Category: Fire

Shortleaf Pine: A Species Slipping Away?

by Sarah Farmer, SRS Science Delivery Group  • 
Both shortleaf and loblolly pine are native to the southeastern United States, where the two species have coexisted and occasionally hybridized for millennia. Historically, hybrids were rare. In the 1950s hybrids made up just 3 percent of the pines in shortleaf stands, but since then their numbers have skyrocketed. Today, just two or so generations…  More 

Key Findings from the U.S. Forest Service National Climate Assessment

by Zoe Hoyle, SRS Science Communications  • 
U.S. Forest Service Research and Development recently published a comprehensive synthesis of the effects of climate change on U.S. Forests . Led and edited by Forest Service scientists Jim Vose (Southern Research Station), Dave Peterson (Pacific Northwest Research Station), and Toral Patel-Weynand (Forest Service Research & Development), the report includes chapters written by experts from…  More 

Field Day Inspires Landowners in the Western Longleaf Pine Range

by Mary Anne Sayer, Longleaf Pine unit  • 
A field day and workshop held on May 23rd at the U.S. Forest Service Kisatchie National Forest Ranger District office near Natchitoches, Louisiana is among the first ventures to spark landowner interest in longleaf pine along the western edge of this species’ historic range. Longleaf pine technology transfer efforts in the West are led by…  More 

Climate Change and Wildfire

by Zoe Hoyle, SRS Science Communications  • 
Concerns continue to grow about the effects of climate change on fire. Wildfires are expected to increase 50 percent across the United States under a changing climate, over 100 percent in areas of the West by 2050 as projected by some studies. Of equal concern to scientists and policymakers alike are the atmospheric effects of…  More 

Fire Research: A Hot Topic

by Julia Kirschman,SRS Upland Hardwood Ecology and Management unit  • 
For centuries landowners in the southern Appalachians have used fire as a tool to clear land, control insects, encourage forage, and eliminate unwanted vegetation. But little is known about how fire affects regeneration of oak or other hardwood trees, and how it can be used to meet specific management or restoration goals for upland hardwood…  More 

Indiana Bats and Prescribed Fire

by Zoe Hoyle, SRS Science Communications  • 
A two-day workshop held in western North Carolina provided research results to forest and natural resource managers concerned about maintaining summer habitat for the endangered Indiana bat. Attended by over 60 people from federal and state agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and a private consultant, the workshop focused on identifying summer maternity habitat for the species in…  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 

The Science Behind Wildfire Prevention

by Zoe Hoyle, SRS Science Communications  • 
According to the U.S. Forest Service National Climate Assessment now being finalized, by 2050 the area burned each year by severe wildfires will rise to 20 million acres nationwide, at least double of what it is now. Because many of those future fires are likely to burn under severe fire conditions, preventing people from starting…  More 

From the Hexacopter: A Bird’s Eye View on Fire

by Zoe Hoyle, SRS Science Communications  • 
What would you find out if you could hover a hundred feet above a prescribed fire? As you might have noticed, smoke from burning trees rises quickly, especially if there’s wind. Getting measurements of smoke once it gets above the canopy is very difficult, and up to now, very expensive. Scientists from the U.S. Forest…  More 

There’s Nothing Simple about the Urban-Rural Interface

by Zoe Hoyle, SRS Science Communications  • 
A new book edited by U.S. Forest Service researcher Wayne Zipperer, with co-editors David Laband and Graeme Lockaby, focuses on urban-rural interfaces—those places where city and suburban development touch on the countryside. Published by the American Society of Agronomy, the Crop Science Society of America, and the Soil Science Society of America, the articles in…  More