Intermountain SAF News Items
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Regional and National Issues and Events
Regional and National news may be found by visiting SAF's National home page at: www.safnet.org.
thE-forester: The National Office mails an email newsletter, thE-forester, to subscribing SAF members.
Forest Policy Updates: Each week the Legislature is in session, SAF's National Policy staff compiles a synopsis of information relating to forestry and natural resources.
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INTERMOUNTAIN SAF NEWSLETTERS
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MEETING ARTICLES AND PHOTOS
- April 2012: Avalanche Ecology, Logan, Utah.
- June 2011: 2011 Utah Biomass Demonstration Day slide show, Beaver, Utah. (pdf,
no audio, 2.7mb)
Stand-alone executabe with auto: Audio Version (5.8mb)
Screen saver with audio: Screen Saver Version (5.8mb)
Power Point Show with audio: PPSX format (8.1mb, zip file for download) - October 2010: Utah Biomass Demonstration Day, Beaver, Utah
- August 2010: Resource Management in South Central Utah: Boulder Mountain and the Henry Mountains, Torrey, Utah Photos
- April 2010: Genetics of Ponderosa Pine: A West-Wide Study of Isolated Populations, Salt Lake City, Utah
- March 2010: Climate Change, Bioenergy and Sustaining the Forests of Idaho and Montana, Boise, Idaho
- August 2009: Great Basin Fire History / Site visit to Juniper Pellet, Baker and Ely, Nevada
- May 2009: Fire Use in Bryce Canyon National Park, Bryce, Utah
- September 2008: Fire on the North Rim, Jacob Lake, Arizona
- September 2008: Seventh Annual Timber Harvest Tour, Richfield, Utah
- August 2008: A Day in the Woods with Dr. Jim Long, Logan, Utah
- May 2008: Fire
as a Vegetation Management Tool
(post-treatment follow-up to the May 2007 meeting), Bryce, Utah
Utah Forest News article on the Bryce meeting - June 2007: Mountain Pine Beetle Mortality and Wildfire Risk in the Stanley Valley, Stanley, Idaho
- May 2007: Vegetation Management in Bryce Canyon National Park and Dixie National Forest, Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah
- May 2005: Ecological Restoration of Southwest Ponderosa Pine and Pinyon-Juniper Ecosystems, St. George, Utah
- October 2003: Mechanical Fuels Treatment Demonstration, Kamas, Utah
- June 2002: New Directions in Silviculture and Watershed Mangement, Garden City, Utah
- November 2000: Lynx Workshop, Big Piney, Wyoming
- May 2000: Tour of Kennecott Copper, Magna, Utah
- April 2000: "Centennial Celebration," Intermountain SAF Annual Meeting, Boise, Idaho
View MEETING SCHEDULES AND AGENDAS - Prior Years
View photo slide show of some of Intermountain SAF's past meetings: https://skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?cid=11dca2b8ac95589e&resid=11DCA2B8AC95589E!136&parid=root
UTAH FOREST NEWS,
An index of the periodic newsletter designed for professional and
non-professionals alike. Published by the Forestry Extension Service of
AWARDS AND RECOGNITION
The Society of American Foresters recognizes and honors members who
have performed service to the forestry profession and to the Society through
various Awards. A list of Intermountain SAF member
awards is available through this link.
IMSAF POSITION STATEMENTS
CURRENT
MANAGEMENT OF
PINYON-JUNIPER “WOODLAND” ECOSYSTEMS
A Position of the Intermountain Society of American Foresters. Adopted on February 15,
2013. This position statement will remain in effect for 10 years, unless
after substantial review, the Intermountain SAF Executive Committee decides
otherwise.
Restoring
and Maintaining Resilient Landscapes via Active Vegetation Management
A joint position statement of the Inland Empire and Intermountain Societies, Society of American Foresters, August 2011 as input to the National Cohesive Fire Management Planning Strategy. This position will expire August 2, 2016 unless renewed by the joint Executive Committees. Link to the Cohesive Fire Management Planning report: http://www.forestsandrangelands.gov/strategy/index.shtml
PAST
POSITION STATEMENT OF THE
IDAHO CHAPTERS OF THE SOCIETY OF AMERICAN FORESTERS: IDAHO ROADLESS RULE,
April 2008
Expired April 4, 2009.
PILOT PROJECTS
CAN TEST ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES FOR MANAGING FEDERAL LANDS
A joint position statement of the Inland Empire and Intermountain Societies,
Society of American Foresters, December 2002
Expired
December 23, 2007.
SAF TESTIFIES BEFORE CONGRESS
These excerpts provide a historical perspective of the Intermountain Society from 1944 to 2000.
Theodore
W. Daniel, 96, died on Friday, July 30, 2004, in
IMSAF PROVIDES FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE TO 4-H FORESTRY CLUB
August 2006
Utah Chapter SAF recently provided $500 and the Intermountain Section SAF provided $250 to the Emery County, Utah 4H Forestry team to help defray travel expenses for their participation in the National Forestry Contest in Weston, West Virginia on July 23-27. This was the first time that Utah was represented at this event.
Gaylene Conder, Extension secretary in Emery County and contact for the Utah 4H Forestry Team, said it was a "great experience, they learned a lot, now they know what to study, the kids gained friends for life, and many came back using southern drawls."
Fifteen teams were present, mostly from the South, the Utah team loved the Arkansas and Tennessee teams, and want to continue this next year. Darren McAvoy offered some coaching help for the next year's team.
More information on this event is available @ http://extension.usu.edu/forestry/Kids/4-H.htm.
HANDBOOK HELPS
AT-RISK COMMUNITIES BETTER PREPARE FOR WILDFIRES - SAF News Release
A coalition of organizations concerned about protecting
communities from catastrophic wildfires has released a step-by-step handbook
that guides local communities in wildfire prone areas to better prepare and
reduce the future risks of catastrophic wildfires. The handbook, developed
jointly by the Society of American Foresters, the National Association of State
Foresters (NASF), the National Association of Counties (NACo),
the Western Governors’ Association (WGA), and the Communities Committee of the
Seventh American Forest Congress, and endorsed by the Southern Governors' Association, offers a detailed description of
how to create a community wildfire protection plan as allowed by the Healthy
Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (HFRA).
For a copy of the handbook, titled “Preparing a Community
Wildfire Protection Plan: A Handbook for Wildland-Urban Interface Communities”
and other resources for developing community wildfire protection plans, visit
the SAF website http://www.safnet.org/policyandpress/cwpp.cfm
Please keep your information on file with SAF up-to-date.
Provide changes to:
Changing Demographics in Forestry
Enrollments at
Terry L. Sharik, Head, Department of Forest Resources,
August 2000
Changes in our undergraduate enrollments since 1988 reflect changing demands on the part of our students and changes in the forestry and related natural resource professions in general. In 1988, we enrolled 65 undergraduates in three degree programs, i.e., Forestry (44), Recreation Resource Management (13), and Environmental Studies (8). By 1999, our enrollment had increased to 162 students in these same three degree programs, with numbers at 48, 22, and 92, respectively. These data indicate that Forestry enrollments have remained relatively flat over this 12-year period while enrollments in Environmental Studies have increased dramatically. Put another way, Forestry went from representing two-thirds of our enrollment in 1988 to accounting for less than a third at the present, while Environmental Studies jumped from 12 to 57 percent over the same period.
These shifts in enrollment call into question the
allocation of resources among our degree programs. It is interesting to note
that we have 9 required courses at the upperclass
level in our Forestry major which are required of no other major in the College
of Natural Resources and are taken by few students outside the Forestry major
(with the exception of the Fire Management course, FR 4520). Consequently
enrollments are low, averaging about 12 students per academic year. In
contrast, we have no courses required by Environmental Studies students that
are not required of most other students in the College, and thus enrollments in
these courses are much larger (on the order of 50-100 students). If we assume
that student/faculty ratio is a good indicator of the quality of education,
then we may conclude from this analysis that Forestry students receive a very
high quality education relative to other majors in our department, and indeed
the college. Moreover, they receive this quality at a very low cost, USU
ranking second from the bottom nationally in terms of undergraduate tuition
among research universities in the
The above sorts of inequities and inefficiencies,
coupled with a desire to enhance the overall quality of education for our undergraduates,
prompted the
Clearly our proposed undergraduate education model has strong implications for accreditation of our undergraduate Forestry degree program. Accreditation aside, some on our faculty are deeply concerned that the loss of traditional degrees will render our students unemployable. However, at the same time, SAF is undergoing a review of its accreditation standards. It will be interesting to see what the accredited forestry degree program will look like at the beginning of the next millennium, if indeed there is such a degree program.
Educational Programs and Volunteer Foresters
During the 1999-2000 school year the SAF National
Office participated in an educational mailing to elementary school teachers in
the Intermountain area, offering a copy of our Centennial video
"Foresters: Growing Forests for Our Future." SAF offered to
arrange for a professional forester to visit the classroom to show the 15-minute
video and engage students in a discussion about natural resource management.
SAF was overwhelmed by requests and recruited the help of some generous member
and non-member foresters. Response from the teachers and students was
highly favorable and rewarding, including "thank
you" letters from many of the
students. SAF would like to extend thanks to the following
foresters who donated their time to participate in this educational program:
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Doug Austin |
Bob Earl |
Rob Mrowka |
John Shaw |
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Brad Exton |
Doug Page |
Bob Davis |
Reese Pope |
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Henry Lachowski |
Jeannie Higgins |
Barbara Gardner |
Ron Larsen |
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Randy Kaufman |
Gary Cornell |
Clark Fleege |
Morris Huffman |
Founding Member of Greenpeace Speaks Out for
Sustainable Forestry
Dr. Patrick Moore heads Greenspirit,
Forests of Discord
SAF has recently published a new booklet concerning
controversies surrounding the management of public lands entitled Forests
of Discord. ". . . the language that governs the public lands is
sometimes contradictory, and clear direction about priorities is lacking.
. . . Multiple use has become an engine of
conflict that pits one interest group against another and denies land managers
a clear mandate." Click here to view the Executive Summary (pdf format, order form attached).
MacCleery Paper on Ecological Sustainability and Consumption
Friends of IMSAF
Intermountain SAF has established "IMSAF Friends" for non-members who
wish to be involved in meetings and functions. Friends receive meeting
announcements and are welcome to participate in Chapter functions. Friends do
not receive SAF national publications, nor do they have voting or
office-holding privileges, and there are no educational or professional
requirements for SAF Friends (these items are associated with membership).
Friends may learn of meeting schedules at no cost via the Intermountain SAF Web
page or via email. To receive postal notification, Friends pay a nominal fee of
$5/year, which is used to cover announcement and newsletter publication and
postage. You may inquire with any of the SAF Officers
if interested in becoming a SAF Friend.