C S OMPAS perspectives and tools to benefit southern forest resources from the southern research station issue 12 How do hurricanes affect forest resources? Lessons from Katrina and Rita Evaluating Chaos...page 3 In the Danger Zone...page 8 Red-Cockaded Woodpeckers and Hurricanes...page 11 inside... the science 1 Lessons from Hurricanes are a fact of life in the Southern United States. The Gulf Coast areas of Texas, Louisiana, and Katrina and Mississippi are especially prone to these tropical cyclones, Rita but coastal ecosystems are uniquely adapted to both by John Stanturf periodic hurricanes and fire. You could say they thrive on disturbance. 3 Evaluating On August 28, 2005, Dennis Jacobs had just arrived at a church dinner in Knoxville, TN, when he heard that Chaos Hurricane Katrina had intensified into a category 5 storm. by Bill Dockery He knew how he would be spending the next few days. 5 Gulf Coast When Hurricanes Katrina and Rita swept through Gulf Coast forests, the SRS Forest Inventory and Analysis Forests Hit Program provided the damage assessments Federal, State, Hard and local authorities needed to estimate the economic toll by Claire Payne on communities with significant forest resources. 8 In The Danger Natural resource managers and landowners were overwhelmed by the damage from Hurricanes Katrina and Zone Rita. Many of them didn’t have plans in place to help them by Zoë Hoyle get started on sometimes massive salvage operations, let alone come up with strategies to make their forests more resilient when future storms strike. 11 Red-cockaded Hurricanes have the potential to severely impact red- Woodpeckers cockaded woodpecker populations by damaging habitat. Artificial cavity inserts developed after Hurricane Hugo and Hurricanes make it easier for a unique species to weather major by Zoë Hoyle storms. compass—october 2008 21 How Much Forest Hurricane Katrina alone may have caused a loss of 40 million metric tons of forest carbon. That’s 20 percent Carbon is Lost of annual forest carbon sequestration capacity. SRS after a Major scientist Steve McNulty has developed new forest carbon Hurricane? sequestration equations that take into account major by Stephanie Worley Firley disturbances such as hurricanes. 23 Winners and SRS researchers Jeffrey Prestemon and Thomas Holmes have developed an economic model that describes the effects Losers, Depression of catastrophes such as hurricanes on the region’s forest and Rebound resources and the market environment in which timber by Bill Dockery producers and consumers operate. 26 Last Trees Hundreds of thousands of urban trees were killed or badly damaged by Katrina’s winds and storm surge. Standing Municipalities needed a way to assess how much money it by Zoë Hoyle would take to remove thousands of downed trees, but they also needed to know how to save those left standing. departments Experimental Forests ...................18 Around the Station ......................31 Research Work Units ...................46 Science You Can Use! ....................29 New Products ...................................33 briefs Hurricane Katrina ...........................2 Hurricane Rita .................................12 What Gulfport Lost......................24 The Value of Taking Inventory ....6 Shelter From the Storm .............14 Strike While the Quick Guide to Salvage ..............10 Harm is Hot ........................................28 How Fish Fare ....................................17 A Simple Solution, But Not That Why Longleaf? ..................................20 Easy ...........................................................11 Cover photo: When Hurricanes Katrina and Rita swept through in fall 2005, they left widespread damage to Gulf Coast forest resources. (Photo by Patrick Hesp, Louisiana State University Hurricane Katrina and Rita Clearinghouse Cooperative) C O M PA S S Email: [email protected], [email protected] Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for Telephone: 828-257-4388 communication of program information (Braille, large print, Editors: Zoë Hoyle, Science Writer, and Claire Payne, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA’s TARGET Center at Technical Information Specialist (202) 720-2600 (voice and TDD). Science You Can Use! Art Director: Rodney Kindlund Contributing SDG Staff Writers: Carol Whitlock and Stevin To file a complaint of discrimination, write to USDA, Westcott Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, October 2008 — Issue 12 Station Director: Jim Reaves SW, Washington, D.C. 20250-9410, or call (800) 795- 3272 (voice) or (202) 720-6382 (TDD). USDA is an equal The mission of the Southern Research Station is to create opportunity provider and employer. perspectives and tools to benefit southern forest resources the science and technology needed to sustain and enhance southern forest ecosystems and the benefits The use of trade or firm names in this publication is for COMPASS is published by the Science Delivery Group they provide. reader information and does not imply endorsement (SDG) of the Southern Research Station (SRS), Forest by the U.S. Department of Agriculture of any product or Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture. As part of the The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits service. Nation’s largest forestry research organization—Forest discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis Service Research and Development—SRS serves 13 of race, color, national origin, age, disability, and where The opinions and recommendations offered by guest Southern States and beyond. The Station’s 130 scientists applicable, sex, marital status, familial status, parental authors and interviewees are not necessarily those of the work at more than 20 units located across the region status, religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Forest Service, or the at Federal laboratories, universities, and experimental political beliefs, reprisal, or because all or part of an Southern Research Station. forests. individual’s income is derived from any public assistance program. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) ISSN: 1931-4906 Future issues can be obtained by returning the postcard included in this issue. Printed on recycled paper Printed with soy ink www.srs.fs.usda.gov An American chestnut tree in West Salem, WI, planted outside the chestnut’s natural range in the early 1900s by settlers. Under the tree are, from left: TACF president and CEO Marshal Case, Dr. Cameron Gundersen, and Bruce Gabel. (Photo courtesy of Daphne Van Schaick) With increased hurricane activity expected for the next 10 to 40 years, yearly damage to forests along the Gulf Coast could become the norm. (Photo by Peter L. Lorio, U.S. Forest Service, Bugwood.org) compass—october 2008 Lessons From Katrina and Rita by John Stanturf Hurricanes are a fact of life in The estimated wind damage from 2005 hurricanes, or to offer analysis of the Southern United States. The Katrina and Rita to forest resources social systems. Our focus on hurricane Gulf Coast areas of Texas, Louisiana, was between $2 and $3 billion, effects on forest resources may seem and Mississippi are especially prone with more than 5.5 million acres of at first somewhat narrow, but we to these tropical cyclones, but coastal timberland affected in the States of believe that the importance of forests ecosystems are uniquely adapted to Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and lies not only in timber values, but both periodic hurricanes and fire. You Alabama. Although financial estimates also in the innumerable “ecosystem could say they thrive on disturbance. of timber losses provide an incomplete services” forests provide—from habitat Unfortunately, cities and towns along estimate of impacts, there is no doubt for myriad species, to places for the Gulf Coast—and the people that effects from the hurricanes people to rest and recreate, to carbon who live in them—have proven to will linger for years to come. Many storage banks to offset climate change, be less resilient when it comes to managers and landowners were to alternative sources of energy. weathering huge storms, as most caught unprepared to salvage timber In this issue, we’ll go into detail recently shown when Hurricane Ike quickly enough to recover value and about the steps landowners and tore through Galveston, TX. The past prevent further damage from insects, homeowners can take to manage 10 hurricane seasons have been the invasive plants, and rot. Managing storm damage to their trees. We’ll look most active on record. The consensus salvage while maintaining or at how Katrina affected a long-term among climatologists is that increased recovering ecological values is another experiment on an experimental forest hurricane activity could persist for issue few land managers had planned in Mississippi, including findings that another 10 to 40 years. When you for. longleaf pine—once the dominant add global climate change predictions Hurricanes Katrina and Rita tree species in coastal areas—is to the mix, yearly damage from provided an opportunity to examine surprisingly hurricane-resistant when hurricanes could become the norm forest management objectives and compared to other pine species. We’ll for the Gulf Coast rather than periodic how they could be used to reduce see how what we’ve learned from occurrences. vulnerability to damage from future previous hurricanes came into play In August and September 2005, storms and to provide managers with when Rita threatened red-cockaded Hurricanes Katrina and Rita caused the basis to make disaster plans. More woodpecker habitat in Texas, and how what has been termed the most resiliency in ecosystems and social arborists across the United States costly natural disaster in U.S. history. systems is the key. A resilient system responded when urban foresters along In addition to wind, storm surge, is one that can absorb recurring the Gulf Coast needed help saving and flooding damage along the Gulf disturbances such as hurricanes their city trees. Coast of Louisiana, Mississippi, and while retaining essential structures, Lessons learned from Katrina and Alabama, the levees that surrounded processes, and functions. Like the old Rita will not only help forest managers metropolitan New Orleans were Timex watch commercial, a resilient prepare for future hurricanes, but undermined. Their collapse caused system can “take a lickin’ and keep more readily adapt to a reality where extensive flooding damage and loss on tickin’.” Southern Research Station constant and often severe natural of life. The human toll from Katrina scientists work with a wide range of disturbance is the norm. The future is inestimable; property damage has partners to provide the information isn’t what it used to be. Managers been estimated in the hundreds of needed to adapt southern forests and need to focus on the extremes rather billions of dollars. The rising cost of landowners to changing conditions, than the averages, and to expect natural disasters is a result of the whether natural disaster, climate abrupt as well as gradual change. increased vulnerability where human conditions, or land use change. development has extended into high In this issue of Compass, we don’t risk areas during periods when there John Stanturf is project leader of the SRS presume to address the depth of Center for Forest Disturbance Science in were relatively few major hurricanes. human suffering associated with the Athens, GA. wwwwww..ssrrss..ffss..uussddaa..ggoovv 1 Hurricane Katrina around $81 billion, which would make Katrina the costliest hurricane to hit Natural disturbance brings human tragedy the United States. More than 3 years after the storm pummeled the Gulf Coast, many residents are still trying From a natural resource perspective, As it roared northward, the to rebuild their lives. Hurricane Katrina was a large-scale hurricane brought 10 inches of rain to According to research from the disturbance event. But from the human many areas and cut a wide swath of SRS Forest Inventory and Analysis perspective, the massive storm was destruction that spanned southeastern unit, Hurricane Katrina damaged an catastrophic, killing more than 1,800 Louisiana across southcentral estimated 4.9 million acres of coastal people and displacing almost half a Mississippi and western Alabama. and inland forests. SRS economists million. Katrina weakened to a tropical storm Jeffrey Prestemon and David Wear as it moved inland, but not before estimated financial losses from wind On August 29, 2005, Katrina made inflicting an enormous amount of damage to timber between $1.4 landfall at Buras, LA, as a category 5 damage. Compounding the effects and $2.4 billion. About 90 percent hurricane with maximum sustained of Katrina were the more than 40 of the damage was within 62 miles winds clocked at 126 miles per tornadoes the storm spawned. of the coast. More than 65 percent hour, sending pounding waves and occurred in Mississippi alone. The a mammoth storm surge onto the Americans across the country majority of losses were in pine forests. Gulf Coast of Louisiana, Mississippi, watched as images of human tragedy Loblolly and longleaf pines, as well and Alabama. The largest storm and devastation flashed across their as hardwoods such as oaks, pecans, surge recorded was 28 feet along the television screens. Thousands of and other species were blown over, Mississippi coast, with surges reaching homes and businesses were damaged twisted, snapped, and damaged by salt as high as 20 feet in New Orleans. The or destroyed. The National Weather infusion and other factors. —SW surge pushed 12 miles inland along Service’s National Hurricane Center Mississippi waterways and 6 miles initially estimated total damages at along the coast. Hurricane Katrina destroyed or damaged thousands of homes and businesses. (Photo by Eric Kuehler, U.S. Forest Service) 2 ccoommppaassss——ooccttoobbeerr 22000088 Evaluating Chaos The answers are out there, even before the winds have stilled by Bill Dockery On August 28, 2005, Dennis information: up-to-date forest Storm Training Jacobs had just arrived at a inventory data and near-real- Jacobs got a chance to refine his church dinner in Knoxville, TN, when time meteorological details. The methodology in early fall 2004, when he heard that Hurricane Katrina had inventory data that FIA produces four hurricanes hit Florida and the intensified into a category 5 storm. He on an annual basis serves as the Gulf Coast. Hurricane Charley, a knew how he would be spending the benchmark that allows the effects of category 4 storm, came ashore on next few days. catastrophic events to be measured. the west coast of Florida with winds The increasingly sophisticated data Jacobs, research forester with the clocked at 145 miles per hour. A compiled by the National Weather SRS Forest Inventory and Analysis scant 3 weeks later, while Jacobs was Service and the National Hurricane (FIA) unit in Knoxville, has created evaluating Charley’s effects on Florida Center, immediately available on the procedures that allow him to rapidly forests, Hurricane Frances made Internet, enables Jacobs to create his assess damage from major storms on landfall as a category 2 on the other rapid assessment methods. Jacobs the forest lands of the South. side of the State. His office quickly uses data on wind patterns and “Monday morning I began gathering assessed Frances and was returning speeds, rainfall totals, areas of tidal data for making temporary maps and to work on Charley when Hurricane surges, and the path of the hurricane’s tables as the hurricane moved inland, Ivan roared ashore on September 15 at eye as it moves inland. just in case anyone wanted to see data nearby Gulf Shores, AL. “The eye path is particularly immediately. I knew I would be able For Jacobs’ purposes, Ivan proved important because the heaviest to fine tune the report after the winds to be the perfect storm, a model for damage to forests usually occurs tapered off.” future rapid damage assessments. on the windward side of the path, Only days later he would be doing The damage map he produced for where the wind has picked up speed the process again for Hurricane Rita, Ivan shows four concentric zones over bodies of water before it hits the which came ashore near Port Arthur, that radiate outward from landfall at shore,” Jacobs says. “With hurricanes TX, and affected forests in southwest Gulf Shores (see map on page 7). The on the Atlantic and the gulf, that’s the Louisiana and east Texas. zone of heaviest damage, zone 4, lies right side of the eye track.” immediately to the right of the landfall “We’re occasionally called on by Jacobs points out that his rapid site. Each succeeding layer, though States or by the Station for quick assessment procedure is not foolproof, showing less damage, increases in assessments,” Jacobs says. “In the but must take into account variations size, so that even zone 1 (scattered, case of Hurricane Katrina, Washington in geography. For example, his ≥1 percent light damage)—which in officials wanted quick answers.” early assessments of damage from the case of Ivan reached almost to Officials need damage estimates Katrina failed to take into account Huntsville in north Alabama—can to target disaster assistance funds that the path of the hurricane’s represent a considerable economic as well as for budgeting State and eyewall remained over water longer impact on forest resources. Federal funds for firefighting, insect as it moved to its third landfall at the Before September 2004 was over, and disease monitoring, and forest Louisiana-Mississippi border, allowing Hurricane Jeanne had made landfall restoration efforts. Jacobs can provide the wind speed to remain higher as the near Stuart, FL, and followed the them with damage estimates within storm moved into Mississippi. Such path of Frances up the State, crossing 3 days of a disaster. details he takes into account in his forests that Charley had earlier final reports. Jacobs relies heavily on the damaged and eventually covering availability of two key types of (continued) www.srs.fs.usda.gov 3 terrain crossed by Ivan on the Florida themselves do not provide all the And to assess damage, you have to Panhandle. The overlap of the damage information Jacobs needs. Techniques know what was there before the storm zones made Jacobs’ work even more that work well on western forests hit. difficult, but he was able to provide are not so accurate on forests in the “We don’t have prestorm LiDAR data estimates for Florida and Alabama that South. Light detection and ranging on these forests,” says Jacobs. “We were later validated on the ground. (LiDAR) equipment, which measures really depend on the hard numbers tree height, works well with forests we get from on-the-ground forest Back to Ground Work made up of large trees, open canopy, inventory work.” While satellite imaging, aerial and sparse understory. Southern For more information: photography, and other modern forests typically have smaller trees, sensing technologies can provide denser understories, and more rapid Dennis Jacobs at 865–862–2060 or [email protected] important data, the technologies change than those out West. Bill Dockery is a freelance science writer based in Knoxville, TN. Broken and damaged pines accounted for more than 42 miles of downed power lines in the area near Clinton, LA, surveyed by FIA crews. (Photo by Dennis Jacobs, U.S. Forest Service) 4 ccoommppaassss——ooccttoobbeerr 22000088 Gulf Coast Forests Hit Hard by Claire Payne Hurricane Katrina blasted into Surveying the Damage factors, including soil characteristics, Louisiana and Mississippi on vegetation structure, and diversity of Prior to Hurricane Katrina, the August 29, 2005, with wind speeds all vascular plant species—and lichen last inventory of Mississippi’s forests of 140 miles per hour (mph). Less diversity as a measure of climate had been taken in 1994. In the late than a month later, Hurricane Rita change and air quality. For the post- 1990s, the national FIA program hit Sabine Pass, TX, just west of the Katrina inventory, the crews focused started using an annualized inventory Texas-Louisiana border, packing wind solely on basic forest inventory system; Mississippi was one of the speeds up to 120 mph. These category and tree characteristics in order to 5 hurricanes damaged forests establish a new baseline. that serve as sources of timber When the next inventory “As I drove to various study sites farther products, wildlife habitat, and begins in 2009, the other inland in Mississippi, I noticed time and again recreational areas. Federal, State, factors will be measured that although many trees were down, most and local authorities needed also. Resource analyst Sonja forested areas were not nearly as bleak as an assessment of damage to Oswalt, who leads FIA efforts the landscapes of homes and barns and golf mitigate economic effects on in Mississippi, is completing courses. Forests evidently resist hurricanes communities. the Mississippi forest inventory better than our creations.” —Susie Adams report, which will include The SRS Forest Inventory From: Adams, S.B. 2006. Katrina: boon or bust for freshwater analysis of Katrina’s impacts. and Analysis (FIA) program, led fish communities? Watershed. Fall-Winter: 19–21, 23. by Bill Burkman, collaborated Results on the Ground with the Mississippi Institute for Forest Inventory (MIFI) and the last Southern States to move to that Mississippi Counties Hancock, Mississippi Forestry Commission to process from the older 5-year cycle. Pearl River, Harrison, Jackson, Stone, provide those estimates. FIA research “Before Katrina, there had been so and George took a pummeling from forester Dennis Jacobs had previously many changes with the impacts of the Hurricane Katrina. Oswalt and Pat developed a remote sensing model forest industry’s disposal of their land Glass, MIFI director of operations, that uses hurricane category, track, and the onset of timber investment jointly analyzed and reported data and rainfall amounts to map out management organizations and for these six counties. Based on a hurricane damage zones. After Katrina real estate investment trusts,” says sample of 1,349 plots, they found hit, Jacobs used FIA data from the last Burkman. “We didn’t really have a that 83 percent of measured plots Mississippi survey in 1994 and current very good idea of what we had in sustained damage that ranged from data for Louisiana and Alabama and Mississippi. Katrina provided the minor to intensive. Only 34 percent of applied the model to the area damaged impetus to get started.” merchantable live trees (about 50 trees by Katrina. “The model works at a per acre) showed damage. Windthrow As soon as possible after Katrina, very large scale,” Burkman explained, was the most common damage type, the Mississippi inventory began as “but it enabled us to provide a quick and damage levels were highest in a large cooperative effort, with a analysis for policymakers regarding oak-gum-cypress stands, where sample of 5,500 plots. Unique to the extent of the damage. It was close impacts were seen on 40 percent of the Mississippi inventory was the enough to meet their information basal area (the total cross-sectional measurement of downed-woody needs, with the amount and level of area of the trees in a stand). material, which provides data that detail they required.” Sonja Oswalt and FIA resource can be fed into fire fuel models. analyst Christopher Oswalt took a Normally, field crews collect data special interest in how stand-level from 1/16 of the FIA plots on a large factors such as the size, density, and number of additional forest health (continued) wwwwww..ssrrss..ffss..uussddaa..ggoovv 5 The Value of Taking Inventory Gulf Coast Forests Hit Hard Since the 1930s, the Forest Service States and the U.S. territories of Puerto Forest Inventory and Analysis Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. species of trees present influence (FIA) program has been surveying Success depends on collaboration with the likelihood of damage. They public and private lands to track State and private forestry agencies, also wanted to compare the initial forest extent, health, vitality, and the forest industry and consultants, estimates made using remote sensing contributions to the national and and universities. Because wood-using to the data they collected on the global timber supply. The program industries play an important role in ground. In an article published earlier is designed to provide data, analysis, shaping the economic future of the this year, the Oswalts state that tree and comprehensible information Southern States, it is essential that the species and diameter at breast height to foresters, wildlife biologists, status and trends in forest resources consistently affected the probability universities, nongovernmental be assessed and information shared in of trees suffering at least some wind- organizations, Federal and State a timely manner. related damage in each zone of agencies, forest industry, and private For more information: damage. landowners. srsfia2.fs.fed.us/ The Oswalts used the hurricane SRS FIA collects data on public and private forest land in the 13 Southern path and damage zones developed by Jacobs in his initial damage assessment. Zone numbers rose Saltwater surges and flooding caused additional damage to forest resources. (Photo courtesy of NOAA) from one to five based on distance from landfall. The percentage of FIA survey plots with damage decreased as distance from landfall increased, with the exception of zone 5, the most western area, which was most likely also impacted by spinoff tornado activity. Analysis revealed that the damage figures Jacobs came up with using remotely sensed data were comparable with the Oswalts’ on-the-ground inventory. Hardwood forests sustained more damage from Hurricane Katrina than softwoods, probably due to the dominance of hardwoods in forest composition rather than susceptibility to damage. The Oswalts found that, in softwoods, stand spacing and tree height were more important than species type for determining potential breakage. The Oswalts caution, however, that trying to reduce the vulnerability of forests to hurricanes using management techniques is complicated by many variables. “We are not attempting to make recommendations for managing for a random wind event like a hurricane or tornado,” says Sonja Oswalt. “While our data show that height and 6 compass—october 2008