wisconsin forestry center

Sometimes foresters in eastern North America may feel as if they are in a Lemony Snicket novel, with chestnut blight, spongy moth, Dutch elm disease, and emerald ash borer creating a continuing series of unfortunate events.  Emerald ash borer or EAB is one of the most recent invasive pests with the potential to eliminate an entire tree species. And foresters have many questions on how to manage EAB impacted stands and what they can do to help maintain ash trees as a component of our forests. On this episode of SilviCast we talk with two of North America's leading researchers working on EAB genetics and ecology, Kathleen Knight and Jennifer Koch of the USFS Northern Research Station in Delaware, Ohio.

As foresters we spend a great deal of time looking up, to evaluate forest composition, structure and growth. The story below ground is equally as interesting however, with complex interactions between soils, nutrients, water, roots, and a host of other flora and fauna. As they say in Vegas, what happens below ground, stays below ground! Everything here is more difficult to study. This is particularly true about a class of organisms critical to trees, mycorrhizal fungi. We know that mycorrhizal fungi play an important role in allowing trees to uptake more nutrients and water. But does it go further than that? There have been a huge number of popular media stories talking about this subject, but what is the current state of the science?  And what do forester need to know about how these fungi impact tree growth, or how we impact mycorrhizal fungi through management? Join us on this episode of SilviCast as we explore this subject with Justine Karst, Associate Professor and mycologist with the University of Alberta, and Marty Kranabetter, Regional Soil Scientist with the British Columbia Ministry of Forests.​

No matter how you define it, old-growth forests are scarce as hen’s teeth in the eastern United States. More than 99% of our forests are second growth. While we can’t speed up time, we can speed up the development of old-growth characteristics through creative silviculture. Join us on this episode of SilviCast as we talk with Paul Catanzaro, Professor and State Extension Forester at the University of Massachusetts - Amherst, about a range of silvicultural techniques to restore old-growth characteristics.

The official Society of American Foresters' definition of silviculture describes it as both an art and science. Are foresters both artists and scientists? What role does creativity play when developing a silvicultural prescription or setting up a timber sale? In forestry school we learn the foundational sciences of silvics, forest ecology, soils, wildlife, and water. And through experience and time spent in the forest we learn how to best apply that science to particular stands and site conditions. Join us on this season 4 finale of SilviCast as we talk with Marcella Windmuller-Campione, Associate Professor of Silviculture at the University of Minnesota, about keeping the creativity in silviculture and the importance of being a life-long learner.​​ ​

If you're a whiskey enthusiast, you are probably aware of a lesser-known federal law that requires all bourbon (an American whiskey) to be aged in a “charred new oak container." And those containers or casks are made almost exclusively from white oak (Quercus alba). But white oak has been popular long before the recent rise in whiskey-sipping Gen Xers! It is simply hard to overstate the importance of this tree species to forest products, wildlife habitat, and ecosystem services. In fact, stakeholders from across eastern North America have joined forces to promote the long-term sustainability of white oak forests through the White Oak Initiative. In this episode of SilviCast, we talk​ with one of the White Oak Initiative founders, Dr. Jeff Stringer, chair of the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources at the University of Kentucky, about this critical tree species and the efforts to sustain it. ​

Good silviculture is about using the best available science, along with the experience and local knowledge we accumulate in the field. What if we practiced forestry in an area for not only one lifetime, but for generations upon generations. Imagine the knowledge-base we could draw from to guide our silviculture! Indigenous peoples have been managing forest vegetation for various purposes for generations, accumulating a great understanding of how forest ecosystems work, sometimes referred to as Traditional Ecological Knowledge. On this episode of SilviCast we explore this topic by looking at silviculture on the Menominee Forest. The Menominee Tribe has managed this 230,000-acre forest in north-central Wisconsin for 160 years and it is one of the first examples of sustained yield forestry in North America.  Join us as we talk with are our long-time forestry partners on the Menominee Forest… Ron Waukau, Forest Manager; Tony Waupochick, Silviculturist; and Pat Gauthier, Harvest Prep Forester.

They say if you want forest heterogeneity, just get a larger group of foresters to mark the stand. While it is true that not every forester marks the same, it is often challenging if we want to intentionally create spatial variability. Especially if we want to emulate spatial patterns that would be typical for a specific forest type and natural disturbance regime. The ICO method (which stands for individuals, clumps, and openings) is a stand-level tool developed in the western US to help foresters restore the patterns of individual trees, clumps, and openings commonly found in pine/mixed conifer forests shaped by frequent fire disturbance. Join us for a conversation with Dr. Sean Jeronimo, as we learn how this method is applied in the field and how it may be useful in a variety of forest types shaped by fire.​

Foresters love a challenge! And one such challenge in eastern Northern America has always been northern white-cedar (Thuja occidentalis). A both ecologically and commercially valuable tree species that can be slow-growing, tricky to regenerate, and highly susceptible to deer browse. Join us on this episode of SilviCast as we introduce you to the Cedar Club, a passionate group of forest practitioners and researchers who have been tackling the cedar management question for the pat 23 years. Explore the challenges and opportunities to sustainable management of northern white-cedar.

Featured "Cedar Club" Guests: ​Dr. Laura Kenefic, Research Forester and Team Leader, USFS, Northern Research Station; Jean-Claude Ruel, Emeritus Silviculture Professor, Laval University; Charles Tardif, Vice President Manufacturing, Maibec; Dr. Olivier Villemaire-Côté​, Institut des Sciences de la Forêt Tempérée (ISFORT-UQO); and Victoria Hunter, Graduate Student, Michigan Technological University

It seems that every young forester may have heard the old adage “green side up" tossed at us half-jokingly while learning to plant our first tree seedlings, almost as if to say "don't overthink this one kid." As experienced foresters we soon learn that achieving tree planting success is a whole lot more complicated. There are critical variables from stock type to site preparation to planting technique. If the world is going to get the trillion tree initiative right, all of these variables must be addressed. And there may be no group of professionals who know these variables better than forest nursery managers.  Join us on this episode of SilviCast as we dig into the knowledge base of the Wisconsin DNR Reforestation Program staff.

Guests​: ​​Joe Vande Hey, Reforestation Team Leader and State Nursery Superintendent, Roger Bohringer, Assistant Manager for the Wilson State Nursery, and Jeremiah Auer, Regeneration Specialist

We all know that oak and fire go together like peanut butter and jelly. What we have been missing is the practical knowledge of where, when, and how to apply fire in oak ecosystems. There are few who have contributed more to this knowledge base than Dr. Patrick Brose from the US Forest Service's Northern Research Station. Dr. Brose's research has developed key silvicultural applications of fire to regenerate and sustain oak forests and woodlands. Join us on this episode of SilviCast as we talk with Dr. Brose about what he has learned over the past 25 years of studying oak and fire. Pull up a chair, you will not want to miss a word!

Foresters have been warning landowners for years about the potentially damaging impacts of cows in their woods. So it is not surprising that we raise an eyebrow when conversations start about intentionally integrating livestock and forests. In this episode of SilviCast we explore the management practice known as silvopasture, or the intentional integration of trees, forage, and livestock. Join us as we discuss what silvopasture is and is not, with Rich Straight, Technology Transfer Leader at the U.S. Forest Service’s National Agroforestry Center.

Remember the natural regeneration triangle? Natural regeneration needs a seed supply, an environment conducive to seed germination, and a suitable seedbed. But sometimes it's difficult to get the right seedbed, especially when natural disturbances such as fire are lacking. Luckily foresters have another tool at their disposal: mechanical scarification. In this episode we dig deep into the topic of mechanical scarification with insights from Douglas County (Wis.) forester Craig Golembiewski and Clark County (Wis.) forester John Wendorski.

To earn CEU/CFE credits, learn more, or interact with SilviCast, visit the episode webpage. 

What is a forester to do when your soils are almost always dry and sandy and low in nutrients?  Skip the black walnut for sure and embrace the sand… or perhaps the pine barrens!  Pine barrens were once an expansive natural community is Wisconsin's northwest, northeast and central sands, but today occupy a limited area due to past management and changes in fire disturbance.  These savanna communities were characterized by a variable density of jack pine and oak, with a ground layer of  prairie grasses, forbs, and heath species.  To restore and maintain these disturbance-driven communities, foresters and ecologists are joining forces to find creative silvicultural solutions. Join us on this episode of SilviCast while we talk to Jennifer Boice, Forester for the Black River State Forest, and Armund Bartz, WDNR Regional Ecologist, about the challenges and fun of managing jack pine barrens.

Guests: Armund Bartz and Jennifer Boice

Forest practitioners and researchers recently “gathered” virtually for the Northern Hardwood Conference 2021 (NHC 2021), the first range-wide conference dedicated to northern hardwood forests in over 30 years.  In this special episode of SilviCast we hear from conference attendees themselves in a conference roundtable as they discuss challenges facing the sustainable management of northern hardwood forests.  The challenges and potential solutions they offer have a lot to say about silviculture in every forest type!  

Lowland forests have always been a bit of a mystery to us foresters and silviculturists, at least here in the Lake States.  Disturbance regimes are not well understood, and effective silvicultural systems not well developed.  The swamps and floodplains can also be difficult places to actively manage when access is limited, and timber values are low.  But increasing research and management attention is being paid to these important forests as invasive species, such as Emerald Ash Borer, and the impacts of climate change threaten ecosystem function and productivity.  Today on SilviCast we talk with Marcella Windmuller-Campione, Assistant Professor of Silviculture at the University of Minnesota about her research in the swamps and floodplains of Minnesota and Wisconsin.  Can we find silviculture’s secret sauce to help us restore these complicated forest systems.

For more information and resources visit https://www.uwsp.edu/cnr-ap/WFC/Pages/WFC/Research-and-Development/SilviculturesSecretSauce.aspx. 

What happened to the days when regenerating sugar maple was easy as falling off a log?  Unfortunately, foresters from across the range of northern hardwoods are frequently experiencing a dearth of well-established sugar maple seedlings, not to mention seedlings of other prized species such as yellow birch and basswood.  What is going on?  Is it deer, interfering vegetation, earthworms, our silvicultural systems?  In this episode of SilviCast we explore the challenges of naturally regenerating northern hardwoods with Mike Walters, Professor of Forest Ecology at Michigan State University and principle investigator on what has been dubbed "the big northern hardwood study."

To interact with SilviCast and access this episode's show notes visit: https://www.uwsp.edu/cnr-ap/WFC/Pages/WFC/Research-and-Development/Where-have-all-the-seedlings-gone.aspx.

There may be nothing more satisfying than planting a tree.  Artificial regeneration of hardwoods in particular however can be a challenge.  Trees are lost due to everything from improper planting to interfering vegetation to deer browse.  How do foresters maximize their success at not only having trees survive, but at long-term establishment and growth?  In this episode of SilviCast we explore the challenges of artificial regeneration of hardwoods with Doug Jacobs, the Fred M. van Eck Professor of Forest Biology and Associate Head of Extension at Purdue University and a principle scientist at the Hardwood Tree Improvement and Regeneration Center.

For more information, show resources, and to connect with SilviCast visit the episode's website: https://www.uwsp.edu/cnr-ap/WFC/Pages/WFC/Research-and-Development/RightTree,RightPlace,RightTime.aspx.  

A conversation with Ralph Nyland, Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, who has conducted extensive applied research into even and uneven-aged silvicultural systems in northern hardwood forests for over 50 years.  In this episode of SilviCast we explore with Ralph the challenges of implementing uneven-aged systems like single-tree selection, particularly when our second-growth, mostly even-aged northern hardwood forest don't always cooperate!

To learn more, find show resources, or interact with SilviCast visit our website: https://www.uwsp.edu/cnr-ap/WFC/Pages/WFC/Research-and-Development/TheGreenWall.aspx

Silviculture is all about managing forest vegetation, but sometimes that vegetation does not want to be managed!  Whether that is controlling invasive shrubs like buckthorn, releasing seedlings from reed canary grass, or preventing the spread of garlic mustard, control over some "weeds" seems like an exercise in frustration.  Enter forestry herbicides: the sometimes maligned, confusing, ever-changing, but often necessary tool in our silviculture toolbox.  In this episode of SilviCast we will start to demystify the confusing world of forestry herbicides with two Lake States experts who have decades of practical field experience; Rick Schulte from Nutrien Solutions, and Lee Shambeau from 4-Control Inc.

Visit our website for more information: https://www.uwsp.edu/cnr-ap/WFC/Pages/Weed-Wizards-Demystifing-Forestry-Herbicides.aspx

Let's talk paper birch!  There are few tree species that have such a rich and diverse relationship with the inhabitants of North America, being prized for food, medicine, transportation, fuel, lumber, pulpwood, shelter, and aesthetic beauty.  Paper birch is an ecological opportunist, taking advantage of disturbances that expose mineral soil and allow its abundant, tiny seeds to take root.  Still, in the Lake States at least, many birch stands are disappearing to the forces of succession and changing disturbance patterns.  Today we talk with Colleen Matula, Wisconsin DNR Forest Ecologist and Silviculturist, and John Zasada, retired forest research scientist with the US Forest Service, about paper birch silviculture and how we can sustain this fascinating species.

Guests: Colleen Matula and John Zasada