Treesearch

The ecological outcomes of civic environmental stewardship are poorly understood, especially at scales larger than individual sites. In this study we characterized civic environmental stewardship programs in the Green-Duwamish watershed in King County, WA, and evaluated the extent to which stewardship outcomes were monitored. We developed a four-step process based on the Open Standards for the Practice of Conservation to structure our evaluation and to make recommendations for future monitoring of ecological outcomes of stewardship activities. Environmental stewardship, primarily in the...

Societies use biologically active chemicals as medicines and pesticides to protect human and agricultural health. But widespread use of synthetic compounds raises concerns about their safety, and resistance development in targeted pests. To find safer alternatives, scientists turned to native plants and trees in Pacific Northwest forests using multiyear exploratory surveys. Researchers collected samples from different plant and tree parts for extraction and toxicity testing with a simple brine shrimp bioassay. These bioassays detected strong biological activity in heartwood extracts from...

Context Conservation planning for at-risk species requires understanding of where species are likely to occur, how many individuals are likely to be supported on a given landscape, and the ability to monitor those changes through time. Objectives We developed a distribution model for northern spotted owls that incorporates both habitat suitability and probability of territory occupancy while accounting for interspecies competition. Methods We developed range-wide habitat suitability maps for two time periods (1993 and 2012) for northern spotted owls that accounted for regional differences...

Climate change is expected to impact forests worldwide, and yellow-cedar (Callitropsis nootkatensis (D. Don) Oerst. ex D.P. Little) decline has been used as an example of how changing climate can impact a tree species. However, most previous research has not placed yellow-cedar decline within the context of yellow-cedar overall. We used a 2004–2013 regional inventory of the temperate rainforest of Alaska (671 plots with yellow-cedar) to estimate current attributes and a subset of 564 remeasured plots (established 1995–1998) to estimate recent change. Results show that in unmanaged forests,...

Lurking below the twin concepts of connectivity and disconnectivity are their first, and in someways, richer cousins: continuity and discontinuity. In this paper we explore how continuity and discontinuity represent fundamental and complementary perspectives in fluvial geomorphology, and how these perspectives inform and underlie our conceptions of connectivity in landscapes and rivers. We examine the historical roots of continuum and discontinuum thinking, and how much of our understanding of geomorphology rests on contrasting views of continuity and discontinuity. By continuum thinking...

We conducted an experimental study of infection, transmission, and persistence of a nucleopolyhedrovirus (NPV) of Douglas-fir tussock moth (Orgyia pseudotsugata) to better understand mechanisms determining the efficacy of the virus when it is used as a microbial control agent. In a field experiment, we quantified infection rates of larvae exposed to either Tussock Moth Biocontrol-1, the strain currently used for control by the U.S. Forest Service, or a wild-type strain isolated from a natural population. We first allowed each pathogen to decay on experimental branches for 0, 1, or 3 days...

In recent decades, dam removal has emerged as a viable national and international strategy for river restoration. According to American Rivers, a river conservation organization, more than 1,100 dams have been removed in the United States in the past 40 years, and more than half of these were demolished in the past decade. This trend is likely to continue as dams age, no longer serve useful purposes, or limit ecological functions. Factors such as dam size, landscape and channel features, and reservoir sediment characteristics differ widely, so dam removal projects must be evaluated...

Land-use change can significantly affect the provision of ecosystem services. On a local scale, zoning laws and other land-use regulations are commonly used to influence land-use change, but their effectiveness is often unclear. We evaluate the effectiveness of local land-use planning in concentrating development and minimizing impacts in riparian areas. We use spatially-explicit land cover data from the USGS Land Cover Trends project to measure development and disturbance rates before and after implementation of Oregon’s land-use planning system. We apply a difference-in-difference...

The ecosystem services concept describes the many benefits people receive from nature. It highlights the importance of managing public and private lands sustainably to ensure these benefits continue into the future, and it closely aligns with the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) mission to “sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the Nation’s forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations.” In response to growing interest in ecosystem services, the USFS is identifying needs and opportunities to incorporate an ecosystem services approach into its programs...

Since 2009, the US Department of Agriculture Forest Service has promoted an “all lands approach” to forest restoration, particularly relevant in the context of managing wildfire. To characterize its implementation, we undertook an inventory of what we refer to as fire-focused all lands management (ALM) projects, defined as projects in which fuels reduction treatments are planned or implemented across more than one landownership to reduce wildfire risk or increase forest resilience to wildfire. We focused on regions of Washington, Oregon, and California dominated by dry, fire-prone forests...