Treesearch

Great Basin bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva), one of two species of bristlecone pine, the other being Rocky Mountain bristlecone pine (P. aristata), is endemic to the high Great Basin mountains in eastern California, Nevada, and Utah. It is the upper treeline forest tree in this region, found mostly between 2900 and 3600 m. The primary goal of this project was to generate a reference genome sequence for P. longaeva that, among its many possible applications, will serve as an important genetic resource to better understand the genetic mechanisms underlying its extreme longevity and its...

The four national forests in Southern California are dominated by the chaparral biome and are visited by millions of people annually. These forest ecosystems are impacted by wildfires and drought, which coincide with the peak outdoor recreation season. This study applied a discrete choice experiment to understand visitors’ preferences for site and environmental attributes in wildfire- and drought-induced displacement scenarios. Two surveys were conducted: for a wildfire scenario and a drought scenario. Wildfires create disamenities for recreation through fire damage and smoke exposure,...

Mountain pine beetle, Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins, is among the most significant forest insect pests, particularly in lodgepole pine, Pinus contorta Dougl. ex Loud., forests in western North America. We established a network of 125, 0.081-ha circular plots in P. contorta forests in Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming to document tree mortality and stand-level responses to D. ponderosae outbreaks. We found notable reductions in several key metrics but also observed significant variability in per-year (0–71%) and cumulative mortality (2–87%). We used this long-term monitoring...

Decision making is inherently a complex social and cultural process that is shaped by myriad influential factors both internal and external to the environments, people, and institutions affected. Natural resource management is no exception in this regard. As the Earth’s climate rapidly changes, disturbances increasingly threaten forests across the globe, while the demand for resilient conditions and ecosystem services increases. As risks and threats to forests are building, so are assumptions, uncertainties, and stakes associated with management and mitigation outcomes. Decision support...

Trees located on private property constitute a substantial portion of the urban forest canopy, yet management responsibilities vary widely across different jurisdictions. While property owners are granted freedom over their land-use decisions, some governments promote tree preservation by regulating and restricting how property owners manage trees on their properties. Incentive-based policies for tree protection can serve as an alternative to enact behavior change through positive reinforcement. In this study, we provide a comprehensive national review in the United States (U.S.) to...

The Southern California Adaptation Partnership identified climate change issues relevant for resource management on national forest and national park units in southern California. This partnership assessed the vulnerability of infrastructure, outdoor recreation, and ecosystem services to climate change and developed adaptation options that minimize negative effects of climate change and facilitate transition to a warmer climate.High levels of use and aging roads and facilities on federal lands are increasing the vulnerability of infrastructure to the effects of climate change. Altered...

Forested landscapes around the world face ever growing challenges in restoring resilience in the face of climate change. Large-scale disturbances, including wildfires and insect infestations, continue to grow in magnitude and destructiveness. Wildfires specifically pose major risks to human life and wellbeing. At the same time, forested landscapes produce innumerable benefits for society, including climate regulation through carbon sequestration, recreational opportunities, water provisioning, wood products, and more. The continued and reliable provisioning of these benefits relies on...

Maintaining and promoting forest ecosystem health and landscape management is a global challenge, given the social, ecological, and economic value of forests, the threats that they face from climate change and other stressors, and the substantial funding gap relative to the need to accomplish management objectives. The practice of calculating an economic Return on Investment (ROI) in business applications has migrated to conservation and land management planning as a means of informing and improving the positive impact of investments on forested landscapes. Forest management yields a large...

Wildfires adjacent to highly populated Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) areas are increasingly impacting urban communities in terms of post-fire costs and displacement of populations. But community perception of these socioeconomic and ecological costs, or ecosystem disservices (EDs), before catastrophic events like the 2025 Los Angeles Fires is little understood. Thus, understanding how experts and the urban public perceive fire-related EDs, relative to the risk reduction benefits of prescribed fire, is key. We used a 2023 survey (n= 869) from communities within Greater Los Angeles as well...

National Grasslands offer a variety of ecosystem services that benefit visitors and must be managed to ensure sustained yield. However, a paucity of visitor use management research in National Grasslands has limited the advancement of knowledge about these areas. This exploratory study used a mixed methodology with two connected phases to better understand visitor experiences, perceptions, and enjoyment at Cimarron National Grassland. A survey instrument was constructed with information gathered by semi-structured interviews with managers. The survey was distributed online through the...