Treesearch

Quantitative metrics of horizontal and vertical structural attributes in eastside old-growth ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa P. and C. Lawson var. ponderosa) forests were measured to guide the design of restoration prescriptions. The age, size structure, and the spatial patterns were investigated in old-growth ponderosa pine forests at three protected study areas east of the crest of the Cascade Range: Metolius Research Natural Area and Pringle Butte Research Natural Area in central Oregon and Blacks Mountain Experimental Forest in northern California. The three study areas represented...

The Starkey Experimental Forest and Range. (Starkey) is a one-of-a-kind, world class research facility, located in the Blue Mountains of northeastern Oregon. Starkey is the primary field location for scientific study of the effects of deer, elk, and cattle on ecosystems. Most of the 28,000-acre forest and range is enclosed by a game-proof fence.The research project on ungulates (hoofed mammals) is conducted jointly by the USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest (PNW) Research Station and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. Other research at Starkey includes studies on forest managemen...

Controversy over timber harvesting continues, and public perception of timber harvest has become increasingly important in the debate over land management decisions. However, forest management alternatives are often framed in terms to which the public cannot easily relate, such as "millions of board feet", or terms that trigger a preconceived negative response, such as “harvesting,” which brings to mind clearcutting.In contrast to attitudes toward timber harvesting, most people are quite positively attuned to wildlife, in particular to songbirds. But the public has very little knowledge...

How population growth and development affect forests is a shared concern among forest managers, policymakers, land use planners, and fish and wildlife specialists. Of particular interest is the "wildland-urban interface." It is characterized by expansion of residential and other developed land uses onto forest landscapes in a manner that threatens the ecological and socioeconomic value of forests. Oregon has experienced gradual but steady population growth for several years, with most growth occurring in urban areas. However, some development has taken place in more rural, forest settings....

Evolutionary processes can be strongly affected by landscape features. In vagile carnivores that disperse widely, however, genetic structure has been found to be minimal. Using microsatellite DNA primers developed for other mustelids, we found that populations of a vagile forest carnivore, the fisher (Martes pennanti), exhibit high genetic structure (FST=0.45, SE=0.07) and limited gene flow (Nm < 1) within a >1600 km narrow strip of forested habitat; that genetic diversity decreases from core to periphery; and that populations do not show an equilibrium pattern of isolation by distance....

The web of life that exists below ground and out of sight may be the final frontier for forest ecologists. Among the many unknowns in this realm are the thousands of species of so-called ectomycorrhizal fungi, those fungi that have mutual-need associations with both trees and mammals.The richness and diversity of ectomycorrhizal fungi species contribute directly to biodiversity, and also have a significant impact on forest function through their interactions with other species. These fungi are extremely difficult to survey and identify; however, recent Station research has established...

In 1910, Thornton T. Munger, the first director of the PNW Research Station, established the first forested permanent study plot in the Pacific Northwest. He recognized that long-term field observation was the only approach that could provide real data on forest dynamics, which occur over time scales longer than human lifespans.For the next 80 years, Station scientists established additional plots and continued plot measurements throughout the region. The majority of plots were established in natural, closed canopy forests, unaffected by harvest. Currently the Pacific Northwest Research...

The flow of a mountain stream is difficult to follow, especially when it weaves in and out of the channel, flowing through streambanks and seeping through the streambed. Flowing belowground, the stream water mixes with ground water in the riparian aquifer before reemerging in the channel, sometime later and somewhere further downstream. Underground, the water undergoes filtration, nutrient cycling, and temperature moderation. In addition, the belowground environment, called the hyporheic zone, provides habitat for a diversity of aquatic organisms.The hidden nature of the hyporheic zone has...

When the Northwest Forest Plan became law via the record of decision in 1994, it contained an unprecedented provision for conducting regionwide surveys of poorly known and usually ignored taxa, such as fungi, mollusks, lichens, and mosses. The purpose was to enhance the very limited understanding of persistence issues for these taxa and, thereafter, to develop science-based management recommendations. The surveys represented an adaptive management mitigation put in place to protect more than 400 species of apparently rare, old-growth-associated species. The challenge of accomplishing this...

Tree squirrels in the Pacific Northwest are part of a keystone complex that includes ectomycorrhizal fungi, Douglas-fir, and spotted owls. All three squirrel species—the northern flying squirrel, the Douglas' squirrel, and the Townsend’s squirrel—consume truffles produced by fungal partners of important tree species. The squirrels then spread the spores of these fungi throughout the forest in their feces. The fungi are important to the growth and health of many Northwest tree species. Squirrels, in their turn, are major prey for vertebrate predators in the forest, including threatened and...