Treesearch

Clearing oneseed juniper (Juniperus monosperma) may make more water available for aquifer recharge or herbaceous vegetation growth, but the effects of tree treatment on soil moisture dynamics are not fully understood. This study investigated juniper treatment effects on understory herbaceous vegetation concurrently with soil moisture dynamics using vegetation sampling, soil sampling, and automated precipitation and soil moisture data collection. The study was conducted at New Mexico State University's Corona Range and Livestock Research Center Corona, NM. We created plots under dead and...

(Please note, this is an abstract only) Drought conditions in the Southwest have persisted for a number of years resulting in large areas of pinon pine mortality. In 2002 drought conditions became extreme, facilitating an outbreak of pinon ips beetles (Ips confusus, Coleoptera: Scolytidae) that killed many millions of pinon pines over a six-state region by 2003. In response to this unprecedented mortality, Forest Health Monitoring provided funds to Forest Health Protection units to measure the extent and intensity of the event. These impacts are being documented through an extensive...

(Please note, this is an abstract only) Pinon mortality in the pinon-juniper and pinon-sage types of the Southwest peaked in 2003 following several years of winter drought. The majority of the droughtweakened trees died from pinon ips bark beetle attacks, but twig beetles also played a role. Forest Service aerial surveyors estimate more than 50 million pinon trees died in New Mexico alone from 2001-2005, most likely a conservative estimate since understory trees cannot be seen from the air. Unprecedented densities, advancement of pinon into drier sites at the low end of its elevation...

These proceedings are part of a series corresponding to fourteen symposia sponsored by the Shrub Research Consortium and published by the U.S. Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station (1983?1996) and Rocky Mountain Research Station (1999 to present). Themes for each symposium were selected to focus on various aspects of the biology, ecology, and management of wildland shrubs and shrubland ecosystems. The Fourteenth Wildland Shrub Symposium was held at Southern Utah University in Cedar City, Utah, on June 6?8, 2006.

(Please note, this is an abstract only) Revegetation programs instigated in the Intermountain West have relied on the use of introduced perennial grasses, with attention focused upon improving the agronomic and forage attributes of these species. Currently, a wide number of site adapted native species are required to restore the extensive disturbances throughout the West including the Colorado Plateau. Through cooperation with Federal and State agencies and Universities in Colorado and Utah studies have recently been initiated to identify the principal species associated within pinyon/junip...

(Please note, this is an abstract only) Repeat photography will demonstrate that since European settlement commenced, the native vegetation of Lincoln County, New Mexico has dramatically changed. Numerous historic photographs have been re-taken, demonstrating how landscapes and ecosystems have changed, not just between early European settlement until the present, but also in the intervening years. Photographs will be seen from as early as 1868, as recently as September 2006, and the years in-between. While the program will focus on ecosystems dominated by pinon and juniper and the implicati...

The current drought and ensuing bark beetle outbreaks during 2002 to 2004 in the Southwest have greatly increased tree mortality in pinyon-juniper woodlands. We studied causes and consequences of the drought-induced mortality. First, we tested the paradigm that high stand densities in pinyon-juniper woodlands would increase tree mortality. Stand densities did not impact mortality levels for either tree species, which does not support tree thinning to reduce susceptibility to droughtbark beetle outbreaks. Second, we monitored changes in stand structure and dead woody biomass to test whether...

(Please note, this is an abstract only) We examined attributes associated with the probability of infestation by pinon ips (Ips confusus), in pinon pine (Pinus edulis), in an outbreak in the Coconino National Forest, Arizona. We used data collected from 87 plots, 59 infested and 28 uninfested, and a logistic regression approach to estimate the probability of infestation based on plot- and tree-level attributes. Pinon pine stand density index was a good predictor of the likelihood of infestation by pinon ips at the plot level and a cross-validation analysis indicated that the model correctly...

Pinyon-juniper (Pinus monophylla-Juniperus osteosperma) woodlands are expanding into shrubsteppe ecosystems in western portions of the Great Basin. Often, highly competitive trees displace the understory, and prescribed fire is increasingly used as a restoration tool. To inform management decisions about post-fire recovery, we examined immediate and long-term (i.e., 2 growing seasons) responses of the germinable seed bank to a spring prescribed fire. One week before and 1 week after a May 2002 prescribed burn, soil samples were taken under P. monophylla trees, under Artemisia tridentata...

Ribes (currants and gooseberries) are alternate hosts for Cronartium ribicola, the invasive fungus that causes blister rust of white pines (Pinus, subgenus Strobus) in the Rocky Mountain region of Colorado and Wyoming. The location, species, and density of Ribes can affect the spread and impact of this potentially serious forest disease. We assessed the distribution and density of Ribes growing near white pine stands for 15 study areas in Colorado and Wyoming with 1258 survey plots of two types, an intensive white pine/Ribes survey and an extensive Ribes survey. Species present, total...