Digital Commons Network^™

Regeneration Response To Salvage Logging Following Tornado Disturbance, Colby K. Bosley-Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In an era of increasing natural disturbances, successful tree regeneration has grown more difficult to achieve. Salvage logging, a common management response to disturbance, may further impede regeneration success, although published literature currently remains inconclusive. In 2013, a rare tornado in northcentral Maine, USA, and subsequent salvage operation created three clear ‘treatments’ for evaluation of post-disturbance regeneration: blowdown, blowdown followed by salvage logging and an undisturbed control. In the summers of 2022 and 2023, (nine and ten) years post-tornado, we revisited this site to examine regeneration outcomes.

During the summer of 2022, we evaluated stand structure and regeneration success of …

Integrating Remote Sensing And Machine Learning To Assess Forest Health And Susceptibility To Pest-Induced Damage, Rajeev Bhattarai

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Spruce budworm (Choristoneura fumiferana; SBW) outbreaks are cyclically occurring phenomena in the northeastern USA and neighboring Canadian provinces. These outbreaks are often of landscape level causing impaired growth and mortality of the host species namely spruce (Picea sp.) and balsam fir (Abies balsamea (L.) Mill.). Acknowledging the recent SBW outbreak in Canadian provinces like Quebec and New Brunswick neighboring the state of Maine, our study devised comprehensive techniques to assess the susceptibility of Maine forests to SBW attack. This study aims to harness the power of remote sensing data and machine learning algorithms to model and map the susceptibility of …

Forest Management In A Changing Climate: Integrating Social And Biopysical Sciences To Inform Adaptive Responses To Future Uncertainty, Peter Breigenzer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Forests provide numerous ecological and socio-economic benefits, yet climate change is creating novel and extreme conditions that threaten forests and disrupt traditional management practices. To address future uncertainty about how to manage forests amid a rapidly changing climate, researchers have developed adaptive management strategies that move away from using historical ecological baselines as management goals. However, despite increases in adaptive forest management frameworks, there are still concerns that private woodland owners (PWOs; also known as family forest owners or non-industrial private landowners) are not adopting beneficial practices. Additionally, since tree canopies often buffer understory microclimates (i.e., fine scale variation in …

Effects Of Large Wood Additions On Basal Resources, Macroinvertebrates, And Ecosystem Processes In The Narraguagus River, Maine, Val Watson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Ecological restoration is an increasingly common practice across ecosystems, and current practices aim to restore the biological and physical processes underlying ecosystem function, often for the sake of endangered higher-level consumers. Studies of restoration outcomes often report few or inconsistent ecological changes, and monitoring of restoration projects rarely measures ecological processes. Monitoring also usually measures outcomes at a single scale, despite the prevalence of scale- dependent phenomena across ecosystems. My thesis uses measurements of ecological processes to assess restoration response and evaluates responses across multiple scales. I focus here on a long-term large wood addition project on the Narraguagus River …

Quantitative Silviculture Of Northern Conifers, David G. Ray

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Quantitative tools used to guide the management of important northern conifer species require updating and refinement to address changes in the contemporary resource and evolving objectives of ownership. This work builds on an extensive body of knowledge about stand density management and innovates some new approaches. In sum, the three chapters presented herein: 1) seek to strengthen and more fully articulate arguments for adopting relative density as a primary metric of stand density assessment, 2) quantify minimum stand densities to achieve full site occupancy and argue for more parity with treatment of maximum stand density, and 3) present an empirically …

Form And Risk Class Distribution And Its Effect On Estimated Product Ratios In Commercial Species Commonly Found In Northeastern Forests And A Comparative Analysis Of Contrasting Field Inventory Methodologies, Ryan Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Estimating product ratios in hardwood forests is difficult due to the highly complex stem forms and diverse growth and regeneration strategies found in hardwood species. This is of particular concern for landowners with large ownerships requiring robust product potential estimates as part of both short-term tactical harvest planning and long-term growth and yield projections. Hardwood-dominated forests are generally managed for high-value sawlog and veneer products. This makes it increasingly important to identify strategies for improving hardwood management to meet economic (maximizing sawlog recovery) and ecological (maintaining healthy and diverse forests) goals.

This study seeks to achieve two primary goals. The …

Effects Of Prescribed Fire Regimes On White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus Virginianus) Browse, Forage, And Nutrient Availability In The Pineywoods Ecoregion Of Texas, Wyatt L. Bagwell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Fire is a management tool for white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) habitat, influencing browse availability, herbaceous production, and nutrient content. In 2020 and 2021, this study utilized 46 plots across East Texas to assess these habitat components. A stem count index survey method was used to assess browse utilization prior to April in both years, and preferred browse species were clipped and analyzed for nutrient availability, and herbaceous production was also measured. Additionally, white-tailed deer population data, browse survey data, and recent fire history were obtained from five different wildlife management areas to examine their relationship. Deer had preferences …

Sustainability In Forest Operations: Harvesting On Fragile Ground, Best Management Practices Assessment, Perspectives On Forest Certification, And Life Cycle Assessment Of Forest Products, Alex Kunnathu George

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sustainably managed forest and forest products are at the center as the world move toward a green economy. Sustainable forest management (SFM) cannot be possible without sustainability in forest operations, which includes quality optimization and ergonomics along with environment, economics, and people. To excel in the above-mentioned performance areas, all tools need to be employed to generate knowledge that enables forest managers and policymakers to preserve forests as a renewable resource. Machine cost and productivity estimation, forest growth modeling (Forest Vegetation Simulator), soil erosion modeling (Universal Soil Loss Equation), forestry best management practices (BMP) assessment, questionnaire survey, and life cycle …

Flora Of Doe Mountain Recreation Area, Johnson County, Tennessee, Benjamin Mccullough

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A botanical inventory of Doe Mountain Recreation Area (DMRA) in northeastern Tennessee was conducted to help guide conservation-based management. A total of 484 species were found in DMRA, comprising 94 families, and 285 genera, 10 species listed in the state rare plant list, and 76 exotic species. Two species, Liatris virgata and Lycopodiella inundata, were new state records. Water in the Lycopodiella seep was an order of magnitude more acid than at other sites. An analysis of the wildland-urban interface showed that only 13% of the area was classified as uninhabited. The inventory-invasion index, introduced to quantify the relative …

Soil Quality Indicators And Vegetation Responses Following Ecological Restoration Thinning Of Ponderosa Pine On Three Soil Parent Material Types Under Grazing And Non-Grazing In Northern Arizona, Christopher Macdonald

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research was performed in a northern Arizona ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa P. & C., Lawson) forest. The objectives were to a) increase understanding of long-term vegetation responses to ecological restoration treatments on three soils types, with and without grazing, b) evaluate the responses soil physical, chemical, and biological properties to restoration treatments, with and without grazing, c) determine the utility of measured soil quality indicators to informing risks to sustainable soils management in southwestern ponderosa pine forests.

There were no significant differences in soil bulk density by soil type, treatment type, or grazing treatment. No significant differences …

Restoration Through Reassembly: Evaluating The Role Of Native Plants In Combatting Chinese Tallow, Olaniyi Ajala

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Non-native, invasive species disrupt ecological processes and functions, posing a serious threat to natural ecosystems. By examining the growth metrics of the non-native, invasive tree, Chinese tallow (Triadica sebifera [L.] Roxb.), hereafter tallow, across different flooding and light regimes, I investigated how restructuring native communities with valuable native species will prevent the reestablishment of tallow. I studied the changes in morphological and physiological traits of tallow when growing with water tupelo (Nyssa aquatica L.), sugarberry (Celtis occidentalis L.), and green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica Marshall). I found that in the non-flooded and high irradiance treatments, tallow's growth …

Detection, Occupancy, Abundance, And Mercury Accumulation Of The Alligator Snapping Turtle (Macrochelys Temminckii) In Texas, David Rosenbaum

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Land use practices and physical alterations of ecosystems result in habitat loss and fragmentation, while chemical alterations, such as pollutant input, reduce habitat quality and health of exposed organisms. Here, I investigated the effects of watershed- and local-scale environmental variables on the occupancy, abundance, and mercury accumulation of a threatened aquatic species (Macrochelys temminckii, i.e., alligator snapping turtle) within the southwestern periphery of its distribution. Hierarchical modeling suggested the distribution of the species is more affected by watershed-scale land-cover than local habitat, and provided a baseline estimate of average species abundance across its range in eastern Texas. Abundance …

Spatiotemporal Factors Affecting The Occupancy And Phenology Of A Declining Songbird (Bachman's Sparrow - Peucaea Aestivalis) At The Western Extent Of Its Range, Liam G. Wolff

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Bachman’s Sparrow (Peucaea aestivalis) is a declining songbird that occurs throughout the southeastern United States. Bachman’s Sparrow is a Species of Greatest Conservation Need in Texas, but information crucial to management efforts, such as factors affecting their detectability and occupancy, is lacking. I investigated the predictors of Bachman’s Sparrow occupancy and phenology in Texas using detections from autonomous recording units coupled with site characteristics and weather data. My results indicate that Bachman’s Sparrow occupancy is associated with increasing herbaceous ground cover and decreasing basal area, distance to the nearest source population, and basal area when canopy height …

Assessing The Long-Term Effects Of Natural Disturbance-Based Silvicultural On The Avian Assemblage At The Acadian Forest Ecosystem Research Program, Carl Pohlman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Active forest management alters the resources available to forest-obligate species. Large-scale intensive management practices where timber production is the primary objective can lead to notable ecological changes in forest ecosystems. A key concept of ecological forestry is to design forest management activities to emulate natural disturbance regimes as a way to maintain the ecological integrity of forests. The Acadian Forest Ecosystem Research Program (AFERP) was undertaken as an experimental demonstration of management reflective of the region’s disturbance regime, which typically produces small canopy gaps. AFERP includes nine research areas assigned to three silvicultural treatments: unharvested control, small gap (expanding-group selection …

Rusty Blackbird Use Of Commercial Spruce-Fir Forests Of Northern New England, Luke M. Douglas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Rusty Blackbird (Euphagus carolinus) has experienced a steep population decline since the 1970s, with qualitative accounts suggesting that the species’ numbers have been falling prior to the 1950s. The reason for this decline is still not fully understood, though recent work suggests that habitat destruction and disturbance in the breeding and wintering ranges are likely causes. The species is a habitat specialist that relies on spruce-fir stands located near wetlands for breeding in the boreal and Acadian forests of North America. Historically, the natural disturbance regime in the Acadian region included biotic agents such as beaver and …

Economics And Operational Decision Constraints Of Small-Diameter Tree Harvesting, Libin Thaikkattil Louis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sustainably managed forests are crucial in balancing trade-off between various ecosystem functions and optimum product utilization. Improving the utilization of these renewable resources through diversified forest wood products faces various socio-economic, ecological, and cultural challenges. A major challenge faced by forest managers in the Northeastern United States is overstocked stands dominated by small-diameter trees (SDT). Major woody portion of the harvested residues is constituted by SDT and are typically of low value. Data from the national inventory indicates a high number of SDT in Northeastern forests such that the average size of all trees in the region is less than …

The Effects Of Prescribed Burning On Soil Water Infiltration Rates And Other Select Soil Physical And Chemical Properties In East Texas, Cassady Pennington Dunson, Brian P. Oswald, Kenneth Farrish, Tyson Hart

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study focused on whether prescribed burning affects soil physical and chemical properties, especially water infiltration, in Western Gulf Coast forests. Soil water infiltration rates were measured 1) pre-burn (before the fire), 2) post-burn (one month after the fire), and 3) at vegetation green-up (three months after the fire). Soil samples were also collected to determine the effects of prescribed burning on soil pH, bulk density, particle density, pore space, soil strength, O-horizon weight and depth (organic matter), water stable aggregates, and soil fertility. This project was conducted on two different burn intervals. The National Forests and Grasslands of Texas …

Food-Web And Functional Trait Community Structure Of Predator Assemblages In Pine Forests Under Different Management Regimes, Connor Adams

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Anthropogenic activities can alter natural disturbance regimes in ecosystems, and thereby affect the structure and function of biological diversity. As many of the world’s ecosystems are degraded beyond natural recovery, well-defined restoration goals are necessary to maintain the ecological processes that provide valuable ecosystem services. Utilizing taxonomic, functional, and food-web approaches, I investigated the impacts of forest management practices in structuring predator communities in two pine forest systems of eastern Texas. The results of this study indicate that the increased frequency of forest management practices such as prescribed fires and thinning operations encourages predator diversity while increasing functional and trophic …

The Future Of Maine's Forests Under Alternative Socioeconomic, Climate And Conservation Pathways, Jianheng Zhao

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Maine is a historically important timber supply region in North America and understanding the potential change in forestlands and their product industries affected by climate change and various socio-economic conditions can better improve the forest healthy and sustain a sustainable product industry. A statistical harvest choice model for the state of Maine was developed in chapter 1. It was estimated using a multinomial logit model of two products, under varying management intensities, and ownership classifications across varying market conditions. Results indicate that stumpage prices have a significant effect on forest landowners' harvest decisions and that the expansion of conservation land …

Past, Current, And Future Potential Distributions Of Red Spruce And Fraser Fir Forests In The Southern Appalachians: Interpreting Possible Impacts Of Climate Change, Danika Mosher

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Spruce-Fir forests are relicts from the Pleistocene and can only be found within the Southern Appalachians. Analyzing the relationships between species distribution, climatic parameters, topography, and biotic interactions through ecological niche modeling creates prediction maps for conservation efforts. Maxent, Boosted Regression, and Random Forest were utilized to compare which model and variable combinations best approximate the unique mountain forest environment. Maxent with a bias file produced optimal results and was used to examine distributional changes that may occur in the future and how these changes compare to paleo-environmental distributions. Fraser fir has shown evidence of being influenced by changing climates …

Fostering Climate Change Resilience: A Socio-Ecological Forest Systems Approach, Alyssa R. Soucy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As climate change continues to impact socio-ecological systems, those that rely on natural resources are highly sensitive to climatic changes. Maine’s forest industry provides for the economic and social well-being of many residents and is especially vulnerable to climate change impacts. Changes in growing season length and timing, forest health threats imposed by insects and pathogens, extreme weather events, shifting forest composition, and changes in natural disturbance severity and frequency have already begun, and are projected to continue, to impact forest systems in the Northeastern U.S. While climate change presents a threat to forest systems, opportunities also arise due to …

Exploring The Social Effects Of Increased Hiker Use At The Northern Terminus Of The Appalachian Trail, Leah Beck

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The increase of tourism and outdoor recreation popularity has produced a field of research revolved around the social and environmental impacts of visitors. Past research has shown that understanding visitor use and behavior is essential for influencing management strategies. This study focused on understanding the crowding perceptions and experiences of hikers who summit Maine’s tallest mountain, Mount Katahdin. Katahdin is designated as the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail (AT) which has seen a notable increase in use from long distance hikers in the last 25 years. Increased long-distance AT hikers, and documented issues with hiker behavior in Baxter State …

Simulated Mine Land Reclamation Impact On Biomass Partitioning And Nutrient Contents In Loblolly Pine, Osarumen Egharevba

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Forest productivity on reclaimed mine land is hindered by soil compaction. Different techniques have been used to alleviate the effect of compaction to various degrees of success. The Forestry Reclamation Approach (FRA) was developed in the Appalachians and has been used to improve forest productivity on reclaimed mines in this region. The FRA provides a step by step method designed to reduce compaction, control erosion, provide land stabilization and accelerate forest succession. This method had not been evaluated in the Gulf Coastal Plain, where the pan scraper reclamation method is commonly used. However, using pan scrapers increases mine soil compaction …

Spruce Budworm Defoliation Dynamics And Its Influence On The Acadian Forest, Cen Chen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Spruce budworm (SBW; Choristoneura fumiferana (Clem.)) is the primary forest defoliator in North America. SBW defoliation has affected tens of millions ha of forests during its periodic outbreaks and caused severe growth reduction and mortality of spruce-fir (Picea-Abies) species. Evaluating these damaging effects of SBW defoliation requires understandings of the variation and dynamics of defoliation, as well as trees' variable responses to defoliation in consideration of various tree- stand-, and site-level factors. In this dissertation, we developed statistical models to 1) evaluate influences of SBW defoliation on spruce-fir stand dynamics of annual volume net growth, mortality, …

Long-Term Study Of Prescribed Fire Effects On Stand Dynamics And Oak Regeneration Potentials In Degraded Upland Oak-Hickory Stands In Northwestern Arkansas, Mason C. Danheim, Kathryn R. Kidd Dr, Hal O. Liechty Dr, Brian P. Oswald Dr

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Upland oak-hickory forests in the Ozark Mountains of northwestern Arkansas and south central Missouri were impacted by oak decline during the early 2000s. This decline event was caused by predisposing (e.g., mature, dense stand conditions), inciting (i.e., drought), and contributing (e.g., red oak borer, E. rufulus H., outbreak) factors. Immediately following onset of the decline, substantial crown dieback and tree mortality, particularly for two red oak species (northern red oak, Quercus rubra Michx. and black oak, Q. velutina Lam.), were observed. In addition, densities of advanced oak regeneration were inadequate at this time, resulting in poor regeneration potentials for …

Visitor Characteristics, Attitudes, And Management Preferences Of The Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex, Samuel J. Rhodes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex (BMWC) encompasses 3 federal wilderness areas and spans over 1.5 million acres of iconic mountains and valleys in northwestern Montana. Here visitors can find a plethora of recreation opportunity that give access to some of the most rugged country that can be found in the lower 48 states. However, managing wilderness areas comes with the challenge of both preserving the natural resources found within their borders and enabling opportunities for recreational experiences. Wilderness social scientists always have striven to determine the type of visitors coming to wilderness, and see what sorts of experiences they pursue. …

Understory Response To Gap-Based, Multi-Aged Silviculture, Maggie R. Mansfield

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The ubiquity of managed forests has created a demand for management practices that simultaneously meet traditional management goals and maintain biodiversity. Ecological forestry, which emulates the outcomes of natural disturbances, is assumed to enhance native species survival by creating conditions similar to those under which species have long survived. We assessed this assumption by exploring the herbaceous plant community response to 20 years of gap-based, multi-aged silviculture treatments. Additionally, we assessed the ability of the treatments to meet silvicultural objectives by exploring trends in tree regeneration. The Acadian Forest Ecosystem Research Project (AFERP) is a replicated study established in 1995 …

Comparison Of The Survival And Growth Of West Gulf Coastal Plain Pine In East Texas, Jamie Hooker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

West Gulf Coastal Plain provenance loblolly (Pinus taeda L.), longleaf (Pinus palustris Mill.), shortleaf (Pinus echinata Mill.), and slash pines (Pinus elliottii Engelm.) were planted in East Texas to compare initial growth and survival. Containerized seedlings were planted in December 2015 on three study sites in Shelby, Houston, and Cherokee counties using a randomized complete block design. Seedlings were measured in January-February 2016 and again January-February 2017, January 2018, and January 2019. Three years after planting, survival was best (76.4%) in Houston County and was lowest in Cherokee County (26.4). Damage by Texas leafcutter ants (Atta …

Productivity, Costs, And Best Management Practices For Major Timber Harvesting Frameworks In Maine, Harikrishnan Soman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Though the timber harvesting industry in Maine ranges over two centuries, the state has more forest cover than a century ago. Currently, some of the crucial challenges faced by the forest management industry in Maine and elsewhere in the northeastern US are increasing costs of forest operations, diminishing monetary returns and falling markets.

The major goal of this study was to evaluate the production economics of timber harvesting frameworks under different silvicultural prescriptions common to the region. For which, two field studies were conducted at two different locations in Maine, US. The first field study (Study I) was conducted in …

Using The Forestry Reclamation Approach For Reclaimed Surface Mineland In The Western Gulf: Effects On Pinus Taeda Seedling Growth And Survival, Cassie Phillips, Jeremy Stovall, Hans Williams, Kenneth Farrish

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

While land reclamation efforts of surface mines have considerably increased soil stability since the implementation of SMCRA (Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act), research suggests that resulting soil compaction hinders the productivity of forests post-mining. The Forestry Reclamation Approach (FRA) was developed to improve forest health in the Appalachian region through a five-step process that minimizes soil compaction and establishes a productive forest. The FRA has not yet been tested in the western Gulf Coastal Plain (GCP). The higher clay content of some GCP soils and the dearth of coarse fragments (e.g. cobbles, stones and boulders) may affect reclamation practices …