South Carolina Forestry News

POSTON WIDEHEAD · June 13, 2017, 08:41:31 PM

This was in our State Forestry Commission Employee Newspaper this month.
I thought it was interesting.

Logging and the English Language

Some of the ways in which we describe timber harvesting go back over a hundred years. Since then, meanings for some of the words have been lost.
Forestry is lled with terms that are sometimes misused but fun to learn about. It's part of the jargon that all professions must deal with. Even a seemingly common measurement can be ambiguous. Take diameter, for instance. Is it the diameter at 4.5 feet (standard) or diameter at stump height? ere can be a signi cant di erence in a logging contract.
Asking people to de ne their terms is a good idea. Words sometimes do matter. Clarity in conversation, and especially in contracts, can go a long way to avoid misunderstanding. In some cases, this clarity can mean the di erence between thousands of dollars or the quality of forest health and vigor. Yet another good reason to hire a professional forester to help manage woodlands. is article was published by Michigan State University Extension. http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/logging_and_the_english_ language
"Old growth" is another commonly misused term. Correctly used, old growth refers to a set of forest characteristics, although the elements of a particular set of conditions are argued among the ecological community. A single tree is never "old growth", although it might be an old tree. A stand of large diameter trees is not necessarily "old growth" (and usually is not).
A single tree can be large and, perhaps, old. Large trees are often not as old as people might think. A three-foot-diameter black willow or cottonwood might be only 50 years old. Conversely, a three-inch diameter black spruce might be 150 years old.
An "old" tree does not have a speci c number of years by de nition. Old is a relative term based on the various lifespans of di erent tree species. For a quaking aspen, 75 years is old. For a white pine, 200 years might be a more appropriate number for "old".
22 June 2017