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Trail Management Toolbox - Terms

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Below is the agency’s online dictionary of common trail terminology, with definitions, photos and illustrations.  These terms may appear in various trail publications and Forest Service policy. If there is a conflict in the definition, Forest Service policy is the authority. Many of the diagrams or illustrations are adapted from engineered plans featured on the Plans for Trail and Trail…
#Trails, #Recreation, #Infrastructure, #Construction, #Streams, #Soil, #Restoration

Getting the dirt on forest management activities

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Sampling crew. Front row, left to right: Paul Machabee (GeoCorps), Samantha Horner (GeoCorps), Emma Watson (GeoCorps), Serena Kuczmarski (Ottawa National Forest), Jeff Kroll (Superior National Forest). Back row, left to right: Amy Amman (Ottawa National Forest), Elena Harner (GeoCorps), Maddy…
#Soil

SCIENCEx Soils webinar week: Exploring the ground beneath our feet

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Taking soil samples in the carbon rich peatland forests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. (USDA Forest Service photo by Roni Ziade) WASHINGTON, D.C.—Join Research and Development scientists and others for a week of exploration about the ground under our feet, from bringing soil carbon…
#Training, #Soil, #ResearchAndDevelopment

Soil Drainage and Productivity Indexes

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Photograph of a well-drained Mollisol (a Lithic Hapludoll), with a Drainage Index of 33. The shallowness of the bedrock lowers the water-holding capacity of the soil, hence the low DI value. (Photo courtesy of Randall Schaetzl, Department of Geography, Environment, and Spatial Sciences of Michigan State University) This webpage provides information on the Drainage Index (DI) and Productivity…
#ForestHealthProtection, #Soil, #ForestHealth

R&D: December newsletter

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Lolo National Forest staff planted 530,000 seedlings on 2,536 acres in 2020. Photo courtesy Dave Gardiner, National Forest Foundation. This month’s national Research & Development Newsletter features a collection of recent research from Forest Service scientists and partners about the foundational elements in restoration: seeds and soils.…
#Soil, #Seedlings

Water, Air, and Soil

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Water, air, and soil are three natural resources that we cannot live without. The Forest Service strives to protect, maintain, and restore these valuable assets now and into the future.Water is one of the most important natural resources flowing from forests. The Forest Service manages the largest single source of water in U.S., with about one-fifth originating from 193 million acres of land…
#Water, #Air, #Soil