Treesearch

Objectives: In 2005, Hurricane Katrina caused damage in New Orleans, Louisiana, and much of the land in low-resource neighborhoods became vacant and blighted. In 2014, New Orleans launched a program, Fight the Blight, which remediated properties in 6 neighborhoods. Our objective was to examine changes in crime rates near lots that were remediated (ie, debris removed and vegetation mowed). Methods: We used a quasi-experimental design to test whether crime rates changed from preremediation (January 2013–October 2014) to postremediation (July 2016–March 2017) near 204 vacant lots that were...

Mechanical site preparation is often used to aid with amelioration of compacted soil conditions typically found on former agricultural areas. While immediate reduction in soil compaction through use of cultural treatments is well studied, less research is available regarding longer term mechanical treatment residual effects. Four mechanical site preparation treatments were employed across three Mississippi sites during the winter of 2007. Treatments were installed using 10-foot centers as follows: control, subsoiling, bedding, and combination plowing. Two years post-treatment, 216 paired...

Planting bareroot oak seedlings continues to account for substantial acreage across the South, especially on retired agricultural lands. It is now well established that good seedlings, good planting, and herbaceous weed control (HWC) are the trilogy of factors needed for consistently successful establishment. Survival exceeding 90 percent is now common when all three factors are satisfied. Even though research on HWC for oaks (Quercus spp.) began more than 25 years ago, the list of effective materials available for such use is still very short. Cost efficacy and crop tolerance remain the...

A study was initiated in 1963 to evaluate the stand dynamics associated with three fire frequency treatments (annual burning, 5-year periodic burning, and fire exclusion) on a pyric oak (Quercus spp.)-dominated site in south-central Tennessee. Controlled burns were conducted during the dormant season. The experimental design was a randomized block, blocked on location, with three replications of the three treatments. The purpose of this paper is to report on the overstory structural vegetation changes that accompany these burning treatments after 54 years. Overstory number of stems and...

This report summarizes the most recent inventory of Wyoming’s forests based on field data collected between 2011 and 2015. The report includes descriptive highlights and tables of area, numbers of trees, biomass, carbon, volume, growth, mortality, and removals. Most sections and tables are organized by forest type or forest-type group, species group, diameter class, or owner group. The report also describes the inventory design, inventory terminology, and data reliability. Results show that Wyoming’s forest land covers 10.5 million acres. Fifty-five percent (5.8 million acres) of this...

Growing up in a southern Oregon timber town in a family strongly rooted in logging, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) has always been part of my life. The conflicts which embroiled the USFS during my youth are etched in my memory. I vividly remember when the northern spotted owl Strix occidentalis caurina was listed as federally endangered. Mills closed and parades of coffins rolled down the streets with proclamations that the end of federal timber harvest would spell the end of towns like ours. In college, I learned more about public land management for natural resource sustainability....

It is important that species descriptions be accurate. This is especially true with threatened and endangered species, where the scientific literature provides context for species identification and management decisions. In 1953, Bragg documented the advertisement calls of both Southern Crawfish Frogs (Lithobates a. areolatus) and Northern Crawfish Frogs (L. a. circulosus) and concluded L. a. areolatus have lower frequency calls. One of us (M.J.L.) has long felt this observation was incorrect, because adult L. a. areolatus are smaller than L. a. circulosus, and anurans with smaller body...

We examined the climatic sensitivity of two partially sympatric pine species growing at their transition zone in the Santa Catalina Mountains, AZ, USA. Pinus arizonica is found at lower elevations compared to P. ponderosa var. brachyptera. Ring widths were measured in trees at two sites and correlated with precipitation, temperature, and Palmer Drought Severity Index to assess the influence of climate on growth. The two species were analyzed within and between sites, which have similar elevation, aspect, and species composition, although soils at the two sites have different water-holding...

Oak wilt is a lethal disease caused by the invasive fungus Bretziella fagacearum, which is transmitted belowground via root grafts and aboveground by sap beetles (Nitidulidae). Attempts to limit spread and impact of B. fagacearum emphasize limiting harvesting and pruning to periods of vector inactivity. However, there is limited information on sap beetle activity periods, responses to temperature, and phoresy frequencies of fungi. We sampled two major vectors in Wisconsin, Colopterus truncatus and Carpophilus sayi, for 2 yr to quantify their seasonal and geographic abundances. Trapping was...

Positive feedbacks between wildfire emissions and climate are expected to increase in strength in the future; however, fires not only release carbon (C) from terrestrial to atmospheric pools, they also produce pyrogenic C (PyC) which contributes to longer-term C stability. Our objective was to quantify wildfire impacts on total C and PyC stocks in California mixed-conifer forest, and to investigate patterns in C and PyC stocks and changes across gradients of fire severity, using metrics derived from remote sensing and field observations. Our unique study accessed active wildfires to...