Urban forests have been shown to impact residential property values. This research demonstrates the results of a hedonic pricing study to determine the impact of canopy cover on single family residential property values in Lakeland, Tennessee during the period 2001-2005. The influence of canopy cover was evaluated on the lot within buffers of 100m, 500m, and 1km surrounding the lot. The study shows that canopy cover on the lot was not a significant contributor to property values while canopy cover in the buffers had a significant positive influence on home sales prices. Results also indicate that the increased property values lead to increased municipal tax revenues of 1.2-1.7% for every 10% increase in canopy cover. Results of this study can be used to develop similar processes and analyses leading to subsequent benefit-cost ratios for urban forestry programs while providing guidance on strategic tree retention and replacement efforts.

In previous research, longleaf pine was shown to be spectrally separable from loblolly pine when using high-resolution multispectral data from the WorldView-2 imaging satellite. However, analysis of such high-resolution datasets would be computationally inefficient over a large landscape such as the southeastern United States. Therefore, the objective of this thesis was to approximate the minimum spatial resolution required to separate these two southern pine species. A pan-sharpened, spectrally subset (NIR bands only) WorldView-2 dataset was spatially resampled from 0.46m to 0.5m, 1.0m, 2.0m, 4.0m, 8.0m, and 16.0m. Supervised classification was performed on each of these resampled resolutions. The results of the overall accuracies of these classifications showed that 2.0m is the approximate minimum spatial resolution required to accurately separate these species. Classification accuracy drops between 2.0m and 4.0m as pixel sizes more closely approximate tree crown sizes and spectral variance increases.

Forty-eight harvesting contractors over 13 state submitted data on cost and production over a period from 2003-2006. Within this group, 30 harvesting contractors submitted data for all four years in the study period. Discussions of logging development is presented in Chapter II focusing on labor and equipment. Data analysis focused on production estimates and cost information from a firm size and regional standpoint in Chapter IV. Analysis of consecutive data in Chapter V focused on shifts over time in labor, equipment and related cost categories. Contractors in the Coastal Plains were most numerous and demonstrated a distinct difference in sub-groups. Piedmont firms were second in number followed by Appalachian and Lake States firms. Consumables costs affected all firms most especially between 2004 and 2005. The number of medium sized firms dropped sharply in 2005 indicating attempts to either reduce operating costs or spread increased operating costs over higher production levels.

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The federal-listed bog turtle (Clemmys muhlenbergii) is the smallest and rarest freshwater turtle species in North America. I studied bog turtles in New England from 1994–1997, examining habitat use and seasonal movements, breeding ecology, demographic characteristics and population viability. I made 1,553 captures, marked 75 adults and radiotracked 50 bog turtles. Home range sizes (0.06–2.79 ha) were similar to other studies; there were no detectable differences between sexes, although males and females used different habitats among seasons. Size of female at sexual maturity (plastral length = 74 mm) was based on reproduction instead of secondary sex characteristics. Clutch size ranged from 2–6 eggs (x¯ = 3.5), with individual variation among years. Incubation (74–103 days) was longer for Massachusetts sites compared to southern nests, and both hatchlings and adults were smaller in body size compared to southern populations. I modeled a stable population with estimated survival rates of 0.32 for hatchlings, 0.97 for adult females, size and age at sexual maturity of PL = 74 mm and 12 y, respectively, and a derived juvenile survival rate of 0.83 (assuming λ = 1.00). The cooler climate and shorter breeding season may place additional constraints on northern populations of bog turtles. These environmental factors may result in slower growth rates, delayed sexual maturation, smaller adult body sizes, iteroparity, and lower nest temperatures resulting in longer incubations of fewer and smaller hatchlings than those in the south. While biologists cannot manage for climate, we can implement protection of this threatened species by identifying and protecting important habitats for hibernation and nesting, preventing hydrologic changes to the system, maintaining open canopy cover, and reducing direct human and animal impacts on adults through monitoring and active management strategies. I suggest the best strategies for bog turtle conservation involve identification and protection of habitats occupied by reproducing populations rather than captive breeding and translocation.