What Really Works? Testing Augmented and Virtual Reality Messaging in Terrestrial Invasive Species Management Communications to Impact Visitor Preferences and Deter Visitor Displacement.

Natural resource management is rapidly shifting to incorporate a deeper understanding of ecological processes and functioning, including attention to invasive species. The shift to understand public perceptions of resource management and invasives is much slower. Information influences both landscape preference and behaviors. Theory suggests that increasingly engaging information should have concurrently greater impacts. This research tested the effect of increasingly engaging information on visitor preferences and intentions to return to landscapes treated in response to emerald ash borer (EAB; Agrilus planipennis). Park visitors in a midwestern-U.S. state randomly received one of four messages about forest management in response to EAB (control, photo, augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR)). Messaging impacted preferences for three of the four management approaches, but significant changes in displacement intentions emerged in only one of the four. Specifically, VR and AR increased preferences for complete harvest compared to photos/text, but not differently from those who received no information. VR significantly lowered preferences for select harvest with natural regeneration. The photo/text treatment increased preference for select harvest with planted trees over no information. Any information reduced displacement in response to a photo depicting "select harvest, planted trees." Subsequently judicious use of advanced communications like VR can optimize increasing scarce resources and maintain or optimize ecological services. Future research directions across geographic and content areas are recommended.

Gaining Insights about Forest Health Prescriptions from Loggers and Foresters: Understudied Voices in the Human Dimensions of Forest Health.

Maintaining healthy forests requires multiple individuals, including foresters who develop timber sale silvicultural prescriptions and loggers who implement those prescriptions, resulting in the transplantation of forest health science into workable management plans. However, data on the experiences, attitudes, and opinions of these two groups are often missing when developing or refining forest health treatment strategies. To explore the role that these groups play in sustaining forest health, we examined timber sale administrators' and loggers' perspectives on treatment approaches for eastern spruce dwarf mistletoe (Arceuthobium pusillum) (ESDM), a parasitic plant native to Minnesota that increases mortality and reduces growth rate and regeneration success of black spruce (Picea mariana). While ESDM has been managed for decades in black spruce stands in Minnesota, little is known about the effectiveness of the management approaches. Data were gathered through interviews and focus groups with loggers, as well as an online survey and focus groups with foresters who administer timber sales. Study participants identified a range of field-based barriers, knowledge gaps, and uncertainties that hamper the ability to effectively implement ESDM treatment strategies as designed, including financial, administrative, informational, policy-related, and environmental factors. These factors have a significant bearing on the ability to effectively implement ESDM treatment approaches; yet may be factors that were not known or considered when developing treatment strategies. This case study underscores the value of nurturing a science-management partnership to ensure that a broad set of voices are considered when developing or revising forest health treatment strategies.

Quantifying impacts of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus Zimmerman) browse using forest inventory and socio-environmental datasets.

Elevated population levels of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus Zimmerman) can drastically alter forest ecosystems and negatively impact society through human interactions such as deer vehicle collisions. It is currently difficult to estimate deer populations at multiple scales ranging from stand, county, state, and regional levels. This presents a challenge as natural resource managers develop silvicultural prescriptions and forest management practices aimed at successfully regenerating tree species in the face of deer browsing. This study utilized measurements of deer browse impact from the new tree regeneration indicator developed by the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program. Seedling and sapling abundance and other plot-level characteristics were analyzed across three states (Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin) in the Great Lakes Region of the United States. Socio-environmental datasets (Lyme disease cases, deer vehicle collisions, and deer density estimates) were used in conjunction with FIA data to determine their predictive power in estimating deer browse impacts by county. Predictions from random forests models indicate that using Lyme disease case reports, the number of deer-vehicle collisions, deer density estimates, and forest inventory information correctly predicted deer browse impact 70-90% of the time. Deer-vehicle collisions per county ranked highly important in the random forests for predicting deer browse impacts in all three states. Lyme disease cases ranked high in importance for the Lake States combined and for Minnesota and Wisconsin, separately. Results show the effectiveness of predicting deer browse impacts using a suite of freely available forest inventory and other socio-environmental information.

Limber Pine (Pinus flexilis James), a Flexible Generalist of Forest Communities in the Intermountain West.

As forest communities continue to experience interactions between climate change and shifting disturbance regimes, there is an increased need to link ecological understanding to applied management. Limber pine (Pinus flexilis James.), an understudied species of western North America, has been documented to dominate harsh environments and thought to be competitively excluded from mesic environments. An observational study was conducted using the Forest Inventory and Analysis Database (FIAD) to test the competitive exclusion hypothesis across a broad elevational and geographic area within the Intermountain West, USA. We anticipated that competitive exclusion would result in limber pine's absence from mid-elevation forest communities, creating a bi-modal distribution. Using the FIAD database, limber pine was observed to occur with 22 different overstory species, which represents a surprising number of the woody, overstory species commonly observed in the Intermountain West. There were no biologically significant relationships between measures of annual precipitation, annual temperature, or climatic indices (i.e. Ombrothermic Index) and limber pine dominance. Limber pine was observed to be a consistent component of forest communities across elevation classes. Of the plots that contained limber pine regeneration, nearly half did not have a live or dead limber pine in the overstory. However, limber pine regeneration was greater in plots with higher limber pine basal area and higher average annual precipitation. Our results suggest limber pine is an important habitat generalist, playing more than one functional role in forest communities. Generalists, like limber pine, may be increasingly important, as managers are challenged to build resistance and resilience to future conditions in western forests. Additional research is needed to understand how different silvicultural systems can be used to maintain multi-species forest communities.