Treesearch

Contraction of native old forest can limit occurrence of old forest associated species, especially species with limited vagility. Patterns of size and distribution of remaining patches of old forest along with forest disturbance and what replaces old forest can influence whether species adapt or perish after forest loss. The arboreal red tree vole (Arborimus longicaudus) is a small arvicoline rodent that is associated with old coniferous forest and typically emigrates short distances. Since 1911, old forest (≥80 years old) in the northern half of the Oregon Coast Range has been reduced by...

Effective survey methods to detect and monitor recently established, low-density infestations of emerald ash borer, Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire (Coleoptera: Buprestidae), remain a high priority because they provide land managers and property owners with time to implement tactics to slow emerald ash borer population growth and the progression of ash mortality. We evaluated options for using girdled ash (Fraxinus spp.) trees for emerald ash borer detection and management in a low-density infestation in a forested area with abundant green ash (F. pennsylvanica). Across replicated 4-ha...

Green space and vegetation may play a protective role against urban violence. We investigated whether being near urban tree cover during outdoor activities was related to being assaulted with a gun. We conducted geographic information systems–assisted interviews with boys andmen aged 10–24 years in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, including 135 patients who had been shot with a firearm and 274 community controls, during 2008–2011. Each subject reported a step-by-stepmapped account of where and with whom they traveled over a full day from waking until being assaulted or going to bed. Geocoded...

The increasing interest in forest biomass for energy or carbon cycle purposes has raised the need for forest resource managers to refine their understanding of downed woody debris (DWD) dynamics. We developed a DWD forecasting tool using field measurements (mean size and stage of stage of decay) for three common forest types across the eastern United States using field observations of DWD from the US Department of Agriculture Forest Service's Forest Inventory and Analysis program. Residence times for DWD ranged from as short as 20.3 ± 9.7 years (mean ± SD) for loblolly pine biomass in the...

Uncertainty about future spread of invasive organisms hinders planning of effective response measures. We present a two-stage scenario optimization model that accounts for uncertainty about the spread of an invader, and determines survey and eradication strategies that minimize the expected program cost subject to a safety rule for eradication success. The safety rule includes a risk standard for the desired probability of eradication in each invasion scenario. Because the risk standard may not be attainable in every scenario, the safety rule defines a minimum proportion of scenarios with...

The Northern Great Plains (NGP) region of the USA - which comprises Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska - is a largely rural area that provides numerous ecosystem services, including livestock products, cultural services, and conservation of biological diversity. The region contains 25% of the Nation's beef cattle and approximately one-third of the confined beef cattle, as well as the largest remaining native prairie in the US - the Northern Mixedgrass Prairie. With rising atmospheric CO2, the NGP is projected to experience warmer and longer growing...

Anthropogenic acid deposition has the potential to accelerate leaching of soil cations, and in turn, deplete nutrients essential to forest vegetation. The critical load concept, employing a simple mass balance (SMB) approach, is often used to model this process. In an evaluation under the U.S. Forest Service Watershed Condition Framework program, soils in all 6th level watersheds on the Huron-Manistee National Forests (HMNF) in Michigan were assigned the lowest score of "3—Impaired Function" due to exceedance of the critical load of acidity as determined by national-scale estimates. The...

Whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) forests have been declining throughout their range in western North America from the combined effects of mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) outbreaks, fire exclusion policies, and the exotic disease white pine blister rust (Cronartium ribicola). Projected warming and drying trends in climate may exacerbate this decline; however, whitebark pine has a wide climatic tolerance because of its broad distribution coupled with high genetic diversity. A rangewide whitebark pine restoration strategy (Keane et al. 2012b) was developed recently to inform...

This resource update provides an overview of timber product output (TPO) and use in Wisconsin based on questionnaires designed to determine the size and composition of the State's primary wood-using industry, its use of roundwood, and its generation and disposition of wood residues. This study was a cooperative effort between the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WI-DNR) and the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program at the Northern Research Station (NRS) of the USDA Forest Service. The WI-DNR surveyed all known primary wood-using mills and FIA processed and analyzed the...