Forest Health

Healthy forests are important in the South. They provide clean air, jobs, recreation, tourism, healthy habitats for wildlife, and construction materials for homes.

Plagued by insect and disease outbreaks in the South, the Forest Health Protection unit of the USDA Forest Service uses numerous practices to restore the health of the South's forests.

These practices include:

• Thinning forest to reduce the risk of devastating diseases and insects from both private and public forestlands .
• Teaching and training professional foresters and landowners about the prevention, detection, evaluation and successful suppression of pest outbreaks.
• Providing financial assistance to private forest landowners for prevention and suppression efforts.
• Visiting and evaluating sites with prevalent pest problems across the South.
• Using the latest technology such as remote sensing to detect pest ridden and infested areas.

For more information log on to:

• USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station
• USDA Forest Service, Southern Region