Forestry Unit. 7.A.3a Measure length, capacity, weight/mass and angles using sophisticated instru ments (e.g., compass, protractor, trundle wheel).

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1 Forestry Unit By Bob Blaus York High School Overview These lessons are to be a part of a week long summer wilderness program taken annually by students of my ECO Club on the Flambeau River in northern Wisconsin. The challenge is to get the kids to learn in a wilderness setting and not make it too much like a classroom. This trip is entirely extracurricular. The overall objective of these lessons is to give the students an overall understanding of the value of a stand of woods. There are many competing interests for the timber: recreational, pulpwood, chips to be directly burned as fuel, saw logs, veneer logs and biomass to be gasified or converted to cellulosic ethanol. With all this competition forest management has never been more important. Prior to the trip the students read the Chapter on the Flambeau in Aldo Leopold s book, The Sand County Almanac. They meet with a ranger from the Flambeau River State Forest to hear of the history and forest management practices in the forest which strike a balance between the competing needs of nature, recreation and industry. Each evening a forestry lesson is given. On the way home a visit to the Flambeau River paper mill in Park Falls, WI is made. The mill is upstream of where the students paddled. There they see how paper is made, conservation practices and most importantly how virtually all waste is utilized for other products or the production of energy. In the near future energy will be made there by the gasification of biomass. Illinois Standards 7.A.3a Measure length, capacity, weight/mass and angles using sophisticated instru ments (e.g., compass, protractor, trundle wheel). 7.C.4a Make indirect measurements, including heights and distances, using proportions (e.g., finding the height of a tower by its shadow). 11.A.3c Collect and record data accurately using consistent measuring and recording techniques 12.C.3a Explain interactions of energy with matter including changes of state and conservation of mass and energy. 12.E.1c Identify renewable and nonrenewable natural resources. 13.B.3e Identify advantages and disadvantages of natural resource conservation and management programs. 1

2 Lesson One Wisconsin Public Television Episode Flambeau River Papers Biorefinery This lesson is to be done prior to departing for the river. The overall objective is to see a new Sources: collar jobs/flambeau rivers pilot biomass plant yields paperand jobs/ Video Clip: Watch the video clip from Wisconsin Public TV s April 1, 2010 In Wisconsin segment Park Falls Biorefinery Questions for discussion 1. What prompted the Park Fall s paper mill to look into alternative fuels? 2. What annual savings could the mill achieve by becoming fossil fuel independent? 3. How is wood waste currently dealt with? 4. Why would they mill consider making liquid transportation fuels? 5. What other benefits and fuels would the mill achieve by gasify biomass? 6. What is the Fisher Tropsch process? 7. Why is this old technology regaining interest today? 8. What are the overall economic benefits and environmental benefits of gasifying biomass? Lesson Two Tree Identification Objective To use a local tree identification key to identify trees. Sources Activity Students will use a local key to identify tree in a 1/10 th acre plot. (39ft radius) Once identified, sample leaves can be collected and pressed in their notebooks for later reference. 2

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7 Lesson Three and Four Construction and Use of Biltmore Stick Determining the Dollar Value of a stand Source Day three Make and learn how to use a Biltmore stick to measure tree diameter and height. Day four Identify trees,measure and determine the value of a 1/10 acre (39ft radius) Day Five Forest Biomass Calculation Using what they learned in earlier lesson students will determine the amount of biomass in the a stand of woods. Depending on time and weather, student may inventory a new 1/10 acre plot or use tree measurement from previous day. As a follow up, students could research the value of biomass. Source: Tree Carbon Activity, Janowiak, Michigan Tech

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14 Activity: The Carbon in Trees Description: Recent interest in the use of forests for carbon sequestration and bioenergy require knowledge about the amount of carbon stored in a tree or forest. For this activity, you will estimate the amount of carbon stored in a nearby or favorite tree. Objectives: Measure tree diameter; calculate biomass and carbon mass Materials Needed: Tree(s); Diameter tape and/or tape measure; Calculator and/or spreadsheet software; Pencil; Allometric equation for tree species Instructions: Step 1: Measure Diameter If using a tape measure or Biltmore Stick, measure the circumference of the tree at breast height (4.5 feet off the ground; see figure). If necessary, convert this value to cm. Then, using the tree circumference, calculate the diameter. Circumference: cm Diameter: cm OR: If using a diameter tape, the tree is measured the same way but it is not necessary to calculate diameter since the tape already does that for you. If necessary, convert this value to cm. Diameter: cm Step 2: Calculate biomass for whole tree. To calculate tree biomass, we use a standard allometric equation of the form M=aD b where M is aboveground tree biomass (dry weight; kg), D is the diameter at breast height (cm), and a and b are species specific coefficients. Locate the coefficients for the species of tree that you have in the table and calculate tree biomass (M). Tree Species: Biomass (M): kg Step 3: Determine carbon content Since carbon is the major building block for life, a tree contains a large portion of carbon (about half of its biomass). To determine how much carbon is in your tree: Species a b Ash Aspen Wrap tape measure around 0.05 tree ft above the ground. On a Balsam leaning fir tree, make sure 0.07 the tape 2.50 Basswood Beech Eastern hemlock Northern white cedar Red maple Red oak Red pine Sugar maple White birch White oak White pine Multiply biomass (M) by for hardwood trees. Multiply biomass (M) by for softwood trees. Yellow birch Carbon content: kg C Multiply by 2.2 to convert to lbs. Carbon content: lb C Bonus Question: One lb of C is equal to 3.67 lbs of CO 2. Also, a car emits 19.6 lbs of CO 2 for each gallon of gas. If a person uses 400 gallons of gas a year, then their CO 2 emissions from driving would equal the amount of carbon sequestered in of these trees. 14