Currently, over 1,100 species of animals and plants are federally listed as threatened or endangered. Approximately 360 of these species are associated with National Forests and Grasslands. Many others are considered 'sensitive' that is, species for which continued population viability is of concern. Managers of National Forests are seriously challenged to maintain diverse and viable populations of plants and animals and to comply with provisions of the National Forest Management Act and the Endangered Species Act. FS R&D provides land managers with technical information needed to select appropriate sensitive and keystone species for focus, and to sustain plant and animal populations by protecting, managing, and restoring high quality habitat. Particular emphasis is placed on threatened and endangered species and on declining or vulnerable species and communities such as Neotropical migratory birds, old-growth forests, and riparian communities. Information generated by FS R&D is used by managers to develop recovery plans for endangered species and conservation plans for sensitive species so that listing will not be required. Research is conducted to identify and solve wildlife habitat problems and thereby facilitate informed forest and range management.

There is high cost associated with management of TES species. Most current land management appeals and litigation result from managers not having adequate information to develop conservation plans for TES species. Time-consuming appeals and litigation not only increase the cost of land management, but also limit opportunities for effectively and efficiently managing forest resources and uses. Long-term research goals are to develop the scientific knowledge base for effective management of wildlife habitats, for maintaining diverse and viable populations of animal and plant species, for reducing the need for species listings, for reducing the numbers and complexity of appeals and litigation, and for preserving greater latitude and reduced costs of land management. Research will continue to focus on providing enhanced knowledge of the habitat and ecosystem requirements of wildlife species, with special emphasis on TES species, on developing and providing technical support for monitoring and assessing status of wildlife population, on projecting effects of management on wildlife, and on developing recovery plans for endangered species and conservation plans for sensitive species.

Aquatic Habitat Research. FS R&D plays a key role in sustaining our Nation's fisheries. For some native fishes, this is the only research program in the country with a primary focus on protecting, managing and restoring their habitat. Research program objectives include: (1) defining habitat and ecosystem requirements; (2) identifying factors limiting populations; (3) developing methods to protect, improve and restore habitats; and (4) developing cost-effective methods to monitor and evaluate habitats and populations. FS R&D scientists have provided the technical foundation for developing management strategies with comprehensive habitat conservation assessments and are instrumental in developing strategies for restoring habitat for anadromous fishes in Pacific, Northeast and Southeast coastal watersheds.

Forest Service research will continue to focus on providing new information on watershed and habitat requirements of aquatic species and ecosystems. Specific FS R&D efforts are presently focused on warm and cold water fishes and aquatic invertebrates (e.g., mollusks, crayfish) in all forested regions of the US. A large number and variety of these species are presently identified as species of special concern.

Watershed Research. Forest management practices and other human activities directly affect the quality and quantity of water that enters streams, rivers, lakes and groundwater. People value and depend upon reliable sources of clean water. They depend on safe sources of drinking water to protect public health. They enjoy recreation that occurs on or near healthy and attractive water bodies. They value fish and wildlife that depend on high quality habitats in streams, rivers or lakes. In response to these public benefits, FS R&D has sustained a long-standing research program focused on understanding effects of forest and rangeland management and related human and natural disturbances on the quality of water and watersheds.

Research on watershed processes is needed to assure the public that providing benefits of clean and reliable sources of water is an integral part of managing forests and grasslands. Protection of water quality requires sustaining properly functioning and resilient watershed ecosystems.

Scientific understanding is needed to distinguish healthy from degraded watersheds and to provide the technical basis for restoring these watersheds to functioning, healthy and sustainable condition. Long-term experimental watershed studies conducted by FS R&D have been key to understanding how healthy watersheds function. Knowing how watersheds function provides the technical basis for understanding what processes enhance or impair the quantity and quality of water that comes from forests. Research results are essential to sustaining clean drinking water for human consumption, high quality waters for recreation, and critical habitat for fish and aquatic and riparian wildlife. The Watershed Research program also collaborates with the National Science Foundation and numerous university partners in the nationwide Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network. Six participating Forest Service experimental watersheds are the focus of integrated watershed and ecosystem studies that make major contributions to the basic understanding of how land use and the health of forests and rangelands contribute to the condition of aquatic systems. No other federal agency maintains as many intensive LTER research sites as does FS R&D.

Landscape Management Research. The terms "watershed" and "landscape" are often used interchangeably. The boundaries of a landscape, however, may not correspond to the boundaries of a watershed. A watershed is drained by a river or stream and its boundaries are defined by divides. A landscape consists of interacting ecosystems and its boundaries are most often defined by land cover. A landscape can contain multiple watersheds or a landscape can be part of a large watershed. Both concepts, however, are useful for studying large scale processes and interactions such as the relation between land use and water quality. For example, land uses in the Mississippi River Basin are creating major stresses on coastal and riverine ecosystems. FS R&D is a member of Green Lands, Blue Waters, a consortium of universities, state and federal agencies, and NGOs organized to improve our understanding of the ecological services provided by perennial vegetation embedded in agricultural landscapes. White Water to Blue Water (ww2bw), a U.S. initiative introduced at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002, is focused on the wider Caribbean region. Because land use and water quality are inextricably linked, ww2bw is based on the premise that sustainable development requires linking the management of upland watersheds with the management of marine systems.

Atmospheric Sciences Research. Forests are strongly dependent on the quality of air and on variability in weather and climate. Ozone and other atmospheric contaminants can impair the growth of trees and forests. Air pollution and rainwater contamination can also change the biological structure of forests and rangelands. Solar radiation, modified as it passes through the atmosphere, can cause either benefit or potential harm (e.g., increases in ultraviolet radiation). Forest Service atmospheric sciences research strives to understand effects of air pollution, weather and climate on ecosystem function and productivity on public lands. FS R&D has enhanced understanding of effects of weather on forest fires and smoke, protecting forest resources and the public. It has increased understanding of impacts of air pollution and acidic deposition on forested watersheds and aquatic ecosystems. It has also provided new information on restoring and maintaining forest and rangeland productivity during periods of short-term climate variability and episodes of extreme weather (e.g., forest blow-down, drought).

FS R&D is developing procedures and models for situating weather stations to diagnose threatening fire or weather conditions. These same predictive tools are used to aid in determining fire weather for understanding fire behavior and fire risks. In the area of smoke management, research is developing systems to predict the atmospheric capacity to disperse forest fire smoke and to select the best times for using prescribed fires - i.e., times when smoke will rapidly disperse and will not exceed air quality standards. In relation to air quality measurements, FS R&D is developing standards for characterizing and measuring effects of pollutants such as ozone, nitrogen, sulfur and photochemicals deposited from the atmosphere on wild and planted forest lands, and for monitoring how ecosystems may be affected by changes in concentrations of pollutants over time.

Soil Science Research Program. The Forest Service Research (FSR) soils program covers subjects related to nutrient cycling, plant nutrition, soil moisture, plant growth relationships, soil microbial functions and soil quality concepts. This includes a national scale research program known as Long-Term Soil Productivity (LTSP). The LTSP program is a national network of consistently designed large scale experiments intended to evaluate effects of soil porosity and organic matter on plant production and identify useful measures or surrogates for monitoring soil productivity and the status of soil quality.

The soils program also includes work on chemical cycles, pools and movement in soils and ground water. Some of this work is included in the watershed research program. The function of water in moving soil constituents over or through the earths mantle to ground water and surface waters is important in understanding the deep movement of chemicals and delivery of nutrients and eroded sediment to surface water systems.

Other topics include soil quality and relationships to plant growth and the rooting environment. Any resource or program area that depends on plant production also depends on soil quality because of the dependence of plants on the soil resource. The soils research program provides information that can serve as a foundation for making management interpretations based on soil properties in combination with other landscape characteristics defined in soil inventories or site evaluations. These properties can include, but are not limited to those identified as sustainability criteria.

Primary cooperators in the current soils research program are from universities, forest industry, and the National Forest System (NFS). This has been the case historically. Universities provide critical skills, and industry and NFS are both primary customers for research conclusions and the resulting interpretations, and a source for defining research needs. Monitoring needs defined by NFS were a primary driver and source of funds in implementing the LTSP program.

Wilderness Research

FS R&D studies in wilderness areas (see United States federal Wilderness Act of 1964) are conducted either to find solutions for wilderness management issues or to use the pristine character of wilderness to address ecological and resource-related questions. Most wilderness issue studies are by or in association with the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute, while studies using wilderness as a baseline are dispersed throughout the research program. FS R&D participates as a member of the Wilderness Policy Council and staff level Interagency Wilderness Steering Committee.