Forest Management Techniques and the Effect on Carbon Field Tour & Workshop

When:
September 28, 2017 @ 1:00 pm – 6:30 pm
2017-09-28T13:00:00-04:00
2017-09-28T18:30:00-04:00
Where:
H. O. Cook State Forest
Ed Clark & Cook Forest Roads
Colrain
MA
Cost:
$0 to $10
Contact:
Nick Anzuoni

The Massachusetts Chapter, Society of American Foresters, will hold a Field Tour and Workshop to View and Discuss Forest Management Techniques and the Effect on Carbon at H.O. Cook State Forest in Colrain on September 28th from 1 to 6:30 p.m.

The idea for this field tour stemmed from the growing sentiment, by a segment of the general public, who promote that all forest trees should be allowed to become “old growth” in order to store carbon and combat climate change.  We all know that the climate change puzzle is much more complicated, but do we have the technical knowledge to answer the challenge when the reporter calls?

This field tour will include an opportunity to see and discuss various silvicultural techniques and how they fit into the carbon cycle.  Volume and type of product harvested will be provided to aid the discussion of long-lived (dimensional lumber) vs. short-lived (pulp, chips) forest products. 

Specific tour sites:

·            Norway spruce and white pine plantations that have been managed with “classic” even age silviculture  beginning with TSI in the 1950s and 60s, followed with commercial thinning in 2004 of the spruce and a  shelterwood regeneration harvest in the white pine completed in 2009

·            Norway spruce treated with strip shelterwood regeneration harvest 1980s

·            Norway spruce plantations with irregular shelterwood in preparation.

Questions that would be interesting to explore are:

1) What are the carbon storage and sequestration implications with the classic even age shelterwood?

2) What would be the preferred path for the current even age managed stands?

3) What aspects of the irregular shelterwood are better from a carbon storage / sequestration approach?  How does it compare with classic even age management?

3) What are the options for future work?  What happens if nothing more is done?

 

Commentators:

Lead:  Anthony D’Amato, Associate Professor in Silviculture & Forest Ecology https://www.uvm.edu/rsenr/profiles/anthony_damato_tony

DCR forest managers: Bill Hill, Nick Anzuoni

Supporting:  Robbo Holleran, Vermont Consulting Forester

Schedule:

1:00 Assemble and Register

1:30 Intro and begin tour

5:30 Finish field portion of event

5:30-6:30   Box Supper and MA SAF Business Meeting

There will be a group picture taken at the HO Cook memorial stone to commemorate the 50th anniversary of HO Cook State Forest

Continuing Education Credits:

Field portion:   4 CEU’s category 1.

Business Meeting:   1 CEU category 1.

PLEASE REGISTER at:  https://goo.gl/forms/wdY9MMjFISSVUFWp2

 

Directions:

We will be meeting at the intersection of Ed Clark Road and Cook Road, within H.O. Cook State Forest in Colrain, MA.   There is no off street parking so please carpool if you can.  There is a park and ride on Rt 2 in Charlemont, just west of the intersection of Rt 2 and Rt 112 South in Buckland.

From the East : 

Take MA-2 W, Greenfield Rd and MA-112 N to Thompson Rd in Colrain  — 23 min (14.3 mi)

Turn left onto Thompson Rd  — 3.0 mi

Turn right onto Ed Clark Rd   — 0.7 mi

Turn left onto Cook Forest Rd and park roadside

From the South:

Take MA-112 N to Colrain and turn left onto Adamsville Rd. Follow 3.6 mi and

Turn right onto Ed Clark Road and proceed 3.4 mi and

Turn left onto Cook Forest Rd and park roadside

From the West

Take Route 2 East to Route 8A North in Charlemont

Follow 8A north 8.8mi up through Heath and turn right onto State Farm Rd

Follow State Farm Road 1.7 mi and continue onto Cook Forest Rd and follow  0.7 mi to intersection with Ed Clark Road

Park roadside near intersection with Ed Clark Rd.

 

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