Treesearch

Effective conservation and management of a species relies upon understanding its habitat throughout its full annual cycle. For hoary bats, Lasiurus cinereus, their ecology is largely known from summer with the exception that they move long distances during autumn and spring and maintain some level of activity year-round. Autumn is a critically important period for hoary bats as they complete long-distance migrations between summer and winter range and they mate, both of which are energetically expensive. We studied hoary bat roost selection during autumn in a migratory stopover area in...

This publication documents a visit by the renowned English biometrician, Dr. Ronald A. Fisher, to the Appalachian Forest Experiment Station headquarters in August 1936, to present a series of seminars on study design to principal forest researchers from all Forest Service experiment stations and several universities. The seminars were arranged by the Washington Office of the Forest Service as training for scientists to increase the quality of agency research by using study designs and data analysis methods recently developed by Fisher and others. The photograph shows the group of seminar...

Carbon (C) allocation and nonstructural carbon (NSC) dynamics play essential roles in plant growth and survival under stress and disturbance. However, quantitative understanding of these processes remains limited. Here we propose a framework where we connect commonly measured carbon cycle components (eddy covariance fluxes of canopy CO2 exchange, soil CO2 efflux, and allometry-based biomass and net primary production) by a simple mass balance model to derive ecosystem-level NSC dynamics (NSCi), C translocation (dCi), and the biomass production efficiency (BPEi) in above- and belowground...

Forest management goals and objectives have vastly expanded in recent decades. Many managers and silviculturists are challenged to produce more than just timber from our nation’s forests. Future forests are expected to deliver complex and often integrated management objectives such as providing a unique sense of place and naturalness, 2022 National Silviculture Workshop Foundational Concepts in Silviculture: Emphasis on Reforestation and Early Stand Improvement wildlife habitat and forage, and resilience to disturbance and global change - all in addition to renewable forest products.

Traditionally, the primary focus of cleaning has been to equally space residual trees to maintain full stocking (e.g., 12 x 12 ft or 14 x 14 ft) by removing competition. Preferred species are western white pine, western larch, and ponderosa pine; however, when these species are not sufficiently abundant, shade tolerant species are left to maintain full stocking.

Throughout the range of ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), clearcut harvesting and planting through the late 20th century resulted in widespread even-aged forests, which excelled at regenerating shade-intolerant species and producing wood in an operationally simple way. Two decades into the 21st century, timber production objectives are now also balanced with a variety of nontimber objectives such as increasing resistance and resilience to disturbances and managing wildlife habitat.

Reforestation on the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest on the Powers and Gold Beach Ranger Districts is driven by the need to accelerate the development of late successional habitat in stands less than 80 years old. Prior regeneration harvest emphasized clear-cutting with regeneration of Douglas-fir. Douglas-fir is not a shade tolerant species and will not regenerate naturally under canopy cover. Therefore, to develop a multilayered canopy, reforestation of shade-tolerant species like western hemlock, grand fir, and Port-Orford-cedar is needed. Multilayered canopies provide habitat for...

In the Black Hills of South Dakota and Wyoming, establishment of natural ponderosa pine regeneration can be prolific. The density of trees in the early stages of stand development affects their growth and sets the basis for future forest dynamics. Underestimation of growth by simulation models could delay scheduling of precommercial thinning and lead to loss of growth or stand stagnation.

Silvicultural practice is founded on density and composition management and the potential for individual tree and stand volume growth (Smith 1962). Thinning reduces overall stand volume but, in the process, releases more growing space for the residual trees. In situations where economic markets are positive, such reallocation of growing space takes advantage of the price increases as a function of diameter (Assmann 1970) and increasing total value per area.