It's Friday: Here's Your Week in Trees
From the death of a 3,500-year-old tree to the effects of early spring, here's your tree news from around the world this week:
- So long, Senator: One of the world's oldest trees, a bald cypress, burned to the ground in Florida earlier this week (Mother Nature Network)
- Climate models that do not include effects of trees on local climate may be inaccurate, say scientists (The Guardian UK)
- Butterfly farmers in Zanzibar no longer have to cut down trees to sell charcoal (Twitter's @woodlandsteward)
- Native birds at Hawaii's Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge are in unprecedented trouble (Hawaii Reporter)
- The invasive mountain pine beetle has affected more than 1.6 million hectares of Colorado and Wyoming's lodgepole pine forests, resulting in increased wildfire risk (PLoS ONE Journal; Subscription required)
- An Australian race track facility is surrounded by 640 hectares of forestland that are managed for the benefit of people and wildlife under the ‘Hello Woods’ initiative (Honda)
- Crowdsourcing: A British non-profit is asking the public to report observations of milder winter weather effects on native trees and flowers (Wildlife Extra)
- A new guidebook provides the framework for managing national forestland in face of climate change (PhysOrg)
- The USDA appointed new members its forest resource committee, who will provide advice on private forestry and programs that assist landowners in managing their forests (U.S. Department of Agriculture)
Photo of "The Senator" by Flickr's Kyle May