Site Owner – Page 101 – Climate, Forests & Woodlands

Military Family Makes Healthy Eating a Priority: Meet Rocio and Her Family

Rocio and her family sit down to enjoy a healthy dinner together. Eating meals together as a family is one of her MyPlate, MyWins healthy eating solutions.

Making healthy meal choices for your family, especially when you’re on the go like Rocio and her military family, can be rewarding and fun if you have the right tools. The MyPlate, MyWins video: Meet Rocio features a real-life military family sharing their tips for success. Rocio shows how she and her husband teach their four boys the value of nutrition by preparing meals that feed their sons’ minds and bodies.

Rocio plans ahead and gets the kids involved in the dinner process. Not only do they enjoy being involved in the meal preparation, but it helps them to know what they are eating, and teaches them the value of nutrition and eating together.

This year, the MyPlate, MyWins video series has featured families sharing their real-life solutions for incorporating healthy eating into their busy lives.

Rocio teaches her sons about healthy eating by creating a fun family environment when preparing foods together.

Check out Rocio’s Healthy Eating Solutions:

Make whole-wheat pancakes, waffles, or crepes
Create a weekly menu board
Get the whole family involved in meal preparation
Eat meals together as a family

At MyPlate, MyWins for Families, you will find lots of practical tips, recipes, menu ideas and activities which fit a busy lifestyle. Why not take a peek and try something new!

For more healthy eating tips and resources for families, visit ChooseMyPlate.gov/Families, follow MyPlate on Facebook and Twitter, and sign up for email updates. And stay tuned… more MyPlate, MyWins videos are on their way!

Family time can be fun time. Rocio’s family spends time being active and having fun in this MyPlate, MyWins video.

Corporate Partner Profile: Whole Foods Market

November 1st, 2016|Tags: corporate partners|0 Comments

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Originally published in American Forests magazine, Vol. 122, No. 3

Whole Foods Market® and American Forests first partnered last December to plant a tree for every Christmas tree sold in Whole Foods Market stores in the U.S. and Canada. With sleigh bells jingling and much merriment, more than 70,000 trees were purchased, allowing the same number to be planted by American Forests this year. Among the planting locations chosen for the trees were Gunnison Ranger District, Colo.; Lassen National Forest, Calif.; Rio Grande National Forest, Colo.; Lillooet, British Columbia, Canada; the Ichetucknee Springs State Park and Silver Springs State Park, Fla.; and South Quay Sandhills and Chub Sandhill State Natural Area Preserves, Va.

A number of the trees were planted in Gunnison Ranger District in southwestern and south-central Colorado, where since 2010, ravages of the spruce beetle epidemic have killed nearly all of the spruce trees that are roughly more than five years old. The road that runs through the former forest, Highway 149, also known as the Silver Thread Scenic Byway, was once dubbed the “green tunnel” because of its towering spruce trees. The beetle outbreak, and its effects, have now created a tragically “brown tunnel” that mars the landscape. The damage has created much concern in local communities and governments about the potential for large-scale wildfires. After bearing witness to the nearby 2013 West Fork Fire Complex that burned more than 100,000 acres, their worry is based on experience.

And, it’s not just people who have been affected. The area is designated as a habitat corridor for the Canada lynx, a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act that was virtually gone from the landscape in Colorado in the 20th century, but has been successfully reintroduced. Thanks to Whole Foods Market and their customers, this beautiful creature will again have spruce forests in this region in which to live, hunt and play.

American Forests is excited to be working with Whole Foods Market again this holiday season to plant a tree in 2017 for every one sold. Please consider how much the forests will appreciate your gift if you get your Christmas tree at a Whole Foods Market store.

The post Corporate Partner Profile: Whole Foods Market appeared first on American Forests.

In Conversation with #WomeninAg: Katina Hanson

Katina Hanson, Chief of Staff to the Associate Administrator for Policy and Programs for the Farm Service Agency

Every month, USDA shares the story of a woman in agriculture who is leading the industry and helping other women succeed along the way. This month, we hear from USDA’s own Katina Hanson, Chief of Staff to the Associate Administrator for Policy and Programs at the Farm Service Agency (FSA). In addition to her duties as Chief of Staff, Katina led the successful implementation of the Biofuel Infrastructure Partnership (BIP), a multimillion dollar investment to make renewable fuels more available to consumers across the country. She is also an active member of USDA’s Women in Ag network, serving as co-chair of the FSA chapter and on the USDA Women in Ag Executive Committee. She has a Bachelor of Science in Rangeland Ecology & Management from Texas A&M University and a Master of Environmental Management from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Katina grew up on the Gulf Coast of Texas, living on a sailboat until she was 6 and later in a house located between two bayous.

1. Tell us about your background. How did you end up at USDA?

I chose an ag major in college in part because of the time I spent on my uncle’s farm, visiting the cows. I took some time off to volunteer with AmeriCorps, and then spent about 7 years in Hawaii working on water quality and broader conservation issues where I made my entrance into USDA in the Natural Resources Conservation Service Pacific Islands area office. It was an amazing job, and I probably would have stayed there, but moving to D.C. was the best decision for me and my family and allowed me to pursue my dream of impacting national policy.

I accepted a job with FSA in their Conservation and Environmental Programs Division, and over the course of about 10 years, I worked my way up through the organization to my current position as Chief of Staff to the Associate Administrator for Policy and Programs, who oversees farm programs, farm loan programs, commodity operations and external affairs.

2. What does a typical day look like for you?

As a working mom, I am always juggling work and home life. Usually, my day starts by taking at least one of my 2 children to school. My job at FSA is never dull. I help ensure that all of our policies and programs are working well and troubleshoot the most difficult issues. I still often sit in meetings where I am the only woman in the room and it’s exciting to see that some of those meetings have become more diverse over the years. I honestly never know how my day will end up. Sometimes I stay late to help ensure agency and department priorities are on track, and other days, I rush out early to pick up the kids or make an important family event.

3. We’re starting to see more and more renewable fuel options available across the country thanks in part to the Biofuel Infrastructure Partnership. What was your role in getting that program off the ground?

I have been involved with the Biofuel Infrastructure Partnership (BIP) since its infancy. I was very nervous about taking on the responsibility as Team Lead because I was already extremely busy, but I took a leap of faith and agreed to lead the effort for the Agency. I oversaw the implementation of the project, including streamlining the review process, balancing risk and helping coordinate the communication of partnership results while also fulfilling my duties as Chief of Staff to our Associate Administrator.

Together, our team not only provided $100 million in grant funds but also leveraged about $120 million from state and private sources. Infrastructure has already been built under this program and continues to grow, providing a foundation for the future of the ethanol market in this country. This work could not have been done without the strong team of extraordinary individuals. Many men and women helped make the partnership a success, but I would regret it with this audience if I didn’t mention at least some of the incredible women that have helped make this partnership a success, including Acting FSA Energy Advisor Kelly Novak, Program Specialist Jennifer Fiser, Regulatory Review Director Deirdre Holder, and Attorney Maureen James.

4. How did you get involved in the Women in Ag initiative at USDA?

My involvement in USDA Women in Ag began from a forwarded email. After one meeting, I was hooked. Watching Former Deputy Secretary Harden speak so passionately about women in agriculture and how we can support each other was so inspiring. I also quickly became a strong supporter of our agency Women in Ag chapter.

5. Who are your role models?

My mother, Dr. Patricia Casey, has been the strongest role model in my life. She worked her way up from a teacher to a principal and at the age of 50 went back to earn her doctorate in educational administration and is a professor to this day (even after retirement). She taught me that I could be whatever I wanted in life as long as I worked hard, and she also taught me that I had a responsibility to use my gifts to help others. She led by example, working multiple jobs, including teaching English as a second language classes and is always willing to help anyone who needed help.

Also, in recent years I have been highly influenced by Sheryl Sandberg and her book Lean In.

6. What advice do you have for your fellow women in ag, both here at USDA and all across the globe?

First, I have to say that I am honored to provide advice to such an amazing group of women. I truly believe that it is so important that we all step forward with our best ideas and “take a seat at the table”. We also need to continue to work to support each other in our careers and work to achieve shared goals together rather than tearing each other down. Take chances and don’t ever give up. I am a rape survivor and in my darkest days could never have anticipated the joy and success that would happen for me later in life. Hang in there!

Louisiana’s Secret Ingredient

Judges deliberating during the Central Louisiana Farm to School Iron Chef Competition

Judges deliberate during the Central Louisiana Farm to School Iron Chef Competition.

On October 22, the newest celebrity chefs of Alexandria, La. gathered at the Inglewood Farm’s Harvest Barn Market to celebrate National Farm to School Month. Their purpose: emerge victorious from the Farm to School Iron Chef Competition.

This competition challenged contestants to create a dish using a “secret ingredient,” in this case sweet potatoes – a fall favorite and regional staple. Each of the four teams sourced sweet potatoes from local farmers in central Louisiana. Students worked alongside parents and teachers to prepare and present their dishes at the market on the day of the competition. The event was organized by the Central Louisiana Economic Development Alliance (CLEDA). Consisting of economic development entities from ten parishes across Louisiana, CLEDA’s mission is to help people prosper in vibrant, thriving communities.

The morning of the event, teams assembled to present their culinary creations to a panel of judges. The panel included representatives from the local school district, local restaurant industry and university community. Judges rated the dishes on taste, presentation and spirit. And spirit was not in short supply, as students proudly described the ingredients and care they put into planning and cooking each recipe. A crowd of supporters from the adjacent farmers market looked on while the judges sampled and deliberated. The grand prize team will have their dish featured on the menu at a local restaurant.

The commitment to growing farm to school in Louisiana runs deep. According to the USDA Farm to School Census, in school year 2013-2014 schools across Louisiana purchased more than $10 million in local food from farmers, ranchers, fishermen and food processors and manufacturers. Thirty-one percent of school districts report that they will buy even more local foods in future school years.

Serving that need, the Central Louisiana Farm-to-School Taskforce plans to help connect schools with resources on hands-on nutrition education, school garden development and incorporating food from local farmers into school meals. The Taskforce is part of the Central Louisiana Local Foods Initiative, a community effort that aims to strengthen Central Louisiana’s local foods economy, while increasing access to fresh foods for all the region’s residents.

If the number of people gathered at the farmers market to celebrate local food and support healthy kids is any indication, farm to school has a bright future in central Louisiana!

Don’t forget, we are currently accepting applications for the Farm to School Grant Program. USDA is committed to bringing more local food into school meals, promoting healthy eating habits and expanding markets for American farmers and producers. To best support that commitment, the USDA Farm to School Grant Program assists eligible entities in implementing farm to school programs that improve access to local foods in eligible schools.

Tuning in to climate models

There is an interesting news article ($) in Science this week by Paul Voosen on the increasing amount of transparency on climate model tuning. (Full disclosure, I spoke to him a couple of times for this article and I’m working on tuning description paper for the US climate modeling centers). The main points of the article are worth highlighting here, even if a few of the characterizations are slightly off.

The basic thrust of the article is that climate modeling groups are making significant efforts to increase the transparency and availability of model tuning processes for the next round of intercomparisons (CMIP6). This partly stems from a paper from the MPI-Hamburg group (Mauritsen et al, 2012), which was perhaps the first article to concentrate solely on the tuning process and the impact that it has on important behaviour of the model (such as it’s sensitivity to increasing CO₂). That isn’t to say that details of tunings were not discussed previously, but the tendency was to describe them briefly in the model description papers (such as Schmidt et al. (2006) for the GISS model). Some discussion has appeared in IPCC reports too (h/t Gareth Jones), but not in much depth. Thus useful information was hard to collate and compare across all model groups, and it turns out that matters.

For instance, if some analyses of the model ensemble tries to weight models based on some their skill compared to observations, it is obviously important to know whether a model group tuned their model to achieve a good result or whether it arose naturally from the the basic physics. In a more general sense this relates to whether “data accommodation” improves a model predictive skill or not. This is quite subtle though – weather forecast models obviously do better if they have initial conditions that are closer to the observations, and one might argue that for particular climate model predictions that are strongly dependent on the base climatology (such as for Arctic sea ice) tuning to the climatology will be worthwhile. The nature of the tuning also matters: allowing an uncertain parameter to vary within reasonable bounds and picking the value that gives the best result, is quite different to inserting completely artificial fluxes to correct for biases. Both have been done historically, but the latter is now much rarer.

A recent summary paper in BAMS (Hourdin et al., 2016) discussed current practices and gave results from a survey of the modeling groups. In that survey, it was almost universal that groups tuned for radiation balance at the top of the atmosphere (usually by adjusting uncertain cloud parameters), but there is a split on pratices like using flux corrections (2/3rds of groups disagreed with that). This figure gives some more details:

Summary results on tuning practices from the survey of CMIP5 modeling groups published in Hourdin et al. (2016).

The Science article though does make some claims that I don’t think are correct. I assume these are statements that are paraphrases from scientists that the writer talked to, but they would have been better as quotes, as opposed to generalisations. For instance, the article claims that

“… climate modelers [will now] openly discuss and document tuning in ways that they had long avoided, fearing criticism by climate skeptics.
…
The taboo reflected fears that climate contrarians would use the practice of tuning to seed doubt about models— and, by extension, the reality of human driven warming. “The community became defensive,” [Bjorn] Stevens says. “It was afraid of talking about things that they thought could be unfairly used against them.”

This is, I think, demonstrably untrue, since tuning has been discussed widely in papers including here on RealClimate. Perhaps it does reflect some people’s opinion, but it is not true generally.

The targets for tuning are vary across groups, and again, it matters which you pick. Tuning to the seasonal cycle, or to the climatological average, or to the variance of some field – which can be well characterised from observations, is different to tuning to a transient change of over time – which is often less well known. Indeed, many groups specifically leave transient changes out of their tuning procedures in order to maintain those trends for out-of-sample evaluation of the model (approximately half the groups according to the Hourdin et al survey).

The article says something a little ambiguous on this:

Indeed, whether climate scientists like to admit it or not, nearly every model has been calibrated precisely to the 20th century climate records—otherwise it would have ended up in the trash. “It’s fair to say all models have tuned it,” says Isaac Held.

Does that mean the global mean surface temperature trends over the 20th Century, or just that some 20th Century data is used? And what does ‘precisely’ mean in this context? The spread of 20th Century trends (1900-1999) in the CMIP5 simulations [0.25,1.17]ºC is clearly too broad to be the result of precisely tuning anything! On a similar issue, the article contains an example of the MPI-Hamburg model being tuned to avoid a 7ºC sensitivity. That is probably justified since there is plenty of evidence to rule out such a high value, but tuning to a specific value (albeit within the nominal range of 2 to 4.5ºC) is not justified. My experience is that most groups do not ‘precisely’ tune their models to 20th Century trends or climate sensitivity, but given this example and the Hourdin results, more clarity on exactly what is done (whether explicitly or implicitly) is needed.

One odd comment relates the UK Met Office/Hadley Centre models:

Proprietary concerns also get in the way. For example, the United Kingdom’s Met Office sells weather forecasts driven by its climate model. Disclosing too much about its code could encourage copycats and jeopardize its business.

It would be worrying if the centers didn’t discuss tuning in the science literature through fear of commercial rivals, and I don’t think this really characterises the Hadley Centre position. Some groups code’s (incl. the Hadley Center) are however restricted for various reasons, though I personally see that as an unsustainable position in the long-term if groups want to partake in international model intercomparisons that will be used for public policy.

The article ends up on an interesting note:

Daniel Williamson, a statistician at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom, says that centers should submit multiple versions of their models for comparison, each representing a different tuning strategy. The current method obscures uncertainty and inhibits improvement, he says. “Once people start being open, we can do it better.”

I think this is exactly right. We should be using alternate tunings to expand the representation of structural uncertainty in the ensemble, and I hope many of the groups will take this opportunity to do so.

References

T. Mauritsen, B. Stevens, E. Roeckner, T. Crueger, M. Esch, M. Giorgetta, H. Haak, J. Jungclaus, D. Klocke, D. Matei, U. Mikolajewicz, D. Notz, R. Pincus, H. Schmidt, and L. Tomassini, “Tuning the climate of a global model”, Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, vol. 4, pp. n/a-n/a, 2012. http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2012MS000154
G.A. Schmidt, R. Ruedy, J.E. Hansen, I. Aleinov, N. Bell, M. Bauer, S. Bauer, B. Cairns, V. Canuto, Y. Cheng, A. Del Genio, G. Faluvegi, A.D. Friend, T.M. Hall, Y. Hu, M. Kelley, N.Y. Kiang, D. Koch, A.A. Lacis, J. Lerner, K.K. Lo, R.L. Miller, L. Nazarenko, V. Oinas, J. Perlwitz, J. Perlwitz, D. Rind, A. Romanou, G.L. Russell, M. Sato, D.T. Shindell, P.H. Stone, S. Sun, N. Tausnev, D. Thresher, and M. Yao, “Present-Day Atmospheric Simulations Using GISS ModelE: Comparison to In Situ, Satellite, and Reanalysis Data”, Journal of Climate, vol. 19, pp. 153-192, 2006. http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/JCLI3612.1
F. Hourdin, T. Mauritsen, A. Gettelman, J. Golaz, V. Balaji, Q. Duan, D. Folini, D. Ji, D. Klocke, Y. Qian, F. Rauser, C. Rio, L. Tomassini, M. Watanabe, and D. Williamson, “The art and science of climate model tuning”, Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 2016. http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-15-00135.1

Forest Digest — Week of October 24, 2016

October 28th, 2016|Tags: Forest Digest|0 Comments

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Find out the latest in forest news in this week’s Forest Digest!

Credit: Chuck Fazio.

Ancient Skies, Ancient Trees: The Relationship Between Trees and Stars — ABC News
This collection of photographs by Beth Moon beautifully depicts elegant trees under star-lit night skies all over the world, from Utah to California and from Botswana to Namibia.
Prehistoric Trees Could ‘Future-Proof’ Forests Against Climate Change — Motherboard.com
Landscape artist and permaculture instructor Oliver Kellhammer believes that the types of forests that grew millions of years ago, when conditions were much hotter, could actually thrive in the coming century as climate change continues to increase temperatures.
How Is A 1,600-Year-Old Tree Weathering California’s Drought? — NPR
In the wake of increased drought in California due to climate change, scientists and ecologists are studying which trees are the most vulnerable to drought and how to keep the surviving trees alive in continued conditions.
Take a journey through a healing forest — Treehugger.com
Many are aware of the healing capabilities of interaction with nature and forests. This video seeks to help reduce stress levels by walking you through a spectacular wilderness.

The post Forest Digest — Week of October 24, 2016 appeared first on American Forests.

Meeting the China E-Commerce Challenge

Digital strategies help promote U.S. food and agricultural products online to Chinese consumers. Since becoming the world’s largest e-commerce market in 2013, online shopping in China has continued to thrive.

In the United States, farming and technology go hand-in-hand in production agriculture. Technology helps improve productivity, efficiency and safety. Now, we’re discovering new ways that technology and digital strategies can offer similar benefits when marketing U.S. farm and food products overseas.

I recently led a group of women agricultural leaders on a trade mission to Shanghai and Hong Kong in China. One of the most interesting things we saw and learned was how e-commerce is paving the way for Chinese consumers to gain quick and easy access to high-value U.S. food and agricultural products. As a young, Chinese shopper explained to me, he purchases nearly 80 percent of his groceries online – skipping the trip to a traditional wet market or Western-style grocery store.

In Shanghai, a panel of industry experts joined us to discuss the importance of e-commerce in China. Last year, Chinese consumers spent $589.6 billion purchasing goods online, up 33.3 percent from the previous year. China has continued to dominate this form of marketing ever since it surpassed the United States to become the world’s largest e-commerce market in 2013.

While the total value of goods purchased online by Chinese consumers is impressive, what’s amazing is that many people see e-commerce as a way to buy fresh food. More and more shoppers want to buy products like live seafood, fresh fruits and vegetables and have those items arrive the next day. This is both a unique challenge and a tremendous opportunity for U.S. agribusinesses.

Asia is a key market for the United States and is only going to become more and more important over the next several decades. By 2030, 66 percent of the world’s middle class are going to reside in Asia. In China alone, 160 million middle class households will be added to China in the next decade. That’s a lot of buying power. Chinese consumers are looking for high-value, safe, quality food products at an affordable price. Those are all things that U.S. agriculture is poised to provide.

Now back from this trade mission, I want to underscore how critical it is to look at next steps to meet this challenge head on. To successfully do business in China, companies of every size need to have a digital strategy. If they haven’t already, our U.S. agribusiness partners and cooperators should begin exploring how to integrate this approach into their operations to continue moving forward in China’s growing e-commerce market.

For USDA, this growing opportunity drives home the importance of our market development programs. Along with our industry partners, we will need to explore ways we can help U.S. exporters meet China’s demand for U.S. food and agricultural products by capitalizing on the country’s e-commerce boom.

USDA Foods’ Local Roots: DoD Fresh Connects the Farm to School

Royal Food Service in Atlanta brings the farm to 1,900 schools through the DoD Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program.

What do the military’s logistical network, peaches and peppers, and school children have in common? The first delivers the second to the third through a unique partnership between the Department of Defense (DoD) and USDA.

October is National Farm to School Month and the perfect time to celebrate the DoD Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program, which connects schools with fresh and often local produce using their USDA Foods entitlement dollars. Schools order local foods from a variety of sources, and according to the 2015 USDA Farm to School Census, 29 percent of districts participating in farm to school are receiving local foods through DoD Fresh.

For the past two decades, USDA has worked with DoD to leverage its extensive procurement system to bring fresh produce to schools. Since the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) procures thousands of items to support the nation’s troops and military bases, using this network to supply school meal programs is mutually beneficial.

The roots of the connection between DoD and the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) go back a half century, even before the beginning of DoD Fresh. During World War II, many young men were rejected from the United States military draft due to medical conditions caused by childhood malnutrition. This became a matter of national security that caused alarm at DoD. The rates of malnutrition among draftees, as well as the general health of the nation’s children, led to the signing of the National School Lunch Act in 1946 by President Harry Truman. Similarly, DoD Fresh improves the nation’s health and supports U.S. agriculture by providing nutritious options for school lunches and encouraging children to develop healthy eating patterns at a young age.

DoD Fresh has steadily grown from $3.2 million and eight participating states in school year 1995-1996 to $198 million and 48 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Guam in school year 2015-2016. States can opt to allocate a portion of their USDA Foods entitlement dollars toward DoD Fresh. Schools and school districts are then able to choose from a large selection of produce options available in their regional vendor’s catalog. The catalogs identify which items are locally grown, offer a variety of pack sizes and include pre-cut options.

In late August, FNS accompanied DLA on a vendor site visit to Royal Food Service in Atlanta to learn first-hand about the vendor’s best practices in providing exemplary service to its school customers. DLA audits vendors once per contract period, or more often as necessary, to ensure compliance with program requirements. Royal serves 1,900 schools and exemplifies excellent customer service through regular communication. Newsletters for schools feature updates on products and deliveries, local produce, market conditions and peak-of-season produce. “We try and educate and guide our customers to purchase the best product, at the best price, at the right time of the year,” explains Katie Whitehurst, Royal’s School Director. Royal also reaches out to local growers in states adjacent to Georgia, who may provide a significant volume of produce to meet schools’ needs, while local growers approach Royal to develop partnerships.

DoD Fresh is all about partnerships, connecting local farmers with vendors and schools and leveraging the unique capabilities of DLA and USDA. These efforts bring peaches and peppers – and many other fresh fruits and vegetables – to the plates of school children across the country.

Take one small step in celebration of National Farm to School Month and find your DoD Fresh vendor! And sign up today for the USDA Foods E-Letter and Community Food Systems E-Letter for all the latest program news and resources.

The 4 Strangest Forests in America

October 27th, 2016|Tags: recreation|0 Comments

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By Lindsay Seventko, American Forests

In a few places across America, there are forests that stand out from the norm and simply defy explanation. From boulders pristinely resting in treetops, to a haunted forest allegedly full of the supernatural to the site of an oil well that nevertheless flourishes with a unique forest and abundant wildlife, here are some of the strangest forests in America.

1. Yellowwood State Forest, Indiana

In Yellowwood State Forest Indiana, a hunter stumbled upon a large oak tree with a huge sandstone boulder perfectly nestled in its crown. The giant slab of rock was at least 4×1 feet, and was estimated to weigh about 400 pounds. Later, hikers found three more trees with the exact same set up — the boulders varied in size and the trees in species, but they all had boulders resting symmetrically in their crown. Explanations for this strange phenomena have varied from a tornado, to fraternity pranksters, to floods, UFOs and even “acoustic levitation” (where the rock briefly becomes weightless). However, no possible explanation is airtight, since there is no visible damage or disturbance to the surroundings that would point to a tornado or the heavy machinery necessary to move the boulder.

Credit: Elizabeth Nicodemus via Flickr.

2. Dudley Town Forest, Connecticut

Supposedly, the hauntingly beautiful Dudley Town Forest in Connecticut is cursed. Visitors over centuries have reported seeing no wildlife during the daytime except the hooting of an owl or unidentifiable, eerie sounds. Many stories fly around about the dark past of the forest and town, but the most propagated legend is that the forest has been cursed since it was first settled. According to the traditional tale, Edmund Dudley was cursed and beheaded for plotting against King Henry VII. His curse followed his family to the settlement in Connecticut, where it took up residence in the forest. Hallucinations and fatal mishaps plagued the town until everyone was either dead or moved away.

Modern historians have attributed the strange happenings in the town and lack of wildlife in the forest to high lead levels that drove the historic settlers to exhibit signs of lead poisoning, and others believe that the accounts in the legends never occurred. Either way, present day stories of the Dudley Town Forest are mixed. Some visitors perpetuate the eerie reports, while others claim to see plenty of wildlife and trace the eerie sound to simply the rushing water of the brook.

Credit: Lindsay Lachance via Flickr.

3. Caddo Lake, Texas/Louisiana

Caddo Lake, on the Texas/Louisiana border, is truly a one-of-a-kind place and certainly among the United States’ best-kept secrets. Home of one of the first offshore oil wells, the lake has still remained a marvel of rich wetland forests and biodiversity. The lake is more than 25,000 acres of interconnected swamps and ponds, with cypress trees draped in Spanish moss climbing out of the water that give the breathtakingly beautiful appearance of a floating forest. Waterfowl traverse through lotus and lily pads, and snakes, turtles, frogs and alligators hide under the water. Raccoons, minks, nutrias, beavers, squirrels and armadillos roam the back eddies and banks of the water. A fisherman’s paradise, the lake boasts 71 species of fish within the unique habitat.

Credit: Dave Hensley via Flickr.

4. Angel Oak Park, South Carolina

Angel Oak Park in South Carolina made this list because somehow a decidedly unremarkable forest has protected a single, unusual tree that’s been growing for up to 1,500 years (estimates are mixed on the exact age). This massive live oak tree defies every expectation. While oaks usually grow tall and straight, this one grew out — it’s only 65 feet tall but provides more than 17,000 square feet of shade. The tree is essentially one long twisting mass of limbs both underground and above — the roots spread out in all directions, climbing above and beneath the earth, and the trunk twists around itself to splay out branches in every direction, one of which is 89 feet by itself. This giant monolith has survived tremendous hurricanes, devastating floods and perhaps the greatest obstacle of all, human intervention. Now, the tree stands out from the sparse, younger forest surrounding it to host parties and weddings beneath its branches.

Credit: Bill Dickinson via Flickr.

The post The 4 Strangest Forests in America appeared first on American Forests.

CLN/CSI Webinar: Minnehaha Stormwater Adapatation and NOAA’s Climate Explorer Tool – November 3rd

Minnehaha Stormwater Adapatation and NOAA’s Climate Explorer Tool

Thursday, November 3, 2016 3pm EDT

Leslie Yetka, Program Manager

Freshwater Society

St. Paul, Minnesota

When it Rains, it Pours – The Minnehaha Creek Stormwater Adaptation Study

Edward Gardiner, PhD

Contractor to NOAA Climate Program Office

CollabraLink Technologies, Inc.

National Centers for Environmental Information- Asheville, NC

US Climate Resilience Toolkit: Climate Explorer tool

AGENDA (Times based on EDT):

2:50: Log-in/lagtime

3:00: Welcome – Chris Jones and Brent Peterson (Moderators)

3:05: Minnehaha Creek Stormwater Adaptation Study; Leslie Yetka

3:20: Climate Toolkit: Climate Explorer; Ned Gardiner

3:35: Brief updates/Evaluation link – Chris & Brent

3:40: Q&A discussion w/Leslie and Ned

3:50: Listserv and Certification Discussion

4:00: Wrap up discussion/End call

When it Rains, it Pours – The Minnehaha Creek Stormwater Adaptation Study

This NOAA-funded study combined downscaled and surface modeling to assess stormwater infrastructure and flood vulnerability in two Minnesota communities, and demonstrated a public planning process designed to engage communities in resilience planning. High level project details will be shared, including lessons learned, outcomes, and next steps.

Leslie Yetka is a program manager with the Freshwater Society, a Minnesota non-profit organization that works with communities to ensure healthy lakes and streams, and a plentiful supply of clean drinking water. She has twenty years of experience in environmental education, community engagement, and public planning with a specific focus on watershed management, green infrastructure, sustainable landscape practices, and community resilience to climate change. Leslie has a bachelor’s degree in biology from Macalester College, and a master’s degree in horticulture with a minor in water resources science from the University of Minnesota.

US Climate Resilience Toolkit: Climate Explorer tool

Edward Gardiner is a landscape ecologist who turned his attention to public engagement after graduation. Rather than “study the planet to death”, he chose to apply remote sensing, GIS, and programming skills to data visualization to educate public audiences about Earth and biodiversity sciences through the American Museum of Natural History. For the past 8 years at NOAA, he has helped launch the award-winning Climate.gov website and the U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit (toolkit.climate.gov), a cross-agency portal for climate decision support. As a designer, data visualizer, video producer, and storyteller, he has brought the abstract world of climate science and adaptation to the real world by documenting case studies centered on replicable methods for applying climate information. His focus recently has been in aiding communities, businesses, and professionals to make use of climate data and tools through live events and archived web resources.

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