California Municipal Forest Health Threat Assessment

California Municipal Forest Health Threat Assessment
Author: Louren Kotow
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2011
Genre:
ISBN: 9781267028914

This study assessed the extent to which California's municipal forests were at risk from pest and disease threats. The two main tools used in the analysis were: Pest Vulnerability Matrix, a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that illustrates pest-host interactions and overlap; and the US Forest Service's i-Tree Streets computer program that quantifies and monetizes municipal forest benefits and costs. The assessment applied these tools to data from 30 California munipalities' tree inventories. A report card concept was developed to identify and prioritize forest traits contributing to the population's vulnerability to loss. The analysis focused on four indicators: species/size diversity, age diversity, pest threat, and potential asset loss. We assigned letter grades (A-F) to each of the four indicators and a final grade to each city. Letter grades were determined from data such as: importance values, relative abundance of each taxon, age class distribution (juvenile, semi-mature, mature, senescent), pest scores, total benefit values and associated risk of loss. Also included in the assessment was data on the most severe pests, emerging pests, and counts of pests affecting the current inventory. The grades allow cities to compare themselves with other cities, as well as against an accepted standard. The report card reveals areas of proficiency and deficiency. Prioritized recommendations are presented concerning tree selection, monitoring, integrated pest management, and removal and replacement planning. The hope is that the report cards will promote greater awareness and more focused actions by managers to reduce the vulnerability of their municipal forests to pest threats.

Ecosystems of California

Ecosystems of California
Author: Harold Mooney
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 1008
Release: 2016-01-19
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 0520278801

This long-anticipated reference and sourcebook for CaliforniaÕs remarkable ecological abundance provides an integrated assessment of each major ecosystem typeÑits distribution, structure, function, and management. A comprehensive synthesis of our knowledge about this biologically diverse state, Ecosystems of California covers the state from oceans to mountaintops using multiple lenses: past and present, flora and fauna, aquatic and terrestrial, natural and managed. Each chapter evaluates natural processes for a specific ecosystem, describes drivers of change, and discusses how that ecosystem may be altered in the future. This book also explores the drivers of CaliforniaÕs ecological patterns and the history of the stateÕs various ecosystems, outlining how the challenges of climate change and invasive species and opportunities for regulation and stewardship could potentially affect the stateÕs ecosystems. The text explicitly incorporates both human impacts and conservation and restoration efforts and shows how ecosystems support human well-being. Edited by two esteemed ecosystem ecologists and with overviews by leading experts on each ecosystem, this definitive work will be indispensable for natural resource management and conservation professionals as well as for undergraduate or graduate students of CaliforniaÕs environment and curious naturalists.

Forest Health Monitoring: National Status, Trends, and Analysis 2015

Forest Health Monitoring: National Status, Trends, and Analysis 2015
Author:
Publisher: Government Printing Office
Total Pages: 226
Release: 2016
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 9780160934322

The annual national report of the Forest Health Monitoring (FHM) Program of the Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, presents forest health status and trends from a national or multi-State regional perspective using a variety of sources, introduces new techniques for analyzing forest health data, and summarizes results of recently completed Evaluation Monitoring projects funded through the FHM national program.

Advances in Threat Assessment and Their Application to Forest and Rangeland Management

Advances in Threat Assessment and Their Application to Forest and Rangeland Management
Author: John M. Pye
Publisher:
Total Pages: 266
Release: 2010
Genre: Ecological assessment (Biology)
ISBN:

In July 2006, more than 170 researchers and managers from the United States, Canada, and Mexico convened in Boulder, Colorado, to discuss the state of the science in environmental threat assessment. This two-volume general technical report compiles peer-reviewed papers that were among those presented during the 3-day conference. Papers are organized by four broad topical sections--Land, Air and Water, Fire, and Pests/Biota--and are divided into syntheses and case studies. Land topics include discussions of forest land conversion and soil quality as well as investigations of species' responses to climate change. Air and water topics include discussions of forest vulnerability to severe weather and storm damage modeling. Fire topics include discussions of wildland arson and wildfire risk management as well as how people precieve wildfire risk and uncertainty. Pests/biota topics include discussions of risk mapping and probabilistic risk assessments as well as investigations of individual threats, including the southern pine beetle and Phytophora alni. Ultimately, this publication will foster exchange and collaboration between those who develop knowledge and tools for threat assessment and those who are responsible for managing forests and rangelands.