Other Forestry and Forest Sciences Commons^™

Herbaceous 2013, Julia I. Chapman, Amy L. Myers, Ryan W. Mcewan

Data Files: Drew Woods Permanent Plots

Herbaceous vegetation data collected in 2013 at Drew Woods State Nature Preserve in Darke County, OH. Data key is provided in a supplemental file.

Response Of Breeding Birds To Forest Disturbance In The Arkansas Ozarks: Impacts Of Uneven-Aged Management, Ice Damage, And Woodland Restoration, Maureen Mcclung

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Forests of the Ozarks are important breeding grounds for many bird species, each with specific habitat requirements. Natural and anthropogenic disturbance events can alter vegetational structure of forests, thereby influencing communities of breeding birds. The objectives of my study were to examine the response of breeding birds and their habitat to three types of forest disturbance: (1) uneven-aged management, (2) ice damage, and (3) woodland restoration. Avian and vegetation surveys were conducted during the 2008, 2009, and 2010 breeding seasons (May-June) in the Ozark National Forest, Arkansas. Each site was surveyed for birds four times a season using fixed-radius point …

Going Green And Staying Sustainable: Community Based Tree-Planting Projects In Mongolia, Rachel Klassen

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Community based tree planting projects are abundant in Mongolia and have become a popular form of social movement towards promoting a healthy environment. With so many different varieties of tree planting projects in Mongolia, it is necessary to evaluate how well the different forms of Community-based tree planting projects function. The first research question created to access said Community projects is, are Community based tree planting projects environmentally sustainable? And the second, are Community-based tree planting projects in Mongolia sustainable from an organizational standpoint? To answer these questions interviews, surveys and case studies were given in the three …

Evaluating The Effects Of Road Crossing Structures On Stream-Associated Amphibians In The Wilson River Watershed, Tillamook State Forest, Oregon, Sara Erin Twitchell

Dissertations and Theses

As replacement and removal of undersized culverts gains momentum as an effective technique for restoring natural stream flows and removing fish passage barriers, it is important to evaluate the benefits of these efforts on the in-stream and adjacent riparian habitat for other species of potential concern. This study compares stream-associated amphibian (SAA) occurrence in streams adjacent to different road crossing structures on unpaved forest roads in the Wilson River watershed located within the Tillamook State Forest, Oregon. Surveys were conducted at road crossing structures for three taxa of SAA; Pacific giant salamander (Dicamptodon tenebrosus), coastal tailed frog (Ascaphus truei), and …

Stream Water Quality And Quantity Effects From Select Timber Harvesting Of A Streamside Management Zone, Luke Sanders, Matthew W. Mcbroom

Faculty Publications

A naturally regenerated, even aged, mixed pine/hardwood, streamside management zone (SMZ) was selectively harvested in May 2006. The 27.8 ha SMZ buffered an intermittent headwater stream draining a 98 ha watershed. The harvest complied with Texas, USA best management practices (BMPs) by maintaining a minimum SMZ width of 15 m on either side of the channel, retaining a minimum basal area (BA) greater than 11.47 m² ha^-1, and minimizing forest floor and stream channel disturbance. No changes in soil bulk density were measured with only a slight increase in bare soil. No changes in water quality or …

A National Approach For Integrating Wildfire Simulation Modeling Into Wildland Urban Interface Risk Assessments Within The United States, Jessica R. Haas, David E. Calkin, Matthew P. Thompson

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

Ongoing human development into fire-prone areas contributes to increasing wildfire risk to human life. It is critically important, therefore, to have the ability to characterize wildfire risk to populated places, and to identify geographic areas with relatively high risk. A fundamental component of wildfire risk analysis is establishing the likelihood of wildfire occurrence and interaction with social and ecological values. A variety of fire modeling systems exist that can provide spatially resolved estimates of wildfire likelihood, which when coupled with maps of values-at-risk enable probabilistic exposure analysis. With this study we demonstrate the feasibility and utility of pairing burn probabilities …

Timber Talk, Vol. 51, No. 1, February 1, 2013

Timber Talk: Nebraska Forest Industry Newsletter

Lumber Market News; Hardwood Lumber Price Trends—Green; Hardwood Lumber Price Trends—Kiln Dried; Hardwood Lumber Market History—Green; 50th Anniversary ; NFS Launches New Website; 4 Nebraska Wood Products Exchange; 4 2012 Tax Tips for Forest Landowners...5 Attention Timber & Log Buyers; 5 Nebraska Forest - 2010; Nebraska Forestry Spotlight.; The Trading Post; Generation Check — Do You Remember?; Timber Sales

Timber Talk, Vol. 51, No. 4, November 1, 2013

Timber Talk: Nebraska Forest Industry Newsletter

Lumber Market News; Hardwood Lumber Price Trends—Green; Hardwood Lumber Price Trends—Kiln Dried; Checking, Shaking and Honeycombing; End-Coating Logs and Lumber Makes “Cents” (Or Dollars!); Nebraska Forestry Spotligh; The Trading Post; The Biggest Cause of Our “Environmental” Problems?; Railroad Ties: Another Use for Hardwood Logs

Timber Talk, Vol. 51, No. 3, September 1, 2013

Timber Talk: Nebraska Forest Industry Newsletter

Lumber Market News; Hardwood Lumber Price Trends—Green; Hardwood Lumber Price Trends—Kiln Dried; Timber Stumpage Prices; Nebraska Timber and Log Buyers Survey; Band Saw Blades For Green Wood; Illegal Logging Crackdown in Central and South America; Coming to Terms With Terms; International Trade in Wood Chips Seeing Steady Increases; Nebraska Forestry Spotlight; The Trading Post; How to Save Money Wtih a Wood Stove; Timber Sales

Beech Bark Disease Distribution And Resistance In Michigan And Fungal Endophyte Ecology Of Resistant And Susceptible Beech (Fagus Grandifolia Ehrh.), Rachel E. Griesmer-Zakhar

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Beech bark disease (BBD), a non-native association of the fungal pathogen Neonectria faginata and the beech scale insect Cryptococcus fagisuga, has dramatically affected American beech within North American forests. To monitor the spread and effects of BBD in Michigan, a network of forest health monitoring plots was established in 2001 following the disease discovery in Ludington State Park (Mason County). Forest health canopy condition and basic forestry measurements including basal area were reassessed on beech trees in these plots in 2011 and 2012. The influence of bark-inhabiting fungal endophytes on BBD resistance was investigated by collecting cambium tissue from …

Carbon Benefits From Protected Areas In The Conterminous United States, Daolan Zheng, Linda S. Heath, Mark J. Ducey

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

Background: Conversion of forests to other land cover or land use releases the carbon stored in the forests and reduces carbon sequestration potential of the land. The rate of forest conversion could be reduced by establishing protected areas for biological diversity and other conservation goals. The purpose of this study is to quantify the efficiency and potential of forest land protection for mitigating GHG emissions.

Results: The analysis of related national-level datasets shows that during the period of 1992–2001 net forest losses in protected areas were small as compared to those in unprotected areas: -0.74% and −4.07%, respectively. …

A Polygon-Based Modeling Approach To Assess Exposure Of Resources And Assets To Wildfire, Matthew P. Thompson, Joe Scott, Jeffrey D. Kaiden, Julie W. Gilbertson-Day

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

Spatially explicit burn probability modeling is increasingly applied to assess wildfire risk and inform mitigation strategy development. Burn probabilities are typically expressed on a per-pixel basis, calculated as the number of times a pixel burns divided by the number of simulation iterations. Spatial intersection of highly valued resources and assets (HVRAs) with pixel-based burn probability estimates enables quantification of HVRA exposure to wildfire in terms of expected area burned. However, statistical expectations can mask variability in HVRA area burned across all simulated fires. We present an alternative, polygon-based formulation for deriving estimates of HVRA area burned. This effort enhances investigations …

Interpretation Of Gypsy Moth Frontal Advance Using Meteorology In A Conditional Algorithm, K. L. Frank, P. C. Tobin, H. W. Thistle Jr., Laurence S. Kalkstein

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

The gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar, is a nonnative species that continues to invade areas in North America. It spreads generally through stratified dispersal where local growth and diffusive spread are coupled with long-distance jumps ahead of the leading edge. Longdistance jumps due to anthropogenic movement of life stages is a well-documented spread mechanism. Another mechanism is the atmospheric transport of early instars and adult males, believed to occur over short distances. However, empirical gypsy moth population data continue to support the possibility of alternative methods of longrange dispersal. Such dispersal events seemed to have occurred in the mid- to …

Uncertainty Associated With Estimating A Short-Term (1–3 Hr) Particulate Matter Concentration From A Human-Sighted Visual Range, William C. Malm, Bret A. Schichtel

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Several state air quality agencies have developed policies to issue air quality health index (AQI) warnings based on low values of visual range (V_r). Vr has been defined in the context of how far away a black object has to be such that it is just noticeable or visible. This distance at which a landscape feature can just be detected is referred to as the V_r. AQI warnings are based on the levels of particulates (PM_2.5) resulting from fire smoke, often with less than 24-hr average concentrations. Because monitoring data are not available in …

A Fire Severity Mapping System For Real-Time Fire Management Applications And Long-Term Planning: The Firesev Project, Robert E. Keane, Penny M. Morgan, Gregory K. Dillon, Pamela G. Sikkink, Eva C. Karau, Zack A. Holden, Stacy A. Drury

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Accurate, consistent, and timely fire severity maps are needed in all phases of fire management including planning, managing, and rehabilitating wildfires. The problem is that fire severity maps are commonly developed from satellite imagery that is difficult to use for planning wildfire responses before a fire has actually happened and can’t be used for real-time wildfire management because of the timing of the imagery delivery. Moreover, imagery is difficult to use for controlled fires such as prescribed burning. This study, called FIRESEV (FIRE SEVerity Mapping Tools) created a comprehensive set of tools and protocols to deliver, create, and evaluate fire …

An Investigation Of The Differences Between Real Time Mesoscale Analysis And Observed Meteorological Conditions At Raws Stations In The Northeast United States, Joseph J. Charney, Shiyuan Zhong, Michael T. Kiefer, Xiaoqing Zhu, Greg Soter, Adam Cinderich

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

This project investigates the differences between the gridded meteorological fields produced by the Real Time Mesoscale Analysis (RTMA) and observed meteorological conditions at Remote Automated Weather Stations (RAWS) for two years in the northeastern United States. National Weather Service (NWS) fire weather forecasts are produced using the National Digital Forecast Database (NDFD), which is a gridded analysis of meteorological fields generated by forecasters at NWS forecast offices nationwide. The NDFD is verified by comparing its gridded meteorological fields against the RTMA, which is an advanced modeling and data assimilation system that provides the best-available hourly gridded estimate of surface and …

Archival Of Eastern U.S. Fire Scar History Data, Michael C. Stambaugh, Joseph M. Marschall, Richard P. Guyette

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Fire scar histories are a critical fire data source because they form a foundation for defining fire regimes. The objective of this project was to properly archive the data (fire scar event chronologies, tree-ring chronologies) and metadata of eastern U.S. fire scar study sites developed under project #06-3-1-16, “Developing and Using Fire Scar Histories in the Southern and Eastern United States”, PI: Richard Guyette. Datasets to be archived included tree-ring chronologies (annual resolution), fire event chronologies (annual to seasonal resolution), and wood samples. Crossdated tree-ring measurements used to date fire scars have been submitted to the International Tree-Ring Databank. All …

Archiving Data For The National Fire And Fire Surrogate Study (Ffs), James Mclver

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

This final report describes the results of the project ‘Archiving Data for the National Fire and Fire Surrogate study (FFS)’, which was funded by the Joint Fire Science Program ($9,982; Project 12-­‐04-­‐ 01-­‐7) under Task Statement RFA 2012-­‐4 (Dataset Archival Task). To complete this project, we gathered, documented, and archived the complete dataset for the National Fire and Fire Surrogate study, including pre-­‐treatment data, and post-­‐treatment data collected through four years after treatment. The FFS was originally funded by the JFSP in spring 2000 and was completed in spring 2006, at which time a final report was submitted. The study …

Archiving Of Data On Occurrence Of Breeding Birds Associated With Fire Treatments And Controls, Erica Fleishman, Jeanne C. Chambers, David S. Dobkin

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Since 2001, we have collected data on occupancy and relative abundance of Greater Sage- Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) and other species of breeding birds in the central Great Basin, and characterized the vegetation structure and composition of breeding birds’ habitats, through four projects supported by the Joint Fire Science Program (00-2-15, 01B-3-3-01, 05-2-1- 94, and 09-1-08-4). These projects collectively have generated dozens of refereed publications, dozens of invited papers or presentations, multiple M.S. theses and Ph.D. dissertations, and many workshops and field tours. Bird data included in refereed publications to date were based on point counts with a fixed radius of …

Bark Beetles, Fuels And Future Fire Hazard In Contrasting Conifer Forests Of Greater Yellowstone, Monica G. Turner, William H. Romme, Philip A. Townsend, Roy A. Renkin, Daniel C. Donato, Martin Simard, Brian J. Harvey, Jacob M. Griffin

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

The extent and severity of bark beetle (Curculionidae: Scolytinae) epidemics and the frequency of large, severe fires have reached unprecedented levels in recent decades, and these trends are expected to continue with ongoing climate change. Insects and fire have tremendous ecological and economic effects in western forests, yet their interactions are poorly understood. We combined field studies and simulation modeling to understand how bark beetle infestation and post-outbreak management affect fire hazard in two widespread but contrasting forest types, lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) and Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) in northwestern Wyoming. We directly addressed key …