Book Description

This text is intended for introductory courses in forest measurements. Emphasis is on the measurement of timber, with detailed coverage on measuring products cut from tree boles, measuring attributes of standing trees, inventorying volumes of forest stands, and predicting growth of individual trees and stands of trees. Background information on statistial methods, sampling designs, land measurements, and use of aerial photographs is also provided. An introduction to assessing range, wildlife, water, and recreation resources associated with forested lands comprises the last chapter. The measurement principles and techniques discussed apply to any inventory that includes assessment of the tree overstory, regardless of whether the inventory is conducted for timber, range, wildlife, watershed, recreation, or other management objectives. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

An Alternative View of Forests Based on Hard Science
Ever sense that television news is more about cosmetics, sound bites, and talk-show celebrity journalism than it is about digging for hard facts and verifying authentic sources? Misinformation about forests and forestry appears to be like that - superficial and unsubstantiated. The problem with lazy thinking like "where there's smoke, there's fire" is that any actual firefighter can tell you it is smoke that kills, almost never fire. Yet society sits in judgement amid great black clouds of speculation while never asking the experts about the true operating principles.

What is amazing is that Patrick Moore's highly educated and scientific position on forest management should be so widely assailed in the court of common knowledge and public opinion. There is very little examination of fact. Widespread untruths circulate freely, and every opposing viewpoint is demonized. Further reason to carefully consider Patrick Moore's contrarian view and verifyable science -- and note his incredible courage to put his personal reputation on the line, given the fact that his name is in the pantheon of great environmentalists of the 20th Century.

Eye-opening is an understatement. The facts presented in this book alone should warrant a careful reexamination of public opinion, government policy, and precipitate an audit of facts presented by various sides of environmental issues. Most people want to do the right thing to insure a vigorously healthy environment. What we don't need is to give over leadership of human destiny to extremist viewpoints which are founded on a belief that humans are a cancer on the face of the Earth, that technology and science are evil, and that the only solution is rolling back the clock 500 years to a pre-Columbian Garden of Eden.

Green Spirit has the courage to look at the environmental movement in a constructive way and say, "The Emperor Has No Clothes." On the issue of forests, it is as if some crazy Theodore Kaczynski is head environmental activist, public opinion trendsetter, and public policy oracle. Who can deny that the show is being run based on some kind of anti-human, anti-technology Unibomber manifesto? ... Read more

Book Description

A combination of broad disciplinary coverage and scientific excellence, the Encyclopedia of Forest Sciences will be an indispensable addition to the library of anyone interested in forests, forestry and forest sciences. Packed with valuable insights from experts all over the world, this remarkable set not only summarizes recent advances in forest science techniques, but also thoroughly covers the basic information vital to comprehensive understanding of the important elements of forestry.

The Encyclopedia of Forest Sciences also covers relevant biology and ecology, different types of forestry (e.g. tropical forestry and dryland forestry), scientific names of trees and shrubs, and the applied, economic, and social aspects of forest management.

Valuable key features further enhance the utility of this Encyclopedia as an exceptional reference tool.




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Book Description

Arthropods are the most diverse group of organisms on our planet, and the tropical rainforests represent the most biologically diverse of all ecosystems. This volume provides an overview of data collected during recent studies in Australia, Africa, Asia, and South America. The contributions focus on the distribution of arthropods and their use of resources in the rainforest canopies, providing a basis for comparison between the forest ecosystems of the main biogeographical regions. The temporal dynamics of arthropod communities, habitats and food selection are examined within and among tropical tree crowns, as are the effects of forest disturbance. ... Read more

Book Description

Twenty-five years ago, when Hans Morsbach became interested in cultivating trees and managing small woodlands, he searched for a good how-to manual. He never found one, so he decided to write his own someday. Based on his subsequent experience, combining deep research into the academic literature on forestry with his successes and failures as a small-scale commercial tree farmer, the result is Common Sense Forestry, an indispensable reference for anyone who owns or wants to own wooded property.

Morsbach is an unabashed nature lover as well as a businessman, and well understands the essential importance of a long-term approach to sustainable forest management. In this highly readable and entertaining text, the author offers a comprehensive look at managing existing woodlands by creating, and later maintaining, forests that promote biodiversity while providing harvestable timber.

Information includes:
- Choosing land
- Seeding and transplanting
- Pruning and thinning
- Harvesting trees
- Using (or choosing not to use) herbicides
- Working with professional foresters
- Establishing business strategies
- Tax planning ... Read more

Reviews (6)

A gift to woodland owners
Bless Hans for the oodles of practical hands on advice he offers for the private woodland owner. He has helped me feel less dumb & scared about the 680 acres I own in N.C. Wisconsin. I find that on the one hand the woods is a restoration of my soul & on the other hand a burden of responsibility. For me, Common Sense Forestry has been way better than a university extension short course in forestry.

very helpful & practical
I purchased 23 acres of worn out farmland that I wanted to make into a productive forest. Most of the books I found discussed things from a commerical/industrial scale, and seemed to discourage innovation and experimentation. Mr. Morsbach's book discusses the experiences of someone who has 'been and done' over the last thirty years, with notable sucesses and honest appraisal of failures & setbacks. I especially like how he shows how 'experts' can have different opinions and even be quite wrong! His ideas about mixing species and direct seeding are very interesting, and have changed my approach to planting. I would certainly advise anyone who is planning to raise trees and is interested in woodland stewardship.

The Bible for the Hobby Tree Farmer
An easy and witty prose makes this book a welcome relief from other books on the subject. The extensive Index makes it easy to find subjects scattered across chapters.

A very comprehensive treatment of Direct Seeding, which is the low-cost approach to establishing a forest and very suitable to the small woodland owner.

The Economic Analysis chapter is quite useful and an eye opener.

This book will give you a second opinion on what is recommended by professional foresters and the DNR (Amazing fact: they are not always right !) Required reading for anybody that is looking into starting tree farming on a small scale.

Straight talk about managing your woodland
I started my own tree-planting at about the same time the author did, in the early 70s, and I wish I had his insights. (I'm sure he wishes he had them then, too!) Not that it's ever too late. I'm going to gather some nuts this fall and try his direct seeding technique. I generally admire his independent approach. While I don't agree with everything he writes (he's a little too cavalier about the Lord!), I believe this book is one of the best around for the amateur landowner. It made me excited about my land again.

Common Sense Forestry Review
"Common Sense Forestry" may be a unique concept on the silviculture shelves. It most certainly is a welcome rarity: both an entertaining read and a mother lode of basic, practical information.
Morsbach has selected with a critical eye items of conventional forestry gospel and subjected them to empirical scrutiny. The survivors of these tests, as well as his own ideas and those gleaned from his "Mavericks of Forestry" circle are included in this common sense (no nonsense) treatise on growing trees.
He seems to have given most ideas a fair look and a field test before he bestows his imprimatur. The many illustrations are well conceived and executed and are a helpful adjunct.
Morsbach offers strong arguments on biodiversity (imperative), clearcutting (a no-no), herbicides (a last resort) and the economics of it all.
I wish I could have read it during my woodland years, but it's here now to enjoy and benefit from. Thanks, Hans.

Don Mulcahy
Buffalo County, Wisconsin ... Read more

Book Description

An owner's manual for forest management in New England. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

A great book for the serious, passionate woodlot owner.
Having bought a woodlot in the past year, I praise this book based on real-life experience. This book is an excellent introduction to the forestry terms and practice. I learned all the background I needed to understand a forest management plan and discuss it intelligently with a professional forester. This book discusses forestry issues in detail, but without getting bogged down in arcane minutiae.

I disagree with a previous reviewer that the Hilts book is preferable to the conservationist. I bought both books, but found the Hilts book unsatisfying. It is geared more to people who are considering how to return former farmland to a wooded state. It sidesteps the detailed forestry issues, such as thinning overcrowded stands, usually by saying that a forester will provide the information. These are the areas where the Beattie book is especially strong. Since my land is already forested, I appreciated the breadth of information on forest management techniques in the Beattie book. But the book can also be helpful to people who are undecided about whether or not to actively manage their forest land. It provides good background on how northeast forests have developed, and how a woodland would mature without intervention.

1/8/2002
I'd like to add a recommendation for a companion book: Reading the Forested Landscape by Tom Wessels. See my review there.

The practical issues of woodlot management
This book is a basic introduction to woodlot management with a focus on the forest ecosystem, basic valuation metrics for trees, and tax and other financial concerns associated with selling your trees.

The major difference between this title and the Hilts et al text is that this book devotes substantially more space to financial, legal, and logistical issues associated with harvesting trees. Conservationists will probably prefer Hilts while the reader focused on income from his or her woodlot will prefer this book.

Neither text goes very far helping the reader identify specific health problems in a woodlot; look more to Pirone et al. for an excellent introduction.

A great introduction to forestry for the private landowner
If you own even a few acres of New England forest, you should read this book. "Working With Your Woodland" gives a thorough introduction to forestry for the landowner. Even if you do not own any woodlands, and are just curious about the forestry profession, this book will acquaint you well with the issues. From the history presented of the New England forest through Forest Management to their postscript on stewardship, the three authors present their information clearly and sensitively. Highly recommended.

Good book to learn about forestry
Intelligently written for amateurs, much more readable than academic literature.

It is written for New England woodlands, but its principles are applicable everywhere. ... Read more

Book Description

This book covers the fundamental physics and chemistry of fire, fire behavior, wildland fuels, the interactions of fires and weather, ecological effects of fires, the cultural and institutional framework of fire management, planning efforts for fire management, suppression strategies, prescribed fires, and global fire management. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Too pricey but good info
This is an excellent but far overpriced introduction to the subject. It is largely a compliation of information you can get from the National Interagency Fire Center, with some nice additions of stuff you can get from Pyne's other (sometimes quite good) books, such as Fire In America.

Far too expensive, though, even for college classes. Check it out from your local university library instead, and if you still want it, go for it.

great
great book. you will love it. it show you what you need to know about wildland fires. ... Read more

Book Description

Written by Monte Burch, a leading expert with over thirty years of experience of planting food plots and managing woodlots on his own farm, this book will help you to develop, manage, and maintain your property to attract and hold wildlife. Wildlife & Woodlot Management Handbook is the ultimate reference on the subject.

Over 330 pages with hundreds of instructional photographs & illustrations.

Chapters cover Choosing and assessing the right piece of land; Planning food plots, soil testing, preparing the land; How to select the right seed for your property; Food plot tools (including planting plots with ATVs); Timber stand improvement, maintenance, and management practices; Timber forest management tools; Improving soft mass crops and acorn management; Improving vines, shrubs, and other natural vegetation; Methods to monitor food and woodlot areas; Managing forage non-native grasslands and prairie grasses; Implementing controlled burns; Specific tips to attract mature bucks, wild turkey, waterfowl, upland birds, and small game; How to establish watering sites, improve springs and spring seeps; How to control predators; How to effectively deter poachers and trespassers.

Written in an easy-to-understand manner, the Wildlife & Woodlot Management Handbook not only provides all the information needed to create your own hunting or wildlife-watching haven but also how to enjoy owning or leasing your own piece of land. This is an indispensable book filled with information you won’t find anywhere else. ... Read more

Book Description

In northern temperate regions, the fungus Heterobasidion annosum is the main cause of disease-related economic losses in coniferous trees. This book, the first devoted to this fungus, provides a comprehensive survey of all aspects of the research. ... Read more

Book Description

This field guide includes all the flora and fauna you're most likely to see in the forests of eastern North America. With 53 full-color plates and 80 color photos illustrating trees, birds, mammals, wildflowers, mushrooms, reptiles, amphibians, butterflies, moths, beetles, and other insects. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Introducing the Eastern Forest
The purpose of this guide is not to assist one in identifying species of flora and fauna found in the Eastern Forest--such a tome would be monumental in size--but rather to instill in the reader an understanding of the forest's general dynamics. The book is divided into eight sections; they are:

1) How to use this book
2) Forest field marks
3) Eastern forest communities
4) Disturbance and pioneer plants
5) Adaptation
6) Paterns of spring
7) Nature in summer
8) Autumn and winter

This book is an excellent beginning point for those who want to develope a better understanding of forest ecology. I highly recommend it.

If you can only buy one field guide, buy this one.
Eastern Forests is a good field guide for both experts and beginners. Makes a great gift for young naturalists. This book not only provides identification means; it also answers odds and end questions about why plants and animals do different things. Everything from newt behavior to how weather affects bird migration is covered in this guide.

A Great Buy, Very Interesting
This is a great field guide that covers many aspects of forests East of the Great Plains. Although it covers many common species of both animal and plant, it is not overly helpful for positively identifying individual species; and if one wants that, you are better off with a more specific field guide (i.e., Eastern Birds). It does, however, detail the workings of a forest and accompanies this fascinating text with 53 color plates, 80 color photos and many black and white drawings. In the first few chapters, it demonstrates the different forest types through indicator species; and it details the process of Old Field succesion, and the animals and plants that come and go as the process progresses. In the last chapters adaptation, and seasonal patterns are covered. I would highly reccommend this field guide for any one who would like to know how a forest works. ... Read more

Book Description

Halogenated organic compounds constitute one of the largestgroups of environmental chemicals. The industrial production of newhalogenated organic compounds has increased throughout the lastcentury and these compounds are integral to a variety of industrialapplications. Although organohalide compounds are typically consideredto be anthropogenic industrial compounds, these have their counterpartin several thousands of natural biogenic and geogenic organohalides,representing most classes of organic chemicals. Natural sourcesaccount for a significant portion of the global organohalogen budget.This volume, authored by leading experts in the field, provides acurrent perspective on how both natural and synthetic organohalidesare formed and degraded, and how these processes are incorporated intoa global halogen cycle. The list of organohalides that can be utilizedby microbes continues to increase dramatically, as do the number ofdehalogenating microorganisms that have been identified andcharacterized. A critical step in the degradation of organohalides iscleavage of the carbon-halogen bond, and microorganisms have evolved avariety of metabolic strategies for dehalogenation. The chaptersprovide a global perspective on the diversity of dehalogenatingmicroorganisms, explore their ecology, biochemistry and genetics, andreview the range of biologically-mediated dehalogenation mechanisms.Many of the problematic organohalides, such as pesticides,chlorofluorocarbons, chlorinated solvents, polychlorinateddibenzo-p-dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls, are covered indetail. The book provides a comprehensive overview of fate of thesecompounds in the environment, practical applications in the laboratoryand the field, and strategies for the development of bioremediationtechnologies for organohalide-contaminated sites. Detailed information on biodegradation and biotransformationmechanisms for a variety of organohalides and on the microorganismsmediating these processes has greatly increased our understanding ofthe cycling and fate of these unique and widespread compounds in ourenvironment. The book will serve as a comprehensive resource on theprocesses and applications of microbial degradation of halogenatedorganic compounds. ... Read more

Book Description

A revised and reorganized practical reference for the working field forester, incorporating the latest information and new, improved methods in such critical areas as U.S. forest law and policy, forest taxation, cost accounting and accomplishment reporting, pesticide and environmental aspects, safety, and public involvement procedures. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Forestry Handbook: Must-have resource for foresters
The Forestry Handbook contains a wealth of information for foresters and other natural resource managers. It's not a book that you read from start to finish (even discounting the 1,335 page length). Rather, it is a superb reference book. I use the Handbook frequently, and have a copy both at work and at home.

The Handbook is broken into 25 sections that include Ecology, Silviculture, Geology and Soils, Genetics, Fire Management, Insects and Diseases, Inventory, Measurements, and Logging. In addition to these forestry-related sections are those on Fish and Wildlife Management, Range Management, Watershed Management, and Remote Sensing. The Handbook also includes sections on Safety, People Management, and Communications.

Most sections have multiple authors, and these authors represent government, academia, and industry. Authors are from all regions of the country.

The strengh of the Handbook is that it covers a varity of forestry and natural resource topics, and does so very well. As you would expect, it relies heavily on figures and graphs, and these are appropriately used and of good quality. The sheer range of topics limits somewhat the depth of each topic. However, no other forestry text approaches the overall utility of the Handbook.

This 2nd Edition of the Handbook was edited for the Society of American Foresters and published in 1984. I hope that a 3rd Edition is in the near future. Technological advdances alone, including Geographic Information Systems (GIS), GPS, and related technologies indicate that an update is needed. Topics such as Best Management Practices (BMPs) and forest certification, now part of our everyday language in forestry, are absent from the 1984 Handbook.

The price tag may seem steep to foresters. However, considering the bredth of material and quality of the text, it is a text worth having if you are serious about forestry.

outstanding book
i used this book extensively during my forestry training.if you are serious about forestry this is a must have book. it covers everything to do with forestry. its extreamly informative. the price may seem a bit high but, you'll get volumes of excelent forestry information. ... Read more

Book Description

Tropical habitats may contain more than a third of the world´s plant and animal species; Costa Rica alone is home to one of the highest levels of biodiversity per unit area in the world, and stands at center stage in worldwide conservation efforts. Within such regions, the use of state-of-the-art digital mapping technologies -sophisticated techniques that are relatively inexpensive and accessible -represents the future of conservation planning and policy. These methods, which employ satellites to obtain visual data on landscapes, allow environmental scientists to monitor encroachment on indigenous territories, trace park boundaries through unmarked wilderness, and identify wildlife habitats in regions where humans have limited access.
Focusing on the rich biodiversity of Costa Rica, the contributors demonstrate the use of geographic information systems (GIS) to enhance conservation efforts. They give an overview of the spatial nature of conservation and management and the current status of digital mapping in Costa Rica; a review of the basic principles behind digital mapping technologies; a series of case studies using these technologies at a variety of scales and for a range of conservation and management activities; and the results of the Costa Rican gap analysis project. GIS Methodologies for Developing Conservation Strategies provides powerful tools for those involved in decision-making about the natural environment, particularly in developing nations like Costa Rica where such technologies have not yet been widely adopted. For specialists in such areas as geography, conservation biology, and wildlife and natural resource management, the combination of conceptual background and case examples make the book a crucial addition to the literature. ... Read more

Book Description

The functioning of all living systems obeys the laws of physics in fundamental ways. This is true for all physiological processes that occur inside cells, tissues, organs, and organisms. The new edition of Park Nobel's classic text has been revised in an unprecedented fashion, while still remaining user-friendly and clearly presented. Certain to maintain its leading role in teaching general and comparative physiological principles, Physicochemical and Environmental Plant Physiology now establishes a new standard of excellence in teaching advanced physiology.
The book covers water relations and ion transport for plant cells, including diffusion, chemical potential gradients, and solute movement in and out of plant cells. It also presents the interconnection of various energy forms, such as light, chlorophyll and accessory photosynthesis pigments, and ATP and NADPH. Additionally, the book describes the forms in which energy and matter enter and leave a plant, for example: energy budget analysis, water vapor and carbon dioxide, and water movement from soil to plant to atmosphere.

Key Features
* Over four hundred fifty updated references
* Thorough text revisions intended to improve clarity of presentation
* Enhanced coverage of bioenergetics, and gas and water fluxes
* Thoroughly revised figures
* Revised calculations in all chapters
* Reformatted problems with solutions
* New information on root properties and especially global climate change
* Established and classic equations presented in an easy-to-refer-to list
* Appendices with conversion factors and constants ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Libro de Fisiología
pienso que este libro es un valioso aporte al conocimiento de las respuestas fisiológicas de las plantas a los estímulos de su medio ambiente, ya que permite relacionar los fenómenos naturales externos (medioambientales) con el funcionamiento interno de un vegetal, apotando información para el proceso de comprensión de los comportamientos vegetales, un área con mucho conocimiento incompleto todavía ... Read more

Book Description

Even before the myth of Prometheus, fire played a crucial ecological role around the world. Numerous plant communities depend on fire to generate species diversity in both time and space. Without fire such ecosystems would become sterile monocultures. Recent efforts to prohibit fire in fire dependent communities have contributed to more intense and more damaging fires. For these reasons, foresters, ecologists, land managers, geographers, and environmental scientists are interested in the behavior and ecological effects of fires. This book will be the first to focus on the chemistry and physics of fire as it relates to the ways in which fire behaves and the impacts it has on ecosystem function. Leading international contributors have been recruited by the editors to prepare a didactic text/reference that will appeal to both advanced students and practicing professionals. ... Read more

Book Description

The large-scale application of new silvicultural systems hasbecome a political reality in many parts of the world. This involves agradual tarnsformation of traditional silvicultural practice towardsContinuous Cover Forestry (CCF), also know as near-naturalforest management, favouring mixed uneven-aged stands, site-adaptedtree species and selective harvesting. Today, CCF systems areencountered in many parts of the world, but forest managers often lackthe technical support for generating and evaluating treatment optionsfor complex forest structures. Specific CCF-related resource assessment, forecasting and sustainableharvest control techniques have been developed, but details abouttheir use are not widely known. The emphasis in the book is onquantitative methods and modelling. ... Read more

Book Description

An unprecedented rape of Mother Nature from the 1880s to the 1940s completely changed the wooded landscape in the northern Great Lakes region of America as well as the society and ecology forevermore. In this time of empire building, logging towns grew like weeds around sawmills and often died when the last tree was cut. The people living there called it "cut and run." This fascinating book presents true-life photographic images of the loggers and the people they touched. Here we see the lumberjacks and river pigs who began the work, railroad loggers who extended the range and types of logs available, and a close-up look at one town in the wilderness. With hard work written across their faces, these men and women who dedicated their lives to the logging industry earn the respect of today's readers through the dynamic photographs and poignant stories related here. To build American towns, they toiled to make the lumber available; they succeeded and became legendary. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

A history of a colorful era
Book Review
That "Cut & Run" Loggin' Off the Big Woods" is a coffee table book is obvious when you see its cover with the three lumberjacks posed with their axes but, it is much more than that. There are over 150 pictures in its 144 pages all of them clear as bells and none of them seen before by me.
In addition to the pictures, there is text on each page and the text is what sets it apart from other books of its type. The book is written by Mike Monte, who I know. He lives in Crandon, Wisconsin, is a former logger and the son and grandson of old time lumberjacks. Where he got all the original photos I don't know but, the writing comes naturally to him from a life long interest in the logging history of the north woods. If its possible to love the sinner while hating the sin, Mike does that. He makes plain his contempt for the timber barons who were responsible for the cutting and running but his love and respect for those people who actually did the work and lived the life shows through on every page.
Although most of the book is about the loggers, teamsters, railroaders, sawmillers and river rats who did the work, there is also a lot about their wives and families. There is an entire chapter on "Padus" a typical "sawdust" town which no longer exists. Its now part of the small town of Wabeno. There are pictures of boiler explosions, train wrecks and fires all of which plagued these early towns and mills. Pictures of stores and saloons and mud choked main streets. People in their Sunday best and lumberjacks sleeping 4 and 5 to a bed in the logging camps. All with colorful descriptions , some from elderly people who actually lived the history.
You learn a lot about those days. Beneath a shot of a 'Jack with a two bitted axe, for example, Mike explains that they kept one edge sharp, the other dull and used the dull end on frozen wood since a sharp edge would chip out on frozen wood.
Since the timber companies all paid about the same wages, food in the camps made all the difference. Mike says that 'jacks would quit jobs to follow good cooks from one job to the next.
The book doesn't stop with the clearing of the pines. There are sections on the follow up harvests of hemlock and hardwoods and, finally, the cutting of what was left for pulpwood. By the 1920s it was pretty much all over. Some 70 years to take it all.
For those who are really interested, Mike shows pictures and explains, for example, the difference between an A frame jammer and a slide ass jammer, both of which were used to load logs onto railway cars. The book can serve as a history lesson into a colorful industry of the past and/or, simply a collection of interesting photos. Either way, its well worth owning

Dave Johnson

A treasury of old photographs
The publisher stumbled onto a treasure in this collection of photographs of early logging in America. Mike Monte's enthusiasm shines through his commentary on the history of logging. He's interested in the loggers, their trees, their lifestyle, their machinery, their locales, their women, in short, in everything associated with the logging industry in the United States more than a century ago. I keep wondering what it would be like to eat in the logging tent at the table with these rough-looking guys, or sleep on a plywood cot next to a fellow still wearing his hobnail boots--or hang out the laundry in a couple feet of snow....this book is to die for! ... Read more

Book Description

This book is designed and intended as a source of ideas on how to think about oak forests as responsive ecosystems. Divided into two sections the book focuses on oak ecosystems in the United States as well as providing much application to other regions such as Europe and the Mediterranean. The first section includes chapters on the ecological characteristics and distribution of oak species and the various kinds of oak forests in the United States, differences among them and how they have been classified. The second section includes chapters on site productivity, stand development, silviculture, and growth and yield. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

scholarly, readable, useful, and unique
Foresters and other land managers usually have to rely on shelves and boxes full of books, reprints, bulletins, and notes for the information they need about the ecosystem they are concerned with. Here, between two hard covers, is a great wealth of carefully selected, clearly organized, and creatively synthesized knowledge dealing with the biology and management of American oak forests and woodlands.Chapter titles will indicate the diversity of subject matter: Ecology, Regeneration Ecology (flowering, fruiting, and reproduction characteristics), Regeneration Ecology (population dynamics),Site Productivity and Stand Development, Development of Natural Stands, Self-Thinning and Stand Density, Even-Aged Silvicultural Methods, Uneven-Aged Silvicultural Methods, Multi-Resource Management, Growth and Yield, plus seven appendices. There are numerous sub-topics within each chapter, greatly amplifying the diversity of information. There are many illustrations, graphs, flow-charts, and photos. Each chapter has its own lit cited, about 90% of which are from 1990 or later. As a tree biologist I read the sections on acorn dispersal, vegetative reproduction, and growth, and found all to be clear, accurate, and current. This excellent technical volume should serve as a model for the digestion of information for all significant forest tree genera.

Stephen Shifley is a ROCKSTAR!
This book, the Ecology and Silviculture of Oaks, absolutely rocked my world. Never have I read such a moving, overwhelming discussion of oak trees. Wow. I may seem a little biased because author Steve Shifley is my rockstar father (yeah, Dad!), but this coming-of-age tale of oak trees in a changing, oppressive urban culture is truly a tearjerker. Well worth the [$] I paid for it. Buy as many copies as you can, because all the proceeds go to fund my college education. Once again, READ THIS BOOK! It'll alter your worldview- forever. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (1)

EVEN BETTER THAN THE FIRST
Maclean's done it again, only this time he's done it better. His first book, FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN, was and still is a popular book with wildland firefighters. This one, though, will be a must-own for the summer army of boots-and-nomex firefighters -- and will surely be assigned as mandatory reading in many a fire training course. The collection of stories in FIRE AND ASHES proves up both Maclean's dogged pursuit of history and his determined focus on accuracy gained from 30 years in journalism. Covering many thousands of miles, dozens of interviews, and with painstaking attention to detail in his writing, Maclean has crafted a book that puts his readers out on the fireline. Unlike many authors who try to write about wildfire, Maclean makes no lame allowances for readers unfamiliar with the language and culture of the firefighter. He just explains it for them. His recounting of the 1999 Sadler incident -- in retrospect a problematic compilation of small "oops" decisions that resulted in near-disaster -- is a chilling read when one considers how close it came to being a disaster like South Canyon. His "Short History of Wildland Fire" and glossary of fire terms will be a go-to resource for firefighters -- structural and wildland both -- and for anyone curious enough to read about or write about fire. It's Maclean's reconstruction of the 1953 Rattlesnake Fire, though, that stands as the highlight of the book. It's a can't-put-down story that's finally been accurately researched and told (and illustrated), about a fire that's been a benchmark for safety lessons and fire behavior training for 50 years. Young men and women in fire camps across the West -- and the older ones too -- will be packing this book along in their red bags this summer, and well they should. ... Read more