Forest ThreatNet

Forestry education extends well beyond the boundaries of a university campus, so extension foresters are charged to deliver valuable research-based information to natural resource managers, landowners, and citizens. Since 1979, the Southern Regional Extension Forester has served as a liaison between the USDA Forest Service and the forest resource extension units at 13 southern land grant universities.

Bill Hubbard (left) has been the Southern Regional Extension Forester for over a decade. Based at the University of Georgia in Athens, GA, his office is responsible for developing educational and technical services to assist natural resource professionals and improve the efficiency of forestry programs across the South. As technology needs evolve, so does SREF’s role in delivering information to stakeholders.

EFETAC partnered with Southern Regional Extension Forestry (SREF) when the Center was beginning to take form in 2005. "Colleagues with the USDA Forest Service alerted our office of this new Center and the potential to collaborate on issues of joint interest," says Hubbard. "We have since assisted EFETAC with conference planning, an online encyclopedia (see sidebar), and, of course, the EFETAC Web site."

SREF, with assistance from the University of North Carolina Asheville’s National Environmental Modeling and Analysis Center, provided the initial design of EFETAC’s online portal, http://www.forestthreats.org. Matt Howell (right), SREF’s Web systems developer, is the main point of contact for EFETAC’s expanding Web needs. Thanks to SREF, EFETAC’s efforts are made visible and accessible to a wide range of users. According to EFETAC Director Danny C. Lee, the partnership with SREF has been significant in promoting the Center’s activities. "SREF’s technological expertise and creativity have allowed our Center’s Web presence to become a user-friendly source for relevant and current knowledge and tools. The online Encyclopedia of Forest Threats is our next step in delivering sound science to a diverse audience." Hubbard adds, "Many forest health issues and threats are facing the eastern US, and we are excited to be associated with some of the cutting edge initiatives of the Forest Service."

For more information about the many SREF outreach and education programs, visit http://www.sref.info.

SREF at UGA has lent key support for the development of the Forest Encyclopedia Network (FEN) and its latest installment, the Encyclopedia of Forest Environmental Threats. Hubbard serves as a FEN executive editor, and Howell provides the backbone technical programming for the network. The main portion of the recently launched forest threats content is based on case studies and in-depth reviews of topics related to the encyclopedia’s broad subject areas: land, air, water, fire, and pests. The encyclopedia’s initial content will also be available in print when it is published as a USDA Forest Service General Technical Report later this year.

Access the Encyclopedia at http://www.threats.forestencyclopedia.net.