![[Picture of Southern Research Station Headquarters] [Picture of Southern Research Station Headquarters]](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20090825041640im_/http://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/main/images/srshq.jpg)
Welcome to the Southern Research Station
The Southern Research Station, with headquarters located in western North Carolina, is the leading organization for research on natural resource management and sustainability in the Southern United States. With a staff of 130 scientists serving 13 Southern States, our mission is to create the science and technology needed to sustain and enhance Southern forest ecosystems and the benefits they provide. (more...)Message from the Director...
![[Picture] Dr. Jim
Reaves [Picture] Dr. Jim Reaves](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20090825041640im_/http://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/director/images/reaves_jim-small.jpg)
Audio Welcome (mp3)
Hello and welcome to the U.S. Forest Service Southern Research Station!
I’m Jim Reaves, Station Director, and I want to thank you for visiting the Station’s Web site.
The Southern Research Station is proud of the cutting-edge research being conducted by our 130 scientists, who are working hard to understand and address the current and emerging natural resource issues facing the South’s forests today.
Our mission is to create the science and technology needed to sustain and enhance southern forest ecosystems and the benefits they provide.
I invite you to learn more about the research of our award-winning scientists, who are recognized as world leaders in forest research and monitoring.
They are working with other Forest Service staff, universities, NGOs, state foresters and other government agencies, landowners, and many others to conduct sound science that helps ensure the health of our forest ecosystems in the future.
Two-thousand and nine is going to be an exciting and productive year for the Station. (more....)
Southern Research Station Science Areas |
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Forest Threats provides the knowledge and tools required to predict and avert or mitigate the impacts of forest health threats. |
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Forest Values considers natural resources and humans inextricably linked in the South. These linkages will only strengthen as increased urbanization, globalization, and shifting values influence and alter how people interact with forests. |
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Forest Inventory and Monitoring quantifies and monitors the condition of natural resources in the South. It is critical for determining ecosystem responses to forest health threats and improvements in natural resource condition resulting from management activities. |
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Forest Restoration and Management creates and improves tools and technologies that are needed to successfully restore and manage ecosystems in this changing environment. |
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Forest Watershed Science provides the knowledge and tools required to manage the full range of forest water resources in a dynamic and complex landscape. |
Invasive of the Month: Kudzu (Pueraria montana)
![Kudzu vines in July.<br>Photo by Jim Miller](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20090825041640im_/http://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/factsheet/images/kudzuvines.jpg)
Kudzu is a deciduous twining, trailing, mat-forming, woody leguminous vine 35 to 100 feet with lobed three-leaflet leaves. Read more about the "vine that ate the South" and how to control it.
Plant. Deciduous twining, trailing, mat-forming, ropelike woody leguminous vine, 35 to 100 feet (10 to 30 m) long with three-leaflet leaves. Large semiwoody tuberous roots reaching depths of 3 to 16 feet (1 to 5 m). Leaves and small vines dying with first frost and matted dead leaves persistent during winter.
Stem. Woody vines to 10 inches (25 cm) in diameter, round in cross section, with infrequent branching. Stems yellow green with dense erect golden hairs and upward matted silver hairs, aging to ropelike, light gray, and hairless. Frequent unswollen nodes that root when on the ground. Mature bark eventually rough, rigid, and usually dark brown.
Leaves. Alternate, pinnately compound three-leaflet leaves, each leaflet 3 to 7 inches (8 to 18 cm) long and 2.5 to 8 inches (6 to 20 cm) wide...(More)
Recent Publications Added To Our Website
We have 29,213 publications online that you can view and print.- Validation of annual growth rings in freshwater mussel shells using cross dating .Can
- Pervasive hydrologic effects on freshwater mussels and riparian trees in southeastern floodplain ecosystems
- Extreme longevity in freshwater mussels revisited: sources of bias in age estimates derived from mark-recapture experiments
- Pollination biology of basal angiosperms (ANITA Grade)
- Elementary software for the hand lens identification of some common iranian woods
- Conservation Buffers—Design guidelines for buffers, corridors, and greenways
- Virginia's forests, 2007