Forest Health

What is Forest Health?

Forest health is involved in every aspect of forest management. This includes the establishment of appropriate, healthy trees on productive sites; proper forest management practices that favor vigorous growth of the best trees; reduction of losses to insect and diseases; and well planned, careful harvesting that protects standing trees from injury and protects streamside forests. Weather events, non-native plants, insects, and diseases also compromise the health of forests and can disrupt forest processes. The VDOF Forest Health program focuses primarily on four actions:

  • Monitoring and surveying Virginia for forest health disturbances
  • Utilizing many pest control methods (integrated pest management)
  • Technical assistance to landowners
  • Resource assessment, Geographic Information Systems (maps), and data management

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Additional Resources

Learn more about many forest health disturbances in the Southeastern US at the Southern Research Extension Forestry Forest Health Website.

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GIS Data Resources

VDOF has made available various GIS data sets related to forest health (GIS software required.)

GIS Data Set

Contact Us

For more information or questions, e-mail us or use our contact form.



Forest Health Resources

Explore our library to view additional information and learn more. Click on the category, tag, or media dropdown lists, or enter a keyword in the search box to filter the library list to find more specific information.

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