Forest Sciences Commons^™

Biomass And Burning Characteristics Of Sugar Pine Cones, Anton T. Gabrielson, Andrew J. Larson, James A. Lutz, James J. Reardon

Forest Management Faculty Publications

We investigated the physical and burning characteristics of sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana Douglas) cones and their contribution to woody surface fuel loadings. Field sampling was conducted at the Yosemite Forest Dynamics Plot (YFDP), a 25.6 ha mapped study plot in Yosemite National Park, California, USA. We developed a classification system to describe sugar pine cones of different sizes and decay conditions, and examined differences among cone classes in biomass, bulk density, flame length, burning time, consumption, and relative contribution to surface fuel loads. Sugar pine cones comprised 601 kg ha^-1 of surface fuels. Mature cones comprised 54% of …

Early-Stage Thinning For The Restoration Of Young Redwood--Douglas-Fir Forests In Northern Coastal California, Usa, Jesse F. Plummer, Christopher R. Keyes, J. Morgan Varner

Forest Management Faculty Publications

Among forested parks and reserves of the Pacific Coast of the United States, the restoration of late-successional conditions to second-growth stands is a management priority. Some traditional silvicultural treatments may help achieve this objective. We evaluated early-stage thinning as a restoration treatment to facilitate the growth and development of young (33- to 45-year old), homogeneous, and second-growth stands of coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) and Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii). Targeting both stand-level responses and dominant (focal) tree responses for analysis, we compared structural attributes of adjacent thinned and unthinned stands, 12–17 years after thinning. Thinned stands displayed enhanced metrics of tree vigor, …

User's Guide To Snap For Arcgis : Arcgis Interface For Scheduling And Network Analysis Program, Woodam Chung, Dennis Dykstra, Fred Bower, Stephen O'Brien, Richard M. Abt, John Sessions

Forest Management Faculty Publications

This document introduces a computer software named SNAP for ArcGIS®, which has been developed to streamline scheduling and transportation planning for timber harvest areas. Using modern optimization techniques, it can be used to spatially schedule timber harvest with consideration of harvesting costs, multiple products, alternative destinations, and transportation systems. SNAP for ArcGIS attempts either to maximize a net present value or minimize discounted costs of harvesting and transportation over the planning horizon while meeting given harvest volume and acreage constraints. SNAP for ArcGIS works in the ArcGIS environment and provides an easy-to-use analytical tool for sophisticated spatial planning of timber …

Deriving Fuel Mass By Size Class In Douglas-Fir (Pseudotsuga Menziesii) Using Terrestrial Laser Scanning, Carl Seielstad, Crystal Stonesifer, Eric Rowell, Lloyd Queen

Forest Management Faculty Publications

Requirements for describing coniferous forests are changing in response to wildfire concerns, bio-energy needs, and climate change interests. At the same time, technology advancements are transforming how forest properties can be measured. Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) is yielding promising results for measuring tree biomass parameters that, historically, have required costly destructive sampling and resulted in small sample sizes. Here we investigate whether TLS intensity data can be used to distinguish foliage and small branches (less than or equal to 0.635 cm diameter; coincident with the one-hour timelag fuel size class) from larger branchwood (>0.635 cm) in Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga …

Modeling Plant Ranges Over 75 Years Of Climate Change In California, Usa: Temporal Transferability And Species Traits, Solomon Z. Dobrowski, James H. Thorne, Johnathan A. Greenberg, Hugh D. Safford, Alison R. Mynsberge, Shawn M. Crimmins, Alan K. Swanson

Forest Management Faculty Publications

Species distribution model (SDM) projections under future climate scenarios are increasingly being used to inform resource management and conservation strategies. A critical assumption for projecting climate change responses is that SDMs are transferable through time, an assumption that is largely untested because investigators often lack temporally independent data for assessing transferability. Further, understanding how the ecology of species influences temporal transferability is critical yet almost wholly lacking. This raises two questions. (1) Are SDM projections transferable in time? (2) Does temporal transferability relate to species ecological traits? To address these questions we developed SDMs for 133 vascular plant species using …

Assessing The Performance Of Sampling Designs For Measuring The Abundance Of Understory Plants, Ilana L. Abrahamson, Cara R. Nelson, David L.R. Affleck

Forest Management Faculty Publications

Accurate estimation of responses of understory plants to disturbance is essential for understanding the efficacy of management activities. However, the ability to assess changes in the abundance of plants may be hampered by inappropriate sampling methodologies. Conventional methods for sampling understory plants may be precise for common species but may fail to adequately characterize abundance of less common species. We tested conventional (modified Whittaker plots and Daubenmire and point–line intercept transects) and novel (strip adaptive cluster sampling [SACS]) approaches to sampling understory plants to determine their efficacy for quantifying abundance on control and thinned-and-burned treatment units in Pinus ponderosa forests …

Managing The National Forests Through Place-Based Legislation, Martin Nie, Michael Fiebig

Society and Conservation Faculty Publications

The resolution of multiple use conflicts through place-based (national forest-specific) legislation has recently received increased interest. Most of these proposals combine wilderness designation, restoration objectives, economic development, funding arrangements, and other provisions, in a conservation package to be considered by Congress. Interest in the place-based legislative approach is precipitated by numerous factors, including perceptions of agency gridlock, problems related to forest planning, unresolved roadless and wilderness issues, and the embrace of collaboration. Though the national forests have a more unified governing framework than other federal land systems, the U.S. Forest Service has implemented place-based legislation in a few cases. This …

Fire Treatment Effects On Vegetation Structure, Fuels, And Potential Fire Severity In Western Us Forests, Scott L. Stephens, Jason J. Moghaddas, Carl Edminster, Carl E. Fiedler, Sally Haase, Michael Harrington, Jon E. Keeley, Eric E. Knapp, James D. Mciver, Kerry Metlen, Carl N. Skinner, Andrew Youngblood

Forest Management Faculty Publications

Forest structure and species composition in many western U. S. coniferous forests have been altered through. re exclusion, past and ongoing harvesting practices, and livestock grazing over the 20th century. The effects of these activities have been most pronounced in seasonally dry, low and mid-elevation coniferous forests that once experienced frequent, low to moderate intensity,. re regimes. In this paper, we report the effects of Fire and Fire Surrogate (FFS) forest stand treatments on fuel load profiles, potential fire behavior, and fire severity under three weather scenarios from six western U. S. FFS sites. This replicated, multisite experiment provides a …

Invasive Pathogen Threatens Bird-Pine Mutualism: Implications For Sustaining A High-Elevation Ecosystem, Shawn T. Mckinney, Carl E. Fiedler, Diana F. Tomback

Forest Management Faculty Publications

Human-caused disruptions to seed-dispersal mutualisms increase the extinction risk for both plant and animal species. Large-seeded plants can be particularly vulnerable due to highly specialized dispersal systems and no compensatory regeneration mechanisms. Whitebark pine ( Pinus albicaulis), a keystone subalpine species, obligately depends upon the Clark's Nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana) for dispersal of its large, wingless seeds. Clark's Nutcracker, a facultative mutualist with whitebark pine, is sensitive to rates of energy gain, and emigrates from subalpine forests during periods of cone shortages. The invasive fungal pathogen Cronartium ribicola, which causes white pine blister rust, reduces whitebark pine cone production by killing …

The National Fire And Fire Surrogate Study: Effects Of Fuel Reduction Methods On Forest Vegetation Structure And Fuels, Dylan W. Schwilk, Jon E. Keeley, Eric E. Knapp, James Mciver, John D. Bailey, Christopher J. Fettig, Carl Fiedler, Richy J. Harrod, Jason J. Moghaddas, Kenneth W. Outcalt, Carl N. Skinner, Scott L. Stephens, Thomas A. Waldrop, Daniel A. Yaussy, Andrew Youngblood

Forest Management Faculty Publications

Changes in vegetation and fuels were evaluated from measurements taken before and after fuel reduction treatments (prescribed. re, mechanical treatments, and the combination of the two) at 12 Fire and Fire Surrogate (FFS) sites located in forests with a surface. re regime across the conterminous United States. To test the relative effectiveness of fuel reduction treatments and their effect on ecological parameters we used an information-theoretic approach on a suite of 12 variables representing the overstory (basal area and live tree, sapling, and snag density), the understory (seedling density, shrub cover, and native and alien herbaceous species richness), and the …

Potential Site Productivity Influences The Rate Of Forest Structural Development, Andrew J. Larson, James A. Lutz, Rolf F. Gersonde, Jerry F. Franklin, Forest F. Hietpas

Forest Management Faculty Publications

Development and maintenance of structurally complex forests in landscapes formerly managed for timber production is an increasingly common management objective. It has been postulated that the rate of forest structural development increases with site productivity. We tested this hypothesis for Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco) forests using a network of permanent study plots established following complete timber harvest of the original old-growth forests. Forest structural development was assessed by comparing empirical measures of live tree structure to published values for Douglas-fir forests spanning a range of ages and structural conditions. The rate of forest structural development—resilience—exhibited a positive relationship …

Monitoring Old Growth In Frequent-Fire Landscapes, Carl E. Fiedler, Peter Friederici, Mark Petruncio

Forest Management Faculty Publications

In this article, we discuss how to monitor the structural and functional attributes of old growth, as well as its associated plant communities and wildlife, both to determine the possible need for treatment and to assess post-treatment progress toward desired conditions. Monitoring can be used to detect conditions (or agents) that threaten existing old growth and also to document indicators of healthy, functioning old-growth systems.

Managing For Old Growth In Frequent-Fire Landscapes, Carl E. Fiedler, Peter Friederici, Mark Petruncio, Charles Denton, W. David Hacker

Forest Management Faculty Publications

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to managing frequent-fire, old-growth forests. However, there are general guidelines to follow: 1) set objectives for both structure (tree density, diameter distribution, tree species composition, spatial arrangement, amount of coarse woody debris) and function (nutrient cycling, desired tree species regeneration); 2) prioritize treatments according to ecological, economic, and social needs and risks; 3) identify the potential treatments (natural fire, prescribed fire, silvicultural cutting) that best meet the objectives and scale of the project; and 4) implement the treatment (s). We discuss each of these guidelines in this article.

Analysis Of Flow Competence In An Alluvial Gravel Bed Stream, Dupuyer Creek, Montana, Andrew C. Whitaker, Donald F. Potts

Forest Management Faculty Publications

Critical shear stress and unit discharge flow competence models were tested against coarse bed load data from Dupuyer Creek, Montana, United States. Maximum particle sizes sampled (Dmax) and D-50 to D-90 percentiles in the bed load grain size distribution were well correlated with both shear stress and unit discharge. Bed load grain sizes became coarser with increasing flow strength. For the D-max curve, Shields dimensionless parameter for the surface D-50 was estimated at 0.044, and the exponent for relative particle size (D-i/ D-50) was - 0.59. In the unit discharge criterion the critical flow to entrain the surface D50 was …

Nitrogen Spatial Heterogeneity Influences Diversity Following Restoration In A Ponderosa Pine Forest, Montana, Michael J. Gundale, Kerry L. Metlen, Carl E. Fiedler, Thomas H. Deluca

Forest Management Faculty Publications

The resource heterogeneity hypothesis (RHH) is frequently cited in the ecological literature as an important mechanism for maintaining species diversity. The RHH has rarely been evaluated in the context of restoration ecology in which a commonly cited goal is to restore diversity. In this study we focused oil the spatial heterogeneity of total inorganic nitrogen (TIN) following restoration treatments in a ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa)/Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga inenziesii) forest in western Montana, USA. Our objective was to evaluate relationships between understory species richness and TIN heterogeneity following mechanical thinning (thin-only), prescribed burning (burn-only), and mechanical thinning with prescribed burning (thin/burn) to …

A Practical Look At The Variable Area Transect, Solomon Z. Dobrowski, Shannon K. Murphy

Forest Management Faculty Publications

The variable area transect (VAT) is a plotless density estimator that has received little attention in the ecological literature despite having potentially robust estimation properties. VAT allows for density estimations without the lengthy search times associated with other plotless density estimators. In spite of this, little has been written about the effect of varying transect widths on its density estimation properties or on the practical implementation of the VAT in field settings. An artificial population sampler was used to examine the effect of transect width on density estimates obtained using the VAT. Three transect widths were chosen corresponding to the …

Legislative Intent, Science And Special Provisions In Wilderness: A Process For Navigating Statutory Compromises, Alan E. Watson, Michael Patterson, Neal Christensen, Annette Puttkammer, Shannon Meyer

Forest Management Faculty Publications

In order to manage special provisions in U.S. wilderness, several research products are needed. Minimally, a complete understanding of the legislative intent of the provision, in-depth understanding of the deep meanings held by the particular stakeholder community of interest, and some knowledge about the larger population of interest are needed. In this study of jet boat use on the Salmon River in the Frank Church– River of No Return Wilderness, a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods were used to understand the attachment jet boat users have to the activity and the place.

Exploring Visitor Experiences On Going-To-The-Sun Road In Glacier National Park, Robert N. Giordano

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Going-to-the-Sun Road (GTSR) is one of the premier road facilities in the world. As the only cross-mountain route through Glacier National Park, the road brings nearly two million visitors a year into the heart of Montana wilderness. How to meet this demand for travel while protecting the nature of the visitor experience and the pristine setting for which the experience exists is a challenge of on-going complexity.

This research was designed to assist park managers in determining future changes to GTSR by describing and analyzing the experiences on the road today. Through 40 onsite interviews at Logan Pass (the pinnacle …

Overcoming America's Wood Deficit: An Overlooked Option, Carl E. Fiedler, Stephen F. Arno, Charles E. Keegan, Keith A. Blatner

Forest Management Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Crossing Methodological Boundaries: Assessing Visitor Motivations And Support For Management Actions At Yellowstone National Park Using Quantitative And Qualitative Research Approaches, William T. Borrie, Wayne A. Freimund, Mae A. Davenport, Robert E. Manning

Society and Conservation Faculty Publications

Winter use of Yellowstone National Park has given rise to a complex of management issues, including rapid growth in recreation demand, environmental impacts of snowmobiling, and a string of litigation against the National Park Service (NPS) designed to both protect park resources and maintain public access (Sacklin et al. 2000). The intertwined character of these problems suggests that none can be resolved independently of the other, that policy must be comprehensive in nature, and that many sources of knowledge may be required to effect their resolution.

Approaches To Measuring Quality Of The Wilderness Experience, William T. Borrie, Robert M. Birzell

Society and Conservation Faculty Publications

Wilderness is a special place that provides opportunity for unique and profound experiences. An essential task for the maintenance of these recreational opportunities is the definition and monitoring of experience quality. Four approaches to the measurement of the wilderness experience have developed in over 30 years of research: satisfaction approaches (which focus on evaluation of onsite conditions), benefits-based approaches (focusing on psychological outcomes), experience-based approaches (describing cognitive states experienced in wilderness), and meanings-based approaches (documenting socially constructed meanings ascribed to the experience). Each approach has its strengths and weaknesses. Given that the wilderness experience is a multifaceted phenomenon, it is …

Wilderness And Civilization: Two Decades Of Wilderness Higher Education At The University Of Montana, Laurie Yung, Bob Yetter, Wayne A. Freimund, Perry J. Brown

Forest Management Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Pinus Ponderosa Seedling Establishment And The Influence Of Competition With The Bunchgrass Agropyron Spicatum, Peter F. Kolb, Ronald Robberecht

Forest Management Faculty Publications

Interspecific competition between Agropyron spicatum (Pursh.) Scrib. & Smith bunchgrasses and naturally established seedlings of Pinus ponderosa was examined within a pine/bunchgrass community. A wire mesh was used to separate bunchgrass culms from pine seedling shoots to determine if the bunchgrass canopy influenced the survival of pine seedlings. In addition, two lengths of root exclusion tubes were used to determine the effects of bunchgrass root overlap on pine seedlings. The bunchgrass canopy did not significantly affect pine seedling survival. However, root competition, presumably for water, significantly decreased pine seedling survival. Exclusion of bunchgrass roots from a 0.15-m- and 0.30-m-deep root …

Mapping Regional Forest Evapotranspiration And Photosynthesis By Coupling Satellite Data With Ecosystem Simulation, Steven W. Running, Ramakrishna R. Nemani, David L. Peterson, Larry E. Band, Donald F. Potts, Lars E. Pierce, Michael A. Spanner

Forest Management Faculty Publications

Mapping Regional Forest Evapotranspiration and Photosynthesis by Coupling Satellite Data With Ecosystem Simulation

The Displacement Process In Recreation, Dorothy H. Anderson, Perry J. Brown

Forest Management Faculty Publications

This paper presents the recreation displacement process from a social-psychological perspective and models it within the attitude- behavior framework. The displacement process is illustrated with empirical results from a study of use within the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Findings show that factors of displacement include litter, noise, overuse, and visual encounters with others. In most cases, recreation resource administrators should be able to managerially control displacing factors.

A Test Of Concepts Inherent In Experience Based Setting Management For Outdoor Recreation Areas, Michael J. Manfredo, B. L. Driver, Perry J. Brown

Forest Management Faculty Publications

This study examines assumptions of the concepts which form the basis for experience based setting management of outdoor recreation areas. To test the assumptions a sample of wilderness users was surveyed and divided into experience groups based on differences in the specific experiences they desire. These experience groups were then tested for differences in their activity and setting preferences. The study was conducted at the Bridget Wilderness, the Fitzpatrick Wilderness, and the Popo Agie Primitive Area in Wyoming during 1978-79. Data were collected by questionnaire, and responses were examined by object cluster analysis to group users on the basis of …

Review: Land Use In America, Perry J. Brown

Forest Management Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Recreation Opportunity Spectrum With Implications For Wildlife-Oriented Recreation, Perry J. Brown

Forest Management Faculty Publications

Resource planning has undergone transitions over the years from a site to area to regional orientation and from a single function to integrated resource management orientation. Wildlife and recretation resource planning have been part of this evolution, which has been stimulated somewhat by recent land management planning-oriented legislation such as the National Forest Management Act and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act.

During the last couple of years, a system for recreation planning within the context of integrated resource planning has emerged. It is called Recreation Opportunity Spectrum (ROS) planning and arose as an old idea was made operational …

Use Of Recreation Opportunity Planning To Inventory Arid Lands In Eastern Oregon - A Demonstration, Michael J. Manfredo, Perry J. Brown

Forest Management Faculty Publications

This paper reports on the use of computer and hand dravn techniques for Implementing the Recreation Opportunity Planning inventory and analysis phases for the Steens Mountain Recreation Lands. Techniques were compared for land classifications and time and monetary costs. Results show computer mapping less likely to result in classification errors, but more costly to conduct.

Use Of The Recreation Opportunity Planning System To Inventory Recreation Opportunities Of Arid Lands, Perry J. Brown, B. L. Driver, Joseph K. Berry

Forest Management Faculty Publications

Recreation opportunity planning, which is being adopted by some land management agencies for recreation input to land management planning, is reviewed for Its applicability to arid land situations* Particular attention is given to the Inventory and analysis phases of the system and to what we have learned about its Implementation during its development.