Treesearch

The decisions of natural resource managers are not simply scientific issues but involve fundamental questions of ethics. Conflicts in fisheries management, forestry, and other applied sciences arise from social and economic factors that affect natural resource values. Administrative processes, cost-benefit analyses, and various management "myths" have been constructed to avoid responsibility for difficult value-based decisions. Through these and other means, individuals and organizational systems tend to "filter" information to minimize conflict. The duty to inform the public of the...

The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act established 13 Native corporations in southeast Alaska. There are 12 "village" corporations and 1 "regional" corporation (Sealaska Corporation). The Native corporations were entitled to select about 540,000 acres of land out of the Tongass National Forest; about 95 percent have been conveyed. This study reviews Native corporation timber resources, harvests to date, and projected future harvest levels. Publicly available data on the volume of timber conveyed to Native corporations are subject to a wide margin of error. Estimates based on USDA Forest...

National Forests in the Pacific Northwest Region have incorporated elk habitat standards into Forest plans to ensure that elk habitat objectives are met on multiple use land allocations. Many Forests have employed versions of the habitat effectiveness index (HEI) as a standard method to evaluate habitat. Field application of the HEI model unfortunately is a formidable problem, owing largely to the detailed calculations of "spacing bands" that describe the spatial arrangement of forage and cover areas. This paper describes a DOS microcomputer program that automates the calculation of HEI....

Forest Service air resource managers in the Pacific Northwest are responsible for protecting class I wilderness areas from air pollution. To do this, they need scientifically defensible information to determine critical concentrations of air pollution having the potential to impact class I wilderness values. This report documents the results of a workshop where current information on air pollution effects on aquatic and terrestrial resources and visibility was gathered from participating scientists and managers. Critical air pollution concentrations were determined for sulfur dioxide,...

The effect of seed weight on nursery seedling height was analyzed in two experiments. In expt. 1, 16 seeds per family from 111 families were individually weighed and sown in autumn. In expt. 2, a second group of 16 seeds were individually weighed and stratified and sown in spring. Four-tree noncontiguous family plots were randomly assigned to two densities in two replications in each experiment. Date of emergence and duration and rate of shoot elongation were determined over 2 years of growth. Seedlings in expt. 1 were exposed to damaging frost after emergence; some seedlings in expt. 2...

This paper describes the operation of the microcomputer program HEIWEST, which was developed to automate calculation of the western Oregon elk habitat effectiveness index (HEI). HEIWEST requires little or no training to operate and vastly simplifies the task of measuring HEI for either site-specific project analysis or long-term monitoring of elk habitat. It is especially useful as a project analysis tool where many silvicultural alternatives are evaluated for their effects on elk habitat. The program also can be used to calculate interior habitat and edge length for indices for forest...

The Alaska vegetation classification presented here is a comprehensive, statewide system that has been under development since 1976. The classification is based, as much as possible, on the characteristics of the vegetation itself and is designed to categorize existing vegetation, not potential vegetation. A hierarchical system with five levels of resolution is used for classifying Alaska vegetation. The system, an agglomerative one, starts with 888 known Alaska plant communities, which are listed and referenced. At the broadest level of resolution, the system contains three formations-fore...

The rooting percentages of 14 Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco) clones were examined annually from 1974 to 1988. The trees were 10 and 13 years old in 1974 and were pruned to 2.0 m in 1978 and 1979 and then recut annually to 0.5, 1.0, or 1.5 m, starting in 1983. The pruned trees showed no evidence of decreased rooting percentage even after 15 years; average rooting increased from 0.5 m tall ramets exhibited better rooting than cuttings from 1.0 or 2.0 m tall ramets, and cuttings from 1.0 m tall ramets rooted better than cuttings from 2.0 m tall ramets. Rooting of cuttings...

The 1730-ha Serpentine Slide Research Natural Area (RNA) is located in central Alaska in the White Mountains National Recreation Area. It is managed by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Steese-White Mountains District. Serpentine Slide was selected as a Research Natural Area (RNA) because it contains an alpine exposure of serpentinite; a 9-ha natural earth flow that has destroyed most vegetation in its path; bottom-land white spruce and balsam poplar forests growing on coarse gravels and sands of a major clearwater river flood plain; and warm, dry hill...

A series of experiments was conducted over 4 years to test and develop methods to produce acceptable red alder planting stock and to assess quality and outplanting performance of resulting stock. Results indicated that red alder planting stock can be produced as containerized seedlings (plugs) or as bare-root nontransplant and transplant trees. In general, bare-root stock is larger and, hence, preferred over containerized trees, especially for planting on harsh sites or on any site where time considerations are important.