**AWARDS ISSUED PRIOR TO JANUARY 20, 2025, WERE FUNDED UNDER PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATIONS AND MAY NOT REFLECT THE PRIORITIES AND POLICIES OF THE CURRENT ADMINISTRATION.** FORESTS IN THE UNITED STATES REPRESENT A VITAL NATIONAL AND NATURAL RESOURCE. BY PROVIDING SUSTAINABLE TIMBER PRODUCTION, THESE FORESTS REPRESENTS ONE OF THE MAJOR CONSISTENT REVENUE SOURCES IN THE RURAL U.S., AS WELL AS PROVIDE ESSENTIAL ECOSYSTEM SERVICES, SEQUESTERING ATMOSPHERIC CARBON, HARBORING DIVERSE UNDERSTORY PLANT COMMUNITIES, SUPPORTING AGRICULTURAL SERVICES (E.G., POLLINATION AND NATURAL PEST CONTROL), AND BOLSTERING REGIONAL HUMAN RECREATION AND HEALTH. FOR EXAMPLE, CARBON SEQUESTRATION BY TREES IN U.S. URBAN ENVIRONMENTS IS VALUED AT ~$460 MILLION PER YEAR, AND REDUCTION OF AIR POLLUTANTS (E.G., CARBON MONOXIDE, OZONE, NITROGEN DIOXIDE) CAN BE WORTH AS MUCH AS $8 MILLION PER YEAR IN SOME U.S. CITIES. SUSTAINABLY MANAGING U.S. FORESTS, AND THE SERVICES THEY PROVIDE, DEPENDS UPON OVERCOMING TWO OF THE PRIMARY BARRIERS TO TREE AND PLANT REPRODUCTION AND SURVIVAL: INVASIVE SHRUBS AND NATIVE HERBIVORES AND GRANIVORES. OF GREAT IMPORTANCE IS THAT THESE TWO FACTORS MAY AMPLIFYONE ANOTHER, SUCH THAT INVASIVE SHRUBS AND NATIVE HERBIVORES HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO DRAMATICALLY REDUCE SUCCESSFUL FOREST REGENERATION. A PRIMARY CHALLENGE IS THAT, ALTHOUGH WE KNOW THAT THEIR EFFECTS CAN BE DEVASTATING, WE STILL LACK A MEANS TO PREDICT WHEN AND WHERE THE EFFECT OF EXOTIC SHRUBS AND NATIVE ANIMALS WILL BE MOST HARMFUL AND WHICH TREE AND PLANT SPECIES WILL BE MOST AFFECTED. UNTIL WE UNDERSTAND THE INDEPENDENT AND INTERACTIVE EFFECTS OF INVASIVE SHRUBS AND PLANT-EATING ANIMALS ON PLANT AND TREE RECRUITMENT IN DIFFERENT FOREST TYPES, OUR ABILITY TO MANAGE FOR SUSTAINABLE U.S. FORESTS WILL REMAIN INEFFICIENT (AT BEST) OR COMPLETELY INEFFECTIVE (AT WORST).THIS PROJECT USES A LARGE-SCALE APPROACH TO DETERMINE THE RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF THE TWO GREATEST THREATS TO MANAGED FOREST HEALTH ACROSS THE RANGE OF FOREST CONTEXTS TYPICAL OF MANY FORESTS IN THE MIDWESTERN U.S. USING SITE-LEVEL EXPERIMENTS, THIS PROJECT WILL DETERMINE THE RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF INVASIVE SHRUBS AND MAMMALIAN HERBIVORES ON TREES AND PLANTS ACROSS A RANGE OF FOREST TYPES, PROVIDING A DATA-DRIVEN MEANS TO IDENTIFY FORESTS WHERE SUSTAINABILITY IS MOST THREATENED AND TO PRIORITIZE MANAGEMENT EFFORTS. IN ADDITION, THE PROJECT WILL DIRECTLY TEST THE EFFECTIVENESS OF COMMON STRATEGIES FOR MAXIMIZING FOREST SUSTAINABILITY (INVASIVE PLANT REMOVAL AND DIRECT SEEDING OF TREES AND PLANTS), HELPING IDENTIFY WHICH APPROACH IS LIKELY TO BE MOST EFFECTIVE IN A PARTICULAR FOREST TYPE. FINALLY, THIS WORK WILL TEST THE EFFICACY OF AN INNOVATIVE WAY TO MAXIMIZE TREE AND PLANT REGENERATION BY USING CAPSAICIN TO DETER ANIMAL GRANIVORES AND HERBIVORES. BY HELPING IDENTIFY SPECIFIC FOREST TYPES WHERE THE THREATS POSED BY INVASIVE SHRUBS AND MAMMALIAN HERBIVORES ARE GREATEST, WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY ALSO PROVIDING SCIENCE-SUPPORTED MITIGATION ACTIONS TO ADDRESS THOSE THREATS, THIS PROJECT WILL HELP PROVIDE MANAGERS AND STAKEHOLDERS WITH THE TOOLS NECESSARY TO PROMOTE THE SUSTAINABILITY AND FUNCTION OF 180 MILLIONACRES OF FOREST ECOSYSTEMS FOUND THROUGHOUT THE MIDWESTERN U.S.