Keyword: forest succession

Great Basin Research and Management Project: Restoring and maintaining riparian ecosystem integrity

The Great Basin Research and Management Project was initiated in 1994 by the USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station’s Ecology, Paleoecology, and Restoration of Great Basin Watersheds Project to address the problems of stream incision and riparian ecosystem degradation in central Nevada. It is a highly interdisciplinary project that is being conducted in cooperation with the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest.

Sequential use of simulation and optimization in analysis and planning

Management activities are analyzed at landscape scales employing both simulation and optimization. SIMPPLLE, a stochastic simulation modeling system, is initially applied to assess the risks associated with a specific natural process occurring on the current landscape without management treatments, but with fire suppression.

Developing an ecosystem diversity framework for landscape assessment

Ecological diversity is being addressed in various research and management efforts, but a common foundation is not explicitly defined or displayed. A formal Ecosystem Diversity Framework (EDF) would improve landscape analysis and communication across multiple scales. The EDF represents a multiple-component vegetation classification system with inherent flexibility for a broad range of applications.

Social science and the Bitterroot National Forest: A synthesis

The objective of this research was to synthesize a number of studies focusing on human dimensions of public land management in the Bitterroot National Forest. While 35-40 such studies have been conducted, their cumulative knowledge is limited by use of a variety of approaches, scales and frameworks.

Synergy between ecological needs and economic aspects of ecosystem restoration

The implementation of properly designed treatments to restore and sustain desired forest conditions in the Inland Northwest, besides moving forest stands more rapidly to an ecologically desirable and sustainable condition, can generate positive revenues from the timber to be removed.

Agencies within communities, communities within ecosystems

Can scientific information and intensive, extensive public involvement through facilitated meetings be expected to lead to agreement on natural resource issues? Communications and research in the Bitterroot Ecosystem Management Research Project indicate that, where people’s values differ greatly, consensus is not a realistic goal for short term planning processes.

Small mammals of the Bitterroot National Forest: Ecological significance and guidelines for management

Small mammal literature was reviewed to assess the ecological role of small mammals on the Bitterroot National Forest of western Montana. Small mammals fulfill numerous important roles in forest ecosystems by supporting a wide range of predators, dispersing seeds and mycorrhizal spores, altering vegetation through herbivory and seed predation, and preying on insects.

Presence/absence as a metric for monitoring vertebrate populations

Developing cost effective methods for monitoring vertebrate populations is a persistent problem in wildlife biology. Population demographic data is too costly and time intensive to acquire, so researchers have begun investigating presence/absence sampling as a means for monitoring wildlife populations.

Ecosystem-based management in the lodgepole pine zone

The significant geographic extent of lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) in the interior West and the large proportion within the mixed-severity fire regime has led to efforts for more ecologically based management of lodgepole pine. New research and demonstration activities are presented that may provide knowledge and techniques to manage lodgepole pine forests in the interior West.

Associated riparian communities

Some 100 years of fire exclusion in the Interior Northwest has resulted in riparian areas dominated by dense thickets of shade-tolerant trees. If former, more open conditions could be restored, these habitats could once more support a more diverse bird community. Efforts toward this at two study sites are described.