Many of the issues of importance to forest management and policy have important social components. Yet, in the South, social research on forests has lagged behind economic and biophysical research. In this paper we identify some important new opportunities for social research on forests in the South, focusing on non industrial private forests because they represent the majority of the South's t...

This paper describes the linkage of economic and ecological models of the southern forest ecosystems and markets to examine the potential impact of climate change. The core modeling system links the SubRegional Timber Supply (SRTS) model with PnET-II a process model of forest growth. Early results indicate significant variation in potential impact across the South based on variations in climate...

This paper presents the result from the Augustine House Experiment (AHE) project funded by the UK JISC Institutional Innovation Programme. The AHE project set out to investigate how the location sensing data collected over students’ uses of the iBorrow netbooks inside the Augustine House could be visualised to convey aspects of the new learning landscape during a one-week long location sensing ...

The year 2020 will be synonymous with the global threat posed by COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, at start of 2021, despite herculean efforts a level, we are still wrestling ‘grand challenge’1 presented spread virus and its emerging variants. No region in world has escaped impact COVID-19, our daily news media’s reporting gruesome updates on death toll intensive care units hospitalisations, un...

A logical framework is required to provide a focus for the implementation of a variety of landowner incentive techniques in accordance with existing goals to protect and enhance hardwood resources. A system is presented for identifying and prioritizing critical hardwood resources for site specific conservation purposes. Flexibility is built into this system so that various sources of informatio...

Land managers need cost-effective methods for mapping and characterizing fire fuels quickly and accurately. The advent of sensors with increased spatial resolution may improve the accuracy and reduce the cost of fuels mapping. The objective of this research is to evaluate the accuracy and utility of imagery from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) satellit...

In 1997, the USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station (SRS) published a Strategic Plan that formed a framework for addressing the Sustainability of Southern Forest Ecosystems. Six crosscutting themes were identified to facilitate research integration and partnership building among the widely dispersed SRS research work units. The Sustainability and Productivity of Southern Pine Ecosystems ...

Southern pine beetles (SPB), and associated bark beetles, have long been recognized as major pests of southern forests. Tactics used for controlling infestations in conventional forest settings have not proven effective at achieving area-wide control, nor are they suitable for the control of infestations in high-value stands such as homesites or wildlife habitat areas. Limited options exist for...

The goal of this paper is to define the field of “Real Virtual Worlds,” and to reveal its potential through visions in virtual Physical Therapy, Schools, Concerts, Shopping and Races. It is my assumption that the field of Real Virtual Worlds is destined to become a major force in 5-10 years. Much like the Internet, Real Virtual Worlds, will change, enhance, but inevitably sometimes hamper how w...

The Sierra Nevada red fox Vulpes vulpes necator is listed as a threatened species under the California Endangered Species Act. It originally occurred throughout California’s Cascade and Sierra Nevada mountain regions. Its current distribution is unknown but should be determined in order to guide management actions. We used occurrence data from the only known population, in the Lassen Peak regio...