Treesearch

Rocky Mountain tailed frogs (Ascaphus montanus) were thought to exist exclusively in two tributaries of Warm Springs Creek watershed - Storm Lake Creek and Twin Lakes Creek, based on opportunistic observations of tailed frogs during fish sampling rather than formal basin-wide sampling for frogs. We used extant environmental DNA (eDNA) samples originally collected to delineate bull trout (Savelinus confluentus) occupancy to determine whether tailed frogs reside outside of their current known distribution in the Warm Springs Creek watershed. We were able to rapidly confirm tailed frog...

Research to date has not examined how the impacts of arrests manifest across space and time in environmental crimes. We evaluate whether arrests reduce or merely spatiotemporally displace intentional illegal outdoor firesetting. Using municipality-level daily wildfire count data from Galicia, Spain, from 1999 to 2014, we develop daily spatiotemporal ignition count models of agricultural, non-agricultural and total intentional illegal wildfires as functions of spatiotemporally lagged arrests, the election cycle, seasonal and day indicators, meteorological factors and socioeconomic variables....

Effects of intensive forest management on soil phosphorus (P) are unclear and may impact long-term site productivity. We assessed changes in P availability over 10 years associated with harvest intensity (bole-only vs. whole-tree harvest) and vegetation control treatments (initial vegetation control (IVC) vs. five years of annual vegetation control (AVC)) using a P fractionation procedure. Fractions were characterized at 0–15, 15–30, and 30–60 cm soil depths in two coast Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco var. menziesii) plantations with strongly contrasting soil properties...

The Fuel Characteristic Classification System (FCCS) was designed to store and archive wildland fuel characteristics within fuelbeds, defined as the inherent physical characteristics of fuels that contribute to fire behavior and effects. The FCCS represents fuel characteristics in six strata including canopy, shrubs, herbaceous fuels, downed wood, litter-lichen-moss, and ground fuels. Each stratum is further divided into one or more categories and subcategories to represent the complexity of wildland and managed fuels. A variety of techniques to measure and summarize fuelbed data are...

Variation in natural selection across heterogeneous landscapes often produces (a) among‐population differences in phenotypic traits, (b) trait‐by‐environment associations, and (c) higher fitness of local populations. Using a broad literature review of common garden studies published between 1941 and 2017, we documented the commonness of these three signatures in plants native to North America's Great Basin, an area of extensive restoration and revegetation efforts, and asked which traits and environmental variables were involved. We also asked, independent of geographic distance, whether...

Low-intensity surface fire is prescribed in eastern North American hardwood stands prior to overstory harvest in order to improve regeneration and recruitment of oak and other fire-tolerant and fire-adapted species. However, this use of prescribed fire potentially can reduce timber value. We inventoried overstory trees (>10 in. diameter at breast height) in 54 oak-dominated stands with varied prescribed fire histories and aspects in southern Indiana. We then documented the extent of prescribed fire damage (i.e., wounds) to overstory trees and quantified both the relative stand volume of...

The Stewardship Mapping and Assessment Project (STEW-MAP) began in 2007 as a way to understand and map civic capacity to care for the environment across New York City. In 2017, we implemented a ten-year update to STEW-MAP in New York City's five boroughs and expanded it to the larger metropolitan area as a regional pilot survey. In this report, we share our preliminary findings about the civic stewardship groups working to care for the local environment through conservation, monitoring, management, transformation, education, and advocacy. The data presented include organizational characteri...

The southeastern U.S. is considered the “wood-basket” of the world where loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) plantations provide tremendous ecological and economic benefits to the region. These plantations are susceptible to various natural and anthropogenic abiotic and biotic stressors and disturbances. The southern pine engravers, Ips avulsus (Eichhoff), I. calligraphus (Germar), and I. grandicollis (Eichhoff), are considered secondary colonizers of stressed, damaged, and dying loblolly pines. However, they may undergo outbreaks and colonize live pine hosts if environmental conditions cause...

This publication is part of a series that provides an overview of the presence of invasive plant species monitored on an extensive systematic network of plots measured by the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program of the USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station (NRS). Each research note features one of the invasive plants monitored on forested plots by NRS FIA in the 24 states of the Midwestern and Northeastern United States. Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense) is an herbaceous perennial in the Aster family. Since its arrival to North America from Europe in the early 1600s via...

Naval stores are a nearly forgotten legacy in the South, but throughout history nations have depended on them, sought them out, and fought wars over these coniferous products. These products—tar, pitch, turpentine, and rosin—long kept the wooden navies of the world afoat and found many other uses prior to petrochemical dominance. Even with the decline in sailing ships, there has been an international demand for these products. This is the story of a remarkable, but messy, industry that helped support much of the South’s economy for nearly 400 years.