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Ragefan2k t1_iw9ugrq wrote

Could have fooled me .. I had tons fall in the yard this year.

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FTLast t1_iwbj6hf wrote

Me too- the top of my car would like a word with the author of that article.

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QueenOfQuok t1_iw9wbkj wrote

I thought the acorn crop was always high one year and low the other? Do the oaks around here not have that cycle of production?

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haddamhussein t1_iwbhqyy wrote

this is what i learned as well. They have mast years where most trees in the area produce tons of crop, then it can be sparse for years.

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[deleted] t1_iwbrpo0 wrote

Record drought was the driver of this. Maybe DEEP, CAES, and MDC should stop killing off the state's forests with clearcuts for a rabbit that they allow to be hunted, and worse. And, by the way, this is done as welfare for loggers. A recent DEEP log job generated $20,000 of gross income on 1600 oak sawlogs. Some of the trees were veneer trees of incredible value. DEEP exists for extraction and little else and MDC is all about revenue at the cost of forest health.

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Whydoyouhatefreedom t1_iwbws90 wrote

It’s painfully obvious you know nothing about forestry. CT is overrun with “old growth” forests which provide little to no food/ habitat for native species. With no wild fires, there’s little chance for new growth, making clear cutting an essential practice.

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[deleted] t1_iwc14oo wrote

30+ years as a practicing forest ecologist managing over 10,000 acres in multiple parcels in Connecticut, an advanced degree in silviculture, a manager of 45 hunting permittees, and I know nothing about forestry. OK.

Here are a few science facts for you, not that your mind will ever change:

The "old growth" percentage in CT is far < 1% of standing forests.

There are some old trees but no true old-growth habitat left in CT. The last virgin stand was felled in 1912.

Sugar maples and oaks can live to over 600 years, eastern hemlock to over 800 years. Since we are "overrun" with OG forests, please tell me where to find forest-interior trees half this age.

The native landscape-scale fire frequency here is about 1200 years. In Connecticut, fire systems are rare and typically limited to pitch-pine summit balds of which there are only a handful.

Non-native invasive plants, their spread caused by/accelerated by forest disturbances like clearcuts and other silvicultural systems, are compromising forest food sources while supporting massive tick populations. Both of these outcomes affect the deer that you like to kill.

Proper silviculture, by every single science-based measure, mimics local disturbance regimes. Here, such disturbance is single to multiple tree-falls. Clearcutting is completely inappropriate in the Northeast and best deployed in fire-tuned systems like the jack pine forests of Manitoba where the native landscape-scale fire frequency is 60 to 120 years and fires of up to 10,000 acres are not uncommon.

Old-growth forest harbor the full range of age classes from seedlings to centuries-old stands. They regenerated black cherry and white pine, two examples of light-requiring species that could not grow in your vision of the OG forest. Patch disturbances open up the canopy in what is known as the fluid mosaic of the forest. That's why our forests were so diverse before the chainsaw.

Etc. etc.

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Joggingmusic t1_iwpxjjp wrote

Can I be your friend? I love learning about trees and how forests change depending on their age. I know there’s a few “old growth” forests, which one would you suggest visiting to really appreciate the difference compared to a “new” growth forest? Is there any chance theres pockets of original growth forest in areas like Meriden mountain for example that just are not officially considered old growth?

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[deleted] t1_iw9s4yh wrote

[deleted]

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secretmadscientist t1_iwa1e5z wrote

I'll come up with a solution to this nut conundrum, I walnut fail.

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RangerRick379 t1_iwbk95r wrote

The world is slowly becoming inhospitable from climate change due to human encroachment

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secretmadscientist t1_iwbwq6b wrote

Yes - although capitalist practices are likely a bigger cause than mere encroachment.

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Kimberlymcgill4422 t1_iw9vcw6 wrote

I blame the squirrels

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justdoitscrum t1_iw9zitv wrote

I don't get these squirrels; they're breakin' the deal! It's like the squirrels decided to ignore me!

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saucyB52 t1_iwbnbpl wrote

whats the olde farmers almanac say about accorn harvests and how bad the winter will be

lots of accorns equals bad long winter

not many accorns equals easy mild short winter

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wanderingMoose t1_iwbsm9c wrote

Not a single acorn fell in my yard this year. No other nuts either. Only maple seeds.

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AhbabaOooMaoMao t1_iw9wa4g wrote

Picturing that fat ass bear just eating ten pounds of acorns off the ground.

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Spadmo t1_iwa3y43 wrote

Preschool teacher here and I was unable to find any for activities this year!

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PMO177 t1_iweebk8 wrote

No acorns no ticks

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