Expanding site productivity research to sustain non-timber forest functions

Southern forests produce multiple products and services including timber, wildlife habitat, species bio- and genetic diversity, water quality and control, waste remediation, recreation, and carbon sequestration. All of these benefits must be produced in a sustainable manner to meet today's societal needs without compromising future needs. A forest site is productive to the extent that it provides some level of one or more of these products and services. Historically, site productivity research emphasized biomass production and did not directly address the forest's capability for producing other products and services. However, past and on-going site productivity research has greatly increased our understanding of those soil and site properties and processes that influence forest development, and those that are influenced by management. Directing forest site productivity research toward understanding how site processes control both timber and non-timber benefits on all southern forest lands can help us develop the management strategies necessary to produce multiple products and services concomitantly with timber production.