Welcome to the Southern Research Station

The Southern Research Station, with headquarters located in western North Carolina, is the leading organization for research on natural resource management and sustainability in the Southern United States. With a staff of 130 scientists serving 13 Southern States, our mission is to create the science and technology needed to sustain and enhance Southern forest ecosystems and the benefits they provide. (more...)

Message from the Director...

I am Jim Reaves, and I welcome you to the Southern Research Station.

As the new director, I pledge to build on our Station's long history of contributing to forest sustainability in the Southern United States by providing credible and useful scientific information.

Over my 26 years with the Forest Service, I have had many positions within our agency including scientist and assistant director with the Southern Research Station. Now I am thrilled to be back leading what I believe to be the premiere natural resources research organization in the South!

As I begin my tenure I think that it is important to share with you the basis of my vision for the future. (more....)

Invasive of the Month: Tree-of-Heaven (Ailanthus)

Tree-of-heaven or ailanthus (Ailanthus altissima) is a deciduous tree that grows up to 80 feet tall with long pinnately compound leaves, gray slightly fissured bark, and large terminal clusters of greenish flowers in early summer. Flowers and other parts of the plant have a strong odor. Tree-of-heaven sprouts have been found to grow 10 to 14 feet and seedlings 3 to 6 feet tall in the first year, with vigorous growth continuing for 4 or more years. Nonnative trees such as tree-of heaven hinder reforestation and management of right-of-ways and natural areas, as well as dramatically altering habitats. Read more about this plant and specific methods to control it.

Synonyms: ailanthus, Chinese sumac, stinking sumac, paradise-tree, copal-tree

Plant. Deciduous tree to 80 feet in height and 6 feet in diameter, with long pinnately compound leaves and circular glands under lobes on leaflet bases. Strong odor from flowers and other parts, sometimes likened to peanuts or cashews...(More)

Recent Publications Added To Our Website

We have 23,867 publications online that you can view and print.

• Brown-spot resistance in natural stands of longleaf pine seedlings
• Paradise lost: alien plant invaders compromising productive, rich state forests
• Genomic and physiological approaches to advancing forest tree improvement
• Testing the assumption of annual shell ring deposition in freshwater mussels
• Control of clavicipitaceous anamorphic endophytes with fungicides, aerated steam and supercritical fluid CO₂-seed extraction
• Freshwater sculpins: phylogenetics to ecology
• Influence of a mineral insecticide particle size on bait efficacy against Reticulitermes flavipes (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae)
• Contribution of dead wood to biomass and carbon stocks in the Caribbean: St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands
• Relationships between common forest metrics and realized impacts of Hurrican Katrina on forest resources in Mississippi
• A strategic plan for forest research and development in the south
• Forest Residues Bundling Project
• Mites (Acari: Scutacaridae) associated with the red imported fire ant, Solenopsis Invicta Buren (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), from Louisiana and Tennessee, U.S.A.