Proceedings of the Sierra Nevada Science Symposium

Abstract

Land and resource management issues in the Sierra Nevada are becoming increasingly complex and controversial. The objective of the Sierra Nevada Science Symposium was to provide a synoptic overview of the current state of scientific knowledge related to key management issues. Attempts were made to tie recent scientific findings to applications in land management and policy development. The symposium addressed four primary objectives: to highlight ecological research and monitoring activities ongoing in the Sierra Nevada; to provide access for all interested parties to information on Sierran research activities, databases, and web sites; to identify new research needs and priorities of organizations, particularly those interested in managing resources or lands in the Sierra; and to explore opportunities to expand and leverage collaborative research opportunities in the Sierra Nevada, including those that encourage interagency, student, and intern involvement. The papers in this volume are summarized presentations by each speaker, as well as overview summaries provided by the session chairs. Introductory and synoptic papers precede or follow the main presentations of the conference. Poster abstracts for the approximately 100 posters presented at the symposium are also included.

Titles contained within Proceedings of the Sierra Nevada Science Symposium

• Achieving a nexus of science, management, and policy in the Sierra Nevada
• Confronting the implications of wicked problems: changes needed in Sierra Nevada National Forest planning and problem solving
• Session overview: climate and landscape change over time
• Interannual-scale to century-scale
• Regional changes and global connections: monitoring climate variability and change in the western United States
• Recent projections of 21st-century climate change and watershed responses in the Sierra Nevada
• Response of Sierra Nevada vegetation and fire regimes to past climate changes
• Climate change in wildland management: taking the long view
• Mountains, fire, fire suppression, and the carbon cycle in the western United States
• Fire in the Sierra Nevada
• Fire and landscapes: patterns and processes
• Fire and fire surrogate study in the Sierra Nevada: evaluating restoration treatments at Blodgett Forest and Sequoia National Park
• Effectiveness of thinning and prescribed fire in reducing wildfire severity
• Linking vegetation patterns to potential smoke production and fire hazard
• Session overview: forest ecosystems
• Biosphere and atmosphere interactions in Sierra Nevada forests
• Landscape pattern and ecological process in the Sierra Nevada
• Nutrient cycling in the Sierra Nevada: the roles of fire and water at Little Valley, Nevada
• Sierra Nevada grasslands: interactions between livestock grazing and ecosystem structure and function
• Forest structure and development: implications for forest management
• Aquatic systems and watersheds
• Non-native fish introductions and the reversibility of amphibian declines in the Sierra Nevada
• Establishing reference conditions for streams and measuring ecological responses to management actions using aquatic invertebrate biological assessments
• Nutrient and sediment transport in streams of the Lake Tahoe basin: a 30-year retrospective
• Assessing cumulative watershed effects in the central Sierra Nevada: hillslope measurements and catchment-scale modeling
• Turning stumbling blocks into stepping stones in the analysis of cumulative impacts
• Biodiversity in the Sierra Nevada
• Invasive exotic plant species in Sierra Nevada ecosystems
• The status and conservation of mesocarnivores in the Sierra Nevada
• A framework for setting land conservation priorities in the Sierra Nevada
• The future of biodiversity in the Sierra Nevada through the Lake Tahoe Basin Looking Glass
• Sierra Nevada Science Symposium: policy and institutions synthesis

Citation

Murphy, Dennis D.; Stine, Peter A. 2004. Proceedings of the Sierra Nevada Science Symposium; 2002 October 7-10; Kings Beach, CA. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-193. Albany, CA: Pacific Southwest Research Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture; 287 p.