During this semester busy with writing a master's project and applying for jobs, Forest Practicum with Judd Edeburn has provided a nice escape to the outdoors to learn basic forestry skills and do fun things like wield a chainsaw, drive a bulldozer, and lend a hand in a prescribed fire. The course is broken up into modules, from among which students must select and complete specific exercises related to each module. The module in which I've spend the most time thus far is the Timber Sale Module. In the module, I join up with fellow MEMs Joseph Williams, Ian Varley, and Jessie Leddick (a joint MEM / Master in Forestry student) to prepare a forest cut selected by the Duke Forest Staff.

The first portion of the project was to delineate the cut by flagging boundary trees following a polygon superimposed on a map given to us by the Duke Forest Staff which also listed the planned cut and surrounding forest stand compositions. The stand we're after is one dominated by loblolly pine mixed with assorted short-leaf pine, red and white oak, yellow poplars and other hardwoods. Looking at surrounding forest stand types, a recent adjacent cut boundary and a nearby stream, we estimated and banded the cut boundary. A second part of delineating the cut boundary included establishing an SMZ, or stream-side management zone, to create a buffer between the adjacent stream and run-off from the structurally destabilized harvest area. We also designated an access point to the cut minimizing impact on surrounding forest. This part of the project entailed three trips to forest.