Treesearch

This report summarizes practical energy management strategies that could help communities in southeast Alaska move closer to energy independence while utilizing local resources more effectively. Our analysis focuses primarily on Sitka, Alaska, yet could be relevant to other communities having similar energy structures that rely primarily on hydroelectric power. We consider how community energy capacity and locally abundant resources can help communities move toward energy independence. Our recommendations focus on energy conservation, appropriately scaled renewable energy project developmen...

In 1992, the marbled murrelet population in the Pacific Northwest was listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act, along with the northern spotted owl and Pacific salmon. These designations were embodied in the 1994 Northwest Forest Plan, which takes an ecosystem approach to managing about 25 million acres of federal lands, with a goal of maintaining and restoring these species’ habitats and populations. Scientists with the Pacific Northwest and Pacific Southwest Research Stations as well as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Washington State Department of Fish and...

The hydraulic resilience of a species is determined by multiple physiological and structural traits. Understanding how these traits are integrated at the organismal level to yield adequate hydraulic fitness in a given environment would be a fertile area for future research. This type of information is essential for realistic predictions of species hydraulic limits under current and future climate change scenarios.

On 28 September 2009, the Naches Ranger District on the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest in south-central Washington state ignited an 800-ha prescribed fire. Later that afternoon, elevated PM2.5 concentrations and visible smoke were reported in Yakima, Washington, about 40 km east of the burn unit. The U.S. National Weather Service forecast for the day had predicted good dispersion conditions and winds that would carry the smoke to the less populated area north of Yakima. We undertook a case study of this event to determine whether conditions leading to the intrusion of the smoke plume...

Japanese knotweed and congeners are invasive to North America and Europe and spread aggressively along rivers establishing dense monotypic stands, thereby reducing native riparian plant diversity, structure, and function. Noxious weed control programs attempt to eradicate the knotweed with repeated herbicide applications under the assumption that the system will recover to a native assemblage which will inhibit future invasions. However, eradication efficacy studies typically only measure the amount of knotweed reduced, not the reestablished species diversity or plant origins. For a...

A fundamental yet unresolved question in fluvial geomorphology is what controls the width of valleys in mountainous terrain. Establishing a predictive relation for valley floor width is critical for realizing links between aquatic ecology and geomorphology because the most productive riverine habitats often occur in low-gradient streams with broad floodplains. Working in the Oregon Coast Range (western United States), we used airborne lidar to explore controls on valley width, and couple these findings with models of salmon habitat potential. We defined how valley floor width varies with...

Modeling fire effects, including terrestrial and atmospheric carbon fluxes and pollutant emissions during wildland fires, requires accurate predictions of fuel consumption. Empirical models were developed for predicting fuel consumption from fuel and environmental measurements on a series of operational prescribed fires in pine flatwoods ecosystems in the southeastern United States. The models predicted fuel consumption more accurately than the decision support tools First Order Fire Effects Model (FOFEM) and Consume and will allow fire and fuels managers in the region to belter estimate...

In recent years, interest has increased in silvicultural systems and harvest cuts that retain partial overstories, but there are few data available on the growth of the understory trees in such stands. We studied the response of overstory trees and underplanted seedlings, Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla), and western redcedar (Thuja plicata), to a range of residual overstory densities. Forty to 70-year-old Douglas-fir stands in western Washington were harvested, leaving retention levels of 0, 8, 16, 24, 32, and 40% of full stocking. The 9-year...

We examined temporal and spatial patterns of terrestrial amphibian species abundances and individual movements in western Oregon managed headwater forest stands using artifi cial cover object (ACO) arrays. Using mark-recapture methods, we estimated the eff ects of species and seasonality on apparent survival rates and recapture probabilities. We captured, marked, and released over 300 individual salamanders during 18 site visits between 2006 and 2009. Th ese captures were dominated by three plethodontid species: Ensatina (Ensatina eschscholtzii), Western Red-backed Salamander (Plethodon...

Th ere are emerging concerns for wildlife species associated with forested headwater systems. Given that headwater streams comprise a large portion of the length of fl owing waterways in western Oregon forests, there is a need to better understand how forest management aff ects headwater forest taxa and their habitats. Forest management strategies that consist of only partial canopy removal and retention of riparian buff ers may help ameliorate management eff ects on headwaters, especially relative to historical clearcutting practices. Our study investigated eff ects of upland forest...