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The United States is the most severe weatherprone country in the
world. Each year, people in this country cope with an average of
10,000 thunderstorms, 5,000 floods, 1,200 tornadoes, and two
landfalling hurricanes. Approximately 90% of all presidentially
declared disasters are weather-related, causing around 500 deaths
each year and nearly $14 billion in damage. SKYWARN(r) is a
National Weather Service (NWS) program developed in the 1960s that
consists of trained weather spotters who provide reports of severe
and hazardous weather to help meteorologists make life-saving
warning decisions. Spotters are concerned citizens, amateur radio
operators, truck drivers, mariners, airplane pilots, emergency
management personnel, and public safety officials who volunteer
their time and energy to report on hazardous weather impacting
their community. Although, NWS has access to data from Doppler
radar, satellite, and surface weather stations, technology cannot
detect every instance of hazardous weather. Spotters help fill in
the gaps by reporting hail, wind damage, flooding, heavy snow,
tornadoes and waterspouts. Radar is an excellent tool, but it is
just that: one tool among many that NWS uses. We need spotters to
report how storms and other hydrometeorological phenomena are
impacting their area. SKYWARN(r) spotter reports provide vital
"ground truth" to the NWS. They act as our eyes and ears in the
field. Spotter reports help our meteorologists issue timely,
accurate, and detailed warnings by confirming hazardous weather
detected by NWS radar. Spotters also provide critical verification
information that helps improve future warning services. SKYWARN(r)
Spotters serve their local communities by acting as a vital source
of information when dangerous storms approach. Without spotters,
NWS would be less able to fulfill its mission of protecting life
and pro
The H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest is a slice of classic Oregon:
due east of Eugene in the Cascade Mountains, the Andrews Forest
comprises almost 16,000 acres of the Lookout Creek watershed. The
landscape is steep, with hills and deep valleys and cold,
fast-running streams. The densely forested landscape includes
cedar, hemlock, and moss-draped ancient Douglas fir trees. One of
eighty-one USDA experimental forests, the Andrews is administered
cooperatively by USFS, OSU, and the Willamette National Forest.
While many Oregonians may think of the Andrews simply as a good
place for a hike, research conducted there has profoundly reshaped
Forest Service management policies and contributed to our
understanding of healthy forests. In A Place for Inquiry, A Place
for Wonder, William Robbins turns his attention to the
long-overlooked Andrews Forest and argues for its importance to
environmental science and policy. From its founding in 1948, the
experimental forest has been the site of wide-ranging research.
Beginning with postwar studies on the conversion of old-growth
timber to fast-growing young stands, research at the Andrews
shifted in the next few decades to long-term ecosystem
investigations that focus on climate, streamflow, water quality,
vegetation succession, biogeochemical cycling, and effects of
forest management. The Andrews has thus been at the center of a
dramatic shift in federal timber practices from industrial,
intensive forest management policies to strategies emphasizing
biodiversity and healthy ecosystems.
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