Treesearch

Western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) can be characterized by localized regions of high-moisture-content wood, often referred to as wet pockets, and uneven drying conditions may occur when lumber of higher and lower moisture content is mixed together in a dry kiln. The primary objective of this preliminary study was to characterize the frequency and extent of wet pockets (wetwood) in western hemlock lumber sawn from trees harvested near Sitka, Alaska. Nine western hemlock logs were sampled from three trees, ranging in diameter from approximately 10 to 18 inches. Forty-five boards were...

The contributions for over 80 years by scientists at the Pacific Northwest Research Station to developments in economic theory, economic tools, policies, and economic issues are summarized. This is a story of progressive accomplishments set against a constantly changing background of economic and social events.

We conducted a literature review to document the effects of linear recreation routes on focal wildlife species. We identified a variety of interactions between focal species and roads, motorized trails, and nonmotorized trails. We used the available science to develop simple geographic information system-based models to evaluate the cumulative effects of recreational routes on habitats for focal wildlife species for a portion of the Okanogan and Wenatchee National Forests in the state of Washington. This process yielded a basis for the consistent evaluation of the cumulative effects of...

We examine socioeconomic factors affecting water demand and expected trends in these factors. Based on these trends, we identify past, current, and projected withdrawal of surface water for various uses in Pacific Coast States (California, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington), including public, domestic, commercial, industrial, thermoelectric, livestock, and irrigation. Additionally, we identify projected demands for nonconsumptive instream recreational uses of water, such as boating, swimming, and fishing, which can compete with consumptive uses. Allocating limited water resources across...

How do we promote resistance to disturbance, resilience when disturbance does occur, and forest health in general when forests and landscapes are actively managed for a variety values? How do we manage for sustainability when humans and their consumption patterns are munching up the earth at alarming rates? How do we move beyond the now-controversial ideas of reserves and connecting corridors, the centerpiece of the Northwest Forest Plan? New theories about how ecosystems renew themselves suggest some possible pathways from here to there. The development of panarchy theory, for example,...

Despite abundant forest resources in the state, the Alaska forest products industry declined throughout the 1990s and early 21st century. In a state with lots of trees, mills are going out of business and most finished lumber used in the state is imported from the lower 48 United States and Canada. The Alaska Wood Utilization Research and Development Center (Wood Utilization Center) was established in 1999, as part of the USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest (PNW) Research Station. Its goal was “to put the value in value-added,” as one observer said—finding technological and economic...

We are re-addressing species concepts in the Rhizopogon vinicolor species complex (Boletales, Basidiomycota) using sequence data from the interna transcribed spacer (ITS) region of the nuclear ribosomal repeat, as well as genoLypic data from five microsatellite loci. The R. vinicolor species complex by our definition includes, but is not limited to, collections referred to as R vinicolor Smith, R. diabolicus Smith, R. ochraceisporus Smith, R. parvulus Smith or R vesiculosus Smith. Holo- and/or paratype material for the named species is included. Analyses of both ITS sequences and microsatel...

For much of the world's forested area, the history of fire has significant implications for understanding forest dynamics over stand to regional scales. We analyzed temporal patterns of area burned at 25-year intervals over a 600-year period, using 10 treering-based fire history studies located west of the crest of the Cascade Range in the Pacific Northwest (PNW), USA, and related them to periods of possible influences of humans, climate, and stand development processes. An early period of widespread fire from the 1400s to ca. 1650 was followed by a period of reduced area burned from ca....

We have developed microsatellite markers for two sister species of Rhizopogon, R. vesiculosus and R. vinicolor (Boletales, Basidiomycota), and used selected markers to investigate genet size and distribution from ectomycorrhizal samples. Both species form ectomycorrhizas with tuberculate morphology on Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii). Tuberculate ectomycorrhizas were sampled and mapped in two 10 x 10 m core plots located at Mary's Peak in the Oregon Coast Range and at Mill Creek in the Oregon Cascade Mountains, USA; additional samples were obtained from a larger area surrounding the...

Measuring tree height is a time-consuming process. Often, tree diameter is measured and height is estimated from a published regression model. Trees used to develop these models are clustered into stands, but this structure is ignored and independence is assumed. In this study, hierarchical linear models that account explicitly for the clustered structure of the data are compared with model forms currently used in forestry. The data consist of 1433 Douglas firs from 99 Oregon stands measured in 2000, and an independent evaluation dataset of similar size measured in 2001. Overall model...