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Homelessness is often associated with urban areas, yet since the Great Depression, national forests have served as a refuge for individuals and families. In recent years, more people are living on the national forests and grasslands, whether by choice or because of economic circumstances. Unfortunately, the presence of nonrecreational campers affects the experience of other…
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The red turpentine beetle (Dendroctonus valens) is native to North America and attacks stressed, dying, or recently dead pine trees, especially fire-injured ponderosa pine. State and federal agencies use baited traps to detect, monitor, and manage populations of native and nonnative insect species. Trapping efforts are labor intensive, and the lures themselves can be relatively…
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In the United States, the forest products industry loses an estimated $500 million to $1 billion annually to illegal logging. Once illegally harvested wood is removed from the forest, it’s difficult for USDA Forest Service law enforcement to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the wood was illegally harvested. The use of DNA is a…
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The USDA Forest Service uses many forms of technology to manage 193 million acres that comprise the National Forest System: handheld data-entry devices and satellites; modeling software and LiDAR (light detection and ranging) remote sensing; and desktop computers and servers. Collectively, these technologies power the models that create the maps land managers use to monitor…
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The USDA Forest Service has long worked with international partners. In that tradition, the Forest Service and Mpingo Conservation & Development Initiative (MCDI) launched a partnership to support community forestry in Tanzania. Starting in 2017, Susan Charnley and Greg Frey, researchers with the Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest Research Station and Southern Research Station, respectively, built…
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The coastal zone of southeast Alaska contains thousands of rivers that drain into the Gulf of Alaska. This is the wettest and most topographically varied region in North America. The deluge of freshwater plays a critical role in supporting the Gulf of Alaska’s terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems as well as regional economies. However, the amount,…
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Anecdotal evidence and some previous studies suggest that as development approaches private forest land, there’s a decline in commercial timber management of those forests.
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Timber for housing and shelter. Fruit, berries and bark for sustenance and health. Wood for heating and cooking, shipbuilding, and arts and crafts. Without trees, there would be no society as we know it. And the more society advances technologically, the more apparent its innate connection to the forest, and the more evident the related…
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Interior Alaska’s 115-million-acre boreal forest is larger than California and Texas combined. With few roads, most of the region is accessible only by air and is considered one of the last true wilderness areas in the United States. The first systematic forest inventory of this vast area has been started bythe USDA Forest Service’s Forest…
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Looking into the past can help biologists and managers determine what is possible in the future. New research is helping understand the past and more accurately estimate future salmon recovery potential. Central Idaho’s Middle Fork Salmon River (MFSR) offers a glimpse of historical Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) spawning and rearing habitat. The MFSR flows through…
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Writings by Andrea Watts 