Treesearch

The National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy recognizes that wildfire is a necessary natural process in many ecosystems and strives to reduce conflicts between fire-prone landscapes and people. In an effort to mitigate potential negative wildfire impacts proactively, the Forest Service fuels program reduces wildland fuels. As part of an internal program assessment, we evaluated the extent of fuel treatments and wildfire occurrence within lands managed by the National Forest System (NFS) between 2008 and 2012. We intersected fuel treatments with historic disturbance rates to...

Lichen element content is a reliable indicator for relative air pollution load in research and monitoring programmes requiring both efficiency and representation of many sites. We tested the value of costly rigorous field and handling protocols for sample element analysis using five lichen species. No relaxation of rigour was supported; four relaxed protocols generated data significantly different from rigorous protocols for many of the 20 validated elements. Minimally restrictive site selection criteria gave quality data from 86% of 81 permanent plots in northern Midwest USA; more...

The Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS) is a forest dynamics modeling system with geographic variants covering forested areas of the contiguous United States. As a direct descendant of the Prognosis model of the 1970/80s, FVS has seen continuous development and use for over 40 years. The 2017 FVS e-Conference, the fifth in a series of quinquennial conferences, was a virtual event held February 28–March 2, 2017. It was dedicated to bringing together developers and users of FVS and had an overall goal of providing the medium to share our experiences, our lessons learned, our triumphs, and our...

This resource update is a brief look at some of the basic metrics that describe the status of and changes to forest resources in Arkansas. Estimates presented here are for the survey year 2016 with resource changes compared against the 2015 survey year. This information is based on field data collected using the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) annualized sample design, and it is updated yearly. Arkansas has about 5,700 sample plots across the State; each year, 20 percent of these plots (one panel) are visited and measured by field crews, the data compiled, and new estimates produced....

The use of green infrastructure for reducing stormwater runoff is increasingly common. One under‐studied component of the green infrastructure network is the urban forest system. Trees can play an important role as the “first line of defense” for restoring more natural hydrologic regimes in urban watersheds by intercepting rainfall, delaying runoff, infiltrating, and transpiring captured stormwater. However, inadequate research quantifying the urban tree contribution to rainfall/runoff processes limits their promotion by stormwater managers. The purpose of this literature review is to...

Since the myrtle rust pathogen (Austropuccinia psidii) was first reported (as Puccinia psidii) in Brazil on guava (Psidium guajava) in 1884, it has been found infecting diverse myrtaceous species. Because A. psidii has recently spread rapidly worldwide with an extensive host range, genetic and genotypic diversities were evaluated within and among A. psidii populations in its putative native range and other areas of myrtle rust emergence in the Americas and Hawaii. Microsatellite markers revealed several unique multilocus genotypes (MLGs), which grouped isolates into nine distinct genetic...

This science update contains the findings of a 2013 canvass of all primary wood-using plants in Kentucky, and presents changes in product output and residue use since 2011. It complements the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) annual inventory of volume and removals from the State’s timberland. The canvass was conducted to determine the amount and source of wood receipts and annual timber product drain, by county, in 2013 and to determine interstate and cross-regional movement of industrial roundwood. Only primary wood-using mills were canvassed. Primary mills are those that process...

This science update contains the findings of a 2013 canvass of all primary wood-using plants in Georgia, and presents changes in product output and residue use since 2011. It complements the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) annual inventory of volume and removals from the State’s timberland. The canvass was conducted to determine the amount and source of wood receipts and annual timber product drain, by county, in 2013 and to determine interstate and cross-regional movement of industrial roundwood. Only primary wood-using mills were canvassed. Primary mills are those that process...

This science update contains the findings of a 2013 canvass of all primary wood-using plants in Florida, and presents changes in product output and residue use since 2011. It complements the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) annual inventory of volume and removals from the State’s timberland. The canvass was conducted to determine the amount and source of wood receipts and annual timber product drain, by county, in 2013 and to determine interstate and cross-regional movement of industrial roundwood. Only primary wood-using mills were canvassed. Primary mills are those that process...

Understanding the environmental, economic, and social/community benefits of nature, in particular trees and forests, can lead to better vegetation management and designs to optimize environmental quality and human health for current and future generations. Computer models have been developed to assess forest composition and its associated effects on environmental quality and human health. While research is still needed regarding many of the environmental services that trees provide, resource managers can utilize existing models to better understand the role of vegetation in improving human...