I was just reading a statement made by the Guild board of directors in 1988 taking a position on the management of old growth timber in the U.S. in Joiners Quarterly #17 (1991).

I do not see any such statement(s) on the Guild website. Is their a current position statement by the Guild on forestry practices?

Thanks;
Jim

I think a current position could be laudable, and constructive and educational - positive propaganda! It still goes with basic principles that most of us believe in, based on deep experience, a wealth of accumulated knowledge, and giving value and reverence to the life, health and sustainability of forests.

Lots of thought, research and discussion went into making that TFG Forestry Management Practices statement. It was a strong and clear position that, as I recall, was presented in various roundtables and forums to other groups in timber industries and forest conservation affecting (mostly Western) US and Canada.
Despite our (TFG) wisdom and fervor and effort, we were small compared to the economic clout of the very large lumber, house building, and wood products industries.

At that time there was much dissatisfaction and rebellion by many dedicated employees within the US Forestry Dept against both "forest management" practices and management policies. These calls for reform became long running conflicts against beauracracy, "tradition" and big monied interests - for many years. There was some changing of attitudes, and some changes of policy and practices. Also, do you remember the trade/tariff war and embargoes over wood products and logs, and "subsidies" between Canada and USA?
And the conflicts over protecting our national natural resources were re-run during the Bush Administration, which made gifts of our American common wealth to industry and their pals via the "Healthy Forests" and "Clean Skies" acts. Can you connect this to "mountaintop removal" regs for coal mining? Severe setbacks!

In the eastern US, where there is very little forested federal land, the effects were more about awareness, and influencing the grading of eastern species and of sustainability. Lots of education and lobbying was done by conservation groups and organizations, as well as by responsible commercial producers and users. TFG & TFEC were/are involved in testing, specifying and grading, and educating. And there is the NELMA (sp?). States and smaller jurisdictions have made many rules and regs re forest and land use.
Presently there are some federal "Stimulus" funds available for forest, wetland, watershed and farmland restoration, repair, improvement, and for developing management plans to help landowners, starting as small as 7 acres. In the east the $ comes from the USDA and is administered thru state forestry depts. That's how it is in NY - from the regional NYS forestry office where I can talk to people with faces, who also have the power to make decisions.
Bush made a big photo-op signing The Farm Bill of 2005, promising the above, but then his admin refused to release the funds so nothing got done. They said they had to use that money for other things - stuff it down that big hole invading and occupuying Iraq.

I'm glad you brought this question up, Jim. What an opportunity for us to help inspire and guide the development of the green economy. What's happening in Maine?
I'm sure others on this forum could add good info and opinions.

Steve

What's happening in Maine?

Well, I am not very tuned in to forestry issues. I do know there has been an effort for many years to manage the "northern forest" in Northern New England as a coherent unit. This is an issue because a large percentage of northern Maine is privately owned forest, mostly owned by paper and lumber companies. These companies are good about allowing citizens to use the land such as for hunting, fishing, snowmobiling, etc. And they are the lifeblood of many northern towns. The motto of this effort is "Restore: The North Woods" to a primeval wilderness and making it a national park. http://www.restore.org/index_noflash.html

Many Mainer's response to this is "Restore: Boston"

I also know there are quite a number of threats to the trees. Acid rain, insects, fungus, invasive plants, climate change.
There has been the initiative to make it illegal to transport firewood any distance since this is a likely method of distributing insects into uninfested forests.

The cutting of trees as biofuel (wood chips) has been ongoing for decades. I do not know many details of this practice but a professional, state forester told me that removing the biomass from a woodlot more than once has been shown to hurt the level soil nutrients. It does not matter what source of energy we use, it all has consequences.

I sure would like to be able to frame with chestnut!!

Jim

Hi Jim, back in the 80's when the chip plant in Jonesboro got underway it was said they would burn chips from the waste, limbs, standing dead bug kill, and junk. It was not enough, and of too low a quality chip. They had to up the grade of the chip, I don't know to what extent, but it is not waste they are chipping. I now have to ask some question of the local cutters, for a better understanding.

One aspect I notice is more mechanical harvesting methods, whole trees limbed on the yard not in the woods. I wonder how this effects the white tail deer population? More browse left in the woods when the trees are limbed and topped in place. New growth comes along quickly, though. I also suspect this heavy snow load will have an effect on the deer this winter as well. Deer population is down around my home. Very little sign this season. Far more moose sign, it is always a treat to come across a moose yard with 20 or more well used beds.

If quality logs become scarce we could build more cruck frames!

A while ago, a friend of mine, who was the head arborist for Mass Electric came over with a project for me to mill out.

He has retired from Mass Electric but is also involved with the American Chestnut Society. And he had a couple of pieces of chestnut logs, for me to mill up into some boards to make ceremonially plaques for the Society.

During our conversations he informed me of the societies works and what's going on to restore the American Chestnut to the forests of USA.

Here is what I know, as of this date.

They have been cross breeding American Chestnut with a Chinese Chestnut which is blight resistant. The take the nuts from a tree and grow some new trees until they are about 10 years old. Then the expose them to the blight.

About 90% or more of these trees die from the blight.

The take nuts from the surviving trees and cross breed them with American chestnut, to reduce the amount of Chinese chestnut in the offspring.

Grow these trees for 10 years or so, and blight them again.
And continue the process.

As of the latest news they are on the third generation of crossing back to American Chestnut and when they are up to six generation they say the tree will be blight resistant.

The also have figured out that this process has to be region specific. What that means is you can't take a new American Chestnut tree from MA to GA and expect it to live in that area. And the same bringing one from GA to MA.

So there are members of the society doing this in every region. He told me that in New England, between MA and RI there are 28 sites growing trees to do this cross breeding.

We may not see the full restoration of this tree in our lifetime, but it's on it's way back.

He also said some of the 3rd generation trees may survive already. They don't know for sure.

I hope you find this encouraging news.....

Jim Rogers

Purdue University has an excellent agricultural school, probably about the most innovative such in the world. One of their major areas of concern in tat field are major tree pests including Dutch Elm, EAB, and of course the Chestnut blight. They have been scrambling to try to find a way to stop the EAB.

As for the blight, here is what I have heard. Purdue has an excellent bio engineering facility, the genesis of most of our bio-engineered crops and plants we have to day. They have the technology to alter the genes of a plant. They have been applying this technology to the Chestnut. Essentially this is the same thing as selective and cross breeding at a highly accelerated scale. They don't have to wait for the tree to reach seed bearing stage to pass on its genes.

I have heard that at the latest they have developed a hybrid that is over 90% American Chestnut, and is resistant to the blight in initial testing. It will be several years before these results can be definitively confirmed and even longer before the resultant tree can be put into the forest. With a tree like this, there are a number of measures that have to be taken to ensure it would survive in the wild, or to ensure it does not become an invasive species.

I hope you find this news encouraging. I know some folks in Bio-engineering school at Purdue, I will try and see if they know anything about the current status of this project. I heard it from my brother, who heard it from the school while he was studying at Purdue.

It was Purdue, by the way, that introduced the Asian Beetle (the orange lady bugs). They got rid of the aphids, but now we have all these beetles (I would rather have the beetles than the aphids they eat). That just shows you how you have to be carfeul with these things...

There is an ACF plantation in Stockbridge, MA. I know the person who is running it. I've only sawn two chestnut logs. Both of them were deadman for a derrick in a quarry, and had been buried since the end of the 19th century. The sapwood was rotten, but the heartwood was clear and bright. I'd like to see chestnut make a come back.

Thanks guys;

Just to be clear, there are still native chestnuts growing wild, but the blight hits them when they get to be a certain size which is too small to make substantial timbers. American chestnut did not go extinct.

Also, for casual readers, EAB is the emerald ash borer, an invasive beetle introduced near Chicago, ravaging ash trees and unstoppable!

Thanks again;
Jim

Hey Jim,
EAB, Is that what is visibly weakening and slowly killing many many white ash in eastern NY and western CT? That's where I am most often, could be much more widespread. I've seen similar decline in ash trees in Lehigh Valley of eastern PA.
Is it in northern NE too?
Steve

http://www.emeraldashborer.info/files/MultiState_EABpos.pdf

The EAB, I believe, was introduced from Detroit, not Chicago. The map certainly shows a center around Detroit.

The EAB is the fault of the Chinese, believe it or not. It was introduced when some Chinese wood products arrived containing EAB eggs or larva. It is thought that it was the result of port authorities allowing a shipment through customs that did not meet USDA regulations. For those of you who have ever traveled abroad, you know the USDA has a LOT of regulations on what is and is not allowed into this country, to stop things like this from happening. they don't work, obviously, if they are ignored. The Chestnut blight, I believe, is the result of a similar happening.