trees and forests Archives - Page 2 of 3

The FWP weekly digest of wondrous wildlife happenings
and other interesting items from the natural world

Creatures to meet | Things to learn
Things to do

Lisa S. French

1.5-minute read

American Forests Has a Brand New Tree
The needs of the social and environmental movements are ever-changing, and our tree-planting partner, American Forests, is evolving to meet the transcendent challenges of a world in flux. They’ve unveiled a new logo representing their critical work protecting and regenerating forests to slow climate change and advance social equity for you—for your health, your safety, your right to breathe clean air, drink clean water, and enjoy nature in all its glory. To lead the charge, American Forests’ mission is rooted in unity, hope, growth, and progress. Yeah, we’re on board with that!

Holy Salmon Supper! It’s Fat Bear Week
The brown fisher bears of Katmai National Park are doubling down on the all-you-can-eat salmon buffet this week in preparation for their long winter’s nap. It’s time to get to know the chomp-happy contenders and place your bets on the bear most likely to achieve maximum pre-hibernation plump-i-tude. You can follow their fish acquisition progress live, courtesy of the Explore.org bear cams. Btw, our money is on protective mama bear, Grazer—she’s got a salmon-conquering look about her.

Bear Weight Update – Oct. 5: The winner of the Fat Bear Week 2021 salmon scarfing contest is four-time champion, Otis. The quarter-century-old king of the catch may be less spry than some of his younger competitors, but what he lacks in speed, he makes up for in strategy. How Otis abides: Be one with the water and let the fish come to you. Congratulations, big fella—sleep well!

Gorillas, Fireflies, Wildebeests, Oh, My!
The Nature Conservancy has announced the winners of the 2021 Global Photo Contest, and they’re brilliant. You can explore the striking images of some of the most precious inhabitants, and awe-inspiring aspects of our planet right here.

Música Natura Sonora
Shika Shika, the global artists collective, is back with a new album that pays homage to the “immensity, beauty, and mystery” of the natural world. Have a listen to the Latin American rhythms of Natura Sonora by El Búho. And be sure to keep your eyes peeled and ears open for A Guide to the Birdsong of Western Africa coming in 2022.

The Songs of City Crickets
We decided to do a little Earth-music sampling of our own, but where to go for nature sounds in NYC? We were pleased to discover that you can actually hear courtyard crickets in the city that never sleeps—from honk, honk, honk to chirp, chirp, chirp. Aah—the sweet songs of New York bugs! If you can make nature music here, you can make it anywhere.

Ivory-Billed Woodpecker: Officially Gone Forever
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service made a particularly sorrowful announcement this week—the proposed addition of 23 American animals and plants to the growing list of extinct species, the largest group added to that category since the inception of the Endangered Species Act in 1973.

One of the most lamentable losses was the Ivory-billed woodpecker. Although scientists held out hope that the elusive bird, which had not been seen for over 70 years, had managed to survive in hiding, it has officially been determined that America’s largest woodpecker, dubbed the “Lord God Bird,” has disappeared from the planet. There is no greater grief-inducing declaration in the natural world than gone forever. Farewell, beautiful one—we’re sorry that we failed you.

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Lisa S. French October 1, 2021

50% for the Planet | Climate-Resilient Forests

1-minute read

If the cascading and intensifying extreme weather events of 2021 have shown us anything, it’s that nature is deteriorating at an alarming rate. We’re urgently in need of effective planet-saving strategies to help the Earth keep doing what it does best—sustain life. Two organizations dedicated to helping the planet heal are right on that mission: The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and FWP tree-planting partner, American Forests.

A Yes Vote for Making Room
To tackle the twin threats of climate change and biodiversity loss, on September 10, an overwhelming majority of delegates to the IUCN World Conservation Congress agreed that humanity must protect at least half of Earth’s land, inland water, and oceans, aiming for a minimum of 30% by 2030. The IUCN’s ambitious proposal would create connected networks of protected areas to conserve and restore habitats, plant, and animal species so we can build a more sustainable relationship with nature—a relationship that will benefit the lives and livelihoods of all people globally, including local and indigenous communities.

Fighting Forest Fires with Science
Maintaining healthy and resilient forests will play a critical role in achieving the IUCN’s goal, which is why American Forests is improving the science of forest management. Planting the right trees in the right place is essential in a rapidly warming, fire-prone world. By picking climate and disease-resilient species and managing forests for changing environments, American Forests is working to protect and regenerate the trees that store carbon, clean our air, filter water, and provide food and shelter for people and wildlife. You can read more about why trees matter here and how you can plant a tree, or two, or three with FWP here.

As nature continues to respond to environmental stressors in new and startlingly unpredictable ways, and we rally together in the vital undertaking of planet preservation, we leave you with a gentle reminder from one of Earth’s endangered forest dwellers, to focus on the simple joys of small things.

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Lisa S. French September 12, 2021

Fireflies That Blink in Sync | New Tree Equity Scores

1-minute read

From A Place Made for We, Favorite World Press

Then each tiny firefly
said hi-hello to the night,
blinking and flashing
its very own tiny light.

Witnessing the luminous dance of blinking, flashing fireflies is one of the quiet delights of summer. Their seasonal light show is so utterly soul-soothing, it’s easy to imagine that they blink for our benefit. We know that these mesmerizing glow dispensers use flashes of light for bug-to-bug communication, but why do some species of male fireflies in large swarms coordinate their flashing and blink in sync?

According to a recent study, it appears that flashing in unison is the bioluminescent language of cooperative courtship. Male fireflies communicate using distinct flash patterns while flying, and females signal back from the ground “message received”. In large swarms of hundreds or thousands of male fireflies, random blinking and flashing could make it overwhelming for lady bugs to visually track and communicate with a specific light pilot. Scientists from the University of Connecticut believe that when groups of male Photinus carolinus fireflies blink in sync, it gives female fireflies a flash-free window to signal their interest and selectively respond to the bug of their choosing. Yes, it’s good to glow—and for some species of fireflies, when it comes to courtship, it’s better to glow together and give a girl some uninterrupted time to blink back.

Got enough trees?

Back in April, we promised to give you an update on United States tree equity scores, and here it is. The new Tree Equity Score tool developed by our partner @AmericanForests gives scores for all 486 urbanized areas of the U.S. and their 150,000 neighborhoods. Each score is an indicator of how close the city is to achieving Tree Equity—ensuring that all, not just some, people can experience the many health, economic, and climate benefits that trees provide. A zero-to-100-point system makes it easy to understand how a community fares. With the knowledge the score provides, community leaders, tree advocates, and concerned citizens can address climate change and public health through the lens of social equity. Visit TreeEquityScore.org to see how your neighborhood stacks up.

We leave you with a gentle reminder that for every print or e-book that you purchase from the FWP series, Frankie and Peaches: Tales of Total Kindness, we’ll plant one wildlands tree in a place where it’s needed most to help cool, clean, and green our home planet. Thanks for reading with us!

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Lisa S. French July 21, 2021

What on Earth is Tree Equity?

1.5-minute read

When we first heard the term tree equity, we wondered—what could it mean? Trees getting their fair share? Trees getting what they have coming to them? As it turns out, tree equity isn’t about what trees get; it’s about what they give and how they’re distributed. Trees are often sparse in socioeconomically disadvantaged urban neighborhoods. Achieving tree equity ensures that every community has enough trees to attain the highest level of life-enhancing health and climate benefits.

To make a case for urban forestry investment in areas with the greatest need, our planting partners at American Forests have developed the Tree Equity Score Project, enabling cities and towns of at least 50,000 people to calculate whether enough trees have been planted to positively impact all of their residents. This spring, American Forests will deliver Tree Equity Scores to all 486 Census-defined urbanized areas in the country—home to 70% of the U.S. population.

Mapping tree cover is the first step in addressing harmful environmental inequities and climate change-induced problems that affect everyone, but especially the most vulnerable. Planting trees to achieve neighborhood by neighborhood green equity helps create healthier, safer, more climate-resilient communities by:

Improving air and water quality
Lowering temperatures
Reducing heat related illness
Improving mental health
Enhancing cognitive function
Reducing stress
Reducing energy use
Reducing flooding
Increasing biodiversity
Increasing carbon storage

So far, American Forests has created pilot Tree Equity Scores for Rhode Island, Phoenix and Tucson, AZ, Detroit, MI, Houston, TX, Puget Sound, WA, San Francisco Bay, CA, and Miami, FL. You can find out how these urban areas stack up tree-wise at TreeEquityScore. We’ll keep you posted on new scores as they roll out. In the meantime, you can learn more about American Forests’ plan to maximize the health and climate benefits of urban tree planting to ensure everyone gets their fair share of nature from Vibrant Cities Lab.

Btw, it’s officially Earth Week! Exciting! You can find educational resources and activities to help teach K-12 students to nurture nature at WideOpenSchool. And from April 20-22, you can follow Restore Our Earth™ events at EarthDay. See you there!

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Lisa S. French April 19, 2021

Earth Month: One Nation Under Trees

2-minute read

If you’re a friend of Favorite World Press, you know that we’re tree people. We love trees for their beauty and solidity, their music, and their majesty. We love looking at them and listening to them, and most of all, we love planting them so that everyone can benefit from their leafy, green goodness. That’s why we have partnered with American Forests to plant one wildlands tree for every print or electronic book that we sell from our K-4 series Frankie and Peaches: Tales of Total Kindness. We’re investing in the future health of our planet by planting trees on behalf of our young readers—trees that will grow with them and for them.

As we celebrate Earth Month at Wild & Wondrous, we’re thinking about forests and how they bring us together—one nation under trees. Restoring our forests by planting trees helps us all by providing jobs, cleaning our air and water, and nourishing our bodies and minds. Plus, forest restoration is one of the most effective natural ways to combat climate change. Trees help to cool our warming planet by capturing 15% of U.S. carbon emissions. Forests and trees also provide critical food and shelter for wildlife. Vulnerable keystone tree species like the whitebark pine, found across the western U.S. and Canada, are essential to the health of biodiverse high-elevation ecosystems. Supporting American Forests helps to ensure that we can save our summits by protecting the struggling whitebark pine and all the creatures that depend on it for survival.

You can learn more about projects underway and plans in the works to reforest the U.S. from our planting partners. And you can explore American Forests’ participation in the World Economic Forum initiative to increase the number of trees on the planet and prevent the loss of trees that are already in the ground at the Trillion Trees Campaign. The global campaign brings together a like-minded community of people, governments, non-profit organizations, and corporations committed to stopping deforestation and forest degradation. As co-managers of the U.S. chapter of 1t.org, American Forests has pledged to plant 100 million trees in large forested landscapes and 1.2 million trees in cities.

Favorite World Press is proud to contribute to the growing movement to create healthy and resilient forests. We have planted thousands of trees thanks to thoughtful readers like you—we are so grateful for your ongoing support. And for new friends of FWP (well, hello there!), this Earth Month, we hope that you’ll consider branching out and joining us in our mission—one nation under trees for people, for wildlife, for the planet.

Photo credit: Timothy G. Lumley, Bugling Elk, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado.

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Lisa S. French April 9, 2021

A Trillion Trees! A Trillion Trees!

1-minute read

Good news alert!

In the midst of converging global challenges-COVID-19, climate change, biodiversity loss, and economic upheaval, there is a light at the end of the tunnel—and it’s green!

Our planting partners at American Forests have teamed up with the World Economic Forum to launch the U.S. Chapter of 1t.org. The goal of the collaboration is to conserve, restore and grow one trillion trees by 2030, creating millions of jobs to help ensure equitable environmental progress towards a green recovery.

This hopeful news for people and the planet also means cleaner air and water, more action on climate change, greater tree equity for our cities, and expanded habitat for the wild ones. What’s not to like?

American Forests and 26 diverse organizations have collectively pledged 855 million trees so far, as well as investments in mapping technologies and carbon finance. Planted across the United States from sea to shining sea, those 855 million trees will store more than 500 million tons of carbon dioxide. In case you’re wondering, that’s equal to the annual emissions from 108 million cars. Bring on the lovely, leafy sky vacuums.

FWP is delighted to contribute to this big tree-planting effort in our small press way, and if you’re feeling it, you can help too. Every time you buy a print or e-book from the Frankie and Peaches: Tales of Total Kindness series, we’ll thank you very much by planting one wildlands tree. If you’d really like to dig in and participate in the global greening movement, you can volunteer and share ideas through the 1t.org digital platform UpLink. We’re all in. Hope to see you there!

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Lisa S. French August 27, 2020

Calling All Tree Lovers

1.5-minute read

We thought we’d start off this unusually unusual July with a celebration of something cool and comforting and lovely and leafy—trees—ahhh! We write about trees and plant trees and tend to trees because well, we’re tree people and because they’re the unsung green heroes of the planet. We believe in giving nature credit where credit is due, and so do our planting partners at American Forests, which is why since 1940, they’ve sponsored a national hunt to locate and crown the most colossal of America’s trees.

So if you’re looking for a perfect activity to help you keep your social distance during the dog days of summer, it’s officially tree-tracking season, time to hit the lonesome trails, and keep your eyes peeled for a massive marvel in your local field, forest or national park. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, and we hope that you will, is to locate, measure and nominate the largest tree you can find to American Forests’ National Register of Champion Trees. Learn how to propose a potential champion, then gather your tree’s photos, facts and figures and submit your awe-inspiring specimen for consideration beginning October 1, 2020. Not only will you be contributing to forest heritage, you’ll also be helping scientists learn more about how large, old-growth trees capture and store carbon and filter water.

If wandering in one of 419 U.S. national parks in pursuit of gargantuan trees is on your safely-able-to-do list, you can also share your unique photographic point of view in the federal recreation lands photo contest. Check out rules, recent snaps, and previous winners here.

And if you’d like to find out which trees were the 2020 favorites of our nature-loving friends in Europe, you can read the winning stories of the Guardian of the Flooded Village, the Gingko from Daruvar, and the Lonely Poplar at the aptly named European Tree of the Year.

To borrow from EU environmental expert Ladislav Miko, we celebrate trees and get to know their stories to learn why they are important for us as humans. Tree lovers and tree admirers create a good society of people.

We always knew being a citizen of nature would come in handy.

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Lisa S. French July 6, 2020

Preserving the Music of Trees

2.5-minute read

Acoustic or electric, soul-soothing or headbanging, the tonal quality of the guitar music that puts you in the zone is greatly influenced by the types of wood used to craft the body, neck, and fingerboard of the instrument. Whether it’s sourced from a common tree species like ash, spruce, or maple, or an exotic tropical like ebony, rosewood, or mahogany, the wood used to construct guitars, known as tonewood, has unique characteristics—such as density, resonance, texture, and warp resistance—that lend that special something to the sound of the strings. As a result of decades of deforestation, legal and illegal logging for export, and the introduction of invasive insects and disease, many of the trees used to produce the world’s most valuable tonewoods are now under threat.

To identify eco-friendly alternatives to endangered tree species, researchers in Germany and Finland are working to unpick the acoustic properties of rare tonewoods. In the meantime, Taylor and Fender, industry leaders in the art and science of building stringed instruments, have stepped up to launch two propagation and planting projects designed to help save the imperiled ebony and ash trees used to create the distinctive sounds of their guitars.

The jet-black, extremely durable, insect-resistant heartwood of the African ebony tree (Diospyros crassiflora) is one of the most prized and expensive woods on the planet. Ebony heartwood has been used for centuries to make everything from ships and sculptures to furniture and flooring. It is also one of the best woods for stringed instrument fingerboards and the one preferred by many acoustic and electric guitar manufacturers. One of 10,000 tree species currently facing extinction, African ebony trees grow in small, isolated clusters in lowland rainforests from Nigeria to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. During the last century, over 50% of ebony have been cut down. Almost all of the large trees from the slow-growing species have been harvested for export. Researchers at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in the Netherlands estimate that 10 to 30% of those exports are illegally logged.

Enter Taylor Guitars and the Ebony Project: a pioneering conservation partnership between the guitar manufacturer, UCLA, the Congo Basin Institute, and The Higher Institute of Environmental Sciences. Based in Cameroon, Africa, the Ebony Project was established to protect and conserve the rare tree species, develop livelihoods for rural communities, reforest degraded land, and increase rainforest habitat. Trained by Ebony Project staff, local communities learn to build and maintain nurseries and propagate and grow ebony saplings. The nurseries are donated to the community to grow other valuable food and medicinal trees for sale or personal use, including mango, avocado, and kola. With the ultimate goal of planting 15,000 trees, the Ebony Project aims to create a sustainable model for the production of the exotic tonewood that also provides critical social and economic benefits to local people. Thriving forests, self-sufficient rural communities, and more guitar music for your ears—a conservation triple win.

And in Cleveland Ohio, home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, FWP tree-planting partner American Forests has launched the Roots of Rock initiative with Fender Musical Instruments and researchers at the U.S. Forest Service in an effort to save the ash tree (Fraxinus Americana) from the hungry maw of the emerald ash borer (EAB). Fender has used ash to construct its legendary electric guitars for 70 years, but since the EAB arrived in the U.S. in 2002, the invasive species has destroyed hundreds of millions of ash trees in North America putting the future of rock at risk. To ensure Fender aficionados can continue to practice their musical artistry, the Roots of Rock team is identifying trees that have successfully warded off the voracious insect. Seeds and shoots from those resilient trees are being used to breed an EAB-resistant variety of ash that will help restore the species to its former glory. Knowledge gained from the Roots of Rock initiative to preserve the music of trees will also be used to combat invasive insects and diseases that threaten the survival of other native species to better protect the health and biodiversity of forests in North America and around the world.

You can learn more about the Roots of Rock Initiative here and read a progress report on the Ebony Project here. Oh, and by the way, rock on!

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Lisa S. French February 4, 2020

Towering Trees

At Weekly Wondrous, we believe that every tree is a winner. Because what’s not to like about a carbon-storing, water-purifying, habitat-providing, lovely, leafy planet fixture? However, to clinch official “champion” status, a tree has to possess that special something such as exceptional height, width, or age that makes it stand out in its field—or forest.

In 2019, two statuesque rainforest dwellers made the cut and were added to the official A-list of champion trees for record-breaking height: a 290-foot angelim vermelho (Dinizia excelsa) located in the Paru State Forest in Brazil, and a 339-foot yellow meranti (Shorea faguetiana) located in the Malaysian state of Sabah on the island of Borneo.

Towering 21 stories above the forest floor, the leviathan angelim vermelho was tracked down deep in the heart of the Brazilian rainforest by indomitable researchers from the Universities of Jequitinhonha and Muscari Valleys in Brazil, and Cambridge in the United Kingdom. Now hailed as the tallest tree in Amazonia, the tropical hardwood is about the same height as the Statue of Liberty, give or take a torch. Common across Guyana and northern Brazil, the average angelim vermelho grows to approximately 160 – 190 feet tall and is typically harvested for its durable timber, which is used for everything from boatbuilding to floorboards to bridges. It’s believed that the recently discovered giant was able to achieve a remarkable 100 feet of additional growth undisturbed as a result of its remote location in the Amazon basin, one of the most biodiverse ecoregions on Earth.

In June, researchers from the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and Nottingham introduced the world to the tallest tropical tree known to date, the 339-foot yellow meranti, dubbed “Menara” (Malay for “tower”) which soars over the Danum Valley Conservation Area in Borneo. Almost 50 feet taller than its Brazilian rainforest rival and so far, second in height only to famed Hyperion, a majestic 380-foot coast redwood in Redwood National Park in California, the mammoth yellow meranti is also a contender for tallest flowering plant in the world. The endangered tree species can currently be found in Indonesia, Thailand, and the Phillipines as well as Malaysia, although numbers are decreasing due to logging and land-use change.

While we are on the subject of top-notch trees, we would like to extend a little local love to the “Queen’s Giant,” the largest and oldest tree In New York City. The 133-foot tall tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera) located in Flushing Queen’s Alley Pond Park is estimated to be approximately 350 years old. Although somewhat of a pipsqueak by Brazil, and Borneo standards, the flowering favorite remains a colossus in our hearts.

If you live in the United States and would like to join the global ranks of intrepid tree-trackers, you can locate, measure, and nominate the most tremendous tree you can find for inclusion in the National Register of Champion Trees through our planting partners at American Forests.

Whether a world champion tree, the biggest on the block, or a beloved backyard beauty, we’re always delighted to welcome another green growing presence to the planet. You can introduce one of your own by planting a tree with Favorite World Press this holiday season or any time of the year. No digging required!

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Lisa S. French December 18, 2019

Tree-Planting Tapirs

If the Brazilian tapir’s eye-catching ensemble of creature features brings to mind ancient beasts, that’s because the shy, primarily nocturnal South American megafauna is one of the oldest species of large mammal remaining on Earth. The origins of this floppy-nosed, bristly-maned, odd-toed ungulate date back approximately 35 million years. For the ungulate-uninitiated, tapirs are Perissodactyls, hooved herbivores who like their closest relatives horses and rhinoceros, possess an odd number of toes. The Brazilian, or lowland, tapir is one of four widely recognized species of tapir native to the forests, grasslands, and mountains of Central and South America and Southeast Asia.

Measuring five to eight feet long and weighing between 300 and 700 pounds, the Brazilian tapir maintains its impressive bulk by consuming up to an equally impressive 85 pounds worth of shoots, leaves, branches, and fruit a day. As it turns out, the tapir’s hearty appetite for seed-bearing plants plays an important role in restoring degraded rainforests. According to researchers at Ohio State University, 80 percent of trees in the Amazon are dependent upon animals for seed dispersal. One of the primary “gardeners of the rainforest” tapirs ingest and expel a large variety of seeds that have future tree potential. Results of a recent study carried out by scientists at the Amazon Environmental Research Institute in Mato Grosso, Brazil, found that 99 percent of 130,000 seeds passed through a tapir’s digestive systems intact. Seeds that survive the digestive process are more likely to germinate. And here’s where it gets more ‘oh, wow’ interesting: the Mato Grosso study suggests that tapirs may prefer to browse and graze in degraded plots of land rather than in unspoiled forest. When sunlight hits the earth as a result of tree canopy loss in burnt or degraded areas, it forces up and reveals tender green shoots from the forest floor that are attractive to tapirs. The tapirs observed in the study spent about twice as much time feeding in degraded plots resulting in more seed “deposits” in areas in need of reforestation.

In the Amazon, wildlife depend upon healthy forest systems, and as the Ohio State and Mato Grosso research indicates, healthy forest systems depend upon wildlife. The Brazilian tapir’s natural capacity to contribute to tree planting can be an important factor in helping to regenerate carbon-storing, rainforest habitat. That is why protecting an umbrella species like the tapir also serves to protect other animals in its ecosystem.

Despite their aptitude for seed dispersal, Brazilian tapirs alone can’t compensate for elevated rates of Amazon deforestation. In addition, as a result of rapid habitat loss due to wildfires and ongoing land-use change, as well as illegal hunting, populations of Brazilian tapirs are decreasing and currently listed as vulnerable by the IUCN. The good news is you can help keep the hooved horticulturalists of Central and South America in their gardening groove by supporting the tapir research of Nai Conservation and the conservation action plans of the Tapir Specialist Group.

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Lisa S. French October 2, 2019