Tree Huggers

Slash and burn farming is rapidly destroying the world’s remaining rainforests and sending vast amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Yet for more than 250 million farmers across the world, it is the only way they can survive.

Through implementing Inga Alley Cropping – the sustainable alternative to slash and burn – we can change this. By supporting farmers to take up this technique, the Inga Foundation gives them the ability to feed their families and improve their livelihoods, whilst keeping the rainforest and its rich biodiversity intact.

So if you agree with us that it’s time to stop the destructive practice of slash and burn, for the sake of families and forest alike, then please help us bring it to an end...

http://www.ingafoundation.org/the-inga-model/

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/5116952

A beautiful Catalpa tree shared by a Lemmy user.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/5047254

Hundreds of communities around the country will share more than $1 billion in federal money to help them plant and maintain trees under a federal program that is intended to reduce extreme heat, benefit health and improve access to nature.

U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will announce the $1.13 billion in funding for 385 projects at an event Thursday morning in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The tree plantings efforts will be focused on marginalized areas in all 50 states as well as Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and some tribal nations.

“We believe we can create more resilient communities in terms of the impacts of climate,” Vilsack told reporters in previewing his announcement. “We think we can mitigate extreme heat incidents and events in many of the cities.”

cross-posted from: https://aussie.zone/post/2027785

Unlike other plants that can be grown as seedlings and planted out, mistletoes rely on animals to plant their seeds on the branches of host trees.

We set out on a world-first trial to attempt to reintroduce mistletoe to the trees of Melbourne.

All of Australia's mistletoes are native species.

Working closely with City of Melbourne staff, research scientists from the Gulbali Institute undertook a world-first trial of the reintroduction of a native mistletoe to street trees.

Five years after inoculation, we found mistletoes had established on five trees.

Mirror: https://archive.ph/0zviy

Courtesy of /u/orchid_breeder on Reddit. For those unfamiliar with the significance of this tree: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lahaina_Banyan_Tree

It was badly damaged in the fires and many thought the tree might not recover.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/2000908

The paper is here

Just kidding. These are Eucalyptus pollards before the cut was tidied up.

https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2020/09/how-to-make-biomass-energy-sustainable-again.html/

cross-posted from: https://aussie.zone/post/1760733

In most illegal tree removals, you might see perhaps a handful of trees removed or poisoned.

It does mean, however, there should be no removal of large old trees without significant and demonstrably sound reasons.

Both carbon stores and shade are crucial to mitigating future climate change.

The loss of even a single tree comes at a huge price The loss of so many trees in Sydney’s Castle Cove represents theft of environmental benefits and services from at least two, if not more, future generations of Australians.

Simply planting new trees doesn’t fix the problem We tend to undervalue the shade provided by trees when considering urban development, or even road works.

In some instances, a one-for-one tree replacement is offered.

Luciana Gatti stares grimly out of the window of the small aircraft as it takes off from the city of Santarém, Brazil, in the heart of the eastern Amazon forest.

The land ecosystems of the world together absorb about 30% of the carbon dioxide released by burning fossil fuels; scientists think that most of this takes place in forests, and the Amazon is by far the world's largest contiguous forest.

I've travelled to Santarém, where the Tapajós River joins the Amazon River, to join Gatti and other scientists trying to determine whether the forest is heading for an irreversible transformation towards a degraded form of savannah.

While passing over one huge, newly razed parcel of Amazon forest, Gatti's voice crackles over the plane's intercom.

A 2015 analysis of 321 plots of Amazon primary forest with no overt human impacts reported "a long-term decreasing trend of carbon accumulation".

That's a change from previous decades, when censuses indicated that such primary forest in the Amazon was storing more carbon.

The fate of the Amazon is on Gatti's mind as she climbs a lattice tower in the Tapajós forest - one of the landmarks her pilots fly over as they collect air samples.

cross-posted from: https://aussie.zone/post/1641341

You may well have seen a spotted gum growing happily on an urban street.

Their wonderfully straight, light coloured and spotted trunks are impressive whether trees are planted singly, in avenues or in boulevards.

Old trees can get over 60m. During profuse flowering, anthers shed from a single tree can cover the ground, paths, homes, roads and vehicles in a white snow-like frosting.

In nature, the spotted gum and close relatives, the lemon scented gum and large leafed spotted gum grow along the east coast of Australia, from far eastern Victoria to southern Queensland.

It has the potential to be one of the great urban tree species, not just in Australia but internationally.

Horticulturalists have been working to make the tree even better suited to urban use.

Some varieties were uncommon or didn't exist 50 years ago, which means old urban trees might be more likely to shed limbs or have less attractive forms.

Hello fellow tree huggers,

Question: if I have a plot of land in the Western Washington Cascades, should I plant redwoods and/or sequoias on it on not? I would do this in addition to the obvious douglas firs, western red cedars, western hemlocks and various appropriate ground shrubs/ferns.

I can see a lot of articles about "assisted migration", many of which reference redwoods, but also all of which state that the idea is controversial. The idea is that Northern California is becoming less habitable for these trees, and Washington and BC become more like how California used to be, so the redwood forest will naturally migrate northwards. However, climate change is happening too fast for a slow-moving forest to realistically keep up.

The proponents argue that it's a way to preserve an important species, especially one which is a great carbon sink.

The doubters argue that some species of plants wouldn't survive the process, or could bring pests, or at least be susceptible them.

I can't tell if those drawbacks really pertain to redwoods/sequoias in Washington though. There are hundreds of them around the Seattle area that are doing just fine, more than a hundred years after residents planted them.

What do y'all think? Do it or no?

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/4020205

Neighborhoods with more trees and green space stay cooler, while those coated with layers of asphalt swelter. Lower-income neighborhoods tend to be hottest, a city report found, and they have the least tree canopy.

The same is true in cities across the country, where poor and minority neighborhoods disproportionately suffer the consequences of rising temperatures. Research shows the temperatures in a single city, from Portland, Oregon, to Baltimore, can vary by up to 20 degrees. For a resident in a leafy suburb, a steamy summer day may feel uncomfortable. But for their friend a few neighborhoods over, it’s more than uncomfortable — it’s dangerous.

cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/worldnews@lemmy.ml/t/395101

A few hundred people have turned out to protect historic century-old ginkgo trees that are likely to be chopped down under a controversial redevelopment for a beloved Tokyo park district.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/3986499

The benefits of urban greening initiatives are increasingly well documented: they can help mitigate the effects of urban heating, and improve physical health and mental wellbeing. And even small greening actions in cities can significantly improve local biodiversity, new research suggests.

Increasing the diversity of native plants in a single urban green space resulted in a sevenfold increase in the number of insect species after three years, Australian researchers have found.

cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/environment@beehaw.org/t/375312

Climate change is already making a small proportion of tropical tree leaves so hot that their photosynthetic machinery bakes and breaks, according to new research.

A "Tiny forest" of about 600 new trees will be planted in Leicestershire as part of a scheme.

Organisers say the "Tiny forest" will be a vital part of a new eco-park on the recreation ground.

It will also form part of the county council's wider initiative to plant 700,000 new trees in Leicestershire.

Leicestershire County Council - which is working with North West Leicestershire District Council and Earthwatch UK - added the eco-park would also include natural footpaths and activity areas for families.

Councillor Blake Pain, Leicestershire County Council cabinet member for the environment and the green agenda, said: "The creation of this new tiny forest on the Hermitage recreation ground will be the first in Leicestershire and will be a wonderful addition to the area."It will provide the local community with a green space for walking and exercising, as well as supporting wildlife and biodiversity, improving air quality, and helping to make Leicestershire a cleaner and greener place to live and work.

Deep craters are forming in and around the city of Buriticupu, located in the country's northeast, which have swallowed up houses, streets and people alike.

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Experts have warned they could erase the city within 30 to 40 years.

Local leaders have blamed the region's agricultural sector for the deforestation.

Maria dos Santos said a crater that threatens her home appeared less than three years ago and grew to a pit 60 meters deep.

cross-posted from: https://aussie.zone/post/1334355

The Grove of Giants in the Huon Valley of Tasmania, Australia is renowned for its large trees.

A team of tree climbers and citizen scientists undertook a carbon assessment of a 2 hectare plot within the Grove of Giants.

The largest 16 trees in the plot (>2.5 m DBH) were measured by tree climbers allowing for accurate estimation of tree volume. Understory trees, coarse woody debris, root biomass and soil carbon were also estimated, making this study the most comprehensive assessment of forest carbon in Tasmania.

Total forest carbon was estimated to be 1312 tonnes per hectare.

Large trees had the highest carbon stocks, accounting for 44% of the total store. Coarse woody debris represented 19% of the forest's carbon, root biomass was 14%, while the understory trees accounted for 12% and soil carbon for 11%. This is the highest carbon stock recorded in Tasmania and is above the average estimates for temperate forest ecosystems in other parts of the world.

Protecting Tasmania's forests, especially mature wet Eucalypt forests, is important to avoid potential greenhouse gas emissions and ensure safe storage of the carbon in the land sector.