I’m in Sacramento today listening to a talk on amphibians and reptiles. It’s part of the program at the 2015 CLFA Spring Conference. CLFA is the California Licensed Foresters Association.
Continuing education is important to keeping up on new developments, rules and news involving California forestry. Personally, the most valuable part of the meeting is a chance to visit with friends and fellow professionals to catch up on what’s been going on.
The theme for today is all about wildlife, very interesting stuff. Foresters deal with wildlife issues every day. Often, we are the eyes and ears for the biologist. The forest management decisions we make affect wildlife and this information is vital in our process.
It’s the last presentation before lunch. I’m looking forward to that!
THE FORESTER ARTIST 
Tim,
Did you call in sick and they sent a substitute? 😉
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Maybe I should use that little face for my gravatar!!
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I agree wholeheartedly. Continual life-long learning keeps us engaged and fully participating in the world around us. I love following your blog! 🙂
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Thank you! I agree, we are never too old to learn something new.
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We’re now listening to a talk on big eared bats.
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Wish I could attend and meet with you and your peers! Have a great weekend, best regards – Mark
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Thanks Mark. You would probably enjoy it. And after the last session I’d buy you a beer.
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I wished I had paid attention more in school as a youngster. I’m making up for it now by going, tho. Love learning now. Those long eared bats are in danger, I’ve read. 😯
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Good for you for going back now. It’s never to late to pursue your bliss.
The long eared bats have become a species of concern for our forest operations. We were learning what type of roost trees (hibernacula) to look for and what protection measures should be required. There are still lots of unknowns as to how this will be done.
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You have always come across as someone who really cares about wildlife and loves it and the fact that you are still willing to learn new stuff and ideas only reinforces that impression. One question though, while you are harvesting timber from one area are you planting elsewhere, planning ahead? I mean it is a resource that cannot be renewed in a day. 🙂
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Thank you Malvika, I appreciate you comment.
When harvesting all the trees in one area, our goal is to replant by the following spring. Typically, If we know that we will be clearing a hundred acres, we will sow enough seedlings in the same year to replant it. Then in the spring the seedlings are ready to be planted.
We plan our harvests decades in advance. When we log in a watershed we will wait 10 years before we will log in that watershed again. That gives the logging units time to green up. The goal is to harvest the entire watershed, excluding the stream zones, over a period of 70 to 80 years. This way we always have trees of all sizes spread across the landscape. Then we can provide for diverse wildlife habitat, while maintaining a sustained yield of forest products.
Not all of our harvest remove all the tree in a given area. When we thin trees we don’t replant because the goal is to space out the trees just like you would in your garden.
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Wow! Thank you for explaining that.
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Happy to do so. I hope I answered your question. ☺️
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Of course! I am pleased that you think and plan so far ahead. I can’t imagine that happening in our country.
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I think that over time they will.
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It is important to keep up. I am sure government rules change rather regularly. Did your coworker have to get a ticket too or was that just a fun photo?
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Yes, the rules change constantly. We have to keep up or we can’t get plans approved. As for my little buddy, that was Kinta from last year. No ticket necessary when your that cute.
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