Author*	Title
Bauman, Tessa; Klepzig, Kier; and Rabaglia, Robert	Identification of Non-Native Bark and Ambrosia Beetles in the Early Detection Rapid Response Program: A Cooperative Research/ Forest Health Protection Effort
Camilli, K.S.; Appel, D.N.; Kurdyla, T.; Billings, R.F.; Cordova, V.	Detection and Eradication of Giant Asian Dodder (Cuscuta japonica Choisy), a Parasitic Invasive Plant
Davidson, A.; Hudak, A.; Evans, J.; Gould, W.; Gonzalez, G.; Hollingsworth, T.	Multiresolution Image Segmentation with eCognition for Forest Landscape Management
Fraedrich, S.W.; Harrington, Thomas C.; Rabaglia,  Robert J.	An Ophiostoma Species and Xyleborus glabratus Threaten Red Bay and Other Members of the Lauraceae in the Southeastern US
Grogan, Jason B.	Southern Pine Beetle Infestation Probability Mapping Using Weights of Evidence Analysis
Hamilton, Randy; Johnson, Vicky; Lachowski, Henry; Maus, Paul	A Weed Manager’s Guide to Remote Sensing and GIS
Hayes, Jane L.; Vargas, Carlos Fabian; Salinas, Yolanda; Zuniga, Geraldo; Ager, Alan A.	Modeling Bark Beetle Pressure for Pine Forests of Mexico
Hicke, Jeffrey A.; Logan, Jesse A.	Monitoring and Forecasting Mountain Pine Beetle Outbreaks in High-Elevation Whitebark Pine Forests
Hylton, R.; Simons, T.R.; Franzreb, K.;	Effects of Acid Deposition and Calcium Depletion on High Elevation Southern Appalachian Songbirds and Land Snails
Jacobson, Sandra L.	The Increasing Threat of Highway-Caused Wildlife Mortality and Barrier Impacts on US Public Lands
Kaplan-Henry, Terry A.; Courter, Joshua G.; Martin, Sarah E.	McNallyPost Fire Discharge and the Relationship of Sierra Nevada Wide Flood Frequency Curves and Local Kern River Discharge Curves
Kim, Mee-Sook; McDonald, Geral I.; Rice, Thomas M.; Hall, David E.; Stewart, Jane E.; Tonn, Jonalea R.; Tanimoto, Philip D.; Zambino, Paul J.; Klopfenstein, Ned B.	Development of the Armillaria Response Tool for Evaluating Fuels Treatments
Krist, Frank J., Jr.; Schaetzl, Randall J.	A National Soil Drainage Index Map as a Tool for Forest Insect and Disease Risk Assessments
Liebold, Andrew; Blackburn, Laura; Luzader, Eugene; Gottschalk, Kurt	Use of the Internet for Delivering Geospatial Data on Alien Forest Pests
Luce, Charlie; Rieman, Bruce; Hessburg, Paul; Miller, Carol; Black, Anne	Integrated Analysis for Management of Fire and Fuels, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecological Processes, and Conservation of Sensitive Aquatic Species
Machin, Ben E.; Ruddell, Daniel P.; Bergdahl, Dale R.; Marts, Christina	Hemlock Wooly Adelgid Risk Assessment at Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park
Maffei, Helen; Ager, Alan; Kerns, Becky K.; Boucher, Ken	Modeling Long-Term Interactions Among Forest Threats and Fuel Treatments in Central Oregon Forests
McNab, W. Henry; Loftis, David L.	An Operational Model for Assessing Risk of Oriental Bittersweet, an Invasive Exotic Vine, in the Southern Appalachians
McNulty, Steven G.	Redefining Critical Load Limits in United States Ecosystems to include Multiple Environmental Stresses: Implications and Solutions
Miller, Dan; and Crowe, Chris	Attraction of Native and Exotic Ambrosia Beetles (Scolytidae) to Traps Baited with Ethanol and (-)-Alpha-Pinene in the South
Munn, Ian A.; Zhai, Yushun	Modeling Forest Fire Probabilities in the South Central United States Using FIA Data
Otrosina, W.J.; Spaine, P.	Forested Ecosystems and Interacting Stressors: Management of Unintended Consequences
Ott, E.P.; Sullivan, B.T.; Klepzig, K.D.	Using Chemical Ecology Techniques to Improve Baits for Exotic Ambrosia Beetles
Rehfeldt, Gerald E.; Crookston, Nicolas L.; Warwell, Marcus V.; Evans, Jeffrey S.	Modeling Contemporary Climate Profiles and Predicting their Response to Global Warming for Biotic Communities in Western United States
Rhoades, Chuck; Elder, Kelly; Hubbard, Rob; Dixon, Mark	Biogeochemical and Hydrologic Changes During the Incipient Stage of Mountain Pine Beetle Outbreak in Managed and Unmanaged Subalpine Watersheds at the Fraser Experimental Forest
Rice, T.M.; Stewart, J.E.; Kim, M.-S.; McDonald, G.I.	Development of Potential Vegetation Model to Assess Threats to Forest Health
Rowland, Mary M.; Leu, Matthias; Aldridge, Cameron A.; Finn, Sean P.; Hanser, Steve; Knick, Steven T.; Suring, Lowell H.; Wisdom, Michael J.	An Ecosystem at Risk: The Intersection of Human Impacts and Sagebrush in the Wyoming Basins
Salafsky, Nick; Stattersfield, Alison; Salzer, Daniel; Hilton-Taylor, Craig	New Unified Global Classifications of Threats and Conservation Actions -the Foundation of a Systematic Conservation Science
Seward, Nathan W.; Lavelle, Michael J.; Fischer, Justin W.; Vercauteren, Kurt C.	A Fence Design for Protecting Aspen Stands from Elk without Impeding Other Wildlife
Schoettle, A.W.; Burns, K.S.; Howell, B.; Jacobi, W.; Kearns, H.S.J.; Mahalovich, M.F.; Sniezko, R.A.; Tomback, D.F.; Vogler, D.R.	Threats, Status and Management Options for Bristlecone and Limber Pine Ecosystems of the Southern Rockies
Schultz, Mark	Spruce Aphid Defoliation of Coastal Alaska Sitka Spruce
Spaine, Pauline and William J. Otrosina	Temperature and Humidity Patterns for SOD Risk Assessment in Coastal, Piedmont and Mountains of Georgia and South Carolina
Trotter, R. Talbot; Mongomery, Michael; Shields, Kathleen	Linking Climate with Invasive Species Dynamics on the Landscape
Waldron, John; Coulson, Robert; Cairns, David; Lafon, Charles; Tchakerian, Maria; Xi, Weimin; and Birt, Andrew	Evaluating the Impact of Invasive Species in Forest Landscapes: The Southern Pine Beetle and the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid
Withrow, John R. Jr.; Negron, Jose F.	Ecology and Spatial Risk Assessment of the Douglas-Fir Beetle

*Corresponding author in bold

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Nathan W. Seward, Michael J. Lavelle, Justin W. Fischer, and Kurt C. VerCauteren

USDA APHIS Wildlife Services

High densities of elk (Cervus elaphus) can result in concentrated herbivory that may cause the degradation of stands of quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides).  A means to restrict elk from aspen stands and alleviate associated damage without impeding the movements and ecological function that other wildlife provide is needed.  Therefore, we designed, constructed, and evaluated a simple fence exclosure at MacGregor Ranch in Estes Park, Colorado.  We monitored the efficacy of the 1 ha exclosure with track plots and remote animal-activated cameras.  The fence successfully excluded elk.  Wildlife that used the exclosure included: beaver (Castor canadensis), black bear (Ursus americanus), bobcat (Felis rufus), coyote (Canis latrans), deer (Odocoileus spp.), mountain lion (Puma concolor), raccoon (Procyon lotor), red fox (Vulpes vulpes), and lagomorphs (Leporidae).  We sampled vegetation during March 2004 and 2005 by randomly selecting 90, 1-m² plots inside (n = 45) and outside (n = 45) the exclosure.  Mean aspen sucker height inside the exclosure increased more than outside between 2004 and 2005 (P = 0.03, α = 0.05).  ur study fence is effectively excluding elk and may be useful on a larger scale and in a variety of settings.  Further evaluation of our fence design is warranted.

corresponding author:

Nathan W. Seward
USDA APHIS Wildlife Services
National Wildlife Research Center
4101 LaPorte Avenue
Fort Collins, CO 80521-2154
Nathan.W.Seward@aphis.usda.gov

T. M. Rice, J. E. Stewart, M.-S. Kim, and G. I. McDonald

USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station

Habitat typing of forest stands provides a functional basis for development of tools to assess landscape-level potential threats to forest health. Habitat types (associations of plant species) are well-accepted indicators of general site conditions such as temperature and moisture; however, traditional assignment of habitat types at the landscape level lacks the resolution to discover important process-level parameters requisite to effectively assess diverse environmental threats posed by disease, insect attack, invasive weeds, fire and global climate change. While these threats tend to function across a wide range of plant communities, their behaviors differ within narrower ranges of site conditions influenced by interactions of topography, soil, temperature and precipitation patterns, as well as past disturbance and management practices. Environmental variations occurring within sites must be recognized and used along with broader-scale characteristics to create appropriate management strategies specific to the threat being addressed. For example, data from numerous sites throughout the western United States show that distribution and activity of Armillaria ostoyae, a causal agent of Armillaria root disease, is strongly correlated with plant communities defined by soil temperature-moisture regimes.

Geographic Information System (GIS) tools provided the ability to design an unbiased plant community classification system from terrain and climate analyses of a forested area in Montana, USA. GIS layers produced from stand maps and elevation and weather models were combined to more precisely predict landscape-scale hazard potential and help delineate appropriate management units for assessment of Armillaria threat. New plant community boundaries were drafted based on modeled soil temperature-moisture regimes and compared to traditionally defined stands, revealing significant variability within some stands. Capturing site variability was important in accurately assessing potential presence of pathogenic Armillaria species. Continued development and validation using issue-appropriate data should prove this approach useful for assessing diverse abiotic and biotic threats to forest health, even in the face of changing climate and continued disturbance.

corresponding author:

T.M. Rice
USDA Forest Service
Rocky Mountain Research Station
1221 S. Main Street
Moscow, ID 83843
208-883-2308
trice@fs.fed.us

Mee-Sook Kim, Geral I. McDonald, Thomas M. Rice, David E. Hall, Jane E. Stewart, Jonalea R. Tonn, Philip D. Tanimoto, Paul J. Zambino, and Ned B. Klopfenstein

USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station (1-6,8,9) and University of Arkansas Department of Biological Sciences

When selecting fuels treatments to reduce the threat of catastrophic wildfire, impacts on root-rot disease, such as Armillaria root rot, warrant careful consideration. Armillaria species are widely distributed and their contribution to disease and mortality can increase greatly after natural and human-caused disturbances. Although some Armillaria species are beneficial decomposers of woody substrates, Armillaria ostoyae is a major pathogen of conifers in the western United States. In many environments, this pathogen causes reduced tree growth, increased mortality, and predisposition to bark-beetle attack. In addition, Armillaria root disease can increase wildfire risk by contributing to build up of fuels in affected stands. The Armillaria Response Tool (ART) is a web-based tool that can estimate the potential risk of Armillaria root disease in forests of the inland western USA. ART uses habitat type to estimate the likelihood that pathogenic Armillaria species can occur on a site. ART helps guide stand-level choices of appropriate fuels management plans that allow forest managers to minimize the impact of Armillaria root disease on sites with disease potential. Future refinements to ART could incorporate the influences of stand history and inoculum potential on risk of Armillaria disease. This tool is part of the Fuels Planning: Science Synthesis and Integration Project, a pilot project initiated by the USDA Forest Service to respond to the need for tools and information for planning site-specific fuels-treatment projects. More information and a functional version of the tool can be viewed at our web site: http://forest.moscowfsl.wsu.edu/fuels/art/.

corresponding author:

Mee-Sook Kim
USDA Forest Service
Rocky Mountain Research Station
1221 S. Main Street
Moscow, ID 83843
208-883-2362
mkim@fs.fed.us

John R. Withrow, Jr. and Jose F. Negron

SI International, Inc. and USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station

The Douglas-fir beetle (Dendroctonous pseudotsugae Hopk.) is a major mortality agent of Douglas-fir (Pseudotsugae menziesii Mirbel Franco) across the western United States.  Douglas-fir beetle populations have reached epidemic levels, resulting in an estimated 60,000 trees killed in 2004 alone in Colorado.  Efforts to spatially quantify risk of future infestation hold the promise of focusing and prioritizing management activities.  Previous studies of the Douglas-fir beetle and related species have indicated the importance of beetle population dynamics and spatial movement in effectively quantifying risk for a given location.  Aerial survey data provide a spatially explicit representation of the locations, sizes, shapes, and intensities of various forms of forest damage, including damage from the Douglas-fir beetle.  These data are utilized as a proxy variable for the presence of the Douglas-fir beetle, and a novel GIS technique is introduced that has proven useful in using such data for quantifying the spatio-temporal dynamics of Douglas-fir beetle infestations.  The technique results not only in quantitative indications of Douglas-fir beetle population dynamics and spatial movement, but also a spatial risk map that quantifies probabilities of infestation in an upcoming year.

corresponding author:

John R. Withrow, Jr.
SI International, Inc.
2629 Redwing Road, Suite 110
Fort Collins, CO 80526
johnwithrow@fs.fed.us

R. Hylton, T. R. Simons, and K. Franzreb
USGS North Carolina Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit (1,2) and USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station 

Atmospheric pollution remains a critical environmental problem in the high elevation forests of North America, however we have a limited understanding of the long-term, landscape-level effects of acid precipitation on high elevation populations in terrestrial systems.  The objectives of our research are to quantify the effects of acid deposition and calcium depletion on high elevation songbird and snail populations both spatially and temporally.  Snails are of particular interest as they are the primary source of calcium for songbirds, and are sensitive to environmental contaminants.  We are comparing the calcium content of eggs and the nesting success of songbirds, and abundance, species richness, calcium content, and shell thickness of terrestrial land snails across a gradient of acid deposition in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, an area which faces some of the highest levels of air pollution in North America.  We are also conducting a retrospective study using museum specimens to determine if snail shell size, thickness, and calcium content have declined over time.  In subsequent years we will manipulate the availability of environmental calcium for songbirds at experimental study sites to examine the extent of calcium deficiency.  We anticipate expanding this research into adjacent high elevation sites on National Forest lands in subsequent years.  Our goal is to improve understanding of the connections between human-induced atmospheric pollution and the ecology of wild songbird and snail populations in the Southern Appalachians, and provide recommendations for environmental conservation and management.

corresponding author:
Southern Appalachians Cooperative Ecosystems Studies Unit
Department of Forestry
Wildlife and Fisheries
University of Tennessee
Knoxville, TN  37996
865-974-0932
kfranzreb@fs.fed.us

John Waldron, Robert Coulson, David Cairns, Charles Lafon, Maria Tchakerian, Weimin Xi, and Andrew Birt

Texas A&M University, Knowledge Engineering Laboratory

The southern pine beetle, Dendroctonus frontalis (Zimn) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) (SPB) is an indigenous invasive species that infests and causes mortality to pines (Pinus spp.) throughout the southern US.  The hemlock woolly Adelgid, Adelges tsugae (Annand) (Homoptera: Adelgidae) (HWA), is a non-indigenous invasive species that infests and causes mortality to Eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis), and Carolina hemlock (T. caroliniana) throughout their range in eastern North America.  These species occur in the southern Appalachians.  Herbivory by both species is of concern to forest managers, but for different reasons.  In the case of the SPB emphasis centers on forest restoration strategies and in the case of the HWA the concern is on predicting the impact of removing hemlock from the forest environment.  Both of these issues can be investigated using a landscape simulation modeling approach.  LANDIS II is a simulation modeling environment developed to predict forest landscape change over time.  It is a modular, spatially explicit, landscape-scale ecological simulation model that incorporates disturbance by fire, wind, biological disturbance (insects & pathogens) and harvesting. Because of its modular design, it has the capacity to allow for future disturbance components such as ice storms.  Herein, we present a framework for using LANDIS II to evaluate the impact of herbivory by the SPB and HWA on forest landscapes in the southern Appalachians.

corresponding author:

Robert Coulson
Knowledge Engineering Laboratory
Department of Entomology
Texas A&M University, MS-2475
College Station, TX  77843-2475
979-845-9725
r-coulson@tamu.edu

W.J. Otrosina and P. Spaine

USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station

Recent management activities and various land uses have dramatically altered edaphic and environmental conditions from those under which forest tree species and ecosystems have evolved.  For example, fire suppression in fire-dependent Sequoia giganteum stands has resulted in increased mortality due to Heterobasidion annosum.  One hypothesis is that fire suppression results in increased encroachment of true firs, readily infected by S group H. annosum, thereby transferring the disease via root contacts with S. giganteum.  Also, the existence of a hybrid between the S and P groups of H. annosum may be evidence for anthropogenic influences on evolutionary pathways in this pathogen.  In other ecosystems, such as Pinus palustris (longleaf pine) in the southeastern United States, increased mortality following prescribed fire is being observed.  Various Leptographium species and H. annosum have been associated with this mortality following relatively cool fires.  How these fungi interact with fire and various edaphic factors is not known, however, these examples illustrate the concept of “exotic ecosystems” corresponding to root disease effects on some present day forest ecosystems.

corresponding author:

W.J. Otrosina
USDA Forest Service
320 Green Street
Athens, GA 30602
706-559-4295
wotrosina@fs.fed.us

Ben E. Machin, Daniel P. Ruddell, Dale R. Bergdahl, Christina Marts

Redstart Forestry, Inc. (1,2), University of Vermont Rubenstein School for the Environment and Natural Resources (3) and Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park (4)

Non-native invasive species (NNIS) represent an increasing challenge to management and stewardship of natural and cultural resources that extends across traditional political and ownership boundaries. A GIS-based risk assessment model was developed in Vermont as part of a coordinated effort to reduce the spread and impacts of hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA), a non-native invasive insect  that has heavily impacted hemlock ecosystems in the eastern United States. A primary aim has been to translate research into practical application, and the model was refined through application at Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park. The approach offers an example of cooperative development of systems that integrate spatial data to assist land managers in evaluating the threats of NNIS and developing response strategies.

The model incorporated a literature search, interviews, and historical documentation in identifying:  1) factors associated with the risk of HWA introduction and establishment (“susceptibility”); and   2) potential impact of HWA infestations (“vulnerability/ resistance”). Modeled “susceptibility” factors included: a) climate interaction (cold hardiness zones revised to account for effects of latitude and elevation); b) dispersal potential (distance to documented sources of HWA introduction); and c) host range (FIA hemlock distribution coverages). Modeled “vulnerability” factors were based on HWA research that indicated soil moisture, site productivity, and aspect as key factors affecting varying impacts of HWA across the landscape. GIS layers to address these factors were developed from attributes in the Vermont soils database and a USGS Digital Elevation Model.

Information from the GIS database assisted efforts to address an accidental introduction of HWA in 2005 and integrated information from subsequent eradication efforts. It has also been used to augment qualitative risk assessment based on USDA APHIS guidelines and has potential to inform quantitative risk assessments. Current efforts are expanding information layers to include data applicable to a number of other pests of high concern.

corresponding author:

Ben E. Machin
Redstart Forestry, Inc.
211 Joe Lord Road
Corinth, VT 05039
redstart@sover.net

Tessa Bauman, Kier Klepzig, and Robert Rabaglia

USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station (1,2)
USDA Forest Service Forest Health Protection (3)

Early Detection and Rapid Response is a critical component of the USDA Forest Service invasive species program. We have collected, processed, and identified thousands of samples from funnel traps baited with ethanol (to capture ambrosia beetles), Ipslure (to capture scolytine engravers), and pinene-ethanol (to capture turpentine and other secondary beetles) and placed in urban forests and near port facilities and wood-handling facilities.  We have recovered Xylosandrus compactus, Xylosandrus crassiusculus,  Xylosandrus germanus, Gnathotrichus materiarius, Monarthrum fasciatum, and M. mali - beetles which are known to occur within the USA.  In addition, we continue to check samples for any new or recent introductions.  Current efforts focus on the following target species: Hylurgops palliatus, Hylurgus ligniperda, Tomicus piniperda, Scolytus schevyrewi, Ips sexdentatus, Ips typographus, Orthotomicus erosus, Pityogenes chalcographus, Xyleborus glabratus, Xyleborus similis, and Trypodendron domesticum. This program is a targeted detection and response effort that supports efforts to effectively detect high-risk exotic species early enough to pursue control and/or eradication actions.  Future goals of our participation in the effort include additional training of field personnel and students, development of new trapping, screening and identification methods, and cooperation with the Forest Health Technology Enterprise Team and Threat Assessment Centers on risk-rating for species and ecosystems.

corresponding author:

Kier Klepzig
Forest Insect Research
2500 Shreveport Hwy
Pineville, LA  71360
318-473-7238
kklepzig@fs.fed.us

Charlie Luce, Bruce Rieman, Paul Hessburg, Carol Miller, and Anne Black

USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station (1,2,4,5) and Pacific Northwest Research Station (3)

Hazardous fuels projects designed to mitigate large wildfires can  conflict with habitat protection needs for threatened, endangered, and sensitive aquatic species.  Conflict emerges from uncertainty over whether large wildfires or the fuels management activities represent a greater threat to the long-term persistence of sensitive species and the quality and extent of their habitats. Managers need to identify where goals of fuels management, ecological restoration in both terrestrial and aquatic systems, and sensitive species management conflict or converge with one another. Both cases exist, but the relative risks may vary dramatically with landscape and ecological context. To meet multiple demands of watershed/habitat protection and improvement and hazardous fuels reduction, managers must assess tradeoffs among vulnerability and isolation of aquatic species and habitats, hydrologic connectivity between hill slopes and critical habitats, and the likelihood of damaging events.  We propose a framework for a spatially explicit decision analysis that organizes knowledge of aquatic species and habitat issues, watershed processes, and the management objectives of terrestrial vegetation, wildfire, and fuels. Our framework can be directly integrated with the Fire Effects Planning Framework (FEPF), an existing tool that helps managers spatially identify and track where wildfire may provide ecological and social benefits and where it may pose significant risks to management goals and socioeconomic values. FEPF is used at a variety of planning scales to assist in land management plan revision, Fire Management Plan updates, landscape scale fuels treatment planning, and incident support.  FEPF currently defines benefits based primarily on vegetative stand condition and considers watershed and fisheries as constraints.  The proposed decision support model instead will allow the potential benefits to both terrestrial and aquatic systems to be considered.  Our preliminary results suggest a significant opportunity exists for strategic placement of fuels treatment to simultaneously resolve both terrestrial and aquatic issues.

corresponding author:

Charlie Luce
USDA Forest Service,
Rocky Mountain Research Station
322 E Front St., Suite 401
Boise, ID 83702
208-373-4382
cluce@fs.fed.us

R. Talbot Trotter, Michael Montgomery and Kathleen Shields

USDA Forest Service Northeastern Research Station

 Outside the issues of host specificity and non-target effects, the effective and efficient use of biological control methods depends on two specific pieces of information: 1) knowing where (and when) the biocontrol agent is needed; and 2) knowing where (and when) it can establish.  Over the last few decades, the hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA) has become a prime target for biological control programs, as chemical controls have proven to be impractical at landscape scales because of both ecological and logistical problems.  To date, at least ten species of arthropods have been imported to the U.S., and several have been released in the eastern U.S. for the control of HWA.  To date however, successful establishment of the species in varying locations has been erratic.
Risk mapping and climate/landscape modeling offer opportunities to improve our understanding of factors related to successful establishment of invasive pests and their biocontrols.  Previous HWA risk mapping has focused on the distribution of the host species, providing the critical baseline estimate for the potential maximum distribution of the species.  However, the expressed distribution may differ as a result of both biotic and abiotic factors such as temperature limits.  The spread of HWA populations in the late 1990s provides a possible example of temperature acting as a limiting factor in pest establishment.  Prior to 1998, HWA populations were largely limited to the eastern aspect of the Appalachian Mountains.  Estimation of minimum January temperatures across the landscape using data from ~1600 weather stations (available from NOAA NCDC) in combination with county infestation records suggests the high altitudes of the Appalachians produced a cold barrier to establishment of HWA.  However, regional weather data shows that around 1998, warmer-than-average winter temperatures may have provided a temporal window in this barrier, allowing the HWA to expand rapidly west.  Patterns such as these provide insight into the dynamics of species movements across the landscape, and provide a starting point for the prediction of the expected limits of establishment for the invasive species - a key to understanding where biological control is likely to be needed.

corresponding author:

R. Talbot Trotter III
Northeastern Center for Forest Health Research
51 Mill Pond Road
Hamden CT 06514
203-230-4312
rttrotter@fs.fed.us

Frank J. Krist Jr. and Randall J. Schaetzl

USDA Forest Service Forest Health Technology Enterprise Team (1)
Michigan State University (2)

With the widespread availability of published Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) maps in digital format, resource managers can now begin to incorporate soilscape analysis into risk assessment exercises. Recent work, including the compilation of the National Insect and Disease Risk map by the USDA Forest Service, State and Private Forestry Area, Forest Health Protection Unit, has demonstrated the significance of soils and soil patterns in risk analysis. In particular, patterns related to soil moisture content are often a primary factor related to tree stress, and thus to insects and diseases. Current measures available from the NRCS soils data, such as available water holding capacity of the various soil series, do not adequately describe natural soil wetness and are difficult to interpret. In order to address this data gap, a soil drainage index (DI), initially developed by Schaetzl (1986) and elaborated upon in this work, was used in the construction of the National Insect and Disease Risk map. The DI ranges from 0 (for bare rock) to 99 (for open water) and is based on soil and topographic characteristics, including drainage class, slope, texture, and profile thickness, all of which can be easily gleaned from the taxonomic family of each soil series, as indicated on county soil surveys. The DI has the advantage of being based on natural soil wetness or dryness, which is unaffected by climate variation or irrigation. As a result, soils with high water holding potentials can be identified, even in desert regions, and evaluated in an unbiased manner against soils in wetter locations. The USDA Forest Service, in cooperation with Michigan State University, is currently developing an algorithm that can be used to calculate the DI value of any soil series in the USA, and in so doing is developing a national map of DI values. This poster briefly outlines the process used to develop this layer and how this soil DI layer can play a key role in dynamic risk assessments. The poster will also compare the resultant DI map to a national map of available soil water holding capacity.

corresponding author:

Frank Krist
Forest Health Technology Enterprise Team
2150 Centre Ave., Bldg. A., Suite 331
Fort Collins, CO, USA 80526-1891
970-295-5845
fkrist@fs.fed.us

Terry A. Kaplan-Henry, Joshua G. Courter, and Sarah E. Martin

USDA Forest Service Sequoia National Forest

During the summers of 2000, through 2005 stream channel geometry relationships were surveyed in tributary streams to the Kern River and USGS gage stations within the Kern River basin.  From this data, Kern River channel geometry and discharge relationships versus drainage area were developed.  This information was utilized to document pre-fire stream discharge relationships to determine design flow for the 2002 McNally fire.  Post fire design flow calculation requires estimates of runoff response associated with burn severity.  The most popular reference for post fire runoff response discharge is Magnitude and Frequency of Floods in California (Waananen and Crippen 1977).  These authors provide discharge equations for the 2-year, 5-year, 10-year, 25-year, 50-year, and 100-year recurrence interval storms for six regions in California and are based on more than 700 stream flow stations.  Comparison of local stream data relationships and those derived from Wannanen and Crippen yielded interesting results.  As expected, all of the calculated regional discharge relationships for the various recurrence intervals are roughly parallel.  What is surprising is that all of the relationships derived from field measurements and local data indicate discharge relationships are at least a magnitude of order higher for watersheds roughly 10 miles² and smaller.  Watersheds greater than 10 miles² have closer relationships.  Discharge relationships for both the calculated and measured 5-year recurrence interval have the closest relationship. 

Since the 2002 McNally fire, we have documented the response of watersheds in the fire to both winter and summer storm events to validate discharge estimates predicted as a result of the fire.  Watersheds studied include Rattlesnake Creek, Tobias Creek and Ant Canyon.  These drainages were surveyed either immediately prior to or immediately after the fire.  Surveys have continued through 2005.  Parameters measured include cross-sections, longitudinal profiles, bank stability, and particle distribution.  Discharge estimates have been calculated using resistance equations.  These equations calculate discharge based on depth, bed material, cross-sectional area, wetted perimeter, hydraulic and slope.  The results of this study suggest that post fire runoff from the most severely burned watershed plots on the 10-year discharge curve while the moderately burned watershed plots on the 5-year curve created from local stream relationships.

corresponding author:

Terry A. Kaplan-Henry
Sequoia National Forest
1839 South Newcomb Street
Porterville, CA 93257
559-784-1500 ext 1181
tkaplanhenry@fs.fed.us

Carlos Fabián Vargas, Yolanda Salinas, Gerardo Zúñiga, Alan A. Ager, and Jane L. Hayes

Instituto Politecnico Nacional Biological Variation and Evolution Laboratory, Mexico City, Mexico (1-3) and USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station (4,5)

Bark beetles in the genus Dendroctonus are significant causes of mortality for over half of the more than 40 species of pines (Pinus) that occur in Mexico and there is a growing need for a bark beetle risk predictive capabilities to help forest managers mitigate beetle impacts.  The host relationship between beetles and pines is weak; most of the 12 species of bark beetles attack a number of pine species and considerable overlap of these hosts occurs.  The geographic distribution of bark beetle populations is highly influenced by environmental factors such as temperature and elevation, rather than strictly by the distribution of potential hosts, and thus many beetle species are more prevalent in certain portions of their host range.  Given these considerations, and a data set consisting of point observations of pine - beetle species throughout Mexico, we devised a measure of beetle pressure by considering the cumulative pine - beetle  exposure at each site.  Local density of beetles and geographic range maps for pine species were generated from point maps using kernal density functions.  The beetle pressure index was calculated by summing the beetle density over all pine-beetle combinations present in that pixel.  While other variables like stand density and tree size are most likely important determinants of potential beetle risk, the beetle pressure index provided an informative broad scale indicator of potential for bark beetle impacts on pine forests in Mexico.

corresponding author:

Jane L. Hayes
USDA Forest Service
Pacific Northwest Research Station
1401 Gekeler Lane
La Grande, OR 97850-3368
541-962-6549
jlhayes@fs.fed.us

Gerald E. Rehfeldt, Nicolas L. Crookston, Marcus V.Warwell, and Jeffrey S. Evans

USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station

The Random Forests multiple regression tree was used to develop bioclimatic models of 25 biotic communities of western USA. Independent variables included 35 simple expressions of temperature and precipitation and their interactions. Analyses of the communities were based on a gridded sample of about 140,000 points, while those of species distributions used presence-absence data from about 120,000 permanent sample plots. Errors of classification for the distribution of plant communities averaged about 2 % when adjusted for ecotones between communities and misalignment between geographic data sets. Climate variables of most importance for segregating the communities were those that generally differentiate maritime from continental climates. Unmitigated global warming should increase the abundance of the climate profiles typifying the montane forests and grasslands largely at the expense of those of the alpine-tundra arid woodlands. However, nearly 47 % of the future landscape may be outside the climate profiles of the contemporary communities.

corresponding author:

Marcus V. Warwell
USDA Forest Service
Rocky Mountain Research Station
1221 S. Main
Moscow, ID 83843
208-883-2322
mwarwell@fs.fed.us

Helen Maffei, Alan Ager, Becky K. Kerns, and Ken Boucher

USDA Forest Service, Forest Health Protection (1); USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station (2,3); USDA Forest Service, Central Oregon Fire Management Services (4)

We describe a prototype risk assessment framework to analyze the effects of fuel reduction treatments on multiple, interacting forest threats in the lodgepole pine and mixed conifer forests of central Oregon.  The framework links a number of forest simulation and GIS models to simulate the effects of fuel reduction treatments on forest succession, potential bark beetle mortality, wildfire probability, and the spread of invasive plants.  As a study and test case area, we are using a high priority landscape located in the Davis Late Successional Reserve (LSR) in central Oregon on the Deschutes National Forest. In this LSR, disturbances like wildfire and bark beetles pose a threat to key habitat for the northern spotted owl and other wildlife species.  The spread of invasive plants is also a potential threat as understory species contribute virtually all the plant biodiversity in these forests, regulate many processes, and provide critical wildlife habitat.  We are simulating a range of management scenarios over time to examine interactions among competing threats, specific types of management activities, and their associated risk.  In this poster we describe our modeling approach and outputs from preliminary application of the models to the Davis Late Successional Reserve and other study areas. 

corresponding author:

Helen Maffei
USDA Forest Service
Forest Health Protection
Deschutes National Forest
1001 SW Emkay Drive
Bend, Oregon 97702
541-383-5591
hmaffei@fs.fed.us

Jeffrey A. Hicke and Jesse A. Logan

Colorado State University and USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station

Insect outbreaks are significant forest disturbances in the United States.  In the western United States, extensive bark beetle outbreaks in recent years have killed thousands of ha of trees.  High-elevation whitebark pine forests in the Rocky Mountains have experienced a recent severe infestation of mountain pine beetle.  Outbreaks in these ecosystems are associated with unusually warm temperatures.  Increasing probability of outbreak in these forests may constitute a threat to a keystone species that provides significant services to ecosystems and humans.  Here we discuss two studies related to outbreaks in whitebark pine forests.  Model results driven by climate change projections suggest that future warming at high elevations will increase the area suitable for mountain pine beetle outbreak across the western United States.  We also describe a remote sensing study in central Idaho that quantifies tree mortality using 2.4-m spatial resolution imagery.  We will discuss total outbreak area, present landscape patterns, and assess how mortality varies across the landscape with respect to topography.

corresponding author:

Jeffrey A. Hicke
1499 Campus Delivery
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, CO 80523
970-491-2104
jhicke@nrel.colostate.edu

A. Davidson, A. Hudak, J. Evans, W. Gould, G. González, and T. Hollingsworth

USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station (1-3) International Institute of Tropical Forestry (4,5) and Pacific Northwest Research Station (6)

Land cover conversion, forest harvest and road construction have fragmented forests and rangelands across the United States.  Fragmentation affects hazardous fuel distribution, introduction of invasive species, wildlife habitat suitability, and other ecological variables.  Edge gradients between forest stands and harvested stands, agricultural fields, or roads vary in steepness, making edge mapping difficult to standardize across landscapes.  This study evaluated the ability of the eCognition multiresolution segmentation tool to consistently produce image objects with optimal size and shape characteristics for managers, across temperate, tropical, and boreal forest types in the United States.  The desired scale of the image objects generated was that of a forest stand, the management unit typically used by forest managers.  The utility of the results was assessed using edge locations previously ground-truthed at 720 sites in Idaho, Washington, Minnesota, Puerto Rico, and Alaska.  Source image data were Landsat 7 ETM+ multispectral bands (30 m resolution) alone or fused with the panchromatic band (15 m resolution); Landsat ETM+ scenes were selected because they are available across all field sites (for this study) and elsewhere (for widespread applicability).  For the 30m and 15m Landsat data the eCognition multiresolution segmentation algorithm was run with three different shape factors (20, 30, and 40) against four different scale factors (0.2, 0.3, 0.4, and 0.5), while all other parameters were held constant.  In general, a shape factor of 30 and scale factor of 0.3 produced the best results, in terms of maximizing the percent of ground validation edges correctly detected, while not allowing >1 % of the management units to be < 2 ha, or smaller than is useful for managers.  We conclude that eCognition could be used operationally to delineate landscape units across a broad range of forest vegetation types and to help assess fragmentation effects on a variety of ecological processes.

corresponding author:

Andrew T. Hudak
USFS Rocky Mountain Research Station
1221 South Main Street
Moscow, ID 83843
208-883-2327
ahudak@fs.fed.us

Nick Salafsky, Alison Stattersfield, Daniel Salzer and Craig Hilton-Taylor

Foundations of Success/Conservation Measures Partnership (1), Birdlife International/IUCN Species Survival Commission (2), The Nature Conservancy/Conservation Measures Partnership (3), IUCN Species Survival Commission

There is growing interest in promoting more systematic information
sharing and learning between conservation practitioners in and across
different organizations. Ultimately, these efforts are about trying to
develop a body of knowledge and practice about how to make conservation
more effective - to create a science of conservation.  An unglamorous
yet essential foundation of any science is a standard nomenclature.  If
we want to create general principles for conservation work, we need a
common language.  In recent years, the IUCN Species Survival Commission
and the Conservation Measures Partnership have each independently
developed standard classifications for direct threats and for
conservation actions.  Over the past year, we have been working to bring
together these separate efforts to produce one unified set of
classifications.  Here we present the results of this work.  It is our
hope that these standard classifications will help field project teams
identify threats and design appropriate actions.  More importantly,
these taxonomies will allow practitioners to search a database of
conservation projects and find projects facing similar threats or using
similar actions and thus to learn how, why, and when certain actions
succeed in abating particular threats - to facilitate cross-project
learning and ultimately develop a full-fledged science of conservation.
The classifications are available at www.conservationmeasures.org.

corresponding author:
Nick Salafsky
Foundations of Success
4109 Maryland Ave
Bethesda MD 20816 USA
301-263-2784
Nick@FOSonline.org

Steven G. McNulty

The federal agencies of the United States (US) are currently developing guidelines for critical nitrogen load limits for US forest ecosystems.  These guidelines will be used to develop regulations designed to maintain pollutant inputs below the level shown to damage specified ecosystems.  By traditional definition, an ecosystem is considered to be at risk when nitrogen loads exceed a critical level. The excess over the critical load is termed the accedence, and a larger accedence is often considered to pose a greater risk of damage to an ecosystem. This definition of critical loads applies to acute or chronic individual stress impacts, but does not work well when an ecosystem is subjected to multiple environmental stresses. For example, the southeastern US mountains of western North Carolina received some of the highest rates of nitrogen deposition in the eastern US, but these nitrogen deposition levels are still considered to be below the critical load rate.  The area experienced a moderate three year drought from 1999-2002.  In 2001, white pine and spruce trees began to die in large numbers in the area.  The initial evidence confirmed that the affected trees were killed by the southern pine beetle (SPB).  This insect species is not normally successful at colonizing these tree species because heavy oleoresin production exudes the boring beetles from impacted trees.  Subsequent investigations revealed that the relative ratio of above ground to below ground biomass was high compared to ratios of same species from lower nitrogen deposition areas.  I believe that elevated nitrogen deposition reduced the root biomass, reduced the tree water uptake potential, reduced oleoresin production, and caused the trees to become more to susceptible to insect colonization during the drought period.  If climate variability (and change) impacts are included, then the forests in this area were in accedence of their critical nitrogen threshold.  Recent advances in ecosystem modeling of climate change stress impacts on forest ecosystems allow for more complex analysis of multiple stress scenarios.  This poster explores how climate change stress impacts can be assessed using computer models to determine variable critical load limits. The implications for improved forest management and pollutant regulation will also be presented.

corresponding author:

Steven G. McNulty
USDA Forest Service
Southern Research Station
Southern Global Change Program
920 Main Campus Dr.
Raleigh, NC  27606
919-515-9489
steve_mcnulty@ncsu.edu

Yushun Zhai and Ian A. Munn

Mississippi State University Forestry Department

Factors influencing the probability of fire occurrence in the south central United States were investigated using a geographic information system (GIS) and a multinomial logit model. Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data at the plot level were merged with census data at the census-tract level to create a data set containing demographic, geographic, and timber-related characteristics. A multinomial logit model was employed to estimate the relationships between plot characteristics and the probability of wildfires, prescribed fires and fires of unknown origins. Wildfires occurred more frequently on public forests than industrial and non-industrial private forests (NIPFs). The probability of wildfire increased with proximity to urban areas and "built-up" areas of four hectares or more in size. Wildfires occurred more frequently in younger stands and in pine and mixed pine-hardwood types than in hardwood types.  Prescribed fires occurred more frequently on public and industrial forests than on NIPFs. The probability of prescribed fires increased with proximity to roads, urban areas, "built-up" areas of four hectares or more, and on flatter terrain but was inversely related to population density. Fire was prescribed less frequently for pole-sized stands than sawtimber size stands and more frequently for pine and mixed pine-hardwood types than for hardwood types. Education levels and median household incomes of the surrounding census tract had no significant effects on the probability of any type of fire.

corresponding author:

Ian A. Munn
Box 9681
Forestry Department
Mississippi State, MS 39762
662-325-4546
imunn@cfr.msstate.edu

Jason B. Grogan,

Stephen F. Austin State University - Arthur Temple College of Forestry & Agriculture 

Satellite imagery and other forms of remote sensing currently are more easily available, affordable and increasing in resolution and quality.  However, most hazard rating systems were developed long before these data were readily available.  As new data and technologies have become increasingly available most risk/hazard assessment researchers have attempted to extract data needed for existing hazard rating systems, rather than developing new methods capturing the full potential of the data.  Research was conducted to explore ways of using these data and technologies in innovative new systems, rather than attempting to mold data into old methods.  Weights of Evidence (WofE) spatial analysis was used to predict the probability of Southern Pine Beetle (SPB) (Dendroctonus frontalis Zimmermann) infestation in Angelina, Nacogdoches, San Augustine and Shelby Counties, Texas.  Thematic spatial data derived from LandSat imagery (1974-2002 LandSat 1-7) were used in the analysis.  Predicted infestation probabilities were significantly higher at actual infestation locations, (p < 0.0001) and more infestations occurred in the higher probability areas (p = 0.002).  A significant correlation was found between WofE probability and traditional SPB hazard rating, calculated from forest inventory data.  Probability maps were classified to produce current SPB three and five-class hazard rating maps.  Results indicate the Weights of Evidence geospatial analysis was successful at predicting the probability (hazard) of SPB infestation and showed the analysis benefited from data not used in past systems, such as forest patch size and other spatially-related variables.

corresponding author:

Jason B. Grogan
Columbia Regional Geospatial Service Center
Arthur Temple College of Forestry & Agriculture
Stephen F. Austin State University
jgrogan@sfasu.edu

Randy Hamilton, Vicky Johnson, Henry Lachowski, Paul Maus

USDA Forest Service Remote Sensing Applications Center

Invasive weeds are a major threat to the health of the nation’s forests and rangelands. The ever-increasing number and spread of weeds require new tools and techniques for effective management. Geospatial technologies such as remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS) offer new tools to resource managers. However, many resource managers are not familiar with or have unrealistic expectations of these technologies. To help resource managers appropriately integrate geospatial technologies into their weed management programs, the USDA Forest Service Remote Sensing Applications Center developed an educational, web-based Weed Manager’s Guide to Remote Sensing and GIS. The guide addresses the proper application of geospatial technologies in four major aspects of weed management: (1) predicting (modeling) risk of invasion, (2) mapping and monitoring, (3) educating the public, and (4) developing weed management plans. Downloadable documents providing basic guidelines for using remote sensing and geospatial technologies in these four aspects of weed management are provided within each section. Additional resources including tutorials and links to other key sites are also provided. The website, located at http://www.fs.fed.us/eng/rsac/invasivespecies/, was developed in cooperation with the Forest Service National Invasive Species Program.

corresponding author:

Randy Hamilton
USDA Forest Service
Remote Sensing Applications Center
2222 West 2300 South
Salt Lake City, UT  84119
801-975-3845
randyhamilton@fs.fed.us

Mark Schultz and Ann Lynch

USDA Forest Service Alaskan Region and Rocky Mountain Research Station

Spruce aphid (Elatobium abietinum Walker) defoliation of Sitka spruce in southeast Alaska occurs mostly in the beach fringe. Acreage of defoliated trees has been small until the 1970s when the acreage mapped started to increase significantly and outbreaks increased in duration.  Spruce aphids are adversely affected by low winter temperatures.  Several days below -10 °C will kill over-wintering aphids.  The number of and duration of these cold periods has declined since spruce aphid was introduced into North America. Trees that were once fed upon for a couple of years are now being feed upon for several years.  This has caused tree mortality or contributed to tree mortality in breach-fringe areas where Sitka spruce is the only large tree for nesting eagles.   Treatment options are limited and a study is being done to determine which single tree treatments will best protect the more valuable trees from attack, with the least amount of tree injury.  With protection from spruce aphid feeding, live branches will produce new buds.   Without protection trees usually die from the bottom of the tree crown to the top.  In other places bark beetles might find these weakened trees good breeding material. In southeast Alaska the only tree killing bark beetle, spruce beetle, has been in low population numbers for many years.

corresponding authors:

Mark Schultz
USDA Forest Service, Alaska Region
3301 C Street, Suite 202
Anchorage, AK 99503-3956
907-586-8883
mschultz01@fs.fed.us

Pauline Spaine and William J. Otrosina

USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station

There are two Sudden Oak Death (SOD) risk maps available for Georgia and South Carolina.  The potential SOD host list has been rapidly expanding in areas where optimal temperature and humidity may exist for suitable periods for SOD infection outside the areas indicted on the risk map.  We monitored Ericaceous habitat areas in Georgia and South Carolina for temperature, dew point and humidity ranges throughout the year. Data loggers in these locations recorded on an hourly basis.  In lower elevations, two locations had a greater than 50 percent correlation with temperature risk parameters for SOD.   In two higher elevation locations there was greater than 50 percent agreement for temperature risk parameters for two months at one location and for 8 months at another. One high elevation site had temperatures that fell within criteria from February through November.  The other site met criteria only during May and October. This data suggests risk may be more wide spread in various microclimates than current risk maps indicate.

corresponding author:

Pauline Spaine
Research Eco-Plant Pathologist
USDA Forest Service
320 Green Street
Athens, Georgia  30602
706-559-4278
pspaine@fs.fed.us

Sandra L. Jacobson

USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station

Highways wind through all the nation’s public lands, including national forests, parks and wildlife refuges, yet these lands are indisputably the best remaining wildlife habitat. US Department of Transportation projects an annual vehicle travel increase of 2.4% through 2013. DOTs are responding to the public’s transportation demands by increasing highway capacity in terms of speed, number of lanes, and improved nighttime safety. National forests are increasingly the location of choice by transportation agencies for new road construction due to environmental justice concerns and free land costs.

Two types of highway-caused impacts to wildlife are vehicle-caused mortality and movement barriers. Highways can cause barrier effects without mortality because some species will refuse to approach as volume increases. A highway will become a complete barrier to movement due to the risk of mortality at a threshold volume, varying by species’ movement type, highway width and configuration, traffic speed, and the proportion of traffic at night. Research on turtles, a representative slow species, has shown a total barrier to movement threshold of 15,000 Annual Average Daily Traffic volume. Many highways crossing National Forest System lands are either at this threshold or will increase to this level in the next 15 years. Sample AADT’s are over 16,000 on I-40 across the Tonto NF and 26,000-30,500 on I-80 across the Tahoe NF.

This paper characterizes the probability of a highway becoming a complete movement barrier for several movement categories of wildlife, and provides a coarse filter map of highways across public lands meeting or projecting threshold traffic volumes posing a barrier threat to wildlife. Recommended refinements in the suggested methodology can yield predictions on high priority sites for mitigation.

corresponding author:

Sandra L. Jacobson
USDA Forest Service
Pacific Southwest Research Station
Redwood Sciences Laboratory
1700 Bayview Dr, Arcata, CA 95521
707-825-2985
sjacobson@fs.fed.us

A.W. Schoettle, K.S. Burns, B. Howell, W. Jacobi, H.S.J. Kearns, M.F. Mahalovich, R.A. Sniezko, D.F. Tomback, and D.R. Vogler

USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station (1), Forest Health Management (2,3,5), National Forest Systems (6), Region 6 Dorena Genetic Resources Center (7), and Pacific Southwest Research Station (9), and Colorado State University (4) and University of Colorado (8)

High-elevation white pines define the most remote alpine-forest ecotones in western North America yet they are not beyond the reach of a lethal non-native pathogen.  The pathogen (Cronartium ribicola), a native to Asia, causes the disease white pine blister rust and was introduced into western Canada in 1910.  Whitebark and limber pines have been infected for over 50 years in the northern Rockies and are currently experiencing top-kill and mortality as a result of the disease. The disease was found in southern Wyoming over 30 years ago and in northern Colorado in 1998 on limber pine.  Rocky Mountain bristlecone pine was first found infected in central Colorado in 2003.  The pathogen continues to spread and threaten the extensive high elevation pine forests of the southern Rockies.  Given the unique ecological roles played by these species, tree mortality and reduced regeneration success caused by blister rust will affect biodiversity, watershed stability, forest recovery after fire, wildlife and recreation.  This poster will summarize current  knowledge on (1) the status of bristlecone and limber pine in the Southern Rocky Mountains, (2) the potential long term consequences of the disease on ecosystem function and sustainability, (3) the prospects for successful intervention to restore ecosystem function in impacted areas and (4) in those areas not yet impacted, the prospects for proactive management to sustain critical ecological interrelationships and preserve biodiversity during naturalization.  In addition, progress on studies to define the level of genetic rust resistance, regeneration requirements, geographic variation in adaptive traits, hazard mapping and silvicultural applications for bristlecone and limber pine of the Southern Rockies will be presented.

corresponding author:

Anna W. Schoettle
USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Sttion
240 West Prospect Street
Fort Collins, CO 80526-2098
970-498-1333
aschoettle@fs.fed.us

Andrew Liebhold, Laura Blackburn, Eugene Luzader, Kurt Gottschalk

USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station

Alien forest pest species represent one of the most formidable challenges to forest ecosystem stability.  As such, there is tremendous demand by forest managers, forest resource specialists, homeowners and the general public for information on the biology, management and impacts of these species.  Over the last 8 years we have maintained a site on the World Wide Web that serves as a hypermedia clearinghouse for information on the gypsy moth in North America.  This site averages over 25,000 pages downloaded monthly and information from this page has been used by teachers, students, homeowners, state agencies and various media outlets.

Increasingly, users are demanding geospatial data on alien forest pest species.  Both forest managers and homeowners are searching for information that details the location of invading populations in relation to their own holdings.  We have developed a tool, “Alien Forest Pest Explorer” using Arc/IMS to provide a clearinghouse for geospatial on forest pest species.  To date this site provides detailed map data on predicted and past spread, forest susceptibility and historical damage by three exotic forest pests: gypsy moth, beech bark disease and hemlock woolly adelgid.  Despite our efforts, there remain many unfulfilled needs in delivering geospatial data on alien forest pest species.  Some of these deficiencies are due to the lack of regimented survey data for specific organisms.  Future efforts by the USDA to coordinate collection and management of survey data will greatly contribute to the delivery of more useful geospatial data to the public.

In August 2006 the site became available to the public at: http://www.fs.fed.us/ne/morgantown/4557/AFPE/

corresponding author:

Andrew Liebhold
USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station
180 Canfield Street
Morgantown, WV 26505
304-285-1512
aliebhold@fs.fed.us

E. P. Ott, B. T. Sullivan, and K. D. Klepzig

LSU Agcenter Department of Entomology (1) and USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station (2,3)

Despite typically being weak mortality agents in their native environments, exotic bark and ambrosia beetles (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) may cause significant tree damage upon introduction into the United States.  These potentially invasive insects are increasingly being detected attacking and inhabiting trees in the US, and in some cases they are causing significant economic losses.  We describe our efforts to develop baits for facilitating the detection of exotic ambrosia beetles and assessing the threat posed by them.  Our approach involves three steps:  (1) artificially eliciting attractiveness in potential host trees, (2) identifying olfactory stimulants produced by attractive hosts via electrophysiological studies of beetle antennae, and (3) evaluating candidate bait components in field and lab assays.

corresponding author:

E.P. Ott
Department of Entomology
Louisiana State University Agcenter
404 Life Science Building
Baton Rouge, LA 70803
EOtt@agcenter.lsu.edu

Mary M. Rowland, Matthias Leu, Cameron A. Aldridge, Sean P. Finn, Steve Hanser, Steven T. Knick, Lowell H. Suring, and Michael J. Wisdom

W. Henry McNab and David L. Loftis

USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station

Oriental bittersweet, a shade-tolerant, twining, rapidly-growing exotic vine, is a serious threat to hardwood silviculture in the eastern United States. Land managers need an economical and accurate method to assess the risk of occurrence of this species on the forested landscape. In a previous study of the distribution of bittersweet in a small study area, two variables were important predictors: (1) concave landforms were associated with its presence, and (2) the evergreen shrub Kalmia latifolia was associated with its absence. A logistic model using these variables to predict the presence of bittersweet performed well in the study area, achieving an accuracy of 87 percent when applied to a small sample of plots excluded from the analysis. Additional validation of the model was needed before it could be recommended to land managers as a method for assessing risk of bittersweet.

The study reported in this poster had two objectives: (1) validate the preliminary model for predicting the occurrence of bittersweet over a larger area and (2) devise an operational method for applying the model. Forty-three plots were installed in a uniform grid throughout the 6,000 ac watershed surrounding the 100 ac study area. Application of the model resulted in prediction accuracy of 79 percent; false positives were 19 percent, but more importantly, false negatives were only 2 percent. These results suggest the preliminary model is applicable over a broader area.

The topographic components of the model can be applied using a geographic information system (GIS) to determine land surface concavity, but a satisfactory method to predict occurrence of Kalmia is not available. Kalmia, however, is readily visible on dormant season, color infrared aerial photography; therefore the extent of this species should be accurately detected and mapped with image processing software.  We will develop an operational risk assessment model that utilizes classified imagery during the upcoming winter and test it during spring 2006. We are relatively confident that a satisfactory model utilizing a combination of GIS and aerial photography can developed for assessing risk of the occurrence of oriental bittersweet on forested landscapes in the southern Appalachians. 

corresponding author:

W. Henry McNab
USDA Forest Service
Southern Research Station
1577 Brevard Road, Asheville, NC 28806
828-667-5261x119
hmcnab@fs.fed.us

Stephen W. Fraedrich, Thomas C. Harrington, and Robert J. Rabaglia

USDA Forest Service,Southern Research Station (1) and Forest Health Protection (3) and Iowa State University Department of Plant Pathology (2)

Extensive mortality of red bay (Persea borbonia (L.) Spreng) has been observed in maritime forests of the southeastern United States since 2003. Trees exhibit wilt-like symptoms and a black discoloration of the sapwood.  A fungus has been consistently isolated from the discolored xylem of symptomatic trees throughout the range of the problem.  This fungus has been identified as an Ophiostoma sp. based on sequences of the ribosomal DNA and its tolerance of cycloheximide, and the anamorph of the fungus is similar to the genus of ambrosia beetle symbionts, Raffaelea.  Field and growth chamber studies have determined that the fungus is pathogenic to red bay and causes a vascular wilt. A recently-introduced exotic ambrosia beetle, Xyleborus glabratus (Eichhoff), also has been consistently found in dead and dying red bay trees, and the Ophiostoma species has been isolated from the beetle. The beetle is native to Asia, where it is associated with plant species in the family Lauraceae.

As of February 2006, the disease has been confirmed in ten coastal counties of South Carolina and Georgia.  The disease was also discovered near Jacksonville, Florida in the spring  2005.  Most red bay trees are now dead in areas around Hilton Head Island, South Carolina where the disease has been recognized since 2003.  Dead and dying sassafras Sassafras albidum (Nutt.) Nees) with similar wilt symptoms have also been found in some Georgia counties affected by the wilt of red bay.  The affected sassafras were infested with X. glabratus, and the Ophiostoma sp. was isolated from symptomatic sapwood.  Pathogenicity tests have confirmed that sassafras and other members of the Lauraceae (swamp red bay, P. palustris (Raf.) Sarg. and spicebush, Lindera benzoin (L.) Blume) are susceptible to wilt caused by the Ophiostoma sp.

corresponding author:

Stephen Fraedrich
USDA Forest Service
Southern Research Station
320 Green St.
Athens, GA  30602
706-559-4273
sfraedrich@fs.fed.us

Dan Miller and Chris Crowe

USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station

In 2002-2004, the effects of ethanol and (–)-alpha-pinene (released at high rates) on catches of ambrosia beetles (Scolytidae) in eight-unit multiple-funnel traps were determined in Alabama, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. We found that some species such as Xyleborus pubescens preferred traps baited with the combination of ethanol and (–)-alpha-pinene. Other species such as Xyleborus crassiusculus, X. affinis and Xyleborinus saxesenii preferred traps baited solely with ethanol with little, if any, effect by (–)-alpha-pinene. Attraction of some species such as Monarthrum mali to ethanol-baited traps was interrupted by (–)-alpha-pinene. Exotic ambrosia beetles were more common than native species of ambrosia beetles with the percentage of exotic beetles ranging from 53% to 91% of all ambrosia beetles captured in the study.

corresponding author:

Dan Miller
Southern Research Station
320 Green Street
Athens GA 30602-2044
706-559-4247
dmiller03@fs.fed.us

Chuck Rhoades, Kelly Elder, Rob Hubbard and Mark Dixon

USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station

It is estimated that more than 30 million ha of pine forest are at risk of bark beetle attack in the United States.  Mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae; MPB) killed nearly 1 million trees on national and private forestland in the Rocky Mountain region between 1995 and 1999.  There is little information to assist resource managers to evaluate the extent to which bark beetles threaten watershed functions.  The USFS Fraser Experimental Forest (FEF) is located near the epicenter of the current outbreak in the central Rockies of Colorado.  Extensive logging within the region followed by wildfires in the early 1900s established lodgepole pine forests that have now reached an age and stand structure that put them at risk for bark beetle attack.  MPB mortality was first observed at FEF in 2003 following several years of below average precipitation; MPB mortality now exceeds 90% of the overstory in several large areas of the Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forests that adjoin FEF.  The Fraser Experimental Forest supports a network of long-term streamflow (> 50 yrs) and biogeochemical (~ 20 yrs) information that offer a unique opportunity to assess how this disturbance agent will influence managed and unmanaged subalpine forest ecosystems.  As part of separate paired watershed studies aimed at assessing forest harvesting effects on watershed hydrology, portions of the Fool Creek (50%) and Deadhorse Creek (~33%)watersheds were clear-felled in the mid-1950s and 1980s.  Research at FEF has shown that forest structure regulates the water balance and nutrient budgets of harvested and unharvested watersheds; we hypothesize that residual differences between FEF basins will determine basin-scale response to bark beetle mortality.  This preliminary assessment will characterize the incipient stage of this large-scale disruption and will evaluate how the responses of nutrient export, vegetation water use and basin hydrology differ between managed and unmanaged watersheds.

corresponding author:

K.S. Camilli, D.N. Appel, T. Kurdyla, R.F. Billings, and V. Cordova

University of Nevada-Reno (1), Texas A&M University Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology (2,3), Texas Forest Service Forest Pest Management(4), City of Houston, Texas (5)

Giant Asian dodder (GAD), Cuscuta japonica, is an exotic, parasitic vine that is listed as a noxious, dangerous weed by the USDA APHIS.  This plant is native to Korea, Japan, China and Russia.  In 2001, infestations of GAD were detected at five locations in southeastern Houston, TX.  Prior to that discovery, GAD had been found and eradicated at three locations in the U.S. - in Florida (1943), Texas (1941), and South Carolina (1971).  Although numerous dodder species are native to Texas, including the curious tree dodder (C. exaltata), none has the destructive potential of GAD.  This potential derives from the parasite’s extremely high growth rate as well as its wide host range.  The discovery of GAD in Houston led to the formation of an inter-agency task force consisting of personnel with the Texas Forest Service, the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, Texas Cooperative Extension, the City of Houston, and the USDA APHIS.  Circulars and posters describing this invasive plant were published in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, and Chinese for distribution in the various ethnic neighborhoods to increase detection and public awareness.  Intensive survey and mapping activities utilizing GPS and GIS were immediately initiated and a plan was formulated to eradicate the parasite at each location.  Seventeen different hosts, including live oak (Quercus virginiana), Arizona ash (Fraxinus velutina), Texas mulberry (Morus microphylla), and loblolly pine (Pinus taeda), were recorded throughout highly visible residential and commercial properties.  Eradication efforts consisted of roguing, selective pruning, chipping and burying of infested plant material.  Although these efforts have been deemed very successful, a new infestation was discovered in the summer of 2005 and promptly treated.  This project has been a model of how numerous agencies operating under a well-planned, coordinated response can successfully respond to the introduction of a highly destructive invasive plant.

corresponding author:

Kim S. Camilli
Dept. of Natural Resources & Environmental Science
Mail Stop (186)
University of Nevada
1000 Valley Road
Reno, Nevada 89512
775-784-1732
k_camilli@yahoo.com