NEWS FROM THE FOREST

Visitor Hours

Mid-March through

Mid-November

8:00a.m. to 5:00p.m.

Monday through Friday

Saturdays by request

4803 Sweet Home Church Rd.

Elizabethtown, NC 28337

(910) 588-4161

turnbullcreekesf.ncfs@ncagr.gov

In This Issue

TCESF Happenings

4Hers Visit TCESF

Logging a Managed

Forest

Update on Geocaching/

Pokémon Go

Events @ TCESF

Pine plantations are a diverse ecosystem!

Summer is Sizzling at TCESF!

Happenings

Happy First Anniversary News from the Forest e-Newsletter! Our fan base is

ever growing and we appreciate those who have joined us along the way! If you

know of anyone that would be interested in receiving information about

Turnbull Creek Educational State Forest (TCESF) please let us know and we

will be happy to add them to our list! Along with the anniversary of the

e-Newsletter, Ranger Carrie Harmon has experienced an anniversary as well.

As of May, she has completed her first year of service with the North Carolina

Forest Service. What a busy and exciting year it has been!

This newsletter edition features activities that we have had going on at the

forest since Spring. Our biggest project was a major logging job that took place

in June. We thinned out almost 50 acres of pine plantation. During this time we

also completed a straw raking contract. Additionally in June, a local group of

4-H students came out to learn about the forest and have a summer meeting.

They had a blast, despite the messy rain. We’ve monitored our newest planting

of Longleaf on the old airfield, and the seedlings are thriving. We’ve even

managed to add a few new geocaches on the forest for visitors to find. The staff

at TCESF is always looking for fun and innovative ways to educate the public

about our forest. If you are looking for a fun group outing or want to learn more

about all things tree or forest related, give us a call today!

TCESF Newsletter Summer 2016

Tar Heel Green Team 4-H Club Photos courtesy of Bladen County 4-H

Bladen County 4-H’ers visit the forest!

In June, the Green Team from the Tar Heel community had a great summer event held at the forest. The rainy afternoon was spent learning about forest ecosystems and the types of trees that grow in different areas. We took a stroll on the trail, and came across a little Eastern Box turtle hanging out by the creek. After exploring, the group headed for dry land and got creative! They learned that they could take various elements from nature to create a masterpiece! We first utilized charcoal pieces from Bladen Lakes State Forest to draw naturescapes on paper. Then, we took to our surroundings to find items that could give the drawings some color– leaves, berries, grass, and dirt provided plenty of color to bring the drawings to life.

After art class, the group learned about the PPE (personal protective equipment) and gear that the North Carolina Forest Service utilizes to fight wildfires and stay safe while doing so. We had a little discussion about what to do if you spot a fire that no one is keeping watch over, and how they could help Forest Rangers if there is a wildfire situation. To wrap up the event, the Green Team had a picnic dinner under the picnic shelter and learned about the animals that frequent our woods. They were showed various preserved skulls and furs of woodland creatures and we talked about how their physical characteristics helped these animals survive in a wooded ecosystem.

The Green Team 4-H is part of the Bladen County 4-H Coopera-tive Extension and is based out of Tar Heel. Their group leaders are Connie Kinlaw and Jamie Kinlaw. If your 4-H group (or any other group!) would like to have an experience like the Green Team did, please contact our office to make group reservations. We would love to have you out at the forest!

© C

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Logging a Managed Forest - “A Much Needed Harvest”

Turnbull Creek Educational State Forest (TCESF) recently changed its look with

the completion of a timber harvest thinning operation on a forty-six acre stand of

Loblolly pine. The timber sale was conducted in November. The contract called

for the timber to be harvested within two years from the date of the bid opening.

This time frame was given to allow loggers ample time to complete the harvest

since this naturally wet stand can only be logged during dry weather. While timber

harvest operations are a normal forestry practice at TCESF, this harvest is quite dif-

ferent from most.

Continued on next page… Smokey’s Birthday is August 9th

Photos from top to bottom: Loader, Skidder, and Feller-Buncher

Smokey Bear Facts

Smokey Bear was intro-duced in an advertising campaign to bring public awareness to forest fires in 1944

“Smokey the Bear” was a song written by Steve Nelson and Jack Rollins in 1952

Smokey’s name and im-age are protected by the Smokey Bear Act of 1952, under U.S. federal law

Before Smokey came on the scene, the Disney film Bambi was released (1942). Walt Disney agreed to allow Bambi and friends to be used for one year in public adver-tising for fire prevention.

Smokey bear came to life as a real Black Bear cub rescued from the Captain Gap fire in New Mexico in 1950.

Today you can still see Smokey Bear on bill-boards, TV, and online reminding us that “Only You Can Prevent Wild-fires!”

This particular stand was thirty-six years old and had never had any type of forest management activities. When

the stand was first planted, it was designated to be a test plot for study by the forestry program at North Carolina

State University. As part of their research, the stand was designated to have no management practices conducted

whatsoever for the duration of the study. Usually all tracts of timber on the forest are heavily managed from the

day they are planted until the final harvest. This will usually involve hazard reduction burning once every three

years as well as periodic thinnings. A thinning harvest is a type of cutting in which selected trees are harvested

from the stand which allows more water, sunlight, and nutrients to be available to the trees that are left standing.

The desire is to remove the trees that are damaged, diseased, or suppressed and leave the better trees to grow for a

later harvest. This “releases” the remaining trees and they should respond by growing larger and at a faster rate

since they have the same amounts of water, sunlight, and nutrients, but have less competition from their neighbors.

These harvest schedules are not set on absolute time frames, but generally in the Southeast, the first thinning for

loblolly pine will be conducted when the stand is 18-20 years old. The second thinning will depend on how well

the trees respond to the first one, but it is usually done when the trees are 26-30 years old. A final harvest, in

which all remaining trees are cut, is usually conducted when the trees are between 40-45 years old.

The staff at TCESF has been interested in conducting a thinning harvest on this stand for several years, but it

was not until last summer that North Carolina State University completed their study and had no further need for

data collection. The decision was made to conduct a thinning harvest instead of a final harvest even though the

stand is much older than normal for a first thinning. We will observe this stand for a few years, collect our own

data, and determine what type of response, if any, an older stand has from a first time thinning.

It took the loggers approximately two weeks to complete the harvest operation. Fortunately they had coopera-

tion from the weather and the tract remained dry during the harvest, so they were able to complete all cutting

without wet conditions causing any damage to the area. The receipts generated from the sale of this timber will

remain at TCESF to be used for future forest programs and operations.

Forest Supervisor, Chris Meggs says, “This project provides the best of all scenarios. This stand served as a

point of data collection for many classes of forestry students, and the information gathered provided input on how

to properly manage the forests of North Carolina. Now, the timber has been harvested and this tract will be man-

aged in a manner that is consistent with the objectives of the North Car-

olina Forest Service. It has also provided Turnbull Creek Educational

State Forest with receipts that will be used here on the forest and

demonstrates sustainable forestry to students and visitors. I would call

this a successful harvest, and we look forward to seeing what the future

of this stand has in store.”

Special thanks to the folks at Daniel A. Malpass Logging for allowing

us to take photos during their logging work.

Upcoming Events

Schedule your spring

classes and visits to

the forest today! Call

us!

Fall Deer Hunt Per-

mit Lottery Deadline

September 1st.

Go to

www.ncwildlife.org

for TCESF Permit

Hunt Information

Project Learning

Tree Teacher

Workshop

September 29th,

9a.m. to 4p.m.

Gotta catch ‘em all!

In the first ever News from the Forest e-Newsletter, we showcased an article on our

Geocaching collection. A year later, I am proud to report that our Geocaches have been

frequented and are multiplying! We have had a few battles with flooding and

“muggle” (non-Geocacher) activity, but all in all our caches are holding up nicely. TCESF

released three new Smokey Bear Travel Tags into caches, and we also set up two com-

pletely new caches. One is named “Ranger Carrie’s Favorite Spot” in honor of the location

that she likes best on the whole forest. Utilizing www.geocaching.com, we can track where

our Smokey Bear Travel Tags end up. Two have gone on to special Mystery Caches in

Lumberton. Our very first Smokey tag has gone a long way! As of July 28th, it has ven-

tured a total of 8,436 miles and has traveled through at least 20 different states. It is

currently hanging out in a building-sized (really!) geocache in the heart of Wyoming.

Well, since Geocaching is such a big hit, we want to let everyone know about our Poké-

mon Go activity also! The hottest app of the summer, Pokémon Go is getting people out

and about in Elizabethtown. Upon further research, we have determined that you can find a

few Pokémon here at Turnbull Creek ESF. The Pokémon don’t like to hang out deep in the

forest, but there have been some spotted lingering around the forest entrance. Should you

be out trying to “catch ‘em all”, do make a point to stop by the forest and let us see what

you’ve found here! Ran out of Poké balls? There’s a Pokéstop at Jones Lake State Park

across the way! Don’t know what I’m talking about but want to learn more? Stop by the

forest office and we’ll be happy to help you out!

Environmental Education Made Fun!

© Chris Meggs

Please check out the separately attached flier

for our Project Learning Tree environmental

education teacher workshop to be held here

at Turnbull Creek ESF in September!

PLACE STAMP HERE

Turnbull Creek Educational State Forest

4803 Sweet Home Church Road

Elizabethtown, NC 28337

TCESF Geocaches!