Treesearch

The ability of natural resource agencies to act before, during, and after outbreaks of conifer bark beetles (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) is important to ensure the continued provision of ecosystem services. Adaptive capacity refers to the capability of an agent or system to adapt to change, regardless of whether it is examined as an independent social or ecological entity, or as a coupled social–ecological system. Understanding the components of a disturbance and the associated effects to ecosystem services, social systems, and natural resource management increases the ability to adapt to...

Today's timber market in the Southeast US demands a specific size log; thus, the harvested trees need to be processed on the landing. In addition, merchandizing harvested trees is more profitable for the loggers as they are able process the timber to its highest economic value. The utilization of a processing head in the logging industry is encouraged due to the presence of technology advancement on the machine that allows the loggers to merchandize and top the logs by specifying the desired measurements into the processing head's computer program. The result from this study shows that,...

Large wood and beaver dams are fundamental components of forested stream ecosystems but can also create hazards. We present guidelines for identifying stream segments that maximize environmental benefits while minimizing hazards. We focus on lesser gradient stream segments, although wood can be ecologically beneficial anywhere in a river network. Stream segments can be targeted for field-based evaluation using checklists for scenarios of either retention or reintroduction for logjams or beaver dams. We also present the Wood Jam Dynamics Database and Assessment Model, which incorporates a...

Oaks (Quercus spp.) are keystone species in many ecosystems and are ecologically as well as economically valuable. The objective of this study was to gather and evaluate information from a diverse group of oak experts on current and future biotic and abiotic threats to oaks in the eastern United States. Using a Delphi survey method with three iterative surveys, we found that oak decline and climate change were identified as critical current and future threats, respectively, in this region. Focusing on climate change, experts were asked a series of questions to assess its potential future...

This synthesis reviews current knowledge of pinyon and juniper ecosystems, in both persistent and newly expanded woodlands, for managers, researchers, and the interested public. We draw from a large volume of research papers to centralize information on these semiarid woodlands. The first section includes a general description of both the Great Basin and northern Colorado Plateau. The ecology section covers woodland and species life histories, biology, and ecology and includes a detailed discussion of climate and the potential consequences of climate change specific to the Great Basin and...

In southeast Alaska, United States, multiple-use forest management objectives include both timber production and wildlife habitat. Following stand-replacing disturbances such as clear-cutting, Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis (Bong.) Carrière) and western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla (Raf.) Sarg.) naturally regenerate and competitively dominate resources, excluding understory biomass and biodiversity. Thinning may mitigate the effects of canopy closure and permit understory development, but evidence of the effect on understories 8–10 years after thinning is lacking. We report results 4–5 and...

Integrating climate-smart principles into riparian and upland forest management can facilitate effective and efficient land use and conservation planning. Emerging values of forested headwater streams can help forge these links, yet climate effects on headwaters are little studied. We assessed associations of headwater discontinuous streams with climate metrics, watershed size, and forest-harvest treatments. We hypothesized that summer streamflow would decrease in warm, dry years, with possible harvest interactions. We field-collected streamflow patterns from 65 discontinuous stream...

This article compares the short-term and long-term hydrology of two typical forests in the humid Atlantic Coastal Plain, including a relatively undisturbed forest with natural drainage in South Carolina (SC) and a drained pine plantation in North Carolina (NC), using monitoring and modeling approaches. Highly dynamic outflow (O) from both of these systems is driven by the water table (WT) position, as influenced by rainfall (R) and evapotranspiration (ET). The annual runoff coefficient (ROC) varied from 5% in dry years to 56% in wet years, depending on the soil water storage (SWS), with a...

There is heightened interest in heirs’ property research, as a burgeoning social science literature and recent popular press articles have drawn attention to the inequities of this insecure type of property ownership. Economists and legal scholars charge that heirs’ property ownership inhibits the ability of owners to efficiently manage property. We developed a novel methodology combining LiDAR techniques, GIS mapping, and Fuel Characteristic Classification System data to compare vegetative understory accumulation and wildfire risk for heirs’ and non-heirs’ parcels in rural Macon-Bibb...

The 1912 Douglas-Fir Heredity Study is one of the first studies undertaken by the US Forest Service, and one of the first forest genetics studies in North America. The study considers provenance variation of 120 parent trees from 13 seed sources planted at five test sites in the Pacific Northwest. The unique, long-term nature of the study makes it valuable to revisit and consider its biological and historical significance. This analysis considers how far climatically Douglas-fir populations may be moved without incurring unacceptable declines in growth and survival. Results indicate that...