Treesearch

Natural resource vulnerability to climate change can depend on the climatology and ecological conditions at a particular site. Here we present a conceptual framework for incorporating spatial variability in natural resource vulnerability to climate change in a regional-scale assessment. The framework was implemented in the first regional-scale vulnerability assessment conducted by the US Forest Service. During this assessment, five subregional workshops were held to capture variability in vulnerability and to develop adaptation tactics. At each workshop, participants answered a questionnair...

The Chugach and Tongass National Forests are changing, possibly in response to global warming. Forested areas within Alaska's temperate rain forests are creeping into areas that were previously too cold or too wet. These forests are also becoming denser. As biomass increases, the amount of carbon stored in the forest also increases. Tara Barrett, a research forester with the U.S. Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, recently measured these changes. She and her colleagues compared Forest Inventory and Analysis survey data collected from 1995 to 2003 with follow-up inventories...

A lack of independent, quality-assured data prevents scientists from effectively evaluating predictions and uncertainties in fire models used by land managers. This paper presents a summary of pre-fire and post-fire fuel, fuel moisture and surface cover fraction data that can be used for fire model evaluation and development. The data were collected in the southeastern United States on 14 forest and 14 non-forest sample units associated with 6 small replicate and 10 large operational prescribed fires conducted during 2008, 2011, and 2012 as part of the Prescribed Fire Combustion and...

Terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) was used to collect spatially continuous measurements of fuelbed characteristics across the plots and burn blocks of the 2012 RxCADRE experiments in Florida. Fuelbeds were scanned obliquely from plot/block edges at a height of 20 m above ground. Pre-fire blocks were scanned from six perspectives and four perspectives for post-fire at~2 cmnominal spot spacing. After processing, fuel height models were developed at one meter spatial resolution in burn blocks and compared with field measurements of height. Spatial bias is also examined. The resultant fuel...

Smoke measurements were made during grass and forest understorey prescribed fires as part of a comprehensive programme to understand fire and smoke behaviour. Instruments deployed on the ground, airplane and tethered aerostat platforms characterised the smoke plumes through measurements of carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), methane (CH4) and particulate matter (PM), and measurements of optical properties. Distinctions were observed in aerial and ground-based measurements, with aerial measurements exhibiting smaller particle size distributions and PM emission factors, likely due to...

Understanding the capacity to reduce wildfire risk and restore dry forests on Western national forests is a key part of prioritizing new accelerated restoration programs initiated by the Forest Service. Although a number of social and biophysical factors influence the ability to implement restoration programs, one key driver is the suite of forest plan land designations and associated management directions. These land use designations and conservation reserves, which are intended to provide an array of ecosystem services (recreation, wildlife, water, timber, research, etc.), were created...

A conservation and management strategy for yellow-cedar in Alaska is presented in the context of climate change. This document has four sections. Section 1 covers the ecology and silvics of yellow-cedar, as well as other background information. Section 2 outlines knowledge on the extensive mortality to yellow-cedar, including the role of climate. Section 3 describes opportunities for the conservation and active management of yellow-cedar on lands that are considered either suitable or unsuitable for yellow-cedar. Section 4 uses risk models and yellow-cedar distribution data to evaluate,...

National forests and grasslands are home to a diverse array of wildlife. To keep tabs on the general viability and wellbeing of these inhabitants, land managers need practical, defensible monitoring protocols. Population monitoring is one method. Another is habitat monitoring, which provides critical information about the quantity and quality of key habitat attributes and often can be conducted for a lower cost than population monitoring. By using standardized protocols, biologists across jurisdictional boundaries can compare habitat monitoring results over time and among management units....

Cities have become more committed to ecological restoration and management activities in urban natural areas. Data about costs are needed for better planning and reporting. The objective of this study is to estimate the costs for restoration activities in urban parks and green space in Seattle, Washington. Stewardship activity data were generated from a new database designed to track restoration efforts of the Green Seattle Partnership, an urban forest restoration group based in Seattle, Washington. Cost data were estimated and combined with activity data to arrive at per-acre costs for...

National forests have a wealth of natural amenities that attract over 175 million recreational visitors a year. Although natural amenities draw visitors to national forests, many of the recreational activities that they engage in require built amenities, such as roads, campgrounds, boat ramps, and trails. We estimate regression models of the effect of two common built amenities—campgrounds and picnic areas—on national-forest visitation controlling for natural amenities and accounting for the endogenous relationship between visitation and built amenities. We found that campgrounds and...