Mar. 21, 2012

Rebecca Strecker
NASA Public Affairs Office
Stennis Space Center, MS 39529-6000
(228) 688-3249
Rebecca.A.Strecker@nasa.gov

Perdita Spriggs
Eastern Threat Center Communications
(828) 230-3292
pspriggs@fs.fed.us
RELEASE: CLT-12-032

USDA FOREST SERVICE AND NASA RELEASE WEB-BASED TOOL THAT HELPS NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGERS RESPOND TO FOREST DISTURBANCES



The USDA Forest Service's Eastern Forest and Western Wildland 
Environmental Threat Assessment Centers recently unveiled a product 
that helps natural resource managers rapidly detect, identify, and 
respond to unexpected changes in the nation's forests by using 
web-based tools. <em>ForWarn</em>, a satellite-based monitoring and 
assessment tool, recognizes and tracks potential forest disturbances 
caused by insects, diseases, wildfires, extreme weather, or other 
natural or human-caused events. The tool complements and focuses 
efforts of existing forest monitoring programs and potentially 
results in time and cost savings.



The prototype version of <em>ForWarn</em> has successfully operated 
since January 2010 and uses NASA MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging 
Spectroradiometer) satellite imagery to recognize and track changes 
in vegetation across the nation, providing a near-real-time view of 
potential forest disturbance and recovery. <em>ForWarn</em> uses a 
web-based map tool, the Forest Change Assessment Viewer, to provide 
an eight-day, coast-to-coast snapshot of the U.S. landscape, 
interpret images, and create geographically relevant maps. The viewer 
allows users to explore and share recent and archived forest 
disturbance maps.



"<em>ForWarn</em> epitomizes the type of product envisioned when the 
Threat Assessment Centers were created," says Danny C. Lee, Director 
of the Eastern Threat Center. "This tool literally puts space-age 
technology into the hands of forest resource professionals. It's a 
remarkable collaborative achievement." The Eastern and Western Threat 
Centers are jointly supported by the Forest Service's National Forest 
System, State and Private Forestry, and Research and Development.



The Eastern and Western Threat Centers, NASA Stennis Space Center's 
Applied Science & Technology Project Office, and other federal and 
university partners developed <em>ForWarn</em> in response to the 
Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003. The Act specifies 
development of a comprehensive National Early Warning System to 
detect potential catastrophic environmental threats to forests. 
<em>ForWarn</em> is a strategic research component of the National 
Early Warning System and is currently being tested by federal and 
state forest and natural resource managers throughout the country.



"We are excited to unveil <em>ForWarn</em> and the Forest Change 
Assessment Viewer, intuitive products that use advanced technology to 
provide a current look at forest changes and help focus on-the-ground 
response efforts," says William Hargrove, Eastern Threat Center lead 
<em>ForWarn</em> researcher. "Our goal is to help natural resource 
managers, scientists, and other decision makers better identify, 
understand, and react to environmental disturbances. We will continue 
to refine and update these tools that will help guide activities and 
resources in impacted areas."



Joe Spruce, lead scientist on this project at NASA Stennis, says that 
<em>ForWarn</em> provides "the USDA Forest Service and its partners 
with vital broad-scale information on the location and extent of 
regionally evident forest disturbances, helping resource managers 
conduct more detailed aerial and field surveys." He continues, "This 
effort is precisely the Applied Sciences Program's mission – to move 
NASA science to operational users for real socio-economic benefit."



The Eastern and Western Threat Centers are currently offering webinars 
on <em>ForWarn</em> and additional decision support tools. Sessions 
provide a <em>ForWarn</em> overview, highlight a variety of forest 
disturbances detected during the 2010 and 2011 growing seasons, and 
feature Eastern and Western Threat Center scientists demonstrating 
the tool's ability to retrospectively examine forest disturbances 
detected during the prior two years. Contact Bill Christie, Eastern 
Threat Center GIS specialist, (828) 257-4370 or by email at 
wchristie@fs.fed.us  for webinar and online tutorial information.



<em>ForWarn</em> is the result of ongoing cooperation among federal 
and university partners. In addition to the Forest Service and NASA, 
the partnership includes the US Geological Survey; the Department of 
Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory; and the University of North 
Carolina Asheville's National Environmental Modeling and Analysis 
Center.




For information about Stennis, visit: www.nasa.gov/centers/stennis.

	
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