Treesearch

Forest managers are frequently confronted with sustaining vegetation diversity and structure in land-scapes experiencing high ungulate browsing pressure. Often, managers monitor browse damage and risk to plant communities using vegetation as indicators (i.e., phytoindicators). Although useful, the efficacy of traditional phytoindicators is sometimes hampered by limited distribution and abundance, variable browse susceptibility, and lagged responses. In contrast, sprouts possess traits which make them readily available and attractive to browsers, yet fairly resilient to tissue loss. Here,...

The creation of this report was organized by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS) and the USDA Forest Service Philadelphia Field Station to explore how technology could be used to support the longterm systematic monitoring of urban trees by trained professionals, student interns and volunteers; assist with tree planting and maintenance data processes; and enable data to be organized and shared between researchers and practitioners. Interviews with researchers and forestry practitioners led to the development of user stories demonstrating how various individuals would interact with...

We examined multiple climate change effects on cattle production for U.S. rangelands to estimate relative change and identify sources of vulnerability among seven regions. Climate change effects to 2100 were projected from published models for four elements: forage quantity, vegetation type trajectory, heat stress, and forage variability. Departure of projections from a baseline (2001-2010) was used to estimate vulnerability. Projections show: (1) an increase in forage quantity in northerly regions, (2) a move toward grassier vegetation types overall but with considerable spatial heterogene...

We examined the growth of an eastern white pine (Pinus strobus, L) (EWP) plantation established in 1964 at 6- by 6-foot spacing on an abandoned pasture. Our study was located about 30 miles south of the botanical range of EWP on the mid-Cumberland Plateau in south-central Tennessee (35º13’ N; 85º56’ W). It extended across two landtypes (LT) (LT-1, undulating sandstone uplands and LT-5, north-facing sandstone slopes) with similar site indexes. Stand characteristics (survival, quadratic mean diameter, mean total height, site index, cubic and board foot volumes) at ages 33 and 44 were...

This report presents annual data but is published every 2 years. The data present current and historical information on production, trade, consumption, and prices of timber products in the United States. The report focuses on national statistics but includes some data for individual states and regions and for Canada. The data were collected from industry trade associations and government agencies. They are intended for use by forest land managers, forest industries, trade associations, forestry schools, renewable resource organizations, individuals in the major timber producing and...

Sustainable working landscapes are critical to the conservation of biodiversity in the American West and its cultures of rural ranching and forestry. Given the West's patchwork of public, private, and tribal lands, perhaps the best way to conserve biodiversity and ecosystem function on a large scale is through a process of collaborative conservation. These are the two central arguments of the 2014 book Stitching the West Back Together, co-edited by Susan Charnley, an environmental anthropologist with the U.S. Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station. The book is written by...

This report provides an overview of forest resources in Connecticut based on an inventory conducted by the U.S. Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program of the Northern Research Station. Estimates are based on field data collected using the FIA annualized sample design. Results are for the measurement years 2010-2015 with comparisons made to 2005-2010 Forest resource measurements were taken on 324 plots with about 20 percent of the plots measured each year. Estimates will be updated and published annually. For core tables and more information, including definitions and...

Recent technological advancements have increased the amount of sugar-enriched sap that can be extracted from sugar maple (Acer saccharum). This pilot study quantified overall sugar removal and the impacts of vacuum (60 cm Hg) and gravity sap extraction on residual nonstructural carbohydrate (NSC) concentrations and on stem and twig growth. Vacuum sap extraction (VSE) resulted in significantly greater mean sugar removal (1.19 ± 0.46 kg [SE]) than gravity sap extraction (GSE) (0.48 ± 0.14 kg). Residual stem NSC displayed a pattern of increased concentration with increased extraction. Twig...

We sought to investigate the drivers of richness of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and archaea (AOA) in temperate forest soils. We sampled soils across four experimental watersheds in the Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory, North Carolina USA. These watersheds are geographically close, but vary in soil chemistry due to differences in land use history. While we found a positive relationship between soil pH and AOB richness in the soils we sampled, we provide evidence that this relationship is driven by the effects of soil pH on the availability of NH3, which is the substrate that is directly...