Forestbytes September 2011
IN THIS ISSUE
A Burning Need for Wildfire Prevention
Restoring the San Bernardino Mountains
Trees or Rivers: Which Came First Finally Answered
FOREST FILES: Hunting Big Trees in Georgia
A Burning Need for Wildfire Prevention
Credit: iStock
Wildfires have been devastating in 2011, destroying more acreage than ever before and causing hundreds of millions of dollars worth of damage. From Arizona and New Mexico to Texas to Alaska to North Carolina, the nation has been suffering their effects. American Forests takes a look at how fires have managed in the past and how they can be prevented in the future.
Discover more about this year’s wildfire outbreak and
how to help prevent future blazes.
Beer and Science Collide
Credit: Sarah Whyman
What happens when you combine a cold-loving yeast that grows on beech trees in Patagonia with a room temperature-loving yeast from Europe? Lager happens. Five hundred years after lager’s arrival on the drinking scene, scientists discover the yeast responsible for its creation.
Uncover the secrets of lager and its cold-loving parent yeast.
Restoring the San Bernardino Mountains
Courtesy: Mojave Desert Resource Conservation District
Wildfires, drought and a bark beetle infestation have devastated many forest areas in the San Bernardino Mountains over the last eight years. Since 2005, American Forests Global ReLeaf has worked with area partners to reforest this mountain community, planting almost half-a-million trees.
Learn more about our efforts in San Bernardino.
Trees or Rivers: Which Came First Finally Answered
Credit: Carolyn Conner
Those of us who love and protect forests know that they help stabilize watersheds and clean our drinking water, but until a recent report, we were unaware that trees helped form our rivers and floodplains 330 million years ago!
Unearth the details of this latest scientific discovery.
FOREST FILES: Hunting Big Trees in Georgia
Who: Retired teacher and active big tree hunter Jimmy Mock
Where: Georgia
What: Seven national champion big trees
Tree Tidbits: Jimmy discovered his first national champion in 1979, but his current favorite is actually Georgia state champion turkey oak in Screven.