Acid Rain Likely Stunts U.S. Forests

A recent international scientific study on Russian soils raises concerns that acid rain may have serious implications for forest growth in the U.S., particularly in eastern areas such as the Adirondack and Catskill regions of New York according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

"We've known that acid rain acidifies surface waters, but this is the first time we've been able to compare and track tree growth in forests that include soil changes due to acid rain." said USGS scientist Greg Lawrence, who headed the study.

The team included scientists from Russia, the State University of New York at Albany, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, and the U.S. Forest Service.

Lawrence said that despite several decades of research, up until now acid rain effects on forests have not been well known, largely because it's not been known how acid rain affects soil.

"Russians invented the study of soil science and through their help, a large step forward has been taken in measuring acid rain effects on soils and trees." he said. "By providing the only preserved soil in the world collected before the acid rain era, the Russians helped our international team track tree growth for the first time with changes in soil from acid rain."

This study, conducted near St. Petersburg, Russia, showed that, in about 50 years, acid rain had severely degraded a previously fertile soil to the point at which spruce trees could no longer maintain healthy growth rates. Poor growth rates such as these generally precede high mortality rates in the near future. The declining tree health has occurred despite a warmer and wetter climate in this region that would be expected to improve growth.

These results have direct relevance to the United States, where large areas of eastern forests, such as the Adirondack and Catskill regions of New York, have soils that are likely to be more sensitive to acid rain than those studied in Russia. Lawrence said that these findings also broaden the question of recovery from acid rain beyond that of just surface waters.

Details of the study have been posted in the March web version of Environmental, Science and Technology journal.

The USGS serves the nation by providing reliable scientific information to: describe and understand the Earth; minimize loss of life and property from natural disasters; manage water, biological, energy, and mineral resources; and enhance and protect our quality of life.

Diane Noserale
Media Relations, Eastern Region
U.S. Geological Survey
150 National Center
Reston, VA 20192
phone:

I thaught it all was the deer's fault.

yes the deer cause acid rain, remember

Gobbler, I heard somewhere they layed the Gypsy moth eggs that killed most of the oaks back in the mid 90ies.

LOL.. those dang deer, what are they good for

Didn't you hear? They are destroying the ozone layer too.
I think they may have something to do with the recent earthquakes in Indonesia too. But I have not seen any studies on that yet.

Funny how the forest regenerates just fine, acid rain and all, when they fence the deer out.

I don't know what's going on, Our hunting club leases over 4300 acres from a timber co. For the last 15yrs thay have been doing clear cuts, they do over 200 acres per cut, some were fenced and some were not after a few years they all look the same, They are so thick that the big bucks can't get through them they have to munch on the outer edges.
We have tried to put in food plots, after tons of lime we just can't get anything to grow.
Our club is in Cameron Co.

Ive been in 3 fenced in areas this year and all of them look the same as it does on the outside of them.. but maybe its just the 3 i was in that are like that

The PGC is preparing a report on this as we speak.It should be released sometime in August.