Southern Urban and Interface Forests - What's New

Taking a break to enjoy nature is a pleasure that most of us would like to incorporate into our workday because we know that a walk in the great outdoors can lift our spirits. However, psychologists said the benefits are greater than most of us realize and are more necessary than ever.

In this Update we feature the following topics (1) Special Feature: Archived Changing Roles Webinar on Ecosystem Goods and Services; (2) Research: Urban and Peri-Urban Forest Indicators for Assessing Ecosystem Services and Goods ; (3) Upcoming Event: A Community on Ecosystem Services (ACES) 2010 ; (4) In the News: Money Can Grow on Trees; (5) Literature: Caring for Our Natural Assets: An Ecosystem Services Perspective ; and (6)Website: USDA Forest Service Ecosystem Services.

This session will be presented by Dr. Steve McNulty, Team Leader, Ecologist, Eastern Forest Environmental Threats Assessment Center. USDA Forest Service.

This webinar session will:
• provide an introduction to climate change
• discuss interactions between climate change and other environmental stresses on US forest health including increasing climate variability, bringing more intense precipitation events, doughts, and heat waves. These changes will then affect soil erosion, sedimentation, and wildfire.
• discuss potential changes in insect and disease outbreak.
• discuss long-term climate change leading to changes in ecosystem composition
fisheries, and wildlife habitat, forest and range land productivity, and stream flow.

 

A USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station (NRS) report released in September 2010, Sustaining America’s Urban Trees and Forests, can help those who manage and care about urban trees and forests to increase public awareness of their importance, their many benefits, and the various factors that challenge the management of these critical resources.

Both electronic and printed copies of Sustaining America’s Urban Trees and Forests can be ordered at www.nrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/35572 .

This session will be presented by Dr. Steve McNulty, Team Leader, Ecologist, Eastern Forest Environmental Threats Assessment Center. USDA Forest Service.

This webinar session will:
• provide an introduction to climate change
• discuss interactions between climate change and other environmental stresses on US   forest health including increasing climate variability, bringing more intense precipitation events, doughts, and heat waves. These changes will then affect soil erosion, sedimentation, and wildfire.
• discuss potential changes in insect and disease outbreak.
• discuss long-term climate change leading to changes in ecosystem composition
fisheries, and wildlife habitat, forest and range land productivity, and stream
flow.
 

In our latest InterfaceSouth Update we focus on recent research, news, literature, websites, and events related to fire in the interface.

This issue of Leaves of Change focuses on outdoor recreation in the South, specifically focusing on the economic benefits that recreational trails can bring to communities. Michael Bowker (SRS research social scientist) has been studying the role of trail tourism in sparking economic life into rural areas in the South. In the case of the Virginia Creeper Trail, a railroad line built to haul harvested timber has been converted into a widely popular biking trail that has helped to revitalize communities who have suffered from economic shifts in the region.

Take a journey to three southern interface communities and explore their challenges and successes as they respond to issues that arise in rapidly changing landscapes. This video, When Nature is at Your Doorstep, was produced by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in partnership with InterfaceSouth, the University of Florida, and the Southern Group of State Foresters and is part of the Changing Roles Professional Development Program.

Researchers at the U.S. Forest Service, University of Florida, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) conducted a shrub flammability study of 34 southern shrub species using three different flammability categories to indicate how easily and intensely each shrub will burn: high, moderate, and low. The 34 shrubs shown here were selected for testing based on responses to a survey from fire professionals across the southern United States. View videos of this research in our new video section.

Researchers from the US Forest Service - Southern Research Station (SRS-4952), the University of Florida and the National Institute of Standards and Technology conducted a flammability study of four mulches commonly used around homes: pine straw, shredded cypress, small pine bark and large pine bark. View videos of this research here.