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Demonstration sites showcase examples of agroforestry in practice. These sites serve as educational resources for many audiences, offering training opportunities for producers, land managers, technical assistance providers, and others. Activities offered by demonstration sites enhance public awareness of agroforestry, as well as foster opportunities for research and promote the adoption of agroforestry practices by conveying the complexity, reality, and feasibility of their implementation. Individuals, nonprofit organizations, academic and research institutions, cooperatives, government...

Agroforestry can enable producers to generate income through the sale of high-value conventional and specialty products. The greatest challenge, however, is often marketing rather than production. For small to mid-sized agroforestry operations, direct marketing can provide pathways to profit.Direct marketing is a process through which producers sell products and experiences directly to consumers. It differs from wholesale marketing, whereby producers sell at low prices to bulk buyers who then resell the goods to retailers. Unlike wholesale or marketing through intermediaries, direct...

The “divergence problem” in recent decades is a tendency for trees in high latitudes to lose climate sensitivity. Growth divergence has been reported for certain tree species in alpine or northern latitude locations but has yet to be found in species with southern distributions. This retrospective study used tree ring data collected from longleaf pine trees (Pinus palustris Mill.) in natural stands and a young plantation to test whether divergence exists in this important southeastern tree species. Our results demonstrate that a growth divergence in basal area increment (BAI) occurred...

Regenerating longleaf pine (LP) (Pinus palustris Mill.) is essential for sustaining the production of high-value wood products and ecological benefits. Understanding the relationship between LP growth and cone production is critical for this effort, as both processes contribute to natural regeneration. In this study, we tracked the growth and cone production of individual LP trees at three sites across the natural range of LP over six-decades. Our results indicate that diameter growth increased linearly with time on a yearly scale before sampling, though the radius increments at tree bases...

Non-native species must overcome a number of abiotic and biotic filters to successfully establish and spread into novel ecosystems. Their establishment and spread depend on the ability to acquire resources while avoiding or outcompeting native species. The Mediterranean House Gecko (Hemidactylus turcicus Linnaeus, 1758) has been widely introduced into urban areas across tropical and temperate regions, yet studies documenting their resource use relative to native lizard species are still lacking. We examined patterns of resource use between Hemidactylus turcicus and a recipient lizard...

The Alligator Snapping Turtle, Macrochelys temminckii (Troost, 1835), historically occurred widely across the southeastern United States, inhabiting river systems draining into the Gulf of Mexico from as far north as Illinois and from western Florida to eastern Texas (Dobie, 1971; Pritchard, 1989; Ernst and Lovich, 2009). With a life-history characterised by delayed sexual maturity, high adult survivorship, and low juvenile survivorship, population persistence is largely reliant on adult survival (Dobie, 1971; Moore et al., 2013; Folt et al., 2016). Commercial harvesting in the 1960’s and...

South Carolina’s 12.8 million acres of forest cover 66 percent of the State. This forest land area has remained relatively stable for the past 20 years. The most notable change in ownership has primarily been forest industry’s acquisition of timberland acres from nonindustrial corporate entities. In 2016, forest industry owned 227,800 acres in South Carolina, and by 2021 it increased to 468,600 acres (more than doubled). Loblolly-shortleaf pine (Pinus taeda–echinata) remains the predominant forest type group followed by oak-hickory (Quercus–Carya) forest. These forests hold slightly more...

Log landings—designated staging areas for logs during timber harvests—can be enriched as habitat for native bees and other pollinator species, turning often degraded areas into local hotspots for biodiversity. Pollinators provide an important ecosystem service for economically important agricultural crops and for trees and plants, but populations are declining due in large part to habitat loss. Enriching soils and seeding native plants on log landings (beyond traditional erosion mitigation practices) can provide pollinator habitat on the modern landscape. This guide provides information...

This report provides detailed estimates and highlights key findings from Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data collected across the State of Louisiana from 2009 to 2017. Estimates of forest area, volume, biomass, and timber product output are provided across land ownerships, forest types, and forest demographics throughout the State. Louisiana covers approximately 34 million acres, 15 million acres (42 percent) of which is considered forest land. This report evaluates trends in land-use change as well as current forest land conditions and summarizes them within the context of the...

Large disturbances to ecosystems can severely impact the stability of a region’s natural resources, habitats, and outdoor recreation. Because extreme events can be large and relatively infrequent, they test institutional capacity to support recovery and restoration. When hurricanes and other large-scale disturbances like wildfires occur, much of the impacted landscape receives little to no active management. Ecosystems are often allowed to either recover or transition without much direct intervention, and successional dynamics are sometimes altered by novel invasive species, management...