shield--
Ann Steketee

Ann Steketee

"I know Bo, ... well, we ate in the same cafeteria."

Ann Steketee has been the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analyst at the Morgantown Field Office of the Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry since 2000. She works with various program staffs, creating and using maps, compiling geographic data, analyzing mapped information, sharing and discovering geographic information, using maps and geographic information in a range of applications, and managing geographic information in a database. Read full article.

Tips for Buying Timberland by Steve Butler
BIRMINGHAM, Ala.--"There are economies of size that should be considered when buying timberland. A 10-acre tract is much less efficient than a 100-acre tract. You will have a difficult time attracting timber buyers to harvest timber on a 10-acre tract. Loggers cannot afford to spend two days moving equipment to harvest a tract that will only take one day to cut... As a minimum, consider a purchase of 40 acres or more. That is large enough to attract most timber buyers, site prep vendors, etc. And you don't need to buy 1,000 acres to have an efficient tract. Research indicates that once you reach a tract size of about 300 acres, no more significant economies of size are realized."  (Source: Alabama Forest Owners Association. July 2014. Capital Ideas Live)

Upcoming Webinar 

CLEMSON, S.C.-"Using Social Marketing and Micro Targeting to Engage and Move Woodland Owners to Stewardship," will be offered Wednesday, July 30, 2:00 - 3:30 pm Eastern Time, by the National Open Space Conservation Group of the USDA Forest Service and Clemson University. This free webinar will discuss the importance of social marketing as a tool for conservation. What is social marketing and why should planners and natural resource managers care? How can data be used to understand your audience? A case study will describe how social marketing was used to encourage land managers in the Driftless Area (a unique region in the Upper Mississippi River Basin) to identify and involve unengaged landowners. Please register in advance for this and future webinars. Credit is available for this webinar.  Visit the Clemson University Cooperative Extension Web site for more information or to view past presentations. Contact Sara Comas at the Forest Service, with questions, special accommodations, or to be added to the mailing list.

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Editor's Note

Send items for inclusion in "State and Private Forestry News" to [email protected] by close of business on the second Friday of the month. Include a related photo as either a jpg or tiff file with a resolution of 150 dpi or higher. As part of the text include a full-sentence caption for the photo and photo credit. If the photo is from a published or copyrighted source, also send the permission.