The mcintire stennis (MS) program at central state university (CSU) focuses on forest management research that can improve the susta inability of the nation's public and private forests for economic…

The mcintire stennis (MS) program at central state university (CSU) focuses on forest management research that can improve the susta inability of the nation's public and private forests for economic development, environmental protection, and wildlife habitat preservation. Among the various native tree species, one of the most valuable is the OAK trees which support a multibillion-dollar commercial timber industry in the nation. CSU will continue its research efforts in the forested landscapes of SE ohio to improve OAK silviculture through forest management for healthy ecosystems and regenerating OAK forests. To achieve this goal CSU will work closely with the ohio interagency forestry team (hereafter forestry team) . The project will follow the forestry team model of working at three nested scales: state-wide, 17-county OAK management priority forest area, and the five-county hocking plateau shared stewardship project. Specific objectives of this project involve creating an integrated inventory of OAK silviculture practices including treatments and monitoring, developing a training manual outlining adaptive OAK management practices to tackle climate change stressors, forest biomass estimation using advanced remote sensing and geospatial techniques, modeling watershed scale forest health and water quality through predictive modeling, monitoring and managing forest pest and diseases and assessing biodiversity in forest landscapes as impacted by land use and climate change. Undergraduate students will be trained through the MS program in forestry research so that they can participate in a workforce for the nation's forestry and forest products manufacturing industries. The MS program also expects to support the expansion of the ohio OAK management by integrating new knowledge generated from the remotely sensed biomass estimation and the watershed scale modeling objectives of this project. The research outputs and outcomes will be translated into action through trainings offered to the private forest landowners for effective forest management and for targeted implementation of conservation practices with the support of nrcs programs. The MS program will also focus on conducting research on forest management practices in natural forests including site selection, propagation, disease control, harvesting and post-harvest technology of various timber crop species, and non-timber forest products. Research on supply chain and market analysis for agroforestry crops will be carried out to diversify forest production systems and for economic development of underrepresented and socially disadvantaged forest landowners in the appalachian region of ohio. To address nifa's strategic goal of combating climate change, research studies will be initiated to understand below-ground carbon dynamics in the soils of forested landscapes at molecular level which in turn will inform earth systems modeling at national, and global scales. The new knowledge generated from studies involving forest soil carbon SEQ uestration will aid policy and decision makers with identification of effective climate change mitigation and adaptive strategies in forested landscapes. Additionally, CSU will initiate research projects on urban forestry topics including the effective management of urban forests, managing pest and disease pressure in urban forests, and quantification of ecosystem benefits from urban trees. One deliverable would be a geographic information system based city tree inventory data. The urban forestry research work will provide tools that are critical for effective management of urban trees including when storm and pest and disease related tree failures occur in the cities.