Forest Sciences Commons^™

A Small Forest Owner's Engagement With A Carbon Sequestration Effort In Northeastern U.S., Frederick Pond

University Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

In 2023, a small forest landowner in central Vermont enrolled 140 acres in the Family Forest Carbon Program[FFCP], engaging his local forestland in combating global warming.

FFCP is a collaboration of The Nature Conservancy and American Forest Foundation, developed to offer small landowners the opportunity to engage their asset in carbon sequestration locally.

This poster presents the experience of a small forest owner's process in entering a twenty year contract to manage a small woodlot under the direction of FFCP while enrolled with the state UVA program, also known as Current Use.

Challenges to the process, advantages/downsides, future perspectives are …

Assessing Functional Biodiversity For The Future Of Plants, Planet, And People, Ali Loker

Doctor of Plant Health Program: Dissertations and Student Research

Biodiversity plays a critical role in supporting life in global ecosystems and its links to ecosystem services and sustainability are recognized by scientific and non-scientific communities. Growing awareness of the importance of biodiversity is accelerated by discussions of its loss, and how to design interventions to conserve and mitigate a biodiversity crisis. Stakeholders are funding and implementing assessment strategies at various scales to help direct conservation efforts. There is also growing interest in measuring and communicating biodiversity outcomes.

Functional biodiversity characterizes the multiplicity of life forms into groups based on their diverse contributions to natural and agro-ecosystems. Assessing functional biodiversity …

Annals Of Forest Science Promotes Multidisciplinary Research On Forests And Wood In A Changing World And Is Now A Full Open Access Journal, Erwin Dreyer, Jean Michel Leban, Shuguang Léo Liu, Andreas Bolte, John M. Lhotka, Marco Ferretti, Véronique Lesage

Forestry and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Using Landsat-Based Phenology Metrics, Terrain Variables, And Machine Learning For Mapping And Probabilistic Prediction Of Forest Community Types In West Virginia, Faith M. Hartley

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

This study investigates the mapping of forest community types for the entire state of West Virginia, USA using Global Land Analysis and Discovery (GLAD) Phenology Metrics analysis ready data (ARD) derived from the Landsat time series and digital terrain variables derived from a digital terrain model (DTM). Both classifications and probabilistic predictions were made using random forest (RF) machine learning (ML) and training data derived from ground plots provided by the West Virginia Natural Heritage Program (WVNHP). The primary goal of this study is to explore the use of globally consistent ARD data for operational forest type mapping over a …

The Ecological Resilience Of A Tropical Montane Pine Forest To Droughts, Fire, And Hurricane Disturbance, Daniel Erland Brugger Swann

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Owing to the geographic isolation and unique climatic conditions which occur in tropical montane forests (TMFs), these systems are highly sensitive to changes in both climate and disturbance. Therefore, as ongoing climate change alters disturbance regimes – potentially facilitating multiple disturbance interactions much greater than that of isolated disturbances – TMFs may be shifted to alternate stable states. However, study of TMF resilience is essentially unknown given the lack of long-term studies in these systems. We address the resiliency of the tropical montane pine forests of the Cordillera Central, Dominican Republic using long-term climate records, remeasured vegetation data, and reconstructed …

Comparison Of Low-Cost Commercial Unpiloted Digital Aerial Photogrammetry To Airborne Laser Scanning Across Multiple Forest Types In California, James Edward Lamping

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Science-based forest management requires quantitative information about forest attributes traditionally collected via sampled field plots in a forest inventory program. Remote sensing tools, such as active three-dimensional (3D) Light Detection and Ranging (lidar), are increasingly utilized to supplement and even replace field-based forest inventories. However, lidar remains cost prohibitive for smaller areas and repeat measurement, often limiting its use to single acquisitions of large contiguous areas. Recent advancements in unpiloted aerial systems (UAS), digital aerial photogrammetry (DAP) and high precision global positioning systems (HPGPS) have the potential to provide low-cost time and place flexible 3D data to support forest inventory …

The Infrastructure-Extractives-Resource Governance Complex In The Pan-Amazon: Roll Backs And Contestations, Denise Bebbington, Ricardo Verdum, Cesar Gamboa, Anthony J. Bebbington

Geography

Large-scale access and energy infrastructure projects, together with expanding investments in natural resource extraction, pose significant challenges to biodiversity conservation, forest cover, and the defence of forest peoples' rights and livelihoods across the wider Amazon region. Following a period in which safeguards and forest dwellers' territorial rights were strengthened under more permissive political opportunity structures, the current period has been characterized by efforts to weaken these protections and to facilitate large-scale private investment in previously protected lands. We describe these investment-based threats to forests and rights, and the nature of regulatory rollbacks in the region. We then discuss some of …

Slides: Flpma In Its Historical Context, John D. Leshy

FLPMA Turns 40 (October 21)

Presenter: John D. Leshy, Sunderland Distinguished Professor of Law Emeritus, U.C. Hastings College of the Law

36 slides

This session traces the history of FLPMA including, among other things, its legislative, administrative, and historical antecedents, including for example, the Public Land Law Review Commission’s 1970 report, One Third of Our Nation’s Lands. It then considers FLPMA’s unique public lands policies and requirements and how they are reflected in the BLM’s management of public lands today.

See: https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/blm/history/contents.htm

Nonnative Forest Insects And Pathogens In The United States: Impacts And Policy Options, Gary M. Lovett, Marissa Weiss, Andrew M. Liebhold, Thomas P. Holmes, Brian Leung, Kathy F. Lambert, David A. Orwig, Faith T. Campbell, Jonathan Rosenthal, Deborah G. Mccullough, Radka Wildova, Matthew P. Ayres

Dartmouth Scholarship

We review and synthesize information on invasions of nonnative forest insects and diseases in the United States, including their ecological and economic impacts, pathways of arrival, distribution within the United States, and policy options for reducing future invasions. Nonnative insects have accumulated in United States forests at a rate of ~2.5 per yr over the last 150 yr. Currently the two major pathways of introduction are importation of live plants and wood packing material such as pallets and crates. Introduced insects and diseases occur in forests and cities throughout the United States, and the problem is particularly severe in the …

Forest Diversity And Disturbance: Changing Influences And The Future Of Virginia’S Forests, Christine J. Small, James L. Chamberlain

Virginia Journal of Science

The Virginia landscape supports a remarkable diversity of forests, from maritime dune woodlands, swamp forests, and pine savannas of the Atlantic Coastal Plain, to post-agricultural pine-hardwood forests of the Piedmont, to mixed oak, mesophytic, northern hardwood, and high elevation spruce-fir forests across three mountain provinces in western parts of the state. Virginia’s forests also have been profoundly shaped by disturbance. Chestnut blight, hemlock woolly adelgid, emerald ash borer, and other pests have caused declines or functional extirpation of foundation species. Invasive plants like multiflora rose, Oriental bittersweet, and Japanese stiltgrass threaten both disturbed and intact forests. Oaks and other fire-dependent …

Tipping Point Of A Conifer-Based Ecosystem Under Severe Drought, Kaicheng Huang, Chuixiang Yi, Donghai Wu, Tao Zhou, Xiang Zhao, William J. Blanford, Suhua Wei, Hao Wu, Du Ling, Zheng Li

Publications and Research

Drought-induced tree mortality has recently received considerable attention. Questions have arisen over the necessary intensity and duration thresholds of droughts that are sufficient to trigger rapid forest declines. The values of such tipping points leading to forest declines due to drought are presently unknown. In this study, we have evaluated the potential relationship between the level of tree growth and concurrent drought conditions with data of the tree growth-related ring width index (RWI) of the two dominant conifer species (Pinus edulis and Pinus ponderosa) in the Southwestern United States (SWUS) and the meteorological drought-related standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index …

Large Carbon Release Legacy From Bark Beetle Outbreaks Across Western United States, Bardan Ghimire, Christopher A. Williams, G. James Collatz, Melanie Vanderhoof, John Rogan, Dominik Kulakowski, Jeffrey G. Masek

Geography

Warmer conditions over the past two decades have contributed to rapid expansion of bark beetle outbreaks killing millions of trees over a large fraction of western United States (US) forests. These outbreaks reduce plant productivity by killing trees and transfer carbon from live to dead pools where carbon is slowly emitted to the atmosphere via heterotrophic respiration which subsequently feeds back to climate change. Recent studies have begun to examine the local impacts of bark beetle outbreaks in individual stands, but the full regional carbon consequences remain undocumented for the western US. In this study, we quantify the regional carbon …

On Underestimation Of Global Vulnerability To Tree Mortality And Forest Die-Off From Hotter Drought In The Anthropocene, Craig D. Allen, David D. Breshears, Nate G. Mcdowell

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Patterns, mechanisms, projections, and consequences of tree mortality and associated broadscale forest die-off due to drought accompanied by warmer temperatures—‘‘hotter drought’’, an emerging characteristic of the Anthropocene—are the focus of rapidly expanding literature. Despite recent observational, experimental, and modeling studies suggesting increased vulnerability of trees to hotter drought and associated pests and pathogens, substantial debate remains among research, management and policy-making communities regarding future tree mortality risks. We summarize key mortalityrelevant findings, differentiating between those implying lesser versus greater levels of vulnerability. Evidence suggesting lesser vulnerability includes forest benefits of elevated [CO2] and increased water-use efficiency; observed and modeled increases …

Use Of Remote Sensing To Support Forest And Wetlands Policies In The Usa, Audrey L. Mayer, Ricardo D. Lopez

College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science Publications

The use of remote sensing for environmental policy development is now quite common and well-documented, as images from remote sensing platforms are often used to focus attention on emerging environmental issues and spur debate on potential policy solutions. However, its use in policy implementation and evaluation has not been examined in much detail. Here we examine the use of remote sensing to support the implementation and enforcement of policies regarding the conservation of forests and wetlands in the USA. Specifically, we focus on the “Roadless Rule” and “Travel Management Rules” as enforced by the US Department of Agriculture Forest Service …

Slides: Forest And Rangeland Planning, Nepa Analysis And Decisions, Glenn Casamassa

The Future of Natural Resources Law and Policy (Summer Conference, June 6-8)

Presenter: Glenn Casamassa, Forest Supervisor, Arapahoe-Roosevelt National Forest

17 slides

Slides: Nepa And Public Participation In Grazing Management On Federal Public Lands: The 40-Year Struggle, Joe Feller

The Future of Natural Resources Law and Policy (Summer Conference, June 6-8)

Presenter: Joe Feller, College of Law, Arizona State University

22 slides

Slides: Forests And Grasslands, Federico Cheever

The Future of Natural Resources Law and Policy (Summer Conference, June 6-8)

Presenter: Professor Federico Cheever, University of Denver Sturm College of Law

30 slides

The Role Of Case Studies In Natural Resources Law [Summary], John Copeland Nagle

The Future of Natural Resources Law and Policy (Summer Conference, June 6-8)

4 pages.

"John Nagle, Univ. of Notre Dame Law School" -- Agenda

Agenda: The Future Of Natural Resources Law And Policy, University Of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center, Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation

The Future of Natural Resources Law and Policy (Summer Conference, June 6-8)

The Natural Resources Law Center's 25th Anniversary Conference and Natural Resources Law Teachers 14th Biennial Institute provided an opportunity for some of the best natural resources lawyers to discuss future trends in the field. The conference focused on the larger, cross-cutting issues affecting natural resources policy. Initial discussions concerned the declining role of scientific resource management due to the increased inclusion of economic-cost benefit analysis and public participation in the decision-making process. The effectiveness of this approach was questioned particularly in the case of non-market goods such as the polar bear. Other participants promoted the importance of public participation and …

Slides: Summary: Sources Of Stress And The Changing Context Of Natural Resources Law And Policy In The New West, William R. Travis

The Future of Natural Resources Law and Policy (Summer Conference, June 6-8)

Presenter: Dr. William R. Travis, Department of Geography, University of Colorado at Boulder

43 slides

Some Preliminary Thoughts On Contrasts And Convergence In Environmental And Natural Resources Law, Karin P. Sheldon

The Future of Natural Resources Law and Policy (Summer Conference, June 6-8)

16 pages.

Includes bibliographical references

Forest Preservation, Minnesota State University, Mankato

Conservation/Energy Alternatives

Bibliography and photographs of a display of government documents from Minnesota State University, Mankato.

Forging A Common Vision For Maine’S North Woods, Robert J. Lilieholm

Maine Policy Review

Robert Lilieholm takes stock of the challenges and opportunities facing Maine’s North Woods, the largest undeveloped forested block in the eastern United States. In the face of changing ownership patterns and development pressures, there is lively debate over current land use policies and trends. Lilieholm suggests that a broader, regional vision for the North Woods might better serve the long-term interests of both the area’s forests and its struggling communities.

Slides: Sustainable Forest Management Of Community Forest Lands: It's A Matter Of Balance, Dave Epperly

Community-Owned Forests: Possibilities, Experiences, and Lessons Learned (June 16-19)

Presenter: Dave Epperly, St. Louis County Forest, MN

28 slides

Severe Wind And Fire Regimes In Northern Forests: Historic Variability At The Regional Scale, Lisa A. Schulte-Moore, David J. Mladenoff

Lisa A. Schulte Moore

Within the northern Great Lakes region, mesoscale (10s to 100s of km2) forest patterning is driven by disturbance dynamics. Using original Public Land Survey (PLS) records in northern Wisconsin, USA, we study spatial patterns of wind and fire disturbances during the pre-Euroamerican settlement period (ca. 1850). Our goals were: (1) to determine how effectively wind and fire disturbance can be econstructed from the PLS, (2) to assess the roles of wind and fire in shaping vegetation patterns, (3) to evaluate landscape to regional controls of wind and fire regimes, and (4) to assess the potential for interactions between these disturbances. …

Environmental Stress Effects On Vigor, Mortality, And Growth In Northern Hardwood Forests Along A Pollution-Climate Gradient, Neil W. Macdonald, John A. Witter, David R. Reed, Andrew J. Burton, Kurt S. Pregitzer, Hal O. Liechty

Peer Reviewed Publications

Concern exists over the effects of interacting environmental stresses on the ecological integrity of temperate forests. Coincidence of sensitivity to drought, increasing occurrence of defoliation, and elevated pollutant deposition has produced speculation that northern hardwood forests may be susceptible to the increased climatic stresses projected for the Great Lakes region. The objective of our study was to examine relationships among environmental stress factors, vigor, mortality, and growth in northern hardwood forests located along a pollution-climate gradient in the Great Lakes region. Between 1987 and 1993, we quantified climatic variables, pollutant deposition, insect defoliation, and tree vigor and growth at five …

Presettlement Vegetation Of The Lower Chippewa River Valley, Lisa A. Schulte-Moore, William J. Barnes

Lisa A. Schulte Moore

The lower Chippewa River of west-central Wisconsin is the portion that flows southwest from the city of Eau Claire to the Mississippi River at Nelson. The river has a gentle gradient of about 0.8 m/km and highly erodible banks of sand and gravel. The river valley occurs between 35 m to 70 m below the surrounding upland, is between 1 and 5 km wide, and was formed primarily by glacial meltwaters. The floodplain is defined by annual high water levels and is generally below the 25 year flood recurrence interval, which on this part of the Chippewa River is >5m …

Spruce Budworm In Maine: The End Of The Outbreak: Biological Conditions In 1986, 1987, And 1988, And A Look At The Future, Henry Trial Jr.

Maine Collection

Spruce Budworm in Maine: The End of the Outbreak: Biological Conditions in 1986, 1987, and 1988, and a Look at the Future

by Henry Trial, Jr., Insect and Disease Management Division

Technical Report No. 28

Maine Forest Service, Dept. of Conservation, Augusta, Maine, October 1989.

Contents: Introduction / Biological Conditions in 1986, 1987, and 1988 / Control Activities / Forest Conditions-1986 to 1988 and a Look at the Future / Spray Operations and Forecast of Conditions in Quebec and New Brunswick, 1986-1988 / The Future of Budworm in the Region and in Maine / List of Figures / List of …

Clearcutting As A Management Practice In Maine Forests, Irland Group

Maine Collection

Clearcutting As A Management Practice in Maine Forests : Report to the Maine Department of Conservation, Forests for the Future Program.

by The Irland Group

Maine Department of Conservation, Augusta, Maine. 1988.

Contents:( Part I ) Introduction / What is Clearcutting? / Environmental Effects of Clearcutting / Conclusions / Recommendations

Contents:(Part II) Introduction / Public Policy / Definition / Spruce-Fir Siviculture / Northern Hardwood Silviculture / White Pine Silviculture / Aspen-Birch Silviculture / Regeneration / The Brush Stage / Artificial Regeneration / Budworm / Aesthetics / Water Resources / Wildlife / Nutrients and Soil / Naturalistic Silviculture / Logging / …

Proceedings : A Forest Based Economy - Carrying A Tradition Into The Future, Blaine House Conference On Forestry (December 6-7, 1984)

Maine Collection

Proceedings : A Forest Based Economy - Carrying A Tradition Into the Future

Blaine House Conference on Forestry (December 6-7, 1984)

Department of Conservation, State House Station 22, Augusta, Maine 04333, August 1986.

Contents: Table of Contents / Letter of Transmittal / The Forest 2020--Visions Of A Sustainable Forest / Forestry Resurvey: What Does It Say? How Can We Use It? / Can We Improve Maine's Timber Supply? / Atmospheric Deposition And Forests Of The Northeast / A National Perspective: What Is Maine's Competitive Niche? / The Future of Hardwood Markets / The Future of Softwood Markets / The State …