Journal of Forestry

Coughlan, Michael R.; Huber-Stearns, Heidi; Schneider, Stephanie; Davis, Emily Jane; Johnston, James; Loeb, Harper

doi: 10.1007/s44392-026-00088-7pmid: N/A

This study provides the first national-level examination of the USDA Forest Service’s use of the stewardship contracting mechanism. We situate local economic benefits within the context of long-standing Forest Service priorities for supporting local community well-being and offer an empirical definition of local versus non-local contractor place of business. We created statistical models to estimate the geographic distribution of the economic benefits of stewardship contracting relative to community development needs. We find that from 2014 to 2023, when compared to conventional timber sales, stewardship contracts were associated with higher timber sale volumes but were only weakly associated with businesses based in “local” communities. However, integrated resource service contracts were strongly associated with businesses based in communities with higher development needs. We suggest methodological directions for future research on the local economic contributions of Forest Service contracting policies.

Chamlagain, Kamana; Larasatie, Pipiet; Pelkki, Matthew; Knowles, Shanna; Chhetri, Sagar Godar; Rubino, Elena

doi: 10.1007/s44392-026-00075-ypmid: N/A

Despite its contributions, the forest sector in the United States faces persistent challenges in recruiting and retaining young, diverse, and skilled individuals. These challenges highlight the urgent need to understand what factors are influencing and shaping individuals’ decisions to pursue careers in the forest sector. This study, therefore, aims to identify the career values prioritized by the forestry and wood products/science university students (future workforce) and compares them with the current forestry and wood products/science professional workforce. A survey of 86 students and 397 employees shows that both respondent groups place a high importance on specialization, reflecting a shared desire for roles that require complex problem-solving and high-level knowledge. However, significant differences emerged since students rated mobility, work-life balance, and diversity higher than employees, while employees emphasized the social and management aspects of their roles, independence in their work, and their salaries more than students. These preferences may reflect generational shifts in work expectations or a limited understanding of current industry demands. Employees have more exposure to workplace hierarchies and leadership roles and may have adjusted their values to align with industry standards and realities of professional practice over time. Demographic analysis revealed that educational background and sociodemographic characteristics significantly shaped value preferences, especially values like independence, work-life balance, and diversity.

Nave, Lucas E.; DeLyser, Kendall; Domke, Grant M.; Holub, Scott M.; Keller, Adrienne B.; Miller, Darren; Solarik, Kevin A.; Schilling, Erik; Vogel, Jason; Swanston, Christopher W.

doi: 10.1007/s44392-026-00085-wpmid: N/A

The US Gulf Coastal Plain is a region of diverse forests and management systems and dynamic land use changes. These drivers affect carbon (C) stocks at ecosystem to regional scales, in turn affecting processes such as forest regeneration, hydrologic and biogeochemical cycling, and social and economic systems. We quantified land use change and forest management effects on C stocks in the Gulf Coastal Plain, focusing on soils, using two complementary approaches: meta-analysis of published literature and analysis of forest inventory data. Land use change had larger effects than forest management on soil C stocks at all scales. The direction and magnitude of change in soil C stocks differed among various types of land use change. From a regional perspective, the most important significant changes were those occurring with transfers between agricultural and forested land uses, though less extensive land uses also registered significant changes (e.g., wetland restoration, mine reclamation). Management of continuously forested land had subtler effects, which were focused on aboveground biomass and soil organic horizons. Organic horizons were consistently diminished by prescribed fire and may be reduced by harvesting, though evidence is limited for the latter, and declines are temporary in both cases. Aboveground activities intended to increase stand re-establishment and tree growth, such as competing vegetation control and fertilization, are at least compatible, and potentially synergistic with C storage in belowground pools. Overall, our results demonstrate how forest management can support forest C management and offer quantitative insights into specific management activities to aid researchers, policymakers, and practitioners.

Grayson, Lindsay; Barnhill, Haven; Horan, Jeffrey; LaPointe, Thomas

doi: 10.1007/s44392-025-00072-7pmid: N/A

Forest management is shifting into an adaptive era where climate change and highly altered or degraded forest ecosystems demand consideration of both the habitat that once existed and the reality of what can persist into the future. Ecological silviculture emulates natural forest dynamics and processes to meet management objectives and can be adapted to changing environmental conditions to provide critical ecosystem services including wildlife habitat. As an introduction to this special Journal of Forestry series, we describe steps the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS; Service) has taken to promote ecological silviculture while sharing the USFWS Forest Ecology Working Group (FEWG) formation, purpose, vision, and efforts to address science-based forest management to meet desired future conditions in an adaptive era. Over the last 8 years the FEWG has partnered with academia, federal institutions, and others to develop an annual course and monthly webinar series that promote ecologically appropriate forest management. These efforts have provided over 30,000 hours of continuing education credits with a focus on agency relevant topics including forest management for wildlife habitat, resilience, and forest health. The USFWS applies an adaptive approach to ecological silviculture on National Wildlife Refuges (NWRs) to meet wildlife objectives and here we share examples from Umbagog NWR and Piedmont NWR. Through these efforts, the Service is advancing the knowledge, use, and integration of ecological silviculture and adaptation strategies to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, plants, and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people.

Curzon, Miranda T.; Lhotka, John M.; Keyser, Tara L.; Edge, Gregory J.; Hutnik, Bradley M.; Muller, Jacob J.; Forrester, Jodi A.

doi: 10.1007/s44392-026-00080-1pmid: N/A

Developing interest in using silviculture to achieve a broad array of objectives such as maintaining or restoring ecological function, increasing adaptive capacity, and providing timber products in the same forest stand has increased the appeal of irregular shelterwood methods. Despite growing application in Canada, Europe, and other regions of the United States, use of irregular shelterwood is limited across the Central Hardwood Forest Region, USA. Obstacles to broader implementation include a need for intermediate treatments to address existing challenges to oak regeneration, unfamiliarity with terminology, limited local guidance and insufficient access to demonstration sites, and greater demand for careful planning. To address some of these challenges and generally increase the accessibility of the methods, we present three case studies that illustrate how variants of irregular shelterwoods have been tailored to specific sites and objectives on the Cumberland Plateau (Kentucky, USA), in the Driftless Area (Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, USA), and in the Blue Ridge Mountains (North Carolina, USA). Each case study details the specific objectives each irregular shelterwood was designed to achieve and quantifies harvest outcomes. Irregular shelterwood methods are not appropriate for all situations, but with these examples we demonstrate potential ways they can be used to achieve ecological and adaptation objectives in the Central Hardwood Forest Region.

Brodbeck, Beau; Jurjonas, Matthew; Morse, Wayde

doi: 10.1007/s44392-026-00081-0pmid: N/A

The COVID-19 pandemic posed significant risks to the continuity of forestry operations in the southeastern United States, a region heavily dependent on seasonal H-2B guestworkers for reforestation labor. Disruptions to international travel, visa processing, and public health logistics threatened to destabilize a labor system already characterized by legal complexity and subcontracted relationships. Yet while researchers have begun to examine the vulnerabilities of migrant workers in this context, far less is known about how timber business owners, operators, and consultants responded to these disruptions. This exploratory study draws on 15 semi-structured interviews with forestry professionals in Alabama, Georgia, and North Carolina to investigate how organizations experienced and managed pandemic-related labor challenges. Grounded in organizational resilience theory and critical perspectives on subcontracted labor, the findings reveal that most businesses endured the crisis through passive resilience—maintaining operations via existing subcontractor networks and informal routines rather than structural adaptation. Health and safety measures were inconsistently applied and often delegated to visa subcontractors, and few participants acknowledged the disproportionate risks borne by H-2B workers. These results underscore the need to interrogate “resilience for whom,” as crisis responses in the forestry sector may perpetuate structural inequalities even as they sustain business continuity. This study contributes to emerging conversations about labor resilience in natural resource-dependent industries.