Proceedings Of The Coast Redwood Forests In A Changing California

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ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 675 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (13 download)

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Download or read book Proceedings of the Coast Redwood Forests in a Changing California written by and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 675 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Coast Redwood Forests in a Changing California Science Symposium was held June 21-23, 2011, at UC Santa Cruz with just under 300 registrants in attendance. Participants ranged in background from graduate-level students to university forestry faculty, land managers, conservation groups, public agencies, and land trust members. The symposium was strategically held in Santa Cruz, near the southern end of the redwood region. Designed to present the state of our knowledge about Californias coast redwood forest ecosystems and sustainable management practices, this symposium was built on earlier redwood science symposia held in Arcata, CA, in June, 1996 and in Santa Rosa, CA, in March, 2004. The first day of the symposium consisted of two simultaneous field tours, one to the North County and one to the South County. The North County tour focused on active redwood timber management on corporate ownerships operating under the unique policies that dictate decisionmaking on the central coast, and Cal- Polys forest management and research at its Swanton Pacific Ranch. It also included a brief tour of the Big Creek Lumber Company sawmill and a visit to areas burned in the more than 7,000-acre Lockheed Fire of 2009. The South County tour traversed the range of redwood forest conditions from the old growth of Henry Cowell State Park and the uncut 120 year old young growth of Nisene Marks State Park to uneven-aged young-growth stands established by individual tree selection harvesting on nonindustrial forest lands. Opening remarks started the second day of the symposium and began the academic concurrent sessions. Local historian Sandy Lydon spoke about the special history of the redwoods in the region, recounting stories from his boyhood about roaming through the forests and giving a brief synopsis of the settlement of the area. Steve Sillett, Humboldt State University forestry professor, described his experiences climbing the redwoods and his discoveries in the redwood forest canopy ecosystems, as well as his findings on tree growth from dendrochronology measurements. Ruskin Hartley, Executive Director and iv Secretary of Save the Redwoods League, called on the audience to set S2audacious goals and collaborative actions.S3 He maintained that nature does not develop boundaries and that in moving forward, we should focus on a shared set of goals and that public and private land should progress simultaneously. Concluding the session, Ron Jarvis, Home Depots VP of sustainability talked candidly about the role of environmental sustainability practices and policies as part of the home improvement retailers business model. He noted that when he began in the sustainability department, he undertook a 2-year long project to understand where every sliver of wood from over 9,000 products originated to ensure sustainable wood practices. Over 75 concurrent oral presentations were showcased over 2 days, pertaining to the topics of: Ecology (15 presentations); Silviculture and Restoration (11 presentations); Watershed and Physical Processes (22 presentations); Wildlife, Fisheries, Aquatic Ecology (10 presentations); Forest Health (10 presentations); Economics and Policy (6 presentations); Monitoring (7 presentations). In addition, almost 40 posters were displayed during the evening reception, ranging in topic from postfire response, to long-term watershed research, and community forestry models. Held outside on the warm Santa Cruz evening, participants enjoyed a strolling dinner and networking with colleagues, making the reception a highlight of the symposium. The symposium concluded with closing remarks about the future of research in the redwood region from John Helms, UC Berkeley and Mike Liquori, Sound Watershed. In addition, a panel including Dan Porter, the Nature Conservancy, Lowell Diller, Green Diamond, and Kevin OHara, UC Berkeley discussed the interface of research, management, and conservation. The overall discussion led to the conclusion that academic research and applied research should be made available to the field as a whole as findings progress and that more opportunities for networking and interactions should be made available to the forestry community. Overall, the symposium fulfilled its purpose to identify key knowledge gaps, bring together multidisciplinary teams, and help identify future opportunities for collaboration. Participants were pleased with the presenters and research shown. Many noted that a highlight of the symposium was being able to meet and interact with others whose works they had previously cited in their own research. Of the approximately one half of participants who completed the followup survey, 100% hoped to see more events like the 2011 Redwood Symposium.