Ecological lessons from long-term studies in experimental forests: ponderosa pine silviculture at Pringle Falls Experimental Forest, central Oregon

Abstract

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service celebrated the 100th anniversary of its network of experimental forests in 2008. For a century, the network of experimental forests have contributed immensely, both in the US and around the world, to the practical understanding of the environment and to the formation of management approaches and policies that affect our use of forests and the natural resources they contain. Experimental forests provide places for long-term science and management studies in major vegetation types across the 789,140 km² of public land administered by the Forest Service. They also provide an incredible wealth of records and knowledge of environmental change in natural and managed forest ecosystems across the united States. Pringle Falls Experimental Forest (Pringle Falls), southwest of Bend, Oregon, is the oldest experimental forest in the Pacific Northwest and is the site of some of the earliest forest management and silviculture research in this region. Research at this site began in 1914, and it was formally established as part of the national network of experimental forests in 1931 as a center for silviculture, forest management, and insect and disease research in ponderosa pine forests east of the Oregon Cascade Range.

Citation

Youngblood, Andrew. 2011. Ecological lessons from long-term studies in experimental forests: ponderosa pine silviculture at Pringle Falls Experimental Forest, central Oregon. Forest Ecology and Management. 261: 937-947.