Timber: Mine or Crop?

Excerpts: Three outstanding measures are necessary to bring about the growing of timber crops on forest lands. The first is to stop unrestrained forest exploitation, the denudation which is a direct result of timber mining. Timber mining has already left 81 million acres of forest land largely barren, has made 250 million acres more only partially productive, and is adding to these areas from 5 to 10 million acres each year. With little systematic provision for the renewal of our privately owned forests, with a cut four times the present growth of wood, the remaining timber supplies have become so localized as greatly to decrease their general utility. The second step required is to reduce waste in the use of timber. Out of a cut of 22 1/2 billion cubic feet, we waste each year more than 9 billion feet. By the elimination of obvious waste in the woods, in the manufacture of lumber, and in its remanufacture and use, by the general application of technical knowledge already available, and by thorough-going research in the properties, protection, and utilization of wood, it should be possible to save at least 6 1/2 billion board feet of lumber each year and additional amounts of other material. The possible saving in lumber alone is equal to the present yearly growth on 170 million acres. The third important objective is to increase timber production to the full capacity of the land. Only by this course can we hope to grow the equivalent of our present consumption of 22 1/2 billion cubic feet. Full production will require the planting of areas now denuded which will not reforest themselves though fires are kept out. It involves careful methods of cutting areas now bearing timber and their protection from insects and diseases

VIDEO: Friday Session 4: Mid-Day Keynote Speaker William deBuys through Closing Keynote Speaker William Kittredge

VIDEO: SESSION 4: 1:00 p.m. - 1:05 p.m. Reading by Charles Wilkinson: Terry Tempest Williams, Testimony 1:05 p.m. - 1:35 p.m. Mid-Afternoon Keynote: William deBuys 1:35 p.m. - 1:40 p.m. Reading by Charles Wilkinson: Wallace Stegner, The Sound of Western Water 1:40 p.m. - 2:20 p.m. Panel: The Future of Wilderness Activism Moderator: Britt Banks Panelists: Michael Casaus, Julia Guarino, Soren Jespersen 2:20 p.m. - 2:25 p.m. Reading by Charles Wilkinson: Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire 2:25 p.m. - 2:40 p.m. Speaker: Paul Sutter 2:40 p.m. - 2:45 p.m. Poem: Justice Gregory J. Hobbs, Jr. 2:45 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Speaker: Karin Sheldon 3:00 p.m. - 3:05 p.m. Reading by Charles Wilkinson: Billy Frank Jr., Messages from Frank\u27s Landing 3:05 p.m. - 3:35 p.m. Closing Keynote: William Kittredg

VIDEO: Friday Session 4: Mid-Day Keynote Speaker William deBuys through Closing Keynote Speaker William Kittredge

VIDEO: SESSION 4: 1:00 p.m. - 1:05 p.m. Reading by Charles Wilkinson: Terry Tempest Williams, Testimony 1:05 p.m. - 1:35 p.m. Mid-Afternoon Keynote: William deBuys 1:35 p.m. - 1:40 p.m. Reading by Charles Wilkinson: Wallace Stegner, The Sound of Western Water 1:40 p.m. - 2:20 p.m. Panel: The Future of Wilderness Activism Moderator: Britt Banks Panelists: Michael Casaus, Julia Guarino, Soren Jespersen 2:20 p.m. - 2:25 p.m. Reading by Charles Wilkinson: Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire 2:25 p.m. - 2:40 p.m. Speaker: Paul Sutter 2:40 p.m. - 2:45 p.m. Poem: Justice Gregory J. Hobbs, Jr. 2:45 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Speaker: Karin Sheldon 3:00 p.m. - 3:05 p.m. Reading by Charles Wilkinson: Billy Frank Jr., Messages from Frank\u27s Landing 3:05 p.m. - 3:35 p.m. Closing Keynote: William Kittredg

A Process for Predicting Manhole Events in Manhattan

We present a knowledge discovery and data mining process developed as part of the Columbia/Con Edison project on manhole event prediction. This process can assist with real-world prioritization problems that involve raw data in the form of noisy documents requiring significant amounts of pre-processing. The documents are linked to a set of instances to be ranked according to prediction criteria. In the case of manhole event prediction, which is a new application for machine learning, the goal is to rank the electrical grid structures in Manhattan (manholes and service boxes) according to their vulnerability to serious manhole events such as fires, explosions and smoking manholes. Our ranking results are currently being used to help prioritize repair work on the Manhattan electrical grid