Other Forestry and Forest Sciences Commons^™

Contributing Factors For Drought In United States Forest Ecosystems Under Projected Future Climates And Their Uncertainty, Charles H. Luce, James M. Vose, Neil Pederson, John Campbell, Connie Millar, Patrick Kormos, Ross Woods

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Observations of increasing global forest die-off related to drought are leading to more questions about potential increases in drought occurrence, severity, and ecological consequence in the future. Dry soils and warm temperatures interact to affect trees during drought; so understanding shifting risks requires some understanding of changes in both temperature and precipitation. Unfortunately, strong precipitation uncertainties in climate models yield substantial uncertainty in projections of drought occurrence. We argue that disambiguation of drought effects into temperature and precipitation-mediated processes can alleviate some of the implied uncertainty. In particular, the disambiguation can clarify geographic diversity in forest sensitivity to multifarious drivers …

Riparian Trees And Aridland Streams Of The Southwestern United States: An Assessment Of The Past, Present, And Future, D. Max Smith, Deborah M. Finch

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Riparian ecosystems are vital components of aridlands within the southwestern United States. Historically, surface flows influenced population dynamics of native riparian trees. Many southwestern streams has been altered by regulation, however, and will be further affected by greenhouse warming. Our analysis of stream gage data revealed that decreases in volume of annual discharge and mean peak discharge and a shift to earlier peak discharge will occur in the Southern Rockies region of Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. These changes will likely decrease rates of reproduction and survival of cottonwood (Populus fremontii and Populus deltoides ssp. wislizenii), Goodding's willow …

Review Of Broad-Scale Drought Monitoring Of Forests: Toward An Integrated Data Mining Approach, Steven P. Norman, Frank H. Koch, William W. Hargrove

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Efforts to monitor the broad-scale impacts of drought on forests often come up short. Drought is a direct stressor of forests as well as a driver of secondary disturbance agents, making a full accounting of drought impacts challenging. General impacts can be inferred from moisture deficits quantified using precipitation and temperature measurements. However, derived meteorological indices may not meaningfully capture drought impacts because drought responses can differ substantially among species, sites and regions. Meteorology-based approaches also require the characterization of current moisture conditions relative to some specified time and place, but defining baseline conditions over large, ecologically diverse regions can …

Conditions Inside Fisher Dens During Prescribed Fires; What Is The Risk Posed By Spring Underburns?, Craig M. Thompson, Kathryn L. Purcell

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

The use of spring prescribed fires to reduce accumulated fuel loads in western forests and facilitate the return of natural fire regimes is a controversial topic. While spring burns can be effective at reducing fuel loads and restoring heterogeneous landscapes, concerns exist over the potential impacts of unnaturally timed fires to native species. To protect native wildlife from disturbance during critical periods, limited operating periods (LOPs) are often implemented. However when LOPs for multiple species are combined into an integrated management plan, very few time windows for implementing prescribed fires remain. The use of spring burns is often effectively eliminated, …

Invasibility Of Three Major Non-Native Invasive Shrubs And Associated Factors In Upper Midwest U.S. Forest Lands, W. Keith Moser, Zhaofei Fan, Mark H. Hansen, Michael K. Crosby, Shirley X. Fan

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

We used non-native invasive plant data from the United States Forest Service’s Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program, spatial statistical methods, and the space (cover class)-for-time approach to quantify the invasion potential and success (‘‘invasibility”) of three major invasive shrubs (multiflora rose, non-native bush honeysuckles, and common buckthorn) in broadly classified forest-type groups in seven Upper Midwest states. Smoothed maps of presence and cover percent showed a strong clustering pattern for all three invasive shrubs despite their different ranges. The species are clustered around major cities or urban areas (e.g., Chicago, Illinois, and Des Moines, Iowa), indicating the potential role …

Diseases Of Trees In The Great Plains, Aaron D. Bergdahl, Alison Hill, Gerard C. Adams, Rachel A. Allison, John A. Appel, John Ball, James T. Blodgett, Kelly S. Burns, Whitney Cranshaw, Kelsey L. Dunnell, Mark L. Gleason, Mark O. Harrell, Thomas C. Harrington, Marcus B. Jackson, William R. Jacobi, Jennifer Juzwik, Megan M. Kennwlly, Les Koch, Jared M. Leboldus, Phillip A. Mason, Douglas L. Mcnew, Judith O'Mara, Hayley M. Nelson, Nicole Opbroek, Michael E. Ostry, Scott C. Redlin, Glen R. Stanosz, Laurie J. Stepanek, Ned Tisserat, Timothy C. Todd, James A. Walla, James J. Worrall, Simeon Wright

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Hosts, distribution, symptoms and signs, disease cycle, and management strategies are described for 84 hardwood and 32 conifer diseases in 56 chapters. Color illustrations are provided to aid in accurate diagnosis. A glossary of technical terms and indexes to hosts and pathogens also are included.

Scope

The purpose of this handbook is to assist users in diagnosing tree diseases and reducing their impact. Included are the most damaging diseases, along with some that are the subject of frequent inquiry although of minor importance. The diseases included were those encountered primarily on trees in conservation plantings such as windbreaks, farmstead plantings, …

Timber Talk, Vol. 53, No .4, November 2015

Timber Talk: Nebraska Forest Industry Newsletter

In This Issue

Lumber Market News ...........................1

Hardwood Lumber Price Trends—Green..................................2

Hardwood Lumber Price Trends—Kiln Dried...........................2

Sun-dried Lumber.................................3

NFS Forest Products Program...............4

Milling Railroad Ties in Nebraska........4

A Closer Look at Edgers........................5

Nebraska Forest Industry Spotlight......7

The Trading Post....................................8

Timber Talk, Vol. 53, No. 3, September 2015

Timber Talk: Nebraska Forest Industry Newsletter

In This Issue

Lumber Market News ...........................1

Hardwood Lumber Price Trends—Green..................................2

Hardwood Lumber Price Trends—Kiln Dried...........................2

Open for Business..................................3

U.S. Pumps out More Pellets.................4

Should I Buy a Sawmill.........................5

Nebraska Forest Industry Spotlight......7

The Trading Post....................................8

Timber Sales...........................................8

Carbon Storage Potential Of Windbreaks On Agricultural Lands Of The Continental United States, William Ballesteros Possu

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Agricultural production systems face major challenges under climate change scenarios in terms of expected negative impacts on productivity and persistence of the crops. Greenhouse gases from agriculture continue to rise although not as fast as from other fossil fuel-based human activities. Windbreaks perform several ecosystems functions that improve the local and regional capacity of crop systems to increase yields and offer environmental services by minimizing the negative effects of extreme weather events. Windbreaks also represent an important means of mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. This is predominantly accomplished by the windbreak trees storing carbon (C) in their above and belowground woody …

Timber Talk, Vol. 53, No. 2, June 2015

Timber Talk: Nebraska Forest Industry Newsletter

In This Issue

Lumber Market News ...........................1

Hardwood Lumber Price Trends—Green..................................2

Hardwood Lumber Price Trends—Kiln Dried...........................2

Top Ten Family Forestry Issues.............3

Hardwood Floors with a Zip.................5

Nebraska Forest Industry Spotlight......7

The Trading Post....................................8

Timber Sales...........................................8

Fire, Fuels, And Streams: The Effects And Effectiveness Of Riparian Treatments, Josh Mcdaniel

Joint Fire Science Program Digests

Fire is an important disturbance in riparian systems—consuming vegetation; increasing light; creating snags and debris flows; altering habitat structure; and affecting stream conditions, erosion, and hydrology. For many years, land managers have worked to keep fire out of riparian systems through the use of buffers. A number of projects funded by the Joint Fire Science Program are shedding light on the dynamics of fire in riparian systems. Recent research and field practice have shown that (1) riparian treatments can be beneficial and are not as risky as previously thought; and (2) riparian treatments need the “Goldilocks” prescribed fire—not too hot …

Timber Talk, Vol. 53, No. 1, February 1, 2015

Timber Talk: Nebraska Forest Industry Newsletter

In This Issue

Lumber Market News ...........................1

Hardwood Lumber Price Trends—Green...................................2

Hardwood Lumber Price Trends—Kiln Dried...........................2

Innovation Treats Firewood for Safe Transport...................................3

Tax Tips for Landowners for the 2014 Tax Year.............................4

Nebraska Forest Industry Spotlight......6

Utilization of Small-Diameter Material...................................................7

The Trading Post.....................................8

Effects Of Drought On Forests And Rangelands In The United States: A Comprehensive Science Synthesis, James M. Vose, James S. Clark, Charles H. Luce, Toral Patel-Weynand

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

This assessment provides input to the reauthorized National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) and the National Climate Assessment (NCA), and it establishes the scientific foundation needed to manage for drought resilience and adaptation. Focal areas include drought characterization; drought impacts on forest processes and disturbances such as insect outbreaks and wildfire; and consequences on forest and rangeland values. Drought can be a severe natural disaster with substantial social and economic consequences. Drought becomes most obvious when large-scale changes are observed; however, even moderate drought can have long-lasting impacts on the structure and function of forests and rangelands without these obvious …

Biological Invasion Hotspots: A Trait-Based Perspective Reveals New Sub-Continental Patterns, Basil V. Iannone Iii, Kevin M. Potter, Qinfeng Guo, Andrew M. Liebhold, Bryan C. Pijanowski, Christopher M. Oswalt, Songlin Fei

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Invader traits (including plant growth form) may play an important, and perhaps overlooked, role in determining macroscale patterns of biological invasions and therefore warrant greater consideration in future investigations aimed at understanding these patterns. To assess this need, we used empirical data from a national-level survey of forest in the contiguous 48 states of the USA to identify geographic hotspots of forest plant invasion for three distinct invasion characteristics: invasive species richness, trait richness (defined as the number of the five following plant growth forms represented by the invasive plants present at a given location: forbs, grasses, shrubs, trees, and …

Nebraska Statewide Forest Action Plan - 2015, Scott Josiah, John Erixson

Nebraska Forest Service: Publications

The Nebraska Forest Action Plan identifies strategic goals based on national objectives collaboratively crafted by both the National Association of State Foresters and the USFS State & Private Forestry Program. The strategic goals and actions identified in this document serve as a blueprint for focusing private, state and federal resources in areas of Nebraska where they will be most effective.

Traditional Ecological Knowledge: A Model For Modern Fire Management?, Gail Wells

Joint Fire Science Program Digests

For many thousands of years, aboriginal peoples worldwide used fire to manage landscapes. In North America, the frequency and extent of fire (both human caused and natural) were much reduced after European colonization. Fire exclusion became the policy in the United States for most of the 20th century as the country became more settled and industrialized. Past fire exclusion has helped produce landscapes that are highly susceptible to uncharacteristically severe wildfire. An urgent challenge for land managers today is to reduce fire risk through several means, including prescribed burning, without harm to culturally significant resources or human communities. The Joint …

Timber Talk, Vol. 52, No. 4, November 1, 2014

Timber Talk: Nebraska Forest Industry Newsletter

In This Issue

Lumber Market News ...........................1

Hardwood Lumber Price Trends—Green..................................2

Hardwood Lumber Price Trends—Kiln Dried...........................2

Wood is Good........................................3

Simple Steps for Double Your Firewood Profits................................4

Homemade Log Forwarder...................5

Nebraska Forest Industry Spotlight......6

The Trading Post....................................8

Timber Sales...........................................8

Taming The Software Chaos: True To Its Promise, Iftdss Eases The Burden Of Fuels Treatment Planning—And Does A Lot More Besides, Gail Wells

Joint Fire Science Program Digests

A key problem reported by the fuels treatment planning community is the difficulty and inefficiency of evaluating and then applying many planning tools and applications. Fuels specialists have struggled to find, load, and learn all the different fuels and fire planning models, not to mention the interface of running, adjusting, and inputting data specific to each model without the ability to easily share inputs/outputs between models.

The Interagency Fuels Treatment Decision Support System (IFTDSS) was conceived as a way for users to learn one interface, access a variety of data and models all in one place, and pass data (inputs …

Timber Talk, Vol. 52, No. 3, September 1, 2014

Timber Talk: Nebraska Forest Industry Newsletter

In This Issue

Lumber Market News ...........................1

Hardwood Lumber Price Trends—Green..................................2

Hardwood Lumber Price Trends—Kiln Dried...........................2

Band Saws for Small Sawmills..............3

Sawmills Can Make More than Lumber.............................................5

Nebraska Forest Industry Spotlight......6

The Trading Post....................................8

Timber Sales...........................................8

The Fire-Oak Literature Of Eastern North America: Synthesis And Guidelines, Patrick D. Brose, Daniel C. Dey, Thomas A. Waldrop

Joint Fire Science Program Synthesis Reports

Guidelines for using prescribed fire to regenerate and restore upland oak forests, woodlands, and savannas in eastern North America were developed by synthesizing the results of more than 100 scientific publications. The first four chapters provide background information on the values of oak ecosystems, eastern fire history, oak’s adaptations to fire, and the findings of fire-oak research conducted over the past 50 years. The final chapter synthesizes that background information into guidelines that explain how to use prescribed fire to facilitate oak seedling establishment, release oak reproduction from competing mesophytic hardwoods, and rehabilitate open oak woodlands, oak savannas, and scrub …

A Win-Win On Agricultural Lands: Creating Wildlife Habitat Through Agroforestry, Gary Bentrup

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

With increasing demands from society for limited resources, agroforestry will likely be one source of solutions as people find it increasingly necessary to achieve multiple social, economic, and ecological objectives on the same plot of land. Indications are that this is a growing field, so wildlife biologists of the future may want to consider incorporating agroforestry into their career development.

Graduate Research Innovation Awards Encourage Young Scientists To Ask Bold Questions, Gail Wells

Joint Fire Science Program Digests

The Joint Fire Science Program (JFSP), in partnership with the Association for Fire Ecology, offers Graduate Research Innovation (GRIN), awards yearly to a handful of top-quality graduate students conducting research in fire science. GRIN awards are intended to nurture the next generation of fire and fuels scientists and managers, enhance their professional development, help them become engaged with their community of peers, and equip them to tackle the fire and fuels management challenges of today and tomorrow. To earn a GRIN award, master’s and doctoral students are invited to submit succinct four-page proposals for original research in fire ecology, management, …

Fuel Reduction Practices And Their Effects On Soil Quality, Matt D. Busse, Ken R. Hubbert, Emily E. Y. Moghaddas

Joint Fire Science Program Synthesis Reports

Soils sustain our terrestrial ecosystems, help fuel plant growth, and govern key ecosystem services such as the storage and provision of clean water, degradation of toxic compounds, and regulation of atmospheric gases. Preserving the integrity of soil thus is an earnest responsibility of land stewardship in the United States. This report provides a synthesis of soil chemical, biological, and physical responses to various prescribed fire and mechanical thinning practices and offers practical considerations for use in fuel reduction planning. A wide range of current topics, identified in a nationwide survey of natural resource managers, is discussed in detail: (1) ecological …

An Illustrated Id Guide To The Crayfishes Found In Nebraska Native And Non-Native, Steve Schainost

Nebraska Invasive Species Program

There are five crayfishes native to Nebraska. These are:

Orconectes immunis (papershell crayfish)

Orconectes virilis (northern crayfish)

Orconectes neglectus neglectus (ringed crayfish)

Cambarus diogenes (Devil crayfish)

Procambarus gracilis (prairie crayfish)

Three additional non-native crayfishes have also been found here:

Orconectes rusticus (rusty crayfish) [bait tanks and established in two ponds in Omaha]

Procambarus clarkii (red swamp crayfish) [bait tanks]

Procambarus acutus (White River crayfish) [bait tanks]

I will attempt here to provide a photographic guide to field identification, one species per page.

Timber Talk, Vol. 52, No. 1, February 1, 2014

Timber Talk: Nebraska Forest Industry Newsletter

Lumber Market News; Hardwood Lumber Price Trends—Green; Hardwood Lumber Price Trends—Kiln Dried; Hardwood Lumber Market History—Green; Lumber Abbreviations; Timber Talk Editor Retiring; North American Pellet Exports Continue to Rise; Wood: Fastest Growing Heating Fuel in America; EAB Quarantine Updates; Chinese Wood Demand Expected to Rise 50% by 2015; Nebraska Forestry Spotlight; The Ancient Art of Cooperage; The Trading Post; Timber Sales

A New Metric For Quantifying Burn Severity: The Relativized Burn Ratio, Sean A. Parks, Gregory K. Dillon, Carol Miller

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Satellite-inferred burn severity data have become increasingly popular over the last decade for management and research purposes. These data typically quantify spectral change between pre-and post-fire satellite images (usually Landsat). There is an active debate regarding which of the two main equations, the delta normalized burn ratio (dNBR) and its relativized form (RdNBR), is most suitable for quantifying burn severity; each has its critics. In this study, we propose and evaluate a new Landsat-based burn severity metric, the relativized burn ratio (RBR), that provides an alternative to dNBR and RdNBR. For 18 fires in the western US, we compared the …

Timber Talk, Vol. 52, No. 2, June 1, 2014

Timber Talk: Nebraska Forest Industry Newsletter

Lumber Market News; Hardwood Lumber Price Trends—Green; Hardwood Lumber Price Trends—Kiln Dried; Commercial Hardwood Lumber Species; How Should You Charge?; Pressure Treated Wood; Nebraska Forest Industry Spotlight; The Trading Post; Food for Thought — TIME; Editor: Adam Smith Graphic/Layout: Anne Moore

Building Trust, Establishing Credibility, And Communicating Fire Issues With The Public, Josh Mcdaniel

Joint Fire Science Program Digests

With more people than ever living in the vicinity of the wildland-urban interface, communicating wildland fire management activities and building trust with the public is paramount for safety. Although the time and resources it takes to build and maintain the public’s trust may seem daunting, it may be one of the most important factors determining the long-term viability of a fire management program. Trust is built over time through personal relationships with citizens and communities and also by demonstrating competence and establishing credibility. When trust and confidence have been established, managers can enjoy strong support of fire and fuels management …

Temporal Fluctuation Scaling In Populations And Communities, Michael Kalyuzhny, Yishai Schreiber, Rachel Chocron, Curtis H. Flather, Ronen Kadmon, David A. Kessler, Nadav M. Shnerb

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Taylor’s law, one of the most widely accepted generalizations in ecology, states that the variance of a population abundance time series scales as a power law of its mean. Here we reexamine this law and the empirical evidence presented in support of it. Specifically, we show that the exponent generally depends on the length of the time series, and its value reflects the combined effect of many underlying mechanisms. Moreover, sampling errors alone, when presented on a double logarithmic scale, are sufficient to produce an apparent power law. This raises questions regarding the usefulness of Taylor’s law for understanding ecological …

Development And Evaluation Of High Resolution Simulation Tools To Improve Fire Weather Forecasts, Brian K. Lamb, Jason M. Forthofer, Peter R. Robichaud

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Fire weather forecasts rely on numerical weather simulations where the grid size is 4 km x 4 km or larger. In areas of complex terrain, this model resolution will not capture the details of wind flows associated with complicated topography. Wind channeling in valleys, wind speed-up over mountains and ridges, and enhanced turbulence associated with rough terrain and tall forest canopies are poorly represented in current weather model applications. A number of numerical wind flow models have been developed for simulating winds at high resolution; however, there are limited observational data available at the spatial scales appropriate for evaluating these …