Treesearch

Climate change is affecting natural resources globally, altering ecosystems that support outdoor recreation. In the western United States, effects such as warming temperatures, increased drought, reduced snowpack, and widespread wildfires will change the outdoor recreation landscape. In this article, we synthesize the state of science regarding the effects of climate change on outdoor recreation in the western US and summarize adaptation options that can reduce the consequences of climate change, considering the adaptive capacities of recreationists and managers. We draw from a series of...

This is the fourth in a series of periodic monitoring reports on status and trends of forests used by northern spotted owls (Strix occidentalis caurina; NSO) for nesting, roosting, and dispersal on federally administered lands within the Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP) area (NSO range in the United States) since its implementation in 1994. The objective of this monitoring is to determine if federal forest lands are providing sufficient conservation of forests that are important elements of NSO habitat, and thus populations. Here we present models on the amount, distribution, and spatial...

High density polyethylene (HDPE) is widely used in composite industry as a host polymer because of its low cost and competitive mechanical properties. However, the addition of hydrophilic reinforcing nanofillers in HDPE-based composites is challenging and often requires chemical treatment. This study explored the addition of coupling agent maleic anhydride (MA) for improving the dispersion of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) and nano zinc oxide (ZnO) in HDPE matrix, using two separate methods. MA grafted HDPE (MAPE) and HDPE with MA powder (HDPE-MA) were melt compounded with CNCs and ZnO....

Recent increases in area burned, combined with poor natural regeneration in some areas, have promoted concerns about widespread forest losses throughout the western U.S. Postfire reforestation is one strategy commonly employed by land managers and land owners to facilitate forest recovery, but the area in need of planting only becomes larger each year. The Southern Rockies Reforestation Tool (SRRT) is a simple web-mapping tool that was developed to help prioritize sites for postfire reforestation. This tool can be used to develop maps of fire severity and seedling suitability for ponderosa...

Land managers in the Lake Tahoe basin are considering increasing the use of prescribed fire and forest thinning to restore conditions that will be more resilient to wildfires. However, such restorative treatments also constitute disturbances that could increase sediment and nutrient loads. We examined whether the water-quality impacts from future treatments are likely to be lower compared to the potential impacts from future wildfires under various climate change scenarios. We applied an online interface for the Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) model in combination with a landscape...

Climate change will accelerate forest mortality due to insects, disease, and wildfire. As a result, substantial resources will be necessary where and when forest managers seek to maintain multiple management objectives. Because of the increasing managerial requirements to offset climate change and related disturbances, the uncertainty about future forest conditions is magnified relative to climate change alone. We provide an analytical approach that quantifies the key drivers of forest change—climate, disturbance, and forest management—using scenarios paired with simulation modeling to...

Across the United States, wildfire severity and frequency are increasing, placing many properties at risk of harm or destruction. We quantify and compare how different forest management strategies designed to increase forest resilience and health reduce the number of properties at risk from wildfire, focusing on the Lake Tahoe Basin of California and Nevada. We combine landscape change simulations (including climate change, wildfire, and management effects) with scenarios of current and plausible fuel treatment activities and parcel-scale fire risk analysis. Results suggest that more...

In 2012, we evaluated the effects of hardwood cerambycid pheromones (syn-2,3-hexanediol, 3-hydroxyhexan-2-one, and 3-hydroxyoctan-2-one) on catches of bark and woodboring beetles in ethanol-baited multiple-funnel traps in two field trials in Oregon and Washington, United States of America. Catches of Phymatodes aeneus LeConte (Coleoptera; Cerambycidae) in ethanol-baited traps increased with the addition of 3-hydroxyhexan-2-one lures or the 3,2-hydroxyketone lure blend (3-hydroxyhexan-2-one 3-hydroxyoctan-2-one). Catches of the predator Thanasimus undatulus (Say) (Coleoptera; Cleridae) in...

Hurricanes commonly disturb and damage tropical forests. Hurricane frequency and intensity are predicted to change under the changing climate. The short-term impacts of hurricane disturbances to tropical forests have been widely studied, but the long-term impacts are rarely investigated. Modeling is critical to investigate the potential response of forests to future disturbances, particularly if the nature of the disturbances is changing with climate. Unfortunately, existing models of forest dynamics are not presently able to account for hurricane disturbances. Therefore, we implement the...