Treesearch

Two culturally-significant plants (sweetgrass [Anthoxanthum nitens] and beargrass [Xerophyllum tenax]) are used as case studies for investigating methods of restoring plant populations that are adapted to indigenous burning practices without using fire. Reports from tribal members that the plants of interest were declining in traditional gathering areas provided the impetus for research with both species. In both situations, reintroducing large-scale repetitive burning was not feasible. Field studies of planting with cover crops and manually clearing competing shrubs and herbaceous plants...

Efforts to minimize animal damage during reforestation in the Oregon Coast Range have had little success. Enhancing plant mineral nutrition via application of controlled-release fertilization at the time of planting may provide some relief from ungulate browse pressure due to increased height growth, but associated impacts on susceptibility of fertilized plants to browse is unknown. This study is broken into two components, a field study and a simulated browse study. The field study examines the response (in terms of growth and browse) of Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), western...

Black ash (Fraxinus nigra) is an important resource for Tribes in the Northeast and Great Lakes regions of the North American continent. Ash in North America is being threatened with widespread destruction as a result of the introduction of emerald ash borer beetle (Agrilus planipennis) in 2002. Measures are being taken to slow the spread of emerald ash borer beetle. Unless proactive measures are taken to secure black ash supplies, however, Native American basket makers stand to lose their only source of materials. One potential action is the establishment of shelter populations of black...

No one perspective provides all of the answers to the environmental issues of our time. Humans have created a multitude of problems during the past 150 years or so, not only through continued development and industrialization, but also by suppressing and discontinuing land management techniques that historically enhanced local biodiversity. Through activities such as repetitive burning (with low-severity fire) and selective harvesting and pruning of useful plants, many landscapes were managed in a way that encouraged the growth of culturally important plants and discouraged others from...

The Colorado Plateau Ecoregion is occupied by a variety of ecosystems requiring restoration activities following natural and human-caused disturbances. The Colorado Plateau Native Plant Initiative, included in the BLM Native Plant Materials Development Program, was established as a part of the Seeds of Success program. This program is a partnership between USDI Bureau of Land Management, Royal Botanic Gardens (Kew, Richmond, United Kingdom), other federal agencies, and conservation organizations that focus on the collection, conservation, and development of native plant materials for...

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has become an implicit part of a lifestyle industry in the United States. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that at least 41% of the population in the US has used CAM at least once in their lives (WHO 2002). Globalization, an influx of various immigrant cultures, and growing wariness of western allopathic medicine have contributed to a growing CAM industry in the US (Brevoort 1996). CAM in the US consists of a hybrid eclectic mix of several cultural and traditional healing systems from around the globe. Large cities with immigrant...

These proceedings are a compilation of 20 papers that were presented at the regional meetings of the Intertribal Nursery Council and the forest and conservation nursery associations in the United States in 2009. The Intertribal Nursery Council Meeting was held at the Best Western University Inn in Moscow, Idaho, on July 14, 2009. Subject matter for the technical sessions included resource protection, collaborative research efforts, cultural use of native species, and native species programs. The Joint Meeting of the Western Forest and Conservation Nursery Association and Intermountain...

We describe satellite-inferred burn severity patterns of areas that were burned and then reburned by wildland fire from 1984 to 2004 within the Gila Aldo Leopold Wilderness Complex, New Mexico, USA. Thirteen fires have burned 27 000 hectares across multiple vegetation types at intervals between fires ranging from 3 yr to 14 yr. Burn severity of reburned areas showed sensitivity to the severity of the initial fire. The severity of reburned areas also varied by vegetation type and time elapsed between fires. Initial fires that burned at low severity tended to reburn at low severity, while...

Wolverine bone material is described from the famous Upper Pleistocene cave Srbsko Chlum-Komin in the Bohemian Karst, Czech Republic, along with an overview of recently known Czech sites. The Gulo gulo Linne material was found in one of the largest Ice Age spotted-hyena dens in Europe. As a result of non-systematic excavations, the taphonomy is partly unclear. Lower-jaw remains indicate a minimum of three wolverines. Two of the mandibles are cracked, which is most likely the result of carnivore scavenging. The absence of juvenile G. gulo suggests possible importation of the wolverines by...

Individual-based landscape genetic analyses provide empirically based models of gene flow. It would be valuable to verify the predictions of these models using independent data of a different type. Analyses using different data sources that produce consistent results provide strong support for the generality of the findings. Mating and dispersal movements are the mechanisms through which gene flow operates in animal populations. The best means to verify landscape genetic predictions would be to use movement data to independently predict landscape resistance. We used path-level, conditional...