Treesearch

The USDA Forest Service is evaluating the status of current landscape change maps and assessing gaps in their information content. These activities have been occurring under the auspices of the Landscape Change Monitoring System (LCMS) project, which is a joint effort between USFS Research, USFS Remote Sensing Applications Center (RSAC), USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center, and academic partners. One of the early needs identified was a system that facilitated the visual comparison of several change maps in a common visualization framework. The application presented...

Analysis of remeasurement data from 1079 Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) plots revealed multi-scale change occurring in the temperate rainforests of southeast Alaska. In the western half of the region, including Prince William Sound, aboveground live tree biomass and carbon are increasing at a rate of 8 ( ± 2 ) percent per decade, driven by an increase in Sitka spruce. In the Alexander Archipelago, western red cedar is increasing, as is overall biomass on gentler slopes and in higher latitudes. These increases, which occurred during a warmer period of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation,...

Over the past century forest regrowth in Europe and North America expanded forest carbon (C) sinks and offset C emissions but future C accumulation is uncertain due to the effects of land use changes, management, disturbance, and climate change. Policy makers need insights into forest C dynamics as they anticipate emissions futures and goals. Using a completely remeasured land use and forest inventory we show that forests in the southeastern United States yielded a net sink of C over a 5 year period (2007-2012) because of net land use change (+6.48 TgC yr-1) and net forest accumulation...

In California, the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) plots within large fires were visited one year after the fire occurred resulting in a time series of measurements before and after fire. During this additional plot visit, the standard inventory measurements were augmented for these burned plots to assess fire effects. One example of the additional measurements is the post fire index (PFI), which is a fire severity classification based on post-fire crown observations. Stands that showed presence or no evidence of residual green crowns were assigned to PFI classes Alive and Dead...

Users of Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data sometimes compare historic and current forest inventory estimates, despite warnings that such comparisons may be tenuous. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate a method for obtaining a more accurate and representative reference dataset using data collected at co-located plots (i.e., plots that were measured during both periodic and annual inventories). The approach described here uses co-located plot-level data to build linear regression models that relate annual inventory measurements to periodic inventory measurements. Separate...

The nonnative insect, emerald ash borer (Agrilus plannipennis Fairmaire), has caused extensive mortality of ash tree species (Fraxinus spp.) in the eastern United States. As of 2012, the pest had been detected in about 15 percent of the counties in the 37 states that comprise the natural range of ash in forests of the eastern United States. Here we use regional forest inventory data from the USDA Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis program to quantify ash mortality, volume, and standing dead tree abundance relative to the year of initial emerald ash borer detection. Results from...

Questions regarding the impact of natural and anthropogenic forest change events (temporary and persisting) on energy, water and nutrient cycling, forest sustainability and resilience, and ecosystem services call for a full suite of information on the spatial and temporal trends of forest dynamics. Temporal and spatial patterns of change along with their magnitude and cause are all equally important when weaving together the full story of our forests’ history. National statistical estimation and mapping of land use and cover changes have been progressing for decades. However, especially in...

Recently completing over a decade of research, the NASA/NACP funded North American Forest Dynamics (NAFD) project has led to several important advancements in the way U.S. forest disturbance dynamics are mapped at regional and continental scales. One major contribution has been the development of an empirical and rule-based modeling approach which addresses two of the major challenges associated with mapping forest disturbance. The first challenge is that no single spectral band or index responds consistently to all disturbance types. To overcome this challenge we use a new, non-parametric...

In their Policy Forum "Reform forest fire management" (18 September, p. 1280), M. P. North et al. highlight public support and improved spatial planning as key leverage points to deemphasize fire exclusion and expand beneficial fire. Although these steps are necessary, we caution that they are insufficient to overcome barriers to change.

The aims of this research were to develop and test a scale used to measure leadership in wildland firefighting using two samples of USA wildland firefighters. The first collection of data occurred in the spring and early summer and consisted of an online survey. The second set of data was collected towards late summer and early fall (autumn). The second set of data was collected via hard-copy surveys that were mailed in by respondents who were recruited via email and in person at large wildland fires. Through confirmatory factor analyses, a three-factor, higher-order, multidimensional...