Forest Service
Southern Research Station
Photos courtesy of Bugwood.org
Johnny Boggs
919.513.2973
jboggs@fs.fed.us
Raleigh, NC
May 2016
United States Department of Agriculture
Forest Service
The Southern Research Station
 The Southern Research Station and six (6) other research stations nationwide
comprise the Forest Service Research and Development branch.
 The Station creates and delivers science and technology that sustains
forest ecosystems and the benefits these ecosystems provide.
United States Department of Agriculture
Forest Service
The Southern Research Station
 Sixteen (16) research work units and 19 experimental forests support the
SRS mission throughout the southeastern United States.
United States Department of Agriculture
Forest Service
Southern Research Station Overview (cont’d)
More than 100 scientists conduct collaborative research to assist diverse
audiences:
 Forest health and conditions
 Ecosystems and landscapes
 Fish and wildlife
 Resource management
 Forest inventory and analysis
 Forest and people
United States Department of Agriculture
Forest Service
The Southern Research Station
Science Area
Unit Title
Forest Watershed Science
Forest Watershed Science
Center for Bottomland Hardwoods Research
Restoration and Management
Upland Hardwood Ecology & Management
Restoring and Managing Longleaf Pine Ecosystems
Southern Pine Ecology and Management
Forest Genetics and Ecosystems Productivity
Forest Threats
Center for Integrated Forest Science
Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center
Center for Forest Disturbance Science
Insects, Diseases and Invasive Plants of Southern Forests
Forest Values
Utilization of Southern Forest Resources
Forest Operations
Forest Economics and Policy
Integrating Human and Natural Systems
Inventory and Monitoring
Forest Inventory and Analysis
United States Department of Agriculture
Forest Service
Forest Watershed Science
 To provide information, methods, and guidelines to evaluate ecosystem
management practices on water, soil and forest
Delta
United States Department of Agriculture
Forest Service
Forest Watershed Science
Coweeta Experimental Forest, Franklin, NC
Major Research Accomplishments and Effects on Management
Scientists at Coweeta have:
 Established fundamental relationships of vegetation, climate, soils, and
streamflow
 Applied and tested Best Management Practices for road design in mountain
watersheds
 Developed an understanding of long-term nutrient, carbon, and water
responses to natural and human disturbance
Accomplishment info on all slides from: Gen. Tech. Rep. NE-321 Revised
Long term water and carbon sampling
CO2 chamber and sapflux
Climate station
Weir on WS 7
Eddy covariance tower
United States Department of Agriculture
Forest Service
Forest Watershed Science, Durham, NC
United States Department of Agriculture
Forest Service
Forest Watershed Science, Durham, NC
 Our six-year study has resulted in important findings in forest hydrology,
nutrient exports, and vegetated riparian buffer functions in Piedmont
watersheds.
 We conclude that forest vegetation removal plays a more significant role in
affecting water balances, and mean and peak nitrate concentrations in this
region than in the mountains and coastal plains.
 Knowledge from this work provides a better understanding how Piedmont
watersheds store, release and discharge water and nutrients across growing
and dormant seasons, how riparian buffers function, and how to apply the
most appropriate timber harvest management practices for protecting water
resources across regions.
United States Department of Agriculture
Forest Service
Center for Bottomland Hardwoods Research, Stoneville, MS
To provide the scientific basis to manage southern bottomland hardwood
and wetland forests and associated stream ecosystems for a sustained yield
of forest products and other desired values.
United States Department of Agriculture
Forest Service
Center for Bottomland Hardwoods Research, Stoneville, MS
Delta Experimental Forest
Major Research Accomplishments and Effects on Management
Research during the first 30 years involved
 thinning studies,
 developing methods for growing quality southern hardwoods,
 evaluating results of efforts to improve eastern cottonwood clones,
 studying the progression of heartrot diseases and the life cycles and
impacts of insect borers.
 Later studies included determining the causes of oak decline and
investigating red oak-sweetgum stand dynamics.
United States Department of Agriculture
Forest Service
Bottomland Hardwood Distribution
These regions include Subtropical Florida (01), Peninsular Florida (02), South Atlantic
Coastal Plain (03), East Gulf Coastal Plain (04), Mississippi Alluvial Valley (05),
Coastal Prairies (06), Interior Low Plateaus (14), Ozarks and Ouachitas (19), West
Gulf Coastal Plain (42), and the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain (44)
United States Department of Agriculture
Forest Service
Center for Bottomland Hardwoods Research, Stoneville, MS
United States Department of Agriculture
Forest Service
Center for Bottomland Hardwoods Research, Stoneville, MS
United States Department of Agriculture
Forest Service
Mississippi Alluvial Valley Forests: The
Next 50 Years
A few of the many key findings included in the report:
 Deforestation will continue in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley, but future
clearing will be driven not by agricultural development but by urbanization
 Nonnative insects and diseases will likely create more forest health
issues within the Mississippi Alluvial Valley within the next 50 years. Once
established in the area, emerald ash borer and other specialized
nonnative insect pests could cause acute damage and the widespread
elimination of their host trees.
 Coastal baldcypress-water tupelo swamps of the Deltaic plain section are
vulnerable for nearly complete degradation and loss from urbanization as
well as altered hydrologic and sediment regimes, land subsidence, and
sea-level rise.
 As many as 21 high-priority nonnative plants now cover over 3.1
percent (206,782 acres) of all the area’s forests. Japanese honeysuckle,
at 112,000 acres, is the most pervasive nonnative plant, and tallowtree
(occupying 37,000 acres) the most widespread and abundant nonnative
tree.
 The area experiences a low incidence of wildfire compared to the rest of
the South, but forecasted shifts towards a hotter and dryer climate
through 2050 raise the potential for wildfire
United States Department of Agriculture
Forest Service
Center for Bottomland Hardwoods Research, Stoneville, MS
Summary
“Bottomland hardwood forests represent a rich and diverse
ecosystem with many benefits to the environment, humans, and
wildlife. These beautiful natural communities help to maintain
healthy water systems, fertile soil, and habitat for numerous species
of wildlife and must be carefully managed and protected to ensure
their preservation.” http://www.sfrc.ufl.edu/
United States Department of Agriculture
Forest Service
Upland Hardwood Ecology & Management, Asheville, NC
 To develop and disseminate knowledge and strategies for
restoring, managing, sustaining, and enhancing the vegetation
and wildlife of southern upland hardwood forests.
United States Department of Agriculture
Forest Service
Upland Hardwood Ecology & Management, Asheville, NC
Bent Creek Experimental Forest
Major Research Accomplishments and Effects on Management
 Much of what is known about regeneration and management of southern
Appalachian hardwoods stems from research by the Bent Creek staff.
 Innovative approaches to ecological classification also were developed
here – climate, geology, topography, soils, hydrology, and vegetation can
be used to identify areas with similar management opportunities.
 Research on acorn production has provided valuable information for
wildlife managers.
United States Department of Agriculture
Forest Service
Southern Pine Ecology & Management, Monticello, AR
 To discover and develop new knowledge about the ecology of southern
pine-dominated forest ecosystems and to refine the silvicultural
principles and practices for these ecosystems, so that land managers
can make better management decisions
United States Department of Agriculture
Forest Service
Southern Pine Ecology & Management, Monticello, AR
Crossett Experimental Forest
Major Research Accomplishments and Effects on Management
 Many practices for effective control of competing vegetation were
developed and tested on this forests.
 Much of our knowledge about how to create and sustain unevenaged stands of loblolly and shortleaf pines was developed here.
 Silvicultural practices used to regenerate and tend to natural
even-aged stands of loblolly and shortleaf pines were also
developed at the Crossett.
United States Department of Agriculture
Forest Service
Forest Genetics and Ecosystems Biology, Saucier, MS
 To advance the scientific understanding of the roles of genetics,
environment, and their interactions to provide guidelines and
tools for improving the sustainable productivity of southern forest
ecosystems.
United States Department of Agriculture
Forest Service
Forest Genetics and Ecosystems Biology, Saucier, MS
Harrison Experimental Forest
Major Research Accomplishments and Effects on Management
 The Southern Pine Seed Source Study originated here in 1951 and
continues today; the data base is maintained at the Southern Institute of
Forest Genetics (SIFG). The study has provided seed-source guidelines
for planting southern pines for more than 50 years.
 Research on the biology and more recently the genetics of the southern
pine-fusiform rust has been conducted at the SIFG since the time the
disease was identified as a serious pest in southern pine plantations.
 Some of the earliest genetic information for longleaf pine was generated
from plantings on the Harrison in 1960. That study continues today.
United States Department of Agriculture
Forest Service
Forest Genetics and Ecosystems Biology, Saucier, MS
Harrison Experimental Forest
Major Research Accomplishments and Effects on Management
 Species comparisons among the southern pines planted here are
ongoing and have demonstrated that different species have different
growth trajectories.
 Research on the flowering biology and seed production in southern
pines at the HEF has helped to make tree improvement programs in the
South cost-effective.
 Research on the inheritance of growth, form and disease resistance of
forest trees has provided guidance for tree improvement programs
across the South.
 Part of the most recent research with DNA markers is being used to
incorporate disease resistance into the American chestnut, helping
reestablish this species that was virtually eliminated by the chestnut
blight.
United States Department of Agriculture
Forest Service
Insects, Diseases, and Invasive Plants
 To provide the basic biological and ecological knowledge and
innovative management strategies required for management and
control of native and non-native insect pests, disease pathogens
and invasive plants in changing forest ecosystems
United States Department of Agriculture
Forest Service
Insects, Diseases, and Invasive Plants
Major Research Accomplishments and Effects on Management
 Some of the first recommendations for aerial seeding of burns
and for herbicide.
 Improving Noxious Weed Interception at Port of Savannah.
 First Release in the Carolinas of New Hemlock Woolly Adelgid
Predator
United States Department of Agriculture
Forest Service
Insects, Diseases, and Invasive Plants
United States Department of Agriculture
Forest Service
Center For Forest Disturbance Science, Clemson, SC
 To study disturbance processes across scales and their risk of
occurrence in order to develop innovative management strategies
for reducing vulnerability of ecosystems to degradation.
United States Department of Agriculture
Forest Service
Center For Forest Disturbance Science, Clemson, SC
Calhoun Experimental Forest
Major Research Accomplishments and Effects on Management
 Prescribed fires in Southern ecosystems.
 Focus on management practices to restore fire dependent ecosystems of
the southeastern U.S.
 Much of our current knowledge of the etiology and incidence of littleleaf
disease was developed on the Calhoun.
 Tests of planting density and silvicultural practices have helped us
understand the growth and survival of major pine species.
 Research on the Calhoun provided the definitive descriptions of how soil
chemical processes change through decades of forest management.
United States Department of Agriculture
Forest Service
Integrating Human and Natural Systems
 Examine the ways people value and use private forests in the South.
 Evaluate the processes that influence minority group interaction with
national forests in the South.
 Examine the impact of population increase and diversification on urban
green space, with particular attention to racial/ethnic minority, migrating,
immigrant populations.
 Examine environmental justice implications of minority group access to
and interaction with wildland recreation.
 Assess the association between socially vulnerable populations and
environmental risk (e.g., wildfire risk, climate change).
United States Department of Agriculture
Forest Service
Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center
 To generate, integrate, and apply knowledge to predict, detect,
and assess environmental threats to public and private forests of
the east, and to deliver this knowledge to managers in ways that
are timely, useful, and user friendly.
United States Department of Agriculture
Forest Service
Center for Integrated Forest Science
 Addresses complex questions that require science to inform
natural resource management and policy decisions. Most of
these questions require understanding biophysical and human
dimensions, and fusing science from the natural and social
sciences.
United States Department of Agriculture
Forest Service
Southern Forest Futures Projects
The Southern Forest Futures Project (SFFP)started in 2008 as an
effort to study and understand the various forces reshaping the
forests across the 13 states of the Southeast.
Key Findings
 The interaction of population growth, climate change, timber markets, and
invasive species will define the South’s future forests.
 Urbanization is forecasted to result in forest losses, increased carbon
emissions, and stress to other forest resources.
 Southern forests could sustain higher timber production levels, but
demand is the limiting factor and demand growth is uncertain.
 A strong market for biomass energy could bring wood demands that are
large enough to trigger changes in forest conditions, management, and
markets.
United States Department of Agriculture
Forest Service
Southern Forest Futures Projects
 Invasive species create a great but uncertain potential for ecological
changes and economic losses.
 An extended fire season combined with obstacles to prescribed burning
would increase wildland fire-related hazards.
 Private landowners continue to control the future of forests in the South,
but ownership patterns could change and modify the future.
 Threats to species of conservation concern are widespread but are
especially concentrated in the Coastal Plan and the AppalachianCumberland subregions.
 Increasing populations would increase demand for forest based
recreation while the availability of land to meet these needs is forecasted
to decline.