About Gwendolyn Craig

Gwen is an award-winning journalist covering environmental policy for the Explorer since January 2020. She also takes photos and videos for the Explorer's magazine and website. She is a current member of the Legislative Correspondents Association of New York. Gwen has worked at various news outlets since 2015. Prior to moving to upstate New York, she worked for a D.C. Metro-area public relations firm, producing digital content for clients including the World Health Organization, the Low Income Investment Fund and Rights and Resources Initiative. She has a master's degree in journalism from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. She has bachelor's degrees in English and journalism, with a concentration in ecology and evolutionary biology, from the University of Connecticut. Gwen is also a part-time figure skating coach. Contact her at (518) 524-2902 or gwen@adirondackexplorer.org. Sign up for Gwen’s newsletter here.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jeanne weber says

    I’m thinking the same thing Todd. removing large trees doesn’t help climate. We need these large adult trees to absorb the carbon.

  2. Ryan Finnigan says

    I wonder if they are controlling for beech or are they simply releasing a new crop of crowded and diseased beech trees per usual?

    • Ian Thompson says

      When employing a shelterwood method like they are here, the removal of beech stems is likely part of the preparatory treatment for this harvest. The purpose of this step in the management sequence is to set the stage of the regeneration of the new stand and strengthen/improve the rigor of the trees that will remain in the stand and provide “shelter” for the regeneration that is selected for after the harvest occurs. Having a dense, shade tolerant “pest” tree like beech would not be good for advancing the regeneration of desired species as it would shade out regenerating seedlings. Of course, beech is very hard to eliminate entirely due to its propensity to root sucker, so it is inevitable that beech will remain on the stand in the future. A little beech is ok, but a lot is not. Management of beech is a continuous problem faced by forest managers ubiquitously in the natural communities of the northeast.

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