Treesearch

Of California’s almost 100 million ac, about a third are forested (32 million ac). This report, including the accompanying tables, summarizes key findings from the 5,369 Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) plots measured in California’s forests during the period 2006–2015. Estimates are provided for forest area, ownership, species composition and distribution, size and age classes, volume, biomass, carbon, dead and downed wood, and understory vegetation. Starting in 2001, plots were measured on a 10-year cycle (10 percent of all plots measured annually). Thus, those plots measured in...

Climate change poses a clear danger to salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River basin. Rising water temperatures increasingly limit their ability to migrate, spawn, and successfully produce the next generation of fish.Steve Wondzell, a research ecologist with the USDA Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest Research Station, conducted a study on the upper Middle Fork of eastern Oregon’s John Day River. By using computer modeling, he and colleagues found that adding shade was the single most effective way to cool the water and preserve habitat for salmon into the future. With enough added...

Predicting the hydrological consequences following changes in grassland vegetation type (i.e., woody encroachment) requires an understanding of water flux dynamics at high spatiotemporal resolution for predominant species within grassland communities. However, grassland fluxes are typically measured at the leaf or landscape scale, which inhibits our ability to predict how individual species contribute to changing ecosystem fluxes. We used external heat balance sap flow sensors and a hierarchical Bayesian state-space modeling approach to bridge this “flux gap” and estimate continuous...

Detecting and understanding disturbance is a challenge in ecology that has grown more critical with global environmental change and the emergence of research on social–ecological systems. We identify three areas of research need: developing a flexible framework that incorporates feedback loops between social and ecological systems, anticipating whether a disturbance will change vulnerability to other environmental drivers, and incorporating changes in system sensitivity to disturbance in the face of global changes in environmental drivers. In the present article, we review how discoveries...

Deciduous shrubs are widely distributed throughout temperate and boreal conifer forests and influence a wide range of ecological processes and forest resources. In the interior western U.S., many deciduous shrubs are highly preferred forage by wild (elk, Cervus canadensis; deer, Odocoileus spp.) and domestic (cattle) ungulates which can influence shrub abundance, composition, structural characteristics, and related ecological processes and interactions. Stand disturbances and silvicultural practices can also affect shrub assemblages and managers in the interior western U.S. are increasingly...

This chapter examines the potential that collaboration holds for operationalizing sustainable recreation management on public lands. Additionally, we synthesize the professional and academic literature on collaboration and partnerships to spotlight promising new conceptual frameworks, analytic tools, and management best practices that can contribute to this goal. Finally, we identify a research agenda that can assess the efficacy of collaborative approaches to outdoor recreation governance, planning, and management. Continuous monitoring of collaboration dynamics, capacity, structures, and...

This chapter explores how changes in 2012 to the U.S. Forest Service’s land and resource management planning rule transformed the orientation of forest planning from being agency driven to becoming more collaborative and offering greater opportunities for public participation. We also highlight new technologies and approaches to reduce conflict among wide-ranging interests in the planning process. In closing, we provide insight on lessons learned from the Nantahala-Pisgah forest plan revision process that might inform how citizens advocate for their values in future forest plans, including...

This chapter discusses ways in which recreation on public lands can serve as a resource for environmental conservation, highlighting the role of recreationists as stewards of the land and key contributors to sustainable landscapes.

In chapter 7 of this report, Francisco Valenzuela discussed how digital technology is changing the character of recreational experiences on public lands. Chapter 17 highlights the potential and pitfalls of using social media in research and monitoring on public lands. Recent research has revealed that social media can be a powerful tool in quantifying visitor use and utility on public lands. It can also provide managers with rich qualitative information about visitor experiences, satisfaction, and engagement that can be leveraged to achieve a more enjoyable recreation experience while...

The socioeconomic and biophysical contexts in which natural resource management takes place have been rapidly changing in recent decades. These changing contexts are bringing new complexity to the management of natural resources generally, and the question of how best to manage outdoor recreation specifically. We propose that this greater complexity is best addressed by research using a systems thinking approach able to account for the combined influence and interactions among relevant social, political, economic, and biophysical factors that influence recreation uses and values associated...