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With the severe drought that has been blanketing most of the country, and the wildfires ravaging Colorado this summer, now is the time to take steps to prepare for the unexpected...

Standing inconspicuously beside a block wall across the street from a glass shop in Cotati is one of the rarest living life forms in the world, an albino chimera coast redwood tree. Researchers say fewer than 10 of the genetically mutated trees are known to exist. But if SMART's rail plans proceed, the tree — the largest of its kind — soon will be cut down so commuter trains can safely zoom past. “This tree is irreplaceable,” said Tom Stapleton, a former Sonoma County arborist who is now based in Amador County and studies the rare mutations. “They need to...

Time out. This time around, I don't want to talk about airlines, airports or airplanes. I want to talk about trees. That's right, trees. Specifically, I want to talk about the decision made by a Somerville neighbor of mine to fell an old, beautiful, and perfectly healthy tree because it was "in the way" of his backyard improvement project -- in the process adversely affecting the quality of life for me and several of my neighbors. Is it crazy or un-American to suggest that, at a certain point, a tree is no longer one person's private property per se, and...

Insights and Inspiration from the Holy Land from Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz "Your friend in Karmiel" January 16th 2014 -Volume 4, Issue 15 -15th of Shevat 5774 Beshalach/Tu Bishvat Us and Them 'The Arabs are bad, Daddy, right?" my six year old Elka turns to me at one dinner recently and asks. "Uhhhh...no...Elka'la there are some bad Arabs, but there are also some good ones." Continuing to take a bite of my supper and hope that this conversation is over. But this is Elka, the conversation is just beginning. "But they are Goyim (gentiles), Daddy. Aren't Goyim bad? Aren't the Goyim,...

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As wonderful and useful as our modern technologies are, there are still plenty of places in this world where Mother Nature rules supreme. One such place is Slope Point in New Zealand. Slope Point is the southernmost tip of New Zealand’s South Island. It lies 4800 km (2982 mi) from the South Pole and 5100 km (3168 mi) from the equator, so it’s regularly exposed to unimaginable weather conditions. The air stream loops that travel over the Southern Ocean uninterrupted for 3200 km (2000 mi) make landfall at Slope Point, making for consistently extreme winds. And yet, even in this...

When is the Correct Time to Burn Fallen Trees? Has the forest benefitted from government interference with Mother Nature? When the government does not allow the forest to burn off naturally the result is uncontrollable fires in the future. I think they may be a correlation between all misguided government endeavors and the outcomes. The government interferes with the natural order of the economy and the economy remains broken. The government interferes with the world’s absolutely finest most advanced health care delivery system and chaos results. The government attempts to correct poverty results in more poverty. The government borrows money...

The Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum is not only home to human and cat mummies, a replica of an underground tomb and a planetarium; it's also home to exotic trees. There's the Bunya pine with its cones weighing 10 to 15 pounds; the giant taro plant with its massive leaves and edible roots; the Australian flaxleaf paperbark tree that produces medicinal tea tree oil; and, of course, papyrus, which the ancient Egyptians used for creating writing paper, boats, mattresses, mats, rope, sandals and baskets. These are just a few of the dozens of trees and plants to see on Our City Forest's...

From Duke University and the “I was sure those tree rings were linear indicators” department, comes this news: Climate Change May Speed Up Forests’ Life Cycles DURHAM, N.C. – Many climate studies have predicted that tree species will respond to global warming by migrating via seed dispersal to cooler climates. But a new study of 65 different species in 31 eastern states finds evidence of a different, unexpected response. Nearly 80 percent of the species aren’t yet shifting their geographic distributions to higher latitudes. Instead, they’re staying in place – but speeding up their life cycles. The Duke University-led study,...

Stick Commander footage of 3 PPCLI paratroopers being "Off-dropped" during Ex Maple Flag. Nothing says pucker factor than the fear of a pine tree up the tail! FYI, drills worked, amazingly only one minor injury. ------------- Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI, generally referred to as The Patricias) is one of the three Regular Force infantry regiments of the Canadian Army of the Canadian Forces. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAvPEzvrbX8

It’s easy to dismiss trees as inanimate features of the landscape, but these living, breathing organisms aren’t as stoic as they appear. Trees, it turns out, make all kinds of noises as they grow and respond to their environment. Happy, regularly growing trees sound different from drought stressed trees. Now, a team of researchers from Grenoble University in France is trying to pick out these cries for help amidst all the normal tree white noise in order to provide better, more targeted aid to trees suffering from drought, according to National Geographic. In the case of drought, trees undergoing stress...

Police say a New Jersey golfer is dead after a tree fell on him while he tried to retrieve an errant ball from the backyard of a home adjacent to an exclusive country club. Alpine police identified the man as 60-year-old Sung Paik of Union City.

The forest really does hum with life. Though often too low or too high for human ears to detect, insects and animals signal each other with vibrations. Even trees and plants fizz with the sound of tiny air bubbles bursting in their plumbing. And there is evidence that insects and plants "hear" each other's sounds. Bees buzz at just the right frequency to release pollen from tomatoes and other flowering plants. And bark beetles may pick up the air bubble pops inside a plant, a hint that trees are experiencing drought stress. Sound is so fundamental to life that some...

Legislation that would move the ownership and management of U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management lands in New Mexico to the state has been introduced at the Roundhouse. The Transfer of Public Lands Act is sponsored by Rep. Yvette Herrell, R-Alamogordo, and Sen. Richard C. Martinez, D-Espanola... Herrell said New Mexico has a rich history of farming, ranching, hunting, fishing and oil drilling. "In our past we have also had a thriving timber industry that is unfortunately near nonexistent ... ... A healthy timber industry, managed responsibly by New Mexicans, would not only help our economy by creating...

Do People Live Longer among Trees? by Brian Thomas, M.S. * Could living near trees possibly affect human health? Increasingly, studies indicate that trees can improve human health. Evolution doesn't expect this, but biblically speaking, trees and people have close ties. New research included steps to demonstrate that living longer was not linked to living among trees, but instead linked to more sensible factors "like income, race, and education," according to the Pacific Northwest Research Station of the U.S. Forest Service based in Portland.1 But the researchers found that cardiovascular health clearly declined in people from very different ethnic, income,...

Consider it a modern take on the legendary tale of Johnny Appleseed. Vancouver, B.C., has announced plans to plant 150,000 fruit and nut trees on city streets, in parks, and on city-owned lands in the next eight years, reports the Vancouver Sun. At the moment, the city has about 600 fruit and nut trees on city streets, and another 425 can be found in the city's parks, community gardens, and pocket orchards. "Street trees play an important role in helping Vancouver adapt to climate change, manage stormwater run-off, support biodiversity, and even provide food," Mayor Gregor Robertson said in a...

<p>LOS ANGELES -- Los Angeles is trading the trees for the stars -- and not everybody's happy about it.</p> <p>Crews on Tuesday are chopping down hundreds of pine, ficus and other trees along the streets where the space shuttle Endeavor will roll next month.</p>

Three years ago, a researcher collecting tree core samples in Connecticut was startled to see one of the trees begin to hiss and spit. Even more surprising, he found that the leaking gas could be set on fire. It’s been known since around the 1970’s that a relatively rare bacterial infection in trees responsible for the damaging rot known as wet wood can cause trees to emit methane, a greenhouse gas with 20 times the warming potential of carbon dioxide. Trees in wetland soils can also act as straws, sipping methane from soggy, oxygen-poor soil. Yale School of Forestry and...

Urban Forestry. The term itself appears to be either a typo by the author, or an oxymoron. So just what is Urban Forestry...