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.

Nest-site selection by Cooper's hawks in an urban environment

Loss of nesting habitat due to urbanization and development has been identified as a primary threat to Cooper's hawks (Accipiter cooperii), but this species can successfully nest in some urbanized areas. Hence, understanding the features of urban areas that promote occupancy by Cooper's hawks may ...

Natural hazard policy and the land market: an assessment of the effects of the califonia natural hazard disclosure law

The California Natural Hazard Disclosure Law (AB 1195) of 1998, the first comprehensive and enforceable natural hazard disclosure law in the country, provides a useful instrument for analyzing how information asymmetries in real estate transactions affect land allocation in hazard zones, and how ...

Movement of people across the landscape: a blurring of distinctions between areas, interests, and issues affecting natural resource management

The spread of development from cities into surrounding forests and farms continues to receive a great deal of attention from the media and resource managers in the US and other countries. However, suburban sprawl is just one of many inter-linked components of the movement of people across the ...

Linking smallholder land use and fire activity: examining biomass burning in the Brazilian Lower Amazon

Landscape forest flammability and regional biomass burning are critical environmental issues associated to fire use practices in the Brazilian Amazon. To better understand the gamut of these issues, all land use pathways that lead to fire use and culminate in different fire types must be ...

Landowners' educational needs and how foresters can respond

A study of nonindustrial private forest landowners in Utah and Indiana-states with different ownership characteristics and numbers-reveals that direct, simple, flexible educational methods like newsletters and personal assistance are preferred over workshops and high-tech methods. Landowners with ...

Watershed management: balancing sustainability and environmental change

The background and rationale for the symposium held in Seattle, Washington, USA, on New Perspectives for Watershed Management in the Pacific Northwest are presented. As the region develops, natural resource availability is declining, increasing demands are being made on the remaining resources, and ...

Using spatial metrics to predict scenic perception in a changing landscape: Dennis, Massachusetts

This paper investigates residents' perceptions of scenic quality in the Cape Cod community of Dennis, Massachusetts during a period of significant landscape change. In the mid-1970s, Chandler [Natural and Visual Resources, Dennis, Massachusetts. Dennis Conservation Commission and Planning Board, ...

Urbanization on the US landscape: looking ahead in the 21st century

Conversion of rural lands to urban and other built-up uses affects the mix of commodities and services produced from the global land base. In the United States, there was a 34% increase in the amount of land devoted to urban and built-up uses between 1982 and 1997. This increase came predominantly ...

Aids to determining fuel models for estimating fire behavior

During the past two decades in the United States, the USDA Forest Service has progressed from a fire danger rating system comprising two fuel models (USDA 1964), to nine models in 1972 (Deeming and others 1972), and to 20 models in 1978 (Deeming and others 1977). During this time the prediction of ...

Agroforestry: options for landowners

Agroforestry is growing trees with crops and/or with animals in combinations that will benefit farmers, forest landowners, and communities. By mixing these different components on the same site, agroforestry practices can provide a variety of traditional products and additional income as well as ...

Threats to Florida's biodiversity

Look at a map of Florida, and what do you see? A spider web of roadways crisscrossing he state, converging on towns, from a small corner grocery store and gas station to huge metropolitan areas that sprawl for miles. A land that was once considered uninhabitable now has the fourth highest ...

Wildlife management by metropolitan residents in the United States: practices, perceptions, costs, and values

I examined wildlife management practices and opinions of metropolitan residents in the United States concerning urban wildlife by: (1) mailing questionnaires to a random sample of residents from 10 of the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the United States, (2) telephoning a random sample of ...

Wildfire landscaping

Not surprisingly, home-owners are increasingly aware that to protect their homes from wildfire, fire resistance should be an essential part of their landscape design. But simply choosing plants from lists of so-called fire-resistant species is no assurance that a home will be protected. Plants that ...

Saving homes from wildfires: regulating the home ignition zone

The wildland-urban interface (W-UI), also called the wildland-urban intermix and the I-zone, is the space where wildfires can potentially ignite homes. This issue of Zoning News will examine the reality of the wildland fire threat and determine how development codes can be used to save residential ...

The Oklahoma Fire Danger Model: an operational tool for mesoscale fire danger rating in Oklahoma

This paper describes the Oklahoma Fire Danger Model, an operational fire danger rating system for the state of Oklahoma (USA) developed through joint efforts of Oklahoma State University, the University of Oklahoma, and the Fire Sciences Laboratory of the USDA Forest Service in Missoula, Montana. ...

The Mack Lake fire

This paper describes the Mack Lake Fire near Mio, Michigan. Few documented wildfires have exceeded its average spread rate (2 mi/h) and energy release rate (8,800 Btu/ft/sec). The extreme behavior resulted from high winds, low humididty, low fuel moisture, and jack pine fuels. Horizontal role ...

The exurbanization of America's forests

Exurbanization, or the migration of urban residents to rural environments has increased greatly over the past two decades, often motivated by perceptions of an improved quality of life in rural locations. The effects of sudden population changes on forestry can be significant, affecting local ...

Responses of a small mammal community to heterogeneity along forest-old-field edges

Despite the importance of edges effects in ecological systems, the causes and consequences of animal responses to habitat edges are largely unknown. We used three years of live-trapping and measures of the plant community around trap stations to explore the responses of white-footed mice ...

Resident perspectives of the open space conservation subdivision in Hamburg Township, Michigan

The open space conservation subdivision (R.G. Arendt, 1996) has been presented as an alternative to conventional large lot residential development. A form of clustering, this planning approach emphasizes the quality as well as the quantity of land preserved. The format offers a means for local ...

The use of shaded fuelbreaks in landscape fire management

Shaded fuelbreaks and larger landscape fuel treatments, such as prescribed fire, are receiving renewed interest as forest protection strategies in the western United States. The effectiveness of fuel breaks remains a subject of debate because of differing fuelbreak objectives, prescriptions for ...

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

Wildland fire across the United States has put a number of residents at risk and stressed the resources of many forestry and fire agencies as they work to suppress the fires. Residents can play an important role in reducing their risk and in supporting fuel treatments on nearby undeveloped lands. ...

Property inspection guide

This guide is designed for use by fire prevention inspectors or persons with responsibility to conduct inspections of structures and improvements in fire prone areas. It is a ready reference that provides legal responsibilities and recommendations on additional fire safe practices.

Prometheus unbound: although it's human to fear fire, recent catastrophic wildfires have freed us to embrace the flame

There are few landscapes in America that have never been touched or shaped by fire. The flame has been a ubiquitous Promethean life force-a mythological gift from the gods-painting with a black palette so that the natural canvas around us can be green. But last summer as thousands of conflagrations ...

Prescribed burning in the South: trends, purposes. and barriers

The results of a survey of fire management officials concerning historical and projected prescribed burning activity in the South are reported. Prescribed burning programs on USDA Forest Service and private and State-owned lands are described in terms of area burned by ownership and State, intended ...

Prescribed burning for regeneration

The character of most forest ecosystems in the southern U.S. has been shaped by fire. Indians and early settlers burned the woods for many purposes. After a period of trying to exclude fire, foresters recognized its value as an ecological force and its necessity as a management tool. This chapter ...

Predicting severe wildfire years in the Florida Everglades

Wildfires result in important ecological benefits to many ecosystems , but have costs associated with fire fighting and property loss . Accurate , timely forecasts of the severity of upcoming wildfire seasons could facilitate ...

Predicting fire behavior in the wildland-urban interface

Fire exclusion in wildlands during the last century has caused the excessive accumulation of fuels that has resulted in catastrophic fires. In spite of devastating losses from fire, human development continues to increase in the wildland-urban interface. Additional houses and other structures are ...

Planning for resilience: modeling change in human-fire interactions in the Alaskan boreal forest

The development of policies that promote ecological, economic, and cultural sustainability requires collaboration between natural and social scientists. We present a modeling approach to facilitate this communication and illustrate its application to studies of wildfire in the interior of Alaska. ...

Fire act grants can fund firewise activities

Congress recently approved a Federal fiscal year 2003 spending package that includes $750 million for the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program under the Fire Act, for grants in 2003-2004. This nearly doubles the more than $330 million that was disbursed under the same act in 2001-2002. What ...

Field procedures for verification and adjustment of fire behavior predictions

The problems of verifying fire predictions at the optional level are discussed and four fire prediction situations identified: (1) predicting fire spread several hours before it is expected, using a weather forecast; (2) predicting fire spread just before it occurs, using measured weather data; (3) ...

Exploring the difference between recyclers and non-recyclers: the role of information

This article reports on a pilot study which explored how recyclers and non-recyclers differ. Two hundred households were first identified by direct observation over a series of months being either recyclers or non-recyclers. These households were then contacted and ninety-one respondents agreed ...

Exploring environmental issues in the places we live

Think back to your childhood. Where did you play? How did you get around? What are your most vivid memories of these places? Can you still sense the smells, sights, and sounds of those places? Why do you think these memories have remained? We all have strong experiences of places; they originate ...

Effects of grazing and burning on densities and habitats of breeding ducks in North Dakota

Native grassland communities controlled by public agencies become increasingly important to the maintenance of many wildlife species as privately owned grasslands are destroyed or degraded for farming, mining, and development. In turn, wildlife on publicly owned grasslands are affected by the ...

Effects of fire on temperate forests and related ecosystems: southeastern United States

Studies of effects of fire on the flora and fauna of the southeastern United States have had a long and controversial history. Most of the research effort has had relevance to forest management of longleaf pine ( Pinus palustris ), range management in such forests, and management of wildlife, ...

Effects of fire on temperate forests: Northeastern United States

Fires were common in many sections of the Northeast before the land was settled by Europeans because Indians used fire for land-clearing, for keeping woods in an open condition, and for driving game. Burning was not deliberate in the Adirondacks, in much of northern New England, nor in the hillier ...

Campaign seeks to prevent damage from southern pine beetles

The southern pine beetle (SPB) is an aggressive insect pest that has devastated thousands of acres of pines throughout northern and central Florida during the last decade. Unhealthy and poorly managed pine stands, coupled with drought, have contributed to the development of destructive SPB ...

Best management practices for riparian areas

Forest streams, lakes, and other water bodies create unique conditions along their margins that control and influence transfers of energy, nutrients, and sediments between aquatic and terrestrial systems. These riparian areas are among the most critical features of the landscape because they ...

BEHAVE: Fire behavior prediction and fuel modeling system-FUEL subsystem

The site-specific fuel modeling programs described in this manual are part of the BEHAVE System--a series of interactive fire behavior computer programs for estimating wildland fire potential under various fuels, weather, and topographic situations. The field procedures and the two interactive ...

Are overabundant deer herds in the eastern United States creating alternate stable states in the forest plant communities?

The concept of an alternate stable state (i.e., a stable condition in an ecological community at a different stage than that which would be predicted, based on the prevailing ecological and successional conditions) has been examined in recent reviews in the literature of rangeland vegetation ...

Perception of fire danger and wildland/urban policies after wildfire

Quantitative analysis conducted after the May 1985 Palm Coast fire in Florida identified several residential characteristics that influenced vulnerability to wildfire. As a follow-up to that analysis, homeowners were surveyed to determine their perception of fire danger and to determine their views ...

People, fire, and wildland environments

The mixing of people, wildlands, and fire hazards-the urban/wildland interface-is creating a management problem that offers both challenges and opportunities to resource managers. This paper provides an overview of the many facets of the urban/wildland fire interface. The nature of the problem is ...

Ozark-Ouachita Highlands Assessment: summary report

This publication summarizes four other reports prepared as part of the Ozark-Ouachita Highlands Assessment. The summary report addresses social and economic conditions and trends, aquatic conditions, air quality, and terrestrial vegetation and wildlife of the Highlands in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and ...

Ozark-Ouachita Highlands Assessment: air quality

The Atmospheric Team, with input from scientists, forest planners, and concerned citizens, identified five questions that needed to be addressed in order to understand air quality conditions and trends in the Ozark-Ouachita Highlands: (1) What are the major emissions characteristics in the ...

Objectives setting in the wildland fire system: what do the customers think?

While considerable effort has gone into building modeling tools to identify economically efficient configurations for initial attack systems, little has gone into examination of the demand for fire protection in the urban wildland interface. It can be argued that the homeowners there experience ...

Northwest Florida Greenway: the military requirement

In addition to bolstering economic health, the U.S. military has helped sustain the region’s quality of life and natural legacy. The military has offered the community a wide range of outdoor recreation opportunities on military contained lands, and demonstrated sound proactive land ...

Georgia mobile classroom focuses on homeowner safety

The Georgia Forestry Commission (GFC) has designed a new mobile classroom focusing on homeowner education for fire prevention in wildland-urban interface areas. A new concept for Georgia, the Wildland-Urban Interface Mobile Classroom is eventually expected to travel statewide to counteract wildfire ...

Forest road erosion, sediment transport, and model validation in the southern Appalachians

The Conasauga River Watershed, located in northern Georgia and southern Tennessee, has one of the most diverse aquatic ecosystems in this region and is currently being considered for designation as a wild and scenic river. The Conasauga River also serves as a major source of drinking water for ...

Five hot tips for homeowners on the edge

The California Department of Forestry estimates that 1.5 million homes are in the wildfire interface. Fortunately, people living in the wildfire interface can, if they know where to look, acquire the know-how to substantially increase their chances of saving their tails and their homes. My visits ...

Fire safety tips for all seasons

The State Fire Marshal's Office has developed this list of seasonal fire safety tips for you and your family. There are more than 209 fires in Florida homes every day. Forty percent start in the kitchen, more than 22 percent are caused by faulty wiring, followed by careless smoking, children ...

Fire regimes in southeastern ecosystems

Fire has significantly influenced the evolution of ecosystems throughout the Southeast, but particularly in the Coastal Plain. Fire frequency is a consequence of the frequency of incendiary events, landscape continuity, a complex set of moisture conditions, and the rate of fuel production. Changes ...

Fire prevention in the rural/urban interface: Washington's backyard forest stewardship/wildfire safety program

Like most forested states in the U.S., Washington faces the increasing challenge of providing forest fire prevention and protection as more people move into the urban/rural interface, while mitigating the impacts of growth on forest resources. Washington is the smallest state in the western U.S., ...

Fire management in the slash pine ecosystem

Evidence of a long history of recurrent fire is the vegetation itself. Most of the species endemic to the pine forests of this region are tolerant of fire, and many actually depend upon it for their existence--an evolutionary process that takes considerable time to develop. Without continued ...

Fire management

Fire is an evolutionary force that has helped shape many terrestrial ecosystems. With the exception of the coldest and wettest regions of the earth, great tracts of land have been subject to periodic fires for millennia. This is true for the southern Appalachian region where several fire-associated ...

Comparison of fuel load, structural characteristics and infrastructure before and after the Oakland Hills 'Tunnel Fire'

Structures rebuilt after the Oakland Hills "Tunnel Fire" in 1991 are different in many aspects when compared to their predecessors. Data obtained from the city of Oakland indicate homes have been rebuilt 28 percent larger (square feet). About 50 percent of the homes destroyed have been rebuilt, and ...

A survey of rural population density and forest fire occurrence in the South, 1956-1970

Rural residents comprise a high risk potential population regarding person-caused wildfire incidence in the South. However, rural population density (RPD=number of people per square mile) was found to be indeterminately associated with fire occurrence rate (FOR=number of fires per million acres ...

Improving fire hazard assessment at the urban-wildland interface: case study in South Lake Tahoe, CA

A fire hazard assessment was conducted on private, developed lots in South Lake Tahoe, a high fire hazard urban-wildland interface community in Northern California. Fire hazard was assessed in terms of the minimum standards set forth in the National Fire Protection Association's (NFPA) Standard ...

Historical and ecological roles of disturbance in eastern North American forests: 9,000 years of change

Recent declines in habitat suitable for early successional wildlife species are interpreted in a broad historical context, using several types of scientific and historical evidence to estimate changes in amount of young forest habitat in presettlement and post-settlement eras. A major contrast in ...

The ease of ignition of 13 landscape mulches

The ease of ignition of 13 commonly used landscape mulches was evaluated. Mulches have different ignition potentials based on several factors, including the length of exposure to heat and to the ignition source. Some materials ignited more frequently when exposed to a lit propane torch for 15 ...

The defensible space and healthy forest handbook: a guide to reducing the wildfire threat

Specifically, the objective of this program is to reduce the potential for natural resource, property, and human life losses due to wildfire by empowering the communities residents with the knowledge to address the hazard, providing the resources necessary to correct the problem, and encouraging ...

The current status on the selection and management of vegetation for slow rate and overland flow application systems to treat municipal wastewater in the North Central region of the United States

The 1977 Clean Water Amendments to Public Law 92-500 were enacted to strengthen the original policy of encouraging the utilization of innovative, alternative management techniques for the treatment and disposal of municipal wastewater. These alternative techniques include spray irrigation and ...

Targeting audiences and content for forest fire information programs

Data from three independently conducted surveys indicate a high level of support for management practices initiated and controlled by the manager. Additional analysis performed on one of the data sets further reveals the extent to which sociodemographic characteristics and beliefs about the effects ...

Structure Ignition Assessment Model (SIAM)

Major wildland/urban interface fire losses, principally residences, continue to occur. Although the problem is not new, the specific mechanisms are not well known on how structures ignite in association with wildland fires. In response to the need for a better understanding of wildland/urban ...

Structural fire prevention field guide for mitigation of wildland fires

To protect resources, both natural and developed, public policy demanded an aggressive initial attack fire suppression strategy. This strategy resulted in the interruption of California's natural fire regime with lower frequency, shorter seasons, larger average fire size and increased intensity. ...

Strategies for and barriers to public adoption of fire safe behavior

A recent survey of people living in wildland-urban intermix neighborhoods in a portion of the Sierra-Cascade foothills identified perceptions of defensible space that block its rapid and widespread adoption. A companion survey described communication channels used by residents to acquire ...

Southeastern forests

Historical evidence indicates that fire was a common and widespread occurrence across the South (Harper 1962). William Bartram, a botanist, wrote about fire in 1773, after traveling from South Carolina to the Mississippi. He said, "It happens almost everyday throughout the year, in some part or ...

Modeling and prediction of future urban growth in the Charleston region of South Carolina: a GIS-based integrated approach

The complexity of urban systems makes it difficult to adequately address their changes using a model based on a single approach. In this research, we developed a GIS-based integrated approach to modeling and prediction of urban growth in terms of land use change. The model was built upon a binomial ...

Measuring moisture dynamics to predict fire severity in longleaf pine forests

To understand the combustion limit of biomass fuels in a longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) forest, an experiment was conducted to monitor the moisture content of potentially flammable forest floor materials (litter and duff) at Eglin Air Force Base in the Florida Panhandle. While longleaf pine ...

Wildfire: are you and your home prepared?

Three-quarters of wildfires are caused by people being careless. These fires can be prevented. One-third of them are caused by recreationists such as campers, anglers and hunters. In the Great Lakes Region, more than one-quarter, or 1,500 fires annually, are caused from careless burning by ...

Weather, fuel status and fire occurrence: predicting large fires

Large forest fires are by far the most challenging problem which both, fire managers and fire researchers, have to deal with. Under normal circumstances of fire detection and suppression efforts, a fire becomes large usually because it has great potential of spreading very fast and intensely, ...

Waterwise Florida landscapes: landscaping to promote water conservation using the principles of Xeriscape

Preserving and protecting Florida's water resources is a main focus of the state's five water management districts. This guide is brought to you by the water management districts in an effort to help you work with nature in the state's unique environment to establish a landscape that conserves ...

Under invasion! The battle for Florida's forests

Florida’s forests are under foreign invasion. Every day, introduced foreign plant species are spreading and reproducing in every region of the state, “battling” and out competing native plants, increasing land management costs, reducing pine productivity and affecting biodiversity. As foresters, ...

Things to know about offering nature-based tourism on private forestlands in Florida

This article will discuss the issue of nature-based recreation and tourism for forest landowners in Florida. It is not meant to be a comprehensive guide for developing a successful nature-based tourism business on your land. It simply will discuss the concept as it relates to Florida landowners and ...

Theoretical validity of contingent values for protection from wildland fire

The value of fire protection at the wildland-urban interface was assessed for residents of a Michigan jack pine forest. Willingness to pay for collective risk reduction was consistent with a two-stage decision model: (1) participation in the hypothetical market for risk reduction, and (2) how much ...

Wildland fire in the Southeast: negotiating guidelines for defensible space

Wildland fire is becoming a concern for residents in many eastern states as fuel loads, weather patterns, and population growth increase risk at the wildland-urban interface. Some messages about reducing risk, however, are based on western wildfire information and are seen as inappropriate by ...

Wildfire mitigation in Florida: land use planning strategies and best development practices

This guide is a manual for communities at risk of wildland fire. Wildfires have struck every county in Florida in recent years. As more people move to Florida and development expands into areas of natural vegetation, we are likely to see even more wildfires in areas with human development. Although ...

Single factor categorical data analysis of the 1991 Oakland/Berkeley "Tunnel" fire

Analysis of data collected after the devastating 1991 Tunnel has provided interesting insight into factors contributing to the probability of a home surviving a wildland fire. Utilizing a GIS database to select structures for analysis based on geography allowed an analysis to be conducted in which ...

The role of vegetation structure and fuel chemistry in excluding fire from forest patches in the fire-prone fynbos shrublands of South Africa

The physical and chemical make-up of fynbos favors fire. It is more flammable than Chilean mattorral, but is less flammable than Californian chaparral or Australian Eucalyptus woodlands due to lower crude fat contents and higher foliar moisture contents. Although narrow forest strips may be ...

The role of indigenous burning in land management

This article highlights the findings of the literature on aboriginal fire from the human-and the land-centered disciplines, and suggests that the traditional knowledge of the indigenous peoples be incorporated into plans for reintroducing fire to the nation’s forests Traditional knowledge ...

The quest for the all-purpose plant

The fire safety of a home in the wildland/urban interface is influenced by several factors--one of which is the presence and proximity of vegetation to the home. Landscaping may either provide a significant barrier to fire spread and thus potentially increase a home's fire safety or favor fire ...

The quality of attitudinal information regarding natural resource issues: the role of attitude-strength, importance, and information

The decision-making process in natural resource management has historically been guided by information from the biological and physical sciences. However, as the public becomes more knowledgeable about and active regarding natural resource issues, the integration of a multidisciplinary social ...

Regional estimation of current and future forest biomass

The 90,674 wildland fires that burned 2.9 million ha at an estimated suppression cost of $1.6 billion in the United States during the 2000 fire season demonstrated that forest fuel loading has become a hazard to life, property, and ecosystem health as a result of past fire exclusion policies and ...

Proceedings of the 1991 Northeastern Recreation Research symposium

The Northeastern Recreation Research meeting seeks to foster quality information exchange between recreation and travel resource managers and researchers throughout the Northeast. The forum provides opportunities for managers from different agencies and states, and from different governmental ...

Proceedings of a conference on sustainability of wetlands and water resources: how well can riverine wetlands continue to support society into the 21st century?

The conference focused on recent work in freshwater wetlands [both natural and constructed] with a view toward understanding wetland processes in a watershed context. Since humans have played important roles in watershed dynamics for years, attention was given to the human dimensions of wetland and ...

Predicting nutrient and sediment loadings to streams from landscape metrics: A multiple watershed study from the United States Mid-Atlantic Region

There has been an increasing interest in evaluating the relative condition or health of water resources at regional and national scales. Of particular interest is an ability to identify those areas where surface and ground waters have the greatest potential for high levels of nutrient and sediment ...

Potential effects of climate change on freshwater ecosystems of the New England/Mid-Atlantic region

Numerous freshwater ecosystems, dense concentrations of humans along the eastern seaboard, extensive forests, and a history of intensive land use distinguish the New England/Mid-Atlantic Region. Human population densities are forecast to increase in portions of the region at the same time that ...

Fate of hexazinone and picloram in southern forest watersheds

Herbicides are being used more frequently in the intensively managed forest ecosystems of the southeastern United States. Most of this increased use occurs during site preparation prior to replanting cutover or converted stands. Herbicides provide a cost-effective tool for controlling herbaceous ...

Estimating stability class in the field

A simple and easily remembered method is described for estimating cloud ceiling height in the field. Estimating ceiling height provides the means to estimate stability class, a parameter used to help determine Dispersion Index and Low Visibility Occurrence Risk Index, indices used as smoke ...

Effect of stand width and adjacent habitat on breeding bird communities in bottomland hardwoods

Bottomland hardwood forests support an abundant and diverse avifauna, but area of this forest type has been reduced, and current projections indicate continued declines. The authors compared breeding bird abundance indices and species richness among bottomland hardwood stands ranging in width from ...

Ecosystem recovery following selenium contamination in a freshwater reservoir

Belews Lake, North Carolina, was contaminated by selenium in wastewater released from a coal-fired electric generating facility during 1974-1985. Selenium bioaccumulated in aquatic food chains and caused severe reproductive failure and teratogenic deformities in fish. Beginning in 1986, the ...

Economic analysis of the potential impact of climate change on recreational trout fishing in the southern Appalachian mountains: an application of a nested multinomial logit model

Global warming due to the enhanced greenhouse effect through human activities has become a major public policy issue in recent years. The present study focuses on the potential economic impact of climate change on recreational trout fishing in the Southern Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina. ...

Catastrophic disturbances and the steady state in northern hardwood forests

Models of ecosystem development usually portray plant succession as an orderly progression of biological changes in an environment that is presumed to be more or less constant (Odum 1969; Woodwell 1974). Yet every terrestrial ecosystem is subject to a range of disturbances varying from those that ...

Birds of the southeastern United States: a historical perspective

Historic freshwater aquatic and wetland ecosystems of the Southeastern United States were predominantly rivers and streams and associated natural bottomland forests. These systems have been drastically altered through the creation of reservoirs via damming, through other alterations of water ...

Assessing the toxic threat of selenium to fish and aquatic birds.

A procedure is given for evaluating the toxic threat of selenium to fish and wildlife. Toxic threat is expressed as hazard, and is based on the potential for food-chain bioaccumulation and reproductive impairment in fish and aquatic birds, which are the most sensitive biological responses for ...

Assessing habitat suitability at multiple scales: a landscape-level approach

The distribution and abundance of many plants and animals are influenced by the spatial arrangement of suitable habitats across landscapes. We derived habitat maps from a digital land cover map of the ~178,000 km2 Chesapeake Bay Watershed by using a spatial filtering algorithm. The regional amounts ...

Knowledge-based information management in decision support for ecosystem management in the Pacific Northwest U.S.

The Pacific Northwest Research Station (USDA Forest Service) is developing a knowledge-based information management system to provide decision support for watershed analysis in the Pacific Northwest region of the U.S. The decision support system includes: (1) a GIS interface that allows users to ...

Irrigated agriculture and wildlife conservation: conflict on a global scale

The demand for water to support irrigated agriculture has led to the demise of wetlands and their associated wildlife for decades. This thirst for water is so pervasive that many wetlands considered to be hemispheric reserves for waterbirds have been heavily affected, for example, the California ...

Influences of land use on leaf breakdown in southern Appalachian headwater streams: a multiple-scale analysis

Stream ecosystems can be strongly influenced by land use within watersheds. The extent of this influence may depend on the spatial distribution of developed land and the scale at which it is evaluated. Effects of land-cover patterns on leaf breakdown were studied in 8 Southern Appalachian headwater ...

In the eye of the beholders: public views on the aesthetic value of pine stands regenerated by different methods

Most people enjoy the beauty of forest scenery. There is a unique beauty that emanates from forests that has been treasured by generations of Americans and continues to inspire us all at times. Many non-industrial private forest landowners consider forest scenery as one of their top ownership ...

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 over fertilization of arable land. Nitrogen excess in watersheds is detrimental because of disruptions in plant/soil nutrient relations, ...

From the Bronx to Birmingham: impact of chestnut blight and management practices on forest health risks in the southern Appalachian mountains

Southern Appalachian forest landscapes evoke images of the primeval forest in many people today. Indeed, most vegetation components in these forests have been present in varying mixtures and distributions for at least 58 million years (Delcourt and Delcourt 1981). However, the only thing constant ...