Treesearch

Implementation of wildfire- and climate-adaptation strategies in seasonally dry forests of western North America is impeded by numerous constraints and uncertainties. After more than a century of resource and land use change, some question the need for proactive management, particularly given novel social, ecological, and climatic conditions. To address this question, we first provide a framework for assessing changes in landscape conditions and fire regimes. Using this framework, we then evaluate evidence of change in contemporary conditions relative to those maintained by active fire...

In young Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco var. menziesii) stands, intensive forest management has resulted in variable responses in survival and growth and therefore stand biomass due to effects on microclimate and competition for limited resources. As seedling genetics and management practices develop over time, there is a need to re-evaluate how Douglas-fir survival and growth varies with intensive practices. Five-year Douglas-fir diameter at 15 cm (D15) and height growth, biomass, and nitrogen (N) pools after organic matter removals and soil compaction at a recently...

Owls are important avian predators in forested systems, but little is known about landscape use by most forest-adapted owl species in environments impacted by mixed-severity wildfire. To better understand species-specific patterns of post-wildfire landscape use within an owl guild, we used passive acoustic monitoring using autonomous recording units. The technology is effective for multi-species surveys, especially if some species are rare, nocturnal, or difficult to detect by traditional means. In 2017, we surveyed the interior and adjacent unburned areas of a 10,700-ha mixed-severity...

In the social sciences, the topic of imaginaries refers to socially constructed, taken-for-granted meanings about events, places, and people. Imaginaries are created symbolically and rhetorically, through claims about self, others, and places; they help people make sense of individual and shared experiences. This study explores how residents of a rural community discursively construct imaginaries to address tourism-related transitions. Telephone interviews were conducted with three types of residents (leaders, permanent residents, and second homeowners) in Burke, Vermont (USA). Results...

This report traces the flow of Oregon’s 2017 timber harvest through the primary wood products industry with detailed descriptions of the structure, timber use, operations, and condition of Oregon’s industry. It is the fourth in a series of reports that periodically update the status of the industry, and is based on a census of timber-using facilities conducted during 2018. Historical forest products industry changes are discussed, as well as trends in harvest, production, mill residue, and sales. Also examined are employment and worker earnings in the state’s primary and secondary forest...

In resource management, new terms are frequently introduced, reflecting ongoing evolution in the theory and practice of ecology and governance. Yet understandings of what new concepts mean, for whom, and what they imply for management on the ground can vary widely. Coexistence—a prominent concept within the literature and practices around human-wildlife conflict and predator management—is one such term: widely invoked and yet poorly defined. While for some coexistence is the latest paradigm in improving human-wildlife relations, the concept remains debated and indeed even hotly contested...

Breeding dispersal, the movement from one breeding territory to another, is rare for philopatric species that evolved within relatively stable environments, such as the oldgrowth coniferous forests of the Pacific Northwest. Although dispersal is not inherently maladaptive, the consequences of increased dispersal on population dynamics in populations whose historical dispersal rates are low could be significant, particularly for a declining species. We examined rates and possible causes of breeding dispersal based on a sample of 4,118 northern spotted owls (Strix occidentalis caurina)...

After a century of intensive logging, federal forest management policies were developed in the 1990s to protect remaining large trees and old forests in the western US. Today, due to rapidly changing ecological conditions, new threats and uncertainties, and scientific advancements, some policy provisions are being re-evaluated in interior Oregon and Washington. The case for re-evaluation is clearest where small-to large-sized, immature, fast-growing, fire-intolerant trees have filled in forests after both a long period of fire exclusion and the harvest of large, old trees. This infilling...

Adult salmonid migration to natal habitats and spawning are affected both by physiological factors and environmental conditions. While research has focused on physiological thresholds that influence the initiation of migration, few studies have investigated the relationship between both hydrological and thermal conditions and salmon spawning throughout the course of the reproductive period. We examined whether Oregon coastal coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) returning to three tributaries of the Smith River watershed (in the central Oregon Coast Range) responded to the stream hydroregime...

Emerging infectious diseases have been especially devastating to amphibians, the most endangered class of vertebrates. For amphibians, the greatest disease threat is chytridiomycosis, caused by one of two chytridiomycete fungal pathogens Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) and Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal). Research over the last two decades has shown that susceptibility to this disease varies greatly with respect to a suite of host and pathogen factors such as phylogeny, geography (including abiotic factors), host community composition, and historical exposure to pathogens;...