Life Sciences Commons^™

Nebraska Forest Action Plan - 2020, John Erixson

Nebraska Forest Service: Publications

Nebraska’s Forest Action Plan – 2020 represents a multiyear effort by Nebraska Forest Service staff to ensure trees continue to play a role in the lives of all Nebraskans. It includes assessments in locations considered to be priority forested areas; the strategies that will be implemented to address the challenges described in the preceding paragraph; and, how the agency’s resources will coalesce to bring the state’s trees and forests to a healthy and sustainable condition. Additionally, this plan maintains flexibility that allows for response to changes in the natural environment, state or federal policy, and the priorities of constituents and …

Conceptual Design, Engineering & Pricing Of A Clt Addition To Umaine’S Composites Center To House The Gem Factory Of The Future, Advanced Structures & Composites Center, University Of Maine, Russell Edgar, Benjamin Herzog

General University of Maine Publications

In October 2019, the Advanced Structures & Composites Center (ASCC) at the University of Maine (UMaine) was awarded one of ten University Mass Timber Grants, meant to support demonstration projects showcasing mass timber technologies on university campuses. Two of the ten awards were given to Maine colleges and universities, the one described herein focused on a CLT addition to the ASCC to (1) demonstrate to regional stakeholders the viability of CLT as a structural building material, (2) demonstrate cost-effective use of CLT in large, warehouse-style buildings, (3) show Maine’s support for mass timber technologies to further encourage investment in CLT …

Can Trees Get Cancer?, Michael Kuhns

All Current Publications

This factsheet describes various cancer-like growths that are commonly found on trees.

Tree Seedling Planting Guide, Gabrielle Harden, Michael R. Kuhns

All Current Publications

A seedling is a tree less than three feet in height. This fact sheet covers obtaining, planting, and caring for small seedling trees and other woody plants. These trees can be sold and planted as bare-root or containerized stock.

The Impacts Of Prescribed Burning And Mechanical Thinning On Insect Communities In The Arkansas Ozarks, Aaron P. Tormanen

Theses and Dissertations from 2020

Insects are important in woodland ecosystems due to their role as pollinators and as prey for bats. My research investigated the relationships between forest management, vegetation, and insects in the Ozark National Forest in Arkansas. I selected 30 stands burned at varying frequencies in the last 12 years. Twelve of these stands were burned and mechanically thinned, 12 were only burned, and 6 were untreated. I deployed blacklight traps and malaise traps in each stand monthly from mid-March to mid- November 2019. Over 42,391 insects were collected, and Lepidoptera was the most abundant order. Insects were dried, weighed, and identified …

Oxen Hauling Logs

Farming in Arkansas

This is a black and white photograph of a team of oxen hauling timber into town across railroad tracks.

Aspen Next Generation: Conversations From Southern Colorado And Northern New Mexico, Dan Binkley, Bill Romme

Aspen Bibliography

Aspen trees and forests are especially important in the Rocky Mountains. Aspens add beauty to landscapes, foster high diversity and productivity of understory plants, provide for the habitat needs of many species of animals, and moderate fire behavior. There is a perception that aspen trees and stands are not regenerating well in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico; cohorts of trees younger than a few decades are scarce, at least in some areas. The next generation of aspen in the southern Rockies will be influenced by land use decisions, including harvesting, fire policy and management, and browsing by livestock and …

Experiences From A Forestry Extension Long-Term Impact Evaluation, Jason Gordon, Marc Measells, John Willis, Brady Self

Journal of Human Sciences and Extension

This report describes a long-term impact evaluation conducted by a Forestry Extension program. Documenting long-term impacts is increasingly important to demonstrate the perceived public value of Extension programming. However, the extended time frame of forestry activities creates challenges for technology transfer, including the realization of learning objectives and reporting to administrators and public officials. Mississippi State University has attempted to address these challenges through in-person impact evaluation. Three years of results are presented from an ongoing long-term impact assessment conducted after clients received forestry information from an educational program. The assessment demonstrated 31% of clients had implemented forestry practices since …

Are We Producing Society-Ready Foresters? A Quantitative Content Analysis Of Graduate-Level Forestry Curriculum, Jacqueline Meyer

The Pegasus Review: UCF Undergraduate Research Journal

Forestry education in the United States has been hailed for its ability to provide students with the scientific and technical skills needed for a career in forestry as much as it has been criticized for ignoring social dimensions of the discipline. Its inability to adapt curriculum to the increasingly multidisciplinary nature of the forestry profession has led to stagnant or decreasing enrollment and lack of student diversity in recent years. While forestry education and curriculum has been thoroughly analyzed at the undergraduate level, no such analysis exists for graduate curriculum. This study analyzes the course content of 40 graduate-level forestry …

Hosting Flame Cap Biochar Kiln Workshops To Teach Hazardous Fuel Reduction, Darren Mcavoy, Michael R. Kuhns, Megan Dettenmaier, Lauren Nicole Dupéy

Extension Research

The combination of large volumes of woody fuel needing disposal after forestry activities and evolving regulatory restrictions makes traditional methods of pile burning increasingly difficult. Alternatively, using small kilns to pyrolyze these fuels on-site yields a potentially valuable product: biochar. In this article, we describe an educational program on the use of small kilns for fuel treatment and biochar production. Survey results from our series of demonstrations indicate that 69% of respondents added biochar to their soils and 100% of respondents increased their interest in biochar. Moreover, we reduced hazardous fuel in Utah by more than 20 semitruck loads by …

Simulated Mine Land Reclamation Impact On Biomass Partitioning And Nutrient Contents In Loblolly Pine, Osarumen Egharevba

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Forest productivity on reclaimed mine land is hindered by soil compaction. Different techniques have been used to alleviate the effect of compaction to various degrees of success. The Forestry Reclamation Approach (FRA) was developed in the Appalachians and has been used to improve forest productivity on reclaimed mines in this region. The FRA provides a step by step method designed to reduce compaction, control erosion, provide land stabilization and accelerate forest succession. This method had not been evaluated in the Gulf Coastal Plain, where the pan scraper reclamation method is commonly used. However, using pan scrapers increases mine soil compaction …

College Of Natural Sciences, Forestry, And Agriculture_Covid Related Teaching Materials Email, Pauline L. Kamath

College of Natural Sciences, Forestry, and Agriculture

Email thread featuring messages between Jeffrey St. John, Senior Associate Provost for Academic Affairs University of Maine and Pauline Kamath, Assistant Professor of Animal Health Animal and Veterinary Sciences School of Food & Agriculture regarding Professor Kamath's submission of course material to the Provost Office on subjects related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tapping The Sweet Spot: Predicting The Suitability Of A Woodlot’S Potential To Transition Into A Productive Sugarbush In Maine, Deven M. Teisl

Non-Thesis Student Work

Through conversations with Dr. Sara Velardi, a postdoctoral research associate who has been doing research on maple producers’ scale management decisions in Maine, most current owners and operators in the maple syrup industry have the common interest of expanding their current operations, but they are unsure of how to approach that problem. Due to these current issues, my research focused on creating a sugarbush assessment tool. This assessment tool consists of a set of guidelines which can be utilized by current or future producers and can be used to easily assess woodlots without having to hire a consulting forester to …

The Relative Abundance And Diversity Of Parasitoids Of The Browntail Moth (Euproctis Chrysorrhoea L.) And Factors That Influence Their Population Dynamics, Karla S. Boyd

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The browntail moth (Euproctis chrysorrhea) is an invasive forest pest that has been present in the Northeast since it was first introduced from Europe in 1897. Originally, its range expanded very rapidly until it reached its peak invasion of 150,000 km², which included most of New England and parts of Southern Canada and Long Island, NY, in 1915. After this point, its range collapsed until only relic populations remained on islands in the Casco Bay Region of Maine and outer Cape Cod in Massachusetts. In 2016, a large population outbreak occurred that expanded its range into …

College Of Natural Sciences, Forestry, And Agriculture_Sms 563 Fisheries Policy Covid-19 Response Email, Joshua Stoll

College of Natural Sciences, Forestry, and Agriculture

Email from Joshua Stoll, Assistant Professor of Marine Policy, School of Marine Sciences, University of Maine to the Provost Office regarding Professor Stoll including in his class SMS 563 Fisheries Policy a focus on the impacts of the pandemic on the seafood economy.

College Of Natural Sciences, Forestry, And Agriculture_Wle 220 Ecological Statistics Description, Stephen M. Coghlan, Jr.

College of Natural Sciences, Forestry, and Agriculture

Email from Stephen M. Coghlan, Jr., Associate Professor of Freshwater Fisheries, Ecology Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Conservation Biology, University of Maine to the Provost Office describing how he incorporated the COVID-19 pandemic into his class WLE 220 Ecological Statistics in the Spring 2020 Semester

College Of Natural Sciences, Forestry, And Agriculture_Bio 431 Emerging Infectious Diseases Covid-19 Response Email, Allison Gardner

College of Natural Sciences, Forestry, and Agriculture

Email from Allison Gardner, Assistant Professor, School of Biology and Ecology, University of Maine to the Provost Office regarding Professor Gardner's teaching BIO 431 Emerging Infectious Diseases in the Spring 2020 Semester and the incorporation of updates and discussion of COVID-19 into the course. Also, includes submission of interest in teaching a course on the COVID-19 pandemic in Spring 2022.

College Of Natural Sciences, Forestry, And Agriculture_Avs 249_Laboratory And Companion Animal Science Slides, Pauline L. Kamath

College of Natural Sciences, Forestry, and Agriculture

Lecture slides from Pauline L. Kamath Class, Assistant Professor of Animal Health Animal and Veterinary Sciences School of Food & Agriculture Class AVS 249 Laboratory and Companion Animal Science.

College Of Natural Sciences, Forestry, And Agriculture_Cropping Systems Course Pse 101 Lecture Slides, Rachel E. Schattman

College of Natural Sciences, Forestry, and Agriculture

Lecture slide deck for Cropping Systems course PSE 101, taught by Rachel E. Schattman, Assistant Professor of Sustainable Agriculture, School of Food and Agriculture Associate and Climate Change Institute, University of Maine. Also includes cover email from Professor Schattman to the Provost Office regarding the inclusion of the COVID-19 pandemic into the lecture on the Food Safety Modernization Act.

College Of Natural Sciences, Forestry, And Agriculture_Bio433 Mammalogy Slides, Pauline Kamath

College of Natural Sciences, Forestry, and Agriculture

Lecture slides from Pauline L. Kamath, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Animal Health Animal and Veterinary Sciences School of Food & Agriculture Class BIO433 Mammalogy.

College Of Natural Sciences, Forestry, And Agriculture_Avs 401: Senior Paper In Animal Science I, Suzanne Ishaq

College of Natural Sciences, Forestry, and Agriculture

Syllabus for Capstone experience in Fall (and spring) this year for Animal and Veterinary Sciences for a class taught by Suzanne (Sue) Ishaq, Assistant Professor of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, University of Maine. Also, includes cover email from Professor Ishaq to Jonathon Jue-Wong, Administrative Coordinator, The Office of the Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs & Provost regarding the submission of material.

College Of Natural Sciences, Forestry, And Agriculture_Covid-19 Courses For Molecular & Biomedical Sciences, University Of Maine College Of Natural Sciences, Forestry, And Agriculture

College of Natural Sciences, Forestry, and Agriculture

List of adapted course design for Spring 2020 and Fall 2020 to include COVID-19 pandemic content.

Wildlife, Fisheries, & Conservation Biology_Draft Recommendations For Field Work During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Brian J. Olsen

School of Biology & Ecology

Draft copy of recommendations for field work during the COVID-19 pandemic, authored by Brian J. Olsen, Chair, Department of Wildlife, Fisheries & Conservation Biology, Interim Director of the Ecology and Environmental Sciences Program, and Associate Professor of Ornithology. In developing the recommendations Professor Olsen queried 100 University of Maine faculty members who conduct field research and collected comments from over two dozen.

The guidelines were sent for review to Frederick Servello, Dean of the University of Maine College of Natural Sciences, Forestry, and Agriculture, and Director of the Maine Agricultural and Forest Experiment Station, Christopher Gerbi, Associate Dean for Research …

Comparing Social Media And Postal Mailings In Forestry Extension Program Marketing, Jason Gordon, Marc Measells, John Willis, Brady Self

Journal of Human Sciences and Extension

This report describes a project that tested social media versus traditional postal mailing advertising for a series of forestry Extension educational programs. Forestry Extension clientele have diverse backgrounds and include landowners, urban tree owners, communities, agencies, and others, and vary widely by sociodemographic and ownership characteristics. Such diversity creates challenges for technology transfer, including initial client contact, participation in educational programming, and realization of learning objectives. The Mississippi State University Forestry Extension program has attempted to address these challenges through social media marketing and in-person impact evaluation. An online marketing strategy resulted in 39% of clients becoming aware of and …

Anthropogenic Disturbance And Population Viability Of Woodland Caribou In Ontario, John M. Fryxell, Tal Avgar, Boyan Liu, James A. Baker, Arthur R. Rodgers, Jennifer Shuter, Ian D. Thompson, Douglas E. B. Reid, Andrew M. Kittle, Anna Mosser, Steven G. Newmaster, Tom D. Nudds, Garrett M. Street, Glen S. Brown, Brent Patterson

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

One of the most challenging tasks in wildlife conservation and management is to clarify how spatial variation in land cover due to anthropogenic disturbance influences wildlife demography and long‐term viability. To evaluate this, we compared rates of survival and population growth by woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) from 2 study sites in northern Ontario, Canada that differed in the degree of anthropogenic disturbance because of commercial logging and road development, resulting in differences in predation risk due to gray wolves (Canis lupus). We used an individual‐based model for population viability analysis (PVA) that incorporated adaptive patterns …

Black Bear, Jimmy D. Taylor, James P. Phillips

Wildlife Damage Management Technical Series

The American black bear (Ursus americanus, Figure 1) is a challenging species for wildlife agencies to manage due to its size, intelligence, extensive range, food habits, and adaptability, as well as societal views. In North America alone, agencies receive more than 40,000 complaints about black bear annually. Black bears are known as ‘food-driven’ animals, meaning most conflicts result from a bear’s drive to meet its nutritional needs. Not surprisingly, an overwhelming proportion of conflicts are related to their use of anthropogenic (human) food sources, such as garbage, bird food, and crops. Understanding what drives human-bear conflict is the first part …

Severe Thunderstorms Create Windfall Of Opportunity For Ecosystem-Based Management Of Mixed Northern Hardwoods, Elizabeth Montgomery Barnes

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The regeneration and reorganization of organisms and their habitat post-disturbance is a primary mechanism by which ecosystems maintain functionality in a changing environment. This adaptation to disturbance lends dynamism and resiliency to landscapes. Yet, the 20^th century was marked by an alarming loss of global biodiversity, pointing to the likelihood that the rate of ecological disturbance generated by human systems today is either too frequent or too intense to be beneficial to ecosystems, and rather poses a risk to ecosystem functionality and the carrying capacity of Earth systems. Compounding these risks is high uncertainty regarding the potential for stronger, …

Remote Sensing Approaches To Predict Forest Characteristics In Northwest Montana, Ryan P. Rock

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Remote sensing can be utilized by land management organizations to save money and time. Mapping vegetation using either aerial photographs or satellite imagery and the applications for forest management are of particular interest to the Montana Department of Natural Resources. In 2018, the organization began a pilot program to test the incorporation of raster analysis of remotely sensed data into their inventory program and had limited success. This analysis identified two areas of improvement: the selection method of inventory plots and the imagery used for classification and metrics. This study found that selecting inventory plots using a generalized random tessellation …

Campana, (Richard J.) Papers, 1937-1989, Special Collections, Raymond H. Fogler Library, University Of Maine

Finding Aids

Born in Everett, Massachusetts, Richard J. Campana (1918-2005) received a BSF from the University of Idaho in 1943. Campana then served as a surgical technician in the U.S. Army, and earned a Bronze Star award during WWII after being held as a prisoner of war (1943-1946). After the war, Campana earned an MS in Forestry from Yale University in 1974 and a Ph.D. in Forest Pathology in 1952. Soon after, Campana began his professional study and observation of Dutch Elm Disease

In 1958, Campana came to the University of Maine as the head of the Department of Botany and Plant …