PENNSYLVANIA’S
PRIVATELY-OWNED
FORESTLANDS
Seth P. Cassell
Service Forester
DCNR Bureau of Forestry
When people talk about Penn
sylvania’s forests, they often refer
to state forestland the Susque
hannock, Elk, Tioga, Bald Eagle,
Gallitzin, and others. Hie vast
state forests and other public
lands are indeed the backbone of
Pennsylvania’s forest industry.
However, many are surprised
to learn that a vast majority (75
percent) of the state’s forestland
is privately owned. Private forests
surround hunting cabins, cover
hillsides, and dot farm fields
throughout the state. With an av
erage size of 23 acres, these for
ests comprise most of Penn’s
Woods.
In many respects, we are fortu
nate to have the forest we enjoy
so much today. Throughout most
of our state’s history from the
time the first settlers prodded
into the wilderness to when the
last logging railroad chugged out
of the mountains people have
used the forest without much
consideration for the future. At
the dawn of the 21st century, as
our forests push forward to ma
turity and timber harvesting in
creases, we as a community are
again faced with important man
agement decisions that will ulti
mately shape the future of Penn’s
Woods.
With maturing forests and
high hardwood timber prices,
many landowners are considering
the decisions involved with har-
splatter board, rear foot winch, two
front foot winches and a full width belly
band and winch to lift the animals
weight off their feet. All winches have
heavy duty friction brakes providing
constant, positive holding action.
ALL STEEL PARTS ARE POWDER
COATED USING THE PBZ
FIVE-STEP PROCESS.
Call or write for additional information
and the name of your nearest dealer
vesting timber. Most do not own
their land as a timber investment,
but instead for aesthetic and rec
reational purposes. Still, most do
not want to ignore the economic
and management opportunities
that timber harvesting offers.
Unfortunately, many do not
adequately consider the long
term management of the re
sources on their land before har
vesting. Service foresters with the
Pennsylvania Department of
Conservation and Natural Re
sources (DCNR), Bureau of For
estry, assist landowners in man
aging their woodlands. All too
often, they receive telephone calls
from landowners who say, “I just
had a timber harvest on my prop
erty. Could you come out and see
if I did the right thing?” How
ever, preparing for the right out
come stmts well before the first
tree is cut.
It all begins with a plan. Few
people would consider going on
vacation, investing, retiring, or
Spraying Weeds With Vinegar Inexpensive And
BELTSVILLE, Md. Some
home gardeners already use vine
gar as a herbicide, and some gar
den stores sell vinegar pesticides.
But no one has tested it scientifi
cally until now.
Agricultural Research Service
scientists offer the first scientific
evidence that it may be a potent
weedkiller that is inexpensive
and environmentally safe per
fect for organic farmers.
ARS researchers Jay Radhak
■lan]
fflPI J:
Paul B. Zimmerman, Inc.
295 Woodcorner Road • Lititz, PA 17543
717/738-7365
1 mile west of Ephrata
building a house without a plan.
The benefits of having a plan in
these instances helping achieve
goals, setting a course of action,
setting priorities, and so forth
also apply to managing your for
est.
Plans written by natural re
source professionals will help you
learn more about your property
and schedule management activi
ties, whether they include timber
harvests or not. Management
plans also help you identify and
consider special ecological fea
tures on your property, such as
vernal ponds, stream buffers, and
rare species and communities.
They can incorporate aesthetic
and recreational goals, as well.
The Forest Stewardship Pro
gram assists landowners in estab
lishing resource plans for their
woodlands. The program is de
signed to account for all forest
values wildlife, timber, water,
aesthetics, and recreation, to
name a few. The program links
landowners with a wealth of
technical assistance to manage
their woodlands according to
their objectives.
To find out more about the
Forest Stewardship Program or
request the free publication,
“Forest Stewardship Bulletin #6:
Planning Your Forest’s Future,”
call (800) 235-WISE (toU free),
send e-mail to RNRext@psu.edu,
or write to Forest Stewardship
Program, Forest Resources Ex
tension, The Pennsylvania State
University, 7 Ferguson Building,
University Park, PA 16802.
rishnan, John R. Teasdale and
Ben Coffman in Beltsville, Md.,
tested vinegar on major weeds—
common lamb’s-quarters, giant
foxtail, velvetleaf, smooth pig
weed and Canada thistle in
greenhouse and field studies.
They hand-sprayed the weeds
with various solutions of vinegar,
uniformly coating the leaves. The
researchers found that 5- and
10-percent concentrations killed
the weeds during their first two
weeks of life.
This highly versatile equipment can
be used to secure a cow safely and
efficiently for foot care or
veterinary services.
Side panels and gates easily
replace hoof care accessories to
create a vet chute where almost
any common vet procedure can
be performed.
Once in the chute with the belly band winched into
working position, the cow is safely secured
for foot treatment
<w >
Pennsylvania Hereford Association
SPRING GRASS TIME SALE
Saturday, June 8 @ 12 PM
To be held at CJ. Furlong’s farm (former Salunga Acres)
located at 2230 Spooky Nook Road, Mt. Joy, PA.
Friday Evening June 7, 2002
Preview the cattle and enjoy a Hereford Beef Sandwich
45 Lots of Hereford Cattle
For sale by 21 of the top Hereford Breeders
in the Eastern United States
• Yearling Bulls • Bred Heifers
• Cow-Calf Pairs • Embroys
•Show Heifer Prospects
Friday Evening, June 7 and
Saturday, June 8
Prior to the sale, The Pennsylvania Junior Hereford Association
will have a silent auction of Hereford crafts and bull semen from
some of the top bulls in the industry.
For further information or sale catalogues, contact
Mike Firestine at 717-866-4185
or CJ. Furlong at 717-892-2758
Hours
Mon - Fn 7-6
.. t.... 4.1 il>al 1 i 4 11 a i 11) I 11111 11 1
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 25, 2002-A3l
Low Temperatures Could Damage
Young Com, Soybean Plants
STATE COLLEGE (Centre
Co.) Unseasonably low tem
peratures in central Pennsylvania
and eastern Ohio may have dam
aged newly emerged com and
soybean plants.
Growers will want to closely
assess damaged plants before
making future decisions, said
Matt Antes, an agronomist with
Pioneer Hi-Bred International,
Inc., in State College.
“The bottom line on diagnos
ing low temperature injury to
com and soybean plants is to
wait three to five days after the
weather event before assessing
the extent of the damage,” said
Antes.
Antes explained locally-report
ed temperatures on a clear night
can be 2 to 5 degrees colder at the
soil surface. Com can be killed
when temperatures drop to 28
degrees, and soybeans can with
stand slightly colder weather.
“The recovery will depend on
whether the growing point region
was damaged,” said Antos.The
growing point region of com
younger than six leaves, roughly
knee-high, is below the soil sur
face and protected from above
ground frost damage. Inspecting
the growing region too soon after
a freeze may not show damage.
Antes recommends waiting three
to five days after the cold nights
Older plants required higher
concentrations of vinegar to kill
them. At the higher concentra
tions, vinegar had an 85- to
100-percent kill rate at all growth
stages. A bottle of household vin
egar is about a 5-percent concen
tration.
Canada thistle, one of the most
tenacious weeds in the world,
proved the most susceptible; the
5-percent concentration had a
100-percent kill rate of the peren
nial’s top growth. The 20-percent
concentration can do this in
about 2 hours.
Spot spraying of cornfields
with 20 percent vinegar killed 80
to 100 percent of weeds without
harming the com, but the scien-
to fully assess the situation.
“Injury to the crop can look
very serious the day after the
event, but recovery may be possi
ble if the growing points are not
damaged,” said Antes.
Initially, com above ground
may look severely damaged with
droopy, greenish-black leaves.
The damaged leaves will bleach
to a straw color as the tissue
dries. Antos said at this point, the
whorl may “knot.” Knotted
plants usually recover as expand
ing whorl tissues break the knots.
If the growing point is below the
soil surface and protected from
above-ground damage, the com
should recover.
After three to five days, surviv
ing com plants should show new
leaf tissue expanding from the
whorls. Yield loss to frost-dam
aged com younger than V 6 is re
lated to the degree of stand loss
rather than the degree of leaf
damage.
Antos noted that surviving
soybean plants will show new
leaves emerging from one or both
nodes at the cotyledons. And, if a
significant portion of the com or
soybean population is obviously
dead after three to five days, re
planting may be justified.
For more information contact
Matt Antes, Field Agronomist,
State College, (814) 867-0641.
Safe, Says ARS
lists stress the need for more re
search. If the vinegar were
sprayed over an entire field, it
would cost about $65 per acre. If
applied to local weed infestations
only, such as may occur in the
crop row after cultivation, it may
only cost about $2O to $3O.
The researchers use only vine
gar made from fruits or grains, to
conform to organic farming stan
dards.
ARS is the U.S. Department of
Agriculture’s chief scientific re
search agency.