S GEO 30401 Fall 1999

W 10:40-1:15

Howard Horowitz

Office G-430

FOREST RESOURCES

Objectives

To provide an introduction to forests and their management on the local, national, and global scales. Natural factors examined include forest ecosystem structure, nutrient cycles, succession, climate, fire, soils, water and wildlife. Cultural factors include a review of management practices in tropical, temperate, and boreal forests, with special focus on deforestation and reforestation. The concepts of multiple-use and sustained-yield are examined from various viewpoints. Field classes to sites in New Jersey and New York will familiarize students with public and private forest management issues.

Texts

Maser, Chris, Sustainable Forestry, St. Lucie Press, Florida: 1994.

Walker, Laurence. Forests. A Naturalist's Guide to Trees and Forest Ecology. John Wiley & Sons, NY: 1990.

Other materials will be made available as needed, as hand-outs or placed on reserve.

Course Requirements and Grade Determination

1. Timely reading of assignments, and regular attendance in class. Participation in discussions and field trips.

2. Mid-term and Final Exams. The mid-term will be in-class; the final will be take-home.

3. Three Papers, 5-7 pages long, on specific topics regarding forests and/or their management. One of these reports should focus on the forests of the NJ-NY region, one should focus on forests in another region of North America, and one should focus on forests in another part of the world. Preliminary bibliography for this report is to be submitted midway through the term. Oral presentation of the highlights of one paper.

4. Field trips offered within the regular class meeting times are mandatory; there will also be a weekend field trip. If it cannot be attended, an alternative assignment will be assigned.

Topics

INTRODUCTION: WHAT IS A FOREST?

Basic terminology; canopy structure; the concept of forest succession. The complexity of forest ecosystems: a case study of small mammal mycophagy. Forests as resources, forests as commodities. Controversy in the woods: axes to grind regarding forest land use.

A survey of major forest types in the world: equatorial rainforests, monsoon forests, savannas, thorn forests, temperate coniferous forests, temperate deciduous forests, boreal forests. Focus on the Douglas fir region, the southern pine region, and the forests of northern New Jersey.

BRIEF HISTORY OF FOREST USE

Clues in the reconstruction of forest use history. Dendrochronology. Ancient deforestation in the Mediterranean region; reforestation in the Mediterranean today. Forests in South Asia and in China. Early forest use in the United States: Indians and colonists in New England. White pine and cedar cutting, conversion to agriculture, and fallow field regeneration. The impact of iron smelting in New Jersey.

The setting aside of forest resources, and the establishment of the U.S. Forest Service. Multiple-use and sustained-yield; the "allowable cut" in theory and practice. Management of industrial forestlands: concentration and merger, and the changing nature of wood utilization. Cultural change: lumber camps, company towns, and mill closures. The story of Valsetz, Oregon. Jobs in the woods, yesterday and today. The woodsman in folk culture: Paul Bunyan and Natural Timber Country.

CONTEMPORARY TIMBER PRODUCTION, FROM FUELWOOD TO PULPWOOD

Site inventory methods: an introduction to stand examination.

Logging techniques: single tree selection, coppicing partial cuttings, shelterwoods, and clearcutting. Hi-lead and skyline logging, helicopter and balloon logging.

Reforestation: site preparation, natural regeneration, aerial seeding, tree planting. The "Tree Army" of the CCC: the Bessey forest in Nebraska. The social geography of reforestation in the western United States. The growth and spread of reforestation cooperatives. Forest nurseries.

Timber Stand Improvement: release, thinning, fertilization, and genetic selection (progeny programs). Conifer-brush growth interactions in the Oregon Cascades.

FIRE IN THE FOREST: A BRIEF ECOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL REVIEW

Catastrophic fires: Peshtigo, Idaho, Tillamook, Yellowstone. The "Smokey the Bear Syndrome." Controlled burning in forest management. Fire mosaics in the California chaparral.

FORESTS AS WATERSHEDS

Do forests affect climate? Forest cover and streamflow regimes. The utilization of water by forest species. Buffer strips, riparian zones, and fisheries management. Watershed rehabilitation on unstable slopelands. The case of the 48,000 acre addition to Redwood National Park.

FOREST RECREATION AND URBAN FORESTRY

What are the elements of the "urban forest"? The rise of urban forestry as a area of professional study.

GLIMPSES OF THE COMPLEX WEB: Current Forestry Issues.

Relations between forest management practices and wildlife populations. Diseases and commercial plantations: Fomes, Phellinus, and Phytopthora. Dutch elm disease, chestnut blight and the wooly adelgid. Introduced species and pest management: a look at the gypsy moth. Monoculture vs. diversity in forest plantations. Wildlife reinhabitation of the blast zone at Mt. St. Helens. Forests as refuge: what size is needed? A look at the New York/New Jersey Highlands forests.

ORAL PRESENTATION OF STUDENT REPORTS