Treesearch

Environmental DNA (eDNA) is an emerging biological monitoring tool that can aid in assessing the effects of forestry and forest manufacturing activities on biota. Monitoring taxa across broad spatial and temporal scales is necessary to ensure forest management and forest manufacturing activities meet their environmental goals of maintaining biodiversity. Our objectives are to describe potential applications of eDNA across the wood products supply chain extending from regenerating forests, harvesting, and wood transport, to manufacturing facilities, and to review the current state of the...

The loss of American chestnut (Castanea dentata) in eastern North America to chestnut blight, a disease caused by the fungal pathogen (Cryphonectria parasitica), has devastated ecological and utilitarian processes and functions. A backcross breeding approach has been developed to confer disease resistance to hybrid seedlings, and forest reintroduction trials will provide important information on performance and durability of resistance in realworld forest conditions. Three plantings were established in 2009 in mesic, even-aged regeneration harvests (site index averaged 23m for Quercus...

It has long been established that the behavior of wildland fires and the dispersion of smoke during wildland fire events are influenced by ambient and fire-induced winds (Crosby 1949; Byram and Nelson 1951; Byram 1954; Gifford 1957; Rothermel 1972; Raupach 1990; Beer 1991). Fundamentally, ambient and fire-induced winds affect the horizontal and vertical convective flux of heat in the fire environment and the ability of spreading fires to transfer heat convectively to potential fuels (Rothermel 1972). The transport of firebrands away from active burning locations and the opportunity for...

The problem of forest insect invasions is intensifying. Non-native forest insects are invading virtually every world region, and many are causing severe ecological and economic impacts. Biosecurity programs provide for intervention at various stages of the invasion process in order to mitigate the invasion problem. While preventing initial arrival of non-native insect species is a sound approach, such prevention is not always possible so additional measures are needed to manage invasions. Surveillance coupled with eradication is a valuable strategy for preventing the establishment of many...

When public lands were surveyed in the U.S., "witness trees" were often recorded to facilitate the relocation of property boundaries, and these records provide a snapshot of forest conditions prior to Euro-American settlement and land clearing. This study utilizes witness trees and present-day plot data to explore long-term vegetation changes at a regional scale. Landscape classes for a 5000 km2 study area in Appalachian Ohio were defined by slope, aspect, topographic position, soil pH, and available water capacity. Cluster analysis and ordination revealed topo-edaphic patterns in the...

To forestall loss of ecological values associated with forests, land managers need to consider where and when to prioritize active reforestation following major disturbance events. To aid this decision-making process, we summarize recent research findings pertaining to the Sierra Nevada region of California, USA to identify contexts in which active reforestation or passive recovery may best promote desirable post-fire ecological trajectories. Based on our synthesis, we suggest conceptual frameworks for assessing landscape conditions and determining areas that may be the highest priorities...

Forest management is increasingly focused on enhancing native biodiversity. In temperate forests, a common goal is to increase native plant diversity of the ground flora and silvicultural treatments such as thinning and prescribed burning are often used alone or in combination to achieve this goal. These treatments often increase understory light availability, decrease litter depths, and increase nutrient availability. We examined the effects of thinning without fire and thinning with different fire frequencies (four burns on a three year return interval and two burns on a nine year return...

Methyl bromide (MB) fumigation is required for U.S. Quercus log exports due to concern over unintentional spread of Bretziella fagacearum. MB alternatives are needed due to the chemical's ability to damage the earth's ozone layer. Vacuum steam (VS) is an environmentally-friendly method that was evaluated for its ability to eradicate B. fagacearum in logs (24 to 61 cm dia; 2.1 m long) obtained from Q. rubra that had wilted following natural infection (NI) or artificial inoculation (AI). Five replicate loads of two NI and one AI logs were VS-treated at 56°C for 30 min and 60°C for 60 min (at...

Stubble height, streambank alteration, and woody species use are indicators used to monitor livestock impacts on riparian areas in the western United States. Effects of wild ungulates on riparian conditions are often not monitored and assumed to be represented by indicators developed for livestock. We tested this assumption by evaluating effects of elk (Cervus canadensis) and mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) on grazing indicators along Meadow Creek, a salmonid-bearing stream in northeastern Oregon. Wild ungulates reduced stubble height by 20% to 30%. Mean streambank alteration was 1.1%...

Family forest owners in the United States have an important role in providing social and ecological benefits across landscapes. Thus, a detailed understanding of their land management behavior is critical to determine whether or not these benefits will be realized. In this paper, we report on a vote-count meta-analysis of peerreviewed quantitative studies in the U.S. to examine an array of forest landowner behaviors. We extend other reviews of this literature by including papers with any behavioral dependent variable, rather than only timber harvesting or land management behavior. We...