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Abstract
Forests and woodlands cover an extensive area of the United States, 333 million ha or approximately 36 percent of the Nation’s land area (Oswalt and others 2019). These forests provide a broad range of goods and services for current and future generations, safeguard biological diversity, and contribute to the resilience of ecosystems, societies, and economies (McGinley and others 2023). Their socioeconomic benefits include wood products, nontimber goods, reduction of air pollutants, moderation of city temperatures, recreational opportunities, and natural beauty. Their ecological roles include supplying large and consistent quantities of clean water, preventing soil erosion, and providing habitat for a broad diversity of plant and animal species. At the same time, both the ecological integrity and the continued capacity of these forests to provide ecological and economic goods and services face a long list of threats, including insect and disease infestation, drought, fragmentation and forest conversion to other land uses, catastrophic fire, invasive species, and the effects of climate change.
Parent Publication
Citation
Potter, K.M.; Pandit, K.; Conkling, B.L. 2024. Introduction. In: Pandit, K.; Conkling, B.L., eds. Forest Health Monitoring: national status, trends, and analysis 2023. Gen. Tech. Rep. WO-105. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service: 5-21. Chapter 1. https://doi.org/10.2737/WO-GTR-105-Chap1.
