Treesearch

Prescribed fires are increasingly being used to reduce hazardous fuels, a major objective of the National Fire Plan. Despite advancing technology and ever-improving models, fire managers still find it challenging to determine the right time for a prescribed burn.

This proceedings is a compilation of 30 papers that were presented at the regional meetings of the Forest and Conservation Nursery Associations in the United States in 2003. The Western Forest and Conservation Nursery Association meeting was held at the Coeur d'Alene Inn in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, June 9 to 12. The meeting was hosted by the USDA Forest Service, Coeur d'Alene Nursery. Morning technical sessions were followed by field trips to Coeur d'Alene Nursery, restoration outplantings on the Coeur d'Alene Indian Reservation, and Plants of the Wild Nursery. The Northeastern Forest and...

This review focused on the primary literature that described, modeled, or predicted the probability of postfire mortality in ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) and Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii). The methods and measurements that were used to predict postfire tree death tended to fall into two general categories: those focusing on measuring important aspects of fire behavior, the indirect but ultimate cause of mortality; and those focusing on tissue damage due to fire, the direct effect of fire on plant organs. Of the methods reviewed in this paper, crown scorch volume was the most...

This monitoring plan for aquatic and riparian resources was developed in response to monitoring needs addressed in the Biological Opinions for bull trout (U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service 1998) and steelhead (U.S. Department of Commerce, National Marine Fisheries Service). It provides a consistent framework for implementing the effectiveness monitoring of aquatic and riparian resources within the range of the Pacific Anadromous Fish Strategy (PACFISH) and the Inland Fish Strategy (INFISH). The primary objective is to evaluate the effect of land management activitie...

All available records are compiled for three orders of ectoparasites of mammals in New Mexico: fleas (Siphonaptera), sucking lice (Anoplura), and chewing lice (Mallophaga). We have drawn from records at the University of New Mexico's Museum of Southwestern Biology, the Vector Control Program of the New Mexico Environment Department, the Environmental Health Department of the City of Albuquerque, and several private collections. We list 99 species of fleas, 27 species of sucking lice, and two species of chewing lice. Included are appendices that list recorded ectoparasite species and their...

Atriplex canescens (Pursh.) Nutt. is the most widespread species of perennial Atriplex in North America. Throughout its distributional range, A. canescens shows considerable between-population variation. Some of this variation may be due to phenotypic plasticity but most of it appears to be genetic. Mutations, polyploidy, introgressive hybridization, and segregation from interspecific hybrids all appear to have contributed to its extensive heritable variation. Polyploidy is unusually common with numerous chromosome races (2x, 4x, 6x, 8x, 10x, 12x, 14x, 20x). Fourwing saltbush is widely...

This paper evaluates changes in growth of pine stands in the state of Georgia, U.S.A., using USDA Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data. In particular, data representing an additional 10-year growth cy-cle has been added to previously published results from two earlier growth cycles. A robust regression procedure is combined with a bootstrap technique to produce estimates of mean growth with confidence intervals for the fourth, fifth, and sixth inventories of natural pine stands sampled between 1961 and 1990. Results suggest that sixth cycle growth rates of pine stands in...

We evaluated sampling variability of stream habitat sampling methods used by the USDA Forest Service and the USDI Bureau of Land Management monitoring program for the upper Columbia River Basin. Three separate studies were conducted to describe the variability of individual measurement techniques, variability between crews, and temporal variation throughout the summer sampling season. We quantified the variability between crews and through time, and described the percent of the total variability attributed between crew and seasonal variability. We then estimated the number of samples...

In 1911, the U.S. Forest Service established the Priest River Experimental Forest near Priest River, Idaho. The Forest served as headquarters for the Priest River Forest Experiment Station and continues to be used for forest research critical to understanding forest development and the many processes, structures, and functions occurring in them. At the time the Forest was created, Idaho had been a State for only 11 years. The early Forest Service leaders, such as Gifford Pinchot, Raphael Zon, and Henry Graves, were creating a new department and making decisions that would impact the...

This paper discusses one approach for quantifying channel maintenance instream flow necessary to achieve the Forest Service Organic Act purpose of securing favorable conditions of water flows. The approach is appropriate for quantifying channel maintenance flows on perennial, unregulated, snowmelt-dominated, gravel-bed streams with alluvial reaches. The approach identifies the minimum essential regime of streamflows necessary for the channel and its floodplain to remain fully functioning with respect to sediment and flow conveyance. The paper discusses the role of water, sediment, and...