Treesearch

Aspects of red spruce’s climatic niche and its relation to the biogeography of the species are covered in Chapter 1. Our emphasis here is on red spruce’s interaction with its biophysical environment in terms of a changing climate, what this might illuminate about the nature of its climate sensitivities, and how it may respond to future climate change. We approach this from an interdisciplinary viewpoint that integrates perspectives across biological, temporal, and spatial scales not often discussed together in the same work. We first briefly summarize key features of red spruce’s climate...

The first efforts to restore red spruce (Picea rubens) ecosystems in the central and southern Appalachians began nearly 100 years ago, following broad scale declines that resulted from industrial logging activities and associated wildfires. While many localized efforts have occurred over the last century, the scale of red spruce restoration has dramatically increased over the last two decades. In the mid-2000s, the Central Appalachian Spruce Restoration Initiative (CASRI) was formed to bring restoration partners together, followed by establishment of the Southern Appalachian Spruce...

Developing interest in using silviculture to achieve a broad array of objectives such as maintaining or restoring ecological function, increasing adaptive capacity, and providing timber products in the same forest stand has increased the appeal of irregular shelterwood methods. Despite growing application in Canada, Europe, and other regions of the United States, use of irregular shelterwood is limited across the Central Hardwood Forest Region, USA. Obstacles to broader implementation include a need for intermediate treatments to address existing challenges to oak regeneration, unfamiliarit...

Heavy metal contamination in water systems driven by industrialization and urbanization is a primary concern for society. The development of efficient remediation methods to reduce heavy metal contamination in water is necessary. Biochar has emerged as a promising adsorbent for heavy metals due to its unique physicochemical properties. This study investigated the effect of biochars manufactured from 12 different wood species on lead ion (Pb(II)) removal capacity in aqueous solutions. The 12 different wood species include two softwoods and 10 hardwoods. The physicochemical properties and...

Forest inventory and monitoring is critically important to the long-term success of forest ecosystems, particularly given increasing levels of disturbance from wildfire, insects, disease, and human activity. Since its inception under the McSweeney-McNary Forest Research Act of 1928, and following revisions in the 1998 Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act and 2014 Agricultural Act (“Farm Bills”), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program has conducted continuous monitoring of the Nation’s forest resources,...

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 Minnesota. 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...

The relationships between tree size and abundance and how these relationships change following disturbance can influence silvicultural decisions such as stocking targets. Measuring tree size and abundance in the field, however, can be time consuming and costly. Data from two long-term forest monitoring networks were used to better understand the effects of disturbance on tree size-abundance relationships and to develop a way to accurately estimate tree size distribution using readily available remotely sensed data. Findings take steps towards more accurate predictions of forest structure...

Background: Prescribed burning is an important silvicultural tool used to reduce wildfire hazard by removing accumulated forest floor debris to improve wildlife habitat and to mimic the natural role of fire in the environment. Ladder fuels, which provide vertical fuel continuity between ground and crown fuels, pose a risk to the use of prescribed burning by increasing the likelihood that a surface fire may spread vertically resulting in undesirable fire behavior and unplanned fire effects. To minimize this risk, an improved understanding of the ignition criteria of ladder fuels is essential...

Forest gardens and food forests have been planted and stewarded by Indigenous peoples and other cultures around the world for thousands of years. These systems are rooted in traditional ecological knowledge, blending food production with long-term stewardship of the land. In recent decades, food forests have reemerged across the United States in innovative ways, often found in public parks, vacant lots, greenways, riparian buffers, along public forest edges, or combined with community gardens. Whether part of grassroots efforts or public and/or private partnerships, urban and community...

Puerto Rico (PR) and the US Virgin Islands (VI), two archipelagos located in the Caribbean region, possess forest ecosystems with high species diversity, which remain largely underrepresented in forest modeling research compared to temperate forests. Accurately characterizing tree allometry is essential for monitoring forest status over time and predicting tree growth and yield in sustainable forest management. Height-diameter relationship models, denoted as H–D models, are widely used in forestry practice since they effectively reduce the time and cost of field data collection and provide...