Category: Biomass and Bioenergy

In the Genome of Loblolly Pine Lies Hope for Better Resistance to a Damaging Disease

by Zoe Hoyle, SRS Science Communications  • 
U.S. Forest Service Southern Research Station (SRS) scientists co-authored the article published today in the journal Genome Biology that reports the sequencing, assembly, and annotation of the loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) genome. As the primary source of pulpwood and saw timber for the U.S. forest industry, loblolly pine is of great economic importance to the…  More 

Managing Southern Forests under Climate Change

by Zoe Hoyle, SRS Science Communications  • 
U.S. Forest Service scientists recently published a new comprehensive guide to help natural resource managers in the South develop options for managing southern forest ecosystems in the face of climate change.  Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Management Options: A Guide for Natural Resource Managers in Southern Forest Ecosystems culminates a multi-year initiative by Forest Service Southern…  More 

Southern Research Station Scientist Receives International Recognition

by Sarah Farmer, SRS Science Delivery Group  • 
On January 10, 2014, Hse Chung-yun, a U.S. Forest Service researcher at the Southern Research Station (SRS) Utilization of Southern Forest Resources unit, received the International Science and Technology Cooperation Award. The non-monetary award is one of the highest honors the People’s Republic of China awards to recognize scientists who have made significant contributions to China’s scientific…  More 

Employment and Income Trends for Forest-Based Sectors in the South

by Zoe Hoyle, SRS Science Communications  • 
The Southern Forest Futures Project (SFFP) started in 2008 as an effort to study and understand the various forces reshaping the forests across the 13 states of the Southeast. Chartered by the U.S. Forest Service Southern Region and Southern Research Station, along with the Southern Group of State Foresters, the project examines a variety of…  More 

Biomass Energy from Southern Forests

by Zoe Hoyle, SRS Science Communications  • 
The Southern Forest Futures Project Technical Report is now available online, both entire and by chapter. The report provides an interdisciplinary assessment of potential futures of southern forests and the many benefits they provide. The Southern Forest Futures Project (SFFP) started in 2008 as an effort to study and understand the various forces reshaping the…  More 

Reflections on the Southern Forest Futures Project

by David Wear and John Greis, Editors, Southern Forest Futures Project Technical Report  • 
In 2008, we started the Southern Forest Futures Project with 15 public workshops held in each of the 13 States of our region. In Baton Rouge, Asheville, Stillwater, Charleston, and all the other locations, we discussed and compiled the concerns of more than 700 resource professionals and other interested  citizens regarding the great and vast…  More 

Coweeta Receives Grant to Study Hydrology of Bioenergy Crops

by Zoe Hoyle, SRS Science Communications  • 
U.S. Forest Service Southern Research Station (SRS) Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory (Coweeta) scientists and collaborators recently received a $972,000 grant from the USDA Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) to study water use in loblolly pine—the most commercially important tree species in the southeastern U.S. and the primary candidate for woody bioenergy production in the region—and…  More 

The Center for Integrated Forest Science

by Zoe Hoyle, SRS Science Communications  • 
A Pioneering Research Model Over the past 40 years, forest science has evolved from more traditional “forestry” science with a near exclusive focus on enhancing forest productivity to a science that must address broader and more complex topics such as sustaining ecosystem services in the face of land use change, climate variability, and altered disturbance…  More 

Forest Service Research Stations Host Forest Soils Conference

by Jennifer Knoepp, Research Soil Scientist, SRS Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory  • 
The 12th North American Forest Soils Conference (NAFSC) hosted by USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain and Southern Research Stations (RMRS and SRS) was held in Whitefish, Montana, June 16 to 20, 2013. Jennifer Knoepp (SRS) and Deb Page-Dumroese (RMRS) co-chaired the meeting, with the theme “The Role of Forest Soils in Sustaining Ecosystem Services.”  Session…  More 

Eucalyptus in the South

by Zoe Hoyle, SRS Science Communications  • 
Because it grows rapidly and can develop high wood density, there’s increasing interest in the South for growing Eucalyptus commercially as a bioenergy feedstock. For the South, this means finding and testing Eucalyptus species that will grow in temperate areas as well as genetically modified hybrids bred to be frost tolerant. Growing well under a…  More