GPS satellite developments

GPS World discusses Russia's recent launch of three more GLONASS satellites. This brings the total available satellites to 18, enough for navigation in Russia. Russia hopes to have a complete constellation of GPS satellites working by 2009. There was a recent news story of President Putin with his dog showing how a GLONASS-based GPS tracking device was now possible.

This follows last week's successful launch of a new GPS satellite, also described in GPS World. The new GPS IIR-18 (M) satellite will replace an existing older unit. It provides a stronger civilian signal and some new capabilities for military navigation.

This news is exciting for anyone interested in GPS. Within a few years we will have the choice of receivers using NAVSTAR (American), Galileo (European), or GLONASS (Russian). There will certainly be combinations of the different systems for even better accuracy and reliability. The combinations may be subscription-based for the extra service. I am sure there will be intense competition among providers to provide good deals and packages.

Maybe they will even solve the problem of good reception under a closed forest canopy with a low cost receiver!

Mass Tree Planting in Indonesia

I heard recently on NPR and the BBC News about a massive tree planting campaign in Indonesia. Governmenta agencies all over the country were planning to plant over 79 million trees! Indonesia is usually known for its deforestation of tropical forests and the overwhelming smog from forest fires.

From the reports I heard, I feel optimistic that this campaign may be successful. First, it is a locally initiated campaign. The people seem to be behind it, rather than having it imposed from outside. They have chosen some interesting species. In addition to teak and other timber species they will be planting fruit trees that people want.

As I saw in Africa, tree planting campaigns will only work if they have popular support. Otherwise it's just too hard to make the tree-planting a success. This doesn't resolve the problem of forest clearing and fires, but it does point in the right direction.

Anne Frank Chestnut Tree

One of the first blog entries I made last year was on the chestnut tree outside the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam. This was the tree she mentioned frequently in her diary during her family's two year hiding from the Nazis.

The city of Amsterdam wants to remove the tree because of its advanced state of decay. Now, a year later, people who want to save the tree have sued to prevent it being cut. After hearing arguments on both sides a judge ordered the city to hold off until February. Here is a link to a BBC story on the tree.

It's interesting that the managers of the Anne Frank Museum at the house want the tree removed to prevent injury to visitors. They would rather replant a new, healthy tree. Sounds like a good idea to me.

Where am I?

Reading topographic maps is a critical skill for all foresters. We can use contour lines to see a landscape in three dimensions. Here students from the Forest Mapping class are matching their location to the features on a topographic map in the Michaux State Forest and the Waynesboro Watershed.

SAF National Convention

There was a lot of good information that was given at the convention. The thing that I enjoyed the most was the job exibits. I enjoy talking to people about new things, and learning new things. I met one women that is a spokes person for this new product called bird water that you can put in the ground, and it will water your trees for 90 days. While testing the product, hte resultz are outstanding. also talking with other school about their programs and getting new ideas and sharing ideas to bring back to our own schools. The one schools Forestry Club does a cost scaring program for their forestry books. You rent the book for the semester and then you get your money back at the end when you return the book. The job fair wasn't that interesting to me because the majority of the jobs were for working out west in Oregon or sorrounding area. I met a man named Al who graduated from Mont Alto in 1937 he had a lot of great stories to share with us, and he will be sending me some pictures and videos that I will share with you. For anyone that is interested in SAF I would jump on hte opertunity to go to a national meeting, it is very educational, and a wonderful experience to be in a new place.

Rethinking Fire Policy in the Tinderbox Zone

This article in today's New York Times stresses changes in building codes in California to protect new homes in the most dangerous fire zones. (It also has some good photos and maps.) The changes came about because of the damage from previous fires. Even the best built homes can't withstand a total fire. The authors stress that Californians continue to rebuild in the proven danger zones, as well as build new homes. I wonder how they are able to afford home owner's insurance

Convention at Oregon

First thing is first, the plane rides were a great experience for my first times flying. The convention center had interesting artwork, one was a large sculpture of a Ginkgo fruit. The bag that they gave out to everyone was nicer than the one they gave at Pittsburg. The thing(s) that I enjoyed the most was the job fair and the people that I met and heard. My favorite speaker was Richard Louv, who spoke about his concern about children not being able or just not bounding with nature. He is also the author of "Last Child in the Woods". One of the interesting people that I met was Erkki, who is from Finland. One of the things that he brought up was a question "How many lakes in Finland?". The answer that he gave me was 184,000+ lakes and the smallest lake is one acre in size. He said that 10% of Finland is water and the area where he lives is 25% water. Another interesting thing that Erkki said was that any last name ending with nen, meant that they are a Fin.

Richard Louv SAF Keynote Speaker

Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods was the keynote speaker at the SAF Convention today. Before his prepared remarks he mentioned the fires in California. His home is in San Diego in the danger zone. So far his home is safe and hopefully will stay that way.

Louv evoked memories of growing up in Kansas City where he had his own forest behind his house. This was a place he could call his own. He spend hours there. He would even pull up surveying stakes he might find. This is a place that will be in his heart always. His theme is that this contact with the outdoors is vital for people. We need the outdoors.

For a number of reasons children are losing this contact with the outdoors. Electronic toys, parents' fears, and a too-structured lifestyle are just some of the reasons. He says that the increase in childhood obesity, increased ADD, and the increase of stressed children are just some of the consequences. In part he blamed his own profession, journalism, for creating a climate of fear by magnifying all the dangers out there, that results in many families keeping their children under house arrest.

He cited a number of initiatives and programs to get children back outdoors. Although he says it's unlikely we will ever go back to the days of letting children roam free, we have to make sure children have that connection to the outdoors that all people need.

He really connected to this audience of foresters. Just about all of us had our special outdoor place growing up. Most of us still have one today. He did inspire all of us to try harder to find ways to work with children. That will be good for them and good for the profession of forestry.

Here is a link to Louv's web page and a link to his books in Google search.

Louv did a book signing later in the day. There was a huge line, over a hundred people I guess, waiting. The SAF shop even sold out of the book.

New Tools at SAF Convention

The SAF convention is a great way to find new developments and new tools for foresters. The Portland convention is no exception. The USGS is demonstrating a new viewer for Landsat data. It has archival data and some of the most recent data from the current satellite. At the booth they showed how the imagery from various bands can be combined. I can't wait to have more time to look at it at home. http://glovis.usgs.gov

Another new tool is a brand new website interface for the FIA national forest inventory data. Previously, we had to wait for the inventory reports to come out in book form. Now the Forest Service has created a modern interface to zero in on the forestry statistics even down to the local data. fiatools.fs.fed.us The people demonstrating the site told me it just came on line last week. The help files aren't even up yet. It will be fun to learn.

Mega-Fires on 60 Minutes

60 Minutes ran thought-provoking story on the increased number of extremely severe "mega-fires" in the West. Here is a link to the story on the CBS News page. The site has an article, video, and still pictures. (I'm not sure how long it will be up.)

Reporter Scott Pelley went to Idaho to visit a hot-shot crew on a fire line near Ketcham. He did an in-depth interview with Tom Boatner, who is the chief of fire operations for the federal government. Boatner confirmed that fires are larger and more frequent. He also mentioned changes in fire-fighting rules to let more areas burn if property is not threatened. They conducted the interview near the a burning fire and had to move downhill as the temperature increased!

Pelley also interviewed Tom Swetnam, a fire ecologist from the University of Arizona. Swetnam has studied the dendrochronological record and found that fire severity is much larger. They have a tremendous collection of aged cross-sections of old logs that recorded firest over the last few millenia. I am eager to look up some of his research articles.

Both Boatner and Swetnam cite climate changes towards drier conditions and a longer burning season. Global warming was mentioned several times as the cause.

Global warming may well be an underlying of the problem. But the direct causes are well known: a rapid increase in population, people building more in the wilderness area, and changes in forest management policy. The good news is that these problems can be fixed quickly if people want to. All in all, this was a very interesting report. I hope people pay attention.

Ipe wood

Ipe wood is one of the coolest woods ever!! It is almost denser than water 0.9. It doesn't require chemical applications to prevent termite or mold damage. It even has the fire resistance of concrete or steel, though it will burn up eventually. Ipe wood is great for decking.

Old Railroad Ties

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Originally uploaded by P_Linehan.

This stack of old railroad ties I found next to an exhibit of a restored railroad caboose in Norlo Park in Guilford township, Pa. The ties reminded me of how important creosote preservation was for the railroad and almost all other outdoor uses of wood.

Of course creosote, a type of oil, is very toxic. It also leaked from the wood creating even more hazards. The sites of creosote factories are Superfund waste sites. For example, the old creosote plant in Pensacola, FL was a massive cleanup headache. Fortunately, we have other ways to preserve wood. Railroad ties are often made from other materials. we should never forget about the imoprtance of creosote, though.

One of the last Fire Lookouts

Today's New York Times has a feature article on Michael Gates who is a contract fire watcher on Saddleback Mountain in the Tahoe National Forest in California. Gates lives for five months of the year in a lookout shack atop the nearly 7,000 foot mountain. The article has some amazing pictures of life in the shack and views around the mountain.

Gates also has his own photo gallery with some amazing shots, many from the watchtower.

There are fewer and fewer manned lookouts (only 800 left) around as the US Forest Service and State Forest Services go to modern technologies. It takes a special person to endure living there. But I'm sure there are advantages to having a pair of human eyes watching the skyline for fires.

Many forest technology students want to work fighting fires. Not so many would want to work in a fire tower I think.

Woodland Owners Visit the Waynesboro Watershed

Mont Alto forest technology students led a tour of forest management and silvical activities on the Waynesboro Watershed for members of the Cumberland County Woodland Owners Association and the Waynesboro High School Envirothon team yesterday afternoon (9/22) Below is a map of the sites visited:


View Larger Map

At the reservoir Dave Gillen discusses the purpose of the watershed, butternut canker, the importance of hickories for biological diversity and wildlife feed, and stand dynamics in an old norway spruce plantation.

Matt Reitzel described a 20+ acre clearcut to remove some stagnant softwood plantations, the problems with invasive plants, the use of herbicides, the re-establishment of american chestnut, and hybrid loblolly pine planting.

Adam Luther described a hardwood removal cut to release oaks. The twenty acre site was then fenced to keep deer. Today the oak stand is doing very well. The acorns were falling like rain.

The deer fence is essential.

Click here to see the full set of pictures.

Gypsy Moth Egg Masses

The gypsy moth infestation has been very heavy in south central Pennsylvania this summer. It looks like next year will be equally as bad, or worse. These pictures are from Oak Road in the Michaux State Forest in Quincy, PA. Most of the oaks on this hillside are just covered in egg masses!

Interpreting Airphotos in the Field

Yesterday, students in the Aerial Photo Interpretation class (FORT 230) visited selected sites on the aerial photos they are studying. Using the principles of interpretation: shape, shadow, pattern, association, texture, tone/color, and relative size, they compared the scene on the photo with what is actually on the ground today.

Given that the sets of photos we are using were taken in 1977, the element of time must also be included in the interpretation. Some areas have been harvested and others have grow in from previous harvests. Little of the area has changed through human use, however.

Here is a Google map of the sites the class visited:


View Larger Map

Digital pictures were taken at each stop and then geotagged with the location coordinates. Follow this link to see the geotagged images on a Yahoo Map in Flickr. Picasa albums also offers geotagging on a Google map as shown in this link. Each provider and format has its own advantages. There is probably a universal tool out there to combine these into one view.

Oakworm Invasion in Boiling Springs, PA

This morning's Carlisle Sentinel has an article on a family's problems dealing with an outbreak of oakworms in their trees. They are understandably irritated with the falling caterpillar frass all over their yard. They are also worried that the defoliation would be be permanent, especially with the gypsy moth attacks, too.

The articles quotes experts from the Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry and Cumberland Valley Tree Co. that oakworm attacks tend to be very localized. There is usually no need to spray, although homeowners can if they wish.

Forest pest stories seldom make the news unless there is something catastrophic going on. Few people know the war for existence going in the forest ecosystems just a few feet from their doors.

Forestry Students Enjoy Keystone Chapter SAF Steak Fry

Eleven forestry students joined the members of the Society of American Foresters PA Keystone Chapter for a steak fry and meeting at the Glatco Lodge in Hanover yesterday evening.

Retired Mont Alto professor Ken Swisher (right) watches his steak.


Mark Brown and Andrew Baker



Tiffany Roddy, Chance Yeackley, Loggan Droppa, and Craig Houghton




Chairman Mike Kusko. The business portion of the evening was to discuss plans for the upcoming Allegheny SAF regional meeting in February.


Logan Droppa and all the students introduce themselves to the group.

Greek Wildfire Catastrophe

The news all weekend has been full of the Greek wildfire story. Even the site of the birth of the Olympic games is threatened. Both the New York Times and The Washington Post have carried a story by John F. L. Ross with this quote:

Forest fires are common during Greece's hot, dry summers _ but nothing has approached the scale of the last three days. Arson is often suspected, mostly to clear land for development. No construction is allowed in Greece in areas designated as forest land, and fires are sometimes set to circumvent the law.

It shows that even in forest ecosystems prone to fire, their number and severity are strongly influenced by social considerations. The politics and economics of land ownership count a lot. This has been true every place I have worked, from Pennsylvania to Burkina Faso. The toll of human suffering from these fires is unimaginable. I hope they are put under control soon.

Here is a link to a photoset from a Greek photographer on Flickr.
Here is a link to the NASA image shown here.

Class of 2009

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Originally uploaded by P_Linehan.

The new forest technology students at Penn State Mont Alto gathered for new student orientation today. Even though the heat was intense, everyone stayed awake for the whole session! They can't wait to start field labs with hard hats next week!