Native Americans' use of fire to manage vegetation in what is now the Eastern United States was more profound than previously believed, according to a Penn State researcher who determined that forest composition change in the region was caused more by land use than climate change.
Warm, wet weather is predicted to continue through the rest of September and most of October in the mid-Atlantic, Northeast and Great Lakes regions, and those soggy conditions likely will result in a subdued foliage display, according to a Penn State forest expert.
The rainy summer in Pennsylvania has set the stage for what could be an awesome autumn foliage display, according to forest ecologists in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences.
The intense wildfires that swept through the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee late last month were a tragic melding of the past and the future, according to a researcher in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences.
Drought conditions in parts of Pennsylvania, particularly in the northcentral region, are likely to dampen the fall foliage display, according to a forest ecologist in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences.
Over thousands of years, most forests in the eastern United States evolved with frequent fire, which promoted tree species and ecosystems that were both fire and drought resistant. In little more than a century, humans upset that balance, suggest researchers, who blame the change, in part, on the well-meaning efforts of Smokey Bear.
Change in disturbance regimes -- rather than a change in climate -- is largely responsible for altering the composition of Eastern forests, according to a researcher in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences.
This summer was notable because of drought conditions in June and July, and searing heat in July, but that won't limit the beauty of Pennsylvania's fall foliage. Instead, it's the next few weeks' weather that will be determinant, according to a forest expert in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences. And long-term weather forecasts point to mild weather -- 60- to 70-degree days and nights in the mid-40s -- through the end of October, with no frosts. For fall foliage lovers, that's not good.
If it seems to you, as you drive around Pennsylvania, that the leaves on many trees began turning colors early this year, it's because they have, according to a forest expert in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences. On the heels of one of the hottest, driest summers on record for Pennsylvania, hardwoods across the state began going from green to gold, orange, red and purple -- and to dull brown -- in mid-September. "It has been so dry, and trees in some areas are so challenged by drought conditions, that their leaves just went straight to brown and are falling off the branches already," said Marc Abrams, professor of forest ecology and physiology.
For more than 20 years, Marc Abrams has studied how precipitation and temperature influence the timing and intensity of fall foliage colors in Pennsylvania. For a number of reasons, this year could be the best one he's seen.
Access a podcast about this year's fall foliage at http://agsci.psu.edu/news/podcasts/2009/Podcast-Fall-Foliage-Forecast-10... online.
Smokey Bear has been telling Americans since 1944, "Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires," but a new bill under consideration in the state's General Assembly may begin to change Pennsylvania's approach to the blazes, according to forest experts in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences.
The very dry summer in Clearfield, Cameron, Elk and Potter counties could be bad news for their fall foliage, Marc Abrams worries, but the situation could turn around with more prolonged rains -- if they come soon -- perhaps from another tropical storm.
