What's New
- Management of Hardwood Forests for Timber in Alabama
-
Through forest management, the many benefits of hardwood forests can be protected and enhanced. In some cases, good profits from timber are possible. However, if improperly handled, hardwood forests can be seriously degraded in value.
- Forestry Herbicide Facts
-
These summaries should be used for general reference, not as prescriptions or application guides. Applicators must carefully read the product label before using any pesticide and must follow all directions, precautions, and restrictions.
- Chipmunk Control BROKEN
-
Hits: 2
Added: November 04, 2008
Rating: Votes: 27 Rate ItInformation on chipmunk biology and tips for controlling damage.
- Urban Forestry Benefits and Costs
-
Urban forests are all the trees and other vegetation that grow in places where people live, work and play, from small communities in rural areas to large metropolitan cities. This includes trees on public and private land, along streets, in residential areas, parks and commercial developments, and in other locations within a community.
- Uptake and Reduction of Nitrogen in Trees
-
Adequate availability of nitrogen in soils is but one of the problems facing trees. Moving nitrogen inside the tree presents a number of unique problems and solutions.
- Tree Strength & Cross-sectional Area
-
Assessing trees for structural integrity continues to be critical for risk management in landscapes, along right-of-ways, and for storm damage management.
- Tree Root Growth Requirements
-
Roots utilize space in the soil.
- Tree Growth Response Systems
-
Hits: 1
Added: October 31, 2008
Rating: Votes: 39 Rate ItThis publication is a synthesis of the tree growth regulation and correlation literature. General processes and systems presented here represent educational models which professionals can use to better appreciate and understand basic tree functions. These models do not represent actual physiological mechanisms, but simple theoretical means of explaining tree reactions within the environment.
- Tree Foundation: 50 Careers in Trees
-
A compendium of information and inspiration assembled with love for present and future stewards of our urban forests.
- Tree Fall Distance Estimate
-
The distance covered by a falling tree is critical for removal of targets and defense of landscape features. The distance within range of a falling tree impacts right-of-way management, trail and road protection, and valuation procedures.
- The Trust for Public Land
-
Land conservation is central to TPL's mission. Founded in 1972, the Trust for Public Land is the only national nonprofit working exclusively to protect land for human enjoyment and well-being. TPL helps conserve land for recreation and spiritual nourishment and to improve the health and quality of life of American communities.
- The Economic Value of Open Space
-
While much has been written about the economic value of the environment in general and of open space in particular, the literature is segregated by discipline or methodology. It is therefore difficult to assess the economic value of open space comprehensively. It is even more difficult to apply what is known in a public policy context, where open space holds significant non-monetary value.
- Sway Frequency in Tree Stems
-
Hits: 1
Added: October 31, 2008
Rating: Votes: 33 Rate ItAssessing potential risks in trees is difficult because of the complex and chaotic nature of gauging tree failures. Tree movements in the wind, and the interactions between/within tree structure and soils, assure a multitude of forces, loads, and stress concentration points will need to be a part of any tree failure model. In order to better understand tree structure and its potential failure, individual components of tree mechanics need to be isolated from the complexity. One mechanical component arising from stem and branch shape is a repeating, damped movement back and forth by the free end--commonly called "sway.''
- Strength of Solid Tree Stems
-
Hits: 1
Added: October 31, 2008
Rating: Votes: 33 Rate ItThe strength of tree stems to resist bending in the wind is associated with the cross-sectional area of the stem. Strength is proportional to the diameter of the stem to the fourth power (DIAMETER). Small increases in diameter yield large increases in strength. This publication presents a theoretical examination of relative strengths of round stems as modeled by bending moments in solid cylinders. Resistance to torsional forces (twist) are two times that of bending forces.
- Stem Strength with Closed / Centered Cavity
-
Hits: 1
Added: October 31, 2008
Rating: Votes: 33 Rate ItThe structural integrity of tree stems, roots and branches are dependent upon a number of very conservative allocation and building processes. Mechanical injuries, growth faults, and decay processes all significantly impact how dynamic loads are resisted within the tree. One form of tree response to decay and mechanical load changes is a boundary setting process which under some conditions lead to a cavity. Hollow trees can be found everywhere tree-forms exist.
- Stem Length & Diameter Taper Limits
-
Hits: 1
Added: October 31, 2008
Rating: Votes: 38 Rate ItTrees growth follows many mechanical rules to assure survival. In order to prevent concentrating forceat weak points, tree growth distributes loads and compensates for relatively weaker locations by adding more woody materials. One critical element of sustaining strength and stiffness is the amount of taper developed.
- Soil Constraints on Root Growth
-
Hits: 1
Added: October 31, 2008
Rating: Votes: 33 Rate ItManaged tree root growth control is required to minimize impacts on infrastructures. To constrain root growth, identification of soil attributes that limit growth is required. By understanding what soil conditions limit growth, various tools and techniques can be used to stop, redirect, or slow tree root elongation. Tree-literacy incorporates soil and tree health into a single concept for quality management.
- Soil Compaction Impacts on Tree Roots
-
Hits: 2
Added: October 31, 2008
Rating: Votes: 33 Rate ItCompaction impacts trees in many ways. Generally, compaction associated physiological dysfunctions cause systemic damage and decline, as well as failures in dealing with additional environ- mental changes. Physical / mechanical constraints negatively modify responses in the tree resulting in inefficient use of essential resources. The symptoms we see in trees under compacted soil conditions have causes stemming from disruptions of the internal sense, communication, and response process.
- Selecting Wooded Home Sites
-
Hits: 1
Added: October 31, 2008
Rating: Votes: 33 Rate ItBuying a new house or building your dream house is an exciting venture. The site you select and its trees will play an important part in the beauty and value of your home and the feeling of well-being it provides for you. Examine the trees on the site carefully and do not overlook the many values they provide.
- Selected Literature: Root Control Methods
-
Hits: 1
Added: October 31, 2008
Rating: Votes: 33 Rate ItThere has never been a time with more innovative tools and techniques available for minimizing infrastructure damage exacerbated by tree root growth. This limited bibliography helps identify the pertinent literature which contain means of controlling tree root growth. It remains the responsibility of the tree owner and the resource consultant to create and use root growth control tools and techniques that are tree-literate and do not destroy the many goods and services which trees bring to people's lives over long periods of time.
- Root Growth Requirements and Limitations
-
Hits: 1
Added: October 31, 2008
Rating: Votes: 38 Rate ItMinimizing tree root growth impacts on infrastructures requires an appreciation of how roots function and generate force. To control root growth, identification of growth limiting attributes of the soil environment is necessary. Tree-literate management will control growth, protect infrastructure from root-caused problems, and protect the values and quality of trees.
- Root Control Barriers
-
Hits: 1
Added: October 31, 2008
Rating: Votes: 38 Rate ItOne of the easiest and most available materials used to control root growth are various types of two-dimensional barriers. There are a number of commercial products on the market, some using a herbicide. In a survey of community management programs, 50% of surveyed programs said barriers are considered at least partially effective (24). Listed by survey in order, after species selection and mechanical cutting, barriers represent a more tree-literate approach to root growth control. But as with most things biological and installed by humans, no barrier is completely effective as applied (43).
- Open Cavity Impact on Stem Strength
-
Hits: 1
Added: October 31, 2008
Rating: Votes: 33 Rate ItAssessing tree strength is a complex process. The dynamic nature of how trees resist forces include soil, tree, and environmental components. Cavities signify a common loss of cross-sectional area and associated strength in stems. Small cavities centered in the middle of stems (only wall four sustains the compartment), have small impacts on relative stem strength. Relatively large diameter cavities (more than 60-70% of diameter loss) represent major impacts to the structural integrity of stems.
- Off-centered Cavity Impact on Stem Strength
-
Hits: 2
Added: October 31, 2008
Rating: Votes: 33 Rate ItOne aspect of hollow stem assessments for strength loss involves various forms of stem crosssectional area damage. One of the scenarios often cited but seldom determined is a stem which has a cavity of a given diameter, but the cavity is not centered in the middle of the stem. This publication will look at one means of estimating relative strength of a stem with a closed, off-centered cavity. This publication is a simple theoretical review of complex and dynamic mechanisms associated with the tree, soil, and environment. This publication is intended to assist tree specialists better appreciate tree biomechanics.
- Nitrogen Transformations in Soils
-
Nitrogen is available for capture by a tree when an organism dies and decays, excretes nitrogen containing wastes, or sheds materials and parts.
- Nitrogen Prescriptions for Trees
-
Hits: 1
Added: October 31, 2008
Rating: Votes: 34 Rate ItSupplemental nitrogen fertilization should be treated as a fined-tuned, carefully considered, constantly modified, whole tree prescription process. The whole tree wins or loses with the changing reactions of one major organ or resource.
- New Growth Increments Sustain Stem Strength
-
Hits: 1
Added: October 31, 2008
Rating: Votes: 33 Rate ItThe strength of tree stems is dependent upon stem thickness, stiffness, and ability to react to changes in aspects toward gravity and wind events. Materials added farther from the stem center (neutral axis) has a much greater impact on strength (per unit weight), than closer to the center materials. This positioning effect is the mechanic strength advantage seen when comparing hollow tubes and solid rods of equal weight, made of the same material -- the tube can resist force more effectively than the rod without deformation. The geometry of where materials are deposited change the strength for resisting bending and twist (torsion).
- Neutral Plane Faults & Stem Strength
-
Hits: 1
Added: October 31, 2008
Rating: Votes: 38 Rate ItIn storm damage and tree failure assessments, estimating residual strength of damaged trees is difficult and filled with complex, dynamic interactions between the soil, tree, and environment. To help tree specialists appreciate tree biomechanics, this publication was developed to present the maximum relative strength values for two unique, ideal situations--neutral plane faults leaving two stem halves and four stem quarters. This theoretical view can help better understand certain mechanical forces and resistances.
- Making Nitrogen Available to Trees
-
Nitrogen affects the molecular interactions, compound shapes and functions, and the chemical symmetry of life-maintaining materials. In ecosystems, nitrogen is the most precious of elements--carefully used, relentlessly recycled, and biologically hoarded.
- Identified Benefits of Community Trees and Forests
-
Hits: 1
Added: October 31, 2008
Rating: Votes: 19 Rate ItCommunity trees and forests are valuable. To the 75% of the United States population that now live in urban and suburban areas, trees provide many goods and services. Values are realized by the people that own the trees, by people nearby, and by society.
