Treesearch

Quantifying the effects of environmental stressors on natural resources is problematic because of complex interactions among environmental factors that influence endpoints of interest. This complexity, coupled with data limitations, propagates uncertainty that can make it difficult to causally associate specific environmental stressors with injury endpoints. The Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration (NRDAR) regulations under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act and Oil Pollution Act aim to restore natural resources injured by oil spills and...

Fire exclusion and past management have altered the composition, structure, and function of frequent-fire forests throughout western North America. In mixed-conifer forests of the California Sierra Nevada, fire exclusion has exacerbated the effects of drought and endemic bark beetles, resulting in extensive mortality of fire-adapted pine species. Thinning and prescribed fire are widely used in these forests to reduce fuels, moderate fire behavior, and restore ecosystems. Tree regeneration influences future forest composition and structure, and therefore future resilience to disturbances,...

This is a special International Poplar Commission (IPC) working party communication and outreach that provides a brief overview and outcomes of agroforestry systems around the world.

We tested the effect of biochar application on growth of planted jack pine on a sandy soil in northern Minnesota. Biochar was applied in combination with compost and with or without manual irrigation in a factorial design to isolate possible effects associated with nutrient or water availability. There were no differences among treatments in seedling annual diameter or height growth after 4 years. Watering increased mean needle mass, indicating the treatment was somewhat effective at increasing water availability and seedling performance. Watering increased foliage Mg and K concentrations...

We assess the vulnerability of seven Alaska Native tribes in the Chugach region, which includes Prince William Sound (tribes in Chenega, Cordova, Qutekcak [Seward], Tatitlek, and Valdez) and the adjoining Kenai Peninsula (Nanwalek and Port Graham), to key climate and nonclimate stressors. This report supplements the interagency Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment for the Chugach National Forest and the Kenai Peninsula that was published in 2017. Over the next 50 years, all communities are generally expected to experience higher temperatures, with decreasing snowpack along the coast...

Mentoring is important to career development and employee morale of public sector employees, but little is known about how employee mentoring needs change over the course of one’s career or at different job classification levels. An online survey about the mentoring needs of 251 aquatic professionals in the USDA Forest Service was conducted in 2019. Quantitative data were analyzed across three federal employee grade levels and four career stages. This study found that grade levels influenced the type of skills employees seek to develop and the attributes associated with successful mentoring...

This six-volume assessment provides information on the current conditions of riparian, aquatic, and groundwater-dependent ecosystems on the Rogue River-Siskiyou, Klamath, Six Rivers, Shasta-Trinity, and Mendocino National Forests of southern Oregon and northern California. We used peer-reviewed literature and national and regional-level data from the forests and their partners to evaluate the status of several key ecosystem characteristics. These characteristics are distribution, hydrologic regimes, water quality, connectivity, instream habitat quality, and riparian reserve condition for...

This report is a synthesis of current harvested wood product (HWP) carbon models available for use in the United States and Canada. As local, state, and national entities develop forest management objectives that address climate change mitigation, there is a need to consider the short- and long-term fate of carbon in HWPs. The goals of this synthesis were to (1) review and synthesize the functionality of current HWP carbon models; (2) describe the role of life-cycle assessment (LCA) to estimate overall greenhouse gas (GHG) implications of using HWPs instead of alternative nonwood materials...

Located on the Flathead National Forest in northwestern Montana, Miller Creek Demonstration Forest (Miller Creek) was an early showcase of the multidisciplinary science and management that now characterizes forest management on public lands (DeByle 1981). Original research was started in the Miller Creek drainage in 1966 as a controlled operational-scale experiment on the use of prescribed fire as a site preparation technique in the ecologically and economically important moist Rocky Mountain mixed-conifer forests (Abies lasiocarpa / Clintonia uniflora habitat type; Pfister et al. 1977) of...