Treesearch

Wildlife surveys in the Pamir Mountains of Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, and Tajikistan revealed that Marco Polo sheep (Ovis ammon polii) roam back and forth across the frontiers of these countries. There has been a considerable decline of wildlife in recent years. The creation of an international peace park of about 50,000 km2 (19,305 miles2) would offer the four countries one option of cooperatively protecting and managing not only Marco Polo sheep and other species but also the rangelands upon which the livelihood of local peoples depend.

The structure of forest industry has experienced major changes over the last few years, both domestically and globally. Mills are closing, companies are merging, and forest products corporations are divesting their lands. The demand for smalldiameter trees in the southern United States has diminished largely due to the amount of wood fiber and wood products now available from other countries around the world. As a result, countries that have traditionally depended upon the southern United States for fiber (for example, Japan) are now being supplied by other global markets. In addition,...

Populations of stunt (Tylenchorhynchus claytoni) and stubby-root (Paratrichodorus minor) nematodes, as well as predaceous nematodes (Mylonchulus spp., Mononchus spp.), were monitored in 2005 for 8 months in three loblolly pine fields at a southern forest nursery. The fields were selected based on their 2004 management regimes and consisted of one that was fall fumigated with a combination of 67% methyl bromide and 33% chloropicrin, another that had been in a sorghum cover crop, and a third that had been used for longleaf pine production. In April 2005, the populations of the nematodes were...

The Model Operating Plan for forestry contractors is a voluntary plan for compliance with the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA) of 1983, with amendments passed in 1996 and 1997. This plan is designed as a guide for forestry contractors who wish to comply with all federal, state, and local rules and regulations that govern their employer/employee relationships.

We briefly review some of the materials and methods used for reducing wildlife damage to forest crops. Many of these have also been used to protect Christmas trees, ornamentals, and other agricultural crops. Few chemicals have been effective as repellents, and few are exempted from registration by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under Section 25(b) of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). Wildlife Services Company, Inc (WSC) recently patented Seadust Wildlife Controllant®. Seadust is a natural organic nonphytotoxic product formulated from food materials,...

Roadside revegetation projects are an important and growing new niche for native plant suppliers. Recent shifts in public policy now require the use of locally adapted native plants as the first choice when roadsides are being revegetated. These shifts in policy recognize that the establishment of healthy native plant communities is the best defense against invasive plant problems, as well as the most economical means to achieve soil and water quality standards and protect environmental quality. Thus, roadside revegetation with native plants is an important ecological and societal goal...

Streptomyces lydicus WYEC108 is a gram-negative soilborne bacterium that was isolated from linseed plants grown in England. The isolation took place more than a decade ago by a team from the University of Idaho (Crawford and others 2005). The bacterium is a saprophyte and root colonizer. It also has growth enhancing and antifungal properties.

The Nursery Task Force was set up at the behest of the Southern Group of State Foresters in the late winter/spring of 2005. Its mission was to assess the condition of state nurseries across the South and to make recommendations to improve their viability. At the time, tree planting cost-share money was diminished; pulpwood prices were low; much of the Southeast had suffered from several dry years; and much of the marginal farm land had been planted during the Conservation Reserve Program. The net effect was that tree planting among non-industrial private landowners was out of favor. To...

Styrofoam container blocks (for example, Styroblock, fig. 1), hereafter "blocks," are a popular system for growing seedlings in greenhouse nurseries. They come in a variety of sizes and can be reused several times. They must be sterilized before reuse because they may harbor pathogens that can cause diseases to seedlings. Potential pathogens, such as Fusarium spp., live on residual organic matter and within the inner cavity walls of blocks. They also may colonize fragments of roots left on containers after the seedlings have been removed.

We are successfully using subirrigation to grow a variety of native plants. Subirrigated plants have grown at least as well as their cohorts irrigated with a fixed or traveling overhead system, but with less water inputs, less discharge of waste water, and less discharge of nitrogen fertilizer. So far, we have not been troubled with high levels of accumulated salts in the upper portions of root plugs watered from below, nor have we seen any incidence of disease transferred through the recycled water. As our demonstrations are completed, we will be able to provide managers of forest and...