Treesearch

It is becoming increasingly critical for societies to understand how costs and benefits associated with natural disasters and their mitigation activities are allocated across economic actors. Although higher rates of wildfire hazard mitigation would be expected to increase jobs in the forestry and logging sector, scientific examination of the magnitude of such impacts has been scarce. This research helps to close this research gap by evaluating how labor markets in Western U.S. counties have responded to the mechanical wildfire hazardous fuel reduction treatments carried out on national...

The marginal cost of carbon emission reduction is a crucial metric for assessing the economic and environmental implications of climate change mitigation policies. This study provides a comprehensive analysis of the marginal cost of carbon emissions reductions across 546 sectors of the U.S. economy, employing a structural decomposition analysis and a partial hypothetical extraction method. The results reveal substantial heterogeneity in the marginal abatement costs across sectors, with estimates ranging from $27.52 to $16,899 per ton of CO2 emission averted. The distribution of marginal...

This indicator evaluates the import and export value of nonwood forest products (NWFPs) in the United States. The United Nations has defined NWFPs as “forest products [that] consist of goods of biological origin other than wood, derived from forests, other wooded land and trees outside forests” (FAO 1999). NWFPs constitute a subset of nonconvertible products (i.e., products that are not convertible to units of measure relative to timber) grown in forests. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service categorizes NWFPs in the following groups, consistent with the United Nations...

Experts have acknowledged that there is “imperfect data on the full composition of the wildfire risk reduction, response, and recovery workforce.” In this paper, we improve upon the data available around the wildfire response workforce, specifically by quantifying the capacity and examining recent trends associated with this workforce. The fire response workforce is spread between federal, state, Tribal, local, and private agencies. While these sectors work together through a fire response system that emphasizes resource coordination, sharing, and interoperability, there is no one system...

In many fire-prone landscapes, protecting ecological values is an important objective of wildfire management. Here, we develop a mixed integer programming model for managing a network of linear fuel breaks to minimize wildfire impacts on the sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) core habitats in the northern Great Basin. The model uses simulated wildfires for 20,000 fire seasons, calibrated to historical fire occurrence data from 2006 to 2020. It coordinates treated fuel breaks to create opportunities to contain each simulated fire. Multiple treatment options with fuel break widths of 30 to 122 m are...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program provides this resource update yearly as an overview of forest resources in Louisiana. These estimates are derived from field data collected across a systematic network of fixed-radius forest monitoring plots located on both public and private land. New updates are provided annually as a subset of plots within the State are remeasured. Each year, field crews visit and measure a subset of all FIA plots across the entire State (the size of the subset varies by State and year). Combining all...

To create conditions suitable for the recruitment of native forest species, tools are often needed to suppress grasses when restoring forests from abandoned pastureland. Planting trees is one method to reduce grass growth through shading and accumulation of leaf litter, while benefiting woody seedlings by moderating the microclimate. Nitrogen-fixing trees are often planted in tropical reforestation work because of their fast growth rates and ability to enrich soil nutrients. However, nitrogen (N) contributed to the soil from N-fixing trees can also facilitate the growth of competitive...

Transforming lignocellulose into high-value biochemicals via microbial fermentation is critical for valorizing agricultural/forestry residues and advancing sustainable biomanufacturing. However, fermentation efficiency is hindered by environmental stressors. Herein, soluble lignin was prepared by alkaline dissolution and dialysis of enzymatic hydrolysis lignin and its effects on the above three fermentations were systematically investigated. Results showed that soluble lignin buffered fermentation pH via carboxyl protonation, scavenged ROS through phenolic hydroxyl groups to alleviate...

This study presents a novel approach to fabricate wood composites with exceptional flame retardancy, superior strength and toughness, as well as superhydrophobic/self-cleaning properties. The fabrication process involves densifying delignified wood pre-impregnated with a nitrogen-phosphorus flame retardant via hot-pressing, followed by an adhesive-free, self-curing superhydrophobic dip-coating. The resulting wood exhibits remarkable synergistic performance: exceptional flame retardancy, with peak heat release rate (pHRR) and total heat release (THR) decreased by 77.7 % and 63.6 %, respectiv...

Biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) is the main natural source of new nitrogen inputs in terrestrial ecosystems, supporting terrestrial productivity, carbon uptake, and other Earth system processes. We assembled a comprehensive global dataset of field measurements of BNF in all major N-fixing niches across natural terrestrial biomes derived from the analysis of 376 BNF studies. The dataset comprises 32 variables, including site location, biome type, N-fixing niche, sampling year, quantification method, BNF rate (kg N ha−1 y−1), the percentage of nitrogen derived from the atmosphere (%Ndfa),...