Forest Research Review

The Research Program of the Virginia Department of Forestry published its latest edition of its Forest Research Review in April. The introduction of this publication is reproduced below.

A PDF of the report can be downloaded from: http://www.dof.virginia.gov/research/publications.shtml#ForestResearchReview

"It’s been a busy six months since our last publication. In October, we helped to host the conference "Northern Limits – Restoring the Longleaf Pine Ecosystem in Virginia" in Wakefield. Also in October, we completed collection of our loblolly pine second generation improved seed crop from the orchard in Milledgeville, GA. The best 20 families produced in excess of 3,200 bushels of cones that yielded more than 6,000 pounds of seed for the future seedling crops from our Garland Gray Nursery. With help from the Forest Nutrition Cooperative, we began installation in December of a study of loblolly pine response to varying intensities of mid-rotation thinning in combination with fertilization. Before tree growth resumes in the spring, we will also remeasure VDOF’s mid-rotation fertilizer tests, as well as a MeadWestvaco density and fertilization trial. And just this week, we installed multiple locations of a study to look at the effects of new insecticides for controlling tipmoth in young loblolly pine.

In this issue, you’ll find summaries of recent information gathered from tests of clonal loblolly pine plantations; performance in Virginia of loblolly and longleaf pine from various geographic seed sources; early effects of biosolid applications on loblolly pine growth; growth of loblolly pine seedlings interplanted in understocked one-year-old plantations, and responses of southern red oak to crop tree release and fertilization. And we’re introducing a new feature highlighting the results of our collaborations with research cooperatives. We’ll take time in each issue to summarize recent reports from the various cooperatives in which VDOF is a member, including the Tree Improvement, Forest Nutrition, and Growth and Yield cooperatives. We hope you’ll find the information interesting and useful.

Please let us know if you have any questions or comments, and be sure to visit our Web site at http://www.dof.virginia.gov/research/publications.shtml to browse through all the publications, fact sheets and analytical tools from the VDOF Research Program during its more than 53-year history."

You may contact the research program staff with any questions or suggestions you may have:

Jerre Creighton, research program manager, Central Office; (434) 977-6555; jerre.creighton@dof.virginia.gov

Wayne Bowman, research forester, Appomattox-Buckingham State Forest; (434) 983-2175; wayne.bowman@dof.virginia.gov

Onesphore Bitoki, tree improvement forester, New Kent Forestry Center;

(804) 966-2201; ones.bitoki@dof.virginia.gov