About Us: The Forest Threats Encyclopedia

Threats Conference Glyph

The Encyclopedia of Forest Environmental Threats promises to deliver to researchers, land managers, and policymakers the scientific knowledge about environmental threats they need to achieve their objectives. With initial content now available and case studies being added, this encyclopedia—like the others in the Forest Encyclopedia Network—connects scientific results, conclusions, and impacts with management needs and issues. Syntheses form the backbone of the Threats Encyclopedia and were officially launched in July 2008. This content, suitable for expansion and updating, will be augmented by some 35 snapshot "case studies" in the following several months.

The encyclopedia content was initially recruited through a conference held in 2006 titled "Advances in Threat Assessment and their Application to Forest and Rangeland Management." You can read the abstracts from the conference presentations to get a sense of what was covered there. More than 170 researchers and managers attended the conference. Submissions for content were reviewed by a program committee, and content that was selected for inclusion in the encyclopedia was submitted to scientific peer review and technical edits before appearing here. A parallel hardcopy publication is in preparation for publication in late 2008 or early 2009.

Encyclopedia Content

Synthesis topics in the encyclopedia are grouped under the following broad areas. Synthesis content will be expanded and updated to reflect the breadth of the subject and its scientific development. Contributors are welcome. A separate section "Case Studies" offers applications of assessment methods in specific areas. Unlike the syntheses, the contents in individual case studies remain as static representations of specific studies.

Print Product

The encyclopedia's initial contents will also be printed as a USDA Forest Service general technical report. Jointly produced by the Pacific Northwest and Southern Research Stations, it will be published after the Web encyclopedia is launched in 2008.

Timeline

July 18-20, 2006	Conference held, papers submitted by authors for peer review
August - September 2006	Papers undergo peer review
September - February	Authors revise papers in response to peer review
March - November 2007	Revised papers undergo technical editing
August 2007	style editing and web importation of content begins
July 2008	formal launch of synthesis content
>>September 2008	finish web importation of case studies
September-November 2008	page layout of hardcopy publication occurs
December 2008	technical report published

The Environmental Threats Encyclopedia is supported by:

• Western Wildland Environmental Threat Assessment Center
• Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center
• USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station
• USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station
• USDA Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service
• Southern Regional Extension Forestry
• Southern Forest Research Partnership

Founding Editor
H. Michael Rauscher, Forester, USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station (retired)

Managing Editors
Jerome S. (Jerry) Beatty, Director, Western Wildland Environmental Threat Assessment Center, USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, jbeatty@fs.fed.us

Danny C. Lee, Director, Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center, USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station, dclee@fs.fed.us

Assistant Editors
John M. Pye, Ecologist, USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station, jpye@fs.fed.us

Yasmeen Sands, Technology Transfer Specialist, USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, ysands@fs.fed.us