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 23,908 publications online that you can view and print.

• Florida's timber industry-an assessment of timber product output and use, 2005
• Arkansas's timber industry-an assessment of timber product output and use, 2005
• Oak mortality associated with crown dieback and oak borer attack in the Ozark Highlands
• Property tax impacts of current-use assessment of forest and other rural land in Tennessee
• Ridgetop fire history of an oak-pine forest in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas
• 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
• Phoretic mites of three bark beetles (Pityokteines spp.) on silver fir
• The response of adult red-cockaded woodpeckers to a fallen nestling
• Scale-dependent effects of landscape structure and composition on diurnal roost selection by forest bats
• Short-term response of reptiles and amphibians to prescribed fire and mechanical fuel reduction in a southern Appalachian upland hardwood forest