Published Library Resources

This virtual library holds a wide range of urban forestry resources including: research abstracts and full text journal articles, trade magazine articles, CDs, other technology transfer resources, books (or chapters of books), patents, ordinances, theses and dissertations, and conference proceedings.

Fire at the wildland interface: the influence of experience and mass media on public knowledge, attitudes, and behavioral intentions

Prescribed fire is an important tool to manage some ecosystems, yet this message is a challenge to communicate to the public. The 2,282 wildfires that burned in Florida in 1998, causing $800 million in lost timber and tourist revenues, underscore the impact of wildfire and the importance of using ...

Coping with poverty: impacts of environment and attention in the inner city

Considerable evidence suggests that exposure to 'green' environments can enhance human effectiveness and make life's demands seem manageable. Does this phenomenon extend to poor inner cities, where green space is minimal and life's demands may be overwhelming? In 145 urban public housing ...

Climate change and forest disturbances

This article examines how eight disturbances influence forest structure, composition, and function and how climate change may influence the severity, frequency, and magnitude of disturbances to forests. We focus on examples from the United States, although these influences occur worldwide. We also ...

Changing people's perceptions and behavior through partnerships and education: followup on a case study from Minnesota

To what extent do education and outreach activities initiated by land management agencies change the thinking and behavior of citizens? A study of residents in southeastern Minnesota after the first 5 years of a comprehensive watershed management project found very little change in perceptions or ...

Changing attitudes toward energy conservation: the effect of development advancement on the salience of one-sided and two-sided persuasive communications

Tested was the effect of a one-sided and two-sided persuasive message on the attitudes toward energy conservation of 85 preservice elementary teachers categorized as developmentally or nondevelopmentally advanced with respect to the topic of the message. The study addressed the following ...

Aggression and violence in the inner city: effects of environment via mental fatigue

S. Kaplan suggested that one outcome of mental fatigue may be an increased propensity for outbursts of anger and even violence. If so, contact with nature, which appears to mitigate mental fatigue, may reduce aggression and violence. This study investigated that possibility in a setting and ...

A review and assessment of land-use change models: dynamics of space, time, and human choice

Land-use change models are used by researchers and professionals to explore the dynamics and drivers of land-use/land-cover change and to inform policies affecting such change. A broad array of models and modeling methods are available to researchers, and each type has certain advantages and ...

A new frontier in water wars emerges in east

Tensions over water are emerging in Eastern states along rivers like Savannah, Pee Dee, Roanoke, Chattahoochee and Potomac; are in large part product of scares in 1999 and summer 2002, when many rivers fell near critical lows from drought and rapid development and reflect growing worries in region ...

Impact and control of agricultural runoff

Agricultural runoff is surface water leaving farm fields because of excessive precipitation, irrigation, or snowmelt. In the early 20th century, there was considerable concern about erosion of farm fields caused by rainfall washing away valuable topsoil from the fields and resulting in loss of ...

Human dimensions of the urban forest in small city business settings

Small city central business districts undergoing revitalization must carefully weigh their choices for improvements, given limited resources. One option, an urban forest and streetscape program, should include planning for both tree and human factors. This qualitative research specifies the human ...

How the public views wilderness: more results from the USA survey on recreation and the environment

More than 1,900 people in the United States over age 15 were asked about their awareness of the National Wilderness Preservation System, adequacy of the amount of wilderness protected, and the importance of various benefits or values from wilderness protection. Findings indicate broad support for ...

Heat and light

Accurate systems for monitoring fires would therefore have enormous value. If such systems could predict how a wildfire was likely to behave, that would be even better. It would enable those in charge to decide which areas should be evacuated, and how best to deploy fire-fighters and their ...

The benefits of urban trees

Trees in towns bring with them both benefits and costs. Whilst many of the costs are well known to managers of urban trees, who watch the budgets and answer the phone to disgruntled residents, the benefits can be seen as nebulous and difficult to quantify or justify. Never the less, a considerable ...

The application of persuasion theory to the development of effective proenvironmental public service announcements

The goal of this article is to provide specific guidelines to help create effective proenvironmental public service announcements (PSAs). Campaign designers are encouraged to initially identify and investigate the optimal target audience and then draft and test reactions by samples of that ...

Sustainable management of non-timber forest resources

If policy on sustainable management of non-timber forest resources (NTFR) is to be implemented successfully, then recognition that there is no "one size fits all" policy is essential. Policies and their implementation practice have to be tailored to local ecological, economic, cultural and ...

Subsurface agricultural irrigation drainage: the need for regulation

Subsurface drainage resulting from irrigated agriculture is a toxic threat to fish and wildlife resources throughout the western United States. Studies by the U.S. Department of the Interior show that migratory waterfowl have been poisoned by drainwater contaminants on at least six national ...

National seasonal assessment workshop

During the week of February 25-28, 2003, the first annual National Seasonal Assessment Workshop (NSAW) brought together climatologists, predictive service units, and fire managers from across the country to produce seasonal fire outlook reports. The NSAW was structured to foster communication ...

Living with wildfires: prevention, preparation, and recovery

This book is about the truly catastrophic uncontrolled variety of wildland fires that burn through wildland/urban interface areas threatening life, property, or natural resources. These fires are commonly referred to as ”wildfires.” More importantly, this book is about the people who live in the ...

What is the wildland fire threat to homes?

The threat of life and property losses related to wildfires is a significant issue for federal, state, and local fire and planning agencies who consider the mix of residential areas and wildlands. The wildland fire threat is part of the more general consideration of human development encroaching ...

Views of nature and self-discipline: evidence from inner city children

Children growing up in the inner city are at risk of academic underachievement, juvenile delinquency, teenage pregnancy, and other important negative outcomes. Avoiding these outcomes requires self-discipline. Self-discipline, in turn, may draw on directed attention, a limited resource that can be ...

Vegetation management in Florida's private non-industrial forests

Forest vegetation management is usually defined as the practice of controlling the growth of non-crop plant species so sunlight, moisture, and soil nutrients are channeled to trees that produce useable forest products. When other vegetation is not controlled, the growth of the stand of crop trees ...

Top ten private forestry issues 2003-2004

The Top Ten Private Forestry Issues are developed each year to guide NWOA's private forestry advocacy activities. Many of the affiliated state associations adopt similar lists to focus their programs as well. This year the issues statements have been revised, reflecting both the rapidly changing ...

Wildland-urban fire - a different approach

Research results indicate that the home and its immediate surroundings within 100-200 feet (30-60 meters) principally determines the home ignition potential during severe wildland-urban fires. Research has also established that fire is an intrinsic ecological process of nearly all North American ...

Wildfire strikes home!

This report was published to focus attention on a developing lifestyle trend and on how this trend affects fire safety. For several reasons, we are seeing a major population shift from urban to rural living. More and more homes are being built on scenic sites and slopes in forests and other ...

Soil nitrogen cycle processes in urban riparian zones

Riparian zones have been found to function as 'sinks' for nitrate (NO3-), the most common groundwater pollutant in the U. S., in many areas. The vast majority of riparian research, however, has focused on agricultural watersheds. There has been little analysis of riparian zones in urban watersheds, ...

Running pure: the importance of forest protected areas to drinking water

This report looks at one particular link in the chain between rainfall and drinking water the role that forests can play in helping to provide clean water supplies to people living in the world's largest cities. This link is not simple. Forests and freshwater systems interact in many different ...

Retail and urban nature: creating a consumer habitat

The life and commerce of city streets has been altered radically with the development of strip malls, shopping malls, mail order alternatives, and the electronic shopping options provided by the computer, telephone, and fax. As U.S. growth management practices are implemented local retail districts ...

The growing popularity of birding in the United States

The authors present an indepth look at the growth of one of these activities, birding. Not only do they look at trends in birding, they also examine where most of the growth is occurring, who birders are, what their outdoor personality tells us, and who is responsible for most of the growth in ...

Recent results from PB-Piedmont a model to simulate smoke on the ground at night

Simulating smoke movement at night is a complex, time-dependent problem. Wind shifts transport smoke to different locations at various times during the same night. Land management personnel charged with alerting the appropriate authorities of pending transportation hazards must know where and when ...

"Rabbit rules" - an application of Stephen Wolfram's "new kind of science" to fire spread modeling

Fire spread is the outcome of complex interactions between fire, fuels, terrain, and weather. Most models created to predict fire spread fall into one of two classes, empirical models and physical models. For empirical models (Finney, 1998), fire spread is measured under controlled conditions and a ...

Public perceptions of defensible space and the use of prescribed fire in Florida's wildland-urban interface

Wildland fire is a growing threat to residents of the wildland-urban interface across the nation. Despite strongly worded messages from forestry and fire agencies, some residents are not very interested in reducing vegetation around their home to reduce their risk. A series of 43 in-depth ...

Crown encroachment on Southern Live Oaks in suburban settings: tree status and homeowner concerns

We recorded the status of the crowns of 50 southern live oaks (Quercus virginiana) in each of four suburban neighborhoods in Gainesville, Florida, U.S. We focused on the extent to which the crowns of formerly open-grown live oaks were encroached on by other trees. Once the crowns of live oak trees ...

Crop freezes and land-use change in Florida

South Florida experienced a significant change in land usage during the twentieth century, including the conversion of natural wetlands into agricultural land for the cultivation of winter vegetable, sugar cane and citrus crops. This movement of agriculture from more northerly areas was intended ...

Biodiversity across a rural land-use gradient

Private lands in the American West are undergoing a land-use conversion from agriculture to exurban development, although little is known about the ecological consequences of this change. Some nongovernmental organizations are working with ranchers to keep their lands out of development and in ...

Assessing the environmental, social, and economic impacts of wildfire

In this report, we summarize the availability and nature of wildfire impact information from eight federal agencies involved in fire management, three states, and ten individual fires from the last three wildfire seasons. Research on data availability was conducted via a thorough review of ...

ARM! for the future: adaptive resource management in the wildlife profession

The wildlife profession has a longestablished tradition of examining and debating the quality and direction of wildlife research (Sche ffer 1976, Romesburg 1981, Bailey 1982, McCabe 1985, Capen 1989, Nudds and Morrison 1991, Lancia e t al. 1333). This introspection is good, for it encourages the ...

Hayman fire case study

In 2002 much of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado was rich in dry vegetation as a result of fire exclusion and the droughty conditions that prevailed in recent years. These dry and heavy fuel loadings were continuous along the South Platte River corridor located between Denver and ...

Insurance may not ensure a home's replacement

Many homeowners are under the impression that their insurance will pay the full cost of replacement if their houses sustain extensive damage from fire or other causes. Yet three-quarters of all homes nationwide are undervalued for insurance purposes, by an average of 35 percent, according to a ...

People, space, and time: factors that will govern forest sustainability

This paper examines the definition and use of indicators of change in forest conditions and how they might be adapted to monitor processes of change. In particular, we examine the two principle vectors of change in forested ecosystems, land use and timber management, and how these changes might be ...

Outdoor recreation constraints: an examination of race, gender, and rural dwelling

We assess whether traditionally marginalized groups in American society (African-Americans, women, rural dwellers) perceive more constraints to outdoor recreation participation than other groups. A series of logistic regressions are applied to a national recreation survey and used to model the ...

On the orgins of "superfog" - a combination of smoke and water vapor that produces zero visibility over roadways

Southern land managers use prescribed fire to treat 6 to 8 million acres of forest and agricultural lands in the Southern states each year. Although the vast majority of prescribed burns are carried out without incident, there are occasions when meteorological conditions combine with residual smoke ...

Non-timber forest products in sustainable forest management

The forests of Southern United States are the source of many nontimber forest products (NTFPs). The collection, trade and use of these products have been important to rural economies since Europeans settled in this country. At the same time the plants from which these products originate are crucial ...

Nitrogen excess in North American ecosystems: predisposing factors, ecosystem responses, and management strategies

Most forests in North America remain nitrogen limited, although recent studies have identified forested areas that exhibit symptoms of N excess, analogous to overfertilization of arable land. Nitrogen excess in watersheds is detrimental because of disruptions in plant/soil nutrient relations, ...

New York - New Jersey Highlands regional study: 2002 update

This 2002 Update of the 1992 New York - New Jersey Highlands Regional Study embodies the following goals for the long-term stewardship of the Highlands: 1) manage future growth that is compatible with the region’s ecological constraints; 2) maintain an adequate surface and ground water ...

Fuels management reduces tree mortality following wildfire

The objective of this study was to test the effectiveness of a regular prescribed burning program for reducing mortality of southern pines when forests are burned by wildfire. This study was conducted on the USDA Forest Service Osceola National Forest, the Florida Division of Forestry Tiger Bay ...

Florida Forever: conservation needs assessment

The Florida Forever Conservation Needs Assessment is an analysis of the geographic distribution of certain types of natural resources, or resource-based land uses (such as recreation or sustainable forestry), that have been identified by the Legislature as needing increased conservation ...

Fire education exhibits and displays

This Wildfire Prevention Guide is a project of the National Wildfire Coordinating Group. This guide is one in a series designed to provide information and guidance for personnel who have interests and/or responsibilities in fire prevention. Exhibits have become one of our most important ...

Controlling the southern pine beetle: small landowner perceptions and practices

Nonindustrial private forests (NIPFs) comprise more than two-thirds of the forestland east of the Mississippi. Rapid population growth and urban/suburban expansion in the South are resulting in land fragmentation (division of forest landholdings into increasingly smaller sized parcels) and ...

Consumer concern, knowledge, belief, and attitude toward renewable energy: an application of the reasoned action theory

As conventional energy resources dry up and pollution increases, utility companies and policy makers seek to develop new energy programs that are more environmentally sound and replenishable. Renewable energy has emerged as an alternative energy resource, but its marketing has not been successful ...

Community wildfire planning

The North Dakota Forest Service is one of the stakeholders that can assist communities with wildfire planning. This document has been prepared by the ND Forest Service to assist communities with wildfire planning as part of comprehensive strategic planning initiatives. It can also be used by ...

Community fire safety at the urban/rural interface: the bushfire risk

Severe bushfires in Australia are responsible for substantial property damage and loss of life particularly at the urban/rural interface of larger cities. The awareness of the bushfire risk by residents living at the urban/rural interface is a mitigating factor in determining the likelihood of ...

Community-based fire preparedness programmes: an empirical evaluation

In countries such as Australia, fires are a constant threat to communities, with the potential for grave disasters to occur. Wherever people are exposed to the risk of fires, hazard prevention becomes a very important task. Risk information/communication/ education about fire hazards in the ...

A forested tract-size profile of Florida's NIPF landowners

Information gathered from 2,713 permanent Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) sample plots showed that over 1.0 million acres, or 15 percent of the nonindustrial private forest (NIPF) timberland in Florida is in forested tracts [ 10 acres. Forested tracts ranging from 11 to 100 acres accounted ...

Homeowners, communities, and wildfire: science findings from the National Fire Plan

A collection of papers presented at the Ninth International Symposium on Society and Resource Management highlight research findings from studies supported by the National Fire Plan. These studies focus on the human dimensions of wildfire, and look at the perceptions and actions of individuals, ...

Herbicides - protecting long-term sustainability and water quality in forest ecosystems

World-wide, sediment is the major water quality problem. The use of herbicides for controlling competing vegetation during stand establishment can be beneficial to forest ecosystem sustainability and water quality by minimising off-site soil loss, reducing on-site soil and organic matter ...

The appraisal of information material on disaster preparedness

Once disaster management requires active involvement of residents, risk information/ communication/education become vital. However, mere distribution of material is not enough - it is crucial that communication efforts are effective. This requires socio-psychological expertise and critical ...

Teamwork heats up

The major lesson carried away from those [2000] fires: responsibility doesn't rest solely on developers, nor on the responsiveness of local fire departments or wildland fire crews, who put out fires where forests meet suburbia. Instead, it has to be a community effort. Driving this point home is ...

Minimizing the impacts of the forest road system

Sediment movement from forest road systems is a major concern in forest management due to the degrading impacts of stream sedimentation. Controlling sediment movement from road systems is a key objective to achieve the goat of reducing the impact of forest management activities. Sediment control ...

Living with wildfire

The 2000 fires came at a time of increasing debate about forest management policies and firefighting strategies. And although destructive--577 structures were destroyed and eight lives were lost--the fires need to be understood as the product of both the region's ecology and the disruption of the ...

Living in balance: population, consumption, and the planet

In this guide, we are exploring population growth, consumption, and land use - and how all three influence the environmental health of the planet. These are difficult issues because of their complexity - and because people have different perspectives on how we got to where we are today, what might ...

Landscaping backyards for wildlife: top ten tips for success

In Florida, urban areas are a dominant feature in the landscape, and many of these urban areas are situated near natural wildlife preserves. What people do in their own yards and neighborhoods affect local and nearby wildlife populations. Steps can be taken to create and save wildlife habitat in ...

Landscape context and regional patterns in Arkansas' forests

Recent results from Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) surveys provided an opportunity to explore the spatial and temporal context for Arkansas' forests, including associated range, recreation, water, and wildlife habitat resources. Noted were damage agents and multipurpose resource indicators: ...

What is the price of catastrophic wildfire?

We modeled and analyzed the economic impacts of the six weeks of large, catastrophic wildfires in northeastern Florida in June and July 1998, among Florida’s most devastating in recent history. The result of the unusually strong El Ni�o-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in 1998, the Florida wildfires ...

An examination of the Summerhaven, Arizona home destruction related to the local wildland fire behavior during the June 2003 Aspen Fire

I examined the home destruction in Summerhaven associated with the 2003 Aspen Fire on July 31 and August 1. My examination was prompted by questions regarding the wildfire behavior related to home destruction and specifically whether homes could have survived the wildfire in the Summerhaven area. ...

Urban & community forestry: a practical guide to sustainability

Today’s challenge is to stop viewing urban trees as pretty pictures and begin treating them as urban ecosystems and essential parts of a city's infrastructure, as assets, not liabilities. A purpose of this book is to show how planning, collaboration and careful management can assure that the ...

Wildland/urban interface fire hazard assessment methodology

There are many actions that can be taken to reduce the potential of fire in existing housing developments as well as planned new developments. This guide will help users assess the potential of a structure located in a wildland environment to withstand an approaching forest fire without the ...

Wildfire suppression: strategies for containing costs

Wildland fire suppression costs continue to grow at a rate that has increased in recent years. This study identified 30 factors affecting wildfire suppression operations and costs. Although the Panel found opportunities for additional efficiencies in managing large fires, it also found that three ...

Wildfire prevention and the media

This Media Guide is one in a series of Wildfire Prevention Guidebooks. The information in this guide addresses the role of the media in a fire prevention program, and provides guidance for working with the media to more effectively achieve program goals. This guide was developed by a group of ...

Restoration of a severly impacted riparian wetland system - The Pen Branch Project

Because of the operational design of the restoration project, a research program was developed to document ecosystem response. Information pertaining to the impact of disturbance and effects of restoration on Pen Branch were evaluated through studies that examined the following parameters: stream ...

The Southern High-Resolution Modeling Consortium - a source for researach and operational collaboration

The Southern High-Resolution Modeling Consortium (SHRMC) is one of five regional Fire Consortia for Advanced Modeling of Meteorology and Smoke (FCAMMS) consortia established as part of the National Fire Plan. FCAMMS involves research and development activities collaborating across all land ...

The smoke dilemma: a head-on collision!

A head-on collision is imminent! The drivers are people. The vehicles are special interests. The road is smoke! Those concerned about air quality ride in the first car; those concerned about natural resource management ride in the second. In this paper, we look at what smoke is and why it is ...

The future of forest management on NIPF lands in the South: results of an expert opinion survey

A survey was sent to each state forester in the 13 states in the Southeast and South Central Regions to ask their opinions regarding the future of forest management on NIPF lands in their state. The results indicate that changes are in store for NIPF lands between now and 2020. Planted pine is ...

Receding forest edges and vanishing reserves

Logging and road building carve up otherwise intact expanses of forest into small and isolated islands (forest fragmentation), creating a perimeter of abrupt forest edge where ecological changes take place (1). Edge effects in fragments of tropical forest are widespread and complex (1, 2). They ...

Proceedings of the symposium: the forested wetlands of the southern United States

Twenty-five papers are presented in five categories: Non point Sources of Pollution and the Functions and Values; Best Management Practices for Forested Wetlands; Streamside Management Strategies; Sensitive Areas Management; and Balancing Best Management Practices and Water Quality Standards for ...

Potential fire behavior in pine flatwood forests following three different fuel reduction techniques

A computer modeling study to determine the potential fire behavior in pine flatwood forests following three fuel hazard reduction treatments: herbicide, prescribed fire and thinning was conducted in Florida following the 1998 wildfire season. Prescribed fire provided immediate protection but this ...

Planning for post-disaster recovery and reconstruction

The purpose of this document is to help community leaders and planners educate their constituents on how informed decisions and choices can affect the rebuilding process and yield a safer, more sustainable community. In the debates and deliberations within communities on post-disaster ...

Empowering homeowners to manage fuels with education and communication tools

The nation is beginning to recognize the growing hazard of communities and homes in the wildland-urban interface. Fire fighting and forest agencies are leading the movement to encourage private landowners to accept more responsibility for their risk of wildland fire and reduce their risk. A variety ...

Empathizing with nature: the effects of perspective taking on concern for environmental issues

In this article, I propose that concern for environmental problems is fundamentally linked to the degree to which people view themselves as part of the natural environment. Two studies are reported that test aspects of this theory. The first study describes the structure of people’s concern ...

Effects of landscape patterns on biotic communities

A comparative evaluation was performed using descriptors of landscape and land cover patterns as to how they relate to varying levels of anthropogenic disturbance and the structure of biotic communities. A spatial analysis program (a modified version of SPAN) was used to compute measures of land ...

Edge effects on an epiphytic lichen in fragmented forests

Increased amount of edge habitat is one of several important consequences of forest fragmentation. Consequently, we must understand the responses of plants and animals to edges to formulate adequate recommendations for conservation of biodiversity. Epiphytic lichens are a well-suited subject for ...

Ecosystem management with multiple owners: landscape dynamics in a southern appalachian watershed

Ecosystem management is emerging as an organizing theme for land use and resource management in the United States. However, while this subject is dominating professional and policy discourse, little research has examined how such system-level goals might be formulated and implemented. Effective ...

Differences in surface water quality draining four road surface types in the southern Appalachians

Improved and unimproved roads can be the primary source of stream sediment in forested watersheds. We assessed differences in production of total suspended solids (TSS; ppm) from four road sulfate conditions in a Southern Appalachian watershed: (1) a 2-yr-old paved surface (P), (2) an improved ...

Developing policies to encourage small-scale forestry

The included papers, reproduced in alphabetical order, are a record of the 10th International Symposium held by IUFRO Research Group 3.08, held in Kuranda, Australia form January 9-13, 2000. The theme of the Symposium was “Developing Policies to Encourage Small-scale Forestry”. All ...

Cumulative impacts of landuse on water quality in a southern Appalachian watershed

Consistent, cumulative, downstream changes in water quality variables were observed along Coweeta Creek, concomitant with downstream, human-caused changes in landuse. Furthermore, larger downstream changes in water quality variables were observed during stormilow when compared to baseflow, ...

Berkeley Township, New Jersey: steps to improve community preparedness for wildfire

The Social and Economic Dimensions of Ecosystem Management unit of the USDA Forest Service's North Central Research Station, in cooperation with several universities, initiated a study of communities who are taking steps to increase their preparedness for wildfire. They are seeking answers to two ...

Barnes-Drummond and Northwestern Wisconsin: steps to improve community preparedness for wildfire

The Social and Economic Dimensions of Ecosystem Management unit of the USDA Forest Service's North Central Research Station, in cooperation with several universities, initiated a study of communities who are taking steps to increase their preparedness for wildfire. They are seeking answers to two ...

Assessing the impacts of forests on human welfare: preliminary results from the mid-Atlantic integrated assessment

This paper presents results from the first phase of the socio-economic assessment of forest ecosystems in the Mid-Atlantic Integrated Assessment (MAIA). First, we present results of the analysis of changes in the distribution of human population and forest land use in the region. Then, trends in ...

International urban-wildland interface code

Internationally, code officials recognize the need for a modern, up-to-date code addressing the mitigation of fire in the urban-wildland interface. The International Urban-Wildland Interface Code, in this 2003 edition, is designed to bridge the gap between enforcement of the International Building ...

Operational restoration of the Pen Branch bottomland hardwood and swamp wetlands - the research setting

The Savannah River swamp, a 3020 ha forested wetland on the floodplain of the Savannah River, USA is located on the Department of Energy's Savannah River site (SRS) near Aiken, SC. Historically, the swamp consisted of approximately 50% bald cypress-water tupelo (Taxodium distichum-Nyssa aquatica) ...

Nonnative invasive plants of southern forests: a field guide for identification and control

Invasions of nonnative plants into forests of the Southern United States continue to go unchecked and unmonitored. Invasive nonnative plants infest under and beside forest canopies and dominate small forest openings, increasingly eroding forest productivity, hindering forest use and management ...

No herbicide residues found in smoke from prescribed fires

Some concerns have been expressed by workers conducting prescribed burns on forest lands treated with herbicides.The major concern has based on speculation that hazardous levels of airborne herbicide residues may be present in the smoke near breathing zones of forest workers. Much of this ...

Gunflint Trail community: steps to improve community preparedness for wildfire

The Social and Economic Dimensions of Ecosystem Management unit of the USDA Forest Service's North Central Research Station, in cooperation with several universities, initiated a study of communities who are taking steps to increase their preparedness for wildfire. They are seeking answers to two ...

Global-scale patterns of forest fragmentation

We report an analysis of forest fragmentation based on 1-km resolution land-cover maps for the globe. Measurements in analysis windows from 81 km 2 (9 x 9 pixels, "small" scale) to 59,049 km 2 (243 x 243 pixels, "large" scale) were used to characterize the fragmentation around each forested pixel. ...

Forest patch size, land use, and mesic forest herbs in the French Broad River Basin, North Carolina

The effect of forest fragmentation on cove-forest herbs was studied in the Southern Blue Ridge Province. Patches of mesic forests were sampled with 4 ha study plots. The coverage and density of herb species were greater in large patches (>200 ha) than in small patches (cl0 ha). Several ...

Forest management and timber production in the U.S. South

This paper has described the evolution of the South's forest sector from several perspectives. Findings are summarized below: The South contains 24 percent of the U.S. land area, and 40 percent of U.S. timberland. Southern forests are among the most productive in the United States. Timberland ...

For want of defensible space a forest is lost: homeowners and the wildfire hazard and mitigation in the residential wildland intermix at Incline Village, Nevada

In recent decades more and more people have taken up residence in wildland areas. Because years of fire suppression have created forests and shrublands overloaded with fuel, migrants are moving into tinderboxes. Fire-fighting agencies, resources strained by protecting the growing number of homes, ...

First remote measurements of smoke on the ground at night

Fire is recognized as a fundamental ecological process in many forest and rangeland ecosystems throughout the U.S. Ecosystems depend upon fire for health, reproduction, and protection from invading species. The Southern States are leaders in using prescribed fire and understanding its effects. ...

Firewise communities: where we live, how we live

This hard-covered book illustrates Firewise homes that demonstrate aesthetically pleasing landscape designs that function as barriers against wildfire. Explanatory text is provided to describe designs and plant materials.

Fire and pesticides: a review of air quality considerations

The classes of primary chemical products naturally produced by the combustion of forest fuels are: carbon dioxide, water, carbon monoxide, particulate matter, methane and non-methane hydrocarbons, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, nitrogen and sulfur oxides, aldehydes, free radicals, and inorganic ...

Coming to terms with environmental justice in outdoor recreation: a conceptual discussion with research implications

Much of the research on environmental justice centers on environmental hazards. This article offers an overview of the emergence of environmental justice issues in outdoor recreation management and research. The authors argue that a major challenge to future research on environmental justice in ...