Water Supply in the Appalachian Mountains

Over the next 5 years, SRS Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory (Coweeta) scientists and collaborators will receive $460,000 from the NIFA AFRI for a project designed to help predict changes of water supply in the Southern Appalachian region over the course of the 21st century. Coweeta scientists Chelcy Ford, Jim Vose, Kimberly Novick, with University of Minnesota scientists Paul Bolstad and Steven Brantley, received the grant, with Ford as principal investigator.

The funded project is a mix of basic and applied research centered in the Southern Appalachian headwaters, which provide high-quality water for drinking and recreation for more than 18 million people in the region. Though the relationship between forest condition and water supply is generally understood, most current knowledge is based on experiments conducted on a fairly narrow range of forest age classes and is not adequate for estimating impacts from landscape-level changes due to climate variation and land use shifts.

The newly funded project will address this gap by collecting hydrologic data from eastern deciduous forests ranging from early succession to old-growth, with the ultimate purpose of improving the ability to forecast future water budgets in relation to forest conditions in major watersheds.

Effects of Harvest Strategies on Biodiversity

Research ecologist Susan Loeb from the SRS Upland Hardwoods Ecology and Management unit and university cooperators received a 5-year NIFA AFRI grant of $479,000 to look at how the size and distribution of early successional habitat patches in the mountains of North Carolina affect biodiversity. The project is a cooperative study among SRS, Western Carolina University, Clemson University, and the Nantahala National Forest, with Loeb as the principal investigator.

Early successional habitat (http://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/compass/2012/01/03/sustaining-young-forest-communities/ ) can be defined as forest where recent disturbance has resulted in an open or absent canopy. Many species of plants and animals depend on relatively open, early successional habitats, but the past few decades have seen a decline in these types of areas due to the abandonment of farms, development, and the suppression of natural disturbances such as fire, beaver activity, and flooding.

For the funded project, researchers will look at whether using timber harvest strategies to create patches of early successional habitat can increase the abundance of early successional species in a stand while maintaining timber yield and creating favorable public perception. Different harvest patterns and intensities will be used; researchers will focus on birds, bats, and plants as important indicators of biodiversity, and will use a variety of methods to measure public perception of the treatments.

The results will provide managers of both public and private lands with some publicly acceptable and economically feasible strategies to restore early successional species to the Southern Appalachian landscape.

The prescribed fire is part of a multi-year research study by the Bent Creek Experimental Forest, a silviculture research unit of the Southern Research Station. The project will help researchers better understand the effects and benefits of prescribed fire in mountain-hardwood forests.

The Forest Service will conduct the one-day prescribed burn on National Forest land in Buncombe County. Agency personnel will perform follow-up measures the following two days.

The Forest Service's National Forests in North Carolina will plan and supervise the prescribed burn. The agency will notify the public when the decision is made to conduct the burn. The Forest Service will close area trails and roads the day before the prescribed burn.

"The safety of the public and firefighters is the number one priority," said Riva Duncan, fire management officer with the National Forests in North Carolina. "The public is asked to heed signs posted at trailheads and roads and to stay away from burn sites and closed roads and trails."

The prescribed fire will occur when environmental conditions permit; wind and humidity are key factors in fire behavior, safety and smoke control. The Forest Service is required to meet state air quality requirements and will conduct smoke modeling to reduce the possible effects of smoke emissions. The proper personnel and equipment will be on site during the prescribed burn.

Scientists at Bent Creek will compare the effects of the dormant season (January - early March) prescribed burn with a growing season (June-July) burn to learn how timing affects hardwood regeneration, herbaceous plants, fuel consumption, reptile and amphibian populations, and breeding bird communities.

The agency will burn three units this winter and three other units in the summer. The remaining units will not be burned to serve as a control or reference for assessing how fire affects hardwood ecosystems. The overall study site consists of nine adjoining units, about 12 acres each, totaling nearly 120 acres. The Bent Creek study includes repeated prescribed burning at approximately three-to-five year intervals, depending on weather, fuels and the availability of personnel.

Following loss of the American chestnut in the 1920s, oaks dominated most central hardwood forests, providing acorns for wildlife and high-quality timber. In the Southern Appalachians, however, as mature oaks die they may not be replaced by younger oak trees. Prescribed fire has been used to increase oak regeneration in some areas of the South, but there are few long-term studies measuring its benefits in mountain-hardwood ecosystems, and even fewer studies examine the effects of prescribed fires conducted in the growing season. This scientific study in Bent Creek Experimental Forest promises to inform and guide hardwood ecosystem restoration efforts in the Southern Appalachians.

Historically, fire was used by Native Americans and settlers to maintain an open understory, but in the 1930s, forest fires began to be viewed as destructive and were suppressed whenever possible. Fire suppression increases wildfire risk as fuels (woody debris and shrubs) accumulate.

For more information on prescribed fire, visit the U.S. Forest Service website http://www.fs.fed.us/fire/management/.

For more information about Bent Creek Experimental Forest's research on prescribed fire and upland hardwood ecosystem restoration, contact Julia Murphy at 828-667-5261 ext. 104 or juliamurphy@fs.fed.us.

John Nowak, FHP Entomologist, (Photo by Michael Robinson)

The FHP Southern Pine Beetle (SPB) Prevention Program was developed at the request of Congress after the last major southern pine beetle outbreak, which lasted from 1999 to 2003 and impacted nearly one million acres of forest land in eight states, causing an estimated $1.5 billion in damages. The prevention strategy has been developed and implemented in close cooperation with 12 National Forests and 13 Southern states.

Proactive prevention treatments such as thinning are known to effectively reduce the hazard of southern pine beetle infestations and are best implemented between outbreaks. Treatments associated with the SPB Prevention Program have multiple benefits, including decreasing the impacts of fire, enhancing wildlife habitat, and increasing recreational opportunities.

Kier Klepzig, SRS Assistant Director, (Photo by Michael Robinson)

Since its inception, forest managers have treated a million acres of pine forests, which represents more than 13,000 landowners who have participated in cost-share programs and hundreds of loggers who have taken part in a logger incentive program. The SPB Prevention Program serves as an example for future proactive forest health strategies that landowners, forest managers, and cooperators apply across large geographic areas. Forest Health Protection is a program of USDA Forest Service State & Private Forestry.

For more information about the program: http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/spb/

These topics and more will be the focus of the Southern Appalachian Man and the Biosphere (SAMAB) conference held November 15 - 17 at the Renaissance Hotel in Asheville, North Carolina. The 21st annual meeting of SAMAB, a public/private partnership focused on the stewardship of the unique resources of the Southern Appalachians, will celebrate the forest-based livelihoods in timber and specialty woods, foods and medicines and recreation provided by the region's forests.

The conference will open at 1:00 November 15 with comments by Judy Francis, SAMAB president and Western Field Officer for the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources Office of Conservation and Community Affairs, followed by keynote singer and storyteller Joe Penland. Deemed a "Cultural Treasure" by the Asheville Citizen-Times, and the recipient of the coveted Bascom Lunsford Award (named for the founder of the longest running folk festival in America), Penland is the proud steward of twelve generations and over 350 years of the rich oral tradition of the Southern Appalachian region.

The conference continues into the afternoon with a panel on sustainable wild harvesting from Southern Appalachian forests. Over the following two days, sessions featuring researchers and local experts will explore topics that include:

• Growing and marketing special forests products;
• The sustainability of recreation on both federal and private lands;
• Water quality and the wise use of the region's rivers;
• Land use issues and the interface between private and federal ownerships;
• The legacy and present use of fire for forest management;
• The effects of nonnative invasive plants on native plants; and
• Wildlife issues such as the impacts of deer and wild boar populations.

On the afternoon of November 16, a showcase of special forest products, free and open to the public, will feature demonstrations and sales of products from Southern Appalachian forests such as honey, mushrooms, musical instruments, kudzu products, American chestnut seedlings and much more.

At 3:30 on November 16, there will be a public performance by Laura Boosinger and Bryan McDowell. Boosinger is an accomplished singer and musician who has extensively studied the traditional music culture of the Southern Appalachians and Western North Carolina in particular. Bryan McDowell has won over 20 awards for his mandolin, guitar and fiddle playing and received additional acclaim as a singer/songwriter. After the performance, items from the booths will be auctioned off--including a hybrid American chestnut seedling--with proceeds going to SAMAB to support future initiatives.

For more about the conference: http://www.samab.org/site/
More on individual sessions: http://www.samab.org/site/conference-schedules/2011-fall-conference/ (Click on Conference Agenda to download PDF).

The milestone was reached this fall, on private land in New Kent County, Va.

The Southern Pine Beetle Prevention Program spans 13 states and crosses boundaries from privately owned land to state and national forests, aiming to prevent future outbreaks and losses. More than 13,000 individual landowners have participated in the program, together with hundreds of loggers and contractors across the South, to improve the health of southern forests.

"The millionth acre is a tribute to healthy forests throughout the South, both here in these woods and throughout the regional landscape," said Arthur "Butch" Blazer, USDA Deputy Undersecretary for Natural Resources and the Environment. "Preventing infestations by the southern pine beetle takes cooperation on a grand scale, and today we honor everyone who contributed--every acre and every effort."

Major southern pine beetle outbreaks have occurred every eight to 12 years, historically. The most recent outbreak affected more than a million forested acres and resulted in an estimated $1.5 billion worth of timber loss. When it ended in 2002, the Forest Service calculated that more than 8.4 million acres of southern forestland were susceptible to the next outbreak, which led officials to take preventative action. Another outbreak could lead to even greater devastating losses for the region and for individual landowners.

"It's a native insect, but the southern pine beetle is the most destructive forest pest in the South, both in economic and ecological impacts," said Robert Mangold, director of Forest Health Protection at the U.S. Forest Service. "The prevention program is a proactive way to sustain and strengthen forest resources."

The Forest Service established the Southern Pine Beetle Prevention Program in 2003 as a comprehensive strategy to manage losses from the pest by reducing the stress to forests through good forest management. The program was developed through close cooperation with state foresters and national forest managers. Their strategy is proactive and broad--to increase the resiliency of pine forests across the South, crossing ownership boundaries and land uses.

Because the average forest landowner in the South owns 17 acres, officials said a landscape approach targeting small tracts was the right prescription. The work is accomplished through state forestry agencies and forest thinning programs.

Landowners who participate in the program are likely to continue growing trees; which translates into clean air and water, less erosion, healthy habitat for wildlife and scenic forests for all to enjoy.

The millionth-acre milestone was reached on private land in New Kent County, Va. as a result of the Logger Incentive Program developed by the Virginia Department of Forestry. This program makes treating small forests for southern pine beetle economically viable by paying loggers directly for their work on small (5- to 25-acre) pine stands.

Carl Garrison, State Forester for Virginia said, "Without this program, hundreds of Virginia landowners could have suffered tremendous losses on thousands of acres of forest land."

For State summaries and additional information:

Southern Pine Beetle Prevention Program: http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/spb

Virginia Department of Forestry Pine Bark Beetle Prevention Program: http://www.dof.virginia.gov/mgt/cip-fact-pbbp.htm

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The USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station (SRS) today announced the publication of a new synthesis of research on the southern pine beetle, a native bark beetle that impacts both the economic and ecological well-being of the forests of the southern United States.

Southern pine beetle is the most destructive forest pest in the Southern United States, causing more than $60 million in damage and lost timber income annually. The most recent outbreak of the insect (1999-2003) caused over $1.5 billion in damages across eight states. Changes in forests from tree death caused by the bark beetles can impact water supplies from forested watersheds as well as wildlife habitat.

Edited by SRS Assistant Director for Research Kier Klepzig and Texas A&M University Professor Robert Coulson, Southern Pine Beetle II updates the first synthesis published in 1980 by SRS researcher Robert Thatcher and others and proceedings from an integrated pest management research symposium published in 1985.

"In the 30 years since the last synthesis, the forest environment for southern pine beetle changed significantly," says Klepzig. "Industrial ownership declined, people moved into the wildland-urban interface, and recreational demand on forests expanded. The research arena has also changed dramatically over the last three decades. Advances in molecular, microscopy and landscape sciences have facilitated important new discoveries about the biology, ecology and management of southern pine beetle."

Southern Pine Beetle II consists of five basic sections covering ecology, impact, silviculture and management, treatment tactics and strategies, and integrated pest management. The authors who contributed individual chapters to the book are recognized authorities in their areas. The book is intended for managers, researchers, educators, students, and the interested public.

"Beyond their economic importance, bark beetles are fascinating organisms," says Klepzig. "The southern pine beetle is among the most thoroughly studied forest insects; this publication represents the current state-of-the-art knowledge base for this species."

SRS provided the funding for Southern Pine Beetle II, with contributions from the Forest Service Southern Region, Forest Health Protection, SPB Prevention and Restoration Program.

To view or download the book online: http://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/pubs/39017. Individual articles from the book are also available online and can be found by using the table of contents to search by author or article title.

To request that a copy of Southern Pine Beetle II, please send you complete mailing address with the title, author and publication number (GTR-140) to pubrequest@fs.fed.us.

"The report card looks at changes across the region in recent decades and provides an assessment of current economic, ecological and social conditions relative to the sustainability of the region's forests," said Rob Doudrick, director of the Forest Service Southern Research Station, a project partner. "I commend the researchers and analysts for their hard work in preparing a comprehensive report that decision-makers, planners, partners and many others can use to make informed choices."

The report card is a collaborative project between the Forest Service and the University of North Carolina at Asheville's National Environmental Modeling and Analysis Center. The Southern Research Station and National Forests of North Carolina represented the Forest Service in the project.

The report focuses on 18 counties in WNC, covering 7,480 square miles or 4.8 million acres. Partners began the project in 2008 and completed the report in 2010.

The report card is organized around criteria and indicators that are recognized internationally as a standard for measuring forest sustainability. These criteria are categories of conditions such as biodiversity, ecosystem health and socioeconomic benefits to assess sustainable management of local forests. Indicators are variables that can be measured. The report card describes the status of indicators as improving, worsening, uncertain, stable, stable/at risk, among others. Some of the report card’s key findings follow.

The report describes the following indicators as "improving":

• Lands managed for conservation – Since 2005, 60,000 acres of natural areas have been put into some form of conservation, an increase of about 5 percent.
• Timber volume, growth and removals – From 1984-2006, annual removals averaged less than 1 percent of the total inventory of growing stock trees, while average annual net growth was 3.9 percent. Total tree volume on timberland increased by 38 percent during this period.
• Water and air resources – Pollution has been reduced in many waterways, but development and habitat degradation continue to threaten aquatic environments. Passage of the Clean Air Act in 1970 reduced emissions of sulfates and nitrogen oxides, fine particulates, and organic compounds, which in turn reduced ozone levels and improved ambient air quality.
• Economic condition – Overall, economic activity in WNC has grown steadily since 1970, especially in recreation and tourism, arts and crafts, and other sectors.

Authors of the report describe the following indicators as "worsening:"

• Land conversion – 4.8 percent of the land (acres) in WNC was developed from 1976-2006. Development converted an average of 17 acres of land per day.
• Forest fragmentation – With the exception of public lands, forest fragmentation increases with urban encroachment, thus limiting the habitat for many native animal and plant species and making the forest more susceptible to non-native invasive species.
• Species at risk – Of 35 vascular plant and 31 vertebrate species, seven plants and two vertebrates are critically imperiled (species critically at risk globally because of extreme rarity or because of some factor(s) making it especially vulnerable to extinction). The rest are imperiled (species at global risk because of rarity or because of some factor(s), making it very vulnerable to extinction).
• Natural communities (such as grassy bald or montane alluvial forest) at risk – 13 natural communities in WNC are imperiled and five critically imperiled.

The report card is an ongoing assessment of WNC forest sustainability and will be updated periodically. To request that a copy of the Western North Carolina Report Card on Forest Sustainability, please send you complete mailing address with the title, author and publication number (GTR-142) to pubrequest@fs.fed.us.

Published in the September issue of the journal Ecological Applications, the analysis examines the interactions among changing weather conditions, forest management, and streamflow using long-term data from paired watershed studies at Coweeta, a 5,600-acre research facility and Forest Service Experimental Forest.

 “Long-term data from experimental forests are truly the foundation of Forest Service research,” says SRS Research Ecologist and lead author Chelcy Ford. “For this study we took one of the longest continuous records of climate and hydrology and coupled it with data from the long-term forest management experiments on the paired watersheds to look at both precipitation patterns and the feasibility of using forest management to sustain water supply.”

The data analysis revealed that precipitation patterns are changing and becoming more extreme, in line with what climate models predict for the area. “We found significant increases in temperature and in the frequency of extreme wet and dry years since the 1980s,” says Ford. “These findings tied with those on management and streamflow have implications for managers in any area where changes in precipitation patterns could occur.”

Management approaches used in Coweeta watershed studies include conventional thinning strategies as well as more intensive approaches such as converting hardwood stands to pines. Partly because pines keep their needles year-round, conversion from hardwoods to pines decreases streamflow. For this study, Coweeta researchers asked whether vegetation on managed watersheds responded differently to extreme dry and wet years than vegetation on unmanaged watersheds.

“The answer in almost all cases was yes,” says Ford. “But from a streamflow perspective, the extreme case of converting hardwood forest to pine produced the largest effect on available surface water. Though it might be a good option for mitigating climate change under future scenarios of increased precipitation, species conversion from hardwood forest to pine would be a poor choice under drier scenarios where it could worsen water shortages by reducing the amount of available water in streams.”

Land managers and policy makers are looking to forests for options to offset the effects of climate change, and to forest management as a way to create ecosystems more resilient to the weather effects of a changing climate, but Ford and her fellow authors advise managers to look closely at the risks and vulnerabilities involved in managing for climate change, especially in relation to water supply.

“Managers need to carefully weigh the risks of adopting one strategy over another,” says Ford. “They also need to realize that any strategies they consider will have to address these risks at the regional or even more fine-scaled level, taking into account possible changes to local precipitation patterns.”

For more information: Chelcy Ford at (828) 524-2128, x 118 or crford@fs.fed.us

Full text of the article:  http://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/pubs/38726
News Release Science Contact: Chelcy R. Ford
News Release Science Contact:
News Release Science Contact: Zoë Hoyle]]> Wed, 28 Sep 2011 00:00:08 -0400 http://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/news/485 http://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/news/485 Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data shows the live volume of hemlocks in the eastern United States still increasing despite spreading infestations of hemlock woolly adelgid. FIA scientists from the Forest Service Southern Research Station (SRS) and Northern Research Station (NRS) published the information as an SRS e-Science Update in early August.

The FIA researchers conducted the analysis for this update on 20 years of data collected across 433 counties that stretch from southern Maine into northern Georgia. “When we started this project we really expected to see large-scale losses of hemlock at the landscape scale,” says Sonja Oswalt, SRS forester and one of four co-authors. “We were surprised to find that, at the broad scale, hemlock loss is nowhere near as dire as expected.”

The researchers actually found an overall increase in live-tree hemlock basal area in both counties infested with hemlock woolly adelgid and those without infestations.

“Even though this is unexpectedly good news about hemlock survival on the larger landscape, we don’t want to downplay the localized effects that many people are aware of,” says Oswalt. “In eastern forests where hemlocks are often the keystone species they can support over 1,000 species birds, animals, and insects. The loss of hemlock stands in many of these areas is nothing less than devastating.”

Two native species of hemlock—eastern and Carolina—grow in the eastern United States. Though a minor component in most of the forests of the eastern United States, high densities of eastern hemlock are found in New England and the mountains of the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic. The Carolina hemlock, similar in appearance to the eastern hemlock, is found only on rocky mountain slopes in the Southern Appalachian region. Stands of hemlocks across the ranges of both species have been decimated by infestations of the hemlock woolly adelgid.

A tiny insect introduced into the United States from East Asia, the hemlock woolly adelgid feeds at the base of hemlock needles, defoliating and eventually killing trees. Since the insect was first noticed in the 1950s, it has expanded its range at between 4.7 and 12.7 miles a year and currently infests about 45 percent of the range of hemlocks in the United States and 41 percent of all hemlock trees.

 “The analysis also showed that the general regional trend in the East over the past 50 years has been one of increasing hemlock volume, even with infestation by the hemlock woolly adelgid,” says Randall Morin, NRS FIA research forester and primary author of the update. “Even though the insect has caused substantial negative impacts on hemlock at local scales, analysis of FIA data suggests that infestations have not yet reduced the overall abundance of hemlock, even in states where hemlock woolly adelgid has been active for decades.”

The authors caution that the trend of increasing hemlock volume may not last much longer.

“Despite increasing hemlock volume over the last four decades across most of the eastern United States, the regions with long-established populations of hemlock woolly adelgid are also the regions where hemlock is accumulating slowest,” says Morin. “Net growth rates decrease as years of infestation increase and mortality rates increase, with mortality starting to equal net growth in areas where hemlock woolly adelgid has been present for 10 to 20 years.” As time goes on, the trend of increasing abundance may begin to reverse.

Access the Science Update: http://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/pubs/38492

For more information:
Sonja Oswalt at (865) 862-2058 or soswalt@fs.fed.us
Randall Morin at (610) 557-4054 or rsmorin@fs.fed.us
News Release Science Contact: Sonja Oswalt
News Release Science Contact:
News Release Science Contact: Zoë Hoyle]]> Mon, 26 Sep 2011 00:00:09 -0400 http://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/news/484 http://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/news/484 David Wear, Project Leader of the Southern Research Station (SRS) Forest Economics and Policy research unit, received a 2011 USDA Secretary's Honor Award for Personal and Professional Excellence. This is one of the most prestigious awards presented by the Secretary of Agriculture and recognizes individuals who "over time, consistently demonstrate an outstanding level of accomplishment in furthering the mission of the USDA."

Wear was honored for "his exemplary leadership and scientific contributions significantly influencing the policy and management decisions that ensure the sustainability of natural resources in the southern United States and beyond".

Since 1995, Wear has served as project leader for the SRS forest economics unit in Research Triangle Park, N.C., where he leads a team of researchers addressing forest forecasting, timber market analysis, management of risks, and forest policies.

An active researcher, Wear has published numerous articles and has a strong interest in applying interdisciplinary research to address questions about forest sustainability. In recent years, Wear has focused on forecasting future conditions of southern forests and the services they provide in relation to land use and climate change, leading the process that resulted in the 2002 Southern Forest Resource Assessment. In 2008, with co-lead John Greis, he began the Southern Forest Futures Project (SFFP), a multi-year project that forecasts changes in southern forest conditions between 2010 and 2060. In May 2011, Wear and Greis announced key findings from the SFFP General Technical Report; five subregional reports are scheduled to be released in 2012.

Wear has briefed Senate and House members and staffs on southern forest conditions, and his research findings have been used in Forest Service testimony before the House of Representatives. His research results have been used by the International Trade Commission and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, and he has consulted with other Federal and State agencies on forest issues. He has also served as a lead researcher on numerous special task forces and committees.

Wear's 30-year Forest Service career consists of 24 years with research and six with national forest planning. Wear also serves as adjunct faculty at Duke University and North Carolina State University. Wear holds a B.S. in botany from the University of Montana, an M.S. in forestry from Duke University, and a Ph.D. in forest management from the University of Montana.