The USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station has recently released two new manuals that could really be useful in forest technology courses. They are both full-color with abundant photos. Although printed copies are available, they come in pdf files that can be freely copied and distributed. And they are free! (Or as I tell my students, you have already paid for them with your taxes.) In a time when textbooks are almost a luxury it’s great to have these resources.

The first is Manual herbicide application methods for managing vegetation in Appalachian hardwood forests. It can be found here.

The next is Wood decay in living and dead trees: A pictorial overview. This builds on the classic work by Alex Shigo and can be found here.