Population growth in Oregon, Washington, and Alaska is expected to increase demand for outdoor recreation on public land. This trend will be tempered by changes in the sociodemographic composition of the population. Among sociodemographic characteristics, different ages and incomes correspond to different participation rates. Although older Americans are participating more, participation is still lower among this group for active pursuits. Hence, as the population ages, demand for passive activities may increase. Low-income people participate at a much lower rate than higher income people in outdoor recreation, and the growing disparity between the wealthy and poor may create inequities in opportunities for participation. State recreation planning documents for Oregon, Washington, and Alaska have identified this issue as a significant concern for recreation providers. Another important factor in recreation trends in the region is ethnicity: different ethnic groups participate in outdoor recreation at different rates, exhibit some different preferences for specific activities, and use recreation sites in different ways. In Alaska, the number of Asian/Pacific Islanders is expected to quadruple by 2025; in Oregon, the Hispanic population may triple by 2025; and in Washington, both these segments of the population may double.

This study's objective was to document and describe the current seedling bank of Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis (Bong.) Carr.) and western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla (Raf.) Sarg.) stands in southeast Alaska that were partially cut between 1900 and 1984.

This report highlights key findings from the most recent (2004–2008) data collected by the Forest Inventory and Analysis program across all ownerships in southeast and south-central Alaska. We present basic resource information such as forest area, ownership, volume, biomass, carbon sequestration, growth, and mortality; structure and function topics such as vegetation and lichen diversity and forest age distribution; disturbance topics such as insects and diseases, yellow-cedar decline, fire, and invasive plants; and information about the forest products industry in Alaska, the potential of young growth for timber supply, biofuels, and nontimber forest products. The appendixes describe inventory methods and design in detail and provide summary tables of data and statistical error for the forest characteristics sampled.

The past decade has seen resurgence in interest in gathering wild plants and fungi in cities. In addition to gathering by individuals, dozens of groups have emerged in U.S., Canadian, and European cities to facilitate access to nontimber forest products (NTFPs), particularly fruits and nuts, in public and private spaces. Recent efforts within cities to encourage public orchards and food forests, and to incorporate more fruit and nut trees into street tree planting programs indicate a growing recognition among planners that gathering is an important urban activity.

This report documents the results from the first “5-year” round of understory responses to the Tongass-Wide Young-Growth Studies (TWYGS) treatments, especially in relation to their effects on food resources for black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus sitkensis). Responses of understory vegetation to precommercial silviculture experiments after their first 4 to 8 years posttreatment were analyzed with the Forage Resource Evaluation System for Habitat (FRESH)-Deer model. The studies were conducted in western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla)-Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) young-growth forests in southeast Alaska. All four TWYGS experiments were studied: (I) planting of red alder (Alnus rubra) within 1- to 5-year-old stands; (II) precommercial thinning at narrow and wide spacings (549 and 331 trees per hectare, respectively) in 15- to 25-year-old stands; (III) precommercial thinning at medium spacing (420 trees per hectare) with and without pruning in 25- to 35-yearold stands; and (IV) precommercial thinning at wide spacing (203 trees per hectare) with and without slash treatment versus thinning by girdling in >35-year-old stands. All experiments also included untreated control stands of identical age. FRESHDeer was used to evaluate the implications for deer habitat in terms of forage resources (species-specific biomass, digestible protein, and digestible dry matter) relative to deer metabolic requirements in summer (at two levels of requirements—maintenance only vs. lactation) and in winter (at six levels of snow depth).

Sustaining the health, diversity, and productivity of national forests and grasslands is the mission of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service.

Sitka, Alaska, has substantial hydroelectric resources, limited driving distances, and a conservation-minded community, all suggesting strong opportunities for achieving a low community carbon footprint.

Over the past decade, wood-energy use in Alaska has grown dramatically.

Forest disturbances are increasing in extent and intensity, annually altering the structure and function of affected systems across millions of acres. Land managers need rapid assessment tools that can be used to characterize disturbance events across space and to meet forest planning needs.

Outdoor recreation is a central way that people interact with the natural environment. Federal land agencies are key providers of settings, facilities, and landscapes for recreation.

The 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens produced a massive landslide and consequent pyroclastic currents, deposits of which blocked the outlet to Spirit Lake. Without an outlet, the lake began to rise, threatening a breaching of the blockage and release of a massive volume of water. To mitigate the hazard posed by the rising lake and provide an outlet, in 1984–1985 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers bored a 2.6-km (8,500-ft) long tunnel through a bedrock ridge on the western edge of the lake.

Southeast Alaska is a remote area, located approximately 700 miles north of Seattle, Washington. Most of the region’s goods are imported by barge, creating logistical and economic challenges not faced by many other parts of the United States. In this context, we used life cycle assessment (LCA) to evaluate the potential environmental impact on global warming potential (GWP) of converting home heating systems from heating oil to wood pellets in southeast Alaska. Once the current level (status quo) was established, we evaluated imported pellet utilization at 20-, 40- and 100-percent penetration into the residential heating oil markets. We also modeled local production of wood pellets in southeast Alaska, assuming a 20-percent penetration. Our research found that reductions in GWP resulting from the conversion to wood pellets ranged from 10 to 51 percent, with the greatest reductions being associated with the highest levels of imported pellets. The scenario of producing wood pellets in southeast Alaska to meet local needs had a reduction in GWP of 14 percent (versus the status quo).

Natural resource professionals are often tasked with weighing the benefits and costs of changes in ecosystem services associated with land management alternatives and decisions. In many cases, federal regulations even require land managers and planners to account for these values explicitly. Outdoor recreation is a key ecosystem service provided by national forests and grasslands, and one of significant interest to the public. This report presents the most recent update of the Recreation Use Values Database, based on an exhaustive review of economic studies spanning 1958 to 2015 conducted in the United States and Canada, and provides the most up-to-date recreation economic values available. When combined with data pertaining to recreation activities and the quantity of recreation use, the recreation economic values can be used for estimating the economic benefits of outdoor recreation. The recreation economic value estimates provided in this report, whether from past research literature or from values constructed using our meta-analysis benefit function, are average consumer surplus per person per activity day.

The economic linkages between national forests and surrounding areas are one of the important ways public lands contribute to the well-being of private individuals and communities. One way national forests contribute to the economies of surrounding communities is by attracting recreation visitors who, as part of their trip, spend money in communities on the peripheries of national forests. We use survey data collected from visitors to all forest and grasslands in the National Forest System to estimate the average spending per trip of national forest recreation visitors engaged in various types of recreation trips and activities. Average spending of national forest visitors ranges from about $36 per party per trip for local residents on day trips to more than $740 per party per trip for visitors downhill skiing or snowboarding on national forest lands and staying overnight off forest in local areas. We report key parameters to complete economic contribution analysis for individual national forests and for the entire National Forest System.

This research models a wood pellet heating system at the Tlingit-Haida Regional Housing Authority in Juneau, Alaska, used to provide thermal energy to a 929-m2 warehouse, as an alternative to a heating system that burns more costly fossil fuels. Research objectives were to evaluate project economics of the pellet system and to conduct cost:benefit analysis on key variables (initial capital cost, fuel oil cost, and wood pellet cost). Economic results of interest included net present value, payback, internal rate of return, and cost:benefit ratio. Monte Carlo simulations were conducted using RETScreen software with the parameters of heating oil cost, wood pellet cost, fuel price escalation, and heating load. Cost:benefit analysis was conducted for capital cost versus wood fuel cost and also versus alternative fuel cost. This research found that economic performance was favorable over a wide range of normal operating conditions, even when paying a relatively high price for wood fuel. A pellet production facility in southeast Alaska could lead to lower wood fuel costs and even more favorable regional economics.

To increase timber production and manage other forest resource values, some land managers have undertaken logging debris and vegetation control treatments after forest harvest. We explored the roles of clearcutting on plant community composition and structure at three sites where logging debris was dispersed, piled, or removed and vegetation was annually treated or not treated with herbicides for 5 years. Without vegetation control, a competitive relation was identified between exotic and native ruderal (i.e., disturbance-associated) species. When exotic ruderal cover changed by 4 percent, native ruderal cover changed by 10 percent in the opposite direction. This relation was independent of site, but site was important in determining the overall dominance of ruderals. Five annual vegetation control treatments increased Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco) growth, but decreased richness and cover of other species at the rate of one species per 10 percent reduction in cover. Debris treatment effects were small and found on only one site.

Steven Quinn was fined a total of £360 and ordered to pay £62 compensation after walking out without settling-up at Lau's restaurant, in Newcastle City Centre

McDonald's will reopen 15 restaurants in the south of England next week - but none in the North East

Ant and Dec are left hot under the collar by the dancing duo Jasmin and Aaron on Britain's Got Talent

GLOBAL MEDIA Partner HAROLD AUSTIN shares, "I wanted to bring attention to a blog that we just posted on our website, entitled 'Radio’s response to the CV crisis,' which … more

Check out radio's most widely read show-prep resource for topics, commentary, and really stupid remarks, in the ALL ACCESS News/Talk/Sports section. It's updated by Editor and veteran … more

Want to get to know your peers a bit better? Maybe you're looking for an insight into someone you'd like to work for -- or are programming against! 10 Questions on ALL ACCESS is where players … more

Councillor says the emergency could force the city to re-imagine itself

The young mum who is pregnant with her second child has hailed a local group who helped her through the tough time

Outdoor recreation organisation conducts important survey influencing government policy

You could previously only buy the two chocolate bars in Australia.

He appeared on BGT in 2017 and broke the record for balloon sculpting

Almost two months back (NET NEWS 3/2) ACCURADIO, music streaming’s all-human-curated music website, invited radio professionals “dislocated” by restructuring and … more

LEIGHTON BROADCASTING Country KZPK (WILD COUNTRY 99)/ST. CLOUD, MN has launched the “Books with BROOK” YOUTUBE series in conjunction with SCHOLASTIC. MD/afternoon personality … more

The FCC is granting a blanket waiver to broadcasters of the Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) requirement that mandates broad recruitment outreach for all open full-time positions when the … more

NUVOODOO's latest look at consumer behaviors and perceptions during the COVID-19 CORONAVIRUS pandemic asks questions beyond previous surveys' media usage topics. In the new sets of … more

The RADIO TELEVISION DIGITAL NEWS ASSOCIATION and FREEDOM FORUM Power Shift Project are holding a "Local Broadcasters Town Hall" online on MAY 27th to highlight the work being done … more

SOUTHERN BROADCASTING CORPORATION WSLV/ARDMORE, TN re-branded from “CAT COUNTRY 105.1” to “OUTLAW 105.1” in late APRIL. The change comes with a music repositioning … more

Singer-songwriter JP SAXE and GRAMMY Award-nominated artist JULIA MICHAELS today released a new video of their duet "If The World Was Ending" to help support the international … more

Following their groundbreaking debut on ABC-TV's  GOOD MORNING AMERICA, CURB/WORD ENTERTAINMENT four-time GRAMMY winning duo FOR KING & COUNTRY have unveiled the official video … more

Our first Twitter shout event was hugely popular so if you missed out then now is your chance to #ShareTheBiz

But, for those of you with coloured hair, be careful - this mixture could make it fade faster

The retired Danish tennis star was once engaged to Holywood golfer Rory McIlroy

Paddy Barnes, Sean McComb, Tyrone McKenna and Padraig McCrory are all seen in the video

Robertson has been accused of making "baseless, damaging and self-serving attacks"

Due to the ongoing CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) pandemic, CHET-5 Triple A WDST (RADIO WOODSTOCK)/WOODSTOCK, NY has been forced to cancel its 40th anniversary celebration called HANGOUT ON THE … more

The focus of JACOBS MEDIA President FRED JACOBS' blog is simple and to the point as he writes: "Welcome to BIZARRO WORLD! "If you were a reader of SUPERMAN comics back in the … more

Urban Southern creates handcrafted, honest leather bags that simply fit your everyday. Made in the southern U.S.A. from full grain, locally tanned saddle leather.

Statement Highlights: To translate advances in scientific knowledge and innovations in stroke care into improvements in patient outcomes, comprehensive stroke systems of care must be in place to facilitate optimal stroke care delivery. New recommendations support policies that standardize the delivery of stroke care, lower barriers to emergency care for stroke, ensure stroke patients receive care at appropriate hospitals in a timely manner and improve access to secondary prevention and rehabilitation and recovery resources after stroke.

Embargoed until 8 a.m. CT/9 a.m. ET Tuesday, March 17, 2020                                                                                                                    DALLAS, March 17, 2020 — The American Heart Association and its thousands of ...

DALLAS, March 31, 2020 — Many people have concerns about staying healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Those with a chronic condition such as high blood pressure — a reading above 130/80 — may face an increased risk for severe complications if they get...

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 17, 2020 – By issuing a final rule requiring large, graphic health warnings on cigarette packs and advertising, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration today has taken a critical and long-overdue step forward in the nation’s battle...

Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a final rule that threatens to undermine the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards. The American Lung Association, Allergy & Asthma Network, Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments, American...

Statements Highlights: Adverse social factors, such as insurance status, food insecurity, lack of funds for medication and others, may lead to worse heart failure outcomes. Caregiving by family and friends of people with heart failure is increasingly...