Treesearch

This publication is the establishment report for Wellner Cliffs Research Natural Area (RNA), located on the Priest River Experimental Forest, Idaho Panhandle National Forests. The RNA features vegetation on dry cliffs that are embedded in mid-elevation moist western hemlock/western redcedar/grand fir forests. Immediately below the cliffs is riparian habitat that supports many wetland species, including a disjunct west coast moss, Ulota megalospora, whose first known occurrence in Idaho is in this RNA. This establishment report documents the boundaries of the RNA, the objectives for the...

Grazing by wild and domestic mammals can have small to large effects on plant communities, depending on characteristics of the particular community and of the type and intensity of grazing. The broad objective of this report was to extensively review literature on the effects of grazing on 25 plant communities of the southwestern U.S. in terms of plant species composition, aboveground primary productivity, and root and soil attributes. Livestock grazing management and grazing systems are assessed, as are effects of small and large native mammals and feral species, when data are available....

Economically viable silvicultural options are critical for management activities that provide wood products, reduce forest fuels, improve forest health, and enhance wildlife habitat. The Tenderfoot Research Project was developed in the late 1990s to evaluate and quantify ecological and biological effects of two-aged silvicultural treatments including prescribed fire in lodgepole pine forests. Research treatments were designed and installed on the Tenderfoot Creek Experimental Forest to create reserve stand structures that emulate stands created by natural fires, and to evaluate hydrologic...

This paper presents several components of a multi-disciplinary project designed to evaluate the ecological and biological effects of two innovative silvicultural treatments coupled with prescribed fire in an attempt to both manage fuel profiles and create two-aged stand structures in lodgepole pine. Two shelterwood silvicultural treatments were designed to replicate as well as enhance the existing multi-aged stand structure on the Tenderfoot Creek Experimental Forest in central Montana: the first, with reserve trees evenly distributed; the second, with reserves contained within small...

Isolated wilderness ecosystems with a history of frequent, low-severity fires have been altered due to many decades of fire exclusion and, as a result, are difficult to restore for philosophical and logistical reasons. In this paper, we describe the successional conditions of ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) communities along the South Fork of the Flathead River in the Bob Marshall Wilderness following decades of fire suppression, and then summarize the first-year effects of the 2003 fires on these communities. We found that at least 34 percent of the large ponderosa pine trees were dead...

We used data from 142 stands in Colorado and Wyoming, USA, to test the expectations of a model of growth dominance and stand development. Growth dominance relates the distribution of growth rates of individual trees within a stand to tree sizes. Stands with large trees that account for a greater share of stand growth than of stand mass exhibit strong growth dominance. Stands with large trees that contribute less to stand growth than to stand mass show reverse growth dominance. The four-phase model predicts that forests move from a period of little dominance (Phase 1), with trees accounting...

Includes highlights of the history of organizations that preceded formation of the Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station in 1954. Provides detailed accounts of Intermountain Station research and administrative accomplishments, some of the people who led activities, and changes in the organization from 1954 through 1997 when the Intermountain and Rocky Mountain Stations merged to become the Rocky Mountain Research Station. Many significant Station publications are indicated by title in the text, and the references list includes other publications that provide additional historic...

Throughout the world fire plays an important role in the management and maintenance of ecosystems. However, if a fire is sufficiently intense, soil can be irreversibly altered and the ability of vegetation, particularly forests, to recover after a fire can be seriously compromised. Because fire is frequently used by land managers to reduce surface fuels, it is important to know if and how soil properties may change as a consequence of the fire-associated soil heat pulse.

Wildfires and related government roles and responsibilities for federal wildland management are prominent in our national consciousness because of the increased severity in the last decade of fires on and around public lands. In recent years, laws, strategies, and implementation documents have been issued to direct federal efforts for wildfire prevention, firefighting, and recovery. Reliable national-level information and monitoring are essential to ensure good decision-making and agency accountability. Social and economic information about communities at risk from wildfire is critical to...

This user manual describes the Arc Habitat Suitability Index (ArcHSI), which is a geographical information system (GIS) model that estimates the ability of an area to meet the food and cover requirements of an animal species. The components and parameters of the model occur in tables and can be easily edited or otherwise modified. ArcHSI runs on personal computers with the full installation of ArcGIS (Version 8.2+). ArcHSI is a tool intended to inform planners of the probable impacts on wildlife for the alternatives they develop, and it augments, rather than supplants, the expertise of...