Treesearch

Foundational forest and land-use change monitoring programs, with their statistical rigor and long-term baselines, are increasingly important to inform emerging global agricultural and forest commodity trade policies such as the European Union regulation on deforestation-free products (EUDR). The EUDR requires national-scale information on deforestation prevalence as one component of deforestation risk assessments, with additional traceability and risk assessment requirements at the parcel scale for exports to the EU to comply with the regulation. To better understand potential implications...

This resource bulletin consolidates data from the eighth complete survey of Kentucky’s forest resources which was conducted during the period 2014–2019 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program in cooperation with the Kentucky Division of Forestry (KDF) of the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet. Data on the extent, condition, and classification of forest land and associated timber volumes, as well as growth, removals, and mortality rates are described and interpreted. Data on forest health and forest landowner characteristi...

Susceptibility of bats to white-nose syndrome (WNS), a lethal disease caused by the fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd), may be influenced by the amount of activity outside hibernacula during the winter. We tested the effects of hibernaculum type (aboveground or subterranean) and Pd status (positive or negative) on winter activity of tricolored bats (Perimyotis subflavus) in the southeastern USA along with the effects of ambient temperature, precipitation, and stage of hibernation. We placed acoustic detectors at the entrances of 13 hibernacula (4 aboveground and Pd-positive, 4...

Historically, the prices of softwood timber and lumber have shown strong correlations within their supply chain. However, since the 2008 financial crisis, the gap between these prices has widened, a trend further exacerbated during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. This study examines the impact of various economic shocks on this expanding price gap from 1999 to 2023. Using a Markov Switching Autoregressive model and incorporating variables such as housing starts, lumber futures, mortgage rates, Canadian softwood lumber export, and standing inventory, we identify periods of divergence and...

The European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) aims to prevent deforestation-linked products from entering the EU market. This study assesses the potential impacts of the EUDR on global forest product markets using the FOrest Resource Outlook Model (FOROM), a partial equilibrium model of the global forest sector. We simulate two scenarios: the baseline EUDR, focused on commodity-driven deforestation and urbanization, and an extended EUDR+ scenario, which includes shifting agriculture. The results indicate that high-deforestation countries, such as Brazil, Indonesia, and Malaysia, are...

Large wildfires, the dominant natural disturbance type in North American forests, can cause significant damage to human infrastructure. One well-known approach to reduce the threat of wildfires is the strategic removal of forest fuels in linear firebreaks that segment forest landscapes into distinct compartments. However, limited human and financial resources can make it difficult to plan compartmentalization effectively. In this study, we developed a simulation-optimization approach to assist with the planning of wildfire risk mitigation efforts in the Red Rock-Prairie Creek area of...

The Forest Health Monitoring (FHM) Program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service annually funds projects under the Evaluation Monitoring (EM) component of FHM. Projects generally are intended to determine the extent, severity, and causes of undesirable changes in forest health. This component of FHM provides opportunities to delve deeper into observed forest health changes than is often possible as part of standard monitoring activities. When an EM project is completed, researchers are asked to provide a concise summary of the project. These summaries were previously...

Traits enabling fire tolerance are essential for plant persistence in fire-prone ecosystems. Yet, fire tolerance alone fails to account for other pre-existing forms of stress that could modify species tolerance of fire. Shade is an increasingly important form of stress on the contemporary forested landscape, as widespread fire exclusion has hastened the transition of many open woodlands into closed canopy forests. To investigate the interaction of fire and shade in the longleaf pine ecosystem, we established a shade house experiment examining seedling mortality and recovery of six native...

Timber Product Output (TPO) is a component of FIA’s National Resource Use Monitoring (NRUM) program aimed at gathering and reporting information on industrial and nonindustrial uses of roundwood. Data are gathered through annual surveys of primary wood processing facilities and aggregated and reported at the county and/or state level. Data and more information about NRUM and TPO can be found here: https://research.fs.usda.gov/programs/nrum .

Timber Product Output (TPO) is a component of FIA’s National Resource Use Monitoring (NRUM) program aimed at gathering and reporting information on industrial and nonindustrial uses of roundwood. Data are gathered through annual surveys of primary wood processing facilities and aggregated and reported at the county and/or state level. Data and more information about NRUM and TPO can be found here: https://research.fs.usda.gov/programs/nrum .