Treesearch

Competitive effects on biomass and vegetative reproduction can be especially strong when plants are young and establishing their clonal network of ramets. Invasive clonal plants may mitigate the effects of competition better than native clonal plants. We evaluated the competitive effects on the propagule supply and the number and biomass of tillers and rhizomes of invasive (Bromus inermis) and native (Pascopyrum smithii) perennial grass seedlings. Competition reduced aboveground biomass and the number of tillers for both species in most competitive scenarios, except for B. inermis under...

United States (U.S.), raising concerns about the persistence of widespread, ecologically important species like lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta Dougl. var. latifolia Engelm.). We sampled a long-term provenance trial in northcentral Colorado, U.S. to examine intraspecific differences in tree size, survival, growth-climate response, and drought tolerance. Using thirty years of tree-ring data and climate data relativized as the climatic distance between provenances and planting site, we evaluated the influence of provenance climate on growth-climate relationships and resistance, recovery, and...

Management of western United States dry-conifer forests has experienced a design shift from spacing-based treatments to maximize forest growth and minimize fire hazard towards balancing fuels reduction while restoring historical forest spatial patterns. However, successfully implementing spatially heterogeneous silvicultural treatments capable of mimicking a landscape’s historical range of variability (HRV) has proven challenging. Early individual tree marking (ITM) strategies aiming to create heterogeneous forest structure often had unclear or confusing instructions. This study evaluates...

Foliar moisture content (FMC) plays a crucial role in arid, frequent-fire forests by influencing fire behavior, tree survival, and serving as a proxy for tree health. Management actions such as mechanical thinning, flammable fuels reduction, and prescribed fires can act to mitigate wildfire risk and improve forest health by reducing fuel connectivity, diversifying forest structure, and creating canopy gaps. These management actions could be improved by the targeted removal of moisture stressed and potentially more flammable trees during treatments. However, maps of FMC are not widely...

Forest management planning requires the evaluation of tradeoffs in proposed management actions to meet multiple objectives, including providing the habitat required to sustain wildlife populations. However, various species-specific life history strategies and ecological uncertainties complicate our understanding of the responses of wildlife to disturbances, such as wildfires and forest management. We believe that adaptive management processes, applied through the close collaboration of researchers and managers (e.g., coproduction), will be valuable in this effort. Although adaptive...

In this synthesis, I review biological and ecological characteristics of amphibians that are relevant to fuel-reduction treatments in upland forests, summarize the state of empirical knowledge regarding amphibian population responses to forest thinning and fire in the Pacific Northwest, and provide management considerations that balance fuel-reduction objectives with amphibian habitat needs. The scope of this review includes forested ecosystems in Oregon and Washington, with an emphasis on the west side of the Cascade Range crest where many at-risk terrestrial amphibians occur.This chapter...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program provides this resource update yearly as an overview of forest resources in Virginia. These estimates are derived from field data collected across a systematic network of fixed-radius forest monitoring plots located on both public and private land. New updates are provided annually as a subset of plots within the State are remeasured. Each year, field crews visit and measure a subset of all FIA plots across the entire State (the size of the subset varies by State and year). Combining all...

Evaluating the cost of fuel treatment operations is an essential aspect for mitigating elevated wildfire risks across western US landscapes. The USDA Forest Service (Forest Service) currently uses a Transaction Evidence Appraisal (TEA) method to appraise stumpage, incorporating key factors such as stump-to-truck processing, slash disposal, transportation, timber markets, and bidder competition. This study aims to improve our understanding of the total costs involved and final advertised rates in fuel treatment operations in Forest Service Regions 2 and 3. Stump-to truck processing and...

Logging businesses in Idaho perform timber harvesting and fuel reduction treatments on the state’s 21.5 million acres of forestland and supply raw material to its $2.5 billion forest products industry which employs more than 30,000 people. We conducted a survey of Idaho logging and forestry contracting businesses during spring and summer of 2025 in cooperation with the Associated Logging Contractors of Idaho (ALC), Inc. to better understand owner and employee demographics, business structure, capital investment, equipment used, and challenges faced.

Pristine crawfish shell waste and shell-derived biochars produced at 500, 650, and 800 ◦C were evaluated as calcium-rich sustainable biosorbents for Nd(III) immobilization from aqueous solution. Batch experiments were conducted at 23 ◦C using 50 mL of 1000 mg L-1 Nd(III) solution and sorbent mass of 25–100 mg to investigate removal behavior, kinetics, and mechanisms. The 800 ◦C biochar exhibited the highest apparent Nd(III) removal capacity (1200 mg g-1), which was attributed to instantaneous alkaline precipitation and the formation of Nd (OH)3. In contrast, pristine crawfish shell and the...