Treesearch

Although the Crossett Experimental Forest (CEF) played a well-publicized role in the development of uneven-aged southern pine silviculture, work on a selection method in Arkansas (USA) did not originate there. In 1925, Leslie Pomeroy and Eugene Connor acquired the Ozark Badger Lumber Company and initiated an expert-driven selection management system compatible with small parcels, with few absolute rules but requiring familiarity with local conditions. Deceptively simple in its application, the uneven-aged silviculture practised by Pomeroy and Connor removed mature shortleaf (Pinus echinata...

Remotely-sensed estimates of forest biomass are usually based on various measurements of canopy height, area, volume or texture, as derived from LiDAR, radar or fine spatial resolution imagery. These measurements are then calibrated to estimates of stand biomass that are primarily based on tree stem diameters. Although humid tropical forest seasonality can have low amplitudes compared with temperate regions, seasonal variations in growth-related factors like temperature, humidity, rainfall, wind speed and day length affect both tropical forest deciduousness and tree height-diameter...

This publication provides an overview of forest resources in Vermont based on inventories conducted by the U.S. Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program of the Northern Research Station. For annual inventory years 2003-2013, the sample length was equal to 5 years. Beginning in 2014, the cycle length was changed to 7 years. For the 2016 inventory, estimates for current variables such as area, volume, and biomass are based on 1,122 plot samples (926 forested) collected from 2011-2016. Change variables, such as net growth, removals, and mortality, are based on 961 samples...

This resource update provides a short overview of the status of forest resources in Puerto Rico (Mainland, Culebra, and Vieques) based on the fifth forest inventory funded and conducted by the U.S. Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program of the Southern Research Station and by the International Institute of Tropical Forestry. Data estimates are based on field data collected using the FIA annualized sample design for the measurement years 2011-2014 with comparisons made to data collected in 2006-2009 and 2001-2004. The sample plot population presented here for Puerto...

Continuous Cover forestry (CCF) is not a commonly recognized term in the USA, but the concept and objectives of CCF to “manage forests to provide structurally, visually and biologically diverse ecosystems and deliver multiple benefits to people” is an idea that resonates with both forest managers and the public in the USA. The concept of CCF (often referred to as adaptive management, forest restoration or sustainable forestry) is often applied on public lands in the USA in response to new regulations, for the restoration of forests degraded by insects or disease, to reduce the risk of...

Increasing recognition of the human dimensions of natural resource management issues, and of social and ecological sustainability and resilience as being inter-related, highlights the importance of applying social science to natural resource management decision-making. Moreover, a number of laws and regulations require natural resource management agencies to consider the “best available science” (BAS) when making decisions, including social science. Yet rarely do these laws and regulations define or identify standards for BAS, and those who have tried to fill the gap have done so from the...

Forest managers are restoring and maintaining forest woodlands across substantial areas of the United States, and these efforts typically require the use of frequent prescribed fire. The effects of frequent prescribed fire on important habitat components such as snags remain unknown. We conducted a study to determine how snag densities are affected by repeated prescribed burning in stands being restored to shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata) woodlands in the Ouachita Mountains of western Arkansas during summer 2015. We assessed snag densities in woodland forest stands that had 1, 2, 3, and 4–6...

The Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) annual inventory system began in Colorado in 2002, which coincided with the onset of a major mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) epidemic. The mortality event, coupled with 11 years of annual inventory data, provided an opportunity to assess the usefulness of the FIA annual inventory system for quantifying the effects of the beetle epidemic on the numbers and distribution of lodgepole pines (Pinus contorta) in Colorado before, during, and after the infestation. Mortality of lodgepole pine peaked around 2007, averaging 38 million trees...

The occurrence of wildfire is influenced by a suite of factors ranging from “top-down” influences (e.g., climate) to “bottom-up” localized influences (e.g., ignitions, fuels, and land use). We carried out the first broad-scale assessment of wildland fire patterns in northern Mexico to assess the relative influence of top-down and bottom-up drivers of fire in a region where frequent fire regimes continued well into the 20th century. Using a network of 67 sites, we assessed (1) fire synchrony and the scales at which synchrony is evident, (2) climate drivers of fire, and (3) asynchrony in...

Protection of ecosystem services is increasingly emphasized as a risk-assessment goal, but there are wide gaps between current ecological risk-assessment endpoints and potential effects on services provided by ecosystems. The authors present a framework that links common ecotoxicological endpoints to chemical impacts on populations and communities and the ecosystem services that they provide. This framework builds on considerable advances in mechanistic effects models designed to span multiple levels of biological organization and account for various types of biological interactions and...