Treesearch

The Allegheny National Forest (ANF) in northwestern Pennsylvania implemented precommercial thinning in young stands to maintain oak (Quercus spp.) stems in a competitive position. This administrative study was developed to test ANF standards for precommercial thinning for success in maintaining oak composition. An additional objective was to examine stand development and competitive patterns of these young mixed stands. Two component studies were installed. One study area was in a 25- to 30-year-old stand where we released intermediate and suppressed oak species, in particular white oak...

Soy flour has been used for many years as a wood adhesive. Rapid development of petroleum-based infrastructure coupled with advancement of synthetic resin technology resulted in waning usage since the early 1960s. Discovery of using polyamidoamine–epichlorohydrin (PAE) resin as a co-reactant has been effective in increasing the wet bond strength of soy adhesives and led to a resurgence in soy-based adhesive consumption. Technology for making wood adhesives from soy is reviewed in this chapter. It is clear from this review that commercial processing technology used to make various soy...

With the increasing environmental concerns such as sustainability and end-of-life disposal challenges, materials derived from renewable resources such as nanocellulose have been strongly advocated as potential replacements for packaging materials. Nanocellulose can be extracted from various plant resources through mechanical and chemical ways. Nanocellulose with its nanoscale dimensions, high crystalline nature, and the ability to form hydrogen bonds resulting in strong network makes it very hard for the molecules to pass through, suggesting excellent barrier properties associated with...

Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) are renewable, sustainable, and abundant nanomaterial widely used as reinforcing fillers in the field of polymer nanocomposites. In this study, two-part epoxy systems with CNC-enhanced hardeners were fabricated. Three types of hardeners, Jeffamine D400 (JD400), diethylenetriamine (DETA), and (±)-trans-1,2- diaminocyclohexane (DACH), were evaluated for their compatibility with CNC. The roles of CNC additions and hardener types in epoxy properties were analyzed with tensile testing and dynamic mechanical analysis. The CNC-reinforcing effects on epoxy depended on...

Prescribed fire is commonly being used as a management tool for restoring or maintaining woodlands in the Central Hardwood Forest region. Woodlands are characterized as having canopies that are more open than those of forests, with lower abundance of woody stems in the midstory and understory layers, and a dense, diverse ground flora that is dominated by herbaceous species. Frequent fire may promote the structure and composition associated with woodlands by reducing the encroachment of woody stems in the subcanopy layers and encouraging the development of herbaceous vegetation (Hutchinson...

Prescribed fire is a tool in wildlife management for restoring and maintaining midwestern oak woodlands. The success of some of the wildlife management objectives depends upon opening the canopy, new oak (Quercus spp.) saplings entering the canopy, and removal of cedar (Juniperus virginiana L.). We examined population characteristics of oak saplings based on changes in canopy light penetration, gas exchange, abiotic environment, and folivory. After 60 years of fire suppression, one portion of the study area was initially burned in 1980 (continuously burned), another portion was initially...

Fire has become a major concern along the wildland-urban interface (WUI), and there is increased awareness that fires could result in serious damage to people and property in residential areas occurring in forested landscapes. Part of the long-term strategy the West Virginia Division of Forestry outlined in the 2010 West Virginia Statewide Forest Resource Assessment was to conduct a comprehensive monitoring program of wildland fire fuels. In an effort to predict and prevent catastrophic fire activity, identifying areas of the WUI that are at risk for wildfire is one of the initial steps in...

American chestnut (Castanea dentata [Marsh.] Borkh.) was a dominant species in the forests of eastern North America prior to the importation of chestnut blight (Cryphonectria parasitica [Murr.] Barr) in the early 1900s and ink disease (Phytophthora cinnamomi Rands) in the 1800s (Anagnostakis 2012). Historical accounts and phylogeny (Manos et al. 2001) suggest chestnut may have certain disturbance adaptations similar to oak (Quercus spp.), including the ability to prolifically sprout following topkill (Paillet 2002). However, the response of chestnut to fire has only been observed in mature...

Forest managers often prescribe silvicultural methods based on how effectively they mimic the natural disturbance agents that have historically shaped the forests they manage. On Indiana state forests, selection systems are used on most harvested acreage and appear to structurally mimic the effects of naturally occurring, gap-forming disturbances affecting individual trees, groups, or small patches of trees. Forest bats often forage within canopy gaps and along the edges of openings; however, it is unclear whether bats use harvested stands and canopy gaps in intact forest similarly on...

Specialist wildlife that evolved within forest ecosystems can be sensitive to disturbance regime changes and thereby serve as indicators of optimal scale for forest management. Bottomland hardwood (BLH) forests were once extensive within the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley, but land cover conversion has reduced BLH by about 80 percent over the last century. Since 1990, a multiagency effort has been underway to restore BLH forests, with the preservation of wildlife habitat as a primary goal. Habitat loss, coupled with changes in disturbance patterns, has been associated with a decline of...