EIGHTY-EIGHT

YEARS OF CHANGE

IN A MANAGED

PONDEROSA PINE

FOREST

1909

1989

1997 1997

Photopoint 13

Photopoint 13

Photopoint 13 Adjacent Forest

United States

Department

of Agriculture

Forest Service

Rocky Mountain

Research Station

General Technical Report

RMRS-GTR-23

March 1999
Rocky Mountain Research Station

324 25th Street

Ogden, UT 84401

Abstract

Smith, Helen Y.; Arno, Stephen F., eds. 1999. Eighty-eight years of change in a managed ponderosa pine forest.

Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Rocky Mountain Research Station.

55 p.

This publication gives an overview of structural and other ecological changes associated with forest management

and fire suppression since the early 1900’s in a ponderosa pine forest, the most widespread forest type in the Western

United States. Three sources of information are presented: (1) changes seen in a series of repeat photographs taken

between 1909 and 1997 at 13 camera points; (2) knowledge from 19 authors who have investigated effects of recent

ecosystem-based management treatments; integrated with (3) findings of forest changes related to earlier treatments

and to succession. The contributing authors discuss effects of historical silviculture and recent ecosystem-based

management treatments, including an evaluation of various burning prescriptions in terms of tree response,

undergrowth, soils, wildlife habitat, and esthetics and public acceptance.

Keywords: ecosystem-based management, forest succession, prescribed fire

Acknowledgments

The cooperation of numerous people on the Bitterroot

National Forest, including current and now-retired employees, has been key to the success in maintaining and

promoting the Lick Creek Demonstration/Research Forest. Some of those employees, along with researchers

from both the Forest Service and The University of

Montana, are contributing authors for this publication

(see appendix A).

The manuscript reviewers gave invaluable comments

and we extend our gratitude to them for working within

our limited timeframe. They were: James K. Brown,

retired from the Intermountain Research (now Rocky

Mountain) Station, Missoula, MT; James R. Habeck,

retired from The University of Montana, Missoula, MT;

George E. Gruell, a Forest Service retiree who was

employed by the Intermountain (now Rocky Mountain)

Research Station in Missoula, MT, and then the Intermountain Region in Carson City, NV; and Penelope

Morgan from the University of Idaho, Moscow, ID.

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

imply endorsement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture of any product or service.
Table of Conversions

Parameter Multiply this unit By this factor To obtain this unit

Basal area Square feet per acre 0.2296 Square meters per hectare

(ft2/acre) (m2/ha)

Square meters per hectare 4.3562 Square feet per acre

(m2/ha) (ft2

/acre)

Timber volume Board feet per acre 0.00583 Cubic meters per hectare

(bd ft/acre) (m3/ha)

Cubic meters per hectare 171.503 Board feet per acre

(m3/ha) (bd ft/acre)

Length Feet (ft) 0.3048 Meters (m)

Meters (m) 3.2808 Feet (ft)

Inches (in.) 2.54 Centimeters (cm)

Centimeters (cm) 0.3937 Inches (in.)

Miles 1.6093 Kilometers (km)

Kilometers (km) 0.6214 Miles

Area Acres 0.4047 Hectares (ha)

Hectares (ha) 2.4711 Acres
Contents

Page

Introduction (Stephen F. Arno) .............................................................................................. 1

The Setting and Historical Background (revised from Gruell and others 1982) ................... 3

Natural Forest Succession and Fire History (modified from Gruell and others 1982) ........... 5

Historical Silvicultural Treatments ........................................................................................ 10

Early Silvicultural Story (modified from Gruell and others 1982) ..................................... 10

Harvest Cutting Treatments, 1907 to 1911 (James P. Menakis) ................................... 10

Residual Stand Growth Response (modified from Gruell and others 1982) .................... 12

Natural Regeneration Response to Initial Treatments (modified from Gruell and

others 1982) ............................................................................................................... 14

Harvest Cutting Treatments and Thinning Study, 1952 to 1981 (James P. Menakis

and Gruell and others 1982)....................................................................................... 14

Response to 1950’s Harvest Cutting (modified from Gruell and others 1982) ................ 16

Additional Treatments 1960 through 1981 (James P. Menakis) ....................................... 16

Summary of Harvest Cutting Treatments (James P. Menakis) ........................................ 17

Immature Stand Management (modified from Gruell and others 1982) ........................ 18

Interpretations of Vegetative Change Through 1989: the Photopoints (text modified from

Gruell and others 1982; photo layout and design by Dennis G. Simmerman) ........... 20

Ecosystem-Based Management Treatments (Stephen F. Arno) ......................................... 22

The Need for Ecosystem Management ............................................................................ 22

Forest Planning Sets the Stage ........................................................................................ 22

Considerations for Ecosystem Management at Lick Creek .............................................. 23

Experimental Treatments Applied ..................................................................................... 23

Shelterwood Treatments ............................................................................................... 25

Selection Treatments..................................................................................................... 25

Commercial Thin Treatments ........................................................................................ 25

Effects of Ecosystem-Based Management Treatments ....................................................... 27

Prescribed Burn Weather, Fuel Moistures, and Fuel Reduction on All

Cutting Units (Michael G. Harrington) ........................................................................ 27

Tree Response ................................................................................................................. 28

Stand Structure Response to Harvesting and Prescribed Burning on Shelterwood...... 31

Cutting and Commercial Thinning Units (Michael G. Harrington) .............................. 28

Stand Structure in Response to Selection Cutting and Burning (Carl E. Fiedler).......... 31

Tree Regeneration ............................................................................................................ 35

Natural Regeneration, Shelterwood Cutting Unit (Stephen F. Arno) ............................. 35

Artificial Regeneration, Shelterwood Cutting Unit (Ward W. McCaughey,

Leon J. Theroux and Clinton E. Carlson) ................................................................... 35

Undergrowth Response, Shelterwood Cutting Unit (Stephen F. Arno) ............................. 36

Influence of Selection Harvest and Prescribed Fire on Soil Nitrogen ............................... 37

Initial Response of Mineral Nitrogen, Selection Cutting Unit

(Michael G. Harrington) .............................................................................................. 37
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Ogden Service Center Fort Collins Service Center

Telephone (801) 625-5437 (970) 498-1719

FAX (801) 625-5129, Attn: Publications (970) 498-1660

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Mailing Address Publications Distribution Publications Distribution

Rocky Mountain Research Station Rocky Mountain Research Station

324 25th Street 3825 E. Mulberry Street

Ogden, UT 84401 Fort Collins, CO 80524

Microbial Response and Nitrogen Availability, Selection Cutting Unit

(Kristin L. Zouhar and Thomas H. DeLuca)................................................................ 39

Antelope Bitterbrush and Scouler’s Willow Response, Shelterwood

Cutting Unit (Donald J. Bedunah, Michael G. Harrington, and Dayna M. Ayers) ....... 40

Effects of Logging and Burning on Birds During the Nonbreeding Season,

Shelterwood Cutting Unit (Elizabeth A. Beringer, Sallie J. Hejl, and Lynn Bacon)..... 43

Wildlife Snag Production, Commercial Thinning and Shelterwood Cutting Units

(Michael G. Harrington) .............................................................................................. 43

Effect of Management Activities on Esthetics, All Cutting Units (Robert E. Benson) ....... 44

Educational Value (Jane Kapler Smith and Rick Floch) .................................................. 44

Relevance of Lick Creek Ecosystem-Based Management Treatments to National

Forest Management (Cathy Stewart) ........................................................................ 46

Conclusions (Stephen F. Arno and Michael G. Harrington) ................................................. 47

References ........................................................................................................................... 50

Appendix A: Contributing Authors and Affiliations................................................................ 52

Appendix B: Plant and Animal Names (Common and Scientific) ......................................... 53

Appendix C: Summary of vegetation Changes in Shelterwood Cutting Unit ....................... 54

Display Poster ...................................................................................(in pouch on back cover)

Page
Eighty-Eight Years of Change in a

Managed Ponderosa Pine Forest

Helen Y. Smith, Ecologist Trainee, Rocky Mountain Research

Station, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, located

at the Fire Sciences Laboratory, Missoula, MT.

Stephen F. Arno, Research Forester, Rocky Mountain Research

Station, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, located

at the Fire Sciences Laboratory, Missoula, MT.

Editors:
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999 1

INTRODUCTION

Stephen F. Arno

This publication displays and interprets changes

in a managed ponderosa pine forest in western

Montana based on a series of repeat photographs

taken between 1909 and 1997 at 13 camera points. We

also present information on:

• Pre-1900 conditions and ecological relationships

in this forest.

• Historical harvesting treatments (beginning in

1906) and ensuing stand development.

• Changes associated with fire suppression and

related forest succession.

• The initial effects of ecosystem-based management treatments carried out as a research and

demonstration study in the early 1990’s. Ecosystem-based management treatments are designed

to benefit the ecosystem as a whole, rather than

focusing on a few components such as timber

production or big game habitat.

Our presentation is relatively nontechnical; for example, in the text we use only common names of

animals and plants and direct the reader to appendix

B for a list of scientific names. We intended this

publication for a broad audience of people interested in

forest conservation and management. The information should give readers insight to some of the outcomes associated with alternative management and

protection strategies. Such knowledge is critical in

view of major decisions currently being weighed by

professionals, the public, and politicians regarding

future management direction for most National Forest lands (for example, Haynes and others 1996).

Evaluations of ecosystem-based management treatments, although not comprehensive, do include responses of trees, undergrowth, fuels, soil nutrients,

wildlife cover and forage habitat, and esthetic values.

We also assess the effectiveness of the treatments as

a first step in the process of restoring the ecological

role of fire in perpetuating forests containing old

growth ponderosa pine.

Our report is an update and expansion of Gruell

and others (1982), which presented the 1909 to 1979

photo sequence. We describe historical changes in

forest structure and some effects of ecosystem-based

management treatments, but we do not include the

descriptions of general wildlife relationships and

livestock use (now relatively minor) provided in Gruell

and others (1982). We have added photographs taken

in 1989 and 1997 as well as one previously unpublished photo series and a newly discovered series from

1909 to 1937. The 1909 photographs were taken during the Lick Creek Timber Sale on the Bitterroot

National Forest—a silvicultural partial cutting that

constituted the first large ponderosa pine timber sale

in what is now the Northern Region of the USDA

Forest Service. In the 1920’s the photopoints were

relocated, permanently marked, and rephotographed.

Thereafter, the photographs were retaken every decade. These photo series allow readers to witness

changes in the forest. Accompanying captions provide

interpretations of factors linked to visible changes—

for example, harvest and thinning activities, tree

mortality from bark beetle attacks, and advancing

forest succession in the absence of fire.

Gruell and others (1982) was greeted with considerable interest by forest managers, biologists, and the

general public because it illustrated the dynamic

change that the forest underwent over time. The press

run of 3,000 copies was exhausted in less than a year.

The authors presented detailed evidence that prior to

1900, frequent low-intensity fires had maintained

open stands of large ponderosa pines, still visible in

the 1909 photos. The 1909 to 1979 sequences of photographs from each camera point showed that despite

carefully guided partial cutting, cessation of fires

often allowed development of a dense understory of

small trees. Gruell and others (1982) concluded that

the 1909 to 1979 successional trend was creating

structural conditions that would increase susceptibility to severe wildfires, shifting composition toward the

more shade-tolerant Douglas-fir and contributing to a

loss of wildlife forage. To reverse these trends, the

authors recommended reintroduction of low-intensity

fires through the use of prescribed burning in conjunction with partial cutting and thinning.

To test the above recommendations, in 1989 the

Bitterroot National Forest requested that the Intermountain Research Station (now Rocky Mountain Research Station) conduct research and demonstration

studies at Lick Creek. In 1991, a series of replicated
2 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999

treatment studies was begun with a suite of silvicultural cutting and underburning. The goal was to

maintain healthy pine-dominated forests containing

large trees, desirable wildlife habitat, and low risk to

severe damage by wildfire or epidemics of insects or

disease. Cutting treatments were commercial thinning in a young stand, retention shelterwood in a 80-

year-old stand, and single-tree selection in a stand

containing some old-growth trees. Fire treatments

(and no-burn controls) combined with the cuttings

were conducted in both spring and fall and under

contrasting levels of duff moisture.

We now report the initial effects of the experimental

treatments, and also illustrate the appearance of the

treatments at the historical photopoints. The 1989

retakes represent a pretreatment condition, and the

1997 retakes are 4 years after experimental treatments were conducted at some of these sites (see

poster in pouch on back cover). We have also included

an example photo series that was established in 1991

expressly to illustrate the treatments and year-byyear response. Coincidentally, the kinds of treatments

that we report and illustrate are now widely recommended for large areas of ponderosa pine forests

throughout western North America. These treatments

fit the concept of ecosystem-based management that

was embraced by the USDA Forest Service soon after

this study began (Overbay 1992). Ecosystem-based

management seeks to sustain desired conditions, uses,

and values of wildland forests using management that

works within the scope of natural processes that historically shaped these forests (Salwasser and Pfister

1994).

The success of the Lick Creek ecosystem-based management treatments led us to propose a much broader

research and demonstration effort—the Bitterroot Ecosystem Management Research Project (BEMRP)—

which was funded in 1994 by the Washington Office of

the USDA Forest Service. BEMRP has been a 5-year

project to help develop ecosystem-based management

at the landscape level. Many researchers from the

Rocky Mountain Research Station and The University

of Montana have worked with National Forest personnel and communicated with interested publics. This

publication has been produced just in time for the

conference (May 1999) that culminates BEMRP,

although as a result of its success another 5-year

BEMRP with an updated mission has now been

established.

In a broader sense, however, we are clearly just

beginning the process of instituting ecosystem-based

management on the Bitterroot National Forest and

elsewhere in the ponderosa pine zone of the Inland

West. The photo series and historical inventories and

documentation at Lick Creek will be consulted as a

basis for continual refinement of management that

fits in with natural ecological processes. This publication is intended to serve as a reference for that longterm effort.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999 3

In much of forested North America, there is little

reliable information on changes in vegetation over

long periods. An exception is the Lick Creek drainage

on the Bitterroot National Forest in west-central

Montana, thanks to the foresight of USDA Forest

Service personnel who have photographically recorded

vegetation over the 88 years between 1909 and 1997.

This photographic series provides a unique opportunity to visually interpret changes in a ponderosa pine/

inland Douglas-fir forest. Changes depicted also allow

an evaluation of how resource uses and activities have

been influenced by logging and exclusion of fire. Similar changes have occurred over much of the ponderosa

pine/Douglas-fir type in the Inland West, where shadetolerant Douglas-fir would represent the potential

climax were it not for disturbances such as fire and

logging.

The photo study is near Lick Creek (latitude 46°5'

N., longitude 114°15' W.), site of a 1906 ponderosa pine

timber sale on National Forest lands. This area is 13

air miles southwest of Hamilton, MT, at elevations

between 4,300 and 4,600 ft (fig. 1). The terrain is

mostly 10 to 30 percent slopes except for localized

northerly and southerly slopes of up to 70 percent.

Soils are derived from granitic parent materials and

are shallow to moderately deep. Some poorly drained

areas and clay soils exist at the lowest elevations.

Weather data recorded 5 air miles southeast of the

study area at Darby, MT (elevation 3,887 ft) suggest

that the mean annual precipitation at Lick Creek is

about 20 inches (USDA Soil Conservation Service

1977). Approximately 50 percent of this falls in the

form of snow.

Because many years have passed since the original

timber sale, records concerning USDA Forest Service

participants are sketchy. Some of the people who are

known to have been involved include Elers Koch,

forest inspector and Bitterroot Forest Supervisor from

1906 to 1908; Wilford W. White, sale administrator

and Bitterroot Forest Supervisor from 1909 to 1921;

John Preston, Acting Deputy Forest Supervisor; Ranger

Than Wilkerson; Earl Tanner; E. C. Clifford; Claget

Sanders, the scaler; and “lumberman” C. J. Gregory.

Gifford Pinchot, the first Chief of the USDA Forest

THE SETTING AND HISTORICAL

BACKGROUND

Revised from Gruell and others (1982)

Service, provided direction for this sale (Koch 1998). In

a letter to Pinchot, Elers Koch (1937) wrote: “I consider

this area [Lick Creek] one of the most satisfactory

timber sale operations in the Region, and feel that

your personal instruction in the early stages of the

timber marking was largely responsible for the present

splendid condition of the sale area.” The Big Blackfoot

Milling Company, a subsidiary of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company, purchased the timber and did

the logging according to USDA Forest Service specifications. The company had a virtual monopoly in logging private lands in the Bitterroot Valley and expected no competition in bidding for the Forest Service

sale; but unexpectedly an Idaho outfit, Hitt and

Melquist, outbid them (Koch 1998). Later, the company bought the contract from Hitt and Melquist at

considerable profit to the original bidder.

Because of the importance of the Lick Creek sale, a

Washington Office photographer, W. J. Lubkin, was

sent west to document the logging activity in 1909.

Lubkin obtained excellent photos by using a 6.5 by 8.5

inch (17 by 22 cm) view box camera and glass plates.

The camera points were not permanently marked

because this was not part of the assignment. Fortunately, in November 1925, K. D. Swan, photographer

for the USDA Forest Service Northern Region, accompanied W. W. White on a trip to the Lick Creek area to

see if the camera points could be located. Swan (1968)

recalled how White was able to locate the original

photo points:

The quest was extremely fascinating. White had a

good memory and was able to spot, in a general way,

the locations we were after. Peculiar stumps and logs

were a great help. Just when we might seem baffled in

the search for a particular spot, something would show

up to give us a key. The clue might be the bark pattern

on a ponderosa pine, or perhaps a forked trunk.

The camera we were using duplicated the one used

for the original pictures, and when a spot was once

found it was a simple matter to adjust the outfit so that

the image on the ground glass would coincide with the

print we were holding. It was an exciting game, and we

felt it was more fun than work.

In 1938, the temporary camera points located in

1925 were permanently marked with brass caps by Forest

Supervisor G. M. Brandborg and Ranger C. Shockley
4 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999

Figure 1—Lick Creek study area showing locations of photopoints.

(fig. 1). The original photographs were repeated in

1925, 1927, and 1937 to 1938 by K. D. Swan. He was

followed by USDA Forest Service employees W. E.

Steuerwald, 1948, 1958; Wyman Schmidt, 1968; and

William Reich, 1979. Most of the retake photographs

were made with 4 by 5 inch Crown Graphic cameras.

Dennis Simmerman took the photographs in 1989 and

1997, using a Mamiya RB67 camera.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999 5

“Succession” is the term applied to a change or

sequence of vegetation on a given site through time

following disturbance. For example, a succession of

plant communities that follows clearcutting with broadcast burning of slash might be (1) grass-forb, (2)

shrubfield, (3) saplings and shrubs, (4) pole-size trees,

(5) mature forest, and (6) old-growth forest. Succession also applies to the sequence of species that dominate a general community type. Thus, a forest stand

may initially be dominated by ponderosa pine (a shadeintolerant tree), which gives way to inland Douglas-fir

(intermediate in shade-tolerance), and finally to grand

fir (shade-tolerant) with increasing time since disturbance. Forest managers need to be able to understand

and predict succession because vegetation change

greatly affects management for livestock grazing, wildlife, timber, fire and fuels, watershed, and recreational values.

The Lick Creek photopoints present a rare opportunity to witness forest succession in managed stands

through 88 years. But to assess this managementinfluenced succession, we should be aware of the kind

of forest succession that preceded it and may have

occurred if the stand was left unmanaged. The

photopoints occur on two general types of sites or

“habitat types,” which support somewhat different

vegetation and have different patterns of succession

(Pfister and others 1977). A habitat type is a measure

of site (physical environment), based upon the potential or “climax” vegetation—the type of plant community that represents the conceptual self-perpetuating

endpoint of succession.

Fire and other disturbances usually intervene and

prevent development of climax communities in these

forests, but a knowledge of shade tolerances and successional trends allows us to identify the theoretical or

potential climax on most sites. This ultimate vegetative type is a reflection of the overall physical environment. The potential climax vegetation can be used as

clues to the site conditions (Pfister and others 1977).

All of the Lick Creek photopoints occur on sites

where Douglas-fir is the potential climax dominant

NATURAL FOREST SUCCESSION

AND FIRE HISTORY

Modified from Gruell and others (1982)

tree. The majority of points are located on two relatively dry Douglas-fir habitat types:

1. Pseudotsuga menziesii/Calamagrostis rubescens

h.t., Pinus ponderosa phase (PSME/CARU-PIPO;

Douglas-fir/pinegrass h.t., ponderosa pine phase).

2. Pseudotsuga menziesii/Symphoricarpos albus h.t.,

Calamagrostis rubescens phase (PSME/SYALCARU; Douglas-fir/snowberry h.t., pinegrass

phase).

However, four photopoints are on moist Douglas-fir

habitat types:

1. Pseudotsuga menziesii/Vaccinium caespitosum h.t.

(PSME/VACA; Douglas-fir/dwarf huckleberry

h.t.); and

2. Pseudotsuga menziesii/Vaccinium globulare h.t.,

Arctostaphylos uva-ursi phase (PSME/VAGLARUV; Douglas-fir/blue huckleberry h.t.,

kinnikinnick phase).

It is evident from the early photographs, accounts of

early forest conditions (Leiberg 1899), and fire history

studies (Arno 1976), that prior to logging and the

advent of fire suppression in the early 1900’s, the

lower elevation forests of the Bitterroot Valley were

made up of moderately dense stands of large ponderosa pine (fig. 2). Surface fires swept through these

stands at intervals of between 3 and 30 years (Arno

1976), killing most of the smallest trees but causing

little damage except for fire scars at the base of some,

but not all, of the larger trees (Leiberg 1899). These

fires killed the aerial portions of grasses and shrubs,

but afterwards most of these species regenerated from

underground organs. Tree seedlings also became established after the fires.

Lightning was a principal cause of these fires, but

recent studies (Arno and others 1997; Barrett and

Arno 1982) point out that Native American Indians

(Salish and others) were also an important ignition

source. Settlement by European-Americans became

significant in the Bitterroot Valley below Lick Creek

starting about 1860, but apparently this had little
6 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999

effect upon the role of fire until about 1900 (Arno

1976). Fire scar studies from similar sites in the

Bitterroot Valley indicate that the pattern of frequent

surface fires was in effect at least as early as 1500

(Barrett and Arno 1982).

In the spring of 1980, Arno and Gruell spent several

hours searching the central portion of the photopoint

study area for evidence of fire history. They found that

large, old fire-scarred stumps (mostly ponderosa pine,

but also some Douglas-fir on north-facing slopes) were

common throughout the area. Evidently, most of these

were the remains of trees cut in the 1907 to 1911

logging, and many of them were scarred by at least six

to 12 fires in the 200 to 250 years prior to logging. Six

of the best preserved and most complete fire-scar

sequences, four from pitch-laden ponderosa pine

stumps and two from live ponderosa pine, were crosssectioned. The cross-sections were sanded and annual

rings were counted under magnification to date the

probable year of each fire scar. These fire-scar dates

from the individual stumps and trees were then correlated and adjusted slightly to account for minor ringcounting errors as described by Arno and Sneck (1977).

This produced a fire chronology for the stand as a

whole. Table 1 presents the individual fire scar records

and the fire chronology.

These records indicate that light surface fires swept

through the forest at intervals averaging 7 years

between A.D. 1600 and 1895. One of the cross-sectioned stumps (labeled “below photopoint 6” in table 1)

shows 16 fire scars between 1752 and 1890 (fig. 3). For

a more detailed discussion of the fire history for ponderosa pine forests on the Bitterroot National Forest

see Arno and Petersen (1983).

Although the sites at Lick Creek are capable of

supporting both ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir, the

pre-1900 fire regime brought about development of

uneven-aged stands of ponderosa pine. Douglas-fir

saplings are readily killed by surface fires, whereas

some ponderosa pine saplings often survive. (Small

Douglas-fir are sensitive to fire because of the thin,

photosynthetically active bark along with their small

buds and fine branchlets. Ponderosa pine of comparable size have already developed a layer of corky

outer bark and they have large, protected buds and

thicker twigs.) Thus, there was a continual selection

pressure against Douglas-fir. This phenomenon was

acknowledged by W. W. White (1924). Figure 4 depicts

relative abundance of these two conifers in both the

overstory and the understory during the pre-1900 fire

regime. If it had not been for frequent fires, the more

shade-tolerant Douglas-fir would have been able to

regenerate under the pine and eventually dominate

the site, as shown in figure 5.

Field observations by Leiberg (1899) and historical

accounts compiled by Weaver (1974) and Barrett (1981)

state that many pre-1900 ponderosa pine/Douglas-fir

forests had open, grassy undergrowth, and this is

borne out by the 1909 photographs at Lick Creek. (See

also Leiberg 1899.)

The native, dry grassland species—bluebunch wheatgrass, Idaho fescue, and arrowleaf balsamroot (identifiable in the early photographs)—formed the undergrowth on the drier sites (PSME/CARU-PIPO and

PSME/SYAL-CARU). The undergrowth on moist habitat types (PSME/VACA and PSME/VAGL-ARUV) was

primarily sod-forming (rhizomatous) woodland

grasses—pinegrass and elk sedge—along with the low

shrubs—kinnikinnick, snowberry, white spiraea, dwarf

huckleberry, and blue huckleberry. On both dry and

moist habitat types, understory conifers and large

shrubs such as bitterbrush, willow, and serviceberry

were scarce because of the frequent surface fires.

The 1909 photos, as well as the Leiberg (1899)

photos, show that although the understories were

open, the stands were “heavily stocked” with large

ponderosa pine trees (modest growth rates and relatively high basal areas of tree stems per acre attest

that these early stands were fully stocked or overstocked in terms of timber production). The trees

had clear boles because the lower limbs had been

shaded out and scorched by fire. In addition to fire,

dominance of large pines contributed to a scarcity of

tree regeneration and shrubs in the understory. Shrubs

and small trees were probably also inhibited by tree

root systems utilizing much of the soil moisture and

nutrients.

The overstory pines often lived 300 to 600 years

(Arno and others 1995). They evidently died and were

replaced individually or in small groups. When openings occurred, new pines would generally grow and

fill them. Some saplings would succumb to damage

by the next surface fire, but others would survive.

Figure 2—Photo of unlogged forest at Lick Creek in 1909.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999 7

Table 1—Fire chronologies for six fire-scarred trees and stumps at the Lick Creek photopoints, Bitterroot National Forest; X = an individual fire

scar (42 fires between 1600 and 1900 yields a mean fire interval of 7 years).

Live tree at Stump at Stump at Live tree below Stump below Stump at

Estimated photopoint 3 photopoint 2 photopoint 1 photopoint 6 photopoint 6 photopoint 8

fire year* (cambium 1979) (cut about 1905) (Cut after 1903) (cambium 1979) (cut about 1902) (cut about 1906)

1895 X X

1890 X X X

1883 X X

1875 X

1871 X X X X X X

1861 X X X

1856 X X

1850 X X

1846 X

1842 X X

1838 X X X X X

1832 X

1828 X X

1821 X X X X

1818 X X X

1811 X X

1806 X X X

1798 X X X X

1795 X X X

1790 X X

1786 X

1783 X X X

1780 X

1776 X X X X

1771 X X

1758 X X

1752 X X X

1744 X X X

1734 X

1729 X

1719 X

1713 X

1707 X

1702(?) X(?)

1693 X

1681 X

1672 X

1657 X

1651 X

1646 X

1642 X

1618 X

1598 X

1586 X

1552 X

1545 X

1444 X

pith date 1648 1724 1617 rotten rotten 1428

*These samples were not dendrochronologically cross-dated.

Occasionally, combinations of unusually dry years

coupled with epidemics of yellow pine butterfly and

pine beetles would cause substantial mortality as they

did in some dry sites in the Bitterroot Valley during

the early 1970’s. C.A. Wellner (personal communication) noted that the beetle caused heavy losses at

Trapper Creek and in some other areas of the Bitterroot in the mid- to late-1930’s, which were dry years.

Still, old-growth ponderosa pine forests with open

understories perpetuated by surface fires evidently

dominated the Lick Creek area for centuries prior to

1900 (see also Arno and others 1995, 1997).
8 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999

Figure 3—Cross-section from the

ponderosa pine stump below photopoint

6 (see table 1) at Lick Creek, showing 16

fire scars between 1752 and 1890 (Gruell

and others 1982).

Figure 4—The effect of succession on relative abundance of ponderosa pine and

Douglas-fir at Lick Creek: hypothesized succession with underburns at 5- to 15-year

intervals (Gruell and others 1982).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999 9

Figure 5—The effect of succession on relative abundance of ponderosa pine

and Douglas-fir at Lick Creek: hypothesized succession with fire control and no

cutting (Gruell and others 1982).
10 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999

Early Silvicultural Story __________

Modified from Gruell and others (1982)

The Lick Creek timber sale of 1906 attracted much

attention because it was the first large National Forest timber sale (2,135 acres) in the ponderosa pine

cover type in the USDA Forest Service Northern

Region. A total of 37,600,000 board feet (bd ft) was cut

(White 1924).

Professional forestry and the USDA Forest Service

were in their infancy in the United States and there

was little research or experience on which to base

silvicultural prescriptions for any of our forest cover

types. Ponderosa pine was, and continues to be, a highvalue timber species.

Frequent, low-intensity fires had favored ponderosa

pine and had suppressed its more shade-tolerant associates (in this area, primarily Douglas-fir). Douglas-fir

was economically less desirable than the large old

ponderosa pine, so silvicultural practices were aimed

at perpetuating pine and reducing the fir component.

Autecological requirements of all species were just

beginning to be understood; therefore, silvicultural

treatments were based on limited knowledge.

Harvest Cutting Treatments, 1907 to 1911

James P. Menakis

The virgin stand contained chiefly medium and

large ponderosa pine (fig. 2). Douglas-fir of inferior

wood quality made up about 10 percent of the stand

volume. A small amount of grand fir and spruce was

included in the Douglas-fir volume. Total volume of

sawtimber (10 inches diameter at breast height, dbh,

and larger) of all species averaged 20,810 bd ft per

acre. Tree ages ranged from 200 to 400 years, with

potential site indexes for uncrowded trees averaging

about 52 to 55 ft tall at 50 years for ponderosa pine and

Douglas-fir (Pfister and others 1977).

Although original descriptions of the Lick Creek

cuttings did not classify the silvicultural system, it

could best be described as a selective cutting. Timber

HISTORICAL SILVICULTURAL TREATMENTS

marking practices in this early cutting followed these

criteria (Gruell and others 1982):

1. Leave 30 percent of the ponderosa pine volume for

a future harvest 75 years later.

2. Leave ponderosa pine trees with good crown forms,

or large trees if they were the best or only tree

available.

3. Cut all Douglas-fir over 10 inches dbh.

4. Cut Douglas-fir heavily infected with witch’s broom

(caused by dwarf mistletoe).

5. Thin groups of small diameter ponderosa pine

(this was later dropped because of dissatisfaction

with the quality of the leave trees).

After the marking had started, Gifford Pinchot (first

Chief of the Forest Service) inspected the site. Elers

Koch, Bitterroot Forest Supervisor, described Pinchot’s

reaction to the marking. Pinchot “approved of most of

what we had done, but felt we had been cutting too

heavily, and made us go back and mark out some of the

blazes on doubtful trees with red paint” (Koch 1998).

Actual cutting practices varied considerably during

the 1907 to 1911 period (Gruell and others 1982). In a

limited area, everything over 19 inches dbh was cut.

Size class distribution of the residual stand was reported by White (1924) for the full cutting area and

Menakis (1994) for 250 acres in the drier habitat types

(table 2). The original stand contained an average of

Table 2—Estimated size class distribution of the residual

stand by White (1924) and Menakis (1994).

Size class White (1924) Menakis (1994)

 (inches) - - - - Number of trees per acre - - - -

2 to 4 — 14

6 to 8 2 10

10 to 12 6 11

14 to 16 6 7

18 to 20 5 6

22 to 24 3 3

26 to 30 2 2

32+ 1 0
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999 11

about 50 trees per acre (White 1924), with ponderosa

pine representing about 87 percent and Douglas-fir

about 13 percent in the drier habitat types (fig. 6)

(Menakis 1994). Of these, an average of 25 trees per

acre were cut in the 1907 to 1911 period (White 1924).

Estimates from approximately 250 acres of the

original sale area indicate that about 22 ponderosa

pine and three Douglas-fir per acre were cut (fig. 7).

Average dbh of the pine cut was 23 inches, and for

Douglas-fir, 20 inches (Menakis 1994). Most of the

Figure 6—Estimated average diameter distribution for dry habitat type groups at

Lick Creek in 1906, prior to logging (Menakis 1994).

Figure 7—Estimated average diameter distribution of trees cut

during the 1906 Lick Creek timber sale (Menakis 1994).
12 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999

trees harvested were larger than the average of trees

as a whole, so basal area remaining after logging

averaged only 37 percent of the original 121 ft2

 per

acre (White 1924), with ponderosa pine accounting for

97 percent of the remaining basal area in the drier

habitat types (Menakis 1994).

Differences between White’s and Menakis’ diameter distributions could have resulted from different

sizes and locations of the surveys, as well as different

methodologies used. Boe (1948) observed that the

residual basal area and volumes varied greatly over

the cutover area, with ranges from about 5 to 50

percent of the original stand.

Of the 2,135 acres cut in the 1907 to 1911 period,

1,916 were of the ponderosa pine cover type and 219

were Douglas-fir, spruce, and grand fir (Gruell and

others 1982). The potential vegetation for most of the

area and all of the photopoints are within Douglas-fir

habitat types (Pfister and others 1977). A grand fir

habitat type, including some spruce trees, occurs in

the moist sites along Lick Creek.

In addition to the thinning, an adjacent 320 acres of

private land located along the southern borders of the

Forest Service Lick Creek sale were clearcut in 1906.

The clearcut was not part of the Lick Creek sale, but

the land was later acquired by the Forest Service.

Residual Stand Growth

Response _____________________

Modified from Gruell and others (1982)

An evaluation of the Lick Creek area 35 years after

the 1907 to 1911 cutting showed that average stand

volume of trees 10 inches dbh and larger had increased

from 3,810 bd ft per acre in the residual stand in 1911

to 6,127 per acre in 1946 (Roe 1947a). This amounted

to 66 bd ft per acre annual net growth. Fortunately, the

residual stands that made up this average varied

substantially and provided a basis to evaluate the

effect of residual volume capital on subsequent growth.

To make these evaluations, Roe (1947a) grouped the

1911 residual volumes into four broad classes averaging 627 residual bd ft per acre, 2,396 per acre, 4,655 per

acre, and 9,089 per acre.

Largest net volume increments were made in the

heaviest residual stands. Figure 8 shows that average

annual increment ranged from 2 bd ft per acre where

the reserve stand had averaged 627 bd ft per acre, to

126 bd ft per acre where the reserve stand had averaged 9,089 bd ft per acre. Most growth was made by

merchantable-size trees reserved at the time of the

Figure 8—Average annual net volume increment for 35 years following harvest cutting in relation

to reserve stand volume (Gruell and others 1982).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999 13

Figure 9—The 35-year net volume growth as a percent of the reserve stand volume (Gruell

and others 1982).

initial logging. Although the greatest per acre gains

were in the heaviest residual volumes, on a percentage

basis the most significant increases were in stands

averaging 4,655 bd ft per acre (fig. 9) (Roe 1947b).

In the stands with the light residual volume, Douglas-fir contributed most to the ingrowth (trees less

than 10 inches dbh at the time of the initial harvest

that exceeded 10 inches dbh at the 35-year measurement). The opposite was true in stands with heavy

residuals after the initial cutting. Here, nearly all of

the 35-year growth was ponderosa pine 10 inches dbh

and larger at the time of initial cutting. Intermediate

reserve stand volumes resulted in intermediate response values in relation to both species composition

and volume growth. Thus, stand volume capital played

a role in evaluating the efficacy of reserving different

levels of stand volume.

White (1924) described effects of release on individual ponderosa pine trees. He concluded: “It was

noticed that the removal of one or more trees on the

north seemed to have as much effect on increased

growth as where the removal was on the south. This

was so pronounced that the conclusion is reached that

root competition in yellow pine stands is fully as

important a factor as light.”

Volume increment in stands with the heaviest residual volume increased rapidly. It peaked the second

5-year period after logging, remained relatively high

for about 20 years, and then gradually declined (Roe

1947b). In stands with lighter residual volumes, the

same trends were observed, except that ingrowth

accounted for the increased increment growth.

Ingrowth played a relatively small part (in the

residual stand growth) over all of the cutover area

because there were few understory trees, seedlings,

sapling, and poles in 1907. Frequent surface fires

precluded survival of most understory trees before

that time.

The reserve stand was apparently chosen with a

good appreciation of tree vigor. Mortality averaged

only 8 to 18 bd ft per acre annually for the 35-year

period. No relationship of mortality rates to residual

stand volume was detected. White (1924) concluded

that most mortality was due to windfall shortly after

the cuttings, but a small amount was due to bark

beetles. About 90 percent of the wind losses occurred

the first 3 years after cutting. Windfall was worst on

the eastern and southeastern sides of large openings

created by the logging. Western and northwestern

winds were responsible for the wind losses.
14 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999

During the 1907 to 1911 harvest, logs were transported to landings by means of log chutes, horse

skidding, and steam donkey yarding. Slash was disposed of by piling and burning, which the purchaser

considered to be an unnecessary practice (Koch 1998).

Usually this type of logging and postlogging treatment

results in relatively light site disturbance, and the

photo series tends to corroborate this. Some advance

natural regeneration, primarily Douglas-fir, was

present in the stand prior to logging; most of it became

established in the 10 years prior to logging (Boe 1948).

However, opening of the stand, site disturbance of the

logging, and apparent good seed crops resulted in

adequate subsequent tree regeneration. White (1924)

stated: “Along about 1912, there was a heavy yellow

pine seed crop. That fall, in October, the area was

grazed close by sheep.” The most successful regeneration period was the first 10 years after logging, with a

gradual decline in the second and third decades.

Total subsequent regeneration combining all species was best where reserve volumes averaged about

2,500 bd ft per acre. Lighter volumes resulted in lesser

amounts of regeneration. Reserve volumes greater

than 2,500 bd ft contributed little or no additional aid

in seedling establishment except on southerly aspects

where it enhanced Douglas-fir establishment. Apparently, reserve volumes of about 2,500 bd ft provided

reasonably good conditions for all species, with an

adequate seed source, and shade and moderate competition during the establishment period.

Some conclusions that came out of the evaluations of

natural regeneration were (Boe 1948):

1. Douglas-fir reproduction tends to become established in advance of cutting, due to greater shade

tolerance. The tendency is more pronounced on

the cooler, moister north aspects where Douglasfir predominates. Ponderosa pine generally regenerates after logging and predominates on the

south slopes.

2. It took about 20 years after cutting to restock the

area; however, the peak establishment occurred

in the first 10 years.

NATURAL REGENERATION RESPONSE TO

INITIAL TREATMENTS

Modified from Gruell and others (1982)

3. Height growth of young ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir was about equal for the first 40 years, each

averaging slightly more than 0.6 ft annually.

Consequently, if both species become established

at the same time, the danger of Douglas-fir crowding out the pine is greatly decreased.

Harvest Cutting Treatments and Thinning

Study, 1952 to 1981

James P. Menakis and Gruell and others (1982)

Growth evaluations 35 years after the initial cuttings indicated that a second cutting was needed to

better capitalize on growth potential of the site (Roe

1947b). So in the 1950’s, additional cuttings were

made on a limited portion of the original cutover area.

The following cutting methods were imposed on 468

acres within the original 1907 to 1911 cutover area

(2,135 acres):

• Method A (approximately 223 acres)—Remove old stand in four cuttings; the first in 1907

to 1911, and the other three at 10-year intervals

starting in 1952.

• Method B (approximately 98 acres)—Remove

old stand in three cuttings; the first in 1907 to

1911, half the old residual in 1955, and the other

half in 1962.

• Method C (approximately 147 acres)—Remove old stand in two cuttings; the first in 1907 to

1911, and the remainder of the residual in 1955.

• Method D (approximately 10 acres)—A portion of the 320 acres clearcut in 1907 (private land

then). This area is not included in the 468 acre

figure as no further cutting was planned so it

could be used for comparison purposes.

Crews installed 87 permanent research plots

throughout the cutting units (Methods A-C) with the

objective of determining which method would best

capitalize on the growth potential of the site. In addition, 10 plots were installed in areas treated with

Method D to compare the clearcutting to the selective

cutting. The research plots were scheduled to be
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999 15

remeasured every 5 years. Figure 10 shows the diameter distribution in 1948 for the drier habitat types.

At the time of the second cutting in the 1950’s, stand

volumes averaged about 10,000 bd ft per acre. Method

A removed about one-third of the residual volume (left

after the 1907 to 1911 cutting) and was completed in

1952. Method B removed about one-half of the residual

volume and was completed in 1956. Method C removed

all of the residual volume but left one-third of the total

volume and was completed in 1956 (fig. 11). The

minimum dbh specifying the merchantability of a tree

was 14 inches for method A, and 12 inches for methods

B and C. Logs were mainly tractor skidded, with a pan

under the front of the logs; however, there was some

supplemental jammer skidding.

Marking practices to accomplish these partial cuttings were:

1. Remove high-risk trees (those which would not

survive 10 to 20 years).

2. Remove damaged or defective trees, with special

emphasis on one of the following: spiked tops,

lightning scars, butt rots, and leans in excess of

20 degrees.

Figure 10—Estimated average diameter distributions for dry habitat type groups at

Lick Creek in 1948 (Menakis 1994).

3. Remove poor quality, merchantable subordinates.

4. Remove extremely slow growing, overmature trees.

5. Release subordinates by removing merchantable

overstory trees of lesser quality.

6. Remove all merchantable Douglas-fir.

7. Remove dominant trees from mature and

overmature groups.

A stand improvement cut followed the first entries

with the objective of providing fast growing, uniformly

spaced second-growth ponderosa pine. Crop trees (4 to

9 inches dbh) were released from competing trees at an

average spacing of 20 by 20 feet. Stand improvement

cuts were completed in 1953 in method A and in 1956

in method B and C. Method A had additional stand

improvements that included:

1. Pruning selected crop trees to 17 feet in height,

but never removing more then 40 percent of the

crown.

2. Thinning saplings (1 to 3 inches dbh) to a spacing

that averaged 15 by 15 feet.

3. Removing unhealthy and defective trees 4 to 9

inches dbh (killed by poisoning).
16 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999

Response to 1950’s Harvest

Cutting ________________________

Modified from Gruell and others (1982)

Response following the 1950’s cutting was similar to

that after the original 1907 to 1911 cutting; greatest

increases in merchantable volume were in stands with

the largest reserve volumes. Net volume growth exceeded that following the original cuttings, ranging

from about 150 bd ft per acre in stands with 2,000 bd

ft per acre reserve volume to 235 bd ft in stands with

12,000 bd ft reserve stand volume. Ingrowth accounted

for about 30 percent of the volume growth in the lightly

stocked reserve stand and only about 3 percent in the

more heavily stocked reserve stand. About half of the

ingrowth was Douglas-fir, in spite of the attempts to

enhance ponderosa pine and discourage Douglas-fir.

Lumber recovered from these second cuttings was

similar in quality to that from virgin stands. Approximately 15 percent of the lumber was select, 60 percent

in two and three common grades, and the remainder in

lower grades.

Additional Treatments 1960 through

1981 __________________________

James P. Menakis

A light stand improvement treatment was applied to

method D in 1960. This treatment differed from other

stand improvement treatments in that only a few 4- to

Figure 11—An example of method C before (1955) and 5 years after cutting. Photo at right (1998)

shows recovery after 1950’s and 1960’s cuttings and 1994 underburning.

9-inch diameter trees were removed that were defective or unhealthy. The treatment was very light and

patchy.

The third entry of Method A was completed in 1962.

The harvest removed only one-third of the residual

(1907 to 1911) trees, instead of the scheduled half,

because many of the residual trees were growing well.

The marking of trees followed the 1952 sale criteria

except for emphasizing the removal of Douglas-fir

heavily infected with dwarf mistletoe, and specifying

minimum tree merchantability at a dbh of 9.6 inches.

The thinning was followed 2 years later (1964) by a

stand improvement cut aimed at removing smaller

diameter Douglas-fir infected with mistletoe and additional thinning and pruning of crop trees remaining

after the 1952 thinning.

Unfortunately, the thinning study was terminated

in 1966 because of a restructuring of the USDA Forest

Service Research Units. Future cuttings quickly deviated from the 1950’s study design, creating several

subdivisions in the original methods. Based on the

new treatment boundaries (determined during the

1991 remeasurement) method A was subdivided into

three groups (A1, A2, and A3), and methods B and C

were each subdivided into four and three groups,

respectively (labeling similar to method A) (fig. 12).

Methods B1 through B4 were thinned in 1967 following the guidelines in the 1950’s study plan. Most of

the remaining residual (1907 to 1911) trees were

removed, as well as all of the merchantable Douglasfir. A stand improvement cut, which also included
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999 17

Figure 12—A map of the Lick Creek study area with methods A through D (described in text)

delineated (Menakis 1994). Asterisk in area C2 shows location of photopoint for figure 11.

methods C1 and C2, followed the thinning with the

objective of pruning and releasing crop trees.

In 1979, a large timber sale occurred on the west

portion of the study area, affecting methods A3, B3,

B4, and C3. The criteria for selecting trees were:

1. Release healthy, vigorous understory trees.

2. Salvage high risk and overmature trees.

3. Remove diseased and insect damaged trees to

provide space for healthy trees.

4. Remove about 50 percent of the crown cover.

The minimum diameter to determine merchantability

was 8 inches dbh. The sale was followed (in 1981) by a

light and patchy underburn.

In 1980, a light stand improvement thinning was

applied to methods A2, B1, B4, and C1. The objective

of the thinning was to improve the growing space of

sapling trees. The thinning was light and patchy, with

saplings being hand piled. The exact extent of this

treatment is unknown. Table 3 summarizes the history of the Lick Creek area by Methods.

Summary of Harvest Cutting

Treatments _____________________

James P. Menakis

In 1991, the permanent plots established in the late

1940’s and early 1950’s were remeasured in an attempt to evaluate the different treatments. Unfortunately, because of the range of activities that took

place and divided the original treatments, any comparison would be inconclusive. Table 4 stratifies methods by the number of commercial cuttings.

Despite the strong effort to limit the number of

Douglas-fir trees in the Lick Creek area, by 1991 the

percent of basal area per acre of Douglas-fir, when

compared to total basal area, had increased by about

18 percent in the drier habitat types. The total number

of trees per acre also increased by about four times

during this period, with most of this increase in diameters less than 6 inches (fig. 13).
18 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999

Table 3—Historical management activities by method (see fig. 12) (Menakis 1994).

Date Method

Month Year Activity A1 A2 A3 B1 B2 B3 B4 C1 C2 C3 D

1906 Clearcut X

1907 Selective Cutting Starts XXXXXXXXXX

1911 Selective Cutting Ends XXXXXXXXXX

7 1948 Installation of Permanent Plots X X X

6 1952 Remeasurement of Perm. Plots X X X

6 1952 Commercial Thinning X X X

11 1953 Stand Improvement Cutting X X X

5 1955 Installation of Permanent Plots XXXXXXXX

12 1955 Commercial Thinning XXXXXXX

4 1956 Stand Improvement Cutting XXXXXXX

7 1957 Remeasurement of Perm. Plots X X X

9 1960 Stand Improvement Cutting X

6 1961 Remeasurement of Perm. Plots XXXXXXXX

8 1962 Remeasurement of Perm. Plots X X X

10 1962 Commercial Thinning X X X

9 1965 Remeasurement of Perm. Plots XXXXXXXX

6 1966 Stand Improvement Cutting X X X

6 1967 Commercial Thinning XXXX

10 1967 Stand Improvement Cutting XXXXXX

8 1979 Commercial Thinning X X X X

9 1980 Stand Improvement Cutting X X X X

3 1981 Understory Burn X X X X

5 1990 Remeasurement of Perm. Plots X

11 1991 Remeasurement of Perm. Plots XXXXXXXXXX

Table 4—Number of commercial and stand improvement cuts, and percentage of 1910 residual

volume removed by method (Menakis 1994).

Number of Number of stand Years of commercial cuts

Method commercial cuts improvement cuts (% of 1910 residual removed)+

A3 3 2 1952 (33) 1962 (22) 1979 (11)

B3 3 3 1955 (50) 1967 (25) 1979 (20)

B4 3 3* 1955 (50) 1967 (25) 1979 (20)

A1 2 2 1952 (33) 1962 (22)

A2 2 3* 1952 (33) 1962 (22)

B1 2 3* 1955 (50) 1967 (25)

B2 2 2 1955 (50) 1967 (25)

C3 2 0 1955 (100) 1979 (0)

C1 1 3* 1955 (100)

C2 1 2 1955 (100)

D 0 1* No commercial cutting

+ - Percent of residual volume removed was based on historical reports and general site estimates.

* - The last stand improvement cut was very light and patchy.

Immature Stand Management

Modified from Gruell and others (1982)

Cutting and other management of immature stands

was started in the 1950’s on the Lick Creek study area.

More than 5,000 ponderosa pine crop trees (100 per

acre) were released and pruned in the area cut with

method A of the 1952 partial cutting. Trees were 4 to

9 inches dbh at the time. Release was provided by

removing competitors in a 3- to 6-ft radius around the

crown of each crop tree. To increase quality of the

feature ponderosa pine crop trees, each was pruned to

at least 17 ft. Cost of release and pruning at that time

was about $0.50 per crop tree, broken down into $0.25

for pruning, $0.16 for release, and $0.09 for supervision, supplies, and transportation costs.

The 5-year evaluations of various intensities of

pruning ponderosa pine showed a considerable
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999 19

Figure 13—Average diameter distribution for dry habitat type groups by

species and 2-inch diameter classes for 1991 (Menakis 1994).

reduction in dbh growth on the severely pruned trees,

with proportionately less reduction on the lightly

pruned trees (fig. 14). Height growth was not affected.

Cone stimulation studies were also conducted on this

area. These studies showed that partial mechanical

girdling of young ponderosa pine (50 years old) would

substantially increase cone production (Shearer and

Schmidt 1970). Older trees (140 to 220 years old),

however, showed little additional cone production as a

result of girdling treatments.

Figure 14—The 5-year diameter growth of 4- to 9-inch dbh

ponderosa pine crop trees following release as related to

amount of crown pruning (Gruell and others 1982).

Summary ______________________

Modified from Gruell and others (1982)

In summary, a variety of silvicultural practices have

been attempted in the Lick Creek area. The long case

histories and observational data of partial cutting,

release, pruning, and cone stimulation practices provide valuable clues for management of this important

forest type.
20 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999

The 1907 to 1911 logging operations and subsequent

lack of surface fires dramatically changed the patterns

of plant succession at Lick Creek. Large quantities of

overstory pines were felled, creating sizable openings.

Logs were skidded and slash was burned in piles (Koch

1998) locally scraping off or consuming surface vegetation, pine needle litter, and humus, and exposing

mineral soil. The photo sequences covering the next 40

years show that tall shrubs (especially Scouler’s willow) and tree regeneration became established in

direct proportion to the amount of stand opening and

soil surface disturbance. The response of tall shrubs

and tree regeneration was most vigorous on the moist

habitat types.

INTERPRETATIONS OF VEGETATIVE CHANGE

THROUGH 1989: THE PHOTOPOINTS

Text modified from Gruell and others (1982)

Photo layout and design by Dennis G. Simmerman

Figure 15—The effect of succession on relative abundance of ponderosa pine

and Douglas-fir at Lick Creek: hypothesized succession with fire control and

partial cuttings (Gruell and others 1982).

Even though overstory Douglas-fir were mostly

removed in the 1907 to 1911 logging, Douglas-fir

regeneration increased markedly thereafter. This

regeneration is a result of (1) the absence of surface

fires and (2) the opening up of the stand through

logging. Figure 15 depicts the probable tree succession associated with fire control and partial cutting

in this forest type. Note that this shows a speedup in

the natural succession illustrated in figure 5. Douglasfir regeneration increased markedly on the moist

habitat types and under lighter cutting treatments.

Pine regeneration was more successful in the dry

habitat types and with greater stand opening and site

disturbance.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999 21

At some photopoints, several of the large pines left

after early logging died from windthrow and mountain pine beetle attacks. This provided further opportunity for understory trees and shrubs to develop.

Also, the photo sequences allow observation of the

slow progression of death, downfall, and decay, including disintegration of stumps.

On dry habitat types, the original grassland type of

undergrowth was replaced within a few decades by

conifers and shrubs, including antelope bitterbrush.

Often, dense pole stands developed after 30 to 40

years, tall shrubs began to be shaded out, and undergrowth, in general, became sparse. After thinning of

the poles and removal of many of the remaining large

pines in the 1950’s and 1960’s, the tall shrubs and

other undergrowth became more dense. Where adequate thinning occurred, the remaining pole-size

conifers generally show good vigor; otherwise, dense

thickets of small trees developed. Composition has

shifted toward mixed stands of ponderosa pine and

Douglas-fir, and with continued partial cuttings and

lack of surface fires, Douglas-fir increased dominance

on many sites.

In general, the photos show that the dry habitat

types have changed from original dominance by large

ponderosa pine with bunchgrasses beneath to thrifty

pole-size pine and Douglas-fir with scattered willow

and undergrowth of species such as pinegrass, elk

sedge, and snowberry. Bitterbrush occupies localized

dry sites that were heavily scarified.

The transition shown on the moist habitat types

begins with stands dominated by large ponderosa

pines and with some Douglas-fir. These had open

understories and ground cover composed of low shrubs

and pinegrass. After the 1907 to 1911 logging and

subsequent fire suppression, vigorous pole and tall

shrub communities of Douglas-fir, ponderosa pine,

and Scouler’s willow developed, with a low shrub and

pinegrass ground cover beneath. Thinning of the

poles since 1950 kept the willow from becoming badly

suppressed.

Photopoint captions contain interpretations of stand

changes. These were taken from Gruell and others

(1982) but updated by Helen Y. Smith, Stephen F.

Arno, Michael G. Harrington, and Dennis G.

Simmerman for 1989 and 1997 photos (Photopoints 1

through 14).
22 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999

The Need for Ecosystem

Management ___________________

At Lick Creek, from 1906 until the 1980’s carefully

guided harvesting had selectively removed large trees,

retaining vigorous ones but allowing unmerchantable

small trees to proliferate. The small trees were occasionally thinned by hand, but this was expensive and

generated hazardous slash fuels. In contrast, for hundreds if not thousands of years prior to 1900, frequent

low-intensity fires had shaped the forest by killing

most of the small trees and maintaining a low level of

fuel loadings (Agee 1993; Arno and others 1995, 1997).

Thus, the silvicultural activities evaluated by Gruell

and others (1982) contrasted with the pre-1900 natural forest succession in having no counterpart or substitute for frequent low-intensity fires.

To understand why traditional forestry treatments

failed to account for the ecological role of fires, we must

recognize that the art and science of forestry was

developed in a humid region—Prussia, Germany, and

northern France—where fires were uncommon and

were considered destructive and unnecessary. At the

beginning of the 20th century, European concepts

became the basis for forestry in the United States,

where, however, forestry was being applied in environments where natural fires had a vital role in

establishing and maintaining certain desirable forest

conditions, as was initially recognized by Gifford

Pinchot (1899). Nevertheless, wildfires, many of which

were set by careless humans, had become a serious

hazard. Thus, the fledgling forestry profession in the

United States soon advocated eliminating fire in the

forest.

By the mid-1900’s, undesirable effects associated

with exclusion of fire were becoming apparent in

ponderosa pine ecosystems. The first forester to publish the case for restoring a semblance of the fire

process in ponderosa pine was Harold Weaver (1943).

By the 1970’s and 1980’s many National Forests were

interested in integrating prescribed fire into ponderosa pine management, but this was not a simple

ECOSYSTEM-BASED MANAGEMENT

TREATMENTS

Stephen F. Arno

matter of re-introducing natural fires. Fire could not

be allowed to spread across millions of acres of public

and private land as it had done prior to 1900 (Barrett

and others 1997). Even if confined to designated stands,

fire would have to be re-introduced cautiously so as to

avoid damaging too many trees. The forests were now

too dense with understory trees, and surface fuels had

accumulated to high levels as a result of 70 or more

years of fire exclusion efforts.

Forest Planning Sets the Stage ____

In 1987, the newly completed forest plan for the

Bitterroot National Forest suggested that management take into account natural ecological processes.

Soon afterwards, the Darby Ranger District conducted

an Integrated Resource Analysis for the Lick Creek

area, obtaining input from a broad range of interested

publics and natural resource specialists to define objectives for the area. This process, guided by the

National Forest Management Act, resulted in a “desired future condition” for the area and a list of management activities that would begin moving the Lick

Creek landscape toward that goal.

During the meetings to identify pertinent issues, the

idea of making the Lick Creek area a demonstration/

research forest took shape. The historical photo sequences and records of early silvicultural cuttings and

tree growth response were recognized as a unique and

valuable asset. The original stands at Lick Creek and

elsewhere in the ponderosa pine zone of the Bitterroot

National Forest contained large trees primarily in an

open park-like structure (Leiberg 1899). They were

uneven-aged and largely self-perpetuating as a result

of frequent fires (Arno and others 1997; Gruell and

others 1982). In the 1980’s, despite several harvest

cuts and thinnings, conifer stands were very dense

and wildlife forage (grasses and shrubs) was reduced

compared to conditions shown in the 1909 to 1938

photographs (Gruell and others 1982). By the 1980’s,

insects and disease were impacting forest health. Also,

the growing risk of severe wildfire was demonstrated
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999 23

by several wildfires that burned in the ponderosa pine

forests in the Bitterroot National Forest and elsewhere in the Northern Rockies (Williams 1995).

The challenge that was identified during planning

meetings was to guide management of the Lick Creek

area toward stand structures that would improve

wildlife habitat, esthetics, and tree growth. To this

end, the Bitterroot National Forest, the Intermountain Research Station, and The University of Montana

entered into a cooperative agreement in 1991 to conduct studies to provide a basis for ecosystem management in Lick Creek and similar landscapes.

Considerations for Ecosystem

Management at Lick Creek ________

Ecosystem management is a broad topic with many

themes (Overbay 1992). For Lick Creek, which is

representative of similar forests covering millions of

acres of Northern Rocky Mountain landscapes, we

elected to conduct studies that focus on a return to

stand structures that are sustainable and consistent

with historical fire occurrence in the area. In these

studies we feature management of ponderosa pine, the

long-lived seral species at Lick Creek in pre-1900

times. The idea is to develop stands that have a significant component of large-diameter pine trees,

along with younger age classes and to maintain a

large-diameter class indefinitely through time. Prescribed low-intensity fires would be scheduled periodically to regulate conifer regeneration, especially that

of shade-tolerant Douglas-fir and grand fir.

Timber harvests scheduled coincident with the burning would be tailored to develop and maintain unevenaged stand structures with a significant number of

large trees through time. To accomplish this, new

adaptations of traditional silvicultural systems

(shelterwood and selection) would be used. Thinning

and whole-tree removal of the smaller merchantable

trees could help restore a more open stand structure

that would allow for safer application of prescribed

fire. Harvests could also generate funding necessary

to finance treatments (Fiedler and others 1997). The

first application of fire after long periods of fire

exclusion might stress the leave trees and invite bark

beetle attacks. However, if the largest and healthiest

trees are retained, reducing stand density might improve their vigor before fire is applied.

To mitigate against the effects of fuel accumulation,

fire could be applied early in a drying cycle, when the

lower duff and large woody fuels were still moist (wet

burn). Conversely, there is a need to test burning

under drier conditions (dry burn) in order to expand

the narrow window of opportunity for applying prescribed fire and obtaining satisfactory results. More

specifically, we need to better understand the range of

fuel moisture and weather conditions under which fire

will consume an appreciable fraction of the fuelbed but

will not damage leave trees, be difficult to control, or

cause excessive smoke problems to nearby residents or

communities.

The silvicultural cutting and prescribed burning

treatments would be designed to benefit wildlife habitat (especially forage production), esthetics and recreation, timber production, and forest protection (fire,

insects, and disease) by complementing the natural

ecological processes. The form of timber harvesting

conducted here would contrast with earlier harvests,

a primary difference being the strong focus on the

reserve stand in terms of density, structure, and species composition. This harvest is being used to reduce

stand densities while retaining the most vigorous

trees, to manipulate species abundance, and to prepare the stands for low-intensity fire.

Experimental Treatments _________

Three kinds of ponderosa pine/Douglas-fir stands at

Lick Creek covered areas large enough to allow for the

kind of multiple treatment units (replications) preferred for scientific testing (fig. 16). Tree density in all

three stand types was high enough so that individual

pines were growing slowly and were vulnerable to

severe wildfire or insect damage. Douglas-fir made up

no more that 20 percent of the overstory in each

experimental stand, but Douglas-fir saplings were

numerous. In cooperation with the Darby Ranger

District, we developed a different kind of silvicultural

cutting treatment for each of the three experimental

stands consisting of 80 to 100 acres each. Within each

silvicultural cutting system, we applied different

underburning strategies as well as no burn treatments (table 5). Similar treatments were carried out

operationally by the Darby Ranger District outside

the experimental stands, so that the entire treatment

area in the ponderosa pine forest at Lick Creek covered about 530 acres. This entire area was treated

using a conventional timber sale. It produced 1.475

million board feet of sawlogs and plywood peeler logs

and was purchased for $147,610 by Champion International Corporation of Missoula, Montana.

Leave trees were marked by National Forest crews

with guidance from researchers. The harvesting was

done in all three experimental stands in 1992 using

conventional techniques—chain saw felling followed

by winch yarding to designated trails and skidding by

a crawler tractor. (Within a few years preferred logging techniques had changed to favor mechanical

harvesting machines. Also, timber values had increased enough to allow use of low-impact harvesting

equipment.) To control the amount of slash fuels

created, limbs were left attached to the harvested logs.

Limbs were removed, piled, and burned at roadside
24 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999

landings. To provide an input of foliar nutrients and

large woody debris to the soil, the tree tops—cut at

about 6 inches in diameter outside the bark—were left

on the site (Graham and others 1994). Broadcast

underburns consumed the finer branches but not the

green wood in the tops.

The following effects of the differential burn treatments were measured and compared: fuel reduction,

Table 5—Summary of experimental treatments applied within the shelterwood and selection cutting units and the

commercial thin unit at Lick Creek.

Shelterwood cutting Selection cutting Commercial thin

Control (no cut/burn) X

Cut/no burn X X X

Cut/low consumption burn (“wet burn”) X

Cut/intermediate burn (“intermediate burn”) X

Cut/high consumption burn (“dry burn”) X

Cut/fall burn X

Cut/spring burn X

Figure 16—Location of 1990’s ecosystem-based management treatment areas at Lick Creek.

tree mortality and growth response, undergrowth species response, tree regeneration, soil nutrients, and

response of wildlife browse shrubs. Associated studies

measured human visual preferences for different

restoration treatments. Also, bird abundance and

foraging behavior was measured in relation to

shelterwood and underburning treatment, as was the

comparative quality (for wildlife habitat) of snags
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999 25

created by fire versus mechanical girdling. A synopsis of study findings is reported in the next section,

Effects of Ecosystem-Based Management Treatments.

Shelterwood Treatments

One of the experimental stands at Lick Creek was

predominantly second-growth ponderosa pine 80 to

85 years of age that arose on what was originally

private land. It is the area shown in photopoint 7,

which was essentially clearcut in 1906 and later became part of the Bitterroot National Forest. By 1991,

this stand was representative of many second-growth

pine stands in the Northern Rocky Mountains. It

supported an average of 240 trees and 120 square feet

(ft2

) of basal area per acre. The dominant trees were

mostly between 15 and 18 inches in dbh, and most of

them were experiencing slow growth due to high tree

density. Bark beetle mortality was occurring and

might reach outbreak levels. Ladder fuels (patches of

understory firs) and accumulating surface fuels were

sufficient to create a risk of high tree mortality if a

wildfire occurred. Many plants were being shaded out

by dense tree cover.

The cutting treatment conducted in this experimental stand was a retention or irregular shelterwood in

which the largest, healthiest pines were retained with

a target stocking of 40 ft2

 basal area per acre. One goal

of the cutting was to open the stand sufficiently to

allow some successful regeneration of pine, which

would then develop into a second age-class. In the

future, periodic additional shelterwood cuts and

underburns would be conducted, allowing more pine

age classes to become established, until an unevenaged stand with some large old trees had developed. At

that point, a selection system could be applied to

maintain the stand indefinitely into the future.

Three kinds of follow-up treatments were conducted, each on three separate experimental units of

4 to 10 acres. These were a “dry burn” (lower duff is

dry), also referred to as a high consumption burn; “wet

burn,” referred to as a low consumption burn; and a “no

burn” treatment (fuels left untreated). All burns were

conducted in the spring of 1993.

Selection Treatments

Another experimental stand at Lick Creek comprised primarily uneven-aged ponderosa pine ranging

from seedlings to old-growth trees up to 40 inches dbh

and 400 years of age. Younger trees in this stand,

under about 18 inches dbh, became established in

response to past partial cuttings. A modified individual tree selection cutting prescription, developed

by Carl Fiedler of The University of Montana’s School

of Forestry, was carried out in this stand in the fall of

1992. The stand had about 110 ft2

 of basal area per

acre and was leave-tree marked to retain 50 ft2 per

acre of the most vigorous pines across the full range of

diameters. Additionally, an average of one snag or

potential snag per acre was retained for wildlife habitat. Scattered small openings of 1⁄4 to 1⁄3 acre were

created in the marking process to provide conditions

favorable for the regeneration of ponderosa pine. Approximately 20 percent more trees were left in each

successively smaller (4-inch) diameter class to account

for mortality over time and to ensure sufficient recruits into the larger size classes in the future. The

long-term goal is to repeat selection cuttings at 25- to

30-year intervals for the purpose of regenerating ponderosa pine, adjusting species composition, and sustaining the uneven-aged structure.

In the spring of 1993, three selection cutting units

were underburned with a prescribed fire when fuel

moistures were intermediate, between a “dry” and

“wet” burn (cut/burn treatment) (fig. 17). Three selection cutting units were left unburned (cut/no burn

treatment) and three units received neither cutting

nor burning (control treatment).

Commercial Thin Treatments

The third experimental stand was dominated by

pole-sized ponderosa pine about 70 years of age, that

arose after past partial cutting. The stand was precommercially thinned in the 1960’s and slash left

untreated. The trees responded to that thinning

with rapid growth, and by 1991 the site supported

an average of 85 to 100 ft2 of basal area per acre. This

is a high tree density for the steep, dry south-facing

site; thus, by 1991 radial growth had slowed. The

treatment was a commercial thinning with a goal of

reducing the basal area to about 50 ft2 per acre. This

target basal area was calculated using the Growth

Basal Area methodology (Hall 1987) to determine

the basal area at which annual increment is predicted

to be maximized. The merchantable tree boles, up to a

6-inch diameter top, outside the bark, were removed.

The largest and most vigorous trees were retained.

Thinning differs from a shelterwood harvest in that

establishing pine regeneration is not a primary goal.

Regeneration might be achieved regardless. If not,

regeneration will be a goal after the next cutting, a

retention shelterwood in 20 to 30 years.

Three thinning units were left unburned. To compare effects of the two different burning seasons,

three units were burned in the fall of 1993 and three

in the spring of 1994.
26 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999

Figure 17—Example of ecosystem management treatements

in the selection cutting unit at Lick Creek.

1992. Individual-tree selection harvest completed as described in

the text. Douglas-fir in right front has been removed. Tree tops are

left for nutrient cycling.

1993. Two weeks after the prescribed burn to reduce slash fuel

hazard. Note that herbaceous vegetation is beginning to emerge.

1997. Four years later. Percent ground cover has increased. Small

pine seedlings (not visible) are present.

1994. One year later. Vigorous ground cover has developed.

1992. Untreated second-growth (80-year-old) stand of ponderosa

pine and Douglas-fir containing some older pines. Note large

stump from 1907 to 1911 behind Douglas-fir in right front.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999 27

Prescribed Burn Weather, Fuel

Moistures, and Fuel Reduction

on all Cutting Units ______________

Michael G. Harrington

The prescribed burn treatments were applied to

reduce pre-existing and new slash fuel loadings, reduce understory tree density to lower crown fire

potential, stimulate vigor of decadent understory vegetation, produce mineral seedbeds for seral species

establishment, and increase availability of mineral

nutrients. To test the feasibility of prescribed burning

under a broad range of conditions without producing

undesirable effects, several burn treatments were

compared. Three contrasting burn treatments were

applied in the shelterwood and commercial thinning

studies and two burn treatments in the selection

study. In the shelterwood study area, the three burning treatments conducted in May 1993 subsequent to

the previous year’s harvest were a low fuel consumption burn (wet burn), a high fuel consumption burn

(dry burn), and a no burn. The wet and dry conditions

were determined by moisture contents of the duff and

large woody fuels. A single application of fire in the

selection study, also in May 1993, took place under

conditions intermediate to the wet and dry shelterwood treatments and was compared to a no-burn

treatment. In the commercial thin units, a fall 1993

dry burn was compared to a spring 1994 wetter burn

along with a no-burn treatment (table 5).

Woody fuels were measured before and after burning along 12 transects of 30 ft each in each of the

three replicates of each treatment. In addition, 48 duff

spikes were placed in each replicate to measure total

duff depth and consumption. Litter, woody material,

and duff samples were collected frequently during the

burning for moisture content determination.

Because of the unusually hot, dry weather in midMay 1993, the shelterwood and selection burns had to

be conducted during the cool, early morning hours or

after sunset to avoid excessive fire damage. Warm

days for both the spring and fall commercial thin

burns also dictated morning ignitions. With the exception of the start of one fall burn when the air

EFFECTS OF ECOSYSTEM-BASED

MANAGEMENT TREATMENTS

temperature was in the mid-30’s °F, all burns were

conducted within the temperature range of 50 to 74 °F

with relative humidities ranging from mid-30 to the

mid-70 percent. Winds on all burns rarely exceeded

5 miles per hour. Strip head fires were used exclusively with the width of the strip dictated by a fire

behavior goal of minimizing crown scorch in the

large reserve trees.

Fuel moisture content is the primary characteristic

that determines fuel consumption and, therefore, fire

effects. Several types of fuel were sampled for moisture content during the burns because each has a

somewhat different influence on fire behavior and fire

impacts. Three key fuels on these sites were pine

needle litter, decomposing humus or duff, and large

woody fuels. The litter determines the rate and completeness of fire spread across the units, whereas the

duff, which burns slowly, either dampens the fire

impacts when wet or heightens the impact on soils or

underground plant parts when dry. Consumption of

large woody fuels can also cause severe damage to soil

properties and underground plant parts, and also to

cambium tissue and tree crowns.

Table 6 shows fuel moistures. The shelterwood

units had the driest litter, which reflects the warm,

dry weather in May 1993. The cool, damp mornings of

the fall commercial thin burns resulted in relatively

high litter moisture. The distinction between the wet,

intermediate, and dry burns of the shelterwood and

selection treatments is made by comparing duff and

large woody fuel moistures, with the wet burn clearly

having more moist fuels. To illustrate how rapidly

fuels dry out on these relatively steep, southern exposures, note that in the 2 weeks between the shelterwood wet and dry burns, duff moisture dropped from

50 to 16 percent and large woody moisture from 100 to

30 percent.

Surface fuel loadings in these treatments would not

generally be considered excessive, posing no severe

wildfire hazard. However, because these south slopes

dry out rapidly, completely, and regularly, the fuels

that are present are easily ignited with a potential

high rate of fire spread frequently during the fire

season. Fuel loadings and percent reduction are

shown in table 7.
28 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999

Table 6—Fuel moisture contents for the Lick Creek prescribed burns.

Treatment

Shelterwood Selection Commercial thin

Fuel type Wet Dry Int. Fall Spring

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Percent - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Litter 9 8 12 15 12

Duff 50 16 30 20 30

Large woody

 (>3 in.) 100 30 48 25 46

Most of the litter and a significant portion of the

woody fuels were consumed. The high consumption of

large woody fuels in the selection units was likely due

to the high percentage of rotten wood, which thoroughly burns when moderately dry. Duff layers were

not thick in these stands, and only the fall burn

resulted in a significant reduction. The low duff moisture content in the dry shelterwood burn did not result

in high consumption, probably because of a rain shower

near the end of the burn that dampened subsequent

smoldering combustion and made the underlying soils

moist.

In summary, a significant portion of the pre-existing

and slash fuel were consumed by the prescribed fires,

some of which were conducted during a record warm,

dry period. None of the treatments, including those

under very dry conditions, resulted in excessively

negative impacts. Other fire impacts are reported in

later sections of this paper. With closely controlled

ignition and favorable weather, no control problems

were encountered. Fuels consumed by the fires will

continue to be replaced by those from fire damaged

trees, natural litter deposition, and rapid plant establishment and growth. Therefore, prescribed fire should

continue in the management of these forests.

Table 7—Initial fuel amounts and percent reduction in Lick Creek burns.

Treatment

Shelterwood Selection Commercial thin

Fuel type Wet Dry Int. Fall Spring

 - - - - - - - - - - tons/acre(percent reduction) - - - - - - - - - - -

Litter 1.4 (82) 1.9 (79) 2.1 (81) 1.2 (95) 1.2 (92)

Small woody

 (<3 in.) 4.5 (60) 5.3 (75) 4.5 (57) 3.1 (51) 3.6 (43)

Large Woody

 (>3 in.) 1.7 (75) 3.2 (80) 5.7 (93) 4.0 (87) 6.0 (66)

 - - - - - - - - - - - inches (percent reduction) - - - - - - - - - - -

Duff Depth 1.1 (17) 1.4 (38) 1.7 (33) 1.2 (69) 0.9 (42)

Tree Response__________________

Stand Structure Response to Harvesting

and Prescribed Burning on Shelterwood

Cutting and Commercial Thinning Units

Michael G. Harrington

The harvesting and prescribed burning treatments

in the shelterwood and commercial thinning studies

were designed to greatly reduce all sizes of Douglas-fir

and thin ponderosa pine, primarily from the middle

and smaller diameter classes. The harvesting was

used to remove excess trees down to the merchantable

limit, and the subsequent fire treatments were applied to reduce those in the submerchantable sizes.

These activities were designed to reduce competition

and the crown fire potential by thinning crown fuels.

All measurements were made within 12 1⁄10 acre

circular plots systematically located in each of the

three replicates in the three treatments. Pretreatment stand density in the shelterwood units averaged

240 ± 52 trees per acre with a basal area of 117 ± 15 ft2

per acre. Ponderosa pine constituted 72 percent of the

trees (172 ± 45 trees per acre) and 82 percent of the
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999 29

basal area (96 ± 10 ft2 per acre), with the remainder

in Douglas-fir. In addition to these trees larger than

1 inch dbh, there were 60 seedlings per acre, 87

percent of which were Douglas-fir.

Following harvesting, an average of 92 ± 17 trees

per acre (62 percent reduction) and 52 ± 5 ft2 per acre

(56 percent reduction) remained. Ponderosa pine was

represented by 83 percent of the residual stand (76 ±

21 trees per acre) and 95 percent of the basal area

(49 ± 4 ft2

 per acre). Douglas-fir was reduced to 16 ± 16

trees per acre and 3 ± 3 ft2 per acre. Ponderosa pine

density was reduced by 56 percent and basal area was

reduced by 49 percent. This compared to 76 percent

and 86 percent reductions in Douglas-fir. Figure 18

illustrates the extent of tree reduction in different size

classes. Statistical comparisons were not conducted

on these initial data, so only apparent treatment

differences can be inferred.

Trees less than 7 inches dbh were killed by mechanical logging damage, and those greater than 17 inches

dbh were removed only from clusters. Mortality of

seedlings from mechanical damage averaged 35 percent, leaving about 39 seedlings per acre, 85 percent of

which were Douglas-fir.

As expected and desired, there were apparent differences in tree mortality between the no-burn and burn

treatments during the first 5 postburn years (fig. 18).

For trees larger than 7 inches dbh, just over 2 percent

died in the no-burn units either from bark beetles or

wind damage. Comparatively, 10 percent of this size

class in the low fuel consumption burn (wet) and 14

Figure 18—Tree reduction in the shelterwood no burn (a) and burn

(b) treatments in three dbh classes.

percent in the high fuel consumption burn (dry)

died, primarily from significant fire injury. Some,

however, were minimally damaged by fire but sustained high levels of beetle attacks. Within the burn

treatments, smaller trees had notably higher levels of

mortality than larger trees, which is a desirable objective of a thinning fire. Numbers of trees less than 7

inches dbh were reduced by only 6 percent in the noburn units compared to about 65 percent in the combined burn units with most of these being less than 3

inches dbh. Mortality in the burn units decreased with

increasing size as 13 percent of the trees less than 15

inches dbh died compared to 8 percent of the trees

greater than 15 inches dbh. Additionally, over 90

percent of the Douglas-fir seedlings were killed by the

fire treatments.

Four years after burning, the basal area for trees

larger than 7 inches dbh had been reduced by less than

1, 4, and 6 ft2 per acre for the no-burn, wet burn, and

dry burn, resulting in final basal areas of 46, 39, and

44 ft2 per acre, respectively. Remaining trees less than

7 inches dbh added another 4 ft2 per acre for the noburn treatment and about 2 ft2 per acre for the burn

treatments.

In the commercial thin study area, the preharvest

stand structure was represented by fewer and

smaller trees than the shelterwood study area. The

average stand density was 170 ± 29 trees per acre

yielding 92 ± 10 ft2 per acre basal area. Some 93

percent of the trees (159 ± 24 trees per acre) and basal

area (86 ± 14 ft2 per acre) were ponderosa pine, and
30 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999

the remainder were Douglas-fir. This indicates that

after the harvesting in the early 1900’s and again 40 to

50 years later, ponderosa pine regenerated better than

Douglas-fir because of the warm, dry southern exposure and higher seed production.

Following the commercial thinning in 1992, an average of 112 ± 32 trees per acre and 61 ± 5 ft2 

per acre

remained. Ponderosa pine made up 95 percent (106 ±

28 trees per acre) of the stand density and 98 percent

(60 ft2

 per acre) of the basal area. Ponderosa pine

density and basal area were reduced by about 30

percent, while Douglas-fir density was reduced by 50

percent and basal area by 80 percent, indicating that

the largest Douglas-fir were preferentially removed.

The harvest focused on removing the smallest

merchantable pines and most Douglas-fir because of

their excessive numbers and, therefore, high demand

on limited site resources, and because their continuous canopy increased crown fire potential. Figure 19

shows preharvest stand density and tree reduction

within three diameter classes.

The objective of leaving the largest and healthiest

trees was met as about 9 of 10 trees greater than 15

inches dbh remained. Numbers of trees less than 7

inches dbh were reduced by damage from logging

equipment (fig. 19).

Within the 1⁄10 acre sample plots, 11 of the largest

ponderosa pine were purposely girdled with fire or

mechanically as a study of snag quality. We describe

this study later. The stand characteristics were changed

somewhat as a result of this activity. Snag production

reduced ponderosa pine density by only 1 tree per acre,

but basal area by 3 ft2 per acre because only large trees

were used for snags. Subsequent posttreatment basal

area values reflect this reduction.

At 4 years after the prescribed burns, mortality of

trees greater than 7 inches dbh was minimal. In the

no-burn treatment, no trees died and only 3 percent

were dead in both the fall and spring burn treatments

(fig. 19). Of these about 70 percent were less than 10

inches dbh, indicating the selective thinning of smaller

trees with this fire. Basal areas were reduced by only

1.4 and 0.7 ft2 per acre in the spring and fall burns

leaving 61 and 57 ft2 per acre, respectively.

For trees 1 to 7 inches dbh, only 2 percent of those in

the no-burn units died in the first 4 years after treatment, with insects or delayed mechanical damage as

the mortality agents. In the spring and fall burn

treatments, 57 and 59 percent of the small trees died,

mostly from fire injury (fig. 19). Subsequent mortality

will likely be insignificant as only a 1 percent increase

occurred in the last 2 years.

In summary, the objective of the harvesting treatments in both the shelterwood and commercial thin

study areas was to reduce basal area in the overstocked and smallest merchantable size classes (7 to

5 inches dbh) retaining 40 ft2

 per acre in the shelterwood and 50 ft2

 per acre in the commercial area to

allow increased growth and health of residual large

trees and a reduction in crown fire hazard. The harvesting in both areas was conservative, leaving an

unplanned excess of about 10 ft2 per acre. However,

Figure 19—Tree reduction in the commercial thin no burn (a) and burn

(b) treatments in three dbh classes.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999 31

small trees made up 4 to 5 ft2 per acre of this excess.

Fire mortality was expected and desired, especially in

the smaller sizes in which about 60 percent of the

trees were killed. Most of this size class, which were

Douglas-fir or poor quality pines, remain in the noburn treatment and continue to represent an undesirable condition in terms of competition and ladder

fuels. Mortality of the larger trees averaged about 12

percent in the shelterwood and only 3 percent in the

commercial thin study. This difference was likely due

to greater fire injury due to warmer temperatures and

more liberal ignition in the shelterwood units. Some

overstory mortality was anticipated with burning, and

in this case it further reduced the excess stand density.

Stand Structure in Response to Selection

Cutting and Burning

Carl E. Fiedler

Prior to treatment, the selection cutting study area

manifested a classic uneven-aged structure, with numerous small trees and decreasing numbers of increasingly larger trees (fig. 20). The pretreatment

stand comprised about 200 trees per acre and 110 ft2

of basal area per acre. Presence of occasional oldgrowth trees killed by the western pine beetle, pockets

of mountain pine beetle mortality, and declining

growth rings in nearly all trees indicated that the

stand was overstocked.

Figure 20—Trees per acre, by treatment and diameter classes, prior to,

immediately after, and 5 years after treatment.
32 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999

The selection cutting and broadcast burning treatments were developed to achieve several objectives.

An improvement selection cutting was designed to:

(1) reduce density to 50 ft2 per acre to induce regeneration of shade-intolerant ponderosa pine (Fiedler and

others 1988); (2) reduce the proportional composition

of Douglas-fir; (3) increase vigor of reserve trees,

making them less susceptible to mountain and western pine beetle attack; (4) increase the distance between tree crowns in the overstory to reduce the

likelihood of stand replacement wildfire; and (5) promote rapid development of a large tree component

(≥24-inches diameter). Another treatment objective

was to reduce most of the excess sapling- and polesized trees (ladder fuels) that provide surface fires a

means of torching into the overstory.

Following selection cutting, the treated units averaged about 60 trees per acre and 50 ft2

 of basal area per

acre, which translates into a 70 percent reduction in

trees per acre and 55 percent in basal area per acre.

The bulk of the density reduction occurred in the

smaller diameter classes (fig. 20).

Growth responses are compared among the three

treatments described previously: (1) selection cutting

with prescribed burning; (2) selection cutting without

burning; and (3) control (no cutting or burning). Results are based on trees living at the end of the first

5 years of the study. Leave trees were marked in all

units prior to randomly assigning the cutting and

burning treatments. This approach ensured that

posttreatment growth responses were compared

among similar trees in each treatment.

Based on measurements of comparable trees in all

three treatments, average annual diameter increment ranged from a low of 0.08 inch in the uncut

control, to 0.10 inch in the cut/burn treatment, to a

high of 0.13 inch in the cut/no-burn treatment.

Annual height growth varied little among the three

treatments, averaging 0.6 ft in both the control and

cut/burn treatments, and 0.7 ft in the cut/no-burn

treatment.

Average annual basal area increment varied from

0.8 ft2

 per acre in the uncut control, to 0.7 ft2 per acre

in the cut/burn treatment, to 1.1 ft2 per acre in the cut/

no-burn treatment.

Average annual volume increments for 1993 to

1997 were also nearly identical for the control and cut/

burn treatments. Annual cubic volume growth was

32 ft3 per acre per year in the control versus 31 ft3 per

acre per year in the cut/burn treatment. Cubic volume

growth was considerably higher in the cut/no-burn

treatment, averaging 43 ft3

 per acre per year.

Trends in annual board foot volume growth by treatment mirrored those for cubic foot volume growth.

For example, annual growth was 111 bd ft per acre

per year in the control, 115 bd ft per acre per year in

the cut/burn treatment, and 147 bd ft per acre per year

in the cut/no-burn treatment.

The positive influence of density reduction on growth

in the selection cut/no-burn treatment should have

been realized in the cut/burn treatment as well because both received the same selection cutting treatment. However, the beneficial effects of reduced competition from cutting were apparently almost entirely

offset by the short-term deleterious effects of reintroducing fire after nearly 100 years without frequent

burning. Crown scorch, root damage, and cambial

injury at the root collar may all have contributed to

reduced tree stem growth in this treatment relative to

the cut/no-burn treatment over the first 5 years of the

study.

All Causes: Total 5-year mortality varied considerably among the three treatments but was highest in

the selection cut/burn treatment (fig. 21). Virtually no

trees died in the selection cut/no-burn treatment,

whereas mortality in the control was intermediate to

the other two treatments (fig. 21).

Fire: Fire was the major cause of mortality in the

selection cut/burn treatment, killing 18 percent of the

trees in the 4-inch diameter class, and 2 to 4 percent of

the trees in the 8- through 16-inch classes (fig. 22). No

trees larger than 16 inches died due to the effects of

fire, and virtually all of the mortality attributed to fire

occurred in the first 2 years of the study (fig. 21). The

short-term deleterious effects of fire on individual

trees may well be offset by mid- and long-term beneficial effects at the stand level (for example, stimulation

of undergrowth forage species, hazard reduction, killing of small firs), which are primary objectives of

prescribed burning. Furthermore, these objectives of

burning likely cannot be achieved without at least

some mortality of leave trees, particularly in the

smaller diameter classes.

Beetles: Bark beetles were an important mortality

factor in the selection cut/burn treatment, accounting

for 4 to 12 percent mortality in the 4- through 20-inch

diameter classes, and 25 percent of the trees ≥28-

inches (fig. 23). In contrast, no trees of any size were

killed by beetles in the selection cut/no burn treatment, and only sporadic mortality due to this factor

was observed in the control treatment (fig. 23).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999 33

Figure 21—Cummulative annual mortality, by treatment and cause, for the 5 years 1993 to 1997.
34 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999

Figure 22—Fire caused mortality, by diameter class, for the 5 years 1993 to 1997.

Figure 23—Beetle-caused mortality, by treatment and diameter class, for the 5 year

period 1993 to 1997.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999 35

Tree Regeneration _______________

Natural Regeneration, Shelterwood

Cutting Unit

Stephen F. Arno

One of the challenges in attempting to perpetuate a

ponderosa pine/Douglas-fir forest using partial cuttings rather than clearcutting is that the more shadetolerant Douglas-fir tends to regenerate more successfully than the pine under conditions of partial shade.

Therefore, it was important to track the success of

naturally regenerated ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir

in relation to the experimental cutting and burning

treatments. Natural regeneration often requires several years after treatment to become established. In

the shelterwood cutting units at Lick Creek we have

data for regeneration as of the fifth year following

cutting and burning treatments (table 8). Treatments

were shelterwood cut reducing basal area of the overstory from an average of 117 to 52 ft2

 per acre followed

by either a high fuel consumption burn, a low consumption burn, or no burn.

Tree regeneration was tallied on 48 1 m2 vegetation

plots, which were systematically placed in each of

three replicates per treatment. Ponderosa pine and

Douglas-fir saplings in their second to fifth year of

growth in July 1998 and that were in relatively good

vigor were considered as established posttreatment

regeneration. Such regeneration of ponderosa pine

averaged 281 trees per acre in the no-burn and

Table 8—Lick Creek regeneration summary, 5 years posttreatment in the

shelterwood cutting unit.

Trees per acre by treatment

Advance regeneration

2-4 year old trees combined (>5 years old)

Replicate Ponderosa pine Douglas-fir Douglas-fir

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - No burn - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

1 337 84 1856

2 84 337 506

3 422 506 1603

Ave/Treatment 281 309 1321

- - - - - - - - - - - - - Low consumption burn - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

1 253 0 0

2 0 84 0

3 590 169 0

Ave/Treatment 281 84 0

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -High consumption burn - - - - - - - - - - - - -

1 253 0 0

2 169 169 0

3 422 0 0

Ave/Treatment 281 56 0

both-burn treatments of the shelterwood unit (table

8). Average posttreatment regeneration of Douglas-fir

was greater in the no burn (309 trees per acre) than in

the burn treatments (84 trees in low consumption and

56 in high consumption). Advance regeneration that

had survived treatments was entirely Douglas-fir and

was abundant in the cut/no burn treatment where it

averaged 1,321 trees per acre, but absent from the

burned units.

A definitive evaluation of the effectiveness of natural regeneration would require delineating openings

in the shelterwood stands and quantifying their occupancy by saplings, which we have not done. However,

some trends are clear. An appreciable amount of

natural regeneration of ponderosa pine is associated

with all three treatments, but in the cut/no burn

treatments this is exceeded by competing Douglas-fir

regeneration, most of which became established more

than 5 years before and survived the treatment. It

seems likely that natural tree regeneration will continue to increase, especially in burned units and on

skid trails within units that were not burned.

Artificial Regeneration, Shelterwood

Cutting Unit

Ward W. McCaughey, Leon J. Theroux, and Clinton

E. Carlson

It may sometimes be necessary to plant ponderosa pine to restore this shade-intolerant species in

stands where competing Douglas-firs have become
36 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999

abundant as a result of fire exclusion. The same may

be true for western larch, which is another early seral,

fire-dependent and fire-resistant species that often

accompanies ponderosa pine on relatively moist sites.

Western larch—a long-lived tree with high value for

wildlife habitat, aesthetics, and forest products—

occurs naturally in forests 15 miles north of Lick

Creek and extends throughout much of the Inland

Northwest.

We designed experimental plantings of ponderosa

pine and western larch within the shelterwood units

at Lick Creek to determine survival and growth of

planted ponderosa pine and western larch under a

retention shelterwood cut followed by a high consumption burn, low consumption burn, and no burn. Growth

of surviving seedlings will be evaluated through

long-term monitoring of study trees. We want to

determine how well western larch will grow on sites,

such as Lick Creek, that are slightly beyond the limits

of their current natural range. This species has the

potential to enhance biodiversity in forests currently

occupied by only two tree species—ponderosa pine

and Douglas-fir.

Plantations of ponderosa pine and western larch

were replicated three times in lower slope treatment

units where moisture and soils were most suitable for

western larch. Forty seedlings of each species were

randomly planted at 5- by 5-foot spacing, for a total of

360 containerized seedlings of each species planted.

Survival of ponderosa pine and western larch slowly

declined over the first 4 years following planting

(table 9). Survival of ponderosa pine is consistently

near 65 percent with either burn treatment, while

survival of western larch is higher than pine on the dry

burn and lower on the other treatments. Growth rate

Table 9—Early percentage survival of ponderosa pine and

western larch planted in 1993 in the wet burn, dry

burn, and control treatments of the shelterwood

unit at Lick Creek. Percentages are based on a

total of 360 seedlings of each species planted in

each treatment.

Year

Unit 1994 1995 1996 1997

Wet burn - - - - - - - - - Percent survival - - - - - - - - -

Ponderosa pine 78 73 70 65

Western larch 88 76 58 54

Dry burn

Ponderosa pine 74 70 68 67

Western larch 92 80 77 74

Control

Ponderosa pine 98 95 92 88

Western larch 85 61 53 51

has been generally good for both species although it

was necessary to use mesh seedling tubes to protect

pine and larch seedlings from browse damage by elk.

Undergrowth Response,

Shelterwood Cutting Unit _________

Stephen F. Arno

One of the goals of ecosystem-based management is

to enhance biodiversity of native undergrowth species, including early successional plants important as

wildlife forage or habitat. However, little is known

about the response of undergrowth species to partial

cutting and prescribed burning treatments. When the

pattern of frequent, low-intensity fires is suppressed

for a long time in ponderosa pine/Douglas-fir forests,

tree canopy coverage expands greatly and duff and

litter increase. These changes are unfavorable to

many native undergrowth plants that require periodic

disturbances and do not grow well in the shade of a

dense tree canopy. In the long term, dense stands

may experience a severe, stand-replacing fire, which

may further reduce already stressed native species

and allow invasive non-native species to make major

advances. Some non-native species, such as spotted

knapweed, are already abundant at Lick Creek; hence,

there is concern about how they will react to management treatments.

Canopy coverages were estimated for each species

of shrub or herbaceous plant on 48 1 m2

 plots placed

systematically within each of the three replicates of

each treatment in the shelterwood cutting unit. Tall

shrubs were measured on 12 larger circular plots

(2 m radius) in each treatment unit. We measured

coverages of each undergrowth species prior to the

shelterwood cut and burn or no-burn treatments. We

measured these permanent plots again during years

1 through 4 after treatments were completed. Appendix C presents data for the plants that had more than

minor coverages (>0.1 average percent cover) either

before or after treatments.

The no-burn, low-consumption, and high-consumption burn treatments presumably represent a progression of increasing heat treatments to the soil that

contains seeds, rhizomes, and other regenerative organs. Burn treatment severity is indicated indirectly

by the consumption of woody fuels that ranged from

zero in the no-burn treatment to around 80 percent in

high consumption burns for the shelterwood cutting

unit (table 7). Another indicator of disturbance intensity is the amount of mineral soil exposed by the

treatment. Posttreatment mineral soil exposure averaged 4 percent in the no-burn, 8 percent in the lowconsumption burn, and 9 percent in the high-consumption burn treatments (appendix C).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999 37

In all three of the treatments, total plant cover 1 year

following treatment was 15 to 20 percent lower than

pretreatment cover (appendix C). Undergrowth coverage surpassed pretreatment levels by the second

postburn year. Compared to preharvest levels, plant

coverage increased over pretreatment levels more in

both burn treatments than in the no-burn treatments.

This greater increase in undergrowth is presumably

an effect of the fire, probably linked to enhanced soil

nutrient availability due to burning (Hungerford and

others 1991).

As would be expected, responses of individual plant

species in relation to type of treatment followed

divergent patterns (Arno and others 1985; Steele and

Geier-Hayes 1995; Stickney 1990). Minor changes in

coverages of individual plants were associated with

shelterwood cut/no-burn treatments. In contrast, the

high-consumption burns often elicited major and divergent responses from different species. Responses

to low-consumption burns were generally intermediate. The plant responses at Lick Creek have generally

mirrored those recorded at four other study areas

where we have measured response to thinning and

burn treatments in similar forests in Idaho and western Montana (data on file at the Intermountain Fire

Sciences Laboratory, Missoula, MT).

Bitterbrush and kinnikinnick coverage decreased

after high consumption burns. Rose and snowberry

retained similar coverage after burn treatments.

Shrubs whose coverage increased after high consumption burns were Oregon grape and spirea (appendix C).

Scouler’s willow has increased after burn treatments

in other study areas, but at Lick Creek it was severely

hedged by big game and was able to grow vertically

only where protected in wire mesh cages.

Increased coverage was largely due to vigorous

sprouting from rhizomes in snowberry and spirea and

from sprouting root crowns in the willow. Responses to

low consumption burns for shrubs and low woody

plants were similar in trend to those of high consumption burns, but of lesser magnitude (appendix C).

Among grass-like plants, elk sedge often decreased

in coverage with increasing severity of treatment.

Conversely, pinegrass and Ross’ sedge increased after

the burns (appendix C). None of the broadleaved

herbaceous plants commonly associated with ponderosa pine forests throughout the Northern Rocky

Mountains consistently declined in cover after treatments. Two common forbs, yarrow and creeping dogbane, increased proportionately with intensity of treatment. The annual fireweed is widespread in these

forests and increased dramatically after the burn

treatments. It is an off-site colonizer (Stickney 1990)

that is established from wind-transported seeds.

Bull thistle and Canada thistle—both introduced

forbs—often became abundant after burn treatments,

but their coverages appeared to be declining after

year 3. A similar pattern was noted with mullein,

sheep sorrel, and horseweed at Lick Creek. This pattern suggests that as the native species expand their

coverage in the posttreatment environment, they

squeeze out some of the non-natives that require open

microsites. A more serious concern is spotted

knapweed’s pattern of continuous expansion through

the 4-year posttreatment record at Lick Creek. Spotted knapweed has become more abundant in the Lick

Creek area than on many other sites we have examined in ponderosa pine/Douglas-fir forests of western

Montana and Idaho. The species is apparently well

adapted to compete on coarse sandy soils and southern

exposures. The photo sequences show that knapweed

increased noticeably during the 1960’s and 1970’s,

probably as a response to dozer scarification during

partial cutting and harvesting of large pines and aided

by big game and livestock use. Even the 1992 harvesting resulted in dozer scarification of about 11 percent

of the area, in designated skid trails, which evidently

encouraged spotted knapweed. Use of rubber-tired

equipment and harvesting on snow or frozen ground

could potentially reduce scarification. Burning, especially high consumption, seems to favor an increase of

knapweed. Paradoxically, protection from disturbance

that leads to fuel accumulation and severe wildfire

would also probably favor expansion of knapweed. We

are continuing studies of the ecological factors related

to spotted knapweed’s invasion and methods of its

control.

The problem of excessive wildlife use of treated

(especially burned) areas might be mitigated by treating areas of at least several hundred acres at a time.

This also would have the advantage of dramatically

reducing per acre burning costs.

Influence of Selection Harvest

and Prescribed Fire on Soil

Nitrogen _______________________

Initial Response of Mineral Nitrogen,

Selection Cutting Unit

Michael G. Harrington

Both harvesting and prescribed fire result in the

removal of accumulated live and dead organic matter.

Large numbers of trees, which represent live organic

matter, intensely compete for limited site resources

and develop into ladder and canopy fuels. Normally

cast litter and woody material along with created

slash represent dead organic matter. Whereas this

organic matter represents a resource sink and flammable forest fuel, it is also an important source of

carbon and inorganic nutrients following death and
38 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999

decomposition for maintenance of site productivity.

With management activities as conducted here, a

concern arises for the transformation and potential

loss of site nutrients.

A pilot study was conducted to determine initial

impacts of harvesting and burning on extractable

mineral nitrogen—ammonium (NH4

+

) and nitrate

(NO3

–

)—which is typically limiting in Inland West

forest soils. In each of the three replicates of the three

treatments in the selection study, five soil samples

were collected at two depths, 0 to 2 inches and 2 to 6

inches. The three treatments were harvesting (fall

1992) with no burning, harvesting with burning (spring

1993), and a control. Samples were collected just

before burning, 4 days after burning, and 4, 12, 17, and

24 months after burning. The first samples were

collected randomly, and each subsequent sampling

was done near the preburn collection microsites.

Figure 24 shows the changes in extractable mineral nitrogen (N) over a 24-month period in the upper

2 inches of mineral soil. Before burning, all treatment

sites had similarly low levels of N. Immediately after

the burn, N levels increased to about 20 parts per

million and were still at 16 parts per million by the end

of the first growing season. This immediate postfire N

increase has been reported elsewhere (Harrington

and Kelsey 1979; Ryan and Covington 1986; White

1986). N in the no-burn and control treatments remained virtually unchanged during this first season.

Over the next 8 to 12 months, N in the burn treatment decreased as it was likely sequestered by plants

and microorganisms as well as leached to lower soil

depths. By 17 months the burn treatment N was still

over twice that of the others. This difference had

diminished by the start of the second year after

treatment.

In the 2 to 6 inch soil layer, changes were expectedly

less dramatic (Covington and Sackett 1992). N in the

burn treatment continued to increase incrementally

from about 1 part per million before burning to a high

of 3 parts per million 24 months later. In the other

treatments, N was also measured at 1 part per million

before burning but increased to only about 1.5 parts

per million during the subsequent 24 months.

These measurements indicate a short-term transformation of organic N into mineral N, which may

have a transitional fertilization effect. Harrington

and Kelsey (1979) reported large, vigorous ponderosa

pine seedlings on burned sites compared to unburned

site, and Harris and Covington (1983) found greater

biomass and N content in understory grasses following burning. To understand longer term impacts,

potentially mineralizable N and microbial biomass N

should be evaluated. The response of these and other

soil attributes are presented in the next section.

Microbial Response and Nitrogen

Availability, Selection Cutting Unit

Kristin L. Zouhar and Thomas H. DeLuca

In the summer of 1995, we initiated a study of soil

nutrient relationships in the selection harvest units

Figure 24—Effect of harvesting and prescribed burning on inorganic nitrogen

in the surface 2 inches of mineral soil. ppm is parts per million.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999 39

at Lick Creek. The four study treatments were: a

single tree selection harvest (fall 1992), single tree

selection harvest (fall 1992) with a broadcast burn

(spring 1993), single tree selection cut (fall 1992)

with a broadcast burn (spring 1994), and an untreated control. The soils are shallow to moderately

deep, derived from highly weathered granitic parent

material, and classified as Totelake series, sandyskeletal, mixed, frigid, Typic Ustochrepts.

Five transects were placed along the contour of

the slope and soil samples were taken from four

randomly located points along each transect. Samples

were taken from two depths (0 to 3 inches and 3 to 6

inches) with the litter layer removed. Sampling was

repeated in the fall, spring, and following summer.

Because nitrogen (N) availability is driven by microbial activity, soil samples were returned to the laboratory and analyzed for short- and long-term N availability as well as indices of microbial activity.

Total carbon (C) and N and concentrations of extractable base cations—potassium (K), magnesium

(Mg), and calcium (Ca)—in soils at Lick Creek were

not greatly influenced by selection harvest with or

Table 10—Total C and N, extractable K, Mg and Ca, and pH of mineral soils in the selection cutting unit at Lick Creek.

Unit Total C Total N C:N K Mg Ca pH

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - mg/kg - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Control 2.07 0.11 19.42 169.40 161.00 416.70 4.68

Cut/no burn 2.13 0.11 18.65 161.40 74.40 799.30 4.87

Cut + 2yr burn 1.95 0.11 18.02 195.60 93.30 623.10 5.31*

Cut + 1yr burn 2.15 0.11 18.70 155.60 86.90 661.70 4.98*

*Differs significantly from control as determined by t-test of five replicates at p < 0.10.

without prescribed fire. The pH of both 1-year-old and

2-year-old underburned plots was significantly higher

than in the untreated control plot presumably as a

result of ash deposition in the burn plots (table 10).

Levels of extractable mineral N (NO3

–

 and NH4

+

)

were low and variable and demonstrated no differences between treatments on either summer sample

date. The initial flush of mineral N described in the

previous section had apparently dissipated. The concentration of NO3

–

 and NH4

+ in the mineral soil has

been shown to increase immediately following burning (Covington and Sackett 1992; DeLuca and Zouhar

1998; Kovacic and others 1986). This increase may

last anywhere from 30 days (Kovacic and others 1986)

to 1 year (Covington and Sackett 1992). The spring

burn at Lick Creek was “spotty” resulting in charred

patches across the ground surface. Our sampling approach included both burned spots and unburned

areas on prescribed fire plots. This provided us with a

value for the plot as a whole but may have missed any

temporary increase in mineral N.

Levels of labile N were measured as potentially

mineralizable N (PMN), microbial biomass N and resin

Table 11—Potentially mineralizable N (PMN), microbial biomass N, 3-day basal

respiration rates, ninhydrin reactive (NRN), and anthrone reactive C (ARC) in

mineral soils at Lick Creek during summer periods.

 Unit PMN Biomass N Respiration NRN ARC

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - g/kg/day (parts per million) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 1995

Control 10.36 15.55 0.22 1.85 6.63

Cut 12.03 13.88 0.16 1.53 4.51

Cut+2yr burn 4.70* 12.91 0.14* 1.61 1.98*

Cut+1yr burn 5.07* 12.10* 0.12* 1.75 2.29*

 1996

Control 6.38 12.34 0.12 2.21 10.98

Cut 6.00 7.80* 0.10 2.38 9.43

Cut+3yr burn 4.91 5.48* 0.13 1.70** 11.31

Cut+2yr burn 4.56 6.10* 0.10 1.86 8.72

*Stastically significant at α = 0.10.

**Statistically significant at α = 0.01.
40 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999

extractable N. PMN and microbial biomass N were

significantly reduced by prescribed fire (table 11);

however, microbial biomass N was also reduced in

the selection harvest alone.

Microbial respiration rates and soluble sugars—

measured as anthrone reactive carbon (ARC)—were

also significantly higher in control plots as compared

with both burn plots in 1995. This difference was

probably due to the greater organic matter (litter in

control plots and slash in burn plots) remaining on the

control and harvest/no-burn plots where there was

no fire-induced volatilization of labile C from the

mineral soil or forest floor.

In the second summer, fewer differences occurred

among treatment plots. The 1996 field season was the

driest date on which soils were sampled. Soil moisture

contents were approximately 20 percent of soil water

holding capacity (at –30 kPa) compared with around

80 percent the previous summer.

Monleon and others (1997) found that net N mineralization rates in the mineral soil surface were unchanged in plots underburned 4 months prior to sampling, and decreased in plots underburned 5 years

prior to sampling. This agrees with our measurement

of less PMN in the burned plots as compared with

control on both summer sample dates, 1 to 3 years

postburn at Lick Creek and up to 12 years at another

site in western Montana (DeLuca and Zouhar 1998).

Monleon and others (1997) speculate that the change

in N mineralization rates is a result of decreased soil

organic matter quantity after 5 years.

Ratios of PMN/total N were generally higher in the

control plot than in burned plots both summers, suggesting a lower percent of the total organic N is in an

available form in the mineral soil of the burned plots.

Similarly, biomass N/total N was consistently higher

in control than either the cut or burned plots, with the

cut-only plot being intermediate in value. These ratios

were unchanged between summers in the control and

cut-only plots, while they decreased substantially from

one year to the next in the burned plots. Microbial

biomass dropped proportionately less in the harvest

only and control plots, perhaps because the less disturbed surface organic layer provides insulation and a

more stable microenvironment less affected by changes

in moisture availability and temperature (Entry and

others 1986).

The answer to the question of how these treatments

affect N availability is implicit in what we know about

the factors that affect mineralization and immobilization (that is, the quality and quantity of organic

substrate, temperature, and moisture), and how these

factors are altered by the treatments. It is also explicit

in the results of research aimed at quantifying and

predicting this change in certain ecosystems. In the

case of Oregon studies under ponderosa pine in pumicederived andisols with an inherently low site index,

productivity was decreased as a result of prescribed

fire and vegetation removal (Busse and others 1996;

Monleon and others 1997). In contrast, Arizona studies

on more productive high organic matter mollisols

have demonstrated improved N fertility following

fire, and improved ecosystem health (Covington and

others 1997). How these effects are expressed in the

climate of western Montana on moderate productivity

incepticols remains uncertain. However, it appears

that the pool of mineralizable N may be reduced by the

combination of selection harvest with prescribed fire.

It is not clear whether this reduction in PMN may

ultimately have an adverse effect on site productivity

or if this drop in available N balances nutrient availability. For example, the control plots have the highest

levels of PMN and relatively low levels of exchangeable K+

. It is possible that a low K+:PMN ratio might

actually enhance insect and disease activity as noted

in forest fertilization programs where fertilizer N

applied without K+

 increased tree mortality rates on

low K+ sites (Mandzak and Moore 1994). In a forest

where fires have been suppressed, most of the available K+

 can be found in the foliage of trees and

understory plants. Fire reduces mineralizable N and

liberates the K+ from understory plants and heat

killed and damaged trees, thereby increasing the

K+:PMN ratio.

Antelope Bitterbrush and Scouler’s

Willow Response, Shelterwood

Cutting Unit ____________________

Donald J. Bedunah, Michael G. Harrington,

and Dayna M. Ayers

The Lick Creek study site, like many western

Montana ponderosa pine forests, is an important

winter/spring range for wild ungulates such as elk,

mule deer, white-tailed deer, and moose. These forests

supply a critical forage resource, but browse species

become decadent as forest cover increases over time.

At the Lick Creek study area, two browse species,

Scouler’s willow and antelope bitterbrush, were selected for monitoring their response to treatments.

Specifically, our objectives were to monitor these plants’

survival, vigor, and use by ungulates following cutting

and burning treatments and to determine variables

influencing survival and vigor.

Within the shelterwood study area, 1,856 bitterbrush and 871 willow plants were permanently located before harvesting within 36 circular plots of 1⁄10

acre each established in each of the control and

shelterwood cut with no-burn, low-consumption burn,

and high-consumption burn treatments. Immediately

after the shelterwood cut, all bitterbrush and willow
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999 41

plants were relocated to determine the degree of mechanical damage. Following prescribed burning, the

level of fire damage to bitterbrush and willow plants

was determined. Each shrub was then monitored in

the summers of 1993 and 1994 to document survival

and vigor. In each treatment, percent canopy cover of

willow and bitterbrush was estimated in 36 circular

plots of 350 ft2 each.

The shelterwood cut and prescribed burn treatments resulted in modest willow mortality, substantial bitterbrush mortality, concurrent decreases in

cover, but increased plant vigor (table 12). The loss of

plants was greatest in the treatments associated

with the combined effects of harvesting and burning.

Mortality of willow (14 percent) and bitterbrush (35

percent) associated with harvesting alone (table 12)

was moderate and kept from being excessive by the

low amount of severe ground disturbance as only 11

percent of the area had skid trails. Distances between

skid trails were maximized in order to minimize the

impact of the skidding operation.

Willow plants sustained less mechanical damage

and significantly less mortality than bitterbrush

(table 13). Of the bitterbrush plants receiving any

mechanical damage, almost 70 percent sustained severe damage and 86 percent of those died. Willow

survival was greater than 94 percent, except for

those plants severely damaged on skid trails, where

survival decreased to 58 percent. Differences in mortality and resprouting between bitterbrush and willow

subjected to similar mechanical injury result from

their different morphologies. The deep root system

and multistemmed growth of willow allow for higher

tolerance of disturbance than that of bitterbrush.

Willow often resprouts after surface disturbance from

a subterranean root crown (Lyon 1966), whereas bitterbrush can only resprout from a surface caudex

(Guinta and others 1978), which is more easily removed or injured by disturbance.

For willow and bitterbrush with burn damage, mortality was clearly associated with the degree of burn

severity (burn class) (fig. 25). Bitterbrush was notably

impacted by any level of fire damage, whereas willow

was not markedly affected until it suffered severe

charring of the root crown (fig. 25). Of the 639 bitterbrush plants that received burn damage, only 28

percent survived, and these were predominantly in

the low and medium burn classes (fig. 25). Bitterbrush

mortality by burn class was greater for the high

consumption burn compared to the low consumption

burn. Although fire can cause high mortality of bitterbrush, its regeneration strategy apparently requires

Table 12—Percent cover reduction, mortality, and plants with high vigor for antelope bitterbrush and Scouler’s

willow by treatment in the shelterwood unit at Lick Creek, 1994. Changes are relative to

pretreatment conditions. Average pre-treatment canopy cover was 0.94 percent for bitterbrush and

0.77 percent for willow.

Bitterbrush Willow

Cover High vigor Cover High vigor

Treatment reduction Mortality plants reduction Mortality plants

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - percent - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Control 2 4 28 1 3 15

Harvest only 75 35 70 33 14 60

Low consumption 83 62 88 62 22 71

High consumption 92 68 78 58 26 69

Table 13—Influence of mechanical damage class for the shelterwood cut and burn treatments on

survival of Scouler’s willow and antelope bitterbrush for plants receiving no burn

damage at Lick Creek, 1994.

Mechanical damage class

Species None Low Medium High Severe

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - percent survival - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Scouler’s willow 89 (66)a 95 (42) 94 (51) 94 (34) 58* (115)

Antelope bitterbrush 94 (289) 88 (77) 92 (79) 81 (41) 14* (432)

a

Numbers in parentheses are total numbers by class.

*Significantly different (p <0.05) from all other classes.
42 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999

Figure 25—Percent survival of Scouler’s willow and antelope bitterbrush by burn class.

almost competition-free, mineral seedbeds, naturally

caused by fire, for seed germination from rodent caches

(Sherman and Chilcote 1972; Clark and others 1982).

Of the 337 willow plants with burn damage, 80

percent survived and there was no difference between

the burn treatments (fig. 25). Vigorous resprouting is

consistent with other research (Leege and Hickey

1971; Leege 1979) and willow has been reported to

increase in both biomass and vigor by as much as

100 percent following a burn (Leege 1969; Mueggler

1965; Noste and Bushey 1987).

For surviving bitterbrush and willow, the proportion of high vigor plants in the burn and the harvestonly treatments greatly increased compared to the

control (table 12). Bitterbrush responded most favorably to the unburned shelterwood treatment, whereas

willow had higher mean vigor within both burned

treatments in the growing season immediately following the burns. Yet surprisingly, the proportion of

high vigor willow plants was not significantly greater

in the burn treatments over the harvest-only treatment 2 years posttreatment. This is most likely related to heavy browsing in the growing season following the treatments, resulting in loss of new growth

and subsequently lower vigor for these plants.

In summary, these results show that despite significant bitterbrush mortality and modest willow mortality from overstory removal and prescribed burning,

surviving willow and bitterbrush were more vigorous

following treatments. If one considers fire as a natural

disturbance, then the loss of a proportion of the bitterbrush population to fire may not be ecologically detrimental. In fact, the high preharvest bitterbrush numbers relative to pre-1900 may have originated from

disturbance from the early 1900’s logging, subsequent

fire suppression, and low deer and elk populations due

to unregulated hunting also in the early 1900’s. Also,

even though the most severe fire treatment caused

68 percent reduction in bitterbrush, there were still

68 plants per acre in which greater than 78 percent

had high vigor. By reducing impacts of harvesting

with widely spaced skid trails, using low-impact equipment, and prescribing low fuel consumption burns

with variable fire coverage, plant mortality should

be minimized, especially for bitterbrush. With the

return of open stand conditions, mineral seedbeds,

and more vigorous plants, the potential for natural

regeneration to replace fire-killed plants is high

(Gruell 1986). The current harvesting and prescribed

burning treatments appear to have been a positive

stimulus to willow productivity. Survival was greater

than 75 percent, and the percentage of high vigor

plants increased from 15 percent pretreatment to 70

percent posttreatment.

Heavy browsing of the vigorous shoots by wild ungulates was probably a detriment to flower and seed

production on the study area (Canon and others 1987).

Treatment areas need to be large enough to reduce

browsing impacts on plant vigor, and with dispersed

ungulate browsing, seed production and seedling establishment potential should be greater on the mineral seedbeds in the open stands.

These restoration treatments have increased bitterbrush and willow vigor in spite of heavy ungulate

browsing on treated areas. However, frequent underburning would likely be detrimental, especially to

bitterbrush. In areas where both willow and bitterbrush occur, resource managers interested in
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999 43

maintaining or enhancing browse need to consider

understory composition and species-specific responses

to management practices before applying treatments.

A no-management option would temporarily eliminate mortality of individual shrubs, but population

fitness would decline dramatically as overstory density increases, and the threat of wildfire may increase. A wildfire could be highly destructive to

bitterbrush specifically, and to the forest in general.

Effects of Logging and Burning

on Birds During the Nonbreeding

Season, Shelterwood Cutting

Unit ___________________________

Elizabeth A. Beringer, Sallie J. Hejl, and

Lynn Bacon

Shelterwood logging and prescribed burning can

potentially restore mature second-growth ponderosa

pine/Douglas-fir stands to “old-growth” forests in the

Northern Rocky Mountains, but it is unknown how

logging and burning affects birds that use these forests, especially during the nonbreeding season. We

counted birds in two mature second-growth ponderosa

pine/Douglas-fir sites in the Lick Creek drainage during the autumns of 1992 through 1994. One site was

logged in 1992 using a shelterwood cut and prescribed

burned in spring 1993. The other site was not treated.

Before treatment, the sites were similar in vegetative

composition, elevation, and previous logging history

(originally logged in the early 1900’s). Eight count

stations were located on each site, with two stations

randomly established in each of the four treatment

types, which were (1) logged followed by a high consumption burn, (2) logged followed by a low consumption burn, (3) logged and left unburned, and (4) neither

logged nor burned. We sampled birds each week from

October 13 to December 9 each year.

We noted 29 species on these sites during the three

fall seasons, and 20 of these species were found on

both sites. In general, the numbers of species and

individuals within species were low, but seven species

(Hairy Woodpecker, Black-capped Chickadee, Mountain

Chickadee, Red-breasted Nuthatch, White-breasted

Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, and Golden-crowned Kinglet) were found on both sites in all 3 years. The

presence of kinglets was noteworthy as they are rarely

found in these forests during the breeding season.

Treatment effects varied among species. Some species (such as Red-breasted Nuthatch, Golden-crowned

Kinglet) were more abundant at the untreated site,

which potentially indicates negative effects of logging

or logging and burning. Other species (such as Downy

Woodpecker) were not obviously affected by logging

and seem to be positively affected by burning following

logging. Indeed, woodpeckers as a group were more

abundant in the low-consumption burn areas, as

compared to the unlogged/unburned areas or logged/

unburned and logged/high consumption burned areas,

particularly in the second year after the burns.

Most of these results are similar to what one might

expect based on earlier studies examining the effects

of silviculture on birds in the breeding season (Hejl

and others 1995). Red-breasted Nuthatch and Goldencrowned Kinglet are usually less abundant in recently

logged areas than in unlogged ones across habitats

within the Rocky Mountains (Hejl and others 1995).

Much less is known, however, about the effects of

prescribed burning on birds. The fact that woodpeckers in general may be positively affected by shelterwood

logging followed by low-consumption burning treatments (which attempt to recreate natural conditions

in this habitat, Hejl 1992) is encouraging since many

human-induced treatments (primarily intensive logging) are known to negatively affect many woodpecker

species (Hejl and others 1995). In Arizona, Hairy

Woodpeckers also were more abundant in burned

forests, even partially logged ones, than in unburned

ones, during the nonbreeding season (Blake 1982). In

contrast to the Lick Creek study, the burned forests in

Arizona resulted from a wildfire. In addition, the fact

that woodpeckers in the Lick Creek area were potentially responding to small scale disturbances (3 to 11

acres) is noteworthy. Because both the logging and

burning treatments were applied to the treated site,

and the treatment areas were small and in proximity,

the birds may not be responding to individual treatments but to the treated landscape as a whole. In

fact, the woodpeckers may be responding to the effects

of fire, and not the logging, but the research design did

not completely isolate the burning treatments from

the logging treatment. We suggest that future investigators examine the effects of logging and burning

both independently and together, and at several spatial scales.

Wildlife Snag Production,

Commercial Thinning and

Shelterwood Cutting Units ________

Michael G. Harrington

Because of past cutting of low vigor trees and firewood gathering, few quality wildlife snags existed in

the Lick Creek research area. Therefore, an opportunity arose to study the efficacy of artificially producing

snags. Fire, along with insects, disease, lightning,

and wind (topping), has always been a primary agent

for mortality of trees for wildlife use. Therefore, fire

was used to mortally injure snag candidates compared

with mechanically injured trees in a study to observe

longevity and quality of artificially created snags.
44 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999

Figure 26—Percent mortality during the first 48 months after fire (burn) or saw

(cut) girdling of ponderosa pine snag candidates. Three age classes are

represented: bull pine, intermediate pine, and old-growth pine. See text for ages.

Recognizing that wood quality likely influences decay rates and, therefore, snag longevity, three different age classes presumably with different heartwood

to sapwood ratios, growth rates, and pitch content

were selected for study. The youngest were second

growth, referred to as bull pine, which were mostly 57

to 85 years old and had become established after the

1907 to 1911 harvesting. The third class consisted of

the oldest trees in the stand, primarily between 240

and 400 years old, referred to as old-growth pine.

Between these two groups was a class of intermediateaged trees mostly from 120 to 180 years old. In each

age class 12 trees were located in the no-burn units

and mechanically girdled by removing a 3-inch wide

strip of bark and cambium completely around the

tree. In each age class 12 trees were similarly located

in burn units and slash (including several logs) was

piled around the tree bases. These piles were ignited

during the prescribed burn treatments. A total of 72

trees, all greater than 15 inches dbh, were measured

and treated for study.

At 4 years after the mechanical girdling, only one

bull pine remained alive and all intermediate and oldgrowth trees were dead (fig. 26). Of the 36 fire-girdled

trees, 10 were still alive including three bull pines,

five intermediates, and two old growth. A few of these

may still die but most probably will survive. There

were no additional changes 5 years after girdling.

Four trees have fallen. Two bull pines fell 4 years

after mechanical girdling and two intermediate

pines fell 4.5 years after fire girdling. This indicates

that decay is occurring and additional falling should

be imminent. A few of the new snags have recent

bird cavities, which also indicates the presence of

sapwood decay.

Monitoring will continue for 10 to 15 years to follow

changing tree characteristics, standing longevity,

and bird use.

The Effect of Management Activities

on Esthestics, All Cutting Units ____

Robert E. Benson

When people visit forest lands their impression of

the area is largely influenced by the scenic quality of

the place. Part of their impression is set by nature—

the topography of the land, the type of vegetation, and

the presence or absence of features such as mountains,

lakes, or streams. Visual impressions are also influenced by management activities that may enhance or

detract from the esthetic quality of the scenery.

In the Lick Creek logging studies initiated in 1992,

scenic quality of different treatments was analyzed using several techniques: (1) viewers were shown color slides

and asked to rate them on a numerical like/dislike

scale, (2) viewers were shown sets of color print

photos and asked which photos they most preferred

and which they least preferred, and (3) a mathematical model was used which predicted viewer preferences
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999 45

based on various features in the photo that had been

found in other studies to influence preferences.

These studies showed that the most preferred was

the preharvest selection stand, typically open and

park-like with large yellow-barked pine. Viewers also

liked the preharvest scenes in areas that were

shelterwood cut or thinned, but their preferences

were not as distinct. Least preferred scenes were

postharvest areas where slash remained or where

there was evidence of recent burning such as partially

burned slash or charred trees. The results were essentially the same from all three of the techniques

used, especially in identifying the most and least

preferred scenes.

These viewer ratings were made two growing seasons after harvest, but the results are similar to

several other studies that focused on esthetic quality

following harvest and during different stages of subsequent stand development. As vegetation develops

and covers the disturbances left from logging, esthetic

ratings generally increase. But there is also evidence

that ratings drop if stands become overly dense and

brushy looking, or if they become decadent with large

amounts of dead and down trees (Arthur 1977; Benson

1995; Benson and Ullrich 1981; Daniel and Boster

1976). An earlier evaluation of photos taken in Lick

Creek since the early 1900’s estimated that as the old

growth and open stands such as in 1909 were gradually filled in with thickets of young trees, the esthetic

quality declined (Gruell and others 1982).

From a management standpoint it appears that

efforts to return stands to conditions similar to those

in the early part of the century will result in more

visually pleasing scenery than if overstocked thickets

develop. Management activities such as logging or

burning may temporarily detract from visual quality,

but if they are done with care the amount and duration

of disturbance can probably be limited.

Educational Value _______________

Jane Kapler Smith and Rick Floch

In 1991, Lick Creek was officially designated a Demonstration/Research Forest (Carlson and Floch 1996).

The purpose of this designation was to provide a place

where innovative researchers could both test and

demonstrate different techniques for managing ecosystems. Researchers, natural resource managers,

and the public have been able to observe and learn

about the consequences of different management

treatments at Lick Creek. In 1994, Lick Creek was

designated a Learning Site for the Western Montana

Ecosystem Management Learning Center Program.

Centered among towering pines at the Wood’s Cabin on

the shores of Lake Como, the Learning Center focuses

on demonstrating the influence of fire and timber

harvesting on lower elevation ponderosa pine-dominated

ecosystems of western Montana. In addition, a 7-mile

long self-guided auto tour through the Demonstration/

Research Forest was developed to provide visitors

with information about fire ecology, forest management, cultural history, and wildlife habitat. With the

development of these three informational platforms,

the Lick Creek area has become a frequently used

outdoor classroom for environmental education.

Local schools schedule several outdoor field trips

into the area annually, studying wildlife, plants,

forested ecosystems, riparian habitats, and other

biological topics. Public field trips are also conducted

that focus on sharing the results of recent research in

the Demonstration/Research Forest. College classes

from as far away as Oklahoma State and researchers

and resource managers from Australia, Argentina,

and Russia have toured the area. Because many of the

treatment boundaries lie along roads, visitors can

easily see the results of various treatments and compare them with untreated forest.

Forest succession is a gradual process, impossible

to observe directly in the field. In 1996, photos were

used to make a 15- by 25-inch poster entitled “80 Years

of Change in a Ponderosa Pine Forest.” (This is the

same photo point used for the poster in this volume.)

We distributed the posters at training sessions and

meetings for managers, silviculturists, and fire management officers. Their response was enthusiastic.

When viewers could trace a single location through

time, noting single trees that remained standing or

grew taller from one photo to the next, the concept of

succession became clear. The photos vividly display

the development of ladder fuels over time, a concept

crucial for understanding the change in fire hazard

that accompanies succession in ponderosa pine forests

in the absence of disturbance. When a presenter points

out the change from ponderosa pine dominance to

Douglas-fir, viewers also find the concept of species

change easy to grasp.

Within a year of its publication, 1,800 copies of the

“80 Years of Change” poster were distributed. It

has been useful not only in western Montana, where

Douglas-fir is replacing ponderosa pine through succession, but also in Idaho, Washington and Oregon,

where grand fir and Douglas-fir both replace ponderosa pine; in California, where white fir and coastal

Douglas-fir are the replacement species; in the central

Rocky Mountains, where blue spruce is the major

replacement species; and in New Mexico and Arizona,

where white fir and blue spruce are replacement

species (Oliver and Ryker 1990).

With its long history of research, remarkable photographic record, abundance of natural resources, cultural history, proximity to a major recreational complex (Lake Como), and easy access by a Federal highway

(U.S. 93), the Lick Creek area provides opportunities

for many kinds of environmental education. It is a

showcase example of an integrated approach to ecologically sustainable and environmentally sensitive

forest stewardship.
46 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999

Treatments applied at Lick Creek were the first

landscape-scale applications of ecosystem management on the Bitterroot National Forest. The coordinated effort between educators, researchers, resource

managers, and the public helped gain acceptance and

understanding of new approaches to management,

both internally and externally. The longer skidding

distances, high residual volume per acre, intensive

marking guides, and underburning requirements all

contributed to make the sale distinct from past sales

and more difficult to sell and implement. However, if

public land management is truly going to reflect ecosystem processes, structure and scale, these attributes

will become the norm.

Not only do ecosystem-based management techniques meet many biological needs for species habitat,

they also serve social needs. Large residual trees

maintain visual quality and provide an aesthetically

pleasing environment as well as watershed protection

and wildlife cover and habitat. The application of

prescribed fire reduces fuels and the threat of wildfire

damage to neighboring homes and property. This is

especially relevant on the Bitterroot National Forest,

which surrounds the fastest growing county in MonRELEVANCE OF LICK CREEK ECOSYSTEM- BASED MANAGEMENT TREATMENTS TO

NATIONAL FOREST MANAGEMENT

Cathy Stewart

tana. Underburning also stimulates forage for big

game, an important consideration because Lick Creek

is a key winter range and spring calving area for elk.

With few old-growth ponderosa pine forests remaining relative to historical conditions, there will be fewer

large-size pine logs produced from public lands. The

Lick Creek sale allowed us to focus on removal of

smaller material and highlighted the need to develop

markets for this component. This will continue to be a

need in the future as reduction of wildfire risk becomes

more important.

Maintenance of the species composition over time

may pose problems for some of the treatments. Due to

the shade from the residual overstory, Douglas-fir will

continue to out-compete ponderosa pine. Periodic application of fire can help ponderosa pine maintain

dominance. However, the complex environmental and

social conditions required for burning, as well as the

added costs, may prevent application of fire on a

regular schedule. Time will determine whether it is

feasible to apply fire treatments frequently enough to

maintain healthy multiaged stands of ponderosa pine

at Lick Creek and on the millions of acres of similar

forests elsewhere in the Inland Northwest.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999 47

The 88-year photo sequences, descriptions of historical changes, and the initial results from ecosystembased management treatments at Lick Creek portray

a dynamic, ever-changing forest. The goals of ecosystem-based management at Lick Creek are to continuously maintain an open forest containing old growth

as well as younger age classes of ponderosa pine. Half

a century ago, Weaver (1943) and Biswell (1963)

recognized that ponderosa pine forests were dependent on frequent low-intensity fires and that forest

managers need to substitute prescribed fire for historical fires, often in combination with other fuel

treatments and silvicultural thinning.

Evidence from Lick Creek shows that despite repeated silvicultural cuttings since the early 1900’s,

thickets of understory conifers (ladder fuels), down

woody fuels, and litter fuels tend to increase in the

absence of fire. Similarly, old-growth ponderosa pine/

Douglas-fir stands show dramatic increases in understory conifers and fuel accumulation with fire exclusion (Arno and others 1995, 1997). At Lick Creek, the

1907 to 1911 and 1952 to 1980 partial cuttings were

followed by vigorous regeneration of ponderosa pine.

The 1990’s ecosystem-based management treatments

that included underburning have already been followed by natural regeneration of ponderosa pine with

fewer Douglas-fir, whereas the cut/no-burn areas have

a higher proportion of Douglas-fir regeneration, much

of it established before the logging treatments.

In the early 1900’s, foresters were concerned that an

increase in Douglas-fir at Lick Creek would result in

proliferation of dwarf mistletoe. Dwarf mistletoe outbreaks are not evident at the photopoints, probably

because of frequent cuttings that deliberately removed

a higher proportion of Douglas-fir. In contrast, in some

stands at Lick Creek where Douglas-fir became abundant soon after the early 1900’s cuttings, dwarf mistletoe has reached epidemic levels. Throughout much of

this region, removal of large pines and exclusion of

frequent fires has often resulted in second-growth

forests dominated by Douglas-fir so severely infected

CONCLUDING REMARKS

Stephen F. Arno and Michael G. Harrington

that they appear incapable of producing large, longlived trees. Dwarf mistletoe infestations produce bushy

“witches brooms” that are highly flammable and increase the intensity of fires.

Another result of greater stand densities and increased proportions of Douglas-fir in this forest type

has been increased defoliation by western spruce budworm (Anderson and others 1987). Tree mortality

from root pathogens such as Armillaria spp.,

Heterobasidion annosum (formerly Fomes annosus),

and Philinus weirii shows a similar trend related to

the post-1900 structural and compositional changes in

the ponderosa pine/Douglas-fir forest (Byler and others 1990). Comparable changes in stand structure and

related forest health problems linked to fire exclusion

have been identified in ponderosa pine forests throughout much of the Western United States (Clark and

Sampson 1995; Covington and others 1997). Restoration treatments have been attempted in many areas,

but usually the treatments and their effects have not

been monitored and evaluated. Most research studies

have examined only a narrow set of treatment effects.

Prescribed burning has been studied, but usually not

in combination with the cutting treatments necessary

to restore a more natural stand structure before burning.

The observations and studies at Lick Creek are

useful because they combine a long record of stand

conditions and responses to a variety of silvicultural

regeneration cuttings and thinnings, different burn

prescriptions, and multidisciplinary studies of treatment effects. The 1990’s treatments incorporated combinations of silvicultural cutting and prescribed fire

carried out over a few hundred acres in an economical

manner. The cut/no-burn treatments left large amounts

of advanced regeneration of Douglas-fir, which will

probably dominate the understory of the future stand.

The low-, intermediate-, and high-consumption burns

were successful in removing most of the small firs and

in achieving significant fuel reduction with low levels

of overstory tree mortality. The high-consumption
48 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999

burns were followed by moderate bark beetle-caused

mortality that created additional small openings. The

high-consumption burns represent the driest conditions usually acceptable for prescribed underburning.

A flush of available nitrogen followed cut and burn

treatments. Some was evidently utilized by the

postburn vegetation, which was then heavily grazed

by deer, elk, and moose. Resprouting willow was

browsed so heavily that it has been unable to grow

vertically except where it was protected in wire cages.

With so little of this burned lower elevation ponderosa

pine forest available, and with high elk and deer

populations, browsing use becomes concentrated on

areas where nutritious browse is available.

It is a daunting challenge to restore the fire-dependent forest at Lick Creek after nearly a century of fire

exclusion and having missed about a dozen natural

fire cycles. Fuels have accumulated, trees may be

experiencing growth stagnation related to overstocking and lack of sufficient nutrient cycling, and fine

roots may be growing close to the soil surface and thus

vulnerable to fire damage. Invasive nonnative plants

are established and likely to increase with any disturbance. The evidence from Lick Creek and other areas,

however, suggests that even well-designed silvicultural cuttings not accompanied by fire are inadequate

for sustaining wildland ponderosa pine/Douglas-fir

ecosystems. Prescribed fire can control the excessive

number of saplings and reduce surface fuels, recycle

nutrients in a semblance of natural processes, and

reduce the risk of severe wildfire (Scott 1998).

“Preservation,” protecting the stand from both cutting and fire, is another alternative, but this approach

exacerbates problems of growth stagnation and vulnerability to severe damage from wildfire and insect or

disease epidemics. Some people argue that preservation represents a conservative approach to maintaining a semblance of the natural ecosystem, but this fails

to recognize that these ecosystems were historically

dominated by plants and animals adapted to frequent

low-intensity fires, not to fire exclusion. Moreover,

preservation will likely eventually result in an unusually severe wildfire, which may have damaging effects,

for instance, in triggering accelerated erosion or mass

invasion of nonnative vegetation.

Because of the excessive stocking of mid-sized trees,

returning fire without a prepatory silvicultural cutting would either be ineffective (failing to thin the

stand) or too destructive (causing mass mortality)

(Arno and others 1996). Once the initial restoration

treatments have been completed, however, it should

be easier to maintain the stand in some semblance of

natural structure at low risk to severe wildfire or

insect/disease epidemics by continuing use of prescribed fire, with or without silvicultural cuttings.

The ecosystem-based management treatments produced an array of changes from significant to subtle,

from transient to long-term, some of which would be

considered positive and some negative. Considered

desirable are the open stand structure and removal of

the Douglas-fir understory as designed by the cutting

prescription and improved upon by the fire treatments. Natural conifer regeneration appears successful with the burn treatments producing microsites

more favorable to ponderosa pine. The fire hazard has

been reduced somewhat by consumption of surface

fuels, but more important is the reduction of ladder

fuels. However, burning of forest fuels means consumption of site organic matter and transformation of

mineral nutrients. The short-term flush of available

nitrogen following burning may have a brief fertilization effect, but a lessening of available nitrogen may

subsequently result. The general increase in understory herbaceous and shrubby plant cover with treatments is also a positive response, with the exception of

bitterbrush, a favored browse species that was moderately reduced by the harvesting and greatly reduced

with the addition of burning. Regeneration of bitterbrush is now likely, however. Vigorous expansion of

knapweed from all treatments could have deleterious

impacts on native vegetation although it appears that

knapweed increases following forest preservation and

eventual severe wildfire as well. As with plant response, some bird species declined with treatments,

some were unchanged, and others increased. These

changes are likely to be temporary. An esthetic decline

was indicated with harvesting and burning, but as the

forest recovers, an increase in acceptance is expected.

Each of these individual responses to treatments at

Lick Creek have been subjectively evaluated as favorable or deleterious. However, the most comprehensive

appraisal of these treatments should look at responses

collectively rather than individually. The prominent

preharvest stand feature was excessive tree density

that had resulted in reduced overstory vigor from

competitive stress, diminished health and cover of

understory vegetation, and rather continuous ladder

and crown fuels that would support a stand-replacing

fire. Thinning both the overstory and understory trees

was essential for overcoming competitive stress among

trees, rejuvenating understory vegetation, and reducing the threat of a severely damaging wildfire. The fire

treatments reduced the fire hazard further and eliminated the opportunity for understory Douglas-fir to

quickly grow into the overstory. Concurrent impacts of

the thinning and burning activities were mortality of

understory vegetation, soil disturbance that led to

spread of knapweed, reduction of potentially mineralizable nitrogen, lessening of esthetic values, and reduction in habitat of certain birds. Many of these are
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999 49

temporary, but all are anticipated consequences that

accompany activities to improve general health, diversity, and sustainability of this forest. The fire, wind,

and insect disturbances that resulted in forest stability during past centuries likely caused temporary

changes in individual site attributes that might be

considered negative, such as those described in these

studies. But in the long term, they created the vegetative and edaphic conditions that produce a forest

represented by all aged, well-spaced trees with a

diverse and vigorous understory that was resistant to

catastrophic change. The seemingly negative specific

responses described in the these ecosystem-based

management studies can, therefore, be viewed as

necessary consequences of forest restoration activities

that impact site features in a manner thought to

resemble that of historic fires.

It seems clear that ecosystem-based management

projects of this scale—a few hundred acres being

accomplished over 2 years—are attainable by the

Forest Service and acceptable to the public. The

ecosystem-based management treatments were well

accepted by the visiting public, with the aid of educational efforts to explain the reasons and goals for

treatments. This scale of treatment, however, is inadequate for restoring and maintaining any substantial

fraction of the ponderosa pine forest on National

Forest lands in this region. For instance, if average

intervals for maintenance treatments were 25 years

for 1 million acres of this forest type in western

Montana, 40,000 acres would require treatment each

year. The Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem-Based

Management Project evaluation calls attention to the

need for large-scale restoration treatments, including

prescribed burning (Quigley and others 1996). The

long-term records from Lick Creek coupled with evaluations and research on the 1990’s ecosystem-based

management treatments should provide valuable insight for planning restoration efforts elsewhere in

ponderosa pine forests. We suggest that these longterm efforts of treatment application, monitoring, and

evaluation at Lick Creek continue into the future to

build upon and adapt the knowledge already gained

toward the goal of ecosystem restoration.
50 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999

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Arno, S.F.; Petersen, T.D. 1983. Variation in estimates of fire

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52 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999

Arno, Stephen F.: Research Forester for Fire Effects Unit; Rocky

Mountain Research Station, Intermountain Fire Sciences Laboratory, Missoula, MT.

Ayers, Dayna M.: Graduate student in organismal biology and

ecology at The University of Montana, Missoula, MT.

Bacon, Lynn: Undergraduate student in Wildlife Biology at The

University of Montana, Missoula.

Bedunah, Donald J.: Professor in the School of Forestry at The

University of Montana, Missoula.

Benson, Robert E.: Retired Research Forester, Rocky Mountain

Research Station, Forestry Sciences Laboratory, Missoula, MT.

Beringer, Elizabeth A.: Wildlife Biologist for Wildlife Habitats Unit;

Rocky Mountain Research Station, Forestry Sciences Laboratory, Missoula, MT.

Carlson, Clinton E.: Retired Project Leader for Forest Ecology and

Managment Unit; Rocky Mountain Research Station, Forestry

Sciences Laboratory, Missoula, MT

DeLuca, Thomas H.: Assistant Professor in the School of Forestry

at The University of Montana, Missoula.

Fiedler, Carl E.: Assistant Research Professor in the School of

Forestry at The University of Montana, Missoula.

Floch, Rick: Forester; Bitterroot National Forest, Darby, MT.

Harrington, Michael G.: Research Forester for Fire Effects Unit;

Rocky Mountain Research Station, Intermountain Fire Sciences

Laboratory, Missoula, MT.

Hejl, Sallie J.: Wildlife Biologist for Wildlife Habitats Unit; Rocky

Mountain Research Station, Forestry Sciences Laboratory,

Missoula, MT.

APPENDIX A: CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS

AND AFFILIATIONS

Jones, Greg J.: Research Forester for Multiple-Use Economics

Unit, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Forestry Sciences

Laboratory, Missoula, MT.

Kapler Smith, Jane: Ecologist for Fire Effects Unit; Rocky Mountain Research Station, Intermountain Fire Sciences Laboratory,

Missoula, MT.

McCaughey, Ward W.: Research Forester for Forest Ecology and

Management Unit, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Forestry

Sciences Laboratory, Bozeman, MT.

Menakis, James P.: Forester for Fire Effects Units; Rocky Mountain

Research Station, Intermountain Fire Sciences Laboratory,

Missoula, MT.

Simmerman, Dennis G.: Forester for Fire Effects Units; Rocky

Mountain Research Station, Intermountain Fire Sciences Laboratory, Missoula, MT.

Smith, Helen Y.: Ecologist Trainee for Fire Effects Unit; Rocky

Mountain Research Station, Intermountain Fire Sciences Laboratory, Missoula, MT.

Stewart, Cathy: Silviculturist; Bitterroot National Forest, Darby,

MT.

Theroux, Leon J.: Biological Technician for Forest Ecology and

Managment Unit; Rocky Mountain Research Station, Forestry

Sciences Laboratory, Missoula, MT.

Zouhar, Kristin L.: Graduate Student in the School of Forestry at

The University of Montana, Missoula.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999 53

TREES

ponderosa pine Pinus ponderosa

Douglas-fir Pseudotsuga menziesii

grand fir Abies grandis

spruce Picea engelmannii

western larch Larix occidentalis

aspen Populus spp.

white fir Abies concolor

blue spruce Picea pungens

GRASS-LIKE

pinegrass Calamagrostis rubescens

bluebunch wheatgrass Agropyron spicatum

Idaho fescue Festuca idahoensis

elk sedge Carex geyeri

Ross’ sedge Carex rossii

wild rye Elymus glaucus

Kentucky bluegrass Poa pratensis

FORBS

arrowleaf balsamroot Balsamorhiza sagittata

spotted knapweed Centaurea maculosa

yarrow Achillea millefolium

creeping dogbane Apocynum androsaemifolium

fireweed (annual) Epilobium paniculatum

bull thistle Cirsium vulgare

Canada thistle Cirsium arvense

thistle Cirsium spp.

mullein Verbascum thapsis

sheep sorrel Rumex acetosella

horseweed Conyza canadensis

lupine Lupinus spp.

APPENDIX B: PLANTS AND ANIMALS

NAMES (COMMON AND SCIENTIFIC)

SHRUBS

snowberry Symphoricarpos albus

dwarf huckleberry Vaccinium caespitosum

blue huckleberry Vaccinium globulare

kinnikinnick Arctostaphylos uva-ursi

white spirea Spiraea betulifolia

antelope bitterbrush Purshia tridentata

 (bitterbrush)

Scouler’s willow (willow) Salix scouleriana

serviceberry Amalanchier alnifolia

rose Rosa spp.

Oregon grape Berberis repens

INSECTS AND DISEASES

yellow pine butterfly Neophasia menapia

mountain pine beetle Dendroctonus ponderosae

western pine beetle Dendroctonus brevicomis

bark beetles Dendroctonus spp.

dwarf mistletoe Arceuthobium spp.

western spruce budworm Choristoneura occidentalis

Armillaria root rot Armillaria spp.

Annosus root rot Heterobasidion annosum

Laminated root rot Phellinus weirii

ANIMALS

elk Cervus elaphus

mule deer Odocoileus hemionus

white-tailed deer Odocoileus virginianus

moose Alces alces

hairy woodpecker Picoides villosus

black-capped chickadee Parus articapillus

mountain chickadee Parus gambeli

red-breasted nuthatch Sitta canadensis

white-breasted nuthatch Sitta carolinensis

brown creeper Certhia americana

golden-crowned kinglet Regulus satrapa
54 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999

APPENDIX C: SUMMARY OF VEGETATION

CHANGES IN SHELTERWOOD CUTTING UNIT

Average percent cover for vegetation in the shelterwood cutting unit at Lick Creek by burn treatment.

NO BURN LOW CONSUMPTION BURN HIGH CONSUMPTION BURN

Pre- Pre- PreGENUS SPECIES Trt. P1 P2 P3 P4 Trt. P1 P2 P3 P4 Trt. P1 P2 P3 P4

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Percent cover - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

1.8 3.7 4.1 2.3 1.4 1.9 7.8 8.0 4.7 2.5 1.6 9.0 8.9 4.3 1.8

SHRUBS

Purshia tridentata** 1.6 1.6 1.5 1.6 1.8 1.7 0.8 0.9 0.8 1.0 2.3 0.6 0.6 0.8 0.8

Rosa species 1.4 1.0 1.0 1.3 1.9 0.6 0.6 0.5 0.8 0.9 0.9 0.6 0.7 0.9 1.0

Salix scouleriana** 2.0 2.2 2.9 2.1 2.8 1.5 1.2 1.1 1.2 1.9 3.6 1.3 1.8 1.4 2.2

Spiraea betulifolia 5.1 3.7 4.5 4.3 5.0 4.5 3.6 4.8 4.4 5.6 1.2 1.2 2.0 2.0 1.7

Symphoricarpos albus 5.4 3.5 4.1 4.4 5.3 3.0 1.4 2.1 3.0 3.3 6.7 3.6 5.0 5.3 6.3

**Coverages from large shrub plots (1/300 acre)

LOW WOODY PLANTS

Arctostaphylos uva-ursi 9.8 6.7 9.1 10.9 11.1 9.8 3.5 7.3 9.6 9.9 2.2 0.7 1.4 1.5 1.7

Berberis repens 3.0 2.6 2.7 3.0 3.9 1.2 1.6 2.0 2.6 2.9 2.1 1.7 2.8 3.4 3.9

Vaccinium caespitosum 1.0 0.5 0.8 0.9 0.9 1.8 0.6 1.1 1.0 1.8 0 0 0 0 0

GRASSES & GRASS-LIKE PLANTS

Agropyron spicatum 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.4 1.4 0.4 0.3 0.7 0.8 0.7 1.0 0.4 0.7 1.0 1.0

Calamagrostis rubescens 7.4 4.8 8.1 7.7 8.2 7.7 5.4 9.9 10.1 9.9 6.1 3.5 7.0 6.9 8.2

Carex concinnoides 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.4 0.4 0.8 1.0 1.4 0.1 T 0.1 0.3 0.4

Carex geyeri 11.4 5.4 9.2 10.1 10.4 6.4 2.3 3.8 3.5 5.3 9.6 1.8 2.7 4.6 5.8

Carex rossii 0.5 0.8 0.8 1.1 1.1 0.7 1.3 1.9 1.9 2.1 0.5 1.3 2.0 2.9 2.7

Festuca octoflora 0 T 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.9 0.7 0.4 T 0.2 1.1 1.1 0.8

Koeleria cristata 0.5 0.4 0.8 0.7 0.7 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.3 0.4 0.6 0.5 1.0 1.6 1.7

INTRODUCED GRASSES & GRASS-LIKE PLANTS

Agrostis species 0.3 0 1.0 1.3 0.7 0 0 0.2 0.7 0.7 0.1 0 0.2 0.4 0.4

Poa species 0.1 0.4 1.6 2.7 2.1 0.2 0.1 0.3 0.3 0.2 0 0.1 0.2 0.5 0.6

OTHER HERBACEOUS PLANTS

Achillea millefolium 0.7 1.0 0.9 1.2 1.1 0.6 0.5 1.8 2.1 2.5 0.8 0.7 2.1 1.7 2.2

Apocynum androsaemifolium 1.6 2.0 2.6 2.8 3.5 1.3 2.6 3.9 4.3 3.4 2.3 3.6 7.2 7.4 6.8

Arnica cordifolia 2.8 2.0 1.7 1.9 4.2 1.4 1.2 1.1 0.8 1.5 0.8 0.9 0.6 0.4 0.8

Collomia linearis 0.2 0.2 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.7 0.4 0.6 0.3 0.4 1.1 0.7 1.0

Epilobium paniculatum 0.2 0.6 1.0 0.5 0.5 0.1 0.7 2.2 1.3 1.7 0.2 0.8 4.0 1.8 2.2

Fragaria virginiana 0.7 0.7 1.0 1.1 1.5 0.4 0.5 0.9 0.9 1.3 0.3 0.4 0.7 1.0 1.2

Gnaphalium species 0 0.1 T 0.1 0.1 0 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.5 0 0.1 0.3 0.7 1.1

Hieracium species 0.4 0.5 0.5 0.6 0.8 0.6 0.6 0.8 0.8 1.6 0.4 0.5 0.7 1.1 1.3

Lupinus species 1.1 0.9 1.8 1.8 2.7 0.6 1.1 3.5 4.8 6.6 3.2 3.0 3.5 3.3 4.0

Montia perfoliata 0.1 0.2 0.1 T 0 T 0.2 0.2 T 0.1 0 0.8 1.0 T T

Penstemon species 0.3 0.3 0.7 0.8 1.0 0.4 0.4 0.6 0.7 1.4 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4

Solidago missouriensis 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.3 0.6 1.1 0.9 1.2 0.1 0.1 0.3 0.4 0.4

OTHER HERBACEOUS PLANTS-INTRODUCED

Centaurea maculosa 0.3 0.4 0.6 1.4 1.9 0.5 1.0 3.4 4.9 5.9 1.9 3.6 7.3 11.4 14.1

Cirsium species 0 0.4 0.7 0.9 1.0 0 0.9 1.7 2.7 2.3 0 1.4 2.0 2.9 2.1

Conyza canadensis 0 0 0.4 0 0 0 T 0.3 0.1 T 0 0 1.2 0.3 0

Rumex acetosella 0 0.5 1.4 1.4 1.3 0.1 1.1 4.3 3.4 0.8 0 1.5 6.2 4.2 1.3

Verbascum thapsis 0 0.4 0.8 0.3 0.1 0 2.7 3.6 1.6 1.2 0 3.2 4.9 2.2 1.3

(con.)
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. 1999 55

TOTAL UNIT PERCENT COVERAGES AND NUMBER OF SPECIES PRESENT BY VEGETATION TYPE

Shrubs 15.8 12.1 14.2 13.9 17.0 11.7 7.6 9.6 10.2 12.9 14.9 7.3 10.1 10.4 12.2

Number of species present 8 7787 7 8777 86788

Low woody plants 13.8 9.9 12.5 14.7 16.1 12.8 5.7 10.4 13.6 14.6 4.3 2.3 4.1 4.9 5.6

Number of species present 4 3444 4 3333 22222

Grasses and Grass-like plants

Native species 21.4 13.3 21.2 23.3 23.6 15.9 10.3 18.6 19.1 20.9 18.0 7.8 14.8 18.8 20.9

Number of species present 15 16 15 16 14 11 11 12 12 13 12 10 12 13 13

Introduced species 0.4 0.9 2.8 4.1 3.0 0.2 0.2 0.8 1.2 1.0 0.1 0.4 1.1 1.9 1.8

Number of species present 2 3533 1 4544 16676

Other Herbaceous plants

Native species 12.2 11.8 15.0 15.5 20.7 8.9 11.5 20.9 20.1 25.9 11.8 14.8 25.5 22.0 24.9

Number of species present 44 40 41 46 43 38 39 42 40 38 33 32 34 34 35

Introduced species 0.7 2.4 4.9 4.8 4.7 0.8 6.1 13.8 13.1 10.8 2.0 10.2 22.6 21.7 19.7

Number of species present 5 8 10 8 7 6 9 11 9 9 3 9 12 12 10

Total undergrowth cover 64.3 50.3 70.6 76.3 85.0 50.2 41.3 74.0 77.3 86.0 51.2 42.9 78.2 79.6 85.0

Number of species present 78 77 82 85 78 67 74 80 75 74 59 65 73 76 74

T = Trace amounts (<0.1% cover).

Other plant species found only in trace amounts (<0.1%):

SHRUBS

Alnus incana, Amelanchier alnifolia, Crataegus douglasii, Juniperus communis, Prunus virginiana, Rubus idaeus, Rubus parviflora, Rubus species, Vaccinium

globulare

LOW WOODY PLANTS

Clematis columbiana, Linnaea borealis, Lonicera ciliosa

GRASSES AND GRASS-LIKE PLANTS

Bromus species, Calamagrostis purpurascens, Carex aurea, Carex species, Danthonia intermedia, Danthonia species, Danthonia unispicata, Elymus glaucus,

Festuca idahoensis, Festuca occidentalis, Juncus species, Juncus tenuis, Luzula campestris, Stipa occidentalis, Stipa richardsonii, Stipa species, Trisetum species

INTRODUCED GRASSES AND GRASS-LIKE PLANTS

Agropyron intermedium, Agropyron species, Agrostis scabra, Bromus inermis, Bromus tectorum, Dactylis glomerata, Dactylis species, Phleum pratense

OTHER HERBACEOUS PLANTS

Allium cernum, Anaphalis margaritaceae, Antennaria anaphaloides, Antennaria luzuloides, Antennaria microphylla, Antennaria neglecta, Antennaria racemosa,

Arabis species, Arenaria macrophylla, Aster conspicuus, Aster laevis, Aster species, Balsamorhixa sagittata, Brodiaea douglasii, Calochortus species, Campanula

rotundifolia, Castilleja species, Cerastium arvense, Chimaphilla menziesii, Chimaphilla umbellata, Collinsia parviflora, Corallorhiza maculata, Corallorhiza species,

Crepis atrabarba, Crepis species, Dodecatheon species, Epilobium angustifolium, Eiplobium species, Epilobium watsonii, Equisetum laevigatum, Equisetum

species, Erigeron divergens, Erigeron species, Erigeron speciosus, Erythronium grandiflorum, Frageria vesca, Galium boreale, Galium triflorum, Geum

macrophyllum, Goodyera oblongifolia, Hedysarum species, Hedysarum sulphurescens, Heucheria cylindrica, Lithospermum ruderale, Lomatium species, Lomatium

triternatum, Microseris nutans, Montia linearis, Osmorhiza chilensis, Polygonum douglasii, Prunella vulgaris, Pterospora andromedea, Ranumculus acriformis,

Sedum stenopetalum, Senecio integerrimus, Silene menziesii, Stenanthium occidentale, Thalictrum occidentale, Urtica dioica, Veronica americana, Viola adunca,

Viola orbiculata

OTHER HERBACEOUS PLANTS-INTRODUCED

Cryptantha affinis, Erigeron strigosus, Filago arvensis, Lactuca serriola, Myosotis micrantha, Plantago major, Taraxacum species, Tragopogon dubium, Trifolium

species

Appendix C (Con.)

NO BURN LOW CONSUMPTION BURN HIGH CONSUMPTION BURN

Pre- Pre- PreGENUS SPECIES Trt. P1 P2 P3 P4 Trt. P1 P2 P3 P4 Trt. P1 P2 P3 P4

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Percent cover - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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, 240 West Prospect Road, Fort Collins, CO 80526

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