Daniel M. Evans

Plymouth State University | Plymouth · Center for the Environment

Several aspects of the forest carbon cycle have not been examined in detail, including sources of variation in carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from coarse woody material (CWM). To address this knowledge gap, we examined CO₂ emissions from Acer saccharum logs within four harvesting treatments, using closed chambers fitted to the...

Deadwood moisture plays a major role in regulating deadwood decomposition rates and may also affect forest microclimate. Despite this, the temporal variability of deadwood moisture at 15‐minute time scales remains relatively unknown because techniques for using high‐frequency sensors for tracking moisture at appropriate spatial and temporal intensi...

Attributes of dead wood in forests, such as quantity, landscape position, and state of decay influence numerous ecosystem processes such as wildfire behavior, tree regeneration, and nutrient cycling. Attributes of dead wood that vary over sub-diurnal time steps, such as moisture, have not been routinely measured despite the profound effects they ha...

We constructed a seasonal nitrogen (N) budget for the year 2008 in the Calapooia River Watershed (CRW), an agriculturally dominated tributary of the Willamette River (Oregon, U.S.) under Mediterranean climate. Synthetic fertilizer application to agricultural land (dominated by grass seed crops) was the source of 90% of total N input to the CRW. Ove...

Salinity levels are above historical levels in many New England watersheds. We investigated potential sources of salinity in the Pemigewasset River, a relatively undeveloped watershed in northern New England. We utilized a synoptic sampling approach on six occasions between April and September 2011 paired with a novel land use analysis that incorpo...

Surface coal mining operations alter landscapes of the Appalachian Mountains, United States, by replacing bedrock with mine spoil, altering topography, removing native vegetation, and constructing mine soils with hydrologic properties that differ from those of native soils. Research has demonstrated hydrologic effects of mining and reclamation on A...

Harvest of dead timber following wildfire is contentious because of a perception that the benefits are outweighed by environmental costs. One primary concern is the potential for increased erosion susceptibility associated with timber extraction (i.e. salvage logging) and site preparation. We measured erosion at the Timbered Rock Fire in southweste...

Anthropogenic salinization of freshwaters is a global concern. Coal surface mining causes release of dissolved sulfate, bicarbonate, calcium, magnesium, and other ions to surface waters in central Appalachia, USA, through practices that include mine rock disposal in valley fills (VFs). This region's surface waters naturally have low salinity, with...

Remote sensing methods have been used to evaluate vegetative growth patterns for many applications, though relatively little work has focused on tracking mine reclamation progress. For coal mines in Central Appalachia, reclamation approaches that include production of biofuel feedstocks are increasingly attractive, as these may yield significant po...

There is renewed interest in re-establishing trees on 0.6 million ha of mining-disturbed lands in the Appalachian mountains of Eastern United States. Many coal-mined lands reclaimed to meet requirements of US federal law have thick herbaceous vegetation and compacted soils which impede tree establishment. Mitigation practices were applied on three...

Research on relationships between dissolved nutrients and land-use at the watershed scale is a high priority for protecting surface water quality. We measured dissolved nitrogen (DN) and ortho-phosphorus (P) along 130 km of the Calapooia River (Oregon, USA) and 44 of its sub-basins for 3 years to test for associations with land-use. Nutrient concen...

A 29-ha mine site in Buchanan County, Virginia, was reclaimed using methods intended to produce favorable conditions for reforestation and planted with forest trees in early 2002. After soil grading, the site was mapped for forest site quality considering rock type, aspect, and soil compaction. Trees of eleven species and one shrub species were pre...

Successful afforestation of lands surface-mined for coal in Appalachia presents the opportunity to also restore American chestnut (Castanea dentata) within its native range, now that it has been bred for chestnut blight (Cryphonectria parasitica) resistance. Chestnut, before the blight, was an important component of the mixed mesophytic forest in e...

Native trees can be re-established on coal surface mine sites in eastern USA if appropriate reclamation techniques are used. Soil grading and herbaceous vegetation seeding are essential reclamation practices that may influence plant community reestablishment and hydrologic processes that are essential to forested landscapes. We evaluated effects of...

Evans, Daniel M., C. Andrew Dolloff, W. Michael Aust, and Amy M. Villamagna, 2012. Effects of Eastern Hemlock Decline on Large Wood Loads in Streams of the Appalachian Mountains. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 48(2): 266-276. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2011.00610.x Abstract: Eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis), a foundatio...

We compared stream ecosystem responses to two types of disturbances: flood and debris flows. A large storm in February 1996 disturbed four similarly sized sub-watersheds of the Calapooia River, in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon, USA. All sub-watersheds had flood and in two, 31 and 81% of the perennial channel, a debris flow affected the channel. F...

Lands mined for coal and reclaimed under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) can be used to produce woody biomass. This study evaluates woody biomass production on SMCRA-reclaimed lands after ripping to reduce soil compaction. Four species treatments were established at two planting densities on three Wise County, Virginia, mine...

More than 600,000 hectares of mostly forested land in the Appalachian region were surface mined for coal under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act. Today, these lands are largely unmanaged and covered with persistent herbaceous species, such as fescue and serecia lespedeza, and a mix of invasive and native woody species with little comme...

Eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) in the Appalachian mountain range is threatened by the introduced hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae). Potential impacts on riparian systems are great because of eastern hemlock's role as a foundation species that influences site soil, vegetation, and stream characteristics. We installed permanent research sit...

Nitrogen dynamics in riparian systems are often addressed within one land-use type and are rarely studied on watershed scales across multiple land uses. This study tested for temporal trends and watershed-wide spatial patterns in N mineralization and identified sire factors related to N mineralization. We measured net N mineralization in situ at mo...

Since the implementation of SMCRA, mined land has been heavily graded and much of it has been severely compacted as coal operators attempted to return it to its approximate original contour. Tree survival and growth on compacted mine soils was invariably poor, which compelled mine operators to use non-forestry, post-mining, land reclamation. Howeve...

Under-utilized, previously mined lands may be used to produce woody biomass materials for energy production and C sequestration. Past research trials have shown that tree growth on mined lands can be highly productive if suitable reclamation practices are used. This study tests the productivity of woody biomass plantations on previously mined lands...

There is increasing interest in the restoration of native Appalachian hardwood forests using the Forestry Reclamation Approach (FRA) on sites that are being reclaimed following surface mining for coal. Additionally, much interest has developed in the deployment of American chestnut trees that have been improved through breeding to have both blight...

There is renewed interest in restoring forests on surface mined lands in the Appalachians. Many lands reclaimed since the passage of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA) have dense ground covers and compacted soil materials, in some cases associated with unfavorable soil chemical properties. To address these concerns, thre...