Browsing by Author "Coates, Thomas Adam"
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- A Comparison of Forest Biomass and Conventional Harvesting Effects on Estimated Erosion, Best Management Practice Implementation, Ground Cover, and Residual Woody Debris in VirginiaGarren, Austin M.; Bolding, Michael Chad; Barrett, Scott M.; Hawks, Eric M.; Aust, Wallace Michael; Coates, Thomas Adam (MDPI, 2023-11-17)Expanding markets for renewable energy feedstocks have increased demand for woody biomass. Concerns associated with forest biomass harvesting include increased erosion, the applicability of conventional forestry Best Management Practices (BMPs) for protecting water quality, and reduced woody debris retention for soil nutrients and cover. We regionally compared the data and results from three prior independent studies that estimated erosion, BMP implementation, and residual woody debris following biomass and conventional forest harvests in the Mountains, Piedmont, and Coastal Plain of Virginia. Estimated erosion was higher in the Mountains due to steep slopes and operational challenges. Mountain skid trails were particularly concerning, comprising only 8.47% of the total area but from 37.9 to 81.1% of the total site-wide estimated erosion. BMP implementation varied by region and harvest type, with biomass sites having better implementation than conventional sites, and conventional Mountain sites having lower implementation than other regions. Sufficient woody debris remained for BMPs on both harvest types in all regions, with conventional Mountain sites retaining twice that of Coastal Plain sites. BMPs reduced the estimated erosion on both site types suggesting increased implementation could reduce potential erosion in problematic areas. Therefore, proper BMP implementation should be ensured, particularly in Mountainous terrain, regardless of harvest type.
- Deadwood Dynamics: A Case Study at Prince William Forest Park, VirginiaMaslyukova, Daria Yurevna (Virginia Tech, 2024-04-25)Deadwood, characterized as both downed woody material (DWM) and standing and dead stems, i.e., snags, is a significant component of terrestrial forest ecosystems. Deadwood amount and structure may influence potential wildfire hazard by altering combustible DWM mass and creating fuel structures that increase fire intensity and spread. Deadwood is also critical to carbon storage and nutrient cycling and may vary based upon the size classes of individual deadwood pieces. Lastly, deadwood structural variability has been found to positively affect species richness in bees, salamanders, birds, and small mammals, such as shrews and woodland mice. However, in the Mid-Atlantic Piedmont, there are no accessible tools to rapidly estimate deadwood of long unmanaged second growth forests to help inform future management decisions. Management agencies within this region, such as the National Park Service, may benefit from a greater understanding of the potential factors that influence deadwood accumulation, retention, and decomposition. Therefore, a project was funded by the National Park Service to investigate deadwood dynamics at Prince William Forest Park (PRWI). From May to August 2023, a deadwood inventory was conducted using planar intercepts nested within fixed radius plots along the gradient of forest cover types, aspect, elevation, and soil orders found within PRWI. Forest cover type was significant in the generalized linear model for percent dead basal area, total DWM, fine woody material, litter, and duff mass. The Virginia pine (Pinus virginiana) forest cover type had the highest percent dead basal area and total DWM mass per hectare. Elevation, aspect, and soil order were not significantly related to percent dead basal area, total DWM, 1,000 hr, fine woody material, litter, and duff mass. Data from this study may serve as a baseline for similar second growth forests of the mid-Atlantic Piedmont.
- Evaluating Energywood Harvesting Operations in The Lower Mid-Atlantic Region of the United StatesGarren, Austin Mack (Virginia Tech, 2022-04-12)Increased markets for renewable energy feedstocks have led to increased energywood production in the Southeastern United States. Energywood requires additional processing and is often the lowest value product generated, making profitability difficult. Additionally, numerous environmental concerns surround energywood harvesting, such as potential increased erosion, applicability and adequacy of conventional water quality best management practices (BMPs), increased area in road network features due to increased machine trafficking, and reduced quantities of residual woody debris. Energywood harvesting operations have been established in the lower Mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. for several decades, and research examining these operations provides insight into various aspects of the sustainability of the practice in this region and similar locations elsewhere. Therefore, this research provides a literature review on the practice of energywood harvesting, followed by four studies on energywood harvesting operations in the lower Mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. The first study evaluated the productivity and costs of two Appalachian Mountain and three Coastal Plain energywood harvests, providing stakeholders with a comparison of harvesting operations that can be used to make better-informed decisions regarding the efficient and economical harvest of energywood. The second study compared estimated erosion, operational feature areas, BMP implementation rates, ground cover characteristics, and downed woody debris quantities following 10 energywood and 10 conventional harvests in the Mountains of Virginia. The third study detailed a survey conducted among energywood business owners in Virginia designed to characterize harvesting operations and markets, assess business owner opinions related to the current and future state of the industry, and update/expand the results of a previous survey from 2014. The fourth study combined data from the second study with data from two other independent studies, comparing site impact metrics from energywood and conventional harvests across the Mountain, Piedmont, and Coastal Plain regions of Virginia. In the first study, cut and haul costs averaged $32.07/tonne and ranged from $26.19 to $38.28/tonne. Hauling consistently comprised the largest function cost at an average of $12.24/tonne. Harvesting system analysis also highlighted the importance of ensuring a balanced equipment mix to lower costs and ensure efficiency. In the second study, conventional harvests had higher estimated erosion contributions from skid trails (P = 0.089) and averaged more estimated erosion mass overall than energywood harvests, despite being significantly smaller in size (P = 0.054). There was significantly less area in heavy slash (P = 0.076) and lower estimated mass of residual downed woody debris (P = 0.001) on energywood sites than conventional sites (10.98 and 27.95 tons/acre, respectively). Site-wide BMP implementation scores (P = 0.041), as well as those for Streamside Management Zones (SMZs) (P = 0.024), and skidding (P = 0.063) were significantly higher on energywood sites than conventional sites. BMP implementation scores were significant predictors of estimated erosion rates (P < 0.001, R² = 59%), indicating that adequate levels of existing water quality BMPs are effective for erosion control on both conventional and energywood harvests. The third study indicated that energywood harvesting operations in Virginia were generally conventional single-crew roundwood operations utilizing their own residues for energywood. Production levels varied widely with energywood comprising an average 31% of total production. Material was comminuted utilizing large (650 median horsepower) older (13.2 years average) whole-tree chippers fed by a single loader. Coastal Plain operations were larger scale than Piedmont operations, though those in the Piedmont had been in business longer. Businesses had a median of $400,000 USD invested in energywood production equipment, which was double their median investment in the previous survey. Logging businesses that had produced energywood longer were significantly (P = 0.0391) more likely to report profitability. In addition, loggers reported deriving numerous non-market benefits from energywood production (e.g., improved aesthetics and cleaner sites, leading to increased landowner satisfaction), with most business owners planning to continue production in the future. The fourth study revealed that estimated erosion was higher in the Mountains due to steep slopes and operational challenges. BMP implementation varied by region and harvest type, with energywood sites having better implementation than conventional sites, and conventional Mountain sites having lower implementation than other regions. Sufficient woody debris remained for BMPs on both harvest types in all regions, with conventional Mountain sites retaining twice that of Coastal Plain sites. BMPs effectively reduced potential erosion on both site types; therefore, increased implementation could likely lower erosion potential in problematic areas. Collectively, this research provides a wholistic representation of energywood harvesting operations in the lower Mid-Atlantic region of the U.S., allowing stakeholders in the region and other similar locations to make informed decisions regarding its sustainable harvest.
- Precision Forestry: Using LiDAR to Optimize Row Thinning in Pinus taeda (L.) PlantationsPlatt, Erik James (Virginia Tech, 2024-01-24)Precision forestry uses information collecting techniques to detect within stand variability and inform sub-stand management treatments, such as stand thinning guidelines. This study uses LiDAR to assess individual-tree stem volumes in Pinus taeda L. plantations in the southeast US. Currently, starting rows in commercial row thinning operations are arbitrarily selected, but the study used LiDAR collected stem volume data to inform starting row selection. Three study sites were measured to provide evidence of between-row volume variability. The primary study site was set up in an alternative treatment design. Two treatments were tested: a fourth row removal scenario which removed the most volume of the four possible scenarios versus a fourth row removal which targeted the least amount of volume removed. Between-row volume variability was shown in all study sites and LiDAR data accurately assessed volume in the primary study site. The primary site saw the two blocks homogenized by their thinning treatments, demonstrating the ability to increase or decrease residual volumes using targeted row selection . Targeted row removal retained more volume and larger trees and may lead to higher harvest yields and shorter rotations. Timber managers across the globe are increasingly using remote sensing to inventory stands, thus LiDAR-informed volume acquisition may be an additional application to increase the efficiency and productivity of forests.
- Prescribed Fire Effects on Tree Grades and Wounds on the Monongahela National Forest, WVSharpe, Caroline Marie (Virginia Tech, 2022-07-01)Species traits, including but not exclusive to bark thickness and texture, sprouting ability, and litter bulk density and chemistry, may be related to a stem's potential to withstand potential heating from wildland fire. Trees exhibiting similarities for these properties and others may be classified into two broad functional groups: pyrophytes and pyrophobes. To our knowledge, few research studies have been conducted to determine how prescribed fires may affect wood quality of merchantable tree species in the Appalachian Mountains. Understanding potential relationships between wounding and fire tolerance may assist prescribed fire managers as they seek to promote and expand the use of prescribed fire for management purposes. To investigate this issue, six locations on the Monongahela National Forest, West Virginia, that had been subjected to one or two mixed intensity and severity prescribed fires since 2012 were selected for stand inventory in 2021. Overstory trees within these burned locations and adjacent, unburned locations were measured and graded using variable radius sampling, and additional landscape features and physiographic factors, such as aspect, elevation, and slope percentage, were also recorded at each variable radius sampling location. The most common, commercially valuable deciduous species encountered were red maple (Acer rubrum) (17.5%), white oak (Quercus alba) (9.8%), chestnut oak (Quercus montana) (32.8%), and northern red oak (Quercus rubra) (39.9%). Using field measurements and tree grades, the total number and types of wounds, potential volume loss, charring, basal area, and diameters at breast height (DBH) were compared by species, burn status (burn or control), and the number of burns. Overall, A. rubrum and Q. rubra comprised 93% of the total trees exhibiting volume loss from wounds in the burned locations. However, total volume loss only constituted about 3% of the bottommost 4.9 m log. Trees in the burned locations experiencing volume loss differed significantly between species (p=0.0294) with Q. rubra constituting 60% of volume loss trees. In burned and control plots, A. rubrum was the most commonly wounded tree with 43.5% of trees having at least one wound. Cat face and oval wounds were the only wound types resulting in volume loss. Felling and milling stems identified in this study as having potential volume loss from any fire-influenced wounds would be valuable. Furthermore, assessing the potential impact of outer bark char resulting from prescribed fires would be desired to better understand if charring constitutes any potential internal damage to stems. Deploying a similar, field-scale experiment on areas with varying fire frequencies and intensities would be useful to determine how wood quality may be affected after several prescribed burns.
- Prescribed Fire Perspectives of African American Landowners in Alabama, Florida, and GeorgiaPerkins, La' Portia Jasmine (Virginia Tech, 2020-06-19)African American landownership is decreasing in the southeastern United States. At the same time, prescribed fire use, research, and outreach are increasing. This disparity between changing landowner demographics and a renewed interest in a historically prevalent land management tool has prompted a broader conversation about diversity and inclusion in outreach programs and land management preferences. Therefore, an exploratory qualitative study was conducted using semi-structured interviews with African American non-industrial private landowners (NIPLs) in southern Alabama, northern Florida, and southwestern Georgia. The objectives of this study were to address the following questions: 1) Do African American NIPLs use prescribed fire?; 2) Why do they choose or refuse to use prescribed fire?; 3) What potential constraints discourage African American NIPLs from using prescribed fire? Twenty-one African American landowners within these states were interviewed from May through August 2019. Analysis of these interviews was completed using rapid rural appraisal, a method used to quickly gather data from individuals in rural settings. The results suggested that 81% of the African American NIPLs interviewed used prescribed fire to accomplish specific land management objectives, such as hazardous fuel reduction, undesired vegetation control, timber stand improvement, pest and disease reduction, and aesthetics. These individuals faced unique potential limitations including a lack of relevant information regarding prescribed fire permits, smoke management, safety, and burning smaller parcels. These individuals also desired opportunities to retain land within their own families and also felt they were underrepresented within land management organizations and extension programs. In the future, policymakers' efforts may benefit from an intentional focus on building relationships with individual landowners, enhancing educational programming and access for landowners maintaining small and large parcels, and striving for diverse and inclusive representation within land management organizations.