Treesearch

The overall forest area in the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) experienced a period of relative stability from 2004 to 2014, considering that forest cover changes have been within sampling errors ever since 2004. A total of 46,967 acres of forest area (57.2 percent forest cover) was estimated in 2014 for the USVI. There were 29,610 acres of forest on St. Croix (56.1 percent forest cover), 9,830 acres on St. John (81.3 percent forest cover) and 7,528 acres of forest on St. Thomas (43.6 percent forest cover). A total of 121 tree species were encountered within a total sampled area of 8.1 acres in...

Financial effects of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) on private noncorporate timber growers vary due to the difference in timber holdings, level of non-timber income, and intensity of forest management. This commentary reports on a financial analysis, which suggests that landowners holding timber as investments as a group are moderately worse off due to the changes in itemized deductions brought by the TCJA. The distinction in the net benefits of timber holdings becomes more significant between forest investors (as a group) and material participants. This may become an incentive...

After more than two decades of investment by donors and governments in community forest manage- ment (CFM) initiatives for timber production from natural tropical forests, also known as community- based forest enterprises (CFEs), the sustainability of this livelihood alternative aimed at improved prosperity remains uncertain. Although many studies have focused on the environmental and social dimensions of CFEs, very little is known about their financial viability and socio-economic impacts, even though these elements are critical to ensuring the broad potential benefits of CFM. Furthermore,...

The Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) model was applied to seven paired, nested watersheds within the Mica Creek Experimental Watershed located in northern Idaho, USA. The goal was to evaluate the ability of WEPP to simulate the direct and cumulative effects of clear-cutting and partial-cutting (50% canopy removal) on water and sediment yield. WEPP was modified to better represent changes in the Leaf Area Index during post-harvest forest vegetative recovery. Good agreement between simulated and observed streamflow was achieved with minimal to no calibration over a 16-year (1992-2007)...

The guidelines proposed in Urban Tree Monitoring: A Resource Guide (hereafter referred to as the Resource Guide) were developed and refined over many years to address the need for standardized urban tree monitoring protocols. The Resource Guide provides in-depth guidance for urban forest managers and researchers who want to design and implement a tree monitoring project. This Resource Guide is a companion to Urban Tree Monitoring: A Field Guide; however, the Resource Guide can also be used on its own. The Resource Guide is divided into three parts. In Part I, we discuss (1) the varied...

Urban public spaces impact communities’ quality of life. New parents seek the company of others at the park. Basketball players drop by a recreation center to see if there’s a pick-up game they can join. Children race to the playground after school to release pent-up energy with their neighborhood friends or join a community-provided after school program. A worker takes a quiet lunch break on a bench under the shade of a street tree. Neighbors convene in the community room of the local library for their monthly reading group, just after a nutrition class ends. These activities build...

Forest insects and pathogens have significant impacts on U.S. forests, annually affecting an area nearly three times that of wildfires and timber harvesting combined. However, coupled with these direct effects of forest insects and pathogens are the indirect impacts through influencing forest management practices, such as harvesting. In an earlier study, we surveyed private woodland owners in the northeastern U.S. and 84% of respondents indicated they intended to harvest in at least one of the presented insect invasion scenarios. This harvest response to insects represents a potentially...

Songbirds of many species acquire their songs by imitating the songs of conspecific singers. Conclusive evidence of such imitation comes from controlled laboratory studies, but such studies do not reveal when and where songbirds learn their songs under natural conditions. To determine the timing and location of song learning in a population of prairie warblers, we compared the songs of yearling prairie warblers of known hatching location to the songs of other birds in the yearlings' natal and first breeding areas. The comparisons yielded a likely model song (and model singer) for each of...

Green infrastructure (GI) and other stormwater management practices are commonly designed to reduce stormflow volume and pollutant loads by using infiltration, retention, and evapotranspiration to capture stormwater. Although these methods are be designed to reduce impacts of stormwater volumes and pollutant loads, they may not be designed to mitigate thermal load from stormwater runoff in urban areas. This review of literature identifies key drivers of stream temperature in urban streams, including heat transference from stormflow and effects of pipe networks and evapotranspiration on...

Over the past six years, inadvertent plant pathogen introductions into restorations plantings have stunned and frustrated vegetation ecologists. Sticky monkeyflower (Diplacus aurantiacus), toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia), sages (Salvia spp.), and other common restoration plants have been found to harbor soilborne Phytophthora species, relatives of the sudden oak death pathogen (Phytophthora ramorum). Detections in native plant nurseries and restoration sites include new to the US Phytophthora species (Phytophthora tentaculata, P. quercina), new species (P. taxon agrifolia), and new...