Forest ThreatNet
Eastern Threat Center Highlights
Forest Service Chief Honors Threat Centers’ Research
Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell recently announced the 2013 Chief's Honor Awards recipients.
The ForWarn team, including scientists and staff from the Eastern and Western Threat Centers and partnering organizations, received the Chief’s Award for Sustaining Forests and Grasslands. “On behalf of the ForWarn team, we are honored to receive this prestigious award,” says William Hargrove, Eastern Threat Center research ecologist and lead ForWarn researcher. “ForWarn’s success in monitoring and tracking forest disturbance and recovery, in addition to vegetation conditions across adjacent lands, holds great promise for keeping our forests healthy into the future.”
Eastern Threat Center research ecologist Steve McNulty was recognized for his research of global climate-related societal impacts with the Chief’s Award for Excellence in Science and Technology. “I am humbled to receive this award which is really the result from working with the some of the best, brightest and most dedicated natural resource researchers and professionals over the past two decades,” says McNulty. “We have made great strides in better understanding environmental stress impacts and management options to address these issues. Now, we need to shift focus to better communicating this information to land owners and managers. I look forward to improving land management response to environmental stress through continued and expanded collaboration and partnerships in the years to come.”
The Chief's Honor Awards, which acknowledge outstanding achievements related to the Forest Service's strategic objectives, are among the highest honors in the agency. Chief Tidwell will present the awards during a ceremony on March 17 in Washington, DC.
TACCIMO Aids Forest Planning in South Carolina
The Francis Marion National Forest in coastal South Carolina faces a unique set of natural resource management challenges. And since the forest’s land and resource management plan was last revised in 1996, new disturbances, including climate change impacts, have emerged as issues of concern. The Template for Assessing Climate Change Impacts and Management Options (TACCIMO) has been a useful tool for the forest’s planning team who compiled a broad assessment of forest trends and conditions as part of a new management plan currently in development. The Eastern Threat Center’s TACCIMO team assisted the forest planners with generating this information and provided user-friendly summaries for stakeholders and the forest’s surrounding community. The draft assessment is now available for public review and comment.
Students Experience Hands-on Forest Science
Center researchers in Raleigh, NC, recently engaged area students in forest science discussions and demonstrations. Biological scientists Johnny Boggs and Michael Gavazzi presented climate change research and related forest management issues to an environmental science class at Knightdale High School and assisted the students with tree measurements on campus. Boggs also led forest management students from Wayne Community College on a tour of a Best Management Practices (BMPs) research site where they gained understanding of how BMPs are properly implemented to protect water quality during forestry operations. Through these and a variety of activities and partnerships, the Eastern Threat Center supports the Forest Service’s conservation education mission.
Above: Michael Gavazzi assists a student during a tree coring activity.
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