Treesearch

Fires can produce a wide range of changes in nutrient cycles of forest, shrub, and grassland ecosystems depending on fire severity, fire frequency, vegetation, and climate. These changes can be beneficial when fires increase the availability of plant nutrients, and deleterious when they volatilize, entrain ash in smoke columns, increase runoff of mineralized nutrients, or accelerate leaching from soil systems. This paper examines the effect of fires on nutrient cycling and flux pathways with special emphasis on Madrean-type ecosystems. Most of the best information on fire impacts on these...

Intense wildfires effectively remove vegetation, degrade watershed condition, and result in altered stream hydrographs and increased sediment input to streams. Case histories from five headwater streams in Arizona and New Mexico show effects of wildfire on aquatic habitats, fishes, and their food supply may be marked and long-lasting. Recent (1989-90) wildfires effectively extirpated two populations of brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis), one of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and the type locality population of the endangered Gila trout, (O. gilae). Aquatic macroinvertebrates densities...

This second conference on the Madrean Archipelago/Sky Island ecosystem brought together scientists, managers, and resource specialists from government, universities, and private organizations in the United States and Mexico to explore the effects of fire on Madrean Province ecosystem, and how fire can be incorporated in an ecosystem approach to both research and management.

The hypothesis that Neotropical migrant birds may be undergoing widespread declines due to land use activities on the breeding grounds has been examined primarily by synthesizing results from local studies. Growing concern for the cumulative influence of land use activities on ecological systems has heightened the need for large-scale studies to complement what has been observed at local scales. We investigated possible landscape effects on Neotropical migrant bird populations for the eastern United States by linking two large-scale inventories designed to monitor breeding-bird abundances...

The white-tailed deer is one of the most studied animals in North America, yet much of the available information has been derived in ecosystems different from the Black Hills. The Black Hills are unique in that the dominant species, ponderosa pine, has excellent regenerative abilities. This attribute, combined with timber management practices and fire suppression efforts in the last century, has allowed pine to expand at the expense of other plant communities. A critical first step in maintaining viable white-tailed deer populations in the Black Hills is identifying key winter ranges....

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...