Articles

Managing wildfires for resource objectives diminished the likelihood of extreme fire events over time by making wildfire activity more predictable. Adding resource objective wildfire to the current rate of forest restoration expanded the area treated fivefold, and restoration objectives were achieved in 25 years when the rate of forest restoration was increased five times the current pace.

Using a database of post-fire assessments from over 600 archaeological sites and features within burned areas in the Jemez Mountains of northern New Mexico, we developed models to predict where and when fires may cause unwanted impacts, damage, and loss of important cultural information.

Forest Service research economist Jeffrey Prestemon explored supply and demand trends in the timber industry during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The South employs more loggers than any other U.S. region: 25,575 as of 2017, after a 30% reduction since 1997, according to a study investigating changes in employment and profitability in the logging industry.

The science and technology behind models like QUIC-Fire is advancing through collaboration among managers and researchers. O'Brien is a key part of these networks.

Prescribed fires and wildfires behave very differently. Researchers and managers are co-developing and testing prescribed fire tools such as QUIC-Fire.

Forests to Faucets, version 2.0 is now available. The tool project includes a report and a story map where users can explore data on forests and drinking water.

Giant sequoias are one of the most fire-resistant species on Earth, yet recent wildfires have caused high levels of mortality of these ancient, large trees.

Warmer and drier fire seasons contribute to increases in area burned at high severity in western U.S. forests.

Land use and natural disturbances constitute the fabric of the Black Hills forests. Over the last two decades (2000-2020), multiple disturbances (e.g., mountain pine beetle epidemic, wildfire) have changed forest characteristics of the Black Hills.Following several years of intensified and accelerated Forest Inventory & Analysis Program sampling in the Black Hills, Forest Service scientists ass...

Determining why some trees die while others survive both drought and insect outbreaks is valuable for forecasting tree mortality events. Scientists collected data in California, where tree mortality from the combination of drought and bark beetles was widespread.

In cold ecosystems, the annual carbon balance can be dominated by winter respiration. However, the eddy-covariance technique, a common methodology to measure net ecosystem exchange of carbon, can be inaccurate in cold climates due to the effect a warm sensor has on its gas measurement. Often, this error can make an otherwise dormant ecosystem appear as a carbon sink.

This research chronicles the science, people, and destruction caused by mountain pine beetles primarily in the Black Hills of South Dakota and Wyoming from 1902 through 2012.

The belowground bud bank is the hidden source of plant community resiliency.

U.S. coal, oil, natural gas, and wind energy are concentrated in the grassland states, enabling them to be net exporters of energy. As energy demand continues to increase, increasing pressure will be placed on North American grassland systems. The tradeoff between the need and desire for energy and the conservation of lands within the grassland region leads to difficult management choices. In o...

The most arid region of the United States—the Southwest—is expected to become even warmer and drier in the future as the climate changes. Forest Service scientists have developed tools to quantify the vulnerability of these areas to inform adaptation strategies.

PhenoMap monitors weekly changes in phenology (green-up and brown-down) across the western United States via satellite. Weekly satellite values of “greenness” successfully tracked changes in phenology documented by phenology cameras in grasslands, shrublands, deciduous broadleaf, and mixed forests but demonstrated the difficulty of tracking changes in phenology of evergreen needleleaf forests.

Post-bark beetle outbreak snagfall dynamics create a multiple-decade legacy that will persist longer in high-elevation compared to lower-elevation forests. The persistence and fall rate of snags (standing dead trees) generated during bark beetle outbreaks have consequences for the behavior, effects, and suppression of potential wildfires, hazard tree and timber salvage operations, wildlife habitat, and numerous ecosystem processes.

This research evaluated how spatial patterns of historical ponderosa pine forest structure impacted fire torching thresholds and contributes to a mechanistic understanding of how spatial patterns were maintained. With this information, we demonstrate how treatments that seek to restore these historical forest structures can increase stand-level resistance to crown fire. Restoration treatments in ponderosa pine forests that increase the stand-...

As energy demand continues to increase, increasing pressure will be placed on our North American grassland systems. Identifying the ecological costs of energy production can aid managers as they work to avoid and minimize environmental issues as well as lead to the development of new technologies to aid in conservation.