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The research and development arm of the U.S. department of Agriculture(USDA), Forest Service, works at the forefront of science to improve the health and use of our Nations's forests and grasslands.

The Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD) is a compre- hensive aggregated collection of hydrologic unit data consis- tent with the national criteria for delineation and resolution. This document establishes Federal standards and procedures for creating the WBD as seamless and hierarchical hydrologic unit data, based on topographic and hydrologic features at a 1:24,000 scale in the United States, except for Alaska at 1:63,360 scale, and 1:25,000 scale in the Caribbean. The data within the WBD have been reviewed for certification through the 12-digit hydrologic unit for compliance with the criteria outlined in this document. Any edits to certified data will be reviewed against this standard prior to inclusion. Although not required as part of the framework WBD, the guidelines contain details for compiling and delineating the boundar- ies of two additional levels, the 14- and 16-digit hydrologic units, as well as the use of higher resolution base information to improve delineations. The guidelines presented herein are designed to enable local, regional, and national partners to delineate hydrologic units consistently and accurately. Such consistency improves watershed management through efficient sharing of information and resources and by ensuring that digital geographic data are usable with other related Geo- graphic Information System (GIS) data.

Restoration practitioners share simultaneously in the good fortune and responsibility of participating in a new endeavor - stepping beyond the current concept of natural resources conservation to a newer concept of restoring the living environment to an ecologically viable condition -to create places that improve rather than degrade over time. This document is a result of an unprecedented cooperative effort among fifteen Federal agencies and partners to produce a common reference on stream corridor restoration. It responds to a growing national and international public interest in restoring stream corridors. Increasingly, feature articles, case studies, and published papers focus on stream corridors as critical ecosystems in our living environment. This document encapsulates the rapidly expanding body of knowledge related to stream corridors and their restoration. It makes no endorsement of one particular approach to restoration over another; nor is it intended as a policy document of any participating Federal agency. It includes the full range of possibilities facing restoration practitioners, including no action or passive approaches, partial intervention for assisted recovery, and substantial intervention for managed recovery. The document encourages locally led, public involvement in restoration planning and implementation. The challenges in restoring thousands of miles of degraded stream corridors must involve government agencies, public and private landowners, permit holders, and local volunteer, civic, and conservation groups and individuals. This document takes a more encompassing approach to restoration than most other texts and manuals. It provides broadly applicable guidance for common elements of the restoration process, but also provides alternatives, and references to alternatives, which may be appropriate for site-specific restoration activities. Moreover, the document incorporates and reflects the experiences of the collaborating agencies and provides a common technical reference that can be used to restore systems based on experiences and basic scientific knowledge. As a general goal, this document promotes the use of ecological processes (physical, chemical, and biological) and minimally intrusive solutions to restore self-sustaining stream corridor functions. It provides information necessary to develop and select appropriate alter- natives and solutions, and to make informed management decisions regarding valuable stream corridors and their watersheds. In addition, the document recognizes the complexity of most stream restoration work and promotes an integrated approach to restoration. It supports close cooperation among all participants in order to achieve a common set of objectives. The guidance contained in this document is applicable nationwide in both urban and rural settings. The material presented applies to a range of stream types, including intermittent and perennial streams of all sizes, and rivers too small to be navigable by barges. It offers a scientific perspective on restoration work ranging from simple to complex, with the level of detail increasing as the scale moves from the landscape to the stream reach.

The National Range and Pasture Handbook (NRPH) constitutes Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) basic policy and procedures for assisting farmers, ranchers, groups, organizations, units of government, and others working through conservation districts in planning and applying resource conservation on non-Federal grazing lands throughout the United States. This handbook, along with other appropriate NRCS technical and policy guidance manuals and handbooks, contains information to assist the NRCS conservationist in providing technical assistance to cooperators in all phases of the planning and application process. The NRPH deals with the policy and procedures for the study, inventory, analysis, treatment, and management of the grazing lands resources.

The medicinal or therapeutic uses of the plants described in this guide are not to be construed in any way as recommendation by the authors or the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Some of the dried crude drugs, which must be modified considerably before commercial use, can be extremely poisonous when not used properly. Readers are cautioned against using these plan drugs for purposes of self-medication. Besides descriptions of 126 medicinal plants of the Appalachian region, this guide includes a glossary of the terms uses, a reference list of publications, and al listing of additional source material.

Decades of study on climatic change and its direct and indirect effects on forest ecosystems provide important insights for forest science, management, and policy. A synthesis of recent research from the northeastern United States and eastern Canada shows that the climate of the region has become warmer and wetter over the past 100 years and that there are more extreme precipitation events. Greater change is projected in the future. The amount of projected future change depends on the emissions scenarios used. Tree species composition of northeast forests has shifted slowly in response to climate for thousands of years. However, current human-accelerated climate change is much more rapid and it is unclear how forests will respond to large changes in suitable habitat. Projections indicate significant declines in suitable habitat for spruce-fi r forests and expansion of suitable habitat for oak-dominated forests. Productivity gains that might result from extended growing seasons and carbon dioxide and nitrogen fertilization may be offset by productivity losses associated with the disruption of species assemblages and concurrent stresses associated with potential increases in atmospheric deposition of pollutants, forest fragmentation, and nuisance species. Investigations of links to water and nutrient cycling suggest that changes in evapotranspiration, soil respiration, and mineralization rates could result in significant alterations of key ecosystem processes. Climate change affects the distribution and abundance of many wildlife species in the region through changes in habitat, food availability, thermal tolerances, species interactions such as competition, and susceptibility to parasites and disease. Birds are the most studied northeastern taxa. Twenty-seven of the 38 bird species for which we have adequate long-term records have expanded their ranges predominantly in a northward direction. There is some evidence to suggest that novel species, including pests and pathogens, may be more adept at adjusting to changing climatic conditions, enhancing their competitive ability relative to native species. With the accumulating evidence of climate change and its potential effects, forest stewardship efforts would benefit from integrating climate mitigation and adaptation options in conservation and management plans.

Anthropogenic climate change is rapidly altering aquatic ecosystems across the Rocky Mountain West and may detrimentally impact populations of sensitive species that are often the focus of conservation efforts. The objective of this report is to synthesize a growing literature on these topics to address the following questions: (1) What is changing in climate and related physical/hydrological processes that may influence aquatic species and their habitats? (2) What are the implications for fish populations, aquatic communities, and related conservation values? (3) What can we do about it? In many instances, proactive efforts may help populations adapt to climate change; but elsewhere, transitions of aquatic ecosystems to alternative states may need to be facilitated. The magnitude of the challenges posed by climate change makes collaborative efforts essential among resource disciplines, agencies, and the public.

This report is a compilation of four briefing papers based on literature reviews and syntheses, prepared for USDA Forest Service policy analysts and decisionmakers about specific questions pertaining to climate change. The main topics addressed here are effects of climate change on wildlife habitat, other ecosystem services, and land values; socioeconomic impacts of climate change on rural communities; and competitiveness of carbon offset projects on nonindustrial private forests in the United States. The U.S. private forest offset projects tend to be less costly than European projects but more expensive to implement than those in tropical forests in developing countries. Important policy considerations involving any mitigation actions include effects on other ecosystem services, such as wildlife habitat, and determining baselines and additionality. Stacking of ecosystem services payments or credits with carbon offset payments may be crucial in improving the water resources, and energy. Salient findings from the literature are summarized in are discussed in terms of health effects on rural communities and climate change sensitivity of indigenous communities. Potential economic impacts on rural communities are discussed for agriculture, forestry, recreation and tourism, fisheries, participation of private forest owners. Potential social impacts of climate change the synthesis of the literature, along with identified research needs.

Wetlands and riparian areas are unique landscape elements that perform a disproportionate role in landscape functioning relative to their aerial extent on the landscape. The purpose of this guide is to provide a general foundation for the reader in several interrelated disciplines for the purpose of enabling him/her to characterize and quantify the water needs of riparian and wetland vegetation. Topics discussed are wetland and riparian classification, characteristics and ecology, surface and groundwater hydrology, plant physiology and population and community ecology, and techniques for linking attributes of vegetation to patterns of surface and groundwater and soil moisture.

Rural communities across America are working to strengthen their economies, provide better quality of life to residents, and build on assets such as traditional main streets, agricultural and working lands, and natural resources. The Partnership for Sustainable Communities, in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), established a Rural Work Group to reinforce these initiatives and ensure that the four agencies' spending, policies, and programs support rural communities' efforts to be economically vibrant and environmentally sustainable. This report summarizes the Rural Work Group's findings and creates a framework for the Partnership's future work with rural communities.

Deterioration of an in-service wood member may result from a variety of causes during the life of a structure. Periodic inspection of wood used in structures is important for determining the extent of deterioration so that degraded members may be replaced or repaired to avoid structural failure. Inspection professionals use a wide variety of techniques to assess the condition of wood in service. Visual, mechanical probing, and stress wave or ultrasound-based techniques are all used either individually or in combination by inspectors. Although these techniques are based on solid technical information and supporting research, prior to publication of the Wood and Timber Condition Assessment Manual in 2004, no practical, comprehensive manual provided information on inspection of wood in service. The Wood and Condition Assessment Manual was prepared to address this need. The manual was prepared from numerous research studies, inspections, and lectures dealing with assessing the condition of in-service wood and timber. It was intended for inspection professionals. A concerted effort was made to provide clear and concise explanations of various aspects of inspecting in-service wood and timber. To this end, a number of photographs and drawings obtained from actual inspections were included. The 2004 Wood and Timber Condition Assessment Manual proved to be a widely used reference document and a primary technical source for inspection professionals worldwide. User feedback included many positive comments about description of the various inspection tools available and post-fire assessment of structural wood members. Users did express a strong desire to have information on the estimation of allowable design values for in-service wood in future editions.

The compilation of papers in this proceedings is based on a symposium sponsored by the Insect and Diseases Working Group (D5) at the 2007 Society of American Foresters (SAF) convention in Portland, Oregon. The selection of topics parallels the research priorities of the Western Bark Beetle Research Group (WBBRG) (USDA Forest Service, Research and Development), which had been recently formed at the time of the symposium. Reflecting a unique partnership within the Forest Service, each paper was jointly prepared by a research scientist with the WBBRG and one or more entomologists with Forest Health Protection (USDA Forest Service, State and Private Forestry). Among these papers is a description of the currently elevated impacts of bark beetles in the Western United States; descriptions of the current state of knowledge of bark beetle response to vegetation management and also to climate change; discussions of the complex interactions of bark beetles and fire and of the complex ecological and socioeconomic impacts of infestations; an overview of the use of semiochemical (behavioral chemicals)-based technology for conifer protection; and a case study exemplifying efforts to assess risks posed by nonnative invasive bark beetles.

Forest resource issues have been on the front page of newspapers in northwestern North America for the past two decades. Superimposed on the complexity of managing ecosystems is growing concern about increasing temperatures and other aspects of changes in the atmospheric environment. Managers of public and private forestlands face increasing pressures to include climate change issues, particularly the disposition of carbon, in long-term management plans. Management, economic and policy approaches to carbon flows in natural resources are evolving rapidly. The workshop on Climate Change, Carbon, and Forestry in Northwestern North America was an opportunity for scientists, resource managers, planners, and policy makers in the Northwest to learn about and discuss prominent issues related to climate change and carbon in forest ecosystems. Workshop participants developed a common understanding of the state of science, and developed approaches for incorporating carbon allocation in forest management and planning.

The forests of northern Wisconsin, a defining feature of the region's landscape, are expected to undergo numerous changes in response to the changing climate. Forest Adaptation Resources: Climate Change Tools and Approaches for Land Managers is intended to provide perspective, information, and tools to land managers considering how to adapt forest ecosystems in northern Wisconsin to a changing climate. It describes a framework for responding to climate change that creates and gathers scientific information, establishes cross-boundary partnerships between ownerships and organizations, fosters close collaboration between scientists and land managers, builds useful tools that support diverse management goals, and finally seeks to deliver the fruits of these efforts in a timely and useful manner. It provides a wide-ranging "menu" of adaptation strategies and approaches relevant to northern Wisconsin and a "workbook" process to help land managers consider ecosystem vulnerabilities, select adaptation approaches that meet their needs, and devise tactics for implementing them.

This publication is a review of the effects of climate on the distribution and growth of quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) in the Western United States. Based on our review, we summarize models of historical climate determinants of contemporary aspen distribution. Most quantitative climate-based models linked aspen presence and growth to moisture availability and solar radiation. We describe research results pertaining to global climate change effects on aspen distribution and vigor. In addition, we present potential interactive effects related to climate change and natural disturbances and insect and pathogen outbreaks. Finally, we review the phenomenon of sudden aspen decline in western North America, which has been linked to drought and may be exacerbated by future climate change. Overall, research indicates a complex, unpredictable future for aspen in the West, where increased drought, ozone, and insect outbreaks will vie with carbon dioxide fertilization and warmer soils, resulting in unknown cumulative effects. Considering its positive moisture influence on the landscape, its economic impact, and its many benefits to the resilience of wildlife in terms of habitat and forage, aspen is a valuable, yet vulnerable, species in the face of global warming.

Precision agriculture (PA) and its suite of information technologies-such as soil and yield mapping using a global positioning system (GPS), GPS tractor guidance systems, and variable-rate input application-allow farm operators to fine-tune their production practices. Access to detailed, within-field information can decrease input costs and increase yields. USDA's Agricultural Resource Management Survey shows that these PA technologies were used on roughly 30 to 50 percent of U.S. corn and soybean acres in 2010-12. Previous studies suggest that use of PA is associated with higher profits under certain conditions, but aggregate estimates of these gains have not been available. In this report, a treatment-effects model is developed to estimate factors associated with PA technology adoption rates and the impacts of adoption on profits. Labor and machinery used in production and certain farm characteristics, like farm size, are associated with adoption as well as with two profit measures, net returns and operating profits. The impact of these PA technologies on profits for U.S. corn producers is positive, but small. Keywords: Crop production information technologies, precision agriculture, variablerate technology, soil tests, global positioning system maps, guidance systems.

With farm to school programs, the transport of farm products to the schools is in many cases the most challenging issue t be addressed. The is no "one size fits all," as individual circumstances differ greatly.

This study uses data from the Census of Agriculture and the Agricultural Resource Management Survey to investigate the well-being and changing organization of U.S. midsize farms from 1992 to 2014. During this period, changes in midsize farms reflect a farm economy experiencing rapid technological development, rising costs of production, and the increasing profitability of larger farms. While the number of midsize farm operations has declined slightly since 1992, they constituted 21 percent of total production in 2014. During the study period, total production on midsize farms has shifted toward grain and oilseed crops, hogs, and poultry and away from dairy and high-value crops. The households operating midsize farms have been transformed as well, enjoying more diversified income portfolios and much higher net worth. Moreover, midsize farms have less debt relative to their assets. Using census data from 2007 and 2012, the authors find that one-third of midsize farms saw their income increase or decrease by more than 50 percent. During this same period, Government payments played a small but positive role in the survival of midsize cash-grain and oilseed farms. One common growth pathway for these farms that increased in size from 2007 to 2012 was renting greater amounts of land. Keywords: direct payments, gross cash farm income, farm household income, farm exits, farm financial performance, farm operators, farm structure, farm survival, farm type, midsize farms, value of production

Agriculture in the United States produces approximately $300 billion a year in commodities with livestock accounting for roughly half the value. Production of these commodities is vulnerable to climate change through the direct (i.e., abiotic) effects of changing climate conditions on crop and livestock development and yield (e.g., changes in temperature or precipitation), as well as through the indirect (i.e., biotic) effects arising from changes in the severity of pest pressures, availability of pollination services, and performance of other ecosystem services that affect agricultural productivity. Thus, U.S. agriculture exists as a complex web of interactions between agricultural productivity, ecosystem services, and climate change. Climate change poses unprecedented challenges to U.S. agriculture because of the sensitivity of agricultural productivity and costs to changing climate conditions. Adaptive action offers the potential to manage the effects of climate change by altering patterns of agricultural activity to capitalize on emerging opportunities while minimizing the costs associated with negative effects. The aggregate effects of climate change will ultimately depend on a complex web of adaptive responses to local climate stressors. These adaptive responses may range from farmers adjusting planting patterns and soil management practices in response to more variable weather patterns, to seed producers investing in the development of drought-tolerant varieties, to increased demand for Federal risk management programs, to adjustments in international trade as nations respond to food security concerns. Potential adaptive behavior can occur at multiple levels in a highly diverse international agricultural system including production, consumption, education, research, services, and governance. Understanding the complexity of such interactions is critical for developing effective adaptive strategies.

Successful biosolids land application programs should have provisions to deal with daily biosolids production in the event biosolids cannot be land applied immediately. This contingency planning generally includes storage as well as other back-up options, such as landfill disposal, incineration or alternative treatment and use, including composting, heat drying and advanced alkaline stabilization. Storage is necessary during inclement weather when land application sites are not accessible and during winter months when land application to snow covered and frozen soil is prohibited or restricted. Storage also may be needed to accommodate seasonal restrictions on land availability due to crop rotations or equipment availability. For small generators, storage allows accumulation of enough material to efficiently complete land application in a single spreading operation. Well-planned and managed storage options not only provide operational flexibility at the treatment facility, but they also can improve the agronomic, environmental, and public acceptance aspects of biosolids use. The focus of this publication is on management practices for field storage of biosolids prior to land application, as distinguished from land application and spreading. The publication stresses recommended management practices for three critical control points: the WWTP, the transportation system, and the field storage site.

This report updates the literature review and synthesis of economic valuation studies on the impacts of forest insect pests from 1997. A conceptual framework is presented to establish context for the studies. This report also discusses the concept of ecosystem services; identifies key elements of each study; examines areas of future research; and includes appendices that further explain nonmarket valuation methods, a narrative of each study, and tables that summarize each study. The primary services affected by insects are restricted in the literature to include recreation, aesthetic or scenic beauty of landscapes, and property values. Monetary metrics across studies include willingness to pay estimates per acre, per person or household, per tree, and/or for various levels of damages. While this literature is limited and heterogeneous, individual studies may prove useful in assessing current and future policies associated with forest insect pests in the United States.