Inside

• New Ranger ......................................... (p. 4)

• Afraid of Models? ............................. (p. 11)

• Hurting Them? ................................. (p. 16)

• The “Spotlight” ................................. (p. 19)

Janie Canton-Thompson,

Technology Transfer Specialist

and EcoReport Editor, RMRS,

Economic Aspects of Forest

Management on Public Lands,

Missoula

The Bitterroot wildfires of

2000 had a huge effect on the

land, but few people appreciate

the event’s impact on Forest

employees like Sue Heald,

Bitterroot National Forest

Planning Staff Officer. From the

beginning Heald has been

involved in the complex

activities of assessing fire

results and planning future

management options. Increased

workloads have also confronted everyone else on the

Forest, courtesy of the fires.

Even before the fires were out, Burned Area Emergency Rehabilitation (BAER) work began to reduce

potential for soil erosion, road washouts, and stream

siltation during spring runoff. By the end of October 2000,

crews had done all they could before winter’s snows halted

their work.

From October to December 2000, the Forest prepared

its Postfire Assessment, compiling exhaustive amounts of

information and recommendations for Postfire Recovery work.

“We dropped all our regular schedules. The energy and speed

at which we were moving were pretty amazing,” said Heald.

Two volumes resulted from the Assessment, one a coffee table

book containing numerous colored pictures and quotations, the

other an indepth assessment of wildfire effects. Forest managers, in conjunction with the University of Montana, surveyed

Bitterroot Valley residents and held 12 community meetings to

learn how residents felt about the Burned Area Recovery

Project.

The Forest created two 5-acre demonstration sites to

provide a snapshot view of treatments planned for larger

burned areas. They serve as examples of harvest, number of

trees left on the site, and minimal ground disturbance planned

Fire Recovery in the Bitterroot: “It’s a Lot of Work!”

for Recovery projects.

 Using Postfire Assessment recommendations and community input, the Forest began

preparing an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in January 2001 that examined

impacts of different Postfire Recovery

proposals. “Normally, an EIS would take at

least 18 months to complete. We tried to

analyze an incredibly large area incredibly

fast, and do it extremely well, because we

knew we could be in court on it. It was an

unprecedented

effort. I don’t

know that any

Forest has done

an EIS this large,

this fast,” said

Heald. The Draft

EIS was completed in May, the

Final in October

2001. The Record

of Decision,

signed by the

Undersecretary of

Agriculture on

December 17,

2001, authorized

fuel reduction on 40,000 acres using commercial harvest and

3,000 acres using prescribed burning and noncommercial

removal methods. It also recommended replanting over 33,000

acres, as well as treating about 500 miles of roads to reduce

sediment and decommissioning (“putting to bed”) another 150

Fire Recovery Demonstration Area at Cow Creek,

Bitterroot National Forest.

Note wildlife tree in

foreground. Photo by Brooke

Thompson.

The Burned Area Recovery Team on the Bitterroot

National Forest combined their expertise to plan the

Fire Recovery Project. Photo by U.S. Forest Service.

(continued on page 2)

USDA Forest Service: Rocky Mountain Research Station, Bitterroot National Forest The University of Montana School of Forestry
2

miles of roads to improve watershed conditions. The Burned

Area Recovery Project could deliver an estimated $75 million to

western Montana’s economy and create approximately 4,000

new jobs. If you would like a copy of the Final EIS, please call

the Bitterroot National Forest at (406) 363-7100.

 In summer 2001, researchers established nearly 30 fire-related

research projects on the Forest. It became apparent that without

an accounting system, research and Recovery projects could

unintentionally interfere with each other. In response, the

Bitterroot Ecosystem Management Research Project (BEMRP)

and the Forest hired a Research/Management Coordinator to

monitor these activities.

 In July 2001, intense rainstorms pelted portions of the

burned area. Resultant flooding, mudslides, and road damage

required additional Recovery work for Forest employees.

Implementing the Recovery Project signifies “a lot of

work,” according to Heald. “We’re focusing on getting the

Project implemented on the ground in the way we intended. It’s

a huge job requiring constant monitoring. There will be more

research projects this year, too.” Scheduling Recovery work will

depend on factors such as funding and seedling availability.

A court injunction in December 2001 delayed Recovery

work. In February 2002, the Forest Service and groups objecting

to the Recovery Project reached an agreement, and work started

on some projects by mid-February 2002.

Because of the fires, the Forest’s workforce has roughly

Fire Recovery . . . (from page 1)

A recontoured

approach to a

closed road on the

Bitterroot National

Forest. Photo by

Larry Jones.

Upsizing culverts

reduces threat of

erosion in the

burned area.

Photo by U.S.

Forest Service.

Sharon Ritter, Research/Management Coordinator

Bitterroot National Forest and Bitterroot Ecosystem

Management Research Project (BEMRP)

When you think of a scientist’s laboratory, you may think

of white lab coats and beakers bubbling over gas burners. You

may not think of soot-covered jeans, hard hats, and hand-held

electronic data forms attached to Global Positioning System

The Bitterroot National Forest—A Natural Laboratory

Units telling you where you are. Yet that is what you could see

if you visited the scientific laboratory that is the Bitterroot

National Forest.

The Forest gets a lot of research attention thanks to its mix

of wilderness and managed areas and its variety of habitat

types ranging from riparian bottomland to alpine tundra. Also,

its relationship with the University of Montana and Rocky

Straw wattles installed to help control postfire soil erosion. Photo

by U.S. Forest Service.

Studying the effectiveness of Burned Area Emergency Rehabilitation

(BAER) erosion control treatments on the Bitterroot National Forest.

Photo by Larry Javorsky.

doubled. “Before the fires, the Bitterroot was a very low budget

forest. Now there is ample funding. We had this huge

workload, and everything became urgent. We saw we had this

moment we could seize and get so many things done, if we

could just find the capacity to do it.” Eventually, the Forest’s

budget and workforce will diminish to prefire levels. So, the

boom is on; the bust is yet to come. Forest employees are doing

their best to ensure the Burned Area Recovery effort succeeds

for both resources and the public who owns them.

(continued on page 14)
3

New Dimensions in Collaboration

Sherry Ritter, Research/Management Coordinator. Photo by

Dan Ritter.

“Making a Difference:” A Research/Management

Coordinator’s Dream

The challenge is improving communication.

It’s important to me to ‘make a difference,’...

Janie Canton-Thompson,

Technology Transfer Specialist

and EcoReport Editor, RMRS,

Economic Aspects of Forest

Management on Public Lands,

Missoula

Taking advantage of the Fires

of 2000, researchers established

dozens of studies to measure fire

effects and recovery on the

Bitterroot National Forest. Forest

postfire restoration projects are

scheduled over the next few

years. To avoid research duplication and prevent restoration

projects from inadvertently

wiping out study plots, BEMRP

and the Bitterroot Forest hired

Research/Management Coordinator Sharon (Sherry) Ritter in fall

2001.

Raised in Wisconsin, Sherry started backpacking at age 5

and made the outdoors her playground. Under her mother’s

tutorage, she became interested in birds and pursued a wildlife

ecology degree at the University of Wisconsin (UW). There she

enhanced her ability to identify bird songs, adding western bird

songs while attending summer camp at the University of

Montana’s Yellow Bay Biological Station. She was the third

woman to complete the wildlife

ecology masters program at UW.

Sherry worked for the U.S.

Fish and Wildlife Service in

Colorado in 1979, then served as

Environmental Biologist for

Wyoming Game and Fish

Department in Lander, WY. She met her husband Dan there

and soon had two sons. The boys occasionally accompanied

her, in adjacent car seats, as she performed some of her field

duties. “It was fun for all of us, and we put in a full day’s

work.” During this period, Sherry began writing articles for

magazines, including Wyoming Wildlife, and switched to a

Nongame Bird Biologist job within the Department. When Dan

began fulltime Forest Service work, they decided their rigorous

schedule was counterproductive to family life. “That’s why I

was willing to leave the best job in the world.”

In 1992, the family moved to Grangeville, ID where

Sherry soon received a nongame biologist appointment with

Idaho Department of Fish and Game and became chair of Idaho

Partners in Flight (PIF), a coalition of biologists promoting

bird conservation. When Dan transferred to Montana’s Bitterroot Forest in 1997, Sherry remained Idaho PIF Coordinator,

working out of her home in Hamilton until assuming the

BEMRP/Bitterroot Forest

position. During this time, she

began writing Lewis and Clark’s

Mountain Wilds, a natural history

guide to the Lewis and Clark

Trail between Lolo, MT and

Lewiston, ID, to be published in

Spring 2002 with support from

the Clearwater National Forest,

Idaho Fish and Game, and the

Scenic Byways Program.

 Sherry brings many assets to

her new position. As a seasoned

writer, she hopes to help researchers make their information

user-friendly. “I’m good at

making technical information

understandable and interesting to

a nontechnical audience, and I

communicate well with people of

different backgrounds.” She has

conducted numerous field trips with a variety of participants

and is involved in Bitterroot Environmental Education Partners

(BEEP). Sherry wants to bring research scientists into the

conservation education circle, and marvels at the unique

partnership forged by BEMRP, believing it fosters both

exemplary and uncommon public outreach.

Sherry manages the Bitterroot Forest’s research special

use permit system, helping

ensure managers and researchers

communicate with one another.

The newly instituted system

promotes safety for field-going

researchers, requiring them to

check with the Forest District

Offices before entering the field and provide a copy of their

research results when finished.

Sherry looks for ways to promote dialogue between

researchers and managers, and ensure practical use of research

results. “The challenge is improving communication. It’s

important to me to ‘make a difference,’ to have my work

benefit the land. Researchers and resource managers need to

act as a team. Managers ask questions; researchers design and

carry out studies to help provide answers. Managers

apply the new knowledge to the land. For this

team to work, there has to be information

exchange, especially after research

is done. I see my job as helping

the team communicate.” That’s

also the purpose of BEMRP, a

unique partnership of researchers and land managers.
4

New Dimensions in Collaboration

Janie Canton-Thompson,

Technology Transfer Specialist and

EcoReport Editor, RMRS, Economic

Aspects of Forest Management on

Public Lands, Missoula

Meeting Jeanne Higgins,

Stevensville’s new District Ranger,

makes one marvel at her incredibly

broad experience and boundless energy.

No stranger to work, she has held up to

five different positions simultaneously.

Her remarkable career started from a

seed planted by her parents and

grandfather.

“I was really very attached to the

outdoors at an early age,” said Jeanne.

After graduating from high school in

Auburn, California, she settled on a 2-

year forest technology program at

Sierra College, building an excellent

foundation in “nuts and bolts” forestry.

“I loved it! I wanted to be a biologist and ended up a forester

instead.” Her first Forest Service experience came in 1980 on

the Scott River District, Klamath National Forest, with assignments in timber, wilderness, and hydrology. It was here she

decided to complete her forestry degree. “I set my sights on

becoming a District Ranger. I wanted

to make a difference.”

Jeanne and her husband, Bruce,

whom she met at Sierra College,

enrolled at the University of Idaho.

Here they had two daughters and

took turns caring for them while the other parent attended

classes. Subsequently came a Student Coop (trainee) position on

the Clearwater National Forest. After graduation, both Jeanne

and Bruce took jobs on the Kootenai National Forest. “It was

important to me that I have a well-rounded background. I didn’t

want to be some place I couldn’t handle.” She went from

Forester Trainee on the Libby District to National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Coordinator and Geographical Information System (GIS) Coordinator on the Fisher River District

(Kootenai). Next stop was the Malheur National Forest (Prairie

City District) in eastern Oregon with parallel assignments as

Interdisciplinary Team Leader and District Staff Officer for

Fish, Wildlife, and Botany.

“I was in a double position, but it was great. I wanted to be

a wildlife biologist, and I finally was supervising the biology

section.” Back on the Troy District (Kootenai), Jeanne again

occupied double positions—NEPA Coordinator/District Planner

and Staff Officer for Timber, Recreation, Lands, Special Uses,

and Minerals. “I can tell you for awhile there, my hair was

turning gray really fast.” Following several Acting Ranger detail

jobs, her resolve to become a District Ranger materialized in

Meet Stevensville’s New District Ranger

Jeanne Higgins, Stevensville District Ranger. Photo

by Clark Knight Photography.

I set my sights on becoming a District

Ranger. I wanted to make a difference.

1999 when she obtained the Richfield

District Ranger job on the Fishlake

National Forest in southern Utah.

People in Utah were extremely friendly

and helpful. “I think that made a huge

difference. When you have poor

relationships, things don’t go very well,

and your land doesn’t get treated very

well.”

 Soon Jeanne jointly occupied the

District Ranger and Planning Staff

Officer positions. During her tenure on

the Fishlake, she took a detail as the

Ecosystem Staff Officer on the adjacent

Dixie National Forest, helping prepare

for Dixie/Fishlake Forest Plan revision.

“I quickly realized the revision was

going to be very consuming. I really

wanted to go some place and just be a

ranger because that’s what I really love

doing. I love planning, but I don’t like

doing both at the same time.” When the Stevensville District

Ranger job opened, Jeanne was selected. The family moved to

Stevensville in mid-June 2001.

 “I love it here! It’s a wonderful community to work with. I

realize there are challenges in the Bitterroot with all the growing

pains. But it’s the kind of challenge

I enjoy—trying to help people work

through issues and come to some

resolution.” Jeanne appreciates the

Valley’s diverse population and

lauds Forest employees for their

strong land ethic and community outreach. She has nothing but

praise for the BEMRP partnership. “It’s very unique to have that

close working relationship with research and management in a

way that we can benefit each other in terms of increasing our

knowledge. I’m just really excited somebody had the foresight

to put something like this together and has continued to be

supportive of it.”

 Jeanne knows challenges and opportunities frame her new

job, including an expanding population, particularly along the

wildland-urban interface; fuels reduction; road issues; forest

user conflicts; Burned Area Recovery Project; and watershed

health. Typically, Jeanne tempers her commonsense perspective

with a measure of idealism. She believes dialogue on

the issues can go a long way towards eliminating

fear and distrust. Her bottom-line recipe for

healthy ecosystems is the willingness

of all players to communicate. It

also helps if one genuinely

enjoys people. Jeanne does!
5

The Education Goes On . . .

Janie Canton-Thompson, Technology Transfer Specialist and EcoReport Editor,

RMRS, Economic Aspects of Forest Management on Public Lands, Missoula

On June 20, 2001, Bitterroot Ecosystem Management Research Project

(BEMRP) sponsored a field trip through Tenderfoot Creek Experimental Forest,

near White Sulphur Springs, MT, on the Lewis and Clark National Forest. Participants included researchers and managers from Missoula Fire and Forestry Sciences Labs, Rocky Mountain Research Station (RMRS); Northern Regional

Office; Bitterroot, Helena, and Lewis and Clark National Forests; Natural Resources Conservation Service; and University of Montana (UM). Ward

McCaughey (Ecology and Management of Northern Rocky Mountain Forests,

Missoula), Research Forester and Forest Manager at Tenderfoot, gave an overview

of the Forest and its work while UM Research Professor Bob Pfister discussed

UM involvement in the Landscape Assessment of Bair Lands near Tenderfoot.

In the Sun Creek drainage, the group viewed an area with very light fuels,

slated for a prescribed burn in either fall 2001 or 2002, depending on burning

conditions. The objective of the planned burn is to create small openings for

lodgepole pine regeneration. At Suncreek, Ecologist Helen Smith (Fire Effects,

Missoula) also provided insight on the Forest’s grid fuel inventory plots. The

group viewed snow and weather instrumentation, stream monitoring equipment,

and two types of silvicultural harvest treatments (even-age removal and group

selection) in several units, some of which are scheduled for later prescribed

burning with the rest remaining unburned. Participants, many of whom were

unfamiliar with the Tenderfoot Research Program, appreciated this enjoyable and

informative learning opportunity—in the context of a gorgeous summer day.

Janie Canton-Thompson, Technology Transfer Specialist and

EcoReport Editor, RMRS, Economic Aspects of Forest

Management on Public Lands, Missoula

On September 21, 2001, the Whitebark Pine Ecosystem

Foundation and Bitterroot Ecosystem Management Research

Project (BEMRP) jointly

sponsored a daylong field trip

through a scenic, highelevation whitebark pine

forest southwest of Lolo Pass

in northeastern Idaho. The 50

participants included members of the general public

(among them a ninth grade

home-schooled boy who used

the experience to fulfill a

biology/ecology class

requirement); university

professors from two States;

Forest Service Northern

Region staff; forest managers

from 10 National Forests

(Northern, Intermountain, and

Pacific Northwest Regions);

researchers representing two

Research Forester Ward McCaughey (r) and

Biological Technician Leon Theroux (RMRS) with

Tenderfoot Creek Experimental Forest map. Photo

by Greg Jones.

Field trip participants discuss treatments on the

Tenderfoot Creek Experimental Forest, Lewis and

Clark National Forest. Photo by Greg Jones.

A Field Trip to Tenderfoot

Whitebark Pine Country: A Visit to Beaver Ridge

Forest Service Research Stations; and National Park Service,

Bureau of Land Management, and Geological Survey staff.

One researcher came from Waterton Lakes National Park in

Alberta, Canada, adding an international dimension to the

group.

The destination was Beaver Ridge whitebark pine ecosystem study site located on Powell Ranger District, Clearwater

National Forest. Here, researchers explained restoration

(continued on page 10)

Caleb Harris, youngest participant on the whitebark pine field

trip, stands in front of a dead

whitebark pine. Photo by Ruth

Harris.

Fire ecologist Steve Arno explains whitebark pine issue to EcoReport

Editor, Janie Canton-Thompson. Photo by Chuck Crouter.
6

The Education Goes On . . .

Abridged from an article originally published in the Fall–

Winter 2001 issue of “Nutcracker Notes,” Whitebark Pine

Ecosystem Foundation, Missoula, MT 59808. Used with

permission.

Dave Campbell, District Ranger

Bitterroot National Forest

The challenge of “thinking like a mountain” requires us to

leave the relative comfort of our traditional ways and become

more inclusive, more interdisciplinary, and perhaps less safe.

Conservationist Aldo Leopold wrote, “We all strive for safety,

prosperity, comfort, long life and dullness. The deer strives

with his supple legs, the cowman with trap and poison . . . a

measure of success in this is all well enough, and perhaps a

requisite to objective

thinking, but too much

safety seems to yield only

danger in the long run.”

To many people who

use our public lands, one

of our most important

jobs is suppressing fire to

keep the forest “safe.” We

have many stories that

celebrate heroic deeds

fighting wildfires. This

collective memory makes

it all the more difficult to

communicate to people

how their desired safety

yields danger to people

and natural ecosystems in

the long run. For example, success in

suppressing fires has

contributed to decline in

whitebark pine in the

Inland Northwest and

Northern Rocky Mountains.

Wilderness stewardship calls us to make decisions that

may not seem “safe” but will forego “danger in the long run.”

Making wilderness fire decisions may be a perfect illustration

of this challenge and a way to seek, as Leopold put it, “the

hidden meaning in the howl of the wolf, long known among

mountains, but seldom perceived among men.”

I discussed this idea with an outfitter whose camp was set

up within a mile of a lightning fire being allowed to burn

(“managed for resource benefit” or “fire use”) in the SelwayBitterroot Wilderness. This looked like an opportunity to

inform clients that they are in the largest wilderness complex in

the lower forty-eight States, not only hunting among wolves

but also witnessing fires shaping the ecosystem as they have

done for thousands of years.

Whitebark Pine and Fire Management:

Avoiding Danger in the Long Run

Looking back on 30 years of fire use in the SelwayBitterroot Wilderness provides a chance to reflect on its

benefits to the ecosystem and the forthcoming challenge to

expand fire’s return to landscapes beyond classified wildernesses. The continuing relationship of whitebark pine and

Clark’s Nutcrackers, Black-backed Woodpeckers, and Mountain Bluebirds and the renewal of big game winter ranges

represent successes. This is all well and good in Wilderness,

but what about land adjacent to Wilderness, or on the border

where managers face risks of fire burning into areas where fire

use is unacceptable?

One approach is to plan for natural fires (fire use) in areas

adjacent to classified wilderness. The Sheephead Fire of

September and October

2001 is an illustration.

This fire started in the

nonwilderness, upper

reaches of Sheephead

Creek along the Montana–Idaho divide on the

West Fork Ranger

District, Bitterroot

National Forest (see

photo). Sheephead

drainage is recommended

for Wilderness in the

Forest Plan and was only

recently added to “fire

use” status. This allowed

us to manage the

Sheephead Fire as a

wildland fire burning in

high-elevation whitebark

pine for resource benefit.

Sheephead Fire on West Fork Ranger

District, Bitterroot National Forest,

October 2001. Photo by Jacquie Parks.

(continued on page 17)

High-elevation “Jack Fire” burns in whitebark pine habitat, SelwayBitterroot Wilderness, August 6, 2000. Photo by Dave Campbell.
7

The Education Goes On . . .

Julie Schreck, Bitterroot National Forest, and

Brooke Thompson, Bitterroot National Forest, retired

During 2001, hundreds of individuals participated in

scheduled fire tours on the Bitterroot National Forest. The tours

were an outreach of the Forest’s newly established “Conservation Education” program, headed by Julie Schreck. This year,

as last, retired Fire Management Officers Bob McKee (Darby

Ranger District) and Brooke Thompson (Stevensville Ranger

District) coordinated and guided tours.

The Bitterroot Ecosystem Management Research Project

(BEMRP) sponsored the initial tour in September 2000, shortly

after wildfires burned over 300,000 acres on the Forest. After

“Demonstration Project”

designed by the Forest to

reduce fuels, while protecting other forest resources in

burned areas. Here, participants learned about differences in planning and

implementing recovery

projects on National Forests

compared to those on State or private lands.

Driving by other postfire projects, discussion turned to the

differences between Suppression Rehabilitation, Burned Area

Emergency Rehabilitation (BAER), and long-term recovery

projects. Participants also learned of numerous

volunteer efforts organized through the Bitterroot

Interagency Recovery Team (BIRT). Volunteers

were essential in completing many postfire

projects, especially on private land.

 Next stop was Robbins Gulch, south of Darby.

Here, guides told about the extensive burning that

occurred on August 6, 2000, when fire activity

burned more than 65,000 acres of forested land.

During lunch break at the head of Moonshine

Gulch, guides discussed fire weather, history, and

ecology together with a brief review of wildland

fire suppression policies from 1910 to the present.

 After lunch, the tour visited Laird Creek where houses

burned, and talk turned to protecting homes from wildfire.

Farther on, erosion from postfire, high intensity rainstorms was

easily seen. Participants began to grasp the magnitude of the

fires from expansive views at Bear Creek Saddle, and then saw

the burn mosaics where wildfires had visited past timber

management projects in Crazy Creek.

 Bitterroot Fire Tours Become an Institution

Lunch break lecture by Brooke Thompson, public

fire tours, Bitterroot National Forest. Photo by

Julie Schreck.

that, the Forest scheduled several more tours for

employees who had not yet seen the extent of

burning. Sensing others might be interested, the

Forest invited the general public to participate.

Response was enthusiastic, and the twice-weekly

event continued through mid-November.

In 2001, the Forest scheduled special tours for

organized groups beginning in late May, and

resumed providing public tours again in mid-June.

Every Thursday and Saturday until early August,

and again for several weeks in the fall, participants

loaded into a bus at Forest Headquarters in Hamilton for the

7-hour event.

First stops were at Blodgett Fire near Pinesdale. Discussion points included wildfire suppression tactics, an explanation of various fire intensities, and characteristics of fuelsdriven fires as opposed to wind-driven fires. While driving

through the burned area, participants saw how vegetation

responds to various burning intensities. One stop was a 5-acre (continued on page 14)

View of burned area from upper Laird Creek, Bitterroot National Forest.

Photo by Peter Kolb.
8

Peter Kolb, Extension Forestry Specialist, Montana State

University/Adjunct Professor, University of Montana, and

Brooke Thompson, Bitterroot National Forest, retired

During the summer of 2000, residents of the Bitterroot

Valley were well aware of what was occurring on the forest

surrounding them. From mid-July until early October wildfires

burned more than 350,000 acres of Bitterroot National Forest,

Montana State Trust, and private forest land. Like physical

changes on the Forest, the

mental and emotional impact

of that event lingers in almost

everyone who experienced it.

One lasting result is the

curiosity many Valley residents

have about how forest ecosystems work, the processes affecting them, and how we should

(or should not) manage them, given their dynamic nature.

People care about Montana forests and want to know more

about how to manage and protect them.

One way to meet this need is through development of

“Forest Ecosystem Learning Sites.” Learning Sites are formally

established locations across the State that may be repeatedly

used to interpret features and processes of the natural

environment, together with current related scientific and

technological information. They usually include self-guided

trails, brochures, signs, or other educational materials, and

may have a schedule of guided events and a variety of other

visitor facilities.

This year the Bitterroot Ecosystem Management

Research Project (BEMRP) is funding, in part, the establishment of two such sites on the Bitterroot National Forest.

Peter Kolb is heading the project. Current work includes

planning and development of educational features with

actual site completion occurring over the next several years.

One site will be entirely new, showing fire behavior and

effects together with the recovery that takes place after a forest

is burned. A proposal is a driving loop through the extensively

burned areas of the southern Bitterroot Forest. Interpretive

features include viewing a wide range of burn intensities

resulting from a variety of topographic attributes, differences in

forest types, and previous management activities. Visitors may

also see results of high intensity postfire rainstorms, residential

interface areas where homes

burned, and a variety of

rehabilitation and recovery

efforts. As a part of this

project, researchers have

established twelve 1-km

(0.62 miles) transects and

photo points to document

vegetative fire recovery on the ground. The learning site will

include photos or similar visual aids documenting recovery

changes as information becomes available or varies over time.

The second site will showcase a variety of BEMRP

research and Bitterroot National Forest management activities

that have occurred over the years. Although still in the development stage, this learning site is likely to end up at one of the

oldest established research, management, and demonstration

areas on the Forest—Lick Creek. This lower elevation

mixed ponderosa pine forest is near Lake Como just west of

Darby, MT. It is the site of one of the first formal timber

sales on the National Forests (1906 to 1909) and has a

record of management going back to that time, including a

photo series of vegetative changes that have taken place

since then. A self-guided driving tour was established here

over a dozen years ago. This will be updated to include

additional BEMRP results.

These Learning Sites will serve as easily accessible

outdoor classrooms, recreation areas, and demonstration

The Education Goes On . . .

Something Old, Something New:

Learning Sites on the Horizon

These Learning Sites will serve as outdoor classrooms,

recreation areas, and demonstration sites where people

can learn the basics of forest ecology and more.

Grass and forb recovery, Bitterroot National Forest burned area,

Summer 2001. Photo by Peter Kolb.

Pine seedling on the Bitterroot National Forest burned area

one year after the fire, August 2001. Photo by Peter Kolb.

(continued on page 18)
9

Janie Canton-Thompson, Technology

Transfer Specialist and EcoReport

Editor, RMRS, Economic Aspects of

Forest Management on Public Lands,

Missoula

Growing up near Sun Valley, ID, where nearly everyone

was interested in natural resources, Stephanie Gripne considered

being either a carpenter or wildlife biologist. Her empathy with

all sides of the “Wolf Recovery” issue challenged her to

academic pursuits in wildlife ecology. “However, it would take

me 10 years to realize I was actually more interested in the

dynamics of people and natural resources than in studying

critters themselves.” Following her interest, Gripne came to the

University of Montana to study under former Forest Service

Chief Jack Ward Thomas. Here, her interest in communication

led her to a BEMRP-funded study of relationships among

conservation education organizations. At the same time she

received a Community Forestry Research Fellowship to conduct

Participatory Action Research (PAR). PAR researchers become

part of the group they are studying and engage people as

subjects, rather than objects of research. Researchers respond to

people’s needs, working with them to define a research question,

select study methodology, and present study results.

As Gripne prepared to launch her conservation education

research, an informal partnership called Bitterroot Environmental Education Partners (BEEP) formed in the Bitterroot Valley.

She attended their inaugural meeting and decided to make the

organization her PAR project’s subject. Her applied research

intends to increase effectiveness of conservation education

through improved communication and networking, which

should eventually lead to better informed natural resource

decisions.

Gripne is using a three-pronged research methodology,

including PAR as the overarching approach. Collaborating with

BEEP members and the Bitterroot Watershed Partnership,

another cooperating group, she first developed an educational

survey to assess the current status of conservation education

programs. Then she administered it to educational, rather than

advocacy-oriented, organizations that have at least one paid

employee whose primary responsibility is conservation education. Survey results will direct creation of a 5-year watershed

education plan. Analysis of questionnaire results has provided

detailed information about types of education programs offered,

program audiences, and subject areas.

Second, Gripne is applying social network analysis, which

reveals the communication paths within and among organizations. From it, she is constructing a map of how conservation

education organizations in the Bitterroot Valley are connected.

Preliminary analysis shows everyone within the sampled

conservation education organizations is connected; there are

communicator hubs and communicator isolates (people connected to only one or two other groups), but nobody is totally

isolated. She eventually plans to discover how the communication structure of selected conservation education groups evolves

over time.

Participant observation is the third prong of Gripne’s

research methodology. Through it, she has obtained data

inaccessible by her PAR or social network analysis.

Although Gripne has learned how difficult it is to articulate

the effectiveness of conservation education, she is determined to

find a way to capture its benefits to society. “It’s much easier

when you’re dealing with wildlife to say, ‘We’ve increased the

population to “x” numbers of animals.’ It’s really tough to say,

‘We had 500 kids go through environmental ed, and they’re

going to turn off lights more frequently, saving billions of

dollars. So, we should be investing more in environmental ed.’”

To Gripne’s knowledge, no study has yet combined

participatory action research, social network analysis, and

participant observation. Moreover, no one has studied an

education partnership, although watershed partnerships have

The Education Goes On . . .

“People and Natural Resources” –

Networking in Conservation Education

Kate Davis of Raptors of the Rockies and her feathered friend. Photo

by Stephanie Gripne.

Migration mania has something for everyone. Photo by Lee Metcalf

National Wildlife Refuge.

(continued on page 14)
10

“What Do You Mean By That?”

We invite you to visit our long-promised glossary of unfamiliar terms

now available on BEMRP’s web site at www.fs.fed.us/rm/ecopartner. Beginning now, each EcoReport issue will feature selected terms from this glossary. Note that some

terms’ definitions change over time as new information and policies develop. We will periodically

revise our web glossary page to reflect these changes. We encourage you to suggest new terms for

our expanding glossary.

Adaptive management - A type of natural resource management that implies making decisions as part of an ongoing

process. Monitoring the results of actions will provide a flow of information that may indicate the need to change a course

of action. Scientific findings and the needs of society may also indicate the need to adapt resource management to new

information.

Critical habitat - A specific geographic area(s) that is essential for the conservation of a threatened or endangered

species and that may require special management and protection.

Fuel management - The practice of evaluating, planning, and executing the treatment of wildland fuel to control

flammability and reduce the resistance to control through mechanical, chemical, biological, or manual means, or by prescribed and wildland fire, in support of land management objectives.

Landscape - A large land area composed of interacting ecosystems that are repeated due to factors such as geology,

soils, climate, and human impacts. Landscapes are often used for coarse-grain analysis.

The Education Goes On . . .

Whitebark Pine Country . . . (from page 5)

Fire ecologist Steve

Arno teaching

during Whitebark

Pine Field Trip,

Beaver Ridge Study

Site.

treatments while the group walked through treated and untreated portions of the site. Treatments being tested are combinations of group selection cutting, broadcast burning, and

stand-replacement fire. Trip spokespersons included researchers Steve Arno (Fire Ecologist, RMRS, Fire Effects, retired),

Bob Keane (Fire Ecologist, RMRS, Fire Effects), Kate Kendall

(Bear Biologist, U.S. Geological Survey, stationed at Glacier

National Park), and Diana Tomback (Professor and Bird

Biologist, University of Colorado-Denver).

The four scientists described whitebark pine’s history in

the Northern Rockies, its bitter enemy—the nonnative blister

rust fungus, and its best friends—wildfire and the Clark’s

Nutcracker, which enjoys a symbiotic relationship with these

craggy trees. Interestingly, whitebark pine cones cannot open

on their own, forcing the tree to rely on the nutcracker to

extract its seeds and cache them in openings created by

wildfire. Ninety percent of whitebark pine in northern Idaho

and northwestern Montana has been infected with blister rust,

but a small percentage of trees have natural resistance. At least

70 percent of mature whitebark pine on Beaver Ridge have

died in the past 70 years, and the remainder are too weak to

produce cones and regenerate. Without human intervention

through restoration treatments, whitebark pine will become

relatively scarce. This will be a major loss for wildlife habitat

because the pine’s nutritious seeds are an important food

source for an assortment of birds and mammals, including

bears.

As the variety of field trip participants indicates, people

from all walks of life are concerned about whitebark pine’s

future. If you are interested in learning more about this

threatened high-elevation treasure and how you might participate in its restoration, please contact the Whitebark Pine

Ecosystem Foundation at P.O. Box 16775, Missoula, MT

59808, or check its website at www.whitebarkfound.org.
11

Hans Zuuring, Professor

University of Montana, School of Forestry

This morning I woke up and went to the bathroom to wash

my face and comb my hair. I looked in the mirror and saw my

face. That’s not me! I don’t look like that. Next I went to the

telephone answering machine and listened to some messages,

as well as my own recorded voice. That’s not my voice! I don’t

sound like that! Next I turned on the television and tuned to the

weather channel to see what today’s weather would be. The

forecast was for a cloudy day with a 30 percent chance of rain.

Actually, it was sunny and there was not a cloud in the sky.

That forecast was dead wrong! What is wrong with that

meteorologist? He should look outside and see what is happening weatherwise. Finally, I went to the telephone book and

looked at a map of the city to locate a street where some

friends lived that I was going to visit. Why can’t I find that

street? What is wrong with that map?

These four instances are all examples of models at work in

our everyday lives—models that we either take for granted or

are suspicious about. A model is any simplified representation

of an object, a relationship, or a system. Its intended use

determines which characteristics of reality the model should

portray; only relevant information is presented. We have three

basic types of models: iconic, analog, and symbolic.

An iconic model is a physical replica of an object, usually

on a different scale. The mirror image and taped voice are

examples of this type of model. Other examples are scale

models of buildings, cars, or airplanes.

Analog models are also physical representations of the real

world, but some aspect has been transposed. For example, the

city map may denote parks in green

and use symbols to represent

various features such as streams

and roads. This map is not a

realistic three-dimensional model of the

real world and contains dated information. The road I

was looking for was a newly constructed one not found on the

current map. We use maps primarily for navigation purposes

and trust them to get us to our destination.

Symbolic models represent reality by words, numbers, and

other notation. Scientists find this class of models most

important because they are readily manipulated to deduce new

concepts. The weather forecast is a symbolic model used to

inform us of what kind of weather we can expect in the future.

Such a model is complex and relies on numerous input data

that changes dynamically by the hour. Often the weather

forecast is reasonably accurate, but not always.

Likewise, a spatial decision support system like MAGIS is

a complex suite of symbolic models that permits outcomes of

various management alternatives to be compared over time and

space. However, such a suite of models is totally dependent on

the quality of data that went into it. If garbage goes in, then

garbage comes out, but that does not mean the model is no

good. On the contrary, such models are very useful and help

natural resource managers to make comparisons without

actually carrying out treatments in the field. So, don’t be afraid

of models. They are all around us, and we use them every day

of our lives.

The Education Goes On . . .

Are You Afraid of Models?

Iconic Model –

like a scale model toy

Analog Model –

like a city map

Symbolic Model –

like a weather forecast

Examples of the three basic types of models.
12

Research Highlights

Hans Zuuring, Professor

University of Montana, School of Forestry

Past long-range forest plans have been mostly nonspatial,

that is, without proposed practices or treatments applied to

specific locations in specific timeframes. This hindered

implementation of plans because treatments and associated

resource effects often become unacceptable when proposed in

real time and space. Conducting spatial analyses on a small

number of “representative areas” selected in the forest planning

process would help determine whether desired future conditions targeted in a nonspatial strategic plan can be achieved,

and if so over what timeframe. It would also improve quantification of (1) extent of natural disturbance factors with and

without planned treatments, (2) associated effects on various

resource values, and (3) expected costs. If results from these

representative areas can be extrapolated to other “like areas,”

then even more information could be efficiently developed to

assess the feasibility of implementing nonspatial strategic plans

and provide feedback for modifying them. The objective of this

study is to test whether spatially explicit model results from a

“representative area” can be extrapolated to “like areas” to

predict the outcomes of spatial analyses on those areas.

Geographical and attribute data (topography, location of

streams, roads, and so forth) have been obtained for 42 fifthorder Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC) watersheds in Montana

east of the Continental Divide, each averaging about 80,000

acres. HUCs are a naturally determined hierarchy of watersheds starting with the largest and working back to the smallest. Important variables based on geophysical processes,

vegetation, and past management activities have been identified to characterize these fifth-order HUCs. They comprise:

• Median elevation and elevation range

• Average slope

• Majority aspect

• Percent of HUC area forested

• Percent lodgepole pine cover

• Number of fire starts

• Average precipitation

• Vegetation Diversity Index

These variables are used in multivariate statistical techniques (cluster and discriminant analyses) to develop groups of

homogeneous HUCs. From each group a “representative area”

(HUC) will be chosen by a statistical procedure, and a pair of

“like areas” (two other HUCs) will be selected at random.

SIMPPLLE and MAGIS models will be built and run for each

“representative area” and results projected to the associated

“like areas” within the same group. Next, models will be built

and run for each “like area” and results compared statistically

with projections from the “representative area” in the same

group. This will test the feasibility of projecting modeling

results from a sample area to other similar areas.

The last step measures how sensitive model results are to

variation in vegetation classification. This, in turn, will

measure effects on model results of incorrectly classifying

vegetation for a percentage of stand polygons. We will work

with Forest Inventory plot data and vegetation classification

using version 3 of the Satellite Image Landcover Classification

(SILC3) to develop two additional sets of vegetative descriptions, which represent differences in how the vegetation is

classified. SIMPPLLE and MAGIS models will be built and

run for “representative areas” for each set of vegetation data.

Results will be compared statistically to determine the significance of differences in model output.

Extrapolating Modeling Results from SIMPPLLE

and MAGIS to Like Areas
13

Alan Watson, Research Social Scientist, RMRS, Aldo Leopold

Wilderness Research Institute, Missoula

The Rocky Mountain Research Station, together with the

University of Montana (UM) and the Bitterroot National Forest,

continues to oversee social research on natural resource stewardship in the Bitterroot Valley. It seems like several current

projects somehow connect to communication among organizations, among people, or between people and organizations.

Citizen-based participation in management of natural

resources has evolved in recent years, particularly in the area of

watershed stewardship. UM researcher James Burchfield is

studying local Watershed Councils, including their roles and

keys to success. Through interviewing members of existing

watershed groups in the Rocky Mountain area, including

members of the Bitterroot Water Forum, Burchfield intends to

offer greater understanding of contributors to success and

challenges facing efforts to improve water quality.

Researchers at the UM Boone and Crockett Wildlife

Conservation Program have collected information to “map”

communication channels in the Bitterroot Valley. Focusing on

communication problems in conservation education, this

research looks at information flows on specific topics and makes

recommendations on how to increase efficiency. The Forest

Service is sincerely interested in improving its ability to

communicate and share information with the public, and having

a “map” to follow may help.

Yvette Ortega, Wildlife Biologist, and Kevin McKelvey,

Research Ecologist, RMRS, Wildlife Ecology in Rocky

Mountain Landscapes, Missoula

Spotted knapweed, introduced from Eurasia in 1923,

has invaded 4.7 million acres in Montana alone and

continues to spread. We know knapweed invasion causes

dramatic changes in native plant communities, but understand relatively little about the effects of these landscapewide changes on wildlife species. Our ongoing research

comparing knapweed-invaded and native, uninvaded, open-forest habitats on the Lolo

National Forest examines the consequences of associated vegetation changes for deer, elk,

small mammals, and birds. These animals depend on native plants for food and structure

and consume insects linked to plants in varying degrees. For example, in this study we

looked at the Chipping Sparrow, an abundant songbird species that nests in trees and feeds

on insects and seeds associated with grassland vegetation. They breed in open-forest

habitats in our region (May to August), migrating as far south as Mexico for the winter.

During their brief stay, they aid dispersal of native plant seeds and provide an important

Social Science in the Bitterroot Valley:

Communication is the Key!

Research Highlights

American Dipper, indicator

of a healthy watershed.

Sketch by Bob Petty,

Montana Audubon Society.

Everyone enjoys a day of fishing. Photo by Lee Metcalf National

Wildlife Refuge.

A brand new project at the UM School of Forestry will

supply guidance to public land agency planners who are trying

to better understand the many ways forest fires and wildfire

management influence local residents. In the near future,

planners hope to be able to predict impacts of fires on the social

as well as the biological community, providing more specific

guidance for fire fuel treatments.

In this era of population growth, increased pressures on our

natural resources, and increased diversity of local residents, we

need to improve the efficiency of how we inform each other.

Communication about watershed protection, “mapping”

communication channels, and communication to agencies about

how fires and fuel management influence local residents are

research projects we believe will make our communication

easier and faster.

Weeds and Wildlife: Research Explores the Connection

Banding a Chipping Sparrow. Photo by

Chris Templeton.

(l) Chipping sparrow in a

net. Photo by Chris

Templeton.

(continued on page 15)
14

A Natural Laboratory . . . (from page 2)

Willow regeneration in a blackened forest, Bitterroot Fires of 2000.

Photo by U.S. Forest Service.

Mountain Research Station Laboratories in Missoula goes back

for decades. Long-term research projects such as those currently led by scientist Mick Harrington (RMRS, Fire Effects,

Missoula) at Lick Creek, Sawmill Research Natural Area, and

Larry Creek provide information on effects of different forest

treatments, and help direct on-the-ground management. Social

scientists find the Bitterroot Valley a rich source of data on

community/government interactions.

The fires of 2000 intensified interest in the Forest as a

research area. Of approximately 65 research studies conducted

on the Bitterroot Forest in 2001, 30 were directly related to the

fires. For example, researchers Dennis Ferguson and Terrie Jain

(RMRS, Forest Ecosystem Dynamics in the Interior West,

Moscow, ID) hope to find out how management of forest

stands before the fires affected fire severity. They also will

track vegetation recovery for 15 years after the fires. Other

researchers are using prefire data on fish and bird populations

and habitats to discover how they respond to fire-induced

changes. Some studies are looking at how well postfire

treatments such as contour-felled logs and wattles helped

reduce soil erosion. Others are studying debris flows occurring

after heavy rainfall in some severely burned drainages.

Some research on the Bitterroot Forest is neither related to

the 2000 fires nor to forest management. Lars Ostlund from

Sweden has been looking at Native American use of peeled

ponderosa pines, comparing it to similar use in Sweden.

Spotted Frogs, American Dippers, Brown-headed Cowbirds,

Big-horned Sheep, Long-toed Salamanders, recreation users,

conservation education providers, and a local watershed

council have all been subjects of recent research.

An important part of research is sharing the results.

BEMRP and the Bitterroot National Forest plan to keep

resource managers and the public aware of ongoing research

and results through lectures, news articles, tours, and other

methods. If you are curious about the types of studies occurring

on the Forest, visit our website at http://www.fs.fed.us/r1/

bitterroot/planning/research/research_proj_list.htm for a list of

projects and summaries, or contact Sharon Ritter at (406) 363-

7115.

been objects of research. Gripne’s findings indicate money for

conservation education is scarce; employee turnover is high; all

primary conservation educators are connected, some more than

others; and agriculture is least represented while water, watershed, and forests are most represented in environmental education programs. An equal number of education programs are

available across age groups. Prior to the 2000 fires, fire ecology

received little attention, but now will likely become part of

BEEP’s 5-year education plan. Currently, conservation education has lots of momentum in the Bitterroot and Missoula

Valleys.

Gripne thinks her study’s findings can make forest managers’ jobs easier. “It gives them a better understanding of how

people are connected in the environmental education world and

enables them to get information out to people quickly. We all

know natural resource management is about public support.

Environmental ed is a mechanism to learn what people are

interested in supporting.”

“Conservation education is catching on because it works

and it’s good stuff. BEEP has a lot of energy and momentum;

it’s going in the right places, and starting to come up with

partnerships the community will benefit from. The 5-year

education plan, and its energy, has sparked other groups in the

rest of the state.”

People & Natural Resources . . . (from page 9)

ECO-Report

Published by the

Rocky Mountain Research Station

P. O. Box 8089, Missoula, MT 59807

(406) 542-3248

Editor/Writer: Janie Canton-Thompson

The United States Department of Agriculture, (USDA) Forest

Service, is a diverse organization committed to equal opportunity in

employment and program delivery. USDA prohibits discrimination

on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age,

disability, political affiliation and familial status. Persons believing

they have been discriminated against by USDA should contact the

Secretary, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C. 20250,

or call 202-720-7327

Fire Tours . . . (from page 7)

During final stops in Sula Basin (Ross’s Hole) participants

saw where the Sula Complex Fire Camp endured a frightening

burnover on August 6, 2000. This was also a good place to

demonstrate the ever-changing nature of forested landscapes

by comparing photographs taken over the past century with

present views.

With few exceptions, participants seemed to enjoy the

outing. Although questions and comments indicated many had

a general understanding of forest dynamics, knowledge about

wildfire’s role in shaping Northern Rockies landscapes seemed

limited. Many indicated their desire to become better informed

about forest resources and management. With public interest

so high, it appears this would be fertile ground for both

researchers and managers to concentrate future interpretative

and educational efforts.
15

Elaine Kennedy Sutherland, Research Biologist and Project

Leader, RMRS, Ecology and Management of Northern Rocky

Mountain Forests, Missoula

BEMRP has long sponsored research on the role fire plays

in vegetation communities on the Bitterroot National Forest.

This research is conducted through partnerships among the

Bitterroot National

Forest, Rocky

Mountain Research

Station, and University of Montana

(UM).

Thinning and

prescribed fire

treatments are used

to improve tree

health in dense

ponderosa pine and

western larch forests.

How do we measure

health, and whether

it improves after

thinning and fire?

Anna Sala and Ragan

Callaway, UM

researchers, have

been evaluating how

thinning and various

burning treatments

affect trees. Their

research indicates the health of old ponderosa pine and western

larch trees does indeed benefit from thinning, whether or not fire

is applied. In 2001, Gregory Peters, a master’s student working

with Sala, started a project comparing the physiological condition of trees in areas thinned and burned in different seasons. We

are looking forward to seeing the results.

Weed invasion threatens native grasslands on the Bitterroot

Forest. These grasslands historically burned frequently, and

prescribed fire is an important tool in maintaining them.

However, there is some concern that burning knapweed-infested

grasslands may exacerbate weed invasion. In an ongoing

project, Forest Service researcher Mick Harrington (RMRS, Fire

Effects, Missoula) and UM researcher Peter Rice are assessing

the effectiveness of herbicide treatments followed by prescribed

fire in restoring weed-infested bunchgrass communities at

Sawmill Creek Research Natural Area. They are also evaluating

fuel loadings contributed by different plant types (native

grasses, weeds, and forbs). This area will be burned in spring,

2002.

Our mountain streams and rivers are critical fish habitat. As

with uplands, fire suppression has led to changes in riparian

plant community composition and structure, affecting stream

conditions and increasing risk of uncharacteristically severe fire.

We need to know more about the historical processes in riparian

zones, the vegetation and aquatic patterns that resulted, and how

those relate to fish habitat characteristics. Michael Young

(RMRS, Fish and Watershed Research, Laramie, WY),

Emily Heyerdahl (RMRS, Ecology and Management of Northern Rocky Mountain Forests, Missoula), and I are determining

fire history of high-elevation drainages in western Montana,

food source for predatory birds and mammals. On our sites, we

use colored leg bands to identify and monitor individual birds.

Our preliminary analyses show habitat quality for Chipping

Sparrows may be diminished by knapweed invasion. Sixty-one

percent of sparrows banded in 2000 on sites dominated by

native plants returned to breed in 2001, while at weed-invaded

sites only 36 percent returned. In addition, from 1999 to 2001,

birds began nesting earlier at native compared to invaded sites.

Research of other songbird species has shown that high quality

breeding habitat tends to be occupied by older, experienced

birds that return from wintering grounds first and are faithful to

the site; younger birds tend to return later and are forced to

breed in inferior habitat that they abandon in the subsequent

breeding season. In our study, lower site-fidelity and later

breeding at knapweed-invaded sites suggest these areas represent lower quality habitat for Chipping Sparrows. We will

examine data on reproductive success and food resource

availability to further evaluate this premise.

Additional data analyses will consider effects of knapweed

Chipping Sparrow nestlings. Photo by Chris Templeton.

Research Highlights

invasion on habitat quality for small mammals and ungulates.

Beginning in 2003, we will extend our study to examine how

management strategies that employ herbicides and prescribed

burning affect wildlife species, including the Chipping Sparrow.

These research efforts will allow us to understand the consequences of knapweed invasion for native wildlife species and

evaluate the efficacy of restoration treatments to improve

management of forest ecosystems.

Vegetation Science Research in

the Bitterroot: Focus on Fire

Biologist Ethan Mace (r) and Biological

Technician Eric Ziegler (RMRS) measure

ages of burned trees at Chicken Creek,

Bitterroot National Forest. Photo by

Tina Toth.

Weeds & Wildlife . . . (from page 13)

(continued on page 18)
16

Janie Canton-Thompson, Technology Transfer Specialist and

EcoReport Editor, RMRS, Economic Aspects of Forest

Management on Public Lands, Missoula

Anna Sala, plant ecophysiologist and native of Barcelona,

Spain, has been studying old-growth ponderosa pine and

western larch physiology since 1998. An Associate Professor in

the University of Montana’s (UM) Division of Biological

Sciences, Sala asserts her study sites in the Lolo National

Forest’s Snowbowl area “are very rare remnants,” resulting

from intense harvesting of old-growth trees and 90 years of fire

suppression. As Sala put it, “We have now a situation in which

we have these old-growth trees competing for resources with a

very vigorous, young understory of Douglas-fir. Competition

has resulted in a strong decline of this old-growth. It’s rare to

find old-growth stands. These old-growth trees are very much

appreciated, and because they are very old—up to 400 years—

everybody is very afraid of doing anything to them.”

Sala, collaborating with Ragan Callaway (UM Associate

Professor) and fire researchers Mick Harrington (RMRS, Fire

Effects, Missoula) and Steve Arno (RMRS, Fire Effects,

Missoula, retired), is assessing how old-growth trees respond

to different experimental restoration treatments, a research

effort unique to the Interior Northwest. Treatments are designed not only to reduce competition but also the potential for

severe wildfire. In

1998 and 1999, fire

researchers,

together with the

Lolo National

Forest, applied five

treatments to

selected stands (as

surrogates to

historic fire): (1)

understory cutting

and slash pile

burning; (2)

understory cutting

and broadcast

burning; (3) understory cutting, light

thinning of overstory,

and slash pile

burning; (4) understory cutting, light

thinning of overstory,

and broadcast

burning; and (5) a

control—no understory or overstory

cutting and no

burning. That same

year, Sala and

Callaway began

monitoring the

physiology of treated

stands. She annually

measures tree water

use, soil moisture at

various depths, tree

foliage (needle)

production, and leaf

chemistry (nitrogen

content). Tom DeLuca, Soil Scientist and Associate Professor

at the UM School of Forestry, has joined the old-growth study

team to assess soil nitrogen availability relative to different

treatments.

Sala explains old-growth trees living with a dense understory of vigorous Douglas-fir are deprived of sufficient

nitrogen and water for health maintenance. “There’s a strong

competition for resources. And who loses? The old ones! The

old-growth trees are physiologically old and stressed and so

they are not growing strong compared to a vigorous, young

understory of Douglas-fir. If you have a forest with a lot of

young, vigorous trees competing for resources—and that’s the

soil—the vigorous growing ones are going to take those

resources for themselves and not going to leave much for the

old-growth trees.”

Sala and collaborators are assessing whether old trees at

her study site can regain their vigor once

the understory is treated. Needles

produce food for trees through photosynthesis and tend to close their stomata

(pores), and thus their food factories,

when water is in short supply. Likewise,

nitrogen is essential to this process but is

usually, at best, a scarce commodity in

soil. Once the greedy understory is

removed, there should be more water and

nitrogen available to the old trees—but

will they—can they—use them?

Research Highlights

“The Fear of Hurting Them Has Led

to a Situation that Hurts Them”

Old-growth ponderosa pine and

western larch with Douglas-fir

understory, Snowbowl old-growth

study site, Lolo National Forest.

Photos by Anna Sala.

Sap probes (under foil covers), Snowbowl

old-growth study site, Lolo National

Forest. Photo by Anna Sala.

(continued on page 18)
17

BOOK

CORNER

New Publication Available

If you are interested in an economic description and

assessment of one of the fastest growing counties in the

United States, consider reviewing Larry Swanson’s

economic profile of Ravalli County MT, and the greater

Bitterroot Valley. In The Bitterroot Valley of Western

Montana Area Economic Profile, Swanson’s electronic

publication, he examines growth trends in population and

employment, together with analysis of changes in area

income and economic structure. His Appendix includes

detailed maps, tables, and lists. Download a copy of this

publication, funded by BEMRP, at the Rocky Mountain

Research Station web site (see web site link below), or

call (406) 542-4167.

Swanson, Larry. 2001. The Bitterroot Valley of Western

Montana Area Economic Profile. O’Connor Center for the

Rocky Mountain West, The University of Montana. 94 p.

Available at Rocky Mountain Research Station World

Wide Web Electronic Publications: Special Reports, http:/

/www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs/bitterroot.html.

Viking Press Publishers.

 Review reprinted with permission.

1910 was America’s millennial year of fire. That

summer, American nature and American society collided

with tectonic force as western wildfires scorched millions

of acres, darkened skies in New England, and deposited

soot on the ice of Greenland. Farms, mining camps, and

rail towns cracked and burned. A survivor said that the

towering flames raged with the sound of a thousand trains

rushing over a thousand steel trestles. As one ranger put it,

the mountains roared.

Stephen Pyne, recognized by the Chicago Tribune as

“the world’s foremost authority on fire and its role in

human culture,” tells the whole story of that catastrophic

year and its indelible legacy. Pyne explains how wildland

fires happen and how they are fought, how forests are

created then re-created in cycles of burning, and what

happens to a landscape when roads, railways, mining

camps, logging, and national parks appear. The action

distills into a two-day crisis, the Big Blowup of August

20–21, when the fires tripled in size, and focuses in

particular on the heroics of Ranger Ed Pulaski, who held

his panicked crew at gunpoint in a mine tunnel while the

firestorm raged outside.

Publisher’s Review of

Year of the Fires: The Story

of the Great Fires of 1910

Pyne brings that astonishing year to life through the

experiences and words of the rangers, soldiers, politicians,

bureaucrats, scientists, and civilians who faced the fires,

fought the flames, and were forever scarred by them. It was

the first and greatest test of the five-year-old Forest

Service. Yet even as seventy-eight firefighters perished, a

national debate raged about policy, and especially about the

relative merits of firefighting versus fire lighting.

The Great Fires were unlike any American fire before

them, and no wildland fire since has fundamentally differed

from the pattern they inscribed. Everything we do in this

country with respect to forest fire—from the actual tools

firefighters still carry to strategies of land management—is

rooted in the way we fought the fires of 1910. Geography,

nature, and civilization did battle in 1910 in a crazed, lethal

struggle that has become one of the great sagas of Americans and their lands. More than a memorable adventure

tale, this is the chronicle of a profound event that continues

to shape American life.

Pyne, Stephen J. 2001. Year of the Fires: The Story of the

Great Fires of 1910. New York: Viking Press. 320 pages.

Danger in the Long Run . . . (from page 6)

Managers who realize the benefits of fire use are challenged to

plan accordingly, allowing more areas to be considered for fire

use. Our reward will be the ability to make decisions that help

restore fire to the landscape, reaping benefits we can articulate

and those we are still discovering.

When faced with multiple opportunities for fire use, the

number of fires we can simultaneously manage might limit us.

When lightning strikes leave several opportunities for “fire

use,” we might have to choose which fires can be managed as

such through the end of the season and which must be quickly

suppressed. One criterion for selecting “fire use” fires might be

the number of fire cycles an area has missed, in addition to

anticipated “fire-dependent” benefits. Using this logic, fires in

whitebark pine habitat might attain higher “fire use” priority

than those occurring in low-elevation ponderosa pine where

fire has frequently visited and might well do so the following

year. If we have done our best to add areas to “fire use” and

have some knowledge of where fire cycles have been missed,

we can choose to forego the short-term safe route and avoid

“danger in the long run.”
18

Fear of Hurting . . . (from page 16)

Ecosystem Management Means Partnership

Furthering the goals of this project requires public participation in decision making.

Would you like to become a partner? For more information, please contact

Greg Jones, Program Leader

Rocky Mountain Research Station

P.O. Box 8089, Missoula, MT 59807 (406-542-4167)

e-mail: jgjones@fs.fed.us

Sue Heald, Forest Planning Officer, Bitterroot National Forest

801 North 1st St., Hamilton, MT 59840 (406-363-7142)

e-mail: sheald@fs.fed.us

Professor Robert Pfister

The University of Montana School of Forestry

Missoula, MT 59812 (406) 243-6582

e-mail: rpfister@forestry.umt.edu

Visit the Bitterroot Ecosystem Management Research Project on the Internet!

www.fs.fed.us/rm/ecopartner

including riparian zones and surrounding uplands. By evaluating

vegetation and stream conditions in the context of fire history,

researchers will be able to relate disturbance history to condition, guiding managers in developing management plans for

these areas. In 2001, researchers conducted a pilot study,

comparing three similar drainages in the southern Bitterroots

that burned at different times. This study will expand to other

areas of western Montana in 2002 and 2003.

We think of lodgepole pine forests as places where fire

burns infrequently but severely, resulting in single-aged lodgepole communities. However, this generalization does not hold

for many lodgepole pine forests; there is evidence of multiple

fire scars, indicating that low- to moderate-intensity fires were

typical, resulting in a patchy distribution of multiaged lodgepole

stands. Fire suppression has resulted in increased stand densities, and the potential for uncharacteristically high-intensity

fires. The Tenderfoot Creek Experimental

Vegetation Science . . . (from page 15)

Biological Technician Tina Toth (RMRS) uses increment bore to study

timeframes between disturbances on an Engelmann spruce, Bitterroot

National Forest. Photo by Ethan Mace.

sites where people can learn the basics of forest ecology and

form their own opinions about the role human interactions may

play. This also represents a cooperative effort among the two

Montana Universities, Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, Rocky Mountain Research Station,

and Bitterroot National Forest.

Something Old . . . (from page 8)

Burn mosiac one year after the Bitterroot Forest fires of 2000. Photo

by Peter Kolb.

Forest on the Lewis and Clark National Forest is the site of a

thinning and burning experiment, evaluating this approach as a

management tool in multiaged lodgepole pine. Led by Ward

McCaughey (RMRS, Ecology and Management of Northern

Rocky Mountain Forests) and Colin Hardy (RMRS, Fire

Effects), researchers monitored vegetation, hydrology, and many

other site attributes before and after areas were thinned in 2000.

The mostly small diameter logs were sold at above cost, and the

area is scheduled for broadcast burning in early summer, 2002.

We hope these studies will expand the knowledge of fire’s

historical role in maintaining and restoring local ecosystems.

Three years after treatments, Sala and

collaborators have documented that removing

competitive Douglas-fir provides remaining

old-growth trees with more water. Soil

beneath them remains wetter longer, and trees

grow more vigorously, evidenced by needle

growth. While study site old-growth trees are

demonstrating “a very positive response” to

treatments, researchers have discovered no

apparent difference in response to alternative

treatments. Removal of understory Douglasfir, regardless of treatment method, has a

positive effect on the old-growth trees.

Released from competition for water and

nitrogen, the magnificent old trees begin to

flourish once again. “And so really, management helps them!” Sala concluded.
19

Yvette Ortega

The “Spotlight”...highlighting researchers at work:

Janie Canton-Thompson, Technology Transfer Specialist and

EcoReport Editor, RMRS, Economic Aspects of Forest

Management on Public Lands, Missoula

Yvette Ortega is a Wildlife Biologist in Rocky Mountain

Research Station’s Wildlife Habitats Work Unit (Wildlife

Ecology in Rocky Mountain Landscapes, Missoula). She grew

up an anomaly in a southern California family that enjoyed the

big city life. “I always liked science. When I was a kid I loved

turning over rocks and looking at bugs in the yard.” The books

she read “were always slanted toward natural creatures.”

Camping trips as a Girl Scout reinforced her feelings. “I didn’t

understand this rare experience was something so important I

would base the rest of my life on it.”

Yvette enrolled at University of California, Berkeley,

majoring in biochemistry and pre-med. In her junior year, she

took a class in natural history where students explored natural

phenomena. “I loved that and I changed my major!”

During a summer volunteer job in Alaska, Yvette worked

on the Tongass National Forest with a Wildlife Biologist, doing

“quick assessments” of areas slated for logging. “We were

doing surveys for animals, really charismatic sorts of critters I

never knew existed, like eagles, goshawks, and bears.” She

also participated in a songbird banding project, “a whole new

world” to her.

As an undergraduate, Yvette did a thesis project on harbor

seals in a San Francisco Bay marsh, recording seal behavior

“I Always Liked Science”

Yvette Ortega “naturalizing” in Oaxaca,

Mexico. Photo by Francine Ortega.

and human disturbances, and checking for “flipper” tags.

“They mostly slept. You couldn’t see the tag until they awakened, yawned, and stretched. You had just a few seconds to see

if the tag was there.”

Earning a degree in environmental science (with a biology

emphasis), Yvette accepted a 6-month position at Alaska’s

Misty Fjords National Monument. This job, headquartered in

Ketchikan, dealt exclusively with songbirds. Transported by

floatplane into the wilderness, she and her research partner

worked 10-day shifts and slept in an 8-by-8-ft fishing cabin.

From there, Yvette proceeded to graduate school at the University of Vermont (UVT). During summers, she collected thesis

data. “I was studying breeding birds so we had to be slaves to

their cycle.” After completing her masters in wildlife biology,

Yvette remained at UVT doing Geographical Information

System (GIS) work, while yearning for life as a field wildlife

biologist.

“It started in Alaska. I discovered a lifestyle that is more

possible in the northern regions of the country.” In March

1998, Yvette faced a tough choice between an area she loved,

Vermont, and the offer of a job she coveted. Reasoning that she

could always return to Vermont but might never again have a

dream job offer, she chose Missoula. She now loves western

Montana where “you can get lost in the wilderness.”

Currently, Yvette studies the effects of knapweed invasion

on animals (see article on page 13). “It’s helping us understand

the current state, at least in terms of knapweed invasion, and

how that is influencing various fauna. Even more important is

understanding how land management strategies aimed at

restoring these systems might themselves end up affecting

fauna. It’s applicable to current hot management strategies like

prescribed fire and herbicides. I love trying to understand how

the pieces fit together. I’m especially impassioned when it has

management application and helps inform decision-making. I

don’t want to be doing research just for research’s sake. That’s

why I’m a researcher with the Forest Service.”

Despite her incredible devotion to research and wild

creatures, Yvette finds time to dance, practice yoga, cross

country ski, run, and “naturalize,” that is, “... poke around

looking at plants and turning over stones. I started off looking

at things in terms of birds—a bird scale. Now I’m realizing

more and more how many different scales there are and how

interrelated they are.”

Most of all, Yvette wants to be known as a person with a

“... passion for ecological issues that are relevant to today’s

management—my passion in general for the natural world.

Each data set is so rich you could explore it forever.” Her

frustration is that she just does not have the time to immerse

herself in all the intricate details of the natural world.
ECO-Report

Bitterroot Ecosystem Management

Research Project

USDA Forest Service

Rocky Mountain Research Station

P.O. Box 8089

Missoula, MT 59807

Greg Jones, Research Forester and BEMRP Program Leader,

RMRS, Economic Aspects of Forest Management on Public

Lands, Missoula

The year 2000 fires on the Bitterroot National Forest captured

national attention as they burned through 356,000 acres on and

around the Forest. The fires have created tremendous opportunities

to learn about fire effects, human interaction with fire, and the effectiveness of

various treatments taken in response to fire.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, there

are more than 60 known studies underway

on the Bitterroot Forest. Funding for these

studies is as varied as the participants. With

this level of activity, the potential exists for

incompatible study designs where sampling

done by one study has undesirable effects

on another. There is also a potential for

conflicts between research and management

activities, and opportunities for sharing

data.

Coordinating these research efforts is

unfolding as a new role for BEMRP. A key

element in that role is sharing funding with

the Bitterroot Forest for a new Research/

Management Coordinator position now filled by Sharon (Sherry)

Ritter. Sherry has 22 years of professional experience in natural

resource management. (See article introducing Sherry on page 3.)

New Directions for BEMRP:

A Note From the Program Leader

The research/management coordinator position has four main

responsibilities:

1. To coordinate research studies. This involves identifying

potential conflicts in methodology and bringing those conflicts to

the attention of researchers. It also involves identifying opportunities for cooperation among researchers, such as collecting data in

common. Key opportunities for efficiency

involve requests for data from the Forest.

2. To coordinate research and management. This entails identifying potential

conflicts between research design and

management objectives, such as situations

where management treatments are

scheduled for areas that contain research

control plots.

3. To aid in distribution of research

results to managers, particularly those

associated with current management

issues.

4. To aid in information feedback from

land managers to researchers that might

identify new research opportunities or

productive revisions to existing studies.

The responsibilities for this position

are challenging. However, early indications are that it will contribute to significantly better communication and coordination between

the research and management communities.

Greg Jones, BEMRP Program Leader. Photo

by Kurt Krueger.

Dead whitebark pine, Beaver Ridge

study site. Photo by Janie CantonThompson.