Tag: Remote sensing

New Study Finds Lower Elevation Forests More Affected by Drought

by Zoё Hoyle, SRS Science Delivery Group  • 
Recently published research by scientists from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), the  U.S. Forest Service Southern Research Station (SRS), and two other universities shows how the effects of drought on lower elevation forest watersheds in the Southeast could affect drinking water supplies as the region’s climate continue to change.  Taehee Hwang,…  More 

Learning About Climate Change Can be Fun

by Zoe Hoyle, SRS Science Communications  • 
On May 6, students from the Schenck Job Corps Center in Pisgah, North Carolina, traveled up the mountain  from their center to test drive a new climate change exhibit at the Cradle of Forestry, the birthplace of forestry and forest conservation located in the Pisgah National Forest. Designed and installed by the U.S. Forest Service Southern…  More 

Researchers Track “Gray Ghosts” Across the Southern Appalachians

by Stephanie Worley Firley  • 
People living in the Appalachian Mountains of the eastern United States have long enjoyed a rich culture of storytelling. Often rooted in a deep connection to the natural world, stories from Appalachian folklore serve to entertain as well as to educate; sometimes, important life lessons emerge, especially from tales of demise. A present-day ghost story…  More 

ForWarn Follows Rapidly Changing Forest Conditions

by Perdita Spriggs, EFETAC  • 
U.S. Forest Service and partner scientists are keeping a watchful eye on forest health. As fall colors replace the lush greenness of spring and summer, researchers recognize telltale signs of change in healthy forests. A new publication highlights specific examples where researchers have used ForWarn, a state-of-the-art forest change recognition and tracking system, to detect…  More 

ForWarn Researchers Get EVEREST-Sized Look at Woodland Disturbances

by Stephanie Worley Firley, EFETAC, & Dawn Levy, ORNL  • 
An exploratory visualization facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has provided researchers with the Forest Service Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center and their partners a unique view of maps used for detecting and tracking unexpected forest change and disturbances. The researchers are part of a large team that developed the first near-real-time forest threat…  More 

Eastern Threat Center Tools Support Tribal Land Management

by Stephanie Worley Firley  • 
  More than 18 million acres of forest land in the United States are under the care of tribal land managers. According to Bill Hargrove, a research ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center, the boundaries of these tribal forests are often easily recognized on remotely sensed imagery collected by…  More 

NASA Honors ForWarn Team with Group Achievement Award

by Stephanie Worley Firley  • 
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has honored the development team behind the ForWarn forest monitoring system, including researchers from the U.S. Forest Service Eastern Forest and Western Wildland Environmental Threat Assessment Centers, with a Group Achievement Award. The award recognizes multiple federal and university partners “for creating the first near real-time forest threat…  More 

How Green is a Healthy Forest?

by Stephanie Worley Firley  • 
As new spring leaves emerged and a wave of green moved up through the United States, the 2013 growing season began—and U.S. Forest Service researchers were watching. In forests, greenness levels change with natural rhythms called phenology, including seasonal changes, growth and mortality, year-to-year climate variation, and effects of disturbance. All of these indicators are important…  More 

ForWarn Team Wins 2013 Interagency Partnership Award

by Zoe Hoyle, SRS Science Communications  • 
  The U.S. Forest Service Eastern Forest and Western Wildland Environmental Threat Assessment Centers‘ ForWarn team is among the agency recipients of the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer’s (FLC) 2013 Interagency Partnership Award. The award recognizes the collaborative efforts of federal laboratory employees for outstanding work in technology transfer, and is one of the…  More 

Forest Detectives Solve Asheville Watershed Mystery

by Stephanie Worley Firley, EFETAC  • 
  Scientists with the USDA Forest Service Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center (EFETAC) headquartered at the Southern Research Station in Asheville, North Carolina, recently discovered an area of damaged trees within the watershed from which Asheville draws most of its water supply. Though monitoring forest health is an everyday role of the Forest Service,…  More