USDA Forest Service Experimental Forests and Ranges Research for the Long-Term

About this book

USDA Forest Service Experimental Forests and Ranges (EFRs) are scientific treasures, providing secure, protected research sites where complex and diverse ecological processes are studied over the long term. USDA Forest Service Experimental Forests and Ranges offers several examples of the dynamic interactions among questions of public concern or policy, EFR research, and natural resource management practices and policies. Often, trends observed – or expected – in the early years of a research program are contradicted or confounded as the research record extends over decades. The EFRs are among the few areas in the US where such long-term research has been carried out by teams of scientists. Changes in society's needs and values can also redirect research programs.

Each chapter of USDA Forest Service Experimental Forests and Ranges reflects the interplay between the ecological results that emerge from a long-term research project and the social forces that influence questions asked and resources invested in ecological research. While these stories include summaries and syntheses of traditional research results, they offer a distinctly new perspective, a larger and more complete picture than that provided by a more typical 5-year study. They also provide examples of long-term research on EFRs that have provided answers for questions not even imagined at the time the study was installed.

Contents

Part I. Introduction
Deputy Chief of FS Research, Raphael Zon, Memo to Forest Service Chief Pinchot, May 6, 1908
Map of USDA Forest Service Experimental Forest and Ranges
Chapter 1. A Grand Experiment: USDA Forest Service Experiment Forest and Ranges
Chapter 2. Forest Service Experimental Forests and Long-term Data Sets: Stories of their Meaning to Station Directors

Part II. Research Trajectories in Forest Ecology, Management, and Silviculture for Conifers
Chapter 3. The Value of Old Forests: Lessons from the Forest Service Reynolds Research Natural Areas
Chapter 4. Restoring a legacy: Long-leaf pine research at the Forest Service Escambia Experimental Forest
Chapter 5. Northern Conifer Research: Multiple Species and Multiple Values
Chapter 6. Fire and Thinning Research on Forest Service Blacks Mountain Experimental Forest

Part III. Research Trajectories in Forest Ecology, Management, and Silviculture for Hardwoods
Chapter 7. Uneven-aged management after a half-century of research on the Forest Service Fernow Experimental Forest in West Virginia
Chapter 8. An Alternative to Clearcutting: A Partnership between Scientists on the Fernow Experimental Forest and Land Managers on the Monongahela National Forest
Chapter 9. Development of the Selection System in Northern Hardwood Forests: An 80 Year Research Legacy with Impacts across Borders

Part IV. Research Trajectories in Wildlife, Fauna, Insects
Chapter 10, The Starkey Experimental Forest and Range: Long-Term Research to meet the needs of Managers
Chapter 11. Evolution of a Short-Term Study of Lodgepole Pine Dwarf Mistletoe Vectors that turned Into a Long-Term Study of the Remarkable Gray Jay on the Fraser Experimental Forest, Co, 1982-2009
Chapter 12. Subterranean Termite Control Examinations on Current And Former Experimental Forests and Ranges

Part V. Research Trajectories in Forest and Range Hydrology, Biogeochemistry, Soils and Ecosystem Science
Chapter 13. A Cycle of Research at Fort Valley, Arizona, the First Forest Service Research Experiment Station
Chapter 14. Contributions of Studies on Experimental Forests to Hydrology and Watershed Management
Chapter 15. A History of Watershed Research in Experimental Forests of the Interior Highlands
Chapter 16. Research Related to Roads in USDA FS Experimental Forests
Chapter 17. The Role of Experimental Forests and Ranges in the Development of Ecosystem Science and Biogeochemical Cycling Research
Chapter 18. Six Decades of Soil and Ecosystem Research at USDA FS Calhoun Experimental Forest
Chapter 19. Disturbance Ecology and Tropical Forest Management at the Luquillo Experimental Forest
Chapter 20. The Acid Deposition Trajectory

Part VI. Research Trajectories in Fire
Chapter 21. From Fighting Bad Fires to Fire-Dependent Ecosystems
Chapter 22. The Fire Research Program at the Silas Little Experimental Forest, New Lisbon, New Jersey

Part VII. Intersite and Network Trajectories
Chapter 23. The Key Roles of Four Experimental Forests in the Long Term Soil Productivity International Research Program
Chapter 24. The Role of the Hydro Database in Developing the Water Hydrology and Chemistry Network

Part VIII. Emerging Human Dimension Research Trajectories
Chapter 25. Social Science Research and Experimental Forests and Ranges
Chapter 26. Public Use and Citizen Outreach in Experimental Forests and Ranges
Chapter 27. Expanding the Vision of Experimental Forests to Urban Areas

Part IX. The Future
Chapter 28. The Future of USDA Forest Service Experimental Forests and Ranges

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Biography

At the time of writing, the Editors are all scientists with the USDA Forest Service in Research and Development Mission Area. Drs. Deborah C. Hayes, Ralph C. Crawford and Anne P. Hoover are National Program Leaders in Ecosystem Science, Rangeland Science and Social Science, respectively. They are located in the Forest Service Headquarters in Washington D.C. Dr. Susan L. Stout is a Project Leader and Research Silviculturist with the Forest Service Northern Research Station in Irvine, PA.