Treesearch

Each of the United States federal wilderness management agencies requires access to the best available scientific information to meet legislative and policy mandates. Scientists, including those in federal agencies and universities, have worked diligently to develop and publish scientific knowledge to support policy and management decisions. However, wilderness managers report a variety of barriers to their ability to access and use scientific information. These barriers include, but are not limited to, heavy workloads and a lack of time to search for scientific information, a large body...

This paper reviews the environmental impacts of forest roads at the on-site and the watershed scale. The components of a road prism--the cut slope, ditch, running surface, and fill slope--are defined and a description of the infiltration and flow processes are made for both insloped and outsloped roads. The perceived advantages of both are discussed. Flow on the road prism without traffic and a long-term study of the sediment production also follow. Some of the differences in sediment production between traffic and no-traffic conditions are highlighted, and the results of three studies of...

The selection silvicultural system has gained popularity as a means for developing and maintaining uneven-aged stand structure in a variety of forest types. Only limited information exists, however, regarding regeneration dynamics and growth of longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill.) managed under the group selection silvicultural system in the southeastern USA. A replicated artificial gap study, established in a 65-year-old, second-growth stand in northwest Florida, was used to examine the interactions between site resource availability (light, nutrition, water) and canopy gap position on...

I examined the home destruction in Summerhaven associated with the 2003 Aspen Fire on July 31 and August 1. My examination was prompted by questions regarding the wildfire behavior related to home destruction and specifically whether homes could have survived the wildfire in the Summerhaven area. The evidence revealed by my examination indicates that the wildfire in the Summerhaven area largely spread as a surface fire not as a high intensity crown fire. The differences in the direct flame and firebrand exposures related to the home characteristics resulted in one house surviving next to...

The USDA Forest Service along with the National Fire Protection Association generated the National Wildland-Urban Interface Initiative in response to the residential fire destruction during the 1985 fire season. Since 1990, political attention has increased to homes destroyed and communities evacuated during extreme wildland fires. Wildlandurban interface fire spectacles dominated the 2002 U.S. fire season. Federal fire policy and suppression operations reflect the socio-political attention to protecting homes from burning during wildland fires. Supporting policy documents include the...

Larvae of Promylea lunigerella glendella Dyar (Pyralidae, Phycitinae) feed on Arceuthohium vaginatum susp. Cryptopodum (Hawks,) (Viscaceae), the Southwestern dwarf mistletoe, a parasite of Pinus ponderosa (Laws.) scopulorllm (Pinaceae) at the Manitou Experimental Forest, U.S.D.A. Rocky Mountain Research Station, Woodland Park, Colorado, A previous food plant record for P. lunigerella describes the larvae as feeding on a variety of conifers. A careful evaluation of this record suggests it is reliable, and I conclude that P. lunigerella is actively shifting between dwarf mistletoe and...

The sites described below are located in Ponderosa pine Forest Type on the Manitou Experimental Forest. The sites are bounded by meadows along Trout Creek on the west, Hotel Gulch, on the south, Missouri Gulch on the north, and the Ridgewood subdivision on the east. The area consists of gentle west-sloping terrain intersected by a series of small east-west ridges. No live streams exist in the area. Elevations range from 7,700 to 8,000 ft. Annual Precipitation averages 15.7 inches. Site Index averages 35, (base 100). Tree species present in these stands include ponderosa pine, Douglas-fir,...

Monitoring vast landscapes has, from the beginning of rangeland management, depended on people’s judgements. This is no longer tenable, but a more effective method has yet to be devised. The problem is how to do an economical inventory that will detect ecologically important change over extensive land areas with acceptable error rates. The error risk is a function of adequate sample numbers and distribution for each indicator monitored. Of all of the indicators identified for monitoring, ground cover and its inverse, bare ground, may be the most discussed. Ground-cover measurements address...

Forests occupy 22.6 million acres in Colorado, or 32 percent of the land area, and nearly three-quarters of the forest lands in Colorado are in public ownership. About 55 percent of the forested area is considered suitable for forest harvest. National forests comprise nearly half of the forested area and approximately 60 percent of the area is considered suitable for forest harvest. There are no significant, privately owned, industrial forest lands in Colorado. Historic photographs, forest stand records, and other data indicate that forest density in Colorado is generally greater than in...

Wildlife population status is becoming a key consideration in determining whether wood fiber production from managed forests can be sustained. Concerns for wildlife have become a very important part of public land management in many areas of the world and are being given increased weight on privately owned lands. Jointly maintaining wood fiber production and wildlife populations requires an ability to spatially and temporally design management activities so as to mitigate negative impacts on wildlife habitat. Consequently, research efforts that blend wildlife population persistence...