Maine’s
Central Aroostook Soil and Water Conservation District
(SWCD) is working with Universities of Maine in Presque Isle and Fort Kent to combat neonectria and repopulate forest beech trees.
“Beech trees play such an important part in Maine’s forest ecosystem,”
Central Aroostook SWCD Executive Director Randy Martin said
. “Aside from the fact that it is a very important hardwood species, the amount of food that beech trees produce for wildlife is critical to Maine.”
Martin and university students are cloning neonectria-resistant beech trees using explants from mature American beeches that show no signs of the deadly fungus, despite growing among disease-infected trees. Tissue collections are cultured and grown in a lab. When the clones reach between 12 and 15 inches tall, they will be planted in trials and monitored for up to 15 years to determine neonectria resistance. Infected regrowth will grow alongside the cultured plants to mimic natural forest conditions.
Seven Islands Land Management Company will provide the steep-sloped, shallow soil trial areas for the 60,000 cloned trees, and Fort Kent University will host a trial in its university forest. Central Aroostook SWCD plans to plant the saplings in 2021.
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The Joint Forestry Team (JFT) held its 2020 in-person meeting in Las Vegas as part of the NACD Annual Meeting in February.
“Meeting face-to-face to discuss our common goals and challenges helps us identify critical needs that can be addressed most effectively by working together,”
JFT Chair Susan Stein said
. “There was a lot of energy in the room as we pulled together this year’s workplan; I think everyone is excited to move forward with the projects we’ve identified.”
In Las Vegas, the JFT selected its four priorities for 2020:
- Engage state-level partnerships
- Align forest management plans
- Reach underserved forest landowners
- Strengthen cooperation with our partners
Subcommittees consisting of four members (one from each organization) will work on these tasks throughout the year. A final report will be shared upon completion.
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The Forestry Resource Policy Group (RPG) is one of six RPGs, organized under the Natural Resources Policy Committee (NRPC), that help NACD address specific resource concerns. The group consists of representatives from each of NACD’s seven regions, as well as special advisors representing the National Conservation District Employees Association (NCDEA) and National Association of State Conservation Agencies (NASCA).
The Forestry RPG advises NACD on forest policy matters and engages with a host of partners to help advance the role of conservation districts in forestry efforts at all levels. The RPG also, on occasion, advises partners on program implementation and efficiency.
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Steve Hedstrom, Chair (Montana)
During college, Hedstrom worked in area mills and spent time on thinning projects. Over the last few decades, he has maintained an interest in the decline in the health of Montana's 23 million acres of timber. As a 35-year conservation district supervisor, Hedstrom decided conservation districts need to become more involved in the management decisions of our private, state and national forests. He serves on the NACD Board of Directors and has a seat on the Montana Forest Action Plan Advisory Council.
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Gary Blair, Vice Chair (Mississippi)
Blair retired from Southern AgCredit in 2016 after 36 years of service. He owns and operates his family timber farm, Blair Legacy Tree Farm. He is a former president of the Mississippi Forestry Association, Mississippi Association of Conservation Districts, national president of the Mississippi State University Alumni Association and previous member of the board of directors of the Mississippi State University Development Foundation. Blair currently serves on the NACD Executive Board.
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Doug Rushton, Pacific Region (Washington)
Rushton worked for the U.S. Forest Service at the Pacific Northwest Experiment Station, and the Olympic, Targhee, and Colville National Forests. He currently serves on the NACD Board of Directors and is a member of the Washington Farm Forestry Association, whose focus is owners of small woodlands. From 2011 to 2017, he represented NACD on the Forest Resources Coordinating Committee.
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Orval Gigstad, Northern Plains Region (Nebraska)
Gigstad is a large animal veterinarian in Nebraska. He is a longtime NACD Board Member and has served as Region Chair for the NACD Northern Plains. He is the former president of the Nebraska Association of Natural Resources Districts.
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Tom Crowe, North Central Region (Indiana)
Crowe has been a private forestry consultant in northeast Indiana since 1985, assisting private, mostly non-industrial forest landowners with management of their forestland, including programs, appraisals and management plans, timber harvests, forest stand improvement, invasive species control and tree planting. He earned a degree in forest management from Purdue University.
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Linda Brownson, Northeast Region (New Hampshire)
Brownson is a forest landowner in Wentworth and manages a mixed hardwood and conifer forest of 200 acres in the western foothills of the White Mountains. Soon after settling in New Hampshire in 2003, she became president of the New Hampshire Association of Conservation Districts and then chair of the New Hampshire State Committee, the state conservation agency. She is also heavily involved with the New Hampshire Timberland Owners Association.
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Jennifer Hart, Southwest Region (Wyoming)
Hart earned a B.S. in environmental horticultural science from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and her Masters in agricultural production chain management from Van Hall Larenstein University, part of Wageningen University and Research, in the Netherlands. In 2013, she was appointed to the National Forest Advisory Board for the Black Hills, and in 2019 she was appointed to serve on the national Joint Forestry Team.
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John McAlpine, South Central Region (Arkansas)
McAlpine graduated from the University of Arkansas at Monticello with a B.S. in forestry. He is the manager of Monticello Operations and president of Kingwood Forestry. McAlpine is a registered forester in Arkansas and Mississippi, a real estate broker in Arkansas and Louisiana, and a state certified general appraiser in Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas and Missouri. He represents NACD on the national Joint Forestry Team and is an active member of the Arkansas Forestry Association.
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Danny Hogan, Southeast Region (Georgia)
Hogan is a third-generation farmer and member of the NACD Board of Directors. Of the 900 acres of woodland he manages, 119 acres are enrolled in the Longleaf Conservation Reserve Program. He is past president of the Georgia Association of Soil and Water Conservation District Supervisors and a member of Pine Country RC&D Council.
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Charles Holmes, At Large Member (Alabama)
Holmes owns Holmestead Company, a purebred horned Hereford and Brahman cross cow-calf, stocker and timber operation. This land was homesteaded in 1819 by his great-great-grandfather, William Moore. He is a past president of the Alabama Association of Conservation Districts and served on the NACD Board of Directors for 28 years.
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Garrett Stephens, NCDEA Representative (Colorado)
Stephens joined the Jefferson Conservation District staff in 2014 to support the forest conservation program and became the director in 2017. He's had a variety of work experiences in the Midwest and western states in back-country leadership and natural resource management. Stephens earned a B.S. in environmental biology from Greenville College and a M.S in ecology from Colorado State University.
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Rachel Theler, NASCA Representative (Colorado)
Theler grew up in rural Montana and spent her childhood going to work with her grandfather, who was a forester for Plum Creek Timber for 48 years. She graduated with a B.A. in communication studies from the University of Montana. Since 2015, she has worked for the Colorado State Conservation Board, supporting conservation districts in the Southeast and San Luis Valley. She has recently taken on the role of Conservation Communications Coordinator to assist Colorado conservation districts with their outreach and communications efforts.
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Ohio
Geauga SWCD Big Tree Contest to highlight black walnut
The
Geauga Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) announced that the 2020 Geauga County Big Tree Contest is currently seeking nominations.
This year's featured tree species is the Black Walnut, which is prized for its chocolate-brown, fine-grained and durable wood, along with its abundant and nutritious nuts.
Participants will submit a nomination for a Black Walnut tree that they believe might be the largest in the county. After all nominations are submitted, qualified personnel will verify the measurements using the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Division of Forestry’s Big Tree Program procedures.
The voluntary contest promotes the beauty and benefits provided by the county’s biggest and oldest trees, along with their contributions to clean water and healthy soil. Geauga County’s Big Tree will be recognized and awarded at Geauga SWCD’s Annual Meeting this fall.
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California
RCD leads replanting efforts after devastating wildfire
About
700 blue and black oak trees were planted in the Camp Fire burn area this February. The
Butte County Resource Conservation District (RCD) facilitated the plantings at landowners’ properties in Paradise and Magalia, aiming to restore the forest with native trees adapted to resist higher temperatures and be resilient to fires. Volunteers from throughout Butte County helped the replanting effort.
Butte County RCD's Forest Health Watershed Coordinator
Wolfy Rougle told the Enterprise-Record that oak trees, which produce hundreds of thousands of acorns in their lifetime, generally have a low survival rate.
“If one of those acorns survive, then the number of oaks in the world remains constant,”
Rougle said.
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Illinois
Conservation District to host ‘Maple Syrup Open House’
The annual Maple Syrup Open House, hosted by the
Vermilion County Conservation District, will take place March 15 at Forest Glen Preserve in Westville, Ill.
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