Treesearch

The Fire and Smoke Model Evaluation Experiment (FASMEE) is designed to collect integrated observations from large wildland fires and provide evaluation datasets for new models and operational systems. Wildland fire, smoke dispersion, and atmospheric chemistry models have become more sophisticated, and next-generation operational models will require evaluation datasets that are coordinated and comprehensive for their evaluation and advancement. Integrated measurements are required, including ground-based observations of fuels and fire behavior, estimates of fire-emitted heat and emissions...

This study presents an efficient methodology to remove hemicellulose and lignin from lignocellulosic biomass by a three-step process to obtain C5 sugars, phenolics and high purity cellulose. The first step, a CO2-assisted hydrolysis pretreatment was conducted for the selective extraction of the hemicellulose fraction. The process effectively extracted hemicellulose at 180 °C with CO2 at 20 bar initial pressure for 10 min, during which a variety of monosaccharides and other intermediates were obtained. The second step, the catalytic hydrogenolysis of the pretreated feedstock, was performed...

Foresters and wildlife biologists use biomass estimates as proxies of habitat structure, productivity, and carrying capacity. Determining biomass, however, is challenging without destructive harvests. We provide a dimensional analysis approach to partition browse biomass (BB) from total aboveground biomass (AGB) of six regenerating hardwoods in the Allegheny forests of Pennsylvania, USA. First, we determined the average diameter of browsed twigs for each species. Then, we created a subset of potential browsable twig and foliage biomass from total AGB in 439 individuals harvested within...

Recent studies have shown the importance of accounting for burn severity when assessing the effects of forest fires on avian communities. We add to this growing literature with one of the first studies to assess these effects in boreal and hemiboreal regions of North America. We conducted point counts in control and treatment areas for 2–3 years before (2009–2011) and 4–5 years after (2012–2016) the Pagami Creek Fire in northern Minnesota, USA. Our primary objectives were to (1) assess the effects of burn status, burn severity and burn heterogeneity on avian communities and patterns of...

Forest land in the United States offsets more than 11% of total domestic greenhouse gas emissions each year through growth of live woody biomass and accumulation of carbon in trees, dead organic matter, and harvested wood products. Forest lands owned and managed by various agencies of the U.S. government cover 77 million hectares, which is 29% of U.S. forest land and an estimated 33%, or 17.2 Pg C, of forest carbon stocks. Here, we summarize forest inventory-based estimates of forest carbon stocks and indications of carbon stock change on forest lands managed by agencies within the U.S....

The primary purpose of this publication is to provide an overview of the information in the statistical literature on the different methods developed for fitting a Weibull distribution to an uncensored set of data and on any comparisons between methods that have been studied in the statistics literature. This should help the person using a Weibull distribution to represent a data set realize some advantages and disadvantages of some basic methods. It should also help both in evaluating other studies using different methods of Weibull parameter estimation and in discussions on American...

Bats are amazing animals. They are among the best flyers of the natural world and are able to maneuver in the dark to intersect small flying insects. Bats consume large quantities of insects, and this helps hold down the populations of pests that could otherwise destroy agricultural crops and forests. Bats also pollinate many species of plants that provide us with food and medicine. Most people in the United States view bats as pests, and this view has undoubtedly contributed to precipitous declines for some species. However, in much of Europe, bats are protected and measures are taken to...

Small, complete dehumidification dry kilns under 5,000 board-foot capacity are not available for sale. Dehumidification drying equipment is available, but an enclosure must be built to house the equipment and dry the lumber. A dry kiln needs to be operated when it is filled with lumber and forces airflow through the tiers of lumber instead of around the ends or over the top of the stack(s). This construction plan is for an 800 board-foot capacity dry kiln structure that is designed to work with an EBAC LD800TM dehumidification unit. This size is suitable for the small woodworking shop or...

Woody biomass feedstock that is both high quality and low cost has become increasingly important for the bioenergy and bioproducts industries. Logging generates forest residues – low-quality feedstock – and additional operations that also incur additional costs, such as biomass sorting and treetops processing (BSTP), micro-chipping, and screening, which are required to improve the feedstock’s quality. Considering recent developments in technologies and BSTP to generate high-quality feedstocks, economic models were developed in this study to estimate various forest-residue logistics...

Global positioning system (GPS) telemetry units are now small enough to be deployed on terrestrial and semi-aquatic turtles. Many of these GPS units use snapshot technology which collects raw satellite and timestamp data during brief periods of data recording to minimize size. We evaluated locations from snapshot GPS units in stationary tests and on wood turtles (Glyptemys insculpta) in northeastern Minnesota. Stationary GPS units were placed in wood turtle habitat to evaluate location accuracy, fix success rate, and directional bias. The GPS fix success rate and accuracy were reduced in...