Forest Management Commons^™

Bridging The Gap Between Plot-Level And Landscape-Scale Analysis For Wildfire Risk Assessment, Vanessa Leigh Niemczyk

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Remote sensing technology has advanced greatly over the past couple of decades proving its ability to aid in wildfire risk assessment and improve our understanding of forest structure and fuel inventory across the landscape. While some aerial and satellite sensors perform better than others, they all have a common weakness, their reduced ability to capture understory fuels with high detail. Terrestrial laser scanning is an emerging solution due to its understory perspective. This research leverages the beneficial aspects of both terrestrial laser scanning and various aerial- or satellite-based remote sensing platforms (aerial laser scanning, digital aerial photogrammetry, and Sentinel-2) to …

Linking Empirical Data And Numerical Simulation To Characterize Dynamic Fire Behavior Associated With Interacting Firelines, Marta Sergeevna Jerebets

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Understanding fuel pattern-fire process relationships is key for predicting fire behavior and effects with follow-on benefits to proactive fire management and model validation. To characterize dynamic fire behavior, this thesis leverages empirical data and numerical simulation through two complementary studies.

In the first study, longwave thermal sensors aboard unmanned aerial systems (UAS) were used to capture fine-scale fire behavior in two experimental grass burns. A novel paired design was used to quantify the effects of fuel arrangement on fire behavior with 3.66 m diameter treatments cut to a height of 0.15 m. The treatments ephemerally reduced fire rate of spread …

Ineligible Partners: Tribal Nations And Cooperative Federalism In The Historical Development Of National Forest Law And Policy, James H. Baker

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Lands within the National Forest System (NFS), like all federal public lands, are rooted in Aboriginal Title and were once exclusively inhabited by Indigenous peoples and communities. Through the process of treaty-making, the federal government amassed millions of acres of ceded Tribal lands, many of which are now managed by federal public land agencies, including 194 million acres managed by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS). Several Tribes reserved various use and property rights on these lands that are protected by the U.S. Constitution’s Treaty and Supremacy Clauses. The federal government also has an overarching trust obligation to Tribes – a …

Identification, Mapping And Treatment Of The Invasive Rosa Multiflora Using Unmanned Aerial Systems And Machine Learning Models, Kylie Virginia Shaw

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Invasive species are introduced species that cause detrimental impacts to the native ecosystem or cause harm to human health. The work necessary for land managers to survey for and treat invasive species takes up limited time, labor, and financial resources. This study assesses how Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) and machine learning models can be used to make the identification, mapping, and treatment of invasive vegetation more efficient and effective. A UAS-mounted multispectral camera captured images of our target species, Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose), throughout its growing season in southwest Pennsylvania. A random forest machine learning model was trained on these …

The Effects Of Strip Clearcutting On Natural And Artificial Northern Red Oak Regeneration In A Central Appalachian Hardwood Stand, Patrick Aaron Plaugher

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

There are well-known difficulties associated with regenerating oak stands throughout the Central Hardwoods region. To successfully regenerate oak, competitive sources of advance reproduction are required ahead of harvesting—a condition that is rarely present, especially on productive sites. While treatments that enhance seedling competitiveness (e.g., midstory removals, burning, vegetation control) are available, in practice, these are rarely implemented and/or effective because of large treatment costs and/or because they require delaying harvest.

As a potential alternative practice, we report the 10-yr results of a strip clearcut regeneration method. This method removes alternating 45-m wide strips across a mixed Appalachian hardwood …

Tourism Carrying Capacity At Petungkriyono Forest And Its Supporting Areas, Nurwidya Ambarwati

Journal of Environmental Science and Sustainable Development

Supported by a variety of diversity and landscapes, the development of tourism in the Petungkriyono area is growing rapidly. Optimizing ecotourism services in the Petungkriyono forest without disrupting the ecosystem and damaging the environment can be done by limiting the number of visitors at tourism sites. This study aims to find out information about the tourism capacity of some tourist attractions in the local forest. This study uses the Cifuentes model to predict the maximum number of visitor capacities that can be accommodated in a tourist attraction called Physical Carrying Capacity (PCC), Real Carrying Capacity (RCC), and Effective Carrying Capacity …

Smokejumper Obituary: Harbine, Patrick E. “Pat” (Missoula 1951), National Smokejumper Association

Smokejumper Obituaries

No abstract provided.

Smokejumper Obituary: Rossheim, John David (Missoula 1949), National Smokejumper Association

Smokejumper Obituaries

No abstract provided.

Smokejumper Obituary: Cook, James Edward "Jim" (North Cascades 1960), National Smokejumper Association

Smokejumper Obituaries

No abstract provided.

Quantifying Greenhouse Gas Exchange And Ecosystem Services In Ecosystems Managed For Nature-Based Solutions Using Eddy Covariance, Remote Sensing, And Models, Lucas Clay

All Dissertations

As global temperatures rise due to climate change, nature-based solutions are increasingly being used to restore nature and to remove carbon from the atmosphere. Nature-based solutions draw on methodologies such as ecological forestry and improved forest management to reduce emissions and maximize resilience. These protocols are still in their infancy and additional measurements and case studies are important to optimizing these protocols. Herein this dissertation we describe multiple measurement methodologies for both greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and for ecosystem services. In coastal wetland ecosystems, the need for GHG measurements is paramount to understanding the ability of these ecosystems to reduce …

Smokejumper Obituary: Smith, Gerald Paul “Jerry” (Missoula 1962), National Smokejumper Association

Smokejumper Obituaries

No abstract provided.

Smokejumper Obituary: Harro, William Lewis “Bill” (Mccall 1968), National Smokejumper Association

Smokejumper Obituaries

No abstract provided.

Smokejumper Obituary: Brennan, Joseph William “Joe” (Redmond 1986), National Smokejumper Association

Smokejumper Obituaries

No abstract provided.

Smokejumper Obituary: Davis, Jeffery R. “Jeff” (Missoula 1957), National Smokejumper Association

Smokejumper Obituaries

No abstract provided.

Smokejumper Obituary: Montgomery, Bruce A. (Idaho City 1965), National Smokejumper Association

Smokejumper Obituaries

No abstract provided.

Smokejumper Obituary: Osborne, John J. “Jack” (Missoula 1946), National Smokejumper Association

Smokejumper Obituaries

No abstract provided.

Smokejumper Obituary: Howard, Charles D. “Doug” (Missoula 1964), National Smokejumper Association

Smokejumper Obituaries

No abstract provided.

Smokejumper Obituary: Bassette, Gene L. “Geno” (Missoula 1980), National Smokejumper Association

Smokejumper Obituaries

No abstract provided.

Historical Fire And Forest Structure In Western Dry Forests: Alternative Models, Controversies, And Management Plan Revision, Gordon Steinhoff

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

Management plan revision is currently underway for national forests in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California, the Pacific Northwest, and other regions of the country under the U.S. Forest Service’s 2012 Planning Rule. With respect to dry ponderosa pine and mixed-conifer forests in the Sierra Nevada and Pacific Northwest, agency scientists and others claim that these forests were historically open and parklike, with primarily large, well-distributed trees, few smaller trees, and sparse underlying vegetation, leaf litter, and woody debris. Large, high-severity fire was rare. Fire exclusion since the early 1900s has led to the “densification” of these forests and unnatural …

Smokejumper Obituary: Congleton, Walter Sheldon (Cave Junction 1968), National Smokejumper Association

Smokejumper Obituaries

No abstract provided.