Most of us enjoying a little on-the-job foraging… some blackberries here, some morels there. But how often do we think about intentionally managing non-timber forest products?  Forest farming is an agroforestry practice than involves the intentional stewardship of edible, medicinal, and decorative crops beneath a forest canopy. Join us as we discuss the integration of forest farming and silviculture with Eric Burkhart, Teaching Professor in the Department of Ecosystem Science and Management at Penn State University. 

Send us Fan Mail

If you are a forest practitioner in the eastern forests of North America (and maybe elsewhere) at one time or another you have likely been frustrated by white-tailed deer. Browse impacts on forest vegetation are significant and long-lasting, but those impacts are not the same everywhere making deer browse a challenging issue to both understand and address. Join us on this episode of SilviCast as we seek to better understand how deer impact our forests and what clues the latest science holds for mitigating browse impacts through silviculture. We spoke with two leading researchers on deer-forest interactions, Alex Royo, Research Ecologist with the US Forest Service’s Northern Research Station, and Amanda McGraw, Research Scientist with the Wisconsin DNR. 

Send us Fan Mail

 It’s an all too familiar scenario to foresters…a new pest is introduced into another part of the range and slowly works its way to a forest near you. So it goes with the hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA) that was introduced into eastern North America over 70 years ago. HWA has not yet arrived in Wisconsin, but can we learn from the research and field experience of our colleagues in the east? Are there silvicultural approaches that can be used to make hemlock trees and stands more resilient, along with other integrated pest management approaches? Join us on this episode of SilviCast as we discuss these approaches with Bud Mayfield, Research Entomologist with the USFS Southern Research Station and Robert Jetton, Associate Professor at North Carolina State University. 

Send us Fan Mail

If foresters have a super-power, it might just be the power of observation. They notice change in the forest and correlate facts that would otherwise be isolated and missed. As a result, foresters have the unique ability to adapt and find management solutions in a changing environment. In this episode of SilviCast we will explore an example in Iowa of changing environmental conditions and the cumulative effects on white oak (Quercus alba), and one forester’s quest to find answers. Join our conversation with Iowa DNR Forester, Joe Herring, as we try to solve the mystery of the dying white oak trees.

Send us Fan Mail

 It pays to be observant! Ogijewski, a forest scientist working in Russia in the early 1900s observed that oaks sometimes regenerated in small clusters where wild boars disturb the forest floor. From this simple observation he developed a reforestation method called cluster planting, the planting trees or seeds in tightly-spaced, small functional groups. The method caught on in Europe and is now practiced as a way to decrease planting costs and restore stand diversity. In this episode of SilviCast we explore the practice of cluster planting with Dr. Somidh Saha from the Institute of Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis in Karlsruhe, Germany. 

Send us Fan Mail

It’s not worth saying anything unless it’s worth taking a long time to say, to paraphrase Treebeard in The Lord of the Rings. And sometimes you need to play the long game if you’re a research forester too. Long-term silvicultural studies are surprisingly rare, but extremely valuable. That is why a recent paper on six decades of selection cutting results got our attention. The Cutting Methods Study is a long-term investigation of cutting systems in second-growth northern hardwood stands on the Argonne Experimental Forest in northern Wisconsin. Join us on this episode of SilviCast as we explore the somewhat surprising results with Christel Kern, Research Forester with the U.S. Forest Service’s Northern Research Station. 

Send us Fan Mail

Sometimes foresters in eastern North America may feel as if they are in a Lemony Snicket novel, with chestnut blight, spongy moth, Dutch elm disease, and emerald ash borer creating a continuing series of unfortunate events.  Emerald ash borer or EAB is one of the most recent invasive pests with the potential to eliminate an entire tree species. And foresters have many questions on how to manage EAB impacted stands and what they can do to help maintain ash trees as a component of our forests. On this episode of SilviCast we talk with two of North America's leading researchers working on EAB genetics and ecology, Kathleen Knight and Jennifer Koch of the USFS Northern Research Station in Delaware, Ohio.

Send us Fan Mail

As foresters we spend a great deal of time looking up, to evaluate forest composition, structure and growth. The story below ground is equally as interesting however, with complex interactions between soils, nutrients, water, roots, and a host of other flora and fauna. As they say in Vegas, what happens below ground, stays below ground! Everything here is more difficult to study. This is particularly true about a class of organisms critical to trees, mycorrhizal fungi. We know that mycorrhizal fungi play an important role in allowing trees to uptake more nutrients and water. But does it go further than that? There have been a huge number of popular media stories talking about this subject, but what is the current state of the science?  And what do forester need to know about how these fungi impact tree growth, or how we impact mycorrhizal fungi through management? Join us on this episode of SilviCast as we explore this subject with Justine Karst, Associate Professor and mycologist with the University of Alberta, and Marty Kranabetter, Regional Soil Scientist with the British Columbia Ministry of Forests.​

Send us Fan Mail

No matter how you define it, old-growth forests are scarce as hen’s teeth in the eastern United States. More than 99% of our forests are second growth. While we can’t speed up time, we can speed up the development of old-growth characteristics through creative silviculture. Join us on this episode of SilviCast as we talk with Paul Catanzaro, Professor and State Extension Forester at the University of Massachusetts - Amherst, about a range of silvicultural techniques to restore old-growth characteristics.

Send us Fan Mail

The official Society of American Foresters' definition of silviculture describes it as both an art and science. Are foresters both artists and scientists? What role does creativity play when developing a silvicultural prescription or setting up a timber sale? In forestry school we learn the foundational sciences of silvics, forest ecology, soils, wildlife, and water. And through experience and time spent in the forest we learn how to best apply that science to particular stands and site conditions. Join us on this season 4 finale of SilviCast as we talk with Marcella Windmuller-Campione, Associate Professor of Silviculture at the University of Minnesota, about keeping the creativity in silviculture and the importance of being a life-long learner.​​ ​

Send us Fan Mail