Forest ThreatNet
Mount Ascutney Visitors Enjoy the View and Learn Something, Too
Over the past decade, countless visitors on southeastern Vermont’s Mount Ascutney have read the words on two interpretive panels describing ongoing research that began as a graduate student’s research project there. Through the years, the panels have faded and weathered, but now they are new again after U.S. Forest Service researchers installed updated replacements in the summer of 2016. "Cleaner Air and Healthier Forests: A Science and Policy Success Story” explains how acid rain is formed when precipitation mixes with nitrogen and sulfur pollutants from automobile exhaust and coal-fired power plants—and how the issue prompted Congressional action and launched efforts to study the impacts in order to develop appropriate policies. Researchers began working on Mount Ascutney in 1987 to understand the relationship between acid rain and damage to forests, in particular the high-elevation, acid-sensitive red spruce forests of the Northeast. Eastern Threat Center biological scientist Johnny Boggs leads the project on Mount Ascutney today. Read more in CompassLive...
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