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Deception Creek Experimental Forest is in one of the most productive forests in the Rocky Mountains. When the forest was established in 1933, large, old-age western white pine (Pinus monticola) were important for producing lumber products. The forest, located in the Coeur d'Alene Mountains, is in the heart of the western white pine forest type. Therefore, research at Deception Creek Experimental Forest focused on the ecology and silviculture of western white pine and its associated species.

Priest River Experimental Forest was among the first experimental forests set aside as a forestry research center in September 1911. The forest served as the headquarters for the Priest River Forest Experiment Station until 1930 when the forest was incorporated into the Northern Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station. The forest is currently administered by the Intermountain Research Station.

ECO-Report is an annual Rocky Mountain Research Station (RMRS) publication which contains a set of articles showcasing the Bitterroot Ecosystem Management Research Project (BEMRP) research projects and activities. The articles are concise, user-friendly, and designed to inform a broad range of audiences interested in ecosystem management. Articles featured in this issue: Halfway Home; Visit Ecosystem Management Demonstration Sites!; Integration: The Ultimate Challenge for Ecosystem-Based Planning; January Workshop Records Milestones; "The Hard Work" of Integration; Wildlife Research - at...

In 1992, we studied the nest-site preference of goshawks (Accipiter gentilis atricapillus) nesting in lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) forests of the Medicine Bow National Forest, southcentral Wyoming. For 39 active pairs of goshawks, we described nesting habitat at 3 spatial scales: nest tree, nest-tree area (0.04 ha circle centered at nest tree), and nest stand (homogeneous forest stand surrounding nest). Nest stands ranged from 0.4 ha to 13.0 ha (x = 2.7 ha, SE = 0.4). We compared habitat characteristics at nest-sites to those measured at random sites. The mean diameter at breast height...

Fire usually affects birds indirectly, by altering habitat or food resources. Bird response may be positive or negative, depending on life-history characteristics and fire extent, intensity, and duration. Disruption of natural fire regimes may have far-reaching consequences for these birds and their habitat. The effects of fire on forest birds should be studied experimentally, at both species and community levels, in conjunction with efforts to restore fire as a natural process in Madrean forests. The effects of fire on important habitat components (e.g., snags, logs, and oaks) should be...

Retention of visible implant (VI) tags by westslope cutthroat trout Oncorhynchus clarki lewisi inhabiting 20 reaches of 13 isolated headwater tributary drainages in Montana was evaluated during 1993 and 1994. In 1993, 2,071 VI tags were implanted in westslope cutthroat trout (100-324 mm fork length) and adipose tins were removed as a secondary mark to evaluate tag retention. Of 348 westslope cutthroat trout recaptured during the year they were tagged, 201 (58%) had retained their tags. Of 616 westslope cutthroat trout recaptured the year after tagging, 355 (58%) had retained their tags....

Fire dependent lodgepole pine communities are an important component of upper elevation forests of the Bitterroot Mountains and the Northern Rockies in generaL A study of 1937 aerial photos from the Bitterroot National Forest is describing the pre- 1900 disturbances that shaped lodgepole pine mosaics, The 1937 photos will be compared with stand history information provided by Mike Hartwell and Paul Alaback of the University of Montana to describe shifts in species dominance and age-class structure during the past half century, This information will be used to design management that...

The Tenderfoot Creek Experimental Forest, established in 1961, is representative of the vast expanses of lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) found east of the Continental Divide in Montana, southwest Alberta, and Wyoming. Discrete generations of even-age lodgepole stands form a mosaic typical of the fireprone forests at moderate to high altitudes in the Northern Rocky Mountains. Spruce (Picea engelmannii) grows in the area's sparse but species-rich wetlands, while whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) and subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa) grace the higher ridgetops. Native cutthroat trout (Oncorhync...

High rural concentrations of ozone (O3) are thought to be either stratospheric in origin, advected from upwind urban sources, or photochemically generated locally as a result of natural trace gas emissions. Ozone is known to be transported vertically downward from the above-canopy atmospheric surface layer and destroyed within stomata or on other biological and mineral surfaces. However, here we report winter-time eddy correlation measurements of vertical O3 flux above a subalpine canopy of Picea engelmannii and Abies lasiocarpa in the Snowy Range Mountains of Wyoming that indicate...

Nitrogen saturation is occurring throughout high-elevation catchments of the Colorado Front Range. Annual inorganic N loading in wet deposition to the Front Range of ~4 kg ha-1 yr-1 is about twice that of the Pacific States and similar to many sites in the northeastern United States. In the last ten years at Niwot Ridge/Green Lakes Valley and Glacier Lakes, annual minimum concentrations of NO3- in surface waters during the growing season have increased from below detection limits to ¡­10 ¥ìequiv L-1, indicating that these two catchments are at the threshold of N saturation. The Loch Vale...