Latest Appalachian Mountains Stories
University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences Due to the introduction of exotic pests and pathogens, tree species are being eliminated one by one from forest ecosystems. In some cases, scientists can observe immediately how their loss affects the environment, whereas in other cases, creative puzzle solving and analysis reveal unexpected repercussions. In the case of the loss of the hemlock tree, University of Illinois landscape and ecosystem ecologist...
Shortleaf pine-hardwood ecosystem restoration following insect outbreak Research by USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station (SRS) scientists shows that the impacts of recent outbreaks of southern pine beetle further degraded shortleaf pine-hardwood forest ecosystems in the southern Appalachian region. The authors suggest that cutting and burning these sites reduces heavy fuel loads, improves soil nutrient status, and opens the canopy for restoration of these shortleaf pine...
HARRISBURG, Pa., May 14, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The third season of an innovative series of speakers will begin Sunday, May 20 at Pine Grove Furnace State Park. The series is intended to engage citizens in conserving the South Mountain region's natural landscapes by exploring lessons from the past. The discussion, entitled "Pine Grove: Connecting Geology and Human History," runs from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Furnace Stack Pavilion at the park and is free and open to the...
An analysis of two decades of data collected by the U.S. Forest Service’s Forest and Inventory Analysis (FIA) program shows that the live volume of hemlocks in the eastern United States is increasing despite infestations of hemlock woolly adelgidthat have decimated local populations. The information comes from an e-Science Update co-authored by scientists from two U.S. Forest Service research stations, the Northern Research Station (NRS) and the Southern Research Station (SRS), and...
A recent analysis of two decades of USDA Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data shows the live volume of hemlocks in the eastern United States still increasing despite spreading infestations of hemlock woolly adelgid. FIA scientists from the Forest Service Southern Research Station (SRS) and Northern Research Station (NRS) published the information as an SRS e-Science Update in early August. The FIA researchers conducted the analysis for this update on 20 years of data...
By Joshua E. Brown, University of VermontHemlock is the third most common tree species in Vermont. But it soon may drop off the list, going the way of the now-vanished chestnut and elm. An invasive pest, hemlock woolly adelgid, has been marching and munching its way north along the Appalachians "” killing pretty much every hemlock it can sink its sap-sucking mouthparts into. The adelgid recently arrived in southern Vermont.So far, only extreme cold stops the hemlock woolly adelgid. But the...
HARRISBURG, Pa., March 28, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The decline and restoration of the American chestnut tree will be the topic of the next lecture in the South Mountain Speakers Series on Thursday, April 7 at the Penn National Community in Fayetteville, Franklin County. Dave Armstrong of the American Chestnut Foundation will offer a free lecture, "Restoring the Chestnut," beginning at 7 p.m. at the Trellis Terrace, 3720 Clubhouse Drive. Armstrong will discuss the history of the...
A new study reconstructing thousands of years of fire history in the southern Appalachians supports the use of prescribed fire, or controlled burns, as a tool to reduce the risk of wildfires, restore and maintain forest health and protect rare ecological communities in the region's forests.Duke University researchers used radiocarbon analysis of 82 soil charcoal samples dating from 1977 to more than 4,000 years ago to reconstruct the fire history of a 25-acre site in the Nantahala National...
The U.S. Forest Service says it's determined an expansion of rhododendron plants along Southern Appalachian slopes might increase the risk of landslides. Scientists at the Forest Service's Southern Research Station in Atlanta said their findings suggest the expansion of rosebay rhododendron (Rhododendron maximum) in Southern Appalachian mountain hollows may increase the likelihood of landslides during and after intense rain events. In an article recently published online in the journal Earth...
Research by U.S. Forest Service Southern Research Station (SRS) scientists and partners suggests that the expansion of rosebay rhododendron (Rhododendron maximum) in Southern Appalachian mountain hollows may increase the likelihood of landslides during and after intense rain events.In an article recently published online in JGR-Earth Surface, SRS researchers Chelcy Ford and Jim Vose, along with T.C. Hales and Larry Band (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), examine how the...
