Treesearch

At the conclusion of road construction projects, an erosion control product (e.g., blankets, spray mulch) is installed to reduce soil loss and promote plant growth. Wildlife, such as snakes (suborder Serpentes), are prone to entanglement in erosion control blankets (ECBs) that contain polypropylene mesh with fused apertures. Previous reports have noted that the occurrences of entanglements are not uniform in their distribution across an ECB, but primarily occur where the edge of the mesh is exposed. We conducted an experiment to determine if modification to the installation methods of ECBs...

We evaluated the usefulness of the shelterwood-burn technique for regenerating upland mixed-oak (Quercus spp.) stands on the Allegheny National Forest of northwestern Pennsylvania. Two mid-spring prescribed fires were conducted in four upland mixed-oak stands that had been partly harvested due to defoliationmediated mortality and subsequent salvage logging. Overall, the technique performed reasonably well. Before the burns, red maple (Acer rubrum) and sweet birch (Betula lenta) reproduction dominated the stands in terms of stem density and height. However, two fires conducted 3 years apart...

The Malheur National Forest works collaboratively with diverse stakeholders to accelerate the pace and scale of forest restoration. Both informal joint fact-finding, empirical research, and multi-party monitoring are used to inform planning and adjust implementation of restoration treatments in an adaptive management framework. Knowledge of historical dynamics is often used to guide restoration on the Malheur because scientists, managers, and stakeholders believe restoring forest structure and composition to the historical range of variability will make forests more resilient to future...

Starting in the 1980s, 155 shortleaf pine progeny tests were established by the USDA Forest Service on national forests across the range the species. Originally intended to support the agency's timber management program (post-clearcutting and subsequent reforestation with planting), these progeny tests were largely abandoned as the Forest Service's forest management policies changed. Over the years, some of these shortleaf pine progeny tests were lost to natural disturbances or harvested, but many still remain as more-or-less intact outplantings. Recently, large-scale planting needs to...

The American chestnut (Castanea dentata) was a keystone species that was decimated by nonnative diseases, most notably a fungus (Cryphonectria parasitica) that causes chestnut blight disease, during the early 20th century in eastern North America. Breeding for a blight-resistant tree began over 100 years ago, and a backcross breeding approach that incorporated blight-resistant genes from Chinese chestnut (C. mollissima) was initiated in the 1980s. Field trials to test pure American chestnuts and hybrid trees from different breeding generations were established from 2009 to 2017. These...

Installations of the Long-Term Soil Productivity Study were established in northern Minnesota and Michigan at the Chippewa, Ottawa, and Huron-Manistee National Forests (NFs) in the early 1990s and have since provided a wealth of data for assessing the response of aspen-dominated forest ecosystems to varying levels of organic matter removal and soil compaction. An assessment of 25-year standing woody biomass indicates that neither whole-tree harvest nor whole-tree harvest combined with forest floor removal reduced forest productivity on silt-loam soils compared with conventional, stem-only...

The Long-Term Soil Productivity (LTSP) Study is one of the most successful and extensive collaborative science efforts undertaken by the USDA Forest Service. It was launched through a back-of-the-bus conversation about problems arising from the National Forest Management Act of 1976 and rose as a grassroots effort to determine how soil compaction and organic matter removal are linked to both tree and stand productivity. It has sparked collaborations at all levels of the agency and with universities, non-profits, and other research organizations, nationally and internationally, with the...

Use of designation by prescription (DxP) as a valid method to designate National Forest System timber for harvest is a significant change to the way the USDA Forest Service prepares and sells timber. Prior to the use of DxP, the Forest Service often used the expensive and time-consuming practice of the Forest Service marking individual trees to leave or cut with paint to ensure retention of the most desirable trees needed to meet management objectives. With DxP, a Forest Service silviculturist prepares a prescription describing the desired characteristics of the trees and stand to be...

The Rapid Assessment of Vegetation Condition After Wildfire program (RAVG) provides satellite-based estimates of basal area loss, canopy cover loss, and burn severity following large wildfires on USDA Forest Service lands. The current RAVG models (regression equations) are based on field data collected from burned areas in the Sierra Nevada, northern California, and southern Oregon, and on Landsat imagery from the same period. In collaboration with teams from the University of Washington and the Forest Service Enterprise Team, the Forest Service Geospatial Technology and Applications...