How Green is a Healthy Forest?
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 to forest health. To help managers of federal, state, and private lands monitor this greenness, Eastern Threat Center scientists, working with federal and university partners, developed the ForWarn forest monitoring system. Several new ForWarn features have been added for the 2013 growing season to aid researchers and managers. Read more in CompassLive...
Pictured: Researchers have introduced new ForWarn map products to better monitor forest disturbances when year-to-year climate variation interferes with disturbance detection. This ForWarn image from July 11, 2013 shows an ongoing gypsy moth defoliation across western New York and Pennsylvania.
