Proceedings of the First Landscape State-and-Transition Simulation Modeling Conference, June 14–16, 2011, Portland, Oregon

Abstract

The first ever Landscape State-and-Transition Simulation Modeling Conference was held from June 14–16, 2011, in Portland Oregon. The conference brought together over 70 users of state-and-transition simulation modeling tools—the Vegetation Dynamics Development Tool (VDDT), the Tool for Exploratory Landscape Analysis (TELSA) and the Path Landscape Model. The goal of the conference was to (1) provide opportunities for sharing experiences with different applications of the tools, (2) identify major existing conceptual or technological gaps, and develop goals for future state-and-transition simulation model (STSM) development, and (3) start building an international network of STSM users. Eighteen oral presentations and thirteen posters were presented. This proceeding includes thirteen papers that build on some key STSM concepts, applications, and innovations from that conference, and shares them with a wider audience. The goal of these proceedings is to provide a state-of-the-science reference for STSM modelers and users. All papers were peer-reviewed by two blind reviewers and one editor. The presentation of these papers reveals that the STSM approach has been applied to a wide range of management and land-use questions and ecosystems, with an equally wide variation in the amounts of scientific data and expert knowledge available for model parameterization.

Titles contained within Proceedings of the First Landscape State-and-Transition Simulation Modeling Conference, June 14–16, 2011, Portland, Oregon

• Predicting landscape vegetation dynamics using state-and-transition simulation models
• Use of state-and-transition simulation modeling in National Forest planning in the Pacific Northwest, U.S.A
• Modeling on the grand scale: LANDFIRE lessons learned
• The integrated landscape assessment project
• Using state-and-transition models to project cheatgrass and juniper invasion in Southeastern Oregon sagebrush steppe
• Landscape development and mule deer habitat in Central Oregon
• Balancing feasibility and precision of wildlife habitat analysis in planning for natural resources
• Forecasting timber, biomass, and tree carbon pools with the output of state and transition models
• Through a glass, darkly—comparing VDDT and FVS
• Use of the forest vegetation simulator to quantify disturbance activities in state and transition models
• Approaches to incorporating climate change effects in state and transition simulation models of vegetation
• Modeling the dynamic responses of riparian vegetation and salmon habitat in the Oregon Coast Range with state-and-transition models
• Landscape composition in aspen woodlands under various modeled fire regimes

Citation

Kerns, Becky K.; Shlisky, Ayn J.; Daniel, Colin J., tech. eds. 2012. Proceedings of the First Landscape State-and-Transition Simulation Modeling Conference, June 14–16, 2011, Portland, Oregon. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-869. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 215 p.