Potential old-growth stands continue to be located and quantified. Although there is no generally-accepted definition of oldgrowth, there is a set of attributes that describe old-growth forests. The Hemlock-northern hardwood stand at Point au Roche State Park in Clinton County, New York has been proposed for old-growth classification. The composition and structure of this stand were sampled between September and November, 2008. Attributes of this stand were compared with old-growth conifernorthern hardwoods. The list of attributes included species composition of overstory and understory, maximum tree ages, stand structure, standing dead trees (snags) and fallen trees (logs). The Hemlock-northern hardwood stand in this study compared favorably with old-growth conifer-northern hardwood stands for all measured attributes except the number and size of logs on the forest floor. Although abundance of large logs is an important component of old-growth stands, the Hemlock-northern hardwood stand at Point au Roche State Park could be described as old-growth.

While the United States continues to make military and diplomatic progress in Iraq, the situation in Afghanistan has gotten unquestionably worse over the last three years. Although the diversion of resources from the conflict in Afghanistan to the front lines in Iraq have undoubtedly contributed to America's current quagmire, it is now time to formulate an improved strategy to turn Afghanistan around from the abyss. Fortunately for the United States military and members of the U.S. diplomatic corps, such a counterinsurgency plan need not require generals to limit the manpower, and equipment from an Iraq operation that is continuing to strengthen the country's democratic hopes. Recent calls for a large troop deployment to Afghanistan in the hopes of diminishing the violent Taliban insurgency may be appropriate for a short-term American success story, but such a move would be drastically counterproductive to the immense progress already accomplished with respect to Iraqi sovereignty: progress that, to this date, has helped stem the violence associated with Islamic extremism and promoted accountability of Iraq's national parliament. What the United States should focus on in Afghanistan is building trust among the Afghan citizenry, raising the levels of economic opportunity, by establishing third-party structures to make a true democratic system work. Doing so would result in the Taliban-led insurgency falling short of its ambitions. Through a re-prioritization of objectives, the U.S.- Afghanistan mission will be restored, America's overall image will benefit, and its successful developmental and reconstruction effort will put a major blow in the sides of terrorist networks throughout the Middle Eastern region.