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    Estimating forest inventory information for the talladega national forest using airborne laser scanning systems
    (Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI), 2024) Lee, Taeyoon; Vatandaşlar, Can; Merry, Krista; Bettinger, Pete; Peduzzi, Alicia; Stober, Jonathan
    Accurately assessing forest structure and maintaining up-to-date information about forest structure is crucial for various forest planning efforts, including the development of reliable forest plans and assessments of the sustainable management of natural resources. Field measurements traditionally applied to acquire forest inventory information (e.g., basal area, tree volume, and aboveground biomass) are labor intensive and time consuming. To address this limitation, remote sensing technology has been widely applied in modeling efforts to help estimate forest inventory information. Among various remotely sensed data, LiDAR can potentially help describe forest structure. This study was conducted to estimate and map forest inventory information across the Shoal Creek and Talladega Ranger Districts of the Talladega National Forest by employing ALS-derived data and aerial photography. The quality of the predictive models was evaluated to determine whether additional remotely sensed data can help improve forest structure estimates. Additionally, the quality of general predictive models was compared to that of species group models. This study confirms that quality level 2 LiDAR data were sufficient for developing adequate predictive models (R2adj. ranging between 0.71 and 0.82), when compared to the predictive models based on LiDAR and aerial imagery. Additionally, this study suggests that species group predictive models were of higher quality than general predictive models. Lastly, landscape level maps were created from the predictive models and these may be helpful to planners, forest managers, and landowners in their management efforts.
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    Mapping ecological condition classes of a natural pine-dominated national forest in the southeastern US
    (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., 2023) Vatandaşlar, Can; Lee, Taeyoon; Peduzzi, Alicia; Bettinger, Pete; Merry, Krista; Stober, Jonathan
    Accurate knowledge of ecological condition (EC) is crucial to evaluate the deviation of a given ecosystem from a reference condition, and is of interest to forest managers as it helps them prioritize management activities. The present study aimed to estimate EC classes of the Talladega National Forest (NF) using NAIP images, and airborne laser scanning (ALS) data, as well as field measurements from 255 plots. The results indicated that the EC classes could be distinguished using zq25, imean, and p5th metrics from ALS, as well as Enhanced Vegetation Index. Among them, we used zq25 to generate a map for the entire study area. Accordingly, the dominant EC was class 3, suggesting that almost half of the forestland is composed of young and dense stands with woody understory. This cover type is not desirable in terms of wildfire risk and far from the historical conditions. Thus, NF managers might thin and/or prescribed burn these areas to improve EC.
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    Semi-automatic stand delineation based on very-high-resolution orthophotographs and topographic features: A case study from a structurally complex natural forest in the southern USA
    (Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI), 2025) Vatandaşlar, Can; Bettinger, Pete; Merry, Krista; Stober, Jonathan; Lee, Taeyoon
    In the management of forests, the boundaries of individual units of land containing similar forest resources (e.g., stands) are delineated and used to guide the implementation of management activities. Traditionally, stand boundaries are drawn or digitized by hand; however, work recently has been conducted to automate the process using aerial imagery or airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data as supporting resources. The work described here applies an object-based image analysis (OBIA) process to aerial imagery and to a landform index database. The size and shape of stands in the outcomes of these applications are then adjusted to conform to the desired product of land managers. These products are then intersected as they each contain information of value in the stand delineation process. The intersected database is then adjusted once again to conform to the desired product of land managers. Conformity of the size and shape of the resulting stand boundaries to a reference database drawn subjectively by hand was low to moderate. Specifically, the overall agreement for spatial and thematic (class names) accuracies was 43.0% and 56.8%, respectively. Nevertheless, the process of automating the stand delineation effort remains promising for achieving an efficient and non-subjective characterization of a structurally complex forested environment.
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    Sustainability language found in forest plans and its mathematical modeling potential
    (SPRINGERNATURE, 2024) Vatandaşlar, Can; Bettinger, Pete; Merry, Krista; Garzon, Alba Rocio Gutierrez; Boston, Kevin; Lee, Taeyoon
    Over the last fifty years, management plans have become more descriptive with regard to the potential sustainability of forest systems, raising questions about the feasibility of implementing management activities and ensuring the sustainability of a wide variety of ecosystem services. To assess this issue, we conducted a survey among forest planning and operation research communities in the United States to understand their perceptions regarding the potential of a sample of sustainability statements currently used in national forest plans to be incorporated into optimization models or other mathematical operations. A total of 65 people responded to the survey, resulting in a response rate of 16.5%. Almost 70% of the respondents reported having over 30 years in their specified fields. The results revealed that only 3 out of 15 statements from the sample were deemed to have relatively mature or firm methodologies and data to enable inclusion in modern mathematical models for land use optimization. Of the three statements, two were related to economic sustainability, offering quantifiable information such as a non-declining flow of wood products over time and limits on the amount of timber harvested per decade. In contrast, sociocultural and, to some extent, ecological statements regarding sustainability were generally perceived to be more difficult to translate into mathematical modeling efforts. Particularly challenging were statements corresponding to sustaining natural or scenic characteristics of a forest. These findings may be attributed to various factors, including a lack of measurable indicators for sustainability and a potential lack of understanding about the modeling components and their interactions with planned management activities.
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    Sustainability language in forest management plans: a comparative analysis for public forests of the us and Turkey
    (2023) Vatandaşlar, Can; Bettinger, Pete; Garzon, Alba Rocio Gutierrez; Merry, Krista; Boston, Kevin; Lee, Taeyoon; Uzu, Joshua
    Forest management plans often suggest that economic, ecological, and/or social sustainability will be achieved if the proposed management actions are followed. Using forest plans developed by the US Department of Agriculture Forest Service and the Republic of Turkey, the purposes of this study were to (i) extract those statements that suggest sustainability will be achieved and (ii) assess whether there exist statistical differences between the two countries' plans and the emphases of the findings. A content analysis and non-parametric statistical tests were employed to measure the frequency of a set of terms related to sustainability and to estimate significant differences in the use of sustainability terms in the plans sampled. Results suggest that ecological aspects are dominant in forest plans from both countries. While silviculture, sustained yield, and multiple use were the most frequently used terms in Turkish plans, the occurrences of conservation and recreation were significantly higher in US plans (p < 0.001). These findings suggest that the differences in the plans' emphases could be attributable to the importance of Turkey's forests for the wood production-related needs of Turkish society, whereas US national forests might no longer be seen as an important wood supply base but instead have been given a more "passive" forest use.