Treesearch

This monograph is an examination of the experience in the Pacific Northwest implementing the Northwest Forest Plan, Economic Adjustment Initiative (NWEAI). First, a brief description of the NWEAI background and framework, and a socioeconomic overview of the region prior to the NWEAI provide the setting. Next, accounts of the NWEAI experience in each of the three states in the region; a chapter on the NWEAI impact on people and communities’ and a review of field level efforts to implement business, local government, and ecosystem management projects build a comprehensive picture of the...

The guide describes use of the NetWeaver knowledge base development system. Knowledge representation in NetWeaver is based on object-oriented fuzzy-logic networks that offer several significant advantages over the more traditional rulebased representation. Compared to rule-based knowledge bases, NetWeaver knowledge bases are easier to build, test, and maintain because the underlying object-based representation makes them modular. The modularity of NetWeaver knowledge bases, in turn, allows designers to gradually evolve complex knowledge bases from simpler ones in small, simple steps....

This strategic plan is a technical discussion of the implementation and development of models and data systems used to manage the air quality impacts of wildland and prescribed fires. Strategies and priorities in the plan were generated by the Express Team (chartered by the National Wildfire Coordinating Group) and a diverse group of 86 subject matter experts who attended a national planning workshop. Air pollution from fires used to manage ecosystems is an issue in many parts of the country. Land managers are rapidly expanding the use of fire for managing ecosystems, while air resource...

This paper presents the historic trends and future projections of forest, farm, and urban land uses for the Lake States of Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Since the 1950s, forest and farm land have been decreasing, and urban and other land uses have been increasing throughout the Lake States. Forest, crop, and pasture land have decreased in the region by 3.2, 5.4, and 4.0 million acres, respectively, whereas urban and other land uses have increased by 2.1 and 10.3 million acres, respectively. These decreases and increases were most pronounced during the 1950s and 1980s. Land trends and...

Tree improvement programs have generally relied on testing families in open light environments. With increased interest in multiaged silvicultural systems, some people have questioned whether families selected in the open are appropriate for planting in the shade. We grew Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco var. menziesii) families from two climatically distinct seed sources for 2 years under four levels of shade. The response to shade differed for several traits between the two populations and among families within populations. The magnitude of variation associated with the...

Landscapes administered for timber production by the U.S. Forest Service in the Pacific Northwest in the 1950s-1980s were managed with dispersed patch clearcutting, and then briefly in the late 1980s with aggregated patch clearcutting. In the late 1990s, use of historical landscape patterns and disturbance regimes as a guide for landscape management has emerged as an alternative to the static reserves and standard matrix prescriptions in the Northwest Forest Plan. Use of historical information to guide management recognizes the dynamic and variable character of the landscape and may offer...

Conservation of biodiversity provides for economic, social, and environmental sustainability. Intentional management is designed to manage conflicts among groups with conflicting interests. Our goal was to ascertain if intentional management and principles of conservation of biodiversity could be combined into upland and riparian forest management strategies that would be applicable to various land ownerships and, consequently, help resolve land allocation problems associated with timber supply and threatened wildlife. We used computer simulations to model three divergent management...

Although the phrase, "planting for ecosystem restoration," is of recent origin, many of the earliest large-scale tree plantings were made for what we now refer to as "'restoration" or "conservation" goals. Forest restoration activities may be needed when ecosystems are disturbed by either natural or anthropogenic forces. Disturbances can impact (1) basic components of the system (e.g., plant and animal composition, soil pools, and atmospheric pools), (2) ecosystem processes, i.e., interactions among basic components, or (3) both components and processes. Early efforts at restoration or...

Management activities of the 20th century, especially fire exclusion, timber harvest, and domestic livestock grazing, have significantly modified vegetation spatial patterns of forests and ranges in the interior Columbia basin. Compositional patterns as well as patterns of living and dead structure have changed. Dramatic change in vital ecosystem processes such as fire, insect, and pathogen disturbances, succession, and plant and animal migration is linked to recent change in vegetation patterns. Recent change in vegetation patterns is also a primary reason for current low viability and...

The effect of a fuels reduction treatment on small mammals was investigated in lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) and mixed conifer stands by trapping and track surveys in northeastern Oregon. The number of red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) and snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus) tracks decreased in all lodgepole pine treatments after harvest. Only two snowshoe hare tracks were detected in harvested stands of mixed conifer, compared with 46 tracks in unharvested stands. In most treatments the number of red-backed voles (Clethrionomys gapperi) decreased and chipmunks (Tamius spp.) increased...