Treesearch

A concern among land managers is land use. Who is using the land? What is it being used for? Is the amount of farm and forest land lost to development really increasing? Research forester and economist Jeff Kline and research forester Ralph Alig at the PNW Research Station are conducting studies to answer questions about land development in western Oregon and Washington.A key finding of that research includes the projections of land use through 2050 indicate an increase in urban lands of 31.5 percent in western Oregon and 34.4 percent in western Washington. Potential reduction in the area...

Many elk populations in the Northwest are declining (20 to 40 percent or more). Why? Nobody really knows. But the situation calls for a more explicit understanding of the influence of habitat management on elk herd demography and productivity. John Cook and Larry Irwin, scientists with the National Council of the Paper Industry for Air and Stream Improvement; Larry Bryant and Jack Ward Thomas, scientists formerly with the PNW Research Station; and Bob Riggs, wildlife biologist with Boise Cascade Corporation, conducted a 4-year study in the Blue Mountains of northeast Oregon to clarify elk...

Although the dwarf mistletoes (Arceuthobium spp., Viscaceae) are widespread and common parasites of Pinaceae in the United States and Mexico, only five species are known from Central America: Arceuthobium aureum ssp. aureum, A. globosum ssp. grandicaule, A. guatemalense, A. hawksworthii and A. hondurense. Some of these taxa are considered to be among the rarest dwarf mistletoes in the Western Hemisphere. Another species, A. nigrum, has been reported from western Guatemala and Chiapas. As discussed below, we now have morphological and molecular evidence that show a close relationship...

A multiperiod, regional, mathematical programming economic model is used to evaluate the potential economic impacts of global climatic change on the US forest sector. A wide range of scenarios for the biological response of forests to climate change are developed, ranging from small to large changes in forest growth rates. These scenarios are simulated in the economic forest sector model and results are summarized in response functions that may be used instead of rerunning the model as improved or altered biological response scenarios arise. The response functions are used to characterize...

This paper reviews recent studies that have addressed how US timber markets may adapt to climate change, and how US forests could be used to mitigate potential climate change. The studies are discussed in light of the ecological and economic assumptions used to estimate adaptation. Estimates of both economic impacts and carbon sequestration costs depend heavily on the assumptions and methods used, although some general conclusions can be drawn. Studies of economic impacts suggest that average market effects in the United States may range from +$1.3 to +7.4 billion per year by the middle of...

A model of the U.S. forestry and agricultural sectors is used to simulate the consequences of growing short-rotation woody crops on agricultural lands as a fiber source for pulp and paper production. Hybrid poplar, a short-rotation woody crop, annually produces 4 to 7 dry tons per acre of hardwood pulpwood over a 6- to 10-year rotation. When harvested, the material competes with pulpwood from traditional forests. The model- estimated optimal acreage varies from 1.5 to 2.8 million acres, less than 1 percent of cultivated U.S. cropland and less than 1 percent of U.S. existing timberland....

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. View an updated online version of this publication with downloadable excel files athttps://www.fs.usda.gov/pnw/ppet/.

From 1996 through 1999, field tests of various engraver beetle (Ips perturbatus (Eichhoff)) semiochemicals in funnel traps were conducted in south-central and interior Alaska in stands of Lutz (Picea xlutzii Little) and white spruce (P.glauca (Moench) Voss). The European spruce beetle (I. typographus (L.)) is believed to be taxonomically similar to I. perturbatus. Commercially available European spruce beetle lures, which include 2-methyl-3buten-2-ol, however, were no more attractive to I. perturbatus than the combination of racemic ipsdienol and 83%-(+)-cis-verbenol. The addition of...

We collected 490 and 233 fire scars on two ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa)/Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) dominated landscapes on the east slope of the Washington Cascades that contained a record of 3901 and 2309 cross-dated fire events. During the pre-settlement period (1700/1750±1860), the Weibull median fire-free interval (WMFFI) and the mean firefree interval (MFFI) were 6.6±7 years at both sites. The MFFI during the settlement period (1860±1910) varied within 3 years of the pre-settlement value, but increased to 38 and 43 years for a truncated fire suppression period between...

An innovative, knowledge-based partnership between research scientists and resource managers in the U.S. Forest Service provided the foundation upon which the Forest Plan was developed that will guide management on the Tongass National Forest for the next 10-15 years. Criteria developed by the scientists to evaluate if management decisions were consistent with the available information base were applied to major components of the emerging final management strategy for the Forest. While the scientists remained value neutral on the contents of the Forest Plan and the management directions...