Forest ThreatNet

The 2024 Scientific Achievement Award of the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) has been awarded to Center Director Ge Sun. At each World Congress every 5 years, IUFRO recognizes outstanding achievements of up to ten scientists for research that clearly demonstrates the importance of scientific or technical achievement to the advancement of regional or world forestry or forest research. The award recognizes Director Sun’s many outstanding contributions to our fundamental knowledge about the relationships between forests and water. . “This is an enormous honor,” said Sun. “I am grateful to IUFRO and the award committee. This award is not just for me - I acknowledge my colleagues at the USDA Forest Service and collaborators and friends around the world, and I also thank my family members for supporting my career without reservations.” Sun's research focuses on forest-water connections, such as how climate change, land management, and urbanization affect watersheds. He led the development of WaSSI, an assessment tool that lets people evaluate effects of land use and climate change on water supply and carbon sequestration. Congratulations Ge!  A recent Forest Service news feature also highlights Ge's award.

EFETAC researchers Frank Koch, Kevin Potter, and Kurt Riitters received the 2023 Chief’s Honor Award for Protecting and Conserving Healthy and Resilient Public Lands and Communities. The prestigious Chief’s Honor Awards recognize accomplishments of Forest Service individuals and teams throughout our agency and their contributions to the communities and country we serve. This award was presented to members of the Resources Planning Act (RPA) assessment team in recognition of the 2020 Resources Planning Act Assessment. The Assessment provides a policy-relevant snapshot of United States forest and rangeland conditions, current and future drivers of change, and projections of conditions 50 years into the future. Congratulations to Frank, Kevin, and Kurt for their commitments to “caring for the land and serving people.”

The USDA Forest Service's 2024 Jim Sedell Research Achievement Award (Team Award) recipients are Peter Caldwell, Ning Liu, Rebecca Dobbs, Chelcy Miniat, Ge Sun, Kai Duan, Stacy Nelson, Paul Bolstad, and Chris Carlson. The award recognizes this Southern Research Station research team for their decade-long collaborative work showing how forests provide drinking water supplies in the contiguous U.S. and Puerto Rico. The team of Forest Service and external partners developed research and communication tools relevant to land management on National Forests and beyond, such as planning restoration treatments funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, prioritizing watersheds for fuels reduction in support of the Wildfire Crisis Strategy or protecting forests in water supply areas vulnerable to land use change.

The research team receiving the Jim Sedell award (see above) was also recognized with the 2023 Southern Research Station Director's Science Delivery Award, for their research linking water supplies on forested land to water utilities across the contiguous U.S., and for the creation of “turn-key” datasets, reports, online maps, and tools that inform management decisions as well as educate partners and the public. Congratulations to all of the award's recipients, including Threat Center scientists Ge Sun and Ning Liu.

A research article co-authored by Threat Center scientist Lars Pomara received the 2024 Brina C. Kessel Award from the American Ornithological Society. The Kessel Award recognizes the most outstanding article published in the journal Ornithology (formerly The Auk) over the preceding two-year period. Andrew Laughlin, faculty at the University of North Carolina-Asheville, led the article 'Winter range shifts and their associations with species traits are heterogeneous in eastern North American birds'. Congratulations Andrew and Lars!