Forest Health Monitoring 2009 National Technical Report

Potter, K.M., and B.L. Conkling, editors. 2012. Forest Health Monitoring 2009 National Technical Report. General Technical Report SRS-167. Asheville, North Carolina: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station. 252 p. The annual national technical report of the Forest Health Monitoring Program of the Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, presents forest health status and trends from a national or multi-State regional perspective using a variety of sources, introduces new techniques for analyzing forest health data, and summarizes results of recently completed Evaluation Monitoring projects funded through the national Forest Health Monitoring program. Landscape pattern assessments are presented for Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. Data from detection and monitoring surveys are used to identify trends relating to biotic agents posing forest sustainability concerns. Survey data are used to identify geographic patterns of insect and disease activity. Data from the Forest Inventory and Analysis Program of the Forest Service are used to identify geographic patterns of nonnative tree species occurrence. Forest Inventory and Analysis data from 20 States also are employed to detect regional differences in tree mortality. A new risk map for Phytophthora ramorum is presented to assist in detection surveys. Quantitative temporal analyses are conducted for five categories of abiotic agents impacting forest health. Satellite data are employed to detect geographic patterns of forest fire occurrence. A new methodology for the comparison of moisture conditions among different geographical areas and time periods is described using multi-year windows. Nine recently completed evaluation monitoring projects are summarized, addressing forest health concerns at smaller scales.