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Center Accomplishment Highlights: International
Chinese Partnership Focuses on Climate Change Effects
A U.S-China Carbon Consortium (USCCC) on carbon and water flux, including Chinese universities (3) and research institutes (2), U.S. universities (3), and U.S. Forest Service research stations (3), contributes global comparisons and understanding of the coupling effects of climate change and land management on carbon sequestration and water resources. Funding for research projects and activites of USCCC were provided from individual team members, external funding agencies in China (e.g., Ministry of Science and Technology) and the U.S. (e.g., NASA). Research hydrologist Ge Sun is one of the USCCC members that uses mutually agreed research protocals, meets once a year as a group to update project progresses, and conducts periodic training workshops for graduate students involved. A special journal issue is being prepared for Agricultual and Meteorology to report USCCC research findings from the past three years.
Contact: Ge Sun, research hydrologist, (919) 515-9498, gesun@fs.fed.us
European Commission Seeks Advice
An EFETAC scientist is collaborating with the European Commission (EC), Joint Research Center (JRC), to develop and demonstrate techniques of forest spatial pattern assessment, and apply techniques to U.S. and EC national and international assessments. Landscape ecologist Kurt Riitters visited the JRC to conduct and coordinate research, and several papers have been submitted. This project encourages report harmonization on forest fragmentation between the U.S. and Europe.
Contact: Kurt Riitters, (919) 549-4015, kriitters@fs.fed.us
Risk Assessment Collaboration Crosses Canadian Border
An EFETAC collaborative researcher with North Carolina State University (NCSU) is partnering with members of the Canadian Forest Service, the U.S. Forest Service, and APHIS on several risk assessment projects. Canadian scientists have developed a detailed model of the potential spread and impact of Sirex noctilio, and NCSU researcher Frank Koch is working to adapt their generalized framework to the U.S. Several papers are expected pertaining to an integrated depiction of risk through repeated simulations, as well as the issue of detectability of a recent pest invasion (e.g., the existence of a time lag between arrival and first detection). Koch is also applying the model to investigating uncertainty in risk analyses.
Contact: Frank Koch, (919) 549-4006, frank_koch@ncsu.edu
International Dialogue Aids European Forest Monitoring Efforts
The International Cooperative Program for the Assessment and Monitoring of Air Pollution Effects on Forests in Europe (ICP Forests) has been collecting data on a network of ground plots across Europe since 1985. Forty-one countries are currently ICP Forests members. Unlike the ICP forest health monitoring system, which is standardized across the continent, each country has its own unique forest inventory system. An international workshop was held in Hamburg in October 2008 to discuss the harmonization of forest inventory procedures across Europe, as well as the integration of forest health monitoring network with forest inventory plots.
The U.S. Forest Service underwent a similar process during the 1990's, which resulted in the integration of Forest Health Monitoring (FHM) and Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) programs. Bill Bechtold, FHM team leader, represented FIA and shared details of the U.S. experience with European colleagues. The effort to standardize and integrate all aspects of forest monitoring in Europe has an improved chance of success as a result of this interaction. This interchange has also created opportunities for more collaboration among European and American scientists involved in forest health monitoring.
Contact: Bill Bechtold, Forest Health Monitoring team leader, (828) 257-4357, wabechtold@fs.fed.us
Mexico/U.S. Forest Health Monitoring Workshop
Twenty scientists and inventory specialists from Mexico (CONAFOR and Colegio de Postgraduados) and the U.S. (Forest Service State and Private Forestry and R&D and Oregon State University) gathered in Guadalajara, Mexico, on April 26 to May 1, 2009, to participate in a workshop to implement a pilot test of forest health indicators in Mexico during the summer of 2009. This was the continuation of a collaborative effort initiated at a meeting in Park City, Utah, in October 2008.
Workshop participants shared information and experiences implementing the following forest health indicators in the U.S.: tree crowns, damage, ozone bioindicators, vegetation, lichens, down woody materials, and soils. FHM Team Leader Bill Bechtold covered the tree crown indicator. Two days were spent in the forests near Guadalajara on demonstrations of data collection methods and protocols. Forest health indicators will provide information to decision makers and land managers on the status and trends of Mexico's forests including information about tree vitality, biodiversity, soil conditions, carbon sequestration, fire risk, invasive species, and air pollution injury.
Contact: Bill Bechtold, Forest Health Monitoring team leader, (828) 257-4357, wabechtold@fs.fed.us
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