Treesearch

Current fire policy to restore ecosystem function and resiliency and reduce buildup of hazardous fuels implies a larger future role for fire (both natural and human ignitions) (USDA Forest Service and U.S. Department of the Interior 2000). Yet some fire management (such as building fire line, spike camps, or helispots) potentially causes both short- and longterm impacts to forest health. In the short run, these practices may increase soil disturbance, thereby promoting post-fire weed establishment (Keeley 2005, Merriam and others 2006). Fire management practices also may initiate longterm...

Biological invasions represent one of the most significant environmental threats to the maintenance of natural forest ecosystems in North America and elsewhere (Liebhold and others 1995), and have been estimated to cause more than $100 billion annually in damage and control costs (Pimentel and others 2000). However, these costs do not take into account the economic value of nonmarket ecosystem services such as landscape aesthetics, outdoor recreation, and the knowledge that healthy forest ecosystems exist (Holmes and others 2009). Failure to address biotic invasions could result in severe...

Wildland fire represents an important ecological mechanism in many forest ecosystems. It shapes the distributions of species, maintains the structure and function of fire-prone communities, and is a significant evolutionary force (Bond and Keeley 2005). At the same time, fire outside the historic range of frequency and intensity can have extensive economic and ecological impacts. More than half the forested area in the conterminous United States is either moderately or significantly altered from historical fire regimes, potentially altering key ecosystem components such as species compositi...

The 12-site National Fire and Fire Surrogate study (FFS) was a multivariate experiment that evaluated ecological consequences of alternative fuel-reduction treatments in seasonally dry forests of the US. Each site was a replicated experiment with a common design that compared an un-manipulated control, prescribed fire, mechanical and mechanical + fire treatments. Variables within the vegetation, fuelbed, forest floor and soil, bark beetles, tree diseases and wildlife were measured in 10-ha stands, and ecological response was compared among treatments at the site level, and across sites, to...

The purpose of this assessment is to answer a number of questions from the agency administrator and Fire Management staff. What are the risks to the following points of concern: Wilderness boundary; Forest Boundary; Minam Lodge and Red's Horse Ranch; Private Lands in Catherine Creek; Lostine River "cherry stem"; Probability of the fire establishing itself in the bottom of the Minam River.

While the Near Term Fire Behavior analysis option in WFDSS is similar to FARSITE, the advantage of using FARSITE lies in the ability to use gridded winds which produces more reliable fire behavior results in complex terrain. A couple of FARSITE simulations were completed to evaluate fire growth and fire behavior in relation to the values, notably Red's Horse Ranch and the Minam Lodge.

The impact of sudden oak death on Pacific Coast wildlands has received much attention from scientists, popular media, and the public. Disease symptoms were first observed in Marin County, in California, in 1994 on tanoak (Lithocarpus densiflorus) and, in 1995, on coast live oak (Quercus agrifolia) and California black oak (Q. kelloggii) (McPherson and others 2003). The crown foliage of affected trees appeared to die over several weeks, while bleeding cankers appeared on the lower trunks of larger trees (Rizzo and others 2002). During the next several years, sudden oak death reached...

Drought, especially persistent drought, may impact forests in direct and indirect ways. Low to moderate drought stress directly reduces plant growth processes at the cellular level, while more severe stress also substantially diminishes photosynthesis (Kareiva and others 1993, Mattson and Haack 1987). Indirectly, forest communities subjected to drought stress may be more susceptible to infestations, and in some cases major outbreaks, of tree-damaging insects (Mattson and Haack 1987). Furthermore, drought impedes decomposition of organic matter and reduces moisture content in woody debris...

The purpose of this evaluation monitoring project was to document the losses of flowering dogwood, Cornus florida (L.), an important ornamental and wildlife tree that grows across much of Eastern North America. The project was prompted in 2001 by the apparent abundance of flowering dogwoods along roadsides in the Morgantown, WV, area, despite a history of severe impacts ascribed mainly to dogwood anthracnose. The native range of dogwood extends from southeastern Canada and Maine south to Florida and as far west as Kansas and Texas (McLemore 1990). However, during the past 20 to 30 years,...

This project summary describes a probabilistic model developed with funding support from the Forest Health Monitoring Program of the Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture (BaseEM Project SO-R-08-01). The model has been implemented in SODBuster, a standalone software package developed using the Java software development kit from Sun Microsystems.