Many trees make a forest

[ChezCheese:)]

I wanted to invite anyone who is interested to a new website I just built called ourforestfund.org. I have joined with two other friends to raise money to keep trees from being clearcut. We live near a 3,500 acre county park in Washington State (Port Gamble Forest Heritage Park) which will have most of its trees clearcut one last time, unless we can buy the timber rights from Rayonier. This park is a big mecca of mountain biking and will be part of the Sound to Olympics bike trail eventually, so there is an ebike connection ...

If you care about trees and the environment and want to do something to help mitigate your own carbon footprint, please consider donating to Our Forest Fund. (It's tax-deductible! ) Or maybe you have social media smarts and can spread the word about our website and project?

Anyway, please have a look - - I've been working my butt off to get it done!

 

[Art Deco]

I wanted to invite anyone who is interested to a new website I just built called ourforestfund.org. SNIP

Or maybe you have social media smarts and can spread the word about our website and project?

Anyway, please have a look - - I've been working my butt off to get it done!

http://ourforestfund.org/our-first-project/
Congratulations. Welcome to the Internet marketing world.
It's no worse than buying your first ebike. But no better.
Suggestion: Set your sig to the url above and if you can add comments to the site without fighting spam, do so.
to you.

 

[Law]

Making a suggestion here. Put in a video riding through the forest and the trees that you’re trying to save.

 

[Art Deco]

Indeed. You Tube and Twitter await.

 

[ChezCheese:)]

I think that is a great idea. Stay tuned...

 

[Art Deco]

@ChezCheese:) an interesting piece of news ... not quite talking trees but close

Trees Talk to Each Other and Recognize Their Offspring

The Lorax might have spoken for the trees, but it turns out that trees can speak for themselves. At least to other trees, that is.

www.treehugger.com

 

[Art Deco]

And what happens when you plant two hundred million wind-breaking trees ?

 

[pmcdonald]

And what happens when you plant two hundred million wind-breaking trees ?

80 years on here in Australia we still haven't cottoned on in any policy sense to the many benefits of tree lines and green belts.

The emerging research on the relationship between trees and rainfall is also a fascinating and (for us) particularly pertinent topic.

There is so much about this world we have little understanding of, and yet we barge in anyway with no regard to the consequences.

 

[ChezCheese:)]

I've watched quite a few of Suzanne Simard's TED talks, and the concepts in them are just amazing. If you haven't read The Hidden Life of Trees, by Peter Wohlleben, you must. He is a forester who has lived in and studied forests in his native Germany for decades, and knows so much about how trees function together. The book comes in two versions, the original with more extensive information and the coffee table version which still provides a lot of the information, but with a stunning collection of gorgeous photographs of trees and forests. Great books!

Also, at least in the US on Amazon Prime you can rent the documentary "Fantastic Fungi". Mindblowing timelapse photography of mushrooms and mycorrhiza! The second half of the film goes overboard, IMO, on the potential for medicinal mushrooms to cure all of humanities diseases and dysfunctions. But the photography is wondrous.

 

[ChezCheese:)]

If you have trees, you have windbreaks, and without them, there is nothing to stop the wind blowing away your topsoil. No topsoil, no groundcover vegetation, no way to hold water in the ground. The picture on this page http://ourforestfund.org/you-can-prevent-clearcutting/ is right next door to my property. The 120' high trees you see at the top of the photo are on my land. Thanks to the clearcut, we now have ridiculously strong winds coming from Canada, buffeting our place, knocking down more of our trees, changing the microclimate of our place.

 

[tomjasz]

Now we need to educate those tree trimmers to learn about basic arboriculture and proper pruning for long life and structure.

 

[ChezCheese:)]

 

[Marcela]

You want to read something really fascinating try Call of the Trees by Dorothy Maclean. Received it just a few days ago and almost through it. Really opens up a new world.

 

[Cowlitz]

Note to everybody: Washington State has the strictest Forest Practices Act in the country, or so says the DNR. If the landowner wants to keep their land classified as timber land, and taxed at a lower rate because of that, the land will have to be planted back and meet survival and stocking requirements.

Clear cutting is a tool. Partial cuts/thinnings can be problematic in some areas due to wind. After a stand is opened up, the leave trees have to grow their roots and crowns enough to withstand the new exposure to wind. The trees are vulnerable to strong winds for a few years after being opened up. Another reason to clearcut--stand replacement because of root rot or damage. A good friend was told to clearcut part of their tree farm and replant because the trees were so scarred up from bear damage. When root rot is a problem, and it exists all over the place, some landowners will plant more resistant species like Western Red Cedar or Western White PIne.

We grow trees quite well in that part of the state. No worries if they are cut down, they'll come back, unless the land is turned into a housing development, or a parking lot for Mtn. Bikers. Look on the bright side, you'll have a view when biking in the area.

I support working forests. The openings provided by logging provide habitat for critters like bears, elk, deer, etc. I used to wander around the Port Blakely land behind my house and I'd see more wildlife in that area than in the National Forests. A bit of clearcutting is not going to be the end of the world. If it was, we'd be dead already.

 

[Art Deco]

Anyone keep up to date on the big reforestation(?) Green wall projects like the one in Africa?
I even saw a proposal for a green wall in the US midwest as a "dust bowl" type of insurance policy. I'll try to link it later.

 

[Cowlitz]

I hope you are doing a bit of fuels reduction around your house. It looks like it might be a problem from that last photo. A few years ago, it wouldn't be a worry, but if we continue to have hot days, you might want to do some hand piling and burning. If in doubt, drive through the Labor Day fire areas east of Eugene and Salem, OR.

 

[Cowlitz]

Anyone keep up to date on the big reforestation(?) Green wall projects like the one in Africa?
I even saw a proposal for a green wall in the US midwest as a "dust bowl" type of insurance policy. I'll try to link it later.

Heard somewhere, that midwest farmers are asking to be allowed to plant in protected areas to make up for Ukrainian losses.

On a not very green forum, folks seem to be moving to places like Upper Michigan, clearing the trees off, and planting pastures for their fantasy farms. That is more alarming to me than cutting by our timber companies because those little farm tracts are definitely not going to be reforested.

 

[Mulezen]

I’m reading Overstory by Richard Powers where trees are a major character. He incorporates much of the research into the story including the fungi which connect the forest. Note that a tree farm or monoculture is not a forest

 

[ChezCheese:)]

I hope you are doing a bit of fuels reduction around your house. It looks like it might be a problem from that last photo. A few years ago, it wouldn't be a worry, but if we continue to have hot days, you might want to do some hand piling and burning. If in doubt, drive through the Labor Day fire areas east of Eugene and Salem, OR.

Whose house are you speaking of?