Asheville Citizen-Times Reports Launch of EFETAC's New Web Tool

EFETAC Director Danny C. Lee was interviewed following the initial release of EFETAC's forest threat summary viewer tool. The following article appeared in the Asheville Citizen-Times on December 19, 2007.

Forest Service unveils new threat summary online

by Dale Neal

ASHEVILLE - Trees face plenty of enemies these days, from insects, invasive species, wildfires and even climate change. Now new technology might help weigh the risks and provide  protection to the nation's forests.

Viewers can click on the forest threats summary viewer, a new online tool from the U.S. Forest Service’s Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center headquartered in Asheville. The viewer is available at the center’s Website at www.forestthreats.org.

The foresters worked with the National Environmental Modeling and Analysis Center at UNC Asheville to develop the new search engine. “People are often looking for basic information about a particular insect or an invasive plant and how it might affect them. We wanted to have a good search tool in one place for folks who can be overwhelmed by information,” explained Danny C. Lee, director of the center.

The viewer will help professional foresters keep a perspective on how threats can interact, Lee said. “We want to think about how climate change might be affecting the forests, like leading to a greater intensity of wildfire,” Lee said. In turn, a wildfire could pave the way for invasive species to come in, competing with the trees. “You’re talking about a cascading effect.”

Formed in 2005, the threat center is a joint effort of the Forest Service’s research division, the National Forest system and state and private forestry. Headquartered at the Southern Research Station in Asheville, the center also has offices at Research Triangle Park and at N.C. State University in Raleigh.

The new collaboration between the Forest Service and NEMAC also benefits UNCA students who can work on applied research projects, “and create real products for the public that help the environment,” explained Karin Lichtenstein, NEMAC project manager and research associate.

NEMAC and the threat center are working on new tools that will provide even more specific information. Soon, viewers might be able to click on the Website to check out how leaf color is faring in North Carolina or New England, Lee explained.

“We want to develop an early warning system. We’re working with NASA using satellite data to track the vegetation development across the United States so you could compare it from year to year.”

Those tools could be available on the Website in 2008, Lee said.