Our mission: To proactively protect forest ecosystems and their services by fostering forest resilience and managing emerging threats.
Featured Publications
This new study found that most news articles used invasion-militaristic and/or fatalistic language to describe Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) management. Dr. Mysha Clarke and her co-authors recommend that public communications around invasive species should be cautious about using language that evokes militarism and fatalism. Communication around invasive species matters. "Public awareness is considered central to mitigating the spread of invasive species."
PhD candidate Paul Klockow, student advisee of ProForest member Dr. Vogel and colleagues, compared a rapid, independent, broad-scale sampling effort quantifying tree mortality following the 2011 drought in Texas to the Forest Inventory Analysis assessment, and examined how tree mortality from drought and insects and diseases varied throughout a four-year period for key species. Mortality was similar in both assessments and was immediate for most genera but lagged for key genera after the drought potentially because of insects and disease.
This study suggests that biomass removal is an attractive option that could be integrated with traditional silvicultural thinning methods to manage vegetation and alleviate hazardous fuel and wildfire conditions, leading to improved forest health.
ProForest News
ProForest members Dan Johnson and Eben Broadbent along with their collaborators were awarded a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation to study why tree mortality is increasing across the U.S.
Jiri Hulcr and Dave Coyle were featured on the Plantopia Podcast by the American Phytopathological Society. Plantopia was inspired by the United Nations declaration of 2020 as the International Year of Plant Health.
ProForest co-founder Dr. Jiri Hulcr was featured in Science Magazine for his work using sentinel trees to detect potential forest pests in China.