Tree Trends

The US Forest Service has assigned a group of five smokejumpers (professional forest fire fighters) to Central Park in New York. Their goal is not to fight fires, but a more insidious problem, the Asian longhorned beetle (Anaplophora glabripennis). The smokejumpers have been trained in tree climbing methods and are inspecting trees in and around Central Park from the canopies. Visual inspection from the ground has proved ineffective in finding small outbreaks of the tree-killing beetle. The inspection comes after two trees with active infestations were found a few blocks from the famed park. By inspecting trees from the canopy, authorities hope to locate and destroy any beetle infestations before they overwhelm the park. The smokejumpers have already found one infested elm tree near the park out of 1700 trees inspected so far. That tree will be removed and destroyed.

The Springwatch project in Britain, sponsored by the Woodland Trust and the BBC, is a large-scale effort to record the timing of spring events in nature. The project has been enormously successful, with over 114,000 observations turned in to date. Initial results suggest that many events normally associated with spring have been occurring throughout the mild British winters of recent years. What is most important is that this kind of large-scale citizen participation in phenology records, if kept up over a long time, will provide scientists with enormously useful information on the impacts of climate change on the natural world.

This is also a great educational tool, one that could easily be implemented in the US. It not only serves an important role in climate change research, but it is an educational tool as well. Any community process that enhances the ability of the citizenry to observe nature is a benefit.

The Woodland Trust found that 94% of British children are unable to identify common native trees. Even oaks were only recognized by 20% of kids in the survey. The survey of 7 to 14 year olds found that the most recognizable tree was holly, known for its indoor use as a holiday decoration.

See earlier Growing up without nature post

This is a great observation over at WorldChanging that helps bring home the magnitude of global warming. Skeptics say that the amount of added heat is minor, only 1 watt/m^2 of Earth's surface. Patrick di Justo comments that that one watt is approximately equivalent to three birthday candles.  Three little birthday candles. Not much is it?  But three little birthday candles on every meter of earth's surface - every square meter of every city, forest, farm, ocean, burning day and night. That's global warming.