http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/publications/gtrs.shtml Pacific Northwest Research Station - Forest Management Publications en-us http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_rp593.pdf This report documents the results from the first “5-year” round of understory responses to the Tongass-Wide Young-Growth Studies (TWYGS) treatments, especially in relation to their effects on food resources for black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus sitkensis). Responses of understory vegetation to precommercial silviculture experiments after their first 4 to 8 years posttreatment were analyzed with the Forage Resource Evaluation System for Habitat (FRESH)-Deer model. The studies were conducted in western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla)-Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) young-growth forests in southeast Alaska. All four TWYGS experiments were studied: (I) planting of red alder (Alnus rubra) within 1- to 5-year-old stands; (II) precommercial thinning at narrow and wide spacings (549 and 331 trees per hectare, respectively) in 15- to 25-year-old stands; (III) precommercial thinning at medium spacing (420 trees per hectare) with and without pruning in 25- to 35-yearold stands; and (IV) precommercial thinning at wide spacing (203 trees per hectare) with and without slash treatment versus thinning by girdling in >35-year-old stands. All experiments also included untreated control stands of identical age. FRESHDeer was used to evaluate the implications for deer habitat in terms of forage resources (species-specific biomass, digestible protein, and digestible dry matter) relative to deer metabolic requirements in summer (at two levels of requirements—maintenance only vs. lactation) and in winter (at six levels of snow depth). Hanley, Thomas A.; McClellan, Michael H.; Barnard, Jeffrey C.; Friberg, Mary A. Fri., 17 May 2013 13:50:00 PST Res. Pap. PNW:RP:593. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 64 p. Douglas Beebe http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_rp592.pdf We monitored coarse woody debris dynamics and natural tree regeneration over a 14-year period after the 1991 Warner Creek Fire, a 3631-ha (8,972-ac) mixed severity fire in the western Cascade Range of Oregon. Rates for tree mortality in the fire, postfire mortality, snag fall, and snag fragmentation all showed distinct patterns by tree diameter and species, with Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco) more likely to survive a fire, and to remain standing as a snag, than other common tree species. Natural seedling regeneration was abundant, rapid, and highly variable in space. Densities of seedlings >10 cm height at 14 years postfire ranged from 1,530 to 392,000 per ha. Seedling establishment was not concentrated in a single year, and did not appear to be limited by the abundant growth of shrubs. The simultaneous processes of mortality, snag fall, and tree regeneration increased the variety of many measures of forest structure. The singular event of the fire has increased the structural diversity of the landscape. Brown, Martin J.; Kertis, Jane; Huff, Mark H. Fri., 17 May 2013 13:35:00 PST Res. Pap. PNW:RP:592. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 50 p. Douglas Beebe http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr879.pdf Indigenous populations are projected to face disproportionate impacts as a result of climate change in comparison to nonindigenous populations. For this reason, many American Indian and Alaska Native tribes are identifying and implementing culturally appropriate strategies to assess climate impacts and adapt to projected changes. Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), as the indigenous knowledge system is called, has the potential to play a central role in both indigenous and nonindigenous climate change initiatives. The detection of environmental changes, the development of strategies to adapt to these changes, and the implementation of sustainable land-management principles are all important climate action items that can be informed by TEK. Although there is a significant body of literature on traditional knowledge, this synthesis examines literature that specifically explores the relationship between TEK and climate change. The synthesis describes the potential role of TEK in climate change assessment and adaptation efforts. It also identifies some of the challenges and benefits associated with merging TEK with Western science, and reviews the way in which federal policies and administrative practices facilitate or challenge the incorporation of TEK in climate change initiatives. The synthesis highlights examples of how tribes and others are including TEK into climate research, education, and resource planning and explores strategies to incorporate TEK into climate change policy, assessments, and adaptation efforts at national, regional, and local levels.​ Vinyeta, Kirsten; Lynn, Kathy Fri., 17 May 2013 11:00:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW:GTR:879. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 37 p. Douglas Beebe http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr874.pdf This guidebook describes Upper Elk Meadows Research Natural Area (RNA), a 90-ha (223-ac) area that supports a mixture of coniferous forest and open, shruband herb-dominated wetlands. The major forest plant association present within Upper Elk Meadows RNA is Pacific silver fir/vine maple/coolwort foamflower (Abies amabilis/Acer circinatum-Tiarella trifoliata). Schuller, Reid; Mayrsohn, Cheshire Fri, 26 Apr. 2013 10:08:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-874. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 35 p. Douglas Beebe http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr873.pdf This guidebook describes Fox Hollow Research Natural Area (RNA), a 66-ha (163-ac) area that supports dry-site Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii)–ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) forest within the Oregon Coast Range ecoregion. Major forest plant associations represented at Fox Hollow RNA include Douglas-fir/salal/western swordfern (Pseudotsuga menziesii/Gaultheria shallon/Polystichum munitum) forest and Douglas-fir/Oregongrape (Pseudotsuga menziesii/Berberis nervosa) forest. Other forested communities are represented within the RNA in minor amounts including: Douglas-fir/poison oak (Pseudotsuga menziesii/ Toxicodendron diversilobum) forest, ponderosa pine-Douglas-fir/California fescue (Pinus ponderosa-Pseudotsuga menziesii/Festuca californica) woodland, and ponderosa pine-Douglas-fir-California black oak (Pinus ponderosa-Pseudotsuga menziesii-Quercus kelloggii) woodland. Schuller, Reid Fri, 18 Feb 2013 12:01:36 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-873. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 29 p. Douglas Beebe http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr870.pdf This report is a scientific assessment of the current condition and likely future condition of forest resources in the United States relative to climatic variability and change. It serves as the U.S. Forest Service forest sector technical report for the National Climate Assessment and includes descriptions of key regional issues and examples of a risk-based framework for assessing climate-change effects. By the end of the 21st century, forest ecosystems in the United States will differ from those of today as a result of changing climate. Although increases in temperature, changes in precipitation, higher atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO₂), and higher nitrogen (N) deposition may change ecosystem structure and function, the most rapidly visible and most significant short-term effects on forest ecosystems will be caused by altered disturbance regimes. For example, wildfires, insect infestations, pulses of erosion and flooding, and drought-induced tree mortality are all expected to increase during the 21st century. These direct and indirect climate-change effects are likely to cause losses of ecosystem services in some areas, but may also improve and expand ecosystem services in others. Some areas may be particularly vulnerable because current infrastructure and resource production are based on past climate and steady-state conditions. The ability of communities with resource-based economies to adapt to climate change is linked to their direct exposure to these changes, as well as to the social and institutional structures present in each environment. Human communities that have diverse economies and are resilient to change today will also be prepared for future climatic stresses. Vose, James M.; Peterson, David L.; Patel-Weynand, Toral Fri, 15 Mar 2013 12:01:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-870. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 265 p. Douglas Beebe http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_rb264.pdf Provides current information on lumber and plywood production and prices; employment in the forest industries; international trade in logs, lumber, and plywood; volume and average prices of stumpage sold by public agencies; and other related items. Warren, Debra D.;Zhou, Xiaoping Fri 28 Dec 2012 10:06:00 PDT Resour. Bull. PNW-RB-264. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 161 p. Douglas Beebe http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_rp589.pdf To increase timber production and manage other forest resource values, some land managers have undertaken logging debris and vegetation control treatments after forest harvest. We explored the roles of clearcutting on plant community composition and structure at three sites where logging debris was dispersed, piled, or removed and vegetation was annually treated or not treated with herbicides for 5 years. Without vegetation control, a competitive relation was identified between exotic and native ruderal (i.e., disturbance-associated) species. When exotic ruderal cover changed by 4 percent, native ruderal cover changed by 10 percent in the opposite direction. This relation was independent of site, but site was important in determining the overall dominance of ruderals. Five annual vegetation control treatments increased Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco) growth, but decreased richness and cover of other species at the rate of one species per 10 percent reduction in cover. Debris treatment effects were small and found on only one site. Peter, David H.; Harrington, Timothy B. Thur, 20 Dec. 2012 11:34:00 PST Res. Pap. PNW-RP-589. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 37 p. Douglas Beebe http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr864.pdf Forest managers are seeking practical guidance on how to adapt their current practices and, if necessary, their management goals, in response to climate change. Science-management collaboration was initiated on national forests in eastern Washington where resource managers showed a keen interest in science-based options for adapting to climate change at a 2-day workshop. Scientists and managers reviewed current climate change science and identified resources vulnerable to expected climate change. Vulnerabilities related to vegetation and habitat management included potential reductions in forest biodiversity and low forest resilience to changing disturbance regimes. The vulnerabilities related to aquatic and infrastructure resources included changing water quality and quantity, the risk to roads and other facilities from changes to hydrologic regimes, and the potential loss of at-risk aquatic species and habitats. Managers then worked in facilitated groups to identify adaptations that could be implemented through management and planning to reduce the vulnerability of key resources to climate change. The identified adaptations were grouped under two major headings: Increasing Ecological Resiliency to Climate Change, and Increasing Social and Economic Resiliency to Climate Change. The information generated from the science-management collaborative represents an initial and important step in identifying and prioritizing tangible steps to address climate change in forest management. Next would be the development of detailed implementation strategies that address the identified management adaptations.. Hummel, Susan; Foltz-Jordan, Sarah; Polasky, Sophia Thu., 25 Oct 2012 13:30:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-864. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 34 p. Douglas Beebe http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr862.pdf Forest managers are seeking practical guidance on how to adapt their current practices and, if necessary, their management goals, in response to climate change. Science-management collaboration was initiated on national forests in eastern Washington where resource managers showed a keen interest in science-based options for adapting to climate change at a 2-day workshop. Scientists and managers reviewed current climate change science and identified resources vulnerable to expected climate change. Vulnerabilities related to vegetation and habitat management included potential reductions in forest biodiversity and low forest resilience to changing disturbance regimes. The vulnerabilities related to aquatic and infrastructure resources included changing water quality and quantity, the risk to roads and other facilities from changes to hydrologic regimes, and the potential loss of at-risk aquatic species and habitats. Managers then worked in facilitated groups to identify adaptations that could be implemented through management and planning to reduce the vulnerability of key resources to climate change. The identified adaptations were grouped under two major headings: Increasing Ecological Resiliency to Climate Change, and Increasing Social and Economic Resiliency to Climate Change. The information generated from the science-management collaborative represents an initial and important step in identifying and prioritizing tangible steps to address climate change in forest management. Next would be the development of detailed implementation strategies that address the identified management adaptations.. Gaines, William L.; Peterson, David W.; Thomas, Cameron A.; Harrod, Richy J. Mon., 15 Oct 2012 13:50:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-862. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 34 p. Douglas Beebe http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr867.pdf Cofiring of biomass and coal at electrical generation facilities is gaining in importance as a means of reducing fossil fuel consumption, and more than 40 facilities in the United States have conducted test burns. Given the large size of many coal plants, cofiring at even low rates has the potential to utilize relatively large volumes of biomass. This could have important forest management implications if harvest residues or salvage timber are supplied to coal plants. Other feedstocks suitable for cofiring include wood products manufacturing residues, woody municipal wastes, agricultural residues, short-rotation intensive culture forests, or hazard fuel removals. Cofiring at low rates can often be done with minimal changes to plant handling and processing equipment, requiring little capital investment. Cofiring at higher rates can involve repowering entire burners to burn biomass in place of coal, or in some cases, repowering entire powerplants. Our research evaluates the current status of biomass cofiring in North America, identifying current trends and success stories, types of biomass used, coal plant sizes, and primary cofiring regions. We also identify potential barriers to cofiring. Results are presented for more than a dozen plants that are currently cofiring or have recently announced plans to cofire. Nicholls, David; Zerbe, John Fri., 31 Aug 2012 8:55:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-867. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 22 p. Douglas Beebe http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr865.pdf The U.S. Forest Service has adopted the concept and language of ecosystem services to describe the beneficial outcomes of national forest management. We review the economic theory of ecosystem services as it applies to public lands management, and consider what it implies about the types of biophysical and other data that are needed for characterizing management outcomes as changes in ecosystem services. Our intent is to provide a guide to policymakers, managers, researchers, and others for evaluating and describing the tradeoffs involved in the management of public lands. Characterizing ecosystem services fundamentally is about explaining the benefits of national forests to the American public, with an emphasis on addressing their interests and concerns about how public lands are managed. Our hope is that this report will foster dialog about what people value about national forests and how public land management agencies might best go about securing those benefits. Kline, Jeffrey D.; Mazzotta, Marisa J. Tue, 26 Jun 2012 10:37:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-865. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 48 p. Douglas Beebe http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr860.pdf Principal findings of the National Fire and Fire Surrogate (FFS) study are presented in an annotated bibliography and summarized in tabular form by site, discipline (ecosystem component), treatment type, and major theme. Composed of 12 sites, the FFS is a comprehensive multidisciplinary experiment designed to evaluate the costs and ecological consequences of alternative fuel reduction treatments in seasonally dry forests of the United States. The FFS has a common experimental design across the 12-site network, with each site a fully replicated experiment that compares four treatments: prescribed fi re, mechanical treatments, mechanical + prescribed fire, and an unmanipulated control. We measured treatment cost and variables within several components of the ecosystem, including vegetation, the fuel bed, soils, bark beetles, tree diseases, and wildlife in the same 10-ha experimental units. This design allowed us to assemble a fairly comprehensive picture of ecosystem response to treatment at the site scale, and to compare treatment response across a wide variety of conditions. McIver, James; Erickson, Karen; Youngblood, Andrew Wed., 04 Apr 2012 12:40:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-860. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 210 p. Douglas Beebe http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr858.pdf We describe a food-based system for quantitatively evaluating habitat quality for deer called the Forage Resource Evaluation System for Habitat and provide its rationale and suggestions for use. The system was developed as a tool for wildlife biologists and other natural resource managers and planners interested in evaluating habitat quality and, especially, comparing two or more patches of habitat or the same patch at different seasons or under different conditions. It is based on the quantity (of biomass) and quality (digestible energy and digestible protein) of the habitat's food resources in relation to user-specified metabolic requirements of deer (which differ with species, age, sex, season, and reproductive status). It uses a linear programming algorithm to determine the suitable forage that can sustain deer at the specified requirements. Hanley, Thomas A.; Spalinger, Donald E.; Mock, Kenrick J.; Weaver, Oran L.; Harris, Grant M. Wed., 14 Mar 2012 14:50:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-858. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 64 p. Douglas Beebe http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr856.pdf We used two data sets to evaluate stream and watershed condition for sixth-field watersheds in each aquatic province within the Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP) area: stream data and upslope data. The stream evaluation was based on inchannel data (e.g., substrate, pieces of large wood, water temperature, pool frequency, and macroinvertebrates) we sampled from 2002 to 2009 (193 watersheds) as part of a repeating sample design. We just completed our first round of sampling, so only current condition was calculated for this data set. When condition scores for the inchannel data were grouped into categories, relatively few fell into the low (10 percent) and very low (1 percent) categories. The majority of inchannel attribute scores fell into the moderate (35 percent) and high (41 percent) condition ranges, with relatively few (12 percent) in the very high category. For low-scoring watersheds, water temperature was often the most influential factor. Aquatic invertebrate scores also appeared influential in producing the low scores. Lanigan, Steven H.; Gordon, Sean N.; Eldred, Peter; Isley, Mark; Wilcox, Steve; Moyer, Chris; Andersen, Heidi Fri 24 Feb 2012 10:35 PDT Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-856. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 155 p. Douglas Beebe http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr855.pdf This guidebook contains science-based principles, processes, and tools necessary to assist with developing adaptation options for national forest lands. The adaptation process is based on partnerships between local resource managers and scientists who work collaboratively to understand potential climate change effects, identify important resource issues, and develop management options that can capitalize on new opportunities and reduce deleterious effects. Because management objectives and sensitivity of resources to climate change differ among national forests, appropriate processes and tools for developing adaptation options may also differ. Peterson, David L.; Millar, Connie I.; Joyce, Linda A.; Furniss, Michael J.; Halofsky, Jessica E.; Neilson, Ronald P.; Morelli, Toni Lyn Wed, 18 Jan 2012 10:00:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-855. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 109 p. Douglas Beebe http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr850.pdf This is the second in a series of periodic monitoring reports on northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina) population and habitat trends on federally administered lands since implementation of the Northwest Forest Plan in 1994. Here we summarize results from a population analysis that included data from longterm demographic studies during 1985–2008. This data was analyzed separately by study area, and also in a meta-analysis across all study areas to assess temporal and spatial patterns in fecundity, apparent survival, recruitment, and annual rates of population change. Davis, Raymond J.; Dugger, Katie M.; Mohoric, Shawne; Evers, Louisa; Aney, William C. Fri 04 Nov 2011 10:02 PDT Gen. Tech. Rep. PNWGTR-850. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 147 p. Douglas Beebe http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_rb263.pdf The Forest Inventory and Analysis program collected, analyzed, and summarized field data on 44 forested field plots for the 10 largest atoll groups in the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI): Ailinglaplap, Arno, Jaluit, Kwajalein, Likiep, Majuro, Maloelap, Mili, Rongelap, and Wotje. Donnegan, Joseph A.; Butler, Sarah L.; Kuegler, Olaf; Hiserote, Bruce A. Wed 26 Oct 2011 08:18:00 PDT Resour. Bull. PNW-RB-263. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 161 p. Douglas Beebe http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_rb262.pdf The Forest Inventory and Analysis program collected, analyzed, and summarized field data on 73 forested field plots on the islands of Kosrae, Chuuk, Pohnpei, and Yap in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). Donnegan, Joseph A.; Butler, Sarah L.; Kuegler, Olaf; Hiserote, Bruce A. Wed 26 Oct 2011 08:15:00 PDT Resour. Bull. PNW-RB-262. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 161 p. Douglas Beebe http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_rb261.pdf The Forest Inventory and Analysis program collected, analyzed, and summarized field data on 37 field plots on the islands of Rota, Tinian, and Saipan in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). Donnegan, Joseph A.; Butler, Sarah L.; Kuegler, Olaf; Hiserote, Bruce A. Wed 26 Oct 2011 08:00:00 PDT Resour. Bull. PNW-RB-261. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 161 p. Douglas Beebe http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr848.pdf The primary objectives of the effectiveness monitoring plan for the marbled murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus) include mapping baseline nesting habitat (at the start of the Northwest Forest Plan [the Plan]) and estimating changes in that habitat over time. Using vegetation data derived from satellite imagery, we modeled habitat suitability by using a maximum entropy model. We used Maxent software to compute habitat suitability scores from vegetation and physiographic attributes based on comparisons of conditions at 342 sites that were occupied by marbled murrelets (equal numbers of confirmed nest sites and likely nest sites) and average conditions over all forested lands in which the murrelets occurred. We estimated 3.8 million acres of higher suitability nesting habitat over all lands in the murrelet's range in Washington, Oregon, and California at the start of the Plan (1994/96). Most (89 percent) baseline habitat on federally administered lands occurred within reserved-land allocations. A substantial amount (36 percent) of baseline habitat occurred on nonfederal lands. Over all lands, we observed a net loss of about 7 percent of higher suitability potential nesting habitat from the baseline period to 2006/07. If we focus on losses and ignore gains, we estimate a loss of about 13 percent of the higher suitability habitat present at baseline, over this same period. Fire has been the major cause of loss of nesting habitat on federal lands since the Plan was implemented; timber harvest is the primary cause of loss on nonfederal lands. We also found that murrelet population size is strongly and positively correlated with amount of nesting habitat, suggesting that conservation of remaining nesting habitat and restoration of currently unsuitable habitat is key to murrelet recovery. Raphael, Martin G.; Falxa, Gary A.; Dugger, Katie M.; Galleher, Beth M.; Lynch, Deanna; Miller, Sherri L.; Nelson, S. Kim; Young, Richard D. Mon, 29 Aug 2011 13:39:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-848. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 52 p Douglas Beebe http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr839.pdf Traditionally, there has been a strong forest products trade between Alaska and Asia. This trade relationship has developed owing to Alaska's proximity to Asia and, in the past, an abundance of high-quality timber. Although forest products markets in North America remain soft, markets in Asia are growing. However, to benefit from Asia's growing forest products market, it is important to understand the concepts of global shipping including containerization, intermodal transport, non vessel operating common carriers, and freight forwarders. One key development that could have a major impact on Alaska's forest products trade is the opening of the Port of Prince Rupert (British Columbia) in 2007. The Port of Prince Rupert ships lumber, logs, and wood pellets to Asia and is much closer to southeast Alaska than are the ports of Seattle and Tacoma. The Prince Rupert port is also 1 day closer to Asia. Despite Prince Rupert's proximity to Alaska, however, there is still no regularly scheduled barge service between the Port of Prince Rupert and southeast Alaska. Potential connections that may develop are examined in this paper. This paper also examines the changing concepts of global shipping and how they affect Alaska's forest products industry. Roos, Joseph A.; Brackley, Allen M.; Sasatani, Daisuke. Mon 29 Aug 2011 1350:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-839. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 30p. Douglas Beebe http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr838.pdf The effects of climate change are expected to be more severe for some segments of society than others because of geographic location, the degree of association with climate-sensitive environments, and unique cultural, economic, or political characteristics of particular landscapes and human populations. Social vulnerability and equity in the context of climate change are important because some populations may have less capacity to prepare for, respond to, and recover from climate-related hazards and effects. Such populations may be disproportionately affected by climate change. This synthesis of literature illustrates information about the socioeconomic, political, health, and cultural effects of climate change on socially vulnerable populations in the United States, with some additional examples in Canada. Through this synthesis, social vulnerability, equity, and climate justice are defined and described, and key issues, themes, and considerations that pertain to the effects of climate change on socially vulnerable populations are identified. The synthesis reviews what available science says about social vulnerability and climate change, and documents the emergence of issues not currently addressed in academic literature. In so doing, the synthesis identifies knowledge gaps and questions for future research. Lynn, Kathy; MacKendrick, Katharine; and Donoghue, Ellen M. Wed 03 Aug 2011 10:20:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-838. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 70p. Douglas Beebe http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_rb260.pdf Provides current information on lumber and plywood production and prices; employment in the forest industries; international trade in logs, lumber, and plywood; volume and average prices of stumpage sold by public agencies; and other related items. Warren, Debra D. Mon 15 Aug 2011 10:16:00 PDT Resour. Bull. PNW-RB-260. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 161 p. Douglas Beebe http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr851.pdf The United States, in partnership with 11 other countries, participates in the Montreal Process. Each country assesses national progress toward the sustainable management of forest resources by using a set of criteria and indicators agreed on by all member countries. Several indicators focus on nontimber forest products (NTFPs). In the United States, permit and contract data from the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management, in addition to several other data sources, were used as a benchmark to assess harvest, value, employment, exports and imports, per capita consumption, and subsistence uses for many NTFPs. The retail value of commercial harvests of NTFPs from U.S. forest lands is estimated at $1.4 billion annually. Nontimber forest products in the United States are important to many people throughout the country for personal, cultural, and commercial uses, providing food security, beauty, connection to culture and tradition, and income. Alexander, Susan J.; Oswalt, Sonja N.; Emery, Marla R. Wed, 20 Jul 2011 11:10:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-851. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 36 p Douglas Beebe http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr846.pdf Transportation corridors (notably roads) affect wildlife habitat, populations, and entire ecosystems. Considerable effort has been expended to quantify direct effects of roads on wildlife populations and ecological communities and processes. Much less effort has been expended toward quantifying indirect effects. In this report, we provide a comprehensive review of road/transportation corridor ecology; in particular, how this new field of ecology has advanced worldwide. Further, we discuss how research thus far has shaped our understanding and views of the ecological implications of transportation infrastructures, and, in turn, how this has led to the current guidance, policies, and management options. We learned that the impacts of transportation infrastructures are a global issue, with the potential to affect a wide variety of taxonomically diverse species and ecosystems. Because the majority of research to date has focused on the direct and more aesthetic and anthropocentric implications of transportation corridors, mainly wildlife-vehicle collisions, it is a fairly standard practice to incorporate underpasses, green bridges (i.e., overpasses), fencing, and barriers into road corridors to alleviate such impacts. Few studies, however, have been able to demonstrate the efficiency of these structures. Furthermore, it is becoming increasingly evident that the indirect implications of transportation infrastructures (i.e., behavioral responses of wildlife individuals to roads) may be more pervasive, at least from the standpoint of biological diversity. Understanding how road corridors influence the functional connectivity of landscapes is crucial if we are to effectively manage species of concern. With these issues in mind, we propose a program of study that addresses the indirect and cumulative implications of transportation infrastructure on species distributions, community structure and ecosystem function Bennett, Victoria J.; Smith, Winston P.; Betts, Matthew G. Thu, 14 Jul 2011 10:25:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-846. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 40 p Douglas Beebe http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_rp586.pdf This study presents results of statistical tests for stumpage market integration on 62 national forests in the Western United States. Quarterly stumpage prices from 1984 to 2007 obtained from cut and sold reports for USDA Forest Service Regions 1, 4, 5, and 6 (Northern, Intermountain, Pacific Southwest, and Pacific Northwest, respectively) were analyzed to establish the presence and extent of national forest timber markets. Daniels, Jean M. Fri, 11 Mar 2011 13:31:00 PST Res. Pap. PNW-RP-586. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 21 p. Douglas Beebe http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_rp584.pdf This study presents results of statistical tests for stumpage market integration on 62 national forests in the Western United States. Quarterly stumpage prices from 1984 to 2007 obtained from cut and sold reports for USDA Forest Service Regions 1, 4, 5, and 6 (Northern, Intermountain, Pacific Southwest, and Pacific Northwest, respectively) were analyzed to establish the presence and extent of national forest timber markets. Zhou, Xiaoping; Hemstrom, Miles A. Mon, 13 Jun 2011 09:10:00 PST Res. Pap. PNW-RP-584. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 18 p. Douglas Beebe http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr828.pdf From May 24-28, 2010, an international symposium on western redcedar (Thuja plicata) and yellowcedar (Callitropsis nootkatensis [syn., Chamaecyparis nootkatensis]) was held at the University of Victoria on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. The symposium was entitled "A Tale of Two Cedars" and brought together local, regional, national, and international experts to present cultural, biological, management and economic information on the two species. Harrington, Constance Tue, 28 Oct 2010 09:34:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-828. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 177 p. Douglas Beebe http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr821.pdf The Forest Service system of experimental forests and ranges (EFRs) and other sites of long-term silvicultural, watershed, and ecological research have contributed to science and natural resource management for more than a century. An important aspect of the success of EFR programs is strong collaboration between the research and land manager communities. This guide offers suggestions for effective research management partnerships based at EFRs and other long-term research sites. Keys to success include mutual understanding and respect, shared commitment to learning, and joint projects and communications programs. Swanson, Frederick J.; Eubanks, Steve; Adams, Mary Beth; Brissette, John C.; DeMuth, Carol Tue, 28 Sep 2010 08:45:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-RP-821. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 12 p. Douglas Beebe http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr822.pdf Increasing concern over the management and harvest of special forest products (SFP) from national forest lands has led to the development of new Forest Service policy directives. Fri, 06 Aug 2010 10:45:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-RP-822. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 35 p. Douglas Beebe http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr819.pdf Timber availability, aboveground tree biomass, and changes in aboveground carbon pools are important consequences of landscape management. Zhou, Xiaoping; Hemstrom, Miles A. Mon, 26 Jul 2010 14:50:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-819. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 31 p. Douglas Beebe http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr811.pdf We present results and inferences from 15 soil-monitoring projects by the USDA Forest Service (USFS) after logging in the interior Columbia River basin. Miller, Richard E.; McIver, James D.; Howes, Steven W.; Gaeuman, William B. Mon, 26 Jul 2010 14:45:00 Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-811. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 140 p. Douglas Beebe http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr816.pdf We update and expand the 1992 survey of research findings by Lowell and colleagues, providing an ecological context for the findings, using a more reader-friendly format, and including extensive citations so readers can get indepth information on particular topics. Lowell, Eini C.; Rapp, Valerie A.; Haynes, Richard W.; Cray, Caitlin. Mon, 26 Jul 2010 14:40:00 Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-816. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 73 p. Douglas Beebe http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr805.pdf Dimensions, volume, and biomass were measured for 121 hand-constructed piles composed primarily of coniferous (n = 63) and shrub/hardwood (n = 58) material at sites in Washington and California. Wright, Clinton S.; Balog, Cameron S.; Kelly, Jeffrey W. Mon, 22 Feb 2009 10:40:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-805. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. Tiffany Dong http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr804.pdf The extent of oak woodland and savanna habitat in the Pacific Northwest has been dramatically reduced since settlement in the mid-1800s. Devine, Warren D.; Harrington, Constance A. Mon, 22 Feb 2009 10:40:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-804. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. Tiffany Dong http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr802/pnw_gtr802a.pdf In July 2006, more than 170 researchers and managers from the United States, Canada, and Mexico convened in Boulder, Colorado, to discuss the state of the science in environmental threat assessment. This two-volume general technical report compiles peer-reviewed papers that were among those presented during the 3-day conference. Papers are organized by four broad topical sections—Land, Air and Water, Fire, and Pests/Biota—and are divided into syntheses and case studies. Pye, John M.; Rauscher, H. Michael; Sands, Yasmeen; Lee, Danny C.; Beatty, Jerome S. Tue, 14 Oct 2010 10:37:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-802. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 708 p. Douglas Beebe http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr799.pdf Broad discretion is granted at all levels throughout federal land management agencies regarding compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Stern, Marc J.; Mortimer, Michael J. Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:40:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-799. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. Tiffany Dong http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/sciencef/scifi117.pdf Increasingly large and severe wildfires threaten millions of forested acres throughout the West. Under certain conditions, mechanical thinning can address these hazardous conditions while providing opportunitiesto create renewable energy and reduce our carbon footprint but how do land managers decide whether thinning is a good idea? How do they decide where to begin, and what to do with the removed trees? Prioritizing treatment areas and determining the most effective techniques for fuel hazard reduction depends on various factors such as owner objectives, forest types, and the availability of processing facilities. Oliver, Marie Thu, 24 Sep 2009 08:20:00 PST Science Findings 117. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 5 p. Tiffany Dong http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/sciencef/scifi116.pdf Forests significantly influence the global carbon budget: they store massive amounts of carbon in their wood and soil, they sequester atmospheric carbon as they grow, and they emit carbon as a greenhouse gas when harvested or converted to another use. Thompson, Jonathan Thu, 3 Sep 2009 08:20:00 PST Science Findings 116. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 5 p. Tiffany Dong http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_rp580.pdf This report documents the history and results of the Iron Creek installation of the cooperative Levels-of-Growing-Stock (LOGS) study in Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco), over the period 1966-2006 (ages 19 to 59). Curtis, Robert O.; Marshall, David D. Mon, 24 Aug 2009 09:10:00 PST Res. Pap. PNW-RP-580. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 78 p. Tiffany Dong http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr794.pdf Canopy structure is an important attribute affecting economic and ecological values of forests in the Pacific Northwest. McIntosh, Anne C.S.; Gray, Andrew N.; Garman, Steven L. Mon, 24 Aug 2009 09:10:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-794. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 35 p. Tiffany Dong http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr791.pdf The purpose of the international conference from which these proceedings are drawn was to explore relationships between forest management activities and timber quality. Dykstra, Dennis P.; Monserud, Robert A. Thu, 13 Aug 2009 09:10:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-791. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 267 p. Tiffany Dong http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr790.pdf Old-growth forests provide unique habitat features and landscape functions compared to younger stands. The goals of many forest management plans in the Pacific Northwest include increasing the area of late-successional and old-growth forests. Gray, Andrew N.; Monleon, Vicente J.; Spies, Thomas A. Thu, 25 Jun 2008 08:00:00 PST Res. Pap. PNW-GTR-790. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 45 p. Tiffany Dong http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_rp581.pdf This report examines public perspectives on disturbance-based management conducted in the central Cascade Range in Oregon as part of the Blue River Landscape Strategy. Tue, 16 Jun 2009 11:45:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-RP-581. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 42 p. Tiffany Dong http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_rp582.pdf Models and effect-size metrics for meta-analysis were compared in four separate meta-analyses quantifying surface fuels after prescribed fires in ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Dougl. ex Laws.) forests of the Western United States. An aggregated data set was compiled from 8 published reports that contained data from 65 fire treatment units. Tue, 16 Jun 2009 11:45:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-RP-582. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 24 p. Tiffany Dong http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr779.pdf This synthesis provides an ecological foundation for management of the diverse ecosystems and fire regimes of North America, based on scientific principles of fire interactions with vegetation, fuels, and biophysical processes. Keeley, J.E.; Aplet, G.H.; Christensen, N.L.; Conard, S.C.; Johnson, E.A.; Omi, P.N.; Peterson, D.L.; Swetnam, T.W. Thu, 19 Mar 2009 11:45:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-779. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 92 p. Keiko Williams http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr776.pdf Timber harvest following wildfire leads to different outcomes depending on the biophysical setting of the forest, pattern of burn severity, operational aspects of tree removal, and other management activities. Fire effects range from relatively minor, in which fire burns through the understory and may kill a few trees, to severe, in which fire kills most trees and removes much of the organic soil layer. Postfire logging adds to these effects by removing standing dead trees (snags) and disturbing the soil. The influence of postfire logging depends on the intensity of the fire, intensity of the logging operation, and management activities such as fuel treatments. In severely burned forest, timing of logging following fire (same season as fire vs. subsequent years) can influence the magnitude of effects on naturally regenerating trees, soils, and commercial wood value. Removal of snags reduces long-term fuel loads but generally results in increased amounts of fine fuels for the first few years after logging unless surface fuels are effectively treated. By reducing evapotranspiration, disturbing the soil organic horizon, and creating hydrophobic soils in some cases, fire can cause large increases in surface-water runoff, streamflow, and erosion. Through soil disturbance, especially the construction of roads, logging with ground-based equipment and cable yarding can exacerbate this effect, increasing erosion and altering hydrological function at the local scale. Effects on aquatic systems of removing trees are mostly negative, and logging and transportation systems that disturb the soil surface or accelerate road-related erosion can be particularly harmful unless disturbances are mitigated. Cavity-nesting birds, small mammals, and amphibians may be affected by harvest of standing dead and live trees, with negative effects on most species but positive or neutral effects on other species, depending on the intensity and extent of logging. Data gaps on postfire logging include the effects of various intensities of logging, patch size of harvest relative to fire size, and long-term (10+ years) biophysical changes. Uncertainty about the effects of postfire logging can be reduced by implementing management experiments to document long-term changes in natural resources at different spatial scales. Peterson, David L.; Agee, James K.; Aplet, Gregory H.; Dykstra, Dennis P.; Graham, Russell T.; Lehmkuhl, John F.; Pilliod, David S.; Potts, Donald F.; Powers, Robert F.; Stuart, John D. Fri, 06 Mar 2009 10:10:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-776. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 51 p. Keiko Williams http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_rp577.pdf The Fire and Fire Surrogate (FFS) project is a large long-term metastudy established to assess the effectiveness and ecological impacts of burning and fire "surrogates" such as cuttings and mechanical fuel treatments that are used instead of fire, or in combination with fire, to restore dry forests. One of the 13 national FFS sites is the Northeastern Cascades site at Mission Creek on the Okanogan- Wenatchee National Forest. The study area includes 12 forested stands that encompass a representative range of dry forest conditions in the northeastern Cascade Range. We describe site histories and environmental settings, experimental design, field methods, and quantify the pretreatment composition and structure of vegetation, fuels, soils and soil biota, entomology and pathology, birds, and small mammals that occurred during the 2000 and 2001 field seasons. We also describe the implementation of thinning treatments completed during 2003 and spring burning treatments done during 2004 and 2006. Agee, James K..; Lehmkuhl, John F. (comps.) Tue, 08 Jul 2008 09:10:00 PST Res. Pap. PNW-RP-577. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 158 p. Keiko Williams http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/sciencef/scifi110.pdf Old growth revisited: integrating social, economic, and ecological perspectives. Oliver, Marie Tue, 3 Feb 2009 11:24:00 PST Science Findings 110. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 6 p. Keiko Williams http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr777.pdf The concept of management studies-implemented by managers as normal business to meet priority learning needs-is applied to a priority regional question: how to manage after a large wildfire to better meet preexisting or new societal needs. Bormann, B.T.; Laurence, J.A.; Shimamoto, K.; Thrailkill, J.; Lehmkuhl, J.; Reeves, G.; Markus, A.; Peterson, D.W.; Forsman, E. Mon, 08 Dec 2008 08:00:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-777. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 27 p. Tiffany Dong http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr767.pdf Black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill) B.S.P) is the dominant forest cover type in interior Alaska and is prone to frequent, stand-replacing wildfires. Johnstone, Jill F.; Hollingsworth, Teresa N.; Chapin, F. Stuart, III. Mon, 08 Dec 2008 08:00:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-767. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 37 p. Tiffany Dong http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr766.pdf Prior to the existence of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Forest Service district rangers had considerable latitude to make resource management decisions and execute management plans with relatively little encumbrance by documentation and process requirements. MacGregor, Donald G.; Seesholtz, David N. Mon, 08 Dec 2008 08:00:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-766. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 27 p. Tiffany Dong http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_rn559.pdf Updated projections of demand for Alaska timber were published July 2006. Their application in land management planning for the Tongass National Forest has resulted in numerous questions and requests for clarification. This note discusses a broad range of these questions from the context of why we do projections, the model we used, the assumptions that determine the levels of timber harvest, our use of scenario planning, comments about how producers in Alaska compete with other North American producers, and the potential that some significant changes in southeast Alaska markets have changed the demand projections. Brackley, Allen M.; Haynes, Richard W. Thu, 11 Sep 2008 08:00:00 PST Research Note. PNW-RN-559. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 41 p. Tiffany Dong http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/sciencef/scifi105.pdf Over the past 7 years, a strong collaboration has emerged between the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest ecosystem research group and the Spring Creek Project for Ideas, Nature, and the Written Word, an independently funded program for nature writing based in the Department of Philosophy, Oregon State University. The program is called Long-Term Ecological Reflections and it brings together scientists, creative writers, and environmental philosophers to consider new ways to conceptualize and communicate views of long-term ecological change in forests and watersheds and the participation of humans in that change. The program is designed to parallel the Long-Term Ecological Research program, a national science program initiated in 1980 and involving the Andrews Forest. Both programs focus on primary inquiry and have 200-year planning horizons, which have resulted in some uniquely farsighted perspectives and astute ecological observations. Swanson, Fred Tue, 12 Aug 2008 13:22:00 PST Science Findings 105. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 6 p. Tiffany Dong http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/publications/gtr733/ A primary mission of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service is multiple resource management, and one of the emerging themes is forest restoration. The National Silviculture Workshop, a biennial event co-sponsored by the Forest Service, was held May 7-10, 2007, in Ketchikan, Alaska, with the theme of "Integrated Restoration of Forested Ecosystems to Achieve Multiresource Benefits." This proceedings presents a compilation of state-of-the-art silvicultural research and forestry management papers that demonstrates integrated restoration to yield multiple resource benefits. These papers highlight national perspectives on ecosystem services, forest restoration and climate change, and regional perspectives on forest restoration and silvicultural practices to achieve multiple resource benefits from researchers and forest practitioners working in a broad array of forest types in the United States. Deal, Robert L., tech. ed. Tue, 27 Feb 2008 08:40:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-733. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 306 p. Tiffany Dong http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/publications/pnw_gtr720/ The Northwest Forest Plan (the Plan) was developed in 1994 to resolve debates over old-growth forests and endangered species on federal forests in the range of the northern spotted owl. In 2005, federal agencies reviewed the first 10 years under the Plan to learn what worked and what did not, what changed, and what new information or surprises might influence these forests in the future. I highlight the monitoring results and new science from that review. Following are some of the key findings. Nearly all existing older forest habitat on federal land was protected from timber harvest. Older forest on federal land had a net increase of over 1 million acres in the first 10 years of the Plan. Despite protection of northern spotted owl habitat on federal land, spotted owl populations declined at a greater rate than expected in the northern half of their range, likely because of barred owl competition, climate, and the changing condition of historical habitat. Watershed condition improved slightly, because of reduced harvest in riparian areas, tree growth, and increased emphasis on restoration. Federal timber harvest in the Plan area averaged only 54 percent of Plan goals. In spite of mitigation measures, some local communities near federal lands had job losses and other adverse effects. State, federal, and tribal governments worked together on forest issues better than they ever had before. Increased collaboration with communities changed how the agencies get work done. Rapp, Valerie Tue, 19 Feb 2008 11:05:00 PST Res. Pap. PNW-GTR-720. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 42 p. Tiffany Dong http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_rp574.pdf Soil disturbance is a visually apparent result of using heavy equipment to harvest trees. Subsequent consequences for growth of remaining trees, however, are variable and seldom quantified. We measured tree growth 7 and 11 years after thinning of trees in four stands of coast Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii (Mirb. Franco)) where soil disturbance was limited by using planned skid trails, usually on dry soils. The three younger stands had responded to nitrogen fertilizer in the 4 years before thinning, but only one stand showed continued response in the subsequent 7- or 11-year period after thinning. The most consistent pattern observed was greater growth of residual trees located next to skid trails. The older stand also showed greater growth in trees located next to skid trails, whereas tillage of skid trails failed to benefit growth of nearby residual trees for the first 7 years after tillage. We conclude that traffic that compacted soil only on one side of residual trees did not reduce growth of nearby trees. Miller, Richard E.; Smith, Jim; Adams, Paul W.; Anderson, Harry W. Fri, 18 Jan 2008 15:08:00 PST Res. Pap. PNW-RP-574. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 33 p. Tiffany Dong http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr718.pdf Hemlock dwarf mistletoe (Arceuthobium tsugense [Rosendahl] G.N. Jones) is a small, inconspicuous parasite that has significant effects on tree growth and stand structure in coastal forest ecosystems of western North America. Most previous research focused on the effects of hemlock dwarf mistletoe on timber production. Previous clearcut harvesting of large areas that removed virtually all infected trees and forestry practices that established even-aged stands of trees effectively prevented or minimized future hemlock dwarf mistletoe impacts. Under this regime, further research on hemlock dwarf mistletoe was considered unnecessary. However, current forestry practices that restrict clearcut harvesting to small openings and retain live trees to preserve attributes of old-growth forests create conditions that appear highly favorable for enhanced seed production by hemlock dwarf mistletoe, early spread of the mistletoe to infect young trees, and, consequently, increased growth impacts to residual trees over time. More information is needed on the biology and impacts of hemlock dwarf mistletoe in coastal western hemlock retention harvested forests in the United States of America and Canada. Further work is recommended to develop sampling and monitoring procedures to determine hemlock dwarf mistletoe spread and impacts. We also need to investigate several unusual aspects of hemlock dwarf mistletoe biology and development such as long-distance seed dispersal and persistence in old-growth forests. Detailed tree, stand, and forest-level models are needed to monitor and project hemlock dwarf mistletoe effects over a wide range of ecological conditions and management regimes in coastal forests. Muir, John A.; Hennon, Paul E. Fri, 31 Aug 2007 08:45:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-718. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 142 p. Tiffany Dong http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr696.pdf Silvicultural practices in the Douglas-fir region evolved through a combination of formal research, observation, and practical experience of forest managers and silviculturists, and changing economic and social factors. This process began more than a century ago and still continues. It has had a great influence on the economic well-being of the region and on the present characteristics of the region's forests. This long history is unknown to most of the public, and much of it is unfamiliar to many natural resource specialists outside (and even within) the field of silviculture. We trace the history of how we got where we are today and the contribution of silvicultural research to the evolution of forest practices. We give special attention to the large body of information developed in the first half of the past century that is becoming increasingly unfamiliar to both operational foresters and—perhaps more importantly—to those engaged in forestry research. We also discuss some current trends in silviculture and silviculture-related research. Curtis, Robert O.; DeBell, Dean S.; Miller, Richard E.; Newton, Michael; St. Clair, J. Bradley; Stein, William I. Thu, 16 Aug 2007 09:30:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-696. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. Tiffany Dong http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr709.pdf The work described in this report was initiated during the Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Project (ICBEMP). The ICBEMP produced a broad-scale scientific assessment of ecological, biophysical, social, and economic conditions for the interior Columbia River basin and portions of the Klamath and Great Basins. The broad-scale assessment made extensive use of potential vegetation (PV) information. This report (1) discusses certain concepts and terms as related to PV, (2) describes how a PV framework developed for the broad-scale ICBEMP assessment area was stepped down to the level of a single section in the national hierarchy of terrestrial ecological units, (3) describes how fine-scale potential vegetation types (PVTs) identified for the Blue Mountains section were aggregated into the midscale portion of the PV hierarchy, and (4) describes the PVT composition for each of the midscale hierarchical units (physiognomic class, potential vegetation group, plant association group). Powell, David C.; Johnson, Charles G., Jr.; Crowe, Elizabeth A.; Wells, Aaron; Swanson, David K. Thu, 16 Aug 2007 09:00:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-709. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. Tiffany Dong http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr719.pdf Two series of single and stereo photographs display a range of natural conditions and fuel loadings in sagebrush with grass and ponderosa pinejuniper types in central Montana. Each group of photos includes inventory information summarizing vegetation composition, structure, and loading; woody material loading and density by size class; forest floor depth and loading; and various site characteristics. The natural fuels photo series is designed to help land managers appraise fuel and vegetation conditions in natural settings. Ottmar, Roger D.; Vihnanek, Robert E.; Wright, Clinton S. Mon, 30 Aug 2010 10:00:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-719. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. Douglas Beebe http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr714.pdf A series of single and stereo photographs display a range of natural conditions and fuel loadings in evergreen and deciduous oak/juniper woodland and savannah ecosystems in southern Arizona and New Mexico. This group of photos includes inventory data summarizing vegetation composition, structure, and loading; woody material loading and density by size class; forest floor coverage and loading; and various site characteristics. The natural fuels photo series is designed to help land managers appraise fuel and vegetation conditions in natural settings. Ottmar, Roger D.; Vihnanek, Robert E.; Wright, Clinton S.; Seymour, Geoffrey B. Mon, 30 Aug 2010 10:00:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-714. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. Douglas Beebe http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr713.pdf We review 12 large-scale silviculture experiments (LSSEs) in western Washington and Oregon with which the Pacific Northwest Research Station of the USDA Forest Service is substantially involved. We compiled and arrayed information about the LSSEs as a series of matrices in a relational database, which is included on the compact disc published with this report and available online at http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/research/lsse. The LSSEs are both spatially and temporally large scale, with experimental treatment units between 5 and 100 acres and proposed study durations of 20 to 200 years. A defining characteristic of the LSSEs is that a broad range of response variables are measured to characterize the response of forest ecosystems to experimental treatments. We discuss the general value and limitations of the LSSEs and highlight some possible roles that can be played by the LSSEs in addressing management issues emerging at the beginning of the 21st century. Poage, Nathan J.1 Anderson, Paul D. Thu, 16 Aug 2007 09:00:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-713. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. Tiffany Dong http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr715.pdf This report reviews the growing literature on the concept of agency-citizen interactions after large wildfires. Because large wildfires have historically occurred at irregular intervals, research from related fields has been reviewed where appropriate. This issue is particularly salient in the West where excess fuel conditions indicate that the large wildfires occurring in many states are expected to continue to be a major problem for forest managers in the coming years. This review focuses on five major themes that emerge from prior research: contextual considerations, barriers and obstacles, uncertainty and perceptions of risk, communication and outreach, and bringing communities together. It offers ideas on how forest managers can interact with stakeholders for planning and restoration activities after a large wildfire. Management implications are included. Olsen, Christine S.; Shindler, Bruce A. Thu, 16 Aug 2007 09:00:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-715. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. Tiffany Dong http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/publications/gtr687/ The H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest (Andrews Forest) is both an idea and a particular place. It is an experimental landscape, a natural resource, and an ecosystem that has long inspired many people. On the landscape of the Andrews Forest, some of those people built the foundation for a collaborative community that fosters closer communication among the scientists and managers who struggle to understand how that ecosystem functions and to identify optimal management strategies for this and other national forest lands in the Pacific Northwest. People who worked there generated new ideas about forest ecology and related ecosystems. Working together in this place, they generated ideas, developed research proposals, and considered the implications of their work. They functioned as individuals in a science-based community that emerged and evolved over time. Individuals acted in a confluence of personalities, personal choices, and power relations. In the context of this unique landscape and serendipitous opportunities, those people created an exceptionally potent learning environment for science and management. Science, in this context, was largely a story of personalities, not simply a matter of test tubes, experimental watersheds, or top-down management sponsored by a large federal agency or university. Ideas flowed in a constructed environment that eventually linked people, place, and community with an emerging vision of ecosystem management. Drawing largely on oral history, this book explores the inner workings and structure of that science-based community. Science themes, management issues, specific research programs, the landscape itself, and the people who work there are all indispensable components of a complex web of community, the Andrews group. The first four chapters explore the origins of the Forest Service decision to establish an experimental forest in the west-central Oregon Cascades in 1948 and the people and priorities that transformed that field site into a prominent facility for interdisciplinary research in the coniferous biome of the International Biological Programme in the 1970s. Later chapters explore emerging links between long-term research and interdisciplinary science at the Andrews Forest. Those links shaped the group's response to concerns about logging in old-growth forests during the 1980s and 1990s. Concluding chapters explore how scientists in the group tried to adapt to new roles as public policy consultants in the 1990s without losing sight of the community values that they considered crucial to their earlier accomplishments. Geier, Max G. Fri, 11 May 2007 15:20:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-687. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. Tiffany Dong http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/publications/gtr699/ This update reports changes in the Nation's timber resource since the Analysis of the Timber Situation in the United States was completed in 2003. Prospective trends in demands for and supplies of timber, and the factors that affect these trends are examined. These trends include changes in the U.S. economy, increased salvage of British Columbia beetle-killed timber, and a stronger U.S. dollar. Other prospective trends that might alter the future timber situation are discussed including changes in U.S. timberland area, reductions in southern pine plantation establishment, impacts of climate change on forest productivity, increased restoration thinning on Western public lands, and the impact of programs to increase carbon sequestration through afforestation. Various management implications such as the influence of prices on forest management, concerns about changes in forest area, the emerging open space issue, forests as a set of commons, seeking to find greater compatibility in forest management, and the stewardship agenda are discussed. Haynes, Richard W.; Adams, Darius M.; Alig, Ralph J.; Ince, Peter J.; Mills, John R.; Zhou, Xiaoping. Fri, 20 Apr 2007 10:40:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-699. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. Tiffany Dong http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_rp572.pdf Research suggests that forest land development can reduce the productivity of remaining forest land because private forest owners reduce their investments in forest management. We developed empirical models describing forest stocking, thinning, harvest, and postharvest tree planting in eastern Oregon, as functions of stand and site characteristics, ownership, and building densities. The models are based on USDA Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis data gathered in eastern Oregon in 1987 and 1998, and data describing building densities gathered by the Oregon Department of Forestry from aerial photographs taken over the same period. We used the models to examine the potential effects of population growth and development, as described by increasing building densities, on the likelihood that private forest owners maintain forest stocking, precommercially thin, harvest, and plant trees following harvest. Empirical results suggest that population growth and development have had no measurable effect on these activities in eastern Oregon during the period examined. Any development effects on private forest management and investment so far are likely to be fairly localized. Kline, Jeffrey D.; Azuma, David L. Fri, 30 Mar 2007 09:30:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-RP-572. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. Tiffany Dong http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_rp570.pdf An econometric model of private land-use decisions is used to project land use to 2030 for each county in the continental United States. On a national scale, forest area is projected to increase overall between 0.1 and 0.2 percent per year between now and 2030. However, forest area is projected to decrease in a majority of regions, including the key forestry regions of the South and the Pacific Northwest Westside. Urban area is projected to increase by 68 million acres, and cropland, pasture, rangeland, and Conservation Reserve Program land is projected to decline in area. Regional econometric models are needed to better represent region-specific economic relationships. County-level models of forest fragmentation indices are estimated for the Western United States. The core forest model is found to perform better than the model of like adjacencies for forest land. A spatially detailed analysis of forest fragmentation in Polk County, Oregon, reveals that forests become more fragmented even though forest area increases. By linking the land-use projection and forest fragmentation models, we project increases in the average county shares of core forest in 8 of the 11 Western States. The average like adjacency measure increases in six of the states. The aggregate and spatially detailed fragmentation methods are compared by projecting the fragmentation indices to 2022 for Polk County, Oregon. Considerable differences in the results were produced with the two methods, especially in the case of the like adjacency metric. Plantinga, Andrew J.1 Alig, Ralph J.1 Eichman, Henry1 Lewis, David J. Tue, 20 Feb 2007 12:00:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-RP-570. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. Tiffany Dong http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr703.pdf National forest lands encompass numerous rural and urban communities. Some national-forest-based communities lie embedded within national forests, and others reside just outside the official boundaries of national forests. The urban and rural communities within or near national forest lands include a wide variety of historical traditions and cultural values that affect their process of economic development. National-forest-based urban and rural communities participate in numerous economic sectors including nontraded industries, resource-dependent traded industries, and non-resource-dependent traded industries. These communities represent microeconomic environments. Cluster theory provides an explicit framework to examine the microeconomic relationships between national forests and their embedded and neighboring communities. Implementation of economic cluster initiatives in national-forest-based communities could improve their overall social well-being through increased competitive advantage based on innovation and higher productivity. This paper proposes establishing an Economic Clusters research team within the Forest Service. This team would dedicate its efforts to the analysis and improvement of the determinants of competitive advantage affecting national-forest-based communities. Rojas, Thomas D. Tue, 20 Feb 2007 12:00:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-703. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. Tiffany Dong http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr695.pdf On October 18, 2006, a workshop was held in Vancouver, WA, with the title "Managing for wildlife habitat in Westside production forests." The purpose of the workshop was to provide prescriptions and guidelines for people who manage Westside forests (those west of the Cascade Mountains' crest) primarily for wood production, but because of mandate or personal preference, want to integrate wildlife values. The audience included over 150 professionals from forest industry, consulting firms, and public and tribal forest and wildlife management agencies. This proceedings includes ten papers based on oral presentations at the workshop plus a synthesis paper summarizing workshop themes, discussions, and related information. Topics include a history of wildlife management research in the Pacific Northwest, elements of habitat and how to manage for them, the challenges of appropriately implementing ecosystem management, and economic implications to private forestland owners. Harrington, Timothy B.1 Nicholas, Gretchen E., tech. eds. Tue, 20 Feb 2007 12:00:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-695. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. Tiffany Dong http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr693/ A recurrent theme in the development of U.S. forest policies has been the assertion of strong positive relations among communities, economies, and natural resource management. Now as a new round of federal land management planning is getting underway, questions are being raised about the strength of that assertion and how to view communities following a decade of reduced federal harvests. This report examines these questions considering the 433 communities in six Bureau of Land Management districts in western Oregon. It discusses the ways that forest-based communities have been considered in the context of federal forest management planning, and it summarizes information on socioeconomic conditions and trends for communities in western Oregon. Donoghue, Ellen M.1 Sutton, N. Lynnae- Haynes, Richard W. Tue, 20 Feb 2007 12:00:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-693. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. Tiffany Dong http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr691.pdf The Fall River research site in coastal Washington is an affiliate installation of the North American Long-Term Soil Productivity (LTSP) network, which constitutes one of the world's largest coordinated research programs addressing forest management impacts on sustained productivity. Overall goals of the Fall River study are to assess effects of biomass removals, soil compaction, tillage, and vegetation control on site properties and growth of planted Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco). Biomass-removal treatments included removal of commercial bole (BO), bole to 5-cm top diameter (BO5), total tree (TT), and total tree plus all legacy woody debris (TT+). Vegetation control (VC) effects were tested in BO, while soil compaction and compaction plus tillage were imposed in BO+VC treatment. All treatments were imposed in 1999. The preharvest stand contained similar amounts of carbon (C) above the mineral soil (292 Mg/ha) as within the mineral soil to 80- cm depth including roots (298 Mg/ha). Carbon stores above the mineral soil ordered by size were live trees (193 Mg/ha), old-growth logs (37 Mg/ha), forest floor (27 Mg/ha), old-growth stumps and snags (17 Mg/ha), coarse woody debris (11 Mg/ha), dead trees/snags (7 Mg/ha), and understory vegetation (0.1 Mg/ha). The mineral soil to 80-cm depth contained 248 Mg C/ha, and roots added 41 Mg/ha. Total nitrogen (N) in mineral soil and roots (13 349 kg/ha) was more than 10 times the N store above the mineral soil (1323 kg/ha). Postharvest C above mineral soil decreased to 129, 120, 63, and 50 Mg/ha in BO, BO5, TT, and TT+, respectively. Total N above the mineral soil decreased to 722, 747, 414, and 353 Mg/ha in BO, BO5, TT, and TT+, respectively. The ratio of total C above the mineral soil to total C within the mineral soil was markedly altered by biomass removal, but proportions of total N stores were reduced only 3 to 6 percent owing to the large soil N reservoir on site. Ares, Adrian; Terry, Thomas A.; Piatek, Kathryn B.; Harrison, Robert B.; Miller, Richard E.; Flaming, Barry L.; Licata, Christopher W.; Strahm, Brian D.; Harrington, Constance A.; Meade, Rodney; Anderson, Harry W.; Brodie, Leslie C.; Kraft, Joseph M. Fri, 02 Feb 2007 11:00:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-691. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. Tiffany Dong http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr690.pdf Current efforts to improve the scientific basis for fire management on public lands will benefit from more efficient transfer of technical information and tools that support planning, implementation, and effectiveness of vegetation and hazardous fuel treatments. The technical scope, complexity, and relevant spatial scale of analytical and decision-support tools differ considerably, which provides a challenge to resource managers and other users who want to select tools appropriate for a particular application. This publication provides a state-of-science summary of tools currently available for management of vegetation and fuels. Detailed summaries include a description of each tool, location where it can be obtained, relevant spatial scale, level of user knowledge required, data requirements, model outputs, application in fuel treatments, linkage to other tools, and availability of training and support. Streamlined summaries in tabular format allow users to rapidly identify those tools that could potentially be applied to a specific management need. In addition, an interdisciplinary team process is described that facilitates application of tools and decisionmaking at different spatial scales. Peterson, David L.; Evers, Louisa; Gravenmier, Rebecca A.; Eberhardt, Ellen Fri, 02 Feb 2007 10:45:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-690. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. Tiffany Dong http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_rb252.pdf The Forest Inventory and Analysis Program collected, analyzed, and summarized field data on 54 forested plots on the islands in the Republic of Palau. Estimates of forest area, tree stem volume and biomass, the numbers of trees, tree damages, and the distribution of tree sizes were summarized for this statistical sample. Detailed tables and graphical highlights provide a summary of Palau's forest resources and a comparison to 1987 data. Donnegan, Joseph A.; Butler, Sarah L.; Kuegler, Olaf; Stroud, Brent J.; Hiserote, Bruce A.; Rengulbai, Kashgar Fri, 02 Feb 2007 10:34:36 PST Resour. Bull. PNW-RB-252. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 58 p. Tiffany Dong http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/publications/pnw_gtr688/ The importance to society of environmental services, provided by forest ecosystems, has significantly increased during the last few decades. A growing global concern with the deterioration of forests, beginning perhaps most noticeably in the 1980s, has led to an increasing public awareness of the environmental, cultural, economic, and social values that forests provide. Around the world, ideas of sustainable, close-to-nature, and multi-functional forestry have progressively replaced the older perception of forests as only a source for timber. The international impetus to protect and sustainably manage forests has come from global initiatives at management, conservation, and sustainable development related to all types of forests and forestry. A few of the more notable initiatives include: the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, UNCED); regional follow-ups to the Earth Summit such as the Montreal Process and Helsinki Accords; the forest elements of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD); and the Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC). Reynolds, Keith M., ed. Fri, 22 Dec 2006 12:00:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-688. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. CD-ROM. Tiffany Dong http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr685.pdf Roger Lake Research Natural Area (RNA), a 174.7-ha reserve in north-central Washington, contains a rich diversity of landforms, plant communities, and wildlife habitats. Spreading outward from the lake itself, sedge and sphagnum fens give way to upland coniferous forest, granitic cliffs, and a relictual, high-altitude big sagebrush-whitebark pine (Artemisia tridentata-Pinus albicaulis) meadow. Five sensitive plant species and several vertebrate species that are rare in the region occur in the RNA. Dynamic ecological processes in action in the RNA are revealed in the paludification of the forest edge; aging, broken beaver dams; and widespread bark beetle-induced conifer mortality. Visalli, J. Dana Fri, 08 Dec 2006 12:00:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-685. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 40 p. Tiffany Dong http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr673.pdf This guidebook describes the High Peak/Moon Creek Research Natural Area, a 617.5-ha (1,526-ac) tract of coniferous forest containing stands dominated by 100- to 150-year-old Douglas-fir, a small old-growth (500+ years) Douglas-fir stand, and riparian vegetation within the western hemlock zone of the Coast Range in western Oregon. Schuller, Reid Mon, 04 Dec 2006 09:26:36 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-673. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 31 p. Tiffany Dong http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw-gtr684.pdf Cost of private timber management practices in the United States are identified, and their relationship to timber production in general is highlighted. Costs across timber-producing regions and forest types are identified by forest type and timber management practices historically applied in each region. This includes cost estimates for activities such as forest establishment practices such as reforestation and afforestation on crop and pastureland. Establishment costs for reforestation in the Southern United States are less than in other regions, although regional differences in establishment costs are less evident in hardwood than in softwood stands. Also, included in the list of timber management costs ate the intermediate management treatments of precommercial thinning, herbicide, and fertilizer application. Intermediate management treatments are less costly in the southern United States than in other regions. Trends in timber management costs reported as part of the management costs reporting. Bair, Lucas S; Alig, Ralph J. Fri, 08 Sep 2006 12:00:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-684. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 32 p. Tiffany Dong http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr678.pdf Integrated research is about achieving holistic understanding of complex biophysical and social issues and problems. It is driven by the need to improve understanding about such systems and to improve resource management by using the results of integrated research processes. Traditional research tends to fragment complex problems, focusing more on the pieces of problems rather than the whole that comprises multiple interrelationships and interactions. The outcome is that a lot is known about the parts (e.g., recreation, fish, and wildlife) but relatively little about how they are interrelated. There seems to be general agreement that integrated questions must drive the search for integrated understanding, but tradition, inertia, institutional culture,budgets, training, and lack of effective leadership foster reductionism (at worst) or minimal degrees of integration (at best) rather than any substantial, sustainable effort toward integrated research. In this paper, a phased approach to framing integrated research questions and addressing the substantial barriers that impede integrated efforts are discussed. A key conclusion is that to make any significant progress toward comprehensive integrated research will require more than rhetoric. Progress must begin with more effective leadership throughout various levels of research organizations. Clark, Roger N.; Stankey, George H. Fri, 28 Jul 2006 12:00:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-678. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 70 p. Tiffany Dong http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr674.pdf WestProPlus is an add-in program developed to work with Microsoft Excel to simulate the growth and management of all-aged Douglas-fir-western hemlock (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco-Tsuga heterophylla (Raf.) Sarg.) stands in Oregon and Washington. Its built-in growth model was calibrated from 2,706 permanent plots in the Douglas-fir-western hemlock forest type in Oregon and Washington. Stands are described by the number of trees per acre in each of nineteen 2-in diameter classes in four species groups: Douglas-fir, other shadeintolerant species, western hemlock, and other shade-tolerant species. WestProPlus allows managers to predict stand development by year and for many decades from a specific initial state. The simulations can be stochastic or deterministic. The stochastic simulations are based on bootstrapping of the observed errors in models of stand growth, timber prices, and interest rate. When used in stochastic simulations, this bootstrap technique simulates random variables by sampling randomly (with replacement) from actual observations of the variable, rather than from an assumed distribution. Users can choose cutting regimes by specifying the interval between harvests (cutting cycle) and a target distribution of trees remaining after harvest. A target distribution can be a reverse-J-shaped distribution or any other desired distribution. Diameterlimit cuts can also be simulated. Tabulated and graphic results show diameter distributions, basal area, volumes by log grade, income, net present value, and indices of stand diversity by species and size. This manual documents the program installation and activation, provides suggestions for working with Excel, and gives background information on West-ProPlus's models. It offers a comprehensive tutorial in the form of two practical examples that explain how to start the program, enter simulation data, execute a simulation, compare simulations, and plot summary statistics. Liang, Jingjing; Buongiorno, Joseph; Monserud, Robert A. Thu, 08 Jun 2006 14:00:36 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-674. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 48 p. Tiffany Dong http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr665.pdf This problem analysis describes a variety of human-resource interaction issues and identifies related social science research and development needs that serve as the foundation for the Alaska Communities and Forest Environments Team within the Pacific Northwest Research Station. The document lays out a research agenda that focuses on understanding relations between human communities and natural resources. The agenda is divided into four subtopics: (1) communities in transition; (2) collaborative planning and stewardship; (3) sustainable tourism and outdoor recreation; and (4) cultural orientations to and uses and values of subtopic. Additional questions are listed in an appendix. The answers to these questions would contribute information important to forest planning and management and could help managers mitigate negative impacts and natural resources, including traditional knowledge, indigenous property rights, and tenure systems. Research questions are identified within each improve the flow of benefits for communities leading to a better understanding of how to sustain healthy forests and communities. Kruger, Linda E.; Mazza, Rhonda L. Fri, 05 May 2006 12:00:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-665. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 150 p. Tiffany Dong http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/publications/gtr669/ In March 23-25, 2005, an international symposium on red alder was held at the University of Washington Center for Urban Horticulture in Seattle, WA. The symposium was entitled “Red alder: A State of Knowledge” and brought together regional experts to critically examine the economic, ecological and social values of red alder. The primary goal of the symposium was to discuss new advances in the understanding of red alder biology and silviculture, changing market and nonmarket values, and the current regulatory climate for management of alder. This proceedings includes 14 papers based on oral presentations given at the symposium. These papers highlight some of the key findings from the history, ecology, biology, silviculture and economics sessions presented at the red alder symposium. Deal, Robert L.; Harrington, Constance A., eds. Wed, 12 Apr 2006 15:25:36 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-669. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 150 p. Tiffany Dong http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr661.pdf As part of the 10-year socioeconomic monitoring of the Northwest Forest Plan, this report evaluates changes in Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) procurement contracting between 1990 and 2002 by asking, (1) How much and what kind of work did the Forest Service and BLM contract during this period, and (2) who received economic benefits from this procurement contracting? Procurement contracting is a particular focus of the socioeconomic monitoring because one expectation of the Northwest Forest Plan was that the Forest Service and BLM would create high-skill, high-wage private sector jobs in public land restoration through contracting to partially offset job losses in timber production, harvesting, and processing. This report finds that, to the contrary, the Forest Service reduced its contracting of land management activities on national forests in the Northwest Forest Plan area from a high of $103 million in 1991 to a low of $33 million in 2002. By contrast, BLM spending was fairly constant at just under $20 million annually. Both the Forest Service and the BLM changed the type of activities that they contracted, shifting from activities associated with intensive forest management such as tree planting in clearcuts to activities associated with ecosystem management. Contractors located near national forests and BLM lands and rural communities captured a similar proportion of contracts in both the earlier and later parts of the study period. However, the significant decline in Forest Service contract spending resulted in considerable decline in the amount of money flowing to rural communities through contracting. Thus, it is unlikely that federal land management contracting created a net increase in jobs to replace jobs lost in mills and logging operations in public lands communities. Moseley, Cassandra Fri, 13 Jan 2006 12:00:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-661. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 44 p. Tiffany Dong http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr659.pdf This publication provides estimates of total softwood and hardwood harvests by region and owner for the United States from 1950 to 2002. These data are generally not available in a consistent fashion and have to be estimated from state-level data, forest resource inventory statistics, and production of forest products. This publication describes the estimation process and documents the various assumptions. These estimates have been used for the past three decades in the periodic USDA Forest Service timber assessments. Adams, Darius M.; Haynes, Richard W.; Daigneault, Adam J. Fri, 06 Jan 2006 12:00:00 PST Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-659. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 72 p. Tiffany Dong