The State of the Nation’s Forests is…
Forests are constantly changing with weather, disturbance, and conversion to other land uses, but how do we know if year-to-year changes are just a one-off or part of a larger shift? Annual summaries of forest health are key to our understanding, say the editors and authors that produced “Forest Health Monitoring: National Status, Trends, and Analysis 2017”—the seventeenth such summary in a series sponsored by the U.S. Forest Service Forest Health Monitoring (FHM) program and published by the Southern Research Station. Scientists from across the Forest Service as well as university researchers, state partners, and many other experts contribute to the report, which is the only national summary of forest health undertaken on an annual basis. Kevin Potter, who co-edited the 2017 FHM report with fellow North Carolina State University scientist and Center cooperator Barb Conkling, describes the state of U.S. forests as “troubling.” “We have a great deal of forest in the United States, and much of it is in good shape,” he says. “At the same time, fires, insects and diseases, and droughts are impacting forest health in many places, and some of those forests may be altered permanently.” Read more in CompassLive...
