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The rapid and extensive expansion of emerald ash borer (EAB) in North America since 2002 may eliminate most existing ash stands, likely affecting critical ecosystem services associated with water and carbon cycling. To our knowledge, no studies have evaluated the coupled response of black ash (Fraxinus nigra Marsh.) wetland water tables, soil temperatures, and soil gas fluxes to an EAB infestation. Water table position, soil temperature, and soil CO2 and CH4 fluxes were monitored in nine depressional headwater black ash wetlands in northern Michigan. An EAB disturbance was simulated by...

This publication is part of a series of 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. Common buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica; also known as European buckthorn) is a woody shrub that is native to Eurasia and was introduced to North America...

The worldwide decline of large carnivores is concerning, particularly given the important roles they play in shaping ecosystems and conserving biodiversity. Estimating the capacity of an ecosystem to support a large carnivore population is essential for establishing reasonable and quantifiable recovery goals, determining how population recovery may rely on connectivity, and determining the feasibility of investing limited public resources toward recovery. We present a case study that synthesized advances in habitat selection and spatiallyexplicit individual-based population modeling, while...

Recent studies find vegetation around schools correlates positively with student test scores. To test this relationship in schools with less green cover and more disadvantaged students, we replicated a leading study, using six years of NDVI-derived greenness data to predict school-level math and reading achievement in 404 Chicago public schools. A direct replication yielded highly mixed results with some significant positive relationships between greenness and academic achievement, some negative, and some null – but accompanying VIF scores in the thousands indicated untenable levels of...

This report presents a summary of the most recent inventory of Arizona’s forests based on field data collected between 2001 and 2014. The report includes descriptive highlights and tables of forest and timberland area, numbers of trees, biomass, 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’s design, inventory terminology, and data reliability. Results show that Arizona’s forest land covers 18.6 million acres. Forty-one percent (7.7...

AbstractWith the world’s increasing focus on sustainability in the construction sector through green building systems, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has been ac-tively engaged in green building advocacy in the United States through USDA Tall Wood Building competitions and follow-up research on use of mass timber for nonresi-dential buildings. The USDA Forest Service, Forest Prod-uct Laboratory (FPL) funded the study of environmental performance of the pioneer mass timber building (the John W. Olver Design Building) built at University of Massachu-setts Amherst in 2016. The...

The repair, remodeling, and renovation of existing residential structures and properties has been, and continues to be, a vital market for the use of wood products in the United States. This market is either the first or second largest market (alternating with new residential construction) for a number of wood products including softwood lumber, engineered wood products, and wood-based sheathing. In 2014, an estimated 13.5 billion board feet of softwood lumber, 4.2 billion board feet of hardwood lumber, 0.1 billion board feet of engineered lumber, 3.8 billion ft2 (3/8-in. basis) of...

This report summarizes inspection of corrosion and salt damage on the National Historical Landmark ferryboat Eureka, built in 1890 and displayed at the San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS). The USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) was contacted by the NPS because of concerns about white “corrosion products” that were forming on metal bolts in the bilge of the Eureka. Photographs shared by NPS showed signs of salt damage on the wood in addition to corroded bolts. As a result of conversations between FPL and NPS, an inspection...

November’s new single-family (SF) sales and SF housing starts were remarkable. Other housing data appear to have stalled on a monthly basis. Regionally, data were mixed across all sectors. New SF construction and remodeling spending remain relatively strong. Existing house sales improved on a month-over-month and year-over-year basis.

We assessed the association between the natural environment and asthma in 49,956 New Zealand children born in 1998 and followed up until 2016 using routinely collected data. Children who lived in greener areas, as measured by the normalized difference vegetation index, were less likely to be asthmatic: a 1 s.d. increase in normalized difference vegetation index was associated with a 6.0% (95% CI 1.9–9.9%) lower risk of asthma. Vegetation diversity was also protective: a 1 s.d. increase in the number of natural land-cover types in a child’s residential meshblock was associated with a 6.7%...