Treesearch

Habitat-suitability indices (HSI) have been employed in restoration to identify optimal sites for planting native species. Often, HSI are based on abiotic variables and do not include biotic interactions, even though similar abiotic conditions can favor both native and nonnative species. Biotic interactions such as competition may be especially important in invader-dominated habitats because invasive species often have fast growth rates and can exploit resources quickly. In this study, we test the utility of an HSI of microtopography derived from airborne LiDAR to predict post-disturbance...

Wildfire influences wildlife habitat in ways that benefit some species while degrading habitat for others. Recent wildfire favors several woodpecker species by creating dead trees, or "snags," that are easily excavated for nest cavities and also provide foraging substrate for bark and wood-boring beetles. Within a few years after wildfire, openings in the canopy often stimulate understory vegetation and improve opportunities for species that nest in shrubs or forage on the ground. Yet the same wildfire may reduce habitat for species that nest and forage in live trees. Prescribed fires also...

As we increase the pace and scale of forest restoration, scientists and managers are leveraging a constellation of powerful new GIS and remote sensing technologies to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of forest operations. Two situations are particularly challenging and in need of innovative solutions. Compared to traditional timber sales, it is difficult to predict the location, volume, and delivered costs of the log and biomass supply flowing from fuel treatment and timber salvage operations across large landscapes. In fuel treatment and timber salvage operations, it is also...

We assume animal populations rebound when we restore their habitat by using native plants. But what happens when you are trying to restore native plant habitat for small mammal communities, and these same mammals are eating the seeds of the plants you are trying to reintroduce? Recently published work by Rocky Mountain Research Station scientists Dean Pearson and Yvette Ortega and collaborators addresses this "restoration Catch-22" by looking at how active plant restoration fosters small mammal communities, and how these mammals can be prevented from eating the seeds of the native plants...

Firefighting crews count on a dampening of fire activity at night, thanks to a temperature drop and rising humidity, for much-needed respite and a chance to regroup for the next day’s efforts. However, a newly published study by Rocky Mountain Research Station fire scientists Patrick Freeborn and Matt Jolly and collaborators has found that the usual nighttime dampening of fire activity may be changing. Using satellite remote-sensing data from the heat-sensitive instrument MODIS, the researchers found that nighttime fire activity has increased as wildfires have grown larger. Understanding...

The changing climate is forcing foresters to rethink how and where they replant after a wildfire. Fire suppression and the loss of western white pine (WPP) to disease have made northern Rocky Mountain moist mixed-conifer forests less resilient to disturbance. Western white pine historically influenced the fire regime, creating a more herbaceous understory, which increased humidity and decreased the severity of fire burning through these stands of western white pine. The introduction of the invasive disease white pine blister rust killed countless western white pines from the 1940s through...

Conifer forests in the Interior Northwest are commonly affected by Armillaria root disease, an underground fungal infection that causes pockets of tree death. Gaps in the canopy that result from mortality caused by root disease change forests in significant ways: they alter the structure of the forest stand, changing how habitats evolve; they alter the distribution of fuel, changing the fire risk and potential fire behavior; and they lower tree density, reducing the productivity of timber operations.

For landowners and agencies seeking to implement grassland restoration projects and hazardous fuels reduction projects, biochar can be a key piece of the restoration-economics puzzle. Biochar plays a major role in moving excess organic matter from overstocked forest stands to the degraded range, forest, mine, and agricultural soils that need it. Biochar has several unique chemical and physical properties that make it very useful for retaining nutrients and water and improving soil conditions. It can be used to restore forest, range, or mine soils by adding a high carbon product. Biochar...

Managers and scientists have long known that reforestation has many ecological, economic, and cultural benefits. But reforestation isn’t as simple as planting trees. It means planting the right trees, in the right place, at the right time - or it may mean not planting at all.

Water is a precious resource in dryland regions of the western United States, including the Great Basin. Determining appropriate management strategies for stream and riparian ecosystems is challenging because Great Basin watersheds, stream systems, and associated riparian ecosystems have varying geomorphic and hydrologic conditions and support numerous different vegetation communities and animal species. These stream and riparian ecosystems show a wide variety of responses to both natural disturbances, such as floods, and human-caused disturbances, such as roads in the valley bottoms and...