Sampling and Management for Down Coarse Woody Debris in New England: A Workshop
Fox State Forest, Hillsboro, NHOctober 2001
Motivation and PurposeIn recent years down coarse woody debris (CWD, aka down coarse woody material (CWM), down dead wood (DDW)) has become a topic of some note in the management of New England forests and beyond. It enters into the management equation in myriad ways: logging debris, seedbeds, carbon pool, wildlife habitat, fuel, etc. Unfortunately, we are still relatively uninformed and unsure just how important CWD is, and how much is "enough" in a healthy forest. More basic is the question of how best to estimate amounts of CWD, as part of a forest inventory to make informed decisions for management. While we still may not be able to answer all of the questions on the subject, recent research has made some advances in our knowledge.
The purpose of this one-day workshop is to cover the basics of what you need to know about the CWD resource in New England forests based on research accomplished to date at the Northeastern Research Station (USDA Forest Service), the University of New Hampshire and the New Hampshire Division of Forests and Lands. The workshop will begin with morning presentations covering the basics of defining the CWD resource and its importance (i.e., why we should be concerned with it-why not just burn it!) on up through a look at "how much is enough" and methods for sampling CWD in the field. The afternoon session will adjourn to the field where we will measure a number of plots in crews using two different techniques. Then we will return to the "office" to analyze our results and wrap it up. The goal is for participants to take home knowledge of the importance of the resource as well as some tools for quantification. Computer programs available for analyzing simple CWD inventories will be provided and available to take home.
8:00 Registration, coffee, etc. 8:25 Welcome-Ken Desmarais
8:30 The What and Why of CWD-Mark Ducey
8:50 New Hampshire's Logging Efficiency-Ken Desmarais
9:10 The Regional Level: Characteristics of DDW in Maine, NH and VT-Linda Heath
9:30 Break
9:45 The Effects of Management on CWD for Wildlife Habitat-Mariko Yamasaki
10:05 How do Silvicultural Methods Affect Amounts of CWD?-Bill Leak
10:30 Methods for sampling CWD: LIS-Mark Ducey
11:00 Methods for Sampling CWD: The Relascope Connection-Jeff Gove
11:30 Wrap-up with questions and discussion from the morning session.
11:45 Lunch
12:30 Form into field crews of 3-4 individuals and head out for some sampling.
2:30 Data entry and computer processing of field results. 3:30 Final questions and comments.
Adjourn.
The Fox State Forest has excellent facilities for workshops of this kind with a comfortable conference room and demonstration forests right across the road for fieldwork. Enrollment will be limited to 15-20 people to keep the field sampling manageable, so register soon! Please fill out the registration form register.pdf and send it to Ken Desmarais. A nominal registration fee of $20 per person for refreshments and lunch is required.
For more information on Hillsboro and possible accommodations, check out http://www.conknet.com/~hillsboro/. Possible accommodations include. 1. http://www.rosewoodcountryinn.com/ about 20 minutes away ($95-180/night) 2. http://www.colbyhillinn.com/ about 15 minutes away ($95-180/night) 3. 1830 House Motel, 603-478-3135, $65/night about 10 minutes away 4. Henniker Motel, 1-800-328-5344, $70 - $87/night, about 15 minutes away.
We do plan to have this workshop again at other locations if there is demand for it. Please let Jeff Gove or Mark Ducey know if you have any suggestions as to future venues.
Continuing Education Credits: This workshop will be for XX CFE credits through SAF.
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