Forest Sciences Commons^™

Project Applications Of The Forest Service Rocky Mountain Region Wildlife And Fish Habitat Relationships System, Judy L. Sheppard, Dale L. Wills, James L. Simonson

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Wildlife and Fish Habitat Relationships (WFHR) is a Forest Service system for integrating wildlife and fish information and assessment data into interdisciplinary land and resource management. WFHR is a comprehensive organization of information in a format useful for managing wildlife through the management of their habitats. The WFHR System assists the Forest Service in meeting its goal of managing wildlife and fish habitats, both for species diversity as well as for individual species of management concern.
The Rocky Mountain WFHR System (USDA Forest Service 1981a) organizes information on 853 vertebrate animal species occurring on National Forest System lands in the …

Training Biologists In Institutional Topics: Federal Needs And Viable Approaches, Stephen A. Miller, Dennis L. Schweitzer

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Consider the following question:
"A proposed development activity that promises substantial economic benefits will have significant adverse impacts on fish and wildlife resources in the area. What percentage of all your agency wildlife and fisheries professionals could develop and present a fully professional defense for the faunal interests in the area to an audience largely oriented towards commodity development?"
Before you become too uneasy with your answer to that question, let me pose another:
"Your wildlife and fish budget request to carry out a proposed program, regulatory activity, project or operation has been challenged. What percentage of all your agency …

Resource Management Thrusts And Opportunities: Fish And Wildlife-A Fuller Dimension To Improved Resource Management, John B. Crowell, Jr.

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

It has been a little more than a year since President Reagan was inaugurated, and a little less time than that since I was confirmed and sworn in as assistant secretary of agriculture. We have moved to establish and implement some changed emphases in our resource management programs. So, by now there should be little mistake about our intent to improve natural resource management on the national forests. We intend to increase the productivity of these resources without corresponding increases in federal appropriations. We intend to generate increased receipts to the U.S. Treasury by emphasizing revenue-producing activities such as timber …

Livestock And Riparian-Fishery Interactions: What Are The Facts?, William S. Platts

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

The riparian environment has become a key consideration in the planning and management of the public lands. This highly productive habitat receives many uses, some of which conflict with one another. Because there are conflicts that need immediate attention, range and fishery managers are making complicated, hurried decisions, often without the benefit of adequate knowledge or experience. In addition, interpretations emerging from riparian studies are often confusing and contradictory, inhibiting the manager's decision-making abilities.
Leopold (1974) stated that fish and wildlife habitat in western rangeland has experienced and is experiencing a steady deterioration under livestock grazing. The same year, Heady …

Habitat Classification-Assessments For Wildlife And Fish, Hal Salwasser, William B. Krohn

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Comprehensive planning and management of natural resources require the assessment of existing and future conditions offish and wildlife. Fish and wildlife, hereafter referred to as wildlife resources, can be inventoried and assessed either in terms of animals or habitats. Both approaches are useful given certain management objectives. For example, population inventories in concert with other data, are often used to assess the impacts of hunting. In contrast, habitat inventories are used to evaluate the impacts of grazing, or other land and water uses, on wildlife resources. Our objective is not to compare or contrast the two approaches, but to focus …

Relationships Between Avifauna And Streamside Vegetation, Evelyn L. Bull, Jon M. Skovlin

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Riparian microhabitats in coniferous forests in northeastern Oregon are sensitive to alteration. They have been used disproportionately by people, livestock, and wildlife. These uses have altered the habitats, specifically by reducing vegetative structure (Thomas 1979).
Land management agencies are revegetating depleted riparian zones to improve fish and wildlife habitat. Managers need information on the response of birds to kinds and structures of vegetation so that wildlife objectives can be met.
Several studies have dealt with the relationships of riparian vegetation and avifauna (Carothers and Johnson 1975, Ferguson et al. 1976, Stauffer 1978). Although these studies determined some of the habitat …

Needs For And Approaches To Wildlife Habitat Assessment, Jack Ward Thomas

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

For many years prior to 1969, wildlife was essentially defined, in the practice of governmental bodies, as those species hunted for sport, trapped for furs, controlled to accomplish human objectives, or of particular aesthetic value. Governmental management of these species was based on funding obtained from or supported largely by clearly identified constituencies.
Universities evolved specialized programs in wildlife biology and management to produce the knowledge and trained professionals to meet these needs. Many such programs were oriented to training in zoology which emphasized the animal and populations while paying less attention to habitat.
As a result, most wildlife research …

Spatial Learning As An Adaptation In Hummingbirds, Susan Cole, F. Reed Hainsworth, Alan Kamil, Terre Mercier, Larry L. Wolf

Avian Cognition Papers

An ecological approach based on food distribution suggests that hummingbirds should more easily learn to visit a flower in a new location than to learn to return to a flower in a position just visited, for a food reward. Experimental results support this hypothesis as well as the general view that differences in learning within and among species represent adaptations.

Forestry For Wildlife Habitat Improvement. Nebraska Cooperative Extension Service Ec 81-1747, Ec 80-1747, Frank A. Hershey, Howard L. Wiegers

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Wildlife cannot exist without food and protective cover. Natural and planted woodlands contribute significantly to these essentials. This circular describes habitat needs of wildlife, recommends forestry practices for habitat improvement, and gives examples of practices to improve habitat for pheasant, quail, and deer.

Variety, rather than uniformity of vegetation, benefits most wildlife species. Management which results in a diverse plant community with many stages of growth can increase the numbers and species of wildlife. Techniques which create improved conditions for woodland wildlife are fundamentally the same as those designed to grow good timber.

Mountain Beaver Problems In The Forests Of California, Oregon And Washington, John E. Borrecco, Robert J. Anderson

Vertebrate Pest Conference Proceedings: 9th (1980)

Mountain beavers (Aplodontia rufa) cause considerable damage to forest trees in the Pacific Northwest. Feeding injuries result in mortality, growth losses, deformity of trees, and understocked plantations. Losses are most severe in new plantations with significant damage problems also occurring in sapling stands. Trapping, and placing physical barriers around individual trees, are the most common methods of control. Both methods are costly but effective in reducing damage.

Wrcc-42 "Evaluation Of Methods To Control Rodent Damage To Hay, Range And Grain Crops"

Western Region Coordinating Committee for Vertebrate Pests of Agriculture, Forestry, and Public Lands (WCC-95)

December 11

9:00 a.m. Welcome and Introduction; Ralph A. Young, Associate Director, Nevada Agr. Exp. Sta.; Paul T. Tuel1er, Administrative Advisor to WRCC-42; Committee members and visitors

9:30 Discussion of procedures for a WRCC and WRCC-42 in particular

10:00 Break

10:20 Discussion of Coordinating Committee objectives

12:00 lunch

1:30 - Presentation of research activities being conducted by

5:00 the various committee members

December 12

8:30 a.m. Continued presentation and discussion of research

10:00 Break

10:20 - General discussion of committee concerns.

12:00 Election of committee officers.

Selection of next meeting time and place.

Visual Detection Of Cryptic Prey By Blue Jays (Cyanocitta Cristata), Alexandra T. Pietrewicz, Alan Kamil

Avian Cognition Papers

Blue jays learned to respond differentially to the presence or absence of Catocala moths in slides. This detection of the moths by the jays was affected by the background upon which the moth was placed and its body orientation, thus providing an objective measure of crypticity. These procedures are useful for the study of visual detection of prey.

Wildlife Habitats In Managed Rangelands-- The Great Basin Of Southeastern Oregon, Wayne Bowers, Bill Hosford, Art Oakley, Carl Bond

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

All land management activities on managed rangelands will have some impact(s) on fish habitat; those in the riparian zone will have the greatest impact(s). Native trout populations in the Great Basin of southeastern Oregon exhibit predictable responses to alterations in their habitats; optimum production of native trout is therefore achievable through careful habitat management.

Lipid Content And Seasonal Activity Of Odontopus Calceatus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) Adults, E. A. Heinrichs

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Overwintering Odontopus calceatus (Say) adults were first observed feeding on April 10. Weekly collections during the activity period indicated that new-generation adults began emerging June 4. By July 23 they had entered the forest litter for hibernation. Lipid content decreased throughout the hibernation period as the weevils utilized 77% of their total lipid content during this time. The most rapid decrease during hibernation occurred from February to March, just prior to mating and oviposition in the spring. No increase in lipid content occurred during the activity period in spring and summer. A great increase in lipid content did occur within …

Behavior Of Pesticides In Plants, Logan A. Norris

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

A number of chemicals of diverse characteristics have arbitrarily been classed together on the basis of their use and given the descriptive name "pesticides. " An unfortunate aura of mystery has developed about these chemicals. However, there is nothing unique or mysterious about the chemicals we refer to as "pesticides." Like other chemicals, they have properties which can be accurately measured; they obey all the laws of physics, chemistry, and biology.

The Biology Of Choristoneura Houstonana (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), A Pest Of Juniperus Species, E. A. Heinrichs, Hugh E. Thompson

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Choristoneura houstonana (Grote) lays eggs singly in July. Egg development ranged from 8 to 11 days, with the majority hatching 10 days after oviposition. Larvae are solitary, and mine during early instars, but later instars feed externally on leaves in shelters made by webbing foliage together. There is one generation each year, and overwintering occurs in a hibernaculum, in mined leaves. Field-collected head-capsule width frequencies indicated nine larval instars. Rearing larvae on seedling junipers indoors indicated a range of 8–11 instars. Pupation occurs during June and July in the shelter where the larva feeds. The pupal stage lasted about 10 …

Seasonal Lipid Content Of Bagworm Larvae, E. A. Heinrichs

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

It is common knowledge to many who have attempted to control bagworms Thyridopteryx sp., that early instars are fairly easy to control, while later larval stages are less susceptible to insecticides. Studies of other insects (Bennett and Thomas 1963, Munson and Gottlieb 1953, Munson et al. 1954, Reier et al. 1953) have shown that as the lipid content increases, the susceptibility to insecticides (especially chlorinated hydrocarbons) decreases. To determine whether the lipid content of the bagworm larva increased with age a series of lipid extractions was conducted.

The Role Of Adventitious Reinforcement In Operant Discrimination, Alan Kamil, John W. Davenport

Avian Cognition Papers

Rats were trained in 2 S^D-S^Δ discrimination experiments in which the effects of an S^D-postponement contingency during S^Δ and temporal regularity of S^Δ duration were assessed. Experiment I showed that discrimination is markedly facilitated by the presence of an S^D-postponement contingency of either fixed or variable duration. Experiment II showed that variable-duration S^Δ periods in a noncontingent schedule can also greatly enhance formation of an operant discrimination. These effects were attributed to differences in the probability of adventitious reinforcement of S^Δ behavior by S^D events.

Parasites, Predators, And Other Arthropods Associated With Choristoneura Houstonana (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) On Juniperus Species In Kansas, E. A. Heinrichs, Hugh E. Thompson

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

One parasitic dipterous species and 27 parasitic hymenopterous species were collected. Parasites were primarily collected by mass-rearing host larvae on cut host plant foliage in the laboratory or by rearing larvae on artificial diet. The tachinid Nemorilla pyste (Walk.) and five hymenopterous species, Glypta n. sp. (Ichneumonidae), Campoplex sp. (Ichneumonidae), Agathis acrobasidis (Cushman) (Braconidae), Elasmus atratus How. (Eulophidae), and Catolaccus aeneoviridis Girault (Pteromalidae), were definite parasites, and biological notes are given. Collection data are also given for the other 22 species.

One reduviid predator, Zelus socius Uhler, and six spiders were observed feeding on C. houstonana.

South Dakota Bird Notes, Keith E. Evans, Roger R. Kerbs

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Approximately 90,000 small stock ponds are scattered throughout South Dakota. The majority of these ponds are less than 10 acres in size, and depend entirely on surface runoff for their water supply. Although their primary purpose is to provide drinking water for livestock, many species of waterfowl and shorebirds use the pond areas for resting and feeding during spring and fall migrations, and for nesting habitat throughout the summer.

Neither the amount of use nor the potential for use by birds on stock ponds in South Dakota is known. Preliminary data presented here are results of waterfowl observations on 13 …

The Breeding Population Of Waterfowl On The Chippewa National Forest, John Mathiesen

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

The purpose of this paper is to describe the characteristics of the breeding waterfowl population on the Chippewa National Forest in north central Minnesota.

Mycorrhizae Of Ponderosa Pine In Nebraska Grassland Soils, R. W. Goss

Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station: Historical Research Bulletins

While the genus Pinus has been the subject of extensive mycorrhizal studies there are only a few scattered references to western yellow pine, P. ponderosa, and no detailed descriptive literature on the mycorrhizae of this species. P. ponderosa is indigenous to Nebraska and the one species most extensively grown in local nurseries for windbreaks and farm plantings. Similarly, there is little information on mycorrhizae in the Great Plains between the forested regions of the Mississippi River states and the Rocky Mountains. Because this predominantly grassland area is sparse in natural tree growth the individual tree as an ornamental or …

Forest Resources And Industries Of Missouri, D. B. King, E. V. Roberts, R. K. Winters

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Missouri's forests occupy more than 15 million acres, one-third of the land area of the state. Practically all of this area is classified as commercial forest land. The noncommercial forest lands aggregate less than 1 percent of the total forest area. Two-thirds of all the commercial forest land is in the rugged Ozark region south of the Missouri River. Ninety percent of the commercial forest land is privately owned and is almost equally divided between farm and nonfarm owners. The Clark and Mark Twain National Forests contain 8 percent of the total, and the remaining 2 percent is divided between …

The Pine Tipmoth In The Nebraska National Forest, M. H. Swenk

Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station: Historical Research Bulletins

On May 8, 1911, Mr. Smith Riley, the District Forester, with headquarters at Denver, in a letter to Acting Supervisor Pierce at Halsey, requested that the Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station take up energetically the investigation of the pine tipmoth in the Nebraska National Forest. This request being presented to the Department by Mr. Pierce later in the month resulted in the presentation of the problem to the Experiment Station Council as a proposed Station project. The project was approved on May 31, 1911, and the expenses of the investigations of 1911 and 1912 that are reported upon in this bulletin …

Distribution And Structure Of The Forests Of Eastern Nebraska, John M. Aikman

University Studies (University of Nebraska) (1888–1984)

This paper is a study of the distribution and structure of the forests of extreme eastern Nebraska. The Missouri river, which forms the eastern boundary of the state, has so greatly modified the climate, that along its course an arm of the deciduous forest extends far into the grassland. Most of the trees and shrubs composing this forest are at the extreme western limit of their range. The range, grouping, and behavior of the several dominants and subdominants, under the environmental conditions imposed upon them, and the transition of forest to grassland are the subjects of this investigation. This region …

Further Studies In The Ecotone Between Prairie And Woodland, R. J. Pool, J. E. Weaver, F. C. Jean

University Studies (University of Nebraska) (1888–1984)

A series of intensive investigations of the ecological features of the tension zone between prairie and woodland in the Mississippi valley was begun by Weaver and Thiel in 1915. These studies were continued for two seasons in Minnesota and were also extended to the prairies of eastern Nebraska in 1916. These investigations represent the first attempt to attack the prairie-forest problem on a comprehensive scale by means of the quantitative methods of modern ecology. Some of the results secured from these studies have been published as the first paper of a series planned to deal with critical investigations in the …

A Study Of The Vegetation Of Southeastern Washington And Adjacent Idaho, J. E. Weaver

University Studies (University of Nebraska) (1888–1984)

Noone at all botanically inclined can travel through southeastern Washington without being impressed with the marked changes which a distance of only a few miles may show in the vegetation. Traveling eastward from a point fifty miles west of the Idaho state line, one passes from a region of scab-land sagebrush through one of rolling hills covered with bunch-grasses. Upon steadily ascending the great Columbia Plateau, the 'bunchgrasses give way to well developed prairies, and these in turn, near the Idaho line, to forests of yellow pine, Douglas fir, white fir, tamarack, and cedar. Or starting from Spokane in the …

Ecological Investigations Upon The Germination And Early Growth Of Forest Trees, Richard H. Boerker

University Studies (University of Nebraska) (1888–1984)

Briefly stated the purpose of the present investigation is to inquire into the effect of the more important habitat and seed factors upon the germination and early development of certain American forest trees in control cultures in the greenhouse for the purpose of obtaining data that may be used in the ~ilvicultural management of these species.

Prefatory Note 1 / Preliminary Considerations 7 / Historical 7 / Classification and Resume of Habitat Factors 11 / The Germination Process 15 / Method of Attacking Problem at Hand 19/ Methods and Apparatus Used 2 1/ The Control of Habitat Factors 24 / …

Fearsome Creatures Of The Lumberwoods: With A Few Desert And Mountain Beasts, William T. Cox, Coert Du Bois

Nebraskiana Publications: Resources and Materials on the 37th State

Every lumber region has its lore. Thrilling tales of adventure are told in camp wherever the logger has entered the wilderness. The lumber jack is an imaginative being, and a story loses none of its interest as it is carried and repeated from one camp to another. Stories which I know to have originated on the Penobscot and the Kennebec are told, somewhat strengthened and improved, in the redwood camps of Humboldt Bay. Yarns originating among the river drivers of the Ottawa, the St. Croix, and the upper Mississippi are respun to groups of listening loggers on Vancouver Island. But …

What Forestry Has Done, Treadwell Cleaveland Jr.

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Many people in this country think that forestry had never been tried until the government began to practice it upon the national forests. Yet forestry is practiced by every civilized country in the world, except China and Turkey. It gets results which can be got in no other way, and which are necessary to the general welfare. Forestry is not a new thing. It was discussed two thousand years ago, and it has been studied and applied with increasing thoroughness ever since.

The principles of forestry are everywhere the same. They rest on natural laws, which are at work everywhere …