successes--our
major accomplishments
Science Delivery
Changing Roles: WUI Professional Development Program
TAnnie Hermansen-Báez (352-376-3271)
ahermansen@fs.fed.us
In 1998, Florida wildfires demonstrated the complexities of natural resource management in the wildland-urban interface. In response, the Station and the Forest Service’s Southern Region, in cooperation with the Southern Group of State Foresters, conducted an assessment to identify and better understand factors driving social and ecological changes within the wildland-urban interface, as well as the consequences of such changes. That report, “Human Influences on Forest Ecosystems: Southern Wildland-Urban Interface Assessment,” contained a detailed list of research and education needs. The focus groups that were conducted as a part of this assessment revealed that natural resource professionals feel unprepared to tackle the complex challenges associated with managing resources in a rapidly changing landscape.
The issues and needs identified in the Wildland-Urban Interface Assessment prompted the development of Changing Roles. The training program includes four modules: (1) introduction to the range and complexity of wildland-urban interface issues; (2) tools for effectively managing natural resources in the wildland-urban interface, particularly for enhancing forest health and meeting multiple landowner objectives; (3) strategies for understanding and influencing the development of policies and plans that affect natural resources; and (4) communication skills for working with interface residents and community planners and leaders.
The program is flexible, allowing trainers to select materials that meet
their needs; they can design an introductory two-hour program, or a more
comprehensive week-long course. A train-the-trainers workshop was conducted
for 50 State Foresters, Extension specialists, and other natural resource
professionals to introduce these materials and support them through the
process of designing workshops for their colleagues. Feedback from the training
workshop suggests that the professional development program accomplished
the desired goals. Changing Roles recently received a Gold Award for Training
Materials Development from the National Association of Natural Resource
Extension Professionals.
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Gulf Coast Tree Risk Assessment Project
J. Michael Bowker (706-559-4271)
mbowker@fs.fed.us
Urban forests can be overlooked after catastrophic events due to a lack of expertise and capacity. The Gulf Coast Tree Risk Assessment Program, initiated by SRS scientists, developed an assessment protocol for volunteers. This collaborative effort allowed hurricane stricken communities in Mississippi and Louisiana to secure funding for hazardous tree removal.
In late 2005, a volunteer effort, coordinated by Southern Region’s State and Private Forestry and the Southern Center for Urban Forestry Research and Information, began to assist communities affected by Hurricane Katrina. The International Society for Aboriculture (ISA) Board of Directors committed $100,000 to cover volunteer expenses for travel to the Gulf Coast region.
An inventory protocol was developed and tested in cooperation with the
Davey Resource Group during December 2005 and early January 2006. Beginning
in January, the Society of Municipal Arborists and ISA developed criteria
and began recruiting professional arborists. At that time, both Mississippi
and Louisiana forestry agencies began working with communities along the
coast. The first volunteer team started in Biloxi, MS, in mid-January. Before
concluding in mid-May, the project provided assistance to 10 communities,
trained and coordinated 35 professional volunteers, and assessed more than
7,500 trees. This project is the first large-scale attempt at post-storm
risk assessment along public rights-of-ways.
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Building Capacity through Partnerships
Livia Marqués (828-259-0516)
lmarques@fs.fed.us
The unique challenges presented by the rapidly changing southern landscape, coupled with increased demand for accountability regarding the relevance and delivery of research, emphasized the need to explore opportunities to share resources and expertise in order to build science delivery capacity. To initiate this effort, the Station organized a joint meeting with Forest Service and Extension Service professionals to share techniques and lay the groundwork for collaborative projects in the South. Three major proposed initiatives emerged from that meeting: (1) a formal interagency committee for science delivery, (2) a region-wide assessment to track characteristics and preferences of current and potential customers and the effectiveness of delivery mechanisms, and (3) joint short- leaf pine restoration workshops targeted for private landowners.
These proposals will be further developed and initiated during the next
fiscal year. The customer assessment project, a joint effort with the University
of Kentucky and the Southern Region’s State and Private Forestry will
provide the baseline and tools to reach the South’s large and diverse
customer base. The short-leaf pine restoration workshops will be used as
a template for future strategies to reach forest landowners. The proposals
will enable the Station to engage partners in a continued collaborative
effort, to deliver information and technology, and to educate stakeholders
in an efficient and equitable manner.
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Julia Murphy (828-667-5261, x104)
juliamurphy@fs.fed.us
Bent Creek Experimental Forest developed a six-week forestry education
program for middle school children. Students learned about silvicultural
research, identifed trees, measured diameter and height, collected data
on a mock research plot, and looked at growth using tree cookies and increment
borers. Each child received a backpack with forestry tools and information.
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Forest Inventory and Analysis Data Available Online
Carol Perry (865-862-2087)
cperry@fs.fed.us
As Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) implements annual inventories across
the South, the number and complexity of data requests have increased. FIA
sponsored several workshops to facilitate access and utilization of their
online data. Attendees representing States, industry, and private companies
used the southern timber product output database to gain a better understanding
of harvest and removals.
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Other Significant Accomplishments
Updated and published a layman’s guide for proper road construction
practices in the Southern Appalachians.
Conducted 10 short programs, with live fish and crayfish displays, to teach
4th graders about native aquatic biodiversity at an Earth Day program sponsored
by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Collaborated with Illinois Natural History Survey to continue identification of crayfish samples from standardized surveys of National Forests in Mississippi streams.
Planned and facilitated a workshop for Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley regional stakeholders.
Authored article on the impact of Hurricane Katrina on fish for the environmental and literary magazine Watershed.
Provided statistical guidance to the Forest Service Southern Region and National Forests in Mississippi resource staff on analysis and development of watershed condition and aquatic assemblage integrity for forest plan revision.
Provided review and comments on draft report entitled “Stream Impacts from Hurricane Katrina on the DeSoto National Forest” to the Forest Service Southern Region.
Provided expert advisement to the National Forests in Mississippi post-Katrina assessment team on evaluating and managing downed wood in stream corridors.
Provided peer review and statistical advice on research and monitoring programs and proposed scopes of work to the Biology Committee, San Juan River Recovery and Implementation Project (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service–Bureau of Land Management and various tribal and non-governmental entities).
Completed surveys at Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site, Cowpens National Battlefield, Guilford Courthouse National Military Park, Ninety-Six National Historic Site, and King’s Mountain National Military Park to document 90 percent of the bat species inhabiting the parks.
Summarized ramps population data and submitted report to the National Forests in North Carolina.
Completed annual report to Department of Defense Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program on multi-year project addressing effects of plantation establishment and management on diverse ground layer plant communities at Camp Lejeune, NC.
Initiated development of Coalition for Conservation Forestry, a new research and extension consortium in the trans-Mississippi region. The group embraces the Southern Research Station, State and Private Forestry and the National Forest System in the Southern Region, State universities and extension forestry professionals, major conservation-based non-governmental organizations, and consulting forestry firms.
Continued to provide access to FIA data through the Spatial Data Services in Knoxville, TN, which provided access to FIA data without compromising the security of the plot locations or land ownership privacy (Privacy Law-Farm Bill 2004).
Published Timber Product Output Assessments for the calendar year 2003 for Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia.
Published the Southern Pulpwood Production Report for 2004 and a Harvest and Utilization Study for North Carolina
Filled 270 data requests from government, industry, university, Federal agencies, non-governmental organizations, and other stakeholders.
Conducted Mapmaker training sessions for various FIA data users.
Developed a photo interpretation program for the Southern states as well as Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands and presented results at the 2nd International Conference on Discrete Global Grids.
Provided training to 11 States on current data collection protocols and
held nine training sessions on forest health variables.
Integrated a forest dynamics model into a spatial and temporal simulation
of red cockaded woodpecker populations for a U.S. Army base.
Provided forest dynamics information in a book chapter for managers of longleaf pine ecosystems.
Helped private landowners restore watersheds with native plants to improve water quality.
Celebrated the Forest Service Centennial with stakeholders and customers. Events included an interpretive trail hike, posters commemorating Forest Service history, bluegrass music with the Fiddlin’ Foresters, and internal and external showings of the Forest Service centennial film “The Greatest Good.”
Hosted the Program of Advanced Studies in Silviculture (PASS), a week-long training session with 20 speakers, to support the National Forest System.
Published a comprehensive entry on using analytical models developed based on the soil and atmospheric water and energy conservation equations to conduct global water cycle modeling in the first edition of the Encyclopedia of Hydrological Sciences.
Organized a symposium examining the role of soil ecology in restoration ecology at the Annual Meetings of the Ecological Society of America.
Conducted a workshop for forest managers to describe the ecological impacts of fuel reduction treatments in the Southern Appalachian Mountains.
Published research describing persistence and efficacy of termiticides
used in pre-construction treatments.
Co-hosted a conference on "Advances in Threat Assessment and Their
Application to Forest and Rangeland Management.”
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