Treesearch

Large commercial crops of morels are harvested annually from montane coniferous forests of the Northwestern United States. Although some morels fruit annually in nondisturbed forests, others fruit copiously in areas experiencing fire, insect infestations, tree mortality, and soil disturbance. Many forest managers currently use thinning and prescribed fire to re-create forest conditions that existed before the advent of wide-scale fire suppression; thus opportunities exist to promote morel crops while achieving fire control and timber production goals. However, our limited understanding of...

The 1925 Wind River spacing test is the earliest field trial seeking to determine the most appropriate spacing for planting Douglas-fir. Spacing treatments were not replicated, although individual spacings were subsampled by two to four tree-measurement plots. Previously, greater growth occurred at the wider spacings (10 and 12 ft) than at the closer spacings (4, 5, 6, and 8 ft). We considered three possible explanations: (1) close spacing eventually retarded growth, (2) soil quality may be better in the 10- and 12-ft spacings than at closer spacings, and (3) tree spacing and soil quality...

Remote sensing, geographic information systems, and modeling have combined to produce a virtual explosion of growth in ecological investigations and applications that are explicitly spatial and temporal. Of all remotely sensed data, those acquired by landsat sensors have played the most pivotal role in spatial and temporal scaling. Modern terrestrial ecology relies on remote sensing for modeling biogeochemical cycles and for characterizing land cover, vegetation biophysical attributes, forest structure, and fragmentation in relation to biodiversity. Given the more than 30-year record of...

A set of peat column experiments was used to determine the transport potential of lead (Pb) and diesel range organics (DRO) in palustrine slope wetlands near Juneau, AK. This project is important to southeast Alaskan communities because limited land resources are forcing development of regional wetlands. This study was instigated by concerns that proposed modifications to a nearby rifle range using DRO-contaminated soil posed a potential risk to an anadromous fish-bearing stream 250 m from the site. Three pairs of peat columns were extracted from the rifle range for analysis, one pair...

Rocky Mountain elk (Cervus elaphus) populations in some areas of northeastern Oregon have experienced declines in spring calf to cow ratios of nearly 80 percent over the last 40 years. Among the potential causes of these declines, the effects of age of male sires and the nutritional condition of females on conception dates and pregnancy rates have received the most attention from biologists and wildlife managers. Reliance on younger males as primary breeders can result in later conceptions and a prolonged rut period (Follis 1972; Hines and Lemos 1979; Noyes et al. 1996, 2002). Mechanisms...

Hunting can exert a variety of effects on both targeted and nontargeted ungulates, and animals either run or hide in response to hunting pressure. If animals successfully elude hunters by running, the energetic cost may deplete fat reserves needed for survival during winter in temperate regions. If animals successfully elude hunters by hiding, there may be an energetic cost from lost foraging opportunities.

Provides current information on lumber and plywood production and prices; employment in the forest industries; international trade in logs, lumber, and plywood; volume and average prices of stumpage sold by public agencies; and other related items. Current data and downloadable Excel files are available online.

A large-scale operational study has been undertaken to investigate variable density management in conjunction with riparian buffers as a means to accelerate development of late-seral habitat, facilitate rare species management, and maintain riparian functions in 40-70 year-old headwater forests in western Oregon, USA. Upland variable retention treatments include matrices of four thinning intensities embedded with patch openings and leave islands. Additionally, four types of streamside buffer delineation are being examined. The study includes 13 sites, each averaging about 100 hectares....

This report summarizes an inventory of chaparral-dominated lands in southern California conducted during the mid-1990s and provides a review of contemporary literature on the ecological dynamics of chaparral vegetation with emphases on stand development, species composition, and the role of fire. Detailed tables provide estimates of chaparral area by owner, type, size, and cover, and, for lands outside national forests, area by fire-hazard class and 10-year change in chaparral area.

A suite of large-scale silvicultural experiments has been established to develop and assess operational silviculture options for the Pacific Northwest Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii [Mirb.] Franco vat. menziesii) forests. This paper summarizes three such studies that focus on three major stages in the life of managed stands - early development, midrotation, and regeneration harvest. Development of silvicultural treatments that are needed, to restore and maintain Oregon white oak (Quercus garryana Dougl. ex Hook.) within mixed-species stands in western Oregon and Washington are also...