Forest health monitoring: national status, trends, and analysis 2015

Abstract

The annual national report of the Forest Health Monitoring (FHM) Program of the Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, presents forest health status and trends from a national or multi- State regional perspective using a variety of sources, introduces new techniques for analyzing forest health data, and summarizes results of recently completed Evaluation Monitoring projects funded through the FHM national program. In this 15th edition in a series of annual reports, survey data are used to identify geographic patterns of insect and disease activity. Satellite data are employed to detect geographic patterns of forest fire occurrence. Recent drought and moisture surplus conditions are compared across the conterminous United States. Data collected by the Forest Inventory and Analysis Program are employed to detect regional differences in tree mortality. National Land Cover Database land cover maps are used to summarize temporal trends in forest fragmentation for the conterminous United States from 2001 to 2011. Eleven recently completed Evaluation Monitoring projects are summarized, addressing forest health concerns at smaller scales.

Titles contained within Forest health monitoring: national status, trends, and analysis 2015

• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Large-Scale Patterns of Insect and Disease Activity in the Conterminous United States and Alaska from the National Insect and Disease Survey, 2014
• Chapter 3: Large-Scale Patterns of Forest Fire Occurrence in the Conterminous United States, Alaska, and Hawaii, 2014
• Chapter 4: 1-Year (2014 , 3-Year (2012–2014 ) , and 5-Year (2010–2014) Maps of Drought and Moisture Surplus for the Conterminous United States
• Chapter 5: Tree Mortality
• Chapter 6: National Update of Forest Fragmentation Indicators, 2001–2011
• Chapter 7: Distribution and Intensification of Bur Oak Blight in Iowa and the Midwest ( Project NC-EM-B-10-01)
• Chapter 8: Determining the Extent of the Invasive Nonnative Ailanthus Tree Using Helicopter Mapping within Appalachian Ohio Oak Forests (Project NE-EM-F-11-01)
• Chapter 9: Current Health Status of American Beech and Distribution of Beech Bark Disease in Wisconsin( Project NC-EM-B-11-01)
• Chapter 10: Investigation of Rapid White Oak ( Quercus alba )   Mortality within  the Ozark Plateau and Adjacent Forest-Prairie Transition Ecoregion ( Project NC-EM-B-13-01)
• Chapter 11: The Influence of Mountain Pine Beetle Outbreaks on Carbon Productivity and Storage in Central U.S. Rockies Lodgepole Pine Forests (Project INT-EM-B-10-03)
• Chapter 12: Forest Fuels and Predicted Fire Behavior in the First 5 Years after a Bark Beetle Outbreak With and Without Timber Harvest (Project INT-EM-F-11-04)
• Chapter 13: Implement Interagency Whitebark Pine Monitoring for the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem(Project INT-EM-F-12-01)
• Chapter 14: Impact of Bark Beetle Infestation on Fuel Loads and Fire Behavior in “Old-Stage” Southwestern Ponderosa Pine (Project INT-EM-F-12-02)
• Chapter 15: Monitoring Mountain Pine Beetle Life Cycle Timing and Phloem Temperatures at Multiple Elevations and Latitudes in California(Project WC-EM-09-02)
• Chapter 16: Monitoring Plots to Evaluate Spread Characteristics, Stand/Site Attributes, Management, and Disturbance Relationships of Black Stain Root Disease in Douglas-fir Plantations in Northern California (Project WC-EM-B-14-03)
• Chapter 17: Forest Health Monitoring in Southern California : High-temporal Monitoring Using Advanced Image Analysis Techniques (Project WC-EM-F-11-01)

Keywords

Change detection, drought, fire, forest health, forest insects and disease, fragmentation, tree mortality

Citation

Potter, Kevin M.; Conkling, Barbara L., eds. 2016. Forest health monitoring: national status, trends, and analysis 2015. Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS-213. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station. 199 p.