Everything Nac

Stephen F. Austin State University’s Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture will host a public lecture beginning at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 20, in Forestry Building, Room 117, located at 419 East College St.

Dr. George G. Ice, retired hydrologist with the National Council for Air and Stream Improvement, will present “Three Lessons about Managing Forests to Protect Water Quality: The Alsea Watershed Study Revisited.”

The Alsea Watershed Study was the first long-term fisheries research project to address the effects of forestry operations on salmonid populations in the Pacific Northwest using a watershed approach. To this day, it remains one of a very limited number of investigations that have provided long-term information on salmon and trout responses to forestry operations. These studies have had a significant impact on the development of state and provincial forest practices and regulations to ensure water quality.

Ice, a certified forester and professional hydrologist, has completed more than 40 years of forest watershed and water quality research. His research and professional contributions resulted in him being named an NCASI and Society of American Foresters Fellow. Additional awards include the SAF Forest Science Award, Association of State Foresters Jim Roberts Partnership Award and Oregon State University Outstanding Alumnus.

For more information, contact SFA’s Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture at (936) 468-3301.

Members of Stephen F. Austin State University’s student chapter of the Society of American Foresters recently collaborated with a number of partners including Rotary International, the Texas A&M Forest Service and Trees For Houston to promote conservation and urban tree health in Montgomery County.

“I applaud the students for helping make the conservation movement stronger in Montgomery County,” said John Warner, urban district forester for the Texas A&M Forest Service.

Forestry students Chris Longman, Tristan Clayton, Brian Smith and Andre Saenz planted a total of 60 trees, including ten pollinator specific flowering trees on the campus of Conroe ISD’s Runyan Elementary School. The students then moved on to W.G. Jones State Forest, one of the nation’s largest working urban forests, where they painted green bands on 20 red-cockaded woodpecker cavity trees and constructed 25 erosion control structures for use on the property.

For a number of years, the Texas A&M Forest Service and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department have worked diligently to implement forest management practices to ensure the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker thrives in the urban oasis of Jones State Forest. Warner explained the green bands painted by the SFA students will help biologists and the public support the conservation of the endangered avian species.

“It is a visual for maintaining a non-disruptive distance from the tree of at least 100 feet, as well as being a visual cue to everyone that this is an important habitat tree for the woodpecker,” Warner said.