Forest Management Commons^™

Fuel Treatment Effectiveness In The United States, Mark A. Cochrane, Michael C. Wimberly, Jeffrey C. Eidenshink, Zhi-Liang Zhu, Don Ohlen, Mark Finney, Matt Reeves

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

The fire situation in the United States is well documented with a growing prevalence of larger and more intense fires that have increasingly severe consequences for affected ecosystems and human health and well being. Increasingly, fuels management has been put forth and implemented as part of an integral strategy for limiting extreme fire behavior, reducing the area affected by wildfire and minimizing the economic and ecological costs of fires. Communities and land management agencies are now treating millions of acres of wildland fuels annually and an ever-increasing number of wildfires are burning treated lands. Although the scientific premises of various …

Historic Fire Frequency In Mountain Big Sagebrush Communities Of The Eastern Great Basin And Colorado Plateau: A Comparison Of Estimates Based Upon Proxy Fire Scar Records And Predictions Derived From Post-Fire Succession Rates, Stanley G. Kitchen, Peter J. Weisberg

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Knowledge of past fire regimes associated with mountain big sagebrush-dominated landscapes is inadequate for scientifically-based land management that requires assessment of departures from historic conditions. Widely utilized estimates of fire frequency for sagebrush ecosystems are largely based upon few studies using fire-scarred proxy trees positioned at the forest/shrubland ecotone. These studies, all conducted in the northern half of the species distribution, generally fail to adequately address questions of fire behavior across the fuels threshold at the forest/woodland-shrubland ecotone. Alternatively, post-fire rates of succession have been used to suggest fire frequencies compatible with big sagebrush recovery. Minimum and maximum fire-free intervals …

Impacts Of Repeated Wildfire On Vegetation In The Southern Appalachian Mountains, Thomas A. Waldrop, Donald L. Hagan, Matthew Reilly

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

The infrequent occurrence of large wildfires in the southern Appalachian Mountains over the last several decades has offered few opportunities to study the impacts of these types of disturbances. As a result, relatively little is known about how heterogeneity in topography, vegetation, and recent disturbance history interact to influence patterns of fire severity across the landscape. Since 2000, five separate wildfires burned a large portion of the area in, and surrounding the Linville Gorge Wilderness in western North Carolina, two burned the same area a second time. Burn severity and vegetative recovery were measured in 152 plots established in 1992 …

Timber Talk, Vol. 51, No. 2, June 1, 2013

Timber Talk: Nebraska Forest Industry Newsletter

Lumber Market News; Hardwood Lumber Price Trends—Green; Hardwood Lumber Price Trends—Kiln Dried; Nebraska Timber Industry 2009; Global Timber and Wood Products Market Update; Drying Methods For Small Operators; Nebraska Forestry Spotlight; The Trading Post; Timber Sales.

East Bradford Riparian Forest Project Summary Data, 2013, Gerard Hertel

East Bradford Riparian Forest Project Documents

No abstract provided.

National Smokejumper Assocation Trail Maintenance Annual Report For 2012, National Smokejumper Association Trails Committee

Trails Reports

The Trails Maintenance Program Annual Reports compiled by the National Smokejumper Association Trails Committee summarizes the activities of the Trails Program. The members of the program also go by the title Trails Restoration and Maintenance Project Specialists (TRAMPS). The contents of the 2011 report include: Volunteer of the Year; Others Who Helped us out; Logistics Report; Accomplishments Report; Tax Exempt Status; Art Jukkala Trail; Bear Creek; Bear Lake Trails; Blue Bend Rec. Area; USFS/BWCAW/WCB/GTHS Project; Snowbank Lake Trail; Dixie; Dry Gulch Trail; Challenge Cr. Cabin/Corral; Big Bill Cabin; Greenwood Cabin; Horse Butte Lookout; Huckleberry Lookout; Little Dead Elk; Mann Gulch-Phase …

Decision Making In Forest Road Planning Considering Both Skidding And Road Costs: A Case Study In The Hyrcanian Forest In Iran, M. Jourgholami, E. Abdi, Woodam Chung

Forest Management Faculty Publications

Hyrcanian forest is the only forest designated for commercial timber production in Iran. Ground-based skidding is the most common extraction system used in the forest, though large parts of the forest are still inaccessible due to the low road density (1-2 m ha^-1). To facilitate timber harvesting in the forest, it has been proposed to increase the road density up to 20 m ha^-1. The aim of this study was to incorporate the estimated skidding costs through a time study into an existing transportation planning tool, NETWORK 2000, to help decision making on forest road building. …

Latent Resilience In Ponderosa Pine Forest: Effects Of Resumed Frequent Fire, Andrew J. Larson, R. Travis Belote, C. Alina Cansler, Sean A. Parks, Matthew S. Dietz

Forest Management Faculty Publications

Ecological systems often exhibit resilient states that are maintained through negative feedbacks. In ponderosa pine forests, fire historically represented the negative feedback mechanism that maintained ecosystem resilience; fire exclusion reduced that resilience, predisposing the transition to an alternative ecosystem state upon reintroduction of fire. We evaluated the effects of reintroduced frequent wildfire in unlogged, fire-excluded, ponderosa pine forest in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, Montana, USA. Initial reintroduction of fire in 2003 reduced tree density and consumed surface fuels, but also stimulated establishment of a dense cohort of lodgepole pine, maintaining a trajectory toward an alternative state. Resumption of a frequent …

Effects Of Streamside Management Zone Timber Harvest On Salamander Communities In Robinson Forest, Thomas Maigret

Theses and Dissertations--Forestry and Natural Resources

Salamanders are critical components of forest ecosystems, in terms of total biomass, as well as for their value as indicators of ecosystem stress. Considering the worldwide decline in amphibian populations, the known effects of timber harvest on salamander populations, and the importance of the forest products industry in Kentucky and elsewhere, the impacts of silvicultural operations on salamander communities cannot be overlooked. The objective was to investigate the effects of three different silvicultural treatments, each involving different streamside management zone (SMZ) characteristics, on salamander communities in ephemeral streams. Data were collected by regular checks of pitfall traps, coverboards, and transect …

Forest Harvest Equipment Movement And Sediment Delivery To Streams, Daniel Whiteside Bowker

Theses and Dissertations--Forestry and Natural Resources

Streamside management zones (SMZs) have become important management techniques to prevent the introduction of sediment to stream networks. This study examined the current Kentucky best management practice (BMP) guidelines for SMZs by outfitting mobile forest harvest equipment with global positioning system (GPS) receivers, enabling modeling of equipment traffic and spatial analysis of stream sediment delivery. Three SMZ configurations were implemented during commercial timber harvest, along with four different techniques of crossing ephemeral channels, in order to determine where and why sediment was introduced to the stream network. Results indicate that increasing the SMZ buffer width leads to decreased sediment delivery, …

Comparing Aboveground Biomass Predictions For An Uneven-Aged Pine-Dominated Stand Using Local, Regional, And National Models, Don C. Bragg, K. M. Mcelligott

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

Sequestration by Arkansas forests removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, storing this carbon in biomass that fills a number of critical ecological and socioeconomic functions. We need a better understanding of the contribution of forests to the carbon cycle, including the accurate quantification of tree biomass. Models have long been developed to predict aboveground live tree biomass, but few of these have been derived from Arkansas forests. Since there is geographic variability in the growth and yield of pine as a function of genetics, site conditions, growth rate, stand stocking, and other factors, we decided to compare aboveground tree biomass …

Experiments To Measure The Effects Of Timber Harvesting Equipment On Surface Lithic Scatters, Douglas J. Baughman

All Master's Theses

The importance of cultural resource preservation cannot be overstated; however local economies are at least as important. Due to conservative archaeological site protection practices in Region 5 of the United States Forest Service, the economy of Northeastern California is being adversely affected. In an attempt to help the Forest Service make more informed management decisions and improve the Northeastern California economy, I undertook experiments on the effects of timber harvesting on lithic scatters on Modoc National Forest. The experiments involved placement of 225 glass tiles (proxy lithics) in each of three plots subject to vehicle traffic and log dragging by …

40th Anniversary (2013) Accomplishments, Gordon Natural Area, Gerard Hertel, Harry Tiebout, Kendra Mcmillin

Gordon Natural Area History & Strategic Plan Documents

No abstract provided.

Forest Recovery Patterns In Response To Divergent Disturbance Regimes In The Border Lakes Region Of Minnesota (Usa) And Ontario (Canada), Brian R. Sturtevant, Brian R. Miranda, Peter T. Wolter, Patrick M.A. James, Marie-Josée Fortin, Philip A. Townsend

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

The persistence of landscape-scale disturbance legacies in forested ecosystems depends in part on the nature and strength of feedback among disturbances, their effects, and subsequent recovery processes such as tree regeneration and canopy closure. We investigated factors affecting forest recovery rates over a 25-year time period in a large (6 million ha) landscape where geopolitical boundaries have resulted in important land management legacies (managed forests of Minnesota, USA; managed forests of Ontario, Canada; and a large unmanaged wilderness). Stand-replacing disturbance regimes were quantified across management zones, both inside and outside a central ecoregion, using a time series of classified land …

A Wildfire Risk Assessment Framework For Land And Resource Management, Joe H. Scott, Matthew P. Thompson, David E. Calkin

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

Wildfires can result in significant, long-lasting impacts to ecological, social, and economic systems. It is necessary, therefore, to identify and understand the risks posed by wildland fire, and to develop cost-effective mitigation strategies accordingly. This report presents a general framework with which to assess wildfire risk and explore mitigation options, and illustrates a process for implementing the framework. Two key strengths of the framework are its flexibility— allowing for a multitude of data sources, modeling techniques, and approaches to measuring risk—and its scalability, with potential application for project, forest, regional, and national planning. The specific risk assessment process we introduce …

Integrating Biodiversity And Drinking Water Protection Goals Through Geographic Analysis, James D. Wickham, Curtis H. Flather

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

Aim Biodiversity and drinking water share a common interest in land conservation. Our objective was to identify where that common interest occurs geographically to inform conservation planning.

Location The study focused on 2112 eight-digit hydrologic units (watersheds) occurring in the conterminous United States.

Methods Data on aquatic-dependent species occurrence, drinking water intakes, protected land status and land cover change were compiled for each watershed. We compared these four datasets after defining ‘hotspots’ based on attribute-specific thresholds that included (1) the 90th percentile of at-risk aquatic biodiversity, (2) with and without drinking water intakes, (3) above and below the median percentage …

The Influence Of Vertical And Horizontal Habitat Structure On Nationwide Patterns Of Avian Biodiversity, Patrick D. Culbert, Volker C. Radeloff, Curtis H. Flather, Josef M. Kellndorfer, Chadwick D. Rittenhouse, Anna M. Pidgeon

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

With limited resources for habitat conservation, the accurate identification of high-value avian habitat is crucial. Habitat structure affects avian biodiversity but is difficult to quantify over broad extents. Our goal was to identify which measures of vertical and horizontal habitat structure are most strongly related to patterns of avian biodiversity across the conterminous United States and to determine whether new measures of vertical structure are complementary to existing, primarily horizontal, measures. For 2,546 North American Breeding Bird Survey routes across the conterminous United States, we calculated canopy height and biomass from the National Biomass and Carbon Dataset (NBCD) as measures …

Wildlife Population And Harvest Trends In The United States A Technical Document Supporting The Forest Service 2010 Rpa Assessment, Curtis H. Flather, Michael S. Knowles, Martin F. Jones, Carol Schilli

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

The Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act (RPA) of 1974 requires periodic assessments of the condition and trends of the nation’s renewable natural resources. Data from many sources were used to document recent historical trends in big game, small game, migratory game birds, furbearers, nongame, and imperiled species. Big game and waterfowl have generally increased in population and harvest trends. Many small upland and webless migratory game bird species have declined notably in population or harvest. Considerable declines in fur harvest since the 2000 RPA Assessment have occurred. Among the 426 breeding bird species with sufficient data to estimate …

Keeping It Wild: Mapping Wilderness Character In The United States, Steve Carver, James Tricker, Peter Landres

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

A GIS-based approach is developed to identify the state of wilderness character in US wilderness areas using Death Valley National Park (DEVA) as a case study. A set of indicators and measures are identified by DEVA staff and used as the basis for developing a flexible and broadly applicable framework to map wilderness character using data inputs selected by park staff. Spatial data and GIS methods are used to map the condition of four qualities of wilderness character: natural, untrammelled, undeveloped, and solitude or primitive and unconfined recreation. These four qualities are derived from the US 1964 Wilderness Act and …

Carbon Storage And Sequestration By Trees In Urban And Community Areas Of The United States, David J. Nowak, Eric J. Greenfield, Robert E. Hoehn, Elizabeth Lapoint

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

Carbon storage and sequestration by urban trees in the United States was quantified to assess the magnitude and role of urban forests in relation to climate change. Urban tree field data from 28 cities and 6 states were used to determine the average carbon density per unit of tree cover. These data were applied to statewide urban tree cover measurements to determine total urban forest carbon storage and annual sequestration by state and nationally. Urban whole tree carbon storage densities average 7.69 kg C m^‒2 of tree cover and sequestration densities average 0.28 kg C m^‒2 of tree …