Treesearch

Sweet birch (Betula lenta L.) is aggressively recruiting in temperate forest understories of the eastern United States and often dominates the post-disturbance seedling community, diminishing diversity and hindering sustainable silviculture. The type and timing of silvicultural actions affect birch recruitment via their effects on seedling recruitment, survival, and growth. Here, we examine birch regeneration under two contrasting treatment sequences: pre- versus post-shelterwood harvest herbicide application (H–S vs. S–H) in combination with white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus...

When healthy trees are removed, common methods of compensation are either monetary or replanting new trees. Accurate monetary compensation for large healthy trees is difficult to ascertain and often uses formulas based on tree attributes such as species, size, location and condition. Compensation based on leaf area is more direct as most tree values are related to healthy leaf area. Using leaf area, a tree compensation rate can be determined (how many new trees are needed to compensate for the removal of a healthy tree). However, compensation also needs to consider the future benefits...

Scotch broom, Cytisus scoparius (L.) is a globally important nitrogen (N)-fixing invasive plant species that has potential to alter soil water dynamics, soil chemistry, and plant communities. We evaluated the effects of Scotch broom on soil moisture, soil chemistry, soil temperature, photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), and vegetation communities over 4 years at a site recently harvested for timber. Treatments of Scotch broom (either present via planting or absent) and background vegetation (either present or absent via herbicide treatments) were applied to 4 m2 plots. Background...

Continuous exterior insulation is becoming more common in North America in above-grade exterior walls in both retrofit applications and new construction. It is used to improve the overall thermal performance of wall assemblies. The drying capability of wall assemblies with exterior insulation and an interior vapor retarder in cold climates is not well characterized. The moisture performance of wood-framed wall assemblies with and without exterior insulation was monitored during a 2-year period in the cold climate of Madison, Wisconsin, USA, under low and high interior humidity conditions...

Fuel treatments are designed with multiple management goals, including improving suppression capacity and restoring the historical structure of dry forests. Fuelbreaks are a class of fuel treatment that remove fuels within a wide strip of land, with an overarching objective to reduce fire behavior and provide safe access for suppression. In an empirical analysis of shaded fuelbreaks that burned during the 2014 Bald Fire (15,950 ha on the Lassen National Forest, California, USA), we found that overall fire severity was reduced in the treated areas relative to untreated. A non-linear mixed...

Piling and burning is widely used to dispose of unmerchantable debris resulting from thinning in forests throughout the western United States. Quite often more piles are created than are burned in a given year, however, causing piles to persist, accumulate, and age on the landscape. The effects of burning piles of increasing age has not been studied. We examined the effects of time since construction (i.e., pile age, in roughly six month increments for two years) and burn season (fall and spring) on fuelbed properties, combustion dynamics, fuel consumption, and charcoal formation for...

The Science Framework is intended to link the Department of the Interior’s Integrated Rangeland Fire Management Strategy with long-term strategic conservation and restoration actions in the sagebrush biome. The focus is on sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) ecosystems and sagebrush dependent species with an emphasis on Greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus). Part 1 of the Science Framework, published in 2017, provides the scientific information and decision-support tools for prioritizing areas for management and determining effective management strategies across the sagebrush biome. Part...

Metal fasteners are used to hold wood structures together. In outdoor applications, these fasteners are subject to corrosion when the wood is treated with certain preservative treatments. Typically, these treatments contain copper. Prior work has hypothesized that the mechanism of corrosion in treated wood involves reduction of copper ions from the wood treatments. However, copper was rarely detected in the corrosion products of metals embedded in treated wood, which contradicts the hypothesized mechanism. This present work utilizes synchrotron based X-ray fuorescence microscopy (XFM) and...

July housing data rebounded in the majority of categories; yet, the aggregate housing market appears to be in a sluggish mode. Total permits and starts, including single-family permits and starts crept into positive territory. Total starts were negative on a year-over-year basis. Housing under construction also crept into positive territory on a monthly basis. Total and single-family housing completions were negative on a month-over-month basis. New single-family sales declined month-over-month but were robust on a year-over-year basis. Private residential construction spending indicated...

Long-term conservation planning for diadromous fishes would benefit from a better understanding of both the role of connectivity among environments and habitat variability in the expression of life-history diversity. Most of the scientific knowledge on habitat fragmentation and connectivity has been developed in terrestrial systems in the discipline of landscape ecology. Research on habitat connectivity in aquatic systems (e.g., salmonid research that spans the spectrum of habitats from freshwater to the sea) is uncommon and largely focused on barriers to fish passage. Here, we present a...