Treesearch

Presented is a prototype of the Landscape Ecosystem Inventory System (LEIS), a system for creating maps of important landscape characteristics for natural resource planning. This system uses gradient-based field inventories coupled with gradient modeling remote sensing, ecosystem simulation, and statistical analyses to derive spatial data layers required for ecosystem management. Field data were collected in two large (more than 10,000 km2) study areas along important environmental gradients using modified ECODATA methods. A multilevel database was used to derive response variables for...

Sediment and flow measurements were made during the course of 13 runoff seasons between 1982 and 1997 on a gravel-bed stream near Bondurant, Wyoming. The data for Little Granite Creek, compiled through the efforts of the U.S. Geological Survey and USDA Forest Service, is one of the most comprehensive databases on transport processes for an individual site available as of this writing. Bedload, moved by flows ranging from 0.05 times to nearly twice the bankfull discharge, was measured with an original Helley-Smith bedload sampler while wading, while suspended from a bridge, or from a...

Measuring hillslope erosion has historically been a costly, time-consuming practice. An easy to install low-cost technique using silt fences (geotextile fabric) and tipping bucket rain gauges to measure onsite hillslope erosion was developed and tested. Equipment requirements, installation procedures, statistical design, and analysis methods for measuring hillslope erosion are discussed. The use of silt fences is versatile; various plot sizes can be used to measure hillslope erosion in different settings and to determine effectiveness of various treatments or practices. Silt fences are...

On two high-elevation sites (~3,000 m) in northeastern Utah, lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia) seeds germinated best (53 percent) on large mineral microsites (5 x 5 m), and percentage survival of germinating seeds was best on microsites covered with forest floor material. Seed predation was severe at both study sites; protecting seeds increased germination three to ten times. On harvested sites dependent on natural regeneration for seedling establishment, some predation control may be necessary to achieve rapid and complete stocking. After harvesting, maintenance of a combinati...

To investigate the effects of military fixed-wing aircraft training on the behavior of the endangered Mexican spotted owl (Strix occidentalis lucida), we subjected four adults and one juvenile owl to low-altitude, fixed-wing, jet aircraft overflight trials in Colorado in 1996 and 1997. Trials consisted of three sequential fly-bys, each at a greater aircraft speed and noise level, over owl territories in narrow and steep-walled canyons. All overflights were about 460 m above canyon rims, the lowest altitude allowed during training flights. Maximum noise levels, measured at one owl site,...

A four-stage model of decisionmaking was investigated in the context of low-impact practices among rock climbers in the Bitterroot Valley of Montana. Previous research has suggested that knowing what to do to minimize environmental and social impacts may not be the only factor limiting compliance with recommended visitor behaviors. Results from a sample of climbers at Kootenai Creek indicate that the way people are introduced to the sport has an important influence on attitudes toward low-impact practices. Significant differences were found between those who learned to rock climb indoors...

Comandra blister rust is a damaging canker disease of lodgepole pine in the Central Rocky Mountains. Our knowledge of previous blister rust outbreaks and the effects of weather and climate on rust epidemiology has not been sufficient to explain the frequency and severity of disease outbreaks. Thus, we sought to describe the seasonal and annual frequency and duration of meteorological conditions favorable for infection of lodgepole pine, to relate infection episodes to various weather phenomena, to observe new canker appearances on young trees, and to age existing cankers on mature trees....

Colorado's forests are at risk to forest health problems and catastrophic fire. Forest areas at high risk to catastrophic fire, commonly referred to as Red Zones, contain 2.4 million acres in the Colorado Front Range and 6.3 million acres Statewide. The increasing frequency, size, and intensity of recent forest fires have prompted large appropriations of Federal funds to reduce fire risk and improve fire protection. Experimental ecological restoration studies using thinning and prescribed fire have been conducted at several locations across the State during the past 5 years to determine if...

Long-term qualitative observations suggest a marked decline in quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) primarily due to advancing succession and fire suppression. This study presents an ecoregional coarse-grid analysis of the current aspen situation using Forest Health Monitoring (FHM) data from Idaho, Wyoming, and Colorado. A unique feature of aspen forests in western North America is regeneration primarily by asexual ''suckering'' although rare seeding events do occur. The dominant clonal process provides the basis for this analysis. In essence, the remaining aspen stems of previously...

A spatial optimization model was formulated and used to maximize black-tailed prairie dog populations in the Badlands National Park and the Buffalo Gap National Grassland in South Dakota. The choice variables involved the strategic placement of limited additional protected habitat. Population dynamics were captured in formulations that reflected exponential population growth combined with the recalcitrant dispersal behavior of this social mammal that is important to many other species. The model results are compared to a previous paper which modeled the black-footed ferret, an aggressive...