Tag: Pisgah NF

The journey of a special spruce: From the mountains to the U.S. Capitol

by Preston Durham, SRS forester  • 
Is that a Carolina Northern Flying Squirrel? No, It’s just a USDA Forest Service tree climber at the top of 70-foot-tall red spruce. In July, I climbed candidate Capitol Christmas trees in the National Forests in North Carolina with my colleagues Andy Whittier and Paul Valento of Superior National Forest. Every year a national forest…  More 

White Oak Regeneration in Canopy Gaps

by Jennifer Moore Myers, SRS Science Communications, and Stacy Clark, SRS Research Forester  • 
In February 2020, USDA Forest Service scientist Stacy Clark planted 720 white oak (Quercus alba) seedlings on the Pisgah National Forest in western North Carolina. “White oak is declining in abundance across the eastern U.S., and we are concerned that wildlife species and industries around cooperages, distilleries, and flooring will be negatively affected without proactive…  More 

Workshop on Shortleaf Pine in the Southern Appalachians

by Sarah Farmer, SRS Science Communications  • 
On March 3 and 4, 2020, about 25 silviculturists, foresters, fire management officers, timber specialists, and other USDA Forest Service experts gathered for a two-day workshop on shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata). In the southern Appalachians, shortleaf pine restoration is a major priority for national forests and others. The species has an extensive range but its…  More 

Reptiles and Amphibians Unharmed by Prescribed Fires in Early Growing Season

by Jennifer Moore Myers, SRS Science Communications  • 
Amphibians and reptiles tend to be most active during the spring and summer, when it’s warmer. A recent USDA Forest Service study compared how herpetofauna respond to prescribed fires conducted during the growing season – when vegetation is actively growing – versus those in dormant season months. “Historically, prescribed burning has been limited to the…  More 

Introducing Femelschlag

by Debbie Crane, The Nature Conservancy  • 
Visitors to the Cradle of Forestry (located near Brevard in Pisgah National Forest) learn about the Biltmore Forest School – the first school of forestry in North America. It was started in 1898 by Carl Schenck. A native of Germany, Schenck brought German forestry concepts to the United States. It is fitting that today in…  More 

After the Acid Rain

by Sarah Farmer, SRS Science Communications  • 
“Rain has become much less acidic since the Clean Air Act was strengthened in the 1990s,” says U.S. Forest Service Southern Research Station (SRS) soil scientist Jennifer Knoepp. “However, some high elevation streams still have chronic or episodic acidity.” Acid rain, as well as other forms of acidic deposition such as acid fog and acid…  More 

Ukrainians Learn About ‘Sang

by Sarah Farmer, SRS Science Communications  • 
“Here’s sang-find, also known as rattlesnake fern,” said Gary Kauffman, botanist for the U.S. Forest Service National Forests of North Carolina, as he pointed out a delicately branching fern. “Ginseng used to be called ‘sang’ and sang-find is supposed to point towards the ginseng.” There were a number of other ginseng indicators in that particular cove…  More 

Seeing the Rich Understory of Appalachian Forests for the First Time

by Sarah Farmer, SRS Science Communications  • 
On Tuesday, May 3, nine Ukrainians gathered in the lobby of an Asheville, North Carolina, hotel. The group included business people, economists, foresters, scientists, and scholars, and was part of an international forestry program that was designed to show the U.S. system of harvesting, using, and managing non-timber forest products, or NTFPs. “NTFPs include hundreds…  More 

Bent Creek Experimental Forest: First in the East

by Zoe Hoyle, SRS Science Communications  • 
  After World War I, when the Forest Service sought to establish an experimental station on a site that represented the diversity of the Southern Appalachian Mountains, the Bent Creek area of western North Carolina seemed the logical choice. Named for a bend in the creek near the French Broad River, Bent Creek typified the upland hardwood…  More