Author: JohnMatel

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Walls

The train from Rome to Florence is fast and passes through some very beautiful country. You see lots of old cities on hilltops, obviously with defensive purpose. Florence too has an old defensive wall and so did Rome, AFTER the Empire declined.

Walls, towers and castles today are picturesque, but consider their purpose. You went through the expense and inconvenience of having walls and living densely on defensible high ground only because the alternative was dangerous. A well-ordered world does not need such things as high walls. Rome proudly did not have a wall until its power declined.

In earlier times people also often avoided living close to the seashore. It was too easy for Vikings or Saracens to sail up, break your stuff and kill or enslave your kids. Of course, you had to be careful if you lived in-land, since Huns, Magyar, Mongols or just ordinary brigands could quickly ride up, break your stuff and …

Yeah, your best bet was a wall and commanding high ground. My first picture is a remnant of Florence’s wall. Next is a picture of the city from high ground, called Michelangelo’s Piazzale. It is a long steep walk to the top, but worth the effort. The wimpier folks can drive or take the bus.

The last photo is Ponte Vecchio, a famous bridge over the Arno River, today flanked by shops selling expensive jewelry. It started off as a place where blacksmiths and butchers plied their trade, conveniently disposing of their rancid wastes by tossing them off the bridge into the river. City authorities eventually got sick of the stink and pollution and moved them off.

The bridge is featured in Puccini’s opera piece “O mio babbino caro,” where a girl threatens to jump off the Ponte Vecchio if her father refuses to let he marry the man she loves. I always liked the music and will include it in the comments. Use it as a soundtrack when looking at the photos.

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Forest visit September 2016

Went to the farms again mostly to trim vines with my new cutter. You can see in my picture how the wisteria just climbs the trees. I also have Japanese honeysuckle, grape vines and some kind of thorny thing I cannot identify. We have some poison ivy. I try to avoid it, but I am currently immune. I say currently because I read that this can change. About 15% of the population is immune to poison ivy. I am and want to stay that way.

There was a little rain most of the morning. Finally a deluge pushed me out and I left at about 3pm. I could have hunkered down but I was afraid the rain would so muddy the road that I would get stuck.

My second picture shows my 2012 longleaf stand. I know I take lots of photos, but I am fascinated by the changes. It takes a fair amount of work to keep it “natural.” I spend a few hours each time I come down cutting out invading hardwoods and loblolly pines. I use my hand tools for that. I tried by cutter, but it just makes lots of noise and it not that much faster in this situation, although it is great against the vines in the 2003 loblolly in my first picture.

The next to last picture shows the 1996 loblolly. I plan to thin them again next year and the last picture is a feed plot that the hunt club guys planted.

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TNC Piney Grove Preserve

It rained the whole time I was down on TNC’s Piney Grove Preserve near Waverly in south-east Virginia, but it didn’t rain hard most of the time and never hard enough to stop us from exploring the pine savannas. The preserve was established primarily to save the habitat of the last red cockaded woodpeckers in Virginia.

Bobby Clontz has the best job. He is the steward for 3200-acre preserve. He explained that when TNC got the land, there were only two families of red cockaded woodpecker on the land. They figured that when they protected the land, the population would quickly recover. It did not. In fact, they had to bring in a few birds from the Carolinas to Virginia. But they still were not thriving, until TNC started burning more frequently. Fire is the key to health of a southern pine ecosystem and so it is the key to health for the RCW.

There are now thirteen families of red cockaded woodpeckers on the property.  They still need care, but what TNC is doing is clearly working.  It is a constant learning experience.  Nature is dynamic and land managers need to constantly be learning, doing and learning from doing.

The Piney Grove Preserve is still mostly loblolly. It was timberland until the TNC got it, and it was very thick and overstocked. Since TNC got the land, they have been thinning and burning, making the forest more open, as it would have been in the past.

I was interested in longleaf restoration. Longleaf have been almost extirpated from this part of Virginia, but were once common. TNC is reintroducing them gradually. For example, they have thinned one stand to 40 DBH, i.e. very open. The longleaf are planted under them. They are a little slow to break out, but they are growing. It will take a long time – decades – for the longleaf to come into their own, but the slow transition is more natural.

My first photo shows the longleaf coming in under the lobolly. Next is a burned area. It was burned in April. Look how fast it greens out. The third picture is the kind of cover you want. This is little blue stem grass. It grows in clumps, as you see. This is important because it allows water to run between and allows wildlife such as quail to maneuver on the ground and under cover. The last picture shows shortleaf pine sprouts. Shortleaf can burn to the ground and still grow back.  This is different from longleaf that burns to the terminal bud and than regrows. Most pines will not grow back at all if burned or cut back to the ground.

This is the link to the TNC page about Piney Grove.


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Piney Grove, Virginia

It rained the whole time I was down on TNC’s Piney Grove Preserve near Waverly in south-east Virginia, but it didn’t rain hard most of the time and never hard enough to stop us from exploring the pine savannas. The preserve was established primarily to save the habitat of the last red cockaded woodpeckers in Virginia.

Bobby Clontz has the best job. He is the steward for 3200-acre preserve. He explained that when TNC got the land, there were only two families of red cockaded woodpecker on the land. They figured that when they protected the land, the population would quickly recover. It did not. In fact, they had to bring in a few birds from the Carolinas to Virginia. But they still were not thriving, until TNC started burning more frequently. Fire is the key to health of a southern pine ecosystem and so it is the key to health for the RCW.

The Piney Grove Preserve is still mostly loblolly. It was timberland until the TNC got it, and it was very thick and overstocked. Since TNC got the land, they have been thinning and burning, making the forest more open, as it would have been in the past.

I was interested in longleaf restoration. Longleaf have been almost extirpated from this part of Virginia, but were once common. TNC is reintroducing them gradually. For example, they have thinned one stand to 40 DBH, i.e. very open. The longleaf are planted under them. They are a little slow to break out, but they are growing. It will take a long time – decades – for the longleaf to come into their own, but the slow transition is more natural.
My first photo shows the longleaf coming in under the lobolly. Next is a burned area. It was burned in April. Look how fast it greens out. The third picture is the kind of cover you want. This is little blue stem grass. It grows in clumps, as you see. This is important because it allows water to run between and allows wildlife such as quail to maneuver on the ground and under cover. The last picture shows shortleaf pine sprouts. They can burn to the ground and still grow back. Most pines will not.

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New ways to build with wood – Timber City

Wood just feels good, literally. You just want to touch it. It did that today when attended a lecture by Architect Andrew Waugh, who talked about using cross laminated timber and his Murray Grove project (once the world’s tallest modern timber residential building) and visited the “Timber City” exhibit at the National Building Museum.

New techniques and sustainability concerns make timber the material of the future. Mr. Waugh explained that it costs 10-15% less to construct a building out of cross laminated timber compared with a glass and steel building. Beyond that, they can be 30-50% faster to build. They require fewer deliveries and it is much easier for plumbers and electricians to make cuts to install their pipes and wires. A wood building also weighs less, so it requires less of a foundation and can be built on some sites unavailable to heavier structures.

Wood is good in many other ways too. Wood is 100% renewable and while forests are growing they absorb CO2, protect water and soil resources and create wildlife habitat. When a building’s useful life is over, wood can be pulped or burned. It is a complete ecologically benign cycle.

And people like wood. As I started above, it is nice to touch and small, and it is attractive to look at.

Cross laminated timber and new techniques address some of the traditional problems of wood, such as lack of tensile strength and fire danger. The cross lamination created greater strength as the grains are crossed. If you want to see why this is important take hang something from a board. First do it going with the grain and then cross grain. You will find significant differences.

Nothing is truly fireproof, but cross laminated timber, once is place, is no more a fire danger than concrete, which crumbles with intense heat, or steel, which melts. Wood will char on the surface and then will not burn farther. If you want to run another experiment, try starting a campfire using only big logs. You can’t. A wood fire requires kindling. Large wooden cross laminated timber does not provide it. If it does burn, the rate of charring is well-know and engineers can design with that safety in mind.

So wood is the building material of the past and future.

My first picture shows the sign for the exhibit. Next are a couple of pictures showing types of engineered wood. The last photo is a side view of the cross lamination.

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Virginia Prescribed Fire Council meeting at Pocahontas State Forest

I went to the Virginia Prescribed Fire Council meeting at Pocahontas State Forest. It was very interesting. Fire on the land is complex. I have a lot to learn, but we will do our first proscribed burn in January. I talked to the speaker from TNC. I will go next week to visit his pine woods in SE Virginia. I showed the pictures of my longleaf plantations, like a proud parent.
My longleaf plantation lies almost perfectly on the northwest limit of original longleaf range, which runs through the middle of Brunswick County. I am really looking forward to setting it on fire.

A few interesting insights.
1. You cannot “restore” a previous ecosystem because you could not possibly understand all the relationships that existed, and even if you did, conditions have changed. So the idea is to create sustainable ecology, using the factors you can. Longleaf restoration will be like that.
2. In 1607, there were probably a million acres of longleaf in Virginia. Recently, there were only 200 trees. We are restoring longleaf and now we have around 10,000 acres in Virginia and growing.
3. It is wrong to talk about organisms “adapting” to their environments. All of it is co-evolution, a complex interaction of everything adapting to everything else, a massive feedback loop. I think this applies to our complex society too.

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New cutting tool

Went down to the farms yesterday with my new tool, pictured above. I have been trying to clean out vines that are climbing my 2003 loblolly. I also want to take down some of the runt trees and intrusive hardwoods. There are about 110 acres to clean. Working with my hand tools, even with the help of the boys I would finish this job never. With my new tool, my guess is that I can get the job done in about ten workdays.

The tool works wonderfully under the 2003 pines. I can cut almost as fast as a slow walk. The biggest problem is negotiating the uneven ground, that and keeping track of where I am going. I quickly learned that the best way to get at the runt trees was frontal attack, not the sideways you might use whacking weeds. The best way to get the vines is to go down and let the blade chew into the vines. Some of the vines, especially the wisteria, are pretty thick. You cannot cut the ones actually growing up the tree trucks for fear of harming the tree, but they usually follow the ground for a few feet and you can get at them by going around the tree. You don’t have to attack the whole vine. The weak link is on the ground.

My tool is less useful with the brambles on the longleaf patch. It does cut, but it is maybe not worth it. Brambles can be controlled simply by trampling them. They break off and die back. Of course, they come back, but it is as good as cutting. My technique is primitive but effective. I just lean a big piece of cardboard against the brambles and tread it down. Then I repeat. It takes a while, but it is not very hard work. The longleaf patch is only five acres, so with persistence it can be done. I like to do it. It is quiet and I get to be among the trees. I don’t need to wipe out brambles everywhere, just within about six feet from my longleaf. I have created paths along the longleaf. It really harms the trees if you don’t trample the brambles.

Anyway, I want to get the vine trimming done soon. The vines harm the trees by covering needles, but my bigger concern is fire. This is not a high probability, but it is a concern. A fire on the ground would not hurt my 2003 loblolly and might actually be good. But the vines form a ladder that would take the ground fire to the crowns. It is perfect kindling. Where the vines are thick, they are like a Maypole and they catch falling needles and dry sticks. Anyway, with my cool new tool I can make the cuts. And I think the boys will be eager to help if they can use. it.

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Replanting with longleaf

Referencing this article – http://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/compass/2016/09/08/reforesting-with-longleaf-pine-after-hurricane-damage/
The only way to prepare for an uncertain future is to develop robust and adaptive systems. Fortunately, such things are available to us. Our land in Virginia sits precisely on the northern and western demarcation line of the traditional longleaf range. We have planted, and will plant more, longleaf to diversify our forests and restore some of the original landscape.
I do not disparage loblolly. It is a wonderful tree that grows fast and has been adapted to forestry in the South. Most of our pine acreage will still be loblolly, but diversity is valuable. That is why we planted longleaf and will also plant shortleaf. I anticipate managing one quarter to one half of our pine land for longleaf by the time I take the road to glory (providing that does not happen too soon.)
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Around Washington

Well, I did not go to Liberia & Sierra Leone. Bureaucratic problem with my status. I will probably have a chance to go elsewhere soon. I got all my shots and visas for place I may never go, but it was interesting getting the visas.

I had to go myself to the Embassies, since it was a rush job. I rode my bike and got to see parts of Washington I had not seen for a long time. BTW, it is almost all up hill to the Liberian Embassy.

My first photo is Rock Creek. I rode the trails through Rock Creek back from the Liberian Embassy. I used to travel this route every day when I studied Polish. We lived near Silver Spring, MD and I would ride to FSI in Roslyn. Nice ride going down, not so much going up.

Second photo is the bike lane up 15th Street. It is a fairly pleasant ride. I like it that the cars can park at the far side of the bike trail. We get a wall of parked cars to protect us from the moving ones. But it is generally up hill to the Liberian Embassy and it is pretty steep past Meridian Park, see third photo.


Liberian Embassy is in photo #4. The flag looks a lot like ours.
Photos # 5&6 are Meridian Park. #6 shows a statue of Dante.

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Originality is overrated

Thoughts based on this article for New York Times  – The Accidental Plagiarist in All of Us

I am proud to admit it. I never had an original idea. That is what education is all about. You tap into the great ideas others have expressed earlier or better.
This is an interesting article, but I think the premise is wrong. The author supposes you COULD have an original idea. You cannot. All new ideas are mixes of older ones. We call them new to the extent that the mix is different from ones we heard before.
Ideas are like viruses. They have no living existence outside their human hosts and each host has some variation of the symptoms depending on the host-idea-cultural interaction. They are always changing and developing.
It is a persistent and pernicious myth that creative people develop ideas by themselves. It is the old picture of wise individuals in quiet contemplation figuring things out. In reality, the most creative people are connected to others.They promiscuously appropriate the ideas around them and alter them to fit different circumstances and requirements. That is a big reason why it is so hard to determine who “invented” or “originated” a great idea.
So stealing, appropriating, plagiarizing ideas is unavoidable and often unconscious, as the article mentions. And it is usually good, should be encouraged. I understand that we have to parse the terms when money or credit is involved, but in all other cases we should just be proud that someone was able to use our raw materials to produce something beautiful and useful.
I recently read an essay about the ancient Greeks, possibly the most creative people ever. The essay’s author did not think so. He wrote that all the innovations credited to the Greeks had their roots elsewhere and he was probably correct, but he missed the point. The difference between the work of a master chef and a terrible cook is not the ingredients or even the recipes. It is in how they are put together. And yes, I am sure I have stolen that metaphor, but I don’t care. Creative people are smart enough to recognize and appropriate value.
The great thing about ideas is that they are not like physical goods. If you use my idea, I can still keep it too. Or to steal from Thomas Jefferson directly, “He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me.”