Click HERE to access the proceedings in PDF format.

Philip Noel Knorr, Ph.D.

1916 – 2012

Berkeley: BS, ’38 Forestry

Many forestry students and alumni will recognize the name of Dr. Philip Knorr, as they have been recipients of the Philip Knorr Prize for Excellence in Forestry Scholarship. Based on grades for the junior year and Summer Camp, more than 50 students have been awarded the prize since it’s establishment in 1987.

Dr. Knorr passed away on February 14, 2012. He was a University of Arizona Professor Emeritus of Forestry, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Philip was born on the Experimental Farm in Mitchell, Nebraska in 1916 and grew up loving trees in Modesto, California. He earned his B.S. Degree with Honors from the University of California at Berkeley,

His Masters of Forestry from Duke University and his Ph.D. in Forest Management from the University of Minnesota. He served with the US ARMY Air Force from 1942 until 1945 as an aerial photogrammetry and photo interpretation specialist.

Before and after his military service, he participated actively on the faculties of Oregon State University and the University of Minnesota. In 1959 he joined the faculty of the University of Arizona in the Department of Watershed Management. He contributed to the development of the Academic Foundation for the Department of Watershed Management, later the School of Renewable Natural Resources.

While actively involved in many aspects of the academic program he was dedicated to his role as an educator and had significant influence on his many students as a caring and committed teacher, advisor and mentor. He helped students to have a vision for their future and to use their university experiences to reach their life and career goals. He retired in 1983. Philip continued his interest and influence on the University of Arizona through his endowment to the Campus Arboretum, the oldest continually maintained public green space in Arizona. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Award by the School of Renewable Natural Resources in 2003 and the Lifetime Achievement Award by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences in 2007. He was elected by his peers to be a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

From the Executive Summary:

“In this white paper on the Sierra Nevada Watershed Ecosystem Enhancement Project (SWEEP), we make the case that upstream management of Sierra Nevada forests can significantly increase the value of downstream water resources by shifting water towards higher value uses and optimizing the timing of runoff.”

Click here to access the pdf from the Mountain Counties Water Association Website: http://mountaincountieswater.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/SWEEP_published_112911.pdf

Click here for the news release: http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2011/12/12/climate-change-kills-trees-in-africa/

The summary reads:

“Multi-aged stands in a mixed conifer forest of California were treated to mitigate harvest-related increases in surface fuels and to prepare sites for natural regeneration of Pinus species. The study was designed to (1) assess effectiveness of small gap fuel treatments (piling and burning in 0.04 ha gaps) on surface fuel and modelled fire behaviour;(2) test the effect of substrate quality on germination of Pinus species; (3) measure the influence of gap creation on light availability and stand-level light heterogeneity. While the fuel treatment only covered 10 per cent of stand area, it was effective in avoiding increases in stand-level surface fuel following harvests. Fire behaviour was predicted to be moderate following the treatments. The harvest coupled with the gap surface fuel treatments did not change predicted fire behaviour compared with the pretreatment stands. There was a significant but variable increase in germination of Pinus ponderosa seed when sowed on ash substrates compared with bare soil. No substrate effect was detected for Pinus lambertiana. The 0.04-ha gaps created distinct pockets of light and greatly increased stand-level light heterogeneity. This gap-based approach to regenerating multi-aged stands coupled with small-scale fuel treatments is promising for
reducing fire hazard and regenerating shade-intolerant species.”

Click here for the full paper: http://forestry.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2011/10/31/forestry.cpr058.full.pdf+html

Read it here: http://www.safnet.org/documents/JOFSupplement.pdf

Watch Mark Emmerson’s 2011 Lecture

Mark Emmerson, Sierra Pacific Industries

About Mark:

Mark Emmerson is the Chief Financial Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of Sierra Pacific Industries, one of the nations’ leading lumber, millwork, and window manufacturers headquartered in Redding, California.

Mark is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and puts his formal training as a CPA to full use in leading the Company’s accounting and financial activities. Mark also has lumber manufacturing experience, having managed the construction phase and later operations of the Anderson sawmill complex. Mark is a member of the Board of Directors for the California Forestry Association, the President’s Advisory Commission for the University of California, and has served in various capacities on both the American Forest and Paper Association and the American Forest Foundation.

The approximately 1,850,000 acres of industrial forest land are the backbone of the Company’s sawmills, millwork and window manufacturing facilities, and electrical co-generation plants which now employ approximately 3,500 people throughout California and Washington. In spite of the Company’s tremendous growth, the basic principles of hard work and a commitment to a family atmosphere among employees is a dominant factor in day-to-day operations.

Mark and his wife Marisa live in Redding, California and have three children, David 21, Bradley 17, and Miles 12.

Watch Neal Ewald Lecture

Neal Ewald, Green Diamond Resource Company

About Neal Ewald:

Since 1988, Mr. Ewald has managed the 435,000-acre California Division of Green Diamond engaged in harvesting, reforestation, silvicultural and wildlife research, tree improvement, and timberland acquisition. In his tenure at Green Diamond, the company has attained long-term landscape habitat management plans that protect sensitive terrestrial wildlife and aquatic species including the first Habitat Conservation Plan developed by a private landowner in 1992 for the northern spotted owl. He will discuss the transition of forest management toward landscape approaches to sustainability in a perpetual business model.

Environmental Impacts Of Woody Biomass Harvesting For Energy