March! April 1996

The New York

FOREST OWNERA publication of the New York Forest Owners Association

The T'iveT' is contained, its fT'eedom gone,

'0// ateT'S bound by the mYT'iad blocks of ice,

No mor-e a joyful, bubbling flow,

A touch of shoT'es, a jubilant [cur-ne q to go.

The wT'iteT"s tale is muted, his pen is still,

A block to co"eativity obscuT'es his way;

Wis path seems iT'T'etrievably lost,

Wis mind distraught by night and by day.

MOWA~K8R~AKUP

But then a floodgate of the mind T'eleases

The wT'iteT"s pen, the lost tale to T'etrieve;

NatuT'e's waT'ming sun unlocks the T'ive,..'s dooT';

~xultcmt wateT'S bubble fOT'th, flowing fT'om shoT'e to shoT'e.

THE NEW YORK

FOREST OWNERSASSOCIATION

VOL. 34, NO.2OFFICERS & DIRECTORS

Bill Minerd, President

1123 Cold Springs RoadLiverpool. NY 13088; (315) 451-3712

Jill Cornell, Vice President703 Johnsonville Rd.

Johnsonville. NY 12094; (518) 753-4336

Robert M. Sand, Recording Secretary

300 Church StreetOdessa. NY 14869-9703; (607) 594-2130

Mary Richardson, Treasurer

Chatfield RoadElbridge. NY 13060; (315) 689-6890

Deborah Gill, Administrative Secretary

P.O. Box 180Fairport. NY 14450; (716) 377 -6060

1996Albert Brown, Stow; (716) 763-9067Verner Hudson, Elbridge; (315) 689-3314Peter Levatich, Brooktondale; (607) 539-7049

Don Wagner, Utica; (315) 733-7391

1997John T. Hastings, Queensbury; (518) 798-0248Charles Mowatt, Savona; (607) 583-7006

Norman Richards, Syracuse; (315) 472-3696Elizabeth Wagner, Utica; (315)733-7391

1998Jill Cornell,Johnsonville; (518)753-4336Elizabeth Densmore, Machias; (716) 942-6600

Robert Sand, Odessa; (607).594-2130

Bob Sykes, Elbridge; (315)'673'3691

AFFILIATE REPRESENTATIVESDick Mark, THRIFT; (315) 623-9476

Donna Rogier, Catskill Forest Assoc.; (914) 586-3054

CHAPTER REPRESENT A TIVES

Don Huber, Allegheny Foothills; (716) 549·5025

Tom Hewitt, Cayuga; (315) 497-1266Barry Cornell, Capital District; (518) 797-3623

Tom Graber, Central New York; (315) 255-3662Jeff Wiegert, Lower Hudson; (914) 831-3109Bob Howard,NorthernAdirondack West; (315)262-2692

Herb Boyce, Northern Adirondack East; (518) 946-7040

Donald Fraser, Niagara Frontier; (716) 773-7011

Ernst Spencer, SE Adirondack; (518) 792-1726Larry Lepak, Southern Tier; (607) 656-8504

Don Schaufler, Tioga, (607) 589-6095Eileen VanWie, Western Finger Lakes; (716) 367-2849

All rights reserved. Contents may not be reproduced with-out prior written permission from the publisher. NYFOA

does not necessarily support or approve procedures. prod-

ucts, or opinions presented by authors or advertisers.

COVER: MOHAWK BREAKUp, one

of a photographic series entitled"Winterscapes" by Patricia Kay © 1986.The poem is a collaboration by DorothyDarling. See page 8,

2 NY FOREST OWNER

FOREST OWNERA publication of the New York Forest Owners Association

Editorial Committee: Betty Densmore, Alan Knight, Jim Minor. Bob Sand,and Eileen VanWie.

Materials submitted for publication should be addressed to: R. Fox, Editor, R.D. #3, Box88, Moravia, New York 13118. Articles, artwork and photos are invited and are normallyreturned after use. The deadline for submission for May/Jun is Apr 1..•.Please address all membership fees and change of address requests to P.O. Box180, Fairport, N.Y. 14450. Cost of individual membership subscription is $20.

"Caught in the Act"

Table of ContentsPresident's Message, Bill Minerd 3Planting Forests In NY, Norman Richards 4NYFOA SPRING MEETING AGENDA 9Nominations For Directors 10Visions For The Long Term, Dinnie Sloman 11Chapters/Affiliates ......•..................................................................... 12ASK A FORESTER, Gerry Kachmor 13Beech And Beechen, Henry S. Kernan 14Elegant Kindling, Peter S. Levatich 16Return Of A Native - River Otter, Bob Gotie 18Using USFS Inventory Data, Douglas Allen 20An Herb Is Not A Drug, Jane Sorensen Lord 22

NYFOA - 1-800-836-3566 • INFO MARIAPR 1996

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGEFor Christmas, Clara gave me the book,

"The Road Ahead", written by Bill GatesCEO of Microsoft Corporation. In thisbook, Mr. Gates chronicles the develop-ment of the personal computer (PC) andthe Internet and speculates on the profoundchanges that mass communications willhave on our lives. In many respects, thefuture as described in the book has alreadyarrived. In the work place, computers havereplaced typewriters, a significant amountof mail arrives as E-mail, telephone sys-tems have become digital and have VoiceMail. In our personal lives computers havefound their way into our cars, microwaveovens, heating/cooling systems and televi-sions. The PC is fast becoming a standardpiece of equipment found in the home andused as an educational tool, an extensionof our work place, and family entertain-ment. I believe that we have crossed thethreshold and entered into the "Informa-tion Age" that will be as significant as the"Industrial Revolution" and will have a veryprofound impact on our society.

As I look to the future of NYFOA, I seeopportunities for sharing informationamong members over the Internet and theability to access information on a worldwide basis. One of the more interestingapplications on the world wide web(WWW) would be to publish an electronicversion of THE FOREST OWNER. The

electronic version would be in full colorand circulation would be unlimited. Elec-tronic publications might well be the pre-ferred method of circulating magazines inthe future. Mail costs would be eliminatedfor all practical purposes and deliverywould be almost instantaneous. Storage ofpast editions would be electronic and yourability to search for old articles would begreatly enhanced. Contributing authorswould have an E-mail address that youcould correspond to for further informationor to leave a comment. With access to theworld wide web we may be able to realizethis dream before the close of 1996.

I search the Web on a regular basis forforestry related information. If you haveaccess to the web through America Online,CompuServe or a connect service, checkout the web page for North Carolina StateUniversity at: http://www2.ncsu.edulncsulconr ed/out.ex/ for a series of articles re-lated to private forest lands. You may alsoleave comments or messages to faculty atthis web site. If you would like to send meE-mail I am at:

wminerd@dreamscape.com.I have a few items that I would like to

report to you as a result of the Board ofDirectors Meeting that was held in Syra-cuse on January 21, 1996. Jack andHarriet Hamilton, Co-Chair of the NewYork State American Tree Farm System

NYFOA MEMBERSHIP INFORMATIONWhen your membership application is

received, it is entered into the membershipdatabase so that you will begin receivingTHE FOREST OWNER magazine, begin-ning with the next issue published, andappropriate local information from ourchapters or affiliates.

At the end of each month, a welcomingnew member-letter is sent to all those whojoined within that particular month. Alongwith the letter is sent a NYFOA decal foryour vehicle. Please call the office at 1-800-836-3566, if this is something you did notreceive.

Below is a sample mailing label as gen-erated from the NYFOA office. If you livein an area of the state serviced by a chapteror an affiliate, the upper left corner indi-cates that local group with which yourmembership has been assigned and fromwhich you will receive information con-cerning local activities; e.g., Western Fin-

ger Lakes. The number in the upper rightcorner indicates your membership expira-tion date, year month; e.g., August of 1996.

WFLThomas Smith135 Grant AvenueFairport, NY 14450

9608

Renewal/reminder notices are sent outtwice; the first, during your renewal monthor a month earlier. CFA members are notsent renewals from the NYFOA office, butare billed directly from the Catskill ForestAssociation. Please return your renewalnotice as soon as possible to avoid a breakin your membership services. Failure torespond to a renewal notice generates a Fi-nal Reminder Notice. If there is further fail-ure to respond, the membership is trans-ferred to the delinquent file and servicesare discontinued.

t'lY FOREST OWNER NYFOA -1-800-836-3566 -INFO

President Bill Minerd

attended the meeting as NYFOA guests todiscuss the possibility of NYFOA becom-ing a formal sponsor of the Tree Farm pro-gram. By unanimous vote, NYFOA hasjoined the Tree Farm program as a spon-sor. Jack and Harriet have a lot of workahead of them in coordinating activities ofTree Farm, we are pleased to support theseefforts and our members who have certi-fied Tree Farms. Look for more informa-tion regarding the Tree Farm program infuture pages of Forest Owner.

I am also please to announce the ap-pointment of Jill Cornell as Vice Presidentof NYFOA. Jill and Barry Cornell havebeen very active in the Capital DistrictChapter. I am sure that Jill will be an assetin the continued growth of NYFOA intothe future. Mary Richardson from theCentral New York Chapter has accepted theposition of Treasurer. Mary has coordi-nated the efforts of the CNY Chapter'sFamily Forest Fair and has been a drivingforce in the continued development of theCNY Chapter.

Betty Densmore and Charlie Mowattwill again lead the Chapter Developmentand Leadership Conference scheduled forSeptember 7&8, 1996 in Cortland, NewYork. Information regarding this confer-ence will be mailed to chapter officials laterthis Spring.

Charlie Mowatt presented to the Boardof Directors the possibility of establishingan Endowed Scholarship Fund at SUNYESE The Board has asked Charlie to gathermore information regarding this matter forconsideration at the Spring Board meeting.

Well that's it for this issue, comment andsuggestions are always welcome.

MARIAPR 1996 • 3

PLANTING FORESTS IN NEW YORK:A History of Changing Resources and Values

By Norman RichardsPlanting trees has long been the most

popular forest conservation activity aroundthe world. While tree planting usually hasbeen accepted rather uncritically as a "goodthing to do" for communities and land-scapes as well as for the planters, the ratio-nal arguments for planting trees havechanged over time with changing resourcerelationships. These changes are illustratedin New York where our history of treeplanting has similarities with other regionswhere resource use has gone through peri-ods of forest depletion and regrowth.

The Early DecadesHuman settlement in this region in the

last few thousand years at least encountereda well-forested landscape in which treeclearing was necessary for cultural ad-vance. Apparently tree planting by theIroquois was mostly what we would nowcall "enrichment planting"-establishingvalued species such as fruit and nut treesand perhaps some valued woods in forestclearings. It is likely that black walnut wasspread through New York by this means.Some have suggested that black locust mayhave been also. But more clearly, locustfor durable fence posts was a common en-richment planting, along with fruit and nuttrees and some shade trees in the farmsettlements that cleared much of NewYork's forests in the early 1800's.

Apparently the first state promotion oftree planting in New York was an 1869 lawgiving landowners a highway tax abatementof25 cents per tree planted along their high-way frontages --elms to be planted at 70foot spacing, maples and other species atleast 50 feet apart. By then, only about 40%forest and other "unimproved land" re-mained in the state. In the 1870's a few NewYork landowners began to respond to thedepleted forest landscape by making refor-estation plantings; some with seedlingsimported from Germany and elsewhere inEurope where forest planting was alreadyan established practice.

Increasing concern for forest conserva-tion in New York led to establishing theAdirondack and Catskill forest preservesin the 1885, and the NYS Forest, Fish andGame Commission in the 90's, as well asthe NYS College of Forestry at Cornell.

4 NY FOREST OWNER

Planting by NYS Forest, Fish and Game Commissionon Forest Preserve land near Raybrook. (1908?)

The first forest plantings by the Commis-sion, in the Catskills in 1901 and theAdirondacks in 1902,were to reforest de-nuded sites on State Preserve lands. Thismight now be called "environmental for-estry" because the preserve plantings couldnot be managed for timber products. Thefirst plantings were of seedlings importedfrom Germany; primarily our white pinethat was popular in Europe by then, alongwith Norway spruce and Scots pine. At thesame time some small state tree nurserieswere started, so in a few years mostly lo-cally grown stock was planted.

In the late 90's, the Cornell forestry col-lege started the first nursery and experimen-tal forest in the Adirondacks, and its direc-tor B.E. Fernow took a different view offorestry. From his European background,Fernow promoted forestry as a state-runenterprise primarily to produce timber forthe future. In the Adirondacks, he urgedand practiced removal of hardwoods to in-crease conifer plantings. This led to prob-ably the first significant conflict of valuesbetween "tree farming" and "environmen-tal forestry" in the country-and Cornelllost.

By 1909 the state had five large nurser-ies, the newest at Salamanca, and sold overa million trees to private landowners, whileonly 90,000 were planted on state lands.In 1911, the state agency changed to theConservation Commission with a Divisionof Lands and Forests, and a new nursery

NYFOA -1-800-836-3566 -INFO

was started at Saratoga, which continuestoday. That year the nurseries sold nearly1.7 million seedlings to 410 landowners,and could have sold more. The pattern ofthe state providing trees primarily for pri-vate plantings on land going out of farm-ing continued through the teens and 20's.Probably the most significant private for-est planter of the teens was FranklinRoosevelt who established several planta-tions on the Hyde Park estate with advicefrom the new forestry college at Syracuse.This contributed to his concerns for con-servation that later led to greatly increasedNew York and national government in-volvement in forest conservation.

Increasing surplus and abandonment ofunprofitable farmland in New York in the20's left an estimated 2.5 to 3 million acres"in need of reforesting". In 1929 a StateReforestation Law authorized the state toacquire reforestation areas of at least 500contiguous acres to be "forever devoted toplanting, growth and harvesting of trees andmanagement thereof'. A constitutionalamendment in 1931 mandated a millionacres be acquired for this purpose. From1930 to 1940,412,000 acres of old farm-land were acquired and the roughly 60%of open plantable land reforested largelythrough the manpower of the national Ci-vilian Conservation Corps. The 30's werethe all-time peak of state reforestation ef-fort. In 1935 the state distributed 52 mil-lion trees of which 42 million went to the

MARJAPR 1996

state forests. A County Reforestation Lawencouraged acquisition and planting ofsmaller areas as county forests.

From the 50's onAfter suspended conservation activity

during World War II, the State Reforesta-tion Area program resumed and reached550,000 acres by 1955. By then however,greater personal income and mobility wasincreasing private non-farmer purchase ofunprofitable farmland, making state acqui-sition of such land less justified. In 1955,of 37.6 million state-distributed trees, only6.3 million were used in the state forestswhile most went to individual landowners.A stimulus to private forestry at that timewas the 1946 Forest Practice Act provid-ing technical advice on forest managementfrom state foresters, and in 1947 amendedto provide free trees to cooperating land-owners. Through 1955, 47 million freetrees had been distributed and about 1.4million acres of private forest were "undermanagement" in this program. TheRichards' tree farm purchased in 1954 waspart of this, and like many others, we ob-tained more free trees than we could useeffectively. In 1955, New York was 9thamong states in tree planting, while the

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NY FOREST OWNER

New tree planter by Chamption Metal Company, Cortland. (Date?)

leading states in the south and northwesthad increasing forest industry planting. Afew New York industries began nurseriesand tree planting in the early 1900's, butforest industry planting never became a sig-nificant activity here as it has been in thesouth and northwest.

Studies of New York's mostly small for-est owners in the 50's showed diverse rea-sons for planting trees. Generally, plant-ing for timber was a minor objective, andnon-product, aesthetic or environmentalvalues were much more important-as theycontinue to be for most non-industrial for-est owners today. In the 50's also, Christ-mas tree growing was being promoted asan early cash return from reforestation. Atthat time, the Christmas tree market wasmostly of wild or semi-wild trees, so it wasreasonable to expect plantings of suitableconifers to yield at least some marketableChristmas trees with only minimal carebefore stands closed to forest conditions.This prospect was so attractive for promot-ing tree planting that even the state distrib-uted some species primarily of Christmastree value, with the expectation that somewould remain for longer-term reforestation.However, as increasing private plantingswere growing in the 60's, the Christmas treemarket was changing to intensive horti-cultural production replacing semi-wildforest byproducts. So most plantings in-tended for early profits from thinning forChristmas trees failed to make the gradewith the changing market, and an expectedglut of Christmas trees in the 70's didn'tmaterialize. To bring the Christmas treestory up to the present, high prices for goodquality trees led many landowners to go intomore intensive horticultural productionthroughout the US and Canada in the 70's

and 80's, creating an overcrowded, highlycompetitive market in the 90's.

Backing up to the 50's, a significant re-sult of surplus farmland and farm produc-tion combined with increasing public con-servation concerns has been the series offederal conservation incentive programsthat have paid landowners to plant trees.The Soil Bank program starting in the 50'ssought to get surplus cropland into long-term conservation cover including trees.While this program boosted tree plantingin New York, its conservation benefits herewere debatable. By then, there was muchcynicism about tree planting among NewYork foresters even as they continued topromote it. A public motive for reforesta-tion in the 30's had been a predicted future"timber famine", especially of conifers.But this was now being discounted becauseof increased conifer timber production inthe south and northwest while our north-east forests were regrowing naturally tomostly more valuable hardwoods. Earlierconifer plantings in New York that couldbenefit from thinning in the 50's and 60'sfaced little demand for small trees againstample timber supplies.

By the late 50's the state celebrated hav-ing distributed a billion trees which shouldhave amounted to about a million acres ofreforestation. The state and county thirdof these trees could be largely accountedfor in established plantations, but the ma-jority that went to private plantings had re-sulted in much less than the expected acre-age-although numbers of small plantingsmake it hard to get an accurate estimate.Later conservation programs have also in-cluded tree planting subsidies that still maybe justified in some other regions, but ap-pear a questionable use of public funds in

MARIAPR 1996 • 5NYFOA -1-800·836·3566 ·INFO

the regrowing forest landscape of NewYork.

Ironically, now that stressed demandversus supply of conifer timber in otherregions should increase demand for NewYork conifer timber, we have little spaceor motivation for planting conifers nowcompared to the peak years of the 30's. In1990, nursery tree production in New Yorkfor all purposes including Christmas treeswas about 7 million out of 1.9 billion treesproduced nationally. The year's tree plant-ing on only about 5600 acres of private landand 400 acres public ranked New York 32ndamong the 50 states. The portion that mightbe considered forest planting in New Yorknow is mostly for enhancement of land-scape values such as increasing diversityby planting additional or improved treespecies or maintaining a conifer componentfor multiple values in mostly hardwoodlandscapes.

Tree speciesMost forest tree planting in New York

has been conifer species, both becauseconifers were the most depleted componentof our forest resources and because severalconifer species are easier to plant success-

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6 NY FOREST OWNER

countered in natural forest management.Of the many experiments with forest

plantings of valued hardwoods in NewYork, some fairly successful plantations canbe seen around the state. But generally,hardwood planting has been more difficultthan conifers for several reasons. The mostvalued hardwoods require good soils forgood growth. For example, black walnutis easily planted but grows valuable logsonly on deep, well-drained fertile soils invalley or "cove" sites in New York.

Hardwoods also tend to be more sus-ceptible to climate and other stresses en-countered in open field plantings, and alsomust be planted more closely to encouragea straight, single central stem. Many alsoare readily damaged by wildlife; commonlya greater problem now than in early daysof reforestation when deer and many otherwildlife populations were depleted alongwith the forests. To counter the increasedproblems, hardwood plantings generallycost more to establish and have more lim-ited possibilities than most coniferplantings. However, some pioneer hard-woods such as paper birch are fairly easyto establish by planting on open sites.

For both conifers and hardwoods, care-ful forethought is needed to choose spe-cies and ecotypes for forest plantings. Eventhen, risks of unexpected problems or mis-takes are likely to be greater than encoun-tered in natural forest management. Be-cause of both the costs and risks, it is gen-erally wise to consider tree planting onlyon at least moderately deep and moderatelywell drained soils; leaving shallow and in-adequately drained soils to natural forest

Forestry freshmen planting near Cooperstown, 1920.

fully on old field and denuded forest sitesthan are most valued hardwoods. However,every species has its problems or limita-tions, and none have been a perfect solu-tion to various forest planting objectives.Initially popular planting of white pine asour most valued and site-versatile coniferwas soon curtailed due to severe weevilingof trees in plantations. The relatively pest-free red pine was popular in 30's plantings.But by the 50's, observed unsuitability ofred pine on inadequately-drained soilsstopped most planting of the species evenon well-drained soils where it remains veryuseful for poles and timber. Most earlyplantings of Scots pine as a tough pioneerfor depleted sites were poor ecotypes forour conditions, and generally inferior to ournative pines. Norway spruce, widelyplanted as faster growing and more pioneer-ing than our native red spruce, appearsmoderately successful for pulp and low-quality timber as well as dense landscapecover, but its potential for high-quality tim-ber is questionable. European larch, andlater the more aggressive Japanese larchwere planted for their rapid early heightgrowth. While these are a beautiful addi-tion to the landscape, their value for qual-ity timber is uncertain. Various species andecotypes planted primarily for Christmastrees have been left for forest cover. Withthe possible exception of suitable ecotypesof white spruce and Douglas-fir, most showlittle potential for future timber value. Care-ful forethought is needed in choosing spe-cies and ecotypes for forest plantings, andeven then, risks of unexpected problems ormistakes are likely to be greater than en-

NYFOA ·1·800·836·3566 ·INFO MARIAPR 1996

regeneration.

Changing Fconomics of Forest PlantingsForest planting usually has been viewed

as an investment that should payoff in thefuture. Forestry students are put through ex-ercises of calculating the compounded costsof forest plantings compared to expectedfinancial benefits, and usually find that for-est planting is likely to payoff in simplefinancial terms at a realistic rate of com-pounded interest only if planting and man-agement costs are modest and plantationsgrow quite rapidly to high value products.As all three conditions seldom have beenmet in New York forest plantings, one mustlook to more complex economics to jus-tify most plantings. Where forests are se-riously depleted, expected social benefitsfrom increased forests may justify eitherlow compounded interest rates for publicforest plantings or public-subsidized plant-ing and early maintenance costs on privatelands. Both practices generally have beenstronger and more carefully formulated inthe "social forestry" of some Europeancountries than they have been in the US.An alternative "default" economic solution

Boy Scouts and others planting 5-year white spruce near Elmira, 1933.

has been for private landowners to accepta lower compound interest rate for finan-cial returns because of additional, non-fi-nancial values they expect to gain from theirtree planting. All these alternatives are in-creasingly questioned in Europe as well as

April is Tree Planting SeasonBy John Solan

Spring is the best time to plant seed-lings. Snow melt, spring rain, and cooltemperatures provide the best conditionsfor new growth. Fall planting should beavoided because of the uncertainties ofwinter. Seedlings planted in the fall do notdevelop new roots until spring which leavethem vulnerable to frost heaving anddessication. Browsing on new seedlingsis harmful and usually unavoidable, ifthere is a lack of snow cover. Plantingstock should be ordered now, before in-ventories are sold out. Don't order morethan you can plant and don't plant on anarea that has not been prepared. Orderfrom reputable suppliers and ask aboutseed source. The natural range of somespecies covers different climatic zones.Southern and western seed sources do notalways do well in northern climates. Usenortheast seed sources to be safe. If youorder from southern sources, request anApril delivery date. Inspect your orderimmediately upon receipt and do not ac-cept plants that appear moldy or have asour smell. This is an implication of poorhandling. Contact the supplier and request

replacement or refund. Transport seed-lings under cover and never leave themin direct sunlight. Soaking root systemsfor 8 to 12 hours prior to planting is ben-eficial. Plant as soon as possible but avoidhot, dry, or windy days. Roots need to bein contact with mineral soil and the soilfirmly tamped after planting to eliminateair pockets. Seedlings should be plantedat the same depth they were planted at thenursery. Fertilizer is not necessary atplanting because new feeder roots havenot developed. Don't wait until Septem-ber to inspect your planting. New growthshould begin within a month. Contact thenursery, if you don't see bud developmentand alert them of a possible problem.Most importantly, mark your planting.Mowing machines are the number onecause of planting failures. After you havetaken pains with your planting, you are atthe mercy of Mother Nature. Let's hopethis growing season is better than thelast one!John Solan is Supervising Forester at theNYSDEC SARATOGA TREE NURSERY(See display ad page 24).

NY FOREST OWNER NYFOA -1-800-836-3566 -INFO

the US as regrowing forest resources makepersonal and societal values of additionalforest plantings less evident.

An alternative economic approach maynow be emerging, which recognizes thatmost beneficiaries of forest returns havepaid little of the full costs of forest growth,and therefore, the costs of assuring futurevalues by planting or whatever meansshould be charged against forest benefitsreceived now rather than charged to thefuture. This economic approach seems es-pecially appropriate in regions relativelyrich in forest resources as we now enjoy inNew York, and should be applicable to bothpublic and private forest management. Bythis view, satisfactory regeneration of for-ests for future values should be a conditionto harvesting values today. This may jus-tify greater expenses for specialized plant-ing or other practices that are likely to sus-tain values in the future that are being en-joyed now. It may also be a rather radicalidea because it could encourage greater at-tention to results than to well-intentionedactions in planting forest trees.

Norman Richards, Professor in Forestry atS.U.N. Y. College of Environmental Science

and Forestry, has been teaching and con-ducting research inforest planting through-out his career at the College. He claims tohave made nearly every mistake possiblein over 40 years of tree planting on theRichards' tree farm in Delaware County.Historic photos courtesy of the Moon Li-brary Archives, SUNY College of Environ-mental Science and Forestry.

MARIAPR 1996 • 7

WINTERSCAPES: By Patricia Kay & Dorothy Darling

Photo by

Patricia Kay

© 1986

Ice House

Poem by

Dorothy Darling

Herein lingers the fairY Kin!:!of Winter.Deep in the hills of his frozen domain.

Guarded well by formidable stileffos-frozen spears high above the snowy terrain.

A frozen cascade of water hovers near-Denying an approach to friend or foe.

But where will the fairY King finally soWhen the suns of summer awaken and riseAnd suddenly there is no ice or snow?

Do mvstical beings secrete within the walls.Peering through the windows of the snowy shelter.

Relishin!:!the forced silence of the great fallsAs the icY slide of waters lowers down and down

On their silent plunge to the deeper ground?

Only the fairY King walks this white landWith the stalwart soldiers of his court.

But when season brings its changesWinter sprites will abandon the eort.

8 • NY FOREST OWNER

about WINTERS CAPESThis is the second issue of the NY FORESTOWNER to publish the collaborative effortof photographer Patricia Kay and poetDorothy Darling (see NYFO lan/Feb, cover& page 14). The remaining three pairs ofphotos and poems will be published dur-ing the winter of 1996-97.

NYFOA -1-800-836-3566 ·INFO MARIAPR 1996

NEW YORK FOREST OWNERS ASSOCIATION

34th ANNUAL SPRING MEETINGSaturday, April 27, 1996

Meeting Site: Marshall Hall, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse,NY

PROGRAM

8:30 Registration

9:30 Welcome - Bill Minerd, President NYFOA

10:20- "The Participatory Landscape", Wait Aikman, SUNY IESF

"The NY's Forest Inventory and Analysis 1993", USDA Forest Service

"The NYC Watershed", Dinnie Sloman, Excutive Director CFA

12:00 Lunch

1:00 Awards, Bob Sand, Chairman, Awards Committee

1 :30 BLOWDOWN, The DEC Assessment of the July '95 Microburst, Tom Wolf, NYSDEC, Albany

1:50 Back Yard Lumber Drying, Dave Forness, NYSDEC, Cortland

2: I5 Raptors, Birds of Prey, Michael J. Gaylo, (LIVE Falcon, Hawk, & some Owls LIVE)

3: 15 Program Evaluation/Adjourn

....................... DETACH COMPLETE MAIL BEFORE APRIL 14, 1996 .

REGISTRATION FORM: NYFOA 34th ANNUAL SPRING MEETING

Name(s): _

Address: _

City: State, Zip Code: _

Chapter Affiliation. _

Please find my check for registration(s) at $16 each, Total enclosed: $ _

Send registrations to: Debbie GillPO Box 180Fairport, NY 14450

NYFOA - 1-800-836-3566 - INFO MARIAPR 1996 • 9NY FOREST OWNER

10 NY FOREST OWNER NYFOA -1-800-836-3566 -INFO MARIAPR 1996

NEW YORK FOREST OWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC.

B ALL 0 T v 0 T ET e r m

FOR3 y

F 0 U R (4)ear s April 1996

D IRE C TOR SApri I 1999

H A R R Y A. DIE T E R

THO MAS ELL ISO N

R I C H A R D J. FOX

THO MAS M. G R A B E R

D A V I D H. S WAN SON

Mail bo: NYFOA P. O. Box 180 F A I R P 0 R T , N Y 14450DETACH ---- COMPLETE ---- MAIL ---- BEFORE APRIL 18, 1996

NOMINATIONS FOR DIRECTORS OF THE ASSOCIATION.Four Directors to be elected. Term: 3 years April 1996-April 1999

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

HARRY A. DIETER is retired and enjoys managing the 175 acres ofhardwood woodland on the 250 acre home farm. He has been a NYFOAmember for over seven years and welcomes the opportunity to take amore active role in NYFOA. The Dieters reside at:217 Rush-Mendon Townline Rd.HONEOYE FALLS, NY 14472 Ph:716-533-2085

THOMAS ELLISON helped found and has served as Chair of the Central NYChapter and as a NYFOA Director. He is a member of the NY CommunityForest Council and serves as a Wildlife Education Instructor at theBurnet Park Zoo. Tom is a Master Forest Owner and lives with his wifeand three childen on his certified Tree Farm in the Town of Pompey at:2851 Estey Road MANLIUS, NY 13104-9531 Phone: 315-682-9376

RICHARD J. FOX was the early champion of NYFUA'S Chapter development.He was instrumental in founding the CAYUGA CHAPTER. He has servedNYFOA with boundless energy as a Director, Chair of the EditorialCommittee, Advertising Manager of the 1990 Directory Issue, and asa member of a number of NYFOA committees. Dick is Editor of The N.Y.Forest Owner. He is a Master Forest Owner and a member of theRegion 7 Forest Practice Board. He has had a life-long interest ininnovative educational and sociological programs. His address is:R.D. # 3 BOX 88 MORAVIA, NY 13118 PHONE: 315-497-1078

THOMAS M. GRABER graduated in 1988 with a BS from the NYS/CESF atSyracuse and is employed in the hardwood lumber business with theBailIe Lbr. Co, Inc. He owns 177 acres in the Town of Cherry Creek,Chautauqua County. Tom is Chairman of the Central NY Chapter andlives with his wife and six year old son Chris at:5717 Silver Street Road AUBURN, NY 13021-9746 Phone:315-255-3662

DAVID H. SWANSON is a third generation Livingston County farmer inthe Town of Mount Morris. Presently the Swansons have 800 acresunder CUltivation. His "Osage Farm" includes about 100 acres offorestland. Dave also manages for high quality White oak and Blackwalnut. He and his family live at:7014 Bigole Road MOUNT MORRIS, NY 14510 Phone: 716-658-4601

The four candidates with the highest vote margin will be elected.The fifth, will be an ALTERNATE DIRECTOR who will be appointed tofill any Board vacancy that occurs until the next annual meeting.

nSlONSFORTHELONGTERMBy Dinnie Sloman

When I was a teenager, I took some ap-titude tests to develop some general guid-ance and direction for my life. As part ofthe evaluation, I found out that everyonehas a planning horizon. This is the distanceinto the future that a person needs to haveplanned. If they do not have a general ideaof where they are going within their plan-ning horizon, they feel anxious and appre-hensive. While one person may need herentire life planned (or even longer), anotheris satisfied only with knowing where he willbe in the next five minutes. Mine turns outto be about five years.

This phenomena may help to explainwhy more non-industrial private forestowners (NIPFO's) do not have forest man-agement plans. As we all know, trees live along time. Forest management, therefore,is a long term operation. It is hard for us tosee the changes constantly occurring in ourforests since the process is so slow. On theone hand, if our forest satisfies us now, wemay not notice it changing into a less de-sirable state until significant changes haveoccurred. On the other hand, if we want tobring about a different condition in our for-est, we may not be able to appreciate thesuccess we are having, which is discour-aging. Maybe for some people their plan-ning horizon is so much shorter than therotation of the trees in their forest that theynever feel anxious about where their forestis going. Even for those who have life-longplanning horizons, such.a time frame stillmay fall short of the time required to bringabout change. In the end, without planning,forest owners never articulate the reasonsthey own the land and what they want toget out of it.

Compare this situation with industrialforest companies and state forests, both of

which have perpetual life. They have longplanning horizons and tend to take forestplanning very seriously. Of course, short-term economic demands can overwhelmeven their long-term forest plans.

This is not to say that NIPFO's do notplan, but merely that management is drivenmore by specific short-term needs than bylong-term "visions" for their forest. We needfirewood, cut some trees. We need to paybills, cut some trees. We need a road, cutsome trees. The reasons for ownership, thegoals, and dreams that the owners have forthe land, are not connected with manage-ment decisions. Sometimes the short-termmanagement decisions do not conflict withthe reasons for ownership. Unfortunately,some management operations and someownership goals are so mutually exclusivethat landowners have "ruined" their prop-

Unfortunately, somemanagement operations

'and some ownershipgoals are so mutually

exclusive thatlandowners have

"ruined" their property.

erty. They can no longer get what they needfrom their forest. Had they stated the rea-sons they own the forest and the vision theyhave for it, they would have seen the in-compatibility of the operation. Then theycould have searched for alternatives to theirshort-term needs. Buy the firewood. Mort-gage the house. Acquire an easement from

Instructors: Soren Eriksson & Dan HartranftLocation: Catskill Region of New YorkLevels 1 & 2: April 18 & 19 $266.00Level 3: April I? $133.00Level 4: April 16 $133.00

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Professionaltraining adaptedspecifically for

landowners!. Co urses for

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For Complete Information Contact:Catskill Forest Association

Attn: GOLPO Box 336

Arkville NY 12406

NYFOA -1-800-836-3566 -INFONY FOREST OWNER

a neighbor. At the very least they wouldhave known the tradeoffs between variousalternatives.

So, get going! Gather everyone who hasan interest in your land (most likely yourfamily) and write down your collective rea-sons for ownership (e.g., a retreat and aninvestment), a vision for your property (ahealthy forest that supports itself, lots ofsongbirds), the principles. that will guideyou to the vision (professional advice, co-ordinate with neighbors) and the next stepsto reaching the vision (learn more aboutforest birds). You probably can fit this ontoone page. Be sure to give a copy to yourforester.

By the way, the entire country is goingthrough this process, which is why I chosethis topic. During the past couple of de-cades, Americans have been splintered intoseveral different camps. Each one is pro-moting its own vision of what our forestsshould be. Preservationism, Environmen-talism, Conservationism. Wise use. Theselabels describe just a few. To counteract thissituation, the SEVENTH AMERICANFOREST CONGRESS was held in Wash-ington, D.C. in February, 1966. It broughttogether all the camps to seek commonground. The Congress will develop a vi-sion for America's forest, the principlesneeded to guide us to that vision, and theimmediate next steps necessary to begin thejourney. CFA is a collaborating organiza-tion which helped to bring local input tothe national event by convening a"roundtable" of New Yorkers in theCatskills. [similar meetings were held inSyracuse and in the Adirondacks.]Dinnie is the Executive Director ofNYFOA's Affiliate, the Catskill Forest As-sociation. This article was adapted fromCFA NEWS, Volume 13, No.4.

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914 ..657 ..9801MARIAPR 1996 • 11

CHAPTERS/AFFILIATESCENTRAL NEW YORK

On March 14, the chapter will hold theannual Potluck Supper at 6:30PM at St.Paul's Methodist Church, Valley Drive inSyracuse.

The Third Annual Family Fair will beheld at Gurnee's Woods (Marge & VernHudson's, Chatfield Road, Elbridge). Thetheme of this year's event will be "Educa-tion From The Woodlot". Profits from thefair will be dedicated to theNYFOA Schol-arship Fund: a college scholarship for ahigh school graduate who pursues a careerin forestry.

A clutch of turkey eggs momentarily aban-doned by the hen while some logs were skid-ded by Tom Hewitt during the '95 ForestFamily Fair. Photo by Elizabeth Mangle,Onondaga County SWCD.

SOUTHEASTERN ADIRONDACKSeveral hardy NYFOA members dug

their way out of a foot or more of snowJanuary 1, to attend a winter meeting andwoodswalk at Jim and Betty Schreiner'sproperty in Day. The Schreiners trans-formed their property which overlooksSacandaga Reservoir into a Biathlon train-ing and racing course years ago. Whatstarted out as a course for their sons to prac-tice on eventually turned into a non-profitbusiness: the Saratoga Biathlon Center. Thecourse meets Olympic standards.

The NYFOA members were welcomedto watch a Biathlon Competition that morn-ing. Later Jim Schreiner gave two shorttalks on cross-country skiing andsnowshoeing. Afterwards many of themembers took advantage of the open invi-tation to cross-country ski and/or to snow-shoe over miles of challenging and scenictrails.

12 NY FOREST OWNER

NIAGARA FRONTIERCoffee and donuts greeted NFC mem-

bers at Carrousel Museum in NorthTonawanda on Nov. 18. The chill in the airwas quickly dispelled by the warmth offriendship and the wonderful world of car-ousels.

Following an introduction and historyof the Herschell carousel plant by Eliza-beth Brick, museum director, BobZimmerman, a member of the NiagaraFrontier Woodcarvers, gave an on-handsdemonstration and talk about the craft ofwoodcarving and how it relates to restor-ing the carousel horses, many built at theturn of the century.

Bob said that basswood was used for thecarved animals. He noted that the basswoodthat the firm used was either soft or hard,depending on the soil in which the treeswere grown.

In a separate museum room which hasclimate control in order to preserve a spe-cial collection of carousel animals, Eliza-beth gave a wonderful talk on each animalpointing out details generally missed by thecasual visitor.

And then the moment each of us hadbeen waiting for: "And no running,please!", a ride on the merry-go-round.

March 16, we will have our maple syrupfundraiser at 9110 Hayes Hollow Road.March 28, there will be ajoint meeting ofthe NFC and AFC chapters at CattaraugusCounty Fairgrounds.

THRIFTTHRIFT hosted a number of well at-

tended programs this past year particularlytwo: a panel discussion on Timber Theft inApril and a meeting in October on"Blowdown "95". Over 100 people at-tended our program on timber trespass. ArtBrooks, forestry consultant, introduced thepanel of landowners, town justices, a dis-trict attorney,and a conservation officer. Thedifferent perspectives by the panelists gen-erated lively participation from the audi-ence.

In October we hosted a meeting withtalks and a field trip to an area in Croghanwhich was devastated by the micro-burststorm of July. Attendees learned what theycould do to begin cleanup of their ownwood lots. A big thanks to program chair-person, Craig Vollmer.

THRIFT was proud to be the seller ofthe winning raffle ticket for the quilt do-nated by master quilter, Betty Wagner. Ourfund raising chairperson, Betty Woods hadsuggested we use retailers; such as, farmstands, florists, etc. to help sell the tickets;this was so successful, THRIFT sold themost tickets and won the top incentiveaward.

CAPITAL DISTRICTWe will sponsor a talk, "Rural Land

Surveys: Historical and Current Practices,How They Affect Management of YourProperty" on Sunday, March 17 at IPMat the William K. Sanford Town Library inColonie. Henry Whitbeck, a licensed sur-veyor, will present the talk.

Participants in a Biathlon race at the Saratoga Biathlon Center onSchreiner's forest property". Photo by Patricia Kay Photography. (SEA)

NYFOA -1·800-836·3566 • INFO MARIAPR 1996

ASK A FORESTER-SOME FORESTRY TIPSBy Gerry Kachmor

What follows are the tips I share mostoften regarding: boundaries, land and in-come taxes, mowing, ponds, roads, andstate land. If SIP funds are available, man-agement plans, mowing, tree planting, andtree shelters may be cost-shared.

FINDING A BOUNDARY LINELook at the tax map to see if a nearby

lot has a boundary which is an extensionof yours. You may find extensions in bothdirections. Then look at aerial photos to seeif that line is a visible hedgerow or field-woods border. Visit the border, and take acompass shot. Then walk back and forthalong your line with a compass, lookingfor evidence, and making temporary marks.When you're confident of the line, call yourneighbor. If you both agree, paint the line.In Broome County, the USDA has 1993aerial photos, DEC has '77 and '55, andcounty Real Property has '36. For a low-cost aerial print of your land, buy a copy ofyour annual color slide from the USDAFarm Service Agency (formerly ASCS).Project it on a screen, photograph just yourland, and get a blowup of that photo.

Many of the major divisions seen on atax map are True N SEW directions. If Iface True North (Polaris), my compasspoints 11 degrees to the left, at MagneticNorth (Binghamton declination). Your dec-lination is on your USGS topo map.

If you need a survey, you may get a lowquote from a surveyor who has done anearby parcel since much of the researchis complete. You can call neighbors, or hikeyour line extensions to see if a new cornerpin shows a surveyor's name. Survey maps

CAYUGAThe chapter held their Seventh Cabin

Fever Festival February 9th & 10th withthe usual attendance amidst typical chang-ing weather; i.e., Saturday's crowd of 1300about double that of Sunday's. New attrac-tions were: a dog sled team with Iditarodexperience & their owner/musher, taxi-dermy exhibits and demonstrations,NYSDEC Fish & Wildlife displays, pottery& weaving demonstrations, in addition tothe original Cayuga Woodsmen and horsedrawn vehicles. A special Sunday noondedication (accompanied with cannon) ofan American Flag (raised by NYSDEC Sr,Forester Steve Davison and his Boy ScoutTroop #55) which graces the previouslydedicated (by the Cayuga Chapter)U.S.Civilian Conservation Corps plaque &boulder monument.

NY FOREST OWNER

that show magnetic bearings usually havenorth arrows with half heads or half tails.

FOREST TAX LAWFirst, try to lower your assessment by

checking per-acre values assessed to nearbysimilar properties in your town. If you findlower numbers, write to your assessor.Many assessors prefer to look at these re-quests in the off-season, so don't wait untilgrievance day. To calculate Forest Tax Lawsavings, first exclude the assessment on anybuildings, open land, and non-committedforest. 480-a reduces the assessment on tim-berland by 80%, less if your full-value per-acre assessment is under $200. The down-side is that you pay 6% of stumpage whenyou sell timber, and penalties if you vio-late your management plan, or end up withless than 50 committed acres. For partialrevocation, the price is 5 times the regulartaxes for up to your last ten committedyears, plus interest. For full revocation, it's2 112times. In-your-pocket savings are lessthan 80% if you itemize on 1040, since realestate taxes are deductible.

The 6% tax is livable, and the cost of amanagement plan is usually about oneyear's tax savings. Many owners excludesmall plantations which may need a lot ofwork, and frontage in case they need to selllots. Also exclude future pond or cabin sites.

INCOME TAXWhen selling timber, reduce capital gain

by the amount paid for the timber when youbought (or inherited) the land. This 'deple-tion' may require help from a forester, anaccountant, and/or USDA Forest ServiceAg Handbook 708. For those on SocialSecurity, timber income, if capital gain, isnot wages, and should not affect your wagelimitation.

MOWINGFirst hunt down your browsed wild

apple seedlings and tree-shelter them.

SOUTHERN TIERThe Southern Tier Chapter will hold

their annual Potluck Dinner March 22 atthe Sunrise Terrace Community Center onOld Front Street across from the HowardJohnson Motel in Binghamton at 6 PM.There will be a presentation by GerryPedini on identifying local wildflowers.Bring a dish to pass and table settings;drinks will be provided. March 23, from9AM until noon at the Cornell Coop Edu-cation Center, Front Street in Binghamton,there will be a workshop on Pond Manage-ment - fish & weed management, pesticideuse, pond construction, etc.

NYFOA - 1-800-836-3566 -INFO

Gerry Kachmor

Mowing in early August scatters any ripeclover seed and misses early-summer nest-ing birds. Dormant season mowing weak-ens target brush less, since the energy is inthe roots. For large fields, leave unmowedcorridors of the thickest brush connectingas many habitats as possible. S-shapedmowing facilitates sneaking up on wildlife.When radiating from your house, alternatestrips of mowed and planted cover permita view of critters from the window. Flagnew plantings in spring so you don't losethem in July's tall grass.

NEW PONDSAmong the many cautions, make sure a

core trench is dug below the original gradebefore building the dam to prevent leaks.Funnel water into the pond with ditchesupslope which can be opened in droughtand closed in spring. Keep the cattails con-tained before they explode.

ROADSFirst get the drainage right with a dozer

to save on top dressing. I had 500 linearfeet surfaced with 22 tons of #2 crushedstone, tailgate spread two inches thick, for$220. It doesn't break down and you don'tneed a dozer to spread it. This won't workif wires or heavy limbs are overhead. Newroads may need a thicker base of shale orstone.

STATE LANDYou can camp up to 3 nights on state

forest without a permit. Ask the DEC For-est Ranger about campfires. The shadedareas on the Big Game Hunting Guide mapare state lands other than parks. For countymaps showing state lands, call the countyhighway, planning, or chamber of com-merce. Ask the DEC forester for a photo-copy of the aerial mosaic of the state landyou plan to visit.

Gerry Kachmor is a forester at NYS DEC,1679 Rte. 11, Kirkwood, NY 13795. ph:(607) 775-2687

MARIAPR 1996 • 13

smaller or larger quantities. The survivingtree may have responded to the Nectria le-sions by growing enough thick-walled cellsto block and restrain them. Vigorous treesdevelop thicker inner bark through whichthe cankerous growth has more difficultyin reaching the cambium. The vectorial in-sects are less likely to lodge on smooth barkthat lacks defects and fissures, and the pro-tection oflichens. Other factors mitigatingthe frequency and virulence of attack areheavy fall rains that wash the insects offthe bark and the lethal temperature of -30°F.On some beech trees the scale insect doesnot survive at all.

Beech bark tells a lot about what is go-ing on inside. A wooly presence indicatesthe insect. Lesions on the surface are a re-action to a fungal infection. If they protrude,and if the bark shows a broken blocky pat-tern, the underlying defects are superficialand come off with slabs in the sawmill.Lesions sunk into the bark and patches ofdead bark indicate defects deep inside.

Beech in a hardwood stand presents the

BYHenrYKe~EECH AND BEECHENMy forest land in northern Delaware

County had a surprise and a puzzle for mein the early summer of 1956. I came homeafter several years abroad to find patchesof yellow leaves interrupting the otherwiseunbroken spread of green across my favor-ite stand, several hundred acres of north-facing slope that rise in conspicuous dis-play some 600 feet above the valley of theCharlotte River. Clearly those yellowpatches were out of time and season; theywere fall, not summer colors, and shouldnot have been there.

The discolorations were on the leavesof beech; and the culprits were a scale in-sect and a Nectria fungus. The harm theydo to beech is endemic to Europe. The dis-ease first appeared in the Western Hemi-sphere about 1890, in Nova Scotia. By themid-century the insect was advancing intoNew York from New England. The advanceinto my woodland had been slow becausethe vectors were tiny, wingless and foot-less, and immobile except by the wind.Oncelodged in the bark fissures of beech,the. Cryptococcus fagisuga penetrates in-ward, feeding upon the soft parenchymacells. In beech these cells. are near the. sur-face of the bark, thus causing the tree to beso vulnerable to attack.

The feeding of the insects alone doeslittle harm. The damage comes about be-cause of the tunnels the insects bore. Us-ing the tunnels for passage, the fungus,Nectria coccinea.faginata penetrates to thecambium layer and destroys the tree's vitalring-layer of cells that grow and divide. Thefirst easily visible indications of trouble arethe yellow leaves withering in summer forlack of water and nutrients. Soon otherwood-eating insects and white-rot fungi areattacking and destroying the dead tissue.During the full virulent stage, the diseasereaches and kills about every beech of size.Aftermath stands are thereby profoundlyand permanently changed.

Yet, as a killer, the beech bark disease isneither rapid nor complete. The summerdiscolorations lingered on in my woods forten years or more, while the big old beechsuccumbed to becoming hollow boles androtting stumps. Nevertheless the presenceof beech continues strong. The rustymarscent leaves of seedlings and saplingsstand out from the winter landscape. Densethickets of root sprouts appear around oldstumps. Whatever their future as timber, theseedlings and sprouts make certain thatAmerican Beech will remain part of theeastern hardwood forest.

The beech will remain in spite of sev-eral handicaps; for one, the beech does nothave the protection of outer bark (rhyti-dome). The smooth, almost spongy surfaceinvites attack by a legion of boring and

14 NY FOREST OWNER

The magnificent Beech of the Caspian Forest of Iran (early '50s).

sucking insects and of fungi. The attack-ing specie number more than 70 at everystage of the life cycle from seedling to pa-triarch. Another handicap, beech developstrue, rot-resisting heartwood only after 80years or so. Furthermore, the thin succu-lent bark is sensitive to sun scald, to fire, toextreme cold, and to late frost. On the otherhand, most insect defoliators and animalbrowsers pass up the leaves.

Forty years of exposure to such destruc-tive malady have changed my woodlandbeech from a dominant to a minor compo-nent of the stand. The ravages have leftsome beech that the fungus has not harmed.There are specimens, tall, straight, andsound with the smooth, whole bark and thetranslucent, bluish-green tinted foliage ofa healthy tree. Only a small number are inthat condition, but enough to remind us ofwhat beech can be at best.

Research has not yet wholly accountedfor the degrees of survival and resistanceamong so much devastation. A criticalchemical may be present or absent in

NYFOA -1-800-836-3566 -INFO MARIAPR 1996

The destructive harvest of beech for charcoal in the Caspian Forest of Iran (early '50s).

..

owner with some interesting choices. Theshortsighted practice has long been to leavethe beech and take the more valuable spe-cies. The disease is thereby all the moredevastating where it strikes. Salvage log-ging removes all the market will bear, oflogs, pulpwood, chips, and firewood. Theowner may want to go beyond salvage andrid the stand of beech with felling, girdling,and poison.

The aim is unattainable for so persis-tent a species as beech, with its sprouts,heavy crops of seed, and tolerance of shade.Moreover, beech deserves a place in thewoodlot. Thirty or more species of birdsand mammals look to this tree for food andshelter. Even the old logs and stumps haveparts in the forest ecology. They store wa-ter; they enrich the soil; they harbor mil-lions of microorganisms. Moreover, cuttingdown a beech may well result in a densethicket of slow-growing, highly defectiveroot sprouts. Quite obviously one shouldleave stand any beech which is resistant tothe bark disease.

The recent inventory of New York's for-ests indicates that beech is more than hold-ing out against enemies and handicaps. The682 million stems place beech fourth innumber after red maple, sugar maple, and

NY FOREST OWNER

hemlock. Annual mortality is again fourth,after the two maples and aspen. The aver-age net change in volume is an increase of20 million cubic feet. The increase is abouttwice that of red oak and one quarter thatof red maple.

Much has been written about and againstbeech as a forest tree and an industrialwood, pointing to the slow growth, the de-fective logs, and the warping lumber. Yetbeech is deeply imbedded in the humanpsyche. During the last several millenniabefore our era, the beech forest was spread-ing across western Europe at the expenseof mixed forests of oak, ash, linden, andhazel. For warmth, food, shelter, and toolsforest dwellers of the Stone Age turned tobeech. They must also have carved claimsto territorial rights on the smooth bark ofbeech, bark that expands but does notslough off.

We all know the urge to inscribe onbeech trees. Could that urge spring froman atavistic throw-back to the deep, darkbeechen where are cultural life began?

Henry Kernan is a consulting forester inWorld Forestry, a Master Forest Owner, anda frequent contributor to THE FORESTOWNER ..

NYFOA -1-800-836-3566 -INFO

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MARIAPR 1996' 15

ELEGANT KINDLINGBy Peter S. Levatich ©1996

Why write about kindling? Like red pen-nies, it is of little consequence. No odeshave been written in its praise, as far as Iknow. You only notice it in its absence. Butthere is enough to kindling to warrant acloser look. Kindling is the stuff with which

r-'~

you start fires. People use the strangestthings for kindling, when in need. I haveseen paper trash being stuffed into thestove, or scraps of any imaginable combus-tible at hand. Mennonites in Nebraska usedgrass in 1873; that's all there was. In ourAdirondack hunting camp we slosh kero-sene into the cast iron stove to start thingsburning, both dangerous and smelly. You,too, have probably seen the most uncon-ventional types of kindling being used. Allthis may be fine for solving emergencies;but let us not forget that having elegant so-lutions to human need is also true delight,even when it comes to kindling.

Elegant kindling solutions! First of all,it is a year-round process. Now, as winterwanes, is the time to think about the kin-dling process for the next season. Kindlingbeing marginal to survival, it is best kept inthe back of your mind, but all year long.You seldom have to dedicate a day to kin-dling. You sort of grab a kindling opportu-nity when it presents itself, almost at any-time as you move along. My opportunitieshave become concentrated, after a longperiod of purposeful existence. When I splitfirewood in the spring, I clean up all thosewonderful slivers, torn fibers of all sizesthat litter the ground where the splitterworked. I get a couple of bushel basketsfull. Next, I have a large 4x4x3 foot highbox into which I throw the splittable woodscraps from my work projects all year long.I am selective here: pieces with knots goelsewhere as does plywood; old broom

16 NY FOREST OWNER

handles become garden stakes, etc. Whenworking in the forest, an occasional coni-fer is felled. These I buck, cutting out thebranch whorls, and take the straight grainsections home with me. White pine, fir, andspruce split well after some drying. All thisgoes on peripherally to my principal tasks.My only specific effort in kindling resourceprocurement occurs early in the fall whenartificial logs, like "Pine Mountain", or"Duralog", show up on store shelves. Theseare sawdust-with-wax chunks people usein fireplaces. I buy two of them.

We heat our house and the shop build-ing entirely with wood. I build 2-3 fires eachday. Kindling must be handy and ready forquick work. Some kindling preparation isneeded, of course. So, on rainy days, fromtime to time during the year, I deal with thekindling resource. The splitter slivers onlyneed to dry in the shed, they are ready touse. The wood scraps need to be split. I willtell you only how I do it. But do not mimicme! Find your own way of doing it, so Iam not responsible for your fingers, be-cause splitting is always dangerous work.You probably will hit your finger with thehatchet. Most people do. I did, early on, ..once. The artificial logs will be discussed,after I tell you how I split kindling.

I sit on a 12 inch high stool with a 14inch high section of a maple tree, about 16inches in diameter, the anvil, in front of myknees. Both stool and anvil are on the con-crete shop floor. I rest my right elbow onmy right knee holding a very sharp, heavyhatchet about half way up its handle so itbalances well in my right hand. I hold apiece of wood to be split in my left handabout half way up with my two fingers. Irest the bottom end on the anvil; the woodgrain is vertical. I hit the top end with thehatchet a 1/4 inch from the right edge.While I do this, I am ready to let the woodgo with my left hand. If a split occurs, I

NYFOA -1-800-836-3566 -INFO

stop the hatchet partway, withdraw it, ex-ecute an immediate second split a little fur-ther to the left, then a third, etc ....and in notime the piece of wood is turned into manypieces of kindling. This process is improvedif I give the hatchet a little twist, turningthe edge towards the right, as it touches thewood. This makes the split-off piece fly tothe right. If the wood does not split, I let gowith the left hand, raise the wood, which isnow stuck to the hatchet, and hit the bot-tom of the wood against the anvil. A splitwill eventually occur and I catch the leftsegment with my left hand before it falls tothe floor, ready to continue. Easy work, aslong as I stay alert. Elegant results, whenthe resource material is free of knots and isa long grain species. The conifer speciesmentioned above are excellent. Oaks, ash,

redwood, cedar, locust are fine. Dense hard-woods like sugar maple, cherry, and beechtend to split unpredictably and I think themmore dangerous to split.

Now to the artificial fireplace logs. Atthis point you may rightly wonder if! mightbe cheating. Artificial logs, you may ask?Am I abandoning Zen and the Art of Kin-dling Making? Is it still elegant and a de-light? Read the following before youjudge.One of the concerns with all this wonder-ful kindling is that you have to store itsomewhere to dry and then transport it tonear the fire and store it there again unlessyou want to run for it each time you needit. Our kitchen is small, the wood stove issmall, and there is no real good place for akindling basket. So I adopted a neat solu-tion of a friend who used these artificiallogs. First he cut the artificial logs with aheavy serrated knife into Ixlx2-inchpieces. He kept a few pieces in a formerash tray near his fireplace in the livingroom. He called them "starters". He kindledhis fire by standing one starter on end inthe ashes of his hearth and then held a'farmer's match' to it as long as his fingers

MAR/APR 1996

could stand it. Sure enough the starter tookthe flame. He then placed split firewoodon each side of his burning starter takingcare to be very close without knocking thestarter over; he put firewood over the flameand smiled. He was confident that the logswould catch on. They did because thestarter puts out a very hot flame longenough to spread the fire to the dry fire-wood. We use this method of kindling inthe kitchen now. It is a clean, safe, andspace- and cost-efficient method.

And what about you, dear reader?Surely you have your own way of kindlingyour fires. It is an ancient ritual after all,and a very personal one. It brings you intointimate contact with a most ancient cre-ative force of the universe. Starting a firehas always been a moment of pride anddelight. Continue and be elegant about it!

SPECIALA recent publication of SUNY Col-

lege of Environmental Science and For-estry: "Stewardship of Northern Hard-woods: A Forest Owner's Handbook"is now available.

Authored by K.B. Adams, , D.C.Allen, P.D. Manion,& L.P. Abrahamson,the 84, 8 112 by 11, glossy pages con-tain 32 black and white descriptive pho-tographs intended for identification pur-poses and 67 color photographs detail-ing a principal diagnostic feature of treedisease. Nine trees and their problemsare appropriately keyed.

It is written expressly for the foreststeward and a must-have guide to man-agement of anybody's woodlot.

Make the check out for $10.00, pay-able to Research Foundation of SUNYand mail to SUNY IESF; 133 Illick Hall;1 Forestry Drive; Syracuse, NY 13210.The manual was produced under theauspices of the Stewardship IncentivesProgram of New York; revenues will bededicated to future reprints.

Peter, a representativeJorTompkins Countyto the NYSDEC Region 7 Forest PracticeBoard and a Master Forest Owner, is aJrquent contributor to the NY FORESTOWNER.

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NY FOREST OWNER MARIAPR 1996 •NYFOA -1-800-836-3566 -INFO 17

RETURN OF A NATIVEBy Bob Gotie

On October 5, 1995, the return of riverotters to central and western New York inover 100 years was realized with the re-lease ofthe first two of21 otters that wouldbe liberated during the fall of 1995 at thenorthern Montezuma Marsh Project Area.This historic moment in natural resourcesmanagement resulted from a year long part-nership between a private not-for-profitorganization called the New York RiverOtter Project, Inc. and the New York De-partment of Environmental Conservation.For me, watching these two beautiful crea-tures swim rapidly away in their new envi-ronment, represented a career high as awildlife biologist with the NYSDEC. Howthis came about and how you can help theproject to continue is the topic of this ar-ticle.

WHAT IS A RIVER OTTERFor the uninformed, the river otter is the

largest of the mink tribe which occur inNew York. Otters are long, sleek, and richlyfurred mammals. Powerfully built andmasters of aquatic habitat; they are uniquelyadapted for life in rivers, lakes, and streams.When they exhibit their enormous reper-toire of play behavior, otters charm thosepeople lucky enough to observe them.

In the wild, otters live for 10 - 15 years.Adult male otters weigh between 10 and20 pounds and are about 3 - 4 feet in length.Females are somewhat smaller. They denalong streams, rivers, and lakes using oldbeaver lodges and bank dens, muskrathouses, log jams, and overturned trees. InNew York the average litter size is two, bornusually in April.

Until now, the river otter occupied about19,000 square miles of eastern New York.They are commonly found throughout the

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- THE RIVER OTTERwatersheds of the Adirondack and Catskillregions. Rarely are they seen in westernNew York and on Long Island.

Otters are known to travel many milesdaily and seasonally. Individual ottersspend their lives in home ranges that mayexceed 50 square miles. Adapted to a widevariety of aquatic habitats, otters are mostabundant in areas with extensive unpollutedwaterways and minimal human impact.

Otters eat a wide variety of animal life.Fish are the most frequent item in the otter'sdiet, followed by crayfish, insects, andamphibians. They are "opportunists", prey-ing upon the easiest of animals to obtain.Fish like carp, suckers, and bullheads areat the top of the list. If trout are easy toobtain or represent the most common fishin a stream, then otters will prey on themto meet their nutritional requirements.

WHAT ABOUT THE PAST?Historical records tell us that otters could

be found in every watershed of the state.Like many other species, otters disappearedfrom most of New York during the 1800's.Unregulated exploitation and drasticchanges in land use due to human settle-ment were primary factors affecting the dis-appearance of otters in western New York.

In 1936 New York passed legislationcompletely protecting the river otter. By1945, river otter populations had recoveredsufficiently enough for the Legislature togrant the Conservation Department author-ity to open a limited trapping season. Riverotter fur has long been considered a valu-able commodity. Demand for it in the worldfur market remains strong even today.Since 1945, the NYSDEC has regulated theannual trapper harvest of this species byvarying seasons and catch limits. Everyotter pelt taken by trappers each year mustalso be inspected by a NYSDEC officer andtagged with a plastic pelt seal. Over thesepast 50 years both the distribution and theharvest of this species have steadily in-creased in eastern New York.

From before 1985, NYSDEC biologistshave entertained thoughts about returningotter to the watersheds of central and west-ern New York. It wasn't until early 1995,however that this dream would be realized.It was then that the not-for-profit organi-zation - The New York River Otter Project- was formed and actively began to securefunding and political support for this ma-jor undertaking.

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HOW ABOUT THE PRESENT?The New York River Otter Project, Inc

(NYROP) is an organization of industries,nature and educational institutions, conser-vation and sportsmen's groups, and indi-viduals with the expressed purpose of re-establishing a healthy river otter popula-tion throughout central and western NewYork. Their fund raising activities thus farhave succeeded in paying for the releaseof 21 otters in one of the nine release loca-tions identified in central and western NewYork. Long term plans call for the releaseof between 180 and 270 animals over aperiod of up to 10 years.

The current source of otters for releaseis the Adirondack and Catskill range. Ot-ters are being live trapped by trained pri-vate trappers licensed by the NYSDEC.After capture, otters are being transportedto a Cornell Univ. Veterinary facility nearIthaca, NY where they are cared for untiltheir release back to the wild. Most of theanimals released this past fall came fromthe Adirondack region. However, one otterworthy of note was captured within 30miles of New York City and now plies thewaters of the Seneca river near Savannah,NY.

WHAT ABOUT THE FUTURE?Much remains to be done if we are to

succeed at releasing otter in eight other lo-cations. The most important task at hand,

MARIAPR 1996

NYS DEC Wildlife Biologists carrying the otters to the release site.

however, is obtaining enough money fromoutside sources to continue this project.

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to think of all of the benefits youcould enjoy from having a pond ora lake on your own property. Thisidea could become a reality if theright conditions prevail. From ourexperience it normally requiresfavorable watershed conditions,good site conditions, owner-commitment to stewardship forenhancement of forest land values,appropriate engineering planningand design, and good constructionpractices.

PONDS UNLIMITED CANEVALUATE the site of yourchoice. We can provide all of theengineering services needed toplan, design and oversee theconstruction of a dam to create ahandsome pond or lake on suitableproperty. You can get additionalinformation by calling 315/422-POND or sending a letter ofinquiry to:

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Public meetings held during the winter of1994 revealed strong support for thisproject, but those attending directed theNYSDEC to fund it from outside the tradi-tional Conservation Fund. That's where theNYROP comes in. The total project cost isexpected to be about $300,000. This costincludes technical services, live trappingand transferring of the otters, medicalscreening, and care before release andtransportation to the release site.

The NYROP has done yeoman servicein finding revenue this first year of theproject. They are well on their way withmoney for a release of 40 otters in 1996.Nonetheless, much more money is stillneeded for the future. The success of thisambitious project ultimately will depend onthe generosity of people like you.Any levelof financial support you or others can makewill greatly add to the successful return ofthis native New Yorker.

The river otter once roamed the riversand lakes of western New York and it couldlive here again. Help us bring it back to theaquatic habitats of central and western NewYork. If you wish to support this effort,please make checks payable to:

NEW DECISIONSOFTWAREAVAILABLE

New York River Otter Project, Inc.P.O. Box 39512Rochester, N.Y. 14604

Bob Gotie is a Sr. Wildlife Biologist at theNYSDEC Cortland Office.

NYFOA -1-800-836-3566 -INFO

Scientists at the Northeastern ForestExperiment Station of the USDA For-est Service have completed the first twomodules of the Northeast DecisionModel (NED). NED provides site-spe-cific recommendations that integratemultiple values of forests.

One of the modules, NED/SIPS runson most MS- DOS based computers andrequires no additional hardware or soft-ware. Beginning with inventory data,there is a host of tools to assist in analy-sis and a variety of reports can be gen-erated including typical forest summarytables as well as economic analysis ofincome and expenses over the planningperiod. .

The user can "cut" or treat variouslyand compare various growth simulators.Treatments can be compared by"uncutting" or "ungrowing" the stand ina matter of minutes.

The second module available, theForest Stewardship Planning Guide(FSPG), runs in the Microsoft Windowsenvironment and guides users step-by-step through the process of determiningwhat they want from their forests. Fromfive planning options, the user is askeda series of questions which lead to lim-ited management recommendations forgoals and conditions.

To obtain either module, free ofcharge, contact:

Neil LamsonUSDA Forest ServicePO Box 640Durham, NH 03824.

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MARIAPR 1996 • 19

USING FOREST SERVICE INVENTORY DATA TOASSESS THE HEALTH OF NEW YORK'S FOREST

By Douglas Allen

IntroductionThe U.S. Forest Service, in cooperation

with the NYS Department of Environmen-tal Conservation and forest landowners,periodically inventories New York's forestresources. The fourth, and most recent, in-ventory was completed in 1993. The finalreport includes summary statistics on suchthings as ownership pattern, amount andgeographic distribution of forest land byforest type and tree size classes, growingstock volume by species, and annual netgrowth. Recently, I reviewed results fromNew York's latest inventory to see what theymight suggest relative to forest health.

I propose that we think of a healthy con-dition, in general, as a situation where abi-otic and biotic influences; i) do not threatentheir ability to recover from natural or hu-man-related stresses like insect defoliation,fire, disease, or air pollution and ii) do notimperil ownership objectives presently orin the future. The objective of this articleleads me to a more focused definition thatinterprets health in terms of susceptibilityto pest outbreaks and (or) vulnerability todamage. Any assessment or decision aboutforest health, however, requires that wecompare present conditions (e.g., speciescomposition, growth, crown condition,level of mortality, pest activity) to condi-tions that we normally might expect to en-counter for a given set of site conditions,stage of forest development and geographiclocation.

The concept that damage has both eco-nomic and ecological components em-braces concern for a wide range of com-modity and non-commodity values. Thisview is evident in a common definition of"pest" as any agent (or combination ofagents) that can prevent a landowner fromoptimizing values of interest or that is ca-pable of eroding ecological conditions. Inother words, we do not assume that woodproducts are the prime objective for, or evenare of interest to, every forest landowner.

Application & Interpretation ofFIA DataIn its present form, information derived

from the U.S.Forest Service Forest Inven-tory and Analysis (FIA) provides insightinto some aspects of forest health. Usefulinterpretation in the context of forest pestproblems, however, depends in large mea-sure on the degree to which we understanda forest pest's life system and how the pestinteracts with its host(s) and the forest com-munity of which it is a part.

Recently a U.S.Forest Service scientistused FIA data on tree species composition

20 NY FOREST OWNER

700

600

500Q)Q)

LL

:i 400

U'0I/) 300c:

~:?: 200

100

0Lake SouthwestPlain Highlands

13 196801980.1993

South Western SI Lawrence- Eastern CapitolCentral Adirondacks Northern Adirondacks

Highlands Adirondacks

Figure 1. Trends in net volume of sugar maple growing stockon timberland in New York'sforest regions.

and species abundance to improve our abil-ity for estimating the likelihood that foreststands in south-central Pennsylvania willbe defoliated by gypsy moth. Similarly, theMaine Forest Service has utilized FIA in-formation on species composition, standlocation and stand age to design damagesurveys and to estimate the impact of spe-cific agents that can threaten forest health;such as spruce bud worm, hemlock looperand brown ash dieback.

Hazard RatingOne of the most useful forest pest man-

agement tools is based on a concept knownas hazard rating. The ability to describeforest conditions that are most susceptibleto a specific pest problem or most vulner-able to damage allows the landowner orforest manager to apply limited resourcesfor survey, control and (or) preventativemeasures to those stands where there is ahigh probability that damage will occur.This tool builds, in part, on a knowledge ofpest ecology in relation to forest conditionssuch as the relative abundance of tree spe-cies, tree density and the occurrence anddistribution of different age (size) classes.

In many instances we know very littleabout how changing the character of a for-est will influence pest populations. None-theless, even for those poorly understoodsituations data currently provided by FIAmay reveal potentially troublesome situa-tions.

Changes in Species CompositionThe most recent inventory, for example,

NYFOA -1-800-836-3566 -INFO

Catskill-Lower

Hudson

indicates a substantial increase in sugarmaple (Fig. 1) and red maple (Fig. 2) grow-ing stock in each of New York's eight for-est regions since 1980. A similar, thoughless dramatic, pattern also is evident whenone compares data from the 1968 inven-tory to that of 1980.

Undoubtedly, several events have influ-enced this trend. To begin with, even thoughthe amount of timberland has remainedabout the same since the last inventory, thearea occupied by northern hardwoodgroups (i.e., forest types that typically con-tain maple) has increased by approximately500,000 acres. A legacy of selective cut-ting that discriminated against economi-cally more valuable species, such as ash,birch and black cherry, also has contrib-uted to shifts in species composition. Ad-ditionally, red maple seedlings readily es-tablish on many sites following a distur-bance, and red maple stumps sprout pro-lifically. Both characteristics often give thisspecies a competitive advantage. In manyregions over the past three decades most ofthe large beech was removed from north-ern hardwood stands by beech bark disease,and the relative dominance (basal area) ofthis tree has been reduced even though itremains well represented in smaller diam-eter classes. Whatever the cause or causes,the continuing increase in maple abundancerevealed by current FIA data suggests tome that future outbreaks of pests associ-ated with sugar and red maple may be morefrequent and (or) more damaging.

Experience with a variety of forest in-sects over the past several decades indicates

MARIAPR 1996

that whenever one tree species or age classdominates a forest or landscape, there is ahigher probability of more frequent or moredamaging pest problems compared to con-ditions characterized by a mixture of spe-cies or more diverse structure.

One must be careful, however, wheninterpreting the significance of changingstand composition or shifts in the relativeabundance of species. Whether or not thesechanges are significant from a forest healthperspective depends on what is expectedfor a given time, site, geographic location,and forest type. The mere fact that a spe-cies is "gaining or loosing ground" in termsof relative stocking does not necessarilysignify a health concern. Such a changemay, in fact, be a normal response to chang-ing stand and/or site conditions.

Stand DensityWith the exception of beech and yeJlow

birch in four of New York's nine forest re-gions and in a single region where ash andblack cherry growing stock has decreasedslightly since the 1980 inventory, the grow-ing stock of aJl other major species associ-ated with maple also has increased. Thissuggests that many stands are fuJly stockedand soon may be overstocked. Persistentoverstocking encourages insects and dis-ease-causing organisms that favor weak-ened or stressed trees.

Shift in Balance of Age ClassesThe most recent FIA report indicates

that in aJl of New York's forest units thereis substantially less area of hardwood tim-berland in the sapling/seedling size classescompared to the 1980 survey. Accompa-nying this change is an increase in the areaoccupied by the sawtimber class (trees 11"or larger in diam.) in aJl units and an in-creased area of poletimber (trees greaterthan 5" but less than 11" in diam.) for fiveof eight units. This implies, of course, thatthe forest landscape is aging but also sug-gests that our northern hardwood forestsare becoming more homogeneous structur-ally. As mentioned above, homogeneity inany form is thought to increase the prob-ability of forest pest problems. An imbal-

1.000

800~ 1968D 1980.1993

a;Q)U.

600::;o-0."c:

400~~

200

'0LakePlain

SoultlwestHighlands

South Western St. Lawrence- EasternCentral Adirondacks Northern Adirondacks

Highlands Adirondacks

Catskill-Lower

Hudson

Capitol

Figure 2. Trends in net volume of red maple growingstock on timberland in New York's forest regions.

ance in the relative abundance of age Houston, D. R., D. C. AJlen and D.classes also can have significance in the Lachance. 1990. Sugarbush Management:context of aesthetics, wildlife or timber. a Guide to Maintaining Tree Health. USDA

Forest Service. Gen. Tech. Rep. NE-129.55p. (no charge)

Adams, K. B., D. C.Allen, P.D. Manion,andL.P.Abrahamson. 1995. Stew-ardship of Northern Hardwoods: a ForestOwner's Handbook. SUNY ESF.84p. ($10.00, check payable to "RF ofSUNY")[Both publica tions are available from theSUNY College of Environmental Scienceand Forestry, Tree Pest and Disease Ser-vice, 133 IIIick Hall, 1 Forestry Drive,Syracuse, NY 13210. (315)-470-6745]

A copy of the results of New York's mostrecent forest inventory is available from theUSDA Forest Service, Publications Distri-bution, 359 Main Road, Delaware, OH43015 (Alerich and Drake. 1995. Foreststatistics for New York: 1980 and 1993.Resour. Bull. NE-132. 249 p.).

ConclusionsFIA was designed primarily to sample

timber resources, but it is utilized frequentlyto evaluate other resource issues. From aforest health perspective, changes in standstocking, density, distribution, age, andspecies composition may foreshadow po-tential forest pest problems. An example isthe increasing abundance of red and sugarmaple in New York's forests, which couldset the stage for more frequent outbreaksof pests associated with these species.

What does this mean to the forestowner? Two things come to mind: i) when-ever possible, a forest owner should takedeliberate silvicultural steps to encouragespecies and/or age class diversity in theirnorthern hardwood stands and ii) it will beprudent for forest owners to become famil-iar with potential maple pests in order tofacilitate early detection of problems thatcan threaten owner objectives. To accom-plish the latter, I recommend the followingreferences:

This is the 25th in the series of articles con-tributed by Dr.Allen, Professor of Entomol-ogy at SUNYIESF

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AN HERB IS NOT A DRUGan' a liffle dab 'II do ya

By Jane Sorensen Lord, Phd, OTR, NDWith interest, I have read lately, in pub-

lications as diverse as THE READER'S DI-GEST and DISCOVER magazines, herbhorror stories. Our editor sent me an ar-ticle from his local paper describing sev-eral herbs that either damaged kidneys orlivers of the imbibers.

I have had disturbing reactions to herbs,myself, ranging from profuse sweating todifficulty catching my breath. I have evencaused painful cysts from apparent over-doses, and have seen reactions from herbs,both belly and bowel, in my clients whoself-dosed.

Since I consider myself a clinical re-searcher, and I use, on myself first. someless researched herbs, unexpected reactionsare part of the trade. I am not working intotal darkness; my physicians are aware, in-terested, and supportive. My interest allowsme to order and take any lab tests I want,to determine the effects of dosage. Unfor-tunately, lab tests are very expensive and Idon't do tests as often as I would like.

It would be great, if herbs could be re-searched in this day and age with the sametrials (and zeal) that accompanies newlysynthesized chemical combinations. Butherbs and other natural products cannot bepatented like drugs, so they could not beprofitable enough to merit millions of dol-lars in corporate investments. These reali-ties make herb research more like anthro-pology than a hard science. Information isderived from an oral tradition. Also, almost

all folk healing involves a participation ofthe patient in some form of thought or be-havioral healing ritual. The herb (or thecombination) is meant to affect body, mind,and spirit, because sickness is recognizedas disrupting and involving the whole or-ganism.

Natural medicine is not like modern pre-scriptions where the doctor writes what,when, and how. You plunk down yourmoney to buy a bottle of pills and take themby the clock, often not interrupting anyaspect of your life. And it is not uncom-mon to take drugs for years with the beliefthat the given drug affects only one organor system in the body.

Modern technology has perfected herbalextraction where in a dose is a great manytimes greater than the dose provided in acup of tea. This further complicates theinterpretations of dosage for herb use fromthe traditional herbals (books of herbs andtheir usage), for example, 20 drops of ahomemade tincture is far weaker than 20drops of an extract. Most of the herbals givedosages for teas and decoctions (simmeredleaves or roots and twigs)

Couple the dosage dilemma with thereality that the people in this country havea love affair with drugs to serve as elixirsof youth as well as magic bullets. Withsome personalities, I purposely tell themto take less, because they have the beliefthat "If one is good, two is better!"

I recommend teas most often, becausethey are safe; but I have had people use

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Dandelion

tablespoons full instead of teaspoons full.Only with the foreign born have I been ableto say, "Use three drops twice a day", andthey did.

What you need to remember is that herbsare foods, but are like spices and condi-ments, not the main course. There has beentalk for years of the Food and Drug Ad-ministration regulating herbs. I think thateven if they did, they could not police it.I've written many times about the herbs thatgrow wild in your yard. How about gettingbusted for taking dandelions for your liver,or mullein for asthma?

And, just because pharmaceuticals arecontrolled and doled out by physicians,doesn't mean they are safe. I am treatingthe second woman in her early sixties thisyear who had a massive stroke from pre-scribed, widely used medicine. I don't thinkthat herbs are that potent!

If you self-administer herbs for commoncolds and aches and pains, because you readone article, just don't take it for more thana couple of weeks (stop immediately if youhave any strange reactions). If you want totry herbs for something more serious, or inplace of a prescription drug, track downsomeone who has worked with herbs foryears. Sadly, these are not usually healthshop sales folk.

If you can't find someone with whomto consult, compare the herb's use in at leastfour books. That will get you past anymagic. A must have: GUIDE TO MEDICI-NAL PLANTS, Schauernberg & Paris,Keats Publishing (NE W Canaan, CT.1990). Be careful. Good health. Have fun.

Dr. Jane, a regular contributor, is a MasterForest Owner and certified Tree Fanner.She has a private consulting practice inOccupational Therapy and NaturopathicMedicine. She teaches on the Faculty ofHealth at Indianapolis Univrsity.

MARIAPR 1996

The MarketplaceATTENTION small woodlot owners/part time loggers - For FARMIwinches and VALBY chippers, write Hewitt's Hill Haven, Locke, NY13092 or call (315) 497-1266 (Before 8AM or after 6PM).

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FOR SALE: 170 acres Allegany County; 80 acres pine and hard-woods; deer, turkey, grouse; call Henry Hansen, evenings (716) 334-3569; Good project for interested woodsman.

For Sale - A well-managed timberland tract in Ellenburg, NYconsisting of 191 acres near Upper Chateau guy Lake. Asking $85,000.For more details contact Ben Hudson at Wagner Woodlands and Co.,P.O. Box 128, Lyme, NH 03768 (603) 795-2165.

FOR SALE: 45 acres Allegany County; ideal land for cabin, pond,and hunting; good source of spring water; about 25 acres of woods.Asking $22,500. 716/544-8480.

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WFl 9608DEBBIE GILLNEW YORK FOREST OWNERS ASSOC.PO BOX lE30

f(.:lIF!P(JFH~ N'r' 14450

R.J. Fox, EditorRD#3,Box 88Moravia, NY 13118FaxIPhone (315) 497-1078

NOTICETHE FOREST OWNER is mailed

third class and will not be forwarded;notify Administrative Secretary DebbieGill, PO Box 180, Fairport 14450 or call1/800/836/3566 with a change in ad-dress!

TREE SEEDLINGSFOR CONSERUATION

PLANTINGTo Order Call:

518/587-1120NEW YORK STATEDEPARTMENT Of

ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION

SARATOGA TREE NURSERV

NYFOA SPECIALSThe following promotional items especially designed for

NYFOA may be obtained from Deborah Gill, AdministrativeSecretary; PO Box 180, Fairport, NY 14450; (716) 377-6060or directly from and with support for your local chapter:

Shoulder Patches $2.00 50% Cotton T-Shirts $8.00Window Decals 0.50 100% Cotton T-Shirts 9.00Member Sign 2.00 Long-sleeved Shirts 13.00Pewter Lapel Pins 4.00 Sweatshirts 16.00

PLEASE PROVIDE SIZE & PHONE NO.

24 • NY FOREST OWNER NYFOA ·1-800·836·3566 -INFO

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MARIAPR 1996

Non-Profit Org.U.S. POSTAGE

PAIDMoravia, N.Y.

13118Permit No. 21

FOUNDED 1963

WOODLOTCALENDARMAR 14: CNY; 6:30PM; Potluck Sup-per; St. Paul's Methodist Church, Val-ley Dr.,Syracuse; 315/451-3712

MAR 16: NFC; Maple SyrupFundraiser; 9110 Hayes Hollow Rd.

MAR 17: CDC; 1PM;Rural LandSurveys;Sanford Town Library,Colonie; 5181753-4336.

MAR 21: WFL; 7:30PM; TBA; CoopEducation Ctr, Highland Ave, Roches-ter.

MAR 22: STC; 6PM;Potluck Dinner;Sunrise Terrace Community Ctr,Binghamton.

MAR 23: STC; 9AM; Pond Mgmt.Workshop, Coop. Ed. Ctr., Binghamton.

MAR 28: NFC/AFC; Joint Meeting;Cattaraugus County Fairgrounds.

APR 27: NFC;SpringWaterfalls Walkat Elberta Barberi's, Holland.

APR 27: NYFOA's ANNUALSPRING MEETING; Marshall Hall,Syracuse (see page 9).