Treesearch

To reverse range-wide population declines, managers of black-tailed and mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) require information on the vital rates and life stages most influential to population growth to target effective management actions. We extracted black-tailed and mule deer vital rates from a range-wide literature review and used hierarchical models to summarize vital rates, their variability, and how they correlate with one another. We then used matrix models and life-stage simulation analysis to determine the individual vital rates that contributed most to annual population growth rate...

This paper describes ongoing research toward the development of a moisture risk index that is intended to give a quantitative indication of the risk of moisture performance issues for different wood-frame wall assemblies in different climates. The concept is like a Home Energy Rating System Index but for moisture performance of a wall assembly rather than whole house energy performance. The moisture risk index is envisioned as providing more granularity than existing pass/fail criteria or green/yellow/red risk assessments while requiring less computational effort than full probabilistic...

Nepal’s community forestry (CF) program, a globally recognized model of participatory forest management, relies on voluntary local leaders to guide forest management and governance decisions. Sustaining voluntary leadership has become increasingly challenging because of outmigration, declining forest dependence, and growing urban influence on rural livelihoods. In this study, we explore the values and motivations of existing leaders of community forest user groups (CFUGs), which underpin the leadership characteristics in sustaining these local institutions. We surveyed 144 leaders of 49...

In forest inventories, trees are often singled out to represent forest attributes and other environmental conditions. These “indicator” trees may be selected to estimate site level attributes, including site productivity, stand age, climate history, and growth rates. Here, we use data from the nationwide forest inventory (NFI) in the United States (US) to assess how indicator tree attributes compare to tally tree attributes across space and through time. First, we use contemporary field guides and NFI data to describe indicator tree selection criteria across regions of the US. Second, we...

In late June 2021, multiple days of record-breaking heat caused an unprecedented amount of foliage death in the forests of the Pacific Northwest, USA. Portions of tree canopies with healthy green foliage prior to the heat changed to red or orange shortly after the event. The change in foliage color could be readily seen in satellite imagery and was corroborated as foliar death (heat scorch) by aerial surveys and extensive observations on the ground. To better understand the patterns and processes driving foliar death, we used satellite imagery to identify 293,546 ha of forest, or ~4.7% of...

This indicator reports value of capital investment and annual expenditure in forest management, wood and nonwood product industries, forest-based environmental services, recreation, and tourism. Investment in the forest sector, both in long-term capital projects and annual operating costs, is essential to sustain and improve the many ecosystem services that are derived from forests. The evaluation of capital investment indicators provides insights into the long-term and yearly expenses aimed at improving forest management, forest-related businesses, and the skills and knowledge of those...

The ecosystem services people associate with forests can be economic, environmental, social, and spiritual. Factors including regions, demographics, and changing environmental attitudes may influence the different ecosystem services that forests support (Brown and Reed 2000). This indicator report provides insight into the importance of forests to private woodland owners and visitors to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Forest Service national forests.

The southwestern pine beetle, Dendroctonus barberi Hopkins (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae), is a significant pest of ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) in the Southwestern United States. Pinyon pine (Pinus edulis) and Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca) have also been recorded as occasional hosts. The southwestern pine beetle occurs in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and Texas, and in the Mexican States of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Nuevo Leon, and Tamaulipas. Its largest impacts occur in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. Southwestern pine beetles play a...

Flood damage to road-stream crossings presents a safety hazard and is expensive to repair. While crossing structure design has progressed over time to address flood resilience, little research has been conducted to evaluate the performance of culverts and bridges after floods. In 2016, an extreme flood in northwestern Wisconsin created an opportunity to address this knowledge gap.

The USDA Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program, as mandated by US Congressional legislation, provides statistically valid and unbiased estimates of forest characteristics across the United States and territories, which underlie a variety of analyses supporting ecological, economic, and policy needs across spatial scales. New allometric models have been implemented in the FIA program database based on a recent National Scale Volume and Biomass (NSVB) study for updated tree biomass and carbon estimates. Moreover, newer soil and litter carbon models with corresponding new...