Science for productive forests: Reducing risks to timber resources
Wildfire, pests, pathogens, extreme weather, drought: these and other disturbances threaten America’s timber resources. Forest Service scientists describe, detect, map, and provide management options for these risks. They also develop new technologies and methods, such as drones, to aid managers in monitoring threats and quickly responding.
Wildfire Risks to Timber
A prescribed burn moves through young ponderosa pine trees at the study site in western Montana.
Research supports managers in protecting timber resources in ways unique to their region. Drought and fire-mortality volume projections from the 2020 Resources Planning Act enable users to evaluate threats to timber. A synthesis of 30 years of research demonstrates effective ways managers are addressing fire risk in the West. Decades of research in Montana, the Southwest, and elsewhere measured the effectiveness of fuels treatments over the long term and found that a combination of cutting and burning produced the most effective results.
Similar research on the Klamath National Forest showed how treatments reduced severity in a 2021 fire across weather conditions. While thinning alone reduced crown fire behavior, mechanical thinning combined with prescribed-fire-induced surface fuels reduction best protected trees. This research helps managers understand effective ways to protect and sustain the yield of timber resources through active management.
RiskMonitor, a high-powered analytical framework, identifies ways for managers to reduce wildfire risk and monitor progress toward risk reduction goals, securing timber resources in the process.
Insect and Disease Risks to Timber
The Forest Service’s HiForm tool uses satellite data and cloud computing to map forest disturbances in near-real time across large areas. This tool can identify locations of pest outbreaks, extreme weather, and wildfire impacts to forests and enables land managers to assess damage and plan responses. For example, it aided decisionmakers managing a beetle outbreak triggered by extreme drought in Louisiana and Mississippi.
Forest Service scientists in the Northeast are developing tools to slow the spread of destructive pests, detecting and treating oak wilt, reducing the impact of the devastating hemlock woolly adelgid, and using fungi to reduce fuel loads. They are also testing if satellite imagery can identify pests and diseases, allowing for early detection in remote areas and protecting timber.
A wooly adelgid infestation on a tree stem near Anthony Lakes, Oregon. Photo credit: Kate Hrinkevich.
Bark beetles have devastated millions of acres of forest and timberland across the West. With forest managers, agency researchers map and develop strategies for these outbreaks, including better understanding water quality impacts. Pest outbreaks also have impacted the forests of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, causing the loss of 5,000 tons of sawtimber a year. Our scientists estimate that enhanced active management could reduce these timber losses by 20 percent.
Additionally, our research shows that managers may need to adjust their practices to prevent beetles from killing timber-producing trees in a warmer and drier future. New stand density guidelines also show how active management in California’s dry conifer forests could reduce the impact of bark beetles and other disturbances to timber-producing trees.
Our research is yielding DNA-based approaches for detecting and managing Armillaria root disease, which damages timber-producing species such as Douglas-fir. These tools allow scientists and managers to identify the highest-risk areas for this pathogen.
Forest Service scientists have combatted sudden oak death, which has killed millions of trees along the Pacific Coast. They suggest ways to manage susceptible species while maintaining populations of high-value timber species such as Douglas-fir and redwood.
Reports of needle disease in commercial loblolly pine plantations have raised concerns over potential economic losses—up to $2 billion in Alabama alone. Our researchers lead efforts among federal, state, and university researchers, supported by $6 million from Congress, to understand the pathogen, establish a monitoring network, and develop management tools.
