Proceedings of a Symposium on the Kings River Sustainable Forest Ecosystem Project: Progress and Current Status

Abstract

Ecosystem management aligns different uses of the land with ecological parameters and goals of environmental quality. An important USDA Forest Service mission is to balance the multiple uses of its lands in an ecologically sustainable way. This objective has been particularly challenging for National Forests of the Sierra Nevada in the face of heated controversies over the effects of even-aged timber harvest on old-growth forests and their associated wildlife, such as the California spotted owl (Strix occidentalis occidentalis). Much of the concern stems from loss of habitat attributes—closed-canopied stands, very old trees, large snags and downed wood, and multiple structural layers—believed to be needed by the owl and other wildlife species. Several of these attributes are also believed to be vital for sustaining healthy, productive forests

Titles contained within Proceedings of a Symposium on the Kings River Sustainable Forest Ecosystem Project: Progress and Current Status

• The Kings River Sustainable Forest Ecosystems Project: inception, objectives, and progress
• A landscape analysis plan
• An uneven-aged management strategy: lessons learned
• Prescribed burning in the Kings River Ecosystem Project Area: lessons learned
• The Teakettle experiment
• Watershed analysis
• Effects of soil disturbance on the fundamental, sustainable productivity of managed forests
• Current investigations of fungal ectomycorrhizal communities in the Sierra Nevada Forest
• Seasonality and abundance of truffles from oak woodlands to red fir forests
• Diets of California spotted owls in the Sierra National Forest
• Demography of the California spotted owl in the Sierra National Forest and Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Parks
• Environmental factors associated with spotted owl reproduction
• Abundance and productivity of birds over an elevational gradient
• Small mammal populations and ecology in the Kings River Sustainable Forest Ecosystems Project area
• Fisher research and the Kings River Sustainable Forest Ecosystem Project: current results and future efforts

Citation

Verner, Jared. 2002. Proceedings of a Symposium on the Kings River Sustainable Forest Ecosystem Project: Progress and Current Status; January 26, 1998; Clovis, CA. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-183. Albany, CA: Pacific Southwest Research Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture; 154 p