News
- PINEMAP's Decision Support System is live!
- The PINEMAP decision support system (DSS) is a map-based collection of climate and forest productivity web tools designed to provide region-wide information on likely future climate risks, opportunities, and impacts on southern pine at a watershed-scale. DSS tools transform output from PINEMAP research into a framework to allow professional foresters and clients to make informed land management decisions. An iterative process of interaction between scientists and stakeholders is used for tool development through beta testing, workshops, and meetings.
- Southern Research Station article
- Summarizes results of the Virginia throughfall reduction x fertilization site published in Forest Ecology and Management.
- 2014 Forest Inventory Results
- The Florida Forest Service has released their Forest Inventory results from 2014.
- Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Workshop Nov 17-18, 2015
- "Agricultural Solutions; adapting to and mitigating climate change on farms and forest in the southeastern US" - featuring PINEMAP's Steve McNulty and Bill Hubbard. November 17-18, 2015 Gwinnett Environmental & Heritage Center, Buford, GA
- PINEMAP Annual Meeting Registration Open
- Registration is open now through May 10 for PINEMAP's annual meeting June 3 - 4, 2015.
- Growing Pines in Changing Times Workshop
- The Growing Pines in Changing Times Workshop will occur April 21, 2015 in Tifton, GA. The purpose of the workshop is to highlight new science and technology developments for pine plantation growers and managers and to equip growers and managers with knowledge regarding how to reduce risk and increase profits under uncertain future climate scenarios.
- Short Course: Extreme Weather Events and Risk Management Options PDF document
- A short course on extreme weather events and risk management options will be held on Thursday, March 12, 2015 at the Grenada County, MS Office Building.
- USDA Climate Hubs Website Announced
- USDA has a new Climate Hubs website, providing a portal for landowners to find practical information on dealing with a changing climate. The forestlands section of the climate hub website can be accessed at http://climatehubs.oce.usda.gov/southeast-hub/focus-forestlands
- GaClimate.org resource now live!
- The Southeast Climate Extension project, whose goal is to advance climate extension in agriculture, has developed a website to serve as a clearinghouse for information on climate and weather in Georgia.
- 2015 PINEMAP Undergraduate Fellowship Application Period Open
- Accepting applications for the 2015 PINEMAP Undergraduate Fellowship now through Feb 15, 2015.
- USDA FS - new research on Climate Change Perspectives
- USDA Forest Service's Center for Urban and Interface Forestry's Leaves of Change newsletter includes a description of research on the factors that influence climate change perspectives.
- NASA computer model provides a new portrait of carbon dioxide
- An ultra-high-resolution NASA computer model has given scientists a stunning new look at how carbon dioxide in the atmosphere travels around the globe.
- Southeastern Forests and Climate Change Secondary Educators Workshop JPEG image
- A Southeastern Forests and Climate Change Secondary Educator PLT Workshop will be held on Saturday, January 24, 2015 from 9-5 at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens in Jacksonville, FL.
- New USGS Report on Downscaling Climate Projections Released
- Downscaled Climate Projections for the Southeast United States: Evaluation and Use for Ecological Applications by Adrienne Wootten, Kara Smith, Ryan Boyles, Adam Terando, Lydia Stefanova, Vasu Misra, Tom Smith, David Blodgett, and Fredrick Semazzi
- Carbon Storage in U.S. Eastern Ecosystems Helps Counter Greenhouse Gas Emissions Contributing to Climate Change
- June 25, 2014 On the one-year anniversary of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell today released a new report showing that forests, wetlands and farms in the eastern United States naturally store 300 million tons of carbon a year (1,100 million tons of CO2 equivalent), which is nearly 15 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions EPA estimates the country emits each year or an amount that exceeds and offsets yearly U.S. car emissions. In conjunction with the national assessment, today USGS also released a new web tool, which allows users to see the land and water carbon storage and change in their ecosystems between 2005 and 2050 in the lower 48 states. This tool was called for in the President’s Climate Action Plan.
- USDA Drought Monitor Brochure PDF document
- The USDA National Drought Mitigation Center has released a brochure explaining how the US Drought Monitor map is produced. The most recent map can be accessed at http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu
- Southeastern Forests and Climate Change Secondary Environmental Education Module Released
- The 14 activities follow the PINEMAP research framework and help teachers and students understand the concepts associated with PINEMAP activities. Additional activities were designed to help establish a context, build skills, and enable learners to synthesize ideas. Educators are also able to download the activities and supplemental resources from our website: http://sfrc.ufl.edu/extension/ee/climate.
- New PINEMAP Video: Earl and Wanda Barrs: Tree Farmers of the Year
- In this video, we talk with forest landowners and Tree Farmers of the Year Earl and Wanda Barrs as they discuss changes they've witnessed in their forests in Georgia and how they are using sound forest management techniques to mitigate forest threats.
- New Project Summary Available
- A two page summary of PINEMAP's team, outcome themes, and goals.
- UF/IFAS researchers on team that sequenced, assembled, and annotated loblolly pine genome
- To look at the humble loblolly pine – grown in neat rows on large farms throughout the southeastern U.S. and milled for things like building lumber and paper – you would never think that its genetic code is seven times larger than a human’s. That is just one of the things researchers, including two from the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences and the UF Genetics Institute, learned as they sequenced the loblolly pine genome for the first time. They also discovered genes resistant to a devastating pine forest disease.
- Southeast Regional Climate Hub (SERCH) hosting partnership discussions via conference calls, April-June 2014
- The US Department of Agriculture is establishing regional climate hubs to deliver science-based knowledge and practical information on climate change to farmers, ranchers, and forest land managers. These Hubs will help to maintain and strengthen agricultural production, natural resource management, and rural economic development under increasing climate variability. The Hubs will work with USDA to deliver information and guidance on technologies and risk management practices at regional and local scales — which will help with everyday decisions on the farm, field, and forest. Read more about the Hubs in the Charter. The Southeast Regional Climate Hub, or SERCH, will connect with public, academic, and private sector organizations, researchers, and outreach specialists to deliver technical support and provide tools and strategies for climate change response to help producers cope with challenges associated with drought, heat stress, excessive moisture, longer growing seasons, and changes in pest pressures. To learn more or get involved in the partnership discussions, go to http://globalchange.ncsu.edu/serch/
- Managing for Resilient Forests
- A six minute PINEMAP video focused on forest health management strategies. Produced by Shelby Krantz, School of Forest Resources and Conservation, University of Florida
- Polar Vortex, California Drought, Alaskan Heat Wave, Climate Change: What’s With the Weird Weather?
- PINEMAP and other USDA NIFA Climate Change Coordinated Agricultural Projects are featured in this eXtension article published on February 14, 2014.
- Undergraduate Fellowship Program accepting applications for 2014
- The PINEMAP Undergraduate Fellowship Program provides undergraduate students with a research experience with a graduate student mentor and prepares them to successfully assist in teaching secondary school science or social studies classes. Applications are due February 18, 2014. With up to 18 fellowships available this year, we strongly encourage you to apply.
- Pilot Testing New Project Learning Tree Curriculum
- Project Learning Tree (PLT) and the University of Florida have developed a new secondary module called Southeastern Forests and Climate Change. This activity guide, now in the pilot testing phase, was designed to help educators in the Southeast teach about the effect of climate change on forest ecosystems, the role of forests in sequestering carbon, strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and adapting to changing climatic conditions.
- Biological Risk Symposium
- NCSU, in collaboration with the NC Forest Service, will present a symposium on Biological Risk on February 9, 2016
- USDA Climate Hub Fellowship opportunity
- Deadline for applications is November 20, 2015
- Agriculture and Forestry in a Changing Climate: Adapatation Recommendations
- Released in April 2013, the 25x'25 Adaptation Work Group's "Agriculture and Forestry in a Changing Climate: Adaptation Recommendations" presents a variety of pathways for building and strengthening resilience to climate change in our nation's agriculture and forestry system in the areas of research, production systems and practices, risk management, decision tools, and outreach. Rather than being offered as a definitive set of adaptation recommendations, the report is intended as the beginning of a national dialogue on the steps needed to prepare for an uncertain future.
- USDA-Funded Research Leads to Initial Draft of the Loblolly Pine Genome
- Researchers at the University of California-Davis, with funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), today released the initial draft genome sequence of the loblolly pine, an important conifer species that is used as a feedstock for biofuels and can aid in climate change mitigation. The announcement was made at the 2013 Plant and Animal Genome Conference in San Diego, California.
- $20 million federal grant has hidden benefit for UF-led pine group, two other funded projects.
- University of Florida, IFAS News, February 21, 2011
- Improved Loblolly Pines Better for the Environment, Study Finds
- NC State Newsroom, April 17, 2012
- Creating Better Pine Forest Management for a Changing Climate
- IFAS Research Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
- Future forests may soak up more carbon dioxide than previously believed, helping to buffer climate change
- North American forests appear to have a greater capacity to soak up heat-trapping carbon dioxide gas than researchers had previously anticipated. As a result, they could help slow the pace of human-caused climate warming more than most scientists had thought, a University of Michigan ecologist Donald Zak and his colleagues have concluded. University of Michigan Press Release, October 13, 2011
- Loblolly Legacy PDF document
- PINEMAP is featured in the Fall 2011 issue of the University of Florida Office of Research Explore magazine: Loblolly Legacy By Tom Nordlie Universities and growers are helping the South's most abundant pine species adapt to climate change.
- SAF Members Selected for EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) Biogenic Carbon Emissions Panel
- Society of American Foresters, October 4, 2011. Bob Abt, PINEMAP Co-PI, named member of EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) Biogenic Carbon Emissions Panel.
- USDA Funds Climate Change Research for $60 Million
- Huffington Post, March 21, 2011
- UF-led consortium garners $20 million grant to improve pine forest management.
- University of Florida, IFAS News, February 19, 2011
- NIFA Announces Grant to Study the Effects of Climate Change on Agricultural and Forest Production.
- USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, February 18, 2011
- WaSSI group's National Forest and Grassland ecosystem services results published
- PINEMAP's WaSSI modeling group has published results from model projections of ecosystem services of National Forests and Grasslands in Nature's Scientific Reports. Results show that increased plant productivity under future scenarios reduces water yield even in areas with projected increases in precipitation.
- Managing for Resilience factsheet coming soon from NCSU Extension
- Guidance factsheet summarizing PINEMAP work coming soon from NCSU Extension.
