Articles

A 17-year study at the Glacier Lakes Ecosystem Experiments Site in Wyoming revealed that sublimation decreased following a spruce beetle outbreak due to reduced canopy intercepted snowfall.

Scientists and managers collaborated on a series of forest management studies on four experimental forests within the northern Rocky Mountains. The objectives were to evaluate methods to increase forests resilience to wildfires, windstorms, diseases, and insects. Methods included cutting different sized forest openings and removing fuel around large, old trees. Treatment goals were also to incr...

As the U.S. moves towards a greener economy, it is critical to understand the long-term impacts of harvest operations on both above and below ground productivity. Research at the Coram Experimental Forest points to resilient western larch forests in the cool-moist climatic regime that can fully recover carbon and nutrients before the next harvest rotation. Forty years after cable harvesting and broadcast burning, scientists found few long-term impacts on soil, understory, and overstory in larch forests.

Wildfire is an important disturbance in ponderosa pine forests of the southern Rocky Mountains. Forest Service research results from the Colorado Front Range indicate that ponderosa pine and other conifers have regenerated in severely burned areas, but at very low densities relative to unburned areas and to areas that burned less severely.

A large number of forested acres are scheduled for treatment over the next decade in an effort to restore historical forest structure and function. Implementation of science-based restoration prescriptions will ensure that the treatments we put on the ground show ecological validity.