News and Publications:

• The Flock By James Robert Smith given greenlight for movie production.
  
• Will Blozan featured in Mountain Express.  He wrote:  
  I would like to encourage you all to post comments to the blog concerning
  the article in the Mountain Xpress about the Tsuga Search. An active
  discussion will keep the article "active" and help get more exposure for
  ENTS, Tsuga Search, and the documentary (which unfortunately the writer did
  not mention.)I have not yet seen it in printed form but really thought he did a great
  job. Of course, there were temporal errors and small details I would have
  changed but overall I think he caught the spirit of the HWA issue and
  presented it well. The slide show is also really good!Here is the link to the article again:
  http://www.mountainx.com/news/2008/010908hemlocks 
• http://www.mountainx.com/news/2007/big_trees_tragic_story 
• I just read "A Death in the Forest" in the _New Yorker_ Dec. 10 issue.
  http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/12/10/071210fa_fact_preston 
  Boy, if that doesn't wake people up I don't know what will. I am glad
  you were able to participate and it is great to see accurate and
  thorough information about the wide spectrum of threats to trees in our
  forests. You can really see the legacy of ENTS in all the specific data
  provided. Thank you. I wonder if the specific information about
  Imidacloprid will help gain support for its use. - John Eicholz
• Will Bloxan Just a heads up that the article on hemlocks and HWA in The New
  Yorker by Ricjhard preston should be in the 12/3/2007 issue! I just went through the
  fact-checking process and it goes to print next Tuesday. Also, the
  documentary film, "The Vanishing Hemlock (WT)" being filmed by Back 40 Films
  has just received non-profit status from the Southern Documentary Fund! This
  will allow us to pursue donations for the project which has a small working
  budget. Expenses to date have been out-of-pocket or on credit. If anyone
  would be interested in donating or have ideas of potential donors please
  contact me for more information. We hope to have the film done by next April
  to tour the independent film festivals.
  
• Bruce Allen - One little press release by Ohio State University lead to more than a
  dozen articles on the Web based on the second chapter of my PhD
  dissertation. I found that large woody vines were increasing in
  old-growth and second growth forests and apparently this is
  interesting to the main stream news. The media sources reporting my
  research range from MSNBC to web sites in China and India. The
  strangest by far is the site that presented global warming as a
  threat to southern heritage and the southern way of life. Here are a
  few of the stories:
  http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/lianas.htm
  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/07/070718001520.htm
  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19873968/
  http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20070720/sc_livescience/vinestakeoversouthernusforests;
  _ylt=AqRXFHpOLXiiygfCbRA1QpnMWM0F
  http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2007/07/18/increase_in_creeping_vines_signals_major_shift_in_southern_us_forests.html
  http://www.agprofessional.com/show_story.php?id=47786
  http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=80532
  http://www.forests.org/articles/reader.asp?linkid=80532
  http://alternativeapproaches.com/pnuke1/Article3355.html
  http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-07/20/content_6407114.htm
  http://www.greendiary.com/entry/increase-in-creeping-vines-growth-changing-southern-us-forests-patterns-study/
  http://news.webindia123.com/news/Articles/Science/20070720/719691.html
  http://irregulartimes.com/index.php/archives/2007/07/19/southern-vines-08/
  http://www.co2live.com/2007/07/19/co2-may-cause-increased-vine-growth/
  
• Bob Leverett:  Appearance in the Boston Globe yesterday, regarding acquisition 
  of Spectacle Pond Farm and its old growth hemlock forest. It also appeared in today's Forestrycenter.org weekly report on forest issues.  "A swath of Berkshires' past saved 
  for future (MA) - In one of the largest and most ecologically significant public 
  conservation deals in recent years, the state has acquired a 900-acre parcel in the 
  southern Berkshires that contains pristine old-growth forest, including Eastern hemlock 
  trees that predate the Pilgrims' arrival at Plymouth." 
  http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/07/06/a_swath_of_berkshires_past_saved_for_future/ or  http://www.forestrycenter.org/headlines.cfm?refid=99230  
• Lee Frelich     As I've mentioned previously I'm the Chair for a grassroots citizens
  group called Citizens for Renewable Energy (CRE), and the group has a
  website <http://www.citizens-for-renewable-energy.org/> ) and a blog. I'm thrilled
  to report that Lee has posted an article on the blog for CRE and I encourage
  all to read and respond. There are also other renewable energy articles
  there as well, to get folks talking. - Phil Labranch
  While the Country Journal is a much smaller venue than where Lee usually
  shows up, he was mentioned by name in this week's edition. The paper
  ran a short article mentioning the CRE blog and that Dr. Frelich had
  contributed an article.
  
• Will Blozan:  http://www.highlandsnews.com/articles/2007/03/15/news/04hemlock.txt
  
  
• Will Blozan writes on March 5, 2007: The Tsuga Search Project has 
  now documented a new eastern hemlock volume record- the Laurel 
  Branch Leviathan. Pending further base mapping to refine the measurements 
  of this tree and the Cheoah Hemlock (1564 ft3) the volume will stand at 1583 
  cubic feet. We have now documented three hemlocks over 1500 cubic feet
   and three exceeding 170' tall. My congratulations to Jess Riddle on finding 
  the Laurel Branch Leviathan!
  "Towering record for park" on the KnoxNews Web site:
    http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/gs_news/article/0,1406,KNS_392_5395138,00.html  
  The Knoxville News Sentinal story was FRONT PAGE!
  I was interviewed last week for an article for an Asheville, NC newspaper, 
  and interviewed today for a special story to go into a commemorative publication 
  celebrating Great Smoky Mountains National Park's 70th anniversary. Then I got 
  home and was informed that another Asheville newspaper wants to do a 
  COVER story on the TSUGA SEARCH PROJECT!!!
  Tomorrow Jess Riddle, Jason Childs and I will head into Deep Creek for three 
  days to attempt to climb two hemlocks. One has been measured over 168' tall 
  and the other should easily exceed 1300 cubic feet in volume.
  
  
• Tree Photo won in National 2007 Calendar 
  Marcas Houtchings Feb 28, 2007 10:53 PST  
  Hello everyone I Sent in for the 2007 Third Annual Photo Contest 
  Calendar for the national natural landmark program. And got in my photo 
  in of a willow oak in the Congaree National Park. I just wanted to let 
  everyone know! I send Ed the photo of the tree (Cheers) Marcas Houtchings 
  
  
• Warming in the Boreal Forests
  The video from last night's WCCO TV (CBS in Minneapolis) story on global 
  warming in boreal forests is posted at this website: http://wcco.com/paulslinks  
  It shows arctic explorer Will Steger and me in the Boundary Waters near Ely 
  MN. I am shown hiking the portage trail into Hegman Lake, a primary white, 
  red pine and black spruce forest that was created by the big fire of 1822, 
  while talking to Meteorologist Paul Douglas.
  Tonight I will be speaking to the Mayo Clinic crowd in Rochester MN, and am 
  on the podium with newly elected U.S. congressman Tim Walz from Minnesota's 
  first district
  
  
• Lee Frelich writes: Yesterday afternoon (January 30, 2007)
  I addressed a joint meeting of 8 committees from the MN
  House and Senate during a historic science symposium on global warming on
  the house floor. The galleries were filled with reporters and several
  hundred people were able to watch on screens in several overflow rooms
  elsewhere in the capitol.  
  I arrived an hour ahead of time to a reserved parking spot near the front
  door of the State Capitol (one of the highlights of the event). Inside the
  capitol, I waded through large groups of students shepherded by their
  teachers who were explaining the historic event they were about to see, as
  well as protesters with posters claiming that global warming is a hoax, to
  the preparation room were the presenters gathered.
  About 30 minutes before the session convened, the presenters went into the
  house chamber where we milled around and talked informally with reporters
  and legislators. I met the chairs of most committees and got a chance to
  chat with the Speaker of The House.
  The session was started by the Speaker, who introduced The Archbishop Flynn
  (Catholic) and Bishop Johnson (Evangelical Lutheran) who spoke about the
  moral obligation for better stewardship of the earth and that the biggest
  hardships caused by global warming will be born by the poor. Polar explorer
  Will Steger, who is about to start another expedition next week, spoke
  about the disappearing sea ice and other changes in the arctic. Professor
  David Tilman spoke about strategies for reducing CO2 emissions, including
  use of Carbon negative biofuels such as making ethanol from prairie plants,
  which store more carbon in the soil than is released into the atmosphere
  when they are processed into fuel and burned. Lucinda Johnson talked about
  falling lake levels and decreasing habitat for cold water fish. Then I
  talked about climate change impacts on forests, and the synergistic impact
  of climate change with invasive species.
  After the session was over several legislators told me they were impressed
  by the scientific knowledge available from the University of MN, and that
  they intended to enact legislation on CO2 emissions. Upon leaving the house
  chamber, I bypassed the protestors by turning and taking a different route
  to the Capitol rotunda, making sure that I did not even glance at their
  posters, but I could tell they were pissed...
  
  
• Monica Jakuc Leverett has her
  latest CD released on cdbaby.com. If you go there and type in Monica
  Jakuc (her professional name) in the search box, "fantasies for
  fortepiano" is the first listing. I'm as proud of her as punch and I
  think the CD is going places. It stress the sound of early pianos as
  opposed to the later grand piano sound. She had a CD release party and
  her sound recording engineer attended. He and Monica were students at
  Julliard School of Music together. He has one of the world's best
  speaker designs and has plenty of notoriety in the recording industry.
  However, he told me privately that when he and Monica attended, Monica
  was regarded as one of the brightest of the Julliard students. No
  surprise to me.  Proud Husband - Bob Leverett
  
  
• I wanted to formally acknowledge and congratulate fellow ENT, Tony D'Amato, 
  who yesterday successfully defended his Ph.D. dissertation, " Structural attributes, 
  disturbance dynamics, and ecosystem properties of old-growth forests in western 
  Massachusetts" at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst Tony has done an 
  outstanding job on this research topic, and once the various publications stemming 
  from this work are out, we will distribute to the ENTS list.  thanks much,  Sincerely, 
  David A. Orwig, Ph.D., Forest Ecologist, Harvard University
  
  
• Ice Glen Climb:Check out today's article (Nov 19, 2006) in the Boston Globe on our trip to 
  Ice Glen in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. The online version has several slides and an audio 
  travelogue, while the print version is longer and includes a map of eight old-growth forests in 
  Massachusetts. A link to the article online:
  http://www.explorenewengland.com/travel?article=/massachusetts/articles/2006/11/19/ancient_sentries
  
  
• Lee Frelich, Sept 29, 2006:  An article (Last Stand for Our Forests?) 
  based on the talk I presented at last year's ENTS meeting is on the 
  front page of today's St.Paul Pioneer Press: http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/  
  You can see a pdf of the front page there, as well as scroll down to a list of articles where you 
  can click to see the full text and pictures, and I think there is even some 
  audio that they taped in my office last week.
  
  
• Van Pelt, R., T.C. O'Keefe, J.J. Latterell, and R.J. Naiman. 2006. Riparian
  forest stand development along the Queets River in Olympic National Park,
  Washington. Ecological Monographs 76: 277-298.
  (Ecological Monographs only publishes about 20 papers per year, so its a
  real event when one has a paper published there.)
  
  
• Another article that quotes Lee Frelich at:
  http://www.wnrmag.com/stories/2005/aug05/eworm.htm
  
  
• Pederson, N., E.R. Cook, G.C. Jacoby, D.M. Peteet, and K.L. Griffin. 
  2004. The influence of winter temperatures on the annual radial 
  growth of six northern-range-margin tree species. Dendrochronologia 
  22: 7-29.
  
  
• Pacific Northwest, Seattle Time Magazine, January 30, 2005, A River Runs Through It.  
  An article on the Queets River in Olympic National Park featuring Dr. Bob Van Pelt.  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/pacificnw/2005/0130/cover.html
  The article can be found online at: 
    http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/home/index.html  Go to Pacific Northwest 
  Magazine, and search for the author's name in January 2005.  Free registration is
   required.
  
  
• A fight to save ancient forest:  County tries to block owner's plan to build on rare site.
  By Tom Buckham and Sandra Tan, News Staff Reporters, Derek Gee/Buffalo News, 
  1/31/2005.  "Hemlocks are not supposed to grow on sand dunes. But at least two centuries 
  ago, a stand of the tall evergreens took root on a high dune overlooking Lake Erie in the 
  Town of Evans, where it remains one of only two such old-growth forests on the planet. "
  http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20050131/1064693.asp The article quotes Bruce 
  Kershner on the subject.
  
  
• Warren Times Observer,  Monday, August 1, 2005, A look at old-growth: Living history 
  in our midst, By DEAN WELLS, Times Observer Staff Writer,  "They are the giants of 
  Pennsylvania's forests. Living Goliaths and Methuselahs with gnarled trunks rising 10 stories 
  above the forest floor. As tall as ship masts and older than most living things on Earth -- 
  they date back to before the American Revolution. Survivors. Reminders of the past. Living 
  history."   The article quotes Dale Luthringer with regard to old growth and big trees in the 
  Allegheny National Forest.
  
  
• Warren Times Observer, Monday, December 5, 2005, Big trees at Cook Forest among 
  timber giants.  By MATT EWALT Staff Writer.  They are the giants of the old-growth 
  forest, towering above other trees born centuries ago. Hundreds of miles from the titans 
  of the Great Smoky Mountains, the white pines in Cook Forest State Park have long been 
  known for their record-setting size. On Nov. 19, a team of ecologists, naturalists and 
  researchers spent the day in Cook Forest using the latest technology to document three 
  of Pennsylvania's largest white pines.  See the full text in Cook Forest Cooks thread.  
  Article quotes Dale Luthringer, and talks about Bob Leverett and Lee Frelich.
  
  
• Frelich, L.E., M.W. Cornett, and M.A. White. 2005. Controls and reference
  conditions in forestry: the role of old-growth and retrospective studies.
  Journal of Forestry 103: 339-344.
  
  This paper was published in Journal of Forestry recently, and discusses the
  ways that old growth can be used as a control for comparing the impacts of
  harvesting, and a reference for restoration of second growth forests
  (actually it is part of a special issue on reference ecosystems with
  several papers on the topic). Range of natural variability in stands across
  the landscape under natural disturbance regimes and harvesting regimes are
  also discussed.  
  I worked on this paper with my former graduate student Meredith Cornett,
  who is now Director of Conservation Science for The Nature Conservancy in
  MN and the Dakotas, and it originated from a talk I gave at the Society of
  American Foresters annual meeting in Buffalo, NY in October 2004. I was
  driving back to MN from the ENTS annual October meeting, and happened to be
  passing by Buffalo, so thought I would stop in a give a presentation to SAF.

  
  

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