United States

Department

of Agriculture

Forest Service

Rocky Mountain

Research Station

Proceedings

RMRS-P-22

September 2001

Ponderosa Pine

Ecosystems Restoration

and Conservation: Steps

Toward Stewardship

Conference Proceedings

Flagstaff, AZ, April 25–27, 2000
Rocky Mountain Research Station

324 25th Street

Ogden, UT 84401

Abstract ________________________________________________

Vance, Regina K.; Edminster, Carleton B.; Covington, W. Wallace; Blake, Julie A., comps. 2001. Ponderosa pine

ecosystems restoration and conservation: steps toward stewardship; 2000 April 25–27; Flagstaff, AZ.

Proceedings RMRS-P-22. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research

Station. 188 p.

This volume is divided into three sections: (1) Ecological, Biological, and Physical Science; (2) Social and Cultural;

and (3) Economics and Utilization. Effective ecological restoration requires a combination of science and

management. The authors of the first section exemplified this integration in the course of addressing a broad range

of topics, from detailed microsite and small-scale changes in fungal, plant, and animal communities, up through

landscape, regional, and subcontinental scales. Although the themes were diverse, papers were linked by

underscoring the relationship between restorative management actions and ecological effects. Social sciences play

a key role in ecosystem restoration because collaboration, development of common goals, and political and

economic feasibility are essential for success. The authors of the second section focused on public attitudes,

partnerships, and the relationship between social and ecological factors. In the third section, the economics and

utilization of products from forest restoration were compared in several Western locations. Both the markets for these

products and the range of utilization opportunities—from small-diameter logs to energy creation—will surely evolve

rapidly as society moves to address the fire hazards and other problems caused by stressed and weakened

ecosystems. The turn of the century is an appropriate point to capture dramatic changes in perspective: consider

how attitudes toward Western forests have evolved between 1900 and 2000. The papers in this volume chronicle

adaptive research that continues to deepen our understanding of restoration in ecosystems and social systems.

Keywords: ponderosa pine, ecosystem management, landscape management, restoration, conservation, fire

behavior, cost effectiveness analysis

You may order additional copies of this publication by sending your mailing information in

label form through one of the following media. Please specify the publication title and

Proceedings number.

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Fort Collins, CO 80526

The use of trade or firm names in this publication is for reader information and does not

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Publisher’s note: Papers in this report were reviewed by the authors and compilers. Rocky Mountain Research

Station Publishing Services also edited all papers. Authors are responsible for content.
Ponderosa Pine Ecosystems

Restoration and Conservation:

Steps Toward Stewardship

Conference Proceedings

Flagstaff, AZ, April 25–27, 2000

Compilers_____________________________________

Regina K. Vance is Senior Coordinator at the Ecological Restoration Institute,

Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011

Carleton B. Edminster is Project Manager with the USDA Forest Service, Rocky

Mountain Research Station, Flagstaff Lab, Flagstaff, AZ 86011.

W. Wallace Covington is Regents’ Professor of Forest Ecology in the School of

Forestry, and the Director of the Ecological Restoration Institute, Northern Arizona

University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011.

Julie A. Blake is Instructional Specialist at the Ecological Restoration Institute,

Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011.

Sponsoring Organizations _______________________

Ecological Restoration Institute, Northern Arizona University

USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station

Grand Canyon Forests Partnership

School of Forestry, Northern Arizona University

College of Ecosystem Science and Management, Northern Arizona University

Program in Community, Culture and the Environment, Northern Arizona University

Society for Ecological Restoration

Bureau of Land Management, Arizona Strip Office

Four Corners Forest Partnership

The Nature Conservancy-The Northern Arizona Office

Grand Canyon Trust

Society for American Foresters, Peaks Chapter

Bureau of Indian Affairs

i

Preface ______________________________________

Contemporary ponderosa pine forests and associated grasslands in the Southwest have changed dramatically since Euro-American settlement in the 1870s.

Intensive grazing, selective harvesting of large trees and fire suppression have led

to changes in forest structure and composition that are unprecedented in the

evolutionary history of these frequent fire ecosystems. The consequences of the

changes include: increased risk of stand-replacing crownfire, decreased biological

diversity, increased vulnerability to disease and insect outbreaks, and increasing

ecosystem health problems that will compromise the long-term viability of ponderosa

pine forests.

Local, State, Federal, and Tribal land management agencies have begun to

address the problems of degraded ponderosa pine forests throughout the Intermountain West. Stakeholders from communities at risk of catastrophic fire and

private landowners have also stepped forward to work collaboratively with land

management agencies to design forest restoration treatments that will not only

protect lives and property but also protect and restore the values and benefits

provided by a healthy forest.

However, crafting scientifically valid and socially acceptable treatments is not

simple. It requires commitment and constructive dialogue among people with

diverse backgrounds and interests. They must be willing to listen to each other and

become informed about ecology, economics, and management challenges, as well

as the philosophical and social sides of forest restoration. Most important, it requires

those people to build a common vision for forest restoration that can be translated

into specific actions and applied by land managers. Given the scope of forest

degradation and the need to act quickly it is essential that the information and lessons

learned actively shared, applied, and adapted to implement the best treatments

possible.

The Steps Toward Stewardship: Ponderosa Pine Ecosystems Restoration

and Conservation conference, held in Flagstaff, AZ on April 25-27, 2000, was

designed to share lessons and emerging research and information critical to

successful ecologically based forest restoration. A diverse group of organizations

representing a broad spectrum of expertise and interests sponsored this first national

conference. The audience included researchers, academics, land managers, citizens, policy makers and other interested stakeholders from across the nation.

Presenters were encouraged to identify critical indicators and benchmarks of

success or failure in ponderosa pine ecosystem restoration and conservation, and

the methods for evaluating these indicators. In addition, panels were designed to

clarify points of agreement and disagreement across interests and disciplines so that

future conservation/restoration research and experiments can advance understanding of these issues. Finally, participants were encouraged to identify missing

elements—such as research, monitoring, or other factors—that are critical to

develop effective conservation and restoration practices for ponderosa pine forest

ecosystems.

iii

Contents________________________________________________

Page

Ecological, Biological, and Physical Science ................................................................................................1

David W. Huffman Ponderosa Pine Forest Reconstruction: Comparisons With Historical Data ..............3

Margaret M. Moore

W. Wallace Covington

Joseph E. Crouse

Peter Z. Fulé

Merrill R. Kaufmann Cheesman Lake—A Historical Ponderosa Pine Landscape

Paula J. Fornwalt Guiding Restoration in the South Platte Watershed of the

Laurie S. Huckaby Colorado Front Range ................................................................................................9

Jason M. Stoker

Laurie S. Huckaby Landscape Patterns of Montane Forest Age Structure Relative to

Merrill R. Kaufmann Fire History at Cheesman Lake in the Colorado Front Range..................................19

Jason M. Stoker

Paula J. Fornwalt

Peter Z. Fulé Potential Fire Behavior Is Reduced Following Forest

Charles McHugh Restoration Treatments ............................................................................................28

Thomas A. Heinlein

W. Wallace Covington

G. Alan Kaufmann Effect of Prescribed Burning on Mortality of Presettlement Ponderosa

W. Wallace Covington Pines in Grand Canyon National Park ......................................................................36

Henry V. Bastian Effects of Low Intensity Prescribed Fires on Ponderosa Pine Forests

in Wilderness Areas of Zion National Park, Utah .....................................................43

Henry V. Bastian The Effects of a Low Intensity Fire on a Mixed Conifer Forest in

Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah ...........................................................................49

Timothy Ingalsbee Fire Process Research Natural Areas: Managing Research and

Restoration of Dynamic Ecosystem Processes ........................................................54

Thomas E. Kolb Six-Year Changes in Mortality and Crown Condition of Old-Growth

Peter Z. Fulé Ponderosa Pines in Ecological Restoration Treatments at the

Michael R. Wagner G. A. Pearson Natural Area ......................................................................................61

W. Wallace Covington

Judith D. Springer Seeding Versus Natural Regeneration: A Comparison of Vegetation

Amy E. M. Waltz Change Following Thinning and Burning in Ponderosa Pine ...................................67

Peter Z. Fulé

Margaret M. Moore

W. Wallace Covington

Julie E. Korb Effect of Restoration Thinning on Mycorrhizal Fungal Propagules in

Nancy C. Johnson a Northern Arizona Ponderosa Pine Forest: Preliminary Results.............................74

W. W. Covington

v
Matthew R. Loeser Plant Community Responses to Livestock Grazing: an Assessment

Thomas D. Sisk of Alternative Management Practices in a Semiarid Grassland ...............................80

Timothy E. Crews

Amy E. M. Waltz Butterfly Response and Successional Change Following

W. Wallace Covington Ecosystem Restoration.............................................................................................88

Shawn C. Knox Habitat Associations of the Sagebrush Lizard (Sceloporus graciosus):

Carol Chambers Potential Responses of an Ectotherm to Ponderosa Pine Forest

Stephen S. Germaine Restoration Treatments ............................................................................................95

William W. Oliver Can We Create and Sustain Late Successional Attributes in Interior

Ponderosa Pine Stands? Large-Scale Ecological Research Studies in

Northeastern California.............................................................................................99

James McIver Alternative Ponderosa Pine Restoration Treatments in the Western

Phillip Weatherspoon United States ..........................................................................................................104

Carl Edminster

Steve Culver Upper South Platte Watershed Protection and Restoration Project .......................110

Cindy Dean

Fred Patten

Jim Thinnes

Social and Cultural ...........................................................................................................................................119

Cassandra Moseley Problem Solving or Social Change? The Applegate and Grand Canyon

Brett KenCairn Forest Partnerships ................................................................................................121

Marcy A. DeMillion Ecological Wilderness Restoration: Attitudes Toward Restoring

Martha E. Lee the Mount Logan Wilderness ..................................................................................130

Laura E. DeWald Incorporating Ecological and Nonecological Concerns in the Restoration

Abe E. Springer of a Rare, High-Elevation Bebb Willow Riparian Community .................................134

Economics and Utilization ..............................................................................................................................139

Dennis L. Lynch Financial Results of Ponderosa Pine Forest Restoration in

Southwestern Colorado ..........................................................................................141

Guy Pinjuv Cost / Effectiveness Analysis of Ponderosa Pine Ecosystem

P. J. Daugherty Restoration in Flagstaff Arizona’s Wildland-Urban Interface ..................................149

Bruce E. Fox

Debra Larson Projected Economic Impacts of a 16-Inch Tree Cutting Cap for

Richard Mirth Ponderosa Pine Forests Within the Greater Flagstaff Urban-Wildlands ................154

Eini C. Lowell Lumber Recovery From Small-Diameter Ponderosa Pine From

David W. Green Flagstaff, Arizona....................................................................................................161

Jeffrey Cook Explorations of Roundwood Technology in Buildings.............................................166

Kurt H. Mackes Use of Wood as an Alternative Fuel to Coal and Natural Gas at the

Holnam Cement Plant, North of LaPorte, Colorado ...............................................171

List of Conference Participants.....................................................................................................................177

vi
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 1

Ecological, Biological,

and Physical Science

Social and Cultural

Economics and

Utilization

List of

Conference

Participants

USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 2

Ecological, Biological,

and Physical Science

1

USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 3

In: Vance, Regina K.; Edminster, Carleton B.; Covington, W. Wallace;

Blake, Julie A. comps. 2001. Ponderosa pine ecosystems restoration and

conservation: steps toward stewardship; 2000 April 25–27; Flagstaff, AZ.

Proceedings RMRS-P-22. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture,

Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station.

David W. Huffman is Research Specialist, Margaret M. Moore is Professor

of Plant Ecology, W. Wallace Covington is Regents’ Professor of Forest

Ecology, Peter Z. Fulé is Research Professor of Forest Ecology, and Joseph E.

Crouse is Research Technician, Ecological Restoration Institute, School of

Forestry, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011.

Abstract—Dendroecological forest reconstruction techniques are

used to estimate presettlement structure of northern Arizona ponderosa pine forests. To test the accuracy of these techniques, we

remeasured 10 of the oldest forest plots in Arizona, a subset of 51

historical plots established throughout the region from 1909 to

1913, and compared reconstruction outputs to historical data collected. Results of this analysis revealed several distinct sources of

error: (1) After about 90 years, 94 percent of the recorded trees were

relocated and remeasured, but approximately three trees/ha were

missing in the field due to obliteration by fire or decay; (2) sizes of

trees living in 1909 were overestimated by an average of 11.9

percent; (3) snag and log decomposition models tended to underestimate time since tree death by an undetermined amount; and

(4) historical sizes of cut trees were difficult to estimate due to

uncertainties concerning harvest dates. The aggregate effect of

these errors was to overestimate the number of trees occurring in

1909–1913. Sensitivity analysis applied to decomposition equations

showed variations in reconstructed sizes of snags and logs by ± 7

percent and stand density estimates by 7 percent. Results suggest

that these reconstruction techniques are robust but tend to overestimate tree size and forest density.

Introduction ____________________

Ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Douglas ex P. Lawson &

Lawson) forest ecosystems in northern Arizona have undergone dramatic physiognomic changes over the past 120

years (Covington and Moore 1994a; Covington and others

1997; Fulé and others 1997). Logging, fire suppression, and

overgrazing in the latter part of the 19th century created

conditions suitable for a population explosion of pine regeneration. Open parklike stands, maintained by frequent surface fires prior to Euro-American settlement (about 1876) of

the region, have been replaced by closed canopied forests

with resulting deleterious effects on biological diversity and

Ponderosa Pine Forest Reconstruction:

Comparisons With Historical Data

David W. Huffman

Margaret M. Moore

W. Wallace Covington

Joseph E. Crouse

Peter Z. Fulé

ecological function (Covington and Moore 1994a). Associated biomass accumulation and the development of fuel

ladders represent extreme fire hazards and expose these

forests to an increased potential for stand-replacing crown

fires. Restoration of ecological processes and structure holds

promise for reestablishing indigenous levels of biological

diversity and ecological function in northern Arizona ponderosa pine forests (Covington and Moore 1994b; Covington

and others 1997).

Treatments designed to restore ponderosa pine ecosystems are based on an understanding of presettlement structural and compositional characteristics that are collectively

known as reference conditions. Forest reconstruction is one

tool used to estimate reference conditions. Techniques for

reconstruction include dendrochronological measurement

of fire scars and increment cores from stumps, logs, and

living trees, direct measurement of remnant woody evidence, and backwards radial growth modeling (Fulé and

others 1997). Forest structural information generated by

reconstruction includes past diameter distribution and stand

density estimates. The precision of these analyses is highly

dependent on field identification of presettlement evidence,

dendrochronological proficiency, and relationships utilized

in “reverse” growth and decay modeling. Our objective in

this study was to use data from historically measured forest

plots to test the precision of our forest reconstruction techniques. Specifically, we wanted to (1) test our ability to

identify historically measured trees in the field, (2) compare

reconstruction model outputs such as stand density and tree

sizes to historical data, and (3) identify key sources of error

associated with the reconstruction process.

Background ____________________

Between 1909 and 1913, a series of 51 permanent plots

were established within the ponderosa vegetation type

throughout Arizona and New Mexico (Woolsey 1911, 1912).

The purpose of these plots was to increase understanding of

western yellow pine (now ponderosa) growth, regeneration,

and management. These are the oldest known ponderosa

pine sample plots in the Southwest. Plots of around 1 to 6 ha

(2 to 14 acres) were established on areas where up to twothirds of the standing overstory volume had recently been

harvested. The permanently marked plots were subdivided

into 20 m (66 ft) grids wherein all trees greater than 10.16

cm (4 inches) in diameter at breast height (d.b.h.) (1.4 m)

were mapped. Measurements for these trees included d.b.h.,
4 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Huffman, Moore, Covington, Crouse, and Fulé Ponderosa Pine Forest Reconstruction: Comparisons With Historical Data

height, vigor, and age class. The USDA Forest Service

remeasured these plots every 5 years until the studies were

abandoned around 1934–1939. In the mid-1990s, we began

to uncover the historical data and maps associated with the

“Woolsey” plots. In 1996, we initiated a project to relocate

and remeasure as many of the historic plots as possible. By

2000, we had remeasured and applied reconstruction analysis to 15 plots. This paper describes the results of analysis of

10 plots located near Flagstaff, Arizona.

Methods _______________________

Study Area

The 10 historical plots used in this study are within a 24-

km radius of Flagstaff (35∞8'N latitude, 111∞40'W longitude), Arizona, on the Coconino National Forest (fig. 1).

Elevation at the sites ranged from around 2,100 to 2,200 m.

Average annual precipitation in the area is 50.3 cm with

about half falling in winter as snow and the other as rain

associated with a mid-summer monsoon pattern. Mean

annual temperature is 7.5 ∞C. The soil of the area is a stony

clay loam of basalt derivation.

Ponderosa pine is the dominant overstory species of the

area often occurring in pure stands or mixed with Gambel

oak (Quercus gambelii Nutt.). Important understory species

include grasses, Festuca arizonica Vasey, Muhlenbergia

montana (Nutt.) Hitchc., Blepharoneuron tricholepis (Torr.)

Nash, and Sitanion hystrix (Nutt.) J.G. Smith, and forbs,

Achillea millefolium var. occidentalis D.C., Pseudocymopterus montanus (Gray) Coult. & Rose, Erigeron divergens

Torr & Gray, and Potentilla crinita Gray. Shrubs are not

common but include scattered populations of Ceanothus

fendleri Gray and Rosa woodsii Lindl.

Remeasurement of Historical Plots

The 10 plots, originally established in 1909 (eight plots)

and 1913 (two plots) were remeasured in 1997–1999. We

used copies of the stem maps drawn in 1915 to relocate plot

corners and grid intersections. Although the historical plots

ranged in size, we standardized our methods to remeasure

subplots of 1.02 ha (2.5 acres), systematically originating

from the northwest corners of the original plots. After

consulting historical maps to determine plot orientation, we

used a transit, staff compass, and tape to reestablish the

original grid system as truly as possible. Subplots consisted of 25 grid cells of approximately 404 m2 each. After

subplots were established, 1915 maps were not referenced

again until after remeasurement had been completed. Due

to the size of the subplots, results presented here are interpreted in terms of trees per hectare.

Grid cells within subplots were thoroughly searched and

all structures equal to or greater than 1.4 m in height, either

presently or at some past time, were numbered and tagged.

Tree structures included live trees, snags, logs, stumps, and

stump holes. Diameter at breast height (d.b.h.; measured at

1.4 m above the ground) and/or diameter at stump height

(d.s.h.; measured at 40 cm), total tree height, condition class

(1–9), and age class (presettlement, “preplot”, or postsettlement; see below) were recorded for all tree structures. For

stump holes, d.s.h. was estimated. Tree condition classes

followed a classification system commonly used in ponderosa pine forests (Maser and others 1979; Thomas and others

1979). The nine classes were as follows: (1) live, (2) fading,

(3) recently dead, (4) loose bark snag, (5) clean snag, (6) snag

broken above breast height, (7) snag broken below breast

height, (8) dead and down, and (9) cut stump.

In the field, age classifications were based on tree size and

bark characteristics and then verified when possible in the

laboratory. Tree ages were grouped in the field into three

categories: presettlement, preplot, and postplot. Structures

greater than 37.5 cm d.b.h., clearly yellow-barked, or dead,

large, and highly decayed, were presumed to be greater than

100 years old (White 1985) and classified as presettlement in

age. We classified trees as “preplot-aged” (in other words,

established prior to historical plot measurement) if they did

not meet presettlement classification criteria (for example,

did not have yellow bark) but were larger than a predetermined size. Preplot size was determined for individual

subplots by measuring diameter and field aging a sample

(10) of nearby trees. Ponderosa pine with bark appearing

transitional in age between yellow barked and black barked

trees were located just outside the subplot boundaries and

cored at 40 cm. Ring counts were made and the results were

compared with the plot establishment date. The average

diameter of trees within 10 years of the plot establishment

date was used as the preplot size cutoff. Live trees of this size

or larger without yellow bark were classified as preplotaged. In some cases, preplot size was not different than

presettlement (37.5 cm at d.b.h.) and classification was

made based on bark characteristics. Trees with black bark

and smaller than the minimum presettlement and preplot

diameters were classified as postplot.

Diameter at stump height and crown radius (average of

two measurements) was measured for all presettlement and

preplot ponderosa pine trees. For species other than ponderosa pine, d.s.h. was measured on all trees. Increment cores

were collected at 40 cm for all trees greater than 37.5 cm

d.b.h. and for oak and juniper species greater than 17 cm.

Additionally, increment cores were collected and d.s.h. and

Figure 1—Study area showing general location of historical plots. Shown are the number of subplots remeasured in

each location. Coconino National Forest boundary is outlined and Flagstaff, AZ, is shown as the point in the center.

Coconino National Forest

6 plots 2 plots

2 plots

Arizona
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 5

Ponderosa Pine Forest Reconstruction: Comparisons With Historical Data Huffman, Moore, Covington, Crouse, and Fulé

crown radius was measured for a 20 percent random subsample of live postplot (all species) trees. Increment cores

were stored in paper straws until denrochronological analysis could be done in the laboratory. Dendrochronological

analysis involved cross-dating cores (Stokes and Smiley

1996) against known annual ring patterns (Graybill 1987)

and measuring radial increments from the year prior to core

collection (1997–1999) to the year of plot establishment

(1909–1913). Radial increments to fire exclusion date (1876;

Fulé and others 1997) were also measured. Our age classification scheme was designed to assure that detailed data,

including increment cores, were collected for all trees that

were historically measured or presettlement in age. It also

allowed comparisons to be made regarding changes in age

structure on these plots since establishment.

Analyses

Field Identification of Historical Trees—Historical

trees were identified in the field by noting tree locations

displayed on 1915 maps and examining structures measured on subplots. Historical trees not measured on subplots

(in other words, missed during remeasurement) were noted

and the error rate was calculated as follows: Error = (number

missed/number on historical map) * 100. A weighted average for error incorporating all 10 plots was calculated as

follows: Error = (total number missed over all subplots/total

number of historical trees over all subplots) * 100.

Reconstruction Modeling—Field measurements and

increment core data were entered into a computerized stand

reconstruction model (Covington and others, unpublished).

The model applies a series of mathematical functions to field

data in order to estimate tree diameters (d.b.h.) and death

dates for a particular point in time that is defined by the

user. Growth functions employed were gleaned from empirical growth (Myers 1963) and decay studies (Rogers and

others 1984) of Southwestern ponderosa pine as well as

other species. Sizes of live trees for which increment cores

were collected were reconstructed by subtracting twice the

radial increment from field recorded tree diameters. Sizes of

trees for which no cores were collected or for which core data

were unusable were estimated by applying “reverse” growth

functions. Dead trees were moved backward through decay

classes (Maser and others 1979; Thomas and others 1979)

until an estimated death date was reached, before which the

reverse growth function was applied. Separate equations

were used for blackjack and yellow pine age classes. For cut

trees (stumps) measured in the field, trees were grown in

reverse prior to a cut date that we defined in the model.

For our analyses, we compared stand density and tree

diameter output from the reconstruction model with data

available from the historical ledgers. Because data in historical ledgers was restricted to trees greater than or equal

to 10.16 cm d.b.h., we limited our analysis of stand density

to trees of this size. To test reconstruction sensitivity, we

varied cut date and decay rate parameters in the model.

Cut dates of 1910 (1914 for the two plots established in

1913), 1945, and 1980 were tested for field-measured stumps,

and dead/down trees were moved backward through decay

classes at rates corresponding to the 25th, 50th, and 75th

percentiles found in other studies (Roger and others 1984).

Thus, five model iterations were done for each subplot

reconstructed to historical establishment dates. Size errors

were calculated as follows: Error = (Reconstructed d.b.h. -

Historical d.b.h./ Historical d.b.h.) * 100.

Results ________________________

Field Identification of Historical Trees

Nearly all the trees mapped and recorded in 1909 and

1913 were found on the 10 subplots (table 1). The number of

trees missed ranged from 0 to 9 and the overall error rate was

5.7 percent. Historical trees were found in all condition

classes from highly decomposed remnant structures to live

trees still bearing 90-year-old tags. Frequently, missed trees

were highly decomposed and little evidence was observable.

A high rate of identification was possible although dense

stand conditions existed at the time of subplot remeasurement (1997–1999); there was an average of 1,379 total

structures across the 10 subplots. No clear relationship was

observed between the number of trees missed and the

number that were historically measured. However, the

greatest number of trees were missed on the subplot with the

greatest total number of structures at remeasurement.

Reconstruction Model

Historical Tree Diameter—Diameter reconstruction of

historical trees that were still alive at remeasurement overestimated d.b.h. by an average of 11.9 percent (table 2). We

found a slight trend of increased error for smaller trees

(fig. 2). There were no subplots on which tree diameter was

underestimated. Unexpectedly large errors (greater than 60

percent) resulted for diameter reconstruction of unusually

fast- or slow-growing trees for which increment data were

unavailable (rotten tree centers, incomplete cores, and so

forth).

Table 1—Number of live trees on Woolsey subplots in Arizona at

establishment (1909–1913) and the number missed during

remeasurement (1997–1999).

No. trees

Subplot on subplota No. trees missed Error

percent

S1A 26 1 3.8

S1B 25 2 8.0

S2A 82 5 6.1

S2B 72 2 2.8

S3A 47 9 19.1

S3B 58 2 3.4

S4A 87 8 9.2

S4B 61 0 0.0

S5A 20 1 5.0

S5B 83 2 1.2

Averageb 5.7

a

Number of historical trees on subplot recorded on 1915 maps.

b

Overall average = (S No. trees missed/S No. Trees on subplot) * 100.
6 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Huffman, Moore, Covington, Crouse, and Fulé Ponderosa Pine Forest Reconstruction: Comparisons With Historical Data

Error for diameter reconstruction of historical trees that

were dead and down at remeasurement averaged –0.6 percent (table 3). Sensitivity analysis showed that dead and

down were most accurately reconstructed when moved

through decay classes at the 50th percentile rate. Varying

decay rate to the 25th percentile slowed movement through

decay classes, resulting in earlier estimated death dates and

a greater overestimate of historical diameters. Conversely,

decay rate set to the 75th percentile sped movement through

decay classes, resulting in later estimated death dates and

an underestimate of historical diameters. Thus, varying

decomposition rates altered size estimates by approximately

7 percent. Due to limited sample sizes for most plots, the

overall average was heavily influenced by subplot S2A.

Figure 2—Plot of error (%) versus diameter of historical trees alive at remeasurement. Error compares

reconstructed diameter d.b.h. to that recorded in historical (1909–1913) data.

Table 2—Errors for reconstruction

estimates of historical tree

diameters (≥10.16 cm

d.b.h.) and number (n) of

live trees in analysis.

Plot Error n

S1A 9.2 17

S1B 6.4 9

S2A 6.6 29

S2B 10.5 44

S3A 19.3 8

S3B 13.3 29

S4A 22.1 37

S4B 5.6 23

S5A 20.9 14

S5B 9.7 67

Averagea 11.9

a

Average weighted by sample size (n).

Table 3—Error rate (percent) and sample size (in

parentheses) for diameter (d.b.h. ≥10.16 cm)

reconstruction of historical trees dead and

down at time of subplot remeasurement

(1997–1999).

Decay percentile

Subplot 25th 50th 75th

S1A 60.2 (2) 40.0 (2) 26.8 (2)

S1B –2.6 (1) –2.1 (2) –10.2 (2)

S2A –16.9 (22) –25.2 (25) –26.3 (28)

S2B 35.0 (6) 31.6 (6) 11.1 (6)

S3A 52.1 (4) 40.4 (6) 26.1 (6)

S3B –8.2 (1) –10.8 (5) –10.8 (6)

S4A NA (0) 22.9 (1) 29.4 (3)

S4B 34.5 (1) 18.4 (1) 7.5 (1)

S5A2 NA (0) 8.0 (1) 1.0 (1)

S5B3 70.7 (1) 32.2 (3) 20.5 (3)

Averagea 6.9 –0.6 –6.7

a

Average weighted by sample size.

Diameter reconstruction of historical trees that had been

cut since original plot establishment (1909–1913) was most

accurate when the cut date in the model was set to 1980

(table 4). This was true for every subplot except S4A for

which diameter estimates were most accurate when the cut

date was set to 1945. Averaged over all subplots, diameter

reconstruction of cut trees overestimated d.b.h. at plot establishment by 11.4 percent.

Tree Density on Subplots—Overestimation of tree diameter lead to reconstructed tree densities higher than

those recorded on historical maps (table 5). Total number

of reconstructed trees on subplots represented the sum of

(1) historically measured trees, (2) trees historically existing

on subplots yet too small (less than 10.16 cm) at plot

Table 4—Error rate (percent) and sample size (in

parentheses) for diameter (d.b.h. ≥10.16 cm)

reconstruction of historical trees that had been

cut subsequent to original plot establishment

(1909–1913) and were stumps at time of

remeasurement (1997–1999).

Cut date

Subplot 1910a 1945 1980

S1A 40.6 (6) 28.4 (6) 15.0 (6)

S1B 22.1 (14) 10.2 (14) –3.1 (14)

S2A 57.5 (14) 43.1 (14) 26.8 (14)

S2B 42.0 (14) 29.1 (14) 14.7 (14)

S3A 61.1 (18) 45.9 (18) 28.9 (18)

S3B 33.3 (21) 19.1 (21) 2.8 (21)

S4A 54.4 (36) 36.2 (36) 14.7 (36)

S4B 43.8 (33) 26.8 (33) 6.8 (33)

S5A2 7.5 (4) –0.02 (4) –9.4 (4)

S5B3 24.7 (10) 14.3 (10) 1.2 (10)

Averageb 43.7 28.7 11.4

a

Earliest cut date tested for subplots S5A2 and S5B3 was 1914;

these plots were historically established in 1913. b

Average weighted by sample size.

-150.0

-100.0

-50.0

0.0

50.0

100.0

150.0

200.0

250.0

0.0 20.0 40.0 60.0 80.0 100.0

Diameter (cm) 

Error (%)
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 7

Ponderosa Pine Forest Reconstruction: Comparisons With Historical Data Huffman, Moore, Covington, Crouse, and Fulé

establishment to be mapped, (3) trees that had died or been

cut prior to plot establishment, and (4) large trees for which

no increment core data existed. Tree density estimates were

also affected by variations in decay functions used in the

model. Varying the rate at which dead and downed material

moved through decay class by 25 percent altered estimated

tree densities by approximately 7 percent.

To more clearly evaluate reconstructed tree densities

(1945 cut date and 50th decay percentile) we subtracted

large cut trees that were not historically recorded, as well as

trees for which increment core center dates were less than

plot establishment dates. We presumed these to represent

trees cut prior to plot establishment and trees too small to be

historically measured, respectively. Subtraction resulted

in tree density overestimates of 10–51 trees per subplot

(table 5). Trees reconstructed in excess of historical densities were mainly dead and down trees for which death dates

were inaccurately estimated.

Conclusions____________________

Evaluation of reconstruction techniques revealed several

key sources of error. These included field identification of

historical trees, size reconstruction of live trees, and determination of tree death dates. Forest structures on the

subplots were readily identified in the field after ± 90 years.

Missed trees resulted in an underestimate of stand density

by 5.7 percent or about three trees per hectare. Factors not

addressed in this analysis but that may affect success rate of

identification include disturbance such as fire, time, and

experience level of personnel. Very little disturbance, outside of individual tree selection harvest, occurred on the

subplots in this study. Intense fire had not occurred on any

of the subplots since establishment and precommercial thinning had occurred only in S3A and S3B. No clear pattern

Table 5—Numbers of trees (≥10.16 cm d.b.h.) for subplots

reconstructed to plot establishment date (1909–1913).

Comparison shows number of historically measured trees

(Estbl), total number of trees reconstructed (Total), and

the number of trees after reconstruction totals were

adjusted (Adjst1 and Adjst2). Error (No. trees is equal to

(Adjst2 - Estbl).

Error

Subplot Estbl Total Adjst1a Adjst2b (No. Trees)

S1A 26 213 140 44 18

S1B 25 71 55 44 19

S2A 82 248 223 133 51

S2B 72 299 262 119 47

S3A 47 112 83 74 27

S3B 58 105 80 80 22

S4A 87 111 98 97 10

S4B 61 90 73 71 10

S5A2 20 81 42 37 17

S5B3 83 157 124 119 36

a

Number adjusted by removing cut trees that were not originally tagged.

These trees were likely cut prior to plot establishment or large regeneration

thinned such as on S3A and S3B. b

Number adjusted by removing trees not in original ledger data but having

increment core center dates of less than or equal to plot establishment date

(1909–1913). These trees were likely large regeneration that were less than

10.16 cm d.b.h. in 1909–1913.

related to initial or present density of forest structures

emerged to affect identification success. Identification of

presettlement-aged structural evidence is important for implementing ecological restoration prescriptions in northern

Arizona ponderosa pine forests (Covington and others 1997).

The reconstruction model tested in this analysis tended

to overestimate tree diameters for live trees (11.9 percent),

slightly underestimate (–0.6 percent) dead and downed

trees, and overestimate trees that had been cut (11.4 percent). For live trees, slightly greater inaccuracies were

produced for smaller size classes. Possible explanations for

live-tree errors include model equations used to predict bark

thickness and d.b.h. from d.s.h. (Myers 1963; Hann 1976),

unusable increment cores, particularly for trees that were

especially fast- or slow-growing, and eccentricity of tree bases.

Although prediction of tree death date is difficult due to

factors affecting snag longevity and condition, the d.b.h. estimates provided by the reconstruction model were relatively

accurate. Accuracy here was likely affected by the interaction of death date estimates and reverse growth functions.

In our analysis, global cut dates were set in the model,

although in reality, trees on the subplots were not all cut in

the same year. This undoubtedly affected d.b.h. reconstruction errors. Cut dates for harvested “cohorts” could be

individually coded in the model using additional information not examined in this study such as harvest records and

stump decay classes.

Overestimation of d.b.h. coupled with death date and cut

date uncertainties lead to overestimates of past tree density.

However, our reconstruction techniques allowed reductions

of these estimates based on increment core data and sizes of

cut trees. Refinement of decay functions may allow better

accuracy in stand density reconstruction.

The reconstruction techniques evaluated in this study

appear to be robust and useful for estimating past forest

structural characteristics. Although the model was used

generally, adjustments could be made for specific sites using

relationships developed from site-specific field data. The

reconstruction techniques allow a better understanding of

reference conditions in ponderosa pine forests of the Southwest. Further analysis will be done to reconstruct presettlement structural conditions on these plots.

Acknowledgments ______________

The authors would like to thank the many field and

laboratory assistants in the Ecological Restoration Institute

at Northern Arizona University for their hard work collecting and processing field data and tree cores. We also thank

two anonymous reviews for their helpful comments on an

earlier version of this manuscript. This research was supported by Research Joint Venture Agreement 28-JV7-939

USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station and

Northern Arizona University School of Forestry.

References _____________________

Covington, W.W., and M.M. Moore. 1994a. Southwestern ponderosa

forest structure and resource conditions: changes since EuroAmerican settlement. Journal of Forestry 92(1):39–47.

Covington, W.W., and M.M. Moore. 1994b. Post-settlement changes

in natural fire regimes and forest structure: ecological restoration
8 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Huffman, Moore, Covington, Crouse, and Fulé Ponderosa Pine Forest Reconstruction: Comparisons With Historical Data

of old-growth ponderosa pine forests. Journal of Sustainable

Forestry 2:153–181.

Covington, W.W., P.Z. Fulé, M.M. Moore, S.C. Hart, T.E. Kolb, J.N.

Mast, S. Sackett, and M.R Wagner. 1997. Restoring ecosystem

health in ponderosa pine forests of the Southwest. Journal of

Forestry 95:23–29.

Fulé, P.Z., W.W. Covington, and M.M. Moore. 1997. Determining

reference conditions for ecosystem management in southwestern

ponderosa pine forests. Ecological Applications 7(3):895–908.

Graybill, D.A. 1987. Unpublished tree-ring chronologies AZ521 and

AZ547. Archived at the National Geophysical Data Center, World

Data Center-A for Paleoclimatology, Boulder, CO.

Hann, D.W. 1976. Relationship of stump diameter to diameter at

breast height for seven tree species in Arizona and New Mexico.

USDA Forest Service Research Note INT-212, Intermountain

Forest and Range Experiment Station, Ogden, UT.

Maser, C., R.G. Anderson, K. Cromack, Jr., J.T. Williams, and R.E.

Martin. 1979. Dead and down woody material. pp. 78–95 In

Wildlife habitats in managed forests—the Blue Mountains of

Oregon and Washington. USDA Agricultural Handbook 553,

Washington, DC.

Myers, C.A. 1963. Estimating past diameters of ponderosa pine in

Arizona and New Mexico. USDA Forest Service Research Note

RM-7. Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station,

Fort Collins, CO.

Rogers, J.J., J.M. Prosser, L.D. Garrett, and M.G. Ryan. 1984.

ECOSIM: A system for projecting multiresource outputs under

alternative forest management regimes. USDA Forest Service,

Administrative Report, Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station, Fort Collins, CO.

Stokes, M.A., and T.L. Smiley. 1968. An introduction to tree-ring

dating. University of Chicago Press, Chicago. 73 p.

Thomas, J.W., R.G. Anderson, C. Maser, and E.L. Bull. 1979. Snags.

pp. 60–77 In Wildlife habitats in managed forests—the Blue

Mountains of Oregon and Washington. USDA Agricultural Handbook 553, Washington, DC.

White, A.S. 1985. Presettlement regeneration patterns in a southwestern ponderosa pine stand. Ecology 66(2):589–594.

Woolsey, T.S., Jr. 1911. Western yellow pine in Arizona and New

Mexico. USDA, Forest Service Bulletin 101. 64 p.

Woolsey, T.S., Jr. 1912. Permanent sample plots. Forest Quarterly

10:38–44.
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 9

In: Vance, Regina K.; Edminster, Carleton B.; Covington, W. Wallace;

Blake, Julie A. comps. 2001. Ponderosa pine ecosystems restoration and

conservation: steps toward stewardship; 2000 April 25–27; Flagstaff, AZ.

Proceedings RMRS-P-22. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture,

Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station.

Merrill R. Kaufmann is a Research Forest Ecologist, Paula J. Fornwalt

and Jason M. Stoker are Biological Technicians, and Laurie S. Huckaby is

an Ecologist at the USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station,

Fort Collins, CO.

Abstract—An unlogged and ungrazed ponderosa pine/Douglas-fir

landscape in the Colorado Front Range provides critical information

for restoring forests in the South Platte watershed. A frame-based

model was used to describe the relationship among the four

primary patch conditions in the 35-km2 Cheesman Lake landscape:

(1) openings, (2) ponderosa pine forest, (3) ponderosa pine/Douglasfir forest, and (4) persistent old growth. Each condition is possible

over time at any nonriparian site, with fire and tree recruitment the

primary processes causing changes from one condition to another.

The Forest Vegetation Simulator model was used to estimate forest

conditions at Cheesman Lake in 1900, prior to fire suppression

effects. These results and 1896 Cheesman Lake photographs indicate that more than 90 percent of the historical landscape had a

crown closure of 30 percent or less, compared with less than 50

percent of current nearby forests affected by logging, grazing, tree

planting, and fire suppression. The historical fire regime was mixed

severity, and passive crown fire was probably more common than

active crown fire. Currently, surrounding forests have almost no

openings, little old growth, high tree density, and increased Douglas-fir. Fire behavior has switched to a crown fire regime with

sometimes catastrophic results. Historical Cheesman Lake forest

landscape conditions are being used to guide restoration of surrounding forests.

Introduction ____________________

Restoration of ponderosa pine forests to ecologically sustainable conditions requires knowledge of historical conditions and processes that shaped natural landscapes. Until

recently, studies from the Southwestern United States provided the majority of scientific literature describing ponderosa pine stand and landscape structure and the natural

processes affecting these forests (Cooper 1960; Covington

and Moore 1994; Fulé and others 1997; Mast and others

Cheesman Lake—A Historical Ponderosa

Pine Landscape Guiding Restoration in the

South Platte Watershed of the Colorado

Front Range

Merrill R. Kaufmann

Paula J. Fornwalt

Laurie S. Huckaby

Jason M. Stoker

1999; Moore and others 1999; Pearson 1933; Swetnam and

Baisan 1996; Swetnam and others 1999; White 1985; Woolsey

1911). Pine forests in the Southwest historically were characterized by a low-intensity surface fire regime, with fires

typically occurring over large areas every 2 to 10 years or

more. Stands were described as open and parklike, with

productive grassy understories and few small trees. Several

reports suggest that the fire frequency in other regions was

lower but maintained similar open stands in less productive

northern systems (Arno and others 1995; Goldblum and

Veblen 1992). Reconstructions of historical stand structures in both the Southwest and other regions have been

attempted, but little information on structure of historical ponderosa pine forests at a landscape scale has been

available.

Research is being conducted on a 35-km2 forest area at

Cheesman Lake in the Colorado Front Range. Land around

Cheesman Lake, a reservoir owned by Denver Water, has

never been logged and has been protected from grazing since

1905, when the dam for the reservoir was completed. This

research provides a description of a ponderosa pine landscape that evolved with a mixed severity fire regime (Brown

and others 1999; Kaufmann and others 2000a,b). Mixed

severity fires differ from the frequent low intensity surface

fire regime of the Southwest in that individual fire events

generally are less frequent and have a patchy crown fire

component along with surface fire. They differ from crown

fire regimes because the crown fire component is smaller

and much more patchy. The Cheesman Lake climate appears to be less influenced by the El Niño pattern and is drier

than the climate in the Southwestern United States. Fire

history data at Cheesman Lake span eight centuries, with

the earliest fire scar sampled dating to 1197 (Brown and

others 1999). Maps of fire scar locations shown by Brown

and others and additional unpublished data of other fire

scar locations indicate that large fires (5–10 km2 or larger)

occurred in 1496, 1534, 1587, 1631, 1696, 1723, 1775, 1820,

1851, and 1880. The only significant fire since 1880 was in

1963, when a fire in the southeast portion of the Cheesman

Lake landscape was suppressed after reaching a size of

around 25 ha. A moderate number of more localized fires

occurred between the larger fires. In addition, extensive

studies of tree age and size indicated that tree recruitment

occurred in pulses, each about 10 years long (Kaufmann and

others 2000b). The recruitment pulses tended to coincide
10 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Kaufmann, Fornwalt, Huckaby, and Stoker Cheesman Lake—A Historical Ponderosa Pine Landscape Guiding Restoration...

with the larger fires; most of the major fires occurred during

these pulses, but not necessarily in a cause and effect

sequence.

Kaufmann and others (2000a) suggested that relatively

infrequent fire and gaps between tree recruitment pulses

reflect unfavorable interim climatic conditions for both production of herbaceous vegetation (needed for fuel) and tree

seed germination and establishment. In many of their

plots, the age of the oldest tree at specific locations in the

Cheesman Lake landscape indicated that all trees postdated certain fires identified in the study area by the fire

history analysis (Brown and others 1999). Similar results

were observed in western Montana (Arno and others 1995).

These data strongly suggest that the crown fire component

of past fires killed all trees in certain areas and created

openings. The current oldest trees reflect the dates trees

were recruited into each opening. An expansion of this

analysis is given in another paper in these proceedings

(Huckaby and others).

Fire and tree recruitment patterns are key processes

affecting landscape structure and change over time in the

Cheesman Lake landscape. In this paper we describe the

four primary types of forest patches that make up the upland

landscape. These four components are interchangeable in

that they potentially can occur at any upland site over time.

The components are useful for describing not only the

historical landscape, but also forests that were altered

following European settlement. While riparian areas are

critical components occupying 1–2 percent of the landscape,

they are separate from the upland sites and are not included

in our analysis of the upland areas.

We use a frame-based model to discuss the factors that

cause transitions of the upland conditions from one state to

another (Starfield and others 1993). In addition, we use a

forest growth model to “degrow” the Cheesman Lake landscape to assess its condition prior to the effects of fire

suppression during the 20th century. These “degrown” conditions are compared with historical photographs of the

Cheesman Lake landscape. Finally, we discuss implications

of presettlement fire behavior and landscape structure on

current restoration activities in the South Platte watershed.

Primary Upland Components______

Ponderosa pine forests in the historical Cheesman Lake

landscape and elsewhere in the Colorado Front Range are

relatively simple in that only two species, ponderosa pine

and Douglas-fir, comprise the vast majority of trees (Jack

1900; Kaufmann and others 2000b; Peet 1981; Veblen and

Lorenz 1986). While fire suppression during the last century is believed to have increased forest density at Cheesman

Lake (discussed later), diversity in age and diameter class

distributions, tree density, proportions of the two species,

and patch size make the landscape structure very complex,

driven by both topography and natural disturbance history. In an adjacent logged landscape, other species (Colorado blue spruce, aspen, narrow-leaf cottonwood, and Rocky

Mountain juniper) are more significant, especially in lowland areas (Kaufmann 2000b). We mapped and classified

the entire 35-km2 landscape using an overstory classification template created from extensive plot data (data

summarized in Kaufmann and others 2000b) in conjunction with 1:6000 color infrared photographs. Over 3,000

polygons in the historical landscape were classified by

percent crown closure in six distinct diameter distribution

classes. While polygon characteristics are still being analyzed in GIS, the mapping and classification effort provides

a basis for understanding landscape dynamics discussed

here.

Examination of plot and polygon data and extensive field

observations indicate that four basic stand conditions are

found in the Cheesman Lake landscape (fig. 1). These are

roughly based on stand development stages and successional trajectories. The conditions are (1) openings vegetated primarily with grasses and shrubs, (2) patches that

are pure or nearly pure ponderosa pine, (3) patches having

both ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir, and (4) patches having

very old trees, which we term “persistent old growth.”

Openings presently existing in the Cheesman Lake landscape have coarse woody debris dated to 1851, a year in

which a large fire occurred (Brown and others 1999). Only

one opening of 49 was found having no coarse woody debris

(Tobler 2000), indicating that nearly all openings are a

transient patch condition in the landscape. The pine and

pine/Douglas-fir patches have a specific characteristic distinguishing them from persistent old growth: a cap or upper

limit on the age of the oldest trees in the patch. This suggests

that they developed following a stand-replacing natural

disturbance, most likely fire (Kaufmann and others 2000b).

The oldest trees may be quite old (more than 400 years), but

even the oldest trees in these patches postdate known fires.

In contrast, the persistent old-growth patches appear to be

regulated primarily by microscale disturbances that kill

only one or a few trees at a time, such as heartrot, insect

attack, windthrow, or very small fires. Trees in these patches

have a wide age distribution (some may be more than 500

years old), with varying states of health, and a large amount

of coarse woody debris is common.

Frame Model of Landscape

Components ___________________

Model Description

The relationships among the forest patch conditions shown

in figure 1 and the key processes affecting the transitions

between them are shown in a frame-based model, where

each frame represents a potential condition that can exist on

a site (fig. 2). Extensive field data on fire history and tree

recruitment indicate that the following processes affect

transitions among states. First, tree recruitment converts

openings created by fire to forest (fig. 2, arrows with small

trees). Ponderosa pine patches develop when recruitment is

limited to this single species. Age data for a large number of

field plots suggest that historically, pure ponderosa pine

stands developed on most east, south, and west slopes. In

contrast, mixtures of ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir trees

often were recruited on north aspects. Tree age data indicate

that in the 1900s (during which fire suppression occurred),

patches became much more dense, and many pure ponderosa pine patches were converted to mixed patches through

ingrowth of Douglas-fir.
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 11

Cheesman Lake—A Historical Ponderosa Pine Landscape Guiding Restoration... Kaufmann, Fornwalt, Huckaby, and Stoker

Figure 1—Four major patch components

of the ponderosa pine/Douglas-fir landscape of the South Platte watershed in the

Colorado Front Range. (Upper left) openings; (lower left) persistent old growth;

(upper right) ponderosa pine; and (lower

right) ponderosa pine/Douglas-fir. Each

condition may occur on all upland sites.

Parameters of each component are found

in table 1.

Figure 2—Frame model showing the interrelationships among openings and

patches of ponderosa pine, ponderosa

pine/Douglas-fir, and persistent old

growth in the South Platte watershed of

the Colorado Front Range. Arrows with

trees represent tree recruitment processes, and arrows with flames represent

either crown fire creating openings or surface fire reducing ingrowth of Douglas-fir.
12 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Kaufmann, Fornwalt, Huckaby, and Stoker Cheesman Lake—A Historical Ponderosa Pine Landscape Guiding Restoration...

Persistent old-growth patches in our model require very

old trees, which we define to be the condition in which trees

die predominately from natural causes other than standreplacing fires. Recruitment occurs where small openings

provide enough resources for new trees to be incorporated

into the stand. While the oldest trees generally are ponderosa pine, older Douglas-fir trees are found in many persistent old-growth patches (Huckaby and others, this proceedings). We have observed a few pine trees more than 600 years

old, some over 500, and many exceeding 400 years. Trees

recruited after the fire in 1496 could be 500 years old, and we

are not confident in suggesting that these trees reflect

recruitment after a stand-replacing fire in 1496 because

many trees die for reasons other than fire before reaching an

age of 500 years. We are more confident suggesting that

trees postdating the 1531 fire reflect a stand-replacing

event (Huckaby and others, this proceedings). A caveat in

suggesting that polygon reforestation postdates specific

fires, however, is that there always is the possibility that

older trees predating the indicated fire may have died of

other causes. Nonetheless, extensive data over a large portion of the landscape suggest that age caps related to standreplacing fires are common, and these age caps are useful for

understanding landscape dynamics (Arno and others 1995;

Kaufmann and others 2000a,b; Huckaby and others, this

proceedings).

Fire is almost certainly the primary process creating

openings of 1 ha or more in the landscape (fig. 2, arrows

with flames). There is little likelihood that other natural

disturbance factors such as insects, disease, or wind could

have resulted in complete mortality in this system (Kaufmann

and others 2000b). Stand-replacing fires were probably

more common in ponderosa pine and pine/Douglas-fir forest

patches and less common in persistent old growth. Characteristics of stand-replacing fires in the historical Cheesman

Lake landscape are discussed later. All fires undoubtedly

had a surface fire component, and under certain conditions

surface fires may have reduced ingrowth of younger Douglasfir, thereby converting mixtures of pine and Douglas-fir back

to pure or nearly pure ponderosa pine.

Model Parameters

Tree age, density, species composition, and fire history

data provide insight into probabilities of changes among

components in the frame model shown in figure 2. Table 1

provides criteria we have adopted to distinguish among the

four patch conditions. We believe these criteria are suitable

for most of the ponderosa pine forest area of the South Platte

basin. Openings are defined as areas that have 10 percent or

less crown closure. We distinguish between pure ponderosa

pine and ponderosa pine/Douglas-fir patches based upon

basal area or density of trees. Patches having more than 10

percent of the basal area or more than 20 percent of the trees

breast height or taller in Douglas-fir are considered ponderosa pine/Douglas-fir patch types.

Information about the fire and tree recruitment processes that change the condition from one patch type to

another is summarized in table 2. This information reflects

data for 4 centuries before Euro-American settlement,

which occurred in the late 1800s. Current analyses indicate

that large fires (more than 5 km2

, listed in the introduction)

Table 1—Characteristics of patches in ponderosa pine/Douglas-fir forests in the unlogged Cheesman Lake and adjacent

logged Turkey Creek landscapes. Patch types are those shown in figure 1. BA = basal area.

Crown

Patch type closure Condition Tree age structure

Openings £10 percent May be mixed species Few, generally young

Ponderosa pine >10 percent £10 percent BA Douglas-fir, and Age cap evident

£20 percent of trees Douglas-fir May be old growth

Ponderosa pine/Douglas-fir >10 percent >10 percent BA Douglas-fir, or Age cap evident

>20 percent of trees Douglas-fir May be old growth

Persistent old growth >10 percent Mixed ponderosa pine and No age cap evident

Douglas-fir Very old

Table 2—Fire and tree recruitment characteristics affecting changes in ponderosa

pine/Douglas-fir patch structure in the Cheesman Lake landscape. Processes

are those depicted by arrows in figure 2. Data summarized from Brown and

others (1999), Kaufmann and others (2000b), and additional analyses of

fire scars and tree ages.

Process Mean interval Range

- - - - - - - - -Years - - - - - - - -

Fires >5 km2 in 35-km2 landscape, 1496–1880 42.7 ± 12.7 27–65

Fires in 0.5-2 km2 areas, 1496–1880 50.0 ± 17.2 29–83

Tree recruitment, 1588–1885 45.3 ± 23.5 18–82
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 13

Cheesman Lake—A Historical Ponderosa Pine Landscape Guiding Restoration... Kaufmann, Fornwalt, Huckaby, and Stoker

occurred with a mean interval of about 43 years in the

35-km2 landscape. This estimate is shorter than the 59

years estimated by Brown and others (1999) because it

includes three fires (1775, 1820, and 1880) not included in

the earlier analysis. These fires were included here based

upon additional evidence of fire scars not available earlier.

When the fire scar sampling area was divided into 11

smaller areas of 0.5-2 km2 each based upon sampling

clusters and topography, the mean fire interval for all

areas was 50 years, with a range of 29 to 83 years. Studies

are under way to assess fire intervals in other portions of

the South Platte watershed.

Tree age data for a 4-km2

 portion of the Cheesman Lake

landscape were obtained by dating cores collected 30–40 cm

above the ground, and correcting the pith age for the estimated time required after germination to reach the coring

height (Kaufmann and others 2000b). These data indicated

that most tree recruitment occurred in pulses lasting about

a decade each (see fig. 6 in Kaufmann and others 2000b). For

a 421-year period between the 1560s and 1980s, half of the

surviving trees in 25 0.1-ha plots in the Cheesman Lake

landscape were recruited in these pulses, which accounted

for only one-fourth of the time. The mean interval between

recruitment pulses was about 45 years, which agrees closely

with the MFI for the area (table 2).

Current and Historical Landscape

Crown Closure__________________

A frame model is useful for assessing how important

processes and conditions affect patch dynamics over time

and space at a landscape scale. We are addressing the

application of a frame model at a landscape scale by examining landscape structure at several points in time. At the

initial stages of this application, we are focusing on diameter

class distribution and crown closure, which we can estimate

using 1:6000 color infrared photographs. The infrared photographs cannot be used to map and classify patches based

upon species composition, but they provide a basis for

mapping by diameter class distribution and crown closure.

The map of percent crown closure in figure 3 (left) was

developed from photographs taken in 1996. This map indicates that current crown closure varies widely, with many

areas having very open forest (10–30 percent crown closure)

and others dense forest (more than 45 percent).

A tree growth model, Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS,

USDA Forest Service 1999), was used with polygon data on

tree diameter class distribution and density to “degrow”

patches back to 1900, the time just before fire suppression

efforts may have begun on the landscape. FVS cannot be run

backward in time; however, through a trial and error process

Figure 3—Crown closure percent for the Cheesman Lake landscape. The 1996 map was developed from 1:6000 color

infrared photographs and a patch classification template based on plot data. The 1900 map was developed using the

Forest Vegetation Simulator to estimate conditions that, projected forward, yielded conditions observed in 1996.
14 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Kaufmann, Fornwalt, Huckaby, and Stoker Cheesman Lake—A Historical Ponderosa Pine Landscape Guiding Restoration...

average stand conditions can be identified for earlier periods

that, when grown forward, are comparable to current stand

conditions. Stand conditions for 1900 were accepted when

FVS projections to 1996 agreed well with current (1996)

estimates of stand size class distributions and densities.

While a number of simple assumptions about tree recruitment rates and mortality will be reexamined, an initial

version of the landscape condition in 1900 derived from

these calculations is shown in figure 3 (right). Differences

between 1996 and 1900 are dramatic, yet the very low forest

densities estimated for 1900 agree very well with age structure data for plots with 20th century trees removed and with

the open forest structure shown in historical photographs.

Historical photographs taken in 1896 near the site being

selected at the time for the Cheesman Lake dam (Denver

Water archives, Denver, Colorado) augment our understanding of forest structure at several locations in the Cheesman

Lake landscape prior to the effects of 20th century fire

suppression. While some grazing undoubtedly had occurred

late in the 19th century (primarily along the river), effects on

forest structure in the photographed areas are believed to be

negligible. Nor was logging a factor, based upon archived

records of logging history in the area (South Platte District

Office of the Pike/San Isabel National Forest). However, fire

suppression limited burning to a single wildfire smaller

than 100 ha in 1963. The photograph in figure 4 includes an

area in the foreground known to have burned in the 1880

fire, probably resulting in the dead trees on the ground.

Across the valley (which is presently part of the reservoir),

the far left background shows openings that we believe were

created by a fire in 1851. The area in the center across the

valley presently has many old trees, indicating it was largely

free of stand-replacing fire for at least several centuries,

even though fires occurred there in 1631, 1696, 1820, and

1880 (Brown and others 1999). Figure 4 and other historical

photographs of unlogged areas show a generally very low

historical forest density, a limited number of small trees,

and an understory dominated by grasses and shrubs.

Since fire suppression, however, stands have become

denser both in the Cheesman Lake landscape and in all

nearby areas where logging and grazing occurred. Ingrowth

of Douglas-fir is common on all aspects and has converted

many ponderosa pine stands into mixtures of the two species. Paired photographs in the Cheesman Lake landscape

from 1903 and 1999 (fig. 5) illustrate the change in forest

density and loss of openings (right background) along the

South Platte River just below the Cheesman Lake dam. A

notable exception to the increased forest density in the

Cheesman Lake landscape is the area burned in 1963. This

area, which had previously burned in 1851, was thinned

dramatically by the 1963 fire, leaving a forest structure

similar to that found in figure 4.

Polygon crown closure data were compared in GIS for the

1996 Cheesman Lake and adjacent Turkey Creek landscapes, and for the Cheesman Lake landscape degrown to

1900. The Turkey Creek polygon data were for a 4-km2 study

area just outside the historical landscape. This landscape

was logged in the 1890s and typifies other forests in the

South Platte watershed, though other areas logged earlier

may be denser. The landscape area for low, medium, and

high crown closure is shown in figure 6. These data suggest

that in 1996 only 55 percent of the Cheesman Lake landscape and 47 percent of the Turkey Creek landscape had

crown closures of 30 percent or less. However, we estimate

that in 1900 over 90 percent of the Cheesman Lake landscape had crown closures no greater than 30 percent. The

amount of the landscape having a crown closure of 30

percent or less is significant, because at these tree densities

fires usually do not spread from crown to crown. Though

preliminary, these estimates and historical photographs

support the widely held view that earlier ponderosa pine

forests in the Colorado Front Range were much less dense

than presently found.

Frame Model Component

History ________________________

The proportion of the overall landscape we estimated to be

occupied by each of the four patch conditions in figures 1 and

2 is shown in figure 7. The upper portion (Historical to

Settlement) depicts proportions that we believe occurred the

last several centuries before the effects of settlement. The

illustration refers only to upland areas and does not include

riparian areas (1–2 percent of the landscape) or meadows

existing along the South Platte River before the reservoir

was completed. The proportions are based on examinations

of tree ages for ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir trees over a

range of topographic conditions and over a large portion of

the landscape (Kaufmann and others 2000b; Huckaby and

others, this proceedings). As noted earlier, data indicate that

Figure 4—Historical photograph illustrating forest

density of the unlogged Cheesman Lake landscape in 1896. Photograph from archives of the

Denver Water Department.
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 15

Cheesman Lake—A Historical Ponderosa Pine Landscape Guiding Restoration... Kaufmann, Fornwalt, Huckaby, and Stoker

Figure 5—Paired photographs showing forest condition along the South Platte River just below the

Cheesman Lake dam in 1903 (left) and 1999 (right). The 1903 photograph is from archives of the

Denver Water Department.

Figure 6—Proportion of the landscape covered by forest in crown closure classes,

showing dramatic increases in crown closure since 1900. Cheesman Lake data for 1900

and 1996 are the same as shown in figure 3. Turkey Creek data for 1996 are for a logged

area adjacent to the Cheesman Lake landscape.
16 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Kaufmann, Fornwalt, Huckaby, and Stoker Cheesman Lake—A Historical Ponderosa Pine Landscape Guiding Restoration...

Figure 7—Estimated proportions for the four components of the ponderosa pine/

Douglas-fir forest landscape in the South Platte watershed. The period from

Historical to Settlement reflects information from Cheesman Lake in the absence

of logging, grazing, or fire suppression effects. The period from Settlement to

Current reflects changes in forest conditions found in much of the logged and

grazed South Platte watershed. The period from Current to Restored reflects

landscape changes that might occur under a restoration scenario.

before settlement most trees on east, south, and west slopes

were ponderosa pine, whereas Douglas-fir and ponderosa

pine occurred in roughly equal proportions on north slopes.

We estimate that about 15 percent of the landscape had

persistent old-growth patches (fig. 7). Pure ponderosa pine

patches (see table 1 for characteristics) probably accounted

for 35–50 percent of the landscape, primarily on east, south,

and west slopes. Ponderosa pine/Douglas-fir patches on

north slopes and portions of upper ridges may have accounted for 20–30 percent of the landscape, and at least 25

percent of the landscape was open, with no more than 10

percent tree crown closure. Undoubtedly these proportions

varied over time, especially when fires created openings,

reduced tree densities, or killed young Douglas-fir trees

invading patches. Furthermore, tree densities (represented

by shading in fig. 7) and the amount of Douglas-fir are likely

to have increased within each category as time since fire

increased.

The middle portion of figure 7 indicates general shifts we

estimate occurred in the forest components of areas outside

the historical landscape. These estimates are based on measurements in the adjacent logged Turkey Creek landscape

and on observations of forest structure throughout the South

Platte watershed. The shifts in patch proportions reflect the

effects of logging, grazing, fire suppression, and transplanting, all of which are likely to increase forest density. Logging

decreased the amount of persistent old growth. Grazing

probably reduced understory competition and allowed the

establishment of new seedlings, and the lack of fire allowed

the seedlings to survive. The result was a sharp increase in

forest density, expansion of the area having a significant

Douglas-fir component, and the loss of most openings that

temporarily increased during logging. The Current to Restored portion of figure 7 is discussed below.

Implications About Fire

Behavior _______________________

The current condition of ponderosa pine/Douglas-fir forests in the Colorado Front Range favors a crown fire regime,

with a high risk of catastrophic stand-replacing fires. The

Buffalo Creek fire in 1996, about 10 miles north of Cheesman

Lake, burned 4,800 ha (11,900 acres), of which 3,000 ha

(7,500 acres) was a crown fire that traveled 11 miles in 41

⁄

2

hours. Forest conditions here are similar to those throughout much of the West, with high tree densities favoring

crown fires (Covington and Moore 1994).
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 17

Cheesman Lake—A Historical Ponderosa Pine Landscape Guiding Restoration... Kaufmann, Fornwalt, Huckaby, and Stoker

Strong evidence suggests that the historical fire behavior

at Cheesman Lake followed a mixed severity fire regime,

which is characterized by a combination of surface fire and

patchy crown fire occurring within the fire perimeter. Data

suggest that many forest patches have an age cap, indicating

regeneration following a stand-replacing disturbance (fire),

while other patches nearby retained much older trees

(Huckaby and others, this proceedings; Kaufmann and others 2000b). We originally hypothesized that the mixed severity fire pattern creating the openings resulted from long

intervals between fires, during which stand density and fuel

ladder conditions increased. These conditions would have

led to forest patches burning by active crown fire (fire

spreading both on the surface and tree-to-tree). We now

suspect that low stand densities (crown closure under 35

percent) were the general condition in the historical landscape, and we hypothesize that the mixed severity fire

regime included passive crown fire (ignition from a surface

fire and not from adjacent crowns) as a major component,

because trees were generally too far apart to spread fire in

the crowns.

More open forests would likely have had a grassy understory, perhaps with a strong but patchy shrub component

including primarily mountain mahogany and currant. Local fire behavior specialists suggest that the transition

between grassy understory vegetation and a litter surface

fuel condition occurs between 30 and 40 percent crown

closure (Henry Goehle and Doug Steven, personal communication). While coarse-textured granitic soils and low

precipitation result in low overstory and understory productivity in the study area, particularly when the climate is

in dry cycles, more open stand conditions would favor better

(though patchy) understory production. Furthermore, fires

are most common during the decade-long pulses of tree

recruitment, when climatic conditions probably favor both

tree recruitment and understory production favorable for

surface fire (Kaufmann and others 2000b). If shrubs, low

limbs, or coarse woody debris accumulate beneath individual tree crowns, large numbers of trees may be killed by

passive crown fire. In addition, we suspect that small patches

of young trees may have occurred in some areas, and these

patches may have been burned by localized active crown

fires. Thus passive crown fire and very localized active

crown fires in young trees were probably major causes of

openings and low density forest in the South Platte ponderosa pine/Douglas-fir system.

Implications for Landscape

Restoration ____________________

Research at Cheesman Lake on characteristics of historical ponderosa pine/Douglas-fir landscapes provides a

sound basis for landscape restoration in surrounding areas

(Culver and others, this proceedings). Clearly the current

forest density and amount of Douglas-fir in these areas are

too high. The 11,900 acre Buffalo Creek fire in 1996 near the

Cheesman Lake landscape illustrated the huge risks of

wildfire and postfire erosion in these dense forests.

An ecologically sustainable landscape would have a forest

structure similar to that found historically, presuming that

climatic conditions have not changed substantially. The

lower portion of figure 7 suggests how changes in the four

primary components of the South Platte basin might be

returned to the landscape structure conditions found historically. The amount of persistent old growth, reduced

sharply by logging of old trees, requires considerable time for

restoration. However, many trees over 200 years exist in

logged areas examined in the Turkey Creek landscape adjacent to Cheesman Lake and in logged forests northeast of

Deckers in potential restoration areas, placing the age

structure well on the trajectory for reestablishing the persistent old-growth condition (Kaufmann 2000b). Restoration

activities should protect all old trees.

Openings existed historically but were lost since settlement. They can be recreated by removing trees, perhaps

through a combination of mechanical treatment and prescribed burning. The ponderosa pine component can be

restored by selective removal of Douglas-fir, and thinning

would reduce densities to levels found historically. Similar

treatments would reduce the spatial extent of the ponderosa

pine/Douglas-fir component.

A landscape assessment for the South Platte watershed

identified several large subwatersheds at high risk of wildfire and postfire erosion (Culver and others, this proceedings).

These areas are close to the Cheesman Lake landscape, and

they have similar topography, soils, and climate. Restoring

historical conditions is likely to address the two major

issues of the Upper South Platte Watershed Protection and

Restoration Project (Culver and others, this proceedings):

(1) restoration of the landscape to an ecologically sustainable condition, and (2) mitigation of the risk of large-scale

crown fires and postfire erosion. The changes in landscape

components in the lower portion of figure 7 address both of

these issues.

It is unrealistic to expect the entire South Platte watershed to be restored to historical conditions in a short amount

of time. Furthermore, in some places the historical condition

may not be the desirable outcome. However, with priorities

established by the landscape assessment for the South

Platte watershed, restoration of portions of the overall

watershed can be staged to create fuel breaks that reduce the

risk of large-scale crown fires such as that in Buffalo Creek

in 1996.

References _____________________

Arno, S. F., Scott, J. H., and Hartwell, M.G. 1995. Age-class structure of old growth ponderosa pine/Douglas-fir stands and its

relationship to fire history. Research Paper INT-RP-481. Ogden,

UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station. 25 p.

Brown, P. M., Kaufmann, M. R., and Shepperd, W. D. 1999. Longterm, landscape patterns of past fire events in a ponderosa pine

forest of central Colorado. Landscape Ecology 14: 513–532.

Cooper, C. F. 1960. Changes in vegetation, structure, and growth of

Southwestern pine forest since white settlement. Ecological Monographs 30: 129–164.

Covington, W. W. and Moore, M. M. 1994. Southwestern ponderosa

forest structure—changes since Euro-American settlement. Journal of Forestry 92: 39–47.

Culver, S., C. Dean, F. Patten, and J. Thinnes. 2001. Upper South

Platte Watershed Protection and Restoration Project. (These

proceedings.)

Fulé, P. Z., Covington, W. W., and Moore, M. M. 1997. Determining

reference conditions for ecosystem management of Southwestern

ponderosa pine forests. Ecological Applications 7: 895–908.
18 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Kaufmann, Fornwalt, Huckaby, and Stoker Cheesman Lake—A Historical Ponderosa Pine Landscape Guiding Restoration...

Goldblum, D. and Veblen, T. T. 1992. Fire history of a ponderosa

pine/Douglas-fir forest in the Colorado Front Range. Physical

Geography 13: 133–148.

Huckaby, L. S., Kaufmann, M. R., Stoker, J. M, and Fornwalt, P. J.

Landscape patterns of montane forest age structure relative to

fire history at Cheesman Lake in the Colorado Front Range.

(These proceedings.)

Jack, J. G. 1900. Pikes Peak, Plum Creek, and South Platte Reserves. Part V, Forest Reserves, 20th Annual Report, U.S. Geological Survey, 1898–99. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC: 39–115.

Kaufmann, M. R., Huckaby, L. S., and Gleason, P. 2000a. Ponderosa

pine in the Colorado Front Range: long historical fire and tree

recruitment intervals and a case for landscape heterogeneity. In

Neuenschwander, L. F., Ryan, K. C., Gollberg, G. E., and Greer,

J. D., editors. Crossing the millennium: integrating spatial technologies and ecological principles for a new age in fire management. University of Idaho and International Association of Wildland Fire. Moscow, Idaho. Vol. 1: 153–160.

Kaufmann, M. R., C. M. Regan, and P. M. Brown. 2000b. Heterogeneity in ponderosa pine/Douglas-fir forests: age and size structure in unlogged and logged landscapes of central Colorado.

Canadian Journal of Forest Research 30: 698–711.

Mast, J. N., Fulé, P. Z., Moore, M. M., Covington, W. W., and

Waltz, A. E. M. 1999. Restoration of presettlement age structure of an Arizona ponderosa pine forest. Ecological Applications 9: 228–239.

Moore, M. M., Covington, W. W., and Fulé, P. Z. 1999. Reference

conditions and ecological restoration: a Southwestern ponderosa

pine perspective. Ecological Applications 9: 1266–1277.

Pearson, G. A. 1933. A twenty-year record of changes in an Arizona

pine forest. Ecology 17: 270–276.

Peet, R. K. 1981. Forest vegetation of the Colorado Front Range.

Vegetatio 45: 3–75.

Starfield, A. M., Cumming, D. H. M, Taylor, R. D., and Quadling, M. S.

1993. A frame-based paradigm for dynamic ecosystem models.

Artificial Intelligence Applications 7: 1–13.

Swetnam, T. W. and Baisan, C. H.1996. Historical fire regime patterns

in the Southwestern United States since AD 1700. In C. D. Allen

(editor), Proceedings of the Second La Mesa Fire Symposium. USDA

Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. GTR-RM-286: 11–32.

Swetnam, T., Allen, C. D., and Betancourt, J. L. 1999. Applied historical ecology: using the past to manage for the future. Ecological

Applications 9: 1189–1206.

Tobler, M. 2000. Spatial heterogeneity in a protected ponderosa

pine forest. MS thesis, Colorado State University, Fort Collins,

Colorado. 92 p.

USDA Forest Service. 1999. Forest vegetation simulator. USDA

Forest Service Forest Management Service Center website at

http://www.fs.fed.us/fmsc/fvs.

Veblen, T. and Lorenz, D. C. 1986. Anthropogenic disturbance and

recovery patterns in montane forests, Colorado Front Range.

Physical Geography 7: 1–24.

White, A. S. 1985. Presettlement regeneration patterns in a Southwestern ponderosa pine stand. Ecology 66: 589–594.

Woolsey, T. S., Jr. 1911. Western yellow pine in Arizona and New

Mexico. U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service Bulletin

101. 64 p.
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 19

In: Vance, Regina K.; Edminster, Carleton B.; Covington, W. Wallace;

Blake, Julie A. comps. 2001. Ponderosa pine ecosystems restoration and

conservation: steps toward stewardship; 2000 April 25–27; Flagstaff, AZ.

Proceedings RMRS-P-22. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture,

Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station.

Laurie S. Huckaby is an Ecologist, Merrill R. Kaufmann is a Research

Forest Ecologist, Jason M. Stoker and Paula J. Fornwalt are Biological

Technicians at the USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station,

Fort Collins, CO.

Abstract—Lack of Euro-American disturbance, except fire suppression, has preserved the patterns of forest structure that resulted from the presettlement disturbance regime in a ponderosa

pine/Douglas-fir landscape at Cheesman Lake in the Colorado

Front Range. A mixed-severity fire regime and variable timing of

tree recruitment created a heterogeneous forest age structure with

considerable old growth. Surrounding forests subjected to human

alteration since the late 1800s are younger, denser, and more

continuous. We present preliminary data from a study of fire history

and age structure. We mapped forest patches based on tree size and

density using color-infrared aerial photos, then randomly sampled

10 percent of these patches across the 35 km2 landscape for the ages

of the five apparent oldest trees. Trees older than 200 years were

found in 70 percent of sampled stands. Trees older than 400 years

were found in 30 percent of sampled stands, suggesting that old

growth was common and widespread in historical landscapes in the

Front Range. We compared the stand ages with locations of known

fire dates derived from fire scars. Concentrations of trees that

postdate known fires indicate a past stand-replacing fire. Such

postfire cohorts are discernible as far back as 1531 A.D. Of 21

fires recorded by scars between 1531 and 1880, 16 appear to have

had a stand-replacing component, and seven known fires predate

71 percent of the postfire cohorts. Time between stand-replacing

disturbance and tree establishment varied considerably between

sites, but generally ranged from 20 to 50 years. Some openings

began to regenerate within 10 years after fire, while others remain

unforested 150 years later.

Introduction ____________________

Most scientists and managers acknowledge that old-growth

forest was more common in Western ponderosa pine landscapes before Euro-American settlement than it is now

Landscape Patterns of Montane Forest

Age Structure Relative to Fire History

at Cheesman Lake in the Colorado

Front Range

Laurie S. Huckaby

Merrill R. Kaufmann

Jason M. Stoker

Paula J. Fornwalt

(Regan 1997; Baker 1992; Kaufmann and others 1992;

Moir 1992; Veblen and Lorenz 1991). Old-growth ponderosa

pine forests with large, open-grown trees generally older

than 200 years were more heavily impacted by logging and

grazing during and immediately after the settlement period

than younger stands (Covington and Moore 1994; Cooper

1960). Managers attempting forest restoration in ponderosa

pine landscapes of the West face several questions: what

constitutes old-growth forest in their ecosystems? How

much old growth existed historically, and how was it distributed? What were the disturbance regimes that regulated

landscape structure? How much old growth remains on the

present landscape, and how can we recreate a more historical and sustainable forest structure? In many locations,

these questions are largely unanswerable. No old growth

remains that developed under historical disturbance regimes. Where old growth does exist, it is often small, isolated

stands that were preserved by their inaccessibility or lack of

productivity, and does not necessarily reflect the historical

distribution of old-growth forest on the landscape.

Reconstructing historical disturbance regimes is essential for understanding the processes that regulated forest

structure and the distribution of old growth across the

landscape (Veblen and others 2000; Mast and others 1999;

Fulé and others 1997; Brown and Sieg 1996; Swetnam and

Baisan 1996; Brown 1995; Veblen and Lorenz 1986). The

spatial and temporal scale of historical disturbances determined the distribution, extent, character, and persistence of

old-growth stands. Using the age structure of present forests, particularly in relatively undisturbed stands, is one

way to reconstruct historical forests (Mast and others 1999;

Arno and others 1995; Duncan and Stewart 1991). However,

because remaining old stands are often small and isolated,

it is difficult to extrapolate to a larger scale.

We have been fortunate to study a relatively undisturbed

ponderosa pine landscape of 35 km2 in the Colorado Front

Range. The land surrounding Cheesman Lake, on the South

Platte River, experienced only minimal, localized logging

and grazing before 1900, unlike most montane forests in the

Front Range. While fire suppression since 1900 has allowed

for some ingrowth of trees and increased prevalence of

young Douglas-fir, the lack of other anthropogenic disturbance has preserved the distribution of presettlement trees

that resulted from the historical disturbance regime. The

cool, dry climate has preserved remnant wood, allowing us
20 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Huckaby, Kaufmann, Stoker, and Fornwalt Landscape Patterns of Montane Forest Age Structure Relative to Fire History at Cheesman Lake ...

to reconstruct the fire history back to 1197 A.D. (Brown and

others 1999). The historical mixed-severity fire regime and

variable timing of tree establishment in the ponderosa pine/

Douglas-fir forest created an older and more heterogeneous

age structure than that found in surrounding areas that

have experienced more human alteration since the mid-19th

century (Kaufmann and others 2000a). The size of the

protected area has allowed us to study a historical landscape

on a scale similar to that at which we believe historical

disturbance regimes actually operated, and gives us some

sense of the scale of patterning in the landscape. We present

preliminary data from a landscape-scale study comparing

forest age structure and fire history.

Background and Methods ________

The Cheesman Lake Landscape

The Cheesman Lake landscape is 3,040 ha of land area,

excluding the lake, located in the montane forest zone, about

60 km southwest of Denver. Elevations range from 2,100 m

at the water level of the reservoir to 2,400 m on the west side

of the lake. The vegetation at Cheesman Lake is dry ponderosa pine/Douglas-fir forest (Pinus ponderosa/Pseudotsuga

menziesii) (Peet 1991). Understories are typically grassy or

shrubby or both; denser forests have very sparse understories. Most of the botanical diversity in this landscape is

concentrated in the relatively small riparian areas around

streams, many of which are intermittent. These forests were

historically open, with the Douglas-fir concentrated on northerly slopes (Kaufmann and others 2000b). Aspen (Populus

tremuloides), blue spruce (Picea pungens), Rocky Mountain

juniper (Juniperus scopulorum), and narrow-leaf cottonwood (Populus angustifolia) are typically found in riparian

areas, but are more common outside the study area. Soils

are gravelly coarse sandy loams derived from weathered

Pikes Peak granite (USDA Forest Service 1992). They are

very well drained and erosive. Average annual precipitation

is around 40 cm (USDA Forest Service 1992), and there is no

persistent winter snowpack. Summer precipitation comes

mainly in the form of erratic thunderstorms that produce

much lightning.

The native inhabitants since at least 1700 were nomadic

Utes (Cassells 1983), whose activity was probably confined

to the river corridor and other reliable sources of water

before 1880 (A. Kane, Pike NF Archaeologist, personal

communication; De Lay 1989). Bison may have grazed in the

area before 1880 (De Lay 1989). Euro-American settlement

began in the Front Range after 1859, but did not become

heavy until the 1870s–1890s. Logging and ranching began

downstream from the Cheesman property during that period, and reached forests adjacent to Cheesman in the late

1890s. The Cheesman Lake property is presently owned and

managed by Denver Water. The dam on the South Platte

River that created the reservoir was completed in 1905

(Denver Water archives). At the same time, a six-strand

barbed wire fence was erected around the entire property to

exclude grazing. The forest on the property was not cut

except for logging below the present water line. Grazing has

been excluded since 1905, and was probably light before that

time. There was little mining in the area, though placer

claims did exist along the river where the reservoir now lies

(Denver Water archives). Fire has been suppressed on the

Cheesman Lake property since the time of dam construction. The only fire that burned significant acreage within the

landscape since 1880 occurred in 1963, burning about 25 ha

on the south end of the property before it was extinguished

(Bill Newberry, Denver Water, personal communication).

Sampling Scheme

We mapped the Cheesman Lake landscape from 1:6000

color-infrared aerial photographs, drawing polygons around

visually ecologically distinct areas. We classified polygons

based on tree density and size distribution as either forested

or nonforested (rocks, water, grass, riparian shrubs, less

than 10 percent tree canopy cover), and estimated forest

canopy cover by 10 percent classes. We were unable to

differentiate between ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir on the

color-infrared photographs. We scanned the polygon maps

into digital form and georectified them by overlaying them

onto the digital orthoquarterquad using ArcInfo.

We randomly selected 10 percent of the mapped forested

polygons from our GIS database for sampling. Sampled

polygons varied in size, from less than 0.1 ha to 33 ha; the

average size of sampled forested polygons was 3.3 ± 2.0 ha.

The total area of the sampled polygons, 680 ha, represents

22 percent of the total land area. Within each polygon, we

selected the five living trees that appeared to be the oldest,

or to represent the oldest cohort, and cored them at approximately 35 cm above the ground. Where trees were rotten, or

there appeared to be more than one older cohort, we took

more than five cores and included those ages in our analysis.

In some stands, all of the trees appeared to be old; in other

stands, a few old trees were present among younger trees.

Where there were no old trees at all, we selected the dominants. The correlation between size and age on our sites is

very poor. Some of the largest trees on favorable sites are

only around 150 years old, while some of the oldest trees on

dry slopes range from 25 to 35 cm d.b.h.

Ponderosa pine trees begin to take on distinctive characteristics at around 200 years of age (Kaufmann 1996). We

used these characteristics to identify the old trees in stands

(fig. 1). Old ponderosa pines have smoother, lighter colored

bark, smaller live crown ratio, and more flattened crowns

than young trees. Dead tops are common, as are fire scars,

lightning scars, and other injuries. Old Douglas-fir trees

also have distinctive characteristics, including thick, deeply

fissured bark and relatively small live crown ratios; crowns

tend to be sparser, rounder, and less conical than those of

young trees. As with pines, dead tops and injuries become

more common over time.

Tree-Ring Dating

We used standard dendrochronological cross-dating techniques to age our sampled trees (Swetnam and others 1985;

Stokes and Smiley 1968). Cores were surfaced with progressively finer grits of sandpaper to 400 grit and cross-dated

under a stereomicroscope, using the chronology developed
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 21

Landscape Patterns of Montane Forest Age Structure Relative to Fire History at Cheesman Lake ... Huckaby, Kaufmann, Stoker, and Fornwalt

for dating the Cheesman Lake fire history (Brown and

others 1999). It extends from 1107 A.D. to 2000 A.D.

We cored trees as close as possible to the pith. We determined the approximate germination date of sampled trees

by estimating rings to the pith using the concentric circle

method (Applequist 1958), and we estimated the number of

years required for a tree to grow to coring height of 35 cm

based on aging destructively sampled small trees on good

and poor sites (Kaufmann and others 2000a; Mast and

others 1998). Growth times to 35 cm ranged from 5 years for

ponderosa pines on good sites to 18 years for Douglas-fir on

poor sites.

Our fire history was constructed from fire-scarred living

trees and remnant material sampled at sites subjectively

located across the Cheesman lake landscape, and is reported

in Brown and others (1999). Fire scars were sampled by

cutting a cross-section or partial cross-section through the

fire-scarred face of a tree, snag, or log with a chainsaw.

Sections were surfaced and cross-dated using the chronology

developed for Cheesman Lake.

Old Growth and Fire History ______

Historical Fire Regime

We believe that individual historical fire events at

Cheesman Lake burned with variable intensity. Under less

extreme conditions, surface fires consumed grassy fuels and

scarred but did not kill mature trees. Buried fire scars on

some samples are evidence of fires light enough to scar but

not kill trees 2–5 cm in diameter. Where fuels were heavy or

in high winds, fires could be intense enough to kill all of the

trees in an area. Stands on south- and west-facing slopes

may have been so sparsely forested that fires killed trees

only under extreme conditions. Modeling with FARSITE

indicates that considerable wind is required to advance a fire

in this environment even after decades of fire suppression,

and is particularly necessary for crown fire (unpublished

data; see Kaufmann and others, this proceedings). Fuel

buildups from a series of wet years followed by dry weather

probably also contributed to large, intense fires (Veblen and

others 2000).

Seasonality of scars from the more widespread fires encompasses the entire growing season (mid-June to early

September) and the dormant season, which could be either

fall or spring, both usually dry periods (Brown and others

1999). Historically, fires that started early in the season may

have burned across the landscape throughout the summer

until snowfall put them out. Lightning is very common from

April through September and per year ignites 10 to 12 fires,

which are presently suppressed (Bill Newberry, Denver

Water, personal communication). The Native American influence on historical ignitions is unknown.

The mean fire interval (MFI) at Cheesman Lake depends

on the scale at which it is observed. The length of fire-free

interval is inversely proportional to the size of area over

which the intervals are assessed; larger areas have shorter

intervals. Any given location on the Cheesman landscape

might historically have gone as much as 128 years between

fires. For the full period of analysis (1285 to 1963 A.D.) over

the entire landscape, the MFI was 9.2 years ±7 years (Brown

and others 1999). However, this includes fires of all intensities and many localized fires. When the fire scar sample area

was divided into smaller areas of 0.5 to 2 km2

, the MFI for

all individual areas between 1496 A.D. to 1880 A.D. was

50.0 years, ±17.2 years (Kaufmann and others, this proceedings). When we consider only the larger scale fires that

burned more than 5 km2

, based on the distribution of fire

scars, the MFI between 1496 and 1880 was 42.7 years, ±12.7

years, with a range of 27 to 65 years between fires (Kaufmann

and others, this proceedings). Large-scale fires tended to

alternate across the landscape; for example, the northern

area that burned in 1696 did not burn in 1723. However,

many areas that had burned in 1723 also burned in 1851, but

not in 1820. Only the fire in 1631 scarred trees at every

sampling location.

Figure 2 shows generalized minimum extents of the widespread fires based on locations where fire scars from that

year were collected (Brown and others 1999). Many other

fire years were recorded as far back as 1197 A.D., but

sample depth declines dramatically before 1500 A.D. Note

that fire scar sampling did not extend beyond the area

mapped for the 1631 fire and was generally confined to

Figure 1—This ponderosa pine germinated around

1447 A.D. It exhibits classic old-growth characteristics.

The other trees sampled on this dry, south-facing slope

dated to the mid-18th century.
22 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Huckaby, Kaufmann, Stoker, and Fornwalt Landscape Patterns of Montane Forest Age Structure Relative to Fire History at Cheesman Lake ...

the Cheesman property, except for an area southeast of

the Cheesman boundary, so actual fire areas were probably

larger than those shown. The Cheesman Lake landscape

seems to encompass the total area of some historical fires

and not of others. The South Platte River does not seem to

have been a significant firebreak, as fires predating the

reservoir were recorded on both sides of the river. Historical

photos and predam survey maps (courtesy of Denver Water

archives) show that the valley where Cheesman Lake currently lies was fairly flat and grassy, so fire probably spread

rapidly across it. Suppression of spreading fires outside of

the property may have had as much effect on the decline in

fire frequency in the 20th century as suppression within the

property.

Age Distribution and Old Growth

Old growth is a complex ecological concept, based not only

on the ages of the oldest trees, but also on stand structural

and functional characteristics (Kaufmann and others 1992;

Moir 1992). Old-growth stands contribute to biodiversity by

providing habitat for wildlife and late successional plant

species. Ponderosa pine stands begin to take on old-growth

characteristics around 200 years of age. Old stands tend to

have more snags and coarse woody debris, large trees for the

site conditions, old trees, and a variety of trees of younger

ages. Such stands evolved under presettlement disturbance

regimes. Even in relatively undisturbed places such as

Cheesman Lake, fire suppression has changed the structure of old stands by allowing ingrowth of young trees,

especially Douglas-fir. Where logging has occurred, the

distribution and prevalence of old-growth stands in

presettlement times is difficult to determine (Mast and

others 1999; Regan 1997).

Our data indicate that old stands were common and widely

distributed in unlogged montane forests around Cheesman

Lake. Figure 3 shows the locations of our sampled polygons

classified into age categories based on the age of the oldest

tree collected. At Cheesman Lake, where the historical age

structure persists, 70 percent of the sampled polygons had

trees 200 years old or older; 30 percent of sampled polygons

had trees more than 400 years of age. In 30 percent of

polygons, all trees sampled were less than 200 years old,

indicating more recent stand-replacing disturbance in a

Figure 2—Generalized extents of large fires with stand-replacing components, based on the locations of trees sampled

for the fire history. Compare these with polygons postdating these fires in figure 5. Because fire scar sampling was

confined to the Cheesman property, the actual areas of the fires may be larger than shown. (Maps are developed from

Brown and others 1999.)
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 23

Landscape Patterns of Montane Forest Age Structure Relative to Fire History at Cheesman Lake ... Huckaby, Kaufmann, Stoker, and Fornwalt

third of the sampled landscape. These younger stands were

concentrated in the southeast part of the property where

the 1851 fire burned. The oldest stands were concentrated

in the northwest quadrant of the property, though stands

with old trees were fairly evenly distributed over the

landscape.

Though old trees were widespread among our samples,

very old trees were relatively uncommon, reflecting the fact

that many stands have a few old trees surrounded by trees

of younger cohorts. Only 10 percent of the sampled trees

were more than 400 years old; 40 percent of trees were 200–

400 years old. Trees less than 200 years old constituted 50

percent of the trees sampled as the oldest in the stands.

Douglas-fir has always been a component of the landscape,

though it is probably more abundant and widespread now

than in the past. Of 1,279 cores sampled and dated from the

Cheesman Lake landscape, 86 percent (1,108) were ponderosa pine and 13 percent (171) were Douglas-fir. The estimated germination year of the oldest living ponderosa pine

collected was 1395 A.D. The estimated germination year of

the oldest Douglas-fir collected was 1459 A.D. The oldest

trees in most polygons were ponderosa pines, but 25 polygons out of 224 had a Douglas-fir as the oldest tree.

The oldest trees in most stands appear to have an upper

age limit postdating a documented fire in the area. These

stands with an age cap are the most common stand structure

in the landscape (Kaufmann and others, this proceedings).

However, some stands seemed to have no identifiable

initiating event. The ages of sampled trees in these stands

were continuous over a long time, with no concentrations of

ages (for example, truly uneven-aged). Some were more than

600 years old. We call these stands persistent old growth

(Kaufmann and others, this proceedings; fig. 4). Such

stands apparently have not experienced a stand-replacing

event in the lifetimes of the trees. Their structure seems to

be regulated by microsite events such as heartrot, windthrow,

individual tree insect infestation, or mistletoe. Fire scars are

usually present in these stands, indicating periodic surface

fire, but age distributions do not suggest a stand-initiating

event that coincides with any recorded fire in the area. Such

stands constituted 16 percent of sampled polygons. Persistent old growth occurs in all parts of the landscape, but is

concentrated in the northwestern quadrant. Some stands

classified as persistent old growth may in fact postdate early

fires for which no scar record exists. Further analysis is

required to determine what factors allow the persistence of

such stands.

Figure 3—Distribution of old growth among sampled

stands, based on the age of the oldest tree cored in the

polygon. Thirty percent of sampled stands had all trees

younger than 200 years; 40 percent had the oldest trees

between 200 and 400 years old, and 30 percent had the

oldest trees older than 400 years.

Figure 4—Persistent old growth. These stands have very

old trees with no evidence of a stand-initiating event. They

are characterized by a continuum of tree ages, including

trees more than 400 years of age, old trees dying from

microscale disturbances such as mistletoe infestation,

windthrow, or lightning strike, and coarse woody debris on

the ground. Fire scars are sometimes present, indicating

that surface fires have burned in the stands without killing

all of the trees.
24 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Huckaby, Kaufmann, Stoker, and Fornwalt Landscape Patterns of Montane Forest Age Structure Relative to Fire History at Cheesman Lake ...

Age Structure and Fire Regime

Determining the ages of the oldest trees in a stand and

comparing them to known fire dates in the area gives us

some idea of where stand-replacing fire burned in individual

fire years. Age structure has been used to approximate the

dates of stand-replacing fires elsewhere (Mast and others

1999; Arno and others 1995; Goldblum and Veblen 1992;

Duncan and Stewart 1991). Concentrations of trees that

postdate known fires suggest the forest in that location

burned in a stand-replacing fire. In an attempt to determine the locations of stand-replacing components of

known fires, we compared the estimated germination dates

of the oldest trees sampled in the polygons with the dates of

fire scar records in the vicinity. Of 21 fires recorded over the

entire landscape from 1531 to 1880, 16 appeared to have a

crown fire component detectable in the age structure of

sampled trees. Seventy-one percent of sampled polygons

clearly postdated one of seven major fire events over the last

470 years (1531, 1534, 1587, 1631, 1723, 1851, 1880), suggesting that those events had a significant stand-replacing

component (fig. 5).

This approach has limitations that become more restrictive to interpretation the further back in time we go. We can

only assess the residual polygons, in other words, those that

have survived subsequent fires. For example, a polygon in

which the forest appears to postdate the 1851 fire might also

have burned as a stand-replacing fire in 1631, but evidence

of the stand that initiated after 1631 has been destroyed by

more recent stand-replacing fire. Therefore, figure 5 is a

conservative estimate of the number of polygons that postdate known historical fires. Only polygons burned in 1851

and 1880 have not been burned over by subsequent fires.

Similarly, evidence of surface fire in the form of scarred trees

may have been obliterated by subsequent disturbances, so

the mapped extents of the fires based on scars is also

conservative. It is also certain that the mosaic of forest

stands of different age and size structure (which we mapped

as polygons) has shifted over time as the result of disturbances. The polygon map of 1630 probably would have

looked very different from the one of today.

Locations of sampled polygons that appear to postdate

known stand-initiating fires are shown in figure 6. The

earliest scar-recorded fire that clearly predated some sampled

stands was in 1531 A.D. (figs. 2 and 6). This fire burned in

both the far northern and southern parts of the Cheesman

Lake landscape. Evidence of this fire in the central portion

of the landscape may have been obliterated by subsequent

fires. Nine sampled polygons located within the fire boundary (as defined by the locations of fire-scarred samples)

postdated this fire, yet initiated before the next known fire

in the area. A fire in 1534 A.D. burned the central and southcentral two-thirds of the Cheesman Lake landscape. The

oldest trees in 22 polygons postdated this fire (fig. 5). A fire

in 1587 burned the southeastern part of the Cheesman Lake

landscape. Ten polygons clearly postdated this fire.

The fire in 1631 was recorded by scars at all of the

sampling locations throughout the landscape, and 36 polygons appear to postdate this fire, mostly in the central and

northern part of the landscape (figs. 5 and 6). Scars from a

fire in 1696 were widespread over the northern and central

Figure 5—The number of sampled polygons where the

oldest tree postdated a known fire in the area, by fire

year. Seventy-one percent of sampled polygons clearly

postdated one of seven major fires over the last 470

years (1531, 1534, 1587, 1631, 1723, 1851, 1880),

indicating that those events had a significant standreplacing component. A total of 21 fires were recorded

by fire scars during that period, of which 16 seem to have

had some crown fire component. Fifteen percent of the

polygons sampled were classified as persistent old

growth, with no clear stand-initiating event evident in the

ages of the oldest trees.

Figure 6—We mapped the distribution of apparent

stand-replacing fire events in the sampled polygons.

This map shows the recorded fire that probably predated the oldest trees in each sampled polygon. Stands

that did not appear to have a clear initiating event are

labeled persistent old growth.

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

Fire year

1531

1558

1534

1568

1587

170

1723

0

1616

1631

1696

17

1798

1820

1841

75

PO

1880

1851

Number of polygons
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 25

Landscape Patterns of Montane Forest Age Structure Relative to Fire History at Cheesman Lake ... Huckaby, Kaufmann, Stoker, and Fornwalt

part of the landscape, but relatively few stands (except for

some on the northwest side of the river) postdate this fire.

The fire in 1631 may have left large areas unsusceptible to

stand-replacing fire 1696. A fire in 1723 burned the southern half of the landscape, on both sides of the river. Much

of the evidence of stand initiation after this fire may have

been obliterated by the fire in 1851, which burned much of

the same area. A fire in 1775 scarred widely distributed trees

on the east side of the river, but apparently had only a small

stand-replacing component. Similarly, a fire on the north

half of the landscape in 1820 scarred widespread trees but

initiated few stands. These may have been less intense

surface fires in the very open landscape left in the wake of

fires in 1631 and 1723. This was also a fairly cool and wet

period (P. Brown, personal communication).

Fire-created openings persisted for variable lengths of

time, depending on when conditions favored tree establishment in subsequent years (Kaufmann and others 2000a),

and whether the location experienced another disturbance

before the trees were large enough to survive it. Tobler

(2000) sampled vegetation in openings at Cheesman Lake

and found coarse woody debris in all but one of them,

indicating that they had been forested in the past. Death

dates on the down logs indicate that the openings were

created by a fire in 1851, and remained unforested 149 years

later. Fire scars found nearby suggest that the northern

part of the area may have burned again in 1880, slowing

tree regeneration.

When we compared the ages of the oldest trees sampled

in the polygons with the dates of nearby fire scars, we saw

highly variable intervals between fire and tree establishment. Time to regeneration in sampled polygons ranged

between 0 and 95 years, but generally occurred within 15 to

30 years, with an overall average of 18 years (table 1). Tree

ages collected in other plots in the southeast part of the

property were also compared to fire scar dates in the vicinity.

Some of them appear to have regenerated immediately,

while others seem to have remained unforested for as many

as 107 years (Kaufmann and others 2000b). We believe this

phenomenon is due to climate and episodic periods of regeneration (Kaufmann and others 2000a). If a fire occurred at

the beginning of a period favorable for tree establishment,

even south-facing slopes could regenerate quickly, but if the

fire occurred at the end of such a period, regeneration would

be limited until the next favorable period.

The mean regeneration period after the seven major fires

with stand-replacing components was 22 years. Regeneration was slower in the northwest quadrant of the landscape,

where the oldest stands were concentrated. Time to regeneration there averaged 30 years after a fire, with a range of

0 to 93 years, while the southeast quadrant averaged only

12 years to tree regeneration, with a range of 0 to 57 years.

Interpretation of these data is complicated by how long ago

some of the recruitment occurred. Establishment time for

both species was highly variable, but where Douglas-fir was

among the oldest trees, it established more quickly on

average, within 15 years, while ponderosa pine averaged 21

years to establish following fire. However, Douglas-fir was

more often found on north- and east-facing slopes where

establishment conditions were probably better.

The fire in 1851 burned the southern two-thirds of the

landscape. Openings created by this fire still persist on

south- and west-facing slopes (fig. 7). Vegetation in these

openings is mainly bunchgrass, or bunchgrass and shrubs,

primarily mountain mahogany (Cerocarpus montanus) and

wax currant (Ribes cereum). Trees began to invade these

openings between 1880 and 1920. The northern part of

Table 1—Years to tree regeneration following historical stand-replacing

fires.

Stand-replacing Mean years Standard

fire year to regeneration deviation

1531 32.9 21.4

1534 25.6 18.7

1558 16.0 0

1568 16.8 14.7

1587 18.3 10.7

1616 11.0 0

1631 32.5 17.4

1696 24.6 27.3

1700 14.7 8.5

1723 20.4 17.6

1775 25.6 20.8

1798 20.5 2.5

1820 6.2 20.6

1841 0 0

1851 13.6 11.6

1880 10.1 7.3

Average time between

fire and regeneration 18.0 9.3

(all stand-replacing years)

range: 0 to 33

Figure 7—These openings were created by the 1851

fire, based on death dates from the coarse woody debris

that is scattered throughout. Vegetation in openings may

be grassy or a combination of grass and shrubs, primarily Cerocarpus montanus and Ribes cereum. Parts of

these openings also may have burned in the 1880 fire.
26 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Huckaby, Kaufmann, Stoker, and Fornwalt Landscape Patterns of Montane Forest Age Structure Relative to Fire History at Cheesman Lake ...

these openings may have burned again in 1880, as scars

from this fire spatially overlap the ones from 1851. Areas

adjacent to the present openings also appear to have burned

in stand-replacing fires in 1851, but have now regenerated

to young forest on north- and east-facing slopes. Shrubs

common in the openings persist in the understories.

Fire, Old Growth, and Restoration Efforts

Our data suggest that old trees and old stands were

historically common in the montane zone of the Colorado

Front Range. The presettlement fire regime was spatially

and temporally a mixture of surface fire and stand-replacing

fire, which maintained open stands interspersed with areas

that remained treeless for decades at a time. Logging,

grazing, and fire suppression have altered this condition in

much of the Front Range, creating a forest that is younger,

denser, and more continuous than the presettlement norm

and converting fire behavior from a mixed severity fire

regime to a crown fire regime. Recent rapid growth of the

human population has created an extensive urban-wildland

interface in the Front Range that is at risk from wildfire, and

water sources are also in danger from postfire erosion

(Culver and others, this proceedings).

Restoring the landscape to an ecologically sustainable

condition by recreating a more historical forest structure

may mitigate the risk of intense, large-scale wildfires and

subsequent erosion (Kaufmann and others 2000b). Restoration efforts should consider the role and distribution of old

growth on the landscape, and its relationship to disturbance

regime. It is important to conserve the old trees that still

exist on the landscape and to select trees for retention that

will grow into an old-growth condition in a reasonable

amount of time (Mast and others 1999; Fulé and others

1997; Kaufmann and others 1994). It is also important to

restore a disturbance regime that allows the old trees to

persist, for example, periodic surface fire that removes

ingrowth without killing the old trees. Mechanical thinning

may be required to allow for prescribed fires of appropriate

intensities, especially in areas with considerable young

ingrowth. However, restoring an ecologically sustainable

landscape with a historical structure requires creation and

maintenance of unforested openings, so treatments including both thinning and prescribed fires must be locally intense enough to replace some stands at longer intervals.

Front Range forests are not as productive, in terms of trees

or understory, as those in the Southwest, and their historical

fire regime was less frequent and more variable in intensity,

so the Southwestern model cannot be correctly applied here

(Veblen and others 2000; Brown and Sieg 1996; Swetnam

and Baisan 1996; Goldblum and Veblen 1992). Because fire

and tree regeneration historically occurred at long, often

coincident intervals, the timing of restoration efforts may be

important for successful maintenance of openings.

Acknowledgments ______________

We thank Craig Ducey, Heather Lyons, and Lucy

Triffleman for field assistance, Ginger Bradshaw for field

and GIS assistance, and Peter Brown for advice on

dendrochronology.

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28 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

In: Vance, Regina K.; Edminster, Carleton B.; Covington, W. Wallace;

Blake, Julie A. comps. 2001. Ponderosa pine ecosystems restoration and

conservation: steps toward stewardship; 2000 April 25–27; Flagstaff, AZ.

Proceedings RMRS-P-22. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture,

Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station.

Peter Z. Fulé is Assistant Research Professor, Thomas A. Heinlein is

Senior Research Specialist, and W. Wallace Covington is Regents’ Professor

and Director, Ecological Restoration Institute, Northern Arizona University, P.O. Box 15018, Flagstaff, AZ 86011 (pete.fule@nau.edu). Charles

McHugh is Forester, Mormon Lake Ranger District, Coconino National

Forest, Flagstaff, AZ 86001 (cmchugh@fs.fed.us).

Abstract—Potential fire behavior was compared under dry, windy

weather conditions in 12 ponderosa pine stands treated with alternative thinning prescriptions in the wildland/urban interface of

Flagstaff, Arizona. Prior to thinning, stands averaged 474 trees/

acre, 158 ft2/acre basal area, crown bulk density 0.0045 lb/ft3, and

crown base height 19.2 ft. Three thinning treatments differing in

residual tree density were applied to each of three stands (total of

nine treated, three control). Treatments were based on historic

forest structure prior to Euro-American settlement and disruption

of the frequent fire regime (circa 1876). Thinning reduced stand

densities 77–88 percent, basal areas 35–66 percent, crown bulk

densities 24–48 percent, and raised crown base height an average of

11 ft. Before thinning, simulated fire behavior under the 97th

percentile of June fire weather conditions was predicted to be

intense but controllable (5.4 ft flame lengths). However, active or

passive crownfires were simulated using crown base heights in the

lowest quintile (20 percent) or winds gusting to 30 mph, representing the fuel ladders and wind gusts that are important for initiating

crown burning. Under the identical conditions after thinning, all

three treatments resisted crown burning. The degree of resistance

was related to thinning intensity. It is crucial to remove thinning

slash fuels through prescribed burning or other means. If not

removed, slash fuels can cause crownfire behavior in the thinned

stands under severe wildfire conditions. Finally, the crownfire

resistance achieved through thinning will deteriorate over time

unless maintenance burning and/or thinning is continued.

Introduction ____________________

Flagstaff, Arizona, is located at the northwestern end of

the largest contiguous ponderosa pine forest in the world.

Increased fire intensity and severity are major concerns

around Flagstaff and generally in southwestern ponderosa

pine forests (Swetnam and Betancourt 1998), due to the

regional increase in surface and canopy fuels following a

Potential Fire Behavior Is Reduced

Following Forest Restoration Treatments

Peter Z. Fulé

Charles McHugh

Thomas A. Heinlein

W. Wallace Covington

century or more of fire exclusion and other human-caused

disruptions of ecological processes (Cooper 1960; Covington

and others 1994). In 1996, the two largest wildfires in the

history of the Coconino National Forest burned a few miles

north of Flagstaff. Seeking to prevent such fires from

burning into developed areas, a collaborative group called

the Grand Canyon Forests Partnership was formed to

restore ecosystem health, reduce catastrophic fires, and

improve economic benefits and management on public

lands (GCFP 1998).

Tree thinning, prescribed burning, and/or other fuel reduction methods can reduce the hazard of intense fires (for

example, Van Wagtendonk 1996; Graham and others 1999;

Agee and others 2000). Using these techniques to restore a

regime of frequent, low-intensity fires and tree structures

approximating the relatively open presettlement forest

stands should, in theory, simultaneously address the

Partnership’s goals. These treatments have potential for

improving ecosystem health (Kolb and others 1994), reducing fire hazard (Covington and others 1997), and offering

some economic benefits through forest product removal

(Larson and Mirth 1998). Actually achieving this array of

outcomes in complex ecosystems and social systems is difficult, requiring choices among competing interests. For example, Scott (1998a) compared the economic, aesthetic,

ecological, and fire behavior tradeoffs of a set of alternative

fuel treatments in a western Montana ponderosa pine forest.

Kalabokidis and Omi (1998) carried out a similar analysis in

a Colorado lodgepole pine forest.

The Grand Canyon Forests Partnership’s initial wildland/

urban interface experimental treatments were started in

1998 in cooperation with the Coconino National Forest and

Rocky Mountain Research Station. The experiments had

multiple objectives, but our focus in this paper is only on the

treatment effects on potential fire behavior. The greatest

concern in the wildland/urban interface is crownfire, both

“passive” crownfire (tree torching) and “active” crownfire

(fire spreading through the canopy). Crownfires spread

rapidly (Rothermel 1991), resist control by hand crews and

often mechanical or aerial equipment (Pyne and others

1996), and threaten structures with intense heat and firebrand showers (Cohen 2000).

Several complementary actions can improve the ability of

communities to resist fire hazards to lives and property,

including enhanced firefighting resources, improved access

routes and rural address systems, heightened public awareness, reduction of structure flammability (Cohen 2000), and

reduction of forest susceptibility to crownfire. The forest

treatments discussed here address this latter factor. Local
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 29

Potential Fire Behavior Is Reduced Following Forest Restoration Treatments Fulé, McHugh, Heinlein, and Covington

initiatives are under way to enhance other fire-resistance

factors in the Flagstaff wildland/urban interface.

Until recently, fire behavior modeling tools such as BEHAVE (Andrews 1986) simulated only surface fire behavior.

New tools such as FARSITE (Finney 1998) and Nexus (Scott

1999) have greatly increased the ease with which many

aspects of crownfire behavior can be modeled and compared.

It is important not to attach too much specificity to crownfire

behavior predictions: the fundamental reason that crownfire

modeling has advanced slowly is that crownfires are rare

and occur in extraordinarily complex weather and fuel

environments (Rothermel 1991). With caveats, however,

simulations provide useful insights into the relative differences between treatments and the relative sensitivity of

crownfire behavior to different variables.

From previous simulations with FARSITE and Nexus, as

well as from literature results (Van Wagtendonk 1996;

Scott 1998a,b), we recognized that simulations often resulted in outputs that appeared contrary to actual wildfire

experience. In particular, simulated fires using our fuel

and weather conditions proved nearly impossible to crown

using realistic data, even though real fires had crowned

under similar or even less severe conditions. One possible

solution was to manipulate model output with adjustment

factors. However, this method is unsatisfactory for modelers and their audiences, who would prefer to use wellsupported numbers.

We tried a different approach. Both with weather and fuel

data, we reasoned that “average” conditions were a misrepresentation of the real forest situation. For instance, to cross

the threshold into tree torching, surface flame lengths must

preheat the branches and leaves close to the bottom of the

crown. Achieving this transition in simulations has been

difficult because the average crown base height is often a

relatively high value (15–30 ft). The fuel ladders, surface

fuel jackpots, and wind gusts that facilitate the transition to

the crown in real fires are not accounted for when uniform

averages are used.

Taking the variability of the data into account could help

simulate more realistic fire behavior, but which fraction of

the variability is important? A single low crown is probably

insufficient to initiate a crownfire, but crownfires can start

and be sustained in strong winds even with much less than

50 percent of the stand in a crownfire-susceptible condition.

We chose to rank the data by quintiles—20 percent groups—

and compare fire behavior and treatment effects on both the

stand averages and the susceptible quintiles, suggesting

that the fire behavior in the vulnerable quintiles may be

important in triggering intense fires.

Methods _______________________

Treatments

The Grand Canyon Forests Partnership chose to compare

three treatments differing in residual tree density. All treatments were based on the presettlement pattern of tree

structure as inferred from: (1) living trees of presettlement

origin, characterized by larger size and yellowed bark (White

1985; Covington and Moore 1994), and (2) remnant material

from snags, logs, and stumps of presettlement origin, which

were well-conserved in the dry environment in the absence

of fire (Dieterich 1980; Fulé and others 1997; Covington and

others 1997; Mast and others 1999). All living presettlement

trees were retained. In addition, wherever evidence of remnant presettlement material was encountered, several of the

largest postsettlement trees within 30 ft were retained as

replacements. If suitable trees were not found within 30 ft,

the search radius was extended to 60 ft. The three thinning

treatments each had a different replacement tree density:

• 1.5-3 replacements: replace each remnant with 1.5 trees

(in other words, 3 replacements per every 2 remnants)

if the replacements were 16 inches d.b.h. or larger,

otherwise replace each remnant with 3 trees. Because

relatively few greater than 16 inches postsettlement

trees were encountered in any of the sites, all the

thinning treatments tended to retain the higher number of replacement. The 1.5-3 treatment, called “full

restoration,” reduced tree density most closely to presettlement levels.

• 2-4 replacements: replace remnants with 2 trees greater

than 16 inches d.b.h., otherwise 4 trees.

• 3-6 replacements: replace remnants with 3 trees greater

than 16 inches d.b.h., otherwise 6 trees.

• Control treatment: no thinning, no burning.

Study Sites

The treatments were tested on three experimental blocks

in or adjacent to the Fort Valley Experimental Forest,

approximately 15 km NW of Flagstaff, Arizona (fig. 1). Each

block contained a 35-acre replicate of each of the three

thinning levels and a control. The study area is at 7,400 ft

elevation with gentle topography and a cool, subhumid

climate (Avery and others 1976). Mean annual precipitation

is 57 cm, with approximately half occurring as snow. The

remainder occurs as summer monsoonal rains following the

spring/early summer drought. Soils are of volcanic origin, a

fine montmorillonitic complex of frigid Typic Argiboroll and

Mollic Eutroboralf (Mast and others 1999). Experimental

Figure 1—Prescribed burning in Fort Valley treatment

area, May 12, 2000.
30 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Fulé, McHugh, Heinlein, and Covington Potential Fire Behavior Is Reduced Following Forest Restoration Treatments

blocks were laid out in cooperation with Forest Service staff,

subject to constraints of other experimental studies and

wildlife habitat. As a result, the treatment units in experimental blocks 1 and 2 could not be contiguous. All treatments were randomly assigned.

The timing and method of treatment differed in the experimental blocks due to economic constraints, primarily the

very low value of the material removed, and to the

Partnership’s intention to make the site available to different operators. Thinning of the blocks began in November

1998 and was completed in September 1999. Blocks 1 and 2

were thinned with a mechanical feller and limbed at the tree,

resulting in broadcast slash fuels. Block 3 was thinned in a

whole-tree harvesting operation, resulting in slash piles.

Piles in block 3 were burned in February 2000. All blocks

were scheduled for broadcast burning in the spring or fall

2000.

Measurements

Twenty experimental block (EB) plots were established on

a 60-m grid in each of the 12 units. Plot centers were

permanently marked with iron stakes at ground level and

slope and aspect were recorded. Overstory trees over breast

height (bh, 4.5 ft) were measured on a 0.1 acre (37 ft radius)

circular fixed-area plot. Species, condition (1-living, 2-declining, 3-recent snag, 4-loose bark snag, 5-clean snag, 6-

snag broken above bh, 7-snag broken below bh, 8-downed, 9-

cut stump), and d.b.h., were recorded for all live and dead

trees over breast height, as well as for stumps and downed

trees that surpassed breast height while alive. Tree heights

and average crown base height per plot were measured.

Trees below breast height and shrubs were tallied by condition class and by three height classes (0–15.7, 15.8–31.5, and

31.6–54 inches) on a nested 0.025 acre (18.5 ft radius)

subplot. Shrubs over breast height were also measured.

Herbaceous plants and canopy cover (vertical projection)

were measured along a 164-ft line transect oriented up- and

down-slope. Point intercept measurements were recorded

every 11.8 inches along each transect. Dead woody biomass

and forest floor material were measured on a 50 ft planar

transect in a random direction from each plot center. Fuels

were measured by diameter/moisture timelag classes (1H

timelag = 0–0.25 inch diameter, 10H = 0.25–1 inch, 100 H =

1–3 inches, 1000H = over 3 inches, sound (S) and rotten (R)

categories). Woody debris biomass was calculated using

procedures in Brown (1974) and Sackett (1980). Forest floor

depth measurements were converted to loading (Mg/ha)

using equations from Ffolliott and others (1976). Plots were

originally measured from August through November 1998.

After thinning, preburn fuels were measured on the same

transects in October 1999.

Modeling

Fire behavior was modeled with the Nexus Fire Behavior

and Hazard Assessment System (Scott and Reinhardt 1999).

As described by Scott (1998a, 1999), Nexus integrates models of surface fire behavior (Rothermel 1972) with crown fire

transition (Van Wagner 1977) and crown fire spread

(Rothermel 1991). Nexus is similar to the landscape fire

behavior modeling program FARSITE (Finney 1998) in that

both link the same set of surface and crownfire models.

However, Nexus is better suited for comparing fire hazards

under alternative conditions because environmental and

fuel factors are kept constant for each simulation, rather

than changing continuously with time and location, as in

FARSITE.

Custom fire behavior fuel models were developed and

tested with the NEWMDL and TSTMDL modules of BEHAVE (Andrews 1986). Pretreatment fuel models were

modified from the standard fire behavior fuel model 9,

“hardwood litter” (Anderson 1982). Postthinning fuel models were modified from standard model 11, “light slash.”

Future fuels, after thinning and burning, are likely to have

reduced woody fuel loads and increased herbaceous fuels. A

hypothetical future fuel model was developed by modifying

standard model 2, “timber (grass and understory).” The

predicted future herbaceous fuel load was 200 lbs/acre,

based on a basal area/herbaceous production relationship

developed in northern Arizona (Brown and others 1974).

Crown fuels were estimated with locally developed allometric equations for ponderosa pine shown in table 1. Crown

volume was estimated using averages of maximum tree

height (top of the canopy) and crown base height (bottom of

the canopy). Crown bulk density was calculated as crown

biomass divided by crown volume. This procedure is straightforward and appears to adequately represent the canopy

fuels actually available in a ponderosa pine crown fire.

Alternative methods of crown fuel estimation can lead to

substantially different numerical values, so density values

in different studies may not be directly comparable. The

situation is further complicated by the relatively high sensitivity of crownfire behavior modeling to canopy bulk density.

Fire weather extremes representing the 90th and 97th

percentiles of low fuel moisture, high winds, and high temperature were calculated from 30 years of data on the

Coconino National Forest using the FireFamily Plus program (Bradshaw and Brittain 1999). Weather values were

calculated for the entire fire season (April 23 to October 16)

as well as for June, historically the month with the most

severe fire weather (table 2). Fire behavior information from

the two largest wildfires on the Coconino, the 1996 Horseshoe (May) and Hochderffer (June) fires, was used to estimate wind gusts during periods of extreme fire behavior

Table 1—Allometric equations for ponderosa pine foliage and fine branches.

Variable Equation R2

Total foliage ln(biomass, kg) = –3.9274 + 1.9654 ln(d.b.h., cm) 0.96

Needle-bearing twigs ln(biomass, kg) = –4.5478 + 1.7352 ln(d.b.h., cm) 0.85

0-0.63 cm branches ln(biomass, kg) = –4.3268 + 1.4172 ln(d.b.h., cm) 0.57
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 31

Potential Fire Behavior Is Reduced Following Forest Restoration Treatments Fulé, McHugh, Heinlein, and Covington

(McCoy 1996). Wind gusts to 40 mph and sustained winds of

30 mph were observed on these fires. The 30-year fire

weather record also shows that winds of 30 mph or more

were recorded in the 1,300 hours observation on approximately 1 percent of June days.

Results ________________________

Prior to treatment, forest structural conditions were similar across the study sites (table 3). Basal area ranged from

148.5 to 167.7 ft2

/acre, while tree density was more variable

(386.7 to 603.9 trees/acre). Average stand heights were

within 7 ft of each other across the sites (67.2 to 73.9 ft) and

average crown base heights were within approximately 4 ft

(17.4 to 21.5 ft). Crown bulk density values averaged 0.064

to 0.083 kg/m3

, similar to values reported by Scott (1998a) in

a Montana ponderosa forest. Thinning reduced tree density

and biomass most strongly in the full restoration (1.5-3)

treatment and least in the 3-6 treatment, as expected.

Postthinning densities ranged from 56.8 to 98.3 trees/acre,

an average reduction of over 396 trees/acre (77 percent to 88

percent of trees removed). Because the largest trees were

retained, however, basal area and crown biomass decreased

by much smaller proportions. Postthinning basal area ranged

from 44 percent to 65 percent of pretreatment values. Thinning reduced crown bulk density to 52 percent to 76 percent

of pretreatment values. Crown base height was raised an

average of 11 ft and the lowest quintile (20 percent) of crown

base height was raised an average of 10.6 ft from 8.5 ft before

thinning to 19.1 ft after thinning. Pretreatment surface

fuels averaged 25.4 tons/acre, but the quintile (20 percent) of

plots with the heaviest loading of less than 1000H fuels

averaged 38.2 tons/acre (table 4). Postthinning fuels were

surprisingly similar between the broadcast slash blocks

(11 tons/acre of less than 1000H fuels) and the whole-tree

harvested block (7.2 tons/acre of less than 1000H fuels).

However, the primary difference was an extra 3.9 tons/acre

of 1H fuels in the broadcast blocks, the fuel component most

strongly influencing fire behavior. The broadcast blocks did

have 80 percent more heavy fuel (more than 1000H and duff)

loading, 18 versus 10 tons/acre. Burnout of these heavy fuels

would be expected to lead to increased canopy and soil

heating in the broadcast blocks after the passage of the

flaming front.

Fires modeled in pretreatment conditions using the average stand values for crown bulk density and crown base

height remained surface fires (table 5) even under the severe

Table 3—Forest stand structure and crown fuels at the Fort Valley study sites. See text for description of

treatments. Prior to thinning, the lowest quintile of crown base heights averaged 8.5 feet. After

thinning, the lowest quintile of crown base heights in the treated units averaged 19.1 feet.

Full restoration Intermediate Intermediate

Control (1.5-3) (2-4) (3-6)

Pretreatment

Basal area (ft2/acre) 164.3 151.5 167.7 148.5

Trees/acre 480.6 386.7 603.9 422.3

Crown bulk density (lb/ft3) 0.0052 0.0040 0.0044 0.0042

Average crown base height (ft) 21.5 19.1 17.4 18.9

Minimum crown base height (ft) 11.5 8.2 6.6 8.4

Crown fuel load (ton/acre) 5.2 4.8 5.3 4.6

Stand height (ft) 67.2 73.9 73.2 69.7

Postthinning

Basal area (ft2

/acre) 164.3 67.8 77.7 97.2

Trees/acre 480.6 56.8 68.8 98.3

Crown bulk density (lb/ft3) 0.0052 0.0021 0.0026 0.0032

Average crown base height (ft) 21.5 29.1 31.9 27.4

Minimum crown base height (ft) 11.5 12.6 17.0 18.0

Crown fuel load (ton/acre) 5.2 2.0 2.3 2.9

Stand height (ft) 67.2 73.9 73.2 69.7

Table 2—Fuel moisture, wind, and temperature for the Coconino National Forest, 1970–1999. The 90th and 97th

percentiles are shown for the entire fire season (April 23 to October 16) and for the month of June.

Fire season June

Variable 90th percentile 97th percentile 90th percentile 97th percentile

1 H moisture (percent) 3.2 3.0 2.3 2.2

10 H moisture (percent) 4.4 4.0 3.0 3.0

100 H moisture (percent) 7.2 6.5 5.0 4.7

Wind speed (mph) 17.7 22.4 20.0 25

Temperature (∞F) 82 82 89 89
32 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Fulé, McHugh, Heinlein, and Covington Potential Fire Behavior Is Reduced Following Forest Restoration Treatments

Table 4—Surface fuel characteristics. Fuels were measured on the study sites except for the “hypothetical posttreatment fuels” (see text).

Description 1 H 10 H 100 H Live SAV SAVLive Depth Moist. Ext. Heat 1000 HS* 1000 HR* Duff*

- - - - - - - - ton/ac - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -1/ft - - - - - ft percent BTU/lb - - - - - - - - ton/ac - - - - - - - -

Pretreat average 2.9 0.8 2.3 0 2500 500 0.4 25 8000 5.9 4.8 8.7

Pretreat top

 20 percent 4.3 1.7 5.9 0 2500 500 0.5 25 8000 11.3 4.8 10.2

Postthinning

 (broadcast slash) 7.2 1.2 2.6 0 1500 500 1.0 15 8000 7.1 3.9 7.0

Postthinning (whole-

 tree harvest, piled

 slash) 3.3 1.2 2.7 0 1500 500 1.0 15 8000 2.2 0.8 7.0

Hypothetical

 posttreatment

 fuels: grass and

 understory, modified

 FBFM 2) 2.0 1.0 0.5 0.1 3000 1500 0.5 15 8000 N/A N/A N/A

*

These variables are not included in fire behavior fuel models.

Table 5—Fire behavior outputs using the average pretreatment fuel loads under the June 97th percentile

weather conditions with 97th percentile winds (top), 30-mph winds and lowest quintile crown base

height (center), and posttreatment crown fuels with 30-mph winds and lowest posttreatment quintile

crown base height (bottom). Foliar moisture content was held constant at 100 percent, wind

reduction factor was 0.3, and slope was 7 percent (study site average) for all simulations.

Full restoration Intermediate Intermediate

Control (1.5-3) (2-4) (3-6)

Pretreatment (June 97th percentile weather)

Fire type Surface Surface Surface Surface

Crown percent burned 0 0 0 0

Rate of spread (ft/min) 28 28 28 28

Heat/area (BTU/ft2) 491 491 491 491

Flame length (ft) 5.4 5.4 5.4 5.4

Crown fire outputs

Torching index (mph) 54 49 45 48

Crowning index (mph) 28 34 32 33

Pretreatment (June 97th percentile weather, 30-mph

winds, lowest quintile crown base height)

Fire type Active Passive Passive Passive

Crown percent burned 100 58 74 65

Rate of spread (ft/min) 128 90 105 97

Heat/area (BTU/ft2

) 2331 1473 1876 1569

Flame length (ft) 31.3 20.2 25.2 21.6

Crown fire outputs

Torching index (mph) 23 23 23 23

Crowning index (mph) 28 34 32 33

Posttreatment (June 97th percentile weather, 30-mph

winds, lowest quintile crown base height)

Fire type Active Surface Surface Surface

Crown fraction burned 100 0 0 0

Rate of spread (ft/min) 128 37 37 37

Heat/area (BTU/ft2) 2331 491 491 491

Flame length (ft) 31.3 6.2 6.2 6.2

Crown fire outputs

Torching index (mph) 23 49 49 49

Crowning index (mph) 28 55 47 40
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 33

Potential Fire Behavior Is Reduced Following Forest Restoration Treatments Fulé, McHugh, Heinlein, and Covington

fire weather conditions represented by the June 97thpercentile (table 2). Fire behavior outputs were virtually identical

across treatments prior to treatment, with only slight differences in the torching index (an estimate of the windspeed

required to initiate tree torching or “passive” crown fire

behavior) and the crowning index (an estimate of the

windspeed required to support “active” fire spreading through

the crown). The minor fluctuations in these two indices

reflected the small differences in crown base height (important for the transition from surface fire to torching) and

canopy bulk density (important for sustaining active

crownfire). The torching index showed that a wind of at least

45 mph would have been needed to cause passive crownfire.

If fire were already in the crown or entered from outside the

stand, a windspeed of 28–34 mph would have sufficed to

sustain active canopy burning. However, both indices were

above the modeled 25 mph windspeed.

The simulated flame lengths, 5.4 ft, would have precluded

direct attack by firefighters but mechanized equipment or

indirect attack would have a high likelihood of successful

suppression (Pyne and others 1996). The fact that modeled

fires were amenable to suppression even under severe wildfire conditions is an accurate reflection of reality: the overwhelming majority of wildfires on the Coconino are contained below 10 acres (99.6 percent, fire records 1970–1999).

With 30 mph winds and/or the lowest quintile of crown

base height, however, crownfire was simulated in the pretreatment sites. Keeping the crown base height at the

average values but increasing wind to 30 mph led to conditional crownfire behavior (crownfire won’t start, but could be

sustained if it entered from outside the stand) in the stand

with the highest crown bulk density. Lowering the crown

base height to 8.5 ft, the average of the lowest pretreatment

quintile, caused active or passive crownfire in all the sites

at both the 25 and 30 mph windspeeds (table 5). Because

30 mph or higher wind gusts occur, and because at least

one-fifth of the modeled forest is vulnerable to crownfire,

these results may bridge the apparent contradiction between observed crownfire behavior and the unrealistically

high windspeeds required for simulated crownfires using

average stand characteristics.

Thinning treatments substantially reduced fire behavior

under the same environmental circumstances. As shown in

table 5, with the identical 30 mph wind and the lowest

quintile of posttreatment crown base height, the simulated

fire did not achieve any category of crown burning. All three

treatments had the same torching index (49 mph) but the

crowning index differed with canopy bulk density. The

modeled 3-6 treatment could support conditional crownfire

at windspeeds as low as 40 mph, while the modeled 1.5-3

treatment required 58 mph, 45 percent higher.

Although the comparison in table 4 shows a clear change

in fire behavior due to the restoration treatments, the

postthinning fuels are different than the pretreatment fuels.

As the treatments progress, the slash fuels created by

thinning are scheduled to be removed by prescribed burning.

Mechanical means could also be used. But as long as these

fuels remain in the stand, they present a threat of intense

fire behavior. Active or passive fires crowned in all the

simulated stands, including the treated sites, using either the

broadcast or the whole-tree harvest slash fuel models in

table 4. With standard fuel model 11, however, the control had

active crownfire but the treated stands had only surface fires.

Fire behavior in future fuels, after removal of the slash,

will probably be influenced by a higher herbaceous component. Under the hypothetical model presented in table 4,

with 30 mph winds and the lowest quintile of crown base

height, conditional crown fire was predicted for the control

stands and surface fire for all the treated stands.

Discussion _____________________

Model results should always be applied cautiously. Current models that link surface and crownfire behavior are

highly sensitive to crown base height, windspeed (or wind

reduction factor), fuel moisture, and surface fuel model

variables (1H fuel loading, herbaceous fuels, surface-areato-volume ratio, fuel bed depth). We held slope constant at 7

percent (the average slope of the experimental blocks) but

similar fuels on steeper slopes would exhibit higher fire

intensity. There are a number of uncertainties in the models

integrated in Nexus, reflecting the complexity of fire behavior (Scott 1998b). The actual numerical values used for

model inputs produced realistic predictions but in some

instances the differences between crown and surface fire

behavior were separated by only a few miles/hr of windspeed

(table 5). If wind gusts of higher speeds or higher surface fuel

loadings were encountered, portions of the stands would be

more likely to exhibit crownfire behavior. The behavior of

real fires in these stands would be affected by roads, meadows, surrounding forest fuels, landscape topography, and

suppression activities.

The purpose of the modeling analysis was not to accurately estimate the behavior of a real fire but rather to

compare the treatment alternatives. All three thinning

treatments tested by the Grand Canyon Forests Partnership substantially reduced the potential for passive and

active crownfire. All the treatments increased crown base

height to nearly 30 ft, making passive crownfire initiation

difficult. However, the different thinning levels in the three

treatments created differences in crown bulk density that

were reflected in the potential for active crownfire. Prior to

treatment, the crowning indices of all the stands were

separated by only 6 mph (top section of table 5). After

treatment (bottom of table 5), the crowning index ranged

from 28 mph (control stands), 40 mph (3-6 treatment), 47

mph (2-4 treatment), to 55 mph (1.5-3 treatment). In relative

terms, taking the control crowning index as unity, the 3-6

treatment required 43 percent more windspeed, the 2-4

treatment required 68 percent more windspeed, and the 1.5-

3 treatment required nearly double (96 percent) more

windspeed, for active crownfire.

The restoration treatment is not complete when the thinning is finished. Slash fuels increase the fire hazard as long

as they remain on the ground, so prompt treatment with

prescribed fire or mechanical means is important. Over

time, vegetation in the treated units will change as both

herbaceous plants and trees respond to the thinning. The

potential intensity of grass-fueled fires should not be underestimated. Stand basal area even in the full restoration

stands remained high enough to limit predicted herbaceous

production to approximately 200 lbs/acre. If herbaceous
34 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Fulé, McHugh, Heinlein, and Covington Potential Fire Behavior Is Reduced Following Forest Restoration Treatments

production in the treated stands reached the 1,000 lbs/acre

in the standard fire behavior fuel model 2, passive crownfire

was predicted in the lowest crown base quintile for all

treatments under severe weather conditions. However, grass

fuels would be unlikely to have reached full productivity or

to be fully cured in June. Even with a high fireline intensity,

grass fires are of short duration with few heavy fuels and are

more amenable to control than timber fires.

Strictly from a fire control perspective, therefore, a balance of relatively more trees and relatively less grass, such

as the 2-4 or 3-6 treatments, might be useful in areas close

to homes. On the other hand, future fire behavior will also be

influenced by the growth of residual trees and new regeneration. Treatments with relatively high residual density might

more rapidly grow back into a hazardous condition. Maintenance burning and/or further thinning can be used to regulate growth and keep the stands relatively crownfire-resistant. The failure to carry out these management activities

would eventually eliminate the original treatment effects on

fire behavior.

Potential fire behavior is an important consideration in

the design of wildland/urban interface forest treatments,

but it is not the only consideration. Fire hazard tradeoffs

should be recognized and evaluated against many other

forest values. In the present analysis, we have incorporated

some of the variability in fuels and weather. A more complete analysis, however, could include spatial variability

within stands and across landscapes, temporal variability

(diurnal to seasonal change), successional change (years to

centuries), and predicted changes in land use. In addition to

modeling intensity and behavior of the flaming front, the

effects of fuel burnout and smoke production should be

considered. Many of the tools and components of such a

comprehensive analysis are being rapidly improved.

Acknowledgements _____________

For assistance in this study, we thank J. Gerritsma,

T. Randall-Parker, W. Thornton, and A. Farnsworth (Coconino

National Forest), C. Edminster (USDA Forest Service, Rocky

Mountain Research Station), B. Ack (Grand Canyon Trust),

B. KenCairn, H.B. “Doc” Smith, J.P. Roccaforte, S. Sprecher,

G. Verkamp, M. Stoddard, J. Springer, L. Labate, L. Machina,

A. Waltz, R. Vance, and other students and staff (NAU,

Ecological Restoration Institute). J. Scott, E. Reinhardt, and

two anonymous reviewers provided helpful comments. This

work was supported by a Joint Venture Research Agreement

through the Rocky Mountain Research Station.

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36 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

In: Vance, Regina K.; Edminster, Carleton B.; Covington, W. Wallace;

Blake, Julie A. comps. 2001. Ponderosa pine ecosystems restoration and

conservation: steps toward stewardship; 2000 April 25–27; Flagstaff, AZ.

Proceedings RMRS-P-22. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture,

Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station.

G. Alan Kaufmann, MS, Ecological Restoration Institute; W. Wallace

Covington is Regent’s Professor, School of Forestry, Northern Arizona University, P.O. Box 15018 Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5018.

Abstract—Ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) trees established

before Euro-American settlement are becoming rare on the landscape. Prescribed fire is the prime tool used to restore ponderosa

pine ecosystems, but can cause high mortality in presettlement

ponderosa pines. This study uses retrospective techniques to estimate mortality from prescribed burns within Grand Canyon National Park (GCNP). Live and recently dead presettlement ponderosa pines were sampled in four prescribed burns and three adjacent

unburned areas. Presettlement ponderosa pine mortality (not including areas of crownfire) was higher than that of control sites in

all four burns, although control areas showed elevated mortality

rates compared to presettlement times. The highest mortality (23

percent) was found on a prescribed natural fire converted to a

wildfire, the second highest (17 percent) on a site with extremely

heavy mistletoe, the lowest (10 percent) on a spring burn. Bole

scorch height and bole char severity were higher on dead trees than

live trees, and may be useful in predicting postfire mortality. GCNP

management objectives for overstory mortality are probably being

met, but these guidelines do not account for the possibility of

mortality delayed more than 5 years.

Introduction ____________________

Prescribed fire has become the primary tool in attempting

to reverse the degradation of fire-adapted ecosystems due to

past fire exclusion and other management activities. However, some researchers have raised doubts about reintroducing fire without otherwise treating the area (Bonnicksen and

Stone 1985; Covington and others 1997; Fiedler and others

1996; Sackett and Haase 1998). Of special concern are high

mortality rates in presettlement-aged, “old-growth” trees

(hereafter presettlement trees). These trees harbor centuries of genetic diversity, provide important wildlife habitat

(Thomas 1979), and are an important aesthetic feature

(Brown and Daniel 1984). Past logging has dramatically

reduced the presettlement ponderosa pine population over

the landscape, and surviving trees are more susceptible to

pathogens, drought, and injury because of increased stress

due to competition from high densities of postsettlement

trees (Covington and others 1994; Feeney and others 1998;

Effect of Prescribed Burning on Mortality of

Presettlement Ponderosa Pines in Grand

Canyon National Park

G. Alan Kaufmann

W. Wallace Covington

Sackett and others 1996; Mast and others 1999). Because

they would take longer to replace than any other living

feature of the ecosystem (200–400 years), preserving a

healthy population of these trees should be an important

long-term management objective (Moore and others 1999;

Mast and others 1999).

Some studies focusing on prescribed fire effects on presettlement pines have found substantial mortality (20–40

percent), some of which can be delayed for a decade or more

(Sackett and Haase 1998; Swezy and Agee 1991; Thomas

and Agee 1986). A major cause of this type of mortality is

thought to be the extended smoldering of the thick duff layer

that has accumulated around large trees in the absence of

fire. Some researchers and managers now recommend raking this duff away from the bases of the presettlement trees

before burning (Covington and others 1997; Sackett and

Haase 1998; Taylor 1996). Many fire managers regard such

intensive preburn mechanical treatment as impractical to

apply over large areas (A. Farnsworth, Prescribed Fire

Specialist, Coconino National Forest, K. Kerr, Prescribed

Fire Manager, Grand Canyon National Park, personal communications). They argue that basal damage can be controlled by adjusting the burn prescription and that the few

documented cases of unacceptably high mortality were due

to extenuating factors.

Grand Canyon National Park (GCNP) encompasses one of

the largest areas of unlogged ponderosa pine forests remaining in the Southwest. Fire managers have been conducting

prescribed burns in GCNP since 1971 (GCNP, unpublished

data). Over the past few years, fire managers have greatly

increased the area treated with prescribed fire (K. Kerr,

Prescribed Fire Manager, GCNP, personal communication).

More surveys of postburn mortality are needed to determine if high levels of mortality in presettlement trees are

widespread or limited to special circumstances. Because full

mortality may take a decade or more to be expressed,

conventional fire effects monitoring studies may not provide

information in time to be relevant. This study uses retrospective techniques to estimate long-term mortality of presettlement trees on prescribed burn sites within GCNP, and

to relate high mortality to site, burn, and/or tree characteristics. The merits and limitations of this type of study and

management implications of results are discussed.

Methods _______________________

Study Area

This study examined four prescribed burns (and adjacent

unburned control areas) in three distinct areas of Grand
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 37

Effect of Prescribed Burning on Mortality of Presettlement Ponderosa Pines in Grand Canyon National Park Kaufmann and Covington

Canyon National Park in Arizona (fig. 1; table 1). Information on the burning conditions and fire behavior during

these burns was not available. All sites are within 4 km of

the rim of the Grand Canyon and average 2,200 m in

elevation. Terrain is dominated by karst topography, mostly

level or rolling but deeply dissected by drainages. Most of the

soils in this area belong to the Soldier series (Bennett 1974).

Figure 1—Study areas in Grand Canyon National Park, AZ.

Table 1—Prescribed burns sampled in Grand Canyon National

Park. All information comes from the Grand Canyon

National Park fire history database and prescribed fire

program summary reports. Sites are named for the name

of the burn or, for controls, the burn unit in which they are

found. Sizes are not given for control areas because only

portions of these areas were sampled. PNF = prescribed

natural fire; MIPF = management-ignited prescribed fire;

CTRL = unburned control area.

Ignition Sampling

Site Type Size date date

ha

Grandview area:

Grapevine MIPF 293 5/95 7/99

Hance MIPF 267 8/95 7/99

Grandview CTRL — — 7/99

Walhalla Plateau:

Matthes PNF 400* 7/95 8/98

Walhalla CTRL — — 8/98

Swamp Ridge area:

Northwest I/II MIPF 92 9/92 7/99

Northwest V CTRL — — 7/99

*Area burned before conversion to wildfire.

Average annual precipitation is 57.9 cm on the North Rim

and 36.8 cm on the South Rim (GCNP, unpublished data).

Precipitation is bimodal, divided between winter snow and

late summer rain, with a distinct dry period in May and

June.

Although ponderosa pine is the dominant overstory species at all three sites, the associated species differ. At Swamp

Ridge, white fir (Abies concolor), Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga

menziesii), and aspen (Populus tremuloides) are present,

and Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii) dominates north

facing slopes. White fir and aspen also are present on the

south end of the Walhalla Plateau, but are confined to mesic

sites—remaining areas are mostly pure ponderosa pine. In

the Grandview area, ponderosa pine-Gambel oak (Quercus

gambelii) forests grade into piñon pine (Pinus edulis)-Utah

juniper (Juniperus osteosperma) woodlands. Big sagebrush

(Artemesia tridentata) and cliffrose (Cowania neomexicana)

are common in openings.

The earliest evidence of human presence in this area is

3,000 to 4,000 years old, with further evidence indicating

more or less continuous habitation through the present

(Altschul and Fairley 1989). The historic fire regime was

disrupted by heavy livestock grazing associated with EuroAmerican settlement (Altschul and Fairley 1989). Fire regime disruption dates are 1879 for the western North Rim

and 1887 at Grandview (Fulé and others, in review). Fire

regime disruption was found to be less abrupt on the Walhalla

Plateau, with mean fire intervals not lengthening significantly until the early 1900s (Wolf and Mast 1998). Active fire

suppression began with the designations of the Grand Canyon Forest Reserve in 1893 and Grand Canyon National

Park 1919. Livestock were fenced out of GCNP by about 1938

(Fulé and others, in review; Verkamp 1940). Most of GCNP

has never been logged.
38 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Kaufmann and Covington Effect of Prescribed Burning on Mortality of Presettlement Ponderosa Pines in Grand Canyon National Park

Field Methods

Burns greater than 40 ha in size and 3–7 years old were

selected for this study. A minimum time since fire of 3 years

was necessary because trees injured by fire often take

several years to die (Sackett and Haase 1996; Wagener

1961). The maximum time of 7 years increased the probability that outer ring dates could be obtained from increment

cores for most of the trees that died since the fire. Unburned

areas nearby were sampled as controls to determine background mortality rates (in other words, mortality from old age).

Within a selected site, sampling was limited to areas

dominated by ponderosa pine and showing no evidence of

logging or widespread crown damage from fire. The sites on

the Walhalla Plateau were sampled in 1998 and all other

sites were sampled in 1999. Minor changes in methods

between field seasons are noted. Sites were sampled with

belt transects arranged to capture as much spatial variation

as possible. Transects were 40 m wide. At least 12 ha in each

burn and each control area were surveyed.

Presettlement ponderosa pines judged to have been alive

at the time of the burn were tallied in three categories: green

trees, snags that torched or were severely scorched in the

burn, and recent snags that did not torch. Presettlement

trees were identified in the field using characteristics developed by Keen (1943) and modified for use in the Southwest

(Covington and Moore 1994; White 1985). Characteristics

included bark characteristics (large plates, light color) and

crown architecture (large, drooping branches, columnar

crown). At each site, several borderline presettlement trees

(in other words, trees whose age was questionable) were

cored and ring-counted in the field to calibrate these characteristics. Additional borderline trees found on the transects

were cored and cross-dated in the lab to evaluate the accuracy of this technique.

Tallied trees were randomly sampled at varying rates (2–

20 percent of green trees and 50 or 100 percent of recent

snags), depending on relative densities of green trees and

snags, to optimize transect length and number of trees sampled.

Nominal sampling percentages were held constant for each

transect, but actual percentages varied due to the random

number generator. The total number of green trees and the

total number of recent snags in each transect were recorded.

For each sampled green tree, samples of cambium from

four quadrants (uphill, downhill, and both sides at 40 cm

above the forest floor) were extracted to determine cambium

condition (Ryan 1983). Cambium sampling was initiated in

response to ambiguous data from the 1998 season, and

therefore was not conducted at Walhalla Plateau sites.

Increment cores were taken at 40 cm above the forest floor

and through bark plates instead of through furrows (Ryan

1983). Unless the first core taken from a recent snag was

completely sound, a second core was taken. The following

measurements were made for each cored tree:

• Diameter of the tree or snag at height of core to the

nearest cm.

• Condition class according to a tree, snag and log classification system based on that of Thomas and others

(1979) and used widely in ponderosa pine forests of the

Southwest (Cunningham and others 1980; Fulé and

others 1997). Green trees were further classified according to relative health and vigor (Thompson 1940). This

system has five vigor classes, which are determined by

live crown ratios (LCRs) as follows: AA (“wolf” trees),

LCR 70 percent or more; A (full vigor), LCR 55–70

percent; B (good to fair vigor), LCR 35–55 percent; C (fair

to poor vigor), LCR 20–25 percent; and D (very poor

vigor), LCR less than 20 percent. Recent snags (except

those on the Walhalla Plateau sites) were further classified as to needle and fine branch retention as follows:

A (retains most needles); B (retains some needles); C (no

needles but retains most fine branches); and D (no

needles but retains some fine branches). Snags lacking

fine branches or having loose bark were assumed to

have died before the fire and were not tallied or sampled.

• Obvious damage and tree abnormalities were recorded

(for example, dwarf-mistletoe, insect attack, lightning

strike, fire scar, fork top, and so forth).

The following measurements were made only on burn sites:

• Bole scorch height (from ground level to the highest point

of scorched bark) was measured to the nearest 0.25 m.

• Basal char severity was quantified using the following categories (after Ryan 1983): 0 = no visible charring of bark; 1 = some blackening around base; 2 =

bark plate surface uniformly blackened; 3 = some

depth of char; 4 = deep char.

Dendrochronology

Cores were mounted, sanded, and crossdated (Stokes and

Smiley 1968) using chronologies established for nearby

areas (Fulé and others, in review). A systematic subsample

of 40 percent of the cores was selected for analysis (all cores

from the Walhalla sites were analyzed). Inner ring dates

(IRD, just outside the pith) and outer ring dates (ORD, just

inside the cambium) and were determined. IRD is an estimate of the year of tree establishment. ORD is an estimate

of the year of growth cessation (in other words, imminent

death). If crossdating was adequate for more than 100

rings but then became undatable, rings were counted to

establish the IRD. For cores in which pith was not included

(more than 90 percent of the cores), the IRD was estimated

using a pith locator consisting of concentric rings printed on

a transparency. IRDs were grouped by 25 year age classes

(Mast and others 1999). Undatable cores were classified

according to the reason they could not be dated.

Mortality Estimates

Two types of mortality estimates were made: a “field”

estimate and a “lab” estimate. The field estimate was made

using the tallies of live and recently dead trees on the

transects and the visually determined snag decay classes.

All trees with green needles were assumed alive, and all

snags retaining at least some needles and with tight bark

were assumed to have died within the past 5 years

(Cunningham and others 1981). Trees that torched in the

fire are included in this estimate.

Because this method estimates mortality over approximately the past 5 years, it may slightly underestimate

mortality for the 7-year-old NW I/II burn and slightly overestimate mortality for the other (4-year-old) burns. Because

condition classes of dead trees and numbers of torched trees
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 39

Effect of Prescribed Burning on Mortality of Presettlement Ponderosa Pines in Grand Canyon National Park Kaufmann and Covington

were not recorded in the first field season, field estimates

using all tallied dead trees (but not including torched trees)

are substituted for the Walhalla sites. These numbers overestimate mortality by including many snags that died before

the prescribed burn.

“Lab” estimates were based on dendrochronological data.

Green trees were assumed alive if the ORD was equal to or

1 year less than the date of sampling. They were assumed

dead or dying after the burn if the core showed no growth for

2 years or more before the date of sampling, but were still

growing in the year of the burn. It is well established that

ponderosa pines showing no basal area growth for 2 years or

more have little chance of survival (Rogers and others 1981;

Mast and Veblen 1994). Recent snags were assumed to

have died after the fire if their ORD was in or after the year

of the burn. Snags with earlier ORDs were assumed dead or

dying at the time of the burn.

The field estimates are expressed as the percentage of

the trees that were alive at the time of the burn but had died

by the date of sampling. The lab estimates include some

near-future mortality. Neither type of estimate can be

directly compared among sites because of the variation in

time lags between the burn dates and the sampling dates

(3 to 7 years—table 1).

Other Data Analyses

Mean tree diameters were compared between live and

dead trees for each site with Bonferroni-corrected approximate two-tailed t-tests for independent samples with unequal

variances (corrected p = 0.0071; Ott 1993). Mean bole scorch

heights were compared similarly for each burn (corrected

p = 0.0125).

Bole char severity distributions for live and dead trees on

each burn site (excepting Matthes, which was discarded

from this analysis due to inconsistent data collection

methods) were analyzed using a Bonferroni-corrected Chisquared contingency test (corrected p = 0.0167, df = 4; Ott

1993). Vigor class distributions for live and dead trees were

also compared with this test, but results were grouped for all

sites (p = 0.05, df = 3). Due to the small number of “AA” trees,

this category was combined with “A.”

Results and Discussion __________

Sampling

Several issues about the way trees were sampled may

influence the conclusions from the data. First, because

different proportions of trees were sampled in different

transects, some sampled trees represent a greater proportion of the tree population than others do. Second, the

crossdating of cores from borderline presettlement trees

revealed that most unsampled borderline trees in the

Grandview area were in fact of presettlement age. No presettlement trees sampled in 1999 were found to be of

postsettlement age. Additionally, few trees tallied in the

transects were under 41 cm diameter at 1.37 m, the cutoff for

what GCNP fire managers consider overstory trees (K. Kerr,

Prescribed Fire Manager, GCNP, personal communication).

Presettlement trees smaller than this were almost all highly

suppressed members of old-growth clumps. Taken together,

these factors suggest that the tree population examined in

this study is comparable to the population specified in the

GCNP overstory mortality objective. However, the youngest

class of presettlement trees (120–150 years old) might be

relatively underrepresented, and the highly suppressed

presettlement trees relatively overrepresented.

The total number of cores for which an ORD could be

determined varied from 31 to 67 per site. The number of

cores from green trees varied from 22 to 64. The number of

cores from dead trees whose ORD was in or after the year of

the fire ranged from 11 to 21 for burned sites and only three

to five for unburned control sites. The Grandview sites have

smaller numbers of useable cores than the North Rim sites.

For many cores, especially those from dead trees, the ORD

could not be determined due to breakage, rot, extreme

suppression, or other reasons. These cores are hereafter

referred to as “unusable.” The proportion of unusable cores

from recent snags ranged from 17 percent to 72 percent, and

tended to be higher in control areas. Because of the relatively

small numbers of dead trees found on these sites, older

classes of snags were more likely to be sampled. The number

of broken and rotten cores increased along the xeric-mesic

gradient between sites (most broken cores were also due to

rot). The average proportion of unreadable dead cores is

comparable to that reported by Mast and Veblen (1994). The

sometimes high proportion of unusable cores may bias lab

estimates due to the undersampling of rot-infected trees.

Estimates of Presettlement Tree Mortality

One GCNP fire management objective is to keep overstory

mortality, as measured 5 years postburn, below 20 percent

over the entire vegetation type in the Park (K. Kerr, Prescribed Fire Manager, GCNP, personal communication).

Because the main purpose of this study was to document

mortality due to factors other than crown damage, mortality

due to widespread crown damage was not documented,

although estimates do include trees that torched individually. Therefore, landscape level mortality is higher than

numbers reported here.

Field estimates show mortality of presettlement trees in

all burned areas is many times greater than in respective

controls (table 2). This result supports the idea that noncrown

damage from prescribed fires can lead to increased mortality

of presettlement trees. The Swamp Ridge area control site

estimate may be artificially low due to faster rates of snag

decay at this more mesic site. The other control area estimates show mortality rates somewhat lower (0.5–0.75 percent/year) than other studies measuring contemporary background mortality in mature ponderosa pine (1–2 percent/

year—Avery and others 1976; Hamilton and Edwards 1976;

Mast and others 1999). However, these rates are still much

higher than estimates of mortality rates in presettlement

times (Mast and others 1999).

The field estimate shows 27 percent mortality on the

Hance burn, more than twice that of any other site. This site

has very high levels of dwarf-mistletoe infection (70 percent

of the trees on transects were infected, compared to 40

percent on the Grandview control area and 20 percent on the

Grapevine burn). Infected trees are more likely to torch due

to low witches’ brooms and have reduced vigor (Harrington
40 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Kaufmann and Covington Effect of Prescribed Burning on Mortality of Presettlement Ponderosa Pines in Grand Canyon National Park

increasing fire intensity and a lack of resources. The secondhighest mortality was found on the dwarf-mistletoe-infested

Hance burn. The Grapevine burn, which had the lowest lab

mortality estimate (comparable to the rates in control areas)

was a spring burn. This suggests that burning in the spring,

when forest floor moisture is high, might reduce basal

damage. However, spring burning may have other undesirable consequences. For the burns in the Grandview and

Swamp Ridge Areas, these lab estimates translate to the

death of approximately five presettlement pines/ha. The

Matthes burn, occurring in the study area with the highest

density of mature pines, had a much higher per-unit-area

rate. According to the lab estimate for that burn, approximately 20 presettlement pines/ha died.

If these mortality estimates are accurate, and mortality

due to crown damage is not widespread, GCNP management objectives (less than 20 percent overstory mortality 5

years postburn) are probably being met. However, the

GCNP management objective does not address the possibility of significant mortality after 5 years. Sackett and

Haase (1998), studying presettlement ponderosa pine mortality at the Chimney Spring site in northern Arizona,

found that mortality may take more than a decade to be

fully expressed. Five years after the initial burns at Chimney Spring, “old-growth” mortality averaged approximately

28 percent in the burned areas. Eighteen years after the

burns, the overall old-growth mortality had almost doubled

to 50 percent, and old-growth trees were still dying at

higher rates than those in the unburned control area were.

However, the severe drought in 1996 (the year after most

of the sites in this study were burned) probably was a

contributing factor in the deaths of many trees. Trees were

killed that otherwise may have lingered for years in a

weakened state. It is therefore likely that these mortality

estimates account for a high proportion of the fire-induced

mortality on the burn sites.

Tree, Site, and Burn Characteristics

No statistically significant differences were found in comparisons of diameter or age between live and dead trees on

burn sites. Vigor was lower for trees in burned areas than for

trees in control areas, but this was not statistically significant, either.

Although not statistically significant, mean bole scorch

height (excluding values above 10 m) was higher for dead

trees than for live trees for all burns. Basal char severity was

higher on recently dead trees on all three burns analyzed.

These results support the hypothesis that basal and/or root

damage is a contributing factor to postburn mortality. Measures of fire intensity at the bases of trees must be considered in addition to crown scorch when predicting postfire

mortality of large trees (Ryan 1983; Regelbrugge and Conard

1993). The failure to identify more significant differences in

tree and burn characteristics may be due to the relatively

small sample sizes of recent dead trees from some sites.

Conclusions____________________

Estimates show that mortality levels of presettlement

ponderosa pines in Grand Canyon National Park are higher

Table 2—Presettlement ponderosa pine mortality estimates. These

numbers represent the proportion of trees alive at the

time of the prescribed burn that died between the burn

date and time of sampling. The field mortality estimate

counts all snags retaining needles as dead since the

burns. The estimates in parentheses include snags with

no needles but most fine branches due to the older age

of the NW I/II burn. Because of different data collection

methods, the field estimates for Walhalla sites (in italics)

include all recent snags retaining needles and/or fine

branches. For the lab estimates, a tree is considered

dead/dying if its core shows that it has not put on a growth

ring for 2 years or more. This estimate can be thought of

as including some near-future mortality. All South Rim

sites were sampled 4 years postburn. NW sites were

sampled 7 years postburn, and WP sites 3 years

postburn.

Site Field estimate Lab estimate

- - - - - - - - - - Percent - - - - - - - - - - -

Grandview area:

Grapevine 10 12

Hance 27 17

Grandview (control) 2 10

Walhalla Plateau:

Matthes 13 23

Walhalla (control) 3 5

Swamp Ridge area:

Northwest I/II 2 (12) 15

Northwest V (control) 1 (2) 5

and Hawksworth 1991) making them more susceptible to

other damage. The field estimate for this site may be inflated

because of the tendency for witches’ brooms to stay alive

many years after most of the tree canopy has died (Mathiasen

1996). This could cause many trees that were effectively

dead before the prescribed burn to retain needles until the

date of sampling.

The Grapevine and Matthes burns show intermediate

mortality rates around 10 percent, while the field estimate

for the Northwest I/II burn is extremely low (2 percent), even

lower than some estimates of background mortality. If snags

of condition class C are included, the estimate is 12 percent.

True mortality on this site is probably somewhere between

these numbers.

The lab estimates, which count trees with cores showing

zero growth for 2 years or more as dead or dying, include

some near-future mortality. They show background mortality rates roughly comparable to those in other studies (about

1–2 percent/year—Avery and others 1976; Hamilton and

Edwards 1976; Mast and others 1999). These numbers

translate to the death of approximately 2–7 presettlement

pines/ha/decade, depending on the presettlement tree densities at the different sites. The Grandview control site shows

a higher mortality rate than the two North Rim control sites,

possibly because of higher stress levels of on the former,

more xeric site.

The lab estimates show the highest mortality (23 percent)

for the Matthes burn, which was a prescribed natural fire

that was converted to wildfire status and suppressed due to
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 41

Effect of Prescribed Burning on Mortality of Presettlement Ponderosa Pines in Grand Canyon National Park Kaufmann and Covington

in areas treated with prescribed fire compared to unburned

areas, even when discounting mortality due to crown damage. Higher mortality is associated with high infection levels

of dwarf-mistletoe on one site, and prescribed natural fire

that was converted to wildfire on another site. The lowest

postburn mortality rate (little higher than control area

mortality) occurred on a spring burn, possibly because higher

forest floor and soil moisture levels reduced basal damage.

Because of the small sample size (four burns), it is not

possible to generalize these associations between heightened mortality and other factors. More postburn mortality

surveys are needed.

Postburn mortality as measured on these four prescribed

burns is probably within management objectives of the

GCNP fire program. Because of the 1996 drought, future

mortality on these burns is predicted to be relatively low.

However, the reduced vigor of trees in the burns in this

study, as well as results from other studies, suggest that

mortality rates can remain abnormally high long after 5

years postburn in some cases. Methods of predicting future

mortality (for example, from annual growth increment data)

should be used to supplement studies such as this one.

Mortality estimates based on dendrochronological data in

unburned control areas agreed closely with background

mortality estimates from other studies. These may be much

higher than historical rates, probably because of increased

competitive stresses due to higher tree densities in contemporary forests. The 1996 drought might also have elevated

the mortality rates in the control areas. The unburned area

surveyed on the xeric South Rim shows especially high

mortality (more than 2 percent/year). These figures highlight the need to reinvigorate presettlement trees as well as

merely protecting them.

This study could not identify tree characteristics associated with increased risk of postfire mortality. Studies measuring tree characteristics both before and after burns are

probably better suited than retrospective surveys to gather

this type of information. Measures of basal fire intensity

were higher on dead trees than live trees in all burns. This

agrees with results from other studies and argues that these

measures can be important in predicting postburn mortality

of mature trees.

References _____________________

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Avery, Charles C.; Larson, Frederic R., and Schubert, Gilbert H.

1976. Fifty-year records of virgin stand development in southwestern ponderosa pine. Fort Collins, CO: USDA Forest Service.

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Bennett, P. S. The fire ecology of the ponderosa pine ecosystem of the

North Rim forests, Grand Canyon National Park; 1974; Report on

file at Grand Canyon National Park, AZ.

Bonnicksen, Thomas M. and Stone, Edward C. 1985. Restoring

naturalness to natural parks. Environmental Management.

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Brown, T. C. and Daniel, Terry C. 1984. Modeling ponderosa pine

scenic beauty: concepts and application to ponderosa pine. Fort

Collins, CO: USDA Forest Service. Research Paper RM-256. 35 p.

Covington, W. W.; Fulé, Peter Z.; Moore, Margaret. M.; Hart,

Stephen C.; Kolb, Thomas E.; Mast, Joy N.; Sackett, Stephen S.,

and Wagner, Michael R. 1997. Restoring ecosystem health in

ponderosa pine forests of the Southwest. Journal of Forestry.

95(4):23–29.

Covington, W. Wallace; Everett, Richard L.; Steele, Robert;

Irwin, Larry L.; Daer, Tom A, and Auclair, Allan N. D. 1994.

Historical and anticipated changes in forest ecosystems of the

Inland West of the United States. Journal of Sustainable

Forestry. 2(1/2):13–63.

Covington, W. Wallace and Moore, Margaret M. 1994. Postsettlement

changes in natural fire regimes and forest structure: Ecological

restoration of old-growth ponderosa pine forests. Journal of

Sustainable Forestry. 2(1/2):153–181.

Cunningham, James B.; Balda, Russel P, and Gaud, William S.

1980. Selection and use of snags by secondary cavity-nesting

birds of the ponderosa pine forest. Fort Collins, CO: USDA Forest

Service. Research Paper RM-222. 15 p.

Feeney, Shelley R.; Kolb, Thomas E.; Covington, W. Wallace, and

Wagner, Michael R. 1998. Influence of thinning and burning

restoration treatments on presettlement ponderosa pines at the

Gus Pearson Natural Area. Canadian Journal of Forest Research. 28:1295–1306.

Fiedler, Carl E.; Arno, Stephen F., and Harrington, Michael G.

Flexible silvicultural and prescribed burning approaches for

improving health of ponderosa pine forests. In: Covington, W.

Wallace and Wagner, Pamela K., technical coordinators. Conference on adaptive ecosystem restoration and management: restoration of Cordilleran conifer landscapes of North America; Flagstaff, AZ. Fort Collins, CO: USDA Forest Service: 69–74.

Fulé, Peter Z.; Heinlein, Thomas A.; Covington, W. Wallace, and

Moore, Margaret M. [In review]. Fire regimes on an environmental gradient in Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, USA.

Hamilton, D. A. and Edwards, B. M. 1976. Modeling the probability

of individual tree mortality. Ogden, UT: USDA Forest Service.

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pine. In: Conference on the effects of fire in management of

southwestern natural resources; Tucson, AZ: 234–240.

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Mast, Joy Nystrom; Fulé, P. Z.; Moore, Margaret M.; Covington, W.

Wallace, and Waltz, Amy E. M. 1999. Restoration of presettlement age structure of an Arizona ponderosa pine forest. Ecological Applications. 9(1):228–239.

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Geography. 15(6):529–542.

Mathiasen, Robert L. 1996. Dwarf mistletoes in forest canopies.

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data analysis. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company.

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mortality following wildfire in Pinus ponderosa forests in the

central Sierra Nevada of California. International Journal of

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multiresource outputs under alternative management regimes.

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Rocky Mountain Fire Council: 2–10.

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USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 43

Abstract—Vegetation and fuel loading plots were monitored and

sampled in wilderness areas treated with prescribed fire. Changes

in ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) forest structure tree species

and fuel loading are presented. Plots were randomly stratified and

established in burn units in 1995. Preliminary analysis of nine plots

2 years after burning show litter was reduced 54.3 percent, duff was

reduced 34.7 percent, ponderosa pine tree density in the 10.2 cm to

30.5 cm d.b.h. (diameter at breast height) size class was reduced 18

percent, and ponderosa pine tree density greater than 61.2 cm d.b.h.

increased in Zion National Park.

Introduction ____________________

Historically, lightning and human caused fires influenced

vegetation structure. Vegetation is constantly growing and

changing and fire provides a natural means of checks and

balances for many landscapes. Fires reduced fuel accumulations and maintained open, grassy forest stands. However,

human settlement and land use practices resulted in fewer

fires and those that did ignite were quickly suppressed,

whether in wilderness or not. As a result, forest structure

has changed with increased fuel loads and thicker tree and

shrub densities.

Fire is a natural process and a critical component in

nutrient cycling and vegetation structure maintenance of

many ecosystems. “Entire ecosystems can be drastically

altered or maintained by periodic burning” (Kozlowski and

Ahlgren 1973). Fire is a tool that can be used in restoring

many forested and nonforested areas.

West and Madany (1981) cited Alter (1942) with a description from Priddy Meek’s journal. This description is of

the land just to the northeast of what is presently Zion

National Park. In June of 1852, Priddy described the area

as “...Rich soil, plenty of grass and timber... so that a team

and wagon might be driven any place.... We traveled three

days amongst this timber, which is of the best quality and

clear of underbrush.” What caused this open vegetation

structure? Many studies have shown that ponderosa pine

vegetation systems have evolved with fire and require it for

growth and recruitment. West and Madany (1981) researched the fire history of Zion National Park and stated

that, “From the fire scar record we can safely state that any

location within a ponderosa pine forest burned at least

once, and more likely twice, every decade in the time before

white settlement.” This conclusion fits comparable descriptions from early settlers of the West and demonstrates

that many fire cycles have been missed in this fire regime.

Using prescribed fire in wilderness areas may help restore

this scene of open forests, as well as promote nutrient

cycling and vegetation structure maintenance at Zion and

across the West. “The inescapable conclusion of fire effects

in ponderosa pine is that the land manager responsible for

these communities should be doing a lot of burning”

(Saveland and Bunting 1987).

Objectives _____________________

Specific objectives for an initial prescribed fire treatment

of ponderosa pine were: Reduce needle/litter and duff

layers by 40–60 percent, and attain a 30–60 percent decrease in ponderosa pine of size class 10.2–30.5 cm diameter at breast height (d.b.h.). The objective for ponderosa

pine greater than 61.2 cm d.b.h. was to maintain the

density of trees. However, fires and effects can be unpredictable so mortality was required to be limited to 20

percent for fire prescription parameters.

Study Area _____________________

Zion National Park is located in southwestern Utah. The

park covers 59,490 ha and ranges in elevation from 1,127 to

2,659 m. Temperatures vary with elevation, with lows

below 0 ∞F in the upper elevations during winter, and

exceed 100 ∞F at lower elevations during summer. Afternoon

thunderstorms are common in July and August. Peak precipitation occurs December through March with an average

of 15 inches annually at park headquarters. Ponderosa pine

occurs from approximately 1,980 to 2,400 m in Zion National

Park. The random plots were located in the Stave Spring,

Echo Canyon, East Boundary, and Goose Creek prescribed

burn units.

Methods _______________________

Data Collection

Ponderosa pine vegetation monitoring plots were established according to the Western Region Fire Monitoring

Effects of Low Intensity Prescribed Fires on

Ponderosa Pine Forests in Wilderness Areas

of Zion National Park, Utah

Henry V. Bastian

In: Vance, Regina K.; Edminster, Carleton B.; Covington, W. Wallace;

Blake, Julie A. comps. 2001. Ponderosa pine ecosystems restoration and

conservation: steps toward stewardship; 2000 April 25–27; Flagstaff, AZ.

Proceedings RMRS-P-22. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture,

Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station.

Henry V. Bastian is a Fire Effects Specialist with Zion National Park. He

attended Utah State University and received a B.S. degree in fish and

wildlife biology. He continues to monitor and study the effects of using

prescribed fire.
44 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Bastian Effects of Low Intensity Prescribed Fires on Ponderosa Pine Forests in Wilderness Areas of Zion National Park, Utah

Handbook Protocols (USDI NPS 1992). Nine plots were

stratified randomly within the prescribed burn units. The

plots, established before a controlled burn, consist of a 20 x

50 m area. All overstory trees (>15.1 cm d.b.h.) were recorded in the 20 x 50 m area. Pole sized trees (2.51 cm–15.0

cm d.b.h.) were sampled in a 10 x 25 m section and seedling

sized trees (<2.50 cm d.b.h.) were sampled in a 3 x 10 m

section. Brush and herbaceous plants are also sampled in

the plot but not analyzed for this poster. Forest fuel load

conditions were measured on four transects. Fuel load data

are calculated for litter, duff, 1, 10, 100, and 1,000-hour fuels

(Brown 1974). Plots were sampled immediate postburn, 1,

and 2 years after the burn to monitor the effects. Plots will

be sampled at 5, 10, and 20 years after the burn or until the

area has fire introduced again and the sampling starts over

for a second burn event sampling all components described

above. Plots in this study were burned between 1996 and

1997 during the months of September through November.

Immediate postburn sampling was done within 1 month of

the burn and sampled burn severity, overstory tree postfire

assessment, and fuel loading transects. Burn severity was

assessed on a scale of one to five, and done in conjunction

with the fuel loading transects. At each sample point, severity was evaluated in a 4 square decimeter area. For example, if litter and duff were consumed leaving white ash

and all plant parts were consumed, the area would be rated

one (1). If the area was not burned, it would be rated five (5)

for unburned. The data were then averaged to give a percent

for organic substrate and vegetation categories and to estimate burn severity for the area.

Overstory tree postfire assessment characterizes the

amount of heat received by the trees, via sampling char

height, scorch height, and percent crown scorch. Char height

was measured from the ground to the maximum height on

the bole of the tree. Scorch height was measured from the

ground to highest point where foliar death was evident.

Percent scorch was an estimate of the entire crown of the

tree that was scorched.

Prescribed Burn Conditions

The ponderosa pine fuels were classified as a timber fuel

model 09 (Anderson 1982). Fuel models were used to predict

fire behavior and to assess the potential to control a fire and

protect resources. Plots were burned between 1,100 and

1,600 hours. Weather conditions during prescribed fires

included: ambient air temperatures of 55 ∞F to 70 ∞F,

relative humidity of 13–33 percent, mid-flame wind speeds

of 0–18 km per hour, and 0–70 percent shade. Fire behavior

observations included: flame lengths of 0.2 to 0.6 m, flame

zone depths of 0.4–0.8 m, rates of spread for backing fires of

5 to 17 m per hour (m/hr), flanking fires of 5 to 15 m/hr, and

head fires of 11 to 18 m/hr.

Results ________________________

Average burn severity was 3.7 for organic substrate giving

a “lightly burned” rating and 4.0 for vegetation for a “scorched”

rating (fig. 1). Overstory tree postfire assessment averages

for char and scorch heights were 1.4 m and 2 m, respectively.

The average canopy scorch was 10.7 percent for 254 trees.

Litter was reduced 55.3 percent from 1.03 kg/m2 to 0.46 kg/

m2 at the immediate postburn sample. Duff was reduced

34.7 percent from 4.52 kg/m2 to 2.97 kg/m2 immediate

postburn (fig. 2). Total fuel loading was reduced 34.5 percent

from 6.89 kg/m2

 to 4.50 kg/m2 immediate postburn (fig. 3).

Ponderosa pine overstory in the 10.2–30.5 cm d.b.h. size

classes was reduced 18 percent from 138.9 trees per ha to

114.4 trees per ha and trees greater than 61.2 cm increased

from 1.1 to 7.8 trees per ha within 2 years after the burn

(fig. 4).

Discussion _____________________

This early analysis indicates that prescribed fire may be

used to reduce fuels and small trees without mortality of

large trees (figs. 5–10). These initial prescribed fires were

designed to treat the areas multiple times with low to

moderate fire intensities and to reduce the potential of fire

starts, natural or human-caused, that occur under both

extremely dry conditions and heavy fuel accumulations from

years of fire suppression. Thinning was considered but due

to the area being wilderness, prescribed fire was chosen.

After some of the areas have been treated with prescribed

fires, it is hoped that fire will be restored to occur naturally.

Ecosystems are complex, dynamic, and difficult to sample

and analyze. With many of these environmental factors and

others (soil composition, precipitation, topography, vegetation composition and structure, live vegetation fuel moisture, fire behavior, air temperature, and relative humidity),

sample error needs to be discussed. It can be seen from the

data that standard error varied. What may be represented

here may not be what actually occurred. Due to many

variables in observing and recording data, it is difficult to

accurately sample without some error.

Minimum plot calculations were done using an 80 percent

confidence level with an R-value of 25. Eight plots were

needed for total fuel loading and seven plots were needed for

overstory tree density to meet the 80 percent confidence

level. A paired t-test was done on litter fuel loading, duff fuel

loading, total fuel loading, overstory (10.2 to 30.5 cm), and

overstory (61.2 cm) tree densities. The t-test showed the

following values, respectively: 5.246, 2.779, 3.948, 2.204,

and –1.250, showing in general a significant change from

pre- to postburn conditions.

Objectives and target conditions are continually being

developed and redefined from knowledge of the past and

present. There are many factors that need to be considered

when dealing with fire and vegetation succession. “Fire

history has a decided influence on the particular successional status of vegetation and in what direction and at

what rate it is changing” (West and Loope 1977). Thus, it is

not surprising that prescribed fire has become a useful tool

to meet a variety of management objectives (Biswell and

others 1973).

Summary ______________________

Needle/litter fuel load layer was reduced 54 percent. This

meets the objective to reduce it by 40 to 60 percent. Duff fuel

loading was reduced 35 percent. This is close to meeting the

objective. Pole sized trees were reduced 18 percent, which is
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 45

Effects of Low Intensity Prescribed Fires on Ponderosa Pine Forests in Wilderness Areas of Zion National Park, Utah Bastian

0

TOTAL FUEL LOAD – Zion National Park (1995 – 1997) 

Ponderosa Pine Monitoring Type, Treatment–Prescribed Fire

2

4

6

8

10

Fuel load, kg/m2 (s.e.)

00 PRE n=9 01 Post n=9 01 yr01 n=9 01 yr02 n=9

Total Fuel Load

Figure 1—(USDI NPS 1999). Percentage of burn severity categories on organic substrate and vegetation. 01 = the first

time the area has been treated with prescribed fire, Post = sampling done within 1 month of completion of burn, and n=9

= sample size of nine plots.

Figure 2—(USDI NPS 1999). Litter and duff fuel

loading by sample period.

Figure 3—(USDI NPS 1999). Total fuel load (litter, duff,

and woody fuels) kg/m2 from preburn sample to 2 years

after the burn.

0

BURN SEVERITY (%) – Zion National Park – (1995 – 1997) 

Percentage of samples that received a 1 to 5 rating

20

40

60

100

80

Percent (s.e.)

Organic Substrate,

(1) Heavily burned

Organic Substrate,

(4) Scorched

Vegetation,

(2) Moderately burned

Vegetation,

(5) Unburned

Organic Substrate,

(2) Moderately burned

Organic Substrate,

(3) Lightly burned

Organic Substrate,

(5) Unburned

Vegetation,

(1) Heavily burned

Vegetation,

(3) Lightly burned

Vegetation,

(4) Scorched

01 Post n=9

0

LITTER & DUFF FUEL LOADS – Zion NP – (1995 – 1997) 

Ponderosa Pine Monitoring Type, Treatment–Prescribed Fire

2

4

6

8

10

Fuel Load, kg / m2 (s.e.)

00 PRE n=9 01 Post n=9 01 yr01 n=9 01 yr02 n=9

Litter Duff
46 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Bastian Effects of Low Intensity Prescribed Fires on Ponderosa Pine Forests in Wilderness Areas of Zion National Park, Utah

0

LIVE OVERSTORY TREE DENSITY – Zion NP – By size class 

Ponderosa Pine Monitoring Type, Treatment–Prescribed Fire

25

50

75

100

125

Trees / Hectare (s.e.)

00 PRE n=9 01 Post n=9 01 yr01 n=9 01 yr02 n=9

Pinus ponderosa 10.2–20.3 cm

Pinus ponderosa 51.0–61.1 cm

Pinus ponderosa 20.4–30.5 cm

Pinus ponderosa 61.2–71.3 cm

Pinus ponderosa 30.6–40.7 cm

Pinus ponderosa 71.4–81.5 cm

Pinus ponderosa 40.8–50.9 cm

Pinus ponderosa 81.6–91.7 cm

Figure 4—(USDI NPS 1999). Ponderosa pine overstory trees per ha divided into size classes by sample period.

Figure 5—Preburn Echo Canyon photograph of ponderosa pine forest at Zion National Park.

Figure 6—Postburn Echo Canyon picture, same view

as figure 5. Smaller trees have been reduced a little

toward target objective.
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 47

Effects of Low Intensity Prescribed Fires on Ponderosa Pine Forests in Wilderness Areas of Zion National Park, Utah Bastian

Figure 7—Same view from figure 5, 1 year after the

burn. Brush has generally decreased.

Figure 8—Preburn Goose Creek picture of ponderosa

pine forest at Zion National Park.

Figure 10—One year after the burn, same view as

figure 8. Understory has been opened up.

Figure 9—Postburn picture, same view as figure 8.

well below the objective of attaining a 30 to 60 percent

decrease in this size class. These results provide some

evidence that prescribed burning can be an important step

in restoring some vegetation structure described in the past

(figs. 5–10). Continued burning and monitoring may help

restore the natural range of variability in these vegetation

communities to a self-sustaining state. “One of the primary

and unique missions of the National Park Service is to

perpetuate natural ecosystems in a state approximating the

pristine” (Stone 1965; Houston 1971).

Acknowledgments ______________

A special thanks to the people who assisted in this project:

A. Latterell, J. Bradybaugh, P. Reeberg, W. Sydoriak, Zion

Prescribed Fire Module, Bandelier Prescribed Fire Module,

Zion Fire Crew, and Utah/Great Basin Fire Effects Crew.

References _____________________

Alter, J. C., ed. 1942. Journal of Priddy Meek’s. Utah Historical

Quarterly 10:145–223.

Anderson, H. E. 1982. Aids to Determining Fuel Models For Estimating Fire Behavior. USDA Forest Service. Intermountain

Forest and Range Experiment Station. Gen. Tech. Report INT122. Ogden, UT.

Biswell, H. H., H. R. Kollander, R. Komarek, R. J. Vogl and H.

Weaver. 1973. Ponderosa Fire Management. Tall timbers Res.

Stn. Misc. Publ. 2. Tallahassee, FL. 49 p.

Brown, J. K. 1974. Handbook for Inventorying Downed Material.

USDA Forest Service. Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station. Gen. Tech. Report INT-16. Ogden, UT.

Houston, D. B. 1971. Ecosystems in National Parks. Science 172:

648–651.

Kozlowski, T. T. and C. E. Ahlegren. 1973. Fire and Ecosystems.

Academic Press, New York. 542 p.

Saveland, J. M. and S. C. Bunting. 1987. Fire Effects in Ponderosa

Pine Forests. Ponderosa Pine—The Species and Its Management

Symposium Proceedings. Coop. Ext. WSU. 125 p.
48 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Bastian Effects of Low Intensity Prescribed Fires on Ponderosa Pine Forests in Wilderness Areas of Zion National Park, Utah

Stone, E. C. 1965. Preserving Natural Vegetation in Parks and

Wilderness. Science 150:1261–1267.

USDI National Park Service. 1992. Western Region Fire Monitoring

Handbook. Western Region Office, San Francisco, CA.

USDI National Park Service. 1999. NPS National Fire Monitoring

Handbook. FMH 3.10.1.3 Fire Monitoring Handbook Software.

National Interagency Fire Center, Boise, ID.

West, N. E. and W. L. Loope. 1977. Frequency and Role of Fire in

Ecosystems of Zion National Park. USU-NPS Cooperative Studies Unit. 1 p.

West, N. E. and M. H. Madany. 1981. Fire History of the Horse

Pasture Plateau. Final Report USDI Contract No. CX-1200-9-

B048. USU. 77 & 191 p.
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 49

In: Vance, Regina K.; Edminster, Carleton B.; Covington, W. Wallace;

Blake, Julie A. comps. 2001. Ponderosa pine ecosystems restoration and

conservation: steps toward stewardship; 2000 April 25–27; Flagstaff, AZ.

Proceedings RMRS-P-22. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture,

Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station.

Henry Bastian is a Fire Effects Specialist with Zion National Park. He

attended Utah State University and received a B.S. degree in Fish and

Wildlife Biology. He continues to monitor and study the effects of using

prescribed fire.

Abstract—Prescribed fire was used to reduce fuel loading and

tree densities. Permanent vegetation and fuel loading plots were

randomly established within prescribed burn units. The plots

were established in 1995 and were sampled, immediately postburn

(within 1 month of the fire), 1 year after the burn, and 2 years after

the burn. The prescribed burns were implemented in August of

1995. Preliminary analysis of 11 plots shows fuel loading was

reduced from 31.9 tons/acre to 11.4 tons/acre immediate postburn.

White fir (Abies concolor) overstory was reduced 35 percent, poles

52 percent, and seedlings 71 percent by the second year following

the burn.

Introduction ____________________

Many factors influence vegetation succession and how a

fire burns across the landscape, but both are mainly

affected by land use or management practices. A few other

factors include: soil composition, precipitation, topography, vegetation composition and structure, live vegetation fuel moisture, fire behavior, air temperature, and

relative humidity. All of these factors combine to produce

varied effects on successional vegetation mosaics. “A comparison of today’s landscape at Bryce Canyon National

Park with the landscape shown in historic photographs

indicates that a major change has occurred in the Park’s

vegetative mosaic” (Roberts and others 1993). “Journals

from early settlers in Garfield County [Bryce Canyon

area] describe open forests, where visibility was several

hundred yards. These early ranchers and farmers tell of

being able to take a wagon and team of horses through the

forests on top of the Paunsaugunt Plateau” (Bryant 1995).

What caused the change in the vegetation and landscape

as described above? Land use practices and an active role

in suppressing fires are the main factors that helped

influence the change. Prescribed fire may be used in

restoring the natural vegetative mosaic.

The Effects of a Low Intensity Fire on a

Mixed Conifer Forest in Bryce Canyon

National Park, Utah

Henry V. Bastian

Objectives _____________________

The main objectives of the project were to use prescribed

fire to reduce hazardous fuel conditions and to burn the area

with a low fire intensity. Specific objectives were to reduce

total fuel load 20–50 percent immediate postburn, reduce

white fir (Abies concolor) poles 10–20 percent, and white fir

seedlings 20–40 percent within 2 years of the burn. Using

prescribed fire may reduce fuels and vegetation densities to

diminish the risk of a catastrophic wildfire. “[A park management goal]...is to restore the park ecosystem to a condition typical of pre-European settlement and prior to the

establishment of fire exclusion policies” (Bryant 1994).

Study Area _____________________

Bryce Canyon National Park, in south/central Utah on the

Paunsaugunt Plateau, covers 35,852 acres and ranges in

elevation from 6,000 ft to 9,000 ft. Mixed conifer forests

range above 8,200 ft. The prescribed burns occurred in the

County Line and Yovimpa burn units in the south end of the

park. General weather patterns include temperature ranges

from –30 ∞F to 90 ∞F. Precipitation peaks are in January/

February and July/August.

Methods _______________________

In 1995, 11 mixed conifer (Abies concolor/Pinus ponderosa) vegetation-monitoring plots were established according to the Western Region Fire Monitoring Handbook Protocols (USDI NPS 1992). All plots were randomly located

within the prescribed burn units. The plots, established

before a controlled burn, consist of a 20-m by 50-m area. All

overstory trees (>15.1 cm diameter at breast height, d.b.h.)

are recorded in the 20 m x 50 m area. Pole trees (2.51 to

15.0 cm d.b.h.) are recorded in a 10 m x 25 m area. Seedling

trees (<2.5 cm d.b.h.) are recorded in a 5 m x 10 m area. Forest

fuel is calculated on four, 50 ft transects. Calculations

measure litter, duff, 1, 10, 100, and 1,000-hour fuels following

the methodology of Brown (1974). The plots were sampled

immediate postburn, 1, and 2 years after the prescribed burns.

Burn severity is determined within 1 month of the burn.

It is assessed on a scale of 1 to 5 (fig. 1) and conducted in

conjunction with the Brown’s fuel loading transects. At each

sample point (1, 5, 10 ft, and so forth), severity is evaluated

in a 4 square-decimeter area. For example if litter and duff

is consumed leaving white ash and all plant parts are

consumed the area would be rated one (1). If the area was not

burned, it would be rated five (5) for unburned. This information is then calculated to give an average burn severity.
50 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Bastian The Effects of a Low Intensity Fire on a Mixed Conifer Forest in Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah

0

TOTAL FUEL LOAD – Bryce Canyon NP / 1995 – 1997

Mixed Conifer Monitoring Type / Treatment–Prescribed Fire

10

20

30

40

50

Fuel load, tons / ac (s.e.)

00 PRE n=11 01 Post n=11 01 yr01 n=11 01 yr02 n=11

Total Fuel Load

7.2% 61.2%

(s.e. 7.5)

Organic 19.9 % 4.1 % 7.6%

Substrate

[Litter

and Duff]

(Standard

Error)

Vegetation

(Standard

Error)

Average Severity was 3.9 Organic substrate and 3.8 Vegetation

(s.e. 4.7) (s.e. 1.1) (s.e. 2.2) (s.e. 1.8)

16.4% 55.5%

(s.e. 11.5)

5.5% 9.5% 4.0%

(s.e. 5.5) (s.e. 9.1) (s.e. 2.5) (s.e. 5.0)

Burn Severity Data

BRCA 1 =

Heavily

Burned

2 =

Moderately

Burned

3 =

Lightly

Burned

4 =

Scorched

5 =

Unburned

Results ________________________

Burn severity ratings showed that 19.9 percent of the

sample received a one (1) heavily burned rating, 18.9 percent

received a two to four rating, and 61.2 percent receiving an

unburned rating (fig. 1) creating a patchy burn with varied

intensities across the landscape. The average burn severity

ratings were 3.9 for organic substrate and 3.8 for vegetation

for a “lightly burned” rating. Burn severity for the 11 plots

was lower than expected given the mortality seen in the

overstory, pole, and seedling trees especially with a significant amount receiving an unburned rating (N = 11 for this

sample).

Figure 2 shows the mean total fuel load and standard error

of the sample. The preburn fuel loading was 31.9 tons/acre.

Fuel loading was reduced 64 percent to 11.4 tons/acre immediate postburn. Total fuels have achieved 52 percent of the

pre fuel loading level to 16.5 tons/acre 2 years after the burn.

Figures 3 through 5 show the mean overstory, pole, and

seedling tree densities with standard errors. White fir overstory trees had a density of 81.7 trees/acre preburn and

ponderosa pine had a density of 22.8 trees/acre. Two years

after the burn, overstory white fir was reduced 35 percent to

53 trees/acre and overstory ponderosa pine was reduced 16

percent to 19.1 trees/acre. White fir poles decreased 52

percent from 169.2 trees/acre to 80.9 trees/acre 2 years after

the burn and ponderosa poles decreased 50 percent from 5.9

trees/acre to 2.9 trees/acre. Seedling white fir decreased 71

percent from 1,604.1 trees/acre to 463 trees/acre 2 years

after the burn, while ponderosa pine seedlings decreased 40

percent from 36.8 trees/acre to 22.1 trees per acre. It is

interesting to note that there were no quaking aspen (Populous tremuloides) seedlings preburn, but 2 years after the

burn aspen was regenerating (fig. 5). At the 2-year reading,

Figure 1—Percentage of severity categories and average severity. The data

average gives a “lightly burned” severity rating.

Figure 2—(USDI NPS 1999). The mean total fuel load in

tons per acre before a controlled burn, immediate postburn,

1 year, and 2 years after the burn.

aspen seedlings were recorded at 117.7 trees/acre, but this

occurred in only one plot.

Discussion

Results demonstrate that this fire produced small to

medium changes to the total fuel load, overstory trees, pole

trees, and seedling trees. These low intensity fires (“lightly

burned”) can result in some mortality to overstory, pole, and
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 51

The Effects of a Low Intensity Fire on a Mixed Conifer Forest in Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah Bastian

0

LIVE POLE TREE DENSITY – By species name/ 2.51–15.0cm DBH

Mixed Conifer Monitoring Type / Bryce Canyon NP / 1995–97

50

100

150

200

250

Trees / Acre (s.e.)

00 PRE n=11 01 Post n=11 01 yr01 n=11 01 yr02 n=11

Abies concolor Juniperus scopulorum Pinus flexilis Pinus ponderosa Pseudotsuga menziesii

0

LIVE OVERSTORY TREE DENSITY – By species name / >15.1cm DBH

Mixed Conifer Monitoring Type / Bryce Canyon NP / 1995–97

20

40

60

80

100

Trees / Acre (s.e.)

00 PRE n=11 01 Post n=11 01 yr01 n=11 01 yr02 n=11

Abies concolor Juniperus scopulorum Pinus flexilis Pinus ponderosa Populus tremuloides Pseudotsuga menziesii

Figure 3—(USDI NPS 1999). The mean density of overstory tree species (>15.1 cm d.b.h.)

before a controlled burn, immediate post, 1 year after, and 2 years after the burn.

Figure 4—(USDI NPS 1999). The mean density of pole sized trees (2.51–15.0 cm d.b.h.)

before a controlled burn, immediately post, 1 year after, and 2 years after the burn.
52 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Bastian The Effects of a Low Intensity Fire on a Mixed Conifer Forest in Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah

0

LIVE SEEDLING TREE DENSITY – By species name/ < 2.50 cm DBH

Mixed Conifer Monitoring Type / Bryce Canyon NP / 1995–97

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

Trees / Acre (s.e.)

00 PRE n=11 01 Post n=11 01 yr01 n=11 01 yr02 n=11

Abies concolor Pinus flexilis Pinus ponderosa Populus tremuloides Pseudotsuga menziesii

seedling-sized trees. Monitoring shows changes in preburn

and postburn forest fuel conditions (fuel loading) and overstory, pole, and seedling trees densities. “In mixed conifer

forests where white fir dominates the understory due to

years of fire suppression, prescribed low-intensity surface

fires will kill large numbers of white fir” (FEIS 1996). “ This

reduces the hazard of white fir providing a fuel ladder to

ignite the crown of overstory trees and also restores tree

species composition closer to that of pristine conditions”

(FEIS 1996).

Remnant populations of quaking aspen were scattered

throughout the mixed conifer forests and it was hoped that

through using prescribed fire, the aspen would be stimulated and regenerate in openings created by the fire. The

results demonstrate that this may be occurring but, it is too

early to report any significance of aspen regeneration.

In 1995 Jenkins examined the mixed conifer forest near

the south end of the park and concluded that the mean fire

return interval was 7.5 prior to the 1900s. “Studies concluded that the accumulation of woody vegetation and down

and dead woody fuels have increased significantly in the

present century” in Bryce Canyon National Park (Jenkins

1995).

Ecosystems are complex and dynamic. It is difficult to

accurately sample them without error. Figure 3 demonstrates this point. Overstory white fir trees were reduced

from 81.7 trees/acre preburn to 64.0 trees/acre postburn.

However, at the 1 year reading there were 69.5 trees/acre.

This is due to the difficulty in accurately determining if the

tree is dead or alive immediate postburn due to scorching of

the tree canopy. Observers introduce error regardless of

their knowledge, experience, and expertise on the job. Due to

many variables in observing and recording data, it is difficult to accurately sample without some error.

Minimum plot calculations were done using an 80 percent

confidence level with an R value of 25. Eleven plots were

necessary for total fuel load to meet the 80 percent confidence level. Overstory trees required six plots, poles 35 plots,

and seedlings needed 44 plots to meet 80 percent confidence.

It is important to remember that the sample size must be

large enough to infer that the result has occurred across the

entire landscape, when evaluating the data.

Conclusion_____________________

The results indicate that (“lightly burned”) low intensity

prescribed burns will create small to medium changes creating openings in the forest. These results meet the project and

program objectives at Bryce Canyon. Total fuel loading was

reduced a little over half. Overstory, pole, and seedling

densities were reduced with moderate changes. With all of

the factors that influence vegetation succession and fire

severity in the environment, a mosaic of patterns and intensities from fire can be expected. Fire behavior and intensity

can vary from burn to burn, and will vary across the landscape producing different effects. These changes move the

forest vegetation structure toward a less crowded forest

where future prescribed or natural fires will function in

Figure 5—(USDI NPS 1999). The mean density of seedling sized trees (<2.50 cm d.b.h.)

before a controlled burn, immediate post, 1 year after, and 2 years after the burn.
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 53

The Effects of a Low Intensity Fire on a Mixed Conifer Forest in Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah Bastian

maintaining an open vegetation mosaic. This is an example

of what prescribed fire can do in this vegetation type.

“Prescribed fires can be used as a means of reducing hazardous fuel loads and reestablishing pre-settlement fire regimes” (Jenkins 1995).

Acknowledgments ______________

A special thanks to the people who assisted in this project:

Richard Bryant, Ross Wilmore, Art Latterell, John Morlock,

Rick Wallen, Paul Reeberg, Walter Sydoriak, Bryce Canyon

staff, Bandelier Prescribed Fire Module, Zion Fire Crew,

Zion-Bryce Fire Effects Crews.

References _____________________

Brown, J.K. 1974. Handbook for inventorying downed material.

USDA Forest Service. Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station. Gen. Tech. Report INT-16. Ogden, UT.

Bryant, R.M. 1994. Draft environmental assessment for fire management plan, Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah. On file at:

Bryce Canyon National Park.

Bryant, R.M. 1995. Prescribed fire at Bryce Canyon National Park.

On file at: Bryce Canyon National Park.

Buchanan, H. 1960. The Plant Ecology of Bryce Canyon National

Park. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT.

Fire Effects Information System [Online] 1996, September. Prescribed Fire and Fire Effects Research Work Unit, Rocky Mountain Research Station (producer). Available: www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/ [1998, March 12] White fir (Abies concolor) section.

Jenkins, M.J. 1995. Fire History Determination in the Mixed

Conifer/Aspen Community of Bryce Canyon National Park. Project

UW #5/34080: 2.

Roberts, D.W., M.J. Jenkins, D.W. Wight. 1993. Historical Vegetation, Fuel Loads, and Integrated Resource Information System

for Bryce Canyon National Park. Final Report USDI Contract No.

88–264: 249.

USDI National Park Service. 1992. Western Region Fire Monitoring

Handbook. Western Region Office, San Francisco, CA.

USDI National Park Service. 1999. NPS National Fire Monitoring

Handbook [FMH 3.10.1.3 Fire Monitoring Handbook Software].

(Data Analysis and Graphic productions) National Interagency

Fire Center, Boise, ID.
54 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

In: Vance, Regina K.; Edminster, Carleton B.; Covington, W. Wallace;

Blake, Julie A. comps. 2001. Ponderosa pine ecosystems restoration and

conservation: steps toward stewardship; 2000 April 25–27; Flagstaff, AZ.

Proceedings RMRS-P-22. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture,

Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station.

Timothy Ingalsbee is the Director of the Western Fire Ecology Center.

Timothy earned a Ph.D. in environmental sociology at the University of

Oregon. He was a wildland firefighter for the USDA Forest Service and USDI

National Park Service, and is a frequent speaker and writer on Federal fire

management issues.

Fire Process Research Natural Areas:

Managing Research and Restoration of

Dynamic Ecosystem Processes

Timothy Ingalsbee

Abstract—Since 1992 a collaborative group of fire scientists, forest

conservationists, and Federal resource specialists have been developing proposals for a Research Natural Area (RNA) in the Warner

Creek Fire area on the Willamette National Forest in Oregon.

Inspired by these proposals, the Oregon Natural Heritage Plan

created the new category of “Fire Process RNAs” in order to protect

landscape-scale areas for dynamic ecosystem disturbance and succession processes resulting from wildland fires. Fire Process RNAs

have many values for basic wildland fire research, ecosystem

restoration, biodiversity conservation, and public education. They

are especially suited to frequent-fire ecosystems, such as the ponderosa pine ecosystems of the Southwest and could serve as important

control areas for measuring the effects of managed restoration

activities and broad-scale environmental change due to global

warming. This paper will: (1) present some of the history and theory

of the evolving Warner Fire Process RNA proposals; (2) discuss some

of the social issues, scientific controversies, and management challenges involved with designing and managing Fire Process RNAs;

and (3) present the Warner proposal and its public support as a

model to advocate for a network of Fire Process RNAs throughout

fire-prone ecosystems of the West.

Introduction ____________________

In October 1991, arsonists ignited the Warner Creek Fire

inside a protected Habitat Conservation Area (HCA) managed for the northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina).

The wildfire burned across 8,900 acres of public wildlands,

including the entire 6,800 acre Cornpatch Inventoried

Roadless Area. The Warner Creek Fire became the second

largest, costliest wildfire in the history of the Willamette

National Forest. Fearing that the fire-killed snags and logs

posed a risk of potential future catastrophic wildfire, the

Forest Service proposed extensive salvage logging in order

to reduce fuel loads and construct fuel breaks. This sparked

a firestorm of controversy among conservationists who feared

copycat arson-for-salvage incidents would occur in other

protected habitat reserves.

Over the next 4 years, the Warner Salvage Sale became

one of the most controversial, contested timber sales in the

country. The Clinton Administration finally withdrew the

timber sale in 1996, and no salvage logging ever occurred

inside the wildfire area. Currently, the Warner Burn represents one of the rarest landscapes in the Cascadia bioregion:

a roadless, mid-elevation, largely unmanaged burned forest

containing both young natural stands and high-mortality

old-growth stands.

During the conflict over the Warner Salvage Sale, a

collaboration among fire scientists, forest conservationists,

and Forest Service resource specialists proposed that the

Warner Burn be managed as a Research Natural Area

(RNA) in order to research and restore natural fire disturbance and succession processes. This idea was first articulated in “Alternative EF: Ecology of Fire” published in the

Warner Fire Recovery Project’s Final Environmental Impact Statement. The Warner Creek Fire and Alternative EF

inspired a formal revision of the Oregon Natural Heritage

Plan that eventually created the new “Fire Process” RNAs.

These were intended to protect large areas of public land for

research, education, and restoration of dynamic ecosystem

disturbance and recovery processes associated with wildland fire.

The vision of the Warner Fire Process RNA has been

expanded in a more recent proposal that utilizes Conservation Biology principles to link the Warner Burn with five

adjacent Inventoried Roadless Areas and two designated

Wilderness Areas. This would form a landscape-scale fire

ecology research complex suited to the fire regime of the

westside Cascades. Anticipating future progressive developments in fire management philosophy and policy, proponents seek to develop a model fire management plan for the

RNA that would facilitate research and restoration-oriented

prescribed burning, wildland fire monitoring, innovative

minimum-impact suppression techniques, and showcase

fire ecology education in various interpretive trails and

displays. However, as the Warner RNA Proposal evolves, it

encounters increasingly complex social, scientific, and management issues that challenge not only our desires to “learn

from the burn,” but also our abilities to live with wildland

fire.

This paper discusses the development of the citizeninitiated Warner Fire Process RNA Proposal out of the

Warner Creek Fire and the Warner Fire Recovery Project. I

hope that this paper will inspire efforts to develop additional

Fire Process RNA proposals in other regions, especially the

ponderosa pine ecosystems of the Southwest. I also hope that

this paper will reinforce the growing understanding among

the fire community that basic fire ecology field research and

education are strategic needs that can provide essential
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 55

Fire Process Research Natural Areas: Managing Research and Restoration of Dynamic Ecosystem Processes Ingalsbee

management guides and critical public support for forest

ecosystem restoration programs.

Warner Creek Fire _______________

Ignited by arsonists during extreme drought conditions,

the Warner Creek Fire entered the tree canopy almost from

the point of ignition, and surged rapidly upslope. During a

blow-up event, nearly 3,000 acres of prime spotted owl

habitat were severely burned in a single afternoon. Stands

of old-growth Douglas-fir, western hemlock, and western

red cedar were completely scorched from ground to crown,

affecting 42 percent of the burned acres. Another 25 percent

of the area had some intermediate or mixed mortality

ranging from 30–70 percent of the overstory trees. Approximately 33 percent of the area experienced a low-intensity

underburn, removing most of the grasses, forbs, shrubs, and

saplings, but causing little or no mortality of the overstory

trees (Brown and others 1998: 4). This includes 512 acres

that were completely unburned within the interior of the

Warner burn, inside the designated old-growth grove located at the bottom of the Kelsey Creek basin. As the wildfire

backed down the steep ridges, the fire was naturally extinguished when it entered the moist primeval forest in the

valley bottom. Forest Service scientists later determined

that fire has not burned in Kelsey Creek Basin for the last

850 years.

Although the Warner Creek Fire was ignited and propagated by unnatural ignition sources—criminal arsonists—

the resulting mosaic of fire effects was representative of the

natural fire regime of the westside Oregon Cascades. The

fire was especially effective in restoring the ridgetop complex of dry meadows. These meadows were previously maintained by frequent lightning and Indian burning along the

historic trail corridor atop Bunchgrass Ridge. Until the

Warner Creek Fire, though, the meadows were declining

due to fire exclusion. The elimination of Indian burning and

aggressive suppression policies had both caused the meadows to shrink in size and species diversity. The wildfire

killed many of the dense patches of young firs that were

encroaching upon the meadows, and increased the vitality of

the native bunchgrasses. For these and other reasons, the

news media’s depiction of the Warner Creek Fire as “catastrophic” contradicted the ecological effects of the fire.

Warner Fire Recovery Project _____

Two weeks after the Warner Creek Fire was declared out,

the Forest Service initiated the Warner Fire Recovery Project.

The stated purpose and need for the project was to “recover

spotted owl habitat” and “increase knowledge about owl

habitat recovery.” The secondary underlying need—to increase knowledge—later proved vital in legitimizing an

RNA alternative. The Forest Service’s Inter-Disciplinary

Team (IDT) working on the recovery plan originally assumed that the Interagency Scientific Committee’s standards and guidelines for HCAs would prohibit salvage of any

downed or standing trees (Thomas and others 1990: 325).

Therefore, the IDT determined that the Project provided “an

opportunity to set aside all or a portion of the fire area for

studies of how both natural and managed landscapes respond to large scale fires (USDA-FS 1992: S-5).”

The category of Research Opportunities thus became a

significant issue for analysis in the EIS. The idea of setting

aside the Warner Burn for the study of natural fire recovery

processes was quickly adopted by the public, including

members of a special citizen advisory group organized by the

Willamette National Forest to give regular input on the

Recovery Project. A majority of the Warner Public Participation Group formally requested that a new alternative be

created that would designate the burn as a Research Natural Area (RNA), and develop a new fire management plan

that allowed prescribed natural fires (PNFs). Unfortunately,

the Willamette National Forest declared that both RNAs

and fire planning were issues “outside the scope of the

project,” and excluded these from the Draft EIS.

Not satisfied with that decision, the citizen advisory group

networked with fire scientists and forest ecologists from

across the Pacific Northwest to develop their own proposal

for an RNA-based fire recovery plan, and submitted this

during the public comment period. The proposal was called

“Alternative EF: Ecology of Fire.” Later, when the

Willamette’s Draft Preferred Alternative was withdrawn by

the Forest Service’s Owl Oversight Committee because it

was deemed inconsistent with the agency’s owl conservation

strategy, Alternative Ecology of Fire was authorized to be

fully developed, analyzed, and published in the Final EIS.

This set in motion a truly collaborative effort of agency

specialists, conservationists, academics and independent

researchers to further develop the concept of a Fire Process

RNA for the Warner Burn.

Alternative EF: Ecology of Fire ____

The goal of the authors of Alternative EF (Alt. EF) was to

propose a recovery strategy that centered around research

and restoration of wildland fire processes. Alt. EF proposed

allowing natural succession processes to recover owl habitat, and a fire management strategy using PNFs to help

protect owl habitat from future severe wildfires. The entire

burn was divided into four zones for PNF prescriptions that

ranged from low to moderate intensity in the zone containing spotted owl nest sites, and higher intensity in the

ridgetop meadow zone. Along with PNFs, an active program

of fire effects monitoring and research was proposed in

order to study both natural fire disturbance and recovery

processes.

Alt. EF prioritized PNFs, but also allowed some management-ignited prescribed fires, especially in the ridgetop

meadow zone. Such fires could occur only after intensive fire

history research was completed that included anthropological research on the frequency, locations, and methods of

historic Native American burning along Bunchgrass Ridge.

In a move that preceded the Federal Wildland Fire Management Policy and its concept of “Appropriate Management

Response,” Alt. EF allowed limited and modified suppression activities to occur in order to keep natural fires within

their prescription. In the event that some fires exceeded

their prescribed fire intensity, Alt. EF mandated that only

minimal-impact suppression tactics (MIST) could be used

within the burn. The concern was that aggressive suppression actions would not only damage the environment, but

might destroy ongoing research projects and monitoring

plots.
56 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Ingalsbee Fire Process Research Natural Areas: Managing Research and Restoration of Dynamic Ecosystem Processes

Rationale for Prescribed Underburning in

Spotted Owl Stands

The project’s decisionmaker and IDT believed that both

prescribed and wildland fires would adversely affect owl

nesting and roosting habitat. However, unbeknownst to the

authors of Alt. EF at that time, the fire and fuels management team working on the California Spotted Owl conservation plan (a.k.a. the “CASPO” Report) urged that prescribed

underburning be used to prevent stand-replacing wildfires

in spotted owl Protected Activity Centers (Verner and others

1992: 254). Proponents of Alt. EF argued that, logically,

spotted owls evolved with natural succession processes and

recurring fire disturbances, and observed that most existing

owl stands exhibit some evidence of past fires. Proponents

added that fires are a prime agent creating forest structure

such as multi-storied canopies and large snags and logs that

were vital components of superior spotted owl habitat.

Furthermore, RNA proponents rejected the agency’s strategy of protecting owl habitat reserves with fire exclusion—

a policy that had already essentially been “vetoed” by the

arsonists who ignited the Warner Creek Fire. Conservationists took comfort in the fact that the resident population of

spotted owls continued to inhabit and successfully reproduce in the burn. Indeed, the continued existence of the owls

inside the burn challenged the assumption that intensive

management, especially salvage logging, was necessary to

recover the burned area.

Alt. EF was endorsed by prestigious academic members of

the research community, including some of the scientists

who helped design the Northwest Forest Plan. The student

governments of Oregon’s two largest universities passed

official resolutions in support of Alt. EF and later sent these

to Forest Service Chief, Jack Ward Thomas. Then, the

Forest Service’s Regional RNA Coordinator and ecologists

from the Pacific Northwest Research Station drafted their

own RNA proposal for the Warner Burn. Finally, the Oregon

Natural Heritage Advisory Board used the Warner Creek

Fire and Alt. EF as inspiration to establish a new “Fire

Process” cell for their network of RNAs. This created a

qualitatively new kind of RNA aimed to protect areas for

their dynamic ecosystem processes rather than static species composition or geologic features. Consequently, although the Willamette National Forest’s final recovery plan

was to construct fuelbreaks with salvage clearcuts, the

decisionmaker also set aside a 4,200 acre portion of the burn

as a “Natural Succession Area” (NSA) to be later considered

for designation as an RNA.

Warner Fire Recovery Plan Voided

Implementation of the Willamette National Forest’s final

recovery plan was repeatedly delayed first by a dozen administrative appeals and then by a lawsuit that resulted in a

permanent injunction against the salvage sale. All of these

delays occurred during a time of rapid change in forest and

fire management policies initiated by the Northwest Forest

Plan and the Federal Wildland Fire Management Policy and

Program Review. In the midst of a nationwide protest

campaign whose slogan was “Stop the Warner Salvage Sale;

Save the RNA!” President Clinton ordered the timber sale to

be withdrawn in August 1996. No salvage logging ever

occurred inside the Warner burn, and the Willamette National Forest essentially selected the No Action Alternative

by default.

Warner Fire Process RNA

Proposal _______________________

The group of “citizen-scientists” who had drafted Alt. EF

developed a new, more expansive RNA proposal, and submitted it to the Regional RNA coordinator in September

1997. Called the “Warner Proposal” for the sake of brevity,

it was no longer confined to the 9,000 acre wildfire perimeter. New boundaries were drawn along suitable topographic

features and landforms that would aid minimal-impact fire

confinement strategies and minimize the need for aggressive suppression.

Using Conservation Biology principles, the Warner Proposal linked the burn with a cluster of four other Inventoried

Roadless Areas (RAs). These RAs, in turn, were adjacent to

two contiguous Wilderness Areas along the Cascade Crest

that had recently developed PNF plans. The original proposal was a 48,000 acre RNA, but this has recently been

reduced to approximately 31,000 acres in accordance with

the results of a 1999 symposium on Fire Process RNAs. The

31,000 acre Warner RNA connected with 336,000 acres of

designated Wilderness would form a landbase where it is

hoped that large-scale wildland fire processes could be

managed for research and restoration purposes.

The core of the Warner Proposal includes the entire 9,000

acre Warner Burn. This is one of the rarest landscapes in the

westside Oregon Cascades: a roadless, mid-elevation, relatively unmanaged, recently burned forest containing both

young natural stands and high-mortality old-growth stands.

A wide range of disturbance intensities, plant associations,

and stand conditions currently exist. Early and late seral

stages following large-scale fire disturbances are not adequately represented within existing RNAs. Thus, the Warner

Burn has the potential to capture early seral stages of plant

communities protected in other RNAs. The Warner Burn

presents opportunities to study not only single elements or

communities encompassed within it, but also the complex

array of fire intensities and communities, their arrangement, connections, and interrelationships through time.

The relatively large area and diversity of topography, vegetation, microclimates, habitats, and fire effects make the

Warner Burn and its surrounding unburned area well suited

for a broad range of research and educational uses.

Agency Responses to the Citizens’

Warner RNA Proposal

The Willamette National Forest responded to the Warner

Proposal by resurrecting the decisionmaker’s 4,200 acre

NSA proposal minus the fuelbreaks and salvage clearcuts.

However, during the public scoping period the agency received over 1,000 comment letters and every single letter

rejected the NSA proposal. The chief criticism was that the

NSA was too small and its boundaries too arbitrary to allow

wildland fire use. Instead, the letters demanded that the
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 57

Fire Process Research Natural Areas: Managing Research and Restoration of Dynamic Ecosystem Processes Ingalsbee

citizen-scientists’ Warner RNA Proposal be included in the

EIS process.

The results of the scoping period prompted the Willamette

National Forest and the Pacific Northwest Research Station

to host a roundtable workshop of fire scientists in April 1999.

The assembled scientists from Oregon, Washington, and

British Columbia discussed design and management criteria for Fire Process RNAs. The scientists agreed that landscape-scale RNAs were needed in order to best capture

natural fire processes at the spatial and temporal scales they

function in the westside Oregon Cascades. The scientists

determined that for a mid-sized Fire Process RNA, approximately 30,000 acres containing portions of at least two

watersheds would be needed to maximize research opportunities. The end result of the symposium was that the scientists validated the general principles articulated in both Alt.

EF and the new Warner Proposal.

Ongoing Activities to Learn From

the Burn _______________________

Despite the lack of formal RNA status, the Warner Burn

has attracted fire ecology research and educational activities throughout the last decade. For example, 45 monitoring

plots have been established by Forest Service ecologists in

order to document the early structure, composition, and

regeneration of the burn. If future Forest Service budgets

allow, these plots will be resurveyed as part of a long-term

monitoring plan. Scientists from the University of Oregon

and Oregon State University have also conducted some

studies on soils, vegetation, and wildlife in the burn.

The Cascadia Fire Ecology Education Project (CFEEP), a

nonprofit conservation organization, and the Northwest

Youth Corps (NYC), an alternative high school for at-risk

youth interested in pursuing forestry careers, have embarked on a partnership to establish long-term fire effects

monitoring plots. CFEEP and NYC have initiated a unique

snag longevity study to monitor the rate of fall and decay of

fire-killed snags and logs over the next several decades. The

methodology for the snag study was developed with the help

of Forest Service ecologists and sustainable forestry consultant, Chris Maser. (Known as one of the early “gurus of oldgrowth” while he was a Bureau of Land Management ecologist stationed at the Pacific Northwest Research Station,

Maser was the lead author of the 1988 publication, “From

the Forest to the Sea: A Story of Fallen Trees” (Gen. Tech.

Report PNW-GTR-229)). The nonprofit groups are now applying the National Park Service fire effects monitoring

protocol to their current and future research plots in the

burn.

Additionally, students from all across the country have

attended special fire ecology field seminars and research

outings in the Warner burn as part of curriculum for the

Wildland Studies Program and the Cascade Science School.

The Warner burn is conveniently located next to a major

highway just one hour’s drive from the city of Eugene,

Oregon. Educators from local universities and school districts are becoming some of the more vocal advocates of the

Warner Proposal because it has great potential as an outdoor education site and living laboratory for academic research projects. This fulfills one of the oft-neglected purposes

of RNAs to foster education, as well as conduct research and

conserve biodiversity (USDA-FS 1997: 2). Accordingly, it is

hoped that formal protective status as an RNA would enable

future generations of scientists and students continual opportunities to “learn from the burn.”

Controversies and Challenges of

Managing Fire Process RNAs _____

RNA proponents are urging the Willamette National

Forest to proceed with the EIS process and include a citizenscientist RNA Alternative in the document. This effort

conforms with the recent Committee of Scientists’ Report

that encouraged more up-front collaboration with scientists

in Forest Service planning and projects (Committee of Scientists 1999: xxv). The Federal Wildland Fire Management

Policy and Program Review also lauded the role of communication and collaboration, and has called for a renewed

emphasis on public participation and partnerships in all

aspects of wildland fire management (USDA/USDI 1995:

iii). If and when the Willamette National Forest moves

forward on the proposal, the fire research community will

want to review and submit substantive comments on the

EIS. The document will likely raise several critically important, controversial issues that are pertinent to other fire/

fuels management programs and projects. With active participation of the fire research community, RNA proponents

hope that the Willamette National Forest will produce a

model fire management plan focused on research and restoration of wildland fire processes. This should develop a

template to help propose and establish additional fire process RNAs in other regions of the National Forest System,

especially in the Southwest.

Socioeconomic Issues

An RNA designation would preclude intensive management and commodity resource extraction activities. Accordingly, persuading the citizenry that some large acreage of

commercially-valuable timber lands should be set aside for

the so-called “wrath of wildfire” will present a public relations challenge, to say the least. The specific Warner RNA

proposal largely mitigates this issue by incorporating lands

such as LSRs and RAs that make future commercial timber

extraction problematic. Timber sales will be even more

unlikely if President Clinton’s Roadless Area Protection

Initiative results in protection of RAs from further logging as

well as road-building. Yet, the only commercial logging that

would have been affected within the 31,000 acre Warner

RNA Proposal was the Helldun timber sale, located just

outside the burn perimeter. This timber sale was withdrawn

in spring 2000, due to widespread public opposition to its

potential adverse effects on the RNA proposal.

Research and Restoration Jobs-in-the-Woods—Too

often land managers consider RNAs to be strict land “setasides” or “lock-ups” that only benefit researchers; however, there are a number of potential socioeconomic benefits

that could accrue from a large-scale RNA (Tyrrell, n.d.: 6).

Just in terms of research jobs there could be substantial

opportunities for workers needed to establish research plots,
58 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Ingalsbee Fire Process Research Natural Areas: Managing Research and Restoration of Dynamic Ecosystem Processes

conduct field surveys, collect baseline data, initiate research

projects, construct trails, and monitor wildland and prescribed fires. Restoration could include jobs for road obliteration, in-stream rehabilitation, invasive weed eradication, and hazardous fuels reduction with manual and

prescribed fire treatments. Of course, these research and

restoration jobs would have to be funded by alternative

sources such as Federal appropriations, grants, endowments, and so forth rather than traditional commodityproducing projects. But given a suitable funding source, the

number and kinds of research/restoration jobs and other

socioeconomic benefits that could accrue from a fire process

RNA over the next century or more is limited only by one’s

imagination.

Additionally, some have raised the idea of possibly allowing limited commercial extraction in special buffer zones

that would straddle the RNA’s boundaries. Thus, for example, a fuels management program to reduce hazardous

fuels and construct defensible boundaries might allow extraction of some of the understory trees and dead surface

fuels to supply a commercial firewood operation. Other

commercial enterprises, such as mushroom harvesting, might

also be permitted in these buffer zones along the RNA

boundaries. Providing jobs, resources, and other socioeconomic benefits in these buffer zones might make the RNA

proposal more attractive to certain sectors of the public and

political representatives; however, these would have to be

subordinated to the overriding goal of protecting the RNA

from adverse edge effects that could potentially be caused by

commercial activities.

Scientific Controversies

There are genuine unresolved questions and controversies over the relationship of northern spotted owls, “westside” old-growth forests, and wildland fires. These unknowns

became the very impetus and driving rationale for the RNA

alternative in the Warner Fire Recovery Project. It is probably a safe assumption that a fire process RNA will entail

some degree of extra risk of potential loss of some components of owl habitat. However, it is hypothesized that given

sufficient time, natural regeneration and succession processes can and will recover burned sites from the effects of

fire disturbances. Given the long fire return intervals, and

the long period required to develop superior spotted owl

nesting habitat, the testing of this hypothesis might not

come for several decades, even centuries. This is an argument in favor of RNA status that would provide long-term

protection against intrusive or intensive management that

would alter the natural processes and potentially invalidate

the data.

Role of Early Seral/Successional Stages in OldGrowth Development—In the dominant mode of managed “recovery” and “reforestation,” Forest Service managers typically prefer to skip early successional stages following

fire or logging disturbances and plant nursery-bred conifers.

However, it remains a mystery whether or not fire disturbances and early successional stages are necessary elements

of long-term old-growth development. For example, recurring fires could stimulate pulsed regeneration and selfpruning mechanisms of trees that help develop all-aged,

multistoried canopy structures that are preferred by northern spotted owls. Likewise, it is recognized that fires are a

prime disturbance agent creating large-diameter snags and

logs that are vital habitat structures to owls and their prey.

An RNA could help reveal how natural fire disturbance and

recovery processes function over the long-term, and serve as

a control area to compare with managed areas undergoing

quasi-experimental silvicultural treatments.

Presence of Past Management Impacts in an RNA—

Another controversial issue concerns the presence of past

management impacts inside a new RNA. Inside the Warner

burn alone, there are 77 miles of logging roads and 28

plantations whose dense stands of young artificial regeneration were destroyed by the wildfire. These plantations caused

fire severity to increase as ember-filled convection columns

preheated and ignited the canopies of adjacent old-growth

stands. Logging roads and plantations are not suitable for an

“elemental” RNA designation, but for a “process” RNA the

story is different. It should be assumed that fire behavior

and effects will differ in managed versus unmanaged stands;

however, it is hypothesized that fire disturbance processes

would continue to function naturally on a landscape scale.

In regions such as the Pacific Northwest, it is difficult to

find large expanses of intact wildlands that had escaped the

Forest Service’s road-building and logging program of the

1970s and 1980s. This program had specifically targeted

RAs for development. Realizing this fact, the Oregon Natural Heritage Advisory Board came up with the criteria that

up to 10 percent of the area of a fire process RNA could

contain previously managed sites and still be deemed “natural” enough for RNA designation. The important factor is

that the remaining 90 percent of an RNA should be natural,

with predominantly native species composition, and lacking

evidence of significant management-caused alteration.

Given the extent of forest fragmentation and ecosystem

alteration from past intensive management activities, the

most likely location containing the quantity and quality of

natural areas suitable for fire process RNAs would be found

in Roadless Areas. As occurred with the Warner proposal,

Fire Process RNAs of the future will likely be proposed

“opportunistically” following a wildland fire in an RA. This

provides a baseline fire event to study, and prompts significant public interest that could support (or possibly oppose)

RNA designation. However, in the frequent fire regimes of

the Southwest, some visionaries might take the initiative to

propose some RAs for RNA status in anticipation of a future

fire event. This prefire proactive planning would provide a

much-needed antidote to the current system of “emergency”

wildfire suppression followed by “emergency” salvage logging.

Management Conflicts

Other issues that have been raised during the development of the Warner RNA proposal revolve around managing

the RNA for research, education, and conservation of biological diversity, but also mixing these with “multiple uses” such

as recreation. RNA proponents have argued for essentially

a “passive” restoration strategy focused on PNFs to restore

the fire regime. But a more “active” restoration strategy

utilizing management-ignited prescribed fires could also be

used as means of restoring and maintaining biodiversity.
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Fire Process Research Natural Areas: Managing Research and Restoration of Dynamic Ecosystem Processes Ingalsbee

Questions arise as to whether these prescribed fires could be

considered suitable research activities, as well as maintenance tools, in the RNA.

Prescribed Fire as a Research Subject and Restoration Tool—Fire history research to date suggests that the

frequency of natural ignitions may not be sufficient to

restore the natural fire regime of the Warner area given

nearly a century of fire exclusion and the elimination of

historic Native American burning. Although there are strong

advocates for wildland and prescribed fire use in RNAs

specifically to maintain ecological processes, most forest

managers have opted for a “hands off” approach to fire

management (Johnson 1983: 39). Unfortunately, out of 79

established RNAs that are comprised of fire-dependent

plant communities, only five of these RNAs undergo prescribed burning; the rest are declining in species, structural,

and seral diversity due to fire exclusion (Greene and Evenden

1995: 32). Fortunately, one of these RNAs receiving periodic

prescribed burning is located approximately 60 miles from

the Warner burn in an eastside Cascade ecosystem on the

Deschutes National Forest. In the Metolius RNA, scheduled

prescribed burns are conducted as part of a long-term monitoring program serving both restoration and research objectives (Riegel and Youngblood 1999). The Metolius RNA

prescribed burning program offers a working model for

Willamette managers to apply to a fire process RNA in the

Warner burn.

Potential Recreation Impacts on Research Projects—

During the development of Alt. EF, a conflict arose within

the research community over the belief by some scientists

that recreational activities were inappropriate uses for the

RNA. Some scientists opposed the construction of a fire

ecology interpretive trail out of fear that off-trail hikers

would unwittingly trample upon research plots, or vandals

would deliberately destroy research sites and equipment.

The Warner Proposal, however, includes sufficient acreage

that the potential risk of a catastrophic loss of research plots

should be minimized. And protection of research sites should

be a prominent theme for interpretive and educational

programs. National Parks must frequently grapple with the

dilemma of providing for “recreational playgrounds and

natural area preservation”; hence, National Park Service

employees may want to lend some expert advice to the Forest

Service on how to manage for these seemingly contradictory

uses of the Warner RNA.

Systemic Lack of Funding of RNA Program—A perplexing issue concerns the current general lack of funding

for the RNA program in the Pacific Northwest Region

(Greene 1999: 3). The Willamette Supervisor cited “a climate

of dramatically reduced budgets for RNAs” as one of the

reasons for refusing to proceed with an EIS for the Warner

proposal. Indeed, more demands are being placed on Forest

Service researchers with less staffing and budgets available.

However, the example of the privately-funded CFEEP-NYC

research program demonstrates that the Federal government could tap into local community labor resources to get

some of the “grunt work” of baseline data collection and field

research projects started. Managers are thus being urged

not to restrict themselves to their agency’s internal resources of budgets, staff, and expertise, but to look to

forming collaborative partnerships with the research and

conservation communities to supplement limited Federal

resources.

Lack of an Approved Fire Management Plan Continues Commitment to Fire Exclusion—Perhaps the

most frustrating issue that affects the viability of the Warner

proposal is the fact that the Willamette National Forest

lacks an approved Fire Management Plan. The Willamette

National Forest’s current Land and Resource Management

Plan as amended by the Northwest Forest Plan does not

provide for wildland fire use, and commits to total, aggressive suppression in Late-Successional Reserves (LSRs).

Approximately 15,000 acres or 48 percent of the citizens’

proposal is currently managed as a LSR, and Willamette

National Forest managers have raised the specter of “unfettered wildfires” in the RNA potentially destroying the habitat values of the LSR.

The concept of wildland fire use burning under planned

prescription is key to agency and public acceptance. If and

when a natural or management-ignited fire exceeds its preplanned prescription window, then it would be converted to

a wildfire and suppressed. RNA proponents are clear about

their wider policy objectives in establishing the Warner Fire

Process RNA: it is intended to serve as a kind of testing

ground for changing fire management policies and practices

in the Pacific Northwest. It is hoped that the Warner RNA

will provide a safe space far away from private property or

human communities where not only can people learn from

the burn, but can learn to live with fire as a vital ecosystem

process.

Conclusion_____________________

At the time of this writing (September 2000) the current

status and future fate of the Warner Fire Process RNA

proposal is uncertain. On the one hand, Forest Service

officials claim that their budget does not have enough money

to fund an EIS for the RNA. On the other hand, the Warner

Proposal continues to generate growing interest and endorsements from scientists, researchers, educators, and

resource specialists in the Forest Service and other land

management agencies.

With support from the Oregon Governor’s office, Congressman Peter DeFazio has submitted a funding request

for the EIS in the 2001 Appropriations Bill in order to

provide the Willamette National Forest with the money

needed to do the analysis and establish the RNA. Congress

is gaining more interest in fire research and fuels management, as evidenced by its continuing funding of the Joint

Fire Sciences Program, the Hazardous Fuels Reduction

Program, and proposed massive budget increases for Federal fire management programs in the 2001 Interior Appropriations bill. There is also a growing effort by researchers

and conservationists familiar with the Warner Proposal to

develop citizen-initiated Fire Process RNA proposals in

other locations around the West. Proponents argue that the

Warner Proposal and Fire Process RNAs are ideas whose

time has come, and look forward to inspiring the public, fire

professionals, and political representatives on the critical

need for fire ecology research and education to guide ecosystem restoration programs in fire-dependent/fire-adapted

ecosystems.
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Ingalsbee Fire Process Research Natural Areas: Managing Research and Restoration of Dynamic Ecosystem Processes

References _____________________

Brown, Martin; Kertis, Jane; and Mark Huff. 1998. The Warner

Creek burn: structure and composition of forests in the Oregon

Cascades 1 to 2 years after fire. Unpublished Report to the

Willamette National Forest. September. 56 p.

Committee of Scientists. 1999. Sustaining the people’s lands: recommendations for stewardship of the National Forests and Grasslands into the next century. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of

Agriculture. 193 p.

Greene, Sarah. 1999. Research natural areas: a personal reflection

from Oregon and Washington. Natural Areas Report. Portland,

OR: Pacific Northwest Research Station, Forest Service, U.S.

Department of Agriculture. p. 1–4.

Greene, Sarah; and Angela Evenden. 1995. The role of research

natural areas in the Northern Rockies and Pacific Northwest. In:

The use of fire in forest restoration. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-GTR341. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service,

Intermountain Research Station. p. 32–33.

Johnson, Janet. 1983. The role of fire in research natural areas. In:

Proceedings of the wilderness fire symposium. November 15–18.

Missoula, MT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. p.

36–40.

Maser, Chris; Tarrant, Robert; Trappe, James; and Jerry Franklin.

1988. From the forest to the sea: a story of fallen trees. Gen. Tech.

Rep. PNW-GTR-229. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 153 p.

Riegel, Gregg; and Andrew Youngblood. 1999. Reintroducing fire in

eastside ponderosa pine forests: a long-term test of fuel treatments. (unpublished manuscript). Joint fire science conference

on crossing the millennium: integrating spatial technologies and

ecological principles for a new age in fire management; 1999 June

15–17; Boise, ID.

Thomas, Jack Ward; Forsman, Eric; Lint, Joseph; Meslow, E.

Charles; Noon, Barry; and Jared Verner. 1990. A conservation

strategy for the northern spotted owl: report of the Interagency

Scientific Committee to address the conservation of the northern

spotted owl. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture,

Forest Service; U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Land

Management; U.S. Department of Interior, Fish and Wildlife

Service; U.S. Department of Interior, National Park Service.

426 p.

Tyrrell, Lucy. [n.d.]. Research natural areas are more than setasides. Natural Areas News and Information Exchange.

Rhinelander, WI: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. 8 p.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Intermountain

Research Station. 1997. A living library: the vital role of research

natural areas on National Forests in the Northern Rockies and

Intermountain West. 4 p.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Willamette National Forest. 1993. Warner Fire Recovery Project Final Environmental Impact Statement. Lane County, OR: Willamette National Forest.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Willamette National Forest. 1992. Warner Fire Recovery Project Draft Environmental Impact Statement. Lane County, OR: Willamette National Forest.

U.S. Department of Agriculture; U.S. Department of Interior. 1995.

Final Report, Federal Wildland Fire Management Policy and

Program Review. 45 p.

Verner, Jared; McKelvey, Kevin; Noon, Barry; Gould, Gordon; and

Thomas Beck. 1992. The California spotted owl: a technical

assessment of its current status. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-133.

Albany, CA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service,

Pacific Southwest Research Station. 285 p.
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 61

In: Vance, Regina K.; Edminster, Carleton B.; Covington, W. Wallace;

Blake, Julie A. comps. 2001. Ponderosa pine ecosystems restoration and

conservation: steps toward stewardship; 2000 April 25–27; Flagstaff, AZ.

Proceedings RMRS-P-22. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture,

Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station.

Thomas E. Kolb is Associate Professor of Forest Ecophysiology, Peter Z.

Fulé is Research Assistant Professor, Michael R. Wagner is Regent’s Professor of Forest Entomology, and W. Wallace Covington is Regent’s Professor of

Forest Ecology, School of Forestry, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff,

AZ 86011-5018, U.S.A.

Six-Year Changes in Mortality and Crown

Condition of Old-Growth Ponderosa Pines

in Ecological Restoration Treatments at the

G. A. Pearson Natural Area

Thomas E. Kolb

Peter Z. Fulé

Michael R. Wagner

W. Wallace Covington

Abstract—Ecological restoration treatments using thinning and

prescribed burning have been proposed to reverse the decline of oldgrowth ponderosa pines in the Southwest. However, long-term data

on the effectiveness of such treatments are lacking. In 1993–1994,

two ecological restoration treatments and a control were established at the G. A. Pearson Natural Area (GPNA) near Flagstaff, AZ.

The thinned treatment removed many postsettlement-aged trees

to create tree density and stand structure similar to pre-EuroAmerican forests. The thinned + burned treatment included prescribed burning of the forest floor in combination with this thinning.

The control was a dense stand of pre- and postsettlement trees with

no thinning or burning. Crown dieback of presettlement trees

decreased by about 3 percent in both thinned treatments over

6 years since initiation of treatments, whereas dieback increased by

about 4 percent in the control. Crown dieback was not related to tree

age. Change in height of presettlement trees between 1994 and 2000

did not differ among treatments. Of 146 presettlement trees monitored for survival between 1994 and 2000, four died between 1997

and 2000, and all were in thinned treatments. Two of the four trees

that died toppled or the stem broke in a severe windstorm in 1997.

The other two dead trees died between 1997 and 2000 following the

severe regionwide drought of 1996. These two dead trees had large

amounts of canopy dieback prior to treatment initiation, suggesting

that thinning did not contribute to their mortality. Our results

indicate that heavy thinning of postsettlement trees improved the

crown condition of presettlement trees at the GPNA over 6 years

since treatment, but also may have increased windthrow and wind

breakage.

Introduction ____________________

Ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) forests in northern

Arizona have changed dramatically in stand structure over

the past century due to human alteration of the natural fire

regime, overgrazing, and logging (Arnold 1950; Cooper 1960;

White 1985; Covington and Moore 1994; Fulé and others

1997). In most areas of northern Arizona, fires have been

suppressed for at least 87 years (Madany and West 1983;

Savage and Swetnam 1990). Pre-Euro-American settlement

forests were characterized by clusters of old pines separated

by lush grassy areas. These open canopy conditions were

maintained by low-intensity surface fires that occurred

every 2–12 years (Weaver 1951; Cooper 1960; Dieterich

1980; Dieterich and Swetnam 1984; Swetnam and Baisan

1996). The present forests are currently dominated by dense

thickets of sapling- and pole-sized trees and have heavy

accumulations of litter and woody fuels, and poor understory grass, forb, and shrub growth (Cooper 1960; Harrington

and Sackett 1992; Covington and Moore 1994; Dahms and

Geils 1997).

There is currently much interest in improving the condition of Southwestern ponderosa pine forests by thinning to

reduce competition among trees and by prescribed burning

to reduce fuel loads. However, few studies have examined

the effects of such thinning and burning treatments on

presettlement ponderosa pines. Studies of historical tree

growth rates of presettlement ponderosa pines in northern

Arizona have suggested that the remaining presettlement trees are declining because of competition from

postsettlement trees (Sutherland 1983; Biondi 1996). Two

studies have reported negative effects of prescribed burning

on the growth, water relations, and survival of presettlement trees (Sutherland and others 1991; Swezy and Agee

1991). In both studies, the burns were conducted in stands

containing heavy fuel loads due to fire suppression, causing

heat damage to the presettlement trees.

We initiated a study in 1993 designed to evaluate techniques for improving the condition of ponderosa pine forests

in the Gus Pearson Natural Area (GPNA) in northern

Arizona (Covington and others 1997). The GPNA is a unique,

relict stand of presettlement ponderosa pines that has been

protected from harvesting and heavy grazing. The treatments included thinning of postsettlement trees to create a

more open stand condition, and a combination of thinning

and prescribed burning. The influence of these treatments

on the growth, water, carbon, and nutrient relations of

presettlement trees have been reported by Stone and others

(1999) for the first year following treatment, and by Feeney
62 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Kolb, Fulé, Wagner, and Covington Six-Year Changes in Mortality and Crown Condition of Old-Growth Ponderosa Pines...

and others (1998) for the second and third years following

treatment. These authors concluded that thinning increased

uptake of water and nitrogen of presettlement trees, and

these changes contributed to greater rates of photosynthesis

and stem radial growth. Differences in growth and physiological characteristics between the thinned treatment and

the thinned + burned treatment were small, except for tree

resin flow, which was higher in the thinned + burned treatment than in the thinned treatment (Feeney and others

1998).

In this paper, we compare mortality and crown condition

of presettlement trees 6 years after initiation of the restoration treatments at the GPNA. Measurements of these characteristics made in 1994 are compared to measurements

made in 2000 to show temporal changes in each treatment

area. Our general hypothesis is that the positive effects of

the thinning and thinning + burning treatments on presettlement tree condition that were documented for the first

3 years after the initiation of treatments (Feeney and others

1998; Stone and others 1999) would continue through

year 6. Specifically, we expected lower tree mortality and a

greater improvement in crown condition in thinned and

thinned + burned treatments compared with the unthinned

and unburned control.

Methods _______________________

Study site

The study was conducted at the GPNA, within the Coconino

National Forest approximately 10 km northwest of Flagstaff, Arizona. The study site occupies 3 ha of the 30-ha

GPNA at an elevation of 2,195–2,255 m. Aspect is generally

southwest, with gentle topography (slopes 0–5 percent).

Soils, derived from basalt and volcanic cinders, are classified

as a Brolliar stony clay loam, fine, smectitic, Typic Argiboroll.

Mean annual precipitation in Flagstaff is 56.7 cm, with

approximately one-half of the precipitation falling as snow

from November to May and one-half falling as rain primarily

during the late-summer monsoon season (July and August).

Mean annual air temperature in Flagstaff is 7.5 ∞C. The

climate is subhumid, with early summer droughts common.

The average frost-free growing season is 94 days (Schubert

1974).

The vegetation community at the GPNA is a previously

unharvested ponderosa pine stand that is uneven-aged with

even-aged groups of pole-sized trees and uneven-aged groups

of presettlement trees (Schubert 1974; White 1985). Polesized trees (10–37.4 cm d.b.h.) are the predominant size

class. The predominant Euro-American influences at the

GPNA have been livestock grazing, which occurred between

1876 and 1910, and fire suppression. The last natural fire

was in 1876; prior to that time, the fire return interval

averaged approximately 2 years (Dieterich 1980).

Experimental Design and Treatments

The GPNA study site was subdivided into three largely

contiguous areas, each occupying approximately 1 ha

(Covington and others 1997). Each area was subjected to one

of three treatments: control, thinned, and thinned + burned.

Each treatment area was further subdivided into five approximately 0.20-ha plots that served as experimental units.

We grouped these plots into five blocks (one plot per treatment) that were used to implement all measurements.

Because our experimental design does not include true

spatial replication across the landscape, we used precautions to strengthen our inferences regarding treatment

effects. Specifically, an earlier analysis (Stone 1997) showed

similar pretreatment levels of soil total nitrogen (P = 0.19),

phosphorus (P = 0.25), organic matter (P = 0.19), predawn

leaf water potential (P = 0.82 for May to June, P = 0.25 for

July to August), basal area growth rate (P = 0.96), stem

diameter (P = 0.32), and tree-to-tree competition index (P =

0.66) of presettlement trees among the areas to be treated.

Thus, resource availability, tree growth, and tree physiological condition were similar among areas prior to treatment.

Second, our interpretation of statistical results applies only

to the specific locations in the GPNA where the treatments

were applied.

The thinning was conducted to simulate the presettlement (circa 1876) stand structure, which was determined

using dendrochronological techniques (Mast and others 1999).

The average pretreatment basal area was 34.5 m2 ha-1

(average of 3,100 trees ha-1), which was retained in the

control area. In November of 1993, two-thirds of the site was

thinned to an average basal area of 13.0 m2 ha-1 (average of

151 trees ha-1), with all presettlement trees and all trees

greater than 40 cm d.b.h. retained. Following the thinning

treatment, the unthinned control area had an average d.b.h.

of 16.6 cm in 1993, while both thinned areas had an average

d.b.h. of 40.9 cm (Covington and others 1997). Thinning did

not substantially change light availability to the presettlement trees used in the study because the crowns of the

thinned postsettlement trees were lower than the crowns of

the presettlement trees.

Half of the thinned area was also subjected to a lowintensity prescribed burn in 1994 (October) and 1998 (October). Prior to the first burn in 1994, the Oi (slightly decomposed organic matter), Oe (moderately decomposed organic

matter), and Oa (highly decomposed organic matter) layers

of the forest floor and woody debris were removed by hand

raking to simulate presettlement forest floor conditions,

which would have had little forest floor litter and debris

because of frequent fire. The Oi layer (2–4 years of litterfall)

was replaced prior to burning with dried native grass foliage

from a nearby prairie (672 kg ha-1 dry biomass) to simulate

presettlement forest floor conditions in which grasses were

dominant. Fire characteristics for the 1994 burn were previously reported by Covington and others (1997); flame length

averaged about 15 cm with maximum lengths of 60 cm. For

the second burn in 1998, flame length averaged 11 cm with

maximum lengths of 180–240 cm that occurred in fallen

limbs and needles of windthrown trees.

Crown Dieback and Mortality

We measured crown dieback of 71 presettlement trees in

July 1994 and March 2000. Of these trees, 27 were in control

plots, 22 were in thinned plots, and 22 were in thinned +

burned plots. These trees were selected for measurement in

1994 because all had good crown condition with little dieback
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 63

Six-Year Changes in Mortality and Crown Condition of Old-Growth Ponderosa Pines... Kolb, Fulé, Wagner, and Covington

prior to initiation of the treatments and were located at least

10 m from treatment boundaries, which reduced potential

influences from other treatments. Crown dieback of each

tree was visually assessed by at least three trained observers using a system with 12 percentage classes (table 1)

developed for forest health monitoring (Millers and others

1991; Kolb and McCormick 1993). The same leader (T. E.

Kolb) trained assessment crews in both 1994 and 2000, and

he checked the crown condition assessment of all trees in

both years for accuracy. Crown dieback was defined as the

percentage of total crown volume that contained dead

branches with bark or with branch tips less than 2.5 cm

diameter (Millers and others 1991). We also measured the

height of all trees with a clinometer at the time of crown

dieback assessment in both years. Tree mortality status

(live or dead) was noted in 1994, 1996, and 2000 on a total of

146 presettlement trees that consisted of the same 71 trees

measured for crown dieback and an additional 75 trees.

Data Analysis

We compared differences in crown dieback and height

growth among the control, thinned, and thinned + burned

areas of the GPNA using a fixed-effects analysis of variance

(ANOVA) on plot means. Mean comparisons among treatments were performed with Fisher’s protected LSD, and a

threshold P value of 0.10 was used in all tests because of the

inherent large variability of a population of old trees. All

statistical analyses were conducted using the SAS JMP

statistical package (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, U.S.A.).

Only trees that were living in both 1994 and 2000 were

included in the analysis of crown dieback.

Results ________________________

Crown Dieback

Crown dieback of presettlement trees differed significantly (P = 0.073) among treatment areas in 1994 when

treatments were initiated. Dieback was significantly greater

in the thinned treatment (mean = 19.0 percent) compared

with the thinned + burned treatment (mean = 12.4 percent)

(fig. 1). Dieback did not differ significantly between the

control (mean = 14.0 percent) and either thinned treatment

in 1994 (fig. 1).

Crown dieback also differed significantly (P = 0.037)

among treatments in 2000, 6 years after the initiation of

treatments. In contrast to the results in 1994, dieback was

greatest in the control (mean = 18.0 percent), intermediate

in the thinned treatment (mean = 14.3 percent), and lowest

in the thinned + burned treatment (mean = 10.4 percent)

(fig. 2). The difference in dieback between 1994 and 2000 was

Table 1—Percentage classes for crown dieback.

Percentage class Class range

0 0

5 1–5

10 6–15

20 16–25

30 26–35

40 36–45

50 46–55

60 56–65

70 66–75

80 76–85

90 86–95

100 96–100

Figure 1—1994 average crown dieback of presettlement ponderosa pines at the GPNA in three

treatments: control, thinned, and thinned + burned.

The bars show one standard error of the mean.

Means with the same letter do not differ significantly in Fisher’s Protected LSD tests (P < 0.01).

0

5

10

15

20

25

Control Thinned Thinned and 

burned

AB

A

B

1994

Crown dieback (%)

Figure 2—2000 average crown dieback of

presettlement ponderosa pines at the GPNA in three

treatments: control, thinned, and thinned + burned.

The bars show one standard error of the mean.

Means with the same letter do not differ significantly

in Fisher’s Protected LSD tests (P < 0.01).

0

5

10

15

20

25

A

B

AB

Control Thinned Thinned and 

burned

2000

Crown dieback (%)
64 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Kolb, Fulé, Wagner, and Covington Six-Year Changes in Mortality and Crown Condition of Old-Growth Ponderosa Pines...

caused by a difference among treatments in temporal change

in crown condition. In the control, crown dieback increased

between 1994 and 2000 by an average of 3.5 percent, whereas

crown dieback decreased during this period in the thinned

(–3.9 percent) and thinned + burned (–2.5 percent) treatments (fig. 3). This difference in temporal change in dieback

between the control and thinned treatments was significant

(P = 0.037).

There was no relationship between tree age and 2000

crown dieback (R = 0.153, P = 0.284) or 1994–2000 change in

dieback (R = 0.103, P = 0.473) for data pooled over all

treatments (figs. 4 and 5). Correlations between these variables were also not significant for data analyzed by treatment group, except for 2000 crown dieback in the thinned +

burned treatment which was positively associated with tree

age (R = 0.466, P = 0.059) (fig. 4).

Change in Tree Height

Tree height growth, expressed as a percentage change

between 1994 and 2000, was highest in the thinned + burned

treatment (15.8 percent), intermediate in the thinned treatment (14.7 percent), and lowest in the control (12.8 percent),

but these differences were not significant (P = 0.411) (fig. 6).

Tree Mortality

There was no mortality of the 146 trees between 1994 and

1996. However, four trees died between 1997 and 2000. Of

these dead trees, all were located in thinned or thinned +

burned plots. In thinned plots, 1 of 30 trees died. In thinned +

burned plots, 3 of 49 trees died. In control plots, 0 of 67 trees

Figure 3—Average change in crown dieback between 1994 and 2000 of presettlement ponderosa

pines at the GPNA in three treatments: control,

thinned, and thinned + burned. The bars show one

standard error of the mean. Means with the same

letter do not differ significantly in Fisher’s Protected LSD tests (P < 0.01).

Figure 4—2000 crown dieback of presettlement

ponderosa pines at the GPNA versus 1994 tree age

in three treatments: control, thinned, and thinned +

burned. Correlation coefficient for data pooled over

all treatments is R = 0.153 (P = 0.284), control data

R = 0.183 (P = 0.427), thinned data R = 0.062 (P = 0.841),

and thinned + burned data R = 0.466 (P = 0.059).

Figure 5—Change in crown dieback between 1994

and 2000 of presettlement ponderosa pines at the

GPNA versus 1994 tree age in three treatments:

control, thinned, and thinned + burned. Correlation

coefficient for data pooled over all treatments is R =

0.103 (P = 0.473), control data R = 0.085 (P =

0.715), thinned data R = 0.091 (P = 0.769), and

thinned + burned data R = 0.321 (P = 0.209).

-10

-5

0

5

10

A

B B

Control Thinned Thinned and 

burned

1994 - 2000

Change crown dieback (%)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450

1994 Tree Age (years)

Control

Thinned

Thinned and

burned

2000

Crown dieback (%)

-25

-20

-15

-10

-5

0

5

10

15

20

25

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450

1994 Tree Age (years)

Control

Thinned

Thinned

and burned 

1994 - 2000

Change crown dieback (%)
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 65

Six-Year Changes in Mortality and Crown Condition of Old-Growth Ponderosa Pines... Kolb, Fulé, Wagner, and Covington

died. Two of the trees that died in the thinned + burned

treatment broke or toppled in a severe windstorm following

a heavy, wet snow in 1997.

Discussion _____________________

Our results on changes in crown dieback of presettlement

trees over 6 years since initiation of the restoration treatments are consistent with differences in tree radial growth

rate and rates of resource uptake reported by Feeney and

others (1998) and Stone and others (1999) for the first

3 years after treatment initiation. In these studies, thinning

increased uptake of nitrogen and water, stimulated radial

growth, and ameliorated effects of the 1996 drought on tree

growth. Further, most growth and physiological characteristics were similar in the thinned and thinned + burned

treatments in the first 3 years after the initiation of treatments (Feeney and others 1998). The increase in crown

dieback that occurred between 1994 and 2000 in the control,

coupled with the decrease in dieback in the thinned treatments, suggest that improved resource uptake in the thinned

treatments has influenced carbon allocation to canopy growth

and maintenance processes. We note, however, that these

changes have been small in magnitude, which is not surprising considering the slow growth rate of old ponderosa pines.

Moreover, the increase in canopy dieback in the control

between 1994 and 2000 indicates a continued slow decline in

the condition of presettlement trees when competition from

postsettlement trees is severe.

Interestingly, both canopy dieback in 2000 and changes in

canopy dieback between 1994 and 2000 were not related to

tree age for ages between 100 and 450 years. This result

suggests that mortality of presettlement-aged ponderosa

pines at the GPNA is more strongly influenced by tree

Figure 6—Average percent change in tree height between 1994 and 2000 of presettlement ponderosa pines

at the GPNA in three treatments: control, thinned, and

thinned + burned. The bars show one standard error of the

mean. Means with the same letter do not differ significantly in Fisher’s Protected LSD tests (P < 0.01).

genotype or local variation in environment and disturbance

rather than tree age alone. We lack a clear understanding of

these factors, but we speculate that lightning strikes, other

disturbances, genetic variation in response to stress, and

perhaps local variation in rooting depth may be important

factors that contribute to canopy dieback at the GPNA.

Our results on tree mortality should be viewed with

caution because of the small number of trees assessed (146

over all treatments) and the small number of trees that died

(four over all treatments). With this caveat, we believe that

the occurrence of tree death by windthrow or wind breakage

exclusively in the thinned treatments is not a coincidence.

Our results suggest that windthrow and wind breakage are

more common for presettlement trees growing in open stands

that result from heavy thinning of postsettlement trees.

Given that severe winter weather with high winds is

common in ponderosa pines forests in northern Arizona,

tree death because of wind breakage and windthrow may

have been a common occurrence in open, savannalike

forests dominated by old-growth trees prior to Euro-American settlement.

Wind damage was not an obvious causal factor in the

death of two of the four presettlement trees that died in the

thinned treatments between 1997 and 2000. One explanation is that thinning contributed to their death. However, we

note that both of these trees had large amounts of dieback

when the treatments were initiated. The tree that died in the

thinned + burned plot was classified as “alive but declining”

with a different crown classification system (Fulé and others

1997) in 1992, prior to initiation of the treatments. The tree

that died in the thinned plot had 40 percent dieback in the

1994 assessment of crown condition. Instead, we speculate

that these trees were already declining because of unknown

factors at the time of treatment initiation, and were subsequently severely stressed by the regional 1996 drought in

the Southwest. Further, bark beetle pitch tubes were evident in 2000 on both trees, suggesting a secondary role of

herbivory in mortality. This interpretation is consistent

with Manion’s (1991) model of tree decline where tree death

is often the result of predisposing and contributing factors

that occurred many years before mortality and acted to

reduce tree carbohydrate levels. Following this sequence of

events, tree defense against biotic agents and capacity to

recover from severe abiotic stress are diminished, and thus

mortality is imminent.

Conclusions____________________

In summary, our results indicate that heavy thinning of

postsettlement trees improved the crown condition of presettlement trees at the GPNA over 6 years since treatment,

but also may have increased windthrow and wind breakage.

The effect of heavy thinning of postsettlement trees on wind

damage to presettlement trees should be addressed in other

ecological restoration experiments in ponderosa pine forests.

Acknowledgments ______________

We sincerely thank K. Griffis, T. Heinlein, J. Roccaforte,

B. Steed, J. Stone, and G. Verkamp for their help with field

0

5

10

15

20

Control Thinned Thinned and

burned

A

A A

1994 - 2000

% Change height
66 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Kolb, Fulé, Wagner, and Covington Six-Year Changes in Mortality and Crown Condition of Old-Growth Ponderosa Pines...

work. This work was partly supported by grants from the

National Science Foundation (DEB-9322706), the NAU

Mission Research Program, and the McIntire-Stennis

Program.

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USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 67

In: Vance, Regina K.; Edminster, Carleton B.; Covington, W. Wallace;

Blake, Julie A. comps. 2001. Ponderosa pine ecosystems restoration and

conservation: steps toward stewardship; 2000 April 25–27; Flagstaff, AZ.

Proceedings RMRS-P-22. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture,

Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station.

Judith D. Springer and Amy E. M. Waltz are Research Specialists,

Ecological Restoration Institute; Margaret M. Moore is a Professor and Peter

Z. Fulé is an Assistant Research Professor, School of Forestry; W. Wallace

Covington is a Regent’s Professor, School of Forestry, and Director, Ecological Restoration Institute, Northern Arizona University, P.O. Box 15018,

Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5018.

Seeding Versus Natural Regeneration: A

Comparison of Vegetation Change Following

Thinning and Burning in Ponderosa Pine

Judith D. Springer

Amy E. M. Waltz

Peter Z. Fulé

Margaret M. Moore

W. Wallace Covington

Abstract—The decision whether to seed with native species following restoration treatments should be based on existing vegetation,

species present in or absent from the soil seed bank, past management history, microclimate conditions and soils. We installed three

permanent monitoring plots in two areas (total 18.6 ha) at Mt.

Trumbull, AZ. Trees were thinned and the sites burned in 1996 and

1997. A 5 ha area was seeded with native shrub, grass and forb

species; the remaining 13.6 ha were unseeded. Pretreatment species richness ranged from none to five species per plot. We recorded

13 graminoid and eight shrub species in the seeded area, and four

graminoid and four shrub species in the unseeded area. The greatest

increase in species richness in both seeded and unseeded plots

occurred approximately 1.8 years posttreatment. Perennial native

species dominated plant cover by 2.8 years, although annual native

forbs dominate the soil seed bank. Perennial grasses are nearly

absent from the seed bank. The seeded area had the highest

diversity, but it also had twice as many nonnative species (14 versus

7 in the unseeded plots). By August 1999, maximum species richness reached 51 species on the seeded plot. Of these species, 80

percent were native. Although seeding increases diversity, it may

also have the long-term tradeoff of introducing new genotypes and

species, both native and nonnative.

Introduction ____________________

Human-induced changes that have impacted herbaceous

forbs, grass and shrub species over approximately the last

150 years in Southwestern ponderosa pine forests have been

attributed primarily to domestic livestock overgrazing, active fire suppression, increased ponderosa pine density, and

climate changes (Arnold 1950; Weaver 1951; Cooper 1960;

Covington and Moore 1994; Touchan and others 1995;

Covington and others 1997). Attempts to restore the herbaceous and shrub species in Southwestern ponderosa pine

forests are hampered by both ecological and social considerations. The scale of ecological restoration projects in the

Southwest may be on the order of thousands of hectares. In

addition to tree thinning and prescribed burning, restoration of these areas sometimes requires seeding large amounts

of native seed. Seeding with native species poses many

challenges: seed may be prohibitively expensive, unavailable in the quantities necessary, or collected from an area

that is geographically or climatologically dissimilar to the

area undergoing restoration. Even if these seeds are available and applied to a site, seed or seedling mortality may

occur from competition (by both native and nonnative species), disease, herbivory, lack of mycorrhizal inoculants,

inclement weather, or unfulfilled germination requirements

or cues. Written historic records and photographs may be

unavailable, further hampering efforts to define past plant

communities and conditions. Other considerations are a

lack of communication between and within government

agencies and other organizations, past management practices (such as logging and road building), and a lack of

understanding or interest by the general public. Some of

these factors may be corrected or improved in order to

establish vegetation on restored sites. Others cannot be

overcome due to limited resources or permanent landscape

changes and must be considered in order to achieve management goals for restoration.

Recent historic herbaceous and shrub species composition

and abundance are largely unknown for Southwestern ponderosa pine forests, and thus restoration targets must be

determined without the benefit of this information. Knowledge of historic herbaceous plant communities is limited due

to a reduced capacity for preservation of nonwoody vegetation in the soil, and limited historical records. A variety of

methods, techniques, and tools have been used to determine

historical species composition and abundance. These methods and tools include historical records and photographs,

packrat middens, palynology, relict sites (Kaufmann and

others 1994), diaries, surveys, military expeditions (DickPeddie 1993) and opal phytoliths (Fisher and others 1995;

Kerns 1999).

The main objective of this study was to compare a seeded

and an unseeded area to collect material for further data

exploration and generation of hypotheses. This information

can then be used to make seeding decisions in areas of

ponderosa pine forest undergoing ecological restoration.
68 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Springer, Waltz, Fulé, Moore, and Covington Seeding Versus Natural Regeneration: A Comparison of Vegetation Change Following Thinning and Burning...

Study Area _____________________

The study area lies within the Grand Canyon–Parashant

National Monument, in northwestern Arizona, between the

Mt. Logan and Mt. Trumbull Wilderness areas and approximately 95 km southwest of Fredonia, AZ. The study area is

of primarily the ponderosa pine forest type with intermingled patches of New Mexico locust (Robinia neomexicana),

Gambel oak (Quercus gambelii), and big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata). Precipitation occurs annually in a bimodal

distribution pattern and annual precipitation varies between 38–64 cm (USDI BLM 1990). Fire scars collected from

individual ponderosa pine trees indicate that fires occurred

every 4 to 6 years prior to Euro-American settlement (Fulé

1997 and unpublished data).

The Southwestern Ecological Restoration Project is a

cooperative study among the Bureau of Land Management,

Northern Arizona University, and the Arizona Game and

Fish Department. The area is managed by the BLM and

encompasses approximately 18,500 ha. Specifically, the data

for this study were collected in two units, one 5.3 ha in size,

which was seeded with a mixture of native grasses, forbs,

and shrubs. The other unit (13.4 ha) was not artificially

seeded and relied on natural regeneration by propagules

already onsite or dispersed onto the site by wind, water,

animals, or some other mechanism. The objective of the

seeding was to increase species richness and diversity and to

decrease soil erosion following ecological restoration treatments of tree thinning and prescribed burning.

Methods and Materials ___________

Modified National Park Service fire monitoring protocols

(NPS 1992) were used for the plot installation and long-term

vegetation monitoring across the entire 18,500 ha project

area. The point line-intercept method was used for vegetation monitoring. We installed two 50 m transects per plot,

and inventoried these lines every 30 cm for a total of 332

points per plot. Species that were not intercepted by the

transects were recorded within a 5 m belt on either side of the

transects (hereafter referred to as “belt transects”). Three of

these monitoring plots fell within the immediate study area:

one in the seeded unit and two in the unseeded unit.

Although many more plots were established across the

landscape over several years, only data from these three

plots will be discussed in this paper due to the longer period

over which these plots have been monitored and their use as

“demonstration” plots.

We conducted pretreatment inventories in the fall of 1995

in the unit to be seeded and in the spring of 1996 in the

unseeded unit. The area was thinned of postsettlement trees

in the summer of 1996 and burned in the fall of 1996. The 5.3

ha unit was broadcast seeded in December of 1996 and

reseeded the following year using a chain pulled behind an

all terrain vehicle (ATV) to cover seed with soil. Both units

were fenced to exclude cattle, but deer were able to access the

area. The plots were reinventoried in August 1997, 1998 and

1999. Species that were seeded are listed in table 1. The cost

of seeding was estimated to be approximately $214 per acre

(1996 dollars), with additional money spent on reseeding in

1998 ($26 per acre). Seed was certified “weed free,” but

germination testing was not conducted by the authors.

Nomenclature in this paper was adopted from the USDA

Plants Database (2000), Utah Flora (Welsh and others1993),

and Intermountain Flora (Cronquist and others 1972, 1977,

1984, 1989, 1994 and 1997).

Results ________________________

Percent Ground Cover

Percentages of substrates and plant cover are shown in

figure 1. Prior to ecological restoration treatments, 86 percent of the ground cover in the seeded unit consisted of litter

(primarily pine needles), and plant cover was less than 1

percent. In the unseeded unit, litter averaged 47 percent

prior to treatment and fell to 23 percent the year following

ecological restoration treatments. By 1999 (the third year

following treatments), litter had increased to 44 percent in

this unit, while in the seeded unit, litter increased to 24

percent. Plant cover in the unseeded unit rose from 6 percent

(pretreatment) to a high of 50 percent in 1998 due primarily

to the occurrence of early successional annuals and shortlived perennials, such as lambsquarters (Chenopodium spp.),

spreading groundsmoke (Gayophytum diffusum) and silver

lupine (Lupinus argenteus). Plant cover leveled off in 1999 to

25 percent in this unit. However, in the seeded unit, plant

cover continued to increase in 1999 to 44 percent. Soil cover

dramatically increased in the seeded unit following treatments: 5 percent pretreatment and 58 percent in 1997. It has

continued to decrease in both units as other types of cover

begin to predominate.

Species Composition

The only two plant families represented in the seeded unit

in 1997, the first year following restoration treatments, were

the Chenopodiaceae (goosefoot family) and the Poaceae

(grass family) (table 2). In 1998, 11 families were represented. The Chenopodiaceae family was most common (23

percent of the ground cover). There were 15 families in 1999.

The most common families were the Scrophulariaceae,

Asteraceae, and Chenopodiaceae.

The most numerous species in the seeded unit in 1997

were Chenopodium leptophyllum (narrowleaf goosefoot),

Agropyron sp. (wheatgrass), Bouteloua gracilis (blue grama),

and Elymus elymoides (squirreltail). By 1999, perennial

Table 1—List of species seeded at Mt. Trumbull in 5 ha area.

Grasses Purshia tridentate

Achnatherum hymenoides Rhus trilobata

Bouteloua gracilis Ribes cereum

Bromus marginatus Sambucus cerulea

Elymus elymoides Symphoricarpos oreophilus

Elymus trachycaulus Forbs

Koeleria macrantha Eriogonum umbellatuma

Pascopyrum smithii Linum lewisiia

Schizachyrium scoparius Penstemon barbatus

Shrubs Penstemon palmeri

Mahonia repens

a

Species seeded in 1997, but not in 1996.
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Seeding Versus Natural Regeneration: A Comparison of Vegetation Change Following Thinning and Burning... Springer, Waltz, Fulé, Moore, and Covington

grasses and forbs were beginning to dominate this site. The

five most numerous species were Agropyron (Pascopyrum)

smithii (western wheatgrass), Bromus carinatus (mountain

brome), Conyza canadensis (Canadian horseweed),

Thinopyrum intermedium (intermediate wheatgrass) and

Chenopodium album (lambsquarters).

In the unseeded unit, pretreatment family representation

was limited to Poaceae, Asteraceae, Fabaceae, and

Scrophulariaceae (table 2). In 1997, there were eight families represented in this unit. The most common families

were the Fabaceae, Asteraceae, Polygonaceae, Poaceae, and

Scrophulariaceae. The number of families was highest in

1998 (11). The number of families decreased in 1999 to eight

as some of the early-successional species began to disappear

from the aboveground vegetation. Families included Poaceae,

Asteraceae, Fabaceae, Onagraceae, Scrophulariaceae,

Polygonaceae, Fagaceae and Chenopodiaceae.

The most numerous species in the unseeded unit in 1997

were Artemisia tridentata(big sagebrush), Lupinus argenteus

(silver lupine), Polygonum douglasii(Johnston’s knotweed),

and Elymus elymoides (squirreltail). The most common

species in 1999 were the same four with the addition of

Senecio multilobatus (lobeleaf groundsel) and Bromus

tectorum (cheatgrass).

In the seeded unit, the percent cover of annuals peaked in

1998, 2 years following restoration treatments, at approximately 29 percent of the ground cover. Perennials continued

to increase and composed 31 percent of the ground cover in

1999. In the unseeded unit, both annuals and perennials

peaked in 1998. Annuals composed 20 percent and perennials approximately 40 percent of the ground cover. By 1999,

annuals had decreased to 7 percent and perennials to

20 percent of the ground cover. Biennials remained at less

than 5 percent of the ground cover in all years and in both

treatments.

Nonnative Species

The number of nonnative species was higher in the seeded

unit. Eight species were intercepted by the transects: Agropyron cristatum(crested wheatgrass), Bromus inermis (smooth

brome), Bromus tectorum (cheatgrass), Lappula occidentalis

var. occidentalis (stickseed), Marrubium vulgare (horehound), Salsola tragus (Russian thistle), Thinopyrum

intermedium (intermediate wheatgrass) and Verbascum

thapsus (common mullein). In addition, Bromus commutatus

(hairy chess), Bromus japonicus (Japanese brome), Convolvulus arvensis (field bindweed), Lactuca serriola (prickly

Seeded

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

BOLE

DUFF

LITTER

PLANT

ROCK

SOIL

WOOD

Percent

PRE

1997

1998

1999

Unseeded

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

BOLE DUFF LITTER PLANT ROCK SCAT SOIL WOOD

Percent

PRE

1997

1998

1999

Figure 1—Percent ground cover of plants and substrates in the seeded and

unseeded units at Mt. Trumbull.
70 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Springer, Waltz, Fulé, Moore, and Covington Seeding Versus Natural Regeneration: A Comparison of Vegetation Change Following Thinning and Burning...

lettuce), Poa pratensis (Kentucky bluegrass) and Tragopogon

dubius (salsify) were encountered within the 20 m wide belt

transect. Percentages of native and nonnative species are

given in table 3. There was an increasing trend of nonnatives

in the seeded unit, from less than 1 percent of the vegetative

cover in 1997 to approximately 24 percent of the vegetative

cover in 1999. In the unseeded unit, nonnatives showed an

increasing trend as well, from 5 percent in 1996 to 13 percent

in 1999. Cheatgrass and field bindweed, both inventoried in

this study, are listed in Arizona as noxious weeds

Only three nonnative species were captured by the

transects in the unseeded unit: B. tectorum (cheatgrass), L.

serriola (prickly lettuce) and V. thapsus (common mullein).

Four additional species were inventoried in the belt transects:

Polygonum aviculare (prostrate knotweed), Polygonum convolvulus (black bindweed), P. pratensis (Kentucky bluegrass), and T. dubius (salsify).

Reasons for the larger number of nonnatives in the seeded

unit could be due to: (1) their presence in the soil seed bank;

(2) as contaminants in the seed mix; (3) increased foot traffic

in this unit because of its use as a demonstration site,

however, the unseeded unit is also used for that purpose; or

(4) through colonization from offsite by dispersal mechanisms. The seeded unit is in close proximity to a meadow.

Grasses

Ten species of grasses were inventoried in the seeded unit.

These species were Achnatherum hymenoides (Indian ricegrass), A. cristatum, Agropyron (Pascopyrum) smithii (western wheatgrass), Bouteloua gracilis (blue grama), Bromus

carinatus (mountain brome), B. inermis, B. tectorum, Elymus

elymoides (squirreltail), Koeleria cristatum (junegrass), and

T. intermedium. In addition, the belt transect contained

B. commutatus, B. japonicus, andP. pratensis.Schizachyrium

scoparium (little bluestem) was seeded, but was not recorded in the monitoring plots prior to 2000.

Only four species of grasses were present in the plots in the

unseeded unit and thus most likely regenerated from the soil

seed bank or were carried in from the area surrounding the

site. These species were Bouteloua gracilis, Bromus tectorum,

Elymus elymoides, and Poa fendleriana. Poa pratensis was

also captured by the belt transect.

Table 2—Percent frequency of plant families over time in a seeded and

an unseeded unit at Mt. Trumbull, AZ.

Unit and year Plant families Percent

Seeded unit

Pretreatment No species present

1997 Chenopodiaceae 2.1

Poaceae 1.5

1998 Chenopodiaceae 24

Scrophulariaceae 3.0

Onagraceae 2.7

Polygonaceae 1.5

Poaceae 1.5

Fumiariaceae 0.9

Boraginaceae 0.9

Papaveraceae 0.6

Lamiaceae 0.3

Asteraceae 0.3

Solanaceae 0.3

1999 Poaceae 25

Scrophulariaceae 7.5

Asteraceae 5.1

Chenopodiaceae 4.8

Boraginaceae 2.4

Onagraceae 1.8

Polygonaceae 1.5

Lamiaceae 1.5

Amaranthaceae 1.2

Solanaceae 1.2

Nyctaginaceae 0.6

Verbenaceae 0.6

Linaceae 0.3

Fabaceae 0.3

Brassicaceae 0.3

Unseeded unit

Pretreatment Poaceae 2.6

Asteraceae 2.4

Fabaceae 0.8

Scrophulariaceae 0.5

1997 Fabaceae 10

Asteraceae 5.1

Poaceae 3.0

Polygonaceae 2.3

Scrophulariaceae 1.7

Euphorbiaceae 0.6

Chenopodiaceae 0.2

Rhamnaceae 0.2

1998 Fabaceae 22

Asteraceae 11

Poaceae 6.9

Onagraceae 6.9

Scrophulariaceae 5.6

Polygonaceae 4.8

Chenopodiaceae 2.9

Euphorbiaceae 1.2

Fagaceae 1.1

Polemoniaceae 0.5

Brassicaceae 0.2

1999 Poaceae 9.9

Asteraceae 8.7

Fabaceae 5.0

Onagraceae 1.7

Polygonaceae 1.2

Scrophulariaceae 1.1

Fagaceae 0.5

Chenopodiaceae 0.3

Table 3—Percentages of native and nonnative species in the seeded

and unseeded units at Mt. Trumbull.

Plot Year Native Nonnative Unknown

- - - - - - - - percent - - - - - - - - - - 

Seeded 1995 — — —

1997 75 — 25

1998 92 6 2

1999 74 24 2

Unseeded 1996 86 15 —

1997 95 5 —

1998 92 9 —

1999 87 13 —
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Shrubs

Eight species of shrubs were present in the seeded unit.

These species were Amelanchier utahensis (Utah serviceberry), Arctostaphylos pungens(pointleaf manzanita), Garrya

flavescens (ashy silktassel), Purshia tridentata (antelope

bitterbrush), Rhus trilobata (skunkbush sumac), Ribes

cereum (wax currant), and Symphoricarpos oreophilus

(whortleleaf snowberry). Bitterbrush, sumac, currant, and

snowberry were seeded, so it is difficult to ascertain whether

the species monitored on the plots came from natural regeneration or from seeding. However, seeding with shrub species appeared to be effective with the exception of Mahonia

repens (Oregon-grape). No specimens of this taxa were found

in the seeded unit. Sambucus cerulea (blue elderberry) was

not captured by the monitoring plots, although it was observed nearby.

In the unseeded unit, four species were inventoried on the

plots: A. pungens, Artemisia tridentata, A. utahensis, and

R. cereum. Species that were observed in the unit, but not

captured by the monitoring plots, included G. flavescens,

A. pungens and Ceanothus fendleri (buckbrush). These species presumably sprouted after fire. With the exception of big

sagebrush (A. tridentata), shrubs were not detected in the

soil seed bank (or propagule bank) from samples taken at

Mt. Trumbull (Springer 1999). However, some species apparently are still present in the form of underground rhizomes or buds and will regenerate following fire. Nearly all

shrub species in these units were heavily browsed, most

likely by deer or rabbits, since elk are not present at Mt.

Trumbull and cattle were excluded from the study area

(personal observations).

Legumes

No species of legumes (Fabaceae or pea family) were

manually seeded in either unit and no species of legumes

were captured by the line transects in the seeded unit. The

only occurrence of legumes in this unit was one record of

Lotus utahensis (Utah birdsfoot trefoil) from the belt transects

in 1998.

In the unseeded unit, Lupinus argenteus (silver lupine)

was recorded on the line transects prior to treatment. Silver

lupine was recorded in all years in both plots in this unit. Its

frequency was highest in 1998, the year following thinning

and burning (an average of 16 percent of the ground cover).

Other legumes recorded in the unseeded unit were Lotus

spp. (Lotus plebius, Lotus wrightii, Lotus sp.) in 1997, 1998,

and 1999 and Lupinus kingii (King’s lupine) in 1998 on a belt

transect.

Simpson’s Index and Species Richness

Pretreatment species richness was very low (less than five

species) on the line transects on all plots (fig. 2). In 1998, it

peaked in the unseeded unit (17 species), but continued to

increase in the seeded unit in 1999 (28 species). The total

number of species in the seeded unit, including species

captured on the belt transects, was 51. The average number

of species per plot in the unseeded unit was 36. The Simpson’s

diversity index showed a similar trend to species richness in

the seeded unit (fig. 3), increasing from 0 in the pretreatment inventory to 14 in 1999. In the unseeded unit, it peaked

at 10 in one plot in 1998, but continued to increase slightly

in the other plot through 1999 (fig. 3).

Discussion _____________________

Seeding is a complex issue, and the positive and negative

aspects must be weighed before making any type of management decision relating to ecological restoration in Southwestern ponderosa pine forests. Seeding has many advantages including decreased soil erosion (Beyers and others

1998) and increased vegetative ground cover (Williamson

1984; Tyser and others 1998). It also produces an increase in

the amount of available seed stock for colonizing nearby

areas (Jacobson and others 1994) and, if successful, it will

increase species richness and diversity (Grant and others

1997). However, seeding also has disadvantages, such as

high cost and lack of locally-adapted genetic material for

most areas (Dunne 1999; Roundy 1999). Also, increased

species diversity can be a major disadvantage if this increase

is due to nonnative species. This study, though exploratory,

seems to indicate that although seeding increased the species richness and diversity, these increases were due in part

to increases in nonnative species that were possibly brought

onsite by the seed mixture. The percentage of nonnatives in

the seeded unit continued to increase in 1999 and will be

monitored to determine if this trend continues.

There is presently a dearth of native perennial grasses,

legumes, and shrubs in the ponderosa pine forests of the Mt.

Trumbull area, based on this study, on previous soil seed

bank studies (Springer 1999), and on data from other areas

of ponderosa pine forest in northern Arizona. Rasmussen

(1941), in one of the few historical publications from the

Arizona Strip containing information on species frequency,

mentions that by the time of his publication, certain legumes

had entirely disappeared from the Kaibab Plateau (about

45 km to the east) due in part to severe overgrazing by wild

Figure 2—Species richness in the seeded and unseeded units

at Mt. Trumbull following ecological restoration treatments.

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Pretreatment 1997 1998 1999

Species Richness

Seeded

Unseeded
72 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Springer, Waltz, Fulé, Moore, and Covington Seeding Versus Natural Regeneration: A Comparison of Vegetation Change Following Thinning and Burning...

deer populations and/or domestic livestock in the late 1800s

and early 1900s. Native shrub species also were decimated

from much of the Plateau, presumably by fluctuations in the

deer population. The Mt. Trumbull area has populations of

deer but no elk, and it has a history of grazing by domestic

cattle (Altschul and Fairley 1989). Seeding can return extirpated species to a site, although information is necessary to

ascertain if these species were historically present. If species

have been decimated from a site, then the genetic material

from species adapted to that site is likely no longer available.

Nonnative species, particularly cheatgrass and common

mullein, increased following restoration treatments in the

study area at Mt. Trumbull. Common mullein is considered

to be an early-successional species and is expected eventually to be replaced by native species in the treated areas, but

cheatgrass has been known to change the species composition and fire cycle of areas where it has become dominant

(Sheley and Petroff 1999). If the goal of management efforts

is to decrease the amount of cheatgrass in the restored areas,

then these areas should be heavily seeded with early successional native grass species able to compete with the cheatgrass, such as squirreltail (Jones 1998). Early successional

species made up a large percentage of species in the soil seed

bank in the study area (Springer 1999). Their decline after

the first few years was expected because many of these

species are annuals or biennials, rely on disturbance to

maintain their populations, and use the soil seed bank to

store genotypes for future environmental variability

(Springer 1999). However, the low frequency of perennial

species in the unseeded unit is of some concern if this pattern

is indicative of the entire study area.

Species richness and diversity began to drop off in the

unseeded unit in the third year following restoration

treatments, and few new species were recorded. This trend

could be attributable to weather or to a slowdown in the rate

of successional response after treatment. Both units should

continue to be monitored to observe trends. As additional

units across the entire project area are treated with overstory

tree thinning and prescribed burning, more data will be

available to assist with management decisions.

This study points to the need to conduct seeding trials to

determine which seeds are germinating, and how long it

takes for these species to become established. Seeding trials

can also be used to pinpoint the origin of nonnative species

appearing onsite, whether through dispersal mechanisms or

in seed mixtures. There is also a need to conduct studies to

determine the effects of prescribed burning on leguminous

species in Southwestern ponderosa pine forests, as well as

the inputs of nitrogen by these species, for their role in

nitrogen cycling is just beginning to be quantified (Hendricks

and others 1999).

When considering whether and with what species a site

should be seeded, each area needs to be treated individually

and blanket treatments should not be applied to huge areas

of the landscape. Factors to take into account are existing

vegetation, species in the soil seed bank, past management

history, microclimate conditions and soils. Soil seed bank

samples taken prior to ecological restoration treatments can

give an idea of the species that will colonize a site following

these treatments (Springer 1999). As the demand for native

seed increases across the West, we hope that supply will

grow to meet demand and eventually costs will decline;

however, there is a tradeoff of cost versus maintaining seed

mixtures that are weed-free. Further effort should be made

to collect seeds in areas undergoing restoration to maintain

the genetic material adapted to that area.

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

Pretreatment 1997 1998 1999

Simpson's Diversity Index

Seeded

Unseeded

Figure 3—Simpson’s diversity index (SI) in the seeded and

unseeded units at Mt. Trumbull following ecological restoration treatments.
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 73

Seeding Versus Natural Regeneration: A Comparison of Vegetation Change Following Thinning and Burning... Springer, Waltz, Fulé, Moore, and Covington

Acknowledgments ______________

Funding for this study was provided by the United States

Department of the Interior and the BLM Arizona Strip

District Office. We would also like to thank Dr. Tina Ayers,

Dr. Randy Scott, Dr. Mike Kearsley, Dr. David Hammond,

Nancy Brian, Lee Hughes, and John Anderson for their

assistance with plant identification, the staff and students

of the Northern Arizona University Ecological Restoration

Institute and the staff of the BLM Arizona Strip District

Office, particularly Greg Taylor, Ken Moore, and Roger

Taylor.

References _____________________

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74 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

In: Vance, Regina K.; Edminster, Carleton B.; Covington, W. Wallace;

Blake, Julie A. comps. 2001. Ponderosa pine ecosystems restoration and

conservation: steps toward stewardship; 2000 April 25–27; Flagstaff, AZ.

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Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station.

Julie Korb is a Ph.D. candidate with the Ecological Restoration Institute

at Northern Arizona University. Julie received her B.A. and M.S. degrees at

the University of Colorado, Boulder. Her research interests include plant

community ecology and ecological restoration. Nancy C. Johnson is a professor at Northern Arizona University, Center for Environmental Sciences and

Education and Department of Biological Sciences. Her research interests

include mycorrhizal ecology and ecological restoration. W. W. Covington is a

Regents’ Professor at Northern Arizona University, School of Forestry, and

Director of the Ecological Restoration Institute. His research interests include forest ecology and applied ecosystem analysis.

Effect of Restoration Thinning on

Mycorrhizal Fungal Propagules in a

Northern Arizona Ponderosa Pine Forest:

Preliminary Results

Julie E. Korb

Nancy C. Johnson

W. W. Covington

Abstract—The inoculum potential for arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM)

and ectomycorrhizal (EM) fungi were investigated in thinned and

uncut control stands in a northern Arizona ponderosa pine forest. A

corn bioassay was used to determine the relative amount of infective

propagules of AM fungi, and a ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa)

bioassay was used to determine the relative amount of infective

propagules of EM fungi. Three stands of each treatment were

sampled by collecting soil cores along 10 randomly chosen transects

within each stand. The relative amount of infective propagules of

AM fungi was significantly higher in samples collected from the

thinned stands than controls. Conversely, there was a slight decrease in the relative amount of infective propagules of EM fungi in

samples collected from thinned stands in comparison to the controls; however, this difference was not significant. These preliminary results indicate that population densities of AM fungi can

rapidly increase following restoration thinning in northern Arizona

ponderosa pine forests. This may have important implications for

restoring the herbaceous understory of these forests because most

understory plants depend upon AM associations for normal growth.

Introduction ____________________

Low intensity fires carried by grassy understories were

prevalent every 2–20 years in southwestern ponderosa pine

(Pinus ponderosa) ecosystems prior to Euro-American settlement and played a major role in determining the structure,

composition, and stability of these ecosystems (Cooper 1960).

Current alterations to the structure and function of southwestern ponderosa pine forests are the result of heavy

grazing, intensive logging of old-growth trees, and fire suppression by Euro-American settlement around the turn of

the 20th century (Covington and others 1997). This has

resulted in a large number of small trees with closed canopies and little herbaceous understory production. The current reduction in herbaceous understory diversity and production in ponderosa pine forests has contributed to the

alteration of the natural fire regime, loss of habitat for

numerous animal species, and overall reduction of species

diversity. As a result, a major objective of restoring Southwestern ponderosa pine forests is to increase herbaceous

understory diversity and production by reestablishing community structure and function within a range of natural

variability.

Mycorrhizae are a major component of soil ecosystems,

playing an important role in plant nutrition, nutrient cycling, food webs, and the development of soil structure

(Johnson and others 1999). A mycorrhiza is generally a

“mutualistic relation between plant and fungus localized in

a root or root-like structure in which energy moves primarily

from plant to fungus and inorganic resources move from

fungus to plant” (Allen 1991). Forest tree species, particularly those within Pinaceae, Fagaceae, Betulaceae, and

Dipterocarpaceae form ectomycorrhizal (EM) relationships

with basidiomycetes and ascomycetes (Harley and Smith

1983). Over 80 percent of all plants form arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) relationships with Glomalean fungi, a single

order of Zygomycetes. A few exceptional plant families

(Cyperaceae, Juncaceae, Caryophyllaceae, Chenopodiaceae,

and Brassicaceae) typically do not form any mycorrhizal

relationship (nonmycotrophic) (Pendleton and Smith 1983).

Numerous researchers have suggested a relationship between the recovery time of disturbed ecosystems and the

abundance of infective propagules of fungi (Allen and Allen

1980; Bentwenga and Hetrick 1991; Noyd and others 1995;

Reeves and others 1979). Therefore, quantifying the effect of

restoration thinning on densities of mycorrhizal fungal

propagules may provide insight to the recovery rate of

herbaceous understory communities to restoration treatments in ponderosa pine forests.

This is the first known study looking at AM fungal

propagule densities in Southwestern ponderosa pine forests. We hypothesized that AM fungal propagule densities

would increase and EM fungal propagule densities would

decrease in response to restoration thinning in ponderosa

pine forests, and that these changes would be correlated to

host plant abundance. The specific objectives of this study

were to: (1) quantify the effect of restoration thinning on AM

and EM fungal propagule densities; and (2) assess the
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 75

Effect of Restoration Thinning on Mycorrhizal Fungal Propagules in a Northern Arizona Ponderosa Pine Forest... Korb, Johnson, and Covington

relationships between mycorrhizal fungal propagule densities and soil and plant community properties.

Methods _______________________

Experimental Design

Three blocks of four restoration treatments were established during the summer of 1998 within approximately

1,700 acres of the Fort Valley Experimental Forest and

adjacent areas near Flagstaff, AZ (fig. 1). Treatment units

within each block were randomly assigned one of four treatments: (1) no thinning or burning (control); (2) thinning to a

low level of replacement trees and burning; (3) thinning to an

intermediate level of replacement trees and burning; (4)

thinning to a high level of replacement trees and burning.

Specific details of thinning treatment guidelines are outlined in Covington and others 1998. Soils for this study were

collected before any of the treatment units had been burned,

and therefore these results only reflect the effect of restoration thinning on mycorrhizal fungal propagules. Continuation of this study will investigate the effects of full restoration treatments (thinning and prescribed burning) after all

treatment units have been burned.

Field Sampling

Soil samples for “bait-plant bioassays” and soil and vegetation analyses were taken in mid-May, 6 months after

thinning, along 10 randomly placed transects within each of

the three blocks in the controls (1-1, 2-1, 3-1) and low level

of replacement trees thinning treatment units (1-2, 2-2, 3-2)

(fig. 1). Soil samples were taken to a depth of 15 cm using a

hand trowel. Samples were taken to this depth because AM

fungal propagule densities are generally highest in the

surface 15 cm (Johnson and others 1991). Two samples from

each transect were immediately placed into 4 cm diameter x

20 cm diameter deep Conetainers (Stuewe and Sons, Inc.,

Corvallis, OR) for “bait-plant bioassays.” The other sample

for soil analysis was placed in a ziploc bag and stored in a

freezer until analysis. A 0.5 x 2 m (1 m2

) plot was located

adjacent to each soil sample, and the percent cover of each

herbaceous and woody species present along with substrates

(litter, soil, and rock) were estimated using cardboard cutouts as visual guides. The soil seed bank, soil disturbance,

bulk density, fuel loads, fire behavior, herbaceous biomass

production and abundance, overstory tree structure, and

understory tree regeneration were also assessed along these

50 m transects.

Figure 1—Study area near Flagstaff, AZ.
76 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Korb, Johnson, and Covington Effect of Restoration Thinning on Mycorrhizal Fungal Propagules in a Northern Arizona Ponderosa Pine Forest...

Ectomycorrhizal (EM) inoculum 

potential

0

10

20

30

40

50

Treatment

Treatment

Percent of root length

colonized by EM

Percent of root length

colonized by AM

Arbuscular Mycorrhizae (AM) 

inoculum potential

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Control Thinned

Control Thinned

*

*

Lab Analysis

A corn (Zea mays) bioassay was used to determine the

relative amount of infective propagules of AM fungi, and a

ponderosa pine bioassay was used to determine the relative

amount of infective propagules of EM fungi. Corn is a

strongly mycotrophic plant and grows rapidly and uniformly, and its advantages outweigh the disadvantage of not

using native host plants (Johnson and others 1999). “Baitplant bioassays” are designed to detect all types of viable

mycorrhizal fungal propagules including spores, fragments

of mycorrhizal roots and extraradical hyphae and therefore

may more accurately quantify total mycorrhizal fungi than

direct counts of sporocarps, spores, or colonized root lengths

(Brundrett and others 1994; Johnson and others 1999).

Plants were placed in a greenhouse and watered every 3

days until corn plants were harvested at 6 weeks and pine

plants were harvested at 12 weeks. Roots were carefully

washed free from the soil and were measured for length and

weighed. Following mycorrhizal analysis, roots were dried

in an oven at 70 ∞C for 24 hours and then were weighed again.

Shoot lengths and dry weights were also measured. Corn

roots were prepared for fungal propagule density measurements by taking a random subsample of roots of a known

mass, clearing roots in 5 percent KOH, and then staining

roots with trypan blue (Johnson and others 1999). The

gridline intersect method using a dissecting microscope was

used to measure the proportion of root length containing AM

fungal structures: arbuscules, vesicles, coils, internal mycorrhizal hyphae and external mycorrhizal hyphae (Givanetti

and Mosse 1980). Pine roots were measured for fungal

propagule density through direct examination using a dissecting microscope to quantify the proportion of root tips

colonized with EM fungi (Gehring and Whitham 1991). Root

tips were also classified as dead or living.

Soil Analysis

Soil samples from each transect were analyzed for pH,

total N, total P and organic C at the Bilby Research Soil

Analysis Laboratory, Flagstaff, AZ. Soil pH was determined

in a 1:1 slurry by pH meter. The general method used for N

and P was a Kjeldahl digestion of the soil material followed

with the analysis of N and P by automated colorimetry using

a Technicon auto-analyzer (Parkinson and others 1975).

Organic matter was determined by loss on ignition. Samples

were heated in crucibles in a muffle furnace at 450 ∞C and net

weight loss was estimated as organic matter.

Statistical Analysis

Analysis of variance for a randomized complete block

design was conducted using SAS JMPIN version 3.2.1 (SAS

Institute 1997) to determine the effect of thinning on mycorrhizal propagule densities. Root infection data were log (x + 1)

transformed prior to analysis, and bait plant length and

weight, herbaceous plant abundance, and soil properties

were ln transformed. Simple correlation analyses were conducted to assess the relationship between infectivity, soil

and plant community properties, and bait plant characteristics (length and weight) using SAS JMPIN. Significance of

Figure 2—The inoculum potential for EM fungi (top

graph) and AM fungi (bottom graph) from “bait-plant

bioassays” in the thinned and control units. Differences between the thinned and control units were

determined by analysis of variance for a random block

design on log (x + 1) transformed data (F = 2.1601,

P > 0.05, F = 5.4437, P < 0.005, respectively).

correlations and analysis of variances were accepted at

alpha £ 0.05.

Results ________________________

Mycorrhizal fungi colonized all “bait-plant” roots grown in

soil from the thinned and control units. Bioassay results

indicated that infective propagule densities of AM fungi

were significantly higher in the samples collected from the

thinned units than controls (F = 5.4437, P < 0.005) (fig. 2).

Also, corn grown in thinned soils had relatively more vesicles

and less hyphae than corn grown in control soils (fig. 3).

Conversely, there was a slight decrease in the relative

amount of infective propagules of EM fungi in samples

collected from thinned stands in comparison to the controls

(F = 2.1601 P > 0.05); however, this difference was not

significant (fig. 2). Sparsely branched bifurcated tips were

the dominant EM morphotype with tuberoid mycorrhiza

also dominant.

AM fungal infectivity was not correlated with corn shoot

weight, corn root weight or percent herbaceous cover (r =

–0.037, r = 0.031, and r = 0.035 respectively, N = 60, P ≥ 0.05).

EM fungal infectivity was not correlated with pine shoot

weight (r = 0.11) but was positively correlated with pine root

weight (r = 0.28, N = 60, P ≥ 0.05). The only soil property that

was correlated with AM fungal infectivity was pH (r = 0.27,
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 77

Effect of Restoration Thinning on Mycorrhizal Fungal Propagules in a Northern Arizona Ponderosa Pine Forest... Korb, Johnson, and Covington

Percentage of different types of Arbuscular 

Mycorrhizae (AM) within colonized roots

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Control Thinned

Treatment

Percentage

External hyphae

Arbuscules

Vesicles

Internal hyphae

*

*

*

*

N = 60, P ≥ 0.05). There were no significant differences

between soil properties in the thinned and control stands

(table 1). However, pH levels were higher in the thinned

units than the controls, which is congruent with the findings

that thinned units had greater propagule densities of AM

fungi than the controls.

Both the thinned and control units were dominated by

graminoids followed by nonlegume forbs, legumes, and woody

shrubs. Unidentified sedges, Carex sp., dominated the herbaceous cover for both units followed by C3 grasses including

Elymus elymoides (squirreltail), Poa fendleriana (muttongrass) and Festuca arizonica(Arizona fescue). Muhlenbergia

montana (mountain muhley) was the only dominant C4

grass in both units; however, its presence was less than the

dominant C3 grasses. The dominant forbs in both the thinned

and control units were Cirsium wheeleri (thistle) and Solidago sp. (goldenrod). There were slightly higher species

richness, Simpson’s diversity, and herbaceous cover in the

thinned units in comparison with the control units; however,

these differences were not significant (table 2).

Discussion _____________________

Restoration thinning increased the cover of herbaceous,

AM hosts and decreased the cover of ponderosa pine, EM

hosts. These aboveground changes were accompanied by the

expected belowground changes: propagule densities of AM

fungi increased by 23 percent while those of EM fungi

decreased by 6 percent. These preliminary results indicate

that mycorrhizal fungal population densities respond rapidly to restoration thinning in northern Arizona ponderosa

pine forests. Two main processes control population densities of mycorrhizal fungi following disturbance: immigration

of new propagules from nearby areas and survival and

spread of residual propagules (Warner and others 1987).

Rapid colonization of AM fungi has been illustrated in other

studies. For example, Johnson and McGraw (1988) found

that unreclaimed taconite tailings devoid of AM fungi were

colonized within weeks of reclamation. It was hypothesized

that spores were transferred to the reclaimed tailings by

biotic (animals) and abiotic (wind and water) vectors (Johnson

and McGraw 1988). In the present study it is likely that AM

fungi spread from preexisting mycorrhizal hyphae in living

and dead roots.

Soil disturbance has been reported to generally reduce AM

propagule densities due to the destruction of the hyphal

network during the break-up of the soil macrostructure

(Reeves and others 1979; Fairchild and Miller 1988). Consequently, one may predict that propagule densities should

decrease following thinning due to soil disturbance from

mechanized logging equipment. This effect was not observed

in our study, which may indicate that soil disturbance was

not severe enough to have destroyed AM fungal propagules,

or that the sites were rapidly colonized by AM fungal spores

and residual hyphae. Another study, conducted by Rives and

others (1980), showed that there was no reduction in population densities of AM fungi following soil disturbance. It has

been suggested that environments with a high proportion of

grasses are more tolerant of disturbance because their

fiberous root systems generate high densities of infective

propagules (Jasper and others 1991). A successional study of

AM propagule densities across a grassland to forest

chronosequence showed AM inoculum potential increased

with increasing grass cover and decreased in later successional sites with EM trees (Johnson and others 1991).

Similarly, a study by Benjamin and others (1989) illustrated

that dominant herbaceous plants had lower AM colonization

as tree density increased, possibly because these plants had

insufficient photosynthetic capability to support AM infection. Finally, some research indicates that while the fungal

propagule densities do not decrease following disturbance,

Table 1—Soil parameter comparisons between thinned and control

ponderosa pine treatments. Average values are presented,

N = 30. Standard error of the mean (SEM) for each value is

in parentheses.

Thinned Control

pH 6.06 (0.756) 5.85 (0.352)

Total P 0.86 (0.148) 0.95 (0.199)

Total N 1.57 (0.209) 1.65 (0.174)

Organic C 10.29 (1.158) 10.59 (0.994)

Table 2—Plant species richness and Simpson’s diversity index (SI) for

1999 herbaceous transects. Minimum, maximum and

average richness is by individual transects, not units.

Average Average

Treatment richness Min. Max. SI Min. Max.

Control 5.1 1 13 4.34 0.58 12.78

Thin 5.8 1 12 4.71 0 13.75

Figure 3—The percentage of external hyphae,

arbuscules, vesicles, and internal hyphae within colonized corn roots for each treatment. An asterisk indicates that one type of AM is significantly different (P <

0.05) between treatments as determined by Analysis of

Variance for a random block design on log (x + 1)

transformed data (F = 8.3001, P > 0.005, F = 15.4818,

P > 0.0002, respectively).
78 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Korb, Johnson, and Covington Effect of Restoration Thinning on Mycorrhizal Fungal Propagules in a Northern Arizona Ponderosa Pine Forest...

AM species composition may change (Johnson and Pfleger

1991). Specifically, AM species from the Glomaceae family

depend more on hyphae for reproduction than spores. In

contrast, AM species from the Gycosperaceae family depend

more on spores for reproduction than hyphae (Biermann

And Linderman 1983).

Implications for Restoration ______

Pre Euro-American ponderosa pine understory communities were dominated by warm-season (C4) grasses, which are

often obligately mycotrophic (Cooper 1960; Wilson and

Hartnett 1998). However, current ponderosa pine forests

are dominated by species that form no mycorrhizal associations (Carex sp.) or C3 grasses that are often facultatively

mycotrophic. This pattern is contrary to other studies that

suggest succession proceeds from dominance of

nonmycotrophic and facultative mycotrophic species to obligate mycotrophic species in later successional stages (Janos

1980; Allen and Allen 1984). This reversed pattern has been

established because the natural fires that historically would

minimize competition between ponderosa pine and herbaceous plants have been suppressed, and now shade-tolerant

C3 grasses are better adapted to these environments. Therefore, without the reduction of EM tree competition and

reintroduction of fire, the understory of Southwestern ponderosa pine forests will likely continue to be dominated by

nonmycotrophic Carex and facultatively AM species. Noyd

and others (1995) demonstrated that obligate C4 grasses,

Andropogon gerardii (big bluestem) and Schizachyrium

scoparium (little bluestem), were unable to grow or survive

as seedlings in soil where AM fungi were eliminated; however, Elymus canadensis (C3 grass) establishment was unaffected by AM fungi availability. Similarly, Hetrick and

others (1994) found that C4 grasses were competitively

superior to C3 grasses when grown in the presence of AM

fungi; but C3 grasses were competitively superior in soils

without AM fungi. As a result, one can predict that increased

populations of AM fungi in the thinned restoration units

may promote increased C4 grass cover. Finally, recent

mycorrhizal fungi research in a variety of environments has

shown that mycorrhizal interactions may be important

determinants of plant diversity, ecosystem variability, and

productivity (Hartnett and Wilson 1999; van der Heijden

and others 1998a,b). Microcosm experiments simulating

European and American grasslands have shown that increasing AM fungal diversity can increase diversity and

overall community structure (Klironomos and others 2000;

van der Heijden and others 1998b).

Conclusions____________________

Restoration thinning impacts propagule densities of EM

and AM fungi. Reducing pine cover and increasing herbaceous cover shifts the system toward a more AM dominated

community. Increasing propagule densities of AM fungi may

favor the establishment of a C4 grassland community. As a

result, knowledge of AM fungal propagule densities and AM

fungal species composition will be crucial to understanding

the successional response of herbaceous understory communities to Southwestern ponderosa pine forest restoration

thinning and prescribed burning treatments.

Acknowledgments ______________

We thank the Grand Canyon Partnership, Forest Service

Research (RMRS), and Coconino National Forest staff for

helping establish the restoration treatments. In addition,

thanks are due to the students and staff of the Ecological

Restoration Institute who assisted in gathering data in the

field. This ongoing research is supported by USDA Research

Joint Venture Agreement RMRS-99156-RJVA.

References _____________________

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80 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

In: Vance, Regina K.; Edminster, Carleton B.; Covington, W. Wallace;

Blake, Julie A. comps. 2001. Ponderosa pine ecosystems restoration and

conservation: steps toward stewardship; 2000 April 25–27; Flagstaff, AZ.

Proceedings RMRS-P-22. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture,

Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station.

Matthew R. Loeser completed his master's thesis in the Biological Sciences

program at Northern Arizona University in fall 2000. Thomas D. Sisk is an

Assistant Professor, Center for Environmental Sciences and Education,

Northern Arizona University. Timothy E. Crews is Chair of the Environmental Studies Program at Prescott College.

Abstract—One of the most prevalent land-use practices in the

American Southwest, and one of the most contentious issues among

land-use policymakers, is the grazing of domestic livestock. In an

effort to contribute scientific understanding to this debate, we have

designed experiments comparing the effects of alternative grazing

regimes on plant communities. In a semiarid grassland of northern

Arizona, we have implemented a replicated study of four treatments: (1) low-intensity, long-duration grazing rotations; (2) highintensity, short-duration rotations (Holistic Resource Managementstyle grazing); (3) very high intensity, short duration grazing (to

simulate herd impact); and (4) livestock exclosure. Beginning in

1997, we conducted annual surveys of the plant communities with

Modified-Whittaker plots. Preliminary results suggest that

interannual variability affecting all study plots is high, and that

these alternative management strategies do not have dramatic

short-term effects on the plant community. Comparisons of native

and exotic species richness, as well as ground cover of grasses and

forbs, showed no consistent pattern due to treatment over a 3-year

period. Our results suggest that the effects of alternative livestock

management styles in the semiarid grasslands studied are modest,

at least in the short-term, and that future plant monitoring programs would greatly benefit from a multiscale sampling design.

Introduction ____________________

Semiarid grasslands are diverse and productive ecosystems that have been subjected to anthropogenic forces for

over a century. Among the many perturbations affecting

these systems, the grazing of domestic livestock has been

recognized as the most pervasive (Fleischner 1994). Although the effects of grazing have been studied for over a

century, little consensus has been reached with regard to

grazing’s impact on grassland composition and productivity, due in part to the difficulty of separating the effects of

Plant Community Responses to Livestock

Grazing: an Assessment of Alternative

Management Practices in a Semiarid

Grassland

Matthew R. Loeser

Thomas D. Sisk

Timothy E. Crews

livestock from tremendous interannual variation in climatic

patterns. While some studies have found grazing to be the

primary determinant of plant community composition (for

example, Conley and others 1992; Fuhlendorf and Smeins

1997), others have found climatic patterns to outweigh

grazing effects (for example, Gibbens and Beck 1988; Herbel

and others 1972). Moreover, the interactions of climatic

variation and grazing disturbances may exacerbate the

changes in grassland plant communities (Fuhlendorf and

Smeins 1997).

Within this sphere of unpredictable climatic events, humans endeavor towards sustainable land-use practices, but

in many cases we fail due to our ignorance of the complex

array of forces, both natural and anthropogenic, operating in

all ecosystems. Certainly the last century of fire prevention

programs in the forests of the American Southwest are a

testament to our efforts to eliminate or control disturbance,

but as a consequence, we have placed many forest ecosystems in tenuous states where they are prone to catastrophic

fire (Covington and others 1994). Scientists and public alike

recognize a need to restore disturbance cycles to many

natural systems. However, efforts to restore grasslands

have been slow at best, and degradation by land-use activities are so acute that they have become a global conservation

priority (Samson and Knopf 1996). Noss and others (1995)

concluded that grasslands were among the most endangered

ecosystems in the United States, and of those ecotypes that

were most severely degraded, grasslands suffered areal

losses that were threefold greater than any other ecosystem.

Likely explanations of this decline include their widespread

use for agriculture and development, and the commonly

assigned low aesthetic value that has translated into a low

priority for conservation (Samson and Knopf 1996).

The Southwest has nearly one million acres of arid and

semiarid grasslands, but unfortunately our understanding

of their ecology is fairly superficial, especially of the effect of

large mammal herbivory such as domestic livestock. By

some accounts the number of cattle on rangelands of the

Western United States doubled, from 25.5 to 54.4 million

head between 1940 and 1990 (Belsky and others 1999),

affecting approximately 70 percent of the land surface in the

Western States (Fleischner 1994), and 86 percent of the land

in Arizona (Mayes and Archer 1982).

Surprisingly little is known about the effects of varying

intensities of livestock grazing on the biological diversity of

semiarid grasslands. Although many studies have examined the effects of livestock on the soils, vegetation, and birds
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P22. 2001 81

Plant Community Responses to Livestock Grazing: an Assessment of Alternative Management Practices in a Semiarid Grassland Loeser, Sisk, and Crews

of riparian areas (Berendse 1999; Saab and others 1995;

Trimble and Mendel 1995), this information cannot be applied to grassland systems because upland grasslands differ

substantially, both in structure and function, from riparian

ecosystems. In addition, Hastings and Turner (1965) have

presented compelling photographic evidence that the last

century has seen a transformation over large areas of the

Southwest, of grasslands to woody shrublands. While ecological impacts from current livestock grazing practices are

widespread and ongoing, it is important to recognize that

the greatest damage from overgrazing appears to have

taken place in the 1890s (Wildeman and Brock 2000).

Because livestock grazing can be conducted at varying

intensities, it is likely that some management techniques

alter biological diversity more than others. The standard

method for measuring such effects has been to establish

exclosures and conduct pairwise comparisons of species

richness and ground cover (Hughes 1996). Because of the

tremendous variability in responses as seen in the literature, it is exceedingly difficult for land managers to confidently proceed with grazing management plans. In addition

to the confounding effects of variable climatic patterns

mentioned previously, numerous criticisms have been directed at previous grazing studies, including the small size

of exclosures (Fleischner 1994), a lack of standard methods

for measuring grazing intensity (Fleischner 1994), changes

in the behavior of small herbivores and granivores

(McNaughton 1983), and poor experimental design (Stohlgren

and others 1998). Stohlgren and others (1998) address many

of the sampling design concerns and draw specific attention

to inadequate assessment of spatial heterogeneity of landscapes. In grassland ecosystems, choosing the appropriate

spatial scale at which to measure a given response variable

is not trivial, yet the majority of plant diversity studies have

arbitrarily chosen sample plots of 1 m2 or less (Stohlgren and

others 1998). Collins and Glenn (1997) have demonstrated

that measures of local species richness generated from a 1 m2

plot often correlate poorly with landscape-scale species richness. Similarly, Stohlgren and others (1998) compared common rangeland vegetation sampling techniques and found

the traditional, fine-scale measurements to greatly underestimate rare or patchily distributed species.

To address many of the problems associated with previous

study designs, we initiated an experiment with both spatial

and temporal replication. This paper addresses three key

issues in the study of livestock grazing impacts:

• Does increasing intensity of livestock grazing have a

consistent effect on the ground cover and species richness of both native and exotic grasses and forbs?

• Do grazing treatments cause a predictable shift in

species composition of the overall plant community?

• Can our sampling techniques and models of plant species richness be scaled accurately to reflect conditions of

larger landscapes?

Methods _______________________

Site Description

Located at 2,160 m elevation and approximately 32 km

southeast of Flagstaff in north-central Arizona, the Reed

Lake field site occupies Upper Great Basin grassland (Brown

1994) at the edge of ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) forest.

The dominant perennial grasses are Agropyron smithii and

Elymus elymoides. A vertisol soil occurs across the entirety

of the 25-ha study site. Annual precipitation averages between 300 and 460 mm and is approximately evenly divided

between winter and the July–September monsoons (Brown

1994).

Experimental Design

Meaningful application of science to grazing issues will

require comparisons of the effects of actual management

practices (“treatments”) as well as experimental treatments

designed to elucidate the relationships between grazing and

important ecosystem variables. Our experimental design,

replicated in time and space, consists of four treatments in

three blocks on the landscape (Sisk and others 1999). The

four treatments are (abbreviations shown in parentheses): (1) conventional low-intensity, long-duration grazing rotations (CON); (2) high-intensity, short-duration

rotations informed by the principles of Holistic Resource

Management (HRM, see Savory 1988); (3) very high-intensity, short-duration grazing to simulate herd impact (VHI);

and (4) livestock exclosure (EXC).

Stocking rates and rotations for the first two treatments

are determined by ranchers on adjoining pastures, while the

latter two treatments are implemented on experimental

plots by researchers and ranchers. Instead of manipulating small plots in a way thought to mimic range management, we are working on active ranches, where we have

carefully selected matched sites in which spatially and

temporally extensive treatment effects can be complemented

with 1-ha EXC and VHI treatments. Of the four treatments,

only the VHI treatment is not a simulation of a current

grazing policy; it serves as a critical upper-end treatment

representing a ranching practice that could be implemented

only with open-range herding. Its primary purpose is to help

identify mechanistic relationships and inform interpretation of results from all treatments.

Plant Surveys

To measure plant community patterns, we established a

Modified-Whittaker plot in each treatment plot (fig. 1;

Stohlgren and others 1995). The Modified-Whittaker plot

samples the heterogeneity of plant communities with a

higher level of accuracy then either true random sampling

or the original Whittaker plot design (Stohlgren and others

1995). This sampling design involves a 1,000 m2 plot with

nested subplots consisting of one 100 m2, two 10 m2, and ten

1 m2 subplots (fig. 1). Our version of the Modified-Whittaker

plot differs slightly from the design proposed by Stohlgren

and others (1995) in that we have placed four of the 1 m2

subplots within the central 100 m2 plot. Each ModifiedWhittaker plot has been measured annually since 1997,

with surveys conducted between mid-July and early September. The 1 m2 plots were surveyed with a 50-point

frequency frame (Mueller-Dombois and Ellenberg 1974)

that provided a more objective measurement of ground

cover by species and a more comprehensive species list
82 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Loeser, Sisk, and Crews Plant Community Responses to Livestock Grazing: an Assessment of Alternative Management Practices in a Semiarid Grassland

20 m

50 m

A

C

B

D 2 m

5 m

5 m

20 m

than could be obtained with visual estimates. Only species

lists were assembled for the 10 m2, 100 m2, and 1,000 m2

plots. Plant identifications were referenced with the Deaver

Herbarium located at Northern Arizona University in

Flagstaff, AZ, and voucher specimens were retained in the

Sisk Laboratory. Of the approximately 80 plant species

found at the Reed Lake site, 15 could not be identified due

to poor specimens but were considered unique species and

therefore included in overall estimates of species diversity.

Grass Versus Forb—Three years of detailed plant community data have generated a wealth of information, and

here we present only a subset. We calculated trends in

ground cover estimates for the two primary functional groups,

grasses and forbs, using data collected from the 1 m2 plots

over all 3 years. Data were transformed with an arcsine

(square root) function prior to analysis (Sokal and Rohlf

1995), but are presented as percentages. A repeated-measures ANOVA was conducted for each functional group

(Sokal and Rohlf 1995).

Native Versus Exotic—To address the issue of whether

livestock grazing management techniques affect the establishment of exotic species, we calculated the number of

native and exotic species in each treatment for each of the 3

years. In addition, we calculated the total ground cover of

native and exotic species by treatment and year. A repeatedmeasures ANOVA was conducted for species richness and

ground cover.

Community-Level Analysis—To determine whether

treatment was having a predictable effect on overall plant

diversity, we used 3 years of 1-m2 subplot data to calculate

three indices, as described in Magurran (1988). First, we

calculated values for the Shannon-Wiener index of diversity

based on the proportional abundance of species, with higher

values suggesting more species and greater evenness. Second, we estimated evenness by comparing the observed

diversity to the maximum potential diversity. Values fall

between 0 and 1, with higher values indicating a more

evenly distributed community. Third, we calculated the

Simpson’s index, which is weighted towards the more dominant species and is fairly insensitive to differences in rare

species. All calculations were made based on Magurran

(1988).

As suggested by Stohlgren and others (1998), we estimated the similarity of plant communities between treatments using Jaccard’s Coefficient (signified as J, Krebs

1989). Jaccard’s Coefficient (or index) is a standard similarity index that indicates the amount of overlap between the

communities of any pair of sites. Within each replicate, we

compared the CON treatment to each of the other three

treatments and calculated the corresponding Jaccard’s Coefficient. We chose to use the CON treatment as the “control”

because it represents the most common grazing management style for Southwestern rangelands, both historically

and currently (Kruse and Jemison 2000), while other treatments are more recent deviations from this management.

The J value was then calculated for each 1,000 m2 plot

comparison and averaged across all three replicates. A J

value of 1.0 would represent complete overlap of species

between two sites.

Another useful product from the nested design of the

Modified-Whittaker plots is the ability to generate speciesarea curves. Species-area curves have the very practical

application of extrapolating total species richness to areas

much larger then the plots in which the plant surveys were

conducted. One standard variant of the species-area curve is

defined as:

y = m(log Area) + b

where y is the number of species, m is the slope of the line,

and b is a constant. However, Stohlgren and others (1997)

have demonstrated that a corrected species-area curve provides a far more accurate extrapolation of plant species to

large areas:

y = (m/J) (log Area) + b

where J is the mean Jaccard’s Coefficient. We calculated the

species-area curve for each treatment based on 1999 data

from the 1 m2

, 10 m2, and 100 m2 plots. We then calculated

the J value based on the species lists of each 1,000 m2 plot

Figure 1—A schematic diagram of

the version of Modified-Whittaker

plot employed in this study showing

multiscale plots in a nested design

(see Stohlgren and others 1995).
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P22. 2001 83

Plant Community Responses to Livestock Grazing: an Assessment of Alternative Management Practices in a Semiarid Grassland Loeser, Sisk, and Crews

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Percent Cover

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

1997 1998 1999

Year

Percent Cover

EXC CON HRM VHI

Grasses 

Forbs 

within a treatment and used the average J value to correct

the original species area curves. The estimated species

richness for an area of 3,000 m2 was calculated using both

the standard (uncorrected) species-area curve and the corrected species-area curve and compared to the observed

species richness of the three 1,000 m2 plots summed together.

The final analysis of the plant community data was

conducted with a relatively new ordination technique of

demonstrated utility, nonmetric multidimensional scaling

(NMDS, Minchin 1987). Based upon NMDS, Minchin (1987)

developed a simulation procedure that makes it possible to

model patterns of variation in community composition along

ecological gradients. We used species abundance data from

the 1 m2 plots of all 3 years to compare communities of

each plot to one another.

Results ________________________

Grass Versus Forb Cover

If cattle graze grasses more commonly than forbs (Stuth

1991), then a moderate intensity of grazing may limit grasses

from becoming the dominant ground cover. In this scenario,

forbs may have higher germination success in areas where

some grazing occurs because grasses aren’t able to hoard

resources such as light and nutrients (Collins and others

1998). We analyzed ground cover data from our 1-m2 plots

for total grass and forb cover across all treatments and years.

Since the initiation of the study in 1997, grass cover appears

to have increased roughly 10 percent. However, this change

was not statistically significant (fig. 2; df = 3, F = 0.540, p =

0.668). In contrast, forb cover appears to be decreasing by

approximately 20 percent, but again this trend is not statistically significant (fig. 2; df = 3, F = 0.697, p = 0.579).

Although neither trend demonstrated clear statistical significance, both suggest changes that occurred due to yearly

patterns rather than treatment effects.

Native Versus Exotic Richness and Cover

Exotic plants are generally considered to be successful

colonizers of disturbed habitats, and high intensities of

livestock grazing have been suggested to increase

invasibility (Hobbs and Huenneke 1992). To explore this

hypothesis, we first computed the total native and exotic

species richness from our 1 m2 plots for each treatment by

Figure 2—Percent ground cover by year and treatment for grasses and forbs as calculated from 1 m2

subplot data. Treatment shows no significant effect

for either grasses or forbs, but climatic patterns

appear to be benefiting grasses to the detriment of

forbs. Standard error bars are not shown because

they overlap for all treatments within any given year

indicating no statistically significant differences

(grasses: df = 3, F = 0.540, p = 0.668; forbs: df=3,

F = 0.697, p = 0.579).

year. No statistically significant differences were found

within years (table 1; 1997: df = 3, F = 1.933, p = 0.165; 1998:

df = 3, F = 1.274, p = 0.317; 1999: df = 3, F = 0.917, p = 0.455).

Similarly, ground cover by natives and exotics from our

1 m2 plots did not show significant differences among

treatments within years (table 1; 1997: df = 3, F = 1.525,

p = 0.213; 1998: df = 3, F = 2.434, p = 0.103; 1999: df = 3,

F = 0.254, p = 0.952).

Table 1—A comparison of species richness and ground cover of native and exotic plants from data collected in 1 m2 subplots over 3 years. Means

listed across from year and standard errors shown in parentheses below its respective mean.

# of native species # of exotic species Cover of native species (%) Cover of exotic species (%)

Year n EXC CON HRM VHI EXC CON HRM VHI EXC CON HRM VHI EXC CON HRM VHI

1997 3 10.0 8.3 9.3 7.0 3.7 3.7 3.0 3.3 54.3 54.2 58.8 65.7 29.7 29.9 17.9 16.1

(1.2) (0.3) (0.7) (0.6) (0.7) (0.9) (0.6) (0.3) (8.4) (8.6) (5.6) (1.9) (1.6) (10.6) (5.2) (4.3)

1998 3 16.3 13.0 13.3 12.0 4.7 4.3 2.7 4.7 43.3 44.8 50.3 45.0 24.0 33.7 7.6 22.6

(0.7) (2.1) (3.0) (1.0) (0.3) (0.3) (0.9) (0.3) (10.5) (9.5) (3.0) (3.7) (6.4) (11.6) (2.3) (3.2)

1999 3 24.7 22.3 27.3 22.7 7.7 8.0 7.3 9.0 54.0 55.2 56.2 54.4 32.8 31.8 19.8 24.9

(0.9) (0.3) (2.4) (2.2) (1.2) (0.6) (0.9) (0.6) (9.1) (11.8) (5.6) (2.2) (11.4) (12.4) (7.3) (3.2)
84 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Loeser, Sisk, and Crews Plant Community Responses to Livestock Grazing: an Assessment of Alternative Management Practices in a Semiarid Grassland

Conventional

Pasture

HRM

Pasture

Exclosure

Very High

Intensity

59.8% +/- 1.5%

59.6% +/- 5.4%

58.9% +/- 1.5%

Diversity Indices

Assessing diversity can be done with many different

analytical approaches, but perhaps the most common methods involve the calculation of diversity indices. Although

ubiquitous in the ecological literature, diversity indices can

be difficult to interpret because they are often codependant

on species richness and species evenness. We have calculated the means and standard errors for each treatment, by

year, for the Shannon-Wiener index, Evenness, and Simpson’s

Diversity. As displayed in table 2, treatments are fairly

similar, regardless of index or year. These data are provided

as descriptive information and no statistical tests were

conducted.

Furthermore, to determine if alternative management

styles, namely EXC, HRM, and VHI treatments, exhibited

predictable patterns of unique species we calculated the

Jaccard’s Coefficient by comparing each alternative treatment plot with its partnered CON treatment plot. There was

moderate similarity between plant communities in treatments, with an average of 60 percent overlap of species and

less than 6 percent standard deviation (fig. 3).

Community-Level Comparisons

In addition to difficulties in analysis and interpretation, it

is difficult to graphically display information from diversity

indices. Instead, we display community data through ordination techniques, and we statistically tested the patterns

with nonmetric multidimensional scaling. While no treatment effects were found to be significant, a strongly significant pattern was discovered for plant communities when

analyzed by year. The data suggest that the plant communities differ significantly among years regardless of treatment

type (fig. 4).

Species-Area Curves

It is commonplace in the ecological literature to extrapolate results from small-scale studies to larger landscapes. While most sampling methods fail to provide a

Table 2—A comparison of measures of community composition (Shannon-Wiener, Evenness, and

Simpson’s Diversity) for 3 years of plant community data collected from 1 m2 subplots.

Mean values provided with standard errors shown in parentheses.

Year Treatment Shannon-Wiener Evenness Simpson’s Diversity–1

1997 EXC 2.0 (0.2) 0.7 (0.04) 5.9 (1.0)

CON 1.8 (0.1) 0.7 (0.03) 4.7 (0.7)

HRM 1.8 (0.2) 0.7 (0.05) 4.8 (0.9)

VHI 1.6 (0.1) 0.7 (0.05) 4.0 (0.2)

1998 EXC 1.9 (0.2) 0.7 (0.05) 5.1 (1.1)

CON 1.9 (0.0) 0.7 (0.03) 5.1 (0.3)

HRM 1.7 (0.2) 0.7 (0.05) 4.4 (0.7)

VHI 1.8 (0.0) 0.7 (0.03) 5.0 (0.2)

1999 EXC 2.1 (0.2) 0.6 (0.06) 5.1 (1.2)

CON 2.1 (0.2) 0.6 (0.05) 5.4 (1.0)

HRM 2.1 (0.2) 0.6 (0.03) 5.5 (0.9)

VHI 2.2 (0.1) 0.6 (0.02) 5.2 (0.2)

Figure 3—Species overlap between the

CON treatment and each of the other three

treatments. Jaccard’s Coefficient values

are averaged across the three replicates.

framework for extrapolating data, the nested design of

the Modified-Whittaker plot is ideally suited to these

efforts. Extrapolations employing the species-area equation, corrected with Jaccard’s Coefficient, were more accurate than extrapolations with the uncorrected speciesarea curve. More specifically, the uncorrected species-area

curve tended to underestimate the plant community by

roughly 20 species, whereas the corrected species-area

curve underestimated by as few as three and no more than

13 (table 3).

Discussion _____________________

The significance of livestock grazing in determining patterns of community organization is generally believed to be

great, but the literature demonstrates a poor understanding
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P22. 2001 85

Plant Community Responses to Livestock Grazing: an Assessment of Alternative Management Practices in a Semiarid Grassland Loeser, Sisk, and Crews

1997

1998

1999

p < 0.001

of specific patterns and processes. Milchunas and Lauenroth

(1993) summarized 152 studies in grasslands and found

sharply contrasting results with respect to the responses of

species composition to large-herbivore grazing. The authors

suggested that these conflicting findings may be due to one

or more of the following explanations: (1) differing methodologies, including the intensity of grazing and the scale at

which the response variable was measured; (2) the productivity of the grassland, which includes its soil resources and

moisture; and (3) the evolutionary history of each grassland

type (Milchunas and Lauenroth 1993). This paper most

directly addresses the first, that is, the appropriate methodology for measuring grassland community responses to

grazing treatments.

Figure 4—An ordination of plant community data determined with nonmetric multidimensional scaling. Each

point represents the plant community of an individual

plot from a specific year. Those communities that are

more dissimilar will be found farther apart than those

that are more similar. Treatments were not statistically

significant. However groupings of plant communities by

year that ignore treatment are statistically significant.

Table 3—Standard species-area curves compared with species-area curves corrected with Jaccard’s Coefficient. Equations were determined from

1 m2

, 100 m2, and 1,000 m2 plots, and then validated against observed species in the sum of the three 1,000 m2 plots in each treatment.

Standard Equation Estimate of spp. Corrected Equation Mean J Corrected Estimate of Actual spp. in

Treatment Y = m (log Area) + b in 3,000 m2 Y = m / J (log Area) + b (S.E.) spp. in 3,000 m2 3,000 m2

EXC y = 6.2581x + 7.6129 29.4 y = 6.2581/0.631 + 7.6129 0.631 42.1 45

(0.066)

CON y = 4.7742x + 9.8387 26.4 y = 4.7742/0.655 + 9.8387 0.655 35.2 48

(0.075)

HRM y = 6.5x + 8 30.6 y = 6.5/0.609 + 8 0.609 45.1 49

(0.041)

VHI y = 5.0806x + 8.129 25.8 y = 5.0806/0.649 + 8.129 0.649 35.3 44

(0.034)

Grass Versus Forb Cover

Shifts in the proportional ground cover of plant functional

groups as a function of grazing intensity have been well

documented in highly productive sites. Long-term research

conducted in the tallgrass prairies of Kansas demonstrated

that perennial grasses created a near monoculture by

outcompeting forbs when disturbance events were eliminated (Collins and others 1998). In comparatively less productive ecosystems, such as semiarid grasslands, the interactions of grasses and forbs are poorly understood. In one

study of a semiarid grassland, Brady and others (1989)

found ground cover increased for both grasses and forbs

following the removal of cattle. In contrast, Rambo and

Faeth (1999) found grass cover increased by 20 percent in

two of three sites when grazing was eliminated for at least

8 years. Our own work suggests no immediate differences in

grass or forb cover due to alternative grazing treatments.

However, across all treatments grass cover is increasing

while forb cover is decreasing. Although it may be too soon

to draw conclusions about the fairly recent treatments, EXC

and VHI, we have a higher level of confidence in comparing

CON and HRM treatments, which have been in place for a

minimum of 12 years. With 3 years of ground cover data, the

alternative HRM management style does not exhibit a

markedly different level of grass or forb cover.

Native Versus Exotic Richness and Cover

Although livestock grazing has often been implicated as a

dispersal agent for exotic species (Hobbs and Huenneke

1992; Mack 1981), several studies show no link between

grazing and exotic species richness. A multi-State sampling

effort in the Northern Rocky Mountains found no consistent

differences in native or exotic species richness due to livestock grazing (Stohlgren and others 1999). Similarly, in a

semiarid grassland, Rambo and Faeth (1999) found no

differences in exotic species richness in either long-term or

short-term grazing exclosures. Preliminary findings from

our work agree with these latter studies, showing no statistical difference in either species richness or ground cover of

native or exotic species due to treatment. Our results do

show a consistent increase in the overall number of species
86 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Loeser, Sisk, and Crews Plant Community Responses to Livestock Grazing: an Assessment of Alternative Management Practices in a Semiarid Grassland

to include further cuts to monitoring budgets, even while

pressure grows to make ecologically sound decisions in the

face of increasing litigation. Our preliminary results allow

us to make two management suggestions, with the caveat

that our preliminary results are specific to the Reed Lake

study site, and should influence broader interpretations

only where they concur with other published works.

First, future monitoring efforts should heed the warning

that small sampling plots may provide significantly less

accurate information then multiscale, nested sampling plot

designs. At our study site, the use of Modified-Whittaker

plots and replicated treatments allowed us to improve our

species richness prediction accuracy by 45 percent. Efforts

are under way to apply this sampling design to other response variables, including the diversity of macro- and

micro-arthropods, and the size and fluxes of nutrient pools.

Second, alternative livestock approaches, including

exclosures and very high intensity treatments, did not have

immediate or dramatic effects on the plant community of

this semiarid grassland. In fact, the HRM treatment that

has been in place for a dozen years shows no statistically

significant differences from the plant community of the

adjacent conventionally grazed grasslands. Therefore, if the

goal of a grassland management program is to move plant

communities in a particular direction with alternative grazing practices, planners and practitioners must recognize the

necessity for a long-term commitment to treatments and to

an efficient, well targeted monitoring program.

Acknowledgments ______________

We gratefully acknowledge the cooperation and support

of the Flying M, Hart, and Orme ranches, the Diablo Trust,

and the Orme working group. In addition numerous undergraduates and colleagues have contributed to this project

including: R. Eisfeldt, M. King, E. Stanley, A. Keller, P. West,

C. Moran, H. Greer, K. Coyle, T. Keeler, K. Olsen, C. Hudenko,

L. Dunlop, S. Mezulis, G. Kendall, J.Chirco, A. Tomei, T. Wojtowicz,

J. Wolf, D. Rowland, C. Meyer, S. Kelly, J. Battin, and L. Ries.

This paper has benefited from the comments of two anonymous reviewers. This study has been supported through an

NAU Organized Research Grant.

Reference ______________________

Belsky, A. J., A. Matzke, and S. Uselman. 1999. Survey of

livestock influences on stream and riparian ecosystems in the

western United States. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 54: 419–431.

Berendse, F. 1999. Implications of increased litter production for

plant biodiversity. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 14: 4–5.

Brady, W. W., M. R. Stromberg, E. F. Aldon, C. D. Bonham, and S. H.

Henry. 1989. Response of a semidesert grassland to 16 years of

rest from grazing. Journal of Range Management 42: 284–288.

Brown, D. E. 1994. Biotic Communities: Southwestern United

States and Northwestern Mexico. University of Utah Press,

Salt Lake City.

Collins, S. L., and S. M. Glenn. 1997. Effects of organismal and

distance scaling on analysis of species distribution and abundance. Ecological Applications 7: 543–551.

Collins, S. L., A. K. Knapp, J. M. Briggs, J. M. Blair, and E. M.

Steinauer. 1998. Modulation of diversity by grazing and mowing

in native tallgrass prairie. Science 280: 745–747.

from 1997 to 1999, which is likely to be a function of time

since a severe drought year in 1996. Although not statistically significant, it is interesting to note that the HRM

treatment had the lowest cover of exotic species in 2 of 3

years of sampling.

Plant Community Responses

By employing a variety of analytical tools we have demonstrated that the plant communities in each treatment do not

differ significantly. This may be due to minimal ecological

impacts or it may be that the duration of this study is not yet

sufficient to detect ongoing, gradual change. Community

changes are difficult to document because they involve the

combination of species richness and the abundance of each

individual species. To address this issue we compared traditional diversity indices and employed more powerful ordination techniques. The standard diversity indices, ShannonWiener, Evenness, and Simpson’s, suggest no consistent

differences among treatments. Furthermore, the species

overlap between the conventional treatment and each of

the other three treatments is nearly 60 percent for each

comparison.

The ordination of community data with NMDS also demonstrated no significant differences due to treatment; however, there were strongly significant differences between

each year. This finding suggests that year-to-year variation

has had a stronger effect on the plant community than the

treatments themselves. Even though the EXC and VHI

treatments represent strikingly different livestock treatments, and the CON and HRM treatments represent longerterm, but less extreme treatments, the plant communities

have not shown a strong response to grazing intensity over

a 3-year period. Based on findings from other studies (for

example, Sala and others 1992), we suggest that the plant

community of this water-limited ecosystem is often more

sensitive to the high variability in precipitation and soil

moisture than to the livestock management treatments

compared in this study.

Improved Power with Nested Sampling

Stohlgren and others (1995, 1998) have demonstrated a

number of benefits from conducting multiscale nested sampling in plant communities. Our results support their conclusions. For our semiarid grassland study site, standard

species-area curves consistently underestimated species richness by about 40 percent, and correcting the species-area

curve with Jaccard’s Coefficient improved estimates to

within 15 percent of the known species richness. If the goal

of a particular monitoring program is to estimate the total

number of species in a given area of grassland, then nested

sampling designs such as the Modified-Whittaker plot

should provide increased prediction accuracy.

Management Implications

Land managers appear to be increasingly placed in the

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stewardship of public lands, the short-term future appears
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88 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

In: Vance, Regina K.; Edminster, Carleton B.; Covington, W. Wallace;

Blake, Julie A. comps. 2001. Ponderosa pine ecosystems restoration and

conservation: steps toward stewardship; 2000 April 25–27; Flagstaff, AZ.

Proceedings RMRS-P-22. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture,

Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station.

Amy E. M. Waltz is Research Specialist with the Ecological Restoration

Institute in the College of Ecosystem Science and Management and a Ph.D.

student in the Department of Biological Sciences at Northern Arizona

University. W. Wallace Covington is Regent’s Professor in the School of

Forestry at Northern Arizona University, and is Director of the Ecological

Restoration Institute.

Abstract—The Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) can be useful

indicators of ecosystem change as a result of a disturbance event. We

monitored changes in butterfly abundance in two restoration treatment units paired with adjacent untreated forest at the Mt. Trumbull

Resource Conservation Area in northern Arizona. Restoration treatments included thinning trees to density levels comparable to

densities at the time of Euro-American settlement, and reintroducing a low to medium intensity fire to the system. One unit was

treated in 1996, the second in 1998. Butterfly communities, nectar

availability, and herbaceous species richness were compared between treated and adjacent control forests, and between 3-year

posttreatment and 1-year posttreatment forests. Butterfly species

richness and abundance were two and three times greater, respectively, in restoration treatment units than in adjacent control

forests. Nectar plant species richness ranged from two to 10 times

greater in restoration treatment units than in adjacent control

forests. Comparison of the 3-year posttreatment unit with the 1-year

posttreatment unit showed little difference in butterfly species

richness and abundance, although no statistical comparisons can be

made due to sample size. These restoration treatments offer a

unique opportunity to study responses to and recovery from disturbance and restoration at a landscape level.

Introduction ____________________

Current studies and methods of ecosystem restoration are

often focused on structural components, such as overstory or

understory plant composition, and not on functional processes, such as nitrogen cycling, plant pollination, and/or

trophic level interactions (but see Kaye 1997; Covington and

others 1997). As a result, ecosystem restoration often overlooks invertebrates as important components necessary for

ecosystem function and process. This emphasis on ecosystem structure is primarily a result of limited available

information. Historical records were often inventories of

merchantable resources and did not describe how species

interacted with each other, or what processes were important to ecosystem functioning (for example, Dutton 1882).

Butterfly Response and Successional

Change Following Ecosystem Restoration

Amy E. M. Waltz

W. Wallace Covington

Knowledge of ecosystem function and process can be obtained from studying current-day undisturbed ecosystems

(Leopold 1949), although few if any “undisturbed” ecosystems exist. In addition, historical function and process can

be inferred by studying function and process in experimentally restored ecosystems (Leopold 1949).

In ponderosa pine forests in the Southwest, forest structure can be reconstructed from presettlement remnants and

historical records (Covington and Moore 1994; Fulé and

others 1997). This information is limited to overstory species, with some information on herbaceous components also

available from early land surveys (Dutton 1882) and phytolith

studies (Rovner 1971; Bozarth 1993; Fisher and others 1995;

Fredlund and Tieszen 1997). These data show that Southwest forests prior to Euro-American settlement had lower

tree densities than current forests (50–150 trees per hectare

(tph) in 1870 versus 500–3,000 tph in 1994, Covington and

Moore 1994) with grassy openings. Experimental restoration of these forests has been initiated using thinning to

reduce current tree densities and reintroducing fire.

Restoration in ponderosa pine is hypothesized to impact

all components of the ecosystem, including arthropods. The

change from a closed-canopy forest with little or no herbaceous understory community to an open forest with a dominant herbaceous community results in plant diversity and

plant production increases (Covington and others 1997;

Springer and others, this proceedings). This in turn can

result in increases in the abundance and diversity of herbivore arthropods (Erhardt and Thomas 1991). In addition,

restored forests show increases in soil moisture and soil

temperature when compared to control forests (Covington

and others 1997); both factors directly influence the success

rate of arthropod pupation (Erhardt and Thomas 1991;

Scoble 1992).

The Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) can be excellent

indicators of herbaceous community diversity and composition (Gilbert 1984; Erhardt 1985; Kremen 1994; Sparrow

and others 1994). Both butterflies and moths can be hostspecific as larvae, but become nectar generalists as adults,

encompassing a broad range of ecological niches. Changes in

butterfly diversity can indicate changes in the abundance

and diversity of a wide variety of invertebrates (Scoble

1992). Presence of a butterfly or moth species indicates

presence of the larval host plant, as well as sufficient adult

food resources. Day-flying butterflies in particular have a

well-known taxonomy, and often can be easily identified in

the field (Scoble 1992).

In the ponderosa pine ecosystem, the diurnal Lepidopteran

(butterflies) can be used to monitor important changes in

ecosystem function as a result of disturbance, rehabilitation,

or restoration events. Restoration of ponderosa pine forests
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 89

Butterfly Response and Successional Change Following Ecosystem Restoration Waltz and Covington

involves thinning to create openings, thereby initiating an

herbaceous successional pattern (Springer and others, this

proceedings). While butterflies have shown decreases in

abundance after clear-cut logging events (Hill and others

1995), openings in forests or changes created by roadways

and paths often show higher butterfly abundances than

nearby forests (Pollard and others 1975). It has also been

shown that the butterfly community structure changes in

response to successional changes from grasslands to forests

in Europe (Erhardt and Thomas 1991). These studies suggest the potential for both an immediate and a long-term

response to ponderosa pine restoration. For example, butterfly diversity and abundances could initially decrease in

response to logging and ecosystem disturbance, then increase in abundance and diversity with the increasing

herbaceous community.

The study presented here was initiated to establish the

response of butterflies to ecological restoration treatments

and potential mechanisms of that response. If changes in

butterfly communities are noted, future studies will examine the role of butterflies as bioindicators of invertebrate

pollinator groups.

Research Questions

To address the usefulness of butterflies as indicators of

restoration treatments, this paper specifically addresses the

questions:

1. Does the butterfly community differ between ponderosa pine restoration treatment units and untreated forest?

2. What are potential mechanisms of these differences:

(a) Are nectar resources distributed differently? (b) Are host

plants distributed differently? (c) Does butterfly habitat

preference explain butterfly distribution?

3. Finally, do butterflies show a successional response to

restoration treatments?

Methods _______________________

Study Site

The study site used for this research is a ponderosa pine

(Pinus ponderosa) and Gambel oak (Querqus gambelii)

forest located between Mt. Logan and Mt. Trumbull, about

35 km north of the Grand Canyon on the Arizona Strip. This

land is currently managed by the Bureau of Land Management, and falls within the newly designated Grand CanyonParashant National Monument. Mt. Logan, Mt. Trumbull

and the surrounding highlands form a sky island of ponderosa pine, with desert grassland to the north and the Grand

Canyon to the south. The nearest ponderosa pine forest is

about 100 km east, on the Kaibab Plateau. The elevation of

the sky island ranges from 1,675 m to 2,620 m. The area

receives an average of 40–45 cm of rainfall annually, and

contains some of the biota of the Great Basin (Utah Flora

1986), in addition to the flora of northern Arizona (Kearney

and Peebles 1951). The forest is predominately ponderosa

pine, although Gambel oak composes 15 percent of the

overstory. Other tree species in the area include aspen

(Populus tremuloides), pinyon (Pinus edulis), juniper

(Juniperus osteospermus), and New Mexican locust (Robinia

neomexicanus). Although New Mexican locust is classified

as a shrub, it grows to tree stature at this site, and is sampled

as a tree. The understory component is dominated by sagebrush (Artemesia tridentata), and shows evidence of invasion by nonnative species, such as cheatgrass (Bromus

tectorum) and wheatgrasses (Agropyron spp.). Although 150

herbaceous species have been documented at Mt. Trumbull

since the late 1990s (J.D. Springer, personal communication), the forest floor cover prior to restoration treatments

was 70 percent litter and duff, with only 15 percent of the

cover represented by understory species.

Approximately 1,450 ha of the 5,000-ha forest is targeted

for restoration treatment (Covington and others l995), and

as of 1999, approximately 200 ha had been thinned and

burned. This restoration project is jointly sponsored by the

BLM, the Arizona Game and Fish Department, and Northern Arizona University Ecological Restoration Institute.

The ponderosa pine ecosystem restoration project takes an

adaptive management approach, so that results from initial

treatments can be incorporated into later treatments. The

actual treatments in place are therefore continuing to evolve.

At this site, analysis of fire scars provided a fire exclusion

date (in other words, the date of the last widespread fire) of

1870. All treatment sites incorporate thinning trees to

densities resembling those at the time of fire exclusion.

Trees established at the time of fire exclusion are retained,

as well as younger “replacement” trees for presettlement era

trees that have died since fire exclusion. Fire is used preliminary to help reduce slash, and then will be returned to the

landscape every 4–7 years, depending on weather conditions. For complete details of the treatment, please see the

1996 Annual Report to BLM. Treatment of all 1,450 ha is to

be completed by 2002.

Butterfly Sampling

Butterfly monitoring data presented in this paper were

taken from two units treated in 1996 (Lava Unit) and in 1998

(Trick Tank Unit). Butterfly monitoring transects (Pollard

1977) were established in the two treatment units, and were

paired with monitoring transects in untreated forests (control) adjacent to each unit. Transects were placed 50 m from

unit boundaries to minimize edge effects and were at least

50 m apart. Although length of transects varied with total

treatment unit size to maintain buffer from edges, lengths of

the paired treatment-control transects were the same.

Transects in the Lava unit totaled 450 m in each the

treatment and the control; transects in the Trick Tank unit

totaled 600 m in each the treatment and the control for a

total of 2,100 m per survey.

Transects were monitored every week, between May and

September of 1999. Diurnal butterflies are very sensitive to

cool and windy conditions, often limiting their flights on

cloudy, cool days, thereby reducing chance of observation.

Therefore, sampling was done between 1,000 and 1,600

hours, on days warmer than 17 ∞C, with winds less than

10 mph, and mostly sunny skies (Pollard 1977). A total of

5 minutes per 100 m was spent looking for butterflies.

Butterfly species encountered on each transect were recorded,

along with location along transect, and lateral distance from
90 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Waltz and Covington Butterfly Response and Successional Change Following Ecosystem Restoration

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14-

May

18-

May

28-

May

30-

May

13-

Jun

25-

Jun

28-

Jun

6-

Aug

7-

Aug

21-

Aug

Survey Date

# Species

control treatment

transect (perpendicular to transect). In addition for each

observation, we recorded behavior (in other words, nectaring,

basking, flying), and if collected. If the butterfly could not be

identified in flight, attempts were made to capture and

collect the insect. The timed portion of the survey corresponded only to the observations and did not include time

spent in pursuit of a butterfly.

Nectar Resources and Host Plant

Distribution and Habitat Preferences

To quantify nectar resources and host plant distribution,

vegetation along the butterfly monitoring transects were

monitored in 1-m2 plots every 20 m along the established

transect. A total of 30 plots were sampled in both the Trick

Tank treatment and the nearby control, and 23 plots were

sampled in both the Lava treatment and its adjacent control.

Plots were monitored three times during the summer: May,

June and August. At each plot, flowering and nonflowering

plants were tallied by species. In addition, total number of

flowers per 1-m2 plots was tallied. These data were summarized by unit and treatment to determine differences in

flowering plant species richness and host plant abundance.

Habitat preferences for each butterfly were determined

from the literature, predominately Scott (1984). All butterfly observations from both units and the entire season were

then grouped into habitat preference classes. Total tallies

are presented here. No statistical analysis was done because

data were lumped, resulting in no replication.

Successional Response to Restoration

To address whether butterflies show a successional

response to restoration, we compared the butterfly communities from Lava and Trick Tank units, using the same

monitoring data from above. The Lava unit was treated in

1996, and is referred to as a 3-year posttreatment unit. The

Trick Tank unit, treated in 1998, is referred to as a 1-year

posttreatment unit. Butterfly species richness, abundance,

and composition were compared.

Results ________________________

Thirty-three butterfly species were collected at the Mt.

Trumbull site in 1999 (table 1). The most common of these

included the silver-spotted skipper (Epargyreus clarus,

EPCL), the Gambel oak dusky-wing (Erynnis telemachus,

ERTE), the silvery blue (Glaucopsyche lygdamus, GLLY),

the orange sulfur (Colias eurytheme, COEU), and the checkered white (Pieris protodice, PIPR). The butterflies used a

range of hostplants, including legumes, mustards, various

shrubs, shrub-trees (New Mexican locust) and trees (oak).

Butterfly Community Response

to Restoration Treatments

We found up to three times as many butterfly species in

restoration treatments as in the adjacent, untreated control forests (fig. 1, Repeated Measures ANOVA, F = 12.9,

p < 0.10). Table 2 lists species found in the Lava and Trick

Table 1—Butterfly species found at Mt. Trumbull Resource Conservation Area, Summer 1999. * denote most common species.

Hesperiidae Lycaenidae Nymphalidae Papilionidae Pieridae

Epargyreus clarus* Callophrys gryneus Chlosyne californica Papilio multicaudata Anthocharis sara

Erynnis telemachus* Strymon melinus Danaus gilippus Colias eurytheme*

Heliopetes ericetorum Hypaurotis crysalus Danaus gilippus Nathalis iole

Pyrgus communis Glaucopsyche lygdamus* Euphydryas chalcedona Pieris protodice*

Thorybes pylades Hemiargus isola Euptoieta claudia

Leptotes marina Limenitis bredowii

Plebejus acmon Limenitis weidemeyerii

Plebejus icarioides Nymphalis antiopa

Nymphalis californica

Phycoides campestris

Polygonia gracilis

Precis coenia

Vanessa cardui

Vanessa atalanta

Vanessa carye

Figure 1—Butterfly species richness encountered in restoration treatment and adjacent control units. Up to three

times as many species were observed in restoration treatments than in adjacent controls. Repeated measures

ANOVA, F = 12.0, p < 0.10.
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 91

Butterfly Response and Successional Change Following Ecosystem Restoration Waltz and Covington

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

May June August May June August

Lava (3 year post) Trick Tank (1 year post)

# plants/1-m2

control treatment

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

1.2

1.4

May June August May June August

Lava (3 year post) Trick Tank (1 year post)

Species Richness/1-m2

control treatment

Table 2—Butterfly species and total observations found in restoration

treatments and adjacent controls of Lava and Trick Tank

units. Tally is total observations from 10 surveys, each survey

covered 2,100 m (1,050 in control, 1,050 in treatment).

Control Treatment

Species Tally Species Tally

Erynnis telemachus 22 Epargyreus clarus 70

Epargyreus clarus 16 Erynnis telemachus 59

Glaucopsyche lygdamus 12 Glaucopsyche lygdamus 46

Limenitis bredowii 10 Colias eurytheme 42

Colias eurytheme 8 Pieris sp. 35

Plebejus icarioides 3 Plebejus icarioides 9

Phycoides campestris 2 Vanessa cardui 9

Plebejus acmon 2 Leptotes marina 6

Papilio multicaudata 1 Plebejus acmon 6

Euphydryas chalcedona 1 Phycoides campestris 5

Limenitis weidemeyerii 1 Strymon melinus 4

Pieris sp. 1 Limenitis bredowii 4

Papilio multicaudata 2

Polygonia gracilis 2

Pyrgus communis 2

Heliopetes ericetorum 1

Vanessa carye 1

Thorybes pylades 1

Euptoieta claudia 1

Tank treatment and control units. Common species were

observed in both control and restoration treatment units but

were seen more often in restoration treatments. Rare species

(such as Heliopetes ericetorum) were observed in restoration

treatments, when seen.

Butterfly abundance was also significantly greater in

restoration treatment areas as in adjacent control forests

(Repeated Measures ANOVA, F = 7.98, p = 0.106). Four to

eight times as many butterflies were observed in treatment

units as in adjacent controls on any given survey date. As

shown in table 2, silver-spotted skipper (Epargyreus clarus)

was the most common species observed, and was observed

five times as frequently in the treatment unit as in the

control units. Pieris species (whites) where highly abundant

in the area, but were observed only once in the control units.

Only one butterfly showed higher abundances in the control

units than in the treatment units. The Arizona sister

(Limenitis bredowii) was rare in 1999 but was observed 10

times in control units and only four times in treatment units.

This pattern for the Arizona sister is consistent with 1998

data (Waltz and Covington 1999).

Nectar Resource Richness

and Abundance

We examined potential mechanisms for increased butterfly species richness and abundance in treated forests. From

the 1-m2 plots surveyed along butterfly transects, we compared the species richness, species abundance, and flower

abundance of the plants that were flowering at the time of

survey. Number of flowering species (species richness) was

significantly greater in treatment vegetation plots than in

Figure 2—Nectaring plant species richness per 1-m2 plot

was significantly higher in restoration treatment units than

in adjacent controls. Kruskal-Wallis for effects survey and

treatment. Treatment Z = 5.45, p < 0.05.

control vegetation plots (fig. 2, Kruskal-Wallis test (effects =

survey and trt), treatment Z = 5.45, p < 0.05). In addition,

flowering plant abundance (or number of plants) was also

significantly greater (fig. 3, Kruskal-Wallis, treatment Z =

5.50, p < 0.05). Not surprisingly, abundance of flowers per

1-m2plot was also significantly greater in treated units, with

up to 200 times as many flowers in 1-m2 plots (KruskalWallis, Z = 5.77, p < 0.05). These results showed that both a

higher diversity of plants and a higher total number of

plants were flowering in restoration treatment units.

Host Plant Distributions and Habitat

Preferences

We examined host plant distributions for the five most

common butterfly species (table 1, * species denote most

common). Table 3 lists these butterflies, their associated

Figure 3—Nectaring plant abundance (number of plants

observed) per 1-m2 plot was significantly higher in restoration treatment units than in adjacent controls. KruskalWallis for effects survey and treatment. Treatment Z = 5.50,

p < 0.05.
92 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Waltz and Covington Butterfly Response and Successional Change Following Ecosystem Restoration

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14-

May

18-

May

28-

May

30-

May

13-

Jun

25-

Jun

28-

Jun

6-

Aug

7-

Aug

21-

Aug

Species Richness

Lava (3 years post) Trick Tank (1 year post)

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

woods woods/ open open disturbed/

open

generalist

% of Butterflies Surveyed

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

woods woods/ open open disturbed/

open

generalist

% of Butterflies Surveyed

a. control

b. treatment

host plants and the host plant abundance per 1-m2 plot. Two

of the species, the silver-spotted skipper (EPCL) and the

Gambel oak dusky-wing (ERTE), host on tree species. Only

tree seedlings are measured on 1-m2 plots. However, we

included the tally of tree seedlings per 1-m2 plot in this table,

which shows no differences in tree abundances between

treatment and control. In fact, host plant species were

distributed equally between control and treatment units.

Table 3—Distribution of host plants for the five most common butterfly

species. Distributions showed no significant differences

between restoration treatments and adjacent control units.

Sampling design does not incorporate the tree species well.

Butterfly species codes refer to first two letters of genus and

first two letters of species.

Plants / 1-m2

Butterfly Host plant Control Treatment

EPCL Robinia neomexicana 0.02 0.02

ERTE Quercus gambelii 0.21 0.21

GLLY Fabaceae 1.26 2.47

Pieris sp. Brassicaceae 0 0.17

COEU Fabaceae 1.26 2.47

Figure 5—Butterfly species richness in Lava (treated

1996) and Trick Tank (treated 1998) units. Although

there are trends toward higher species numbers in the

Lava unit (treated in 1996), statistical analysis is not

possible with only one sampling unit per successional

state.

Figure 4—Habitat preferences of observed butterflies

in (a) control and (b) restoration treatment units. Graphs

represent proportion of observed butterflies only, lumped

from 10 surveys from both sites. No statistical analysis

performed.

Alternative methods are planned to adequately assess host

plant distributions in treatment and control units.

Data on habitat preference and host plant preference are

reported only as observed trends, and will be used to generate hypotheses to be tested in future field seasons. The

highest proportion of the butterflies observed in control

units were species preferring wooded habitat (fig. 4a). The

highest proportion of the butterflies observed in treatment

units were species preferring woods/open habitat (fig. 4b).

Host plant preferences also displayed interesting trends.

Butterfly species that hosted on tree species made up the

highest proportion of the butterflies observed in the control

areas. Alternatively, butterfly species hosting on legumes

and forbs made up the highest proportion of the butterflies

observed in the treatment areas. Basically, the butterfly

species observed in control areas were species that preferred

wooded habitat, and most often were species that hosted on

tree species. Butterflies observed in treated areas were

species that preferred more open habitat, and most often

were species that hosted on legumes or forbs. Because of lack

of sample size, the variables habitat preference and host

plant type were not statistically tested. These results represent proportional trends only.

Butterfly Community Successional

Response to Restoration

Figure 5 displays the butterfly species richness data

across surveys between the Lava unit (3-years posttreatment) and the Trick Tank unit (1-year posttreatment).

Because we observed only one unit for each successional

stage, these data are presented as trends. Although some

trend exists toward higher numbers of species in the 3-year

posttreatment unit, we cannot assess those differences with

only one sampling unit per successional stage. Plant communities shift from an annual forb community in 1-year posttreatment units to more perennial forbs and grasses in the

3-year posttreatment unit (Springer, personal communication). We did see increases in diversity of flowering species
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 93

Butterfly Response and Successional Change Following Ecosystem Restoration Waltz and Covington

in the 3-year posttreatment unit compared with the 1-year

posttreatment unit. Future studies will be designed to increase sample size and address the successional response of

butterflies to ecological restoration.

Discussion _____________________

We have shown that the butterfly community had higher

species richness and abundance in restoration treatments

when compared with adjacent control forests. We also suggest that species with low abundance are more often found

in treated units than in control units. Ponderosa pine restoration treatments alter habitat by opening up tree canopies

and increasing herbaceous production. The fast responses of

butterflies to these changes (within one season after treatment) suggest that arthropods may be one of the first

responders to ecological changes. Erhardt and Thomas (1991)

also documented butterfly responses to plant successional

changes, showing butterfly community changes even before

plant community changes could be detected. While some

studies show that butterflies decrease after logging events

(Hill and others 1995), the logging monitored in those cases

was clear-cutting, with little regard for understory establishment. Our results agree with several studies that show

gaps created in forest canopies increase butterfly abundances, whether through increased host plant diversity, or

changes in microhabitats (abiotic variables) (Pollard 1977;

Pollard and others 1975; Holl 1996).

The mechanistic hypotheses we examined to explain butterfly distributions suggest nectar resource availability may

contribute greatly to adult butterfly distribution patterns.

Our preliminary results showed large differences in available nectar resources in Lava and Trick Tank treatment

units, when compared with adjacent control forests. Increased nectar resources can be associated with disturbed

areas; many early successional plants are flowering forbs

(Springer 1998). Studies have shown that nectar resources

are important to adult oviposition selections. Host plants

are utilized only when sufficient adult resources (nectar) are

also available (Grossmueller and Lederhouse 1987; Murphy

1983). Successful butterfly habitat must therefore include

sufficient larval and adult food resources.

Our restoration treatments have much higher plant diversity than control forests (Springer and others, this proceedings), implicating a higher diversity of butterfly host plants

in these areas. Our results showed no differences in the host

plant distributions of five common butterflies between treatment and control forests. However, the sampling method

used here was not designed for tree species, which act as host

plants for two of the most common butterflies. In addition,

the variability of plant abundance measured in these units

was also very high, suggesting plant distributions should be

measured on a greater than 1-m2 scale. Both reasons suggest

our current sampling method is not adequate to address

questions of host plant distributions.

Habitat preference may also contribute to butterfly community composition shifts. A habitat change from closedcanopy, low plant diversity forests to open canopy grasslands

may also see a corresponding shift in butterfly community

composition. Our preliminary observations suggest that

butterflies found in treated forests were more likely to be

species preferring open habitat, requiring legume and forb

host plants. Conversely, butterflies observed in control forests were more likely to be species preferring wooded habitat, and hosting on tree species. Although we could not test

these patterns statistically, other papers have shown the

importance of habitat selection in community composition

(Ehrlich and Raven 1964; Ehrlich 1993; Erhardt and Thomas

1991).

Studies of the successional response of butterflies to restoration may give insight to how fine of a scale butterflies can

respond to. The successional change in plant communities

following thinning and burning can be dramatic. In the

Lava unit, plant species richness increased from less than

5 species in 1995 to 7, 16, and 20 species in posttreatment

years 1, 2, and 3 respectively. However, it may take longer

for these plant species to establish viable, reproducing

populations. Steffan-Dewenter and Tscharntke (1997) observed successional responses of butterfly communities in

set-aside fields in Germany. Although species richness of the

butterfly communities did not change through 4 years of

agricultural field succession, the butterfly community composition did show differences. If butterfly communities can

show responses at these yearly scales, they may be very

useful indicators of successional stage following a disturbance or a restoration treatment.

Problems/Confounding Factors

These results are from a small sample size (two units with

paired controls) and should be treated as preliminary, but at

the same time suggest more rigorous studies are validated.

Currently, a paired block design is set up to monitor butterfly response to restoration treatments and mechanisms of

these responses. This increased sample size should help

reduce this problem in future studies.

To successfully examine butterfly population responses to

restoration treatments, reproductive success and host plant

usage should also be documented. Our current design monitors only adult butterfly populations. However, studies have

shown positive correlations between adult butterfly densities and larval densities, suggesting monitoring of adult

butterflies may provide a close indication of larval densities

(Steffan-Dewenter and Tscharntke 1997). Of the 20 species

recorded in the Lava and Trick Tank units and associated

controls, 12 were classified as locally distributed, not ranging far from their host plants as adults (Scott 1984).

Implications

The response of butterfly communities suggests other

arthropod herbivores may respond to restoration treatments in similar ways. Arthropods constitute the largest

biomass of any taxon and occupy a large range of functional

niches (Kremen and others 1993). Bees and other nectar or

pollen feeding arthropods may show increases in diversity

and abundance as a response to increased nectar resources,

and therefore may parallel the responses of the butterfly

community. The importance of pollinators to ecosystem

function has recently become the focus of many questions,

due to the decreasing abundance of native bees (Buchmann

and Nabhan 1996; Kevan 1999). Although butterflies are not
94 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Waltz and Covington Butterfly Response and Successional Change Following Ecosystem Restoration

as efficient at pollination as the Hymenoptera (bees and

wasps) or Diptera (flies) (Scoble 1992), they are easier to

monitor and identify. In addition, arthropods decompose

organic material, release nutrients back into the ecosystem,

and provide the largest food source in almost every ecosystem (Wilson 1987).

Using these restoration experiments, the efficacy of butterflies as biodiversity indicators of these other arthropods

can easily be tested, by increased sampling of other taxonomic groups, correlations, and finally testing in other areas

undergoing restoration treatments.

The research presented here provides insight into how the

butterfly community responds to habitat change, and some

of the mechanisms behind that response. Not only do butterfly communities contribute to ecosystem functioning through

herbivory, providing food source and pollination events,

they also have the potential to be bioindicators of biodiversity in other arthropod guilds.

Acknowledgments ______________

We thank Holly Petrillo, Peter Fulé, Gina Vance, and the

Ecological Restoration Institute for field and analysis support. We also thank an anonymous reviewer for comments.

The Arizona Strip District, Bureau of Land Management,

especially Greg Taylor, Ken Moore, and Roger Taylor made

this study possible. Funding was provided by Bureau of

Land Management, Department of the Interior.

References _____________________

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Mast, S.S. Sackett, M.R. Wagner. 1997. Restoring ecosystem

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Covington, W.W. and M.M. Moore. 1994. Southwestern ponderosa

forest structure: changes since Euro-American settlement. Journal of Forestry 92(1):39–47.

Dutton, C. 1882. Tertiary history of the Grand Canyon. Report to

Department of the Interior, United States Geological Survey.

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in coevolution. Evolution 18: 586–608.

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USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 95

In: Vance, Regina K.; Edminster, Carleton B.; Covington, W. Wallace;

Blake, Julie A. comps. 2001. Ponderosa pine ecosystems restoration and

conservation: steps toward stewardship; 2000 April 25–27; Flagstaff, AZ.

Proceedings RMRS-P-22. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture,

Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station.

Shawn C. Knox is a Research Technician with the Northern Arizona

University (NAU) Ecological Restoration Institute, P.O. Box 15018, Flagstaff,

AZ 86011. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in biology at NAU. He has

worked with narrow-headed garter snakes for the United States Geological

Survey Colorado Plateau Field Station as a Research Technician. He has also

worked in Chile with the Darwinian fox for the University of Massachusetts.

Carol Chambers is an Assistant Professor with the School of Forestry at NAU,

P.O. Box 15018, Flagstaff, AZ 86011. Stephen S. Germaine is a Research

Specialist III with the Arizona Game and Fish Department, 221 W. Greenway

Rd., Phoenix, AZ 85023.

Habitat Associations of the Sagebrush

Lizard (Sceloporus graciosus): Potential

Responses of an Ectotherm to Ponderosa

Pine Forest Restoration Treatments

Shawn C. Knox

Carol Chambers

Stephen S. Germaine

Abstract—Little is known about the response of ectotherms to

ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) restoration treatments. The

ambient body temperature of an ectotherm affects its physiology,

development, and behavior. Microhabitat availability and heterogeneity are critical factors in determining which thermoregulation

choices are available to a terrestrial ectotherm (Stevenson 1985).

Forest restoration treatments (for example, thinning and burning)

will alter herpetofauna microhabitats by decreasing tree canopy

cover and allowing more sunlight penetration to the forest floor.

This change could, depending on the species, have positive or

negative effects on the populations of the area. We sampled microhabitat use by Sceloporus graciosus (sagebrush lizards) in northern

Arizona at Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument using

standard “pitfall-array” sampling methodology. Univariate analyses were used to relate lizard abundance to ponderosa pine tree

density, percent soil cover, percent rock cover, litter depth, and

insect density. In a multivariate analysis, ponderosa pine density

(negatively correlated) and bare soil cover (positively correlated)

were the best predictors of lizard abundance. Restoration treatments will increase small-scale heterogeneity within S. graciosus

territories by increasing accessibility into and out of sunlight. Based

on the thermoregulatory demands of this species, these changes

should benefit S. graciosus. However, other possible indirect effects

of restoration treatments such as increases in predation on lizards

(due to greater visibility), as well as changes in food availability,

could negatively impact lizard populations. Future research should

focus on pre- and postrestoration treatment monitoring

of herpetofauna, and on the direct effects of fire on herpetofauna

populations within restoration sites.

Introduction ____________________

Ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) forest restoration is an

experimental management practice currently being applied

in the Southwest. This practice varies depending on the

management objectives, but generally consists of some combination of forest thinning and prescribed burning. Covington

and others (1997) has shown increases in: (1) forest floor

sunlight penetration, and (2) herbaceous productivity

(grasses, forbs, and shrubs) among restoration-treated ponderosa pine stands. These changes are expected to benefit

the fauna of the area, although the direct effects of forest

thinning and prescribed fire are poorly represented in scientific literature.

Data from Germaine (1999), in an ongoing restoration

study at Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument,

suggest that lizards of the Sceloporus genus (Sceloporus

graciosus and Sceloporus undulatus) are more abundant in

areas with lower ponderosa pine density. This suggests that

restoration treatments could result in higher densities of

these Sceloporus lizards. However, studies of herpetofauna

responses to ponderosa pine restoration before and after

treatment do not currently exist.

The direct effects of fire on herpetofauna populations are

also poorly understood. Cunningham and others (2000)

pitfall-trapped lizards in burned and unburned chaparral

and Madrean evergreen forests the year following a highintensity wildfire, and captured primarily immature lizards. Subsequent trapping over the following two seasons

resulted in higher species richness, diversity, and capture

rates, indicating rapid settlement of the burned area by

adjacent residents. Lizard genera represented in this study

included Sceloporus undulatus and numerous Cnemidophorus species.

A few studies have shown that certain lizard species of

fire-dependent ecosystems, such as long-leaf pine (Mushinsky

1985), chaparral (Lillywhite 1977a,b), and sandpine scrub

(Greenberg 1993), increase in diversity or density following

fire. Both Mushinsky (1985) and Greenberg (1993) found

that some lizards of the genus Eumeces remained more

abundant in control areas (unburned and unharvested for at

least 20 years in both cases). It is apparent that different

species have different thermoregulatory demands and

should be addressed on a species-specific basis.

In this study we identified current forest condition

microhabitat characteristics of the sagebrush lizard (Sceloporus graciosus) in a Southwestern ponderosa pine forest.
96 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Knox, Chambers, and Germaine Habitat Associations of the Sagebrush Lizard (Sceloporus graciosus)...

Microhabitat preferences for this species were determined,

based on habitat variation within the study area. Potential

responses of S. graciosus to restoration treatments were

determined by extrapolating habitat relationships from current condition forests to conditions expected in treated forest

areas. In the future, these data will be further applied to a

long-term study measuring the posttreatment effects of

restoration on the age structure, composition, and abundance of this lizard population.

Methods _______________________

The study site was in northern Arizona at Grand CanyonParashant National Monument. The elevation ranges from

approximately 2,080 m to 2,290 m, and the area is comprised

primarily of ponderosa pine forest, with abundant sagebrush meadows. During May and June of 1999, prerestoration

treatment microhabitat data were collected from 56 pitfall

arrays. Arrays consisted of four 5-gallon buckets buried in a

“peace-sign” configuration (Jones 1986). Each array included three wire mesh drift fences radiating out 7 m from

the center bucket, connected to the other three buckets (fig. 1).

Arrays were opened and checked every third day, for a total

of 168 trap days. At each array, percent soil cover, percent

rock cover, litter depth, and insect density were sampled

within a 1 m circular radius surrounding each bucket. Insect

density was sampled along four 1 m transects per bucket.

The data were collected at timed intervals of 10 seconds per

transect, scanning the entire transect length. All insects

within the top 2.54 cm of litter were tallied during sampling.

Germaine (1999) gathered percent coniferous canopy closure and ponderosa pine density at each array. Coniferous

canopy closure was measured at four transects as 40 “hits”

or “misses”, out to a 25 m radius, originating from the center

of each array. Ponderosa pine stem density was measured in

a 6 m belt running N-S and E-W across each array.

Values for each microhabitat variable collected were averaged for each array. We used stepwise linear regression

analyses, with entry and exit levels of alpha = 0.15, to

identify those habitat variables that, in combination, were

associated with lizard abundance (Sokal and Rohlf 1981;

SAS Institute Inc. 1985). Spearman correlations were used

to determine univariate relationships between lizard abundance and microhabitat variables that were selected in

multivariate models (SAS Institute Inc. 1985). Those microhabitat variables that were not normally distributed, or

with unequal variance, were transformed by taking the

square root of each variable (Sabin and Stafford 1990).

We calculated the Mallow’s Cp statistic to select the best

fitting model. This statistic is a measure of total squared

error for each model and should be approximately equal to

the number of parameters (including the intercept) in the

model to choose a parsimonious model (Younger 1979:

493–495).

Results ________________________

Three species of lizards were captured during the trapping

period. Captures consisted of Sceloporus graciosus (n = 81),

Eumeces skiltonianus (n = 4), and Sceloporus undulatus

(n = 1). S. graciosus abundance ranged from 0 to 9 (± 2.06)

captures per array. Ponderosa pine density ranged from 0 to

1,968 (± 466.84) trees per hectare. Bare soil cover ranged

from 0 to 91.25 (± 18.84) percent per array. Results from the

stepwise linear regression analyses are presented for

Sceloporus graciosus (table 1). The best model for explaining

the variation in S. graciosus abundance contained the variables of ponderosa pine density (trees/ha) and percent bare

soil cover:

S. graciosus abundance = 1.78 – 0.06

(ponderosa pine density) + 0.24 (percent bare soil cover)

C(p) = 2.16

This model explained 34 percent of the variance. Ponderosa

pine density was negatively correlated with S. graciosus

abundance (fig. 2). S. graciosus abundance peaked in areas

that contained 50–200 ponderosa pine trees/ha. Bare soil

cover was positively correlated with lizard abundance (fig. 3).

Figure 1—Aerial view of a pitfall array used to

sample sagebrush lizard abundance at Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument in June 1999,

assembled in a peace-sign configuration with drift

fence delineated by lines radiating out from the

center bucket at 0∞, 120∞, and 240∞, respectively.

Table 1—Summary of the stepwise linear regression analysis of the

sagebrush lizard with habitat variables at Grand CanyonParashant National Monument in June 1999.

Parameter Partial R2 Model R2 C(p)a

Pine density per hectare 0.28 0.28 3.43

Percent bare soil cover 0.06 0.34 2.16

a

Mallow’s Cp statistic is a measure of the total squared error for each model

and should be approximately equal to the number of parameters (including the

intercept) in the model.
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 97

Habitat Associations of the Sagebrush Lizard (Sceloporus graciosus)... Knox, Chambers, and Germaine

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

0 20 40 60 80 100

% Bare Soil Coverage per Array

# of Lizards captured per 

Array

Discussion _____________________

This study indicates the need for small-scale heterogeneity within Sceloporus graciosus territories. Contiguous, homogeneous, fire-suppressed ponderosa pine forests inhibit

adequate sunlight penetration to the forest floor. This can

reduce sunlight accessibility for ectothermic animals with

small home ranges, such as most lizards and snakes, which

rely upon solar heat for metabolic processes and mobility.

Previous research has established that current Southwestern ponderosa pine forests contain much higher densities of ponderosa pine than were present in these same

forests before Euro-American settlement (Cooper 1960;

Covington and Moore 1994b). This suggests that sunlight

penetration to the forest floor has also decreased during this

period due to large increases in ponderosa pine densities.

Covington and others (1997) have shown that forest restoration treatments, through reduction in forest tree density and

prescribed fire, do in fact open up the canopy and create a

more open, parklike landscape. Restoration, carried out

through these means, will enhance the thermoregulation

options available to S. graciosus by lowering litter accumulations (which will provide easier access to burrows), and

ultimately increasing accessibility into and out of sunlight.

Ponderosa pine forest restoration treatments, implemented

on an adaptive management basis, have potential to increase

the habitat suitability of some terrestrial ectotherms by

increasing small-scale heterogeneity. Thinning dense stands

of ponderosa pine will not only allow more sunlight penetration, but will also create a more patchy distribution of

sunlight at the ground layer level. Results of this study

suggest that optimal S. graciosus habitat for thermoregulation would entail leaving between 50–400 trees/ha after

forest thinning treatments.

It is important to recognize the many other factors that

could change as a result of restoration treatments, which

may inadvertently affect S. graciosus. Lawrence (1966)

found increases in predatory birds and mammals after a

chaparral fire in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Increases in

predation and competition, as well as changes in food availability, may also play significant roles in the postrestoration

habitat of terrestrial ectotherms.

We were able to explain one-third of the variance in

sagebrush lizard abundance. Possible explanations for the

lack of a model that explains a considerable amount of the

variance can be attributed to several factors: (1) It is possible

that the collective contribution of several microhabitat variables determines the success of the animal. (2) There is a

high degree of difficulty associated with accurately sampling small-scale heterogeneity within the small territories

of Sceloporus lizards. (3) The sample size could have been too

small. (4) The length of the sampling period could have been

too short. (5) Thorough seasonal population representation

of an animal that spends two-thirds of its life below ground

is questionable.

Suggestions for future research include the need for detailed behavioral studies that capture common behavior

patterns of these lizards. Other recommendations include

the need to obtain larger sample sizes, as well as long-term

(>5 years) studies. Studies on the direct effects of fire on

lizard fitness are essential to correctly understand which

scale and intensity of prescribed fires to use in restoration

treatments.

Although no studies exist that measure lizard responses

directly to forest restoration before and after treatment, we

hope that this study will encourage additional research. In

those ecosystems where restoration treatments increase

sunlight availability to the forest floor, terrestrial ectotherms can be significant indicators of thermal change. Data

from this and related studies need to be incorporated into

future restoration treatment prescriptions to ensure that

habitat needs are met for all native wildlife species during

forest restoration activities.

Acknowledgments ______________

Funding for this study was provided by the United States

Department of the Interior and the BLM Arizona Strip

District Office. Additional funding was provided by the

Ecological Restoration Institute, and the Arizona Game and

Fish Department Heritage Fund. We also thank Heather

Germaine, Peter Fulé, Wallace Covington, Gina Vance,

Debbie Reynolds, and the students and staff of the Northern

Arizona University Ecological Restoration Institute.

Figure 3—Sagebrush lizard abundance at Grand

Canyon-Parashant National Monument in June 1999

was positively associated with bare soil coverage in

a univariate analysis.

Figure 2—Sagebrush lizard abundance at Grand

Canyon-Parashant National Monument in June 1999

was negatively associated with ponderosa pine

density in a univariate analysis.

N = 56

R2

 = 0.28

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500

Ponderosa Pine Density/Hectare

# of Lizards captured per 

Array
98 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Knox, Chambers, and Germaine Habitat Associations of the Sagebrush Lizard (Sceloporus graciosus)...

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restoration on wildlife at Mt. Trumbull, Arizona: 1997 & 1998

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Greenburg, C.H. 1993. Effect of high-intensity wildfire and silvicultural treatments on biotic communities of sand pine scrub. Ph.D.

thesis. University of Florida, Gainesville, FL.

Jones, K.B. 1986. Amphibians and reptiles. Pages 267–290 in A.Y.

Cooperrider, R.J. Boyd, and H.R. Stuart, eds. Inventory and

monitoring of wildlife habitat. U.S. Bureau of Land Management,

Denver.

Lawrence, G.E. 1966. Ecology of vertebrate animals in relation to

chaparral fire in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Ecology. 47: 278–291.

Lillywhite, H.B. 1997a. Effects of chaparral conversion on small

vertebrates in southern California. Biological Conservation. 11:

171–184.

Lillywhite, H.B. 1997b. Animal responses to fire and fuel management in chaparral. Pages 368–373 in H.A. Mooney and C.E.

Conrad, eds. Proceedings of the symposium on the environmental

consequences of fire and fuel management in Mediterranean

ecosystems. General Technical Report WO-3. U.S. Forest Service,

Washington, DC.

Mushinsky, Henry R. 1985. Fire and the Florida Sandhill

herpetofaunal community: with special attention to responses of

Cnemidophorus sexlineatus. Herpetologica. 41(3): 333–342.

Sabin, T.E. and S.G. Stafford. 1990. Assessing the need for transformation of response variables. Special Publication 20, Forest

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Carolina.

Sokal, R.R. and F.J. Rohlf. 1981. Biometry. 2nd Ed. W.H. Freeman

and Company, New York. 859 p.

Stevenson, R.D. 1985. The relative importance of behavioral and

physiological adjustments controlling body temperature in terrestrial ectotherms. The American Naturalist. 126: 362–386.

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USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 99

In: Vance, Regina K.; Edminster, Carleton B.; Covington, W. Wallace;

Blake, Julie A. comps. 2001. Ponderosa pine ecosystems restoration and

conservation: steps toward stewardship; 2000 April 25–27; Flagstaff, AZ.

Proceedings RMRS-P-22. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture,

Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station.

William W. Oliver is Research Team Leader and Principal Silviculturist at

the Silviculture Laboratory of the USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest

Research Station in Redding, CA. He received forestry degrees from the

University of New Hampshire and the University of Michigan. He has been

with the Pacific Southwest Research Station since 1962. This article is

contribution no. 016 of the Blacks Mountain Ecological Research Project,

Pacific Southwest Research Station, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest

Service.

Abstract—Conflicts over changing demands on our increasingly

scarce stands of late successional ponderosa pine could be abated by

increasing the proportion of stands with late successional attributes

in the forest land base. However, we don’t know whether these

attributes can be developed through the management of younger

stands. Nor do we know whether late successional stands can be

managed to perpetuate these values through time. To answer these

questions, two long-term large-scale studies were begun to study

ecosystem responses to a series of silvicultural treatments that

include timber harvest and prescribed fire. In one study, treatments are designed to test several pathways toward late successional forest attributes in a young, even-aged stand. In the other

study a treatment is aimed at sustaining an existing late successional stand and contrasting the response of that ecosystem with

that of a young, even-aged stand. Although not yet completely

installed, the stand structure in one treatment resembles two late

successional stands with periodic fire.

Conflicts over changing demands on our increasingly

scarce stands with late seral structures often leave forest

managers faced with difficult decisions. One obvious way to

abate these conflicts would be to increase the number of

stands in the forest land base with late seral attributes, such

as large trees, snags, large down woody debris, multiple

canopy layers, associated shrub, herb, and grass components and canopy gaps. However, it is not known which

active management strategy could speed development of

these attributes in younger stands, nor is it known whether

we can manage late seral structures to perpetuate their

values through time. In addition to concerns about esthetics,

biodiversity, and sustainable productivity, stands with late

seral attributes often contain the most valuable timber and

critical wildlife habitat.

To address these questions, we began two long-term

large-scale studies in the interior ponderosa pine (Pinus

Can We Create and Sustain Late

Successional Attributes in Interior

Ponderosa Pine Stands? Large-Scale

Ecological Research Studies in

Northeastern California

William W. Oliver

ponderosa) forests of northeastern California. The primary

objective of the study on the Goosenest Adaptive Management Area (GAMA) is to accelerate late successional attributes in a young-growth stand (Ritchie and Harcksen

1999). One of the objectives of the study located on the Blacks

Mountain Experimental Forest (BMEF) is to sustain late

successional attributes in stands threatened by the absence of fire (Oliver and Powers 1998). The inception of

effective fire control about 1930 at both BMEF and GAMA

has resulted in dense stands with a higher proportion of

white fir. Before 1930, the median fire return interval at

BMEF was about 7 years (personal communication with

C. N. Skinner, September 19, 2000). Although data are not

yet available for GAMA, we expect the interval to be similar.

Neither site has experienced wildfire since 1930. Many

stands have suffered severe mortality from competition

exacerbated by drought. At BMEF, intense competition has

accelerated the demise of the large old trees. Similar shifts

in species composition and stand structure resulting from

fire suppression have been reported in the San Bernardino

Mountains of southern California (Minnich and others 1995).

At GAMA, the resulting buildup of fuels has caused fire

hazard to become so extreme that long-term protection of

the forests seems virtually impossible.

Both sites are ideally suited for a large-scale, ecological

research project. Both sites provide enough land for

operational-scale studies on areas dedicated to research.

Plots can be large enough to monitor treatment effects on

small mammals and passerine birds. But the large size of

each unit, a minimum of 100 acres, made spatial control on

the ground necessary to integrate data collected at different

scales across disciplines. It was accomplished by a permanently monumented grid on 328-ft (100-m) centers throughout each unit to which all measurements and other activities

are referenced.

We struggled as a team with treatment descriptions and

how to translate our idea of what an interior ponderosa pine

forest looked like when fire was part of the ecosystem.

Although we knew of the aggregated stand structure existing in late seral ponderosa pine stands from silvicultural

studies at BMEF (Hallin 1959) and from studies in northern

Arizona (Cooper 1961; White 1985), we did not attempt to

reconstruct them as did Harrod and others (1999) in central Washington. At BMEF, the method was too time consuming for the large area to be treated. At GAMA, no clues

to the original structure existed in the young-growth stand.

The 50-year records from a Methods-of-Cutting study (Dolph

and others 1995) that provided data on stands about 20
100 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Oliver Can We Create and Sustain Late Successional Attributes in Interior Ponderosa Pine Stands? Large-Scale Ecological Research Studies...

Beaver Creek Pinery

Trees per Acre

DBH (inches)

10

8

4

6

2

0

4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40

Blacks Mtn. Methods-of-Cutting Study

Block 39-Unharvested

Trees per Acre

DBH (inches)

120

100

80

40

60

20

0

17 21 25 29 33 37 41 45 49 53 57 61

1991

1939

years after initiation of effective fire control (fig. 1) were

most relevant for diameter distributions, as were data from

the Beaver Creek Pinery (fig. 2). This stand of ponderosa

pine and California black oak (Quercus kellogii) on the westside of the Sierra Nevada never has had effective fire

protection. Although the Beaver Creek Pinery is in an

environment very different from BMEF, we believed that

the stand structure resulting from three wildfires in the

1990s was instructive.

Goosenest Adaptive Management

Area Research Project ___________

The Goosenest Adaptive Management Area, within the

Klamath National Forest, lies on the north side of the

Medicine Lake Highlands—an area of recent volcanics running east from Mt. Shasta. The entire Adaptive Management Area is clothed in 60- to 80-year-old forest, composed

primarily of ponderosa pine and white fir in dense stands

containing about 230 trees and 170 ft2 of basal area per acre.

The U.S. Forest Service acquired the area in the 1950s from

the Long Bell Lumber Company, the successor to the Weed

Lumber Company of Weed, California. Long Bell logged

these stands in the 1920s and 1930s via railroad. Very few

merchantable trees were left standing. After logging, pine

and fir regenerated abundantly. Also at about that time the

area was brought under effective wildfire control.

Project Description

The overall research objective is to test silvicultural practices that may accelerate development of late successional

forest characteristics in young growth stands, utilizing partial cutting and prescribed fire. Active management has the

potential to reduce the hazard of wildfire and to accelerate

development of late successional attributes, but a precise

pathway for this development is unknown. Therefore, treatments were designed to place the forest on various stand

development trajectories toward what are commonly conceived as late successional attributes (table 1). The pathways to late successional attributes are:

• No treatment—In reality this treatment is minimal

management because fire prevention and fire suppression activities will continue as before. This provides an

inactive management strategy for comparison with the

other three pathways.

• Accelerate late successional large trees without

fire—A major late successional attribute, large trees,

should be created most rapidly by this treatment. Trees

left following treatment are spaced 18 to 25 ft apart and

are the largest, regardless of species. Fuel reduction is

by mechanical methods not by prescribed fire, because

of the danger of killing the white fir.

• Accelerate late successional pine without fire—

We recognized that late successional stands in the area

had a much greater proportion of ponderosa pine than

exists today and that tree spacing was clumpy. To

achieve these attributes we left all dominant and codominant ponderosa pines regardless of spacing, saving

only white firs larger than 30 inches in diameter at

breast height (d.b.h.) and those where no pines were

present. We further increased the proportion of pine in

this initial entry by removing clumps of decadent white

fir and regenerating with pine. Our goal is to have

ponderosa pine comprise 80 percent of the stems. Prescribed fire is withheld to investigate whether mechanical methods will be an effective surrogate.

• Accelerate late successional pine with fire—The

same treatment as the previous one plus the restoration

of the function of frequent low intensity fires by periodically igniting controlled fires.

Figure 1—Distribution of tree diameters in 1939

and 1990 in the unharvested plot in Block 39 of the

Methods-of-Cutting study on Blacks Mountain

Experimental Forest.

Figure 2—Distribution of tree diameters in the Beaver

Creek Pinery.

Table 1—Treatment contrasts in the Goosenest Adaptive Management Area Research Project in northeastern California.

Treatment contrasts

Species Emphasis Large Tree Emphasis

Ponderosa pine retention Tree diameter is the most

is the most important criterion. important criterion.

High horizontal diversity— Minimal horizontal diversity—

15 percent of area in no openings created.

created openings.

Tree spatial distribution Tree spatial distribution is

is clumpy. homogeneous.
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 101

Can We Create and Sustain Late Successional Attributes in Interior Ponderosa Pine Stands? Large-Scale Ecological Research Studies... Oliver

Blacks Mtn. Ecological Research

Block 1 – Pre-treatment

Trees per Acre

DBH (inches)

500

400

300

200

100

0

1 5 9 13 17 21 25 29 33 37 41 45 49

Each strategy is replicated five times on 100 acres in each

unit of a well-buffered, fully randomized field design. We

anticipate a reentry in 10 years at which time we will

evaluate these pathways and may adjust the treatments.

Blacks Mountain Ecological

Research Project ________________

 Blacks Mountain Experimental Forest is located within

the Lassen National Forest in northeastern California.

Typical of vast areas of the interior ponderosa pine forest

type, BMEF has two major age classes—a scattered overstory of 300- to 500-year-old pines and a dense understory

of pines and white fir that originated about when intensive

livestock grazing ended and when effective wild fire suppression began. An intermediate age class of 200-year-old

trees is largely absent. Portions of BMEF had been harvested by a Methods-of-Cutting study between 1938 and

1947 (Dolph and others 1995), but much surrounding forest

remained unlogged. At present an average acre contains

331 trees with a basal area of 144 ft2

.

Project Description

A major objective of the Blacks Mountain project is to

determine if existing late seral attributes can be sustained

and possibly enhanced by active management. Two forest

structures, which we termed High Structural Diversity and

Low Structural Diversity, were created with and without

cattle grazing and prescribed fire on 12 units of 250 acres

each. High Structural Diversity is characterized by the

presence of many large, old trees, abundant snags, multiple

canopy layers with dense clumps of smaller trees, and many

small gaps in the canopy. Low Structural Diversity, created

to provide an extreme contrast, is characterized by a single

canopy layer of well-spaced pole- and small sawtimber-sized

trees and few, large gaps in the canopy. Our objective was

not to test the classic silvicultural systems of even-aged and

uneven-aged management. Rather, the High Structural

Diversity treatment was designed to improve the health and

longevity of the large, old trees and create a multilayered

forest, but not necessarily three or more age classes of trees.

The Low Structural Diversity treatment was designed to

provide the extreme contrast needed to determine if forest

structure influenced biodiversity and sustainable productivity (table 2).

The entire forest is included in grazing allotments. Thus,

six of the 12 units are fenced to exclude livestock. In each

unit prescribed fire is introduced to one half and excluded

from the other. We anticipate that a series of three burns,

closely spaced, will be needed to bring fuels to a maintenance

level. Each treatment (structural diversity x grazing) is

replicated three times in a randomized block design with fire

applied in split plots. Blocking is by proportion of white fir

because the proportion varies among units. Fir becomes

more common with increasing elevation and is a surrogate

for subtle site differences. Although the design does not

include untreated controls per se, four Research Natural

Areas well distributed within the BMEF will be studied,

also, to provide quantitative and qualitative information on

undisturbed systems.

Stand Structure Changes

at BMEF _______________________

Because both projects required the removal of large volumes of wood over an extensive area—2,600 acres at GAMA

and 3,000 acres at BMEF—timber harvest was spread over

3 years with prescribed fire applied the fall following timber

harvest. All treatments have not been installed in either

project but we do have some posttreatment results from one

replication at BMEF.

The diameter distribution of the units in Block I at BMEF

before treatment demonstrate the exaggerated reverse “J”

shape—typical of interior pine stands developing without

fire (fig. 3). Seedlings and saplings make up 61 percent of

the stems. When the pole size classes are added, 96 percent

of all trees in the stands have originated since fire exclusion.

Although not shown in figure 3, much of the seedling,

sapling and pole-size components are white fir. The pretreatment inventory at GAMA shows a similar but less

exaggerated reverse “J” shape (fig. 4). At GAMA, a cooler

and moister site, white fir is more abundant.

Table 2—Treatment contrasts in the Blacks Mountain Ecological

Research Project in northeastern California.

Treatment contrasts

High Structural Diversity Low Structural Diversity

High vertical diversity— Low vertical diversity—

Retain/sustain all large old Remove all large old trees.

trees by removing competing

trees.

High horizontal diversity— Low horizontal diversity—

Retain 10 percent to 20 percent Uniformly space at about

in dense clumps. Only plant if 20 feet all saplings and poles.

openings >2 acres comprise Plant all openings >2 acres.

>15 percent of unit.

Retain all snags and down logs. Retain all snags and down logs.

Figure 3—Distribution of tree diameters before installing treatments in Block I of the Blacks Mountain Ecological Research Project. Numbers of trees with diameters

greater than 17 inches are too few to show on graph.
102 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Oliver Can We Create and Sustain Late Successional Attributes in Interior Ponderosa Pine Stands? Large-Scale Ecological Research Studies...

Blacks Mtn. Ecological Research

Block I - High Diversity, Post Treatment

Trees per Acre

DBH (inches)

100

75

25

50

0

1 3 6 10 14 18 22 26 30 34 38

Burned

Unburned

Blacks Mtn. Ecological Research

Block I - Low Diversity, Post Treatment

Trees per Acre

DBH (inches)

100

75

25

50

0

1 3 6 10 14 18 22 26 30 34 38

Burned

Unburned

Goosenest AMA Research Project

Pre-Treatment

Trees per Acre

DBH (inches)

120

100

80

40

60

20

0

6 10 14 18 22 26 30

In 1999, we measured the trees in BMEF Block I that had

all treatments (tree harvest and prescribed fire) installed.

The diameter distribution was altered dramatically by both

the low structural diversity treatment and prescribed fire.

Most of the seedlings, saplings, and small poles are gone,

leaving a shape best described as a normal distribution

skewed toward the larger diameters (fig. 5). Stand density as

measured by basal area was reduced from 122 ft2 per acre to

40 ft2 per acre. In sharp contrast, the high structural diversity treatment without fire maintains the reverse “J” shape

diameter distribution because more of the smaller size

classes remain (fig. 6). Basal area reduction was much less

in the high structural diversity treatment—from 122 ft2 per

acre to 90 ft2 per acre. When prescribed fire was added to the

high structural diversity treatment, a skewed normal distribution was formed because fire mortality was restricted to

the smaller trees. Basal area per acre was little affected. A

similar distribution was reported from reconstruction of

historic stands in central Washington (Harrod and others

1999).

We are pleased to discover that the diameter distribution

in this first block of the high structural diversity treatment

with fire at BMEF has begun to resemble the shape of the

diameter distribution of the stand in the Beaver Creek

Pinery (fig. 2). It also is beginning to resemble the distribution in 1939 of the unharvested plot in the Methods-ofCutting study (fig. 1). The major difference is that the modal

values for the distributions at Beaver Creek Pinery and the

1939 unharvested plot are higher—16 and 29 inches d.b.h.,

respectively. The modal value for the diameter distribution

of the high structural diversity with fire treatment is only 6

inches d.b.h.—a legacy of the dense understory originating

after fire exclusion and the demise of many of the large old

trees. With the program of planned periodic reentry of

prescribed fire, this modal value should rise.

Conclusions____________________

At BMEF, because some large old trees are still present,

we seem to be recreating a stand structure that resembles

interior ponderosa pine stands of a century ago in which fire

was an integral component of the ecosystem. Only one block

of the replicated experiment has been treated so far, therefore, firm conclusions must remain tentative. At GAMA no

large old trees are present. The present stand originated in

the absence of fire after the late seral stand was logged off.

Here we are testing pathways to achieving late seral attributes. Some pathways may be more effective in achieving

late seral attributes and some may achieve them more

rapidly than others. Early results from BMEF suggest that

prescribed fire is a critical component. Maybe mechanical

treatments can achieve similar effects as prescribed fire. We

anxiously await results from the fire/fire surrogate study

described elsewhere in this conference proceedings.

References _____________________

Cooper, Charles F. 1961. Pattern in ponderosa pine forests. Ecology

42(3): 493–499.

Dolph, K. Leroy; Mori, Sylvia R.; Oliver, William W. 1995. Longterm response of old-growth stands to varying levels of partial

cutting in the eastside pine type. Western Journal of Applied

Forestry 10(3): 101–108.

Hallin, William E. 1959. The application of unit area control in the

management of ponderosa-Jeffrey pine at Blacks Mountain Experimental Forest. Technical Bulletin No. 1191. Washington, DC:

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service.

Figure 4—Distribution of tree diameters before installing treatments in the Goosenest Adaptive Management

Area Research Project.

Figure 6—Distribution of tree diameters after installing

the high structural diversity treatment in Block I of the

Blacks Mountain Ecological Research Project.

Figure 5—Distribution of tree diameters after installing

the low structural diversity treatment in Block I of the

Blacks Mountain Ecological Research Project.
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 103

Can We Create and Sustain Late Successional Attributes in Interior Ponderosa Pine Stands? Large-Scale Ecological Research Studies... Oliver

Harrod, Richy J.; McRae, Bradner H.; Hartl, William E. 1999.

Historical stand reconstruction in ponderosa pine forests to guide

silvicultural prescriptions. Forest Ecology and Management 114:

433–446.

Minnich, Richard A.; Barbour, Michael G.; Burk, Jack H.; Fernau,

Robert F. 1995. Sixty years of change in Californian conifer

forests of the San Bernardino Mountains. Conservation Biology

9(4): 902–914.

Oliver, William W.; Powers, Robert F. 1998. Blacks Mountain,

California: Interdisciplinary research in ponderosa pine. Journal

of Forestry 96(8): 4–9.

Ritchie, M. W.; Harcksen, K. A. 1999. Long-term interdisciplinary

research on the Goosenest Adaptive Management Area, Klamath

National Forest, California. The Forestry Chronicle 75(3): 453–456.

White, Alan S. 1985. Presettlement regeneration patterns in a

southwestern ponderosa pine stand. Ecology 66(2): 589–594.
104 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

In: Vance, Regina K.; Edminster, Carleton B.; Covington, W. Wallace;

Blake, Julie A. comps. 2001. Ponderosa pine ecosystems restoration and

conservation: steps toward stewardship; 2000 April 25–27; Flagstaff, AZ.

Proceedings RMRS-P-22. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture,

Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station.

James McIver is a Research Ecologist with the Forestry and Range

Sciences Lab, PNW Research Station, 1401 Gekeler Lane, La Grande, OR.

Phillip Weatherspoon is a Research Silviculturist with the Silviculture Lab,

PSW Research Station, 2400 Washington Ave., Redding, CA. Carl Edminster

is a Research Forester at the Forestry Sciences Lab, Northern Arizona

University, Flagstaff, AZ.

Abstract—Compared to presettlement times, many ponderosa

pine forests of the United States are now more dense and have

greater quantities of fuels. Widespread treatments are needed in

these forests to restore ecological integrity and to reduce the risk of

uncharacteristically severe fires. Among possible restorative treatments, however, the appropriate balance among cuttings, mechanical fuel treatments, and prescribed fire is often unclear. Resource

managers need better information on the effects of alternative

practices such as fire and mechanical/manual “fire surrogates.” A

group of scientists and land managers has designed an integrated

national network of long-term research sites to address this need,

with support from the U.S. Joint Fire Science Program. Seven of the

11 sites in the network are in ponderosa pine-dominated Western

coniferous forests with low-severity natural fire regimes. The study

will assess a wide range of ecological and economic consequences of

four alternative restoration treatments: (1) cuttings and mechanical fuel treatments alone; (2) prescribed fire alone; (3) a combination

of cuttings, mechanical fuel treatments, and prescribed fire; and (4)

untreated controls. The study is long term, with treatments repeated over time. Each site will have at least three replications of

the four treatments, applied to treatment units of at least 14 ha in

size (including buffer). Where feasible, the replicated units will be

supplemented by unreplicated large areas treated similarly to

study larger scale ecological and operational issues. A comprehensive set of core variables will be measured at each site, including

aspects of fire behavior and fuels, vegetation, wildlife, entomology,

pathology, soils, and economics. The core design will allow interdisciplinary analysis at both the site and multisite scales. Investigators at each site will also have the freedom to add treatments and/

or response variables to the core design as dictated by local interests, available resources, and expertise.

Introduction ____________________

Restoration has become necessary in many ponderosa

pine forests of the Western United States. Current forests

are denser, more spatially uniform, have more small trees

Alternative Ponderosa Pine Restoration

Treatments in the Western United States

James McIver

Phillip Weatherspoon

Carl Edminster

and fewer large trees, and have greater quantities of forest

fuels than did their presettlement counterparts (Bonnicksen

and Stone 1982; Chang 1996; Parker 1984; Parsons and

DeBenedetti 1979). Causes of these changes include fire

suppression, past livestock grazing and timber harvests,

and changes in climate (Arno and others 1997; Parsons and

DeBenedetti 1979; Skinner and Chang 1996). These changes

have caused a deterioration in forest ecosystem integrity,

and an increased probability of large, high-severity wildfires

(Dahms and Geils 1997; Patton-Mallory 1997; Stephens

1998; Weatherspoon and Skinner 1996). Reports from the

Blue Mountains of Oregon and Washington (Everett 1993),

the Columbia River Basin (Quigley and Cole 1997), and the

Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project (SNEP 1996; Weatherspoon

and Skinner 1996) have highlighted these problems and

have explained the need for large-scale and strategically

located thinning (especially of small trees), fuel treatment,

and use of prescribed fire. A recent speech by Interior

Secretary Babbitt (2000) pointed out that similar problems

and the need for similar solutions are now being acknowledged by national policymakers.

The need for widespread use of restorative management

practices is clear (for example, Hardy and Arno 1996). Less

clear, however, is the appropriate balance among cuttings,

mechanical fuel treatments, and prescribed fire (SNEP

1996; Stephens 1998; van Wagtendonk 1996; Weatherspoon

1996). Economic and technical feasibility of various treatments, as well as social and political acceptability, are important considerations in managers’ decisions about tools to use.

To achieve goals for ecosystem integrity and sustainability,

however, we also need better information about the ecological consequences and tradeoffs of alternative restoration

practices. The frequent, low- to moderate-severity fires that

characterized presettlement disturbance regimes in many

of our ponderosa pine forests influenced not only forest

structure, composition, and fuels, but also a wide range of

other ecosystem components and processes (Agee 1993;

Chang 1996). What components or processes are changed or

lost, and with what effects, if “fire surrogates” such as

cuttings and mechanical fuel treatments are used instead of

fire, or in combination with fire? While there is considerable

information on the costs and ecological effects of both prescribed fire and thinning treatments in Western forest

ecosystems (for example, see Walsted and others 1990), no

studies have directly compared these two methods in the

same place and at the same time.

Long-term, interdisciplinary research is needed to

quantify and compare the consequences and tradeoffs of

alternative fire and fire surrogate treatments. Ecological and

economic aspects must be included as integral components.
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 105

Alternative Ponderosa Pine Restoration Treatments in the Western United States McIver, Weatherspoon, and Edminster

Mission Creek

 Wenatchee National Forest

 Mixed-conifer forest dominated by ponderosa 

 pine, Douglas-fir, and grand fir 

 Fire return interval: 10-20 years 

 Represents several hundred thousand 

 hectares in the Wenatchee NF alone

 Contact: James Agee, Univ. of Washington

Hungry Bob

 Wallowa-Whitman National Forest

 Mixed-conifer forest dominated by ponderosa pine and 

 Douglas-fir 

 Fire return interval: 10-25 years 

 Represents 400,000 hectares in the Blue Mountains of Oregon 

 Contacts: James McIver, Andy Youngblood, PNW Research Station

Lubrecht Forest

 State-owned, University of Montana

 Dry mixed-conifer forest dominated by ponderosa pine and 

 Douglas-fir 

 Fire return interval: 5-30 years 

 Represents several million hectares in the northern Rocky Mountains 

 Contacts: Carl Fiedler, University of Montana; Michael Harrington,

 Rocky Mountain Research Station

Blodgett Experimental Forest 

 State-owned, Univ. of California. 

 Mixed-conifer forest dominated by 

 ponderosa pine, with sugar pine, 

 white fir, incense cedar, Douglas-fir 

 and California black oak 

 Fire return interval: 7-20 years 

 Represents 1.5 million hectares in 

 California 

 Contact: Scott Stephens, University 

 of California, Berkeley

Sequoia National Park 

 Sequoia National Park (satellite to Blodgett site: prescribed fire only). 

 Mixed-conifer forest dominated by old-growth ponderosa pine, 

 sugar pine, and white fir 

 Fire return interval: 5-25 years 

 Represents other U.S. Park Service lands in the western U.S. 

 Contacts: Jon Keeley and Nathan Stephenson, USGS, 

 Sequoia-Kings Canyon Field Station; Anthony Caprio, NPS, 

 Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks

Southwest Plateau

 Coconino and Kaibab National Forests 

 Ponderosa pine forest 

 Fire return interval: 2-10 years 

 Represents 2 million hectares in the Southwest

 Contact: Carl Edminster, Rocky Mountain Research Station

Jemez Mountains 

 Santa Fe National Forest

 Mixed-conifer forest dominated by ponderosa pine, with 

 southwestern white pine, Douglas-fir, white fir, Gambel oak, 

 and aspen 

 Fire return interval: 2-10 years 

 Represents 2 million hectares in the Southwest 

 Contact: Carl Edminster, Rocky Mountain Research Station

Goosenest

 Klamath National Forest

 Mixed-conifer forest dominated by ponderosa pine 

 and white fir

 Fire return interval: 10-20 years 

 Represents several hundred thousand hectares 

 in southern Cascades 

 Contact: Carl Skinner, PSW Research Station

The research should be experimental, rather than retrospective or correlative, to permit stronger inferences about

cause-and-effect relationships. Through this research it

will be possible to determine which ecosystem functions of

fire can be emulated by other means, which may be irreplaceable, and how much restoration will cost society. Such

an effort must be collaborative, involving land managers,

researchers, and interested public.

A team of scientists and land managers has designed an

integrated national network of long-term research sites to

address this need, with support from the USDI/USDA Joint

Fire Science Program (http://www.nifc.gov/joint_fire_sci/

index.html). The steering committee (see Acknowledgments)

and other participants in this national Fire-Fire Surrogate

(FFS) study represent a number of Federal and state agencies, universities, and private entities, as well as a wide

range of disciplines and geographic regions. The 5-year study,

now funded by the Joint Fire Science Program, applies a

common experimental design over 13 sites nationally, with

each site representing a forest that is at risk of uncharacteristically severe wildfire (Weatherspoon 2000). This paper

focuses on the work as applied to eight of the sites in the

Western United States, all dominated by ponderosa pine

(fig. 1).

Figure 1—Ponderosa pine-dominated sites of the Fire-Fire Surrogate study.
106 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

McIver, Weatherspoon, and Edminster Alternative Ponderosa Pine Restoration Treatments in the Western United States

Objectives _____________________

The goal of the study, as it applies to the Western sites, is

to quantify the ecological and economic consequences of fire

and fire surrogate treatments in ponderosa pine-dominated

forests of the Western United States. The primary audience

for the study is land managers, the people who make the

decisions about which tools are most appropriate to use

under different circumstances. Objectives include:

1. Effects: Quantify the effects of fire and fire surrogate

treatments on a number of critical response variables including (a) fuel and fire behavior, (b) vegetation, (c) soils

and forest floor, (d) wildlife, (e) entomology, (f) pathology,

and (g) treatment costs and utilization/economics.

2. Design: Provide a research design that (a) establishes

and maintains the study as an integrated national network

of long-term interdisciplinary research sites using a common “core” design, (b) allows each site to be independent for

purposes of statistical analysis and modeling, as well as

being a component of the national network, and (c) provides

flexibility for investigators of each research site to augment—without compromising—the core design to address

locally important issues and to exploit expertise and other

resources available to local sites.

3. Models: Develop and validate models of ecosystem

structure and function, and refine recommendations for

ecosystem management.

4. Relationships: Within the first 5 years of the study,

establish cooperative relationships, identify and establish

network research sites, collect baseline data, implement

initial treatments, document treatment costs, report results, and designate FFS research sites as demonstration

areas.

5. Database: Develop and maintain an integrated and

spatially referenced database to be used to archive data for

all network sites, and to allow interdisciplinary and metaanalyses.

6. Monitoring: Identify and field test a suite of response

variables that are sensitive to the fire and fire surrogate

treatments and are technically feasible for use in management contexts.

Research Approach _____________

Experimental Design

The FFS project can best be described as an operational

experiment, in which rigorous control is applied to a design

meaningful to managers. Thus while the experiment has

sufficient replication and control for each site to stand alone

statistically, the treatments, variables, and scales have been

chosen with the manager in mind. The treatments closely

match the options available for managers, the variables

chosen for study reflect those of greatest concern to managers, and the scale of the experimental units matches for the

most part the sizes of management units typically designed

by managers. In addition, the manner in which variables are

measured at each site facilitates an integrated analysis of

response for the range of variables, thereby providing the

kind of information managers need to assess tradeoffs among

the treatment options.

Treatments—Study treatments represent various combinations of the most common restoration activities used in

forested ecosystems: cutting trees or other vegetation,

using prescribed fire, and mechanically treating residues

or scarifying the soil. Four study treatments include those

that address widely shared concerns about forest health

and wildfire hazard, those that deal with environmental

concerns, and those most practical from an operational

standpoint:

1. Untreated control

2. Prescribed fire only, with periodic reburns

3. Initial and periodic cutting, each time followed by mechanical fuel treatment and/or physical removal of residue

4. Initial and periodic cutting, each time followed by

prescribed fire; fire alone also could be used one or more

times between cutting intervals

These four treatments also span the range of restoration activities advocated by proponents of “structure

restoration” (treatment 3), “process restoration” (treatment 2), or both (treatment 4) (Stephenson 1999).

Cuttings in treatments 3 and 4 will be repeated at intervals appropriate to the forest type and site conditions—for

example, every 20 years. Periodic prescribed burns in treatments 2 and 4 will be based on available information about

presettlement fire intervals for each research site. Irregular rather than fixed burn intervals are preferable where

supported by fire history evidence, as it seems likely that

important elements of ecosystem diversity were promoted

historically by natural variability in fire intervals (Agee

1993; Skinner and Chang 1996).

We recognize that treatment specifications can encompass considerable variability in both cutting/mechanical

and fire treatments that may differentially affect ecological

responses of interest. While more precise specifications

would reduce treatment variability among sites, such precision is neither feasible or desirable across so diverse an

array of sites. The real world of forest ecosystems and

resource management would not be well served by such a

prescriptive approach. Flexibility in treatment specification

does, however, increase the need for: (1) local replication to

allow each research site to stand on its own statistically;

(2) a specified desired future condition (DFC) for each site to

help guide the application of treatments; and (3) careful

documentation of treatments actually applied at each research site. We have defined a network-wide minimum

standard short-term DFC for the study, based on stand

resistance to wildfire:

Each noncontrol treatment shall be designed to achieve

stand and fuel conditions such that, if impacted by a head fire

under 80th percentile weather conditions, at least 80 percent

of the basal area of overstory (dominant and codominant)

trees will survive. The definition of 80th percentile weather

conditions will be based on an analysis of fire season conditions, calculated for mid-afternoon, over a period of 10 to 20

years at the closest fire weather station. The prescription to

implement the treatment will be developed based on fire

behavior modeling (for example, FARSITE; Finney 1998) and

predicted fire effects. Effects will be predicted using techniques such as FOFEM (First Order Fire Effects Model;

Reinhardt and others 1997) and/or other modeling efforts

that may include expert opinion.
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 107

Alternative Ponderosa Pine Restoration Treatments in the Western United States McIver, Weatherspoon, and Edminster

This standard presumes the retention of a viable residual

stand following treatment (clearcutting would not be an

acceptable treatment option). The DFC will be well defined

and implemented using a specific prescription to ensure

consistency among treatment units. Each site DFC will

consider management goals appropriate to that site, to

stand conditions, and to the expectations of resource managers and other stakeholders. While early treatments may

focus on thinning from below, or the equivalent using a

series of burns, long-term restoration of historic stand

structure will require provisions for recruitment of tree

regeneration and development of a sustainable age-class

distribution. Although fire hazard reduction will be a

continuing emphasis for treatments, in the long run it is

expected that stand structure will be increasingly able to

accommodate wildfires that occur under the 80th percentile

weather conditions.

Assuming the same starting point of stand and fuel conditions, moving toward a given DFC using the fire-only treatment will clearly be much less precise than using cutting

treatments. For example, some desired changes in stand

structure—for example thinning relatively large trees with

fire without doing damage to the overall stand—may not be

feasible. However, use of innovative prescriptions, firing

techniques, and other methods such as stage burning may,

over successive burns, permit considerable progress toward

most DFCs using prescribed fire alone.

Replication and Plot Size—So that each site can be

analyzed independently, each treatment will be replicated

at least three times per site, using either a completely

randomized or randomized block design. The core set of four

treatments will thus be represented in 12 treatment units at

each of the eight ponderosa pine research sites.

Each of the 12 core treatment units at a research site will

consist of a 10-ha measurement unit, within which core

variables will be measured, surrounded by a 4-ha treated

buffer. The 10-ha unit size is a compromise between advantages of smaller units (for example, reduced costs, reduced

within-unit variability) and those of larger units (for example, the need to represent natural variability at an operational scale, and the need to accommodate some larger scale

ecological responses). The buffer, treated in the same way as

the measurement unit it surrounds, will have a width at

least equal to the height of a best-site potential tree. A 30-m

treated buffer, for example, would bring the total size of the

treatment unit to about 14 ha. Site participants will need to

determine appropriate separation of treatment units and

the nature of treatment in the matrix between units.

We recognize that many aspects of wider ranging wildlife

species, bark beetles, and some economic questions can be

studied at the 10-ha scale only indirectly—for example, via

habitat attributes and modeling methods. Where feasible at

a given research site, two additional approaches may help to

address larger scale issues: (1) Larger replicated treatment

units (for example, larger buffers) can be used, provided that

the core 10-ha units are embedded within them and are used

for measurement of core response variables. Additional,

larger scale variables could then be measured on the larger

treatment units. (2) The core 10-ha replicated units can be

augmented with much larger (200 to 400 ha or more),

generally unreplicated areas nearby treated to the same

specifications. These large treatment areas could provide

useful information concerning operational-scale economics

and practicability, as well as larger scale ecological responses, especially if linked to the smaller replicated units

via appropriate models.

Response Variables—Ecosystem management requires

an understanding of three interacting components: societal

expectations and desires, management costs and revenues,

and how management activities affect the ecology of whole

systems. The social component will be linked to the study

through other efforts funded by the Joint Fire Science

Program and others. The FFS study is focused on economics

and ecology and, because the study is directed toward

management, is designed to provide information on how the

whole system responds to treatment, such that managers

can assess tradeoffs. Because core response variables will be

measured at all network sites in a consistent way, we will be

able to provide a package of information on how forest

ecosystems of this kind respond to management. This is

critical in a world where a number of issues are debated

simultaneously for every parcel of land. For example, while

fuel reduction may lower fire hazard and risk, removing

down woody material will also reduce foraging habitat for

birds and macroinvertebrate species. Measuring both the

extent of fuel reduction and its effect on biodiversity may

help identify thresholds that would be useful for fine tuning

management to achieve more holistic objectives. In addition,

measuring the costs and revenues of fuel reduction provides

the kind of information that allows the manager to assess

tradeoffs on the application of alternative management

tools. Finally, applying this design to eight different sites

will provide more robust information to guide management

decisions on restoration of ponderosa pine forests.

Several members of our FFS steering committee (see

Acknowledgments) have been serving as disciplinary group

leaders with responsibility for developing major sets of

response variables (table 1). Each group leader has worked

with a team of people with appropriate expertise to identify

a core set of response variables and measurement protocols

to use at all research sites. Their activities also have included cross-group coordination to ensure consistency, compatibility, and nonduplication of data collection efforts. As

Table 1—Disciplinary groups and group leaders.

Fire and fuels

Sally Haase, PSW Station, and Bob Vihnanek, PNW Station

Vegetation

Jon Keeley, USGS, Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks

Soils and forest floor/hydrology

Ralph Boerner, Ohio State University

Wildlife

Steve Zack, Wildlife Conservation Society

Entomology (primarily bark beetles)

Patrick Shea, PSW Station

Tree pathology

Bill Otrosina, SO Station

Treatment costs and utilization/economics

Jamie Barbour, PNW Station
108 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

McIver, Weatherspoon, and Edminster Alternative Ponderosa Pine Restoration Treatments in the Western United States

project implementation proceeds, they will work to ensure

that data collection protocols are followed consistently at all

the sites. This may include training, oversight of field crews,

or other measures as appropriate.

Within-unit sampling of all variables will be keyed to a

50-m square grid of permanent sample points to be established and maintained within each measurement unit. Any

number of grid points in a measurement unit may be used for

a given variable depending on the nature and appropriate

intensity of sampling for that variable. Referencing of all

data to the grid, coupled with digital orthophotography, will

facilitate spatial, interdisciplinary analysis.

Research Site Locations

Criteria for Site Selection—A network of research sites

using a common experimental design has the potential for

synergistic output exceeding what could be accomplished by

a series of separate, uncoordinated studies. In selecting

research sites we have developed and used the set of criteria

given in table 2.

Proposed Initial Sites—The proposed initial network

comprises 13 sites, each representing a forest with a historically short-interval, low- to moderate-severity fire regime.

Eight sites are in Western coniferous forests, ranging from

the Pacific Northwest to the Southwest (fig. 1). These sites

all share ponderosa pine as an important tree component,

but sites vary in composition of other conifers and differ

substantially in topography and soil. We recognize that

this network of pine sites does not represent all of the

geographic localities of Western pine forests that are in

need of restoration. However, its composition is a reasonable compromise considering the widespread need for the

Table 2—Criteria used in site selection.

1. Site is representative of forests with a historically short-interval, lowto moderate-severity fire regime and a currently high risk of uncharacteristically severe fire.

2. Site is representative of widespread forest conditions (site characteristics, forest type and structure, treatment history) that are in

need of, and likely to benefit from, fire or fire surrogate treatments,

and in which such treatments are feasible.

3. Site contributes significantly to balancing the overall network in

terms of regional representation and/or land ownership type.

4. Partners and cooperators are committed to and capable of participating in the program. This involves several factors, including

active support and interest in involvement on the part of partners/

cooperators; available land base for the study; ability and willingness of land managers to implement the full suite of experimental

treatments successfully within required timeframe, repeat treatments over time as appropriate, commit selected sites for long-term

research uses, and document these commitments in amendments

to long-term land management plans.

5. On Federal lands, treatment costs are borne by lead agency or

partner.

6. Partnerships exist across agencies and with universities, and

between researchers and managers.

information, anticipated availability of funding, and available expertise and commitment. Furthermore, depending

on the level of interest and support available, future sites at

other localities may be added to the network.

Acknowledgments ______________

We would like to acknowledge the Steering Committee,

the group of scientists and managers who jointly conceived

and developed the “Fire-Fire Surrogate” study. In addition

to the three authors of the current paper, the Steering

Committee consisted of the following individuals: James

Agee (University of Washington), Phil Aune, Jim Baldwin,

Matt Busse, Gary Fiddler, Sally Haase, Kathy Harksen, Bill

Laudenslayer, Martin Ritchie, Patrick Shea, and Carl Skinner (PSW Station, USDA Forest Service), Sue Husari and

Mike Landram (USDA Forest Service, Region 5), Frank

Beall and Scott Stephens (University of California), Ron

Hodgson (California State University), Jon Keeley and Nate

Stephenson (Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park), Jamie

Barbour, John Lehmkuhl, Roger Ottmar, Bob Vihnanek,

and Andy Youngblood (PNW Station, USDA Forest Service),

Steve Zack (Wildlife Conservation Society), Carl Fiedler

(University of Montana), Julio Betancourt (USGS), Mick

Harrington, Kevin Ryan, Elaine Sutherland, and Dan Neary

(Rocky Mountain Station, USDA Forest Service), Ralph

Boerner (Ohio State University), Dan Yaussy (NE Station,

USDA Forest Service), Bill Otrosina, Dale Wade, and Tom

Waldrop (Southern Station, USDA Forest Service). We also

wish to thank the USDI/USDA Joint Fire Science Program

for its support throughout the life of this project.

References _____________________

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Arno, S.F.; Smith, H.Y.; Krebs, M.A. 1997. Old growth ponderosa

pine and western larch stand structures: influences of pre-1900

fires and fire exclusion. Res. Pap. INT-RP-495. U.S. Department

of Agriculture, Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station.

Babbitt, B. 2000. Unpublished speech by U.S. Secretary of the

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Nevada, CA. Forest Ecology and Management 105:21–34.

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forest restoration: structure, process, and precision. Ecological

Applications 4:1253–1265.

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prescribed fire in Pacific Northwest Forests. Oregon State University Press, Corvallis, OR. 317 p.

Weatherspoon, C.P. 1996. Fire-silviculture relationships in Sierra

forests. In: Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project, Final Report to

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Centers for Water and Wildland Resources, University of California: 1167–1176.

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110 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

In: Vance, Regina K.; Edminster, Carleton B.; Covington, W. Wallace;

Blake, Julie A. comps. 2001. Ponderosa pine ecosystems restoration and

conservation: steps toward stewardship; 2000 April 25–27; Flagstaff, AZ.

Proceedings RMRS-P-22. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture,

Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station.

Steven Culver is the Fishery Biologist on the South Platte Ranger District,

USDA Forest Service. Steve has 14 years of natural resource and NEPA

planning experience with the National Park Service and 1 year with the

USDA Forest Service. He has 6 years of fishery biologist experience with the

Colorado Division of Wildlife and other agencies. Cindy Dean has 14 years

experience with the USDA Forest Service, including positions as writereditor and planner, as well as positions in timber sale preparation, timber sale

administration, and silviculture. Fred Patten is the Project Leader for the

Upper South Platte Protection and Restoration Project on the South Platte

Ranger District. He had 31 years experience with the USDA Forest Service,

including 9 years in forest planning on the Colville National Forest, Stikine

Area of the Tongass National Forest and Chugach National Forest. He has

served as a Forester on Districts and Staff Officer on three Forests. Jim

Thinnes is Sivilculturist on the South Platte Ranger District and has experience on six National Forests and eight Ranger Districts and 21 years with the

USDA Forest Service. His background includes planning, hydrology, silviculture, and timber management in three regions.

Upper South Platte Watershed Protection

and Restoration Project

Steve Culver

Cindy Dean

Fred Patten

Jim Thinnes

Abstract—The Upper South Platte Basin is a critical watershed in

Colorado. Nearly 80 percent of the water used by the 1.5 million

Denver metropolitan residents comes from or is transmitted through

this river drainage. The Colorado Unified Watershed Assessment

identified the Upper South Platte River as a Category 1 watershed

in need of restoration. Most of the river basin is located within the

Pike National Forest southwest of the city of Denver. The South

Platte River is also a major recreation area in Colorado and is highly

regarded for its trout fishery.

The Upper South Platte Watershed Protection and Restoration

Project was proposed in 1998 by Denver Water, the Colorado State

Forest Service, Colorado State University, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the USDA Forest Service to respond to concerns

about catastrophic disturbances in this watershed. The project is

addressing these concerns by focusing on landscape vegetation patterns, soil erosion, and water quality within the Upper South Platte

River Basin.

Introduction ____________________

The Upper South Platte Watershed Project was initiated

in August 1998 to restore and protect the watershed. The

project involves an interagency partnership between the

USDA Forest Service, Colorado State Forest Service, Denver Water Board, and Environmental Protection Agency.

These partners are concerned with continued soil and water

problems from the Buffalo Creek Fire of 1996 and the

potential for future fires to cause problems in other parts of

the watershed. The partners intend to use watershed restoration as a guideline for management and project planning.

The Upper South Platte Protection and Restoration Project

will reduce the potential for adverse effects to water quality,

human life, and property by achieving the following goals:

• Reduce sediment, crown fires, and risks to property

• Create sustainable forest conditions in the Upper South

Platte River Basin

The partners intend to improve water quality by reducing

road and trail sediment, stabilizing stream channels, and

reducing noxious weeds. Using prescribed fires, natural

fires, mechanical vegetation treatments, and creating sustainable forest conditions will also reduce the risk of high

intensity crown fires. Urban interface hazards will be reduced through educational programs and vegetation treatment on private lands. Sustainable forest conditions will be

created by thinning stands, establishing openings, and maintaining snags and down logs. Research from the Cheesman

historic forest landscape will guide the forest restoration

activities.

The project will begin in three sixth-level watersheds.

Restoration actions on public lands will focus in the Waterton/

Deckers and Horse Creek watersheds. The USDA Forest

Service, the Colorado Forest Service, and Denver Water will

coordinate with other Federal and State agencies, local

governments, and interested parties to plan, implement,

and monitor restoration projects in the Upper South Platte

River Basin. The partners involved in the Upper South

Platte Project will implement new methods of doing business to protect watersheds that cross ownership or jurisdictional boundaries.

Land, Water, and Ecosystems _____

Characterization

The Upper South Platte Basin is a critical watershed in

Colorado that encompasses about 1,000 square miles. Nearly

80 percent of the water used by the 2.5 million Denver

metropolitan residents comes from or is transmitted through

this river drainage. The Colorado Unified Watershed Assessment, as required in the Federal Clean Water Action

Plan, identified the Upper South Platte as a Category 1

watershed in need of restoration. Most of the basin is within

the Pike National Forest southwest of Denver, CO. The

South Platte River is also a major recreation area in Colorado and is a highly regarded trout fishery.
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 111

Upper South Platte Watershed Protection and Restoration Project Culver, Dean, Patten, and Thinnes

The Pike National Forest portion of the protected area

comprises about 500,000 acres. Private land in holdings

comprise about 100,000 acres; the State of Colorado owns

about 2,000 acres within the project area and manages

15,725 acres of Denver Water lands. The Bureau of Land

Management and the city of Aurora also manage lands

within the project area.

The Upper South Platte Project can be divided into three

major vegetation zones based on elevation. The montane

zone ranges from 6,500 to 10,000 feet in elevation and is

made up primarily of ponderosa pine, Douglas-fir, and, in

the upper portions, lodgepole pine. About 450,000 acres are

in the montane zone. The subalpine zone ranges from 10,000

to 12,000 feet in elevation and comprises primarily lodgepole

pine, aspen, Engelmann spruce, and subalpine fir on about

150,000 acres. The alpine zone includes the areas above tree

line and primarily comprises alpine meadows, shrub land,

rock and pockets of bristlecone pine on about 50,000 acres.

The montane forests were intensively harvested in the late

1800s and early 1900s to supply mining needs, railroad ties,

and building materials. However, a 12-square-mile area of

montane forest was not logged and provides valuable information for restoration guidelines.

Timber management today primarily involves the harvest

of dead wood for firewood. Most stands are mature, with 80

percent of the forested area in densely stocked, late seral

conditions. The principal wildlife species within the project

area are mule deer, elk, Merriam’s turkey, Abert’s squirrel

and Wilson’s warbler. The principal fish species are rainbow

trout, brown trout, cutthroat trout, brook trout, white sucker,

long nose sucker, and long nose dace. Wildlife viewing,

photography, hunting, and fishing are an important part of

many recreation activities.

Recreation in the Upper South Platte Project area includes sight-seeing, picnicking, camping, hiking, mountain

biking, motorcycle and ATV riding, cross-country skiing,

boating, fishing, and hunting. There are two designated

Wildernesses within the watershed, Lost Creek and Mount

Evans. Developed recreation facilities along the river corridors include 20 campgrounds. In addition to the campgrounds on the South Platte River, there are several developed picnic areas and numerous trailheads and parking

sites. Use of the South Platte River and the adjacent uplands

has increased annually over the past decade. Recreation use

was estimated at 1,650,000 visitor days in 1995. This increase is largely attributable to the rapid population growth

in the Denver metropolitan area and surrounding counties.

The population has been increasing about 2.5 percent annually or 40,000 people per year. In-migrating residents tend

to be active and affluent, giving rise to an increase in demand

for dispersed recreation activities.

Landscape Assessment

A recent Colorado Front Range Assessment identified

large areas along the Colorado Front Range where current

forest conditions and urban interface are not conducive with

the natural disturbance processes. The current forested

landscape does not reflect the historic disturbance regime

and is not sustainable. Fire suppression in the 20th century

has allowed smaller, thin-barked trees to reproduce. The

Upper South Platte forests of today are denser than historic

conditions, containing more small trees compared to the

forests prior to 1900. These small trees serve as fire ladders,

allowing ground fires to climb into the tree canopy and

become crown fires. Wildfire severity and frequency have

increased in recent years. These forest conditions, when

combined with greater human encroachment into the forestlands, have dramatically increased the risk for loss of life

and property from wildfires.

The Buffalo Creek Fire burned about 12,000 acres in 1996,

destroying several homes and removing essential forest

cover on highly erosive soils. Heavy rainfall and floods

following the fire resulted in two fatalities and substantial

erosion and sedimentation. Downstream reservoirs that

supply water for the Denver metropolitan area were adversely affected. Denver Water spent nearly $1 million on

water quality cleanup and dredging operations in their

reservoirs. They estimate they will spend an additional $25

million on future cleanup, dredging, and water treatment

modifications as a result of the Buffalo Creek Fire.

A landscape assessment was completed for the 645,000-

acre Upper South Platte Watershed in September 1999. Key

issues were identified and management recommendations

were made to address catastrophic disturbances. The

landscape assessment identified the dominant ecological

processes and developed recommendations to restore and

maintain the health of the Upper South Platte watershed.

Landscape Pattern of Vegetation—The structure, composition, and landscape pattern of vegetation have been

altered from conditions found prior to the arrival of EuroAmerican people by the cumulative effect of human activities. Lowering the density of timber stands and creating

more openings in ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir forests

should reduce the risk of large-scale catastrophic fires, such

as the Buffalo Creek Fire. Maintaining healthy forest stand

conditions should also reduce the severity of other disturbances, including insect epidemics. Reducing existing fuel

buildups by the use of prescribed fire and other treatments

will reduce the threat of high-intensity wildfires and

the associated risks of flooding, erosion, and downstream

sedimentation.

Soil Development and Movement—Soil development

and movement in the Upper South Platte Basin may be

changed significantly by human influences on disturbance

processes. Soil erosion hazard is correlated to road and trail

density, vegetation, and drainage patterns, an especially

severe problem in the highly erosive soils of the project area.

Paved and unpaved roads and trails with inadequate maintenance, inadequate drainage, or improper engineering can

lead to considerable erosion and increased sedimentation.

Realigning or improving drainage and maintenance of existing roads and trails will reduce soil erosion and sedimentation, and improve road and trail safety. Closing and restoring unnecessary roads and trails will also reduce soil erosion

and sedimentation.

Water Quality, Quantity, and Aquatic Habitats—

Recent catastrophic fire and flood events have resulted in

the movement of large amounts of sediment into the streams,

harming water quality, aquatic habitat, and valuable municipal water systems. Water treatment plants had to be
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Culver, Dean, Patten, and Thinnes Upper South Platte Watershed Protection and Restoration Project

shut down, and the tap water had a bad odor and taste.

Restoring the landscape vegetation to more sustainable

conditions will reduce the potential for catastrophic events.

Abandoned mine reclamation and drainage control will also

have a positive impact on aquatic habitat.

Customers and the Public

Benefit ________________________

The Upper South Platte River Basin is southwest of

Denver, CO. The area includes portions of Park, Jefferson,

Douglas, Teller, and Clear Creek Counties. Residential land

use in the Upper South Platte Basin is primarily rural;

recreation, mining, and agriculture form the economic base.

The watershed is sparsely populated, with several small

towns located near historic mining and recreation areas.

Many of the small communities have a mixture of permanent and seasonal residents. The communities of Bailey

(population 9,100) and Woodland Park (population 9,000)

are the largest urban areas within the watershed. Other

small communities include Shawnee, Pine, Trumbull,

Oxyoke, Nighthawk, and Deckers. Many homes are located

in unincorporated areas adjacent to the South Platte River

and its tributaries.

Stakeholders

The stakeholders include local and county governments,

fire departments, landowners, and the business and environmental communities. The Upper South Platte Watershed Protection Association is a stakeholder group that

shares similar interests with the Upper South Platte Watershed Protection and Restoration Project. The project will

seek to develop a partnership with the association.

The Upper South Platte Project will benefit watershed

stakeholders in several ways. Reducing wildfire severity

will also reduce the risk of large, disastrous fires and the

resulting home and property damage in the urban interface.

Many of the residents’ livelihoods are dependent on the

surrounding natural resources. Sustainable forest conditions would support continued recreation and employment

opportunities in the natural resource-related jobs.

Customers

Customers include horseback riders, hikers, mountain

bikers, motorcycle, ATV and four-wheel drive enthusiasts,

campers, anglers, hunters, and guides, Denver Water consumers, and downstream irrigators. The Upper South Platte

Basin supplies about 80 percent of the water needs of Denver

and the surrounding communities (50 percent from the

South Platte and 30 percent from the North Fork). The

current demand on the Denver Water system averages

265,000 acre-feet per year. The supply is about 345,000 acrefeet per year. Water resource development interests have

identified the Upper South Platte Basin as the most efficient

supply with the least costly storage sites for the Denver

metropolitan area’s future water.

The Denver metropolitan area residents also benefit from

the Upper South Platte Project in several ways. Reducing

sediment transport will minimize impacts on water quality.

Denver Water will save money on maintaining reservoir

capacity and water treatment. Water bills will remain low

for Denver Water customers, and they will continue to have

quality drinking water. The Denver metropolitan area residents comprise the majority of the recreation users in the

Upper South Platte River Basin. Sustainable forest conditions will permit continued high quality forest recreation

opportunities.

The Public

As a result of the Upper South Platte Restoration Project,

the forest will be less prone to catastrophic wildfire. This will

save suppression costs on large wildfires and create more

sustainable landscape conditions for soil, water, fish, wildlife, and recreation.

Controversies __________________

Fire Risks

A report prepared by the Federal General Accounting

Office in 1999 describes the seriousness and problems that

now exist from the threat of catastrophic wildfires to forest

resources and communities in the following statement:

Uncontrollable wild fires should be seen as a failure of land

management and public policy, not as an unpredictable act of

nature. The size, intensity, destructiveness and cost of wildfires are no accident. It is an outcome of our attitudes and

priorities. The fire situation will become worse rather than

better unless there are changes in land management priority

at all levels.

The early logging from 1870 to 1900, grazing of domestic

livestock, and fire suppression effects on the Upper South

Platte Watershed have resulted in conditions that differ

markedly from pre-Euro-American settlement conditions,

especially in the ponderosa pine, Douglas-fir forests. These

forests have changed from a mosaic of patches with different

aged trees and tree densities to a more uniform, dense forest.

The fire regimes have changed over time from mixed severity fires to crown fires.

In the last 150 years, no extensive fires have occurred in

the drainage. A low-intensity fire that occurred in the 1850s

was extensive. A similar fire should have reoccurred in 60

years. These “natural” fires and tree recruitment periods

following the fires resulted in considerable spatial and

temporal heterogeneity. There are four components to this

type of forest. The first component is forested patches with

a distinct age cap. The second component includes patches of

old-growth ponderosa pine with no evidence of past standreplacing fires. In these patches, ponderosa pine and, often,

Douglas-fir trees range widely in ages and states of health

and decline. The third component is nonforested openings

created by fire. The fourth component is the riparian system.

These components proportions have changed significantly

in the Upper South Platte Watershed, which increases the

likelihood of a catastrophic fire.
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Upper South Platte Watershed Protection and Restoration Project Culver, Dean, Patten, and Thinnes

Air Quality

Wildland fire is a major source of air pollutants that have

the potential to create high concentrations of fine particulates. The Environmental Protection Agency 24-hour standard for these particulates with a diameter of less than 10

microns is 150 micrograms per cubic meter. Concentrations

of 5,000 micrograms per cubic meter have been measured on

some wildland fires.

The emissions vary significantly between flaming and

smoldering combustion. Six to 10 times more particulates

are produced by smoldering combustion compared to flaming combustion. Most small fuels are consumed by flaming

combustion and have a relatively small emission factor.

About 40 percent of the larger fuels, those materials 6 inches

in diameter and larger, burn by smoldering combustion,

which results in large emissions. By removing larger materials before the ignition, the potential for large amounts of

smoke and larger fuels to smolder for long periods of time is

reduced. This smoldering often occurs after ideal meteorological conditions have passed and an inversion has set in.

We are working to develop markets for small diameter materials so they can be removed by methods other than prescribed

fire.

Prescribed fires are scheduled during periods when meteorological conditions will prevent violating air quality

standards. Of course, it is not possible to schedule a wild fire.

Prescribed fire can be an excellent technique to prevent

extreme emission from being generated from a wild fire.

Agencies in Colorado are working hard to improve monitoring and predicting the impacts of fire emissions to the

ambient air quality and visibility.

Water Quality

The Upper South Platte watershed is a valuable drainage

system to Denver and surrounding communities. Of particular concern is the quality and quantity of water produced by

this watershed. Shortly after the Buffalo Creek Fire, a

strong thunderstorm occurred over the burned area. Flooding from this storm moved large amounts of sediment,

destroyed homes and bridges, and decreased soil stability.

Following the fire there were efforts to rehabilitate the

burned area. Although some of the rehabilitation was successful, another flood caused two human fatalities and

moved tremendous quantities of sediment. Much of the

sediment settled in the Strontia Springs Reservoir, which

supplies municipal water. Aquatic habitat was also damaged as a result of the fire and floods.

This project is now making a concentrated effort to protect

and restore the landscape to a more sustainable condition to

reduce the potential for future catastrophic events that

would dramatically affect water quality and aquatic habitat.

The intent of these efforts is to move watershed conditions

and functions towards more sustainable conditions.

Erosion

Human activities have affected soil development and

movement during the past 100 years, primarily by influencing disturbance processes. Alterations to natural disturbance

processes may increase catastrophic events, such as a fire.

Soil development and movement depend on several factors:

climate, parent material, time, vegetation, and disturbance.

Granite is the parent material of most of this watershed.

Granite weathers to gruss, which is a coarse gravel to fine

sand crystalline regolith. Gruss and the soils that develop on

it are highly erodible when exposed to direct impacts of rain,

overland flow, or removal of vegetation by fire. Consequently, soil development and soil movement may be much

different spatially and temporally during the past 100 years

than the 1,000 years before Euro-American influence. An

imbalance of soil development processes that may have

potential long-term detrimental effects to the health and

vigor of the watershed has likely occurred.

Land uses, such as suburban and rural development, are

activities that can increase the surface erosion and soil loss.

For a period, these activities may expose detrimentally

compacted, displaced or fragmented surface organic and

mineral layers to erosion. The net effect of these conditions

may leave the surface soil layers in an unstable or unprotected state that can erode and deposit in streams and

reservoirs.

Road construction, home construction and recreation use

are on the rise in the Upper South Platte watershed, fueled

by population growth in Denver. The Buffalo Creek Fire

burned homes and forest cover on about 12,000 acres of

highly erosive soils. Fortunately, this fire did not burn in a

heavily populated area. While the homes were quickly rebuilt, ecological recovery has been slow. Hillsides are still

barren of woody vegetation, and soil erosion continues. The

soils are being transported to a storage reservoir for Denver

Water. Denver Water estimates it will take $25 million to

dredge this reservoir.

Marketing ______________________

Marketing that involves the public and organizations has

been designed to help develop a desired image of the watershed and the project. The objectives include:

• Providing timely and accurate information about the

Upper South Platte Project to interested parties, media,

public officials and others.

• Preparing and issuing news releases from the partners

pertaining to the Upper South Platte Project in coordination with the Pike National Forest, Rocky Mountain

Regional Office, Colorado State Forest Service and

Denver Water.

• Informing the public and affected interests of the importance of healthy watersheds and the disturbances that

can affect them.

• Emphasizing partner’s commitment to implementing

the Upper South Platte Project and completing activities on the ground.

• Offering opportunities for individuals and affected interests to contribute to the project—support, comments,

ideas, assistance.

• Building and strengthening relationships with community leaders as well as interested individuals and

organizations.

• Gaining recognition of and support for the project.
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Culver, Dean, Patten, and Thinnes Upper South Platte Watershed Protection and Restoration Project

Partnerships ___________________

Partners in the Upper South Platte Watershed are those

agencies and organizations contributing funds or services to

the Restoration Project. The Upper South Platte Restoration Project is coordinating with and seeking the involvement of stakeholders, customers, and the public. The project

is also developing additional stakeholder partners. The

partners are concerned with water quality issues and fire

risks within the Upper South Platte River Basin.

The partners agree to use watershed restoration as a

guide for management and project planning within the

Upper South Platte River Basin. The partners agree to the

following collaboration principles: no one is the center of a

network; keep commitments; communicate in a candid and

tactful manner; honor each others’ interests and contributions; and keep shared work products visible.

Rocky Mountain Region and Pike National

Forest

The USDA Forest Service manages about 500,000 acres of

the Pike National Forest within the Upper South Platte

Basin. National forest management occurs within a framework set by Federal laws and regulations. The agency’s

ultimate responsibility is to manage National Forest lands

for multiple benefits on a sustainable basis. The USDA

Forest Service operates within the annual budgets appropriated by Congress. Individual projects are planned with

public input using the National Environmental Policy Act

(NEPA) process. The Federal budget, acquisition, and planning processes result in the USDA Forest Service moving

slower than the other partners.

The Rocky Mountain Region and the Pike National Forest

entered into the partnership to facilitate meeting landscape

objectives. Although the agency manages nearly 80 percent

of the lands within the Upper South Platte River Basin, it

cannot hope to achieve the landscape objectives without

partners. The partners will provide resources to improve

conditions adjacent to the largest streams and in the urban

interface where private lands predominate. The partnerships provide a means to increase efficiencies in planning

and implementing projects on a landscape basis. The partners provide a collaboration to leverage funds to achieve

shared objectives.

The management branch of the USDA Forest Service has

a three-person team assigned full time to the Upper South

Platte Project. The team is involved in all aspects of the

project, including public involvement, partner recruitment,

restoration projects, and coordination with other Forest

Service projects and programs. The team has identified

numerous specific restoration projects to improve terrestrial

and aquatic conditions. The planning for these projects

began in 2000. The majority of the projects described in the

Business Plan will occur on the Pike National Forest.

Rocky Mountain Research Station

The research branch of the USDA Forest Service focuses

on academic issues in forest management. Peer-reviewed

research provides tools and context for National Forest

management. The research branch is relatively independent of the land management branch to minimize any

scientific bias. The Rocky Mountain Research Station entered the partnership to assure the relevance of research to

land management by formalizing the feedback loop to the

knowledge base. Monitoring by the research community

assures research conclusions can be tested on a landscape

basis, and management practices can be adapted accordingly.

The Upper South Platte Project is based on science. It is

not a pilot or test. It will rely heavily on research being

conducted at Cheesman Lake, an intact historical landscape

that can serve as a model for restoration activities in the

lower montane zone for the Colorado Front Range.

A great deal is known about the natural disturbance

history of this historical landscape and about the structure

of the landscape components. Management actions will be

based on this knowledge without compromising options.

Research during the first years of the project will improve

knowledge about the overall landscape and the structure

and processes regulating it. New information can be incorporated into project planning and implementation. However,

technical limitations may prevent new research information

being implemented in a timely way.

The Forest Service research branch will conduct the research for the restoration activities, at an annual cost to the

project of $175,000. We are using the Forest Vegetation

Simulator and Stand Visualization System with existing

data. A GIS layer of forest structure at the landscape scale

has been developed for the historical Cheesman Lake landscape. Fire behavior is being evaluated for several landscape

scenarios using the FARSITE model. Additional research

for fiscal year 2000 included: (1) developing an integrated

landscape Historical Range of Variability for the historical

landscape; (2) testing this Historic Range of Variability

elsewhere in South Platte Basin; and (3) preparing threedimensional visualizations of various landscape scenarios.

After the first year, subsequent research will focus on

tightening the description of the historical landscape and

natural variation in the processes affecting landscape patterns, with the overall goal of extending results to the larger

montane zone of the Front Range. This will include refining

restoration scenarios for the project landscape and evaluating crown fire potential and water balance, comparing the

project area and historical landscape. Subsequent research

also will assess pretreatment and posttreatment under

story plant diversity in the project area, including noxious

weeds.

Colorado State Forest Service

The mission of the Colorado State Forest Service is to

achieve stewardship of Colorado’s environment through

forestry outreach and service. The mission includes protecting natural resources from damaging elements and increasing public understanding of forestry’s role and value in a

healthy environment. The State owns about 2,000 acres

within the Upper South Platte River Basin. The Colorado

State Forest Service has a contract to manage Denver Water

lands in addition to the State lands. The State will work

closely with private landowners to reduce the fire risk in the

urban/forest interface. The partnership provides the State
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Upper South Platte Watershed Protection and Restoration Project Culver, Dean, Patten, and Thinnes

with demonstration areas for other landowners on Colorado’s

Front Range. The partnership also provides a mechanism to

leverage funds and improve communication with the public.

Denver Water

Denver Water owns 15,725 acres within the Upper South

Platte River Basin. The forest management is under contract to the Colorado State Forest Service. They manage

dams and reservoirs within the basin, which provide

80 percent of the water used by Denver metropolitan residents. Strontia Springs Reservoir was adversely affected by

sediment following the Buffalo Creek Fire. Denver Water

wants to reduce the risk of future events like the Buffalo

Creek Fire by proactively managing its lands and the public

lands within the basin. Denver Water can communicate the

partners’ objectives to nearly one million residential water

customers.

USDI Geological Survey

The U.S. Geological Survey maintains stream gauges and

monitors water quality across the United States. The U.S.

Geological Survey collected water quality and soil erosion

data in the Upper South Platte River Basin following the

Buffalo Creek Fire. The U.S. Geological Survey has GIS data

available for the landscape. Their monitoring experience

has resulted in well-established monitoring protocols for soil

and water parameters. They will help develop and implement the monitoring plan.

USDA Natural Resource Conservation

Service

The Natural Resource Conservation Service provides soil

and conservation technical assistance to private landowners. They provide an additional avenue of public outreach

and have a close working relationship with the local Soil

Conservation Districts (local officials appointed by county

commissioners). The Natural Resource Conservation Service may be a source of potential cost-share funding for

private landowners. They have soil inventories for the area

and can provide water quality testing.

Trout Unlimited

The Trout Unlimited Cutthroat Chapter is concerned

about road- and trail-related sediment that is adversely

affecting fish habitat in the South Platte River. They are

interested in identifying potential restoration projects to

reduce sediment and can provide volunteers to help complete the work. Trout Unlimited has expressed an interest in

reconstructing the Gill Trail.

Elk Creek Fire Protection District

The Elk Creek Fire Protection District provides fire protection in the urban/forest interface. The district is interested in creating defensible space to fight forest fires before

homes become engulfed in flames. The district will work

with the Colorado State Forest Service to raise public awareness and educate homeowners on how to create defensible

space.

Landscape Restoration __________

Mechanical Vegetation Treatment

The Landscape Assessment identified the Cheesman,

Trout Creek, and Waterton/Deckers and Horse Creek watersheds as high priority for forest vegetation and wildlife

habitat restoration. The ponderosa pine/Douglas-fir forests

are at high risk of catastrophic fire because of dense, evenaged, closed-crown forest conditions. These forests have

very little down wood to permit low intensity ground fires.

Under extreme fire conditions (hot, dry, and windy), fire will

carry as a high intensity crown fire. Mechanical treatment

is needed to reduce the canopy density and create openings.

The objective is to reduce canopy density to 30 percent or less

on up to 80 percent of the ponderosa pine/Douglas-fir landscape. Openings of 1–40 acres will be created on up to 25

percent of this landscape. The mechanical vegetation treatments will include commercial timber sales, stewardship/

service contracts, noncommercial thinning, and chipping

or shredding to masticate the trees on site. Prescribed fire

will be used in conjunction with mechanical vegetation

treatments.

About 2,000 acres will have mechanical vegetation treatment on an annual basis. The operational costs vary considerably based on the method used. Monitoring plan that

includes vegetation plots and landscape mosaics will measure accomplishments.

Generally, lands with existing road access and slopes less

than 35 percent may use commercial timber sales to meet

the vegetation objectives. The timber value in the basin is

relatively low; therefore, some flat areas with roads may

require stewardship/service contracts to meet the vegetation objectives. Noncommercial hand felling, shredding, or

chipping will be used in steep or limited access areas.

Most of the mechanical vegetation treatments will occur

on National Forest lands managed by the USDA Forest

Service. The Colorado Forest Service will manage State and

Denver Water lands and provide assistance to private landowners. Costs for mechanical vegetation treatment vary

from commercial value for some timber sales to several

hundred dollars per acre for hand falling. An average cost of

$137.50 per acre is planned for mechanical treatment. The

actual cost could be considerably different if the treatment

mix differs significantly from the assumed 50–75 percent in

commercial removal.

Reforestation

A portion of the Buffalo Creek Fire area requires reforestation to provide vegetation diversity. The USDA Forest

Service will plant about 1,000 acres with ponderosa pine

widely spaced. Standard reforestation survival and growth

protocol will be used to measure accomplishments. The seed

inventory is currently insufficient to provide an adequate
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Culver, Dean, Patten, and Thinnes Upper South Platte Watershed Protection and Restoration Project

number of seedlings. Seeds will be sowed in 2000 to plant 100

acres of container seedlings in 2001. Cones will be collected

in 2000–2002 to replenish the seed inventory. Additional

seed will be sowed in 2001–2003 to plant 300 acres per year

the following years. Reforestation costs are expected to be

$500 per acre.

Noxious Weeds

Leafy spurge, diffuse knapweed, yellow and Dalmatian

toadflax, and Canada and musk thistles are noxious weeds

along 25 miles of the South Platte River. These noxious

weeds are less palatable to wildlife, are less effective in

stabilizing soil, and often out compete native vegetation.

The goal is to reduce the infested acres. About 200 acres will

be treated annually using chemical, biological, mechanical,

and manual methods. Accomplishments will be measured by

surveying the river corridor annually to determine if the

infestation zone is shrinking, remaining constant, or growing.

The USDA Forest Service, Colorado Division of Wildlife,

Colorado Department of Agriculture, and county weed boards

are working with private landowners and volunteer groups

to manage the noxious weed problem. County weed management departments will assist in developing integrated weed

management plans for all land ownerships. The National

Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the USDA Forest Service

have provided grants for noxious weed treatments in previous years. A contribution of $20,000 annually will be used to

leverage an additional $40,000 in grants from partners.

A noxious weed prevention strategy will require treating

an additional 200 acres annually prior to mechanical and

prescribed fire treatments. The additional 200 acres will

require $40,000, for a total of $60,000 funds annually.

Roads

Many roads are poorly located and poorly maintained.

Roads are the major source of anthropogenic erosion and

sedimentation. The Pike National Forest plans to inventory

its roads and update the information during the next 3 years.

The project will accelerate the inventory within the basin

and supplement the collected information to include sitespecific erosion and sedimentation concerns. The updated

information will be used to assess and prioritize roads for

maintenance, closure, and obliteration. The cost in fiscal

year 2000 cost will be $55,000.

Road maintenance in the basin costs about $100,000

annually. Currently, several roads not normally maintained

are in obvious need of maintenance or need more effective

closure devices installed. In fiscal year 2000, $45,000 will be

used to place effective water bars or closure devices on 100

miles of priority roads known to be contributing high amounts

of sediment. The road assessment is anticipated to identify

$120,000 of road maintenance, $73,000 of road reconstruction improvements from funds, and $57,000 of road obliteration annually in fiscal years 2002–2005. Accomplishments

will be measured by visual inspection to assure best management practices are implemented and effective. The monitoring plan identifies the protocols to evaluate if roads are

affecting water quality.

Trails

The goal of the following trails projects is to create a safe,

sustainable trail system in the South Platte watershed to

meet the needs of hikers and other trail users while minimizing environmental impacts.

Cheesman Canyon is one of Colorado’s treasures. The Gill

Trail travels through the Cheesman Canyon and accesses a

nationally known fishery along the Platte River. The trail is

used by many hikers interested in seeing one of Colorado’s

major canyons absent roads, railroads, and residential development. Views of the historic Cheesman Dam and rugged

canyon scenery also attract trail users. The Gill Trail was

constructed about 40 years ago, stopping short of Cheesman

Reservoir. No major trail improvements have occurred since

then. An estimated 25,000 visitors per year use the trail and

their effects are clearly evident. Crumbling side-slope trails

have caused numerous braided routes and excessive erosion.

Many social trails have been created to try to access the

South Platte River, and some sections of this route are

unsafe. The excessive and braided trails also cut through

habitat used by the Federally listed Pawnee montane skipper, killing the plants on which they depend.

The USDA Forest Service, the National Park Service,

consultants, and partners have prepared preliminary trail

plans that address the issues described above. Key partners

in this project include the Cutthroat Chapter of Trout

Unlimited, Denver Water, and the USDA Forest Service.

The final trail plan will be refined and evaluated under the

National Environmental Policy Act planning process by the

end of fiscal year 2000. Trail and restoration work will

include safe rerouting and repair of existing trail, building a

new safe sustainable trail from the original alignment to

Cheesman Reservoir, expanding parking areas, eliminating

braided trails, rehabilitating damaged side slopes, and restoring native vegetation that can be used by the skipper. All

work will be completed by fiscal year 2004. Expected project

benefits include improved safety, hiking experience, and

visual quality along the trail, restored skipper habitat, and

reduced sediment input from eroding trails. Local economic

benefits may result from expenditures for goods and services

by anglers and hikers attracted to the improved South Platte

River access.

The estimated total cost for this project is $400,000 over

the next 5 years. The trail design, construction, and maintenance portion is estimated at about $355,000, restoration

about $30,000, and monitoring at $15,000. Besides the

USDA Forest Service’s contribution, Trout Unlimited and

Denver Water will contribute about $126,000 (32 percent of

the project total cost). Trout Unlimited and the USDA Forest

Service have also applied for grants totaling $145,000 (36

percent of the project total) from the Colorado State Trails

Program and Fishing is Fun. This project will make extensive use of volunteers from Trout Unlimited and Volunteers

for Colorado Outdoors to perform trail work.

Prescribed Fire

Fire has been suppressed in the Waterton-Deckers and

Horse Creek watersheds for more than 100 years. Therefore,

the natural fuels have been building up over time and have
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Upper South Platte Watershed Protection and Restoration Project Culver, Dean, Patten, and Thinnes

the potential for large catastrophic stand- replacing fires.

These stands are generally dense, even-aged, with closed

crown conditions. Extreme fire conditions (low humidity,

low fuel moistures, high temperatures and wind) allow fire

ignitions to result in high-intensity crown fire. The objective

of this project is to treat 2,000 acres annually with prescribed fire to reduce natural and activity fuels and, where

possible, create openings in the ponderosa pine-Douglas-fir

stands. The areas to be treated will be companion areas to

those being treated by mechanical methods.

The operational costs should not vary from costs experienced over the past 5 years in the prescribed fire program.

Accomplishments will be measured based on the monitoring

plan. Prescribed fire can be used to treat lands with little or

no access and slopes greater than 35 percent. The slopes

greater than 35 percent are on the upper limit for mechanical treatment. There may be a need to return to the stands

treated by prescribed fire to supplement the prescription by

hand felling trees not killed by fire to enlarge openings.

Mechanical treatments will generally be followed by prescribed fire on lands managed by the Colorado State Forest

Service and the USDA Forest Service.

Monitoring

Monitoring will serve as the quality control aspect of this

restoration project. Data collection and observations of activities will provide a basis for evaluation of the overall

restoration project. Data collection and analysis will follow

established scientific procedures. Data collected will be

analyzed and evaluated. Monitoring will be designed to

determine if activities are being carried out in compliance

with the project plan and existing Forest Plan. Objectives,

long-term relationships, and the ability of the project to

adapt to the research findings from the Cheesman research

project will be evaluated. Also, the effectiveness of management activities in moving the vegetation and water quality

toward desired conditions and in reducing the threat of

catastrophic wild fires and their associated effects on soil,

water and the human environment will be evaluated.

Monitoring will be completed annually and it will be based

on the Upper South Platte Watershed Protection and Restoration Project Monitoring Strategy developed by a subcommittee of the Steering Committee. The monitoring will

determine whether project activities are meeting the goals of

reducing fuel hazards and associated catastrophic fire risk

while maintaining soil productivity, minimizing erosion,

and improving water quality. The monitoring strategy is

designed to be dynamic and will be changed as new information becomes available. Monitoring stations will be established in the upper portion of the watershed, as well as in the

lower portion of the watershed. Activity-level monitoring

will be determined during project planning. Where possible,

the Denver Water lab will be used for water analysis. The

USDA Forest Service will provide data storage, and information will be shared with all partners on a regular basis.

The USDA Forest Service will take the lead in funding the

monitoring activities and will work with partners to secure

additional funding. The USDA Forest Service will work with

partners to assign personnel to conduct the monitoring

activities. A monitoring report will be done annually and

presented to the partners and Steering Committee. The

Middle East Regional Cooperation Program will contribute

some data to the monitoring process. This project may also

contribute some funds toward the overall project but this

remains to be seen.

References _____________________

Kaufmann, M. R., L. S. Huckaby, and P. Gleason. 2000. Ponderosa

pine in the Colorado Front Range: long historical fire and tree

recruitment intervals and a case for landscape heterogeneity. In:

Neuenschwander, L. F., Ryan, K. C., Gollberg, G. E., and Greer,

J. D., editors. Crossing the millennium: integrating spatial technologies and ecological principles for a new age in fire management. University of Idaho and International Association of Wildland Fire. Moscow, ID. Vol. 1: 153–160

Piehl, Brad [and others]. 1999. Landscape Assessment Upper South

Platte Watershed. Foster Wheeler Environmental Corporation,

Lakewood, CO. Three volumes.
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Social and Cultural

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USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 121

In: Vance, Regina K.; Edminster, Carleton B.; Covington, W. Wallace;

Blake, Julie A. comps. 2001. Ponderosa pine ecosystems restoration and

conservation: steps toward stewardship; 2000 April 25–27; Flagstaff, AZ.

Proceedings RMRS-P-22. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture,

Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station.

Cassandra Moseley is with the University of Oregon. Brett KenCairn is

with the Northern Arizona University.

Problem Solving or Social Change?

The Applegate and Grand Canyon

Forest Partnerships

Cassandra Moseley

Brett KenCairn

Abstract—Natural resource conflicts have resulted in attempts at

better collaboration between public and private sectors. The resulting partnerships approach collaboration either by problem solving

through better information and management, or by requiring substantial social change. The Applegate Partnership in Oregon and

the Grand Canyon Forest Partnership in Arizona illustrate each

approach. These approaches show the formative influences that

shape the evolution and activities of a partnership, and show the

need for multistakeholder participation.

Introduction ____________________

Over the past decade, numerous communities, agencies,

and interest groups in the American West have turned to

collaboration to manage natural resource conflict and develop and implement plans for managing, preserving, and

restoring the landscape. These collaborations take many

different forms because they emerge in response to local

political, economic, and ecological circumstances. Yet all

must respond to a common challenges: complex problems,

diverse and often conflicting interests, fluid and often shifting relationships of power and authority, and the need to

develop local capacity and resources.

These collaborative initiatives, often referred to as “partnerships,” have attracted increasing attention as communities, agencies, and interest groups create, join, or actively

resist these multistakeholder initiatives. A growing body of

literature has attempted to comprehend and characterize

these groups (Brick and others 2000; Cestero 1999; Conley

2000; Kenny 1999, 2000; Moore and Koontz 2000; Moseley

1999; Sturtevant and Lange 1995; Weber and Herzog 2000).

Our assertion is that many of the efforts to explain partnerships and collaboratives overlook a fundamental distinction

among groups that explains variations in group character,

configuration, focus, and success.

We argue that a partnership chooses between at least two

fundamentally different ways of seeing and defining its

problem. One approach views the challenge as a quasitechnical problem requiring better information, technical

expertise, organizational efficiency, and public education.

The other views the situation as requiring substantial social

change—the reorganization and redistribution of the

decisionmaking authority, responsibility, and resources,

and the allocation of costs and benefits associated with land

management/stewardship.

We draw on two partnership initiatives—the Applegate

Partnership of southwestern Oregon, and the Grand Canyon

Forest Partnership of northern Arizona—to illustrate this

distinction. Using these two groups, we further suggest that

a group’s choice between these two orientations depends on

the characteristics of the founding group—those who initiate

the partnership, define the problem to be addressed, and

recruit the rest of the participants. We assert that the disposition of this founder group will largely determine a group’s

choice of strategies. Therefore, it is essential to understand

what factors determine who assumes the founding role,

shaping both the partnership, its perception of the problem,

and the strategies it will create to address that problem.

Method ________________________

In this paper, we compare the Applegate Partnership in

southwestern Oregon and the Grand Canyon Forest Partnership in northern Arizona. The Applegate Partnership

came together in 1992 to address forest conflict and create

ecosystem-based management in the Applegate Watershed.

Founders created the Grand Canyon Forest Partnership in

1996 to reach agreement about how to reduce fire hazard and

restore the forests surrounding the City of Flagstaff. The

Grand Canyon Forest Partnership and the Applegate Partnership offer fertile grounds for comparison, in part, because

they share similar ecological challenges and yet developed

markedly different forms to address them. Both the Applegate

Valley and northern Arizona are naturally fire-dominated

ecosystems with the federal land management agencies

controlling a large percentage of the land. In both regions,

extensive timber extraction, grazing, and fire suppression

had led to dense stands of small trees. Many participants in

both groups were worried that these forest conditions would

lead to large-scale, disruptive change especially wildfire,

species loss, and habitat degradation.

The material for this paper is drawn from the authors’

participant observation in these two groups. Brett KenCairn

was a founding Applegate Board member and was active

with the Partnership from 1992 to 1997. KenCairn was

involved in the Grand Canyon Forest Partnership in 1998

and 1999. Cassandra Moseley was a board member of the

Applegate Partnership and also conducted extensive interviews and participant observation in the Applegate Valley

between 1995 and 1998.
122 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Moseley and KenCairn Problem Solving or Social Change? The Applegate and Grand Canyon Forest Partnerships

Formative Influence of

Local Context __________________

Kingdon (1984) argues that political change occurs when

a “window of opportunity” opens that creates the political

space for a new policy or idea to be introduced into politics

(see also Moseley 1999). These windows open for a variety of

reasons, ranging from regular events such as elections to

extraordinary political crises. In both of our case studies,

political crises created the opportunity to realign institutional arrangements. In the Applegate, the injunction that

halted timber harvest in the territory of the northern spotted owl created the window of opportunity. The anger and

administrative chaos that the injunction created allowed a

community leader to pull together people to talk about new

forms of land management.

In northern Arizona, disputes over federal forest management coupled with dramatic wildfires that threatened

Flagstaff created a sense of crisis. This crisis pushed

natural resource agencies, elected officials, and other community leaders to search for common ground that would

allow federal managers to implement new forms of forest

management.

Despite similarities of political crises, the partnerships

that emerged were markedly different. In Flagstaff, the

institutional dynamics of participant agencies dominated

the Partnership. In the Applegate, a hybrid community/

institution-based group emerged that eventually evolved

into a community-based group.

Participant Worldview and Perceptions of

“the Problem”

The Grand Canyon Forest Partnership (GCFP) was founded

as a collaboration of government agencies and nongovernmental organizations to reduce fire hazard and improve forest

health on the 100,000 acres of public lands surrounding

Flagstaff. GCFP founders believed that legal and political

conflict and disagreement over federal forest management

were preventing the formulation and support for a new

approach to active forest management. Participant groups

were selected based on their technical expertise or their role

as opinion leaders in the region. Partnership founders believed that they could get the public to trust their efforts if they

recruited a diverse collection of leading organizations to

support the work of forest restoration specialists. The group

focused on convening experts to develop a solution and creating public support for the proposed solution.

When faced with a similar if more extreme political crisis,

Applegate leaders founded a very different partnership. The

Applegate Partnership founders wanted to develop a comprehensive management strategy at a watershed (500,000

acre) scale. New management strategies would be “ecologically sound, economically viable, and socially acceptable.”

(Unattributed quotes come from anonymous interviews of

Applegate Partnership participants.) At the outset, Applegate leaders choose to address the ecological problems they

faced at a larger scale—ecologically and socially—than the

effort in Flagstaff. But more importantly, Applegate leaders

viewed the central causes of the problem they faced—and

how they could be best addressed—in a much different way.

The Applegate founders believed that the model in which

government agencies developed plans and then put them out

for public review was not working. This process left out too

many people until it was too late in the process, which

created a narrow problem definition, and offered too few

sources of ideas for solving complex problems. Applegate

leaders saw problems as being so complex that no one person

or set of people with particular perspectives or interests

could hope to solve them.

Why were these groups so different and what have been

the effects? We argue that the difference in group form and

problem definition was caused by the different political

context, especially institutional arrangements. These different visions affected partnership organization, accomplishments, and how the groups responded to outside challenges.

Political Context and Locus of Authority

Although Kingdon (1984) points us toward political crisis

as an opportunity for change, he offers us little guidance for

understanding which ideas and changes will flow through

the window and who will push them. Historical institutionalists encourage us to look at institutional form and “thickness” to understand what shapes change (sensu Skowronek

1997). Skocpol (1979), Orren and Skowronek (1998 to 1999),

and Skowronek (1982) argue that past institutional development will shape the form of change in the present and future.

Following their lead, we argue that, although there is no

guarantee that partnership groups will choose social change

over pragmatism, this is more likely to occur when private

citizens are able to play a major role in the group’s founding

and problem definition than when leadership is primarily

representatives of pre-existing institutions, especially government agencies.

The Grand Canyon Forest Partnership came together in

an institutionally thick environment. Flagstaff and its surrounding forests were at the center of the jurisdictional

interests of numerous elected officials, local, and state government agencies. Flagstaff is the county seat of Coconino

County and hosts most of the county government and services. It is also the location of the Coconino National Forest

Supervisor’s Office and two of the four Ranger District

offices. Flagstaff maintains a full-time wildfire specialist

and coordinates multiagency wildfire responses. Flagstaff is

also an administrative center for a variety of other organizations that were to become important members of the Grand

Canyon Forest Partnership including Arizona Game and

Fish, the Arizona State Land Department, the U.S. Fish and

Wildlife Service, and the Nature Conservancy. In addition,

several regional environmental groups and chapters of national groups are headquartered in Flagstaff including the

Grand Canyon Trust, the Sierra Club, and the Southwest

Forest Alliance (a consortium of more than 90 environmental advocacy groups).

The consequence of this institutional thickness was the

dominance of institutions in the formation of this collaborative. The thickness privileged institutional representatives

over private citizens. This difference between citizens and

institutional representatives matters because of the ways

that these representatives are tied to their institutional

mandates and cultures. Our argument is not that citizen

innovation was impossible but rather that it is difficult and
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Problem Solving or Social Change? The Applegate and Grand Canyon Forest Partnerships Moseley and KenCairn

unlikely in these circumstances without extraordinary energy on the part of citizens.

In Flagstaff, leadership from government agencies did not

divorce itself from their organizational perspective. Consequently, rather than seeking social change, the leadership

sought to solve technical problems. What happened in Flagstaff reflects more generally what we might expect in an

environment thick with bureaucratic institutions. People

working in particular organizations bring with them the

mandates of these agencies and are seeking to solve the

problems they face.

This tendency is heightened because many natural resource agencies were formed with Progressive Era ideology

in which problems were seen as primarily technical and

experts were the best qualified to solve those problems (Hays

1959, 1991; Hirt 1994; Kaufman 1960; Moseley 1999; Thomas 1999; Luker 1984; Ross 1991). Technically trained

experts could manage resources efficiently for the greater

common good (Pinchot 1990). Through the application of

scientific principles, nature could be simplified and ordered

to bring it under human control (Scott 1998). By implication,

citizens were either too self-interested or too ignorant to

participate. Even when people in natural resource agencies

take a broader view, formal and informal institutional processes have already been shaped using a Progressive Era

model. Thus when faced with a crisis, or a failure of the old

order, these agencies seek change but still find themselves

tied to older institutional processes (Moseley 1999; Orren

and Skowronek 1998–1999; Skocpol 1979; Skowronek 1982).

Exceptional leadership, complete breakdown of normal institutional politics, or intensive outside pressure, we argue,

would be required to shift these politics.

The jurisdictional conditions and social development could

not have been more different in the Applegate Valley. There

are no incorporated communities in the Valley and, thus, no

city government. A county line divides the Valley in half, and

thus no county-level elected officials see the Valley as their

territory. No state or local agencies locate their offices in the

Valley. The major exceptions to this are the federal land

management agencies. The Forest Service has a Ranger

Station in the Valley and major portions of two BLM resource areas are located in the Applegate Valley. With the

exception of the Applegate Ranger District, all government

offices are 30 to 45 minutes away.

In addition to the relatively weak organizational bases of

local and state government, few staffed nongovernmental

organizations focused on the Applegate. Headwaters, the

longest standing regional environmental organization in

southern Oregon, was active in the Applegate but was

housed in Ashland, a town outside the Applegate. Similarly,

the Sierra Club and other national organizations had active

members living in the Applegate but local chapters were

located in towns outside the Valley and were servicing an

area several times the size of the Applegate.

Instead of thick formal bureaucratic and political institutions, the Applegate Valley had a long history of small-scale

social and political organizations (Moseley 1999; Preister

1993; Sturtevant and Lange 1995). Particularly important

for natural resources were a number of small-scale, volunteer environmental groups that had monitored federal timber sales during the 1970s and 1980s. They opposed federal

actions by mobilizing networks of residents to attend public

hearings, write letters, and submit appeals. These small,

volunteer groups developed a cadre of community residents

who understood the basics of forest management and Forest

Service and BLM administration.

These community residents, moreover, were not stereotypical rural community residents but rather people who

had moved to rural areas in the 1970s and 1980s to escape

traditional suburban life. (For a description of “back-to-thelanders” see Jacob [1997].) Social change had long been a

part of their personal ideology. Several of the core group of

Applegate Partnership founders had long been acting upon

their personal social change agendas by protesting federal

timber sales. Through these protests they came to see the

limits of old political processes and developed ideas for

alternative approaches to citizen involvement.

Instead of numerous government agencies and sophisticated nongovernmental organizations facing the limits of

old management strategies first, it was community residents and the federal land management agencies. Instead of

placing leadership from formal organizations at the center of

change, the jurisdictional paucity in the Applegate put

community residents at the center. With the Forest Service

and the BLM in crisis, it was community residents who

stepped forward to create change.

Core Group Formation and Participant

Recruitment

In these different institutional climates, the initial leaders drew upon different networks to identify and recruit

initial participants. In the institutionally rich environment

of northern Arizona, organizers used formal networks of

existing institutions and agencies to identify representatives. In the Applegate, organizers frequently turned to the

informal network of community residents to recruit individuals known.

In the Applegate, Jack Shipley, the organizer of the

initiative, was a private citizen. Shipley had a long history

as an environmental activist. He was part of a network of

citizen activists and knew many government officials and

other professional and technical specialists. Shipley and his

early allies broadened these networks driven by the belief

that only with broad participation could a collaboration find

solutions. Long before Jack Shipley decided to hold a founding meeting, he undertook several months of shuttle diplomacy between various interest groups, neighborhood groups,

and people in the Applegate and larger Rogue Basin. Shipley’s

strategy was an organizing campaign—similar to traditional union organizing—not an information campaign. He

put forward provisional ideas and sought suggestions.

He was not offering a solution but an opportunity for people

to participate in figuring out a solution. Driven by an idea of

social change that pushed experts out of the center of

decisionmaking and created broad participation, Shipley

believed that he had to recruit people from a wide variety of

perspectives. This choice was motivated not simply by political considerations, but by the core belief that only with this

wide variety of perspectives participating could innovative

solutions be found.

The founding leaders understood, however implicitly,

that their central problem was to move people out of their
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Moseley and KenCairn Problem Solving or Social Change? The Applegate and Grand Canyon Forest Partnerships

traditional boxes as “industry,” “enviros,” or agency.” If

people could open up to other perspectives then, leaders

hoped, the group could find solutions that no one could

develop independently.

In contrast to the Applegate, where a private citizen

working largely independent of any organizational affiliation created the partnership, a frustrated Forest Service

official stymied by public opposition to traditional management approaches founded the Grand Canyon Forest Partnership. In the early 1990s, Fred Trevey, then Supervisor of

the Coconino National Forest, watched litigation and public

opinion prevent the Forest Service from implementing familiar forest management. Recognizing that implementing

forest management required a new base of public support,

Trevey began convening informal meetings with a small

circle of local environmental leaders, academics, and city

and county government personnel. The group decided to

form an institutional partnership to develop a consensus for

restoration-based forest management.

This initial group identified organizations that would be

viewed as stakeholders in public forest land management. In

assessing who should participate, the core group considered

institutions that needed to be represented to ensure the

support for any strategy that the partnership developed.

Stakeholders were brought to the table if they had technical

expertise or veto power in other arenas. Founders asked

these groups to designate representatives to sit on a board.

In contrast to the Applegate Partnership’s emphasis on

recruiting participants that could be representative of the

core views and issues of their constituencies, the Grand

Canyon Forest Partnership sought participants to represent their organizations in drafting and endorsing specific

proposals.

Common Challenges, Contrasting

Responses _____________________

The founding process of each of these two groups and

institutional character of their settings shaped how the

partnerships formed. With differing local contexts, founding

dynamics, and perceptions of the central problem (and

associated response), these two partnerships developed

markedly different organizational forms and habits. To

contrast these differences, we identify three major challenges common to both partnerships and contrast their

responses to these challenges.

Balancing Participation and

Decisionmaking Authority

The relationships of the people who actively participate

and nonactivists who have some interest in the work of a

partnership are important because everyone cannot be at

the table at once. Active participants are only a small

fraction of the people who have a stake in the work of a

partnership. Yet, active participants make management

decisions for the larger society. To succeed a partnership

needs social “permission” to do their work. How did the

participants represent the larger society and what effect did

it have on the form and possibilities of these groups? There

are, really, three ways that people “represent” in these sorts

of groups. Although they are readily distinguished theoretically, in fact, people practically shift from one mode to the

other.

One way that people come to the table is as representatives of particular groups. For example, in the Grand Canyon Forest Partnership, the 17 initial partner organizations

each selected a formal representative that had the authority

to represent his or her institution in any negotiation or

agreement. In this form, the representative tends to be tied

to the institutional concerns of his or her agency. These

concerns could include fulfilling legal mandates, avoiding

political conflict, taking leadership in reform efforts, and

defending turf. The personality, skills, and ideology of the

representative and the freedom that his or her home agency

gives them mediate the extent of the institutionalist mode of

participation of particular participants.

The second form is representation of the interests of a

constituency. In this case, someone comes to the partnership

with constituent interests firmly in mind. For example, a

timber industry lobbyist might come to the table to protect

and promote the industry’s economic interests. Similarly, an

environmentalist may come to the table committed to defending the values and interests of other environmentalists.

We can imagine, in these instances, that these representatives will tend to act self-interestedly on behalf of their

constituents. They may tend to be strategic in their position

taking. In addition, they might be inclined to take extreme

positions and then bargain on behalf of their constituents.

Again, these tendencies will be moderated by the personality of the representative. Divisions or lack of clear opinions

or positions within the representative’s constituency may

also create flexibility and opportunity for independent

behavior.

A third form of representation is that of perspective. In

this instance, participants are viewed as bringing to the

table their knowledge, experience as someone who has

particular life experiences and values that lend insights to

the conundrums that the group faces. For example, a logger

might bring values about the importance of continuing to

harvest and knowledge and skills about the opportunities

and limits of particular harvest plans, and the views of her

peer group. An agency scientist might bring values of species

protection and information about ecosystem dynamics in the

region under discussion, and an understanding of his agency's

organizational limitations.

The Grand Canyon Forest Partnership viewed representation primarily in the first two ways. The Applegate sought

to create the third form of representation but the first two

forms were important at particular times as well.

At its outset, the founders of the Grand Canyon Forest

Partnership believed that the solution to public skepticism

over public forest management was to establish a partnership of respected organizations and institutions that constituted a diverse set of positions and views on forest

management. If this group of powerful institutions could

then reach consensus, public support would follow.

With their focus on influential organizations, institutional representation dominated the Grand Canyon Forest

Partnership. By and large, participants represented the

agencies and organizations from which they came. Founders

assumed that the people at the table represented the key
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Problem Solving or Social Change? The Applegate and Grand Canyon Forest Partnerships Moseley and KenCairn

views of major constituencies and all the important perspectives on forest management.

In contrast to the Grand Canyon group’s emphasis on

institutional representation, the Applegate Partnership

encouraged its participants to represent perspectives rather

than institutional positions. In this way, the group believed

the key to innovation was bringing people and ideas together

in new ways. Participants talked about “leaving positions at

the door and bringing only values and interests.” This

approach was also reflected in the group’s culture of negotiation. Rather than supporting a process in which representatives started negotiating from extreme positions and then

negotiated towards the middle, the group tried to focus on

problem solving and collectively identifying alternatives.

However, despite this explicit focus on perspective over

positions, all three forms of representation existed in the

Applegate, and individuals would shift from one form of

representation to another as circumstances and mood

dictated.

Group Structure and Participant Authority

The second challenge facing both collaboratives was how

to structure the roles of participants. The Grand Canyon

group quickly sought to formalize and institutionalize the

partnership structure but the Applegate Partnership resisted formalization.

In the institutionally rich environment of northern Arizona, the member organizations of the Grand Canyon Forest

Partnership, the majority of whom are public or quasi-public

institutions, sought to establish a clear organizational structure and legal body capable of managing the coordination

process. The Grand Canyon group created a new not-forprofit organization to assume the responsibility for the

forest management projects. It hired a staff person who met

weekly with a management team composed of representatives of five of the 15 partners to handle the day-to-day

decisionmaking.

The full partnership met monthly to review partnership

priorities and progress in the implementation. The group

gave informal responsibility for meeting facilitating to the

representative of one of the most active partnership groups.

The meetings were open to the public and a number of

interest group representatives and other agency personnel

frequently attended. However, formal decisionmaking authority rested only with the designated partner groups. The

group’s bylaws stipulated the necessity of consensus among

a majority of participating partners. Voice votes were typically used to make decisions on priorities.

In contrast, the Applegate Partnership actively resisted

formalizing an implementing body separate from the collaborative for its first 4 years. It sought to avoid the emergence of separate organizational structures. In its first

years, governmental and nongovernmental participants accomplished the majority of the Applegate Partnership’s

work. These groups were responsible for identifying the

resources necessary to provide support for the partnership’s

projects and functions.

Eventually the Applegate Partnership did establish a notfor-profit entity and a watershed council that acted as

subsidiaries to the larger partnership. These entities became an important part of the Applegate Valley’s capacity to

implement a wide range of planning and restoration projects.

However, the long period of distributive leadership had

created a culture of decentralized decisionmaking and

responsibility.

Also reflecting this caution against consolidating leadership, the facilitation of the Applegate’s meetings constantly

rotated. This informal culture of rotating leadership

has helped the group avoid the perception that any particular person has a disproportionate influence on group

decisionmaking.

We can see, then, an institution-focused participation and

representation led the Grand Canyon Forest Partnership to

create an early organization and bureaucratic structure for

itself. By contract, the informal, nonorganizational Applegate

Partnership and its notion of perspective-based representation led to distributed leadership and project implementation.

Communicating with Nonparticipants

The final challenge that both groups faced was developing

systems to communicate with people beyond core partnership activists. Because not everyone can logistically or practically come to the table, one central task of partnerships is

to communicate with nonparticipants. The Grand Canyon

Forest Partnership followed two distinct strategies for communication. One was with the agencies and close constituents of participants and the second was with the general

public. By contrast, the Applegate Partnership used similar

communication strategies with close allies and with more

distant ones. As distance from the partnership increased the

intensity of communication diminished.

The communication among Grand Canyon participants

was direct and involved iterative policy development. But

even within the Grand Canyon Partnership, participation in

communication depended on the level of organizational

involvement in the partnership’s activities. A management

team represented five of the most active partnership organizations. This group met weekly to develop the specific

implementation plans. Most of the decisionmaking took

place within this core group of active partner organizations.

The larger group of partners was involved primarily through

the monthly partnership meetings, special meetings, and

electronic correspondence.

When the Grand Canyon group sought to communicate

with people beyond constituent agencies and organizations,

its focus shifted from deliberation and iterative proposal

development to information and education. The group used

a series of public meetings during its initial phases to solicit

public comment on proposed actions. When some of the

public opposed the Grand Canyon’s proposal to limit certain

types of recreation use, the partnership dropped those proposals. Subsequently, the partnership relied almost entirely

on press releases, media coverage, and the formal government review processes to announce to the public what they

planned to do and why.

In the Applegate, the distinction between “public” and

“constituent” was less pronounced because participants were

rarely formally representing people but rather were representing perspectives. Clearly, people working for organizations and for interest-based constituencies had responsibilities to communicate proposals back to their organizations to

get feedback. But partnership participants knew this
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Moseley and KenCairn Problem Solving or Social Change? The Applegate and Grand Canyon Forest Partnerships

institutional sign-off would not be sufficient to garner broad

community support. Because people sitting at the table were

often not formal representatives they had no explicit permission to enter into agreements on anyone’s behalf. Consequently, participants needed an interactive relationship

with a large number of stakeholders beyond the partnership

itself.

At meetings, decisions were often preliminary agreements that participants would take to their social networks

to test out. Subsequently, at or between meetings, on the

phone or in person, participants would bring back reactions

of the various people in participants’ networks and modify

decisions. Of central importance to the Applegate group

were informal social networks. Rarely did the Applegate

Partnership use the media to get their message out. Instead,

participants each turned to their social networks, be these

connections with environmentalists, timber workers, people

in the Regional Office of the Forest Service, or community

residents that one saw at other community meetings or

social events. Some connections were professional, others

were social. Some ties were based on strong ties of friendship, others were associational ties from repeated meetings

on natural resource or community business (Granovetter

1973).

Rarely was the primary task of the Applegate Partnership

educational. Because the Applegate group did not represent

people formally, much of their communication was about

gaining permission from the larger community and relevant

organizations to move forward with their ideas. As partnership participants talked to people, they were looking for

feedback, suggested modifications, support, and permission

to move forward. With their social change agenda, communication was really an “organizing” task, not an information

strategy to explain a decision.

Responses to Challenge

and Conflict ____________________

The socially-based approach of the Applegate Partnership

and the institutional, problem-solving approach of the Grand

Canyon group affected each group’s notions of appropriate

representation, internal structural development, and communication. One can most clearly see effects of these differences in their responses to external opposition and conflict.

Often partnership groups spend months or years developing

a delicate balance of views, positions, and actions. Once

under pressure, these agreements can become unstable and

stretch the collaboration to its limits.

Going Public, Building Expectations

For both the partnerships, the founding periods were

spent largely out of public view. This period involved dozens

of meetings in which participants tried to find common

ground among diverse interests and agendas. In both groups,

this period ended by “going public” with events in which the

partnerships described the newly found common ground

and celebrated the great potential for common action.

Having raised public expectations, these groups had to

demonstrate the efficacy of their claims. Because both groups

were working largely on public land issues, this necessitated

a federal lands planning process. Because they were federal

land projects, the public had to review the plans. In both

cases, the initial projects were on Forest Service lands. In

each case, local agency officials, both District and Forest

level, worked closely with the partners to develop a project

and then the environmental assessment. Also common to

both cases, developing the proposed action was lengthy, and

diverse interests, particularly environmental and industry,

conflicted frequently. At various points in both partnerships, negotiations nearly broke off and threatened the

continued existence of the partnerships. In the Grand Canyon Forest Partnership, some of these negotiations involved groups that were not formally partners but were

capable of obstructing the process if not satisfied. Ultimately, in both efforts, participants made compromises to

craft an action all of the major interests would support,

usually by reducing the scope and intensity of proposed

actions.

Once these concessions were made, most members of each

partnership believed that they had appeased the important

stakeholders. Both groups recognized that there were outlier groups that had not been satisfied but dismissed their

power to obstruct the process because of the agreement

among participants and apparent public support.

In both cases, environmental groups that had not actively

participated in project formation, and opposed the concept of

collaborative management more generally, sought to stop

these first projects through the administrative appeals process. In both cases, an environmental organization pursued

administrative appeals using the National Environmental

Policy Act (NEPA) that led the Regional Offices to require

that the respective National Forests (Rogue River National

Forest in southern Oregon, Coconino National Forest of

northern Arizona) modify the environmental assessments

to meet the demands of appellants. In the case of the Grand

Canyon project, some environmentalists remained unsatisfied and pursued legal settlement in the courts.

Contrasting Responses

These successful appeals tremendously impacted the

morale and internal cohesion of both partnerships. The

tenuous and often strained accommodations these unlikely

partners had created now began to fray. Internal dissension

over strategy began to grow. It is at this point that the real

differences between these two partnerships begin to become

more apparent.

The Applegate Partnership—As the older of the two

partnership groups, more time and history are available to

consider the effects of external opposition on the Applegate’s

orientation. The Applegate’s focus on social change and

informal structure allowed the group to shift substantive

focus temporarily and continue to work on institutional

change and citizen involvement. When the Forest Service

project stalled, the group shifted its attention to the development of similar management changes with the Bureau of

Land Management and private landowners.

For the Applegate, the initial challenges created by the

appeal of its premier project were only the beginning of its

tribulations. The success of the appeal of the Applegate
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Problem Solving or Social Change? The Applegate and Grand Canyon Forest Partnerships Moseley and KenCairn

Partnership’s first project, called Partnership One, substantially shifted the balance of opinion within the environmental community. (It should be noted, however, that

Partnership One was not simply challenged from the environmental side. The timber industry also opposed the sale by

not bidding for the timber once the Forest Service gained

approval to proceed.) The lead environmental organization

in the Partnership, Headwaters, eventually bowed to pressure from the rest of the environmental community and

withdrew from the Partnership.

Although the Headwater’s withdrawal was a public blow

for the partnership and emotionally anguishing for many

participants, ironically, it did not substantially change the

makeup of the partnership. Two of the three the individuals

representing Headwaters continued to participate in the

partnership. These were people who were both representatives of Headwaters and residents of the local Applegate

community. When Headwaters withdrew its formal organizational support, these people continued to participate, now

as community residents active in local watershed groups.

As it tried to recover from what many assumed would be

a fatal blow—Headwaters’s departure—the partnership took

yet another major hit. Paradoxically, this time the source of

the damage was the timber industry. In an effort to invalidate President Clinton’s Northwest Forest Plan, representatives of regional and national timber organizations sued

the federal government, arguing that the Plan’s creation

violated the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA). Passed

in the early 1970s, Congress designed FACA to reduce the

influence of special interests on federal agency policy making, especially defense contractors on Pentagon planning

and decisionmaking. FACA outlined a series of provisions

that federal agencies must follow if it participates in any

joint decisionmaking processes with nonagency groups.

Afraid that it might jeopardize the huge investments it

had made in the development of the Northwest Forest Plan,

the Clinton Administration ordered all public agencies to

withdraw from partnerships or other collaborative efforts

that might violate FACA. Agency officials who had been

formal partners in the Applegate process could no longer be

Applegate Partnership board members. Despite their

pledges to continue to participate as nondecisionmaking

members, the basic foundation on which that the partnership had been built was now shattered. In the span of just

6 months, the Applegate Partnership lost two of its organizational constituents.

Facing these difficult events, the Applegate Partnership

went through an important internal reevaluation and metamorphosis. Throughout its early period, the Applegate had

attempted to balance two sometimes-opposing roles. The

Applegate group viewed itself as an effort to make peace

between two opposing forces and the federal agencies caught

in the crossfire. Much of its early notoriety and influence was

derived from the perception that it was a model for resolving

otherwise intractable conflict in federal land management.

At the same time, the partnership was, from its outset, a

solidly community-based, community-driven initiative. It

was as likely to have a potluck as a conference. Its weekly

meetings were designed to be accessible to community people.

Meeting participation was open to all and locals frequently

outnumbered their agency and interest group counterparts

who were paid to attend.

With its first major project stalled indefinitely and two of

is major power brokers formally withdrawn from the leadership of the group, the Applegate reconsidered its focus and

constituency. It broadened its focus to include a wider range

of community issues. Aware that community support was

now essential, the Applegate initiated a major community

outreach and assessment process to identify the range of

community concerns and ideas. From this and other forms of

informal outreach, partnership activists launched a broad

set of local initiatives. For example, one subset of participants was interested in private land restoration that would

improve wild salmon fisheries.

At the same time, the partnership began working more

actively with the BLM to evaluate restoration projects on its

land. Over time, with considerable perseverance, the partnership developed ways to work with the federal agencies

that did not involve formal joint decisionmaking. Within

6 months, the struggles over its first Forest Service project

and the consequences of FACA were largely forgotten as a

broader set of activities began to occupy the partnership’s

attention.

Three years after its founding, the consequences of this

shift from interest-based partnership to community-based

partnership could be clearly seen in the projects and accomplishments for which the partnership was either directly or

indirectly responsible. Beyond shifting of BLM management in one resource area and private land restoration

projects, the Applegate Partnership began to publish a

bimonthly newspaper distributed to all 10,000 residences in

the watershed. It spun off a small-scale economic development group looking at land-oriented small enterprise opportunities. Later, the partnership brokered a deal with one

county to have the community develop a management plan

and land use regulations related to gravel extraction. Partnership participants helped bring a county park under

community management after the county shut it down

because of a lack of funding. Repeatedly the Applegate

Partnership took on the task of mediating conflict and

brokering agreements between community residents and

government agencies, be they federal, state, or county. At

every turn, partnership activists argued for different processes that included community residents earlier in planning processes, bringing together conflicting parties to find

common ground.

As we see, then, when faced with blockages such as the

administrative appeal of the Partnership One project and

then FACA, Applegate Partnership participants did not give

up. Rather, they fell back on their larger goals of social

change and ecosystem management in the watershed. These

broad goals allowed the group to conceive a wide variety of

particular projects to achieve their ends. This broadening

was possible because, from the beginning, a substantial

proportion of its active participants saw themselves as

community residents first and organizational representatives second.

The Grand Canyon Forest Partnership—When faced

with opposition the Applegate Partnership broadened its

variety of strategies and shifted its attention from stalled to

viable projects. In contrast, the Grand Canyon group’s narrow problem definition limited its room for maneuver when

confronted by effective opposition.
128 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Moseley and KenCairn Problem Solving or Social Change? The Applegate and Grand Canyon Forest Partnerships

Founded in the summer of 1996, when fires burned over

40,000 acres of northern Arizona forests, the Grand Canyon

Forest Partnership’s proposals to develop restoration and

wildfire reduction programs had enjoyed wide public support. After 2 years of working out its proposal internally, the

partnership held a series of public meetings to communicate

its proposal to the public. The partnership outlined thinning, prescribed fire, and also a series of recreation management proposals, including the closure of some popular trails

and remote roads.

To the surprise of many organizers, the public seemed to

broadly support extensive forest thinning and prescribed

fire. People could not yet visualize the posttreatment appearance of the restored areas, but were supportive of

reducing the potential for wildfires that could threaten

human life and property. This bolstered the partnership’s

perception that the community was behind its efforts to

develop a restoration/wildfire hazard reduction strategy.

In contrast, the meeting that focused on recreation use

generated substantial concern and some controversy. Rumors began circulating that the Grand Canyon group was

attempting to exclude one or another recreation user group.

A nascent opposition to the partnership’s efforts began to

organize, creating unlikely alliances between mountain bike

users, ATV enthusiasts, equestrian advocates, and others. It

quickly became apparent that recreation issues could become a flash point for opposition to the overall restoration

initiative.

In response, the group decided to narrow its focus and

exclude the controversial elements of the recreation plan

from the proposed action. The group discussed the possibility of developing a restoration task group to convene a

collaborative process with recreation interests. After a series of tentative steps in this direction, the effort was

dropped and Grand Canyon participants focused on developing and implementing the thinning and fire treatments.

Confident that it now had a broad public mandate to

proceed, the Grand Canyon Forest Partnership and the

Forest Service drafted the environmental assessment and

prepared for formal public review. However, throughout the

preparation of the final proposal, the partnership experienced agonizing disagreements with prominent local and

regional environmentalists over a variety of provisions. For

example, the Forest Service began a series of test plots using

a range of treatments. The graphic reality of the actual

treatment impacts nearly destroyed the fragile agreements

that had been crafted with these environmental groups. Yet

despite these setbacks, partnership leaders continued to

make concessions and deferrals that maintained the truce

and allowed the project to proceed. Having conceded to most

of the demands made by these groups, the partnership and

the Forest Service were confident its proposed action would

withstand any outside challenges.

It was no surprise when an environmental group from

outside the area filed an appeal. But the partnership was

shocked when the Regional Office of the Forest Service

upheld the appeal. A group that most had dismissed as an

irrelevant outsider was now a champion trumpeting its victory around the country. A partnership regarded as a national

model for transcending the gridlock of federal forest management found itself buried in political mud.

The defeat created a period of internal disorder within the

partnership. The timelines that had been established for

implementing treatments were now irrelevant. Efforts to

develop markets for the restoration byproducts, a step essential to making the restoration treatments economically

viable, were destroyed as entrepreneurs canceled plans to

invest in new tools and technology. Other financial resources the partnership was pursuing also evaporated as

word spread that the partnership was stalled.

These setbacks further aggravated nascent tensions within

the partnership over strategy and priorities. One faction

advocated for the partnership taking a leading role in regional and national dialogues on the underlying issues of the

opponents of cross-interest collaborations. Others favored

abandoning the conciliatory approach in favor of aggressive

counterattack using legal challenges and high profile efforts

to question the credibility of opposing groups.

In response to these challenges, the partnership chose

again to narrow its focus. The primary focus of project

development shifted to fire hazard reduction projects in

proximity to human developments. At the same time, efforts

to secure final approval for the partnership’s first stalled

project began to focus on preparations for a direct legal battle

with project opponents. As the local agency officials made

the mandated changes to the document that the Forest

Service’s Regional Office had ordered, leading groups in the

partnership began formulating a legal strategy for intervening in the event of a lawsuit.

Conclusion_____________________

Faced with complex and difficult natural resource management challenges, institutions and communities are increasingly looking to multistakeholder collaborations as an

approach to developing widely supported solutions. These

collaborations face many similar challenges: how to integrate diverse interests and issues, how to share

decisionmaking authority, and how to organize resources

and expertise necessary to develop solutions.

The prevailing perception within these groups about the

nature of the problem they face and how it can be most

effectively addressed largely shaped the choices these groups

made in addressing these common challenges. With two examples, we suggested that the perception of the problem can

shape the strategy and conduct of the resulting collaborations.

Given the central importance of this initial perception of

the problem, we have gone further to try and explain why

two partnership facing relatively similar circumstances

developed different perceptions of the problem and strategies for addressing it. We have asserted that the institutional context in which a partnership takes place determines

much of this initial orientation. In settings rich with preexisting institutions—Federal agencies, local governments,

and nongovernmental organizations—it appears that collaborations are more likely to have a technocratic problem

solving orientation. Circumstances without this density of

institutions leave more of the influence over the character of

the collaboration in the hands of the private citizens who

create the impetus for formation.

Given the prior history and experience in social change

work—environmental, labor, and peace activism—among
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 129

Problem Solving or Social Change? The Applegate and Grand Canyon Forest Partnerships Moseley and KenCairn

many of its founding organizers, it is perhaps predictable

that the Applegate initiative viewed its challenge as less a

technical problem and more of a social issue. As a consequence, the strategies it selected and the ways it adapted to

changes and challenges are markedly different than those of

the Grand Canyon Forest Partnership.

Our intention in this paper is not to make explicit or

implicit judgments of the value or effectiveness of one

strategy over another. Few collaborative efforts have existed

long enough to reasonably evaluate their performance

history. In drawing distinctions between these two partnerships our intention has been to underscore the formative influences that shape the evolution and activities of a

partnership. In so doing we hope to contribute to the set

distinctions that will enable both practitioners and researchers to more clearly understand the similarities and

differences between initiatives.

References _____________________

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130 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

In: Vance, Regina K.; Edminster, Carleton B.; Covington, W. Wallace;

Blake, Julie A. comps. 2001. Ponderosa pine ecosystems restoration and

conservation: steps toward stewardship; 2000 April 25–27; Flagstaff, AZ.

Proceedings RMRS-P-22. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture,

Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station.

Marcy A. DeMillion is a Wilderness and Recreation Planner for the Bureau

of Land Management, Arizona Strip Field Office, which encompasses the

Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument. She received a bachelor’s

degree in recreation and a master’s degree in the School of Forestry under the

College of Ecosystem Science and Management at Northern Arizona University. Her past and current research focuses on ecological wilderness restoration of the Mount Logan Wilderness. The social research data contained

within this paper was a portion of her master’s thesis, which was completed

in May 1999 and titled “Mount Logan Wilderness Reference Condition and

Social Preferences for Ecological Restoration.” Martha E. Lee is an Associate

Professor in the School of Forestry under the College of Ecosystem Science

and Management at Northern Arizona University. She received her

bachelor’s degree at Utah State University and her master’s and Ph.D. from

Oregon State University. In her current position, Dr. Lee teaches and

conducts research on the human dimensions of ecosystem management,

including classes in wildland recreation and wilderness management. She is

conducting research on recreation use of wildlands and public attitudes

toward ecosystem management, including ecological restoration.

Ecological Wilderness Restoration:

Attitudes Toward Restoring the

Mount Logan Wilderness

Marcy A. DeMillion

Martha E. Lee

Abstract—By law, wilderness areas are intended to be unmarred

landscapes where evidence of modern civilization is generally absent. This presents a problem, since ecological wilderness conditions have been impaired by human activities. For example, some

forest wilderness ecosystems have been altered by livestock grazing, logging, fire exclusion, and through other environmental manipulations. Additionally, there are socio-political factors that must

be considered prior to discussing wilderness restoration methods.

This paper focuses on the need for ecological wilderness restoration

and presents options for managers to consider while discussing

wilderness restoration. To determine the most preferred wilderness

restoration method among communities located near the Bureau of

Land Management Arizona Strip Field Office, a social survey was

conducted that focused on attitudes of community residents living

in proximity to the Mount Logan Wilderness, which is in northern

Arizona within the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument.

The study focused on this wilderness because an ecological restoration project was occurring outside the wilderness boundary. The

survey was designed to determine the local acceptance of a mechanical, nonmechanical, or prescribed fire wilderness restoration method.

Mechanical methods are often the most controversial, but survey

respondents held the most positive attitude toward this method.

Introduction ____________________

According to the Wilderness Act of 1964 (P.L. 88-577),

management of wilderness includes “retaining its primeval

character...which is protected and managed so as to preserve its natural conditions...with the imprint of man’s work

substantially unnoticeable.” This statement implies that

wildernesses have been protected and preserved, and that

they are in a natural state. According to Cole (2000), managing wildernesses for natural conditions, which includes the

absence of recent human influences, may be a desired

management outcome. It is debatable if wildernesses are in

a natural state, and we assert that many wildernesses have

not retained their natural conditions, as human evidence in

regards to past and present land manipulations are apparent in many wilderness ecosystems. Additionally, prior to

the passage of the Wilderness Act of 1964, many wildernesses did not have special management provisions, therefore, they were not treated differently than nonwildernesses.

Wildernesses may not be as pristine as policymakers believed 35 years ago when the Wilderness Act was passed

(Brunson 1995; Cole 1996; Murry 1996). Therefore, managers are now faced with the dilemma of determining if

wilderness restoration is necessary to return areas to more

natural conditions, and determining ways to restore wilderness conditions through the least damaging and most appropriate wilderness restoration methods.

Proposed methods usually include mechanically reducing

fuels, the use of prescribed fire, or a combination of these

methods to restore the natural fire regime (Covington and

Moore 1994a; Landres and others 2000). For wildernesses,

these types of restoration methods may not be a popular

option and would have to consider NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act of 1970) in assessing environmental impacts. Also, it may not be possible to develop ecologically,

economically, and politically acceptable restoration management regimes, especially for wilderness and other natural areas (Covington and Moore 1994a). To determine the

acceptability for restoration of the Mount Logan Wilderness,

Northern Arizona University, with input from the Bureau of

Land Management (BLM), designed a survey to determine

which types of wilderness restoration methods may be considered a wilderness management option. The survey of

local communities did not ask respondents if they would like

to see a combination of methods. Instead, it focused on which

restoration methods the local communities preferred. A

local sample was selected because managers wanted to

determine attitudes of residents within proximity to the

wilderness and the amount of support they held toward

wilderness restoration methods. Managers will have to

decide, from an ecological standpoint, how wilderness restoration methods can be combined to meet restoration goals,

while considering socio-political factors.
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 131

Ecological Wilderness Restoration: Attitudes Toward Restoring the Mount Logan Wilderness DeMillion and Lee

Wilderness Changes _____________

Western wildernesses have changed drastically since the

time of Euro-American settlement in the 1800s. To determine the ecological changes in the Mount Logan Wilderness,

a forest reconstruction was completed prior to conducting a

social survey. In reconstructing the wilderness, a pre EuroAmerican reference date of 1870 was determined and selected as the reference condition. This reference condition

(date) was selected because it represented a measurable and

replicable point in time, and a time previous to a large

human population influx that created noticeable human

impacts. For example, in southwestern ponderosa pine (Pinus

ponderosa), Euro-American settlers introduced livestock

grazing, logging, and fire exclusion, which contributed to

changes in the forest structure (Covington and others 1994,

1997; Covington and Moore 1994b; Fielder and others 1996;

Swetnam and Baisan 1996). The disruption of the natural

fire regime created the most pervasive source of degradation

in ponderosa pine ecosystems (DeMillion and Covington

2000), increased the susceptibility of insect and disease

outbreaks (Kolb and others 1994), and has allowed tree

densities to increase. The result is dense forests, rather than

the open and parklike forests that were described by early

Euro-American settlers (Cooper 1960; Covington and others

1994; Covington and Moore 1994a; Fulé and others 1997).

In the Mount Logan Wilderness, the forest reconstruction

determined that the tree density in 1870 was 36 trees per

acre, versus today’s forest density of 571 trees per acre

(DeMillion 1999). Research has shown that an increase in

forest densities and fuels often leads to high intensity crown

fires (Arno and others 1995; Covington and Moore 1994a,b;

Covington and others 1994; Swetnam and Baisan 1996).

Research results from the Mount Logan Wilderness study

determined that wilderness forest conditions have been

dramatically altered, which is similar to results found outside this wilderness area (NAU 1996). If wilderness managers intend to restore this wilderness to conditions that

existed prior to Euro-American settlement, they must consider restoration methods in tandem with socio-political

factors to decide when and how to restore the wilderness.

Ecological Wilderness

Restoration ____________________

The Wilderness Act of 1964 defines wilderness as “an area

of undeveloped Federal land.” Unfortunately, undeveloped

areas do not always equate to unchanged or unmanipulated

landscapes. The majority of western wildernesses have been

manipulated by Euro-American settlers and other external

influences. The question that wilderness managers need to

answer is, should restoration methods be used to replicate

conditions previous to modern human impacts? If wilderness restorative actions are taken, the sense of wildness

and the belief that an area is free of human manipulation is

compromised (Landres and others 2000). If actions are

not taken, high intensity fires will start in wildernesses and

spread beyond their boundaries to rural and urban

communities.

Two examples of fires in 2000 that began in wildernesses

are the Cerro Grande (Bandelier National Park) fire that

interfaced with Los Alamos, New Mexico, and the Clear

Creek (Salmon-Challis National Forest) fire that began in

the Frank Church Wilderness of No Return and spread to

Panther Creek along the Salmon River in Idaho. Both fires

started in wilderness and spread from wildland areas to

urban or rural communities destroying structures and in

some instances livelihoods. Fuel loadings within and outside

of the wilderness boundaries in both locations were similar

and the fires did not stop at the administrative boundaries.

Due to the heightened awareness of fire and other factors,

some land managers are beginning to explore the sociopolitical concerns that the public holds toward restoring

wildernesses. Managers of the BLM Arizona Strip Field

Office wanted to conduct a survey to determine the range of

alternatives and the types of wilderness restoration methods that might be acceptable to local community residents.

Mount Logan Ecological Wilderness

Restoration Methods

Community residents within proximity to the Mount

Logan Wilderness were surveyed to determine their attitude

toward mechanical, nonmechanical, and prescribed fire wilderness restoration methods. Within the survey, a mechanical method was defined as any activity where machines are

used to cut and/or transport personnel or material. An

example of this would be the use of chainsaws to reduce

small diameter trees, decrease ladder fuels around old

growth trees and snags, and create fuel breaks. Mechanical

methods could also include the use of motorized equipment

and vehicles with wheels or tracks. A nonmechanical method

was defined as any activity that involved a living power

source, for example, the use of a handsaw, hand rake, or

horses. A prescribed fire method was defined as intentionally igniting and controlling fires. This definition is different

from the national definition that described prescribed fire as

“any fire ignited by management actions under certain,

predetermined conditions to meet specific objectives related

to hazardous fuels or habitat improvement. A written, approved prescribed fire plan must exist, and NEPA requirements must be met prior to ignition.” This definition was not

used because the terminology may have been confusing, it

may have been too lengthy, and it does not refer to prescribed

fire as a restoration method.

Attitudes Toward Wilderness Restoration

Methods

The Arizona Strip Field Office, BLM and Northern Arizona University surveyed communities within proximity to

the Mount Logan Wilderness about their attitude toward

wilderness restoration methods. The wilderness is within

the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument in Arizona and was selected because an ecological restoration

project was under way in areas outside the wilderness

boundary. The closest communities to the wilderness include St. George, Kanab, and Hurricane in Utah, and
132 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

DeMillion and Lee Ecological Wilderness Restoration: Attitudes Toward Restoring the Mount Logan Wilderness

Fredonia and Colorado City in Arizona. Residents within

these communities were selected to respond to a survey

about the use of mechanical, nonmechanical, and prescribed

fire wilderness restoration methods. Managers wanted to

determine the attitudes that local community residents held

toward these specific wilderness restoration methods.

To conduct the survey, a mail-back questionnaire was

designed, pre-tested, and sent to a random sample of 1,000

residents. Questionnaires were sent to 500 residents of

St. George, Utah (urban sample), with another 500 sent to

residents in two rural communities in Utah (Kanab and

Hurricane) and two rural communities in Arizona (Fredonia

and Colorado City). The overall survey response rate was 55

percent. There were no significant differences in attitudes

toward ecological restoration treatments between respondents in the urban and rural samples.

Attitudes Toward a Mechanical Treatment—The

most favorable response was for the mechanical method,

with 74 percent of the respondents holding a positive attitude (table 1). We suggest that positive attitudes toward a

mechanical method are likely to be higher among local

communities than among residents from a regional or national sample. Research on attitudes has shown that the

more familiar people are with an attitude object (subject),

the more supportive they are toward that object (Bruvold

1973; Chaiken and Stangor 1987; Fazio 1982). In other

words, residents of the communities we surveyed may be

more familiar with the use of mechanical methods, and

therefore may have a more positive attitude toward them.

Options for Wilderness Ecological

Restoration ____________________

Every wilderness restoration method is controversial.

Mechanical treatments have potential wilderness impacts,

nonmechanical treatments (the use of hand raking around

all old-growth trees) may not be a viable option on a landscape

scale, and the use of prescribed fire creates the potential for

stand-replacing fires, especially in proposed or designated

wildernesses, where fuels are rarely reduced prior to burning. Often prescribed fires become high intensity and uncontrollable wildfires, due to years of fuel accumulations. One

example of this is the Yellowstone National Park prescribed

natural fire ignitions of 1988, which burned under a fire

prescription without a prior reduction in fuels and became

uncontrollable. Firefighters frantically reduced fuels with

mechanical methods by cutting trees in a matter of days

instead of over a number of years (Wakimoto 1990). This

illustrates the need in some wildernesses to reduce fuels

prior to reintroducing fire, or prior to allowing naturally

ignited fires to burn under certain fire prescriptions.

Some managers may be limited to only the use of prescribed fire as a wilderness restoration method, because of

socio-political concerns with the use mechanical methods.

Some people believe that the use of mechanical restoration

methods is an unacceptable way to enhance the naturalness

of these areas (Parsons and Landres 1998), but others

believe that manual removal of fuels should precede the use

of prescribed fire (Noss 1991).

Regardless of the restoration methods selected to reduce

forest fuels, managers are aware that wildfires will continue

to occur across legislative and administrative boundaries.

The wilderness ignitions that led to the high intensity

Cerros Grande and Clear Creek fires of 2000 are forcing

managers to evaluate the range of wilderness restoration

alternatives, especially where rural and urban communities

interface with wildernesses.

Conclusions____________________

Unhealthy forest conditions result from altered wilderness conditions that are inhibiting natural processes. Years

of grazing, logging, and fire exclusion have altered forest

wilderness ecosystems. These altered landscapes are conducive to unnaturally intense and often stand-replacing fires.

Managers need to decide if wildernesses should be left

unmanipulated or be restored to more natural conditions

(Cole 1996).

Restoration outside wildernesses usually entails the use

of mechanical methods to reduce fuels, along with the use of

prescribed fire to restore the natural fire regime. Using

mechanical methods prior to the use of prescribed fire may

not seem to be a popular option among the general public,

but the social research presented above concluded that

mechanical methods were the most acceptable and preferred

wilderness restoration method. These results were taken

into consideration by the Arizona Strip Field Office, BLM,

but management decisions are not based upon the results of

Table 1—Attitudes toward the use of three restoration methods in the

Mount Logan Wilderness.

Type of wilderness

restoration treatment Positive Negative

- - - - - - Percent - - - - -

Mechanical 74 15

Nonmechanical 54 32

Prescribed fire 55 33

Attitudes Toward a Nonmechanical and a Prescribed

Fire Treatment—Slightly over 50 percent of the respondents held positive attitudes toward using a nonmechanical

and a prescribed fire wilderness restoration method to

restore the Mount Logan Wilderness. Respondents with

positive attitudes toward these methods agreed that restoring the wilderness in a natural way is good. In comparing our

results with other studies that focused on prescribed fire, we

found similarities. Results from a regional sample of Montana and Wyoming residents showed that 55 percent of the

residents supported prescribed fire, compared to 48 percent

of a national sample (Manfredo and others 1990). Between

our results and other studies, there appears to be support for

using prescribed fire as a management tool to restore the

Mount Logan Wilderness, as well as other wilderness areas.
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 133

Ecological Wilderness Restoration: Attitudes Toward Restoring the Mount Logan Wilderness DeMillion and Lee

this one study. The study did create the impetus for the BLM

to begin a dialog about wilderness restoration among diverse

regional public groups. Managers are encouraged to discuss

wilderness restoration methods if they want to restore

wilderness conditions to a more natural state and decrease

the potential for wilderness fires to interface with rural and

urban communities. Wilderness managers considering sociopolitical parameters are struggling to determine when wilderness restoration is appropriate and the range of restoration methods that can be employed.

Acknowledgments ______________

We express our gratitude to W. Wallace Covington for

developing the original concept and portions of the research

relating to ecological restoration of the Mount Logan Wilderness. Other people have provided stimulating conversations

and theories about ecological wilderness restoration, including Peter B. Landres and Gregory Aplet. Peter has been

involved with and has provided leadership in discussing

restoration of the Mount Logan Wilderness. We thank the

Arizona Strip Field Office, BLM, who provided funding for

this project, and Ken C. Moore from the BLM, who has been

supportive of both our research and this project from its

inception. We are also grateful for editorial reviews provided

by John A. DeMillion.

References _____________________

Arno, S.F., Harrington, M.G., Fiedler, C.E., Carlson, C.E. 1995.

Restoring fire dependent ponderosa pine forests in western Montana. Restoration and Management Notes. 13(1):32–36.

Brunson, M.W. 1995. The changing role of wilderness in ecosystem

management. International Journal of Wilderness. 1(1):12–16.

Bruvold, W.H. 1973. Belief and behavior as determinants of environmental attitudes. Environment and Behavior. 5(2): 202–219.

Chaiken, S., Stangor, C. 1987. Attitudes and attitude change.

Annual Review of Psychology. 38:575–630.

Cole, D.N. 1996. Ecological manipulation in wilderness: an emerging dilemma. International Journal of Wilderness. 2(1):15–19.

Cole, D.N. 2000. Paradox of the primeval: ecological restoration in

wilderness. Ecological Restoration. 18(2):77–86.

Cooper, C.F. 1960. Changes in vegetation structure, and growth of

southwestern pine forests since white settlement. Ecological

Monographs. 30(2):129–164.

Covington, W.W., Everett, R.L., Steele, R.W., Irwin, L.I., Daer, T.A.,

Auclair, A.N.D. 1994. Historical changes and anticipated changes

in forest ecosystems of the Inland West of the United States.

Journal of Sustainable Forestry. 2:13–63.

Covington, W.W., Moore, M.M. 1994a. Southwestern ponderosa

forest structure. Journal of Forestry. 92:39–47.

Covington, W.W., Moore, M.M. 1994b. Postsettlement changes in

natural fire regimes and forest structure: ecological restoration of

old-growth ponderosa pine forests. Journal of Sustainable Forestry. 2(2):153–81.

Covington, W.W., Fulé, P.Z., Moore, M.M., Hart, S.C., Mast, J.N.,

Sackett, S.S., Wagner, M.R. 1997. Restoration of ecosystem

health in Southwestern ponderosa pine forests. Journal of Forestry. 95(4):23–29.

DeMillion, M.A. 1999. Mount Logan Wilderness reference condition

and social preferences for ecological restoration. Flagstaff, AZ:

Northern Arizona University. 120 p. Thesis available from: Northern Arizona, University Cline Library, Flagstaff, AZ.

DeMillion, M.A., Covington, W.W. 2000. Mount Logan Wilderness:

a Southwestern ponderosa pine ecological restoration study. RN13. Denver, CO: U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land

Management. 2 p.

Fazio, R.H., Chen, J., McDonel, E.C., Sherman S.J. 1982. Attitude

accessibility, attitude-behavior consistency, and the strength of

the object-evaluation association. Journal of Experimental Social

Psychology. 18:339–357.

Fiedler, C.E., Arno, S.R., Harrington, M.G. 1996. Flexible silvicultural and prescribed burning approaches for improving health of

ponderosa pine forests. In: Conference on adaptive ecosystem

restoration and management: restoration of cordilleran conifer

landscapes of North America; 1996; Flagstaff, AZ. Gen. Tech.

Rep. RM-GTR-278. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station: 69–74.

Fulé, P.Z., Covington, W.W., Moore, M.M. 1997. Determining reference conditions for ecosystem management of Southwestern

ponderosa pine forests. Ecological Applications. 7(3):895–908.

Kolb, T.E., Wagner, M.R., Covington, W.W. 1994. Utilitarian and

ecosystem perspectives, concepts of forest. Journal of Forestry.

92(7):10–15.

Landres, P.B., White, P.B., Aplet, G., Zimmermann, A. 2000. Naturalness and natural variability: definitions, concepts, and strategies for wilderness management. In: D.L. Kulhavy and M.L.

Legg, eds. Wilderness and natural areas in eastern North America:

research, management, and planning. Center for Applied Studies, Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, TX: 41–50.

Manfredo, M.J., Fishbein, M., Hass, G.E., Watson, A.E. 1990.

Attitudes toward prescribed fire policies: the public is widely

divided in its support. Journal of Forestry. 88:19–23.

Murry, M.P. 1996. Natural processes: wilderness management

unrealized. Natural Areas Journal. 16:55–61.

Northern Arizona University. 1996. Mt. Trumbull ecosystem restoration project annual report, unpublished. 1–37. Report available

from: Northern Arizona University, School of Forestry, Flagstaff,

AZ.

Noss, R.F. 1991. Wilderness recovery: thinking big in restoration

ecology. Environmental Professionals. 13:225–234.

Parsons, D.J., Landres, P.B. 1998. Restoring natural fire to wilderness: how are we doing? In: Pruden, T.L, Brennan L.A., tech. eds.

Fire in ecosystem management: shifting the paradigm from

suppression to prescription. Tall Timbers fire ecology conference

proceedings, No. 20; 1998; Tallahassee, FL: U.S. Department of

Agriculture, Forest Service, Tall Timbers Research Station:

366–373.

Swetnam, T.W., Baisan, C.H. 1996. Historical fire regime patterns

in the Southwest United States since AD 1700. Proceedings of the

2nd Mesa fire symposium; 1994; Los Almos, NM. Fort Collins,

CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station. 216 p.

Wakimoto, R.H. 1990. National fire management policy. Journal of

Forestry. 88:22–26.
134 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

In: Vance, Regina K.; Edminster, Carleton B.; Covington, W. Wallace;

Blake, Julie A. comps. 2001. Ponderosa pine ecosystems restoration and

conservation: steps toward stewardship; 2000 April 25–27; Flagstaff, AZ.

Proceedings RMRS-P-22. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture,

Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station.

Laura E. DeWald is an Associate Professor in the School of Forestry at

Northern Arizona University. She has a B.S. in forestry from Michigan

Technological University, an M.S. in forestry from Pennsylvania State University, and a Ph.D. from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

She held postdoctoral appointments in forestry at the University of Minnesota and University of Florida. She researches forest ecological and conservation genetics, conservation biology, and riparian restoration. Abe E. Springer

is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geology at Northern Arizona

University. He has a B.A. in geology from The College of Wooster, and an M.S.

and Ph.D. in hydrogeology from The Ohio State University. He researches

ground-water flow systems and their relationships to riparian ecosystems

and restoration.

Incorporating Ecological and Nonecological

Concerns in the Restoration of a Rare, HighElevation Bebb Willow Riparian Community

Laura E. DeWald

Abe E. Springer

Abstract—Activities were initiated by The Nature Conservancy,

the USDA Forest Service, and the Northern Arizona University

School of Forestry and Department of Geology in 1996 to restore

hydrologic and ecological function to a high-elevation Bebb willow

(Salix bebbiana) and mixed grass riparian community in Hart

Prairie, near Flagstaff, AZ. Initial restoration removed small water

diversions above the willow community to restore hydrologic flow to

the downslope community. Because of the small scale of this effort,

the viewshed, recreation, and wildlife in the area were not affected.

Subsequent monitoring indicated that although restoration increased water availability and improved Bebb willow water status,

soil moisture conditions were still below those needed for willow

seed germination and seedling growth. Therefore, the long-term

sustainability of the Bebb willow community is still at risk. Current

restoration plans are to manipulate the upslope watershed to

provide additional water needed for willow regeneration. This

restoration will include removing stock tanks, thinning trees encroaching into the meadow above the willows, and burning to

restore the upslope area to its historic nonforested, prairie condition. These plans could significantly impact aesthetics, wildlife, and

recreation in the area. In addition, Indian Tribes who consider the

San Francisco Peaks to be sacred and the general public may have

concerns with these restoration activities. This paper discusses our

efforts to address these issues while still providing sufficient ecosystem restoration for long-term sustainability of the Bebb willowmixed grass community.

Introduction ____________________

In Arizona, upland riparian communities located at elevations above 2,500 m consist of small plant stringers occupying channels of first- and second-order streams (Debano and

Schmidt 1990). They are largely supported by shallow ground

water, and are typically in meadows at the base of watersheds dominated by mixed conifers and ponderosa pine

(Pinus ponderosaLaws.). The upland riparian community at

Hart Prairie near Flagstaff, Arizona, has a Bebb willow

(Salix bebbiana Sarg.) and trembling aspen (Populus

tremuloides Michx.) overstory with a grass understory. This

type of upland riparian community is rare in Arizona and

supports high levels of wildlife and plant community diversity. Both aspen and Bebb willow are listed by the USDA

Forest Service (USFS) as species of concern due to their

biodiversity, aesthetic, and wildlife habitat values. Upland

riparian communities such as Hart Prairie make important

contributions to the biodiversity necessary for resilient and

healthy ecosystems at the regional/landscape level (Noss

1990). Unfortunately, many of these communities, including

Hart Prairie, do not have adequate regeneration to sustain

themselves and are thus considered unhealthy (Briggs and

others 1994).

Abundant shallow ground water supplied through perched

aquifers is the critical factor for maintaining healthy upland

riparian communities such as at Hart Prairie. These perched

aquifers occur discontinuously across the Colorado Plateau.

They have limited storage and require annual recharge

through runoff and infiltration from heavy snowpacks and

consistent precipitation. In high elevation areas in the

Western United States, approximately 70 to 90 percent of

annual streamflow originates from these types of events

(Troendle 1983). Drought, surface water diversions such as

stock tanks and dams, and water loss through increased tree

transpiration modify hydrologic function by changing the

quantity and timing of the water recharge to these perched

aquifers and the subsequent water delivery to riparian

ecosystems at the base of watersheds. These factors are

likely causing a decline in the health of the Bebb willow

riparian community at Hart Prairie (Avery 1991; Church

2000; Gavin 1998).

Initial Restoration Efforts _________

Restoration of hydrologic and ecological function to the

Hart Prairie Bebb willow riparian community began in

1996–1997 through a cooperative project involving The

Nature Conservancy (TNC), USFS and the Northern Arizona University (NAU) School of Forestry and Department

of Geology. This restoration project was funded by the

Arizona Water Protection Fund (grants 95-006WPF and 96-

0019WPF) and NAU School of Forestry. The restoration

involved digging out two small earthen dams that were

diverting water out of its original channel away from the
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 135

Incorporating Ecological and Nonecological Concerns in the Restoration of a Rare, High-Elevation Bebb Willow Riparian Community DeWald and Springer

downslope Bebb willow riparian area. The original channel

was reconstructed by removing debris that had accumulated

in it, and rock weirs were constructed in the channel to slow

high-flow water velocities. Drainages that had been diverting water from the original channel were blocked using

sediment and rocks removed from the original channel. In

addition to the channel work, restoration activities included

constructing wire fences around some of the Bebb willow

populations to protect them from overgrazing by deer and

elk. The fencing and channel restoration activities were all

completed using hand tools.

An extensive monitoring network was established to measure hydrologic and Bebb willow responses to the restoration. This monitoring network included a drilling series of

shallow wells, setting up soil moisture monitoring points,

and inserting a metal “H”-flume at the base of the watershed

to measure surface and subsurface water movement within

and out of the base of the watershed. A permanent weather

station was set up in a nonforested area of the meadow near

the top of the Bebb willow riparian community to collect a

variety of weather data, and an electric fence surrounding

the weather tower was constructed to protect the electronics

from deer and elk. Finally, Bebb willow water status and

regeneration were also measured. Details of these restoration and monitoring activities are described in Gavin (1998)

and Church (2000).

Because restoration of the channel primarily involved

redistribution of soil and rocks already present, and it did

not change the visual appearance of the area, water sources

for wildlife were not decreased and there were no impacts to

hikers, bicyclists, and skiers in the area. However, there

have been concerns expressed by the public regarding the

monitoring equipment. The “H”-flume measuring streamflow

at the base of the watershed has been tampered with, and

the 7-foot tall, silver-colored weather tower with its electric

fence is an eyesore. In response to the public’s concerns, the

exterior of the weather tower and the fence posts around it

were painted to blend better into the environment to improve aesthetics of this monitoring station. In addition,

alternative fencing is being considered.

Results of the monitoring activities indicated that the

initial restoration only partially restored hydrologic function (Church 2000; Gavin 1998). Moisture conditions in the

riparian system have improved, but they were still below

those needed in the late spring for successful Bebb willow

seed germination and early seedling growth. Church (2000)

reported that the Bebb willow trees were producing abundant viable seed (85 percent germination under laboratory

conditions), but soils were too dry during seed dissemination

to support Bebb willow regeneration. Therefore, although

the restoration activities improved conditions for the adult

trees, they did not provide for the long-term sustainability of

this riparian community.

Past riparian restoration efforts including those at Hart

Prairie illustrate the importance of evaluating the condition

of a degraded riparian area from a watershed perspective.

Because of the close connection between upslope and downstream processes, riparian restoration efforts must avoid

the approach that was taken at Hart Prairie where recovery

strategies were based solely on an evaluation of the immediate degraded riparian site (Briggs 1996). Addressing isolated components of a watershed such as was done at Hart

Prairie is ecologically incomplete; to be complete, restoration must address conditions in the upslope watershed.

In the case of the Hart Prairie area, a thick cover of grass

and high density of ponderosa pine and white pine (Pinus

strobiformis Engelm.) now dominate the meadow above the

Bebb willow riparian community. These conditions are in

contrast to historic photographs of Hart Prairie showing a

meadow with light grass cover and only a few scattered

trees. The increased grass cover and encroachment of woody

tree species from the upper watershed into the meadow are

the result of fire suppression and grazing. This encroachment of pines is consistent with increases in the number of

trees per acre on National Forest lands in Arizona and New

Mexico over the past 30 years (Covington and Moore 1994).

In high-elevation meadows such as Hart Prairie, the encroaching pine forest competes with the downslope riparian

communities for ground water stored in the perched aquifers. Restoration of the upslope area back to historic conditions would involve removing the pine trees where they have

encroached into the previously wet meadow, and prescribed

burning to reduce grass cover. Experiments in the Beaver

Creek watershed in Arizona show that streamflow can be

increased for 6–10 years following removal of trees in upslope

communities (Baker 1986; Brown and others 1974).

Ecological Concerns_____________

Complete restoration of the prairie meadow would remove

up to 90 percent of the ponderosa and white pines in the area

directly upslope from the Bebb willow community (fig. 1),

and prescribed burning would reduce grass density and

prevent future tree encroachment. In addition, a complete

restoration would remove stock tanks in the watershed

above the Bebb willow community. In 1998, NAU received

funding from the Arizona Water Protection Fund (grant 98-

050WPF) for a collaborative effort by NAU, TNC, and the

USFS to restore the watershed at Hart Prairie.

The first step in the restoration effort was to map and

measure all of the trees encroaching into the meadow. The

total amount of water lost to the downslope riparian community from the encroaching trees will be estimated by NAU by

combining the tree size data with sapflow data collected

during the summer of 2000. This information will be used to

compare the amount of water released downslope following

different thinning treatments, which will help determine

the actual number and which trees to remove. Water lost due

to herbaceous vegetation transpiration is being measured by

NAU to determine the amount of water that would be

released downslope following prescribed burning. This information will also help determine the ecologically best

time(s) of the year to burn. For example, if the grasses are

using a lot of water during Bebb willow seed dissemination,

then a prescribed burn prior to willow seed dissemination

would be the best ecological time to burn.

There are five stock tanks currently being evaluated by

NAU to determine their effects on the downslope Bebb

willow community. This information will be used to direct

activities such as deconstruction of tanks, reduction in tank

size, and bank and channel reshaping. Tank removal and

mitigation will be based on field measurements, historical

photographs and maps, and other supporting information.
136 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

DeWald and Springer Incorporating Ecological and Nonecological Concerns in the Restoration of a Rare, High-Elevation Bebb Willow Riparian Community

The tree and tank removal, and prescribed burning will

increase water available to the riparian community, but in

contrast to the initial restoration efforts, these watershed

activities could also generate considerable public concern

due to their potentially significant aesthetic, wildlife, and

recreation impacts.

Nonecological Concerns _________

NAU, TNC, and the USFS conducted planning meetings

during 1999–2000 where impacts to the viewshed and recreation from a full watershed restoration were discussed, and

modifications to the full restoration were developed to address these concerns. In addition, public comments were

collected in response to the USFS Proposed Action describing the restoration, and concerns were collected from the

neighbors of TNC. The concerns raised during the planning

meetings and by the public are described below, and modifications to the full restoration as a result of these concerns

are described in the next section.

The Hart Prairie area is popular with hikers, bikers, and

cross-country skiers, and the restoration treatment area is

within the Snowbowl ski area and proposed Arizona Trail

viewsheds. The removal of the large numbers and sizes of

trees involved in the full restoration is expected to have

negative aesthetic impacts. In addition to the aesthetics,

there are hazards to recreationists associated with downed

woody debris and snags that would be created by the tree

removal. Smoke from the proposed prescribed burning can

create health and aesthetic problems, and 2–3 foot firebreak

lines and road construction may also have negative aesthetic

effects. In addition, fears were expressed that the prescribed

burn would get out of control and destroy private property.

The San Francisco Peaks are considered a sacred place for

many of the Native American Tribes in the Southwest, so a

consultation process was set up with 13 Tribes to ensure that

potential cultural impacts of the proposed restoration were

considered. Tribes were also invited to Hart Prairie for a tour

and further discussion of the proposed watershed restoration. During this consultation process, it was revealed that

the removal of the larger trees and the total number of trees

involved in the restoration have raised concerns. In addition, concerns were expressed regarding the time of year

when restoration activities would occur; the timing of such

activities should be compatible with Native American religious beliefs.

Many concerns were raised that the amount of open water

available for the diverse species of wildlife at Hart Prairie

will be reduced with the removal of stock tanks. In addition,

there was a great deal of opposition to the removal of

Snowbowl tank because this tank is used for education and

is a favorite spot for recreationists.

Incorporating Ecological and

Nonecological Concerns _________

In order to address concerns of the large numbers and

sizes of trees to be removed, the prairie meadow encroached

by the pines was divided into subwatersheds that were

prioritized in terms of their potential contribution to water

loss downslope. A subwatershed directly upslope from the

riparian community was identified as the first priority to be

thinned. This area represents less than one-third of the total

prairie meadow encroached by the pines, resulting in restoration that will remove significantly fewer trees and will

therefore result in fewer aesthetic and safety impacts. Some

Figure 1—Trees encroaching into the meadow at Hart Prairie, Arizona

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32

Diameter Class (inches)

Southwestern White Pine Ponderosa Pine

Number of Trees
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 137

Incorporating Ecological and Nonecological Concerns in the Restoration of a Rare, High-Elevation Bebb Willow Riparian Community DeWald and Springer

of the larger trees will be girdled to create snags rather than

removed to provide wildlife habitat. In addition, computergenerated, visual simulations are being developed by NAU

from the mapping data to compare the current viewshed to

viewsheds following different thinning treatments. Locations, numbers, and sizes of trees that would be removed will

be included in the visualization of the different thinning

treatments. These simulations can be used to help design

the tree removal to minimize negative aesthetics and to

inform the public about what is being removed and what the

viewshed will look like. Finally, “fuzzy” boundaries will be

created between the restored area and the areas of the

meadow not being restored to further minimize visual impacts. Some of the tanks will be reduced in size rather than

removed in order to maintain the wildlife benefits they

currently provide, and a “wildlife drinker” will be installed

in the area to provide access to water lost due to the stock

tank removal. Despite the fact that Snowbowl tank prevents

water from entering the channel directly above the Bebb

willow community, it will most likely not be modified due to

public sentiment not wanting this tank to be removed.

Finally, the timing of restoration activities will be compatible with Native American religious beliefs, and attempts

will be made to burn when recreational and aesthetic impacts would be minimized.

As a result of addressing nonecological concerns associated with the full ecological restoration, the proposed activities will not fully restore the prairie meadow. However,

incorporation of nonecological concerns will still permit

restoration of one-third of the meadow and this should

provide significant additional water to the downslope Bebb

willow riparian community. Prerestoration data are still

being collected, and the Tribal consultation and public

comment processes are ongoing. Once these processes and

the restoration activities are completed, the postrestoration

monitoring will tell us whether further restoration is needed

to provide additional water flow to the Bebb willow riparian

community.

References _____________________

Avery, C.C. 1991. Topographic changes as a cause of reduced

overland flows at the Fern Mountain Bebb’s willow community.

The Nature Conservancy, unpublished report. Tucson, AZ. 10

pages.

Baker, M.B., Jr. 1986. Effects of ponderosa pine treatments on

water yield in Arizona. Water Res. Bull. 22:67–73.

Briggs, M.K., B.A. Roundy, and W.W. Shaw. 1994. Trial and error:

assessing the effectiveness of riparian revegetation in Arizona.

Restoration and Management Notes 12:2

Briggs, M.K. 1996. Riparian ecosystem recovery in arid lands:

strategies and references. The University of Arizona Press, Tucson. 159 pages.

Brown, H.E., M.B. Baker, Jr., J.J. Rogers, W.P. Clary, J.L. Kovner,

F.R. Larson, C.C. Avery, and R.E. Campbell. 1974. Opportunities

for increasing water yields and other multiple use values on

ponderosa pine forest lands. USDA Forest Service Research

Paper RM-129.

Church, S.M. 2000. Response of Bebb willow (Salix bebbiana) to

riparian restoration, Hart Prairie, AZ. M.S. Thesis, Northern

Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ. 55 pages.

Covington, W.W. and M.M. Moore. 1994. Southwestern ponderosa

forest structure: changes since Euro-American settlement. Journal of Forestry 94:39–47

DeBano, L.F. and L.J. Schmidt. 1990. Potential for enhancing

riparian habitats in the Southwestern United States with watershed practices. Forest Ecology and Management 33/34:385–403.

Gavin, A.J. 1998. Hydrogeology and numerical simulation of a

spring-dominated high-elevation riparian community, Hart Prairie, Arizona. M.S. Thesis. Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ. 177 pages.

Noss, R.F. 1990. Indicators for monitoring biodiversity: a hierarchical approach. Conservation Biology 4:355–364.

Troendle, C.A. 1983. The potential for water yield augmentation

from forest management in the Rocky Mountain Region. Water

Res. Bull. 19:359–373.
138 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 4

Economics and

Utilization

139

USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 141

In: Vance, Regina K.; Edminster, Carleton B.; Covington, W. Wallace;

Blake, Julie A. comps. 2001. Ponderosa pine ecosystems restoration and

conservation: steps toward stewardship; 2000 April 25–27; Flagstaff, AZ.

Proceedings RMRS-P-22. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture,

Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station.

Dr. Dennis L. Lynch is Professor Emeritus, Department of Forest Sciences,

College of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO. At

the time of this conference he was employed by State and Private Forestry,

Region 2, Forest Service, USDA to complete research related to other forest

restoration projects and the utilization of small diameter wood in Colorado.

Dr. Lynch has completed three other similar cost studies on forest restoration

in Colorado.

Financial Results of Ponderosa Pine Forest

Restoration in Southwestern Colorado

Dennis L. Lynch

Abstract—From 1996 to 1998, the Ponderosa Pine Partnership

conducted an experimental forest restoration project on 493 acres of

small diameter ponderosa pine in the San Juan National Forest,

Montezuma County, Colorado. The ecological basis and the financial analysis for this project are discussed. Specific financial results

of the project including products sold, revenues collected, harvesting costs incurred, and profits or losses realized are reported.

Restoration costs are also compared with fire suppression costs

experienced both in Colorado and nationwide. Using data collected

since the conclusion of the project, the future potential for financing

forest restoration in southwestern Colorado is explored.

Introduction ____________________

This paper presents specific financial results from a forest

restoration project conducted by the Ponderosa Pine Partnership in southwestern Colorado. This Partnership was

created by a group of organizations to explore potential

benefits of forest restoration and includes Montezuma

County, San Juan National Forest, Ft Lewis College, Colorado Timber Industry Association (CTIA), Colorado State

Forest Service, College of Natural Resources, and Cooperative Extension at Colorado State University (CSU). The

Partnership was formed because the County and the San

Juan National Forest were concerned about several problems present in the 183,000 acre ponderosa pine forest

northeast of Cortez, CO. These problems included:

• Potential for insect and disease outbreaks

• Risk of catastrophic forest fires

• Decline of small forest product businesses

• Recognition that ponderosa pine forests in this area are

not within their range of natural variability and are

probably not sustainable in their current condition

(Romme 1999).

Dr. William Romme, professor in the Department of Biology at Ft Lewis College, Durango, CO, had principal responsibility for ecological data collection, development of an

ecological prescription for this experimental forest restoration project, and subsequent monitoring. In his previous

research in southwestern Colorado (Montezuma, La Plata,

and Archuleta Counties) Romme (1999) reached generally

similar conclusions as research from Arizona and New

Mexico (Cooper 1960; Covington and others 1997; Dahms

and Geils 1997; Fulé and others 1997). He found that in this

forest area there were seven times more trees per acre today

than in 1900. Specifically, there are 280 to 390 trees per acre

today versus 40 to 50 trees per acre in 1900. Stands were

characterized in 1900 by clumps of trees. These clumps were

typically one-tenth to one-quarter acre in size, while today

the clumped pattern of stands has largely been lost. Stump

diameters of trees living in 1900 averaged 27 inches and ages

were likely to reach 300 years. Today 95 percent of the trees

are 16 inches in diameter at breast height or smaller and 110

years or less in age. Additionally, less than 20 percent of

today’s stands have pine regeneration. Mortality is also

disproportionate, occurring in the very young and oldest

trees.

He also discovered that fire frequencies have changed. For

example, in the forest area, of which this study is a part, he

found that during the period 1685–1872, the interval between fires ranged from 5 to 20 years, with a median of 12

years. In another part of the area he found that between

1729 to 1879 the range in fire frequency was 2 to 31 years

with a median of 10 years. Since 1879, there has not been a

fire that created a fire scar in most of the area.

On the basis of his research, Dr. Romme suggested that

the current forest could be modified and restored to conditions similar to pre-1870 structure and processes. He designed an ecological prescription that retained large trees,

developed the clumped nature of tree groups within the

forest, developed glades and parks between tree clumps,

reduced shrub understory while increasing the grass-forb

component, and reintroduced low intensity fire as a process.

A dominant concern of this study was to ensure that the

ecological prescription controlled implementation. It was

also obvious that forest restoration could not proceed unless

costs were paid. As previously stated, no government money

was available to implement this study. Further it was highly

unlikely that tax dollars would be appropriated to pay for

forest restoration in any situation except, perhaps, those

most severely threatening to life and property. Even then,

the material to be removed would have to be disposed of in

some way. Leaving thinning slash in the forest would only

increase fuel loading and the probability of intense fires.

Sackett (2000) commented that prescribed burning alone

has been unable to remove the volume of existing material

in the Chimney Springs, AZ, area forest to a healthy state,

let alone presettlement conditions. Recent catastrophic fires

in the Southwest also attest to the danger associated with

the use of prescribed fire alone. Therefore, this financial
142 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Lynch Financial Results of Ponderosa Pine Forest Restoration in Southwestern Colorado

study was conducted to determine harvesting costs and

potential revenues available from products removed in this

experimental attempt at forest restoration.

It is also important to recognize that forest restoration

projects are very different from typical timber sales. In forest

restoration, the material removed is the least desirable from

a product standpoint and may contain a predominance of

small diameter trees that cost more to remove than they are

worth. A large body of timber harvesting research, from the

United States and internationally, clearly documents that

manual or mechanical removal of small diameter trees is

expensive. Thus the basic premise of forest restoration,

which requires removing small trees and leaving the largest,

presents a difficult financial problem. This problem is further complicated in Montezuma County because there are

only a few local industries available to process small diameter material. Therefore, long haul distances are necessary

to take small material to processing points. Forest Service

procedures that required treating forest restoration activities as timber sales and an appraisal process that did not

accurately estimate values of the material removed made

the problem even more complex.

Carla Garrison Harper, representing Montezuma County,

served as project coordinator for the Ponderosa Pine Partnership. The Partnership completed forest restoration on six

representative sites in the Mancos-Dolores District of the

San Juan National Forest. However, because financial data

were incomplete and inconclusive on one unit, this report

discusses financial results for five of the areas completed.

These five study units totaled 492.6 acres. An overview of the

ecological prescription, restoration work, costs, and subsequent monitoring is included in a paper by Lynch and others

(2000). It does not, however, provide the cost detail presented here nor a comparison with wildfire costs.

Three key points should be emphasized:

• Dr. Romme’s ecological prescription was formed on the

basis of his previous research. The project objective was

to restore the forest toward the ecological balance he

envisioned.

• The Partnership did not have any Federally appropriated money to use to subsidize the removal of small

diameter trees.

• After the largest trees had been retained in clumps, as

specified by the ecological prescription, the excess material was removed and sold. The financial results

presented here are for that undesirable and excess

material. The project was not designed to make money,

but to determine if forest restoration work based on

good ecology could pay its way.

Description of Project

Implementation _________________

The five units selected for this study are representative of

forest conditions in this area and are quite similar in regard

to soil, slope, terrain, and access to haul roads. To implement

forest restoration it was necessary, under existing Forest

Service procedures, to transfer Dr. Romme’s ecological guidelines to a timber sale format. Phil Kemp, forester with the

Mancos-Dolores District, had primary responsibility for

applying Dr. Romme’s research and guidelines to develop

and implement ecological restoration prescriptions. The

retention of larger trees, and the clumped nature and spacing of tree groups were key considerations. Phil developed

on-the-ground silvicutural prescriptions, and trained and

supervised crews to mark the trees to be retained in the

forest. He coordinated with Dr. Romme to develop a marking

guide that would achieve the desired forest condition. Trees

to be retained on the site were marked with blue paint.

Following marking of each unit in this study, a cruise was

conducted to determine the amount and character of the

material to be removed. The Forest Service, using this

information, prepared administrative timber sale contracts.

Montezuma County purchased each timber sale and arranged to pay for the wood removed and associated costs

such as road rock replacement and slash disposal. Initially,

costs to conduct the ecological and economic studies were

also to be charged to the timber sale. However, research

funds from other sources were secured to pay for the studies.

Timber volumes and subsequent payments were initially

based on cruise data that ultimately proved to be inaccurate.

Cruise estimates tended to overestimate the amount of

sawtimber available for removal and underestimate the

volume of POL material to be removed. Such faulty estimates are of critical concern to both the Forest Service and

small businesses. Cruise estimates of timber are not only

costly to perform, but in forest restoration sales have the

potential to be very erroneous because there is such great

variation in the material to be removed. Therefore, weight

samples were taken from logs and truckloads of logs were

scaled after weighing to determine weight-volume relationships. Subsequent payments were based on weight, which

proved to be more accurate and fair to both seller and

purchaser.

CTIA coordinated with local industry and the San Juan

National Forest to determine which industry firms were to

be involved in the project. Ragland and Sons Logging of

Dolores, CO, purchased the five timber sale units from

Montezuma County and had primary responsibility for

harvesting and marketing material removed from the forest.

The material removed was used to produce a variety of wood

products, some of which were experimental attempts to use

small diameter trees. Every effort was made to market logs

to processors in or near Montezuma County, but some small

diameter material simply could not be processed locally. The

bulk of this small material was taken as waferwood logs to

the oriented strand board plant in Olathe, CO. At the plant,

logs are debarked and processed through a waferizer, also

known as a flaker, to create wafers or strands for oriented

strand board production. Sawlogs from the sale were processed at the Ragland’s Stonertop sawmill near Dolores into

timbers and lumber. Material brought to the mill was

appraised to all other possible mill sites and the value of the

logs estimated on that basis.

Ragland and Sons Logging utilized both manual (chainsaws) and mechanical (JD 743 Harvester) equipment for

felling, limbing, and bucking (FLB) in this project. Slash was

lopped and scattered in place for prescribed burning. Skidding was done with rubber-tired grapple skidders (CAT 518

and JD 540). Logs were loaded with a knuckle boom loader

on conventional log trucks for transportation by product
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 143

Financial Results of Ponderosa Pine Forest Restoration in Southwestern Colorado Lynch

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

1 5B 5E 4 Joyce

POL

Sawlogs

LEGEND

Left axis — Tons

Bottom axis — Units

Bars- POL or Sawlogs

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

1 5E 5B 4 Joyce

5" to 7.9"

8" to 11.9"

12+"

LEGEND

Left Axis — Number of Trees

Bottom Axis — Units

Bars- Diameter (DBH) Classes

type to various mills. All trucks were weighed on scales to

determine the amount of material removed.

We followed a program of adaptive management. As each

unit was completed we reviewed the results to ensure that

appropriate changes were made in the next unit to improve

ecological accomplishment (Lynch and others 2000). Following logging, broadcast burning of slash by the Forest Service

was used to reintroduce fire to the forest. Prescribed burning

of these areas in later years will be done at intervals that are

historically characteristic of these forests. This should result in low intensity fires in the future. Ecological monitoring of these areas is continuing.

Financial Studies and Results _____

Study Methodology

In this financial study, we recorded every tree cut by

diameter class. Distributions of trees removed by unit and

diameter class are shown in figure 1. Every log skidded and

every log loaded onto a truck were also counted. All trucks

were weighed to determine the tons hauled by product type.

The relationship of products other than logs (POL) to sawlog

material by unit is shown in figure 2. Samples were taken

from logs and sample truckloads were scaled by a Forest

Service scaler to determine weight to volume relationships.

Complete records of time and costs for all aspects of the

operation were collected using established logging cost collection techniques. These included all costs associated with

labor, equipment, oil, gas, diesel, supplies, field and office

administration, and transportation involved in felling,

limbing, bucking, skidding, loading, slash treatment (except

prescribed burning), roads, and hauling logs. These costs are

specific to the company participating in this study, so itemized cost information is not presented in order to respect the

privacy of the firm. Revenues for each product were recorded

and profit or loss calculated. The efficiency of the logger was

compared to USDA Forest Service regional average harvesting costs and harvesting cost studies in New Mexico, Arizona, Oregon, and Canada. Correlation analysis was used to

compare the characteristics of units 1, 5B, 5E, and Joyce

with unit profit. Initial analysis indicated that factors associated with the cold temperatures and deep snow in Unit 4

inflated costs and would bias results. Only correlations

above 0.8 (+ or –) were considered strong enough to merit

consideration.

Unit Results

Unit 1—Also known as the Smoothing Iron unit, Unit 1 is

located on Haycamp Mesa and is 125 acres. A total of 6,754

trees were removed from the unit during August 25 to

October 3, 1995. Figure 1 shows tree distribution by diameter class. In this unit, 1 cubic foot of ponderosa pine log at

the landing weighed 71.78 lb with a standard deviation of

5.11 lb

The removal of trees resulted in the delivery of 1,232.76

tons of sawlogs to Stonertop sawmill in Dolores, 2,322.75

tons of waferwood logs to the Louisiana-Pacific oriented

strand board mill in Olathe, and 145 tons of pine excelsior

logs to Western Excelsior in Mancos. This was a relationship

of 33.3 percent sawlogs to 66.7 percent products other than

logs (POL) by weight. It amounted to a removal of 29.6 tons

per acre. Any tree 8 inches d.b.h. or larger that would make

a sawlog was taken to the sawmill. Other trees were taken

for waferwood logs or pine excelsior logs. Table 1 lists unit

revenue, and cost to the logger as well as profit or loss data

per ton.

There was a total profit (total revenue minus actual costs)

for the unit of $440.48. Note that this is total profit before

taxes. No previous allowances for profit and risk or income

taxes were made during cost collection or analysis.

The effort to develop pine excelsior was experimental. It

was first believed that pine might be added as a supplement

to aspen excelsior for certain applications and was, therefore, worth trying as a potential local outlet for small, poor

quality logs. However, pine contains terpenes, a compound

Figure 1—Numbers of trees by unit and

diameter class.

Figure 2—Relationship of products by unit (tons

of POL and tons of sawlogs per unit).
144 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Lynch Financial Results of Ponderosa Pine Forest Restoration in Southwestern Colorado

that has a characteristic pine odor and, when it occurs in

sufficient concentrations, can be used to produce turpentine.

Terpenes can also attract certain insects, such as termites,

and in sufficient concentrations can interfere with the viability of seeds. Further, pine excelsior proved to be brittle

and difficult to ship. These characteristics reduced the

marketability of pine excelsior and, at this time, pine excelsior does not appear to be a viable product.

The effort to use ponderosa pine for waferwood was also

experimental to a degree. Usually, wood materials of lighter

density, such as aspen, are sought for waferwood used in the

production of oriented stand board (OSB). However, Louisiana-Pacific at Olathe, CO, was willing to mix ponderosa pine

from this area with other species as a test. This provided an

excellent outlet for poor quality, small diameter material

that would have been impossible to market elsewhere. The

long haul distance of 160 miles to the plant contributed to

losses for this product.

Unit 5B—This unit is also known as one of the Found

Park units, and is located off Forest Road 521 on Ormiston

Point. It is 108 acres. A total of 9,177 trees were removed

from the unit during June 26 to November 11, 1996. Figure 1

shows the distribution of trees cut by diameter class. Ponderosa pine sawlogs at the landing weighed 72.81 lb per cubic

foot with a standard deviation of 2.0 lb. The POL logs

weighed 76.56 lb per cubic foot at the landing with a standard deviation of 4.03 lb. The removal resulted in the

delivery of 1,397.44 tons of sawlogs to the Stonertop mill,

1,899.86 tons of waferwood logs to the Louisiana-Pacific

mill, 353.07 tons of wood for posts and poles to Cannon

Forest Products in Cortez, and 177.54 tons of pulpwood sold

at the landing and ultimately delivered to Stone Container

in Snowflake, AZ. This was a relationship of 36.5 percent

sawlogs to 63.5 percent POL by weight and a removal of 35.4

tons per acre. Table 1 summarizes the per ton financial

results by product for this unit. The total profit for the unit

was $6,875.60.

Shipment of pulpwood to Snowflake, AZ, was another

experimental attempt to evaluate potential markets. In this

case, a trucker from Cortez was hauling house logs from an

area near Snowflake to a location in Colorado. He needed a

back haul to Snowflake and this provided an opportunity to

explore this market. However, he estimated his costs resulted in a loss to him of approximately $8.00 per ton for the

haul. Thus, this pulpwood market proved to be uneconomical to the trucker, although the revenue at the landing to the

logger was near the break-even point.

Post and pole logs were sorted at the landing and trucked

separately to Cannon Forest Products. It takes a reasonably

straight, defect free, and uniform tree to yield a satisfactory

post or pole. Forest restoration material, however, often

contains large volumes of deformed, poor quality, small

diameter material that does not fit post and pole specifications. Sorting out higher quality material can introduce

additional costs. Also, the quantity of post and pole logs

ultimately overwhelmed the small local mill capacity to buy

and process the material.

Unit 5E—The second of the Found Park units is bisected

by Forest Road 521 on Ormiston Point. It is 65 acres and

almost equally distributed on either side of the road. A total

of 5,307 trees were removed from this unit during May 29 to

June 27, 1997. Figure 1 shows the distribution of trees cut by

diameter class. In this unit, ponderosa pine logs at the

landing weighed 71.68 lb per cubic foot with a standard

deviation of 6.04 lb. This removal resulted in a delivery of

274.85 tons of sawlogs to Stonertop mill, 881.07 tons of

Table 1— Unit summary of revenue, costs, and profit (loss) per ton.

Product Revenue Costa Stumpage Profit (loss)

Unit 1—Smoothing Iron

Waferwood $31 $31.06 + $1.51 = (–$1.57)

Excelsior $17 $23.35 + $1.51 = (–$7.86)

Sawlogs $30.52 $22.64 + $3.64 = $4.24

Unit 5B—Found Park

Waferwood $31 $30.84 + $1.32 = (–$1.16)

Pulpwood $18.82b $16.87b + $1.32 = $0.63

Posts-poles $24.00 $22.81 + $1.32 = (–$0.13)

Sawlogs $30.52 $20.86 + $3.21 = $6.45

Unit 5E—Found Park

Pulpwood $24.04b $21.77b + $1.14 = $1.13

Posts-poles $24.00 $27.55 + $1.14 = (–$4.69)

Waferwood $32.00 $35.37 + $1.14 = (–$4.87)

Sawlogs $30.52 $30.52 + $8.92 = (–$3.76)

Unit 4—West Trail —“Snow Unit”

Waferwood $31 $36.20 + $1.48 = (–$6.68)

Sawlogs $30.52 $26.42 + $4.63 = (–$0.53)

Joyce Unit

Waferwood $32 $27.10 + $ 2.32 = $2.58

Sawlogs $30.52 $17.22 + $ 5.21 = $8.09

a

Includes all costs described in text associated with logging and hauling logs to mill.

b

Note: pulpwood revenue and costs are at the landing, not to the mill.
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 145

Financial Results of Ponderosa Pine Forest Restoration in Southwestern Colorado Lynch

waferwood logs to Louisiana-Pacific, 269.64 tons of wood for

posts and poles to Cannon Forest Products, and 101.9 tons

of pulpwood to Stone Container in Snowflake, AZ. This is a

relationship of 18 percent sawlogs to 82 percent POL by

weight and was a removal of 23.5 tons per acre. Table 1

presents the per ton financial data for this unit.

The loss for the unit was $6,473.71. This loss does not

include any allowances for profit, risk, or income taxes.

Factors contributing to the loss were a high stumpage rate

for sawlogs coupled with the small amount of sawtimber

removed from the unit. The high stumpage price resulted

from cruise data that indicated there were more sawlogs in

the unit than actually existed. Thus, the logger paid for

material that did not, in fact, exist. This was a key reason for

using a weight basis for subsequent sales of this low value

material.

While pulpwood again appears to be profitable in this unit,

the trucker had delayed in calculating his costs only to

discover losses similar to those discussed in the narrative for

Unit 5B. It is likely that the large amount of small material

of poor quality created additional sorting and handling for

post and pole logs, thus increasing costs.

This unit illustrates the financial losses that occur when

there is a small percentage of sawlogs to POL material. It

simply costs more to harvest small diameter material and

when sawlogs are not present, overall costs increase. In

addition, the stumpage cost for sawlogs was too high and

that added to losses.

Unit 4—Also known as the West Trail unit, this unit is

located off Forest Road 524. We refer to it as the “snow unit”

because it was logged from November 11, 1996, to January

31, 1997, when the area was besieged with very cold weather

and deep snows.

The unit is 95 acres. A total of 6,824 trees were removed

from the unit. Figure1 shows the distribution of trees cut by

diameter class. Ponderosa pine logs in this unit weighed

72.43 lb per cubic foot with a standard deviation of 4.6 lb. The

removal resulted in the delivery of 1,152.51 tons of sawlogs

to Stonertop Mill and 2,008.57 tons of waferwood to Louisiana-Pacific. This is a relationship of 36.5 percent sawlogs to

63.5 percent POL by weight. This was a removal of 33.27 tons

per acre. Table 1 presents per ton financial results for this

unit.

This resulted in a loss of $14,028.08. Factors contributing

to this loss were increased costs from logging in deep snow

and somewhat higher sawlog stumpage prices. The POL

stumpage price was also near that of unit 1 and higher than

units 5B and 5E. It is important to note that all of the other

characteristics of this unit indicate it would have been a

profitable unit, like unit 5B, if it had not been logged in deep

snow. While it is often desirable to encourage winter logging

of areas, this sale illustrates the importance of scheduling

forest restoration sales during periods when costs will not be

increased by weather conditions. It also underlines the need

to provide flexibility for contract extensions when such

conditions arise.

Joyce Unit—This unit is located in the Boggy Draw area,

which is a favorable site for tree growth. It is 99.6 acres. A

total of 3,101 trees were removed from this unit. Figure 1

shows the distribution of trees cut by diameter class. In this

unit, ponderosa pine sawlogs weighed an average of 78.82 lb

per cubic foot (the mean of two scaled loads). A total of

2,021.24 tons of sawlogs were delivered to the Stonertop mill

and 142.46 tons of waferwood logs to Louisiana-Pacific. This

is a relationship of 93.4 percent sawlogs to 6.6 percent POL

by weight. A total of 21.72 tons per acre were removed from

the unit. Table 1 presents the per ton financial data for this

unit.

The total profit for this unit was $16,719.38. This unit is,

from an economic standpoint, at the upper end of profitability for a forest restoration sale. It is at the opposite end of the

spectrum from Unit 5E where the material removed was

predominately POL. The quantity of larger trees on the site

when the ecological prescription was applied resulted in the

removal of more sawlog material than in the other units. The

Joyce unit restoration would resemble a traditional timber

sale if it had removed the largest trees from the site.

However, the largest trees were left on the site in adequate

densities and trees in excess of the prescription were

removed.

Harvesting costs declined overall as a result of the removal of a larger proportion of sawlogs in this unit. The

higher POL costs, which had been typical up to this point,

were offset by the lower harvesting costs of sawlogs. In

addition, the loggers had learned from our reports that POL

was resulting in serious losses. In this unit they did everything possible to salvage material for sawlog use.

This unit illustrates that opportunities can arise to balance costly units (like 5E that have high proportions of POL),

against units like this one to achieve break-even or profitable forest restoration projects. This may require combining

scattered units at a variety of locations into one sale or

adopting landscape scale restoration in order to modify

costs.

Summary of Key Results _________

This forest restoration project incorporated five sale units

covering a total of 492.6 acres and the removal of 31,163

trees (63.3 trees per acre) for use as sawlogs (6,075.8 tons),

waferwood (7,254.71 tons), and other products such as posts

and poles, pulpwood, and pine excelsior (1,047.15 tons). The

loggers’ costs in this study, for each step in the harvesting

process except hauling, were less than USFS Regional averages and very comparable to cost studies from other areas.

Forest Service and independent observers rated the restoration logging conducted by Ragland and Sons as excellent

work.

Table 2 records a summary of profit and loss by unit. Total

profit to the logger of $3,533.67 was 0.81 percent (less than

Table 2—Unit profit or loss.

Unit Profit or (loss) Per acre profit (loss)

1 $ 440.48 $ 3.52

5B $ 6,875.60 $ 63.66

5E $( 6,473.71) $( 99.60)

4 $(14,028.08) $(147.66)

Joyce $ 16,719.38 $ 167.86

Total $ 3,533.67
146 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Lynch Financial Results of Ponderosa Pine Forest Restoration in Southwestern Colorado

FLB

26%

SKID

16%

LOAD

6%

HAUL

44%

ADMIN

7%

ROADS

1%

1 percent) on gross revenues of $434,645.54. This approximates a break-even situation that is better than suffering a

loss, but is hardly a model for a sustainable business venture. Usually, it is appropriate to expect profit and risk

allowances of 10 to 15 percent for logging in this region.

Sale characteristics with the strongest correlation to unit

profit were percent of sawtimber removed by unit (0.93356),

number of trees per acre 12 inches d.b.h. or larger (0.92516),

and cubic foot volume per tree (0.81464). Percent of POL was

negatively correlated with unit profit (–0.93536).

Harvesting costs were also compared to unit profit. Individual harvesting cost elements that were most negatively

correlated included felling, limbing, and bucking (–0.99989),

loading of POL (–0.91372), and hauling of POL (–0.83338).

Total POL costs were also negatively correlated (–0.88099).

The market conditions that existed at the time of this

study were ponderosa pine sawlogs selling at $240 per 1,000

board feet, waferwood logs selling for $31 to $32 per ton, and

post and pole logs selling for $24 per ton. Under those

conditions, the analyses conducted in this study suggest that

future restoration projects in this area of Colorado can be

near the financial break-even point when material removed

meets the following criteria:

1. Sawtimber should be at or above 40 percent of the total

weight removed and POL should be at or below 60

percent of the total weight of material removed. Note

the relationship of sawlogs to POL in figure 2 and then

relate that to profit and loss in table 2. Utilizing trees

in the 8 inch to 11.9 inch diameter class for the highest

value product possible is critical to profitability. Payments for material removed should be based on weight

scaling and not cruise data, given the variability of this

material.

2. Six or more sawtimber trees 12 inches d.b.h. or larger

should be available for removal per acre with an average cubic foot volume of 12 cubic feet per sawtimber

tree removed. Given that forest areas are being reduced

from 200 to 350 stems per acre down to half that

number or less, this should not be viewed as a difficult

problem in landscape scale projects. However, when

units do not meet these criteria, they should be combined with other units to create break-even projects.

3. POL harvesting costs must be carefully managed. Note

the summary cost distribution for waferwood logs in

figure 3. Attention to cost control and record keeping is

important when dealing with low value, small diameter material.

4. Felling, limbing, and bucking (FLB) costs must be kept

as low as possible. Note the proportion of FLB costs to

all POL costs in figure 3. In an analysis of the FLB cost

per cubic foot of wood removed, mechanical felling was

more expensive in all diameter classes in this study

than manual felling. This is due both to the type of

harvester used in this study and the scattered nature

of the trees being cut. Also it is clear that forest restoration logging in adverse weather conditions should be

avoided.

5. Loading and hauling costs for POL must be reduced.

Note that the proportion of costs attributable to loading

and hauling in figure 3 were 50 percent of all costs. It

also suggests the need to strengthen and/or develop

local manufacturing businesses that could use small

diameter material and decrease hauling distances.

6. Stumpage prices for POL should be zero or less in some

cases. Note in table 1 that the loss per ton for POL is

often nearly equal to the stumpage paid for it. Also, as

a general rule, the revenue from the lowest quality

material, such as waferwood logs, must not be below

$31 per ton to break even.

Potential to Improve Profitability ___

Information developed from this study and other market

studies by the author was used to persuade the USFS to

revise its appraisal process for forest restoration projects

in Region 2. Stumpage prices for ponderosa pine POL in

Region 2 restoration projects may now be appraised at zero

or even a negative value, because the basis for the project is

ecological improvement of forest stands and POL material

typically costs more to harvest than it is worth. In other

words, this is recognition that POL is a liability, not a

valuable product. This change would, for example, reduce

the loss in Unit 5E from $6,473.71 to $1,204.28 and increase

the profit in Unit 5B from $6,875.60 to $9,476.36. Thus,

future restoration units with low value POL might actually

be financially feasible if new appraisal policies are used.

In addition, tremendous demand for OSB in housing and

commercial construction improved the market for waferwood

logs immediately following this study. During the study,

waferwood log prices paid at the mill were either $31 or $32

per ton. March 2000 waferwood log prices being paid ranged

between $35 and $37 per ton. An average price of $36 per ton

would have improved the profitability of this project to 7.3

percent. Similarly, a down turn in the OSB market or the

ponderosa pine lumber market could adversely affect restoration projects. Thus, market fluctuations are important to

consider when restoration projects are being planned.

We gained some insight into ways to reduce harvesting

costs. Figure 3 shows the summarized cost distribution for

one product, waferwood logs. Note that hauling and loading

costs comprise a significant cost center as does felling,

Figure 3—Cost distribution for

waferwood harvesting.
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 147

Financial Results of Ponderosa Pine Forest Restoration in Southwestern Colorado Lynch

limbing, and bucking. Hauling costs could be reduced using

more efficient trailers that better accommodate small diameter material. Research should be directed at the potential

use of “hay rack” trailers or short log trucks with pup trailers

commonly used for hauling pulpwood. Felling and bucking

costs could probably be improved with mechanized equipment designed for harvesting small material. However, this

requires further experimentation. If FLB could be mechanized efficiently there might also be some improvement in

skidding costs. Logging should be planned to avoid adverse

weather that increases costs.

We also have learned to avoid some products, such as

pulpwood, that did not return sufficient revenue to cover

costs or excelsior logs that are not technically feasible.

Studies to improve utilization of wood wastes at the mills

and the development of new products are also important to

future profitability and sustainability of restoration projects.

Comparison of Forest Restoration

Costs to Forest Fire Costs ________

In the previous analysis, the principal focus was on the

identification of factors that could produce break-even or

profitable forest restoration projects. This focus resulted

from concerns that appropriated tax money would not be

available for service contracts to accomplish restoration

work.

However, there are important nonmarket benefits from

forest restoration that might merit investment of public

funds. One of these benefits is the reduction of catastrophic

forest fire hazard. To analyze the economic benefit of fire

hazard reduction, the costs or profit per acre from the five

units were calculated and are presented in table 2. These

costs were subsequently compared with local, State, and

national fire suppression costs per acre.

The nearest large-scale fire to the study area was the 1996

Disappointment Fire that occurred in the pinyon-juniper

forest type north of Dolores, CO. San Juan National Forest

records show that this fire burned 3,840 acres and cost

$992,000 to suppress. This is a per acre suppression cost of

$258.33. That cost is almost double the worst-case restoration cost that occurred in Unit 4 (which had extraordinary

snow costs and high stumpage costs). It is almost three times

more expensive than Unit 5E, which had extensive amounts

of POL and the highest stumpage costs in our study. Recall

that the other restored units recorded profits. Also, all five

restored units still have forests with large trees, pleasing

esthetics, desirable wildlife habitat components, and ecologically functioning processes. The Disappointment Fire

area, on the other hand, lost tree cover, esthetics, and

wildlife habitat, while also requiring additional rehabilitation costs to reduce erosion and reestablish forest vegetation. Unfortunately the amount of those additional

rehabilitation costs were not recorded.

From 1991 to 1996, U.S. Forest Service wildfires in Colorado cost an average of $482.78 per acre to suppress (USFS

1996). Property damage and rehabilitation costs for these

burned areas were not recorded. During the period 1977 to

1992, national large fire costs averaged $570.98 per acre

(USFS 1995). Again, property damage costs and rehabilitation costs for these fires were not recorded.

Suppression, property damage, rehabilitation costs, and

subsequent flooding costs were studied for the 1996 Buffalo

Creek fire that occurred in ponderosa pine near Denver. All

costs after fire and flooding amounted to $679.47 per acre

and are expected to climb to $2,000 per acre because of

continuing flooding and water quality problems (Dennis

2000).

It can be argued that it may not be fair to compare fire

suppression costs with forest restoration costs because no

one can predict when and where a catastrophic fire will

occur. However, because research in ponderosa pine forests

suggests that fuel conditions for catastrophic fire are widespread and that fire can be expected to occur at some time,

the comparison is not far fetched.

An estimate of expected fire suppression costs in restored

forests versus suppression costs under current forest conditions was also developed as an example. Dr. Romme studied

fire frequencies in the Five Pine Canyon area west of Units

5B and 5E. He found that fire frequencies during the past 30

years in the Five Pine Canyon area were similar to fire

frequencies that occurred prior to Euro-American settlement. The Doe Canyon Fire occurred recently in this vicinity, just north and west of Units 5B and 5E, and serves as an

interesting cost comparison. It covered 600 acres and fire

observers noted that the fire was of low intensity and burned

like a prescribed fire. Some of the area had been previously

thinned, there are some open areas mixed with ponderosa

pine forest areas, the terrain is fairly level, and it is likely

that fire frequencies there have been similar to those identified by Dr. Romme in the adjacent Five Pine Canyon area.

Fire suppression, in this case, consisted mostly of burning

out from the roads. San Juan National Forest records show

that the cost to suppress this fire totaled $7,500 or $12.50 per

acre. Some small ponderosa pines were destroyed, but overall the forest remained intact. This better resembles the

lower intensity type of fire expected in restored forests and

may well suggest that the costs of future fire suppression in

such areas will be much lower.

Commentary ___________________

Given the results of this project, I think two questions are

pertinent to the future implementation of forest restoration

projects in the Southwest. These are:

• Who is going to do the work and why should they do it?

• Why should appropriated tax money be used to finance

forest restoration if well designed projects could pay for

themselves?

It is clear that an ecological prescription must control

project implementation to achieve the goals of forest restoration. Forest restoration projects are not traditional timber

sales. Restoration of the forest to its inherent characteristics and processes is, after all, the basic purpose for these

projects.

It is also just as clear that forest restoration is a risky,

financially expensive proposition. In Colorado all of the

forest industry businesses, except two, meet the qualifications for small businesses. Nearly all are family owned and

operated, similar to the Ragland and Sons Logging Company studied in this report. It is presumptuous, therefore,

to expect small businesses that characterize the forest
148 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Lynch Financial Results of Ponderosa Pine Forest Restoration in Southwestern Colorado

industry of Colorado and the Southwest to make a silk purse

out of a sow’s ear, or low quality, small diameter material

into a valuable product. Break-even projects or government

subsidized programs may accomplish ecological objectives

in the short term, but they will never result in the investments necessary to improve efficiencies, develop new products, and provide sustainable forest stewardship. Therefore,

it is important to approach these projects with long-term

financial sustainability in mind, providing loggers with

incentives to function as forest stewards, providing a variety

of restoration services such as watershed rehabilitation and

wildlife improvement projects. By paying attention to factors that influence profitability, such as the use of new

appraisal guidelines that recognize the low quality of this

material and alertness to market fluctuations, agencies can

improve the playing field for small businesses. A consistent

supply of wood from well-designed projects with long-term

contracts could encourage investments to improve efficiencies associated with harvesting and product manufacturing.

To further aid in this, government could provide incentives

in the form of tax advantages, low cost loans to create and

strengthen small businesses, and applied research to improve harvesting efficiency and product development. For

example, forest product studies currently under way through

the Four Corners Initiative (Reader 1998) are intended to

support profitability by increasing local utilization of material removed, improving manufacturing efficiencies, and

creating new value-added products.

The lessons learned from our experimental forest restoration project are encouraging enough to recommend further

projects, I hope, at the landscape level. I also recognize that

other forest areas are so beset with worthless material that

subsidies will have to support restoration.

Finally, restoration projects cost much less than forest fire

suppression. Building a forest restoration infrastructure

makes more financial sense than spending tax money fighting catastrophic forest fires.

Acknowledgments ______________

The author recognizes Catherine Jones, research associate, and Bob Lillie, research assistant, for their invaluable

assistance in the collection of financial data. Cooperative

Extension and the College of Natural Resources at CSU

supported technology transfer workshops and provided

McIntire-Stennis research funding for this project. Without

the thorough research and patient leadership of Dr. Bill

Romme coupled with the field experience and diligence of

Phil Kemp, this project would have never occurred. Doug,

Harold, and Bill Ragland deserve very special recognition

for doing all the hard work, taking all the serious financial

risks, opening their record keeping to us, and accepting such

a small profit in order to try to make forest restoration a

reality in Montezuma County.

References _____________________

Cooper, C.F. 1960. Changes in vegetation, structure, and growth of

Southwestern pine forests since white settlement. Ecological

Monographs 30:129–164

Covington, W.W., P.Z. Fulé, M.M. Moore, S.C. Hart, T.E. Kolb, J.N.

Mast, S.S. Sackett, and M.R. Wagner. 1997 Restoring ecosystem

health in ponderosa pine forests of the Southwest. Journal of

Forestry 95(4):23–29

Dahms, C.W. and Geils, B.W., tech. eds. 1997. An assessment of

forest ecosystem health in the Southwest. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMGTR-295. Fort Collins, CO: USDA Forest Service.

Dennis, C. 2000. Public presentation to Denver Water Board tour.

Colorado State Forest Service, Colorado State University, Fort

Collins, CO.

Fulé, P.Z., W.W. Covington, and M.M. Moore. 1997. Determining

reference conditions for ecosystem management of Southwestern

ponderosa pine forests. Ecological Applications 7:895–908.

Forest Service, USDA. 1995. U.S. Forest Service fire suppression

costs on large fires. Chiefs Office, Washington, DC.

Forest Service, USDA. 1996. Suppression costs and acres burned in

Colorado 1991–1996. Region 2 Fire Staff Calculations, Denver,

CO.

Lynch, D.L., W.H. Romme, and L. Floyd. 2000. Forest restoration in

Southwestern ponderosa pine. Journal of Forestry 29(3):17–24

Reader, T. 1998. A summary of forest products extension activities

in Montezuma County during 1998. Colorado State Forest Service, Durango, CO.

Romme, W.H., H.D. Grissino-Mayer, M.L. Floyd, and D. Hanna.

1999 Landscape condition analysis for the South Central Highlands Section: ponderosa pine forests. Unpublished final report to

the San Juan National Forest, Durango, CO.

Sackett, S.S. 2000. Chimney Springs interval burning field trip

comments. Presented at the steps toward stewardship conference. Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ.
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 149

In: Vance, Regina K.; Edminster, Carleton B.; Covington, W. Wallace;

Blake, Julie A. comps. 2001. Ponderosa pine ecosystems restoration and

conservation: steps toward stewardship; 2000 April 25–27; Flagstaff, AZ.

Proceedings RMRS-P-22. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture,

Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station.

Guy Pinjuv is a Masters Student at the School of Forestry, Box 15018,

Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff Arizona 86001, e-mail:

glp3@cesm.nau.edu. P. J. Daugherty is an Associate Professor at Northern

Arizona University, e-mail: P.J.Daugherty@nau.edu. Bruce E. Fox is a

Professor at Northern Arizona University, e-mail Bruce.Fox@nau.edu.

Cost / Effectiveness Analysis of Ponderosa

Pine Ecosystem Restoration in Flagstaff

Arizona’s Wildland-Urban Interface

Guy Pinjuv

P. J. Daugherty

Bruce E. Fox

Abstract—Ponderosa pine ecosystem restoration in Fort Valley

(located east of Flagstaff, Arizona) has been proposed as a method

of restoring ecosystem health and lowering the risk of catastrophic

wildfire in Flagstaff’s wildland-urban interface. Three methods of

harvest are being used to carry out restoration treatments: hand

harvesting, cut-to-length harvesting, and whole-tree mechanized

harvesting. This paper presents a theoretical application of a cost /

effectiveness analysis to aid in recommendation of an optimum

method of harvest for restoration treatments. Harvest methods can

be compared on the basis of ratios of harvest cost / effectiveness.

Effectiveness in this approach is defined as a harvest method’s

ability to carry out restoration treatment with the least negative

impact on residual stand damage, soil impacts, and fuel loading.

Introduction ____________________

Cost / effectiveness analysis is an economic tool that can

help decisionmakers with limited financial resources select

among alternatives to meet a predetermined objective. In

the Fort Valley restoration project, the objective is an ecological restoration / fuel reduction treatment intended to

reduce the number of small-diameter ponderosa pine (Pinus

ponderosa) trees in Flagstaff, Arizona’s wildland / urban

interface. These small diameter trees inhibit growth of

larger diameter trees and can act as fuel ladders in catastrophic stand replacing fires. Three treatment alternatives

have been used to reduce current tree densities: handharvesting, cut-to-length harvesting, and whole-tree-mechanized harvesting. Each of these harvesting alternatives uses

different mixes of equipment to obtain the given objective of

restoration. Each mix of equipment has different costs for

treating the stand and different environmental impacts on

the stand after treatment. This paper reviews economic tools

to aid in environmentally related decisions, and argues that

cost / effectiveness analysis is superior to benefit cost ratio

and impact analysis as an environmental decisionmaking

approach for harvest method selection in the restoration

projects. The paper introduces the Fort Valley restoration

treatments as a case study, and covers the theoretical

application of cost / effectiveness analysis for harvest method

selection in the Fort Valley restoration treatments.

Efficiency Analysis ______________

Cost effectiveness analysis is one of many techniques that

have been used to analyze the efficiency of environmental

improvement or, conversely, to analyze the efficiency in

avoiding the damage done by environmental degradation.

The three techniques we review in this paper (benefit / cost

ratios, impact analysis, and cost / effectiveness analysis) are

all types of a benefit / cost analysis. Benefit / cost analyses

are used to help policy and decisionmakers assess the desirability of specific government projects for environmental

improvement, and to assess the desirability of new regulations to protect certain aspects of the environment from

further degradation (Tietenberg 1996). The traditional economic efficiency analysis techniques are difficult to apply to

environmental resources because of the lack of economic

valuation for these goods and services (Tietenberg 1996).

While demand curves for normal goods such as pizza or

automobiles can be estimated from readily available market

data, there are no such market data for environmental

resources, because they do not pass through normal market

transactions.

 Benefit / Cost Ratio Analysis

Benefit / cost ratios represent an approach to quantifying

the social profitability of a project. In isolated situations

where the end product of a project has a quantifiable market

value, a benefit / cost ratio analysis can help decisionmaking

by ranking alternate activities designed to complete the

project (Weaver and others 1982). Alternative activities are

ranked by relative efficiency, and the analysis is a formalized attempt to obtain the maximum efficiency from a given

level of funding. The benefit / cost method evaluates each

alternative on a comparison of an earning rate index based

on dollar benefits and per project costs. When used to select

a set of alternatives under a budget constraint (in other

words, capital budgeting problem), benefit / cost ratios

ensure that the alternatives maximize benefits from a given

level of funding. Benefit / cost ratios can also guide decisions

between mutually exclusive alternatives. In this case, the

benefit / cost ratios are compared and the alternative with

the highest ratio is selected. To provide valid comparison of
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Pinjuv, Daugherty, and Fox Cost / Effectiveness Analysis of Ponderosa Pine Ecosystem Restoration in Flagstaff Arizona’s Wildland-Urban Interface

alternatives, benefit / cost ratio analysis requires that all

benefits and costs of a project are quantified in monetary

terms and included in the ratio.

Therefore, the major difficulty in using benefit / cost ratio

analysis for comparing environmental projects is that not all

benefits and costs are easily quantified in monetary terms.

Even if market prices exist for inputs and outputs, these

market prices do not always reflect the full social value of

goods produced, or costs of resources used (Clifton and Fyffe

1977). Even greater difficulties arise when the resources in

question do not have market values or are not handled

by normal markets. For example, what is the dollar value

of forest soil compaction caused by various harvesting

alternatives?

The direct financial costs of carrying out a project are

generally the most straightforward part of the analysis to

quantify. These costs can be measured in terms of equipment, fuel, salaries, and so forth Indirect costs and intangible benefits estimation often pose many difficult problems.

Indirect costs and intangible benefits are inputs and outputs

not covered by normal markets, such as soil compaction,

habitat loss, forest health, and aesthetics. In environmental

projects, the majority of cost and benefits often are indirect

or intangible. Aside from the sheer number of inputs and

outputs that require nonmarket valuation, attempts to value

each benefit can encounter problems concerning differing

individual values of natural resources (Stevens and Sherwood

1982). Additional difficulties arise when the analysis is

applied in the context of benefits and costs associated with

avoided damages, for example, pollution control (Tietenberg

1996).

Many of the benefits associated with restoration treatments are avoided damages. For example, some of the

benefits derived from forest restoration in Fort Valley are

the avoided cost of fire suppression and avoided damages

from wildfire. In theory, the benefits gained from various

levels of restoration could be quantified in terms of damages

avoided. Some of the avoided damage could be quantified

since market goods such as fire suppression or property

values are affected. This type of approach could be used in

Fort Valley, but the valuation of such goods is a project

within itself, and no such valuation has been completed. The

Fort Valley treatments also affect many nonmarket benefits

such as wildlife habitat and recreational opportunity that

are not easily valued for use in benefit / cost ratios.

Impact Analysis

Impact analysis is an approach to quantifying the social,

economic, and environmental consequences of various actions. Impact analysis is often used as a preliminary tool in

developing environmental assessments. Unlike benefit /

cost and cost effectiveness analysis, impact analysis makes

no attempt to convert impacts into a one-dimensional measure to ensure comparability (Tietenberg 1996). Impact

analysis also does not attempt to find an optimum of an

economically efficient set of alternatives for accomplishing

objectives. Rather it attempts to describe all impacts, quantitatively and qualitatively, as a way of evaluating proposed

actions.

In the context of the Fort Valley restoration project, USDA

Forest Service personnel completed an environmental impact

analysis to evaluate the impacts of different treatments (in

other words, silvicultural restoration prescriptions) on the

landscape and surrounding community (USDA 1998). The

focus of the analysis was to compare effects of different

thinning intensities (in other words, different residual densities of trees per hectare) proposed in the restoration treatments. The analysis did not attempt to quantify all costs and

benefits in terms of monetary units, and made no comparison of different harvesting procedures and equipment mixes

to be used to carry out the treatments. While the impact

analysis provides necessary information to determine if the

overall project was worth undertaking, it did not provide

information that would facilitate the selection of the optimal

harvesting alternative.

Cost / Effectiveness Analysis

Cost / effectiveness analysis is a technique designed to

assist a decisionmaker in identifying a preferred choice

among possible alternatives. The analysis involves a comparison of alternative courses of action in terms of costs and

effectiveness in attaining some specified objective (Quade

1967). Cost estimation is identical to direct cost estimation

used in a benefit / cost ratio analysis. Direct costs are

measured in terms of equipment costs, fuel costs, and salaries. Cost / effectiveness analysis avoids some of the difficulty in quantifying economic benefits of various alternatives by replacing dollar measurements of benefits and

indirect costs with the concept of “effectiveness,” where

effectiveness is a comparative measure of an alternative’s

ability to meet project objectives.

In its simplest form, a cost effectiveness analysis is equivalent to a minimized cost approach. If all alternatives are

equally effective in accomplishing project objectives the cost

effectiveness ratio becomes (cost / 1). In this case the lowest

cost alternative is optimal. Alternatively, in the case that

different alternatives (for example, different harvesting

techniques) have different impacts on the site, then effectiveness measures are selected to calculate these impacts.

A cost effectiveness analysis requires the analyst and

decisionmaker to choose (1) a specific set of objectives, (2) a

complete listing of the alternative solutions to be considered,

and (3) acceptable measures of effectiveness in meeting the

objectives. The first two decisions are common to all project

analysis techniques. The third decision, selection of effectiveness measures, is unique to cost effectiveness analysis

and makes this analysis subjective because of analyst assumptions. The analyst and decisionmakers must select

attributes, which quantify the ability of an alternative to

meet project objectives. In environmental decisions, these

attributes are most often measures of damages avoided. To

be useful the expected value (or effectiveness score) of

attributes must vary across alternatives.

The virtue of the cost / effectiveness analysis lies in a more

systematic and transparent use of judgment than any of its

alternatives (Quade 1967). While effectiveness analysis

may appear subjective in terms of analyst judgment of

effectiveness measures, the analysis is presented so the
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Cost / Effectiveness Analysis of Ponderosa Pine Ecosystem Restoration in Flagstaff Arizona’s Wildland-Urban Interface Pinjuv, Daugherty, and Fox

decisionmakers can follow the analytic assumptions. Decisionmakers can choose which assumptions they agree with and

arrive at their own conclusions. Other efficiency analysis

techniques often mask assumptions in the assignment of

dollar values to nonmarket benefits.

The selection of effectiveness measures also poses limitations that must be considered when using cost / effectiveness

results. Results of an analysis (in other words, alternative

rankings in terms of cost and environmental damage) must

be interpreted by qualified and informed decisionmakers.

Decisionmakers must understand the assumptions made by

the analyst to arrive at the results, such as selecting attributes of effectiveness and assigning importance weights

to attributes. The measurement of effectiveness is limited by

selected attributes, and these attributes are often constrained by the cost of measurement and other factors that

the analyst may not be able to take into account (Livingston

and Gunn 1974). Thus, the results of effectiveness analysis

are not intended to provide understanding and prediction,

as are the results of science. Rather, the results are intended

to serve primarily as recommendations or suggestions for

selecting among courses of action (Quade 1967).

A cost / effectiveness analysis is most appropriate when

used to choose a preferred alternative among possible alternatives that have the same project objectives. This analysis

can rank possible alternatives that have a nonmarket nature to their benefits and costs, a situation that fits many

restoration activities. The following description of the Fort

Valley restoration project sets a base for a theoretical application of a cost / effectiveness analysis, which can be used as

an aid in recommendation of an optimum harvest method.

Application of Cost / Effectiveness

Analysis to Fort Valley Restoration

Treatments _____________________

The Fort Valley restoration project is a series of ecological

restoration / fuel reduction treatments, guided by pre-EuroAmerican settlement conditions (prior to 1870). The restoration treatments cover approximately 1,376 ha (3,400 acres),

and incorporate various mixes of equipment to complete

harvests. The goals and objectives of this ecological restoration and fuel reduction project as stated in the Fort Valley

Environmental Assessment (USDA 1998) are to create a

mosaic of open, parklike forests that approximate conditions

present before Euro-American settlement. The project will

also reduce the hazard of catastrophic crown fires.

Three harvesting methods were used to meet the objectives of the Fort Valley restoration project: (1) hand

harvesting, (2) cut-to-length harvesting, and (3) wholetree-mechanized harvesting. The hand harvesting treatment method consisted of a classical sawyer operation. Trees

of 12.7 cm (5 inches) diameter at breast height (d.b.h.) and

greater were cut, limbed, and bucked into 4.9 m (16 ft) log

lengths by hand. Processed logs were transported to waiting

trucks at the log landing using a tractor with a log grapple.

The merchantable activity was simultaneously accompanied by the cutting, scattering, and lopping of the very small,

nonmerchantable trees.

The cut-to-length mechanized harvesting method consisted of a single grip harvester, a forwarder, and hand

sawyers to cut and lop all nonmerchantable trees. A tractor

with a log grapple forwarded all logs cut and processed by

the harvester. The logs coming from trees 12.7 cm (5 inches)

and greater in diameter were forwarded to waiting trucks at

the log landing.

The whole-tree-mechanized harvesting method consisted

of one feller-buncher, whole-tree skidders, a delimber, and a

loader to process merchantable trees 12.7 cm (5 inches) and

greater. Whole trees were cut and piled using a tree-to-tree

feller-buncher. Whole trees were skidded to the landing

using a rubber tired grapple skidder. Trees were processed

into logs at the landing using a delimber and loaded onto

waiting trucks. Hand cutting, scattering, and lopping of the

less than 12.7 cm (5 inches) diameter trees followed the

merchantable activity (Larson and Mirth 1999).

The effectiveness of these harvesting alternatives depends on the degree to which the stated goals have been

obtained. All three of these harvesting techniques performed the same ecological restoration treatments, leaving

the same residual stand density, species composition, and

age class distribution. The different alternatives also achieved

similar reductions in risk of catastrophic crown fire, which

was primarily dependent on the treatment prescription

rather than the harvesting method. The benefit side of the

project objectives does not vary significantly between the

harvesting alternatives, and therefore are not useful in

selecting the optimum-harvesting alternative. In addition,

many of the benefits from restoration currently do not have

quantified market value, or established nonmarket value.

The absence of economic quantification of returns from

restoration precludes the use of benefit / cost analysis (Weaver

and others 1982).

These three harvesting alternatives are expected to have

had different impacts on the residual forest condition. The

key differences between the alternatives are how the trees

were felled and processed, piled, and transported to the log

landing. These differences will have caused variation in

residual stand damage, amount and distribution of logging

slash, and degree of soil impacts. While these impacts

(indirect costs) are also not easily quantified in terms of

dollar values, they are amenable to effectiveness analysis.

Because the alternatives are similar in primary goal

accomplishment, the primary benefits are nonmarket in

nature, and the alternatives differ in direct and indirect

costs, and cost / effectiveness analysis is the most appropriate technique for selecting the optimum alternative. The

direct cost of each method can be quantified in terms of

dollars. In the absence of differences in indirect costs, the

cost effectiveness ratio would reduce to cost, and the minimum cost alternative would be preferred. If indirect costs of

residual stand damage, fuel loading, and soil impacts were

easily quantifiable in dollar value, then any of the efficiency

measures (for example, benefit cost ratios) could be used.

Cost / effectiveness analysis avoids the problem of the

nonmarket nature of these indirect costs by using them as

effectiveness measures. Cost / effectiveness analysis can

evaluate the alternatives in terms of their direct cost and

relative effectiveness in avoiding these adverse impacts.

The primary criteria for attributes to quantify these impacts
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Pinjuv, Daugherty, and Fox Cost / Effectiveness Analysis of Ponderosa Pine Ecosystem Restoration in Flagstaff Arizona’s Wildland-Urban Interface

are data availability, and the attribute’s correlation to the

impact costs.

The following is a short description of each of three

proposed effectiveness attributes for residual stand damage,

soil compaction, and fuel loading and a possible method for

measuring each. Residual stand damage may be quantifiable as percent of residual trees undamaged, with damage

defined as visible wounds, broken tops, and broken branches.

Stand damage is important because bole damage (for example, cat faces caused by equipment) is a primary point of

entry for diseases such as decay fungi to enter the tree

(Storer and others 1997). Broken tops and branches can also

leave the tree in a state of low vigor, increasing the possibility of insect and disease mortality. This attribute can easily

be measured by inventory plot procedures using a fixed

radius plot or strip cruises.

Soil impacts measure damage to soil structure. This attribute was selected because compacted and disturbed soils

from machines and humans can impede surface water entry

into the lower layers of the soil (Seixas and McDonald 1997).

Disturbed soil can also provide a growing habitat for invasive exotic weeds that can out-compete native vegetation,

reducing habitat for native wildlife and insect populations.

Compaction can be measured with an infiltrometer, and be

converted to percent change in compaction. Disturbance can

be visually estimated as a percentage of disturbed soil, using

a plot or strip inventory procedure.

Fuel loading measures the downed woody material left on

the forest floor after treatment. In a study on biomass and

nutrient removal, Giles (1979) found that removing whole

trees, as opposed to stems only, could increase biomass

removal by 28 percent in coniferous forests. Increased removal of biomass and nutrients may cause a decline in soil

nutrients and forest productivity. Branches cut from trees in

the limbing process contain many of the tree’s resource of

nutrients. Removing this material from the harvest site and

accumulating large amounts at landings can cause effective

nutrient mining of the site, can be a breeding center for decay

fungi and insects that can spread into the residual stand,

and can be a fire hazard. Fuel loading can be measured along

transects, giving a measure of average diameter of fuels

deposited throughout the site (Brown 1974).

The attribute scores should be measured so that cost /

effectiveness ratios for each treatment are the highest when

they have the highest cost, and hence least effective. This

convention requires that each attribute be measured so

those alternatives that cause greater impacts have lower

effectiveness scores. Attribute scores may be weighted to

reflect relative importance by multiplying the percentage

amount of each attribute by an importance weight (Macmillan

and others 1998).

The overall effectiveness of a harvest alternative can be

quantified by summing attribute scores (percent measurements of each of the above attributes) for each treatment.

Along with these effectiveness measurements, each harvesting method must be quantified in terms of the financial cost

required to implement each harvesting treatment. Direct

costs for the Fort Valley restoration project were estimated

by the use of a cost analysis completed by Larson and Mirth

(1999). This analysis estimated direct logging costs using

the method of implementation costs, modeling equipment

sets, and operational procedures for hand, whole-tree, and

mechanized harvesting methods. Table 1 presents the direct

cost of the harvesting alternatives. The whole tree harvesting method was the least cost approach in all forest conditions calculated. Cut-to-length was the second lowest cost in

all conditions, and it equaled the whole-tree cost in the

yellow pine stand condition. The hand-harvesting method

had the highest cost in all conditions. Unless the effectiveness of the methods varies, a rational decisionmaker would

select the whole-tree method as the optimal alternative.

The cost / effectiveness ratio of each harvesting alternative can be computed by dividing the alternative’s direct cost

by its restoration effectiveness score. Table 2 presents a

hypothetical example calculation of cost effectiveness ratios

for the black jack stand condition, using only residual stand

damage as the attribute of effectiveness. In the example, we

assume that the percent of stand damaged is higher for the

lower cost methods (30, 20, and 5 percent for whole-tree, cutto-length, and hand harvesting, respectively). If these

values match actual stand damage, then the optimal decision would switch to hand harvesting because it has the

lowest cost / effectiveness ratio. In the example, stand

damage values reverse the optimal ranking from the least

cost approach.

The sensitivity of a decision to effectiveness score depends

on the ratio of direct cost of the alternatives. Alternatives

with similar direct costs (ratio near one) are more sensitive

to effectiveness measures. Table 3 demonstrates this sensitivity of cost / effectiveness ratios to direct cost differences.

In the black jack stand condition, whole-tree direct costs are

73 percent of hand harvesting cost. For the decision of

optimum harvest method to switch from whole-tree to hand

harvesting, whole-tree effectiveness would have to be less

than 73 percent of the effectiveness of hand harvesting. In

the yellow pine condition direct cost differences are similar,

and whole tree effectiveness must be at least 90 percent of

hand harvesting effectiveness in order to remain the optimal

choice.

Table 1—Direct cost ($/ha) of restoration harvest alternatives by stand

condition.

Stand condition

Harvesting Black jack /

method Black jack yellow pine Yellow pine

Whole tree 1,098 931 818

Hand harvesting 1,497 1,397 909

Cut-to-length 1,297 1,210 818

Table 2— Hypothetical example of cost / effectiveness ratios for black

jack stand condition and residual stand undamaged attribute.

Cost/(percent

Harvesting Harvest undamaged) Cost

method cost ($/ha) ($/ percent) effectiveness

Whole tree 1,098 (1,098)/65 16.9

Hand harvesting 1,497 (1,497)/95 15.8

Cut-to-length 1,297 (1,297)/80 16.2
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Cost / Effectiveness Analysis of Ponderosa Pine Ecosystem Restoration in Flagstaff Arizona’s Wildland-Urban Interface Pinjuv, Daugherty, and Fox

Conclusions____________________

This paper demonstrates cost effectiveness analysis as a

useful tool for optimum harvest recommendation for ecological restoration treatments such as those in Fort Valley.

Harvest methods may be compared on the basis of ratios of

harvest cost / effectiveness. Effectiveness measures can be

defined as a harvest method’s ability to carry out restoration

treatment with the least negative impacts in terms of residual stand damage, soil impacts, and fuel loading. Cost /

effectiveness analysis avoids the valuation difficulties with

the nonmarket nature of indirect costs by using them as

effectiveness measures. Thus, it avoids problems associated

with benefits estimation encountered with traditional benefit / cost approaches.

Important issues must be addressed in the use of a cost /

effectiveness analysis, such as the proper selection of effectiveness measures and the weights given to these measures.

Weights given to effectiveness measures must appropriately

reflect not only their importance with respect to other

measures, but also their ability to effect optimum harvest

choices.

Possibilities for future use of this approach may incorporate a more objective presentation of results. Analyst assumptions in effectiveness weighting could be partially

eliminated from this analysis by presenting cost / effectiveness ratios in a table showing effectiveness weights calculated a variety of ways. For example, if the weighting of each

effectiveness attribute is removed (all attributes are assumed to be equally important) the cost / effectiveness ratio

for each harvesting treatment may change. Attributes could

be weighted or not weighted in order of importance, effectiveness could be calculated in each instance, and ratios

could also be reported in a table. The table format would give

more interpretive decisionmaking power to the reader and

make the entire analysis less subjective. Aside from objective presentation techniques, further investigation into the

Table 3—Sensitivity of cost / effectiveness ratios to direct cost

differences, or percent effectiveness required to change

decision from minimum cost approach. Percent effectiveness

is the level of effectiveness that the lower cost alternative

must achieve relative to higher cost alternative in order to

remain the optimal decision.

Stand condition

Black jack Yellow pine

Whole tree direct cost ($/ha) 1,098 818

Hand harvesting direct cost ($/ha) 1,497 909

Required percent effectiveness (percent) 73 90

sensitivity of effectiveness measures is also an important

consideration for a meaningful analysis.

Acknowledgments ______________

The authors thank Dr. Deb Larson and two anonymous

reviewers for constructive comments on this manuscript.

This research was partly funded by the USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station contract No. RMRS98159-RJVA-01.

References _____________________

Brown, J. K. 1974. Handbook for inventorying downed woody

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Livingson, J.L., and S.C. Gunn. 1974. Accounting for social goals:

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fort valley 10k research and demonstration units. College of

Engineering and Technology, Northern Arizona University.

Macmillan, D.C., D. Harley, and R. Morrison. 1998. Cost-effectiveness analysis of woodland ecosystem restoration. Ecological Economics. 27: 313–324.

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forwarding and it relationship with 6- and 8- wheel drive machines. Forest Products. 47(11/12): 46–52.

Stevens, R.E., and P.K. Sherwood. 1982. How to prepare a feasibility

study. Pretence-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: 63–64.

Storer, A.J., T.R. Gordon, D.L. Wood, and P. Bonello. 1997. Pitch

canker disease of pines: current and future impacts. Journal of

Forestry. 95(12): 21–26

Tietenberg, T.T. 1996. Environmental and natural resource economics, 4th ed. Harper Collins College Publishers, New York,

NY.

USDA. 1998. Fort Valley Environmental Assessment. Peaks Ranger

District, Coconino National Forest. Flagstaff, AZ: USDA Forest

Service.

Weaver, W.E., M.S. Seltenrich, R.A. Sonnevil, and E.M. Babock.

1982. The use of cost effectiveness as a technique to evaluate and

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154 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

In: Vance, Regina K.; Edminster, Carleton B.; Covington, W. Wallace;

Blake, Julie A. comps. 2001. Ponderosa pine ecosystems restoration and

conservation: steps toward stewardship; 2000 April 25–27; Flagstaff, AZ.

Proceedings RMRS-P-22. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture,

Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station.

Debra Larson is Professor of Civil Engineering and Richard Mirth is

Faculty Emeritus of Civil Engineering, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Box 15600, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff,

AZ 86011-1560.

Abstract—The Grand Canyon Forest Partnership (GCFP), located in Flagstaff, AZ, has implemented a 16-inch diameter breast

height cutting cap in the Fort Valley Restoration (Phase One)

Project to secure the support of environmental organizations for

urban interface forest restoration and fuels reduction projects.

This paper provides insights into the economic impacts of this

limitation by applying a simulated cap to realistic inventory,

logging, and revenue models developed from an earlier representative project—the GCFP’s 332-acre Fort Valley Research and

Demonstration (R&D) project. The simulation was possible on

only four of the nine R&D units, as these were the only units that

had trees greater than or equal to 16-inch d.b.h. available for

cutting. The simulated cutting cap resulted in implementation

cost increases of 5 to 19.4 percent, harvested fiber decreases of 10

to 39 percent on a volume basis, and reductions in operator net

returns ranging from 22.3 to 176 percent. The primary market for

harvested material, at the time of this analysis, was low-value

firewood and pallet stock that was supplemented by occasional

sales to high-value users of large diameter logs. The 16-inch cap

limited the operators’ ability to broker logs to these large diameter

users (for example, small volume viga manufacturers located in

the Phoenix, AZ, metropolitan area) who would pay upward of

$200 per ccf. Projections showed, however, that under more favorable market conditions, such as that of a regional pulp mill or

oriented strand board plant, the operators (and consequently the

GCFP) could better sustain, economically, the 16-inch cutting cap.

Introduction ____________________

The Grand Canyon Forests Partnership (GCFP), in

Flagstaff, AZ, is a collaborative effort between the Coconino

National Forest, Grand Canyon Forests Foundation, Northern Arizona University, and a number of other governmental and nongovernmental organizations. The GCFP seeks to

reduce the risk of catastrophic fire and restore forest ecosystem health through practices that are ecologically

Projected Economic Impacts of a 16-Inch

Tree Cutting Cap for Ponderosa Pine

Forests Within the Greater Flagstaff

Urban-Wildlands

Debra Larson

Richard Mirth

sound, economically viable, and socially acceptable. Its

implementation strategy includes thinning of forest stands,

introducing low-intensity fire, restoring meadows, and

thoughtful minimization of trails and roads.

The GCFP finished its first treatment project, known as

the Fort Valley Research and Demonstration (R&D) Project,

during 1999. This 332-acre project is an adaptive management experiment for researching presettlement reference

conditions, contemporary pretreatment conditions, and the

impact of four thinning alternatives on three forest stand

types. Thinning was limited to trees less than 22 inches in

diameter measured at breast height (d.b.h.). This project

serves as a demonstration site, providing on-the-ground

evidence and information so that the public can effectively

contribute, in a learned manner, to the process of treating

the urban-wildland forest interface in the greater Flagstaff

region.

The GCFP has been planning and working toward its next

treatment activity, the 1,700-acre Fort Valley Restoration

(Phase One) Project. This project is an interesting one in that

the GCFP implemented a cutting cap to limit thinning to

only those trees smaller than 16 inches d.b.h. By implementing this cap, the GCFP responded to the concerns and forest

management desires of regional environmental organizations (SWFA 1996, 1998; Suckling 2000) and demonstrated

that GCFP’s intent is on forest fuels reduction and restoration, and not commercial logging.

GCFP’s ability to treat forest stands over the 100,000-acre

urban wildland interface, however, is highly dependent

upon economics. Implementation is expensive, and this

project must eventually become financially sustainable;

independent, to some degree, of Federal dollars. The GCFP

realizes that the same material that is thinned from the

forests as part of the restorative stand treatment can be

recycled as a marketable resource. Wood fiber, in a favorable

market environment, has the potential to fund and sustain forest treatment programs. A cutting limitation like

the 16-inch cap, however, can have negative financial

repercussions.

This paper provides insights into these economic impacts

by simulating the effects of a cap on stand conditions,

thinning models, and fiber markets that are representative

of the conditions of the greater Flagstaff urban-wildland.

The process and results of this simulation included:

• Collecting and characterizing representative stand parameters, which are summarized below in the section

titled “Fort Valley Research and Demonstration Project.”
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 155

Projected Economic Impacts of a 16-Inch Tree Cutting Cap for Ponderosa Pine Forests Within the Greater Flagstaff Urban-Wildlands Larson and Mirth

• Amassing realistic thinning information and building

representative mathematical models; tasks that are

summarized in the section titled “The Cost to Treat.”

• Quantifying fiber markets representative of real regional conditions and incorporating this information

into the models. The results of these activities are

presented in the section titled “Revenue Expectations.”

Fort Valley Research and

Demonstration Project ___________

The R&D project is north of Flagstaff near Highway 180

and Snow Bowl Road at an elevation of 7,400 to 7,600 ft

above sea level. This project consists of three areas that are

representative of different stand configurations—a yellow

pine area with more than five yellow pine trees per acre, a

mixed yellow pine and blackjack area with less than two

yellow pine trees per acre, and a blackjack area. (Yellow

pines are ponderosa pine trees characterized by yellow bark

and are larger in size and older than 150 years. Blackjacks

are younger and smaller ponderosa pine trees with black

bark.) The two yellow pine areas lie within the Fort Valley

Experimental Forest, while the blackjack area lies in the

Coconino National Forest along the eastern boundary of the

experimental forest. Figure 1 is a map of this project.

Each treatment area is subdivided into four units that

range from 32 to 41 acres. The four units are differentiated

by the type of the proposed treatment, designated as: 1.5-3,

2-4, 3-6, and control. Although these prescriptions provide

for different levels of thinning, they are anchored to the

presettlement condition as their template. Common to each

treatment is that all living presettlement trees, standing

snags, and trees greater than 22 inches d.b.h. are retained

(Flagstaff Urban/Wildland Interface Treatment Guidelines, 1998). In addition, all treatments called for the removal of all trees 4 inches d.b.h. and smaller. The reader can

find additional information about these types of treatments

and their effects in the articles by W. Covington and others

(1997, 1998).

The Treatments

The 1.5-3 treatment is known as a full restoration prescription. For every direct evidence of a dead presettlement

tree (stumps, snags, downed trees, and stump holes), 1.5

replacement trees are left whenever large (>16 inches d.b.h.)

and vigorous replacement trees are available within a 30 ft

radius of the evidence. If the only available good quality

replacement trees are smaller than 16 inches, then three

trees are marked for retention. When the available trees

within the 30 ft search radius are not acceptable due to

Figure 1—Map of the Fort Valley Research and Demonstration Project.
156 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Larson and Mirth Projected Economic Impacts of a 16-Inch Tree Cutting Cap for Ponderosa Pine Forests Within the Greater Flagstaff Urban-Wildlands

quality or mistletoe infection, the search radius is extended

to 60 ft.

The 2-4 treatment is known as an intermediate level of

thinning where more trees per presettlement evidence are

retained. In practice, two large or four small dominant and/

or vigorous trees are left for every evidence.

The 3-6 treatment is a minimal thinning plan that results

in an even greater density of replacement trees where three

large or six small trees are left per evidence.

The control units are untreated and will be used for

comparative purposes.

Existing Stand Character

An inventory of the marked Fort Valley Research and

Demonstration Units was started on September 14, 1998,

and completed on November 11, 1998. This work formed the

starting point for the analysis of the 16-inch cutting cap

economic impacts by providing a reliable projection on the

total amount of wood thinned in 1-inch size classes. Only a

summary of the inventory is provided here. Details and

comprehensive analysis can be found in the report by Larson

and Mirth (1999).

The tree stand condition prior to thinning is given in

table 1. The sampling technique to determine this condition consisted of counting trees and measuring tree diameters over 33–1/100 acre samples per unit. This provided an

80 percent probability that the estimate of the average

total number of trees per acre per unit will fall within the

limits shown on the table.

The blackjack units, located outside the Fort Valley Experimental Forest, had been previously harvested for large

trees and had been thinned from below (Fulé and others

1999). Consequently, the inventory reflects a small percentage (ranging from 8.3 percent to 23 percent of the total stem

count) of existing trees in the 4-inch and under classes.

(The trees within each d.b.h class have a possible breast

height diameter that range from 0 to 0.9 inches. In example,

a 5-inch d.b.h. class could include 5-inch trees as well as

5.9 inches and any tree in between.) The majority of

existing stems are found in the 5 to 15-inch classes; ranging

from 70 to 92 percent of the total unit tree counts. The

number of existing 16-inch and larger trees is small; accounting for only 3.7 percent of the overall tree population of

all three units.

The blackjack/yellow pine units are denser than the blackjack units due to large numbers of less than 5-inch trees,

reflecting a lack of precommercial thinning in the Experimental Forest. The less than 5-inch trees represent 59 to 75

percent of the total number of standing trees. These blackjack/yellow pine units have a smaller percentage (16.6 to

31.2 percent) of 5-inch to 15-inch trees, even though the

absolute numbers are similar to that found in the blackjack

units. The blackjack/yellow pine units contain greater numbers of larger (16 inches and greater) trees, averaging 28.0

trees per acre (tpa).

In terms of the numbers of very small and very large trees,

the yellow pine units were similar in character to the

blackjack/yellow pine units. The population of existing trees

that was less than 5 inches accounted for 49 percent of the

trees in unit 10 to 73 percent in unit 12. The number of 16

inches and greater trees averaged 23.1 tpa.

Treatment Effects

Tables 2, 3, and 4 summarize the effects of thinning as

part of the GCFP restoration plan. The projected cutting

rate is given on a total number of trees per acre basis and on

a fiber volume basis of 100 cubic foot per acre (ccf/a).

Currently, the less than 5-inch trees cannot be economically

Table 1—Fort Valley Research and Demonstration Project standing

tree estimates prior to thinning.

Unit Type Standing stems per acre: average

1 BJ 330 ± 48

2 BJ 321 ± 52

4 BJ 257 ± 49

5 BJ/YP 1,076 ± 256

6 BJ/YP 618 ± 152

7 BJ/YP 563 ± 114

10 YP 376 ± 97

11 YP 445 ± 128

12 YP 1,182 ± 218

Table 4—Merchantable wood fiber volumes for the yellow pine units

of the Fort Valley Research and Demonstration Project.

Unit 10 Unit 11 Unit 12

Treatment 1.5-3 3-6 2-4

Number cut (tpa) 324.0 358.4 1,098.4

Merchantable fiber (ccf/a)

0–4 inch d.b.h. class 0 0 0

5–15 inch d.b.h. class 9.796 1.705 8.196

16–21 inch d.b.h. class 0 0 0

Table 2—Merchantable wood fiber volumes for the blackjack units of

the Fort Valley Research and Demonstration Project.

Unit 1 Unit 2 Unit 4

Treatment 1.5–3 2–4 3–6

Number cut (tpa) 293.3 271.9 175.3

Merchantable fiber (ccf/a)

0–4 inch d.b.h. class 0 0 0

5–15 inch d.b.h. class 17.724 11.650 8.241

16–21 inch d.b.h. class 0 4.275 .912

Table 3—Merchantable wood fiber volumes for the blackjack/yellow

pine units of the Fort Valley Research and Demonstration

Project.

Unit 5 Unit 6 Unit 7

Treatment 3-6 1.5-3 2-4

Number cut (tpa) 999.9 563.3 505.1

Merchantable fiber (ccf/a)

0–4 inch d.b.h. class 0 0 0

5–15 inch d.b.h. class 9.247 7.902 12.738

16–21 inch d.b.h. class 0 1.853 8.292
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 157

Projected Economic Impacts of a 16-Inch Tree Cutting Cap for Ponderosa Pine Forests Within the Greater Flagstaff Urban-Wildlands Larson and Mirth

used as a marketable resource and, although they are part

of the tpa cut projections, they are not represented in the

merchantable fiber volumes. This very small material was

cut, scattered on the ground throughout the units, and

lopped to less than 2 ft in height.

The potential fiber harvested from these units is calculated on a diameter class basis that permits analysis of the

16-inch cutting limitation. As shown in tables 2 through 4,

had the cutting limitation been imposed on this R&D project,

it would have impacted the fiber returns from only four

(units 2, 4, 6, and 7) of the nine cutting units. On a 100 cubic

foot per acre (ccf/a) basis, the available 16 to 21.9-inch trees

represented—respectively over units 2, 4, 6, and 7—26.8,

10.0, 19.0, and 39.4 percent of the total merchantable fiber

potential.

The Cost to Treat ________________

Thinning Models

Two thinning strategies that closely replicated the processes and equipment setups of two of the actual three

operators that performed the thinning of the Fort Valley

R&D project were modeled for this 16-inch cap analysis.

These models included:

1. Whole tree mechanized harvesting (WT):

(a) This scenario uses a mechanized system consisting

of a tracked feller-buncher, whole-tree skidders, a

delimber, and loader to process the merchantable

5-inch and greater trees.

(b) The submerchantable trees less than 5 inches d.b.h.

were hand felled, scattered, and lopped. (In this

context, lopping refers to the cutting of downed

trees and limbs that project higher than 2 ft above

the ground level.) We presumed that this precommercial activity was subcontracted out to a local

sawyer operator.

2. Hand felling of all trees (HD):

(a) This scenario considers the hand cutting, limbing,

and bucking of the 5-inch and greater trees that are

then forwarded to the landing using an articulated

rubber-tired skidder with a log grapple.

(b) The merchantable activity is simultaneously accompanied by the cutting, scattering, and lopping of the

very small, nonmerchantable trees. This model assumes that a subcontractor completes all cutting

and related processing, regardless of tree size.

The HD operation modeled here is fundamentally different than the WT one. For comparative purposes, the HD

operation was modeled as a direct cost only operation;

neglecting overhead, profit, ancillary logging-related expenses, equipment depreciation, and so forth. This is in

contrast with the WT model that incorporated all ideal

business expenses including 10 percent for profit and 11

percent for administrative overhead. Model details are

found in the paper by Larson and others (2000), or the

unpublished report by Larson and Mirth (1999).

Like the actual contracted R&D work, the different operational models were applied to the different stand types.

Table 6—HD implementation costs for merchantable trees projected

for units 6 and 7 of the Fort Valley Research and

Demonstration Project.

Units 6 7

Description BJ/YP BJ/YP

Treatment 1.5-3 2-4

Hand scenario 1: 5 inches to <22 inches d.b.h. trees

Merchantable ccf/acre 9.76 21.03

$/Unit $26,670.60 $47,034.82

$/Acre $730.80 $1,291.60

$/ccf $74.91 $61.42

Hand scenario 2: 5 inches to <16–inches d.b.h. trees

Merchantable ccf/acre 7.90 12.74

$/Unit $22,491.91 $29,338.80

$/Acre $616.30 $805.64

$/ccf $77.99 $63.25

Table 5—WT implementation costs for merchantable trees projected

for units 2 and 4 of the Fort Valley Research and

Demonstration Project.

Units 2 4

Description BJ BJ

Treatment 2-4 3-6

WT scenario 1: 5 inches to <22 inches d.b.h. trees

Merchantable ccf/acre 15.92 9.15

$/Unit $44,743.36 $21,793.20

$/Acre $1,272.46 $665.22

$/ccf $79.91 $72.68

WT scenario 2: 5 inches to <16 inches d.b.h. trees

Merchantable ccf/acre 11.65 8.24

$/Unit $39,078.56 $20,603.82

$/Acre $1,111.35 $628.91

$/ccf $95.40 $76.32

Stand data from units 2 and 4 (the blackjack units) were

used as input to the WT model. Units 6 and 7 data (the

blackjack/yellow pine units) were coupled to the HD model.

Because our focus is to gain insight into the 16-inch cutting

cap effects, the work presented here is limited to only those

four units (1, 4, 6, and 7) with available trees in the 16 to <

22-inch d.b.h. classes.

Results ________________________

Through the application of stand data to the appropriate

thinning models, operational cost projections are made and

summarized in tables 5 and 6. Two scenarios are presented,

allowing ready analysis of the impacts of the 16-inch cutting

cap relative to implementation costs. Scenario 1 considers

the cost implications of cutting all unmarked trees in the

merchantable d.b.h. size classes from 5 inches to less than

22 inches. The contrasting scenario 2 considers that only

trees less than 16 inches are cut.
158 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Larson and Mirth Projected Economic Impacts of a 16-Inch Tree Cutting Cap for Ponderosa Pine Forests Within the Greater Flagstaff Urban-Wildlands

The tabulated cost summaries are presented in three

ways:

• $/unit—the total cost to truck all merchantable fiber to

processing mills. Different mill distances were used for

the different operators, because each operator historically served different fiber users. A haul distance of 118

miles was used for the WT operator. This mileage

represents a weighted travel average, moving wood to a

once active pulp mill and to a saw log buyer. (Neither of

these purchasers exists today. The sawmill closed in

December of 1998. The paper mill converted to a 100

percent recycled product, eliminating the need for pulpwood.) Similarly, the HD weighted average haul distance varied between 60 to 100 miles, depending upon

the distribution of log sizes. The main purchaser of the

HD fiber was a firewood and pallet stock manufacturer

located 60 miles away, but occasionally, the HD operator would haul larger logs to a viga producer 140 miles

away.

• $/acre—an expression of the total costs including trucking on a per acre basis.

• $/ccf—an expression of the total costs including trucking on a per 100 cubic foot of extracted merchantable

fiber.

An examination of $/unit or $/acre data from tables 5 and

6 erroneously suggests that the imposition of a 16-inch cap

reduces cutting costs. A better context, however, for assessing the cap impact is the cost per extracted fiber basis. It is

a number that can be directly compared to its revenue

potential that thereby offsets implementation costs. For

example, in unit 2, 26.8 percent of the projected extracted

fiber (on a ccf basis) comes from trees 16 inches and larger.

Upon imposition of the cutting cap, implementation costs

are shown to increase by $15.49/ccf (or 19.4 percent). Similarly, unit 4 realizes an implementation cost gain of 5.0

percent associated with a 10 percent loss of potential harvested fiber. Unit 6 sees a 7.3 percent increase in cost due to

a 19 percent reduction in available fiber. Unit 7 realizes a 10

percent cost increase due to a 39 percent fiber reduction.

These results are consistent with the known relationship

that “logging costs per cubic foot are higher for smaller

removal volumes per acre” (Hartsough and others 1998).

The net revenue loss, however, will be larger than that

suggested by implementation cost increases as the larger

than 16-inch trees command a better selling price than the

smaller diameter trees. This revenue impact due to the 16-

inch cap is discussed further in “Revenue Expectations.”

Revenue Expectations ___________

GCFP’s ability to treat the urban-wildland forests is

highly dependent upon the local operators’ ability to profitably market the harvested trees. A true picture of the

implementation economics and the impact of the 16-inch cap

is not complete without a revenue analysis that is grounded

in either historical or current market conditions.

Prior to December 1998, the WT operator sold his small

diameter logs as pulpwood (smaller diameter logs that are

suitable for use in making pulp—the main component in

paper production) and the larger logs as saw logs for cutting

into boards and lumber. As of winter 1999 when this

revenue analysis was completed, the WT operator did not

have a regular buyer of harvested wood fiber. Except for a

few truckloads of larger diameter logs sold as viga (highquality poles peeled from large diameter logs that are used

in Southwestern roof and ceiling architectural systems)

stock or saw logs, most of the logs from units 1, 2, and 4 were

eventually sold in late spring 1999 at a discount to Northern

Arizona Wood Products for firewood, posts, or poles.

The HD operator historically sold wood to a broad range of

markets. During winter 1999, however, the harvested logs

were sold into the firewood, pallet stock, and viga markets.

For this revenue analysis on the impact of the 16-inch

cutting cap, two market conditions were projected—a favorable one of pulpwood and saw logs, and a subsistence one of

firewood and pallet stock that is bolstered by a low volume

regional viga market. This analysis, however, neglects the

cost of operator down time that does occur due to oversupply

in these limited volume markets. A summary of the total net

return projections that includes revenue from the sale of

fiber, stumpage fees, thinning, and precommercial costs is

provided in tables 7, 8, 9, and 10 for the WT and HD

operators. These tables provide both a generalized sense of

the impact and also a detail analysis on a per unit basis. The

general impact trends are summarized here:

• There is a decrease in stumpage fees paid out by the

operator as there is less wood fiber harvested.

• Harvesting costs change, decreasing if presented on a

per area basis, but increasing if on a per merchantable

volume basis.

• The revenue opportunity does not change as a function

of cutting restrictions within the small diameter product categories, but decreases significantly in the larger

diameter products. As a consequence, the net returns to

the operator(s) are likewise severely impacted.

• The large diameter products subsidize the lower value

small diameter products. This bolstering is particularly

important to the operators selling fiber within a subsistence market where the main opportunity for small

diameter logs is a very low value product.

Table 7 summarizes the financial impacts of the 16-inch

cap for the WT operator under a market condition that is

considered favorable (albeit currently nonexistent for operators in the Flagstaff area) as the small diameter wood is sold

at a relatively high price as pulpwood. The projected impact

of a cutting cap to the operator is net return reductions of

96.8 percent over unit 2 and 22.3 percent over unit 4. Recall

that the WT thinning model included profit, overhead, and

other reasonable business expenses. Because of this, and

because net returns were always positive, the modeled WT

operator could tolerate the 16-inch cap in a market that pays

a reasonable price for small diameter wood.

This is not the case, however, for the WT operator in a

marginal market of firewood, pallet stock, and vigas as

shown in table 8. The projected impact of a cutting cap is

quantified in terms of net return reductions of 176.2 percent over unit 2 and 58.8 percent over unit 4. Table 8

suggests that the modeled WT operator could not afford the

16-inch cap in a low-value small-diameter market with a

negative net return that completely cancels any profit

opportunities.
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 159

Projected Economic Impacts of a 16-Inch Tree Cutting Cap for Ponderosa Pine Forests Within the Greater Flagstaff Urban-Wildlands Larson and Mirth

Table 7—Comparing WT revenue with and without a cutting cap under favorable market conditions.

Unit 2 Unit 2 Unit 4 Unit 4

Prescription 2-4 2-4 3-6 3-6

With or without cutting cap Without With Without With

Mill price

Pulpwood (5 inches to <12 inches d.b.h. @ $81/ccf) $24,392.57 $24,392.57 $11,568.49 $11,568.49

Saw logs (≥12 inches d.b.h. @ $140/ccf) $36,233.85 $15,189.91 $21,982.39 $17,801.55

Total mill revenue $60,626.42 $39,582.48 $33,550.88 $29,370.04

Stumpage –$4,423.65 –$3,236.17 –$2,368.72 –$2,132.80

Mechanizeda

 + trucking costs –$44,743.36 –$39,078.56 –$21,793.20 –$20,603.82

Precommercial service contractb $3,516.30 $3,516.30 $3,276.10 $3,276.10

Precommercial costs –$311.50 –$311.60 –$321.59 –$321.69

Net return $14,664.20 $472.44 $12,343.48 $9,587.83

a

Includes a 10 percent profit margin and 11 percent overhead on the mechanized portion of the cutting activity.

b

The Foundation pays this operator $100/acre to complete the precommercial activity.

Table 8—Comparing WT revenue with and without a cutting cap under subsistence market conditions.

Unit 2 Unit 2 Unit 4 Unit 4

Prescription 2-4 2-4 3-6 3-6

With or without cutting cap Without With Without With

Mill price

Firewooda (5 inches to <14 inches d.b.h. @ $62/ccf) $23,748.52 $23,748.52 $13,942.35 $13,942.35

Vigas (≥14 inches d.b.h. @ $200/ccf) $35,383.08 $5,320.30 $14,992.29 $9,019.65

Total mill revenue $59,131.60 $29,068.82 $28,934.64 $22,962.00

Stumpage –$4,423.65 –$3,236.17 –$2,368.72 –$2,132.80

Mechanizedb + trucking costs –$44,743.36 –$39,078.56 –$21,793.20 –$20,603.82

Precommercial service contractc $3,516.30 $3,516.30 $3,276.10 $3,276.10

Precommercial costs –$311.50 –$311.60 –$321.59 –$321.69

Net return $13,169.38 –$10,041.21 $7,727.23 $3,179.79

a

This product category also includes pallet stock.

b

Includes a 10 percent profit margin and 11 percent overhead on the mechanized portion of the cutting activity.

c

The Foundation pays this operator $100/acre to complete the precommercial activity.

Table 9—Comparing HD revenue with and without a cutting cap under favorable market conditions.

Unit 6 Unit 6 Unit 7 Unit 7

Prescription 1.5-3 1.5-3 2-4 2-4

With or without cutting cap Without With Without With

Mill price

Pulpwood (5 inches to <12 inches d.b.h. @ $81/ccf) $19,642.49 $19,642.49 $20,360.12 $20,360.12

Saw logs (≥12 inches d.b.h. @ $140/ccf) $15,894.95 $6,424.97 $72,020.68 $29,748.58

Total mill revenue $35,537.43 $26,067.45 $92,380.79 $50,108.70

Stumpage –$697.83 –$565.25 –$1,500.95 –$909.14

Merchantable material costs –$26,670.60 –$22,491.91 –$47,034.82 –$29,338.33

Precommercial costs –$2,178.75 –$2,178.75 –$1,905.93 –$1,905.93

Net return $5,990.25 $831.55 $41,939.09 $17,955.29

Tables 9 and 10 show a similar impact trend for the direct

cost HD model as that seen for the full cost WT model. In a

favorable market, the cutting cap reduces projected returns

by 86.1 percent over unit 6 and 57.2 percent over unit 7. In

the subsistence market, the reductions are, respectively,

162.5 percent and 83.8 percent over units 6 and 7. These

reductions, however, are particularly severe in the subsistence market for this direct cost model excludes overhead,

profit, depreciation, insurance, opportunity loss, mobilization, and roadwork. The cutting cap moves the operator from

an adequate financial situation to a losing one where he

cannot finance the indirect operational costs.
160 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Larson and Mirth Projected Economic Impacts of a 16-Inch Tree Cutting Cap for Ponderosa Pine Forests Within the Greater Flagstaff Urban-Wildlands

Table 10—Comparing HD revenue with and without a cutting cap under subsistence market conditions.

Unit 6 Unit 6 Unit 7 Unit 7

Prescription 1.5-3 1.5-3 2-4 2-4

With or without cutting cap Without With Without With

Mill price

Firewooda

 (5 inches to <14 inches d.b.h. @ $62/ccf) $16,168.56 $16,168.56 $23,577.53 $23,577.53

Vigas (≥14 inches d.b.h. @ $200/ccf) $19,050.38 $5,521.84 $77,102.02 $16,713.32

Total mill revenue $35,218.94 $21,690.40 $100,679.55 $40,290.85

Stumpage –$697.83 –$565.25 –$1,500.95 –$909.14

Merchantable material costs –$26,670.60 –$22,491.91 –$47,034.82 –$29,338.33

Precommercial costs –$2,178.75 –$2,178.75 –$1,905.93 –$1,905.93

Net return $5,671.76 –$3,545.51 $50,237.85 $8,137.44

a

This product category also includes pallet stock.

The quality of the fiber market is an important variable on

the overall impact of a cutting cap. A favorable regional

market that can pay a reasonable price for small diameter

logs—distinguished by higher value products such as pulp

for paper products, oriented strand board, or medium or high

density fiber board—is one that might support a cutting cap.

A subsistence market—distinguished by low value products

such as firewood, pallets, or arts and crafts—cannot with

current thinning technologies and administrative procedures support the cap. A comparison of “with cap mill

revenues” between tables 7 and 8 and between tables 8 and

9 readily demonstrates this market quality factor. The

subsistence market yields gross revenues that are 73.4 to

83.2 percent of what the favorable market is projected to

provide. This is roughly comparable to the difference in

small diameter fiber price between the low-value use versus

the higher value use.

Conclusions____________________

The results presented in this paper were developed by

simulating a cutting cap over various models built from a

representative forest restoration project, the Fort Valley

R&D Project, that involved the thinning of trees that were

less than 22 inches d.b.h. This simulation work suggests the

following:

• The cost to conduct a forest thinning program to reduce

the risk of catastrophic fire and restore forest ecosystem

health is substantial.

• Establishing a cap that prohibits the cutting of 16

inches d.b.h. and greater has a negative effect on the

economics of a forest thinning project.

• The number of 16- to 21.9-inch trees available for

cutting in the original Fort Valley R&D Project represents only a small percentage of the standing large

trees. However, these trees represent a disproportionately large percent of the total volume to be cut with

profound effects on project economics.

• The economic effect of the 16-inch cap is related to the

health of the regional wood fiber market. A healthy

market with several users that pay fair prices can

support a forest restoration program even with a cap. A

weak, limited market for wood fiber probably cannot

support the operators, if a cap is imposed.

• This study suggests that a healthy market is one that

can pay, on a weighted average, between $70/ccf to $95/

ccf within a 100 mile haul radius.

Acknowledgments ______________

This work was supported, in part, by the USDA Forest

Service Rocky Mountain Research Station project RMRS98126-RJVA.

References _____________________

Covington, W.W., P.Z. Fulé, M.M. Moore, S.C. Hart, T.E. Kolb, J.N.

Mast, S.S. Sackett, and M.R. Wagner.1997. Restoring ecosystem

health in ponderosa pine forests of the Southwest. Journal of

Forestry. 95(4): 23–29.

Covington, W.W., H.B. Smith, M.M. Moore, and P.Z. Fulé. 1998.

Comments on Fort Valley urban/wildland restoration issues,

October 2. Ecological Restoration Program, School of Forestry,

Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ. http://www. for. nau.

edu/forestry/ecorest/

Ecological Restoration Program. 1998. Flagstaff urban/wildland

interface treatment guidelines, May 12. School of Forestry, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ.

Fulé, P.Z., Heinlein, T.A., and A.E.M. Waltz. 1999. Preliminary

report on experimental forest treatments in the Flagstaff urban/

wildland interface, June 29. Ecological Restoration Program,

School of Forestry, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ.

Hartsough, B.R., Gicqueau, A., and R.D. Fight. 1998. Productivity

and cost relationships for harvesting ponderosa pine plantations.

Forest Products Journal. 48( 9): 87–93.

Larson, D. and Mirth, R. 1999. Opportunities for funding wildlandurban interface fuels reduction programs. Flagstaff, AZ: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering and Technology, Northern Arizona University. 89 p.

Larson, D., D. Neary, P.J. Daugherty, Edminster. 1999. Harvesting

costs for potential bioenergy fuels in a fire risk reduction program: 2nd Annual Workshop of IEA Bioenergy Task 18 ‘Conventional Forestry Systems for Bioenergy’; Charleston, SC; September 19–25. Accepted for publication in NZ Journal of Forestry

Science.

Southwest Forest Alliance. 1996. Forests forever! P.O. Box 1948,

Flagstaff, AZ 86002.

Southwest Forest Alliance. 1998, Seeing the forest for the tree.

Newsletter, Autumn. P.O. Box 1948, Flagstaff, AZ 86002.

www.swfa.org/publications/newsletters/98restoration.html

Suckling, K. 2000. Draft position paper on establishment of a 16

inch cap on forest restoration and logging projects in Arizona and

New Mexico. Center of Biological Diversity, Tucson, AZ.
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 161

In: Vance, Regina K.; Edminster, Carleton B.; Covington, W. Wallace;

Blake, Julie A. comps. 2001. Ponderosa pine ecosystems restoration and

conservation: steps toward stewardship; 2000 April 25–27; Flagstaff, AZ.

Proceedings RMRS-P-22. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture,

Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station.

Eini C. Lowell is a Research Forest Products Technologist with the

Ecologically Sustainable Production of Forest Resources team at the Pacific

Northwest Research Station in Portland, OR. She received her B.S. in forestry

from the University of Maine at Orono and her M.S. in forest products from

Oregon State University. David W. Green is the Project Leader of the

Engineering Properties of Wood Research Work Unit at the Forest Products

Laboratory in Madison, WI. He received his B.S. and M.S. in wood science

from West Virginia University and his Ph.D. in organic materials science from

the State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and

Forestry, Syracuse.

Abstract—Thousands of acres of densely stocked ponderosa pine

forests surround Flagstaff, AZ. These stands are at high risk of fire,

insect, and disease outbreak. Stand density management activity

can be expensive, but product recovery from the thinned material

could help defray removal costs. This project evaluated the yield and

economic return of lumber recovered from small-diameter, suppressed ponderosa pine. A sample of 150 trees ranging from 6 to 16

inches in diameter at breast height was selected. Half of the sample

was sawn into dimension lumber and the other half into appearance

grade lumber. This study yielded about 25 percent No. 2 and Better

Common for appearance lumber with the majority of lumber (66

percent) graded No. 3 Common. About 50 percent of the dimension

lumber was No. 2 and Better, with very little of the highest grade,

Select Structural, produced. Volume recovery was slightly higher

for dimension lumber, yet the lumber from the logs sawn for

appearance grade was worth significantly more than that from the

logs sawn for dimension lumber.

Introduction ____________________

In 1998 it was estimated that 40 million acres of National

Forest were at high risk of fire, disease, and insect outbreak

because of increased stand density (Dombeck 1998). This

acreage does not include forest land under other ownership.

Some researchers believe that past forest management

practices, such as fire suppression and livestock grazing,

have altered forest conditions in ways that may increase

these hazards (Sackett and others 1996). This is of special

concern at the urban-wildland interface because of the risk

of property damage and threats to public safety. A representative case study in northern Arizona (Mast and others

1999) found a rise in forest density from 60 trees/ha in 1876

to 3,000 trees/ha in 1992. This case study prescribed a forest

restoration plan to return the forests to presettlement conditions. The plan involves thinning the dense understory of

Lumber Recovery From Small-Diameter

Ponderosa Pine From Flagstaff, Arizona

Eini C. Lowell

David W. Green

stands to allocate more resources to overstory trees and

thereby restore stand vigor and health. Costs for this type of

management activity are high, and information regarding

revenue from use of the extracted resource is minimal.

Historically, ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Dougl. Ex

Laws.) was a commercially important species in the Southwestern United States. Past research (Ernst and Pong 1985;

Fahey and others 1986; Fahey and Sachet 1993) to evaluate

product recovery from this resource generally is not specific

to suppressed stands and is limited to a few grading options

not suitable for evaluating use in engineered structural

products such as metal plate wood trusses, I-joists, and

glulam beams. Erickson and others (2000) recently completed a grade yield study on small-diameter trees sampled

from northern and central Idaho that provides some information on structural framing and machine stress rated

(MSR) lumber yields for ponderosa pine sawn into 2 by 4s.

The ponderosa pine trees sampled for this study were removals from densely stocked stands that were about 45 years old

and thinned from below. The trees removed were smaller, 9-

inches diameter at breast height (d.b.h.) or less, that were

not dominant or codominant in the forest canopy. The

lumber produced from these trees had poor yields in the

higher visual grades and would not be suitable for production of MSR lumber. It should be noted, however, that grade

yields from these thinnings might not be typical of smalldiameter ponderosa pine that were dominant or codominant

trees in a stand. Previous studies also have documented that

drying degrade is a major cause of grade reduction with

younger trees (Arganbright and others 1978; Blake and

Voorhies 1980; Mackay and Rumball 1972; Markstrom and

others 1984). Even though these past studies have shown

that lumber cut from young-growth, small-diameter, ponderosa pine trees is prone to warp during drying, the extent of

the problem in lumber from suppressed stands is not entirely clear.

To begin evaluating products from this resource, some

basic information on lumber recovery, grade yield, and

mechanical properties is needed. The Ecologically Sustainable Production of Forest Resources (ESP) team at the

Pacific Northwest Research Station has been conducting

product recovery studies for over 40 years. Since the early

1990s, the focus of the team’s work in this area has been to

quantify the types of wood products that might result from

treatments designed to alter structural conditions and development trajectories in densely stocked, small diameter

stands. The objective of these studies was to determine the

value of these wood products and to incorporate this information into planning tools used to design treatments for

these management activities (Fight 1997). Although many

people tend to think of small trees as being young growth,
162 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Lowell and Green Lumber Recovery From Small-Diameter Ponderosa Pine From Flagstaff, Arizona

it became evident that many trees from densely stocked

stands were older (usually at least 60 years old), slow

growing, and had small branches or knot indicators. Small

diameter is defined differently depending on land management objectives. The d.b.h. range of trees (Douglas-fir, Pseudotsuga menziesii [Mirb.] Franco; western larch, Larix occidentalis Nutt.; and lodgepole pine, Pinus contortaDougl. Ex.

Loud.) from a previous study in northern Idaho was 6 to 14

inches. Results from this work (Lowell and others 2000;

Willits and others 1997) showed that the quality (volume

and grade yield) of this resource was similar to that found in

larger diameter trees. Economic gains could be realized by

using the lumber as a raw material for a variety of end uses,

including engineered and value-added products.

This study was part of a larger project designed to evaluate product potential of the ponderosa pine resource and to

determine if certain kiln drying techniques reduce drying

defect. The objective of the portion of the study reported

here was to determine the yield of structural and

nonstructural lumber grades from small-diameter (in this

case 6 to 16 inches d.b.h.), suppressed ponderosa pine and

to compare the volume and value recovery of dimension

versus appearance grade lumber from this resource.

Procedures ____________________

Tree Selection

Trees were selected from the Fort Valley demonstration

project, Flagstaff, AZ. The demonstration project was set up

in three experimental blocks with four treatment plots each.

The experimental blocks represented different initial stand

conditions; black jack (young-growth) pine, yellow pine (old

growth) and a mixture of the two age groups. The treatments

within the blocks were different thinning prescriptions designed to return stands to presettlement conditions. This

involved thinning from below where the larger, older trees

are retained. Trees to be left had been marked but no

treatments had been applied prior to sample selection for

this study. Sample trees came from three of the four treatment plots in the mixed age block.

A sample of trees ranging from 6 to16 inches d.b.h. was

selected by using a matrix consisting of six 2-inch diameter

classes. Trees selected were those that would have been

removed under the silvicultural prescription. The sample

was randomly divided into two subsamples, one to be sawn

for dimension lumber and the other for appearance grade

lumber.

Logging

A crew from the ESP team was present during tree falling

to record measurements from both the standing tree and

bucked logs. Woods-length logs had a preferred length of

36 and 40 feet. Measurements included d.b.h., total height,

age at stump height, length and diameter of all woods-length

logs, length of breaks, and unutilized tops. Woods-length

logs were tagged with a number that identified the tree and

position in the tree from which it came. Logs were hauled to

the cooperating mill for both long-log and short-log scaling.

Log Measurements

After all woods-length logs were delivered to the mill, they

were rolled out and scaled as presented. Logs were scaled by

a Forest Service check scaler according to rules in the

National Forest log scaling handbook (U.S. Department of

Agriculture 1985) and by the Forest Service cubic scaling

rules (U.S. Department of Agriculture 1991). Scaling deductions were itemized to show cause, location, and amount of

each defect. Logs also were graded by using an appropriate

log grading rule. The official scales for the study were cubic

and Scribner. After scaling, woods-length logs were bucked

into sawmill lengths (short logs) and scaled again, recording

bucked lengths and diameters (to the nearest 0.1 inch). An

ESP team member participated in scaling to ensure that all

necessary data were collected.

Log Processing

As the study logs were brought into the mill they were

assigned a consecutive sawing number that was matched to

the original tree number and log within that tree. One-half

the sample was sawn into 2-inch dimension lumber (nominal sizes 2 by 4 and 2 by 6) with some 1-inch jacket boards

sawn from the outer portion of the logs. The other half of the

sample was sawn for 1-inch boards. Green lumber measurements were taken to enable calculation of the rough-green

cubic volume of lumber, sawdust, and chips. Scientists from

the Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) also measured warp

on the green lumber.

Board Data

After kiln drying, the lumber was surfaced to standard

dressed dry dimensions. Each board grade, length, and

width was tallied after the grading station. A Western Wood

Products Association inspector graded the dimension lumber under the structural light framing grades; Select Structural, No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, and Economy (Western Wood

Products Association 1998) and the type of grade-limiting

defect was recorded. The appearance boards were graded

under the board grades; #1 Common, #2 Common, #3 Common, #4 Common and factory lumber grades; Moulding, #3

Clear, 1 Shop, and 2 Shop (Western Wood Products Association 1998).

The 2 by 4 lumber was shipped to the University of Idaho

for inclusion in an ongoing cooperative study between the

FPL and the University of Idaho on mechanically grading

lumber from small-diameter trees of Inland West species

(Green and others1997). An associate inspector of the Western Wood Products Association graded this subsample of

lumber using the light framing (Construction, Standard,

Utility), structural light framing (Select Structural, No.1,

No.2, No.3), lamstock, and machine stress rated systems.

Final grade assignment for the lamstock and MSR grades

required determination of physical and mechanical properties. Results from this portion of the study will be reported

separately.

The FPL determined the warp characteristics of lumber

kiln dried in a conventional way and then determined the

effect of presteaming and top loading, separately and in
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 163

Lumber Recovery From Small-Diameter Ponderosa Pine From Flagstaff, Arizona Lowell and Green

20

30

40

50

60

4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Log small-end diameter (inches)

Cubic recovery (%)

Appearance Dimension

combination, on warp. These results also will be reported

separately.

Analysis _______________________

Regression analysis was used to determine volume and

value recovery of ponderosa pine by log small-end diameter.

The best fitting model was selected on the basis of coefficient

of determination (R2

) and standard deviation about the

regression (syx). Models were developed by using a transformation of log small-end diameter as the independent variable. The dependent variable for volume was either percentage of cubic recovery or cubic volume of lumber per gross

cubic log volume expressed as a percentage. Dollars per 100

cubic feet of log scale ($/CCF) was the variable used for

lumber value because it is a preferred measure of tree value.

It is calculated by dividing the total value of lumber produced by the cubic scale (gross or net) of the log multiplied by

100. The results are dependent on the pricing structure in

place at the time. Dollars per 100 cubic feet can be highly

correlated with log diameter because log quality tends to

increase with log size.

Analysis of covariance was used to determine if significant

differences existed in volume and value recovery between

logs sawn for appearance and dimension lumber.

Results and Discussion __________

Tree and log data for each sample are given in table 1.

The average age of the trees was 90 years old (range of 50

years to 120 years). Both samples of trees had very little

scaled defect, less than 1.5 percent of the total cubic log

volume.

Volume Recovery

The percentage of cubic volume recovered as lumber was

similar for logs sawn for dimension and appearance grade

products (fig. 1). Table 2 contains the analysis of covariance

(ANCOVA) statistics and table 3 presents the models and

statistics for the volume recovery curves. The logs sawn for

dimension lumber had a slightly higher volume recovery.

This can be partially explained by the fact that fewer pieces

of lumber were produced from each log. Fewer saw cuts

were made so there was less loss to saw kerf, fewer boards

means less overall loss to shrinkage during kiln drying, and

there would be correspondingly less loss in planer shavings. About 10 percent of the volume of lumber produced

from the dimension logs were 1-inch boards sawn from the

outside portion of the log (table 4). The mean cubic recovery

Table 1—Sample statistics by the type of lumber product produced in

this study.

Item Appearance Dimension

Number of trees 76 76

D.B.H. range (inches) 6–16 6–16

Avg. small diameter of log (inches) 7.0 7.0

Figure 1—Percentage of cubic volume recovery (based

on gross cubic log volume) by log small-end diameter

from logs sawn for appearance and dimension products.

Table 2—Analysis of covariance for percent cubic volume recovery.

Source df MSE F-value P-value

1/log SDa 1 6172.67 73.45 0.0001

Lumber productb 1 513.52 6.11 0.0139

Error 350 84.04

aSD = Log small-end diameter.

b

Appearance and dimension lumber.

from logs sawn for dimension products was 42.7 percent

while logs sawn for appearance lumber recovered 40.4

percent.

Value Recovery

As illustrated in figure 2 (tables 3 and 5 show the models

and ANCOVA, respectively), value of lumber differed significantly between the two product types, with appearance

lumber worth more than the dimension lumber in the log

diameter range sampled. The mean value of the appearance

grade lumber was $268 per 100 cubic feet (gross log scale),

while the dimension lumber was only $215 per 100 cubic

feet. Prices used were from the Western Wood Products

Association (1999) report summary through November 1999.

No manufacturing costs are included in these values; so the

real difference between the products thus would be less

because manufacturing and handling costs for appearance

lumber are greater owing to the larger number of pieces

being produced.

Value recovery depends on both the volume and the

lumber grade recovered from a log. Lumber grade recovery

is important, with higher grades of lumber commanding

higher prices. This study yielded about 25 percent No. 2 and

Better Common for appearance lumber with the majority of

lumber (66 percent) graded No. 3 Common (table 6). About

50 percent of the dimension lumber was No. 2 and Better

(table 4), with very little of that in the highest grade.
164 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Lowell and Green Lumber Recovery From Small-Diameter Ponderosa Pine From Flagstaff, Arizona

100

150

200

250

300

350

4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Log small-end diameter (inches)

Dollars per CCF

Appearance Dimension

Lumber grades are dependent on a variety of board characteristics. Appearance grades (Factory lumber and Boards)

are based on characteristics such as stain, pitch pockets,

unsound wood, slope of grain, knot size, and wane. Structural lumber is graded on characteristics that affect its

strength. Knot type and placement becomes a factor under

grading systems for structural lumber. The amount of

juvenile wood can also affect the mechanical properties of

lumber graded for structural applications. Dimension lumber that can be graded for structural applications (either

visually or mechanically) commands a higher price. The

research conducted by Erikson and others (2000) indicated

Table 4—Lumber grade recovery from

logs sawn for dimension grade

products.

Board grade Lumber volume

Percent

#1 Common <1

#2 Common 2

#3 Common 5

#4 Common 2

Moulding <1

3 Clear <1

1 Shop <1

2 Shop <1

Select Structural <1

#1 4

#2 46

#3 31

Economy 9

Table 3—Models for volume and value recovery curves shown in figures 1 and 2.

Dependent variable Product Model R2

Cubic volume recovery Appearance 56.44 – (104.59*(1/SD))a

(2.02)b (12.2)

0.18

Dimension 58.86 – (104.59*(1/SD))

(1.99)

Dollars/CCF Appearance 342.92 – (2953.22*(1/SDSQ))c

(28.25) (–6.80)

0.25

Dimension 244.40 – (1161.41*(1/SDSQ))

(22.95) (–3.09)

a

SD = Log small-end diameter.

b

Numbers in parentheses are standard errors of estimates.

c

SDSQ = Log small-end diameter squared.

Table 6—Lumber grade recovery from

logs sawn for appearance grade

products.

Board grade Lumber volume

Percent

#1 Common 3

#2 Common 22

#3 Common 66

#4 Common 7

Moulding <1

3 Clear <1

1 Shop 1

2 Shop 1

Figure 2—Value in dollars per 100 cubic feet (CCF) by

log small-end diameter from logs sawn for appearance

and dimension products.

Table 5—Analysis of covariance for value recovery (dollars per 100

cubic feet).

Source df MSE F-value P-value

1/log SDSQa 1 219487.43 5.14 0.0001

Lumber productb 1 158961.34 37.22 0.0001

Product*SDSQ 1 41622.89 9.75 0.0019

Error 349 4270.43

aSDSQ = Log small-end diameter squared . b

Appearance and dimension lumber.
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 165

Lumber Recovery From Small-Diameter Ponderosa Pine From Flagstaff, Arizona Lowell and Green

that the lumber manufactured from their ponderosa pine

sample yielded a very small proportion of lumber suitable for

structural applications. The lumber sawn for this study

indicated that just by producing a different primary product

(appearance lumber), a gain in value was realized.

Previous work (Lowell and others 2000) shows that there

are opportunities to increase the value of appearance lumber

through further processing into cut-stock material. The

study found boards graded No. 3 Common had the largest

increase in value when comparing value as a single piece of

lumber versus value as cut-stock material. Board width also

influenced yield and value of clear cuttings with 6-inch wide

boards being higher in value as cut-stock than lumber. The

resource from Flagstaff, AZ, used in this study had a high

yield of appearance lumber graded #3 Common and about 60

percent of the boards were 6 inches or greater in width.

While the Flagstaff study did not involve evaluation of cutstock production, there may be an opportunity to recover

more value from this material with further processing into

secondary products.

Conclusion_____________________

Old-growth ponderosa pine traditionally has been used in

appearance applications. The results of this study indicated

that lumber from small-diameter ponderosa pine growing in

densely stocked stands in the Flagstaff, AZ, area has characteristics that make it more valuable as appearance grade

lumber than dimension lumber. Results from this study

indicated that the wood characteristics of small-diameter

ponderosa pine growing in densely stocked stands have

sufficient value to warrant its processing for primary products and also may have the potential for secondary processing as a resource for the moulding and millwork industries.

This information can be used with new technology and

emerging processes to direct this resource to an appropriate

end use, where as much value as possible may be captured

from the resource to offset restoration costs.

References _____________________

Arganbright, D.G.; Venturino, J.A.; Gorvadm M. 1978. Warp reduction in young-growth ponderosa pine studs dried by different

methods with top-load restraint. Forest Products Journal. 28(8):

47–52.

Blake, B.R.; Voorhies, G. 1980. Kiln drying of young-growth ponderosa pine studs. Arizona Forestry Notes 13. Flagstaff, AZ: School

of Forestry, Northern Arizona University.

Dombeck, M.P. 1998. Speech: A gradual unfolding of a national

purpose: a natural resource agenda for the 21st century. http://

www.fs.fed.us/news/agenda/. (12 October 2000).

Erickson, R.G.; Gorman, T.D.; Green, D.W.; Graham, D. 2000.

Mechanical grading of lumber sawn from small-diameter lodgepole pine, ponderosa pine, and grand fir trees from northern

Idaho. Forest Products Journal. 50(7/8): 59–65.

Ernst, S.; Pong, W.Y. 1985. Lumber recovery from ponderosa pine

in northern California. Res. Pap. PNW-RP-303. Portland, OR:

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 22 p.

Fahey, T.D.; Max, T.A.; Sachet, J.K.A. 1986. Factors affecting grade

change of ponderosa pine lumber in the desert Southwest. Forest

Products Journal. 36(6): 36–40.

Fahey, T.D.; Sachet, J.K.A. 1993. Product recovery of ponderosa

pine in Arizona and New Mexico. Res. Pap. PNW-RP-467.

Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service,

Pacific Northwest Research Station. 18 p.

Fight, R.D. 1997. Financial analysis of ecosystem management

activities in stands dominated by small-diameter trees. In: Barbour,

R.J.; Skog, K.E., eds. Role of wood production in ecosystem management: Proceedings of the sustainable forestry working group

IUFRO all Division 5 conference; 1997 July 7–12; Pullman, WA.

Gen. Tech. Rep. FPL-GTR-100. Madison, WI: U.S. Department of

Agriculture, Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory: 90–94.

Green, W.; Wolfe, R.; Gorman, T.; Graham, D. 1997. Properties of

small-diameter inland west species of importance in truss design.

Study Plan 3-97-22. FS-FPL-4714. Madison, WI: Forest Products

Laboratory.

Lowell, Eini C.; Funck, James; Brunner, Charles. 2000. Small

diameter trees in the Pacific Northwest: a resource for dimension

lumber or cut-stock? In: Gazo, Rado, ed. Issues related to handling the influx of small-diameter timber in western North

America: Proceedings of Forest Products Society annual meeting

Softwood Lumber Technical Interest Group; 1999 June 27–30;

[Boise, ID]. Madison, WI: Forest Products Society: 15–20.

Mackay, J.F.G.; Rumball, B.L. 1972. Plasticizing distortion-prone

softwood studs prior to high temperature seasoning. Forest

Products Journal. 22(6): 27–28.

Markstrom, D.C.; Shuler, C.E.; King, R.M. 1984. Warpage of studs

from young growth ponderosa pine from northern New Mexico.

Res. Pap. RM-257. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station.

Mast, J.N.; Fulé, P.Z.; Moore, M.M.; Covington, W.W.; Waltz,

A.E.M. 1999. Restoration of presettlement age structure of an

Arizona pine forest. Ecological Applications. 9(1): 228–239.

Sackett, S.S.; Haase, S.M.; Harrington, M.G. 1996. Lessons learned

from fire use for restoring southwestern ponderosa pine ecosystems. In: Covington, W.; Wagner, P.K., eds. Proceedings,

conference on adaptive ecosystem restoration and management: restoration of cordilleran conifer landscapes of North

America. Gen. Tech. Rep. RM-GTR-278. Fort Collins, CO: U.S.

Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain

Forest and Range Experiment Station: 54–61.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. 1985. National Forest

log scaling handbook. FSH 2409.11 Amend. 6. Washington, DC.

U.S.Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. 1991. National

Forest cubic scaling handbook. FSH 2409.11a Amend. 2409.11a91-1. Washington, DC.

Willits, Susan A.; Lowell, Eini C.; Christensen, Glenn C. 1997.

Lumber and veneer yields from small-diameter trees. In: Barbour,

R.J.; Skog, K.E., eds. Role of wood production in ecosystem

management: Proceedings of the sustainable forestry working

group IUFRO all division 5 conference; 1997 July 7–12; Pullman,

WA. Gen. Tech. Rep. FPL-GTR-100. Madison, WI: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory:

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for western lumber. Portland, OR.

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166 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

In: Vance, Regina K.; Edminster, Carleton B.; Covington, W. Wallace;

Blake, Julie A. comps. 2001. Ponderosa pine ecosystems restoration and

conservation: steps toward stewardship; 2000 April 25–27; Flagstaff, AZ.

Proceedings RMRS-P-22. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture,

Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station.

Jeffrey Cook is Regents’ Professor in School of Architecture, College of

Architecture and Environmental Design, Arizona State University, Tempe,

AZ 85287-1605; e-mail: cook@asu.edu. A registered architect, he received a

B.Arch. from University of Manitoba, and an M.Arch from Pratt Institute. He

is known internationally as an expert and proponent of bioclimatic architectural design, the use of indigenous materials and other strategies promoting

sustainability. These interests are currently focused on roundwood design

versions of the traditional Navajo hogan as a development project for Indigenous Community Enterprises.

Abstract—A report and critical commentary is presented on the

use of small diameter roundwood in building construction in the

United States and England. Examples are discussed of roundwood

joinery being evaluated at the USDA Forest Service’s Forest Products Laboratory, and joinery developed by the British engineering

consulting firm Buro Happold, working over 15 years in the development of roundwood use in Europe. Three buildings constructed at

Hooke Park in Dorset, England, using small diameter roundwood

thinnings as the structural members are profiled, demonstrating

the range of applications from small domestic scale to a very large

enclosed workshop space. These precedents will inform the construction of traditional Navajo hogan shaped buildings in northern

Arizona in the development of local roundwood industries.

Introduction ____________________

Roundwood is the original forest product for building

construction from the most ancient of human times to today.

Whether heavy logs or thin scantlings, the natural form of

timbers and saplings has been the traditional geometry of

construction. But since the industrialization of forestry and

lumbering, especially in the milling of lumber, a prismatic

mentality has dominated thinking and practice. Flat surfaces are easiest to join to flat surfaces. But with milled

material there is both material and structural loss in trimming a round log into a rectangular cross section.

This exploration paper is part of a comprehensive program to develop a use for the forest thinnings of the northern

Arizona ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) forest. The project

involves the design of a modernized traditional Navajo

home, a single room octagonal “hogan,” using precut and

fitted roundwood parts. Perhaps small industries could be

developed locally that would also meet a strong housing need

not currently addressed.

Obviously a house is more than a roof. Roundwood and

thin logs are undoubtedly best suited to structural frames,

trusses, and skeletons. But these need continuous panels or

Explorations of Roundwood Technology

in Buildings

Jeffrey Cook

infill if used for shelter. When used as solid walling, or as

panel materials, roundwood seems less appropriate. Thus

the challenge is to find the most obvious economic uses of

these small timbers in small buildings.

Forest Products Laboratory,

Madison, Wisconsin _____________

Within the U.S.A., the Forest Products Laboratory at

Madison, WI, run by the Department of Agriculture Forest

Service, is a national center for research in timber applications to building construction. Experimental, testing, and

computational activities are conducted both at the laboratory and by contracted researchers. A personal visit there

February 3–5, 2000, allowed intensive discussion with Ron

Wolfe, the investigator, about the current technical status of

roundwood applications, as well as a review of recent experiments in joinery and fastening. Because wood is strong in

tension, but weak in shear, considerable attention has been

focused on methods to allow the joint to transfer the potential full strength of the member.

The most thorough recent experiment has been with a

“dowel-nut connection” at the end of a piece of roundwood

that was conducted by Ron Wolfe. A cylindrical 44.5-mm

(1.75-inch) diameter dowel is fitted across the member or

strut. A distance of some 7 diameters from the end is

recommended. This dowel is tapped and becomes the nut for

a threaded rod that extends from the center of the roundwood to connect to a hub, or other transfer point or joint. A

tight steel strap or sleeve around the roundwood holds the

fibers together to control splitting. Although the experiments were made on 127 mm (5 inch) diameter Douglas-fir

(Pseudotsuga menziesii) peeler cores, by adjusting structural data the technique could be applied to other wood

types, other diameters, and to debarked but untrimmed

roundwood, according to the researcher.

A building project of special interest is the design and

construction of a full sized circular pavilion of roundwood

7.5 m (25 feet) in diameter, a dimension similar to a hogan,

a traditional Navajo dwelling. A 12.5 mm (1

⁄

2-inch) steel

cable around the perimeter makes a tension ring for the

truss ends. The roundwood pieces 150 to 200 mm (6 to 8

inches) in diameter are joined by “timber rivets,” a steel nail

with a wedged head used with a flitch plate. While apparently over designed, the pavilion is both a confidence builder

and the subject of full sized monitoring. In addition, at the

Forest Products Laboratory a number of other building

products are at various stages of development and commercialization that have special interest to those interested in

innovative forest products. Trade names such as “fast wall,”

“tectum,” “bison pressed board,” and “compreg” are among

the many of these upcoming materials.
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 167

Explorations of Roundwood Technology in Buildings Cook

Hooke Park, Dorset, England ______

The Parnham Trust, Beaminster, Dorset, UK, was founded

in 1977 as a nonprofit educational charity by John Makepeace,

perhaps the best known furniture designer and maker in

Britain. It has been primarily concerned with the teaching

and development of the design, production, and business

skills needed for the establishment of new enterprises using

timber as a primary material. Both forestry and furnituremaking skills are taught in apprentice-like settings. Thus

Hooke Park was founded as a demonstration forestry tract

and test site of 132 ha (330 acres) of Dorset woodland, which

contains at its center, a workshop/training facility in the use

of roundwood, as well as student residences—a miniature

college in the woods.

The educational facilities at Hooke Park consist of a series

of custom designed experimental buildings that explore uses

of roundwood, a sustainable crop, together with test forests

that provide the outdoor classroom. Roundwood has been

recognized as a viable construction material worldwide and

throughout history. However, it is the use of immature

thinnings of little commercial value that is innovative at

Hooke, and of most interest elsewhere.

Leading British architects have been involved in the

design of each building at Hooke Park. However, the common technical consultant for all structures has been Buro

Happold, Bath, with Ted Happold personally involved with

carefully engineered high-tech ideas of joinery. Since his

death, the home office staff from Bath have continued

technical support of structural and services engineering for

this program. All buildings demonstrate ideas of what can be

achieved with round poles, particularly the first two where

details use epoxy plugs, wrappings, and adhesives.

The Prototype House

Richard Burton, of Arends Burton, Koralik, (ABK) Architects, of London designed this single story domestic building

(figs. 1 and 2) in 1983, which was completed in 1986. The

internationally known partnership of ABK founded in 1961

has been the source of major architectural designs for four

decades. The house is used as a seminar room and for

Figure 2—Prototype house, Hooke Park, UK:

longitudinal section.

Figure 1—Prototype house, Hooke Park, UK: section.

administrative offices. It has a size of 11.2 by 8.5-m (37.3 by

28.7 feet) and the material used was Norway spruce (Picea

abies). A series of A-frames support a doubly curved roof

structure using 5.5 m (18.3 feet) long, 60 to 90 mm (2.4 by

3.6 inch) diameter hanging rafter poles with an initial sag

of 20 mm (0.8 inch). Thus the roof load is carried in tension

and taken out of the poles by epoxy threaded 12 mm steel

rods, connected to tension eyes.

The decision to use the thinnings structurally in tension led

to the resin joint. To use roundwood only 50 mm (2 inches) in

diameter, a very efficient joint was required (fig. 3). This is

achieved by drilling a conical hole in the end of the timber and

Figure 3—Prototype house, Hooke Park, UK: roundwood design joint.
168 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Cook Explorations of Roundwood Technology in Buildings

filling it with epoxy resin. The conical hole exposes all the

fibers, which are oriented longitudinally, and maximizes the

efficiency of the joint. A threaded steel rod is bedded in the

resin to enable a connection to be made. In the case of this

house, roof timbers hang from the ridge cable. An additional

benefit is to avoid metal-to-wood contact, a common area of

building material failure. Similarly, the same joint is used in

the compression joints as the resin plug helps to bind the

center fibers of the roundwood and prevent them splitting

apart under pressure.

With the initial sag set at 200 mm (8 inches), the design

sag for maximum load is 300 mm (12 inches), which gives a

tension force of 7.2 kN. This tension is transferred into the

building structure at the ridgeline through a tension joint

attached to a wire cable hung between the heads of four Aframes. The tension at the eaves is transferred into a cable

spanning between inclined side posts, resisted in turn by a

roundwood header beam joining the tops of these posts as a

“burnished compression spar.” The symmetry of the cross

section avoids structural eccentricity.

The outside walls lean outward to help resolve structural,

thermal, and rainwater problems, and to provide solar

control. An overhanging eave was considered but rejected on

the grounds that it is undesirable to have rafters projecting

outside the insulated skin and be subjected to different

temperature and moisture conditions. This solution also

avoided having to cut the vapor barrier around rafters and

also avoided wind penetration.

The Wood Workshop Building

The training Wood Workshop (figs. 4 and 5) was also

designed by Richard Burton of ABK, and was completed in

1990. It is a 15 m (50 foot) span vault roof using wet

Norwegian spruce (Picea abies) two bent poles 10.5 m (35

feet) long tapering from 180 mm to 70 mm (less than 8 inches

to less than 3 inches) in diameter. A crown section of two

poles was used to connect the bent poles through lapping

bolted joints. At the base, the poles were fixed to concrete

walls using grouted-in-place bolts and plates.

The final building has three shells spanning 15 m (50 feet)

wide, forming a total structure 42.5 m (142 feet) long and

7 m (23 feet) high. The shells are formed using thinnings of

Figure 4—Wood workshop, Hooke Park, UK: elevation/section.

Figure 5—Wood workshop, Hooke Park, UK: structural section.
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 169

Explorations of Roundwood Technology in Buildings Cook

nominal diameter 155 mm (6 inches) at the base to 65 mm

(21

⁄

2 inches), approximately 9 m (30 feet) long, joined at the

crown by a laminate crown arch member. Access for visitors

is by a bridge that enters the building at mezzanine level

between the workshop and teaching areas. Two of the shells

form the workshop area. The third contains the library,

seminar rooms, teaching area, and offices, all arranged both

at ground floor and mezzanine levels.

The most labor-intensive part of the work involved fitting

the plywood edging strips for the membrane and fitting the

windows and doors to the complex shapes of the frame on the

end walls. This work required several skilled carpenters and

took several weeks.

Westminster Lodge

The Westminster Lodge (fig. 6) by architect Edward

Cullinan was opened in April 1996. It provides student

accommodation with four pairs of private rooms around a

central common space. The floor is raised above sloping

Figure 6—Westminster Lodge, Hooke Park, UK: construction section.

ground and the load-bearing walls are made from clad

roundwood. The main feature of the Lodge is the two-way

spanning Vierendeel truss roof (fig. 7), which required eight

3 m (10 foot) long poles to be spliced together to form the top

chord. The poles were approximately 100 mm (4 inches) in

diameter and were used in four layers to span the 8.4 m (28

feet) in two principal directions. Blocking pieces provided

shear connections between the top and bottom layers adding

stiffness in the central part of the span.

Named after the Duke of Westminster, who provided

substantial funding, the most interesting roundwood element again is the roof. The two-way spanning roof has a

large number of alternative load paths to allow for problems

with isolated timbers. Using this strategy the variable

properties of the roundwood can be exploited without the

need to downgrade the stresses to the level that the statistical variation in strength might imply.

The solution was to develop a joint, which could easily be

made in the forest, with simple, readily available tools. This

joint was a combination of a scarf joint and finger joint. The

Figure 7—Westminster Lodge, Hooke Park, UK: structural assembly.
170 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Cook Explorations of Roundwood Technology in Buildings

normal scarf joint is weak and unreliable; the normal finger

joint is difficult to make in the forest. By cutting a plywood

tongue or key into the roundwood scarf joint diagonally, a

simply made, strong, and reliable field joint was achieved by

increasing the surfaces of the epoxy glued end joint as shown

in figure 8.

By using this joint any length of 100-mm (4 inch) diameter

could be produced. Long lengths were used top and bottom

with two intermediate layers to span across the 8.4-m (28 ft)

roof space. Blocking pieces were used to generate a shear

connection between the top and bottom layers, creating the

two-way spanning Vierendeel trusses. The continuity of one

layer over the side span gives added stiffness to the central

span. It also enables a single layer of timbers to span one way

across the 3 m (10 ft) between the walls of the side rooms.

Instead of steel bolts, 25 mm (1 inch) oak dowels connect the

top and bottom chords through a spruce shear block 400 mm

(16 inch) long and 80 mm (3 inch) thick that serves as a

spacer.

A secondary connector of some interest is the wrapped

straps of stainless steel, a standard product, here used to

hold two roundwood perlins together as they pass at right

angles.

Construction Summary of All Three

Buildings

On all three buildings, the roofing materials allow for the

variability in form and surface natural to roundwood. On the

first two buildings, a flexible membrane surface on a soft

insulated blanket was used that fits to the profile shape of

the roundwood as well as the double curved surfaces. On the

Lodge, boarding was used to support the heavier “green” roof

surface of living grass turf, which has already been replaced

once. Since the sod is not very thick, it apparently cannot

survive even in the damp English climate.

Floors were more difficult to detail. They needed to be

covered with level boarding or surfacing and this cannot be

achieved with tapered elements. A possible future development would be to use in situ concrete on roundwood with

shear connectors. Thus the roundwood would act as permanent formwork and as tension reinforcement, with concrete

providing the compression element and the finished floor

surface.

Figure 8—Westminster Lodge, Hooke Park, UK: Roundwood end joint detail.

Evaluations ____________________

The UK visit to the University of Surrey (of an international European technical team) concentrated on a tour of

Hooke Park in Dorset, where John Makepeace of the Parnham

Trust had set up a school for woodland industry. All the

buildings and structures for the school, situated deep in

woodland, featured round-pole technology. The buildings are

an interesting combination of forestry thinnings with very

high-tech ideas carefully engineered by Buro Happold in

Bath. They demonstrated ideas of what can be achieved with

round-poles particularly when reliance can be placed on

epoxy gluing. However, they were seen by the project team to

be one-off developmental structures, with only limited relevance to the low-cost higher volume uses required for the

round-pole project... (Ranta-Maunus).

This reviewer has similar observations. Although structurally successful, all buildings demonstrated intensive

investments of human ingenuity and labor, as well as expensive fasteners in complex high technology joining systems.

The similarity of the Happold epoxy resin plug to the American “dowel-nut connection” demonstrates two parallel

technical solutions to the same engineering problem. Unfortunately neither seems appropriate to the design of the

hogan roof structure. None of the buildings demonstrated

use of roundwood for cladding or panel systems. Thus they

all have limited lessons for the design of small span, small

scale climatically adapted Navajo hogans for northern

Arizona. But they are experiments that do not have to be

replicated in northern Arizona. Of all those roundwood

building ideas that have been built, it is the wrapped straps,

and the multi-layer trussed roof at Westminster Lodge that

appear to be the most transferable.

References _____________________

Ahrends, Burton and Koralek. 1991. London, Academy Editions,

New York. St. Martin’s Press. 176 p.

Burton, Richard; Dickson, Michael; Harris, Richard. The Use of

Roundwood Thinnings in Buildings—A Case S. 1998. Building

Research and Information, E and F.N. Spon, UK. 26(2): 76–93.

Ranta-Maunus, Alpo (ed.). Round Small-Diameter Timber For

Construction. Final report of project FAIR CT 95-0091. Espoo

1999. Technical Research Centre of Finland, VTT Publications

383. 191 p. + app. 19 p.

Wolfe, Ron; King, John. R.; Gjinolli, Agron. Dowel-Nut Connection

in Douglas-fir Peeler Cores, November 1999. Prepared for publication in Forest Products Journal.
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 171

In: Vance, Regina K.; Edminster, Carleton B.; Covington, W. Wallace;

Blake, Julie A. comps. 2001. Ponderosa pine ecosystems restoration and

conservation: steps toward stewardship; 2000 April 25–27; Flagstaff, AZ.

Proceedings RMRS-P-22. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture,

Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station.

Kurt H. Mackes is a Post Doctorate Fellow at Colorado State University.

He received B.S. and M.S. degrees in wood science and technology from

Colorado State University and a Ph.D. degree in forestry and forest products

from Virginia Tech. He is currently conducting a variety of research projects

and extension work related to forest products and wood utilization in Colorado and the Rocky Mountain Region.

Use of Wood as an Alternative Fuel to Coal

and Natural Gas at the Holnam Cement

Plant, North of LaPorte, Colorado

Kurt H. Mackes

Abstract—The Holnam Company currently operates a cement

plant north of Laporte, CO. The plant is attempting to use wood as

an alternate fuel to coal and natural gas. The principal objective of

this project is to investigate the extended use of wood as an alternate

fuel at the plant. Tests conducted at Holnam indicate that wood is

suitable for use at the plant and Holnam could use up to 350 tons of

clean wood wastes and residues per day. A substantial network of

wood suppliers, drawing wood from landfills, wood processors, and

forests, will be necessary to meet overall plant requirements.

Successfully converting Holnam to wood would provide economic

benefits to both Holnam and the community. Larimer County would

benefit because the majority of clean wood will be diverted from the

waste stream into its landfill. Using forest residues at Holnam could

help reduce the risk of wildfire, increase public safety, and improve

forest health. We view converting this plant to wood as only a

beginning. If Holnam successfully converts to wood as the primary

fuel source, then other plants in the region could similarly use wood

wastes and residues as fuel.

Introduction ____________________

The Holnam Company operates a cement plant north of

Laporte, CO. Founded in 1926, the plant currently produces

460,000 tons of cement annually. The plant utilizes approximately 75,000 tons of coal and 3,600 million cubic feet of

natural gas annually in the cement making process. Early in

spring 1999 Holnam began considering the possibility of

converting the primary source of fuel used at the plant from

coal to wood. The principal objective of this project is to

investigate the extended use of wood as an alternate fuel

source to coal and natural gas at this plant. Several private

organizations and government agencies are supporting

Holnam in their efforts to achieve this objective, including

the city of Fort Collins, Larimer County, the Colorado State

Forest Service, the USDA Forest Service (State and Private), and Colorado State University. Included in this publication is project background, a brief description of the

cement making process, a discussion of conversion technology, and the process to commercialization. The anticipated

benefits and challenges of using wood at the Holnam plant

are also discussed.

Project Background _____________

From April until autumn 1999, representatives of Holnam

met with Dr. Dennis Lynch (Professor Emeritus, Colorado

State University) and Larimer County personnel to discuss

the potential of using waste wood from the Larimer County

landfill as an alternative fuel at Holnam. In August, John

Zerbe (USDA Forest Products Laboratory) visited Holnam

to observe the operation and wrote a report regarding the

potential for utilizing wood at the plant (Zerbe 1999). A

meeting to discuss alternatives for diverting clean wood

from the Larimer County landfill occurred in September

between representatives of Holnam and the city of Fort

Collins Natural Resource Department. In November and

December Holnam met with Janelle Henderson (Director of

the Larimer County Natural Resources Department) and

other Larimer County officials to discuss development of a

strategy for diversion of landfill material.

The Coloradoan, a local newspaper, published an article

on December 14 on the intent of Holnam to utilize clean wood

wastes as an alternative fuel source. On December 16, a

public meeting was held in the Larimer County courthouse.

Although reviews were mixed, there was generally a positive

response from the community toward utilizing clean wood

waste at Holman. Also on that day, Channel 9 Television

(NBC) of Denver, CO, toured the Holnam plant and filmed

a story that aired on that day’s 5:00 p.m. newscast. A followup article was published by The Coloradoan on December

17. Subsequent articles appeared in The North Forty newspaper and the Loveland, CO, Reporter Herald. Generally,

these articles were favorable.

During the public hearing held on December 16, attendees

determined by consensus that four principal issues needed

to be addressed. These were:

1. Potential fuel sources

2. Transportation

3. Process modifications

4. Air pollution concerns

Four committees were established to investigate these issues. These committees met throughout the winter and

spring 2000. Some of the findings are discussed in subsequent sections.

In addition to committee meetings, two public meetings in

March and April were held in Laporte, sponsored by the

Laporte Business Alliance. The local community had many
172 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Mackes Use of Wood as an Alternative Fuel to Coal and Natural Gas at the Holnam Cement Plant, North of LaPorte, Colorado

concerns, many of which had been expressed in the previous

December meeting and which were being addressed by the

committees established at that meeting.

One particular new concern pertained to the Title V

permit that Holnam was in the process of applying for. This

permit is required by the State prior to using wood or other

alternative fuels on a production scale at the plant. The

initial permit application (which has since been revised)

submitted by Holnam listed a broad range of nonhazardous

materials that could potentially be used as fuel at the plant.

Even though only clean wood had been used in testing to date

and there had been minimal opposition to Holnam utilizing

clean wood at the plant, there were concerns that Holnam

would burn other materials such as plastics and rubber tires

if permitted to do so. Therefore, the community was concerned over what materials Holnam would be permitted to

utilize. There were articles in local newspapers reflecting

these concerns. In particular, there was considerable resistance to using rubber tires at the plant. There was also

concern regarding wood from the landfill. While the majority

of this wood is clean, there is a percentage of this wood that

is contaminated with a variety of substances including

finishes, treatments, and adhesives. The impacts of these

contaminants on air emissions are uncertain and need to be

investigated. Nonetheless, Holnam was focusing on obtaining a Title V permit to use clean wood.

The Cement Making Process ______

The Holnam plant north of Laporte uses a unique process

to manufacture cement. Limestone is crushed to reduce its

size and then blended with materials such as shale, sandstone, iron ore, mill scale, fly ash, clay, or sand into a dry

powder. The mix is then normally processed in a calciner

that burns the organic material in it and drives off CO2. It is

then fed into the elevated end of the 14.5 feet wide by 190 feet

long rotary kiln at the plant. Materials in the kiln pass

through controlled zones that heat them to 2,450 ∞F. Flame

temperatures in the kiln exceed 3,000 ∞F. The intense heat

chemically alters the materials forming walnut-sized pellets

called cement clinker.

The cement clinker is then cooled. Heat from the clinker is

extracted by air flow. This heat is used to supplement the

heat from fuels used in the kiln. The clinker is mixed with a

proportioned amount of gypsum in a finishing mill where

steel balls pound the clinker into a fine powder (cement). The

cement is packaged in bags for shipping or shipped bulk to

retail outlets and construction sites.

Conversion Technology __________

In 1999 and 2000, research and testing were conducted to

determine the best approach for converting the Holnam

plant to wood as the primary fuel source. A series of test

burns were conducted and some equipment purchased to

facilitate testing. Important findings from this work, along

with a brief discussion of wood as a fuel are presented.

Wood has a heating value that ranges between 8,000 and

12,500 Btu per ovendry pound, with most species falling

between 8,000 and 10,000 Btu per ovendry pound (Inc 1979).

Bark ranges between 7,500 and 10,500 Btu per ovendry

pound. This compares to a range of 6,900 to 14,300 Btu per

pound for coal. Based on the type of bituminous coal typically

used at Holnam, which has a higher heating value of 11,000

Btu per pound, approximately 1.3 tons of dry wood yields the

same amount of heat as 1 ton of coal.

Although heat production is affected by numerous factors

(Ince 1979), one factor that dramatically affects recoverable

heat generated by combusting wood is moisture. Because

wood is hygroscopic it readily picks up and loses moisture.

The higher the moisture content, the lower the amount of

recoverable heat available from combustion. Therefore, to

maximize recoverable heat it is beneficial to dry wood prior

to combustion.

In May 1999, the first test burns were conducted at the

plant with good results. A subsequent test incorporating

wood into kiln feed to test material flow was conducted in

August. Also in August, Holnam arranged for the lease/

purchase of two screw augers to feed saw dust and fine wood

chips into the calciner. In October, the first calciner test burn

using dry sawdust fed into the system with the screws was

conducted. The calciner responded positively and no air

quality problems were detected. A second burn was conducted in November using one load of wet sawdust and one

load of dry sawdust. The calciner did not respond well to wet

sawdust; however, the dry sawdust burned well and the coal

feed was shut off during this phase of the test, proving that

wood can replace coal in the system.

Later in November, a test burn was conducted feeding

wood chips into kiln feed to test material flow. During

December, 21 tons of green pine chips were supplied by the

Colorado State Forest Service for testing. Wood chips were

fed into the roller mill with the standard raw rock feed.

Although the test was short, results were positive. Later in

December, a test was conducted to find out if screw augers

would handle wood chips. The chips did not feed well through

the screw augers and heavier equipment is required.

Testing continued into January, February, and March

2000, culminating with an extended test using 98 tons of

green pine chips processed from beetle-killed pine trees

provided by the Colorado State Forest Service. Chips were

put into the system with both the raw rock feed and the coal

feed. Approximately 28 tons of chips were introduced with

the raw rock and the remaining 70 tons were introduced

with coal. Wood introduced into the coal feed was mixed with

coke at a 1:1 ratio by volume, and then with coal at a feed rate

of 15 percent wood/coke and 85 percent coal. Generally,

these tests were very successful and the wood worked well

with existing systems at the plant.

Significant process modifications may still be necessary to

utilize wood at all firing systems of the Holnam plant. There

is a need to further study how wood can be fed to firing

systems and what modifications are necessary to use it. The

main barrier has been developing a feed system for wood

chips that works well with existing firing systems at the

plant. The screw auger system installed for test burns using

sawdust did not work well with 1.5 inch wood chips. Mixing

rock and wood together to produce “crusher” feed has been

successfully tested as one alternative for introducing wood

into the process. However, the plant needs the capability to

selectively get sawdust and small wood chips to any of the

three existing fuel pumps. Feeding wood into the existing

coal bin is possible if mixed at up to 10 percent with coal. This
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 173

Use of Wood as an Alternative Fuel to Coal and Natural Gas at the Holnam Cement Plant, North of LaPorte, Colorado Mackes

provides some wood feed to all firing points simultaneously;

however, this will not be sufficient for complete replacement.

Further testing is scheduled in the future to evaluate

systems developed to handle and feed wood. Air emissions

from the plant (including stack testing) will be monitored

during testing. With the successful completion of this testing, a portion of the plant should be ready to utilize wood on

a commercial scale. As noted previously, Holnam is currently in the process of applying for a Title V permit that is

required by the State prior to burning wood on a production

scale. Conducting this testing is a necessary step toward

obtaining this permit. Work required to develop the wood

handling systems necessary to completely convert the plant

was scheduled to be completed by summer 2000.

Process to Commercialization _____

Wood as the primary fuel source at Holnam requires that

two key issues be addressed. These are completing modification of existing plant processes to accommodate wood (addressed previously) and procuring an adequate supply of low

cost wood in a form suitable for use at the plant. To date test

burns have shown that wood can be used to fuel plant

processes. Although preliminary studies indicate that a sufficient supply of wood exists, there is a need to establish a

delivery system for getting wood to the plant, including collection (sorting), size reduction, drying, and transportation.

Based on testing conducted at the Holnam plant, clean

wood material in the form of sawdust or chips up to 1.5 inches

in length work well with existing systems. To maximize

recoverable heat from combustion, it is important that the

wood be dry, preferably having a moisture content of less

than 10 percent. Based on economic constraints, wood will

also have to be low cost. Four potential sources of low cost

wood have been identified by Ward and others (1999):

• Municipal waste

• Construction waste and demolition debris

• Primary and secondary wood manufacturers

• Forest residues

Some information has been generated on potential sources

of wood. A preliminary wood biomass report by Lynch (1999)

noted that 187,237 tons of waste was delivered to the

Larimer County landfill in 1996. An estimated 29,563 tons

of commercial wood waste (primarily construction debris)

and 2,410 tons of wood from residential waste were included

in this total. In 1997, the Larimer County landfill received

166,683 tons of waste. The reduction was due to the establishment of a new Waste Management landfill near Ault and

the majority of their waste streams went to that landfill. In

1997, an estimated 26,318 tons of wood were in commercial

waste delivered to the Larimer County landfill, which

amounts to approximately 72 tons per day. Additional wood

could come from the Waste Management landfill. Waste

Management estimated that they currently receive approximately 1 ton of construction wood waste per day.

Because wood is often intermingled with other construction debris, the clean wood suitable for fuel at Holnam would

have to be sorted. Lynch (1999) reported that all parties

contacted suggested that some type of wood collection system should be possible. Once collected the wood must be

reduced to a suitable size through chipping or other more

suitable methods. Whatever the method of sorting and size

reduction, the consensus is that the tonnage of sorted clean

wood suitable for fuel would be something less than the total

amount delivered to the landfills. Based on fuel requirements provided by Holnam, up to 350 tons of wood per day

will be required to convert the plant entirely to wood;

therefore other sources of wood will be required.

Another potential source of fuelwood for Holnam is primary

and secondary wood manufacturers along the Front Range of

Colorado. Primary manufacturers along the Front Range

include several small sawmills, while secondary manufacturers include millwork, cabinet, and furniture companies.

Residues from secondary manufacturers have a relatively

high percentage of hardwood with good Btu value. In addition, this wood tends to be relatively dry and as a result,

burns well. Several local manufacturers have provided wood

for testing. In one test where oak and maple residues where

used, Holnam was able to cut off the coal feed to the calciner

for several hours. While none of the primary and secondary

wood manufacturers individually generate a substantial

amount of wood residues, collectively they do. Therefore,

further investigation is needed to determine the amount of

low cost wood that could be procured from these manufacturers. Other possibilities, including used pallets, should also

be investigated.

The forests of Larimer County could also be a significant

source of supply for Holnam. Lynch (1999) commented that

the private, State, and Federal forest lands in the county

have more trees existing now than at any time in recorded

history. Lynch reported that NEOS Corporation estimated

over 1.4 million tons of wood could potentially be removed

from Larimer County in forest restoration projects. These

materials would have to be removed, chipped, dried, and

transported to Holnam, resulting in a cost. Based on preliminary estimates, in the absence of government subsidies,

supplying wood from the forest to Holnam within economic

guidelines for fuel costs established by the company will be

a challenge. However, because of the enormous resource and

potential public benefits, there is a need to investigate how

this might be accomplished.

Larimer County and the Colorado State Forest Service

have also initiated a project to assist private land owners

with disposal of residues from their properties. Ten mobile

collection sites are going to be established strategically in

the county and these sites could present a wood supply

opportunity for this project.

Benefits and Challenges _________

The economics of utilizing wood at Holnam are tied closely

to collection, size reduction, transport, and drying costs. The

company is anticipating making a significant capital investment (in excess of $1 million) to build a system capable of

handling wood. In accordance with corporate guidelines, the

payback period must not exceed 3 years. This limits the

amount that Holnam can pay for wood wastes and residues.

Given size reduction and transport costs, which depending

on haul distance could easily exceed economical limits, it is

generally thought that the wood will have to be procured at

little or no additional cost. Fortunately, there are sources of
174 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Mackes Use of Wood as an Alternative Fuel to Coal and Natural Gas at the Holnam Cement Plant, North of LaPorte, Colorado

wood, particularly waste wood destined for landfills, that

can be diverted at an acceptable cost. In addition, Holnam

will attempt to take full advantage of tax credits associated

with using biobased fuels. These tax credits could potentially improve the economics of converting the plant to wood

fuel.

Because the availability of wood could be seasonal or

periodically in short supply, coal and natural gas systems

currently in place at the plant can be used as backup.

The plant currently stockpiles 6,000 tons of coal, which is a

1 month supply. Approximately 7,500 tons of wood, a supply

for a comparable period, would also be stockpiled, if available.

Environmentally, there should be a reduction in air emissions from the plant if wood is burned in place of coal. Zerbe

(1999) reported that combustion of wood should be relatively

free of sulfur, heavy metal, and particulate emissions when

compared to coal. The absence of sulfur could be a major

benefit because Holnam currently scrubs sulfur from coal

with calcium oxide (CaO). Although CaO is abundant, reducing the level of scrubbing could potentially increase cement

yield and reduce the amount of calcium sulfate that must be

disposed of. Although clean wood is relatively free of heavy

metals, there is potential for introducing contaminated

wood into the process; for example, lead paint found in

demolition debris from older buildings. It will be important

to follow EPA regulations to separate clean wood for recycling from contaminated wood. Particulate emissions from

complete wood combustion are anticipated to be relatively

low because the ash content of wood is small, typically

around 1 percent. This compares to greater than 5 percent

for the coal currently used by Holnam. In either case, ash

becomes an integral part of the plant product.

Additionally, there are direct benefits to Larimer County

and local city governments. Using this wood as fuel provides

an alternative to disposing of wood in the landfill. At the

Larimer County landfill, removing wood from the stream of

trash into the landfill will save space, extending the life of

the landfill. Based on the estimated value of space at the

landfill determined by the county, removal of wood wastes

could save over $1 million annually. Another potential

benefit to the landfill is a reduction in methane gas emitted

from wood decomposition. If done soon enough, this could

eliminate the need for a $2 million methane recovery system.

Using forest thinnings and residues would also provide

benefits to the community. Forests found in the region are

typically composed of dense overcrowded homogeneous

stands of small diameter trees with little or no commercial

value. Thinning out these stands and promoting the concept

of defensible space around homes and other structures

would increase public safety by reducing fire risks. Reducing

stand densities would also improve forest health. Proper

management of both private and public forest lands is often

hindered by the lack of places to take forest residues. They

are typically burned, which contributes to poor air quality,

or are sent to a landfill. The establishment of 10 mobile

collection sites throughout Larimer County should help.

Once capital costs are recovered, the plant should see a

significant reduction in the cost of doing business, because

energy represents a significant portion of that cost. Therefore,

the plant should become more competitive and profitable to

operate. Improving the profitability of the Holnam plant has

many potential benefits to the local community. Even though

plant processes are continually upgraded and modernized,

this plant is relatively old, so there are always concerns of

the plant closing because of an inability to compete with

cement manufactured at newer state-of-the-art facilities.

Plant engineers estimate that there are sufficient raw materials available at this location to operate for at least 50 years.

Successfully completing this project should help keep the

relatively high paying jobs at the plant in the area and

stabilize the local economy for many years.

There will probably be a need to form a company to supply

wood to the Holnam plant. This company would likely

operate as a small private business employing four to five

people. It would collect, sort, and process wood into a size

suitable for use at Holnam. The company would probably

operate from a base located rurally in the area around

Laporte, using two or more trucks to transport wood.

Concerns expressed at public meetings were related primarily to the impact of wood combustion on air emissions

from the plant and the impact of increased truck traffic on

the local road system and community. As discussed previously, it is thought there should actually be an improvement

in air quality over that experienced with burning coal.

Testing and monitoring of stack emissions by an independent consulting firm will be necessary to verify that the plant

is in compliance with air quality standards. A study needs to

be conducted to minimize the impact of transporting wood on

local roads and community. The study must consider the

location of wood suppliers in relationship to the plant,

establishing truck routes and travel times that minimize

impact. This evaluation will be ongoing as the number of

suppliers and the flow of wood into Holnam increases.

There was also some concern expressed about introducing

wood in certain phases of the cement making process. Zerbe

(1999) stated that there was the potential for fire (and a

remote possibility of explosion) in the roller mill operation at

the plant if wood was introduced at this location. This was

because of the dust cloud created by the milling operation

and the high temperature of the gas stream flowing into the

mill. In extreme conditions the gas stream entering the mill

can exceed the flash point of wood, and if concentrated wood

dust came in contact with the gas at this point, a fire (or

explosion) could result. However, mixing the rock feed with

the wood and then introducing it into the roller mill appears

to minimize this risk because limestone is relatively inert

and comprises 92 percent of the material mass. This coupled

with additional safety precautions (primarily reducing the

temperature of the gas stream into the mill, which has been

done) should allow for the safe introduction of wood into the

process at this point.

Conclusions____________________

If Holnam successfully converts to wood as the primary

fuel source, other cement plants throughout the region could

similarly investigate using wood wastes and residues as

fuel. Because of the preliminary research at Holnam, several

other facilities have already expressed an interest. There

are also Holnam plants in Canon City, CO, Montana, Utah,

and Oklahoma that could potentially use biomass as fuel if

the LaPorte plant successfully converts.
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 175

Use of Wood as an Alternative Fuel to Coal and Natural Gas at the Holnam Cement Plant, North of LaPorte, Colorado Mackes

References _____________________

Ince, P. J. 1979. How to estimate recoverable heat energy in wood

and bark fuels. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service,

Forest Products Laboratory, Madison, WI. 6 p.

Lynch, D. L. 1999. Fort Collins vicinity preliminary wood biomass

report. Department of Forest Science, Colorado State University,

Fort Collins, CO. 4 p.

Ward, J. E., K. H. Mackes, and D. L. Lynch. 1999. Availability of

wood wastes and residues as a potential fuel source for the

Holnam Cement Plant located north of LaPorte, Colorado. Extension Report. Department of Forest Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO. 10 p.

Zerbe, J. I. 1999. Wood combustion report. Prepared for Holnam and

Department of Forest Science, Colorado State University, Fort

Collins, CO. 3 p.
176 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

Mackes Use of Wood as an Alternative Fuel to Coal and Natural Gas at the Holnam Cement Plant, North of LaPorte, Colorado
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 5

List of Conference

Participants

177

USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 179

List of Conference Participants _____________________________________

Brad Ack, Program Director

Grand Canyon Trust

2601 N. Fort Valley

Flagstaff, AZ 86001

Phone: (928) 774-7488

Fax: (928) 774-7570

E-mail: ack@grandcanyontrust.org

Sharen L. Adams

Arizona Game and Fish Department

P.O. Box 2326

Pinetop, AZ 85935

Phone: (928) 367-4281

Fax: (928) 367-1258

E-mail: sadams@gf.state.az.us

Craig Allen

U.S. Geological Survey

5338 Montgomery Blvd. NE, Suite 400

Albuquerque, NM 87109

Phone: (505) 672-3861 ext. 541

Dianne Andrews

City of Boulder Open Space Department

P.O. Box 350

Lyons, CO 80540

Phone: (303) 823-6779

Fax: (303) 441-4142

E-mail: dandrews@boulder.net

Gregory H. Aplet

The Wilderness Society

7475 Dakin Street, Suite 410

Denver, CO 80221

Phone: (303) 650-5818 ext. 104

Fax: (303) 650-5942

E-mail: greg_aplet@tws.org

Ann Armstrong

City of Boulder Mountain Parks

P.O. Box 791

Boulder, CO 80306

Phone: (303) 413-7275

Fax: (303) 413-7201

E-mail: armstronga@ci.boulder.co.us

Ronald B. Auler, Stewardship Branch

Leader

Williams Ranger District

USDA Forest Service

742 S. Clover Road

Williams, AZ 86046

Phone: (928) 635-5612

Fax: (928) 635-5680

Bill Austin, Fish and Wildlife Biologist

Ecological Services

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

2321 West Royal Palm Road Suite 103

Phoenix, AZ 85021

Phone: (602) 640-2720

Fax: (602) 640-2730

E-mail: william_austin@fws.gov

Joanne Baggs

The Arboretum at Flagstaff

4001 S. Woody Mountain Rd

Flagstaff, AZ 86001

Phone: (928) 774-1442

Fax: (928) 774-1441

John D. Bailey

School of Forestry

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 15018

Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5018

Phone: (928) 523-7187

Fax: (928) 523-0296

E-mail: John.Duff.Bailey@nau.edu

Chris Baker

Coconino Rural Environmental Corp.

2625 N. King St.

Flagstaff, AZ 86004

Phone: (928) 522-7982

Fax: (928) 522-7965

Brad Ball

New Mexico State Forestry

P.O. Box 1948

Santa Fe, NM 87504-1948

Jamie Barbour

Portland Forestry Sciences Lab

PNW Research Station

USDA Forest Service

1221 SW Yamhill, Suite 200

Portland, OR 97205

Phone: (503) 808-2074

Fax: (503) 808-2020

Johanna Barlow

P.O. Box 22188

Flagstaff, AZ 86002-2188

E-mail: johannabarlow@hotmail.com

Ethan Barnes

College of Ecosystem Science and

Management

School of Forestry

Northern Arizona University

1105 E. Ponderosa Pkwy., Suite 104

Flagstaff, AZ 86001

Phone: (928) 774-6065

E-mail: emb5@spruce.for.nau.edu

Dwight Barry

The College of Santa Fe

1600 St. Michaels Drive

Santa Fe, NM 87505

Phone: (505) 473-6387

E-mail: armadillo_hq@hotmail.com

Bob K. Barsch

Arizona Game and Fish Department

3500 S. Lake Mary Road

Flagstaff, AZ 86001

Phone: (928) 774-5045

Fax: (928) 779-1825

Henry Bastian

Fire Management

Zion National Park

Springdale, UT 84767

Phone: (435) 772-0193

Bryan Bates

Coconino Community College

3000 North 4th Street

Flagstaff, AZ 86004

Phone: (928) 527-1222 ext. 273

Fax: (928) 527-8790

Jodi Bauman

Bureau of Land Management

345 E. Riverside Drive

St. George, UT 84720

Phone: (435) 688-3200

Fax: (435) 688-3252

Kambria Beck

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 15018

Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5018

Phone: (928) 523-7187

Fax: (928) 523-0296

Don Bertolette, Geo Info Specialist

Science Center GIS

Flagstaff Field Center

Grand Canyon National Park

2255 N. Gemini Drive, Room 302

Flagstaff, AZ 86001

Phone: (928) 556-7186

Fax: (928) 556-7070

Julie Blake

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 15018

Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5018

Phone: (928) 523-7187

Fax: (928) 523-0296

Patrick Boles, Forest and Rangeland

Ecologist

Arizona State Land Department

809-C Gail Gardner Way

Prescott, AZ 86305

Phone: (928) 778-9567

Fax: (928) 445-3915

E-mail: pbolesaz@cybertrail.com

Curt Bratland, Landscape Manager

Flagstaff Native Plant and Seed

400 E. Butler

Flagstaff, AZ 86001

Phone: (928) 214-7351

Fax: (928) 773-0107

Rob Breen

Coconino Rural Environment Corps

2625 North King Street

Flagstaff, AZ 86004

Phone: (928) 522-7982

Fax: (928) 522-7965

E-mail: rbreen@co.coconino.az.us
180 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

List of Conference Participants

Eddy Bressler

900 N. Switzer Canyon, Suite 135

Flagstaff, AZ 86001

E-mail: ejb22@dana.ucc.nau.edu

Nancy Brian

Grand Canyon National Park

National Park Service

P.O. Box 129

Grand Canyon, AZ 86023

Phone: (928) 226-0166

Fax: (928) 638-7722

Sara W. Brinton, Ecologist

San Juan National Forest

USDA Forest Service

P.O. Box 310

Pagosa Springs, CO 81147

Phone: (970) 264-2268

Fax: (970) 264-1538

E-mail: sbrinton/r2_sanjuan@fs.fed.us

Alvin R. Brown

Peaks Ranger District

Coconino National Forest

USDA Forest Service

5075 N. Hwy 89 N.

Flagstaff, AZ 86004

Phone: (928) 526-0866

Mathieu Brown

School of Forestry

Northern Arizona University

622 Whipple Road

Flagstaff, AZ 86001

Phone: (928) 774-9290

E-mail: mathieubrown@nau.edu

Peter M. Brown

Rocky Mountain Tree-Ring Research,

Inc.

2901 Moore Lane

Fort Collins, CO 80526

Phone: (970) 229-9557

Fax: (970) 229-9557

Richard T. Brown

Conservation Science Support Center

3425 SW 12th Avenue

Portland, OR 97201

Phone: (503) 525-9581

Fax: (503) 471-0066

Todd M. Buck

Arizona Game and Fish Department

3500 S. Lake Mary Road

Flagstaff, AZ 86001

Phone: (928) 774-5045

Fax: (928) 779-1825

E-mail: thebucks@xpressweb.com

Whit Bunting

Bureau of Land Management

345 E. Riverside Drive

St. George, UT 84720

Phone: (435) 688-3200

Fax: (435) 688-3252

Scott Burch

The College of Santa Fe

1600 St. Michaels Drive, Suite 269

Santa Fe, NM 87505

Phone: (505) 473-6623

E-mail: sburch@csf.edu

Mina Burris, Teacher

Cromer Elementary School

7150 Silver Saddle Road

Flagstaff, AZ 86004

Phone: (928) 773-4150

Charles Butler

New Mexico State Forestry

P.O. Box 1948

Santa Fe, NM 87504-1948

Stephen J. Campbell, Director

Navajo County Extension

The University of Arizona

402 East Hopi Drive

Holbrook, AZ 86025

Phone: (928) 524-6271

Fax: (928) 524-2416

Cheryl Casey

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 15018

Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5018

Phone: (928) 523-7187

Fax: (928) 523-0296

Regis H. Cassidy

Santa Fe National Forest

USDA Forest Service

P.O. Box 1689

1474 Rodeo Road

Santa Fe, NM 87504-1689

Phone: (505) 438-7841

Fax: (505) 438-7444

Bob Celaya

Arizona State Land Department

1616 West Adams

Phoenix, AZ 85007

Phone: (602) 542-2517

Fax: (602) 542-2590

Tom Chabin, Supervisor

Coconino County Board of Supervisors

219 East Cherry Avenue

Flagstaff, AZ 86001

Phone: (928) 779-6578

Fax: (928) 779-6687

Walker Chancellor

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 15018

Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5018

Phone: (928) 523-7187

Fax: (928) 523-0296

Scott Chase

Vermejo Park Ranch

P.O. Drawer E

Raton, NM 87740

Phone: (505) 445-2059

Fax: (505) 445-3474

Michael L. Christianson

New Meadows Ranger District

Payette National Forest

USDA Forest Service

Drawer J

New Meadows, ID 83654

Phone: (208) 347-0315

Fax: (208) 347-0309

E-mail: mchristi/r4.payette@fs.fed.us

Carolyn Cleveland

North American Association for

Environmental Educators

1825 Connecticut Avenue, NW, 8th Floor

Washington, DC 20009-5708

Phone: (202) 854-8912

Ed Collins

USDA Forest Service

RR3, Box B-50

Lakeside, AZ 85929

Phone: (928) 368-5111

Fax: (928) 368-6476

Jeffrey Cook, Professor

Architecture

Arizona State University

ASU Box 871605

Tempe, AZ 85287-1605

Phone: (480) 965-6210

Fax: (480) 965-0968

E-mail: cook@asu.edu

Brian Cottam

Grand Canyon Trust

260 N. Fort Valley Road

Flagstaff, AZ 86001

Phone: (928) 774-7488

Wally Covington

Ecological Restoration Institute

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 15018

Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5018

Phone: (928) 523-6635

Fax: (928) 523-0296

E-mail: Wally.Covington@nau.edu

Dave Crawford, Siviculturist

San Juan National Forest

USDA Forest Service

P.O. Box 439

Bayfield, CO 81122

Phone: (970) 884-2512

Fax: (970) 884-2428

Julie Crawford, Botanist

San Francisco Peaks Weed Management

Coconino National Forest

USDA Forest Service

2323 East Greenlaw Lane

Flagstaff, AZ 86004

Phone: (928) 527-3423

Fax: (928) 527-3620

Jane Cripps

Society for Ecological Restoration

1955 West Grant Road, Suite 150

Tucson, AZ 85745
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 181

List of Conference Participants

Joe Crouse

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 15018

Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5018

Phone: (928) 523-7786

Fax: (928) 523-0296

E-mail: Joseph.Crouse@nau.edu

Bob Davis

Bureau of Land Management

345 E. Riverside Drive

St. George, UT 84720

Phone: (435) 688-3200

Fax: (435) 688-3252

Mary M. Davis, Ph.D., Ecologist

National Wildlife Federation

1330 West Peachtree Street, Suite 475

Atlanta, GA 30309

Phone: (404) 876-2602 ext. 228

Fax: (404) 892-1744

E-mail: davizm@nef.org

Marcy DeMillion

Bureau of Land Management

345 E. Riverside Drive

St. George, UT 84720

Phone: (435) 688-3200

Fax: (435) 688-3252

Laura E. DeWald

School of Forestry

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 15018

Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5018

Phone: (928) 523-8129

Fax: (928) 523-1080

E-mail: Laura.DeWald@nau.edu

Daniel Deiss

Dixie National Forest

USDA Forest Service

82 N. 100 E.

Cedar City, UT 84720

Phone: (435) 865-3721

Fax: (435) 865-3791

Ben Dempsey

Coconino Rural Environmental Corps

2625 N. King Street

Flagstaff, AZ 86004

Phone: (928) 522-7982

Fax: (928) 522-7965

Frank C. Dennis

USPWRPP

Colorado State Forest Service

9769 W. 119th Drive, Suite 12

Broomfield, CO 80021

Phone: (303) 465-9043

Fax: (303) 465-9048

Charlie Denton

Ecological Restoration Institute

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 15018

Flagstaff, AZ 86011

Phone: (928) 714-9139

Fax: (928) 523-0296

E-mail: Charles.Denton@nau.edu

Lori Denton

Peaks Ranger District

Coconino National Forest

USDA Forest Service

5075 N. Hwy 89 N.

Flagstaff, AZ 86004

Phone: (928) 526-0866

E-mail: ldenton@fs.fed.us

Bob Dettman

Rocky Mountain Region

USDA Forest Service

740 Simms

Golden, CO 80401

Curt Deuser, Restoration Biologist

Lake Mead National Recreation Area

National Park Service

601 Nevada Hwy

Boulder City, NV 89005

Phone: (702) 293-8907

Fax: (702) 293-8057

E-mail: curt_deuser@nps.gov

David H. Diamond

1109 South Plaza Way, Suite 224

Flagstaff, AZ 86001

E-mail: diamo933@hotmail.com

William Diskin

Eagle Cap Ranger District

USDA Forest Service

88401 Highway 82

Enterprise, OR 97828

Phone: (541) 426-5674

Fax: (541) 426-5522

Aaron Divine

60 Wilson Street

Flagstaff, AZ 86001

Phone: (928) 556-9004

E-mail: akd4@dana.ucc.nau.edu

Norris Dodd

Arizona Game and Fish Department

P.O. Box 2326

Pinetop, AZ 85935

Phone: (928) 368-5675

Lisa Dunlop

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 15018

Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5018

Phone: (928) 523-7187

Fax: (928) 523-0296

E-mail: lsd@dana.ucc.nau.edu

Carl Edminster

Rocky Mountain Research Station

USDA Forest Service

2500 S. Pine Knoll Drive

Flagstaff, AZ 86001

Phone: (928) 556-2177

Fax: (928) 556-2130

E-mail: cedminster@fs.fed.us

Glo Edwards

Resource Center for Environmental

Education

P.O. Box 3243

Flagstaff, AZ 86003

Phone: (928) 779-1745

E-mail: glo_edwards@msn.com

Adrien Elseroad

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 15018

Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5018

Phone: (928) 523-7187

Fax: (928) 523-0296

E-mail: adrienc@yahoo.com

Mary Lou Fairweather, Plant Pathologist

USDA Forest Service

2500 South Pine Knoll Drive

Flagstaff, AZ 86001

Phone: (928) 556-2075

Fax: (928) 556-2130

E-mail: mfairweather@fs.fed.us

Don Falk

SER/University of Arizona

Biological Sciences West, UA

Tucson, AZ 85721

Phone: (520) 626-7201

Fax: (520) 621-9190

Mike Fallon

New Mexico State Forestry

P.O. Box 1948

Santa Fe, NM 87504-1948

Tom Finley, Wildlife Manager

Arizona Game and Fish Department

3500 S. Lake Mary Road

Flagstaff, AZ 86001

Phone: (928) 774-5045

Fax: (928) 779-1825

Bobbe Fitzgibbon, Entomologist

Forestry and Forest Health

USDA Forest Service

2500 South Pine Knoll Drive

Flagstaff, AZ 86001

Phone: (928) 556-2072

Fax: (928) 556-2130

E-mail: bfitzgibbon@fs.fed.us

Paula Fornwalt

Rocky Mountain Research Station

USDA Forest Service

240 W. Prospect Road

Fort Collins, CO 80526

Phone: (970) 498-1298

Fax: (970) 498-1010

Adrian C. Frank

University of Idaho

645 W. Pullman Road, Suite 328

Moscow, ID 83843

Phone: (208) 885-5684

Fax: (208) 885-6226
182 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

List of Conference Participants

Jayme Frazier

Coconino Rural Environmental Corps

2625 N. King Street

Flagstaff, AZ 86004

Phone: (928) 522-7982

Fax: (928) 522-7965

Connie Frisch

Kaibab National Forest

USDA Forest Service

800 S. 6th Street

Williams, AZ 86046

Phone: (928) 635-5644

Fax: (928) 635-5680

Pete Fulé

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 15018

Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5018

Phone: (928) 523-1463

Fax: (928) 523-0296

E-mail: Pete.Fule@nau.edu

Carla Garrison

Montezuma County

109 W. Main, Room 302

Cortez, CO 81321

Phone: (970) 565-6061

Steve Gatewood

Society for Ecological Restoration

1955 West Grant Road, Suite 150

Tucson, AZ 85745

John Gerritsma

San Francisco Peaks Weed Management

Coconino National Forest

USDA Forest Service

2323 East Greenlaw Lane

Flagstaff, AZ 86004

Phone: (928) 527-3600

E-mail: jgerritsma@fs.fed.us

Krystal Gibbs

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 15018

Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5018

Phone: (928) 523-7187

Fax: (928) 523-0296

E-mail: keg4@dana.ucc.nau.edu

Eve Gilbert

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 15018

Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5018

Phone: (928) 523-7187

Fax: (928) 523-0296

E-mail: esg2@dana.ucc.nau.edu

Cara Gildar

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 15018

Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5018

Phone: (928) 523-7187

Fax: (928) 523-0296

E-mail: cng3@dana.ucc.nau.edu

James T. Gladen, Deputy Regional

Forester

Southwest Region

USDA Forest Service

517 Gold Avenue SW

Albuquerque, NM 87110

Phone: (505) 842-3303

Fax: (505) 842-3110

Jim Golden

Coconino National Forest

USDA Forest Service

2323 East Greenlaw Lane

Flagstaff, AZ 86004

Phone: (928) 527-3500

Fax: (928) 527-3620

E-mail: jgolden/r3_coconino@fs.fed.us

Peter Gould

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 15018

Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5018

Phone: (928) 523-7187

Fax: (928) 523-0296

Matt Gravett

Americorps

700 Blackbird Roost, Suite 234

Flagstaff, AZ 86001

E-mail: mlg29@dana.ucc.nau.edu

Bruce Greco

Mormon Lake Ranger District

Coconino National Forest

USDA Forest Service

4373 S. Lake Mary Road

Flagstaff, AZ 86001

Phone: (928) 774-1147

Aaron Green

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 15018

Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5018

Phone: (928) 523-7187

Fax: (928) 523-0296

Bill Greenwood

Arizona Sustainable Forestry

Partnership

P.O. Box 1300

Eagar, AZ 85925

Phone: (928) 333-4128 ext. 226

E-mail: eagartown@cybertrails.com

Ron Gropp, Forest Stewardship

Coordinator

Utah Division of Forestry

1594 West N. Temple, Suite 3520

Salt Lake City, UT 84114

Phone: (801) 538-5457

Fax: (801) 533-4111

E-mail: nrslf.rgropp@state.ut.us

Geoffrey Gross

Coconino Rural Environment Corps

2625 N. King Street

Flagstaff, AZ 86004

Phone: (928) 522-7982

Fax: (928) 522-7965

Don Hack, Natural Resource Manager

Camp Navajo Arizona ARNG

P.O. Box 16123

Bellemont, AZ 86015

Phone: (928) 773-3274

Fax: (928) 773-3271

E-mail: hackd@az.ngb.army.mil

Becky Hammond

Bureau of Land Management

345 E. Riverside Drive

St. George, UT 84720

Phone: (435) 688-3200

Fax: (435) 688-3252

Joseph A. Hamrick, Silviculturist

USDA Forest Service

RR3, Box B-50

Lakeside, AZ 85929

Phone: (928) 368-5111

Fax: (928) 368-6476

Jeff Hartin, Nursery Manager

Flagstaff Native Plant and Seed

400 E. Butler

Flagstaff, AZ 86001

Phone: (928) 214-7351

Fax: (928) 773-0107

Steve Hartvigsen, Forester

San Juan National Forest

USDA Forest Service

P.O. Box 310

Pagosa Springs, CO 81147

Phone: (970) 264-2268

Fax: (970) 264-1538

Chris Hayes

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 15018

Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5018

Phone: (928) 523-7187

Fax: (928) 523-0296

E-mail: cjh32@dana.ucc.nau.edu

Frank Hays

Grand Canyon National Park

National Park Service

P.O. Box 129

Grand Canyon, AZ 86023

Phone: (928) 638-724

Fax: (928) 638-7722

Tom Heinlein

1703 Twining Drive

Anchorage, AK 99504

Paula Helm

U.S. Geological Survey

2255 N. Gemini Drive

Flagstaff, AZ 86001

Phone: (928) 556-7179

Fax: (928) 556-7169

Al Hendricks

Arizona State Land Department

3650 Lake Mary Road

Flagstaff, AZ 86001

Phone: (520) 774-1425
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 183

List of Conference Participants

Mike Herder

Bureau of Land Management

345 E. Riverside Drive

St. George, UT 84720

Phone: (435) 688-3200

Fax: (435) 688-3252

Mark Herron

Kaibab National Forest

USDA Forest Service

800 S. 6th Street

Williams, AZ 86046

Phone: (928) 635-5644

Fax: (928) 635-5680

Peggy Herzog

Point Reyes National Seashore

National Park Service

1 Bear Valley Road

Point Reyes Station, CA 94956

Phone: (415) 663-8522

Fax: (415) 663-0469

E-mail: Peggy_Herzog@nps.gov

David L. Hessel

Colorado State Forest Service

Colorado State University

203 Forestry Building

Fort Collins, CO 80523-5060

Phone: (970) 491-7546

Fax: (970) 491-7736

Larry Hettinger

Payson Ranger District

Tonto National Forest

1009 E. Hwy 260

Payson, AZ 85541

Phone: (928) 474-7900

Fax: (928) 474-7999

Amber Hill, Project Director

Arizona Sustainable Forestry

Partnership

51 West Vista, Suite 4

Holbrook, AZ 86025

Phone: (928) 524-6063 ext. 5

Fax: (928) 524-6609

E-mail: ahill@littlecolorado.org

Jeff Hink

Mormon Lake Ranger District

Coconino National Forest

USDA Forest Service

4373 S. Lake Mary Road

Flagstaff, AZ 86001

Phone: (928) 774-1147

E-mail: jhink@fs.fed.us

John Hinz

Tonto National Forest

USDA Forest Service

2324 East McDowell Road

Phoenix, AZ 85006

Phone: (602) 225-5271

Fax: (602) 225-5295

Martos Hoffman

Southwest Forest Alliance

P.O. Box 1948

Flagstaff, AZ 86002

Phone: (928) 774-6514

Bonnie Holmes

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 15018

Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5018

Phone: (928) 523-7187

Fax: (928) 523-0296

E-mail: bonnie.holmes@nau.edu

John Holmes

742 S. Clover Road

Williams, AZ 86046

Phone: (928) 635-5600

Fax: (928) 635-5680

Laurie S. Huckaby

Rocky Mountain Research Station

USDA Forest Service

240 W. Prospect Road

Fort Collins, CO 80526

Phone: (970) 498-1298

Fax: (970) 498-1010

Terry D. Hudgins

Canyon Forest Village

7610 E. McDonald Drive, Suite L

Scottsdale, AZ 85250

Phone: (480) 991-7930

Fax: (480) 991-8375

Dave Huffman

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 15018

Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5018

Phone: (928) 523-7187

Fax: (928) 523-0296

E-mail: david.huffman@nau.edu

Kristin Huisinga

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 15018

Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5018

Phone: (928) 523-5163

Fax: (928) 523-0296

E-mail: kristin.huisinga@nau.edu

Matt Hurteau

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 15018

Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5018

Phone: (928) 523-7187

Fax: (928) 523-0296

E-mail: mdh22@dana.ucc.nau.edu

Timothy Ingalsbee, Ph.D.

Western Fire Ecology Center

P.O. Box 51026

Eugene, OR 97405

Phone: (541) 302-6218

Fax: (541) 302-6218

E-mail: fire@efn.org

Jack Irish, Forester

New Meadows Ranger District

Payette National Forest

USDA Forest Service

Drawer J

New Meadows, ID 83654

Phone: (208) 347-0321

Gerry Jackson

USDA Forest Service

1 Gifford Pinchot Drive

Madison, WI 53705

E-mail: gjackson01@fs-fed.us

Brian F. Jacobs

Bandelier National Monument

National Park Service

HCR-1, Box 1

Los Alamos, NM 87544

Phone: (505) 672-3861 ext. 545

Fax: (505) 672-9607

Michelle James

U.S. Fish and Wildlife

5075 North Highway 89

Flagstaff, AZ 86001

Phone: (928) 527-3042

Fax: (928)527-8288

Jan-Willem Jansens

Common Ground Community and

Landscape Planning

811 St. Michaels Drive, Suite 106

Santa Fe, NM 87505

Phone: (505) 982-9806

Fax: (505) 982-8557

Jason Jerman

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 15018

Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5018

Phone: (928) 523-7187

Fax: (928) 523-0296

Marlin Johnson

Southwest Region

Forest Service

517 Gold Avenue SW

Albuquerque, NM 87122

Phone: (505) 842-3242

Fax: (505) 842-3150

E-mail: mjohnson/r3@fs.fed.us

Nancy Johnson, Assistant Professor

Center for Environmental Science and

Education

Northern Arizona University

Box 5694

Flagstaff, AZ 86011

Phone: (928) 523-6473

E-mail: Nancy.Johnson@nau.edu

Betsy Kaiser

Umatilla National Forest

1415 W. Rose

Walla Walla, WA 99362

Phone: (509) 522-6290

Fax: (509) 522-6000

E-mail: bkaiser/r6pnw,unatilla@fs.fed.us
184 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

List of Conference Participants

Alan Kaufmann

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 15018

Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5018

Phone: (928) 523-7187

Fax: (928) 523-0296

Marcus Kaufmann

Sustainable Northwest

126 N. “E” Street

Lakeview, OR 97630

Phone: (541) 947-5461

E-mail: marcusk@triax.com

Merrill R. Kaufmann

Rocky Mountain Research Station

USDA Forest Service

240 W. Prospect Road

Fort Collins, CO 80526

Phone: (970) 498-1298

Fax: (970) 498-1010

Phil Kemp, Forester

San Juan National Forest

USDA Forest Service

P.O. Box 210

Dolores, CO 81323

Phone: (970) 882-7296

Fax: (970) 882-6841

E-mail: pkemp/r2_sanjuan@fs.fed.us

Brett KenCairn

School of Forestry

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 15018

Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5018

Phone: (928) 523-6578

Fax: (928) 523-0296

Ken Kerr, Prescribed Fire Manager

Fire Management

Grand Canyon National Park

P.O. Box 129

Grand Canyon, AZ 86023

Phone: (928) 638-7820

Fax: (928) 638-7935

Shawn Knox

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 15018

Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5018

Phone: (928) 523-7187

Fax: (928) 523-0296

Tom Kolb

School of Forestry

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 15018

Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5018

Phone: (928) 523-7491

Fax: (928) 523-1080

E-mail: tom.kolb@nau.edu

Julie Korb

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 15018

Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5018

Phone: (928) 523-7187

Fax: (928) 523-0296

Judy Kowalski

New Mexico State Forestry

P.O. Box 1948

Santa Fe, NM 87504-1948

Debra Larson, Professor

College of Engineering and Tech

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 15600

Flagstaff, AZ 86011

Phone: (928) 523-2771

Fax: (928) 523-8951

E-mail: Debra.Larson@nau.edu

Garrett Lawrence

Coconino Rural Environment Corps

2625 N. King Street

Flagstaff, AZ 86004

Phone: (928) 522-7982

Fax: (928) 522-7965

Carri LeRoy, MLS Graduate Student

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 295

Flagstaff, AZ 86001

Phone: (928) 525-2695

E-mail: cjl2@dana.ucc.nau.edu

Harry E. Leland, Naturalist at Large,

Crew Leader

53 Tonowanda Trail

Flagstaff, AZ 86001

Phone: (928) 525-9430

E-mail: h_leland@hotmail.com

Dan Len

USDA Forest Service

2150 Centre Avenue, Bldg. A, Suite 343

Fort Collins, CO 80526-1891

Phone: (970) 295-5751

Kara Leonard, Fire Effects Crew Leader

Fire Management

Grand Canyon National Park

P.O. Box 129

Grand Canyon, AZ 86023

Phone: (928) 638-7820

Fax: (928) 638-7935

John Lissoway

Fireworks Consulting

53 La Paloma

Los Alamos, NM 87544

Phone: (505) 672-9678

Fax: (505) 672-9678

E-mail: jlissoway@mail.cybermesa.com

Matthew R. Loeser

Center for Environmental Science and

Education

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 5694

Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5694

Phone: (928) 523-2237

Fax: (928) 523-7423

E-mail: matthew.loeser@nau.edu

Roy Lopez

Rocky Mountain Research Station

USDA Forest Service

2500 South Pine Knoll Drive

Flagstaff, AZ 86001

Phone: (928) 586-7162

Eini C. Lowell, Research Scientist

USDA Forest Service

P.O. Box 3890

Portland, OR 97208

Phone: (503) 808-2072

Fax: (503) 808-2020

E-mail: elowell@fs.fed.us

Dennis L. Lynch, Professor Emeritus,

and Forest Product Technologist

Department of Forest Sciences

Colorado State University

Fort Collins, CO 80523

Phone: (970) 491-6333

Fax: (970) 491-6754

Robert B. Lynch

Malheur National Forest

USDA Forest Service

P.O. Box 248

John Day, OR 97845

Phone: (541) 575-3330

Fax: (541) 575-3319

Michelle MacGregor

The University of Northern British

Columbia

615 A. Gillett Street

Prince George, BC

V2M 2T8 Canada

Phone: (250) 960-5677

E-mail: mk_macgregor@hotmail.com

Lisa Machina

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 15018

Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5018

Phone: (928) 523-0997

Fax: (928) 523-0296

E-mail: lisa.machina@nau.edu

Julie Mack

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 15018

Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5018

Phone: (928) 523-7187

Fax: (928) 523-0296

Kurt H. Mackes, Post Doctorate Fellow

Department of Forest Science

Colorado State University

Fort Collins, CO 80523-1470

Phone: (970) 491-4066

Fax: (970) 491-6754

E-mail: kmackes@cnr.colostate.edu
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 185

List of Conference Participants

Karen Malis-Clark

San Francisco Peaks Weed Management

Coconino National Forest

USDA Forest Service

2323 East Greenlaw Lane

Flagstaff, AZ 86004

Phone: (928) 527-3492

Fax: (928) 527-3620

Edwin Marquez

Las Humanas Coop.

P.O. Box 413

Mountainair, NM 87036

Dick Marth, Professor

College of Engineering and Tech

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 15600

Flagstaff, AZ 86011

Fax: (928) 523-8951

Joyce Maschinski

The Arboretum at Flagstaff

4001 S. Woody Mountain Road

Flagstaff, AZ 86001

Phone: (928) 774-1442

Fax: (928) 774-1441

Jan Mathis, Director

Northland STW Partnership

P.O. Box 610

Holbrook, AZ 86025

Phone: (928) 532-6139

Fax: (928) 532-6112

Barbara McCurry

Tusayan Ranger District

USDA Forest Service

P.O. Box 3088

Grand Canyon, AZ 86023

Fax: (928) 635-8204

Phone: (928) 638-2443

Tim McGann, Forester

Kaibab National Forest

USDA Forest Service

742 S. Clover Road

Williams, AZ 86046

Phone: (928) 635-5634

Fax: (928) 635-5680

James McIver, Research Ecologist

Forestry and Range Sciences Lab

1401 Gekler Lane

La Grande, OR 97850

Phone: (841) 962-6528

Fax: (841) 962-6504

Taylor McKinnon, Program Officer

Grand Canyon Trust

2601 N. Fort Valley

Flagstaff, AZ 86001

Phone: (928) 774-7488

Fax: (928) 774-7570

E-mail: McKinnon@grandcanyontrust.org

Tim Menard

Prescott National Forest

USDA Forest Service

P.O. Box 485

Chino Valley, AZ 86323

Phone: (928) 636-3160

Jim Mercer

Payson Ranger District

Tonto National Forest

1009 E. Hwy 260

Payson, AZ 85541

Phone: (928) 474-7900

Fax: (928) 474-7999

Cecilia Meyer

4946 W. Point Loma Blvd.

San Diego, CA 92107

David P. Mills, Supervisory Forestry

Tech.

Williams Ranger District

USDA Forest Service

742 S. Clover Road

Williams, AZ 86046

Phone: (928) 635-5612

Fax: (928) 635-5680

Kenneth Moore

Bureau of Land Management

345 E. Riverside Drive

St. George, UT 84720

Phone: (435) 688-3200

Fax: (435) 688-3252

Margaret Moore

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 15018

Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5018

Phone: (928) 523-7457

Fax: (928) 523-0296

E-Mail: Margaret.Moore@nau.edu

Rod Moraga

City of Boulder Open Space Department

5881 North Foothills Highway

Boulder, CO 80302

Phone: (303) 823-6779

Fax: (303) 441-4142

Victor Morfin, Prescribed Fire Manager

Williams Ranger District

742 S. Clover Road

Williams, AZ 86046

Phone: (928) 635-5612

Cassandra Moseley

Ecosystem Workforce Program, ISE

5247 University of Oregon

Eugene, OR 97403

Laura Moser, Coordinator

San Francisco Peaks Weed Management

Coconino National Forest

2323 East Greenlaw Lane

Flagstaff, AZ 86004

Phone: (928) 527-3423

Fax: (928) 527-3620

E-mail: lmoser@fs.fed.us

Shawn Muldoon

USDA Forest Service

742 S. Clover Road

Williams, AZ 86046

Phone: (928) 635-5600

Fax: (928) 635-5680

Daniel Murray

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 15018

Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5018

Phone: (928) 523-7187

Fax: (928) 523-0296

E-mail: dm36@dana.ucc.nau.edu

Chuck Nelson

USDA Forest Service

742 S. Clover

Williams, AZ 86046

Phone: (928) 635-5600

Fax: (928) 635-5680

Donna Nemeth

Grand Canyon National Park

P.O. Box 129

Grand Canyon, AZ 86023

Phone: (928) 630-7944

Fax: (928) 638-7935

Chris Newell, Program Officer

Office of Management Development

Northern Arizona University

2601 N. Fort Valley

Flagstaff, AZ 86001

Phone: (928) 773-9449

Fax: (928) 774-7570

E-Mail: Newell@grandcanyontrust.org

Chris Nez

Coconino Rural Environment

Corps 2625 N. King Street

Flagstaff, AZ 86004

Phone: (928) 522-7982

Fax: (928) 522-7965

Reed Noss, President

Conservation Science Inc.

7310 NW Acorn Ridge

Corvallis, OR 97330

Phone: (541) 752-7639

David O’Neill

Coconino Rural Environment Corps

2625 N. King Street

Flagstaff, AZ 86004

Phone: (928) 522-7982

Fax: (928) 522-7965

William W. Oliver

Pacific Southwest Research Station

2400 Washington Avenue

Redding, CA 96001

Phone: (530) 242-2457

Fax: (530) 242-2460

E-mail: boliver@c-zone.net
186 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

List of Conference Participants

Tonja Opperman, Fire Effects Specialist

Fire Management

Grand Canyon National Park

P.O. Box 129

Grand Canyon, AZ 86023

Phone: (928) 638-7820

Fax: (928) 638-7935

Beth Packard, Director

Coconino School to Work Program

Flagstaff Unified School District #1

3285 East Sparrow Avenue

Flagstaff, AZ 86004

Phone: (928) 527-6151

Fax: (928) 527-6024

Keith Pajkos

Arizona State Land Department

3650 Lake Mary Road

Flagstaff, AZ 86001

E-mail: kpajkosaz@cybertrail.com

Lisa Pajkos, Teacher

Cromer Elementary School

12500 John Wayne Blvd.

Flagstaff, AZ 86004

Phone: (928) 773-4150

E-mail: lpajkos@flagstaff.apscc.k12.az.us

Bruce Palmer, Ecologist

Ecological Services

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

2321 West Royal Palm Road, Suite 103

Phoenix, AZ 85021

Phone: (602) 640-2720

Fax: (602) 640-2730

E-mail: bruce_palmer@fws.gov

Fredrick L. Patten

Pike National Forest

USDA Forest Service

19316 Goddard Court

Morrison, CO 80465

Phone: (303) 275-5641

Fax: (303) 275-5642

E-mail: fpatten/r2_psicc@fs.fed.us

Guy Pinjuv

1431 SW Park Avenue, Suite 707R

Portland, OR 97201

Phone: (503) 808-2019

E-mail: thrasher_40@hotmail.com

Sarah Quinn

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 15018

Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5018

Phone: (928) 523-0997

Fax: (928) 523-0296

E-mail: saq2@dana.ucc.nau.edu

Dee Randall

Forest Resources Program

San Carlos Apache Tribe

P.O. Box 0

San Carlos, AZ 85550

Phone: (520) 475-2329

Fax: (520) 475-2484

Tammy Randall Parker

Peaks Ranger District

Coconino National Forest

USDA Forest Service

5075 N. Hwy 89 N.

Flagstaff, AZ 86004

Phone: (928) 526-0866

E-mail: trandall@fs.fed.us

Lisa Rayner

Flagstaff Tea Party Community

Newspaper

111 East Oak, Suite 6

Flagstaff, AZ 86001

Phone: (928) 774-5942

E-mail: lisarayn@yahoo.com

Tim Reader

Colorado State Forest Service

P.O. Box 7233

Durango, CO 81301

Phone: (970) 247-5250

Fax: (970) 247-5252

E-mail: treader@fone.net

William D. Reese

Grand Canyon Revegetation Crew

P.O. Box 1445

Grand Canyon, AZ 86023

E-mail: william_reese@hotmail.com

Bill Ripley, Siviculturist

Springerville Ranger District

Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests

P.O. Box 760

Springerville, AZ 85938

Phone: (928) 333-4372

Fax: (928) 333-4182

Ann Roberts

School of Forestry

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 15018

Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5018

Phone: (928) 523-7187

Fax: (928) 523-0296

E-mail: arr9@dana.ucc.nau.edu

John Paul Roccaforte

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 15018

Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5018

Phone: (928) 523-7187

Fax: (928) 523-0296

E-mail: john.roccaforte@nau.edu

Jim Rolf

Peaks Ranger District

Coconino National Forest

5075 N. Hwy 89 N.

Flagstaff, AZ 86004

Phone: (928) 526-0866

E-mail: jrolf@fs.fed.us

Megan Ruchmann

The College of Santa Fe

1600 St. Michaels Drive

Santa Fe, NM 87505

Phone: (505) 820-2218

E-mail: Megan793@aol.com

Emily Running

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 15018

Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5018

Phone: (928) 523-7187

Fax: (928) 523-0296

David C. Schen

Utah Division of Forestry

1594 West N. Temple, Suite 3520

Salt Lake City, UT 84114

Phone: (801) 538-5504

Fax: (801) 533-4111

E-mail: nrslf.dschen@state.wt.us

Drew Schlachter

503 N. James Street

Flagstaff, AZ 86001

E-mail: jas34@dana.ucc.nau.edu

Susan Schuhardt

Prescott National Forest

2230 E. Hwy 69

Prescott, AZ 863001

Phone: (928) 445-7253

Fax: (928) 445-7985

Todd Schulke

Southwest Forest Alliance

4 W. Phoenix Avenue

Flagstaff, AZ 86001

Phone: (928) 774-6514

Martha Schumann

Forest Trust

P.O. Box 519

Santa Fe, NM 87504-0519

Phone: (505) 983-8992

Fax: (505) 986-0798

E-mail: martha@theforesttrust.com

Heather Shanes

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 15018

Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5018

Phone: (928) 523-7187

Fax: (928) 523-0296

John Shibley

Carson National Forest

208 Cruz Alta Road

Taos, NM 87571

Phone: (505) 758-6211

Mark D. Shiery

Flagstaff Fire Department

211 W. Aspen

Flagstaff, AZ 86001

Phone: (928) 779-7688

Fax: (928) 779-7668

Thomas Sisk

Center for Environmental Science and

Education

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 5694

Flagstaff, AZ 86011

Phone: (928) 523-7183

E-mail: Thomas.Sisk@nau.edu
USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001 187

List of Conference Participants

Sue Sitko

Arizona Game and Fish Department

HC 66 Box 57201

Pinetop, AZ 85935

Phone: (928) 367-4281

Susan Skalski, District Ranger

Williams Ranger District

742 S. Clover Road

Williams, AZ 86046

Phone: (928) 635-5612

Fax: (928) 635-5680

Kjerstin R. Skov

School of Forestry

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 15018

Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5018

Phone: (928) 523-7187

Fax: (928) 523-0296

Doc Smith

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 15018

Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5018

Phone: (928) 523-7502

Fax: (928) 523-0296

E-mail: doc.smith@nau.edu

Ed Smith

Bureau of Land Management

345 E. Riverside Drive

St. George, UT 84720

Phone: (435) 688-3200

Fax: (435) 688-3252

Jerry Smith

Winema National Forest

USDA Forest Service

P.O. Box 150

Chemult, OR 97731

Phone: (541) 365-7028

Fax: (541) 365-7019

Lee Solomon

Coconino Rural Environment Corps

2625 N. King Street

Flagstaff, AZ 86004

Phone: (928) 522-7982

Fax: (928) 522-7965

Nigel Sparks, Owner

Flagstaff Native Plant and Seed

400 E. Butler

Flagstaff, AZ 86001

Phone: (928) 214-7351

Fax: (928) 773-0107

Judy Springer

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 15018

Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5018

Phone: (928) 523-5163

Fax: (928) 523-0296

E-mail: judith.springer@nau.edu

Julie St. John

Society for Ecological Restoration

1955 West Grant Road, Suite 150

Tucson, AZ 85745

Rick Stahn

Mormon Lake Ranger District

Coconino National Forest

4373 S. Lake Mary Road

Flagstaff, AZ 86001

Phone: (928) 774-1147

E-mail: rstahn@fs.fed.us

Mike Stoddard

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 15018

Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5018

Phone: (928) 523-7187

Fax: (928) 523-0296

E-mail: mike.stoddard@nau.edu

Jason Stoker

Rocky Mountain Research Station

USDA Forest Service

240 W. Prospect Road

Fort Collins, CO 80526

Phone: (970) 498-1298

Fax: (970) 498-1010

E-mail: jstoker@fs.fed.us

Scott Stollery

Coconino Rural Environment Corps

2625 N. King Street

Flagstaff, AZ 86004

Phone: (928) 522-7982

Fax: (928) 522-7965

Brenda Strohmeyer

Rocky Mountain Research Station

USDA Forest Service

2500 S. Pine Knoll Drive

Flagstaff, AZ 86001

Phone: (520) 556-2160

Fax: (928) 556-2130

E-mail: bstrohmeyer@fs.fed.us

Kieran Suckling

Southwest Center for Biological Diversity

P.O. Box 710

Tucson, AZ 85702-0710

Phone: (520) 623-5252 ext. 304

Fax: (520) 623-9797

E-mail: ksuckling@biologicaldiversity.org

Paul Summerfelt

Flagstaff Fire Department

Fuel Management Officer

211 W. Aspen

Flagstaff, AZ 86001

Phone: (928) 779-7688

Fax: (928) 779-7668

Elizabeth L. Taylor

School of Forestry

Northern Arizona University

2030 N. Crescent Drive

Flagstaff, AZ 86001

Phone: (928) 773-1130

Greg Taylor

Bureau of Land Management

345 E. Riverside Drive

St. George, UT 84720

Phone: (435) 688-3200

Fax: (435) 688-3252

Janice L. Thomson

The Wilderness Society

1424 4th Avenue, Suite 816

Seattle, WA 98101

Phone: (206) 624-6430

Fax: (206) 624-7101

E-mail: jthomson@twsnw.org

Walker Thornton

Peaks Ranger District

Coconino National Forest

USDA Forest Service

5075 N. Hwy 89 N.

Flagstaff, AZ 86004

Phone: (928) 526-0866

E-mail: bthronto@fs.fd.us

Rob Tomczak

Coconino Rural Environment Corps

2625 N. King Street

Flagstaff, AZ 86004

Phone: (928) 522-7982

Fax: (928) 522-7965

Ronald L. Trosper

School of Forestry

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 15018

Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5018

Phone: (928) 523-6653

Fax: (928) 523-1080

Michael Tweiten

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 15018

Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5018

Phone: (928) 523-7187

Fax: (928) 523-0296

David Vackar

Vermejo Park Ranch

P.O. Drawer E

Raton, NM 87740

Phone: (505) 445-2059

Fax: (505) 445-3474

Bob Vahle

Arizona Game and Fish Department

Wildlife Program Manager

2878 White Mountain Blvd.

Pinetop, AZ 85935

Phone: (928) 367-4281

Fax: (928) 367-1258

E-mail: bvahle@gf.state.az.us

Gina Vance

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 15018

Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5018

Phone: (928) 523-7187

Fax: (928) 523-0296

E-mail: Gina.Vance@nau.edu

Greg Verkamp

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 15018

Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5018

Phone: (928) 523-7187

Fax: (928) 523-0296

E-mail: greg.verkamp@nau.edu
188 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001

List of Conference Participants

Bill von Segen

Forest Products/Rural Development

USDA Forest Service

333 SW First Avenue

Portland, OR 97208-3623

Phone: (503) 808-2348

Fax: (503) 808-2339

Diane Vosick

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 15018

Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5018

Phone: (928) 523-7854

Fax: (928) 523-0296

E-mail: diane.vosick@nau.edu

John Waconda

SW Regional Office

Bureau of Indian Affairs

P.O. Box 26567

Albuquerque, NM 87125

Phone: (505) 346-7579

Fax: (505) 346-7536

E-mail: John_Waconda@bia.gov

Melaine Walker

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 15018

Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5018

Phone: (928) 523-7187

Fax: (928) 523-0296

Amy Waltz

Northern Arizona University

P.O. Box 15018

Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5018

Phone: (928) 523-7187

Fax: (928) 523-0296

E-mail: amy.waltz@nau.edu

Chris Wanner

City of Boulder Mountain Parks

P.O. Box 791

Boulder CO 80306

Phone: (303) 413-7255

Fax: (303) 413-7201

E-mail: wannerc@ci.boulder.co.us

Mark L. Watson

New Mexico Department of Game and

Fish

P.O. Box 25112

Santa Fe, NM 87504

Phone: (505) 827-1210

Fax: (505) 827-7801

Phil Weatherspoon, Research Forester

PSW Research Station

USDA Forest Service

2400 Washington Avenue

Redding, CA 96001

Phone: (530) 242-2452

Fax: (530) 242-2460

Larry Wehking, Instructor

Coconino Community College

3725 S. Yaqui Drive, Suite 2B

Flagstaff, AZ 86001

Phone: (928) 214-0176

E-mail: lwehking@coco.cc.az.us

Victoria Wesley

Forest Resources Program

San Carlos Apache Tribe

P.O. Box 0

San Carlos, AZ 85550

Phone: (520) 475-2329

Fax: (520) 475-2329

Jim Wheller

City of Flagstaff Fire Department

211 W. Aspen

Flagstaff, AZ 86001

Phone: (928) 779-7688

Cody Wienk

University of Arizona

9775 East Martin Drive

Tucson, AZ 85749

Phone: (520) 621-7281

Fax: (520) 621-9901

E-mail: cwienk@ag.arizona.edu

Jill Wilson

Forestry and Forest Health

USDA Forest Service

2500 South Pine Knoll Drive

Flagstaff, AZ 86001

Phone: (928) 556-2074

Fax: (928) 556-2031

E-mail: jwilson@fs.fed.us

Robert Winfree, Senior Scientist

Grand Canyon National Park

823 North San Francisco Street, Suite B

Flagstaff, AZ 86001-3234

Phone: (928) 226-0159

Fax: (928) 774-1757

E-mail: robert_winfree@nps.gov

Liz Wise

White Mountain Conservation League

P.O. Box 595

Pinetop, AZ 85935

Phone: (928) 537-1978

Fax: (928) 367-6386

E-mail: lizw@cybertrails.com

Ray Wrobley

SEC, Inc.

20 Stutz Bearcat Drive, Suite 6

Sedona, Az 86336

Andrew Youngblood

PNW Range and Science Lab

USDA Forest Service

1401 Gekeler Lane

La Grande, OR 97850

Phone: (541) 962-6554

Fax: (541) 962-6504

Onyshchuk Yuriy, Researcher

10/104 Ruska str.

Ternopil 46000 Ukraine

Phone: 252304

Fax: 252304

E-mail: ternopil@planetaccess.com
Federal Recycling Program Printed on Recycled Paper
ROCKY MOUNTAIN RESEARCH STATION

RMRS

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its

programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion,

age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, or marital or family status. (Not

all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require

alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print,

audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice

and TDD).

To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights,

Room 326-W, Whitten Building, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington,

DC 20250-9410 or call (202) 720-5964 (voice or TDD). USDA is an equal

opportunity provider and employer.

The Rocky Mountain Research Station develops scientific information

and technology to improve management, protection, and use of the

forests and rangelands. Research is designed to meet the needs of

National Forest managers, Federal and State agencies, public and

private organizations, academic institutions, industry, and individuals.

Studies accelerate solutions to problems involving ecosystems,

range, forests, water, recreation, fire, resource inventory, land reclamation, community sustainability, forest engineering technology, multiple

use economics, wildlife and fish habitat, and forest insects and diseases. Studies are conducted cooperatively, and applications may be

found worldwide.

Research Locations

Flagstaff, Arizona Reno, Nevada

Fort Collins, Colorado* Albuquerque, New Mexico

Boise, Idaho Rapid City, South Dakota

Moscow, Idaho Logan, Utah

Bozeman, Montana Ogden, Utah

Missoula, Montana Provo, Utah

Lincoln, Nebraska Laramie, Wyoming

*Station Headquarters, Natural Resources Research Center,

2150 Centre Avenue, Building A, Fort Collins, CO 80526