Tag: Coastal Plain

Coastal Plain Forests: The Next 50 Years

by Rod Truesdell, SRS Science Delivery Group  • 
What will our Southern coastal forests look like in 50 years? With a myriad of factors involved—including climate change, population growth, economic outlooks, and more—it’s not a simple question. However, forest researchers have provided what they believe is a comprehensive answer to that question in the new general technical report Outlook for Coastal Plain Forests. The…  More 

Assessing Future Life Along the Lumber River

by Zoё Hoyle, SRS Science Delivery Group  • 
A new project brings together researchers from the U.S. Forest Service and North Carolina State University (NCSU) with students from the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) to assess how land use and climate change impacts on the Lumber River will affect members of the Lumbee Tribe, the largest Native American tribe in North…  More 

Forest Health Experts Eye Hurricane Damage in North Carolina’s Coastal Forests

by Stephanie Worley Firley  • 
For some residents of the North Carolina coast, the 2014 Independence Day weekend will be remembered not for fireworks and family cookouts, but for damage assessment and cleanup following the high winds and heavy rain that downed trees when Hurricane Arthur came ashore on July 3. U.S. Forest Service researchers believe that Arthur did relatively little…  More 

To Plant a Billion Pine Seeds: Reforestation in the South

by Sarah Farmer, SRS Science Delivery Group  • 
In the early 20th century, steam-powered logging equipment came to the longleaf pine forests of the Coastal Plain, and the “golden age of lumbering” began.  When the sawdust settled, millions of acres in the region – especially along the Western Gulf Coast – were barren. “In many areas, the harvest was so complete that no…  More 

The Chipola Experimental Forest

by Zoё Hoyle, SRS Science Delivery Group  • 
Located in the sandhills of the Florida Panhandle, the Chipola Experimental Forest (Chipola) was established in 1952 on privately owned land under a 99-year lease to the Southern Forest Experiment Station (now SRS), International Paper Company, and Hardaway Contracting Company. The two companies requested the cooperative arrangement with the Forest Service to enable research on…  More 

Remembering Bill Boyer, Mr. Longleaf

by Zoe Hoyle, SRS Science Communications  • 
Dr. William D. (Bill) Boyer, known to many as “Mr. Longleaf,” died on April 13th after a long illness. Boyer’s early research on and advocacy for the Escambia Experimental Forest, his enthusiasm and commitment to long-term studies on establishing longleaf pine, and his leadership in promoting the use of prescribed fire to promote longleaf pine…  More 

Reviewing the Past to Gauge the Future

by Maureen Stuart, SRS Science Delivery Group  • 
  Effects of climate variability on forest hydrology and carbon sequestration on the Santee Experimental Forest, a new general technical report published by the U.S. Forest Service Southern Research Station (SRS), describes an assessment of long-term weather and hydrology data collected on the experimental forest over a 63-year time span. The publication is the result…  More 

Where Does the Nitrogen from Forest Fertilizers Go?

by Claire Payne, SRS Science Delivery Group  • 
Pine plantations cover vast areas in the nearly flat, poorly drained high-water-table soils of the Atlantic Coastal Plain of the southeastern United States. Growing productive forests on these lands requires drainage and extra nitrogen from fertilizers. While most of the nitrogen from fertilizers remains in the plant-soil system, concerns exist that leached nitrogen could enter…  More