US Forest Servce R&D

Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry honored for work with youth

Mon, 20 May 2013 17:30:00 +0000

The U.S. Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station's Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry (IPIF) will receive a 2013 Site of the Year Award from Kupu, a Honolulu, Hawaiʻi-based nonprofit community organization, for its conservation education work with Hawaiian youth. IPIF has hosted members from Kupu's Hawaiʻi Youth Conservation Corps (HYCC) and AmeriCorps programs for the past three years.

Climate Change and Wildfire

Mon, 20 May 2013 04:00:01 +0000

Athens, GA--Concerns continue to grow about the effects of climate change on fire. Wildfires are expected to increase 50 percent across the United States under a changing climate, over 100 percent in areas of the West by 2050 as projected by some studies. Of equal concern to scientists and policymakers alike are the atmospheric effects of wildfire emissions on climate.

A new article published in the journal Forest Ecology and Management by U.S. Forest Service scientists synthesizes recent findings on the interactions between fire and climate and outlines future research needs. Authored by research meteorologists Yongqiang Liu and Scott Goodrick from the Forest Service Southern Research Station (SRS) and Warren Heilman from the Northern Research Station, the article homes in on the effect of emissions from wildfires on long-term atmospheric conditions.

“While research has historically focused on fire-weather interactions, there is increasing attention paid to fire-climate interactions,” says Liu, lead author and team leader with the SRS Center for Forest Disturbance Science. “Weather, the day-to-day state of the atmosphere in a region, influences individual fires within a fire season. In contrast, when we talk about fire climate, we’re looking at the statistics of weather over a certain period. Fire climate sets atmospheric conditions for fire activity in longer time frames and larger geographic scales.”

Wildfires impact atmospheric conditions through emissions of gases, particles, water, and heat. Some of the article focuses on radiative forcing from fire emissions. Radiative forcing refers to the change in net (down minus up) irradiance (solar plus longwave) at the tropopause, the top of the troposphere where most weather takes place.

Smoke particles can generate radiative forcing mainly through scattering and absorbing solar radiation (direct radiative forcing), and modifying the cloud droplet concentrations and lifetime, and hence the cloud radiative properties (indirect radiative forcing). The change in radiation can cause further changes in global temperatures and precipitation.

“Wildfire emissions can have remarkable impacts on radiative forcing,” says Liu.

“During fire events or burning seasons, smoke particles reduce overall solar radiation absorbed by the atmosphere at local and regional levels. At the global scale, fire emissions of carbon dioxide contribute substantially to the global greenhouse effect.”

Other major findings covered in the synthesis include:

The radiative forcing of smoke particles can generate significant regional climate effects, leading to lower temperatures at the ground surface.
Smoke particles mostly suppress cloud formation and precipitation. Fire events could lead to more droughts.
Black carbon, essentially the fine particles of carbon that color smoke, plays different roles in affecting climate. In the middle and lower atmosphere, its presence could lead to a more stable atmosphere. Black carbon plays a special role in the snow-climate feedback loop, accelerating snow melting.

Land surface changes may be triggered that also play into future effects. “Wildfire is a disturbance of ecosystems,” says Liu. “Besides the atmospheric impacts, wildfires also modify terrestrial ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration, soil fertility, grazing value, biodiversity, and tourism. The effects can in turn trigger land use changes that in turn affect the atmosphere.”

The article concludes by outlining issues that lead to uncertainties in understanding fire-climate interactions and the future research needed to address them.

Full text of the article: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S037811271300114X

News Release Science Contact: Yongqiang Liu
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News Release Science Contact: Zoë Hoyle

U.S. Forest Service and partners fund edible forest project in Richmond, Calif.

Fri, 10 May 2013 17:30:00 +0000

Urban youth in Richmond, Calif. will get more opportunities to spend time outdoors and learn about plants and trees, thanks to a $30,000 Forest Service grant and a $93,000 matching partner contribution, which will fund the Richmond Edible Forest project.

Loss of Eastern Hemlock Will Affect Forest Water Use

Thu, 09 May 2013 04:00:02 +0000

Otto, NC--The loss of eastern hemlock from forests in the Southern Appalachian region of the United States could permanently change the area’s hydrologic cycle, reports a new study by U.S. Forest Service scientists at the Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory (Coweeta) located in Otto, North Carolina, published online in the journal Ecological Applications and available now in preprint format.

“The hemlock woolly adelgid, an exotic invasive insect, has caused widespread hemlock mortality,” says Steven Brantley, a post-doctoral researcher at Coweeta and lead author of the paper. “Hemlock decline is expected to have a major impact on forest processes, including transpiration.”

Transpiration describes the loss of water from plant leaves or needles. Coweeta researchers estimated changes in transpiration at the forest-level since hemlock woolly adelgid infestation by monitoring tree water use and changes in forest composition from 2004 to 2011. The four studied stands were once dominated by eastern hemlock trees, and are located in the Coweeta watersheds.

Because of its dense evergreen foliage and dominance in riparian and cove habitats, eastern hemlock plays an important role in the area’s water cycle, regulating stream flow year round. The loss of hemlock from southern Appalachian forests can be compared to the loss of American chestnut from eastern forests, which became functionally extinct after the introduction of an exotic fungus in the early 20th century. Changes in local forest hydrology from the loss of eastern hemlock will largely depend on which species replace it.

Rhododendron, a woody evergreen shrub common in southern Appalachian forests, is one of the species replacing eastern hemlock trees. Although rhododendron is evergreen, it has lower leaf area than hemlock, and thus transpiration in rhododendron-dominated forest stands is lower than in previously-healthy hemlock forests. Most of the other species replacing eastern hemlock trees are deciduous, such as sweet birch, which unlike the evergreen rhododendron and eastern hemlock, do not transpire during the winter. Sweet birch trees also have a much higher transpiration rate than eastern hemlock trees during the growing season.

“The cumulative effect of these species changes will probably mean permanent changes in seasonal transpiration patterns,” says Brantley. “In the growing season, transpiration rates will likely rise, leading to lower stream flow in the summer. However, transpiration rates in the winter will be reduced, which could cause increased winter stream discharge.”
Whatever species eventually replace eastern hemlock, there will be important long-term implications for riparian habitats beyond stream discharge. Without the shade provided by eastern hemlock, stream temperatures could rise, threatening aquatic animals like eastern brook trout that require cold water for survival. The loss of eastern hemlock will not only affect the animal and plant communities in riparian habitats, but ecosystem function throughout these areas.

The study was conducted at the U.S. Forest Service Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory, in the Nantahala Mountains of western North Carolina. Coweeta is one of the oldest continuous environmental studies in North America. Since 1934, precipitation, temperature, and stream flow have been continuously recorded at Coweeta, a U.S. Forest Service Southern Research Station facility.

Full text of the article: http://www.esajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1890/12-0616.1

News Release Science Contact: Yongqiang Liu
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News Release Science Contact: Zoë Hoyle

In the northeast, forests with entirely native flora are not the norm

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0000

New study is first to reveal abundance of nonnative plants across 24 states

Air pollution diminishing air quality at Devils Postpile National Monument

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 17:14:00 +0000

Air pollution from wildland fires and urban and agricultural areas in California is diminishing air quality at Devils Postpile National Monument, according to a recent study published in the journal Atmospheric Environment.

Elms Rooted in Resilience Planted at Flight 93 National Memorial

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 06:00:00 +0000

Heen Latinee Experimental Forest enters into Memorandum of Understanding

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Alaska Region, University of Alaska Southeast, Tlingit and Haida tribes to help manage site

Eastern Golden Eagle Research, Conservation Honored by Wings Across the Americas

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 06:00:00 +0000

New report on U.S. rangelands assesses future impacts of energy development, climate change, and invasive species

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 16:00:00 +0000

A new US Forest Service report finds that US rangelands are currently in relatively good ecological condition. Yet invasive species continue to pose a threat to many ecosystems. The 16 most pervasive species affect 126 million acres and are expanding at a rate of up to 4000 acres per day.

Decreased Water Flow May be Trade-off for More Productive Forest

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 06:00:00 +0000

Logging debris gives newly planted Douglas-fir forests a leg-up

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Retaining moderate levels of 'slash' linked to increased early growth in seedlings.

More Accurate, Sensitive DNA Test Allows Early Identification of the Fungus Causing White Nose Syndrome

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 06:00:00 +0000

Logging debris gives newly planted Douglas-fir forests a leg-up

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Retaining moderate levels of 'slash' linked to increased early growth in seedlings.

Updated models pinpoint where elk are likely to thrive

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Available online, models also predict effects of land management activities.

Science synthesis to help guide land management of nation's forests

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 18:46:00 +0000

A team of more than a dozen scientists from the U.S. Forest Service's Pacific Southwest and Pacific Northwest research stations, universities and Region 5 Ecology Program recently released a synthesis of relevant science that will help inform forest managers as they revise plans for the national forests in the Sierra Nevada and southern Cascades of California. The three most southern national forests in the Sierra Nevada-Inyo, Sequoia and Sierra-will be among the first of the 155 national forests to update their management plans. The new planning rule requires the forests to consider the best available science and encourages a more active role for research in plan development.

West coast lumber exports to China nearly doubled in fourth quarter of 2012

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Over half of the West coast's log exports shipped to China.

Practical Advice for Using Insect-Killed Trees

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 23:00:00 +0000

Resource Guide for Forestry Professionals Developed by U.S. Forest Service, University of Minnesota Duluth.

McNulty Named "Most Distinguished" in Forest Science

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 05:00:03 +0000

Asheville, NC--Dr. Steven McNulty, research ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service Southern Research Station (SRS), recently received the agency’s national Research and Development “Distinguished Science Award.” He is recognized for sustained research productivity, proactive science technology, innovative leadership, applied forest science, and longtime federal service. McNulty will accept his award during the February 12, 2013, ceremony in Arlington, VA.

Steven McNulty

“I’m deeply honored to receive the Forest Service distinguished science award,” says McNulty, a 21-year career scientist based in Raleigh, NC, who has written more than 150 scientific papers and given hundreds of scientific presentations. “Forest science positively impacts some of society’s most significant environmental issues that impact citizens right here in Raleigh, including climate change, water supply, and timber production. I value collaborating with a team of public, private, and university partners who are on the cutting-edge of science exploration and discovery.”

McNulty’s individual research focuses on continental-scale forest water, productivity, and health modeling, with emphasis given to interactions and response of forests to global climate change, acid rain, and other environmental stresses. A North Carolina State University USDA Professor of Natural Resources, McNulty also serves as an adjunct professor at the University of Toledo (Ohio) and Beijing Forestry University (China).

McNulty received forest and natural resources degrees from the University of Wisconsin - Madison, and a PhD in natural resources from the University of New Hampshire, under the direction of renowned scientist Dr. John Aber. He leads a dynamic research team within the SRS Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center, located on North Carolina State University’s Centennial Campus. An internationally recognized expert on climate change issues, McNulty spearheads development of research and tools designed to help land managers better understand and cope with climate change impacts on forest management.

For additional information: Dr. Steven McNulty at (919) 515-9489 or smcnulty@fs.fed.us

News Release Science Contact: Steve McNulty
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News Release Science Contact: Perdita B. Spriggs

Forest Service Project Linking People, Environmental Non-profits

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 06:00:00 +0000