SILVAH: 50 years of science-management cooperation, Proceedings of the Allegheny Society of American Foresters training session

Abstract

This report represents proceedings of the Allegheny Society of American Foresters training session titled "SILVAH: 50 Years of Science Management Cooperation." This meeting celebrated a unique and long-lasting community of practice that includes forest and natural resource managers and scientists. SILVAH originated in northwestern Pennsylvania in the late 1960s. Over time, the research results, shared efforts, and training sessions led to decision support software and all became known as SILVAH, and the geographic range of the community expanded. This published proceedings includes 12 papers that describe the origins and early history of the community of practice, the current state of science and management guidelines as presented at the conference, as well as a paper that explores the factors that contributed to its long-term success.

Titles contained within SILVAH: 50 years of science-management cooperation, Proceedings of the Allegheny Society of American Foresters training session

• Introduction
• The early years of SILVAH
• Fifty years of science-management cooperation from the SILVAH community of practice
• Recognition, response, and recovery: Deer impact research in Allegheny hardwood forests
• Using herbicides to control interfering understories in Allegheny hardwood stands, 1. Early development of prescriptions
• Using herbicides to control interfering understories in the Allegheny hardwood stands, 2. Sharpening the tools in the toolbox
• Expanding the SILVAH decision support system to be applicable to the mixed-oak forests of the mid-Atlantic region
• Oak SILVAH in Ohio at the landscape scale
• Sugar maple decline and lessons learned about Allegheny Plateau soils and landscapes
• NED and SILVAH: A history of the coalition
• Silviculture and bird habitat
• Wildlife habitat associations in SILVAH and NED
• The carbon consequences of thinning Allegheny hardwoods: Lessons learned from a study designed to inform SILVAH development

Keywords

SILVAH, silviculture, science-management cooperation, Allegheny hardwoods, mixed oak forests, white-tailed deer, herbicides, wildlife habitat, decision support, plant habitat, carbon sequestration and storage, sugar maple decline, forest health, forest vegetation management

Citation

Stout, Susan L., ed. 2019. SILVAH: 50 years of science-management cooperation, Proceedings of the Allegheny Society of American Foresters training session; 2017 Sept. 20-22; Clarion, PA. Gen. Tech. Rep. NRS-P-186. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station. 146 p. https://doi.org/10.2737/ NRS-GTR-P-186