Thoreau & Trees
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FORESTSAMERICAN SUMMER 2016 Thoreau & Trees: A VISCERAL CONNECTION HOW FORESTS PROFOUNDLY AND PERSONALLY IMPACTED AUTHOR HENRY DAVID THOREAU AND HIS RENOWNED WRITING. EXPERIENCE AUTUMN IN THE ROCKIES WITH AMERICAN FORESTS SEPTEMBER 18-23, 2016 Exclusive accommodations, spectacular wildlife and brilliant fall foliage with activities like fly fishing, biking, Jeep tours and hiking. A memorable adventure. For more information, visit wwww.americanforests.org/Rockies2016. c2_AF_Summer16_RMNP Ad.indd 1 5/3/16 2:18 PM VOL 122 NO 2 CONTENTS SUMMER 2016 Departments 16 24 2 Offshoots A word from our president & CEO 4 Ask a Consulting Arborist Your tree care questions answered 6 Treelines From D.C. to the Rockies, here’s what we’ve been up to in the field and on the Hill. Plus, FOREST FRONTIERS: Richard Pouyat, National Program Lead for Air and Soil Quality for USDA Forest Service, shares why he dreamed of working for the Forest Service and his admiration for Mr. Spock. NEW ONLINE: A recap of our 2016 Earth Month theme: The Elements of Forests. WASHINGTON OUTLOOK: Some big wins resulting in the Senate passing of the Energy Policy Modernization Act (S. 2012) as well as American Forests’ recommendations for the U.S. Forest Service’s policy on mitigating adverse impacts on national forests and grasslands. 40 Innovations in 32 Urban Forestry By Ian Leahy Urban forestry’s next era will Features focus on deeply engaging other disciplines and American Forests is taking a leading role. 16 Big Tree Hunting in Colorado: 46 Earthkeepers A Case for the Numbers BUILDING A BETTER FOREST By Robert T. Leverett Professor of Forestry and An adventure through the forests of Colorado to seek towering big tree champions. Environmental Studies and Director of Yale‘s Global 24 Institute of Sustainable Forestry, Canine Conservationists Chadwick Oliver, has a mission By Jodi Helmer to change the way people view How a group of smart, hardworking dogs are sniffing their way to the frontlines of conservation. forest management. 48 Last Look 32 Thoreau & Trees: A Visceral Connection Gorgeous photography from By Richard Higgins COVER: BACKGROUND PHOTO © RICHARD HIGGINS; ILLUSTRATION © STEVEN WYNN/ISTOCKPHOTO © STEVEN © RICHARD HIGGINS; ILLUSTRATION PHOTO BACKGROUND COVER: Jason Liske The profound impact forests had on one of America’s greatest authors and his writing. AMERICANFORESTS.ORG SUMMER 2016 | 1 offshoots Vanishing Woodlands BY SCOTT STEEN WHEN MY PARENTS were children, the woods at the end of the street on which I grew up was connected to hundreds of acres of forestland that surrounded a local quarry. By the time I was a child, the quarry had grown, and the forest had become a small patch of woods, maybe a couple acres total. There wasn’t a whole lot of nature in our large, working-class Boston suburb by that point, but this scrubby little patch of trees became my own solitary sanctuary — a place of cool and quiet in the depths of summer and a place of beauty as the maples and oaks turned in autumn. It was one of the first places I could actually hear birds distinctly. I would lie on the leaf-covered ground and watch the squirrels make daring jumps from tree to tree. In this place, I began to see nature not as something you drive to, but as something I was a part of. It never occurred to me that this little patch of woods had an owner. But, one August day, my family returned from vacation to find the trees torn from the ground, a tangled pile of roots and branches plowed together in a mound. A month later, my woods was a parking lot. Looking back, it is difficult for me to be mad at the owner (although I was furious at the time). For him, this lot VIA FLICKR WOODWARD TOM 2 | SUMMER 2016 AMERICANFORESTS.ORG EDITORIAL STAFF Publisher Scott Steen Editorial Director Lea Sloan Managing Editor Ashlan Bonnell Contributing Editor “The more we understand for a boy like me to discover nature, it Christopher Horn is a very diluted version of nature. As Editorial Assistant and appreciate the connection Shandra Furtado a result, forest fragmentation is one Austa Somvichian-Clausen between nature and our quality of the biggest threats to biodiversity. Art Direction and Design As forests are carved into smaller Brad Latham of life, the easier it becomes American Forests (ISSN 0002-8541) is published and smaller patches, and the distance quarterly by American Forests, 1220 L St. NW, to see protecting our forests between these patches grows, the little Suite 750 Washington, D.C. 20005. Periodicals postage paid at Washington, D.C., as true progress.” areas of woods that remain become and additional mailing offices. increasingly less able to sustain POSTMASTER: Send address changes to American Forests, 1220 L St. NW, Suite 750 was going to waste. The only value it viable populations of animals and Washington, D.C. 20005. had was the promise that it could be plants. Even when large numbers of American Forests’ mission is to restore threatened forest ecosystems and inspire people turned into something else — like a these small “forest islands” remain, to value and protect urban and wildland forests. parking lot. they cannot support anywhere near (202) 737-1944 This, of course, happens all over the the level of biodiversity that a larger, http://www.americanforests.org United States. Between 2007-2012, contiguous forest can. So, as fragmen- AMERICAN FORESTS more than 1.4 million acres of forest- tation increases, animal and plant BOARD OF DIRECTORS land was developed — converted from populations take a nosedive, while pest Bruce Lisman, Chair Lisman for Vermont, Montpelier, VT forest into things like housing, parking and pathogen levels increase. Richard Kabat, Vice Chair lots and shopping malls. Along with declining biodiversity, Kabat Company, Washington, D.C. Much of the loss occurred — and is forest fragmentation also results in Rod DeArment, Treasurer still occurring — in parts of the coun- a serious decline in water quality. In Covington & Burling LLP, Washington, D.C. Ann Nichols, Immediate Past Chair try where forest is privately owned. the Mid-Atlantic, for example, a 10 Chevy Chase, MD This includes the southeastern U.S. percent loss in forest cover leads to a Scott Steen, President & CEO (ex officio) (especially Florida, the Carolinas and 40 percent increase in nutrient pollu- American Forests, Washington, D.C. Charles Betlach the area around Atlanta); the I-95 cor- tion to streams. Betlach Family Foundation, San Francisco, CA ridor in the Mid-Atlantic states; New We Americans tend to think of Zim Boulos England, including southeast Maine, progress in terms of things built and Office Environment Services, Jacksonville, FL Rob Bourdon New Hampshire and Massachusetts; money made. By this measure, nature Linkin Park, Sherman Oaks, CA the Upper Midwest; the Northwest can often seem like a barrier to prog- Jeff Elliott around Seattle and Portland; and along ress. But, if we begin to see progress Iridian Asset Management, Westport, CT the California coast. Not surprisingly, as achieving a better quality of life for Donna Dabney The Conference Board, New York, NY you see it most around the edges of all, that equation changes. Because, William Hazelton major urban areas, known as the while it may be difficult for the average Chubb Group, New York City, NY wildland-urban interface or WUI person to put a monetary value on Steve Marshall The Davey Tree Expert Company, Kent, OH things, like clean air, clean water and (pronounced woo-ee). Elisa Rapaport This process is known as forest wildlife, we all know these things Molloy College, Rockville Centre, NY fragmentation: when large areas of make life better. Jonathan Silver Greenbanc Global, LLC, Washington, D.C. forestland get chopped into smaller Humans need both nature and Robert Steinberg and smaller, unconnected bits. What progress. Our lives depend on both. Steinberg Family Foundation, Greenwich, CT was once hundreds or thousands And, the more we understand and of acres of contiguous woodland appreciate the connection between becomes a neighborhood, surrounded nature and our quality of life, the by a couple of acres of trees adjacent easier it becomes to see protecting our to a shopping center with a fringe forests as true progress. of woods connected to another neighborhood. And, while these small patches of TOM WOODWARD VIA FLICKR WOODWARD TOM woods may provide just enough room AMERICANFORESTS.ORG SUMMER 2016 | 3 Q&A ASK A CONSULTING ARBORIST Coming of Age Q: Our 15-year-old incense- cedars are for the first time dropping millions of tiny seed- like things. Is this indicative of illness or just natural after so many years? Is there anything to do to stop it? A: Being 15 years old, your incense- cedar trees are probably just beginning to be mature enough to produce many seeds. There is really nothing to do to stop the seeds — the trees produce more seeds some years than others. Sometimes, if Gumball from they seed really hard, it signals stress or a Liquidambar styraciflua, or health issues. Last year, the summer and sweetgum fall were very dry, which could have aided TONY ALTER VIA FLICKR ALTER TONY in seed production due to stress from the lack of water. If you are still concerned Close Calls about the trees, get a hold of a local Con- sulting Arborist to look at your trees. Q: I have a 60- to 70-foot sweetgum tree about 30 feet from my Answered by Consulting Arborist house, and one of the three main branches (about 30 feet up) broke David Hunter of Forest Grove, Ore.; on a windy day and barely missed www.davidhunterarborist.com; coming down on my roof.