Forest ThreatNet

Visiting Scholar Contributes to Southern Research Station Hydrology Research

Dr. Liangyi Rao, an associate professor of forest hydrology at Beijing Forestry University, will spend a year in the United States studying the effects of forest management and climate interactions on watershed hydrology. Working with Ge Sun and Jim Vose, SRS Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory project leader, Dr. Rao will help Forest Service scientists synthesize long term data collected at research sites in North Carolina’s mountains and coastal plain. The data will be used to develop new evapotranspiration models that can be applied internationally for understanding the impacts of climatic change on ecosystem services. EFETAC is hosting Dr. Rao, whose work is being funded by the China Scholarship Council.

FHM Team Lead Bids Farewell

Bill Bechtold, EFETAC’s National Forest Health Monitoring team leader, retired in December after 33 years with the Forest Service. He began his career with the agency’s Forest Inventory and Analysis program and was integral in helping design and implement the national FHM program . Bechtold also served several years as the Southern Research Station’s wellness coordinator, providing a broad range of wellness opportunities. His leadership and dedication will be greatly missed!

Lloyd Edwards joined EFETAC in August 2009 as a physical science technician through the Student Temporary Employment Program (STEP). He is working closely with research ecologist Bill Hargrove on a project examining the effects of urban heat on vegetation phenology in the continental United States. Presently Edwards is an honors graduate student at Appalachian State University (ASU) majoring in geography with a geographical information science (GIScience) concentration and will earn his Master of Arts from ASU in 2010.

John Buckley joined EFETAC in January as a forestry technician through the Student Temporary Employment Program. He is providing geographical information systems (GIS) support for several projects and is currently researching the effects of land use on erosion and sediment transport in the Jordan Lake watershed. Buckley is a Master’s student at North Carolina State University where he studies GIS in the College of Natural Resources.

Peter Caldwell is a postdoctoral research hydrologist with EFETAC. His current research involves continuing the development of the WaSSI water supply and demand model, used to assess water supply stress in response to various disturbances including changes in climate, land use, and population. Caldwell received his B.S. (Mechanical Engineering, 1996) and PhD (Forestry) from North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC.