Forest Service Experimental Forests and Ranges Network
The Forest Service (FS) Experimental Forests and Ranges (EFR) network, started with the first
EFR established in 1908, is the oldest and most extensive system of research sites in the U.S.
EFRs are living laboratories where FS scientists make discoveries and demonstrate research
results for cooperators and stakeholders. The EFRs are among the few areas in the U.S where
long-term research has been conducted by teams of overlapping generations of scientists. The
EFRs have produced an impressive amount of fundamental and cutting edge information about
the diverse forest ecosystems of the U.S. This long-term research network of sites provides an
opportunity to evaluate future natural resources management challenges and responses to
experimental treatments intended to address land management problems such as changing
climate, maintaining watershed function, invasive plants, and ecosystem recovery after extreme
disturbances.
Some recent accomplishments are:
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FS scientists and collaborators are authors of two publications that resulted from an
experiment in the Bisley Experimental Watersheds in the Luquillo Experimental Forest in
Puerto Rico. The study found significant that the rate of soil carbon dioxide emissions was
dependent on soil moisture and temperature.
FS scientists are strengthening data for the North American Carbon Program and working to
enhance living conditions for local residents. Seven data collection locations have been
established at experimental forests in the U.S. and in the three Mexican states. Data collected
at the sites is helping validate state and national estimates from satellite remote sensing and
the national forest inventory.
More than a dozen EFRs are continuing a cooperative project with USGS called the Pollinator
Network, and the project is now entering its fourth summer of monthly pollinator collections
from each EFR.
FS scientists studied the effects of different forest practices, especially varied fire regimes, on
both the Fernow Experimental Forest and the greater Monongahela National Forest. They
found greater abundance of ground nesting bird species in burned sites where shrub cover was
greater. These findings suggest that the higher heterogeneity of burned vegetative
communities may drive the structure of avian communities.
IITF published an Ecological Bulletins book that contains a comprehensive analysis of
ecological gradients in the Luquillo Mountains of Puerto Rico.
These findings aree of
considerable interest to all concerned with managing or conserving complex tropical
ecosystems in light of global change.
In FY 2015, Forest Service Research on EFRs will address key questions with an analyses of
existing data to discover 1) What silvicultural treatments would be most effective for restoration
to reduce risk to forest ecosystems from expected disturbances? 2) How do forest management
and other disturbances impact water quality from forests?