Forest Management Commons^™

Assessing Alternative Methods For Monitoring Populus Tremuloides Following Restoration Treatments, Michael Fowler

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

A variety of alternative sampling methods, commonly known as “Distance Methods”, were tested to determine if they could be a better choice for monitoring Populus tremuloides (quaking aspen) regeneration following aspen restoration treatments. These methods were evaluated based on their ability to accurately and efficiently estimate three common aspen stand characteristics used to gauge aspen restoration treatment effectiveness: aspen regeneration density, browse pressure, and height class distribution. Distance Method accuracy and efficiency were compared to a standard fixed-radius plot sampling method in four treated aspen stands in western Wyoming. None of the Distance Methods fulfilled all of the requirements, which …

The Effects Of Seed Source Health On Whitebark Pine Regeneration Density After Wildfire, Signe B. Leirfallom

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) is declining nearly range-wide largely from mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) outbreaks and the exotic pathogen Cronartium ribicola, which causes the disease white pine blister rust. With high mortality in cone-bearing whitebark pine, seed production may not be sufficient to support natural regeneration after disturbance such as wildfire. The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between whitebark pine seed source health and whitebark pine regeneration density in adjacent, stand-replacing burns. I sampled regeneration patterns and seed source health and status in 15 burns within six national forests and …

Illuminating Capacity-Building Strategies For Landscape-Scale Collaborative Forest Management Through Constructivist Grounded Theory, Marcelle Elise Dupraw

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation uses the constructivist grounded theory methods of Charmaz (2011) to explore: 1) the unique characteristics of landscape-scale collaboration; 2) implications for collaborative capacity-building strategies; and 3) the relationship between conflict, landscape-scale collaboration, and conflict resolution. The study was conducted through the US Forest Service's Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program (CFLRP). In the 1980s and 1990s, national forest management conflicts brought the forest industry to a standstill, with many jobs lost. In addition, historic fire suppression practices have made our national forests highly vulnerable to catastrophic wildfire. Many have strong opinions about what should be done and how. The …

Recovery Of Wolverines In The Western United States: Recent Extirpation And Recolonization Or Range Retraction And Expansion?, Kevin S. Mckelvey, Keith B. Aubry, Neil J. Anderson, Anthony P. Clevenger, Jeffrey P. Copeland, Kimberley S. Heinemeyer, Robert M. Iman, John R. Squires, John S. Waller, Kristine L. Pilgrim, Michael K. Schwartz

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

Wolverines were greatly reduced in number and possibly extirpated from the contiguous United States (U.S.) by the early 1900s. Wolverines currently occupy much of their historical range in Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming, but are absent from Utah and only single individuals are known to occur in California and Colorado. In response, the translocation of wolverines to California and Colorado is being considered. If wolverines are to be reintroduced, managers must identify appropriate source populations based on the genetic affinities of historical and modern wolverine populations. We amplified the mitochondrial control region of 13 museum specimens dating from the late …

Housing Development Erodes Avian Community Structure In U.S. Protected Areas, Eric M. Wood, Anna M. Pidgeon, Volker C. Radeloff, David Helmers, Patrick D. Culbert, Nicholas S. Keuler, Curtis H. Flather

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

Protected areas are a cornerstone for biodiversity conservation, but they also provide amenities that attract housing development on inholdings and adjacent private lands. We explored how this development affects biodiversity within and near protected areas among six ecological regions throughout the United States. We quantified the effect of housing density within, at the boundary, and outside protected areas, and natural land cover within protected areas, on the proportional abundance and proportional richness of three avian guilds within protected areas. We developed three guilds from the North American Breeding Bird Survey, which included Species of Greatest Conservation Need, land cover affiliates …

Performance Of Species Richness Estimators Across Assemblage Types And Survey Parameters, Gordon C. Reese, Kenneth R. Wilson, Curtis H. Flather

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

Aim A raw count of the species encountered across surveys usually underestimates species richness. Statistical estimators are often less biased. Nonparametric estimators of species richness are widely considered the least biased, but no particular estimator has consistently performed best. This is partly a function of estimators responding differently to assemblage-level factors and survey design parameters. Our objective was to evaluate the performance of raw counts and nonparametric estimators of species richness across various assemblages and with different survey designs.

Location We used both simulated and published field data.

Methods We evaluated the bias, precision and accuracy of raw counts and …

A New Metric For Quantifying Burn Severity: The Relativized Burn Ratio, Sean A. Parks, Gregory K. Dillon, Carol Miller

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

Satellite-inferred burn severity data have become increasingly popular over the last decade for management and research purposes. These data typically quantify spectral change between pre-and post-fire satellite images (usually Landsat). There is an active debate regarding which of the two main equations, the delta normalized burn ratio (dNBR) and its relativized form (RdNBR), is most suitable for quantifying burn severity; each has its critics. In this study, we propose and evaluate a new Landsat-based burn severity metric, the relativized burn ratio (RBR), that provides an alternative to dNBR and RdNBR. For 18 fires in the western US, we compared the …

Developing Strategies To Initialize Landscape-Scale Vegetation Maps From Fia Data To Enhance Resolution Of Individual Species-Size Cohort Representation In The Landscape Disturbance Model, Simpplle, Jacob Muller

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The ability of forest resource managers to understand and anticipate landscape-scale change in composition and structure relies upon an adequate characterization of the current forest composition and structure of various patches (or stands), along with the capacity of forest landscape models (FLMs) to predict patterns of growth, succession, and disturbance at multiple scales over time. Comprehensive vegetation maps, which classify patch polygons or raster cells into forest cover types, can be developed from available inventory data (e.g., FIA Grid) in combination with remotely sensed data, but a simple categorical forest type, even one incorporating average size, may not provide adequate …

Smokejumper Obituary: Foresman, James Buckey "Jim" (Mccall 1957), National Smokejumper Association

Smokejumper Obituaries

No abstract provided.

Smokejumper Obituary: Fusko, George M. (Missoula 1962), National Smokejumper Association

Smokejumper Obituaries

No abstract provided.

Floristic Composition, Diversity And Structure Of The Kimboza Forest In Morogoro Region, Tanzania, David S. Kacholi

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

Kimboza forest reserve in Morogoro region, is an important biodiversity hotspot among the Eastern Arc forests of Tanzania. High population pressure and encroachment threatens its conservation values. This is based on a study which aimed at investigating the composition, diversity, and structure of the tree community in the forest. All trees with DBH ≥ 10cm were inventoried from 0.72ha in a total of 18 plots of 20m × 20m placed randomly from the forest edge to the interior. Most important families and species were determined using familial importance value (FIV) and species importance value (IVI) indices, respectively. Diversity was analyzed …

Memorandum - Subject: Gordon Natural Area, Greg R. Weisenstein

Gordon Natural Area History & Strategic Plan Documents

Memorandum from West Chester University President Greg R. Weisenstein announcing the approval of eleven additional acres of undeveloped land to be included in the Robert B. Gordon Natural Area of Environmental Studies.

Smokejumper Obituary: Kelly, Michael P. (Mccall 2012), National Smokejumper Association

Smokejumper Obituaries

No abstract provided.

Smokejumper Obituary: Anderson, Glenn E. (Grangeville 1962), National Smokejumper Association

Smokejumper Obituaries

No abstract provided.

Smokejumper Obituary: Wolf, Howard Lee (Mccall 1953), National Smokejumper Association

Smokejumper Obituaries

No abstract provided.

Smokejumper Obituary: Cumley, Del W. (Missoula 1950), National Smokejumper Association

Smokejumper Obituaries

No abstract provided.

Effect Of Prescribed Burning In The Forests Of Buffalo National River, Arkansas, Francis Ndar Onduso

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Prescribed burning (also referred to as controlled or hazard reduction burning) refers to the use of fire under controlled conditions to achieve a desired end product or goal. However, the nature and magnitude of the changes that result from prescribed burning are still incompletely known, and this is especially true for the forests of the Ozarks of northern Arkansas. The overall objective of the research project described herein was to obtain the data necessary to develop a better understanding of these changes, particularly as they relate to the use of prescribed burning as a management technique in the Buffalo National …

Ecological Importance Of Ectomycorrhizal Linkages In The Ozark Mountains And The Fernow Experimental Forests, Shelly Kendra Bursick

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Underground stem-to-stem linkages involving ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi are probably important in forest ecosystems, since these linkages could assist in the survival of established trees as well as increasing the growth and development of seedlings and saplings. This study compared forest communities of the Ozark Mountains of northwest Arkansas and the Fernow Experimental Forest in West Virginia by examining species richness, diversity, relative abundance, and the potential for stems to exhibit spatial distribution and clustering patterns that reflected the existence of linkages by ECM fungi. Data on forest communities in the Ozarks were obtained from eight plot locations in Devil's Den …

Smokejumper Obituary: Light, Richard E. (Cave Junction 1958), National Smokejumper Association

Smokejumper Obituaries

No abstract provided.

Smokejumper Obituary: Walker, Steve (Missoula 1968), National Smokejumper Association

Smokejumper Obituaries

No abstract provided.

Incorporating Cave And Karst Management Into The Forest Plan Revision Process Of Arizona Forests, Ray Keeler, Richard Bohman

National Cave and Karst Management Symposium 2013

Arizona National Forest land managers have a multitude of tasks and priorities; historically, caves and karst management has not been amongst the priorities receiving any significant allocation of resources. When caves and karst management is not included in the Forest Plan, even when large and significant cave and karst areas exist, active cave and karst management often falls below the waterline of available manpower and resources. Additionally, there is entropy associated with normal changes in personnel assignments and new staff coming onboard. When combined with a general lack of written policies and guidelines, these personnel transitions lead to unnecessary degradation …

The Effects Of Large Wildfires On Employment And Wage Growth And Volatility In The Western United States, Max Nielsen-Pincus, Cassandra Moseley, Krista Gebert

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

We examined the effect of large wildfires on economic growth and volatility in the western United States. We matched wildfire data with quarterly employment and earnings growth data to assess the specific effect of wildfire on employment and wage growth in western US counties. Wildfires generally tended to exhibit positive effects on employment and wage growth in the quarter(s) during which suppression efforts were active. However, this effect transitioned to increased economic volatility following a wildfire. The effect of wildfire also varied by the type of county in which wildfire occurred. The amount of suppression costs invested locally had the …

Smokejumper Obituary: Wolfertz, Roger (Cave Junction 1948), National Smokejumper Association

Smokejumper Obituaries

No abstract provided.

Smokejumper Obituary: Sheehy, Luke Douglas (Redding 2009), National Smokejumper Association

Smokejumper Obituaries

No abstract provided.

Smokejumper Obituary: Morris, Walter (Pendleton 1945), National Smokejumper Association

Smokejumper Obituaries

No abstract provided.

Smokejumper Obituary: Hilde, Bernard Gulbran (Missoula 1969), National Smokejumper Association

Smokejumper Obituaries

No abstract provided.

Using Satellite Data With On Site Measurements To Create Estimates Of Biomass As A Baseline For Future Studies Of Caribbean Pine, Jeanné Le Roux, Kaitlyn Pate, Jonathan Chenault, Robert Rossell

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

Meeting Minutes, October 9th, 2013, National Smokejumper Association Board Of Directors

National Smokejumper Association Meeting Minutes

Agenda: Call to order.; Introductions.; Orientation to site.; Approval of agenda of prior meeting and intervening BOD actions.; Trail Report for 2013.; update on the ongoing Siskiyou Smokejumper Base project.; update on progress of the 2015 NSA Reunion planning.; Wild Land Firefighters Foundation.; Status of KIA plaques.; Scholarship Report.; Parachute development report .; Treasurer's Report/FY 2013-14 Budget Review.; Headstone's for firefighters killed in Montana.; Exploring NSA's potential role in fire/land management.; Presentation & discussion.; Status of Trademark Registration.; Request for Database for health research project.; Website Committee Report.; Magazine/Merchandise Report & Staffing.; Recess for social evening.; Guidelines for GSF.; Long-range …

Smokejumper Obituary: Vonbracht, William F. (Missoula 1968), National Smokejumper Association

Smokejumper Obituaries

No abstract provided.

Smokejumper Obituary: Urban, Mark T. (Nifc 2003), National Smokejumper Association

Smokejumper Obituaries

No abstract provided.