Treesearch

Recent years have seen the progression of light detection and ranging (lidar) from the realm of research to operational use in natural resource management. Numerous government agencies, private industries, and public/private stakeholder consortiums are planning or have recently acquired large-scale acquisitions, and a national U.S. lidar acquisition is likely before 2020. Before it is feasible for land managers to integrate lidar into decision making, resource assessment, or monitoring across the gambit of natural resource applications, consistent standards in project planning, data...

Remote sensing provides critical information for broad scale assessments of wildlife habitat distribution and conservation. However, such efforts have been typically unable to incorporate information about vegetation structure, a variable important for explaining the distribution of many wildlife species. We evaluated the consequences of incorporating remotely sensed information about horizontal vegetation structure into current assessments of wildlife habitat distribution and conservation. For this, we integrated the new NLCD tree canopy cover product into the US GAP Analysis database,...

Rocky Mountain Research Station (RMRS) personnel have scientific expertise in widely ranging disciplines and conduct multidisciplinary research on invasive species issues with emphasis in terrestrial and aquatic habitats throughout the Interior West, Great Plains, and related areas (fig. 1; Expertise Directory; appendix). RMRS invasive species research covers an array of diverse ecological and environmental gradients, from southwestern deserts to northern temperate rain forests and from low-elevation plains and basins to alpine summits (fig. 1).

Livestock managers make and implement grazing management decisions to achieve a variety of objectives including livestock production, sustainable grazing, and wildlife habitat enhancement. Assessed values of grazing lands and ranches are often based on aesthetics and wildlife habitat or recreational values, which can exceed agricultural values, thus providing additional economic bases for effective grazing management. Perhaps more basic is the intention of many producers and managers to pass on the land in as good or better condition than when it was first acquired.

Wildland fire management must balance the multiple objectives of protecting life, property, and resources; reducing hazardous fuels; and restoring ecosystems. These Federal policy imperatives, varied yet connected must be met under an increasing constrained budget. A key to management success is effectively exercising the full range of management flexibility in responding to woodland fire.

Volume I and volume II of the Forest Soil Disturbance Monitoring Protocol (FSDMP) provide information for a wide range of users, including technicians, field crew leaders, private landowners, land managers, forest professionals, and researchers. Volume I: Rapid Assessment includes the basic methods for establishing forest soil monitoring transects and consistently monitoring forest sites before and after ground disturbing management activities for physical attributes that could influence site resilience and long-term sustainability. Volume II: Supplementary Methods, Statistics, and Data...

This volume of the Forest Soil Disturbance Monitoring Protocol (FSDMP) describes how to monitor forest sites before and after ground disturbing management activities for physical attributes that could influence site resilience and long-term sustainability. The attributes describe surface conditions that affect site sustainability and hydrologic function. Monitoring the attributes of surface cover, ruts, compaction, and platy structure can also be used to generate best management practices that help maintain site productivity.

Spruce bark beetle (Ips typographus L.) risk model, based on pure Norway spruce (Picea abies Karst.) stand characteristics in experimental and control plots was developed using classification and regression tree statistical technique under endemic pest population density. The most significant variable in spruce bark beetle infestation risk model was spruce basal area. Model, good enough for forest management practices, rate spruce stands to: a) stands of low bark beetle risk (probability of infestation p=20%) - basal area of spruce less than 17.8 m2/ha; b) stands of moderate bark beetle...

Much of the discussion on climate change and water in the western United States centers on decreased snowpack and earlier spring runoff. Although increasing variability in annual flows has been noted, the nature of those changes is largely unexplored. We tested for trends in the distribution of annual runoff using quantile regression at 43 gages in the Pacific Northwest. Seventy-two percent of the stations showed significant (a = 0.10) declines in the 25th percentile annual flow, with half of the stations exceeding a 29% decline and a maximum decline of 47% between 1948 and 2006. Fewer...

Orange hawkweed (Hieracium aurantiacum) is listed as a noxious weed in five states (USDA 2007), including Montana, where it is still in the early - and possibly controllable - stages of invasion. The species forms dense clonal mats that exclude natives from the area; moreover, the wind-borne seeds are viable in the soil for seven years and have a high germination rate. Here, we document current densities and habitat associations of this potential invasive species in northwest Montana as a basis for future monitoring and management. Studies of other Hieracium species found that land...