From the Station Director

The science highlighted in this document touches your life, whether you manage a forest or a back yard, whether you walk city streets or forest trails, whether you live in the Northeast or the Midwest or the West Coast. The Northern Research Station pursues science to improve people’s lives and the health of the nation’s natural resources, and our approach can truly be described as all lands and all people.

In fiscal year 2011, our research ranged from studying tiny organisms in specific places, such as the role of the ectomycorrhizal fungus in American chestnut restoration on reclaimed mined sites, to a study showing that global forests sequester one-third of the world’s annual fossil fuel emissions. We looked at what motivates homeowners to mitigate fire risk, and we discovered how the negative impacts of the emerald ash borer on Native American culture can be lessened. We assessed the vulnerability of northern Wisconsin’s forests to climate change, we studied the longterm differences in forests with different deer densities, we evaluated the environmental and economic benefits of short-rotation poplar energy crops, and we used traditional Hmong story-telling to create a video introducing new Americans to using public lands.

The projects described in the following pages are just the highlights of the past year, which marked the fifth anniversary of the creation of the Northern Research Station through a merger of two smaller research stations. You can learn more about the Northern Research Station and see 11,000 research articles produced by Station scientists on our website at: www.nrs.fs.fed.us

In the new fiscal year, Northern Research Station science will address critical issues such as how oil and gas development impact forests and assessment of the current state of Northern forests. We are also launching the Philadelphia Field Station, which will be a hub for collaborative research on the urban environment.

I am proud of what the Northern Research Station accomplished in 2011 for the people and the natural resources of the Midwest and Northeast, and I am excited to begin another year of inquiry, discovery, and science delivery.

-- Michael T. Rains
    Fall 2011

Key Points

As part of the U.S. Forest Service Research and Development mission area, the Northern Research Station provides leading-edge science and technology applications and effective information delivery.

• Our work extends across 20 states of the Northeast and Midwest, as well as the inventory and monitoring of forests in Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and North Dakota.
• Our 24 field locations include Baltimore, Chicago, and New York City.
• We operate a network of 24 official and cooperating experimental forests that produce unique insights into long-term trends in natural resource conditions.
• We work with a wide range of clients and partners to conduct research and deliver results.

Our work helps advance the stewardship of landscapes along a rural to urban gradient to ensure the long-term health and productivity of the region’s natural resources.

Science Themes

The Northern Research Station’s five science themes are the driving force of its science portfolio. The program direction for each theme is achieved through the coordinated actions of 13 research work units. Our science themes are:

• Forest Disturbance Processes
• Urban Natural Resources Stewardship
• Sustaining Forests
• Providing Clean Air and Water
• Natural Resources Inventory, Monitoring, and Assessment

Our program focus of environmental literacy, to help create a more informed citizenry, integrates NRS research into regional efforts to improve environmental literacy, which helps people make responsible choices about the environment through lifelong, place-based, inquiry-based learning.