Treesearch

The Exxon-Valdez oil tanker ran aground on Bligh Reef outside the Valdez Arm of Prince William Sound, Alaska on March 24th 1989. Aside from attracting enormous media attention, this disaster focused a great deal of research and analysis on the ecological (Brown et al. 1993), political (Piper 1997), economic (Cohen 1993), and social (Jorgensen 1995; Gill and Picou 1997) impacts of the spill. With an eye toward likely litigation over damages, much of this research quickly centered on assessing the economic costs of the spill to affected industries and economies both local and global. Our aim...

We developed a field protocol to monitor populations of cavity-nesting birds in burned and unburned coniferous forests of western North America. Standardized field methods are described for implementing long-term monitoring strategies and for conducting field research to evaluate the effects of habitat change on cavity-nesting birds. Key references (but not methodologies) for statistical analyses and habitat measurements are listed in our protocol. The protocol includes sections on study design, creation of field maps, conducting nest surveys, locating nest cavities by search image and...

During 1981 and 1982, Dean E. Medin conducted bird censuses along an elevational gradient (5,250 to 11, 400 feet) near and on Wheeler Peak of east-central Nevada. Twenty years later we conducted bird census on seven of his 12 plots. Data from the bristlecone pine - Pinus longaeva - plot were collected in 1981 but not published (data on file with the Great Basin National Park). Data for the remaining six plots were collected in 1982 and published. In general, all 2002 bird counts from the seven study plots recorded substantially fewer numbers of total birds and, with the exception of the...

Our limited understanding of the short and long-term effects of fire on fish contributes to considerable uncertainty in assessments of the risks and benefits of fire management alternatives. A primary concern among the many potential effects of fire is the effects of fire and fire management on persistence of native fish populations. Limited evidence suggests vulnerability of fish to fire is contingent upon the quality of affected habitats, the amount and distribution of habitat (habitat fragmentation), and habitat specificity of the species in question. Species with narrow habitat...

The bull trout Salvelinus confluentus is believed to be among the most thermally sensitive species in coldwater habitats in western North America. We conducted a comprehensive field assessment of thermal habitat associations throughout the southern margin of the species' range. We developed models of thermal habitat associations using two data sets representing a geographically diverse range of sites and sampling methods. In both data sets, maximum temperature was strongly associated with the distribution of bull trout. In spite of the potential biases in these data sets, model predictions...

This report presents a summary of the most recent inventory information for New Mexico's forest lands. Most of the data are from the inventory completed in 2000 that included National Forest System lands and reserved lands. This report includes descriptive highlights and tables of area, number of trees, biomass, volume, growth, mortality, successional stage, understory vegetation, removals, and net change. Most of the tables are organized by forest type, species, diameter class, or owner group. The report also describes inventory design, inventory terminology, and data reliability. Results...

Truth for vegetation cover percent and type is obtained from very large-scale photography (VLSP), stand structure as measured by size classes, and vegetation types from a combination of VLSP and ground sampling. We recommend using the Kappa statistic with bootstrap confidence intervals for overall accuracy, and similarly bootstrap confidence intervals for percent correct for each category and user and producer accuracy. A procedure is given for mapped plots to be assessed as being partially or totally correct. We recommend the use of primary accuracy for management decisions and secondary...

The RAWS network and RAWS data-use systems are closely reviewed and summarized in this report. RAWS is an active program created by the many land-management agencies that share a common need for accurate and timely weather data from remote locations for vital operational and program decisions specific to wildland and prescribed fires. A RAWS measures basic observable weather parameters such as temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, and precipitation as well as "fuel stick" temperature. Data from almost 1,900 stations deployed across the conterminous United States,...

This report provides an assessment and compilation of recreation-related monitoring data sources across the National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS). Telephone interviews with managers of all units of the NWPS and a literature search were conducted to locate studies that provide campsite impact data, trail impact data, and information about visitor characteristics. Of the 628 wildernesses that comprised the NWPS in January 2000, 51 percent had baseline campsite data, 9 percent had trail condition data and 24 percent had data on visitor characteristics. Wildernesses managed by the...

The Fire and Fuels Extension (FFE) to the Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS) simulates fuel dynamics and potential fire behaviour over time, in the context of stand development and management. Existing models of fire behavior and fire effects were added to FVS to form this extension. New submodels representing snag and fuel dynamics were created to complete the linkages. This report contains four chapters. Chapter 1 states the purpose and chronicles some applications of the model. Chapter 2 details the model's content, documents links to the supporting science, and provides annotated...