Treesearch

Palau is well known as an area of high plant diversity; indeed, it is considered the most species rich island group within Micronesia (Kitalong et al., 2008). The Palauan archipelago covers only about 535 km² of land area and yet contains an estimated 730 native plants, including 151 endemic species (Kitalong et al., 2008). Broader scientific interest in Palauan forest health and biodiversity is mirrored locally by residents and land managers who seek baseline information to inform resource management decisions. With these concerns in mind, the Data Collection Team at the Pacific Northwest...

The US Forest Service’s Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Program of the Pacific Northwest (PNW) Research Station has been working in the Hawaiian islands since 2010. During this time they have installed a base grid of field plots across all of the Hawaiian Islands and an intensified sample of two experimental forests, the Laupāhoehoe and Pu‘u Wa‘awa‘a units of the Hawaii Experimental Tropical Forests (HETF). These intensified plots used the standard P3 FIA plot design but included a number of additional measurements that were designed to address forest health issues specific to Hawai›i›s...

The Forest Service and Esri recently entered into a partnership: (1) to distribute FIA and other Forest Service data with the public and stakeholders through ArcGIS Online, and (2) to facilitate the application of the ArcGIS platform within the Forest Service to develop forest management and landscape management plans, and support their scientific research activities. This partnership (in combination with the Agency’s master agreement with Esri) includes access to ArcGIS Online, the GeoPlanner, story maps, map journals, and business intelligence tools. In this presentation, we review the...

Forest information is desired for broader applications than we typically serve. Among those underserved users are the education and outreach communities. These groups are actively trying to engage and teach both youth and adults in areas such as GIS/spatial analysis, natural resource education, general math/science, invasive species, climate change, water quality, and forest management, via a variety of venues including classroom instruction, Master Forester workshops, Woods walks, specific issue-based workshops, and citizen science training sessions. The advent of modeled geospatial...

According to the latest data from the US Forest Service National Woodland Owner Survey, there are an estimated 4 million family forest ownerships (with 10+ acres) across the U.S. Approximately 20% of these ownerships have a woman as the primary owner. A great percentage of the other ownerships are owned by a couple where the second owner is a woman and, given normal mortality patterns with woman outliving men, many more women will eventually become the primary decision makers. There has been increasing interest in establishing programs aimed specifically at female forest owners, but there...

We revisit the classic theory of forest succession that relates shade tolerance and species replacement and assess its validity to understand patch-mosaic patterns of forested ecosystems of the USA. We introduce a macroscopic parameter called the “shade tolerance index” and compare it to the classic continuum index in southern Wisconsin forests. We exemplify shade tolerance driven succession in White Pine–Eastern Hemlock forests using computer simulations and analyzing approximated chronosequence data from the USDA FIA forest inventory. We describe this parameter across the last 50 years...

Ownership of the U.S. southern timberland rests largely on private forest landowners’ hands. As such, their harvest and regeneration choices can significantly impact the region’s roundwood supply. In most cases, private forest landowners do not consider timber production among the top reasons for holding their lands. However, most research indicates that favorable timber markets (high demand of wood reflecting in high stumpage prices) can motivate landowners’ participation. It follows then that landowners with access to strong timber markets (strength indicated by the number of primary...

Logging utilization research results have informed land managers of changes in utilization of forest growing stock for more than 40 years. The logging utilization residue ratio- growing stock residue volume/mill delivered volume- can be applied to historic or projected timber harvest volumes to predict woody residue volumes at varied spatial scales. Researchers at the University of Montana’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research and USFS Southern Research Station are investigating variability in residue ratios across Montana, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. This project has presented...

Projections of Alaska timber products output, the derived demand for logs, lumber, residues, and niche products, and timber harvest by owner are developed by using a trend-based analysis. This is the fifth such analysis performed since 1990 to assist planners in meeting statutory requirements for estimating planning cycle demand for timber from the Tongass National Forest. Results reflect the consequences of recent changes in the Alaska forest sector and trends in markets for Alaska products. Demand for Alaska national forest timber currently depends on markets for sawn wood and exports of...

The National Forest System (NFS) Pacific Northwest Region (R6) has been flying LiDAR on a per project basis. Additional field data was also collected in situ to many of these LiDAR projects to aid in the development of predictive models and estimate values which are unattainable through LiDAR data alone (e.g. species composition, tree volume, and downed woody material). Until now, the protocols for collecting vegetation field data within LiDAR project areas have varied from project to project, leading to the inability to share, use, or analyze data across multiple project areas. The R6...