Treesearch

We used state and transition models to integrate natural disturbances and management activities for a 275 000-ha landscape in the central Oregon Cascades. The landscape consists of a diverse mix of land ownerships, land use allocations, and environments. Three different management scenarios were developed from public input: (1) no management except wildfire suppression on federally managed lands, (2) manage Federal lands to increase multistory forests of large and very large trees, and (3) manage Federal lands to move toward historical conditions. All scenarios treated privately owned...

Analysis of aerial photography is perhaps the best way to assess changes in landcover conditions. In the United States, most national forests have repeat photography on approximately a 10-year cycle. Analysis of this rich photo record can reveal changes in insect damage, fuels buildup, unmanaged off-highway vehicle use, loss of open space, and other land-cover conditions. Current technologies now allow Forest Service employees to input photos into a geographic information system (GIS) accurately and easily, and important changes can be documented, analyzed, and evaluated within the GIS....

An operational system to forecast infestation trends (increasing, static, declining) and relative population levels (high, moderate, low) of the southern pine beetle (SPB), Dendroctonus frontalis, has been implemented in the Southern and Eastern United States. Numbers of dispersing SPB and those of a major predator (the clerid beetle, Thanasimus dubius) are monitored with multiple-funnel traps baited with the SPB aggregation pheromone frontalin and host volatiles. One to three traps are placed in each county or national forest ranger district to be surveyed for 4 consecutive weeks during...

Growing evidence from around the globe indicates that anthropogenic factors including pollution-induced acidification, associated aluminum mobility, and nitrogen saturation are disrupting natural nutrient cycles and depleting base cations from forest ecosystems. Although cation depletion can have varied and interacting influences on ecosystem function, it is the loss of calcium (Ca) that may be particularly limiting to tree health and productivity. Calcium plays unique roles in plant cell function, including environmental signal transduction processes that allow cells to sense and respond...

A major epidemic of oak wilt, caused by Ceratocystis fagacearum (Bretz) Hunt, has been killing trees in Central Texas for at least 40 years. This has created large and expanding canopy gaps in the vast, homogenous live oak woodlands (Quercus fusiformis Small) in the Edwards Plateau region of Texas. The changes in stand structure may have detrimental consequences for an endangered migratory songbird, the golden-cheeked warbler (GCW, Dendroica chrysoparia Sclater & Salvin). More information is needed to assess the direct impact of oak wilt on the GCW and how oak wilt control measures might...

Government agencies, industrial landowners, and private landowners often strive to maintain soil quality after site management activities in order to maintain site productivity, hydrologic function, and ecosystem health. Soil disturbance resulting from timber harvesting, prescribed fire, or site preparation activities can cause declines, improvements, or have no effect on site productivity and hydrologic function. In many cases, detailed soil resource data can be used to determine the stress level and ecosystem health of stands and may be one method used to determine the risk of disease or...

Scientists, land managers and policy makers discussed whether riparian (stream side) forest management and policy for state, federal and private lands in western Washington are consistent with current science. Answers were mixed: some aspects of riparian policy and management have a strong basis in current science, while other aspects may not. Participants agreed that the same body of science, originally synthesized by the Forest Ecosystem Management Team (FEMAT) report in 1993, underlies most current federal, state and private land policy and management of riparian areas.

Risk is a combined statement of the probability that something of value will be damaged and some measure of the damage’s adverse effect. Wildfires burning in the uncharacteristic fuel conditions now typical throughout the Western United States can damage ecosystems and adversely affect environmental conditions. Wildfire behavior can be modified by prefire fuel treatments, thereby reducing risks to firefighters, structures, and ecosystems, but such projects pose their own environmental risks. To support fuels treatment decisions, environmental analysis of alternatives is generally required,...

Forest land conversion leads to ecological effects (e.g., changes in water quality and wildlife habitat) and socioeconomic effects (e.g., expanding urban-forest interface, reduced long-term timber production possibilities and loss of open space). Socioeconomic drivers of land use change such as population totals and personal income levels have increased substantially since World War II. Human land use is the primary force driving changes in forest ecosystem attributes. Land use changes affecting forests since 1990 have been heavily concentrated in the South. Nationwide, more than 60...

Finding alternative uses for raw material from small-diameter trees is a critical problem throughout the United States. In western states, a lack of markets for small-diameter ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) and lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta ) can contribute to problems associated with overstocking. To test the feasibility of producing structural composite lumber (SCL) beams from these two western species, we used a new technology called steam-pressed scrim lumber (SPSL) based on scrimming technology developed in Australia.