Prescribed Fire

On a warm morning in August, several local community members from Ramah, New Mexico gathered at the Old El Morro School Art Gallery for a workshop on Women and Wildfire Home Defense. This beautiful area near the Cibola National Forest in western New Mexico is home to a small artists community, beautiful mountain vistas, and fire adapted ecosystems. Some of the women that showed up included a local restaurant owner, artists, and a local volunteer fire fighter.

Ponderosa pine forests of the Southwest are home to the native bark beetle. However, human influence, denser forests, and increased temperatures and drought events have led to recent bark beetle outbreaks that threaten the health of ponderosa stands. Where dead trees stand, fire can move as much as three times more rapidly, creating dangerous conditions for firefighters and residents. Restoration treatments can be used to help restore the balance needed in ponderosa pine ecosystems.

Forests at the Top of the Lake

A Combined Annual Meeting of the Michigan Forest Association & Michigan Tree Farm System

Newberry and Engadine Michigan, September 14‐15, 2018

Featuring a Women Owning Woodlands hike Friday, September 14 in the Newberry area

For full event information, click here!

 

LOCATION

The Okefenokee wildlife refuge wildfire is a good reminder that wildfires can happen anytime, anywhere. Normally spring rains keep the soils, plants and trees moist in this portion of northern Florida and southern Georgia. This year the springs rain did not come and the lack of precipitation allowed the woods to dry out. This, in turn, made the woods more prone to fire caused by a lightning strike.

Location: Clinton Town Hall, 8907 MN-37, Iron Junction, MN

Registration: $10/person. Contact East Range Joint Powers Board at [email protected] or call Cherie Grams at 218-229-3671 or 218-780-6144

Additional information: http://woodinnovation.umn.edu/news/forestry-field-day-coming-soon

The only constant is change.

A saying attributed to Heraclitus that resonates strongly with those of us who spend time in forests. You have to look closely for the clues: stumps or lack thereof, holes and mounds, scars, downed logs, clues that tell the story of an ever-changing landscape.