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cross-laminated timber (CLT) - a revolutionary new type of building material with sought-after sustainability characteristics, according to research by a University of Massachusetts Amherst timber engineer.

The findings, published in the Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering, suggest that these trees—the eastern hemlock and eastern white pine—could support local markets for CLT. The manufacturing of CLT, a type of mass timber used for wall, floor and roof construction, could create jobs, improve rural and forestry economies and support better forestry management, which is a strategy to address climate change, the research says. 

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activities like logging or burning. The researchers found that not only did human disturbance reduce overall tree diversity, it increased the proportion of trees with seeds dispersed by animals as opposed to other mechanisms like wind.

Lisa A. McCauley, a spatial analyst at The Nature Conservancy, explains how quick action to thin out vegetation will actually increase carbon storage in forests by the end of this century.

Read the full article here.

Getahun Mekuria, the minister for innovation and technology, said on Twitter that the nation had planted 353 million trees in the span of 12 hours. 

Read the full article here.

If you have a tree causing problems in your yard, you no longer need a permit to cut it down under a new Florida law. Cities used to require a permit and approval from an arborist, but new state law does away with permits.

But it is not a free-for-all on trees. Under the new state law, homeowners must get an arborist's evaluation saying the tree is dangerous before doing anything.

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Every year, I have folks asking me about trees — specifically, which ones to plant near their homes. The question is valid, because a lot of trees should absolutely not be planted near your house, no matter how pretty or “fast-growing” they are.

When looking to plant a tree near your home, consider its adult size. If it’s going to get big, then its roots are going to get big and they can be pretty unrelenting when they want to go somewhere. Avoid planting oaks, maples or pines.

SEATTLE – Work is underway to chop down trees along I-5 just as birds are settling into their nests. The tree cutting will make way for a new light rail line into Lynnwood, but the timing has riled some wildlife advocates.

Officials with Sound Transit said they have to cut the trees now to meet construction deadlines. However, that work is ramping up just birds head into the peak nesting season when they lay eggs and raise their young.

“It’s unfortunate timing for sure,” said Josh Morris, an urban conservation manager with the Seattle Audubon Society.

Read the full article.

Earth Day Network targets areas of the world most in need of reforestation, including some of the world’s poorest communities; and land degraded by logging, fires, drought, floods, hurricanes, and earthquakes. Our projects also focus on restoring forests in environmentally critical areas such the Amazon rainforest and the Boreal Forest.

Read more about this project here. 

combined use of dendrochronology and historical survey to investigate the effects of societal and demographic changes on forest disturbances and growth dynamics in a neotropical tree species, the Brazil nut tree. The study, led by scientists from the National Institute for Amazonian Research, alongside colleagues from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, shows the influence of human populations and their management practices on the domestication of rainforest landscapes. The researchers used non-destructive sampling, in which small samples are removed from the bark to the center of the trees, and compared tree-ring data from cores of 67 trees. This is the first study of human influence on the growth of trees that extends as far back as 400 years, to pre-colonial times in that region of Brazil. This work also reinforces that pre-colonial populations left important imprints in the Amazon, contributing to changing forest structure and resources through time.

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than a tenth of an inch. It breeds inside trees; pregnant females drill into trunks to create networks of tunnels where they lay their eggs. The beetles also carry a fungus called Fusarium; it infects the tunnels, and when the eggs hatch, the borer larvae eat the fungus.

Unfortunately Fusarium also disrupts the trees’ ability to transport nutrients and water. Holes where the beetle bored into the tree get infected and form oily lesions. Sometimes sugars from the tree’s sap accumulate in a ring around the hole—that’s called a “sugar volcano.” The tree dies, and the wee baby beetles fly off to continue the circle of disgusting life.

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and that’s a bit of a relief.

“It’s better news than the previous few years,” says Randy Moore, regional forester at the U.S. Forest Service.

Wetter weather has slowly improved conditions for thirsty pines, firs and other conifers in the last two years. A previous mortality survey in 2017 found 27 million dead trees. Before that, in 2016, federal scientists counted 62 million.

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world's tree cover actually increased by 2.24 million square kilometers—an area the size of Texas and Alaska combined—over the past 35 years, finds a paper published in the journal Nature. But the research also confirms large-scale loss of the planet's most biodiverse ecosystems, especially tropical forests.

The study, led by Xiao-Peng Song and Matthew Hansen of the University of Maryland, is based on analysis of satellite data from 1982 to 2016. The researchers broke land cover into three categories: tall vegetation consisting of trees of at least 16 feet in height; short vegetation under 16 feet in height including shrubs, grass, and agricultural crops; and "bare ground," including urban areas, sand, tundra, and rock. While the classification may seem simplistic, powerful conclusions can be drawn from the data, including assessing agricultural expansion, climate-driven expansion and contraction of ecosystems, and forest clearing and recovery.

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of traffic this year.

And with supplies tight as demand grows for a limited number of trees planted after the last recession, the centerpiece attraction of the holidays might be tied to car tops a little faster this year.

Cut-and-choose farms and tree lots often bring in Fraser firs from North Carolina to boost their options, but this year the offerings may be limited.

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trees to bloom several months early.

Weathernews, a weather site in Japan, said it had received more than 350 reports this week of emerging cherry blossoms, which typically attract tourists from around the globe in April, when they usually appear.

With few exceptions, the picturesque pink flowers don’t reveal themselves in the fall. But Hiroyuki Wada, an arborist for the Flower Association of Japan, told the public broadcaster NHK that extreme weather had stripped the trees of leaves, which produce a hormone that inhibits the buds from growing. In September, Japan was walloped by Typhoon Jebi, its strongest storm in 25 years.

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that tree species Tipuana tipu have been successfully employed as a marker of atmospheric pollution by heavy metal and other chemical compounds in Sao Paulo, Brazil's biggest metropolis.

This Bolivia-native species commonly known as tipuana tree is ubiquitous in the city. Researchers at the University of São Paulo's Bioscience Institute (IB-USP) and Medical School (FM-USP), in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Campinas (IB-UNICAMP), have considered T. tipu the most suitable tree for measuring environmental pollution levels in São Paulo over the long term by analyzing the chemical composition of tree bark and growth rings.

Tests were carried out in order to compare the performance of three of the most common tree species in the city: privet (Ligustrum sp.), sibipiruna or partridgewood (Caesalpinia pluviosa), and tipuana.

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between 1982 and 2016, reports a new studyin Nature.

Researchers using satellite data tracked the changes in various land covers to find that gains in forest area in the temperate, subtropical, and boreal climatic zones are offsetting declines in the tropics. In addition, forest area is expanding even as areas of bare ground and short vegetation are shrinking. Furthermore, forests in montane regions are expanding as climate warming enables trees to grow higher up on mountains.

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Manchester as part of research project to reduce flooding.

Two studies, backed by United Utilities, are looking into how street trees could also help to improve water quality and boost people's wellbeing.

The utility company said it hopes the studies will provide a more eco-friendly solution to dealing with heavy downpours than building more sewers.

Read more here. 

dispersal of seeds of many terrestrial plants, especially those bearing large fruits ("megafaunal fruits"), which depend on megafauna for spreading their seeds. But as a group, megafauna encompass a diverse range of body sizes and physiology, and the relative contribution of each to seed dispersal for most megafaunal plant species is poorly characterized.

To address this question, the authors tracked fruit consumption, seed dispersal, and seed viability for the forest tree Platymitra macrocarpa, a member of the Annonaceae (custard apple) family, which bears 3"-5" long fruits that are eaten by elephants, sambar deer, bears, and gibbons, among other forest animals. By observing fruiting trees over the fruiting period, sampling dung piles and other sites of deposited seeds, and measuring the rate of germination and growth of deposited seeds, the authors calculated the seed dispersal effectiveness for each megafauna species feeding on the tree's fruit. While elephants consumed only 3% of the available fruit, they were responsible for 37% of the seeds that produced viable seedlings. In contrast, sambar deer consumed 23% of fruit, but accounted for only 17% of seedlings, due in part to much heavier beetle damage done to the seeds they excreted. 

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