Monthly Archives: May 2009

Timber’s Term of the Week: Biltmore Stick

Biltmore Stick n A ruler that is held at prescribed distances from the body. The stick’s four faces are scribed with lines and numbers. These lines and numbers are used to estimate tree diameter and tree height, and ultimately tree volume. Synonyms: none known to the author. Biltmore Sticks date back to the mid-18th centuryContinue reading “Timber’s Term of the Week: Biltmore Stick”

Timber's Term of the Week: Biltmore Stick

Biltmore Stick n A ruler that is held at prescribed distances from the body. The stick’s four faces are scribed with lines and numbers. These lines and numbers are used to estimate tree diameter and tree height, and ultimately tree volume. Synonyms: none known to the author. Biltmore Sticks date back to the mid-18th centuryContinue reading “Timber's Term of the Week: Biltmore Stick”

Timber’s Term of the Week: Bucking

Bucking V The process of cutting a felled tree into logs. A bucker measures the downed tree while limbing and then cuts the tree into logs for transport. He will try to maximize the log’s net volume since, as a busheler, he’s paid by what the scaler says in it. References: University of Missouri Extension,Continue reading “Timber’s Term of the Week: Bucking”

Draft #2-Timberati on the Graveyard Shift

Lee Lofland over at the Graveyard Shift has asked if I’d like to do a guest column. Lee’s a retired detective who’s “solved cases in areas including narcotics, homicide, rape, murder-for-hire, robbery, and ritualistic and occult crimes. He worked as an undercover officer for several jurisdictions, and he even spent a few years as aContinue reading “Draft #2-Timberati on the Graveyard Shift”

Wildfires and CO2

I have read a number of articles, blog posts, op-eds, etc., declaring that timber harvesting is not the answer to the problem–timber harvesting is the problem. Well the old axiom about a picture holds,  a picture is worth a thousand words. With that in mind, check out Tom Knudson’s article, Fire, climate and thinning overContinue reading “Wildfires and CO2”

Timber’s Term of the Week: Forest

Forest noun Definition: Land spanning more than 0.5 hectares (just over an acre – ed.) with trees higher than 5 meters (just over 16 feet – ed.) and a canopy cover of more than 10 percent, or trees able to reach these thresholds in situ. It does not include land that is predominantly under agriculturalContinue reading “Timber’s Term of the Week: Forest”

Timber's Term of the Week: Forest

Forest noun Definition: Land spanning more than 0.5 hectares (just over an acre – ed.) with trees higher than 5 meters (just over 16 feet – ed.) and a canopy cover of more than 10 percent, or trees able to reach these thresholds in situ. It does not include land that is predominantly under agriculturalContinue reading “Timber's Term of the Week: Forest”

Anthropogenic Deforestation

Anthropogenic (caused by humans) deforestation is the conversion of land use from forest to another designation. Logging, commercial or otherwise, doesn’t equal deforestation. It is what the land becomes that is the issue. Often, the conversion is to an agricultural use, e.g., the conversion of Amazonian rainforest to soy, vineyards, or rangeland. Deforestation, what isContinue reading “Anthropogenic Deforestation”

2009 Fire Season Outlook for Western US

Northern California Again Poised to Add Millions of Tons of Carbon Dioxide to the Atmosphere Due to Wildfires Northern California saw nearly a million acres burned last summer. This year may see a repeat of last season. That assessment comes the National Interagency Fire Center‘s (NIFC) Predictive Services, which, in its assessment, evaluated the conditionContinue reading “2009 Fire Season Outlook for Western US”

Ersatz Coffee

As you may know, I’m supposed to cut down on my coffee drinking. I’ve written about it before, here (Coffee East of Java), here (Coffee, East of Java, Part Deux), and here (Teecino, Not Quite Coffee). Well, I have found something that tastes sorta, kinda, like instant coffee: Inka Naturalis, an instant beverage made fromContinue reading “Ersatz Coffee”