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http://westinstenv.org/ffsci/2009/07/27/aspen-a-vanishing-resource/

So why has aspen been in decline since European settlement and why have most aspen stands not successfully regenerated in 80 or more years? At first it was thought that auxins and apical dominance were the problem. Auxins are chemicals produced in aspen’s uppermost branches that are then translocated to the roots where the auxins suppress suckering. While auxins do suppress aspen root-sprouting, they do not eliminate suckering. Where aspen is protected by game-proof and/or livestock-proof fencing, termed exclosures — please see my earlier Muley Crazy article on range reference areas — aspen successfully regenerates and produces stands in which the stems (trees, saplings, ramets) are multi-aged. Thus, the even-aged stands common in the West today are NOT a biological attribute of aspen. Instead, they are the result of excessive ungulate grazing, where herbivores have repeatedly browsed the aspen suckers, and thereby prevented the growth of aspen saplings and trees.

In most places where I have conducted research, the problem has been too many elk — either no hunting in national parks or not enough hunting on national forests. I spent three summers measuring nearly 400 aspen stands on BLM lands in north-central Nevada and there the problem was improper livestock use. As soon as any new aspen suckers appeared, they were repeatedly browsed by cattle and/or domestic sheep. It was amazing how many aspen saplings you could produce with a simple, three or four strand barbed wire fence. The areas I studied in Nevada had no elk and mule deer numbers were exceedingly low.

Elk can be especially damaging to aspen, because in addition to browsing aspen suckers, elk also like to eat the bark of mature aspen trees. Elk do this by digging the front teeth of their lower jaws into the soft aspen bark and then moving their heads upward, gouging out large sections of bark. Any injury to the bark of aspen exposes that stem to increased attack by a host of pathogens. Needless to say, this hastens stem mortality and clonal decline. Moose will also strip aspen bark, but mule deer do not. Aspen responds to elk bark-stripping, or any other bark damage, by producing black scar tissue. Where elk concentrate, especially during winter, all the normally white-barked aspen are black the lower six feet. Thus, if large numbers of elk always occupied western ranges, as some would have you believe, then late 1800’s photos should show that aspen was as heavily bark-damaged in the past as it is today. Well, I and my colleagues in Canada have searched all the major photographic archives and not one aspen tree in any of the earliest images shows any sign of elk bark damage. NONE!

Charles E. Kay. 2009. Aspen: A Vanishing Resource. Mule Deer Foundation Magazine, No. 25, pp. 32-39.

http://articles.latimes.com/2009/oct/18/nation/na-aspen-death18

http://www.aspensite.org/index.html

Let’s start at the beginning.

Part 1

The Kansas article describes how it is happening on a community level.  There is a park–open space, many acres–adjacent or nearby a city or suburb.  The situation with deer begins there and spreads; unlike the way it is often characterized, it isn’t because people took over the deer habitat but mostly it is the other way around.  The park and the people living nearby has created a safe, food-rich environment and the deer population has swelled.  Eventually, the deer become habituated–not afraid of people  and more and more fond of and dependent on the human-enhanced food supply.  Landscaping, watering, and perhaps fertilizing take place in the park and in the surrounding yards and gardens.  Many people like to see the deer (or elk), and this is true especially for visitors from the park who may not be accustom to seeing them.  People living nearby may enjoy them too, or maybe not.

The debate is complex and potentially contentious and, regardless of one’s personal views, is here to stay.  Hunting is not everyone’s favorite activity and, regardless too, it is absent.  Environmentalists, humanitarians, or just plain loud-voiced citizens will cry foul.  Weak, ineffectual, politicized, and cowardly government staffers will do nothing.  Most homeowners will not understand the situation and will make it worse.  The situation is here to stay.  As the local resident stood up and said in the town meeting referenced in the Kansas article, “Let’s not have this same discussion next year.”  More profound words were never said:  They will.

http://www.pitch.com/2009-10-08/news/there-will-be-blood

http://deerimpacts.blogspot.com/

http://westinstenv.org/ffsci/2009/07/27/aspen-a-vanishing-resource/

Customer Satisfaction!  That, in various ways, is what I have spent much of my career doing.  It’s a passion.  Much more to come.

They call it Kubrick, and I finally have it more or less the way I want it.  This site has instructions on how to widen it.

 http://wordpress.org/support/topic/359622?replies=1

“How to make your entire Kubrick header homepage clickable.”

Rich Rodriguez and Devin Gardner at the Connecticut basketball game Sunday 1/17/10.

Addendum:  I say very good, and hopefully, more on that later.  News has been leaking out of at least a meeting on the investigation.  Major violation?  It would be a disaster for RR and the many, many fans and alumni.  A very nice synopsis of the recruiting class from an unknown source.

 
You can’t really blame a guy for being in demand.  Most of us should be so lucky and the vast majority of critics never stop to consider how they might behave if they were ever so fortunate.  I think I would rather be a star in LA over a football coach in Knoxville too.

What can he say, or maybe, he should try.  Jon Gruden, Steve Mariucci, Kyle Whittingham, Chis Peterson, David Cutcliffe, Will Muschamp, and who knows else who turned it down.  There was a mini-riot by students.  Tennessee has not looked good.  The bottom has dropped out of their recruiting class:  Rivals, Scout, and ESPN.  When he left they were ranked 6th.  (AJC poor writing.)  Kiffin has hurt them on the field.

The parents’ focus should be on looking forward and finding the best possible way to help their child.

I had these five library books and had to jot down something  about what they say about aspen.  Not a whole lot new, but worth it to remember.   MORE

Coverage varies and there is a difference between the good ones and the bad ones.  This one tells it like it is.  A great offer, a new challenge, a change after years and huge success, and yes, a brewing barrel of scandals.  Plus, who knows.  No one ever said he had to be superhuman.  Man, why not?  How might you feel and what would you do?  You can only try your best to say the right things and, according to the comment from readers, there is certainly no pleasing everyone.  From “Garden Party” by Ricky Nelson:

But it’s all right now, I learned my lesson well.
You see, ya can’t please everyone, so ya got to please yourself