Treesearch

How quickly and in what way does a channel bed respond when large wood elements are introduced in a way that imitates natural wood loading processes (un-anchored or anchored by burial)? Using a design streamflow threshold for determining the size of key large wood elements, what changes in channel bed and habitat complexity occur after streamflow events above and below the threshold? These are questions we are currently trying to answer with a large wood habitat enhancement project on the East Branch of Soquel Creek within Soquel Demonstration State Forest in Santa Cruz County, California....

Stream temperature impacts have resulted in increased restrictions on land management, such as timber harvest and riparian restoration, creating considerable uncertainty for future planning and management of redwood (Sequoia sempervirens (D.Don) Endl.) forestlands. Challenges remain in the assessment of downstream cumulative stream temperature effects given the complexity of stream temperature dynamics. The goal of this research is to identify processes and measurements that can aid the assessment of risk of downstream temperature heating. Stream temperature, hydrologic, climatic, and...

The early day logging of coast redwood in Humboldt County was destructive, dramatic, and dangerous. Giant old-growth redwoods were felled by pairs of “choppers” using double-bitted axes and long crosscut saws. Felling a single tree could take a week. After bucking, logs were initially moved by water to mills on the shores of Humboldt Bay. Logging railroads gradually took over part or all of log transport. In extreme situations, movement of logs required use of inclined railways and trestles built directly over streams. As late as the 1970s, loggers were subjected to a mortality rate of...

What responsibilities do humans have to ensure that redwoods survive? And what values and strategies are required to accomplish such a purpose? A basic assumption is that the saving of a species, or more broadly of an ecosystem, is ultimately about human survival and that there is a responsibility to use all tools available to this end. To date, our actions to sustain redwoods include setting aside acreage in parks and reserves, sustainably harvesting redwoods for commercial use, and educating ourselves and the public on the benefits and services of the redwood forest. These are current...

As California continues into a fifth year of drought, tree mortality enhanced by the unprecedented bark beetle epidemic contributes to wildfires that continue to increase in frequency and severity. Recent fires have posed increasing fire suppression challenges, life safety concerns, post fire watershed impacts and lasting damage to forested landscapes. The ability of California forestlands to sequester and store carbon has become a matter of national and international significance. Greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere are altering the climate, and public and private land managers...

Crossdated tree-ring chronologies for the Arcata Community Forest (ACF) and Muir Woods National Monument (Muir Woods) expand the spatial coverage of dated coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens (D. Don) Endl.) series. Crossdating relies on the common pattern of ring-width variation among tree populations, and dated chronologies have many applications, including climate analysis, growth analysis, tree age calculations, reconstructing fire histories, and archeological dating. While coast redwood poses many challenges to crossdating (e.g., ring wedging, locally-absent rings, and discontinuous...

Mature second-growth redwood (Sequoia sempervirens (D. Don) Endl.) forests are an important and uncommon resource in the redwood region. Development of second-growth redwood forests beyond rotation age is not well understood. Continuous long-term data are especially lacking, considering that the maximum possible age of second-growth stands is now over 150 years. Two observation plots established in 1923 in the Arcata Community Forest provide a unique opportunity to examine the long-term development of second-growth redwood forest.

Coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens (D. Don) Endl.) height growth and basal area growth are sensitive to variations in site quality. Site factors known to be correlated with redwood stand growth and yield include topographic variables such as position on slope, exposure, and the composite variable: topographic relative moisture index. Species composition is also a key driver of redwood stand growth and yield. We studied spatial patterns in species composition in terms of percent hardwood, and spatial patterns in topographic relative moisture index values across 109 ha (270 ac) of coast...

There is a tremendous amount of variation in the second growth redwood (Sequoia sempervirens (D. Don) Endl.) forests found along the North Coast of California. In order to make prudent management decisions about these forests, foresters and other resource professionals often conduct timber cruises to collect information on tree species, diameters, tree heights, crown ratios, bole taper, and other variables of interest. When designing point sample timber cruises to collect these data, it is important not only to consider sample size (the number of point samples), but to also consider how...

Our research seeks to expand the concept of urban environmental stewardship to include the everyday stewardship practices of urban nontimber forest products foragers. Ethnographic data from 58 urban foragers and 18 land stewards in the city of Seattle (USA) revealed that foragers reported using a variety of practices to enhance and minimize negative desirable species and their habitats. Many of these practices were identical to those practiced by restoration volunteers in formal programs and align with Seattle Parks Department management objectives. Foragers actively sought to learn more...