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.

Making It Work: Keys to Successful Collaboration in Natural Resource Management

This paper explores the positive aspects of collaboration in natural resources. Its purpose was to investigate participants’ overall attitudes about keys to successful collaboration. The sample for the study consisted of 671 participants involved in 30 collaborative initiatives (CI) with the ... read more...

Wedgefield, Florida - Steps to improve community preparedness for wildfire

This handout provides cooperators and high fire risk communities in Wedgefield, Florida examples of steps to take to increase wildfire preparedness.

Waldo, Florida - Steps to improve community preparedness for wildfire

This handout provides cooperators and high fire-risk communities in Waldo, Florida examples of steps to take to increase wildfire preparedness.

Vegetation Composition and Structure of forest patches along urban-rural gradients

The unprecedented growth of cities and towns around the world, coupled with the unknown effects of global change, has created an urgent need to increase ecological understanding of human settlements, in order to develop inhabitable, sustainable cities and towns in the future. Although there is a ...

An Examination of Constraints to Wilderness Visitation

Certain social groups appear notably less in wilderness visitation surveys than their population proportion. This study examines whether different social groups in American society (minorities, women, rural dwellers, low income and less educated populations) perceive more constraints to wilderness ... read more...

Air pollution removal by urban trees and shrubs in the United States

A modeling study using hourly meteorological and pollution concentration data from across the coterminous United States demonstrates that urban trees remove large amounts of air pollution that consequently improve urban air quality. Pollution removal (03, PMio, NO2, SO2, CO) varied among cities ...

The Wildland-Urban Interface Fire Problem: A CONSEQUENCE OF THE FIRE EXCLUSION PARADIGM

The trend of increasing wildfire intensity and size likely due to increasing fuel hazards is only one consequence of fire suppression. Another legacy of the fire exclusion paradigm has far-reaching implications: an organizational mindset that persistently frames the wildland-urban interface fire ... read more...

Social science to improve fuels management: a synthesis of research relevant to communicating with homeowners about fuels management

A series of syntheses were commissioned by the USDA Forest Service to aid in fuels mitigation project planning. This synthesis focuses on how managers can most effectively communicate with the public about fuels management efforts. It summarizes what is known about the techniques of persuasive ...

Smoke Incursions into Urban Areas: Simulation of a Georgia Prescribed Burn

This study investigates smoke incursion into urban areas by examining a prescribed burn in central Georgia, USA, on 28 February 2007. Simulations were conducted with a regional modeling framework to understand transport, dispersion, and structure of smoke plumes, the air quality effects, ...

Small-scale Non-industrial Private Forest Ownership in the United States: Rationale and Implications for Forest Management

This study conducted jointly by researchers from the U.S. Forest Service Southern Research Station, Auburn University, and Tuskegee University focuses on "problems" identified for small-scale non-industrial private forests (NIPF) because of accelerating parcelization (the reduction in size of ...

The Public and Wildland Fire Management: Social Science Findings for Managers

Presents key social science findings from three National Fire Plan-sponsored research projects. Articles highlight information of likely interest to individuals working to decrease wildfire hazards on both private and public lands. Three general topic areas are addressed: (1) public views and ...

The Palm Coast Community: Steps to improve Community Preparedness for Wildfire

This handout provides cooperators and high fire risk communities in the area of Palm Coast, Florida examples of steps to take to increase wildfire preparedness.

The Latest Trends in Nature-based Outdoor Recreation

Recent research has suggested that Americans' participation in nature-based outdoor recreation has declined since the 1980s and early 1990s and implied that funding and support for natural resource conservation could suffer. Other data suggest that their interests are increasing. Some of the ... read more...

Urban Wildlife: Challenges and Opportunities

Cities across the country are home to a variety wildlife species. In addition to the species you see every day, many more are present but are active only night. Many species of urban wildlife receive little attention from homeowners. They are present in such numbers that they become part of ... read more...

Evolving challenges and changing expectations for forestry extension and technology transfer

Meeting the needs of people and forests around the globe: Popular summaries of IUFRO conference held September 21-26, 2008 at Mattawa and Ottawa, ON Early in the 21st century, the inter-dependency between humans and forests has never been greater. Ecosystems are strained by multiple natural and ... read more...

Describing Land Use Change in Multidisciplinary Analyses

Economists increasingly face opportunities to collaborate with ecologists and other scientists in multidisciplinary research involving landscape-level analyses of socioeconomic and ecological processes. A common goal of such analyses is to describe potential changes in ecosystem processes and ...

Future Forestland Area: Impacts from Population Growth and Other Factors that Affect Land Values

Shifting patterns of land use in the United States are associated with many of today's environmental concerns. Land-use shifts occur because of relative changes in land rents, which are determined in part by financial returns in commodity markets. In recent decades, more than 3 million ac shifted ... read more...

Fragmentation and Sprawl: Evidence from Interregional Analysis

Recent years have witnessed widespread expansion of state and regional planning programs in the United States. A major purpose of these efforts is to reduce urban sprawl—low density, discontinuous, suburban–style development, often characterized as the result of rapid, unplanned, and/or ...

Fire Resistive Plants

Fire-resistive plant list compiled from the following fire-resistive plant lists: California Department of Forestry, Quail Botanical Garden, University of California Cooperative Extension, and Santa Barbara City Fire Department. This is not meant to be a complete list of fire resistive plants but ... read more...

Costs of Protecting Water Quality During Harvesting on Private Forestlands in the Southeast

Data on harvest volumes, topography, and other site and area characteristics were obtained from 22 timber harvests in Alabama, Florida, and Georgia. An economic analysis was then used to estimate the marginal costs of implementing each state's recommended Best Management Practices (BMPs), as well ...

Comparing the Ignitability of Mulch Materials for a Firewise Landscape

A Firewise landscape in Arizona may include native and non-native plants as well as a variety of mulch materials. The goal of Firewise landscaping is to prevent home ignitions by using plants and mulch to reduce the spread of fires near structures or other improvements. Appropriate plants for a ...

Urban Forestry- Making the Forestry Connection for Urban Youth

The LEAF program (Learning, Experiences, & Activities in Forestry) is making use of the subjects of urban forests and urban forestry to help K-12 students in Wisconsin connect to all forests. The LEAF Urban Forest Lesson Guide supplements existing educational materials for teachers. The guide ... read more...

The Effects of Urban Patterns on Ecosystem Function

Urban ecological systems are characterized by complex interactions among social, economic, institutional, and environmental variables. These interactions generate complex human-dominated landscapes, which significantly influence the functioning of local and global earth ecosystems and the services ...

Spatial analysis of rural land development

This article examines patterns of rural land development and density using spatial econometric models with the application of Geographical Information System (GIS). The cluster patterns of both development and high-density development indicate that the spatially continuous expansions of development ... read more...

Management Objectives and Educational Needs of Utah Nonindustrial Private Forest Landowners

Providing relevant forestry education and assistance to Utah nonindustrial forest (NIPF) landowners is necessary to encourage the active management of these lands. In order to be accepted and implemented on a wide scale, forestry outreach efforts must take into account the diversity of goals that ...

Local Clean Power

Southeast states seeking solutions to current and future energy challenges have a major opportunity to use existing technology to harness local renewable energy resources. Our regional assessment, drawing on recent government and regional studies, suggests sufficient renewable energy resources ... read more...

Value of Urban Greenspace for Air Quality Improvement: Lincoln Park, Chicago

Daily air pollutant uptake by trees in a 525 acre (212 hectare) section of Lincoln Park was estimated for four different pollutants and two scenarios: concentrations at the National ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) and normal levels. The value of air cleansing was implied using costs of ...

Understanding and Controlling Nonnative Forest Pests in the South

Invasive nonnative forest pests are multiplying and spreading in every forest type in the Southern United States. The costs of controlling these pests have become extremely high, and the damage they cause to ecosystem composition, structure, and function continues to increase. Plants imported for ...

Restoration of Southern Ecosystems

Restoration of the myriad communities of bottomland hardwood and wetland forests and of the diverse communities of fire-dominated pine forests is the subject of intense interest in the Southern United States. Restoration practice is relatively advanced for bottomland hardwoods and longleaf pine ... read more...

Prevent or Reduce Fire with Goats: No kidding!

In the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) methods for reducing fi re hazards such as prescribed burns and mechanical thinning, may be less than ideal in terms of effectiveness, let alone in acceptance by community residents. Kathy Voth may be a harbinger of change. Her work with goat herds to reduce ... read more...

Post-Frontier Forest Change Adjacent to Braulio Carrillo National Park, Costa Rica

Effective biodiversity conservation in national parks depends to a large extent on adjacent forest cover. While deforestation and forest fragmentation as a result of colonization and agriculture have been widespread in neotropical countries over the past few decades, in some places agricultural ... read more...

Educating and Engaging the Business Sector in Reducing Wildfire Property Losses

Most wildfire education programs have relied overwhelmingly on homeowner information and education, limiting the role of such business professionals as architects, builders, insurance agents, landscape architects and contractors, planners, media, and realtors. This project was undertaken to engage ... read more...

Educating and Engaging the Business Sector in Reducing Wildfire Property Losses

Most wildfire education programs have relied overwhelmingly on homeowner information and education, limiting the role of such business professionals as architects, builders, insurance agents, landscape architects and contractors, planners, media, and realtors. This project was undertaken to engage ... read more...

Developed land cover of Puerto Rico

The enclosed map was developed by the Puerto Rico Gap Analysis Project (PRGAP) and displays the distribution of developed land cover in Puerto Rico. Developed land cover refers to urban, built-up and non-vegetated areas that result from human activity. These typically include built structures, ... read more...

Desirable Tree List

The enclosed Desirable Tree List is provided as a suggested guideline (not exclusive) for fuel modification landscapes within the Rancho Santa Fe Fire Protection District. read more...

Best Management Practices for Florida's Hazardous Fuels

Due to a rapidly expanding human population in Florida, wildland fire management has become hampered by urban encroachment, smoke management issues, and forest fragmentation. For these and other reasons, fire has been excluded from many stands, resulting in the buildup of dangerous fuel loads. ...

Assessing Urban Forest Effects and Values

An analysis of trees in Minneapolis, MN, reveals that the city has about 979,000 trees with canopies that cover 26.4 percent of the area. The most common tree species are green ash, American elm, and boxelder. The urban forest currently stores about 250,000 tons of carbon valued at $4.6 million. ...

Guidelines for Planting in Fuel Modification Zones

Guidelines for planting in fuel modification zones and fire safe plant lists. read more...

Critical Elements in the Development and Implementation of Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPPs)

Community wildfire protection plans (CWPPs) are being developed and implemented in communities across the United States. In a series of case studies, re¬searchers found that the process of developing a CWPP can lead to benefits beyond those associated with fuels reduction, including enhancing ... read more...

High and low density development in Puerto Rico

The enclosed map was developed by the Puerto Rico Gap Analysis Project (PRGAP) and displays the distribution of high and low density development in Puerto Rico. The development data was created through remote sensing analysis of Landsat ETM+ satellite imagery ranging from the years 2000 to 2003. ... read more...

Landscape units of Puerto Rico: Influence of climate, substrate, and topography

The enclosed map was developed by the Puerto Rico Gap Analysis Project (PRGAP) and displays variation in the landscape related to climate, substrate, and topography. We have defined a set of 57 distinct landscape units by integrating six climatic zones (Holdridge lifezones), six geologic ...

AMBIO Special Issue: Fire ecology and Management

 

Urban and rural land use in Puerto Rico

The enclosed map was developed by the Puerto Rico Gap Analysis Project (PRGAP) and displays a land use classification of Puerto Rico. The map identifies three land use regions: Urban, suburban, and rural, and displays developed (built-up) surfaces. Urban areas are predominantly developed (greater ... read more...

Wildland-Urban Interface Maps Vary with Purpose and Context

Maps of the wildland-urban interface (WUI) are both policy tools and powerful visual images. Although the growing number of WUI maps serve similar purposes, this article indicates that WUI maps derived from the same data sets can differ in important ways related to their original intended ...

Relationship Between Urban Sprawl and Physical Activity, Obesity, and Morbidity

The purpose is to determine the relationship between urban sprawl, health, and health-related behaviors.The design used was a cross-sectional analysis using hierarchical modeling to relate characteristics of individuals and places to levels of physical activity, obesity, body mass index (BMI), ... read more...

Promoting and Preserving Biodiversity in the Urban Forest

Efforts at mitigating global biodiversity loss have often focused on preserving large, intact natural habitats. However, preserving biodiversity should also be an important goal in the urban environment, especially in highly urbanized areas where little natural habitat remains. Increasingly, ... read more...

Family Forest Owners of the United States, 2006

This report summarizes results from the U.S. Forest Service's National Woodland Owner Survey of the estimated 10 million family forest owners who own 264 million acres (35 percent) of forest land in the United States. We collected information between 2002 and 2006 on family forest owners' forest ... read more...

Effects of Urban Sprawl on Hunting Participation in the Southeastern United States

Hunting is an important but declining activity in the Southeastern United States. Although our understanding of what causes this decline is incomplete, the period of decline coincided with rapid urbanization in the region. Urban sprawl, which is changing sociocultural traditions and leisure ... read more...

Carnivores, urban landscapes, and longitudinal studies: a case history of black bears

As urban landscapes expand across the globe, it becomes imperative to understand how these landscapes affect large carnivore populations. We examined the effects of human-altered landscapes on age-specific fecundity and life history parameters for female black bears(Ursus americanus) in urban and ... read more...

Breaking Trial Through Mountains- Forest Policy Implementation Case Studies

Contemporary forest policy is attuned to present and aniticpated future societal needs and to long-term dynamics of ecosystem,s. Policy regimes acress North America tend to accommodate degrees of adaptive management to account for future uncertainty. The metaphor of a hiker in a mountain range ... read more...

Biodiversity of the Urban Environment:The Importance of Indigenous Species and the Role urban Environments can Play in their Preservation

Biological diversity (often shortened to biodiversity) is the sum total of genetic, species, and ecosystem variation. Today we mostly think of biodiversity in terms of the Biodiversity Convention which was negotiated almost ten years ago and which is the most widely recognised international ...

Biodiversity and Southern Forests

Biological diversity encompasses all levels of natural variation and includes molecular, genetic, and species levels. All of these factors contribute to diversity accumulated at the landscape scale. However, biodiversity is not equally dispersed across the landscape, but rather clustered in ... read more...

Assessing the Benefits and Costs of the Urban Forest

With effective planning and managment, urban trees and forest will provide a wide range of important benefits to urbanites. These include a more pleasant, healthful, and comfortable environment to live, work and play in, savings in the costs of providing a wide range of urban services and ... read more...

Hurricane Katrina Impacts on Mississippi Forests

Hurricane Katrina triggered public interest and concern for forests in Mississippi that required rapid responses from the scientific community. A uniform systematic sample of 3,590 ground plots were established and measured in 687 days immediately after the impact of Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf ... read more...

Wildland Fire, Risk, and Recovery: Results of a National Survey with Regional and Racial Perspectives

We used a national household survey to examine knowledge, attitudes, and preferences pertaining to wildland fire. First, we present nationwide results and trends. Then, we examine opinions across region and race. Despite some regional variation, respondents are fairly consistent in their beliefs ... read more...

The Experience of Community Residents in a Fire-Prone Ecosystem: A Case System on the San Bernardino National Forest

This report presents results from a study of San Bernardino National Forest community resident's experiences with and perceptions of fire, fire management and the Forest Service. Using self administered surveys and focus group discussions, we found that participants had personal experiences with ... read more...

Ecosystem Services in urban and developing areas: current knowledge and market development

 

Digital forestry in the wildland urban interface

Growing human populations have led to the expansion of the Wildland-Urban interface (WUI) across the southeastern United States. The juxtaposition of buildings, infrastructure, and forests in the WUI creates challenges for natural resource managers. The presence of flammable vegetation, high rates ...

Development effects on private forest management: a critical look at the evidence

The timber production and ecological effects of forest land development are influenced by both the rate and spatial distribution of forest land development, and how remaining undeveloped forest lands are managed. Regarding effects on management, research conducted in the U.S. South and in Oregon ...

Biomass-Bioenergy Crops in the United States: A Changing Paradigm

The world energy paradigm is changing from one based on petroleum to one based on a mixture of energy platforms. This change is precipitated by finite petroleum reserves, an expanding global demand, and political instability in areas with major petroleum reserves. The mixed energy platform will ...

Biofueling Rural Development: Making the Case for Linking Biofuel Production to Rural Revitalization.

 

Bioenergy Potentials from Forestry in 2050

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the global energy production potential of woody biomass fromforestry for the year 2050 using a bottom-up analysis of key factors. Woody biomass from forestry wasdefined as all of the aboveground woody biomass of trees, including all products made from woody ...

Is your home protected from wildfire?

The threat from wildfire is very real and there are no guarantees that there is the capability to protect all homes. However, by taking the personal responsibility for reducing hazards around your property, you may substantially reduce the risks from a wildfire. It is critical to make those changes ...

Integrating social science into forestry in the wildland/urban interface

A group of 60 forestry practitioners who work in wildfire risk prevention and several social science researchers gathered together near Lyons, CO to share ideas and tackle social issues that shape decisions and behavior regarding wildfire risk mitigations in the wildland urban interface. This ...

Forest Lanscape Restoration in Central and Northern Europe

The Global Partnership on Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) was launched in March 2003 by IUCN, WWF and the Forestry Commission of Great Britain. It is a network of governments, organisations, communities and individuals who recognise the importance of forest landscape restoration and want to be ... read more...

Firebrand production from burning vegetation

A series of real scale fire experiments were performed to determine the size and mass distribution of firebrands generated from Douglas-F i r (pseudotsuga menziesii) trees. The results of the real scale fire experiments were used to determine firebrand sizes to perform reduced scale ignition ...

City of Tampa urban ecological analysis 2006-2007

In October 2006 the City of Tampa's City Council directed the Parks and Recreation to oversee an ecological analysis of the city's urban urban forest resources. This report describes the methodology used to conduct the inventory and assesment; quantifies the change in overall canopy coverage 1996 ... read more...

Citizen science as a tool for conservation in residential ecosystems

Human activities, such as mining, forestry, and agriculture, strongly influence processes in natural systems. Because conservation has focused on managing and protecting wildlands, research has focused on understanding the indirect influence of these human activities on wildlands. Although a ...

The economic value of urban forest amenities: an application of the contingent valuation method

Green spaces have important amenity values contributing to the quality of urban life. The deconstruction of green spaces cause negative externalities e.g. the loss of non-priced benefits. In land-use planning, therefore, amenity values should be systematically assessed and measured commensurately, ...

Technology Transfer Activities of the Southern Center for Wildland-Urban Interface Research and Information

 

Sustaining urban forests

Presents a dynamic planning and management model that encourages decisions that will support sustainability of urban forests. Importance of urban forest; Definition of sustainable forest management; Characteristics of the urban forest; Challenges to management for sustainability. read more...

Sustainability and Planning: Diverse Concepts and Close Associations

Sustainability is a term that has received a significant amount of attention in the public policy arena. Within the planning profession, there has likewise been a growing recognition of its possible relevance in the areas of land use and general community development, and planners are ...

Suburbs as exits, Suburbs as entrance

Most academics assume that suburbanites are exiters who have abandoned central cities. The exit story is a foundational one in the fields of land-use and local-government law: Exiters' historical, social, and economic connections with their center cities are frequently used to justify both growth ...

Measuring patterns of urban development: new intelligence for the war on sprawl

In this article, we compute a variety of measures of urban form (or sprawl) for neighbourhoods of varying age in five study areas in the US to illustrate urban development patterns. Our analysis suggests that some characteristics of development patterns differ significantly within and across study ...

An integrated approach to evaluating the economic costs of wildfire hazard reduction through wood utilization opportunities in the southwestern United States

This research provides an important step in the conceptualization and development of an integrated wildfire fuels reduction system from silvicultural prescription, through stem selection, harvesting, in-woods processing, transport, and market selection. Decisions made at each functional step are ...

Thinking of Wildfire as a Natural Hazard

Natural hazards theory with its emphasis on understanding the human-hazard interaction has much to offer in better understanding how individuals respond to the wildfire hazard. Ironically, very few natural hazards studies have actually looked at wildfires, despite the insights the field might ...

Thermal energy, electricity, and fuels from wood

In July of 2005, U.S. airlines were losing money. Some were in bankruptcy or on the verge of bankruptcy. The world’s Number 1 auto producer, General Motors, was losing money and market share. By the end of the month sales had set records, but this was mainly because of costly sales incentives. The ...

Wildfire Policy and Public Lands: Integrating Scientific Understanding with Social Concerns across Landscapes

Efforts to suppress wildfires have become increasingly problematic in recent years as costs have risen, threats to firefighter safety have escalated, and detrimental impacts to ecosystems have multiplied. Wildfires that escape initial suppression often expand into large, high-intensity summer ...

Wildfire planning strategies for community design: A guide for southeastern developers and planners

Community deevelopment is rapidly expanding within many areas of the southern United States. Urban centers are being pushed outward into the surrounding forested and agricultural ares. This zone of new development into rural areas is known as the wildland urban interface (WUI). The WUI interface ...

Solving the Climate Problem: Technologies Available to Curb CO2 Emissions

The atmosphere’s concentration of carbon dioxide has increased by more then 30 percent over the last 250 years, largely due to human activity. This article addresses the current and future challenges of solving the 21st century climate problem. The problem of increasing global carbon dioxide ...

The SmartCode Solution to Sprawl

This book is a practical guide to the implementation of the comprehensive zoning tool designed by a diverse group of land planners, designers, attorneys, developers and concerned citizens to address unsustainable land use patterns.

Resolving Human-Wildlife Conflicts

As more people crowd onto existing land, incidences of human-wildlife conflicts will only increase. This book discusses the issues facing wildlife managers and anyone else dealing with interactions between wildlife and humans, filling a void in the fields of wildlife management and ecology.

Researchers test fire-wise landscaping

Local research on the flammability of common garden mulches is a key ingredient in a national study on how wildfires can impact homes. Using four mulches commonly used around the country - pine straw, shredded cypress and small and large chunk pine bark nuggets - researchers here are testing ... read more...

Urban tree residues: Survey methodology [Final report]

This workbook is a supplemental document to 'Urban Tree Residues: Results of the First National Inventory.' The workbook is designed to provide a framework for performing a survey of urban tree residue generators. The format is structured to allow users the opportunity to follow a consistent ...

Urban landscape conservation and the role of ecological greenways at local and metropolitan scales

Greenways are promoted for land conservation in both rural and urban areas, but less attention has been paid to the potential of greenways to serve urban biodiversity conservation goals. This paper presents results of a biodiversity planning study of a highly urbanized environment in Washington, DC ...

Urban landscape conservation and the role of ecological greenways at local and metropolitan scales

Greenways are promoted for land conservation in both rural and urban areas, but less attention has been paid to the potential of greenways to serve urban biodiversity conservation goals. This paper presents results of a biodiversity planning study of a highly urbanized environment in Washington, DC ...

Recycling municipal trees: A guide for marketing sawlogs from street tree removals in municipalities

The purpose of this guide is to make officials of municipalities aware of an alternative strategy for using their street tree removals; a 'recycling' strategy which can potentially turn a cost-burden scenario into an income-generating opportunity. The strategy involves merchandising sawmill-size ...

Record Breaker: Fires burn most acres in nearly half a century

The United States suffered the worst wildfire season since 1960, with fires burning more then 9.3 million acres as of Oct. 16. Take a look back, region by region, at the worst wildfire season in decades.

Primer on wood biomass for energy

The purpose of this paper is to explain and describe the concepts of wood energy on a residential, commercial, and industrial scale in the United States so that the Forest Service can meet the demands of communities involved in the forest products industry. In addition, the terminology associated ...

Extension at the wildland-urban interface: A case study of community fire planning

The recent nationwide emphasis on community fire planning provides an important new opportunity for Extension. This article presents a case study of Extension involvement in neighborhood fire planning. We describe how intensive neighborhood outreach, design, and delivery of educational programs and ...

Dropping In: San Diego's helicopter plays a crucial role in interagency wirldand fire response

In the face of growing firefighting challenges in the wildland urban interface, the San Diego Fire - Rescue Department (SDFD) relies heavily on the availability of year round firefighting Type II, medium lift helicopters. These helicopters and their crews are crucial to San Diego's success in ...

Defensible Space: Fifteen Reasons Why People Don't Do It

The term defensible space refers to that area between a house and an oncoming wildfire where the vegetation has been modified to reduce the wildfire threat and allow fire fighters to safely operate. Research results clearly demonstrate that defensible space improves the probability of house ...

Bastrop, Texas: Steps to improve community preparedness for wildfire

This handout provides cooperators and high fire risk communities in the area of Bastrop, Texas examples of steps to take to increase wildfire preparedness.

Bargaining for Development

A handbook on development agreements, annexation agreements, land development conditions, vested rights and the provision of public facilities. Features an extensive categorization by type of public facility and discusses ways to calculate impact fees. Includes model agreements drafted for ...

Backyard Woods Tip Sheets

Wooded land doesn't have to cover hundreds or thousands of acres to provide richness and diversity of life. Over 6 million landowners in the U.S. own 1 to 10 acres, and small acreages can have large impacts if managed correctly. The Backyard Woods program offers detailed tip sheets on 12 topics, ...

Assessing damage and restoring trees after a hurricane

Hurricanes can be damaging to communities and urban forests. However, there are opportunities to better prepare for the next hurricane season and rebuild a healthy urban forest. This publication is part of an Urban Forest Hurricane Program, aimed at citizens and communities who seek to rebuild and ...

Has the myth of the omnipotent forester become the reality of the impotent forester?

Almost 40 years ago, Behan�s article (The myth of the omnipotent forester. 1966.) stressed that the role of professional foresters in the United States was not to tell the public how to mange their forests, but to manage according to society�s goals. This article considers whether foresters have ...

Influence of consumers' socioecological and economic orientations on preferences for wood products with sustainability labels

A questionnaire was developed to assess people's sustainability orientation concerning forests considering the ecological, social, and economical dimension and to assess their knowledge of labels for sustainable forestry (SF). The questionnaire items were used to analyze the relationship between ...

Open Ground: Effective local Strategies for Protecting Natural Resources

A comprehensive source of strategies available to local governments to protect the environment. Helps readers draft land use ordinances, land acquisition programs, and smart growth strategies that protect critical landscapes and natural resources.

Fuel breaks affect nonnative species abundance in Californian plant communities

The abundance of nonnative plants on fuel breaks and in adjacent untreated areas was examined to determine if fuel treatments promote the invasion of nonnative plant species. Understanding the relationship between fuel treatments and nonnative plants is becoming increasingly important as federal ...