Needs Assessment Surveys: Do They Predict Attendance at Continuing Education Workshops?

Extension educators regularly conduct needs assessment surveys to identify their clients\u27 education preferences. This study compared data from a continuing education needs assessment survey of NYS forest resource managers with attendance records from workshops to learn if survey respondents attended programs that they indicated a preference for. Our findings suggest that, although educators can rely on these surveys to assess program feasibility, only a small percentage of survey respondents who indicate an interest in a topic will actually attend a program on that topic. Our results illustrate why educators should consider using additional tools to assess their clients\u27 education needs

Spatial Analysis of Forest Crimes in Mark Twain National Forest, Missouri

Forest crime mitigation has been identified as a challenging issue in forest management in the United States. Knowledge of the spatial pattern of forest crimes would help in wisely allocating limited enforcement resources to curb forest crimes. This study explores the spatial pattern of three different types of forest crimes: fire crime, illegal timber logging crime, and occupancy use crime in the Salem-Patosi Ranger District of Mark Twain National Forest. Univariate and bivariate Ripley’s K-functions were applied to explore the spatial patterns in crime events, like clustering and attraction among forest crime types. Results reveal significant clustering for each forest crime type and the combined events. Peak clustering was observed at 2.3 km, 2.7 km and 3.6 km for fire, timber and occupancy use crimes, respectively. For better forest crime mitigation, when there is an event of a given forest crime type, monitoring should be intensified around its respective spatial scale of peak clustering to avert future crime events. Significant attraction was observed between i) fire crime and illegal timber logging crime, and ii) fire crime and occupancy use crime, at spatial scales of 0.3 km and 0.2 km, respectively. At the respective spatial scales, occurrence of one type of crime increases the chances of occurrence of another type of crime, thus we recommend allocating available resources accordingly to minimize crime events. Further study could help establish any association of clustering or attraction of forest crimes with different socio-economic and bio-physical factors prevalent in and around the area

Status and prospects for renewable energy using wood pellets from the southeastern United States

The ongoing debate about costs and benefits of wood-pellet based bioenergy production in the southeastern United States (SE USA) requires an understanding of the science and context influencing market decisions associated with its sustainability. Production of pellets has garnered much attention as US exports have grown from negligible amounts in the early 2000s to 4.6 million metric tonnes in 2015. Currently, 98% of these pellet exports are shipped to Europe to displace coal in power plants. We ask, ‘How is the production of wood pellets in the SE USA affecting forest systems and the ecosystem services they provide?’ To address this question, we review current forest conditions and the status of the wood products industry, how pellet production affects ecosystem services and biodiversity, and what methods are in place to monitor changes and protect vulnerable systems. Scientific studies provide evidence that wood pellets in the SE USA are a fraction of total forestry operations and can be produced while maintaining or improving forest ecosystem services. Ecosystem services are protected by the requirement to utilize loggers trained to apply scientifically based best management practices in planning and implementing harvest for the export market. Bioenergy markets supplement incomes to private rural landholders and provide an incentive for forest management practices that simultaneously benefit water quality and wildlife and reduce risk of fire and insect outbreaks. Bioenergy also increases the value of forest land to landowners, thereby decreasing likelihood of conversion to nonforest uses. Monitoring and evaluation are essential to verify that regulations and good practices are achieving goals and to enable timely responses if problems arise. Conducting rigorous research to understand how conditions change in response to management choices requires baseline data, monitoring, and appropriate reference scenarios. Long-term monitoring data on forest conditions should be publicly accessible and utilized to inform adaptive management

Integrated Stochastic Life Cycle Assessment and Techno-Economic Analysis for Shrub Willow Production in the Northeastern United States

The refereed literature contains few studies that analyze life cycle assessment (LCA) and techno-economic analysis (TEA) methodologies together for lignocellulosic bioenergy systems, using a stochastic modeling approach. This study seeks to address this gap by developing an integrated framework to quantify the environmental and financial impacts of producing and delivering shrub willow in the Northeastern United States. This study analyses four different scenarios from a combination of two different initial land cover types (grassland, cropland) prior to willow establishment, and two harvesting conditions (leaf-on, leaf-off). Monte Carlo simulations were performed to quantify the uncertainty of the results based on a range of financial, logistical, and biophysical variable input parameters (e.g., land rental rates, transportation distance, biomass yield, etc.). Growing willow biomass on croplands resulted in net negative GHG emissions for both leaf on and leaf off scenarios for the baseline. The GHG emissions were lowest for the leaf-off harvest on cropland (−172.50 kg CO2eq Mg−1); this scenario also had the lowest MSP ($76.41 Mg−1). The baseline grassland scenario with leaf-on harvest, results in the highest net GHG emissions (44.83 kg CO2eq Mg−1) and greatest MSP ($92.97 Mg−1). The results of this analysis provide the bioenergy field and other interested stakeholders with both environmental and financial trade-offs of willow biomass to permit informed decisions about the future expansion of willow fields in the landscape, which have the potential to contribute to GHG reduction targets and conversion into fuels, energy, or bioproducts for carbon sequestration and financial benefits