EAGLESTAR.NET LAND AND PROPERTY REVIEW
http://www.eaglestar.net
Issue #43
November 17, 2008

IN THIS ISSUE:
Properties of the Week: AL, FL, MD, Ontario
Special Report: Forests and Global Water Shortages
- Part 2: Water and Forests in the Southwest
Sponsor's Corner: Colorado Office Building
Top 10 Searches
Auction News: KY, VA
LandTerms.com Terms of the Week:
- Groundwater
- Infiltration
- Interflow


“Water is life's mater and matrix, mother and medium. There is no life without
water.”
- from 'Perspectives in Biology and Medicine', Winter 1971
- Albert von Szent-Gyorgyi (Hungarian biochemist and Nobel Prize recipient, b.
1893 – d. 1986)


PROPERTIES OF THE WEEK
Former Hunting Club on Warrior Lake
Akron, Hale County, Alabama
Liquidation of former 355+/- acre hunt club. This prime wooded acreage includes
frontage on Warrior Lake and is loaded with trophy game. Over 6400 feet of
county road frontage with power, phone, and water. Miles of interior roads and
trails. Perfect for hunting, fishing, outdoor recreation. 10 miles from
Interstate. Great financing. Listing ID: 21574. View photos and additional
information at http://www.eaglestar.net/cmar.html.

Secluded Maryland Waterfront Acreage and Home
Nanjemoy, Charles County, Maryland
52+/- acre developable waterfront tree farm. 1600+/- feet of frontage on
Nanjemoy Creek which accesses the Potomac River just south of Washington DC.
Secluded with much of the acreage in harvestable mature hardwood timber. 2
ponds and over 3 miles of wooded trails. Several clearings and multiple percs.
1 upscale home which including the basement is over 5700 sq ft. State
conservation efforts provide thousands of protected acres which seclude the
property from urban growth but do not pose any restrictions on the development
of the property itself. All the amenities and culture of Washington, D.C. are
just 40 miles away. Listing ID: 21575. Find photos and more information at
http://www.eaglestar.net/crf.html.

Merchantable Timberland & Tudor Luxury Home
LaVallee, Ontario, Canada
Tudor-style home or lodge, 4-car garage, pool building, airplane hangar, and
pole-fenced corral on 860+/- acres with 2.75+/- miles of road frontage.
Approximately 10,000 cords of standing timber with retail value of
approximately $1,000,000.00. The LaVallee River runs through the southwest 220
acres. Home is 4450+/- square feet, 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, with 2
fireplaces, a finished recreation room, and much more. Game hunting includes
deer, bear, timber wolves, upland game, partridge, geese, and ducks. 30 minutes
to moose hunting, 1 min to walleye, northern pike, perch, musky and sturgeon on
Rainy River. 15 minutes to town of Fort Frances, Ontario and International
Falls, Minnesota border crossing. Listing ID: 18127. Photos and details
available at http://www.eaglestar.net/ont.html.

Island Home Site For Sale
Bokeelia, Lee County, Florida
2.5+/- acres raw, vacant land for sale on Pine Island. Located at end of
dead-end street in Bokeelia, on the northeast side of the island. This is an
area with nice homes. Close to great fishing areas: Boca Grande Pass, Charlotte
Harbor (Tarpon fishing tournament areas), Gulf, Captiva & Sanibel Islands.
Great investment opportunity - property value has increased 600% in the past 7
years. Listing ID: 19397. Photos and additional information are available at
http://www.eaglestar.net/snd.html.


SPECIAL REPORT
I Can't See the Stream for the Forest
Part 2: Forests and Water in the Southwest

In 1869, explorer John Wesley Powell gazed over the vast and arid landscapes of
the American Southwest and concluded that settlers would soon arrive en masse
and once that happened, demand for water would quickly exceed the supply. He
stated this opinion to Congress in his official report of the expedition. Of
course, here it is more than 100 years later, and we still haven't run out of
water in the West - at least not completely. Powell failed to account for the
billions of gallons contained in aquifers deep underground that have
transformed large parts of the West from gray and brown to lush green and have
created livable oases in the desert, but at current pumping rates this
irreplaceable resource will be gone within another hundred years.

Powell's predictions are true now more than ever: the western U.S. is currently
the fastest-growing region in the country, with Arizona and Nevada leading the
nation in population growth. Counties and municipal governments in the region
are seeing their already meager water supplies taxed to the limit and are
responding by re-evaluating their water and development policies. Officials are
forced to search for additional sources of water to meet increasing demand -
often without success.

Many plans aimed at dealing with the water dilemma have been proposed and
discussed in government meeting rooms and council chambers across the
Southwest, from inexpensive neighborhood conservation programs to multi-billion
dollar pipelines designed to transport water from other counties, states, or
even regions. One possible solution intended to increase the overall amount of
water available, the removal of forest overstory vegetation, looks to the
source for its inspiration.

Most of the surface and ground water available in North America, and indeed
around the world, originates as precipitation falling in forested areas. Trees,
which make up the overstory of a forest, have a much greater impact on both
water production and use than the understory, which is composed of most
vegetation other than trees including shrubs, grasses, and small non-grass
plants (known as "forbs"). As part of a necessary process of gas exchange
(their form of breathing), trees release large amounts of water into the air in
a process called transpiration. It makes sense, then, that manipulating the
structure and composition of the forest overstory would have an effect on the
amount of water available in a given area.

The fundamental basis for the idea that removing trees will increase water
yields is that trees use large amounts of water - the fewer trees, the more
water. If planned and implemented in a careful and responsible way, thinning
and harvesting of trees has been shown to improve overall forest health,
protect against catastrophic wildfires, and help to counteract some of the
drastic human-caused changes undergone by Southwestern forests over the last
125 years.

Some Terminology
It might be helpful at this point to explain the meanings of a few of the terms
that will appear later. The terms water yield, surface flow, surface runoff,
and streamflow are synonymous and used interchangeably. They refer to "water
that derives from precipitation and flows directly off the land surface or
through subsurface paths to streams, and to some extent, to ground water
aquifers" (as described in a report by hydrologist A.R. Hibbert). The term
watershed refers to all the land area drained by a particular surface water
system (such as a river). Subwatersheds are the same, except they drain
smaller sub-sections of a larger watershed (such as tributaries, streams,
creeks, etc.). Peak flows are the highest volumes and rates of flow that occur
in a watershed, or a stream or river channel. Low flows, or base flows, are
flows for perennial (continuously flowing) streams that occur from groundwater
discharge (springs).

Forests and Water Yield
Since 1890, when the Swiss began studying watersheds in earnest, there has been
much interest in, and disagreement over, the effects of forest cover on
watershed hydrology, especially about how much additional water is gained after
trees are cut. Many scientific studies have tackled this issue, and many
comprehensive reviews of the topic have been published. These studies agree
that the removal of forest overstory vegetation results in increased surface
flows, peak flows, and low flows. However, the magnitude of the increase
remains in question.

The first watershed experiments in the U.S. took place at Wagon Wheel Gap,
Colorado in the early 1900's. Since then, hundreds of experiments focused on
the impact of forest treatments on water yield have been conducted in Colorado,
Arizona, and other areas of the Southwest. General rules and guidelines can be
inferred from these and other studies. First, a minimum of 15% of the trees
must be thinned (removed) from an area equal to 20% of the area of the entire
watershed, or no water increases will be detectable. This may sound like a lot
of tree-cutting, but the fact is that many forest types in the southwestern
United States are unnaturally dense, overcrowded with trees, and generally not
very healthy. Fewer trees equates not only to more water, but to healthier
forests as well.

The second inference that can be made is that the creation of openings is key;
that is, cutting groups of adjacent trees rather than using a more uniform
spacing technique (for example, removing every 3rd tree or removing a tree
every 20 feet). Watersheds in which 50% of the trees have been cut in a uniform
way yield far less water than those in which 20% of the trees have been removed
in small or medium-sized groups. This is due primarily to the effects these
openings have on the spatial distribution and accumulation of snow, which
accounts for up to 97% of the streamflow in some areas of the Southwest.

The third general guideline is that in order for forest treatments to have any
discernible effect on water production, a watershed must receive a minimum
amount of precipitation annually. The general rule, which holds true worldwide,
is that no amount of vegetation manipulation will produce additional surface
water in areas that receive less than about 18 inches of rain and/or snow per
year. It is thought the reason for this is that a certain amount of moisture
held in the soil from year to year is required to produce additional surface
flows from cutting trees. Areas with precipitation below the 18-inch threshold
don't have sufficient soil moisture to produce any significant additional
runoff, even following intensive harvesting or thinning treatments.

Next week we'll continue with Part 3 of this special report, including why
different watersheds with similar characteristics can produce vastly different
amounts of water and a short history of the rapid changes to the Southwestern
landscape over the past 125 years.


SPONSOR'S CORNER
The Land and Property Review would like to thank this week's sponsor:

Two-building Office, Westcliffe, Colorado
Listing ID: 20057
Two buildings on State Hwy 69, just off Main Street, Westcliffe, CO, with
1220+/- and 477+/- square feet on 0.3+/- acres. The larger building has a
reception area and conference room, two offices, and ample storage space in an
enclosed porch. The smaller building was remodeled 5 years ago, has its own gas
log stove, and room for two to three open plan offices. The 14,563+/- square
foot lot is fenced on three sides, includes a pleasant side yard for picnicking
or expansion, and has mature shade trees and plenty of parking. Wonderful
downtown location, easy access by foot or car, and high visibility with
frontage on a busy road. Photos and contact information at
http://www.eaglestar.net/wsmn29-.html.


LAST WEEK'S TOP 10
The top 10 search words and phrases on EagleStar.net for the week of 11/9 -
11/15, and some other interesting searches along with their ranks.

1. Idaho
2. Kentucky
3. Canada
4. Washington
5. Texas
6. California
7. Montana
8. Missouri
9. Oklahoma
10. Oregon
-----------------
17. elko county nevada
21. flint hills
29. benson or willcox arizona land for sale
33. edisto island sc
49. sunshine valley ranchettes in deming nm
192. fruit trees


AUCTION NEWS
Browse thumbnail photos and short property descriptions at
http://www.eaglestar.net/Land_Auction_Calendar/index.html.

Allen Farm, 43 Acres in 4 Parcels
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Keswick, Albermarle County, Virginia
A magnificent country estate set against the Blue Ridge and Shenandoah mountain
ranges, these 4 parcels totaling 43.3+/- acres feature world-class equestrian
facilities and four bedroom ranch-style homes with spectacular mountain views.
Parcels range in size from 5+/- acres to 20+/- acres. Listing ID: 21434.
Photos and additional information are available at
http://www.eaglestar.net/Detailed/21434.html.

Western Kentucky Prime Farm Land
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Madisonville, Hopkins County, Kentucky
This 2,040+/- acre, highly productive farm in western Kentucky is one of the
finest agricultural complexes in the entire state. It includes a 60,000 bushel
grain storage facility with dryers, maintained roadways and ditches for access
and drainage, well kept office, shop, and sheds. A beautiful 4 bedroom, 4 bath
brick ranch-style home, and a mobile home with lot will also be sold. The
entire northern boundary has frontage along Pond River and Elk Creek. This area
includes woods for hunting trophy deer, excellent waterfowl hunting, and a
serene 50+/ acre lake. The farm will be offered in 19 tracts with combinations
to suit the bidders using the "Freedom Tract" method. Listing ID: 21483. Photos
and more information are at http://www.eaglestar.net/Detailed./21483.html.


LANDTERMS.COM TERMS OF THE WEEK
http://landterms.com
Each issue we feature a real estate, forestry, natural sciences or other
land-related term from our partner site, LandTerms.com.

Groundwater
Water that is stored beneath the earth's surface. This water sustains
streamflows during times without precipitation, and is the primary source of
water in most areas.

Infiltration
The process by which precipitation seeps into sub-surface layers of the soil;
some is held as soil moisture recharge, some resurfaces as streamflow, and the
remainder becomes part of groundwater flows (aquifers). Also known as
percolation.

Interflow
Water from precipitation that infiltrates into and flows just below the soil
surface, and that moves toward a drainage channel in the same direction as
overland flow, but at a slower rate.

Browse or search for thousands of terms, definitions, quotations,
abbreviations, and more - all related to real estate, land, or natural
resources at http://landterms.com/categories.html.


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