Treesearch

We present Mapcurves, a quantitative goodness-of-fit (GOF) method that unambiguously shows the degree of spatial concordance between two or more categorical maps. Mapcurves graphically and quantitatively evaluate the degree of fit among any number of maps and quantify a GOF for each polygon, as well as the entire map. The Mapcurve method indicates a perfect fit even if all polygons in one map are comprised of unique sets of the polygons in another map, if the coincidence among map categorhttp://srs.fs.usda.gov/kns/pubs_be/addpub_pnw.jspies is absolute. It is not necessary to interpret (or...

This Report traces the flow of Oregon’s 2003 timber harvest through the primary timber-processing industry and describes its structure, operations and condition. Pulp and board, lumber, and plywood and veer sectors accounted for 96 percent of total industry sales of $6.7 billion. Oregon’s 2003 timber harvest of just over 4 billion board feet was 95 percent softwood species; 65 percent of the total was Douglas-fir. As a result of improved technology, lumber overrun increased 32 percent since 1988 to 2.07 board feet lumber tally per board foot Scribner of timber input. Despite decrease in...

Variable-retention has been proposed as a way to mitigate the effects of timber harvest on biological diversity, particularly lateseral species (FRANKLIN et al., 1997). In the context of silvicultural systems, variable retention harvests represent a regeneration cut because the primary objective is to regenerate the stand without clearcutting. In its implementation, variable-retention bears strong resemblance to the classical system of shelterwood with reserves (MATTHEWS, 1991). Past experience with traditional systems, therefore, can help with the design of new treatments that target...

In spring 2004 and 2005, sawmill capacity and wood utilization information was collected for selected mills in southeast Alaska. The collected information is required to prepare information for compliance with Section 705(a) of the Tongass Timber Reform Act. The total capacity in the region (active and inactive mills) was 370,350 thousand board feet (mbf) Scribner log scale during both calendar years (CYs) 2003 and 2004. The capacity of active mills for the same periods was 255,350 mbf. This is a 7.4-percent increase in active capacity from CY 2002 (237,850 mbf) to CY 2004. The actual...

Integrated research is about achieving holistic understanding of complex biophysical and social issues and problems. It is driven by the need to improve understanding about such systems and to improve resource management by using the results of integrated research processes. Traditional research tends to fragment complex problems, focusing more on the pieces of problems rather than the whole that comprises multiple interrelationships and interactions. The outcome is that a lot is known about the parts (e.g., recreation, fish, and wildlife) but relatively little about how they are interrelat...

The silvicultural practice of pruning juvenile stems is a value-adding operation due to the formation of knot-free wood after the pruned branch stubs have healed. However it is not until after the log has been processed that the added value is realized. The motivation for this paper stems from wanting to extract as much of that added value as possible while minimizing scanning costs and data requirements. In this paper we test the hypothesis that increased value can be attained when the cutting strategy is based on a measure of the defect core (DC) size as opposed to a measure of log size....

Despite considerable public debate in recent years on the practice of postfire logging, few studies have directly evaluated its effects. Soil disturbance and hill-slope sediment transport were measured after a postfire logging operation conducted two years after the 1996 Summit Wildfire (Malheur National Forest), in northeastern Oregon. The wildfire was relatively severe, killing an average of 86% of the trees in experimental units, and leaving an average of 34% mineral soil exposed one year after the fire. Soil disturbance was measured both pre- and postharvest in four replicate units in...

We studied northern flying squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus) demography in the eastern Washington Cascade Range to test hypotheses about regional and local abundance patterns and to inform managers of the possible effects of fire and fuels management on flying squirrels. We quantified habitat characteristics and squirrel density, population trends, and demography in three typical forest cover types over a four-year period. We had 2034 captures of flying squirrels over 41 000 trap nights from 1997 through 2000 and marked 879 squirrels for mark-recapture population analysis. Ponderosa pine...

Many communities located near high amenity public lands are growing rapidly (McGranahan 2005). The phenomenon behind the change is amenity migration-the relocation of people to areas rich in environmental and cultural resources and recreation opportunities (Johnson and Beale 2002, McCool and Kruger 2003; Green, Deller, and Marcouiller 2006). Migrants often visit an area as tourists and return as seasonal or intermittent visitors. Moving to these areas provides migrants with easier access to wilderness, recreation opportunities and a higher quality of life. They become permanent residents...

Comparisons of natural and managed forests suggest that single-focus management of 2nd growth is unlikely to achieve broad conservation goals because biocomplexity is important to ecosystem capacity to produce useful goods and services. Biocomplexity includes species composition, the absolute and relative abundances of those species, and their arrangement in space (for example, trees and shrubs of various species, sizes, vigor, and decay states). Key to high biocomplexity is patchiness at the appropriate spatial scale (for example, 0.1 to 0.5 ha). Passive management (benign neglect) does...