Sustainable Forestry

May 23, 2011

The NCASI Sustainable Forestry and Eastern Wildlife Program (SFEW) provides support to the forest products industry to address questions concerning the sustainable management of forest resources. Areas of focus include forest water quality, silvicultural chemicals, landscape planning and management, utilization of forest biomass for energy, biological diversity, long-term site productivity, carbon management, forest monitoring and assessment, and conservation of high-priority forests and species. These issues have the potential to constrain forest management options and fiber supply but by successfully addressing them the industry has the opportunity to inform regulatory and certification bodies and publicly demonstrate its stewardship ethic.

Mission

The mission of the Sustainable Forestry and Eastern Wildlife Program is to provide sound science and technology that support the practice of sustainable forestry and the development of innovative, cost-effective management strategies that benefit the environment.

To address this mission, the SFEW Program will:

  • Provide science and technology that enables member companies to document baseline conditions, develop credible performance measures, and support continual improvement of sustainable forestry and environmental quality;
  • Direct and assist member companies with research that can be used to develop and test cost-effective management options;
  • Provide summaries of existing technical information;
  • Provide technical guidance on proposed regulatory actions; and
  • Support and collaborate with other NCASI programs.

Goals

Goals for the Program are set by the Sustainable Forestry and Eastern Wildlife Task Group, which is comprised of forest industry managers and specialists with expertise in disciplines such as silviculture, wildlife biology, soils, and hydrology. Oversight of the Task Group comes from the Forest Environment and Sustainability Task Group and the NCASI Operating Committee.

The Sustainable Forestry and Eastern Wildlife Program is currently addressing the following priority research topics: 

  • Forest Water Quality and Wetlands
  • Silvicultural Chemicals
  • Forest Monitoring and Assessment
  • Climate Change and Biomass Energy
  • Forest Productivity and Technology
  • Biodiversity and High-priority Species
  • Sustainable Wood Procurement

Selected Journal Articles and Reports Written by NCASI Staff and Collaborators

Loehle, C. 2014. Climate change is unlikely to cause a biodiversity
crisis: Evidence from northern latitude tree responses to warming. Energy & Environment. 25: 147-153. http://dx.doi.org/10.1260/0958-305X.25.1.147 

Vance, E.D., W.M. Aust, B.D. Strahm, R.E. Froese, R.B. Harrison, L.A.
Morris. 2014. Biomass
harvesting and soil productivity: Is the science meeting our policy needs? Soil
Science Society of America Journal 78:S95-S104.
http://dx.doi.org/10.2136/sssaj2013.08.0323nafsc 

National Council
for Air and Stream Improvement, Inc. (NCASI). 2014. Sustainability metrics and programs for bioenergy feedstock and
biofuels derived from North American forests. Special
Report No. 14-02.
Research Triangle Park, NC: National Council for Air and Stream Improvement,
Inc.

Vance E.D., C. Loehle, T.B. Wigley,
and P. Weatherford. 2014. Scientific basis for sustainable management of Eucalyptus and Populus as short-rotation woody crops in the U.S. Forests 5:901-918. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/f5050901 

Van Deusen, P.C.,
F.A. Roesch, and T.B. Wigley. 2013. Estimating forestland area change from
inventory data. Journal of Forestry 111:
126-131. http://dx.doi.org/10.5849/jof.12-102 

Van Deusen, P.C.,
and F.A. Roesch. 2015. Plot intensity and cycle-length effects on growth and
removals estimates from forest inventories. Mathematical
and Computational Forestry and Natural-Resource Sciences 7:33-38. http://mcfns.com/index.php/Journal/article/view/MCFNS7.1_4/MCFNS7_4 

Kroll, A.J., Y. Ren, J.E. Jones, J. Giovanini, R.W. Perry,
R.E. Thill, D. White Jr., T.B. Wigley. 2014. Avian community composition
associated with interactions between local and landscape habitat attributes. Forest Ecology and Management 326:46-57.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2014.04.011 

Bender, M.J., S.B.
Castleberry, D.A. Miller, and T.B. Wigley. 2015. Site occupancy of foraging
bats on landscapes of managed pine forest. Forest
Ecology and Management 336:1–10. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2014.10.004 

Neu, J., P.D. Jones, S. Demarais , A.W. Ezell, S.K. Riffell,
and T.B. Wigley. 2014. Retained woody structure in 1- to 2-year-old loblolly
pine (Pinus taeda L.) plantations in
Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas: Implications for wildlife conservation. Journal of Sustainable Forestry
33:152-172. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10549811.2013.836718 

National Council
for Air and Stream Improvement, Inc. (NCASI). 2014. A summary of conservation planning efforts in forested regions of the
United States: 2014 Update. Technical
Bulletin No. 1022.
Research Triangle Park, NC: National Council for Air and Stream Improvement,
Inc.

Loehle, C., T.B.
Wigley Jr., A. Lucier Jr., E. Schilling, R.J. Danehy, and G. Ice. 2014. Toward
improved water quality in forestry: Opportunities and challenges in a changing
regulatory environment. Journal of
Forestry 112:41-47. http://dx.doi.org/10.5849/jof.12-111 

W.M. Aust, S.E.
McKee, J.R. Seiler, B.D. Strahm, and E.B. Schilling. 2012. Long-term sediment
accretion in bottomland hardwoods following timber harvest disturbances in the
Mobile-Tensaw River Delta, Alabama, USA. Wetlands
32:871–884. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13157-012-0318-4 

Ice, G.G., E. Schilling, and J. Vowell. 2010. Trends for
forestry best management practices implementation. Journal of Forestry 108: 267-273.

Scarbrough, S.L.,
C.R. Jackson, S. Marchman, G. Allen, J. Louch, and M. Miwa. 2015. Herbicide
concentrations in first-order streams after routine application for competition
control in establishing pine plantations. Forest
Science 61:604–612. http://dx.doi.org/10.5849/forsci.14-051