Category: Threats

Reforesting with Longleaf Pine After Hurricane Damage

by Zoё Hoyle, SRS Science Communications  • 
Hurricanes and other major storms cause billions of dollars of damage to southern timber resources. If you add the increased risk of wildfire, insect infestations, and disease that accompany downed wood, you have millions of acres of forests vulnerable to further harm after the hurricane’s gone. In some areas of the South, one idea for…  More 

A Homeowners Guide to Dealing with Storm-Damaged Trees

by Zoe Hoyle, SRS Science Communications  • 
Whether trees are damaged by hurricanes, tornadoes, intense rainstorms, or ice storms, they need to be carefully assessed to ensure the safety of homeowners and property. It’s also important to carefully assess whether a damaged tree can be saved, and if so, what actions can be taken to ensure and maintain optimal health.The following are…  More 

Managing Forests to Conserve Bat Populations Affected by White-Nose Syndrome

by Anna Walker, SRS Science Communications Intern  • 
In March 2016, scientists found bats infected with white-nose syndrome (WNS), a fungal disease that’s killed millions of North American bats across the eastern United States, in Washington state, over 1,000 miles from the nearest confirmed infection site in eastern Oklahoma. Because most bat species in the U.S. eat phenomenal numbers of insects, bats are important to agriculture and to forests and…  More 

The Forest Health Advisory System

by Zoe Hoyle, SRS Science Communications  • 
Do you want to know what pests are affecting the health of the trees on the national lands you visit or live near? The Forest Health Advisory System developed by U.S. Forest Service Forest Health Protection highlights potential future activities of more than 40 major forest pests and pathogens across 1.2 billion acres of U.S. forestland.…  More 

Annual Report Keeps a Finger on the Pulse of U.S. Forest Health

by Stephanie Worley Firley, Eastern Threat Center  • 
Everyone can understand the importance of a yearly checkup for monitoring one’s general health and wellbeing. Regular “checkups” are also necessary to gauge the overall health and monitoring needs of U.S. forests, so managers, scientists, and decision makers look to the U.S. Forest Service’s annual Forest Health Monitoring (FHM) national report to gain insights into…  More 

Controlling Cogongrass

by Stephanie Worley Firley, Eastern Threat Center  • 
Has cogongrass invaded your land? The first step — and the easiest — is identifying the plant itself, which the U.S. federal government and multiple states list as a noxious weed. Cogongrass has some features that make it fairly easy to identify. Compared to the deep green hues of other grasses typically found in the South, the…  More 

Cogongrass Can Be Stopped

by Zoё Hoyle, SRS Science Communications  • 
Over the past decade, U.S. Forest Service researchers have been working with university cooperators to find some way to slow down or stop the relentless spread of cogongrass. In late 2014, Auburn University researchers reported results that demonstrated, for the first time, that patches of cogongrass can be eliminated completely within three years — showing…  More 

Cogongrass Continues to Invade the South

by Stephanie Worley Firley, Eastern Threat Center  • 
It grows on every continent except Antarctica and has earned a reputation as one of the worst weeds on earth — and according to U.S. Forest Service emeritus scientist Jim Miller, cogongrass (Imperata cylindrica) is without doubt one of the most threatening invasive species in the South. In addition to cogongrass, it goes by  other…  More 

Forests of the South’s Coastal Plain

by Zoe Hoyle, SRS Science Communications  • 
What will the Coastal Plain forests of the South look like in 50 years? With the myriad of factors involved—including climate change, population growth, economic outlooks, and more—it’s not a simple question. U.S. Forest Service researchers provide an overview of current and future issues for southern coastal forests in the general technical report Outlook for Coastal Plain Forests. The report is one of…  More 

The Appalachian-Cumberland Highland: The Next 50 Years

by Sarah Farmer, SRS Science Communications  • 
Knowing more about how the future might unfold can improve decisions that are sure to have long-term consequences. The Southern Forest Futures Project, a multi-agency effort led by the U.S. Forest Service, aimed to forecast and interpret changes in southern forests under multiple scenarios over the next several decades. The project also included a suite…  More