What areas of knowledge is missing with in forestry?

[jimmylad]

Hello all.

 

I'm doing a degree in forestry and its got to the time when I best put ideas for my dissertation together however having become almost jaded by forestry 'management' I'm struggling for ideas. I'm perfectly happy just doing grunt work with a saw and my main interests in forestry aside from grunt work is the wildlife and ecology side of things, but in the real world doing a dissertation on fluffy animals will probably serve no use or be nothing new so any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Does any one know anything about phytophthora coming back on natural regen'?

 

Thanks for your time

[N1ck]

What about the Holy Grail of forestry research "how can an honest small-scale forestry contractor make any money!":confused1:

 

Price of petrol / diesel goes up

Sub-contract labour goes up (assuming you can get anyone who knows which end of the saw to hold!)

Cost of equipment, parts, oil, servicing goes up

Cost of insurance goes up

Value of timber at roadside stays the same

[slack ma girdle]

Or how to stop the timber buyer moning that the load you have just sold is less weight than expected as the timber has been standing roadside for the last 4 months and has dried out.

[Charlieh]

how about mobility of pathogens including P. Ramorum in realation to wild animal movements, as its widely accepted that deer and badgers move the disease about but it would be interesting to monitor paterns of spread in sites where there is little human activity. It would certainly help in the knowledge of pathways for the disease, probably more a Phd than BSc thesis though

[jimmylad]

Thanks for the replys. As to the dilemma Nick and SlackMG present, I think them answers may be beyond me am afraid to say. However if it helps I'd buy you a pint to easy your pain hahahaha

Charlieh thats a good point. I'm currently working between my studies on a site with p.ramorum and as such I have developed a interest in it. As to the spread, it does amaze me that crag rats and walkers are still allowed on sites which it's on but I appreciate that the logistics of closing a site down or off to public access is probably beyond practicalities. Here in the lakes its interesting to see what affect the restructuring of various forests will have red squirrels as well. Back to point, there's we have a very good shooter (forgive my lack of technical knowledge in this area) in our gang who does a lot of shooting so he may be able to offer some good points on this as well. If need be I may come back and pick your brains about this as well at a later date if thats ok?

 

Cheers for that guys

[gensetsteve]

What about the Holy Grail of forestry research "how can an honest small-scale forestry contractor make any money!":confused1:

 

Price of petrol / diesel goes up

Sub-contract labour goes up (assuming you can get anyone who knows which end of the saw to hold!)

Cost of equipment, parts, oil, servicing goes up

Cost of insurance goes up

Value of timber at roadside stays the same

 

 

5 years ago my beech was £24 + vat delivered in now its £55 - £60 + vat delivered in. If your not getting the money someone in the middle is.

[Joy Yeomans]

middlemen always come out ontop

 

Sent from my GT-I8160 using Tapatalk 2

[codlasher]

How about the best 'timber tree' to plant on softwood clear-fell sites in England.

There will be a time in the not too distant future when this will have to be addressed. I always put in a fair proportion of Douglas wherever I could as I regard this as my personal favourite along with Wild service. My old boss had a sense of humour and put in the occasional Sequoia and other unusual types....I used to warn the harvester drivers not to cut these as I want to see them when I'm older.

Where I used to work (and planted some 35 years ago) there are stands of larch and other species that will be in the clear fell agenda. These are also original Beech stands. Crop rotation was the key then and I'm sure it is the key still. Just longer term than a farmers crop!

Codlasher

[Tom D]

grammar:001_tt2:

[Marc Lewis]

How about 'Chalara fraxinea', very current and knowledge could put you in good stead for future?