Articles

Scientists reconstructed the taxonomy of Lamprey using DNA analysis

The diversity and depth of partnerships at Starkey Experimental Forest and Range represent a shining success story of Forest Service research informing adaptive management. For the last several decades, Starkey’s lead scientist, Michael Wisdom, has focused on creating and nurturing fruitful collaborations that reinforce the Pacific Northwest Research Station’s gold-standard reputation for applied science.

The new Southern Forest Outlook report on water is designed to inform forest sector decisionmakers and the interested public about observed trends, anticipated futures, and critical issues based on authoritative synthesis and interpretation of existing science, data, and 50-year projections.

The last pine standing: certain types of snags in different areas last longer, providing longer-term habitat value for woodpeckers.

Thanks to collaborators, the Southern Research Station now has access to a machine that can make biochar, a wood product with many potential uses. The team is currently cooking 10,000 pounds of biochar for an ecological restoration study.

To restore temperate southern woodlands, managers often replace loblolly and slash pines with longleaf and shortleaf pines. However, researchers found that retaining some loblolly and slash pine can save resources without affecting restoration goals.

We know that extreme weather and heavy fuels can lead to extreme fire behavior. Researchers at the USDA Forest Service Missoula Fire Sciences Lab are developing a new fire spread model to more accurately predict how far and fast fires can move – even under extreme conditions. The new model will provide better information to help fire managers make decisions when responding to fires. It will a...

The updated National Fire Danger Rating System uses new fuel moisture models, simpler surface fuel models, and has been shown to be just as good or better at predicting measures of fire danger, despite the more automated process.

Differences in pollen nutrition among plant species can predict bee visitors and support pollinator diversity.

Dr. Jacqueline Ott is working with partners from the U.S. Geological Survey and Colorado State University on grassland response to different drought scenarios on Buffalo Gap National Grassland. The research will offer tailored management tools for land managers seeking strategies for long-term resilience.

The William B. Bankhead National Forest is a living laboratory with long-term studies on the effects of thinning and prescribed burning. This year, researchers conducted the 100th prescribed burn.

By teasing out the relative importance of vertical and horizontal tree structure in fire behavior, researchers suggest ways to help forest managers meet the dual goals of reducing crown fire hazard and increasing forest structural complexity.

The Rocky Mountain Research Station has co-produced a vulnerability assessment for aquatic and riparian ecosystems in the southwestern United States.

Beekeeping introduces large numbers of bees to an environment that can lower the abundance of and alter the community composition of local native bees, requiring responsible practices.

The Meadow Creek Collaborative is built on a grassroots foundation of long-term partnerships. Research hydrologist Adam Price explains some of the goals of the project, which include sustaining the First Foods of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.

A research team set out to better understand where mechanical fuel reduction treatments are feasible, where there might be operational or administrative constraints, and how managers could overcome these constraints.

Predicting availability of water is a difficult task, but it just got easier thanks to a new model and interactive tool produced by researchers from the U.S. Forest Service Eastern and Western Threat Assessment Centers and other partners. The tool lets users investigate their own questions about water availability by watershed under future climate and landcover conditions.

Researchers reviewed the causes of altered fire regimes in sagebrush landscapes and the longer-term effects of fuel treatments, providing a comprehensive summary of their findings and a discussion around treatment effects on fuels, fire behavior, ecosystem resilience, and landscape resistance.

Biodiversity is declining faster in fresh water than it is in marine or terrestrial ecosystems. Becky Flitcroft, a research fish biologist with the USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, works in partnership with forest managers to support a future with resilient aquatic ecosystems.

Support for biochar as a way to re-introduce carbon back into forest soils, remediate mine lands, and to restore soil health is picking up traction across the western United States.