• As part of the Special Technology Development Program, EFETAC will be funding a project with Region 8 FHP and the University of Georgia to develop spatially referenced risk models of Sirex noctilio that incorporate host preference information on southern conifer tree species. The two objectives of this project are as follows: 1) to assess the susceptibility of 10 conifer species known to be present in the southern forests to colonization by S. noctilio using feeding bioassays; and 2) based on this information, to provide a host risk assessment map for S. noctilio in southern conifer stands using geospatial techniques. 
• Beginning in July, EFETAC and WWETAC will jointly sponsor a series of workshops conducted by the National Center for Ecological Synthesis and Analysis to examine means for applying population ecology to strategies for eradicating invasive forest insects. Principal investigators are Andrew Leopold (Northern Research Station) and Deborah McCullough (Michigan State University). 
• EFETAC is working on a collaborative project to update the Climate Change Resource Center (CCRC, www.fs.fed.us/ccrc/) to better reflect eastern issues.  The current CCRC was designed to deliver relevant content and tools to natural resource managers and landowners; it has rapidly become a comprehensive Forest Service resource on ecosystem response to climate change. The existing CCRC features examples of western forest responses to climate change and associated research. To gain a complete national perspective, SRS, NRS, and EFETAC—with input from Regions 8 and 9 and Northeastern Area—will expand the CCRC scope to include eastern United States climate change research and resources. This CCRC expansion will provide perspectives from across the United States on forest responses to climate change, and Forest Service efforts to study these responses and adapt to the changing climate.  
• EFETAC will soon begin planning an eastwide climate change monitoring network on national and experimental forests. This effort builds on the collaborative efforts of EFETAC, WWETAC, and Stennis Space Center to develop an early warning system that tracks changes in phenology and productivity in vegetation across the conterminous 48 states. Advanced, moderate-resolution remote sensing data provide a platform for detecting broad-scale changes in vegetation, but more site-specific information is needed to validate detections and sort out climate-induced effects from other potential causes. Advanced statistical techniques will be used to identify and integrate a representative network of sentinel sites within the national and experimental forests. These sites will be closely monitored through time and provide the high-resolution information needed to accurately interpret broad-scale changes. Successful implementation of this network will require close coordination with researchers throughout SRS and NRS that maintain ongoing research sites within the national and experimental forests. We also expect to coordinate our efforts with the National Phenology Network sponsored by the US Geological Survey.
• EFETAC has been asked to develop tools to help assess fuel treatment needs in the East relative to wildland fire risk. A project to examine fire-phenology dynamics in eastern hardwood forests is being initiated with funding support from FS Fire and Aviation Management. This effort will analyze remotely sensed imagery, including phenology data, to better understand temporal and spatial fire hazards in shrub and forest-dominated landscapes of the northern (PA) and southern (NC) Appalachians. This effort builds on insights about model weaknesses from the FPA research described above. The short-term goal is to discern and model complex shrub-litter fuels in mountainous terrain to demonstrate the value of coarse-level model accuracy over fine-scale precision.

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