Important News! |
||||||||||
Massachusetts Forest Futures Visioning Process as developed by DCR Where do we stand today? April 15, 2011
Massachusetts Wood Producers Association Fall Newsletter
Massachusetts Wood Producers Association letter to Secretary of Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs Rick Sullivan
Revitalizing the Massachusetts Forest
Industry and Private Working Forests: A model for making forestry viable in
urbanizing states in the 21st century.
 US
Maple Season Cut Short by Unusual Warm Weather
The maple sugaring season across the northern United States, including New England, has been cut short this year by an extended period of warm weather in mid March that saw temperatures rise into the 70’s and 80’s. The shortened season has cut production by anywhere from 40 to 80 percent. Maple trees generate the most sap when cool days are followed by freezing nights. If the weather warms up too soon, the tree buds swell, and collection stops because hormones produced in the trees spoil the sap’s flavor. Production varied state by state. In Vermont, the largest producing state, most sugarers use vacuum systems that draw sap from trees, and production was estimated to be about 60 percent of 2011. Smaller producers without expensive vacuum systems are estimated to have only had 25 percent of a normal crop. In New York, production is estimated to be about 60- 70 percent of the 2011 crop. Even though production was low, syrup quality was high, according to an Associated Press story, and because 2011 was a bumper year, with 2.8 million gallons of syrup produced nationally, prices are unlikely to rise much due to the backlog of 2011 syrup still available.
|
 Be Careful – Forest Fire Danger Continues Very High Due to little precipitation, high winds and large amounts of flammable debris, the danger of wildfires in Massachusetts continues to be extremely high. Sunny dry weather with low humidity and strong winds have resulted in tinder dry conditions in most woodlands. Multiple fires have occurred in the past week and multiple Red Flag warnings have been issued from southern New England to Virginia and Kentucky. A 1,000 acre wildfire on New York’s Long Island destroyed 3 buildings and injured three firefighters seriously.
On April 4th, a large wildlife broke out in a tornado-ravaged woodland in Brimfield. The fire which took nearly a day to extinguish burned 52 acres of woodland and forced the evacuation of local homes in the Paige Hill area. Fire control efforts were hampered by the high volumes of downed trees and ultimately only succeeded after bulldozers cleared fire lanes through the downed timber to allow a fire break to be established. The fire was finally extinguished by the efforts of 30 fire departments from Massachusetts and Connecticut, as well as water drops by helicopters from the National Guard.
Other fires have burned 12 acres at Lynn Woods Reservation and 5 acres in Wendell State Forest. Serious fires have also been reported in Milford, Pembroke, Worcester, and Chicopee in the past week. The dry conditions have resulted in local suspensions of the seasonal open burning season that normally ends May 1st until rainfall lessens the fire danger. No significant rainfall is likely for at least a week, forecasters warn.
The problems fire crews had with downed trees while trying to control the Brimfield fire has resulted in a partial reversal of DCR policy concerning the 600 acres of tornado blowdown at Brimfield State Forest. Work crews have begun clearing 9,000 blown down trees at the state forest to create 100 foot wide fire breaks to help emergency crews deal with possible fires. Previous DCR policy had only opened access roads into the forest without cleaning up substantial volumes of the downed trees.
Following the October snowstorm that damaged many trees in the Connecticut Valley and Worcester County, the Massachusetts Wood Producers Association wrote Governor Patrick urging him to have DCR begin salvage operations on state lands where substantial amounts of trees were damaged by the October storms or June tornadoes. They warned that the high volumes of downed trees would create an excessive fire danger this spring and failing to undertake prompt salvage would result in the value of the timber deteriorating to the point where the state would have to pay for the cleanup, rather than have the timber generate income for the state.
|
|||||||||
