Seasonal Greening in U.S. Forests, Fields, and Urban Areas

Using the assessment tool ForWarn, land managers can monitor the growth and development of vegetation that signals winter’s end and the awakening of a new growing season. Researchers have devised a way to more precisely characterize the beginning of seasonal greening, or “greenup,” and compare its timing with that of the 14 previous years. Such information helps land managers anticipate and plan for the impacts of disturbances such as weather events and insect pests.

Three maps detailing greenup in …

Planting Trees to Regenerate a Forest

Renewing a forest—to replace harvested trees or those that died from insects, disease, fire, old age, or extreme weather events—is key to sustainable forestry. Foresters refer to the process of establishing new tree seedlings as “regeneration.” They also refer to the seedlings established in the forest as “regeneration.”

Aspen regeneration two months after clear-cutting in a site in Cass County, Minnesota. Photo: Eli Sagor, Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0).

Regeneration can be accomplished through two basic approaches: (1) natural regeneration, which …