[Urban Forests]

Hey everyone, happy Bike to Work Day! Hope you all enjoyed your ride in, and if that ride took you through a local park or natural area, lucky for you!! Be safe out there. Shout out to the ever-amazing Green Seattle Partnership restoration project along the Burke Gilman Trail. Keep up the good work! Filed [...]

We in the European arboricultural and forestry world are as guilty of the disenfranchisement of people with their trees as anybody else. Places where there is little interference from the ‘state’, for good intention or more often not, can still … Continue reading →

Nation’s Latest Fire Situation at a Glance – Maps, Reports and Forecasts

I have created a collection of the most current national wildfire maps online. These fire situation maps display real time forest fires and conditions that are indicators of increased fire risk. It also will link you to daily situation reports on the most severe fires.

Tragic North American Wildfire Disasters Since 1950
Essential Wildfire Terms
Protect Your Property From Wildfire

Current fire danger map from Wildland Fire Assessment System/USFS

Every night the noise of wildlife outside is enough to drown out a passing car, from the crickets and frogs in the background through to numerous birds seemingly in mid distance to the mumbling of large hedgehogs and scratching from … Continue reading →

Global Positioning Satellite receivers (GPSrs) are more than just car accessories that move you around in your automobile. Portable GPS receivers  can be a life saver if you find yourself exploring or working in a forest and lose your sense of direction. Getting lost in the woods can be unnerving to even the most experienced woodsman.  Here is a tip or two on how to use GPS technology if you become disoriented in a forest.

A receiver with a track log function can keep a visit to the woods from turning into a night spent trying to find the truck. Most reasonably priced GSPrs have a track log function. You will certainly have this functionality in the Garmin eTrex series (called the tracks function) and in the Magellan Triton series (called the trails function). You can purchase the basic models for around $100.

Get yourself a receiver and take it along on visits to the woods. Before going on your walk, turn the receiver on, let it pick up the satellites and leave on auto mode. The auto mode saves the route slowly, conserves battery life but provides a more than adequate track back to the truck. At your final destination, stop and save the track log. You can then easily use Garmin’s TracBack feature or Magellan’s Reverse Trail to find you way out.

Features Needed in an Outdoor GPS Receiver

Garmin GPS 60C Photo

Saima Wahab was born in Afghanistan but only lived there until she was six years old. By then, her father had been taken away by the KGB, so she and her family had to leave. They ended up in Pakistan, living with family, until she, her brother Khalid and her sister Najiba, in their teens, [...]

There are 5 herbicide application methods most commonly used for woody-stem plant control. They all have their advantages and disadvantages and are not always appropriate for specific conditions and cost constraints.  I provide a situational graphic to illustrate each of these techniques.

Controlling Woody Stem Plants
Cleaning Forestry Pesticide Spray Equipment

Non woodland trees (NWT) are finally starting to be much more widely noticed; daily news flow regarding trees in the landscape from across the UK highlights the growth of a much more positive perception of trees; and there is increasing … Continue reading →

The Green Cities Network wishes all of the mothers out there a happy Mother’s Day, and encourages everyone to honor your Mother Earth by getting outside on this beautiful weekend and volunteering to help her become even more beautiful. Find opportunities near you to get involved in Seattle, Tacoma, Kirkland, Redmond, and Kent. Have a [...]

We just heard from Project UP partners ACTrees that the second site has been selected to develop a new urban park, on the heels of their first collaboration last year in Indianapolis. Project UP, a partnership between ACTrees and the Boise ASPEN brand of recycled papers, works to “unlock the potential” of urban places by [...]

You need to fertilize trees and shrubs to insure their good health which prepares them to fight off pests, disease, and environmental stresses. A proper fertilization program can’t solve all tree problems and over fertilization can do harm. Still, tree fertilizing at the appropriate time and with the appropriate formulation will help your tree(s).

Ideally, growing trees should be fertilized throughout the year. The greatest amounts should be applied during the early spring and summer months. Right now is an excellent time to fertilize trees.

For young trees, good times to put out fertilizer is late March through early June, and while you are at it, proper mulching will aid in proper nutrient and water uptake. When a tree reaches the desired height you may decrease the fertilizer application to only once a year.

How To Mulch a Tree
Tree Fertilizing Basics

Timothy J. Lavallee | Destination Wake Forest Hugh Grant lends his voice in the latest animated film from the people who brought you Wallace & Gromit. The Pirates! Band of Misfits is a story about a relatively tame and wildly unsuccessful pirate named Pirate Captain, and his crew who are equally inept. Every year the Pirate King who is dressed [...]

Water is the single most limiting essential resource for a tree’s survival and growth. Most of us understand the need to water trees during dry times, especially in the landscape. But what we often forget is that a tree can also be harmed by too much water. Unfortunately, the symptoms for a water-starved tree can be the same as symptoms caused by water-logged tree roots.

Symptoms for both under-watering and over-watering are wilted and scorched leaves. Both conditions can prevent tree roots from effectively transporting water to the top of the tree and that tree will express these symptoms. In addition, too much tree water can also shut down sufficient oxygen to the roots. Some tree species can handle “wet feet” but many trees can not.

How To Water A Tree
How a Tree Uses Water
Manage Trees During Drought

Students from Heritage High School in Wake Forest recently learned valuable life lessons about energy conservation through an AP Environmental Science project in which their local electric cooperative, Wake Electric, took on an unexpected role. Their teacher, Molly Bostic, assigned a personal home energy audit requiring students to monitor their electric usage for a 10 day-period [...]

Trees use seeds as their principal means of establishing the next generation in the natural world. A fascinating but poorly understood chain of events have to happen perfectly to start a baby tree from seed. A viable tree seed has to be dispersed at an appropriate location under conditions that promote seed germination.

There are two major causes for unsuccessful tree seed germination under artificial conditions. Hard seed coated tree species and trees with dormant seed embryos complicate the seed planting process. Nurserymen have to expose some tree seeds to unique treatments to assure germination. They use two main processes called stratification and scarification

I have created this seed guide for preparing seeds from common trees for planting. I list or link to most of the common North American tree species with adequate information on propagating these trees from seed.

Oak Tree Sapling / Acorn Photo,  Getty Image

LYNCHBURG, VA – Jesus Aguilar launched a pair of home runs, and Mike Rayl tossed six scoreless innings as the Carolina Mudcats blanked the Lynchburg Hillcats 3-0 in front of 3,704 on Thursday afternoon at Calvin Falwell Field. Aguilar extends his hitting streak to five games with a 2-for-4 showing. The first baseman has four [...]

Englands’ landscape heritage is at huge risk of disappearing due to a decline of those with the skills to maintain and build dry stone walls, hedgerows, wells, swales etc., which have also declined due to ill conceived modern land management … Continue reading →

The Friends of the Wake Forest Community Library are having their annual fund-raising book sale, and they are in need of volunteers starting this week. The Friends are seeking volunteers to help us set up, organize, assist during the sale and pack up unsold books for return to storage. They can use help on any [...]

Wake Forest residents are now free to water whenever they want. The Raleigh City Council voted on May 1 to end the lawn watering restrictions that have been in place since the 2007 drought, which saw Falls Lake – Raleigh’s main water source – dip to its lowest levels since the lake was created by [...]