Treesearch

This study evaluated workshops for the adult public featuring experiential learning about wildland fire. Participants used hands-on activities to investigate fire behavior and ecology and to assess hazards in the wildland-urban interface. Effectiveness was examined using a pretest, a posttest following the program, and another posttest 30 days later. Participants’ knowledge increased following the program, and their attitudes and beliefs became more supportive of fire management. These changes were still evidence a month later. Hands-on activities can help adults become better informed...

The Interior West Forest Inventory and Analysis (IWFIA) program of the USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, as part of its national Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) duties, conducted forest resource inventories of the Southwestern Region (Region 3) National Forests. This report presents highlights of the Prescott National Forest 1996 inventory, including tree population estimates and summaries of commonly requested variables.

ECO-Report is an annual Rocky Mountain Research Station (RMRS) publication which contains a set of articles showcasing the Bitterroot Ecosystem Management Research Project (BEMRP) research projects and activities. The articles are concise, user-friendly, and designed to inform a broad range of audiences interested in ecosystem management. Articles featured in this issue: The Case for Research: How It Makes a Difference to Managers; The Rocky Mountain Research Station Strategic Framework; Montana Ecosystem Management Learning Center Program Efforts in the Bitterroot; The Logic Behind Forest...

The Rocky Mountain Research Station is one of six regional units that make up the USDA Forest Service Research and Development organization - the most extensive natural resources research organization in the world. We maintain 12 field laboratories throughout a 14-state territory encompassing the Great Basin, Southwest, Rocky Mountains and parts of the Great Plains. The Station employs 443 permanent full-time employees, of which 112 are scientists.

We designed a box trap for capturing lynx (Lynx lynx) that is lightweight, safe, effective, and less expensive than many commercial models. It can be constructed in approximately 3-4 hours from readily available materials. We used this trap to capture 40 lynx 89 times (96% of lynx entering traps) and observed no trapping related injuries. We compare our box trap to other common lynx-capture techniques that we used in terms of capture success, injuries, efficacy, and cost. Our design provided a safe, economical, and efficient means of capturing lynx when even a moderate risk of injury was...

Biological control is a crucial tool in the battle against biological invasions, but biocontrol agents can have a deleterious impact on native species. Recognition of risks associated with host shifting has increased the emphasis on host specificity of biocontrol agents for invasive weeds. However, recent studies indicate host-specific biocontrol agents can also exhibit substantial nontarget effects through indirect interactions and food-web subsidies. Based on an evaluation of these studies, we conclude that the interaction strength between biocontrol agents and their hosts is at least as...

We compared transect and grid trapping arrangements for assessing small-mammal community composition and relative abundance for 2 years in 2 forest cover types in west-central Montana, USA. Transect arrangements yielded more total captures, more individual captures, and more species than grid arrangements in both cover types in both years. Differences between the 2 methods tended to be greatest when small mammals were least abundant, suggesting that advantages of transect arrangements for obtaining basic community information may be greatest when sampling returns are poorest. Our results...

The Dixie National Forest has a long-standing history of successfully implementing prescribed fire and suppression programs. The Forest's safety record has been exemplary. The Forest is known Region-wide for its aggressive and innovative prescribed fire program. In particular, the Dixie National Forest is recognized for its leadership in introducing landscape-scale prescribed fires. On April 22, 2002, the planned 1,500-acre Sanford Prescribed Fire was ignited on the Dixie National Forest's Powell Ranger District. On May 13, eleven miles southeast of the Sanford prescribed fire project, the...

Airborne laser altimetry provides an unprecedented view of the forest floor in timber fuel types and is a promising new tool for fuels assessments. It can be used to resolve two fuel models under closed canopies and may be effective for estimating coarse woody debris loads. A simple metric - obstacle density - provides the necessary quantification of fuel bed roughness to make these measures possible. This work highlights the need for more research in the application of laser technology to fuels mapping.

Current methods for predicting fire-induced plant mortality in shrubs and trees are largely empirical. These methods are not readily linked to duff burning, soil heating, and surface fire behavior models. In response to the need for a physics-based model of this process, a detailed model for predicting the temperature distribution through a tree stem as a function of time when subjected to a time varying heat pulse has been developed (Jones et al, 2003).