Understory

We analyzed data sets from the Caspar Creek Watershed study, with a 55-year comprehensive record of hydrologic regime in two sub-watersheds with different logging treatments, and three separate instream biologic studies conducted since 1990. Long-term data sets of instream biota are rare, and we used them to investigate sediment regime response to forest harvest and extremes in flow regime. Increases in sediment transport after logging were observed in the North Fork during second experiment at Caspar Creek in the 1990’s. Our analysis found turbidities were higher after logging across the rang...

What's That Plant? is a fun and interactive plant learning module developed for educators to use with children grades K-12. The series of activities help students develop an awareness of fourteen plants that are important culturally and ecologically by exploring these native plants in their communities. The goal is to develop youth who will become wise stewards of the Earth. The young people who participate in the program will develop a heightened awareness of the natural world around them – including the challenges they face in protecting cultural and natural resources.Access all of the What'...

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This document is based on previous documentation of the nationally standardized Forest Inventory and Analysis database (Hansen and others 1992; Woudenberg and Farrenkopf 1995; Miles and others 2001; Woudenberg and others 2010). Examples for producing population-level estimates are presented. This database provides a consistent framework for storing forest inventory data across all ownerships for the entire United States. These data are available to the public.Older versions of the FIADB Population Estimation Guide are available HERE.

In 2016, the Emerald Fire burned 70 ha (173 acres) near the southwest corner of Lake Tahoe on the ridge between Cascade Lake and Tallac Creek. The occurrence of this fire in an area with two roads and a LIDAR elevation data set provided an opportunity to evaluate the impacts of roads on post wildfire erosion, and to test other postfire erosion modeling tools. This study evaluated road effects on soil erosion in a fire-disturbed forest with GIS technology and a soil erosion model, and the likelihood of mass failure by debris flow, translational failure and dry ravel. Results showed that roads c...

The Caspar Creek Experimental Watershed, located in the Jackson Demonstration State Forest, has been continuously studied since its establishment in 1962 as a collaboration between the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) and the U.S. Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station (PSW). The Caspar Creek Experimental Watershed has conducted thus far, two long-term research experiments. The primary goal of the first two experiments (1962-85, 1985-present) was to understand the effect of timber harvest on streamflow and suspended sediment concentrations in coastal-...