Each month, College of Natural Resources faculty members receive awards and grants from various federal, state and nongovernmental agencies in support of their research. This report recognizes the faculty members who received funding in October 2025.

ECU Gambling Research and Policy Initiative (GRPI) 2025-2028

• PI: Clift, Bryan
• Direct Sponsor Name: NC Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS)
• Awarded Amount: $5,103 
• Abstract: Following the legalization of online sports betting in 2024, there has been a significant increase in gambling and sports betting in North Carolina and across the US. Emerging and young adults have seen particular increases, although the prevalence and potential problems associated with gambling and sports betting are under-researched. This collaborative project with ECU will provide comparative data from 2023 at two NC System schools, ECU and NCSU, and investigate the social, psychological, and financial impacts associated with gambling and sports betting.

Comparing Markets and Management Options for Carbon in Hardwood and Planted Pine Forests in the United States

• PI: Cook, Rachel
• Direct Sponsor Name: U.S. Forest Service
• Amount Awarded: $58,687 
• Abstract: Leveraging forests as a tool for abating climate change is a key component of so-called nature-based climate solutions. To achieve gains in in-situ forest carbon storage and sequestration requires management actions which impose costs on forest managers. In this economic context, it is necessary to understand how such costs can be minimized while maximizing climate benefits on a site-specific basis, where management varies spatially. Most landowners currently are not incentivized to maximize climate benefits (in-situ and ex-situ) in their stand management choices or even are aware of their options. Additionally, the intrinsic surface albedo of different types of land cover implies a direct climate effect for land cover decisions, which should be incorporated into the large-scale carbon picture. A spatially explicit model that can inform landowners of in-situ baseline and achievable productivity, and the long-term C storage potential of the forest products derived from their management decisions would allow for an integrative assessment of the climate impacts of forestry. The mounting economic pressure from high grading practice in tandem with the ecological pressure from mesophication is gradually shifting the structure and composition of historically oak dominated forests in the Central Hardwood Region (CHR) of the United States. This poses a sustainability concern for economically important species such as white oak that is primarily used in bourbon barrel manufacturing. Simultaneously, there are new and emerging opportunities for family forest managers to participate in carbon and other environmental markets, and such participation could affect management priorities and hardwood inventory growth in the CHR. However, several unresolved research questions remain regarding how hardwood systems in the CHR should be optimally managed for long-term sustainability, balancing potentially competing demands of timber extraction and carbon management in a changing environment.  

An Assessment of Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) Criteria and Indicators: Enhancing Information for Criterion 7; Legal, Institutional, and Economic Indicators

• PI: Cubbage, Frederick
• Direct Sponsor Name: U.S. Forest Service
• Awarded Amount: $30,000 
• Abstract: The research will develop a general conceptual model of the legal, institutional, and economic factors that are required to translate broad international and national policy goals to use forests to store carbon and mitigate climate change into practical on-the-ground approaches that will be required for public policies, public agencies, and public and private landowners to change their land management practices to participate in the programs.  Next, we will gauge the amount of land area, funding, technical capacity and personnel, financial incentives, and costs and returns for landowners, and similar components to assess program needs and challenges.
  
  We will review the assessments and analyses carried out for our 2020 Criterion 7 Report, including Indicators 45 (Legislation and Policies), Indicator 47 (Taxation and Other Economic Strategies), and Indicator 50 (Programs, Services, and Other Resources), which will support the problem analysis of the subject and will be used to information detailed subsequent research.

Planning Silvicultural Treatments for Landscape-Level Oak Management Following Hurricane Helene in the Southern Appalachians

• PI: Forrester, Jodi
• Direct Sponsor Name: U.S. Forest Service
• Awarded Amount: $514,122 
• Abstract:   Hurricane Helene caused substantial damage to oak-hickory forests in western North Carolina. The variability of damage and the large amount of downed woody materials are significant barriers to oak regeneration and restoration. The primary purpose of this agreement is to collect current data leveraging existing studies and develop the best available science related to improving oak regeneration and post hurricane restoration through use of active forest management activities, including timber harvesting, to aid regeneration and recruitment of oak species and maintain oak supply chain integrity for industry.

Camcore Forest Conservation

• PI: Jetton, Robert
• Direct Sponsor Name: U.S. Forest Service
• Amount Awarded: $95,500 
• Abstract: The purpose of this agreement is to document the cooperation between the Camcore program in NC State University Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources and the USDA Forest Service to support the genetic resource conservation of threatened, endangered and at-risk tree species and populations in the United States and its territories. This agreement will support NC State/Camcore objectives to identify new imperiled tree species and populations; collect and share genetic material from these trees for conservation; establish and maintain conservation orchards; and develop tools that inform on the management of tree species genetics, cultivation, and propagation.  Seed and scion collections, orchards, and tools, will be used in restoration and research efforts on the National Forests.

US-UK Collab: Long-Distance Dispersal and Disease Spread Under Increased Ecological Complexity

• PI: Jones, Chris
• Direct Sponsor Name: USDA – National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA)
• Awarded Amount: $265,383 
• Abstract: Epidemic invasions have substantial impacts on both ecosystem function and human welfare (1,16,31,67,91) and may become more frequent owing to globalization (116). Understanding the establishment and spread of such diseases can contribute significantly to identifying appropriate disease control strategies (35,96,115). Pathogens demonstrating long-distance dispersal (LDD) are of particular concern, owing to their potential to rapidly spread over large spatial scales. This includes pathogens with propagules that have the potential for long-distance transport through air, such as foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) (60), West Nile Virus (90), avian influenza (62), white-nose syndrome of bats (4) and many diseases of plants (8), through water, such as Aspergillosis of coral (134), and perhaps also pathogens spread through human transport systems, such as influenza (66) and Ebola virus (40). Bird migration can result in fat-tailed, LDD dispersal patterns, with dispersal over hundreds or thousands of kilometers (95,130). Similarly, “anomalous diffusion” has been suggested to result in fat-tailed distributions and super diffusive spread of a range of organisms (6,131). Developing effective models for such large-scale processes remains a challenge and will likely require a range of approaches and comparative studies encompassing a diversity of pathogens and hosts.

Collaborative Research: FIRE-MODEL: Impacts of Rapid Shifts of Moisture Availability on Regional Landscapes, Forest Hydrology and Flammability

• PI: Martin, Katie
• Direct Sponsor Name: National Science Foundation (NSF)
• Awarded Amount: $1,481,250 
• Abstract: The overarching goal of the proposed work is to investigate how whiplashes (back-to-back extreme events) in global and regional moisture patterns drive forest hydrology and flammability across landscapes. Our cross-scale approach will use machine learning and remote sensing to assess large-scale climatological shifts from wet to dry and then, how these change fuel moisture dynamics, mediated by areas of forest disturbance and forest water budgets, including evapotranspiration (ET) and subcanopy evaporation. These regional analyses will be informed by field data and fuel moisture drying experiments. We will incorporate this new information into the LANDIS-II forest dynamics model, which will allow us to test different ignition scenarios, management approaches, and translate our new understanding to stakeholders.

GIS Database Development for Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail

• PI: Smith, Charlynne
• Direct Sponsor Name: US National Park Service
• Awarded Amount: $18,000 

Abstract: This project is for the 8th phase in a continuing relationship between the Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail (OVNHT) and North Carolina State University. The work will 1) focus on updating physical trail data to ensure accuracy of location and assigned attributes; 2) collaborate with NPS and trail partners to expand resource data where applicable to trail management and promotion; 3) refine web-based mapping tools for NPS staff to review and modify data for inclusion in the spatial database.