Treesearch

A study was installed on the George Washington National Forest to gather hardwood arvesting production data. The silvicultural prescription for the harvested unit was shelterwood with reserves. There was no biomass removal component included in this study. One purpose of this study was to gather baseline harvesting data for future comparisons of production impacts from harvesting similar stands with and without biomass included as a marketable product. The harvesting operation was comprised of traditional ground-based harvesting equipment (fellerbuncher and grapple skidder). The average...

The recent mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins) epidemic has affected millions of hectares of conifer forests in the Rocky Mountains. Land managers are interested in using biomass from beetle-killed trees for bioenergy and biobased products, but they lack adequate information to accurately estimate biomass in stands with heavy mortality. We destructively sampled live (n = 7) and mountain pine beetle-killed (n = 7) lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta Dougl. ex Loud.) trees in the northern Colorado Rocky Mountains to develop and compare diameter-based aboveground component...

Wildfire behavior depends on the type, quantity, and condition of fuels, and the effect that bark beetle outbreaks have on fuels is a topic of current research and debate. Remote sensing can provide estimates of fuels across landscapes, although few studies have estimated surface fuels from remote sensing data. Here we predicted and mapped field-measured canopy and surface fuels from light detection and ranging (lidar) and Landsat time series explanatory variables via random forest (RF) modeling across a coniferous montane forest in Colorado, USA, which was affected by mountain pine...

Wildfire and the threat it poses to society represents an example of the complex, dynamic relationship between social and ecological systems. Increasingly, wildfire adaptation is posited as a pathway to shift the approach to fire from a suppression paradigm that seeks to control fire to a paradigm that focuses on “living with” and “adapting to” wildfire. In this study, we seek insights into what it means to adapt to wildfire from a range of stakeholders whose efforts contribute to the management of wildfire. Study participants provided insights into the meaning, relevance, and use of the...

Champ’s presentation focused on how to get homeowners to take action to protect their properties from fire. She framed this challenge as a last-mile problem, which is a concept from the literature on supply chain. The last mile is the end of the supply chain where a product is transferred to the customer. The last mile is often the most difficult part of the entire supply chain, and for that reason, it should not be thought about last..

Savannas and woodlands are open forest phases that occur along a gradient between grasslands and closed canopy forests. These ecosystems are characterized by open to nearly closed canopies of overstorey trees, relatively sparse midstorey and understorey woody vegetation, and dense, species-rich ground flora. In contrast to closed forests, the dominant and codominant trees in the canopy of open forests often have large, spreading crowns. Relatively open structure allows light to the floor, which is critical for grasses and forbs; the greatest plant species diversity and turnover rates occur...

Quantification of field-scale fire behavior is necessary to improve the current scientific understanding of wildland fires and to develop and test relevant, physics-based models. In particular, detailed descriptions of individual fires are required, for which the available literature is limited. In this work, two such field-scale experiments, carried out in pine stands under mild conditions, are presented. A particular focus was placed on non-intrusive measurement, as the capabilities of advanced remote sensing techniques, along with more traditional approaches, are explored. A description...

Conservation status assessments are a valuable tool for the management and protection of rare and endangered species. Categorizing and defining rarity, threats, and population trends is often the first step toward understanding and documenting the health of the world’s plant diversity. Having up to date conservation status assessments for all of North America’s native tree species, based on a globally standardized system, would enable an objective and systematic prioritization of species for future conservation action and enable stakeholders from a wide range of sectors to engage in...

Aldo Leopold once said “to keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering.” The USDA Forest Service has embarked on a long-term effort to do just that. Our gene conservation efforts in forest trees are a modest beginning to this urgent need. In the early 2000s, the Forest Health Protection Program and its partners in the National Forest System and Research and Development Deputy Areas of the Forest Service initiated seed collections in several five-needle pine species that were succumbing to white pine blister rust and bark beetle attacks at accelerated rates. We...

Effective national plant conservation has several basic needs, including: 1) accessible, up-to-date information on species distribution and rarity; 2) research and management capacity to mitigate the impact of threats that make plants rare; 3) effective networks for conserving species in situ and ex situ; 4) education and training to make sure the right people are addressing the issues; 5) policy that supports conservation; 6) funding to maintain the infrastructure for plant conservation; and 7) effective communications so that plants are valued and supported by the public. The more...