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Afforestation of marginal agricultural land in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley (LMAV) relies on native species, planted mostly in single-species plantations. Hard mast species such as oak and pecan are favored for their value to wildlife, especially on public land. Successful afforestation requires an understanding of site variation within floodplains and matching species preferences and tolerances to site characteristics, in particular to inundation regimes. Soil physical conditions, root aeration, nutrient availability, and moisture availability during the growing season also must be considered in matching species to site. Afforestation methods include planting seedlings or cuttings, and direct-seeding. Both methods can be done by hand or by machine. If good quality seedlings are planted properly and well cared for before planting, the chances for successful establishment are high but complete failures do occur. Mortality and poor growth are caused by many factors: extended post-planting drought or flooding; poor planting or seeding practices; poor quality seed or seedlings; animal depredation; or herbicide drift from aerial application to nearby cropland. More species can be planted, even on continuously flooded sites. Direct-seeding, while limited to heavy-seeded species (oaks and hickories), costs less than 50% of planting seedlings. Growth varies considerably by soil type; most bottomland hardwoods grow best on silt loam and less well on clay soils. Up to 200Â 000 ha of land in the LMAV subject to spring and early summer backwater flooding could be afforested over the next decade.

Trees that survive disturbances are important biological legacies that facilitate forests' recovery and enhance their structural and species diversity, substantially contributing to the resilience of these ecosystems. The dynamic pattern of legacy syndromes sets the understudied aspects of survivors of wind disturbance into focus. Several factors at tree, stand, and landscape scales alter the susceptibility of the remnant trees, and affect their potential to recover and survive subsequent disturbances. The characteristics of the survivors interact with direct stress and mortality drivers such as changed environmental conditions and pressure by pests and pathogens. Climate change further enhances the post-storm vulnerability of the remaining stand. This literature review analyzes the impact of disturbance parameters (e.g., severity, seasonal timing) and characteristics of the affected forest (e.g., tree species composition, successional stage of a forest stand) on the conditions of survivors through post-windthrow stand development. We attempted to reveal the main agents and processes driving the fate of remnant trees and linked delayed mortality patterns to the main standscale wind disturbance regimes in Eurasian and North American boreal and temperate forests: (1) stand-replacing, (2) partially stand-replacing, and (3) finescale gap disturbance. We found that after stand-replacing wind disturbance, the spatial location of the remaining trees largely determines their onward fate, whereas these survivors are generally more susceptible to subsequent mortality compared to trees that survived less severe events. After partially stand-replacing wind disturbance, the structure of the remnant stand as well as characteristics of the individual remnant trees (e.g., species, age, size) largely determine their survival probability. Following a fine-scale gap disturbance, the trees at the gap edge are more likely to die, compared to the trees situated in the stand interior, but the mortality-causing processes usually operate on a longer time scale. Our findings contribute to the current knowledge on postwindthrow stand development and offer insights into temporal stability of these increasingly important biological legacies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forest restoration has never been higher on policymakers' agendas. Complex and multi‐dimensional arrangements across the urban–rural continuum challenge restorationists and require integrative approaches to strengthen environmental protection and increase restoration outcomes. It remains unclear if urban and rural forest restoration are moving towards or away from each other in practice and research, and whether comparing research outcomes can help stakeholders to gain a clearer understanding of the interconnectedness between the two fields. This study aims to identify the challenges and opportunities for enhancing forest restoration in both urban and rural systems by reviewing the scientific evidence, engaging with key stakeholders and using an urban–rural forest restoration framework. Using the Society for Ecological Restoration's International Principles as discussion topics, we highlight aspects of convergence and divergence between the two fields to broaden our understanding of forest restoration and promote integrative management approaches to address future forest conditions. Our findings reveal that urban and rural forest restoration have convergent and divergent aspects. We emphasise the importance of tailoring goals and objectives to specific contexts and the need to design different institutions and incentives based on the social and ecological needs and goals of stakeholders in different regions. Additionally, we discuss the challenges of achieving high levels of ecological restoration and the need to go beyond traditional ecology to plan, implement, monitor, and adaptively manage restored forests. We suggest that rivers and watersheds could serve as a common ground linking rural and urban landscapes and that forest restoration could interact with other environmental protection measures. We note the potential for expanding the creative vision associated with increasing tree‐containing environments in cities to generate more diverse and resilient forest restoration outcomes in rural settings. This study underscores the value of integrative management approaches in addressing future forest conditions across the urban–rural continuum. Our framework provides valuable insights for policymakers, researchers, and decision‐makers to advance the field of forest restoration and address the challenges of restoration across the urban–rural continuum. The rural–urban interface serves as a convergence point for forest restoration, and both urban and rural fields can benefit from each other's expertise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fire is a significant agent for the development of boreal and hemiboreal forests, altering soil and light conditions, affecting seedbanks, and removing seed trees. Burned areas should be managed with care, as inappropriate techniques prolong the regeneration period and reduce the diversity and resilience of stands to disturbances. To study the effects of fire and postfire management on the successional changes in regeneration abundance, species composition and tree height sample plots were established in sandy pine forests in northwestern Estonia on areas burned 2 or 22 years ago. Five types of sample plots were established: (i) areas without fire damage, (ii) burned uncleared areas, (iii) burned forest areas cleared after forest fire, (iv) burned uncleared areas with live trees, and (v) burned uncleared areas with dead trees. Three main tree species common to hemiboreal forests were analyzed: Betula spp., Pinus sylvestris L., and Populus tremula L. Results showed that clearing burned areas after wildfire significantly reduced the abundance of regeneration compared with burned uncleared areas but favored height growth of P. sylvestris in later development. To regenerate and maintain mixed stands after wildfire, retaining some residual trees can facilitate regeneration compared with complete clearing, although a dense stand with live trees or a large amount of deadwood can hinder regeneration. Key words: wildfire, salvage logging, natural regeneration, diversity, succession. Le feu est un agent important de developpement des forets boreales et hemiboreales; il modifie le sol et la luminosite, affecte les banques de graines et elimine les arbres semenciers. Les aires brulees doivent etre amenagees avec soin puisque des techniques inappropriees prolongent la periode de regeneration et reduisent la diversite et la resilience des peuplements aux perturbations. Pour etudier les effets du feu et de l'amenagement apres feu sur les changements successionnels dans l'abondance de regeneration, la composition en especes et la hauteur des arbres, des placettes echantillons ont ete etablies dans des pine des sur sols sablonneux ayant brulees 2 ou 22 ans auparavant dans le nord-ouest de l'Estonie. Cinq types de placettes echantillons ont ete etablies : (i) aires exemptes de dommage cause par le feu, (ii) aires brulees avec des arbres vivants ou morts non recuperes apres le feu, (iii) aires brulees oU tous les arbres vivants et morts ont ete recoltes apres le feu, (iv) aires brulees avec des arbres vivants non recuperes et (v) aires brulees avec des arbres morts non recuperes. Trois especes d'arbre commun es aux forets hemiboreales ont ete analysees : Betula spp., Pinus sylvestris L. et Populus tremula L. Les resultats montrent que les aires brulees et recuperees apres le feu etaient associees a une abondance de regeneration significativement plus faible que les aires brulees non recuperees, mais a une plus forte croissance en hauteur de P. sylvestris au cours des stades plus avances de developpement. Pour regenerer et maintenir des peuplements mixtes apres un feu, la retention de quelques arbres residuels peut faciliter la regeneration comparativement a une recuperation complete, quoiqu'un peuplement dense avec des arbres vivants ou une grande quantite de bois mort puisse nuire a la regeneration. [Traduit par la Redaction] Mots-cles : feu de foret, coupe de recuperation, regeneration naturelle, diversite, succession., Introduction Fire plays an important role in the development of boreal and hemiboreal forests (Angelstam 1998) by altering physical, chemical, and biological conditions (Den Herder et al. 2009). Wildfire can [...]