Treesearch

The pine shoot beetle, Tomicus piniperda (L.), is an exotic pest of pines, Pinus spp., that was first found in the United States in 1992. A federal quarantine currently regulates movement of pine Christmas trees and pine nursery stock from infested to uninfested counties. The current national Pine Shoot Beetle Compliance Management Program requires T. piniperda-infested brood material to be disposed of by burning, chipping, or burial. The burial option requires that the infested pine material be buried at a depth of at least 30 cm. We tested this requirement by burying logs with similar...

The USDA Forest Service North Central Research Station has embarked on a new integrated research and development program to identify and understand the development-related aspects of Midwestern landscape change. This paper describes the framework and scope of the Landscape Change Integrated Program and highlights projects begun during the first two years. Partnerships are seen as essential to the success of the program, to help implement studies and to provide answers to pressing questions concerning the Midwestern region and beyond.

The LANDIS model simulates ecological dynamics, including forest succession, disturbance, seed dispersal and establishment, fire and wind disturbance, and their interactions. We describe the addition to LANDIS of capabilities to simulate forest vegetation management, including harvest. Stands (groups of cells) are prioritized for harvest using one of four ranking algorithms that use criteria related to forest management objectives. Cells within a selected stand are harvested according to the species and age cohort removal rules specified in a prescription. These flexible removal rules...

The subdivision of privately owned parcels of forestland is increasing across the country, but little is known about the rate and magnitude of this change. In trying to better understand how such change is distributed spatially and temporally across the landscape, we examined private forestlands in the nonmetropolitan counties of the Northwoods of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. We hypothesized that parcelization would be greater where lands were associated with amenity attributes identified through forest inventory and other methods. Study results show that such attributes may be of...

Change happens. In the realm of forest landscapes, one of the great realizations of the late 20th century was that forests in the United States and elsewhere often are not the stable systems we once thought them to be, attaining a final "climax" stage through the process of succession. Advances in forest ecology show that landscape change is the rule rather than the exception, and that natural disturbances at scales ranging from tree-tip mounds to 500,000-acre blowdowns make forests dynamic and often unpredictable places (Pickett and White 1985; Botkin 1990). Human-caused disturbances also...

Raccoons (Procyon lotor), opossums (Didelphis virginiana), and striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis) are predators of forest songbird eggs and nestlings. We examined the relative abundance of these predators at landscape and local scales to better understand predation risks. At the landscape scale, we examined the relationship between detection rates of raccoons, opossums, and striped skunks on 25 scent-station routes distributed across Missouri and surrounding landscape characteristics. Raccoon abundance was related to latitude, stream density, and mean patch size of agricultural lands....

Much of the initial research on the outdoor recreation participation of racial/ethnic groups focused on between-group differences in percent participating in an activity. This tended to focus research, policy, and management on between-group differences at the expense of a more comprehensive look at the participation patterns of racial/ethnic groups. This paper suggests a more comprehensive approach that focuses on similarities as well as differences between groups along several dimensions of participation. It also looks at participation rates while taking into account age, residence,...

Urban forest management promises to play a critical role in the management of .... our nation's forest resources in the 21st century. Urban forests are significant and diverse ecosystems with intricate connections among their physical, biological, and social components; as well as with other elements of urban and natural resource systems. Urban forests are also dynamic systems, shaped by the relatively slow growth and development of trees in the context of rapidly changing urban environments. To sustain forest structure, health, and benefits over the long-term, comprehensive, and adaptive...

Regardless of one's viewpoint, the conflict that erupted in the spring of 1996 and became known as the Chicago restoration controversy has left an indelible mark on the region's environmental community and has forever changed the way those involved will think about restoration. Its implications extend far beyond Chicago; since its inception, the controversy has provided a springboard for discussion and debate that has reached national and international audiences. Although the controversy has raised important biological and ecological issues, the pivotal issues have been social ones,...

Is nature "out there" or in our heads? Recent debates in the humanities and the physical and social sciences provide convincing arguments on both sides (e.g., Cronon 1995, Rolston 1997, Soule and Lease 1995; see also chapters by Brunson and by Hull and Robertson in this volume). But despite which side people may lean toward, most would agree that as we turn our focus from wild landscapes toward ones that are dominated by humans, "objective" indicators of nature and naturalness that can guide restoration and management efforts become more and more ambiguous.