Forest Management Commons^™

Impacts Of Forest Fire Carbon Emission And Mitigation Strategies, Zhihua Liu, Hongshi He, Wenru Xu, Yu Liang, Jiaojun Zhu, Geoff G. Wang, Wei Wei, Zifa Wang, Yongming Han

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

Between 2000 and 2020, global wildfires contributed to approximately 7.32 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, accounting for about 18.5% of CO2 emissions released from fossil fuels. Forest fires alone contributed to around 20% of these wildfire emissions, approximately 1.5 billion metric tons of CO2. Due to climate change and human activities, carbon emissions from forest fires are on the rise. For example, the 2023 Canadian fires have emitted 1.268 billion metric tons of CO2 up to August 29th. Despite the simultaneous increase in forest area and volume, the frequency and extent of forest fires have significantly decreased …

Identification And Characterization Of Forest Fire Risk Zones Leveraging Machine Learning Methods, Joshua Balson, Matt Chinchilla, Cam Lu, Jeff Washburn, Nibhrat Lohia

SMU Data Science Review

Across the United States, record numbers of wildfires are observed costing billions of dollars in property damage, polluting the environment, and putting lives at risk. The ability of emergency management professionals, city planners, and private entities such as insurance companies to determine if an area is at higher risk of a fire breaking out has never been greater. This paper proposes a novel methodology for identifying and characterizing zones with increased risks of forest fires. Methods involving machine learning techniques use the widely available and recorded data, thus making it possible to implement the tool quickly.

Forest Policies And Adaptation To Climate Change In Maine: Stakeholder Perceptions And Recommendations, Alyssa R. Soucy, Sandra De Urioste-Stone, Ivan J. Fernandez, Aaron Weiskittel, Parinaz Rahimzadeh-Bajgiran, Tom Doak

Maine Policy Review

Socioeconomic pressures require forest management to address the impacts of climate change. However, we must ask, Are current forest policies sufficient to deal with the impacts of climate change? Here, we report on two surveys of forest stakeholders in Maine including woodlot owners and forestry professionals and discuss their perceptions of the barriers to climate change adaptation. We conclude with several policy directions including reevaluating existing policies, expanding incentivebased policies, integrating adaptation efforts into mitigation efforts, and increasing communication and outreach.

Shifting Public Perception: Climate Change Means Living With Fire And Smoke, Robert Froembling

Seattle Journal of Technology, Environmental & Innovation Law

The urgency to prepare for the climate crisis has never been greater. We are currently living in the sixth mass extinction and the effects are only going to accelerate. We will inherit more wildfires, larger wildfires, and more frequent wildfires.

This piece is not meant to stoke fear in its readers or be depressing, but to shift public perception on what our future holds by evaluating the laws and science presented to us. This piece will look at regional and federal regulations and assess the increased rate of forest fires and the grave public health concerns from stagnant smoke specifically …

Comeback Of Community-Based Forest Management: The Need To Revamp Strategies To Promote Decentralized Environmental Governance In India And Brazil, Naysa Ahuja

Florida A & M University Law Review

The governance of forests and their resources has always been a contentious issue. It has created a divide between developing and developed countries, as well as within them. With the increasing recognition of forests as valuable commodities in the global market, the management of forests in developing countries is becoming a matter of constant concern for ecologists, economists, and politicians.

Part I of this article provides an overview of the Participatory Forest Management (PFM) approach in the international context. Part II and III examine environmental governance in the forest sector of two rapidly emerging economies of the world, India and …

Forging A Common Vision For Maine’S North Woods, Robert J. Lilieholm

Maine Policy Review

Robert Lilieholm takes stock of the challenges and opportunities facing Maine’s North Woods, the largest undeveloped forested block in the eastern United States. In the face of changing ownership patterns and development pressures, there is lively debate over current land use policies and trends. Lilieholm suggests that a broader, regional vision for the North Woods might better serve the long-term interests of both the area’s forests and its struggling communities.

Are The Economics Of A Sustainable Maine Forest Sustainable?, Mike Levert, Charles S. Colgan, Charles Lawton

Maine Policy Review

Mike LeVert, Charles Colgan and Charles Lawton discuss the transformation of the economic environment of Maine’s forests over the past two decades. Paper companies have sold most of their holdings; residential and conservation demand for land has increased; forestland prices have skyrocketed; and new classes of landowners have different strategies, objectives, and time horizons than the old industrial landowners. The authors believe that management of Maine’s forests must now address changes in the economic environment with the same intensity as threats such as the spruce budworm were addressed if we are to keep Maine’s forests as forests.

Conservation Easements As A Forest Management Strategy, C. Edwin Meadows Jr., Donald J. Mansius

Maine Policy Review

Conservation easements have become an increasingly popular way of protecting private lands that have public value. Maine, like other northeastern states, has a particular interest in conservation strategies given among other things, its natural resource-dependent economy. C. Edwin Meadows, Commissioner of the Maine Department of Conservation (MDOC), and Donald J. Mansius, the Northern Forest Lands Coordinator for MDOC, address the forest management aspects of conservation easements and provide examples of easement land where forest management is permitted. An accompanying sidebar by Chris Spruce describes a conservation easement that has existed for more than a down years along the Penobscot River …

Tree Crops For Profit And Land Improvement, John Bartle

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Western Australian agriculture is deficient in good perennial species. The traditional segregation of agriculture and forestry has diverted attention from commercial wood producing trees as a potential perennial crop. Recently, scientists have made rapid progress in developing tree cropping systems suitable for extensive use in the wetter (more than 600 mm average annual rainfall) areas of the lower south-west. There is potential for a major industry based on fast-growing eucalypts for pulpwood. The foundations for this industry developed from work on agroforestry, forestry sharefarming and salinity control.

Revegetating Salt-Affected Land With Shrubs, Ed Barrett-Lennard, Fionnuala Frost, Steve Vlahos, Norm Richards

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

The establishment of salt-tolerant shrubs such as saltbush and bluebush on salt-affected land reduces the risk of soil erosion, and can also fit into farm programmes as a profitable enterprise. Salt-tolerant shrubs can be used as forage for sheep in summer and autumn, when the availability of annual pastures is low or annual pastures are just beginning to emerge. This article describes three methods for establishing shrubs on salt-affected land and what affects shrub establishment.

Planting Trees To Control Salinity, Nick Schofield, Phil Scott

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Dense tree plantings covering at least 30 per cent of cleared land can lower groundwater levels by two metres or more in 10 years from the time of planting. This sizeable drop can be expected at sites receiving 700 to 800 mm of rain a year. Research by the Water Authority of Western Australia shows the most promising strategy when using trees is to put dense plantings on the discharge zone and on lower to midslopes. This strategy is successful where groundwaters contain less than 30,000 milligrams per litre total soluble salts (TSS).

This article discusses research in the 450 …

Ammonium Nitrate Blasting Agent (Anfo) For Land Clearing, G A. Greaves

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

The introduction of "prilled" AN has revolutionised explosives practice and made possible safer and cheaper methods of blasting.

This article outlines the methods of handling and using ANFO blasting agent for land clearing.