Treesearch

This annual factsheet is a brief look at some of the basic metrics that describe the status and trends of forest resources in Arkansas. Estimates presented here are for the measurement year 2012 with resource changes compared against the 2011 survey year. Information for the factsheet is updated every year by means of the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) annualized sample design.

This science update is a brief look at some of the basic metrics that describe the status and trends of forest resources in Virginia. Estimates presented here are for the measurement year 2011. Information for the factsheets is updated by means of the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) annualized sample design. Each year 20 percent of the sample plots (one panel) in Virginia are visited and measured by field crews, the data compiled, and new estimates produced. It is important that users keep in mind that in each year of new estimates, only 20 percent of the data are new, with the older...

Beginning in 2007 in and around the Huachuca Mountains, the Coronado National Forest and other partners have been mapping ecosystems at multiple scales. The approach has focused on identifying land type associations (LTA), which represent the sum of bedrock and superficial geology, topography, elevation, potential and existing vegetation, soil properties, and local climatic variables. This mapping effort has been extended into the FireScape program, in which multiple partners utilize ecological land type mapping as a framework for fire planning across the Sky Island bioregion. Land type...

Assessing the environmental impacts of fertilizer nitrogen (N) used to increase productivity in managed forests is complex due to a wide range of abiotic and biotic factors affecting its forms and movement. Models developed to predict fertilizer N fate (e.g., cycling processes) and water quality impacts vary widely in their design, scope, and potential application. We review the applicability of five commonly used eco-hydrologic models (APEX, MIKESHE-DNDC, DRAINMOD- FOREST, REMM, and SWAT) in assessing N fate and transport in southern forest landscapes (50 km²), although N routing below...

Quantifying forest carbon changes associated with growth and major disturbances is important for management of greenhouse gas emissions related to forests. Regional-level approaches with improved local growth data may refine estimates obtained using coarser resolution information. This study integrates remote-sensing-derived land cover change products, harvest data, forest fire data, and local forest growth estimates at the county level to identify forest ecosystem carbon change for the states of Oklahoma and Texas (1992-2006). Whereas Oklahoma was a carbon sink of 0.5 Tg C yr-1, Texas was...

Between 2007 and 2011, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service’s Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program conducted the ninth inventory of the forests of Virginia. About 15.9 million acres, or 62 percent, of Virginia was forested. The majority (13.0 million acres) of Virginia’s forest land was in private forest ownership. Public ownership accounted for 2.9 million acres (18 percent). Red maple dominated the number of live stems (≥1.0 inch diameter at breast height) with 1.4 billion stems (12 percent of total). Loblolly pine was second, with 1.2 billion live stems. Yellow-poplar...

Emerging markets for small-diameter roundwood along with a renewed interest in forest biomass for energy have created a need for estimates of merchantable biomass above the minimum sawlog top diameter for timber species in the national forest inventory of the United States. The Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program of the USDA Forest Service recently adopted the component ratio method for estimation of aboveground live tree component biomass, which incorporates regionally specific volume models by species and species group. The merchantable bole component is the biomass of sound wood...

Red spruce forests in West Virginia are found in island-like distributions at high elevations and provide essential habitat for the endangered Cheat Mountain salamander and the recently delisted Virginia northern flying squirrel. Therefore, it is important to identify restoration priorities of red spruce forests. Maximum entropy modeling was used to identify areas of suitable red spruce habitat, with a total of 32 variables analyzed. Maximum temperature of the warmest month and minimum temperature of the coldest month were identified as variables explaining the most information about red...

Forest area on the U.S. Virgin Islands held steady, or decreased slightly, from 2004 (46,564 acres) to 2009 (45,163 acres). There were 26,179 acres of forest on St. Croix (49.6 percent forested), 10,343 acres of forest on St. John (85.5 percent forested) and 8,641 acres of forest on St. Thomas (50.1 percent forested). We estimate there to be 85.1 million trees in the U.S. Virgin Islands holding 1.2 million tons of aboveground woody biomass. On average, an acre of subtropical moist forest held 17.2 tons per acre of carbon and an acre of subtropical dry forest held 11.4 tons per acre. The...

The number of people living in wildfire-prone wildland-urban interface (WUI) communities is on the rise. However, no prior study has investigated wildfire-induced residential relocation from WUI areas after a major fire event. To provide insight into the association between sociodemographic and sociopsychological characteristics and wildfire-related intention to move, we use data from a survey of WUI residents in Boulder and Larimer counties, Colorado. The data were collected 2 months after the devastating Fourmile Canyon fire destroyed 169 homes and burned more than 6,000 acres of public...