Science You Can Use

Historical records show that over a century ago, fire-tolerant oaks dominated more than half of the forests across Kentucky and the southern Appalachian Mountains. Today, they account for barely a fifth. Species that historically occupied the margins, including red maple, eastern redcedar, and yellow poplar, have moved to the center. Ecologically, the shift happened relatively fast. Understanding why, and what it means for management, is aided by going back to the forest composition assessments produced by the U.S. Geological Survey and Forest Service surveyors in the early 1900s, before fire exclusion and industrial timber harvesting transformed the landscape. Music courtesy of Souvenir Thread. Read the Science You Can Use and access the related content on Treesearch.

What do fuel breaks do? Fuel breaks are linear strips of land along which vegetation is cleared or thinned—constructed along ridgelines, roads, and other strategic places—to give firefighters a safer, higher chance to slow or steer a fire. Often described as "speed bumps" for wildfires, fuel breaks rarely stop fire spread on their own, but they do give crews critical anchor points for building fireline, setting backfires, or safely applying water and retardant. They have been used since the 1960s across many landscapes. Music courtesy of Souvenir Thread. Read the Science You Can Use and access the related content on Treesearch.

For decades, national participation in hunting has been on the decline. One population of hunters, however, is bucking the trend: Women. Studies on women in hunting often focus on barriers to participation, such as lack of leisure time, lack of experience, and lack of role models. But despite those barriers, women's participation has been increasing. In 2022 an estimated 3 million women represented 22 percent of all hunters, more than double the number from 2016. Given this upward trend, there are still many unanswered questions about what motivates women to participate in hunting. Music courtesy of Souvenir Thread Read the Science You Can Use and access the related content on Treesearch.

Have you ever looked at a towering ponderosa pine forest and wondered how old the trees are? Were all the trees of a similar age, known as an "even-aged structure," such as often results from a reforestation effort where all the seedlings were planted at the same time. Or were there a mixture of young and old trees? That sort of "multi-aged structure" in ponderosa pine forests is desirable as it can meet many of the goals of multi-use land management. A forest stand with different-aged trees can support timber production, livestock grazing, recreation opportunities, wildlife habitat, and native plant diversity.

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The 2017 fire season in Montana was especially severe, with more than 2,400 wildfires burning about 1.4 million acres across the state. In the aftermath, the Forest Service's Northern Region headquarters helped assess and prioritize national forest recovery needs. The work required hundreds of hours compiling data, matching it with GIS layers and fire boundaries, and considering factors such as slope, aspect, and the presence of nearby tree species.

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In the dry, fire-adapted forests of California's Sierra Nevada - where yellow pine, mixed conifer, and red fir historically burned on frequent, low-to-moderate severity cycles - restoring historical fire regimes has been a guiding principle for ecological management. But most contemporary forests in this region are far from that benchmark. Instead, these forests have been shaped by decades of fire suppression, and increasingly, by megafires at the opposite extreme.

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Armillaria solidipes, a naturally occurring fungus, is responsible for one of the most widespread root diseases in western North American forests. Armillaria root disease affects a broad range of tree species, and by the time visible symptoms appear, significant damage has often already occurred. Advances in a field of DNA sequencing known as metagenomics are now helping researchers develop strategies to manage this disease using information that has been beneath their feet all along.

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Forest managers are increasingly looking to restore ponderosa pine forests to more ecologically diverse conditions—forests with clusters of trees, openings, and multiple age classes instead of the evenly spaced, uniform stands produced by traditional forest management. **Music courtesy of Souvenir Thread. Read the Science You Can Use and access the related content on Treesearch

For 25 years, ranchers in South Dakota have used the South Dakota Drought Tool to estimate forage productivity of grazing lands. This crucial information helps them gauge whether to increase or decrease their herd size the following year. Management agencies also use the South Dakota Drought Tool to determine forage productivity of the lands they manage to balance the needs of livestock and wildlife. Stan Boltz, a regional soil health specialist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), developed the Drought Tool to fulfill an unmet need he observed when working with ranchers. **Music courtesy of Souvenir Thread. Read the Science You Can Use and access the related content on Treesearch.

In early 2024, Michael Caggiano, a wildland firefighter and regional fire analyst with the Forest Service, approached David Flores, a research social scientist with the Forest Service's Rocky Mountain Research Station, with a proposal: what about conducting a research study on the perspectives of wildland firefighters around food catering?

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