Pacific Southwest Research Station

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In The News

• How climate change is affecting wildfires around the world - Carbon Brief (July 14, 2020)
• The Tree That's Rare, Endangered and Common - Bay Nature (June 21, 2020)
• In California, A Push Grows to Turn Dead Trees into Biomass Energy - Yale Environment 360 (May 19, 2020)

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• The 2019 PSW Research Spotlight is now available
• New Research Station Director for California and Hawaii
• Mitigating negative consequences of rising temperatures for valley oak
• News: Employees & partners honored at awards ceremony
• Traditional American Indian approaches to fire management

Pacific Southwest Research Station's 2019 Science Spotlight is now available on our publications page and highlights some of our station's latest research, discoveries and tools.

U.S. Forest Service Chief Victoria Christiansen recently announced Richard Barhydt as the new station director for the Pacific Southwest Research Station.

By identifying genotypes with faster growth rates under warmer temperatures, research presents an approach to mitigate negative consequences of rising temperatures for valley oak.

For the first time, Pacific Southwest Region (Region 5) and the Pacific Southwest Research Station (PSW) teamed up to present a series of 2019 partner and employee honor awards.

A new study in collaboration with the Yurok and Karuk tribes found that incorporating traditional techniques into fire suppression practices can also help revitalize American Indian communities.

Science that makes a difference.

The Pacific Southwest Research Station is a world leader in natural resources research through our scientific excellence and responsiveness to the needs of current and future generations.

We represent the research and development branch of the USDA Forest Service in the states of California and Hawaii and the U.S. affiliated Pacific Islands. Our mission is to develop and communicate science needed to sustain forest ecosystems and their benefits to society.

Partners in Science, Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, PSW. [Download]

Partners in Science, Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry

The Pacific region is a global hotspot of biological and cultural diversity including plant and animal species found nowhere else on Earth. Native ecosystems provide benefits that are critical for human survival, such as clean drinking water, fisheries, food, fiber, and medicines. These rare landscapes, however, are threatened by changing climatic conditions, rising sea levels, non-sustainable land uses, and an influx of invasive species. Cultural and natural resources risk being degraded to the point of biological extinction. These local challenges and global implications are why the work to mitigate such eco-cultural threats is so critical.

This research requires creative management strategies, development and implementation of new solution-based tools, and coordination of their implementation across the Pacific region in order to preserve an ecosystem that supports unique cultural and social identities rich in tradition.

In this report, the Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry and its partners highlight some of that work, while discussing future areas of research and additional projects to be implemented. They invite you to learn more about the efforts of their staff and incredible partners as they continue to study, protect, and preserve the landscapes that make them who they are.

Natural range of variation of red fir and subalpine forests in the Sierra Nevada Bioregion

(GTR-PSW-263)

Comparisons between historical and current conditions indicate that modern red fir and subalpine forests of the Sierra Nevada bioregion are largely within their natural range of variation.

Proceedings of the chaparral restoration workshop, California

(GTR-PSW-265)

This publication is a compilation of some of the workshop and oral presentations that update our current knowledge of shrubland ecology and management with respect to its loss and recovery.

Proceedings of the seventh sudden oak death science and management symposium: healthy plants in a world with Phytophthora

(GTR-PSW-268)

Current research concerning sudden oak death caused by the exotic, quarantine pathogen, Phytophthora ramorum.