Treesearch

A new management perspective that emphasizes a variety of amenities and commodities is needed for California’s forest-zone hardwoods. For the near future and perhaps more on public than on private land, these "yields" are wildlife, water, esthetics, and wood products. Each is presented first as an individual yield and then as part of a combined yield. As an individual yield, water, for example, might have great utility for a power and light company desirous of filling its reservoirs; as a combined yield, the worth of water for wildlife, tree growth, and esthetics also is high. Managing the...

Abstract - Both creep and earthflow processes dominate hillslope erosion over large parts of the Redwood Creek basin. The type of process and the displacement rates are largely dependent on underlying bedrock type and precipitation. Progressive creep having rates ranging from 1.0 to 2.5 mm/a dominates on slopes west of the Grogan fault underlain by sheared and foliated schists. Movement appears to respond primarily to annual increments of precipitation. Complex earthfiows occur predominantly on slopes east of the Grogan fault underlain by sheared graywacke sandstone and mudstone. Movement...

Abstract - During the May 18, 1980, eruption of Mount St. Helens, Washington, a pyroclastic surge introduced large volumes of coarse woody debris (CWD) and fine grained sediment to Clearwater Creek, approximately 15 km northeast of the summit. Effects of controlled CWD removal on sediment storage, substrate, and pool frequency and volume were measured in four reaches, each with three 200-m segments, from 1982 to 1990. In each reach the upstream segment served as a control with no debris removal, and CWD was totally and selectively removed from the other two segments. Unique among similar...

Abstract - Particle sizes of bed load and bed material that represent materials transported and stored over a period of years are used to investigate selective transport in 13 previously sampled, natural gravel bed channels. The ratio (D*) of median particle size of bed material to the transport- and frequency-weighted mean of median bed load size decreases to unity with increasing drainage area, bank-full discharge, dimensionless stream power, and bed material sorting. In channels with high values of D*, significant volumes of fine bed load are transported during discharges that are less...

Formed in response to the October 20, 1991, Oakland/Berkeley hills firestorm, the East Bay Vegetation Management Consortium (EBVMC) is a voluntary association of public agencies concerned with vegetation management and planning related to fire hazard reduction in the Oakland/ Berkeley hills. To date, a total of nine agencies are participating in the EBVMC, including local cities, park districts, public utilities, and educational and research facilities. Each agency owns or is responsible for significant open-space lands in the East Bay hills. The EBVMC is preparing a Vegetation Management...

The forests of the Sierra Nevada have been altered for millennia by climate, natural disturbances, and more recently by the activities of humans. Management of these forests and their resources as ecosystems to meet diverse objectives, requires an understanding of the conditions under which existing forests developed and how they have changed through time. Recently accumulated information suggests that the interactions of factors such as geographic position, topography, and shifts in climate have resulted in substantial spatial and temporal variation in the vegetation composition and...

Determining the annual cycles of Marbled Murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus) behavior is crucial both for understanding the life history and for management of this species. In this paper we review available information on the annual patterns of behavior in forests throughout its range, with special emphasis on California. Data were derived from standardized forest surveys. Murrelet activity peaks during the summer (breeding season), is lower during the winter (non-breeding season), and absent or very low during transition periods (pre-alternate and pre-basic molts). Murrelets are regularly...