The Santee Experimental Forest is located in the Francis Marion National Forest in the South Carolina Coastal Plain. Photo by the U.S. Forest Service.
U.S. Forest Service Southern Research Station scientists and the Santee Experimental Forest (Santee) located in the Francis Marion National Forest near Charleston, South Carolina, have been chosen to participate in the U.S,-China Climate Change and Forests Initiative, a new program of the U.S.-China Climate Change Working Group sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.
The U.S.-China Climate Change and Forests Initiative is a cooperate effort between the Forest Service and the China State Forestry Administration designed to facilitate technical cooperation between the U.S. and China on climate mitigation and adaptation issues.
Forest Service International Programs selected only two U.S. experimental forests – the Santee and the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest – to partner with two forests in China, the Wangqing Forest Bureau in northern China and the Tropical Forest Experimental Center in Guangxi Province in southern China, as sites for the engagement of technical experts, discussion of land management practices, and possible joint research projects.
The Santee, located in the Coastal Plain of South Carolina on 6,100 acres of forested wetlands, includes a series of gauged watersheds where hydrologic data on water flow and quality has been collected for over four decades. The experimental forest also sits on the edge of an area of intense urban and suburban development. Long-term data from the Santee provides the baseline for more recent analyses of the effects of land management and climate change on the poorly drained watersheds of the Coastal Plain – and effects on drinking water sources for the communities expanding nearby.
“The 80 Forest Service experimental forests and ranges — 19 of them part of the Southern Research Station (SRS) — are some of our most significant scientific resources and represent a wide range of climates, forest types, and land use history,” said Carl Trettin, team leader for the SRS Center for Forested Wetlands Research located on the Santee. “This U.S.-China initiative is a wonderful opportunity to use our Forest Service experimental forests to address international and global research needs and to involve Forest Service scientists in international work.”
For more information, email Carl Trettin at ctrettin@fs.fed.us
The Southern Research Station maintains 19 experimental forests located on National Forest System lands and uses these sites for both long-term and contemporary research on water, climate, and forest resources.
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