Treesearch

Post-fire seeding of native species is intended to reduce weed entry, yet few studies have addressed the impacts of seeding methods on the establishment and persistence of exotic annuals. In summers of 2010 and 2011, we investigated productivity of exotic annuals across rehabilitation seedings that were established on the Scooby Wildfire site in northern Utah. The site, which was formerly dominated by Artemisia tridentata Nutt. ssp. wyomingensis Beetle & Young (Wyoming big sagebrush), burned in September 2008. Experimental treatments were applied in November 2008 and February 2009 to...

The Interagency Native Plant Materials Development Program outlined in the 2002 USDA and USDI Report to Congress, USDI Bureau of Land Management programs and policies, and the Great Basin Restoration Initiative encourage the use of native species for rangeland rehabilitation and restoration where feasible. The Great Basin Native Plant Selection and Increase Project was initiated to provide information that will be useful to managers when making decisions about selecting appropriate plant materials and technologies for restoration. The Program is supported by the USDI Bureau of Land...

Infestation of eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis (L.) Carr.) with hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA, Adelges tsugae) has caused widespread mortality of this key canopy species throughout much of the southern Appalachian Mountains in the past decade. Because eastern hemlock is heavily concentrated in riparian habitats, maintains a dense canopy, and has an evergreen leaf habit, its loss is expected to have a major impact on forest processes, including transpiration (Et). Our goal was to estimate changes in stand-level Et since HWA infestation, and predict future effects of forest regeneration on...

The foothills north of Boise, Garden City, and Eagle make a beautiful backdrop for the urban areas below. This ecosystem provides city residents unparalleled recreational opportunities, serves as important wildlife habitat, provides clean water to residents, and supports the local economy. The foothills are also home to a wide variety of plants that have important ecological and economic roles. Native plants have naturally evolved with and adapted to the local foothills climate and soils. Nonnative plants are species that were introduced (accidentally or purposefully) to the foothills...

Land managers are routinely applying fuel reduction treatments to mitigate the risk of severe, stand-replacing fire in ponderosa pine communities of the southwestern US. When these treatments are burned by wildfire they generally reduce fire severity, but less is known about how they influence post-wildfire vegetation recovery, as compared to pre-fire untreated areas. We re-measured existing plots on the 2002 Rodeo-Chediski Fire 8 years after the wildfire to track plant community and exotic species response, as well as patterns of pine regeneration. We compared areas that experienced high-...

We used a multi-year data set from the 2002 Rodeo-Chediski Fire to detect post-fire trends in plant community response in burned ponderosa pine forests. Within the burn perimeter, we examined the effects of pre-fire fuels treatments on post-fire vegetation by comparing paired treated and untreated sites on the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest.We sampled these paired sites in 2004, 2005 and 2011.

We used a physics-based model, HIGRAD/FIRETEC, to explore changes in within-stand wind behavior and fire propagation associated with three time periods in pinyon-juniper woodlands following a drought-induced bark beetle outbreak and subsequent tree mortality. Pinyon-juniper woodland fuel complexes are highly heterogeneous. Trees often are clumped, with sparse patches of herbaceous vegetation scattered between clumps. Extensive stands of dead pinyon trees intermixed with live junipers raised concerns about increased fire hazard, especially immediately after the trees died and dead needles...

Fine root dynamics control a dominant flux of carbon from plants and into soils and mediate potential uptake and cycling of nutrients and water in terrestrial ecosystems. Understanding of these patterns is needed to accurately describe critical processes like productivity and carbon storage from ecosystem to global scales. However, limited observations of root dynamics make it difficult to define and predict patterns of root dynamics across broad spatial scales. Here, we combine species-specific estimates of fine root dynamics with a model that predicts current distribution and future...

Climate change impacts tree species differentially by exerting unique pressures and altering their suitable habitats. We previously predicted these changes in suitable habitat for current and future climates using a species habitat model (DISTRIB) in the eastern United States. Based on the accuracy of the model, the species assemblages should eventually reflect the new quasi-equilibrium suitable habitats (~2100) after accounting for the lag in colonization. However, it is an open question if and when these newly suitable habitats will be colonized under current fragmented landscapes and...

Presents recent North Dakota forest industry trends; production and receipts of industrial roundwood; and production of saw logs and other products in 2009. Logging residue generated from timber harvest operations is reported, as well as wood and bark residue generated at primary wood-using mills and disposition of mill residues.