Treesearch

In August 20-23, 2004, a conference was held in Kamilche, WA, with the title “Productivity of Western Forests: A Forest Products Focus.” The meeting brought together researchers and practitioners interested in discussing the economic and biological factors influencing wood production and value. One of the underlying assumptions of the meeting organizers was that management activities would be practiced within a framework of sustaining or improving site productivity; thus, several papers deal with methods to protect or improve productivity or discuss new studies designed to test the effects...

The Columbia spotted frog (Rana luteiventris) is one of several amphibians in the Western United States experiencing population declines. The breeding, postbreeding, and overwintering habitat and ecology of this species were investigated in 10 study sites in northeastern Oregon from 1997 through 2004. A variety of habitats with permanent water were used as breeding sites and as postbreeding habitat during the summer. Ice-covered ponds, warm springs, rivers, and seeps in forested habitats were used for overwintering. Diet consisted of a wide variety of mollusks and arthropods with beetles,...

In 1997, scientists at the Pacific Northwest Research Station initiated several social science studies in response to information gaps identified while developing the Tongass Land Management Plan. Results presented here summarize findings from studies of demographic trends and tourism trends in the region based on data available through 2002. Demographic trends suggest that despite having many unique geographic, climatic, and physical characteristics, southeast Alaska exhibits many social conditions and trends similar to those statewide, as well as in the greater United States and nonmetrop...

The 2003 symposium of systems analysis in forest resources brought together researchers and practitioners who apply methods of optimization, simulation, management science, and systems analysis to forestry problems. This was the 10th symposium in the series, with previous conferences held in 1975, 1985, 1988, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1997, 2000, and 2002. The forty-two papers in these proceedings are organized into five application areas: (1) sustainability, criteria and indicators, and assessment; (2) techniques and decision support for forest planning; (3) forest assessment and planning case...

Over the past 25 years, renewable resource assessments have addressed demand, supply, and inventory of various renewable resources in increasingly sophisticated fashion, including simulation and optimization analyses of area changes in land uses (e.g., urbanization) and land covers (e.g., plantations vs. naturally regenerated forests). This synthesis reviews related research over the more than two decades since area projection modeling systems replaced expert opinion approaches in the national Resources Planning Act (RPA) assessments, as part of state of the art approaches for regional and...

This report summarizes resource statistics for eastern Oregon's juniper forests, which are in Baker, Crook, Deschutes, Gilliam, Grant, Harney, Jefferson, Klamath, Lake, Malheur, Morrow, Sherman, Umatilla, Union, Wallowa, Wasco, and Wheeler Counties. We sampled all ownerships outside of the National Forest System; we report the statistics on juniper forest on national forest lands by using data from the national forest, Pacific Northwest Region inventory. Statistical tables summarize the area covered by juniper trees and juniper forest, wood volume, and numbers of trees, by ownership and...

The USDA Forest Service has had a longstanding presence in utilization, economics, and social sciences research and development activities. The magnitude and diversity of these activities have changed as the questions and the people asking them have changed over the past century. These changes challenge the social science and utilization research community to develop this collective research agenda for utilization, economics, and social sciences research and development activities conducted by the Forest Service. It sets the context for the utilization, economics, and social sciences...

This paper reviews purposes and procedures for establishing and maintaining permanent plots for silvicultural and yield research, sampling and plot design, common errors, and procedures for measuring and recording data. It is a revision and update of a 1983 publication. Although some details are specific to coastal Pacific Northwest conditions, most of the material is widely applicable.

Rivers and streams that support anadromous salmonids are an important part of land management planning in southeastern Alaska and the Pacific Northwest of North America. Land managers and planners require a consistent set of protocols that include both the physical and biological aspects of the stream for effectiveness monitoring procedures to evaluate management activities in tbrested watersheds. We apply a quantitative method to estimate salmonid populations and link these estimates to a set of physical variables used in an assessment of channel condition at the reach scale. We are able...

Forest and rangeland fire was once a common land management tool. Native Americans as well as early settlers and prospectors used fire for various purposes. But as the country gradually filled with more settlers, and as forest resources became more precious, fire began to be viewed as more of a problem than a tool.