Caring For The Trees And Forests of Mississippi

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Workshops/ Meetings;  News Articles;  Publications

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Workshops/Meetings  (top of page)

Firewise Events:

• The Copiah County Soil and Water District and the Mississippi Forestry Commission is sponsoring a How To Have A Firewise Home event on March 11, 2010 at the Gallman Multipurpose Building in Gallman, MS. There is no charge for your participation and dinner will be provided.  Pre-registration is required.  Deadline for registration is March 3, 2010.  You may fax your registration form to (601) 894-5588.  If you have any questions, please contact Samantha Meese at (601) 894-1118 ext 3.   Click here for invitation letter and registration form. Registration will begin at 9:00 a.m. with the program beginning at 9:30 and ending around 1:00 p.m.  Direction toe Gallman, MS - On I-55, you will take the Gallman exit (exit 65) and the Multipurpose Building is on the west side of I-55. Registered Foresters are eligible for 2 hours of Category II CFE Credit, Certified Loggers are eligible for 2 hours of Category II credit and Realtors are eligible for 3.00 hours of Elective Real Estate Course Approval Code 10181.

Small Farmers Conference - "Cultivating The Way ... For Prosperous Generation."

The Small Farmers Conference 2010 will continue in its objective to be a part of the educational outreach efforts to the citizens of Mississippi.  This year the conference convenes in Mississippi’s historic capitol city, Jackson.  The Regency Hotel and Conference Center will house our guests and participants as we launch our 19th year session. The exciting Theme: “Cultivating the Way…For Prosperous Generations” fully exemplifies the direction the conference takes this year. This statewide conference will focus on assisting participants in creatively starting new enterprises on their farms and gaining a wealth of knowledge through new marketing strategies and business opportunities. We encourage farmers, cooperatives, and women in business to attend this conference.  This conference is schedule for March 29 - 31, 2010.  For details and registration information, please call (601) 354-2750 or visit their website at www.smallfarmersconference.org.

MUFC Annual Conference

The 20th annual urban forestry conference will provide the most advanced “Greening” education, principals and projects in the country with leading national speakers. The conference will feature five national experts. Join us also for the 20th annual statewide urban forestry and green awards and help us celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day.  This conference will be held at Horn Lake, MS on April 21 - 23, 2010. Click here for Brochure/Registration Form and Agenda. 

Teachers Conservation Workshop

News Articles (top of page)

• Redbay, sassafras trees might face extinction. A state forestry expert said on Monday that the redbay and sassafras trees, native to Mississippi for thousands of years, might face extinction if an antidote to laurel wilt, a devastating disease spread to these two species by a small beetle is not found soon. By David A. Farrell for the Picayune Item. (Posted 10/26/2009)

• Mississippi Forests Are Flourishing. (Video 2:10 minutes)  A new report from the Mississippi Forestry Commission shows forestland in the state is flourishing.  The 2006 Forest Inventory finds tree volume has.... From WLOX.com.

• Forestry Industry On An Upswing (Article and 1:24 minute video). 

  In the Natchez Trace Parkway lush trees line the road. And hanging high in the trees is some good news for Mississippi's economy. One thing it does show is the resilience of the forests in Mississippi, such as after Hurricane Katrina.  By Ashley Porter of the WLBT.com

• Volunteer Firefighters Will Be ...  (Video) Volunteer firefighters in South Mississippi will be better prepared to battle woods fires.  The Mississippi Forestry Commission is providing ten volunteer departments with .... From Steve Phillips of  WLOX.com

Publications  (top of page)

• Tax Tips For Forest Landowners For The 2009 Tax Year.  By Linda Wang, Forest Taxation Specialist and John L. Greene, Research Forester, Southern Research Station. This bulletin summarizes federal income tax information useful to woodland owners in preparing their 2009 tax returns.  It is current as of October 1, 2009.

• Mississippi's Forests, 2006 - (7.34MB pdf file)

  Oswalt, Sonja N.; Johnson, Tony G.; Coulston, John W.; Oswalt, Christopher M.2009. Mississippi’s forests, 2006. Resour. Bull. SRS–147. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Southern Research Station. 78 p.

   

  Forest land covers 19.6 million acres in Mississippi, or about 65 percent of the land area. The majority of forests are classed as timberland. One hundred and thirty-seven tree species were measured on Mississippi forests in the 2006 inventory. Thirty-six percent of Mississippi’s forest land is classified as loblolly-shortleaf pine forest, 27 percent is classified as upland oak-hickory forest and 19 percent is composed of bottomland hardwoods. Weather-related events were the largest component of average annual disturbance (204,000 acres yearly) on Mississippi forest land since the previous inventory. About 4 percent of live trees on Mississippi’s forest land experienced some degree of damage due to Hurricane Katrina.

  
  Keywords: Annual forest inventory, FIA, forest health indicators, forest ownership, Hurricane Katrina, Mississippi, timber volume.

   

• Mississippi Trees - This book has been prepared for the citizens of Mississippi as an aid to identification of the common trees occurring in Mississippi and to give useful and interesting information about each tree species that is not normally included in technical books on tree identification. This book was prepared for the Mississippi Forestry Commission by the Department of Forestry at Mississippi State University.  Publication of the handbook was made possible through a grant from the USDA Forest Service to the Mississippi Forestry Commission.  This link will take you to the Mississippi State University Extension Service website.

• Mississippi's BMPs - Best Management Practices for Forestry in Mississippi, Fourth Edition, September 2008. (Posted 8/25/2008)

• Mississippi's Voluntary Silvicultural Best Management Practices Implementation Monitoring Program - 2007 BMP Implementation Survey For Mississippi. (Posted 3/3/2008