The 2020 report on southern pulpwood production shows the region's production of pulpwood and roundwood has decreased, while wood residue use has increased. In 2020, 74 southern mills were operating (RB-SRS-234).

Whether the U.S. population shrinks or grows, the wood used to build houses will keep storing large amounts of carbon for the next 50 years, reports a new study. Researchers combined population and income data to project new housing construction at county and regional scales for different economic futures.

Larger diameter and higher quality pine sawtimber can cost landowners more to grow. However, a new survey shows 57% of sawmills in the South are willing to pay more – from $4.22 to $12.98 per ton – for premium pine sawtimber.

A modernized machine rate calculator [Excel file] includes an update to the Brinker’s 2002 formula to estimate logging operation costs. The tool estimates equipment life, fuel consumption, and repair and maintenance costs.

Using video images and sound, researchers have a new method to estimate full-tree feller-buncher productivity. Data on cutting and piling performance, for individual jobs and sites, can inform harvest planning.

A new study provides insight into the physics of fire – specifically, how fire influences wind patterns in a small, real-world experimental setting.

Landscapes with diverse fire histories have a higher diversity of pollinators. Yearly burns in Coastal Plain pine forests can lower some bee and butterfly populations for a time, but fire overall increases pollinator diversity and abundance. 

A new story map explores the rich cultural history, ecological diversity, and wildfire risk of Hochatown, Oklahoma on the border of the Ouachita National Forest.

The 2021 Forest Health Monitoring report discusses geographic patterns of insect and disease activity, forest fires, and droughts across the U.S. The annual report uses a variety of sources, including FIA data, and introduces new techniques for analyzing forest health data (SRS-GTR-266).

A comparison of different insect traps found a combination of trap types can boost the effectiveness of detecting pine bark and woodboring beetles. This study is part of an extensive body of research on detecting, monitoring, and controlling insect pests of southern forest trees.

Coyotes have expanded their geographic range by 40% in the last 120 years, raising questions about their ecological impacts in newly colonized areas. Coyote diets vary by ecoregion, environmental conditions, and other factors, reports a new range-wide meta-analysis, the first of its kind.

How is white-nose syndrome affecting bats in the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas? A new study reports a 98% decline in northern long-eared bats and a 77% decline in tricolored bats since 2000. However, evening bat captures increased by 220%. There were no significant differences in capture rates for Eastern red bats, Seminole bats, or hoary bats.

White-nose syndrome seems to have caused some tricolored bats in South Carolina to change their roosting behavior, shifting from the warmest to colder parts of a hibernaculum. This population also appears to have stabilized and slightly increased since 2018.

Longleaf pine reproduction is a lengthy, complicated process affected by climate and other factors. Sporadic cone production inhibits restoration efforts. New research can identify stands with high cone production potential and estimate maximum cone production. 

More than 40 SRS researchers and partners shared research updates at the (virtual) Santee Experimental Forest Research Forum. The updates focused on the hydrology, sustainability, and ecology of longleaf pine restoration, as well as crayfish, methane emissions, deadwood decomposition, and more.

Language matters – for example, Indigenous gatherers may describe their actions as stewardship, rather than management with its connotations of dominance. A new study provides five suggestions for land managers who wish to work alongside Indigenous communities on shared priorities.

A special journal issue examines climate change impacts on water quality and quantity on small watersheds. One study examined the impacts of multiple hurricanes and tropical storms on watershed hydrology in the Florida Panhandle.

Researchers follow individual carbon atoms as they move from the wood to soil – monitoring decomposition in logs with a unique isotopic signature, from Free Air Carbon Dioxide Enrichment sites. A new model shows how climate, soil, wood characteristics, and other factors like bacteria, beetles, fungi, and termites affect decomposition.

Low-income regions of the globe experience more deadly heatwaves, with climate change expected to increase their frequency. To avoid major climate-driven disasters in the coming decades, new research highlights the need for global investment in adaptive capacity.

A new study on the effects of Hurricane Michael reports that coastal watershed hydrology may be more resilient to hurricanes than previously thought. Although streamflow in some watersheds increased due to destroyed vegetation, most anomalies subsided by the second growing season as vegetation recovered.

A presentation shows how forests in the southeastern U.S. have changed over the past two decades, as observed by satellite images. The talk explores recent forest disturbance patterns and indicators of changing productivity and seasonality of forests.

Researchers estimate that payments for ecosystem services, like hunting leases, averaged $1.5 billion per year over the last decade. Some states also have programs that pay forest landowners for carbon storage, as an offset to emissions elsewhere.