Treesearch

A search for vascular plants was conducted on six of the highest ridges in the south Coast Ranges of California. It covered five prominent peaks in the Santa Lucia Range, Monterey County, and the tallest mountain in the Diablo Range, San Benito-Fresno counties. Listed are all species found above 1200 m (3937-feet) elevation on at least one peak. Relative abundance is estimated for three elevation zones on all peaks. Notes provide information about each species' life form, plant community preference, ecological characteristics, and taxonomic problems.

WRIS (Wildland Resource Information System) is a computer system for processing, storing, retrieving, updating, and displaying geographic data. The polygon, representing a land area boundary, forms the building block of WRIS. Polygons form a map. Maps are digitized manually or by automatic scanning. Computer programs can extract and produce polygon maps and can overlay, plot, and store them, as well as aggregate acreages and print summaries. WRIS is functionally oriented toward timber management, but can be used for other types of resource activites.

A sample of Butte County residents were interviewed about their radio and television use habits. Their responses were analyzed in terms of demographic, social, and economic characteristics. The findings can be used in developing more effective fire prevention programs. Most people in Butte County listen to the radio or watch television but they differ widely in the way they use these mass media. Fire prevention announcements should seek to capitalize on these differences.

In the absence of test information to the contrary, the accepted guide for selecting seed for reforestation is "local source is best." This guide prevents plantation failures that result from using stock that is not adapted to the local environment, and it reflects the pronounced variation in growth and survival demonstrated in provenance trials (Silen 1970), including those defining elevational variation in ponderosa pine (Callaham and Liddicoet 1961, Conkle 1973, Mirov and others 1952). In California, seed origin is controlled by using revised tree seed zones (Buck and others 1970).

White fir (Abides concolor [Cord. & Glend.] Lindl.) stands in Western North America periodically suffer extensive tree mortality caused by outbreaks of the fir engraver bark beetle (Scolytus ventralis Lec.). The cambial zone of the boles infested by S. ventralis is also colonized by the roundheaded fir borer (Tetropium abietis Fall)(Struble 1957). Only a few of these outbreaks have been related to underlying environmental factors, such as drought or host tree defoliation (Stevens 1971, Wickman 1963). The dearth of long-term, quantitative estimates of the population levels of these insects...

Natural regeneration of harvested old-growth stands of redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) is one way to start a new forest that is needed quickly for continuous timber production. Natural seedlings and sprouts developing after stands were cut were studied on the Redwood Experimental Forest, northern California. Three types of regeneration cuttings were investigated: small clear-cutting, shelterwood, and selection. All three types provided satisfactory results–chiefly in redwood, but also in Douglas-fir and other conifers. Red-wood sprouts added many potential crop trees. Of the two main...

Ohia forest decline–its severity and rate of spread–was studied by aerial photographic techniques on a 197,000-acre (80,000-ha) portion of the island of Hawaii. In 1954, only 300 acres (121 ha) showed signs of severe decline; by 1972, the acreage of severely affected forest had increased to 85,200 acres (34,480 ha). Rate of decline and current severity were related to mean annual precipitation and to elevation. The epidemic is continuing. Some forests on other Hawaiian islands also display decline symptoms.

Autoradiographs of mature cotton bolls which earlier had radioglucose introduced via a thin incision into their peduncles show a marked asymmetry in distribution of the label. Radio-assay shows the specific activity of the cotton fibres on the treated side to be as much as 30-fold that on the opposite side.

Extremes in rainfall on the Hawaiian Islands make it difficult to judge forest fire danger conditions. The use of an automatic data collection and computer processing system helps to monitor the problem.