Special Issue "Feature Papers"

Managing Editor
Ms. Clara Fiúza
MDPI, Kandererstrasse 25, CH-4057 Basel, Switzerland
E-Mail:

Submission

All manuscripts should be submitted to forests@mdpi.org with a copy to the Guest Editor. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. Papers will be published continuously (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are refereed through a peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Forests is an international peer-reviewed Open Access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Open Access publication is free of charge for manuscripts submitted in 2010, and published in the first few issues of Forests. English correction fees and/or formatting fees of 250 CHF will be billed in certain cases (250 CHF per paper for those papers that require extensive additional formatting and/or English corrections).

Type of Paper: Article
Title: Analyzing Impacts of Bioenergy Markets, Amenity Benefits and Taxes on Nonindustrial Private Forest Landowners in the Southeastern United States
Authors: Andres Susaeta 1 and Pankaj Lal ²
Affiliations: ¹ Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation, 311-B Cheatham Hall 0324, Virginia Polytechnic and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA; E-Mail: asusaeta@vt.edu
² School of Forest Resources and Conservation, 374 Newins Zeigler Hall, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA; E-Mail: pankajlal@ufl.edu
Abstract: The potential impacts of bioenergy markets, amenities and taxes on slash pine plantation management on nonindustrial private forest lands in the southeastern United States will be analyzed by integrating Black-Scholes with Hartman model. The analysis will also include wildfire and pest outbreak risk associated with forest thinnings and variation in timber salvage rates. We will assess four scenarios namely: “no thinning scenario”, “thinning scenario for bioenergy”, “amenity scenario” and “tax scenario”. The results from this analysis are expected to provide insights for developing nascent forest bioenergy markets and improving understanding of landowners’ response to non timber benefits and tax regimes.

Type of Paper: Review
Title: A Review of Biomass Management Strategies and Effects on Sierran Forest Water Quality
Authors: W.W. Miller *, D.W. Johnson, S.L. Ganschow, R.F. Walker and P.J. Weisberg
Affiliations: Department of Natural Resources & Environmental Science, College of Agriculture, Biotechnology, and Natural Resources, University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, NV 89557, USA; E-Mail: wilymalr@cabnr.unr.edu; dwj@cabnr.unr.edu
Abstract: The Lake Tahoe basin, located along the California and Nevada border between the Carson and Sierra Nevada mountain ranges, represents a complex forested ecosystem consisting of numerous sub-watersheds and tributaries that discharge directly to Lake Tahoe. Like many of the world’s pristine environments, Lake Tahoe has been affected by cultural eutrophication and data now suggest a progressive shift from N and P co-limitation to that of a predominantly P-limited system. This review focuses on the implications of biomass management and restoration strategies in forested watersheds of the basin relative to their potential impacts on nutrient (N, P, and S) related discharge water quality. An accumulating forest floor as a result of fire suppression has resulted in the build-up of large nutrient pools in the biomass that now provides a “natural” source of long term nutrient availability to surface waters. As a further consequence, stand and forest floor replacing wildfire causes a large magnitude nutrient mobilization impact on runoff water quality. Hence, mechanical harvest and controlled burning have become popular management strategies. The most ecologically significant long-term effects of prescribed fire appear to be the loss of C and N from the forest floor. Although the application of prescribed fire may have some initial impact on overland flow nutrient loading, controlled burning in conjunction with mechanical harvest has the potential to improve runoff water quality by reducing N and P discharge and improving the overall health of forest ecosystems without the danger of the nutrient mobilization “shock” typically associated with high intensity wildfires.