Science Accomplishments

of the pacific northwest research station

2005
Table of Contents

4 PNW Research Station: The Setting

5 A Message From the PNW Executive Team

7 Goal Accomplishments

8 Goal 1: Develop a Fundamental Understanding of 

 Ecological, Social, and Economic Systems and 

 Their Interactions

20 Goal 2: Assess the Status and Trends of Ecosystems 

 and Natural Resources and Their Uses

30 Goal 3: Develop Science-Based Options for 

 Informed Management

54 Goal 4: Communicate Science Findings 

 and Enhance Their Application

65 Publications

66 Symposia, Workshops, and Tours

69 Conservation Education

71 Honors and Awards

75 Research Context

76 Finances and Workforce

77 Cooperators Who Received Funding for Studies

77 Clients Who Provided Funding for Studies

78 PNW Research Station Organization

Cover photograph: Steve Wondzell
Vision and Mission:

We are highly sought for our scientific leadership and 

impartial knowledge. Our mission is to generate and 

communicate scientific knowledge that helps people 

understand and make informed choices about people, 

natural resources, and the environment.
2005 SCIENCE aCCOMPLISHMENTS  2005 SCIENCE aCCOMPLISHMENTS 
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I

n 2005, we celebrated a century of service for the 

Forest Service. The Pacific Northwest (PNW) 

Research Station is proud to contribute its service 

particularly at this juncture in history where we have a 

strong historical legacy of scientific knowledge that has 

allowed us to begin to understand just how complex 

forests and range lands are and how much they mean 

to people.

synthesis of tools and models for fuel and vegetation 

treatments, a series of fuel treatment fact sheets, 

strategies to address fire risk in old forests, better 

integration among existing models, and techniques 

to meet postfire restoration needs.

In 2005, we contributed scientific concepts and 

other information about critical fish habitat, which 

is now being used by managers and regulators as 

they design management actions and monitor treatments from the Pacific coast to the interior West 

headwaters in Oregon and Washington.

As an Executive Team, we have the honor to work 

with scientists and others who have dedicated their 

careers to serving people through generating and 

communicating scientific knowledge. This accomplishment report provides a snapshot of this service 

for 2005. We look forward to continued service in 

years to come as we work with our many partners 

toward improved knowledge and informed choices.

PNW Executive Team

February 2006

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A Message from the PNW Executive Team

Last year we met a major milestone for perhaps one 

of the largest scale policy decisions to which we 

have contributed information: the Northwest Forest 

Plan. In April 2005, we shared science information 

on the monitoring and implementation of this plan 

during a conference attended by over 500 people. 

Twelve reports on the information discussed at this 

conference are being published in 2005 and 2006.

Another important accomplishment in 2005 was a 

series of meetings where we launched significant 

partnerships to address the critical issues we face 

in fire and fuels in the Northwest. New products to 

meet manager needs include a “consumer’s guide” 

Frank Vanni
2005 SCIENCE aCCOMPLISHMENTS 

➤ 11 laboratories and centers in Alaska, Oregon, 

 and Washington

➤ 11 active experimental areas (watershed, range, 

 and experimental forests)

➤ Research also conducted in more than 20 research 

 natural areas (RNAs)

➤ Headquarters in Portland, Oregon

PNW Research Station: The Setting

A L A S K A

Anchorage

Y

Y

Y

Sitka

Juneau

Y

Fairbanks

Laboratory or Center

Experimental Forest, Watershed, or Range

> Headquarters

Y

Seattle

Olympia

Wenatchee

W A S H I N G T O N

O R E G O N

Corvallis

La Grande Portland

Prineville

Y >

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

➤ PNW is 1 of 5 research stations in the U.S. 

 Department of Agriculture, Forest Service

➤ 519 employees (300 permanent, 219 temporary)
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Goal Accomplishments

Tom Iraci

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Goal 1: Develop a fundamental understanding 

of ecological, social, and economic systems and 

their interactions

➤ Over the past 300 years, the Northwestern 

United States has had 10 distinct climate 

periods, with 3 of those being unique regimes 

that stood out from the background climate. 

These climate-switching episodes can have 

important consequences for ecosystems.

➤ The deep groundwater system of the high Cascade 

Range may buffer the hydrological effects of climate 

variability, but streams from the western Cascade 

Range are likely to have dramatically reduced 

summer streamflows under a warmer climate.

➤ Tourist numbers in southeast Alaska tripled from 

1990 to 2004, with visible effects on local lifestyles, 

livelihoods, and resident relations with natural 

resources. As tourism increased, local leaders 

began to negotiate control of the process with 

outside corporations.

➤ In the dry, mixed-conifer forests of the inland 

Northwest, changes in forest structure and 

composition over the last 200 years have 

brought about changes in the pattern, 

distribution, frequency, and severity of 

disturbances, especially fires.

➤ Marbled murrelets travel widely between 

their foraging and nesting sites. Murrelets 

that nested in Washington’s Olympic National 

Park were found foraging off the coast of 

Vancouver Island, and birds foraging off the 

Olympic Peninsula coast were nesting on 

Vancouver Island.

➤ Although trees’ deep roots have access to 

water in dry periods, their ability to take up 

that water successfully depends on their 

shallow roots, which work in conjunction 

with leaf stomata to limit water loss.

Key Findings
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Accomplishments 

Scientists characterize climate regime switching for 

past 300 years in the Northwest

A region can undergo periods of climate switching—

episodes ranging from a few years to decades when 

its climate may differ significantly from its normal, or background climate. This climate switching can be initiated and 

sustained by shifting ocean and atmosphere conditions and 

can generate important changes in ecosystem patterns or 

processes, such as increasing fire frequency or the duration 

of pest outbreaks.

Using 300 years of tree-ring data, scientists evaluated the 

recent (from 1675 to 1978) climate of the Northwestern 

United States by determining past periods of above- and 

Using tree-ring data, scientists have built a timeline of droughts 

and wet cycles over the past 300 years in the Pacific Northwest.

below-average drought. Using these data, they characterized the region’s historical background climate and 

then identified anomalies—periods in which the region 

experienced abnormally dry or wet events. Their analysis 

revealed 10 distinct climate periods and 3 unique climatic 

regimes or signals that stood out from the background 

climate. Five of the 10 periods, representing about 80 

percent of the time, were marked by mild and equitable 

moisture conditions, representing the Northwest’s background climate. The remaining periods were anomalies: 

two displayed switching between severe and extreme 

dry and wet episodes; another two displayed switching 

between more moderate dry and wet episodes; and one 

exhibited no switching at all, but was marked by persistent, yet mild to moderate, drought. This latter period 

was how the Northwest experienced the “dust bowl” of 

the 1930s.

Knowledge of the Northwest’s recent historical climate is 

helping to examine the role of past climate in historical 

ecosystems. Linking historical climate to particular ecosystem patterns and processes also helps predict future 

ecosystem changes by providing evidence of the types 

of interactions that may occur.

Contact: Paul Hessburg, phessburg@fs.fed.us, 

Managing Disturbance Regimes Program

Partner: University of Arizona

Tom Iraci

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Research reveals associations between 

climate and fire season severity

Scientists have documented associations between fire and 

climate variability. Both historical and contemporary records 

of fire show that in seasons, years, and decades experiencing above-average drought and temperatures, there have 

been dramatic increases in fire and area burned. Using these 

relationships, scientists estimated that significant increases 

in area burned would occur across the Western United States 

in the next century in direct response to global warming 

trends. Unusually dry or hot periods associated with periodic 

weather patterns may produce especially severe wildfires.

This research informs long-term planning for fire and 

fuels management by demonstrating that fire extent will 

be controlled most by regional climate and less by fuel 

accumulations.

Contact: Don McKenzie, donaldmckenzie@fs.fed.us, 

Managing Disturbance Regimes Program

Partners: University of Guelph (Ontario, Canada), 

University of Washington, West Virginia University

Modified definition of El Niño could lead 

to improved seasonal weather forecasts

El Niño refers to a recurring oceanic-atmospheric phenomenon in which the temperature of Pacific Ocean surface 

waters increases. The result is a host of potentially devastating 

worldwide weather anomalies, such as flooding and changes 

in temperature and precipitation. Although scientists agree 

that 11 El Niño events have occurred since 1950, no consensus has been reached on an official definition of El Niño.

Recently the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) introduced a new definition that outlines 

surface water temperature increase and duration criteria for 

classifying El Niño events. This new definition is based on 

temperature anomalies of the central Pacific Ocean, however, 

and does not factor in conditions of the eastern Pacific Ocean, 

near the international dateline. The extreme weather resulting from these two types of El Niño events is substantially 

different. Collaborative research conducted by Station and 

NOAA scientists has revealed that a modification of the new 

definition, separating El Niño events into two classes—“conventional” and “dateline” events—will allow for significantly 

improved seasonal weather forecasts during El Niño events. 

Seasonal forecasts are relevant for anticipating droughts, 

firefighting needs, and so forth.

Contact: Sim Larkin, larkin@fs.fed.us, 

Managing Disturbance Regimes Program

Partners: USDC National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 

Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory

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Assessments indicate Alaska’s ecosystems 

may be in for change

Scientists used the Dynamic Global Vegetation Model 

MC1 to study potential future climate conditions on the 

interactions among climate, fire, and ecosystems in Alaska. 

The MC1 model forecasts the impacts of climate scenarios, 

such as those associated with global warming, on vegetation 

and fire disturbance.

Using projections generated by MC1, scientists found that 

by the end of the 21st century, 75 to 90 percent of the area 

simulated as tundra over recent decades may be replaced by 

boreal and temperate forest. Under future climate change 

scenarios, both carbon emissions from fire and total area 

burned increase significantly. The model also projects that as 

the temperature increases, Alaska ecosystems will reabsorb 

increasingly less carbon released from fires, to the point 

where the state actually becomes a carbon source near the 

end of the 21st century. Under the current climate, Alaska’s 

boreal forests are a carbon “sink.” Because boreal forests 

contain a large percentage of the world’s terrestrial carbon, 

Alaska’s boreal forests play a key role in the global carbon 

cycle.

Contact: Ronald P. Neilson, rneilson@fs.fed.us, 

Managing Disturbance Regimes Program

Partner: Oregon State University

Deep groundwater can buffer hydrologic 

impacts of climate variability in western Oregon

In the Western United States, city water supplies 

and the summer streamflows they come from are 

highly dependent on winter snowpacks. A growing number 

of studies predict, however, that climate 

change will lead to significant reductions in the region’s snowpacks and, 

subsequently, its streamflows.

Scientists drew on their previous 

research on the High and Western 

Cascade geologic provinces of Oregon 

to study the possible effects of a 

warmer climate on streamflow. In 

the younger High Cascades province, 

deeper groundwater springs maintain 

higher and more consistent summer 

streamflow volumes than occur in the 

Western Cascades province, which has 

shallower, subsurface springs. Using a 

hydroecological model, scientists tested 

the response of these distinct streamflow systems to warmer temperatures. 

They found that the deeper groundwater system of the High Cascades is likely 

to buffer the impact of rising temperature and associated changes in snow 

accumulation and melt. The Western 

Cascades province, however, showed dramatically 

reduced summer streamflows under a warmer climate.

These findings are being incorporated into a multiyear 

planning process conducted by the Eugene Water and 

Electric Board, a public water utility serving over 200,000 

customers in Oregon. The findings are likely to be used 

by other cities and by forest managers.

Contact: Gordon Grant, ggrant@fs.fed.us, 

Ecosystem Processes Program

Partners: Eugene Water and Electric Board, 

Oregon State University, San Diego State University

Scientists trace the fate of nitrogen in streams

Nitrogen, an essential nutrient for plant growth, is often a 

limiting nutrient in the forested mountain streams of the 

Western United States. In agricultural and urban streams, 

high levels of nitrogen often occur because of fertilizer runoff 

and other human-caused inputs. Recent findings reveal new 

information on nitrogen dynamics in forest streams.

Scientists studied the fate of two forms of nitrogen—ammonium and nitrate—within forested streams to better understand the dynamics of nutrient fluxes in ecosystems. Using a 

naturally occurring isotope of nitrogen as a tracer, they found 

that half the ammonium was sequestered, or taken up, in the 

stream in the first 650 feet, while the rest was transformed 

into nitrate and exported downstream. Instream uptake 

occurred in all parts of the instream food web and by riparian 

plants, with a large portion of uptake by mosses, bryophytes, 

and biofilms on wood, rocks, and detritus. Only 2 to 5 percent of nitrate remained within a forested reach, and similar 

but small amounts were released back to the atmosphere 

Under a warmer climate, deep-groundwater springs in the High Cascades province 

may buffer the effects of summer drought on water supply, but shallower springs in 

the Western Cascades province may have dramatically reduced summer streamflows.

Gordon Grant
12 2005 SCIENCE aCCOMPLISHMENTS 12

through denitrification, a natural process whereby bacteria 

break down nitrates and nitrogen gas is released into the 

atmosphere. The majority of nitrate was transported long distances downstream. In surveys throughout stream networks, 

scientists found that forest structure and age are not good 

predictors of nitrate availability—old-growth forest streams 

can have high or low nitrate levels, and stream reaches in 

alder stands have high nitrate levels regardless of forest age.

Contact: Sherri Johnson, sherrijohnson@fs.fed.us, 

Ecosystem Processes Program

Partners: Oregon State University, 

Lotic Intersite Nitrogen Experiment

Invertebrates increase nutrient processing, 

respiration in hyporheic zones

Critical to the health of watersheds are hyporheic zones—

areas in which underlying groundwater meets surface water. 

These zones filter stream water, provide habitat for salmon 

eggs and fry, and host a variety of organisms. Hyporheiczone life includes bacteria that cycle nutrients critical for the 

aquatic food web, including marine-derived nutrients from 

the carcasses of spawning salmon.

Interstitial invertebrates—those that live among a stream’s 

sediment particles—can change the hyporheic zone’s processes and affect how it stores nutrients, especially those from 

salmon carcasses. Scientists studied invertebrates’ effects on 

salmon-derived nitrogen and carbon by creating large mesocosms, models that replicate the stream environment. Scientists found that invertebrates more than doubled the rate of 

nitrogen uptake and, in combination with fish, had the highest average rates of respiration. Thus scientists concluded that 

invertebrates increase the rates of nutrient processing from 

salmon carcasses and respiration in hyporheic zones. These 

findings are relevant to the management of salmon carcasses 

in streams and actions intended to augment nutrient additions to streams by adding fish carcasses or fertilizers.

Contact: Richard Edwards, rtedwards@fs.fed.us, 

Aquatic and Land Interactions Program

Partners: University of Wyoming

Effects of fishing on threatened salmonids not 

completely understood

Despite reductions in the harvest of salmonids (salmon and 

steelhead) in the Columbia River and its tributaries, many 

questions remain about the role current fishing seasons and 

catch limits have on the recovery of species listed under the 

Endangered Species Act.

Members of the Independent Scientific Advisory Board 

investigated salmon harvesting practices and found that 

insufficient data exist to determine the effects of fishing on 

individual salmonid populations. The board also concluded 

that inherent uncertainty, like run size predictions or actual 

harvest levels, is not factored into most management plans. 

These conclusions will be used to target specific data gaps 

for future funding through the Northwest Power and 

Conservation Council.

Contact: Pete Bisson, pbisson@fs.fed.us, 

Aquatic and Land Interactions Program

Partners: Northwest Fisheries Science Center, Northwest 

Power and Conservation Council, USDC National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration Fisheries

Salmonid foraging behavior helps predict 

carrying capacity

Scientists monitored the foraging behavior and interactions 

of salmonids (salmon and steelhead) in a variety of streams 

in the interior Columbia River basin in Washington. They 

found that salmonid species differ in the size of their foraging groups, suggesting that both food intake (how much they 

eat) and the aggressive interactions between individuals and 

species (how much they compete) will affect how a stream’s 

productivity influences salmonid population size. Scientists 

found, for example, that in streams where wild steelhead 

trout exist alongside hatchery-derived coho salmon, steelhead foraging was reduced.

These findings can be used by land managers, whose actions 

can influence stream productivity, and by fisheries managers 

who control releases of hatchery fish and monitor the effects 

of invasive fish species on native, wild fish.

Contact: Karl M. Polivka, kpolivka@fs.fed.us, 

Aquatic and Land Interactions Program

Partners: USDA Forest Service, Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest; 

USDC National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries; 

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife; Yakama Nation

Salmonids use high-gradient, headwater 

streams in southeast Alaska

A stream’s gradient, or underwater slope, is an important 

characteristic related to waterflow, sediment load, and fish 

habitat. In Pacific Northwest forests, headwater streams 

frequently are small and high gradient and can make up as 

much as 80 percent of stream network miles. Large wood in 

these streams can create steps that break the stream into a 

series of low- and high-gradient sections and pools that retain 

sediment, sustain populations of invertebrate food species, 

and serve as salmonid habitat.

Uncertainty about salmon run sizes and other factors make it 

difficult to know if current fishing regulations adequately protect 

threatened species of salmon.

Pete Bisson
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Scientists found that in high-gradient, headwater streams in 

southeast Alaska, the gradient influenced the distribution of 

species. Dolly Varden, for example, were the dominant species in moderate and high-gradient zones, whereas juvenile 

coho salmon were the dominant species in low-gradient 

zones. Small numbers of steelhead were present in spring 

and fall. Overall, scientists found that the abundance of all of 

these species decreased as the gradient increased. Scientists 

determined that salmonids do use high-gradient reaches 

when the reaches are accessible and habitat is present.

These findings document the upstream limits of fish habitat 

in southeast Alaska and demonstrate the importance of 

connectivity of all parts of stream networks. The findings 

are relevant in planning culvert replacements that ensure 

fish passage and managing headwater streams.

Contact: Mason D. Bryant, mdbryant@fs.fed.us, 

Aquatic and Land Interactions Program

Procedures developed to measure change in 

Alaska flood-plain-type streams

Southeast Alaska’s flood-plain-type streams are constantly 

in flux, responding to frequent changes in precipitation 

and sediment supply. This dynamic environment provides 

high-quality habitat for a variety of aquatic species. Scientists 

developed monitoring procedures for measuring change in 

flood-plain channel habitat in southeastern Alaska. Using the 

procedures, personnel can analyze change in channel conditions and develop conclusions on how land use practices are 

affecting channels. These procedures allow channel condition 

to be objectively and precisely measured to quantify changes 

over time—critical to assessing the effectiveness of fish 

and riparian standards and guidelines.

These procedures are being used in the development of 

monitoring protocols for Alaska’s Tongass National Forest. 

They are being considered in the development of monitoring 

protocols for the broader Pacific Northwest region.

Contact: Richard D. Woodsmith, rwoodsmith@fs.fed.us, 

Aquatic and Land Interactions Program

Partners: USDA Forest Service, Alaska Region and Tongass National Forest

Visitors to Alaska tripled from 1990 to 2004, as Alaska was 

recognized internationally as a premier destination.

Findings are being used by community leaders in 

southeast Alaska, who are working to encourage 

tourism while minimizing its negative impacts.

Tom Iraci

As tourism triples in southeast Alaska, local 

communities find unplanned effects

Tourism in southeast Alaska tripled from 1990 to 

2004, with visible effects on local lifestyles, livelihoods, and resident relations with natural resources. Cruise 

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ship passengers were about 75 percent of the 900,000-plus 

annual visitors, and the number of charter fishing boats multiplied tenfold. Many people who lost work in the timber or 

fishing industries have turned to tourism for economic survival, but tourism is having unplanned social and environmental impacts on Alaska communities.

Scientists studied the effects of tourism in three rural southeast Alaska communities, Haines, Craig, and Hoonah, which 

had different scales of tourism. They found that corporate 

investment in tourism escalated its growth, especially when 

combined with local initiatives such as construction of visitor facilities and transportation improvements. As tourism 

increased, however, local leaders began to negotiate control 

of the process with outside corporations. Tourism’s effects 

differed based on visitor volume and the role of corporations. 

In Haines, a popular cruise ship destination, local people 

saw major, widespread changes in their natural and social 

environment. In Craig, where charter fishing lodges dominate 

the tourism landscape, the most significant effects were at 

popular fishing grounds, where residents now have to compete with tourists for limited resources. A new cruise ship 

attraction in Hoonah brought 66,000 visitors to this small 

Tlingit community, where residents now encounter tourists in 

culturally significant areas.

These findings are being used by community leaders, who are working to 

encourage tourism while minimizing its 

negative impacts; by agency managers, 

who are working with guides, outfitters, 

and communities to find environmentally sound and socially just opportunities; and by tourism companies working 

to have mutually beneficial operations 

in small communities.

Contact: Lee Cerveny, lcerveny@fs.fed.us, 

Human and Natural Resources Interactions 

Program

Partner: USDA Forest Service, Tongass 

National Forest

More information: Research Paper PNW-RP566, 2005. Tourism and Its Effects on Southeast 

Alaska Communities and Resources: Case Studies 

From Haines, Craig, and Hoonah, Alaska. http://

www.fs.fed.us/pnw/publications/pnw_rp566.

Questions raised about suitability of flying squirrels 

and voles as old-growth indicator species in Alaska

Southeast Alaska is noted for its especially high rate of 

mammalian endemism—meaning that many of its mammal 

species, such as the Prince of Wales flying squirrel and 

Wrangell Island red-backed vole, are found nowhere else 

in the world. These species’ counterparts in the Pacific 

Northwest have habitat requirements that make them 

good indicators of old-growth forest condition.

To see if this were also true in southeast Alaska, scientists 

synthesized scientific knowledge on these species as well as 

four others listed in the Tongass Land Management Plan as 

proposed management indicator species. Scientists found that 

for most of these species, there were limitations in using them 

as indicator species on the Tongass. The flying squirrel was 

found not to be as closely linked to old-growth forest attributes and the vole not to be as sensitive to canopy removal as 

has been documented in the Pacific Northwest. Tongass managers will use this information to select management indicator 

species for forest planning, to guide management of secondgrowth stands to benefit flying squirrel and red-backed vole 

populations, and to develop protocols for monitoring endemic 

small mammals across southeast Alaska.

Contact: Winston Smith, winstonsmith@fs.fed.us, 

Ecosystem Processes Program

Partners: USDA Forest Service, Alaska Region and 

Tongass National Forest

Environmental gradients control plant 

composition of black spruce forests

In Alaska’s boreal interior, black spruce is the predominant 

tree species, spanning a wide range of habitat types. Scientists named and described three of the region’s black spruce 

plant communities and five community subtypes and then 

correlated these communities 

with environmental gradients. 

The result is the first floristically based community classification for Alaska’s boreal 

forest. It also is the first time 

a mineral soil pH gradient has 

been identified as an important 

driver in species composition 

in the boreal forest of Alaska. 

Scientists found that patterns 

in soil-carbon pools, terrestrial 

storage sites of carbon and 

prime habitat for black spruce, 

were highly correlated with differences in species composition 

among sites.

This information is being used 

by wetland and forest managers, scientists in the Long-Term 

Ecological Research (LTER) program for interior Alaska, and 

vegetation ecologists. Management of the soil carbon pool 

may be a particularly important issue in a warming climate.

Contact: Teresa Hollingsworth, thollingsworth@fs.fed.us, 

Ecosystem Processes Program

Partners: National Science Foundation; University of Alaska Fairbanks

Changes in forest structure and composition 

linked to changes in disturbances

Managers often look to a landscape’s past for guidance 

in managing its future. For more than 10 years, scientists have studied the differences in forest vegetation patterns 

Scientists live-trap flying squirrels in southeast 

Alaska.

John Laurence
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and disturbances between presettlement and modern eras. 

Scientists have characterized the most important forest structure and composition changes that have occurred in the dry 

mixed-conifer forests of the inland Northwest. They found 

that these changes in forest structure and composition 

brought about changes in the pattern, distribution, frequency, 

and severity of disturbances, especially fires.

These findings, which link premanagement era and modern 

vegetation patterns with their associated disturbance processes, are being used by forest managers throughout the 

Western United States to bring a landscape-scale perspective 

to restoration and fuels management projects, with consideration of locations and pattern of old-forest patches, shaded 

fuel breaks, and fuel reduction treatments.

Contact: Paul Hessburg, phessburg@fs.fed.us, 

Managing Disturbance Regimes Program

Partner: University of Washington

Fire intensity likely influences forest recovery

The 2002 Biscuit Fire burned about a half-million acres in 

the southwestern corner of Oregon, making it the largest 

wildfire in the state’s last 100 years. On an established 

large-scale, long-term ecosystem productivity experiment, 

14 of 27 fifteen-acre stands burned in the fire.

Scientists had recorded intensive soil and vegetation measurements and archived samples collected before the fire, so they 

now have a unique opportunity to study the effects of fire 

on soil, vegetation, and woody debris. Because some stands 

burned more intensely than others, scientists also are able 

to document the effects of thinning, underburning, and 

fuel load—the established experiment’s treatments—on 

soil following wildfire. Initial results suggest that some soils 

were greatly affected by the fire and lost organic and mineral 

matter from their top two layers. The different fire intensities, 

and thus different effects on soils, will likely influence forest 

recovery.

Contact: Bernard Bormann, bbormann@fs.fed.us, 

Ecosystem Processes Program

Partners: Joint Fire Sciences Program; Oregon State University; 

USDA Forest Service, Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest

Models show recovery of water quality and 

quantity after wildfire

Although burned vegetation is the most obvious result of a 

severe wildfire in a forested landscape, fires can affect water 

quantity and quality as well. As plants are burned and 

soil cover is damaged from fires, the risk of increased 

erosion and runoff into streams increases. Scientists 

studied hydrologic recovery following a severe wildfire 

on the Entiat Experimental Forest in central Washington state. The Entiat has an extensive hydrologic 

record from both before and after a severe wildfire that 

burned the forest in 1970. Preliminary models indicate 

that the wildfire increased runoff 100 percent or more 

in burned areas, mostly as a result of decreased water loss 

through evaporation and transpiration and increased 

accumulations of snow and subsequent rapid snowmelt.

These findings help predict the effects of severe wildfire on 

hydrologic recovery. Thus, they will inform management 

decisions about strategies for postfire rehabilitation.

Contact: Richard D. Woodsmith, rwoodsmith@fs.fed.us, 

Aquatic and Land Interactions Program

Partners: Oregon State University; USDA Forest Service, 

Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest

Marbled murrelets travel widely to forage and nest

Marbled murrelets are fast-flying seabirds that divide 

their time between the ocean, where they forage in 

coastal waters, and the forest, where they nest and raise their 

young. The species is federally 

listed as threatened.

To better understand marbled 

murrelet breeding ecology, 

scientists radiotagged murrelets 

in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, 

Hood Canal, and the outer 

coast of Washington state. 

These murrelets were then 

When the Biscuit Fire burned through parts of a study in 

progress, scientists changed focus to study the effects of 

fire on soil, vegetation, and woody debris.

Marty Raphael

Ecosystem Processes Program
16 2005 SCIENCE aCCOMPLISHMENTS 16

tracked from the air, ground, and sea to monitor their 

locations and movements throughout the breeding season. 

While tracking the birds, scientists located 11 nests from 

Washington state’s Olympic Peninsula to as far away as 

Vancouver Island, Canada. In fact, murrelets that nested in 

Olympic Park were found foraging on the coast of Vancouver 

Island, and birds that were foraging along the coast of the 

Olympic Peninsula were nesting on Vancouver Island.

This finding that murrelets travel widely between their foraging and nesting sites will be crucial to the U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service (USFWS) in an upcoming rangewide status 

review of the murrelet. Among other questions, the USFWS 

will assess whether the murrelet population in Washington 

is distinct from the British Columbia population.

Contact: Martin G. Raphael, mraphael@fs.fed.us, 

Ecosystem Processes Program

Partners: USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Region; 

USDI Fish and Wildlife Service, Olympic National Park; 

Washington Department of Natural Resources

Range-wide map documents 

marbled murrelet nesting habitat

The marbled murrelet is one of several species identified by the Northwest Forest Plan (the Plan) for 

conservation and restoration owing to its reliance 

on old-growth forest attributes for nesting habitat.

Scientists developed two approaches to modeling 

habitat suitability for the marbled murrelet. First, 

they reclassified previously established forest classes 

into classes of murrelet nesting habitat suitability. 

They also created suitability scores from vegetation 

and physiographic attributes based on comparisons of habitats occupied by murrelets. All models 

showed that over 80 percent of the baseline habitat 

on federal lands was in reserved lands; the models 

also showed a substantial amount of baseline habitat on nonfederal lands. Scientists determined that 

fire and harvest have led to losses of nesting habitat 

since implementation of the Plan, with the highest 

Scientists identified lichens as indicator species 

for air quality for three climatically distinct 

regions in California.

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rates of loss on nonfederal lands. These findings are being 

used by managers interested in murrelet conservation.

Contact: Martin Raphael, mraphael@fs.fed.us, 

Ecosystem Processes Program

Partners: USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Region; 

USDI Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service; 

Washington Department of Natural Resources

Mycorrhizal fungi show variable population structures

Fungi are vital components of forest ecosystems, helping to 

sustain forest productivity and resilience. Efforts to conserve 

fungi and their vital ecological functions depend on an understanding of fungi population dynamics in both individual 

stands and across the broader landscape.

Scientists found that both the chanterelle mushroom fungus 

and a truffle fungus are able to maintain individuals in the 

soil throughout the year. Some chanterelle individuals, they 

found, are quite large (up to 4 meters in diameter) and can 

live for over 10 years. Scientists also found that populations 

of chanterelles in the Coast and Cascade Ranges were not 

strongly genetically differentiated, suggesting that the windblown dispersal of their spores was effectively allowing for 

genetic exchange. With the truffle fungus, 

scientists found much smaller “genetic 

neighborhoods,” probably owing to the 

fact that its spores are distributed by small 

mammals who eat the spore-bearing 

truffles. The gene flow of fungi is key to 

understanding the scale of management 

necessary to conserve populations of these 

forest fungi.

Contact: Randy Molina, rmolina@fs.fed.us, 

Ecosystem Processes Program

Partners: National Science Foundation; 

Oregon State University; USDA Forest Service, 

Willamette and Siuslaw National Forests

Lichens useful as indicator species for 

air quality in California forests

Lichen communities are sensitive to air pollution, making 

them useful barometers of air quality in northern and central 

California forests. New research establishes the relations 

between lichen communities and temperature, moisture, 

and elevation gradients, important for distinguishing the 

influence of these conditions from air pollution. Moist, 

warm forests support more cyanolichen species (three-way 

symbiotic organisms—fungus, algae, and bacteria). Dry, 

warm forests, on the other hand, support diverse nitrophilous 

lichens, which can also be indicators of ammonia in the air. 

For example, the bright orange lichens often found around 

barnyards are nitrophilous.

Scientists identified lichen indicator species for three climatically distinct regions in California. Lichen communities in 

greater Central Valley are typically diverse and dominated by 

nitrophilous species. Lichen communities from the greater 

Sierra Nevada, Southern Cascade Range, and Modoc areas 

have the lowest species diversity and total lichen abundance. 

Northwest coast lichen communities have the highest species 

diversity, cyanolichen diversity, and cyanolichen abundance, 

but very few nitrophiles.

With this baseline established, scientists have since developed 

bioindication models for two of these regions that use lichen 

communities to estimate air quality in forests. The models 

will be part of a comprehensive air quality biomonitoring 

framework that is under development for California.

Contact: Sarah Jovan, sjovan@fs.fed.us, 

Forest Inventory and Analysis Program

Partner: Oregon State University

Scientists characterize sulfur cinquefoil 

in northeastern Oregon

Like many regions in the Pacific Northwest, northeastern 

Oregon is being colonized by invasive plant species, species 

classed as being outside their native range, displace native 

plants, and have detrimental effects on the ecosystems. Sulfur 

cinquefoil is one invasive plant species rapidly spreading 

in northeastern Oregon. To understand how it expands its 

range, scientists studied the seed production and dispersal 

in different northeastern 

Oregon habitats. They 

found that each sulfur 

cinquefoil plant produces 

about 6,000 seeds, a 

figure four times higher 

than previously recorded. 

Many of these seeds 

stay close to the parent 

plant, resulting in dense 

patches of growth.

These findings are helping land managers better understand sulfur 

cinquefoil dispersal and expansion. The study is part of a 

research program supplying information needed to develop 

management strategies for control of sulfur cinquefoil and 

protection of native plant communities.

Contact: Catherine Parks, cparks01@fs.fed.us; Bridgett Read Naylor, 

bnaylor@fs.fed.us, Managing Disturbance Regimes Program

Partners: Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife; Oregon State 

University; USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station; 

Wallowa Resources

More information: Science Update 9. Invasive Plants in 21st Century 

Landscapes. http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/science-update-9.pdf.

The rare mountain lady’s slipper has 

unusual pollination mechanism

The mountain lady’s slipper, a native orchid in the Pacific 

Northwest, is a rare species, and declining in some parts 

of its range. Development of propagation methods for the 

mountain lady’s slipper may help prevent extinction of 

this sensitive species and possibly lead to development of 

An integrated research program aims to control sulfur 

cinquefoil, a nonnative plant becoming widespread in 

the Blue Mountains.

Frank Vanni
18 2005 SCIENCE aCCOMPLISHMENTS 18

a commercial opportunity in the orchid 

industry. The Station 

scientist worked closely 

with scientists at St. 

Louis University, American Museum of Natural History, and 

the Smithsonian to identify the pollinators and pollination 

mechanisms for this species. The orchid provides no nectar 

to pollinators and gives them only a narrow escape route, so 

pollen is scraped off the insects’ backs and left behind.

In related work, research partners at Oregon State University isolated and are characterizing the wild mycorrhizal 

fungi associated with the species. Partners at Kelsey Creek 

Laboratories were able to produce corms—the food-storing, 

underground stems—and sprouts in the laboratory. These 

germinants are now being assessed for mycorrhizal fungi 

association and evaluated in outplanting establishment trials 

and by independent commercial orchid growers. This highly 

collaborative project received a USDA Small Business Innovative Research grant to develop techniques for cultivating this 

orchid species in the laboratory and restoring it in the wild. 

The Grand Ronde Overlook Wildflower Institute Serving 

Ecological Restoration (GROWISER) has already used these 

early findings in locating and conserving the mountain lady’s 

slipper.

Contact: Nan Vance, nvance@fs.fed.us, 

Resource Management and Productivity Program

Partners: Eastern Oregon University; GROWISER; Kelsey Creek 

Laboratories; Oregon State University; St. Louis University; 

USDA Forest Service, Deschutes National Forest

Shallow, not deep, roots determine trees’ 

water uptake ability

Many tree species are well-adapted for drought, 

possessing deep roots that allow them to extract 

water from the soil even as the upper soil layer dries 

during periods of drought.

Based on studies conducted on Douglas-fir and ponderosa 

pine in the Pacific Northwest and on several species in 

Brazil, scientists have demonstrated a tight linkage between 

below- and aboveground processes. Scientists found that 

these trees’ daily water uptake during dry periods is governed 

by the water status and hydraulic properties of their shallow 

roots. Thus, although deep roots have access to a relatively 

abundant supply of water at depth, their ability to successfully 

take up that water depends on their shallow roots, which act 

as a hydraulic bottleneck that works in conjunction with 

stomata, a plant’s leaf openings, to limit water loss through 

transpiration. The response of the stomata to changes in 

water status or hydraulic properties of shallow roots was 

nearly identical among the tree species studied. These findings have implications for hydrological models that predict 

water use by vegetation as a function of soil water status.

Contact: Rick Meinzer, fmeinzer@fs.fed.us, 

Ecosystem Processes Program

Partners: Oregon State University, University of Brasilia, 

University of Miami, University of Washington, 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

2005 SCIENCE aCCOMPLISHMENTS 18

The mountain lady’s slipper orchid gives 

its pollinator, a small native bee, only one 

narrow escape route. As the bee squeezes 

through, pollen is scraped off its back 

onto the orchid’s anther.

Nan Vance
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Scientists improve accuracy of soil water curves

Forest managers and scientists typically use soil water retention curves to understand how forests acquire their water 

during the Pacific Northwest’s severe summer droughts. 

These curves describe the relationship between soil water 

content and the availability of water for uptake by roots. 

Soil water curves in use have one generic curve for each 

soil type, and they are not highly accurate.

Scientists found that within each soil type, soil properties 

differ by depth, and substantial vertical stratification exists 

in the properties of water storage and release. They were able 

to improve the accuracy of soil water curves by developing 

new curves that used the depth-related properties for each 

soil type and seasonal variations in soil water content. New 

soil water release curves have been developed for Douglas-fir 

and ponderosa pine forests and can be used in modeling soil 

water fluxes through forests at the landscape level. The new 

curves also provide a better basis for estimating water use 

and discharge.

Contact: Rick Meinzer, fmeinzer@fs.fed.us, and 

Jeff Warren, jeffwarren@fs.fed.us, Ecosystem Processes Program

Partners: University of Washington, U.S. Environmental 

Protection Agency

Tracers reveal dynamics of water movement 

and storage in conifers

Trees are the main conduits through which water moves 

from the soil back to the atmosphere as water vapor emitted 

through stomata in a process known as transpiration. Thus 

trees are key components in the forest water cycle. Studying 

water transport in large trees is difficult, however, owing 

to the volume of water transported and the complexity of 

the trees’ transport systems. In a new technique, scientists 

injected a tracer—heavy water containing deuterium, a 

hydrogen isotope—into trunks of large, old-growth Douglasfir and western hemlocks on the Wind River Experimental 

Forest in southwest Washington. Scientists found that transit 

times for the tracer to travel to the trees’ upper canopies 

ranged from about 12 to 21 days in trees 160 to 190 feet tall. 

The time the tracer remained in the trees ranged from 57 to 

79 days and was related to tree diameter.

These findings will help interpretation of tree-ring chemistry 

as it relates to past and future climate. The residence times 

for the tracer are relevant for understanding root-to-shoot 

communication via chemical signals in tall trees.

Contact: Rick Meinzer, fmeinzer@fs.fed.us, 

Ecosystem Processes Program

Partners: Oregon State University, University of Washington, 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

In the mixed-conifer forests of the western Sierra Nevadas, soil 

moisture at the microsite level is a key factor in the survival of 

tree seedlings.

Conifer seedlings benefit from partial shade 

in western Sierra Nevadas

Scientists found that shade, sunlight, and soil moisture 

variations at the microsite level significantly affect seedling 

survival in the western Sierra Nevada Range. Incense-cedar 

was associated with high-moisture microsites, Jeffrey pine 

with low-moisture microsites, and other conifers such as 

white fir, sugar pine, and red fir with microsites of intermediate soil moisture. Most conifer seedlings had greater 

frequency under shadier conditions, with red fir found in the 

shadiest areas; white fir, sugar pine, and incense-cedar found 

in moderately open areas; and Jeffrey pine in more open sites.

In the Sierran climate, shrubs can shade tree seedlings but 

can also capture much of the soil moisture. Conifer seedlings 

germinating in exposed areas escape competition from shrubs 

but are exposed to more sunlight and warmer air, whereas 

conifer seedlings germinating in the shade of ceanothus or 

manzanita shrubs must compete for soil moisture but may 

have an initial advantage of shade and thus better survival 

rates. Many large openings had neither seedlings, snags, or 

down trees, suggesting that in the Sierran mixed-conifer 

forest, large gaps are hostile environments for most tree 

species. These findings on conifer regeneration may be a 

consideration for planning fuel treatments in the Sierran 

mixed-conifer forest.

Contact: Andrew Gray, agray01@fs.fed.us, 

Forest Inventory and Analysis Program

Partners: California State University, Fresno; 

USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station

Andy Gray
20 2005 SCIENCE aCCOMPLISHMENTS 20

Goal 2: Assess the status and 

trends of ecosystems and natural 

resources and their uses

Key Findings

➤ Forest communities in the Pacific Northwest are 

undergoing social and economic changes partly 

attributable to federal forest management policy. 

Communities are adapting, but socioeconomic ties 

between rural communities and nearby federal 

forests have changed. Progress in meeting Northwest Forest Plan (the Plan) socioeconomic goals 

was mixed during the first decade.

➤ In the Plan area, watershed conditions improved 

slightly in the first decade under the Plan. Improvement results, in part, from an increase in the 

number of large trees in riparian areas and a 

decrease in clearcut harvesting in riparian zones.

➤ In 1994, before the sudden oak death epidemic 

began, hardwood forests covered an estimated 

11.3 million acres in California, about 40 percent 

of the forest land. From 1980 through 1994, growth 

exceeded natural mortality and harvest in private 

hardwood forests in California.

➤ Multinational crews completed forest inventories 

for American Samoa and Guam. In American 

Samoa, total forest area declined about 3 percent 

over the past 15 years.

➤ Spruce regeneration is low on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula, where spruce bark beetles have devastated 

spruce forests. Almost half the plots had fewer seedlings in 2000, when the epidemic was collapsing, 

than they had in 1987, at the peak of the epidemic.

➤ The Central Oregon Landscape Analysis pilot project 

developed a landscape-simulation model that will 

help answer questions about the integrated effects of 

fire, insects, land uses, and management across 3.8 

million acres in the central Cascade Range in Oregon.

➤ Lidar remote sensing significantly enhances multiresource forest measurements and monitoring.

➤ Landsat, a satellite imagery technology, accurately 

mapped partial-harvest areas in central Washington, 

and it may be a viable technology for estimating 

harvest intensity over large forested areas.

➤ Monitoring protocols were developed for assessing 

productivity and watershed condition of headwater 

stream basins in the Wenatchee basin. Total macroinvertebrate biomass is greater in the dry ecoregion 

of the subbasin.

➤ A new set of equations improves the accuracy of 

tree crown data used in fire hazard and wildlife 

habitat models.
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AL aCCOMPLISHMENTS 21

In Northwest Forest Plan area, socioeconomic ties 

between rural communities and forests changed

Socioeconomic monitoring shows that progress in 

meeting the Northwest Forest Plan (the Plan) goals 

was mixed during the first decade. The Plan’s goals were to 

produce predictable levels of timber and nontimber resources, 

maintain the stability of local and regional economies, and 

assist with economic development and diversification in communities affected by cutbacks in federal timber harvests. It 

attempted to balance old-forest protection with the generation 

of forest products and sustainability in local economies. However, the Plan fell short of providing many of the anticipated 

benefits for communities.

Under the Plan, timber harvest on federal forests in the Plan 

area fell by more than 75 percent compared to 1980s levels. 

Timber sales were estimated at 54 percent of the probable 

sale quantity established by the Plan. Primary wood products employment in the Plan area decreased by 30,000 jobs 

between 1990 and 2000, partly because of cutbacks in federal 

timber harvest and partly because of industry restructuring. 

Grazing and mining activity also declined during the period. 

Forest Service field units in the Plan area lost over one-third 

of their budgets and their workforce over the decade, and 

about one-quarter of the field offices closed or consolidated. 

Forest Service spending on contracts for ecosystem management work, which can create local jobs, dropped nearly 70 

percent. In contrast, the Bureau of Land 

Management field units in the Plan area 

did not have similar declines.

In the 72 counties within the Plan area, 

about one-fifth of the population (2 million 

people) lives within 5 miles of a federal forest. Based on a socioeconomic well-being 

score developed from U.S. census indicators, 

socioeconomic well-being between 1990 and 

2000 dropped for about 40 percent of these 

communities, increased for 37 percent, and 

stayed about the same for the remaining 23 

percent. The extent to which the Plan contributed to these changes is difficult to quantify, because other variables such as timber 

Over the last decade, in the Northwest Forest P industry restructuring were also in play. lan area, socioeconomic ties 

between rural communities and nearby federal forests have changed. 

Communities are adapting to these changes in many ways.

Accomplishments

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22 2005 SCIENCE aCCOMPLISHMENTS 22

Plan effects on individual communities differed, depending 

on the strength of the timber sector there in 1990, the extent 

to which logs from federal forests supported that timber sector, and the number of agency employees living there. During 

the decade, economic ties changed between communities 

and forests as timber workers and agency employees moved 

out, and new residents moved in who were attracted to the 

amenity values of federal forests. Communities are adapting 

to change in many ways, including focusing on agriculture, 

investing in recreation and tourism, using nearby major 

transportation corridors to attract business and to commute 

where possible, expanding as regional centers, and depending 

on the growth of tribal business, administration, and services.

The Northwest Economic Adjustment Initiative was largely 

unsuccessful in creating sustainable, forest-related local jobs 

comparable to the number and quality of those lost. Payments 

to counties legislation, adopted to mitigate the decline in timber receipts for county governments, was largely successful, 

but the law sunsets in 2006 and renewal is uncertain.

Pacific Northwest residents’ values about forest management 

changed little over the past decade. Clearcutting is unpopular, 

most people favor protecting old-growth forests, and most 

believe active forest management is needed to maintain forest 

health. There is broad support for multiple-use management, 

but when asked to choose, the majority of people surveyed 

favored environmental over economic forest 

management objectives. Many community 

members interviewed for this study hope 

there will be future opportunities to link the 

Plan’s biophysical and socioeconomic goals by 

creating local jobs associated with maintaining and restoring forest ecosystems.

Forest Service managers can use these monitoring results at the regional level, as changes 

are considered in the Plan for the next decade, 

and at the forest level, as national forest management plans are revised, to achieve social, 

economic, and ecological sustainability goals.

Contact: Susan Charnley, scharnley@fs.fed.us, 

Human and Natural Resources Interactions Program

Partners: Institute for Culture and Ecology; University 

of Oregon; University of Washington; USDA Forest 

Service, Pacific Southwest and Pacific Northwest 

Regions; USDI Bureau of Land Management, Oregon 

State Office

More information: General Technical Report PNW-GTR-649, Volumes 

1–6, 2005. Northwest Forest Plan: The First 10 Years—Socioeconomic 

Monitoring Results. http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/publications/pnw_gtr649.

Socioeconomic data for Northwest Forest Plan 

communities will be available in a user-friendly format

The socioeconomic monitoring for the Plan began with the 

development of a new approach for delimiting communities 

from U.S. census data. The new approach greatly improved 

scientists’ ability to detect social and economic trends in 

unincorporated rural communities, and the research produced a huge database of U.S. census information about 

1,314 communities, rural and urban, in the Plan area of western Washington, western Oregon, and northern California.

Scientists are now developing a tool that will make these data 

available in a user-friendly form. The Community Socioeconomic Information System (CSIS) will be a CD-ROM tool that 

delivers social and economic data from the U.S. census for 

these 1,314 communities. Users of CSIS will be able to use 

the data to examine socioeconomic conditions and trends 

between 1990 and 2000, and they will be able to examine 

the data at a variety of scales, from the entire Plan area, to 

planning provinces, areas around federal forest lands, and 

local communities. It will be possible to create customized 

community boundaries and retrieve data for that customized 

area. The CSIS tool should be useful for resource managers, 

researchers, and the public. It will be available sometime in 

2006 through the PNW Research Station.

Contact: Ellen Donoghue, edonoghue@fs.fed.us, 

Human and Natural Resources Interactions Program

Assessment finds modest improvement in 

region’s aquatic conditions

Scientists conducted an assessment of the success of 

the Northwest Forest Plan’s (the Plan) Aquatic Conservation Strategy in accomplishing its goals. The strategy was 

developed to restore and maintain the ecological health of 

aquatic and riparian ecosystems within 

the Plan’s nearly 25 million acres.

Scientists found that the condition of 

the watersheds in the Plan area appears, 

as was expected, to have improved 

modestly in the first decade of the Plan. 

This improvement is due, in part, to an 

increase in the number of large trees 

in riparian areas and a decrease in the 

extent of clearcut harvesting in riparian 

zones. The implementation of both the 

Plan and the Aquatic Conservation 

Strategy provided a common framework and comprehensive approach for 

monitoring and managing aquatic and 

riparian resources on public lands.

Results from this assessment will help 

managers develop options for modifying the Aquatic Conservation Strategy and for evaluating the 

potential impacts of applying it to other areas. The monitoring protocols and methods used to assess the success of the 

strategy now give decisionmakers information on the state 

of aquatic resources at an unprecedented large scale.

Contact: Gordon Reeves, greeves@fs.fed.us, 

Aquatic and Land Interactions Program

Partner: Aquatic and Riparian Effectiveness Monitoring Program

More information: General Technical Report PNW-GTR-647. 

Northwest Forest Plan—The First 10 Years (1994–2003): Preliminary 

Assessment of the Condition of Watersheds. http://www.fs.fed.us/

pnw/publications/pnw_gtr647.
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AL aCCOMPLISHMENTS 23

Many community members interviewed hope there will 

be future opportunities for creating local jobs associated 

with maintaining and restoring forest ecosystems.

Total acres of old forests increased during the 

first decade of the Northwest Forest Plan

A key monitoring focus for the Northwest Forest Plan (the 

Plan) was how late-successional and old-growth forests 

(LSOG) fared under the Plan’s first decade. The central 

monitoring questions for old forests could be summed up 

as (1) abundance and diversity—how much there is and 

where it is; (2) process and function—how well it is working 

ecologically; and (3) connection—how it is distributed across 

the landscape. Because growing new acres of old forests 

takes time, it’s difficult to tell if the Plan is succeeding, but 

the 10-year monitoring report indicates that old forests are 

increasing.

The LSOG monitoring plan translated the monitoring 

questions and old-forest characteristics described in 

the Plan into indicators that could be measured. Large, 

landscape-scale indicators selected included the amount of 

LSOG, measured in acres; distribution; stand size, because 

large stands provide more interior habitat; and distance 

between stands, which affects dispersal of wildlife and 

plants between old-forest stands. Stand-scale indicators 

selected for monitoring included the number of trees per 

acre in large size classes, canopy structure, snags, and 

fallen trees.

Monitoring results for the first 10 years found that the 

total amount of LSOG increased by about 600,000 acres 

to an estimated 7.9 million acres of the 24 million acres 

of federal land within the Plan area. Most of that increase 

was in younger, less structurally complex, mature forest, 

not in large, multistoried, old forest. The amount is a net 

increase after losses from all sources. Acres of LSOG lost 

included about 101,000 acres burned in wildfires, an amount 

roughly five times the 17,000 acres of LSOG harvested.

Contact: Miles Hemstrom, mhemstrom@fs.fed.us, 

Focused Science Delivery Program

Partner: USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Region

More information: General Technical Report PNW-GTR-646. 

Northwest Forest Plan—The First 10 Years (1994–2003): Status 

and Trend of Late-Successional and Old-Growth Forests. http://

www.fs.fed.us/pnw/publications/pnw_gtr646.

The total amount of old forest increased in the Northwest 

Forest Plan area over the past decade. Although some acres 

of old forests were lost to wildfire and timber harvest, enough 

acres of forest reached the mature age class for a net increase.

Tom Iraci

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AL aCCOMPLISHMENTS 23
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4 2005 SCIENCE aCCOMPLISHMENTS 2

4

Assessment of California hardwood forests is a 

comprehensive source of information

In 1994, before the sudden oak death epidemic began, 

hardwood forests covered an estimated 11.3 million 

acres in California, about 40 percent of the forest land. About 

6.7 million acres of that total was oak woodlands. The most 

common hardwood forest type was blue oak woodland, 

followed by canyon live oak, California black oak, tanoak, 

interior live oak, coast live oak, Oregon white oak, Pacific 

madrone, and several less common types. From 1980 through 

1994, growth exceeded natural mortality and harvest in private hardwood forests in California, and less than 1 percent 

of private hardwood forest was converted to developed land 

or roads, with an overall result that net volume increased over 

those years for common hardwood species.

These pre-epidemic growth, mortality, and harvest rates for 

hardwood species are described in a recent, comprehensive 

statewide assessment of California hardwood forests. The 

assessment provides a baseline for evaluating mortality rates 

from sudden oak death and forest losses from other causes. 

Sudden oak death was first observed in tanoaks in California 

in 1995 and by summer 2004, twelve California counties 

were quarantined for the fungus causing sudden oak death, 

which has the potential to cause mortality and damage in 

millions of acres of California forests.

The new assessment is already being used as a primary reference in policy and management debates about California oak 

woodlands. The California Department of Forestry is using 

this information as they develop conservation strategies for 

hardwood forests.

Contacts: Karen Waddell, kwaddell@fs.fed.us; Tara Barrett, 

tbarrett@fs.fed.us, Forest Inventory and Analysis Program

Partners: California Department of Forestry, University of California

More information: Resource Bulletin PNW-RB-245. Oak Woodlands and 

Other Hardwood Forests of California, 1990s. http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/

pubs/pnw_rb245.pdf.

Forest inventories completed for 

American Samoa and Guam

Multinational crews completed forest inventories for 

American Samoa, a group of volcanic islands in the 

south-central Pacific Ocean, about 4,600 miles southwest of 

Los Angeles, California, and for Guam, an island in the North 

Pacific Ocean about 1,600 miles east of Manila, the Philippines. Foresters from PNW Research Station adapted inventory methods used in the mainland United States for use in 

tropical forests. They trained local foresters in American 

Samoa and Guam, leading to a successful exchange of skills 

among cultures and agencies. The inventories answer questions about the status and trends in forests on these islands.

A new assessment provides baseline information about California’s highly valued oak woodlands; it is being used by agencies responsible 

for conservation strategies.

Dave Azuma
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AL aCCOMPLISHMENTS 2

5

In American Samoa, the total forest area including agroforest is about 43,631 acres, a decline of about 3 percent over 

the 15 years since the last inventory. Gross stem volume was 

estimated as about 72 million cubic feet, inclusive of all size 

classes. About 17 percent of the trees sampled had some 

form of damage, most commonly open wounds. Forests cover 

about 63,830 acres on Guam. About 21 percent of the trees 

showed some form of damage, with signs of decay found in 

nearly one-third of damaged trees.

Contact: Joseph A. Donnegan, jdonnegan@fs.fed.us, 

Forest Inventory and Analysis Program

Partners: American Samoa Forestry, Government of Guam Forestry

More information: Resource Bulletin PNW-RB-243. Guam’s Forest 

Resources, 2002. http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_rb243.pdf; 

Resource Bulletin PNW-RB-244. American Samoa’s Forest Resources, 

2001. http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_rb244.pdf.

Spruce regeneration is low on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula

Over the past 30 years, spruce bark beetles devastated 

spruce forests on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula. Scientists 

conducted inventories in 1987 and again in 2000 to assess 

the epidemic’s effects on spruce reproduction dynamics. 

Overall, the regeneration of Sitka and white spruce on the 

Kenai Peninsula in 2000, when the epidemic was collapsing, 

was not significantly different from regeneration levels found 

in 1987. Most plots (almost 72 percent) did not have full 

stocking at either inventory. Almost half the plots (49 percent) 

had fewer seedlings in 2000 than they had in 1987. The 

stocking levels on almost half the study plots are likely too 

minimal to rapidly regenerate spruce stands. Full stocking 

is defined as 5 seedlings per plot, which translates to about 

550 seedlings per acre.

Scientists found differences in regeneration levels that roughly 

coincided with ecoregion boundaries. Regeneration dynamics 

were more static in the northwestern peninsula, which had 

few pure spruce stands. Spruce mortality was highest in the 

southwestern peninsula, which had extensive areas of mostly 

spruce, but more spruce regeneration is occurring in this 

region. The Interagency Forest Ecology Study team, extension 

foresters, and others are using the regeneration information 

as they develop forest management recommendations for 

regional planners and private landowners.

Contact: Bill van Hees, bvanhees@fs.fed.us, 

Forest Inventory and Analysis Program

More information: Research Paper PNW-RP-563. 

Spruce Reproduction Dynamics on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula, 

1987–2000. http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_rp563.pdf.

Southeast Alaska inventory is the first 

comprehensive survey of all vegetation

The recently completed resource inventory of southeast 

Alaska is the first systematic and comprehensive survey of 

all vegetation, not just trees, across all ownerships, for this 

23-million-acre region. In addition to about 11 million acres 

of forests, southeast Alaska also has 4.4 million acres in 

nonforest plant communities, including 905,000 acres of 

meadow, marsh, tundra, and alpine plants; 3.1 million acres 

of various shrubs; and 415,000 acres of dwarf trees. The 

remaining land area in southeast Alaska is unvegetated.

Vegetation diversity was compared among various plant 

communities in southeast Alaska. Among closed forest types, 

the highest diversity was found in the western hemlock–

Alaska cedar type, followed by the western hemlock–western 

redcedar type; the lowest plant diversity was found in 

Sitka spruce forests. Among open and woodland forest 

types, the highest diversity was found in mixed-conifer forests, and the lowest in the Sitka spruce and black cottonwood 

forests. Of the tall shrub types, the highest plant diversity was 

found in open tall alder-willow types. On plots without trees 

or shrubs, mixed-herb types had the highest plant diversity 

and freshwater sedge marshes had the lowest plant diversity.

Contact: Bill van Hees, bvanhees@fs.fed.us, 

Forest Inventory and Analysis Program

More information: General Technical Report PNW-GTR-609. 

Southeast Alaska Forests: Inventory Highlights. http://www.fs.fed.us/

pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr609.pdf.

A multinational crew has inventoried forests on Americanassociated Pacific Islands such as Guam and American Samoa. 

Just a few of the varied forest types are mangrove scrub, rain 

forest, and cloud forest.

Joseph Donnegan
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6 2005 SCIENCE aCCOMPLISHMENTS 2

6

The Oregon Department of Forestry has decided 

to use the central Oregon landscape analysis in its 

upcoming statewide assessment.

Yellow-cedar decline is 

mapped in coastal 

British Columbia

Yellow-cedar decline is 

known to be a serious 

problem on nearly half 

a million acres in southeast Alaska, but the full 

regional extent of yellowcedar decline has been unknown. Scientists from PNW 

Research Station collaborated with the British Columbia 

Ministry of Forests to map yellow-cedar decline in the Prince 

Rupert area of coastal British Columbia. Many areas of yellowcedar decline were identified, confirming that yellow-cedar 

decline is a regional phenomenon that extends throughout 

the southern part of its range. The new areas mapped in 

British Columbia had similar landscape characteristics to 

yellow-cedar decline areas in Alaska. In the southern end 

of the yellow-cedar range, all of the yellow-cedar stands in 

decline were at higher elevation, and no yellow-cedar decline 

was found at low elevations. This information supports findings from southeast Alaska that yellow-cedar decline may be 

related to temperature and exposure. A better understanding 

of the geographic extent and landscape context of yellowcedar decline will enable scientists to better understand the 

role played by climate and other factors.

Contact: Dave D’Amore, ddamore@fs.fed.us, 

Resource Management and Productivity Program

Partners: British Columbia Ministry of Forests; USDA Forest Service, 

Managing Disturbance Regimes Program

Nonnative plant species have become 

widespread in Oregon forests

The national forest inventory program is adding a vegetation 

indicator to assess the species diversity, structural diversity, 

and abundance of vascular plants. A recent study showed 

that the new plant inventory techniques were repeatable, 

reliable, and could be completed in reasonable amounts of 

time.

The new vegetation indicator provides a robust tool for 

assessing forest health. In the Oregon forest inventory, 

results showed dramatic differences in plant diversity patterns across the state’s ecoregions, with high plot richness 

and the highest differences in species composition among 

plots found in the Blue Mountains. The inventory found at 

least one nonnative plant species on 71 percent of the plots, 

with the abundance of nonnative species ranging from 1 

percent in high-elevation conifer stands to 15 percent of 

the species in western juniper stands. The proportion of the 

plot covered by nonnative plants was highest in the drier 

forest types, particularly juniper and ponderosa pine forests. 

Continued use of the new indicator will provide information 

on changes in plant communities, increases in nonnative 

plants, and information on trends in forest health.

Contact: Andrew Gray, agray01@fs.fed.us, 

Forest Inventory and Analysis Program

Partner: Oregon State University

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Landscape simulation model developed for 

eastern Cascade Range in Oregon

Station scientists developed landscape simulation 

models and analyses for Oregon’s eastern Cascade 

Range, an area of several million acres, under an agreement 

with the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF). The Central 

Oregon Landscape Analysis pilot project, nicknamed “COLA,” 

was a test of methods for use in an upcoming statewide 

assessment of forests and landscapes 

by ODF and for plan revisions by 

national forests. The COLA model is 

designed to answer questions about 

change under different management 

and policy scenarios for the entire 

areas. Projections will integrate the 

effects of disturbances such as fire, 

insects, land uses, and management.

The ODF has decided to use the methods in its upcoming statewide assessment. The state of Oregon, USDA 

Forest Service Pacific Northwest 

Region, and PNW Research Station 

are cooperating in the development of 

vegetation data and models for midscale planning and risk assessments (midscale defined in this 

context as areas of roughly 1 million acres). The model was 

demonstrated for national forest supervisors, ODF personnel, 

and other interested people in the COLA area.

Contact: Miles Hemstrom, mhemstrom@fs.fed.us, 

Focused Science Delivery Program

Partners: Oregon Department of Forestry; 

USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Region

Eastern Oregon rangelands decrease by 2 percent, 

in conversion to developed uses

A study finds that Oregon’s land use program appears to be 

successful in reducing the conversion of forest, range, and 

farm lands to more developed uses in eastern Oregon, the 

roughly two-thirds of the state east of the Cascade Range 

crest. A total of 97 percent of the nonfederal land in eastern 

Oregon remained in forest, range, and agricultural uses, as of 

2001. On those acres where the dominant land use changed 

between 1975 and 2001, the shifts were generally toward 

more developed categories such as low-density residential 

and urban. Rangeland was converted to more developed 

uses at a higher rate than forest or farmland, with rangeland 

acres decreasing 2 percent from 1975 to 2001. The highest 

rates of land use change occurred in Deschutes and Klamath 

Counties. Oregon state officials are using these results as an 

indicator of land use change in the Oregon Benchmarks program, which monitors progress on 90 vital signs of Oregon’s 

well-being.

Contact: Dave Azuma, dazuma@fs.fed.us, 

Forest Inventory and Analysis Program

Partner: Oregon Department of Forestry

In western Washington, acres of timberland 

declined over the past decade

Forest inventory scientists updated the timber resource 

statistics for land outside the national forests in western 

Washington. The 19-county region includes the Olympic 

Peninsula, Puget Sound area, and southwest Washington, up 

to the crest of the Cascade Range. Western Washington has 

an estimated 11.9 million acres of land outside the national 

forests. Of that total, about 72 

percent, or 8.6 million acres, was 

forested land in 2000. About 7.0 

million acres of the forest lands 

qualified as timberland, defined 

as capable of growing timber for 

industrial wood products and not 

reserved from management for 

wood products.

The amount of timberland in 

western Washington declined by 

about 5 percent between 1990 and 

2000, with 4 percent converted 

to nonforest uses and 1 percent 

converted to reserved categories. 

A total of 146,000 acres was 

converted to urban land uses, and another 100,000 acres of 

previous timberland reclassified as roads. The decline was an 

acceleration from the 1980-90 period, when timberland area 

declined by about 3 percent.

The standing timber volume on western Washington timberlands outside national forests declined from 29.1 to 27.7 

billion cubic feet from 1990 to 2000, owing mostly to the 

conversion of timberland to nonforest uses. For the remaining timberlands, however, forest growth was 2 percent lower 

than the total of harvest plus mortality. In sum, then, the area 

of timberland in western Washington is steadily declining, 

and the timber volume per acre on remaining timberland is 

declining slightly also.

Contact: Andrew Gray, agray01@fs.fed.us, 

Forest Inventory and Analysis Program

Partner: Washington Department of Natural Resources

More information: Resource Bulletin PNW-RB-246. Timber 

Resource Statistics for Nonnational Forest Land in Western 

Washington, 2001. http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_rb246.pdf.

Lidar remote sensing significantly enhances 

multiresource forest measurements and monitoring

Airborne laser scanning systems (also known as light 

detection and ranging or “lidar”) can collect precise, 

high-resolution measurements of vegetation structure in forested areas while at the same time providing highly accurate 

terrain surface models. Station scientists and University of 

Washington scientists collected high-density lidar data over 

forest inventory plots in Douglas-fir stands. They found very 

strong correlations between field measurements and lidarderived values for variables such as stand density, dominant 

A new landscape simulation model could help 

answer questions about the integrated effects 

of fire, insects, land uses, and grazing across the 

eastern Cascade Range in Oregon.

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height, canopy base height, basal area, stem volume, biomass, 

canopy bulk density, and fuel weight. Lidar data can be used 

to automatically produce high-resolution landscape maps 

depicting forest vegetation structure and cover, for use in 

multiresource planning and monitoring programs such as 

forest inventories, wildlife habitat mapping, and fuel mapping. Additional research is underway to determine if similar 

correlations exist in other forest types and conditions and if 

periodic lidar flights can be used to measure and monitor 

forest change over time.

The lidar point cloud includes direct measurements of various 

canopy elements including stems, branches, and foliage. This 

series of images shows the lidar data for aboveground vegetation 

(top), tree objects inferred from the data (center), and a visual 

simulation of the trees and terrain rendered with the Station’s 

EnVision software (bottom).

Scientists are now researching the utility of lidar for periodic, 

multistage forest inventories, described as “the Nation’s forest 

census.” A pilot study is underway in Alaska, with plans to 

expand the research to Washington and Oregon. Lidar may 

be particularly useful for inventory plots in remote areas.

Contact: Steve Reutebuch, sreutebuch@fs.fed.us, 

Resource Management and Productivity Program

Partners: Joint Fire Sciences Program, University of Washington

More information: Science Update 12. Monitoring Forests at the 

Speed of Light. http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/science-update-12.pdf. 

Silviculture and Forest Models team Web site at http://www.fs.fed.

us/pnw/olympia/silv.

Landsat data can be used to estimate 

results of partial harvesting

Over the last 10 years, partial harvesting has become 

a management tool of choice on federal forest lands. 

Partial harvesting addresses a variety of management goals, 

including enhancement of stand structure, timber extraction, 

and reduction of fire, insect, and disease hazards. Despite its 

popularity, however, very few studies have mapped the 

removal of trees and the associated loss of forest cover 

involved in partial harvesting.

Scientists collaborated with the Washington Department of 

Fish and Wildlife on a project that used Landsat, a satellite 

imagery technology that generates data about forest structure 

and composition, to map partial harvests in two large areas in 

central Washington. Both areas had a management emphasis 

for northern spotted owls. This joint project is the first of its 

kind in the Pacific Northwest and one of the first in the world 

to estimate timber harvest intensity over large areas by using 

satellite imagery.

These maps are now being used by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to update baseline owl habitat maps 

and by the Washington Department of Natural Resources to 

review its permitting process. The project also may serve as 

a prototype for future monitoring work.

Contacts: Warren Cohen, wcohen@fs.fed.us; Sean Healey, 

seanhealey@fs.fed.us, Ecosystem Processes Program

Partners: Oregon State University, 

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife

Scientists develop protocols for assessing headwaters 

of Wenatchee Basin

As part of a large interagency research program, 

scientists are conducting a study to assess the effects 

of land management and regional climatic factors on watershed health and productivity. They are testing protocols 

within the Wenatchee subbasin of Washington that monitor 

riparian condition and aquatic macroinvertebrate biomass—

two measures of a watershed’s health and productivity.

Based on sampling at 60 headwater streams—upper 

tribu-taries that ultimately form rivers—scientists found 

that transport of macroinvertebrates was greater in the 

dry, lowland ecoregion of the Wenatchee subbasin than 

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of the Forest Vegetation Simulator, the new equations’ predictions of torching index agreed closely with the torching 

indexes produced from actual, observed, uncompacted crown 

ratios. The new equations should help improve accuracy in 

fire hazard and wildlife habitat models that use uncompacted 

crown ratios.

Contact: Vicente J. Monleon, vjmonleon@fs.fed.us, 

Forest Inventory and Analysis Program

For Pacific Coast States, transition completed from 

periodic forest inventory to annual inventory

The Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Program at PNW 

Research Station completed a major transition as it finished 

the 4-year changeover from periodic inventory to annual 

inventory. The change was phased in for Pacific Coast States 

from 2001 through 2004, adding another state each year. 

The annual inventory data for California, Oregon, and 

Washington were first released to the public in January, 

2005, by using the new national information management 

system. The data are available through the national FIA 

Web site (http://www.fia.fs.fed.us/tools-data). Also in 2005, 

PNW Research Station met the goal of delivering annual 

inventory data in 6 months after field work is finished, with 

the release of 2004 inventory data for California, Oregon, 

Washington, and Alaska in July, 2005.

Contact: George Breazeale, gbreazeale@fs.fed.us, 

Forest Inventory and Analysis Program

Partners: Alaska Department of Natural Resources; California 

Department of Forestry; Oregon Department of Forestry; 

USDA Forest Service, Alaska, Pacific Northwest and Pacific 

Southwest Regions; USDI Bureau of Land Management, Oregon 

State Office; Washington Department of Natural Resources

in the wet, upland ecoregion. In the wet ecoregion, macroinvertebrate transport was linked with vegetation type, 

supporting the paradigm that stream productivity depends 

on processes that act across the terrestrial-aquatic ecotone.

This research is relevant to understanding the importance 

of land management to the overall structure of aquatic 

food webs.

Contact: Karl M. Polivka, kpolivka@fs.fed.us, 

Aquatic and Land Interactions Program

Partners: University of Alaska, Fairbanks; Upper Columbia 

Regional Technical Team; USDC National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration Fisheries; USDE Bonneville Power Administration

New equations improve accuracy of tree crown ratio 

used in fire hazard and wildlife habitat models

Data about tree crown characteristics are used in 

computer models for growth and yield, fire hazard, 

and wildlife habitat. Tree crowns are often uneven, with 

branches lower on one side, and most forest inventory 

models “move” the uneven branches as if the tree were 

well balanced, yielding the compacted crown ratio (ratio 

of crown length to total tree height). This compacted crown 

ratio, which is related to the growth potential of a tree, 

works well in growth and yield models, but “lifts” the 

lowest branches higher than they actually are, for 

modeling purposes.

Fire hazard and wildlife habitat models, however, need 

the actual height of the lowest branches, or the uncompacted 

crown ratio. Scientists developed a new set of equations 

that predict uncompacted crown ratios from other tree 

characteristics, for most tree species in California, Oregon, 

and Washington. In tests using the fire and fuel extension 

Steve Wondzell
30 2005 SCIENCE aCCOMPLISHMENTS 30

Goal 3: Develop science-based options 

for informed management

➤ Barriers and opportunities for sustainable wood 

production in the Pacific Northwest will be primarily 

related to future markets, harvest potential, land use 

changes, and sustainable forestry options, rather 

than to traditional sustained-yield outputs.

➤ The Pacific Northwest population is projected to 

grow more than 50 percent by 2050, with associated 

increase in the amount of developed land. Development pressures on private forests will be significant.

➤ In southeast Alaska, 20 years after young-growth 

forests were precommercially thinned, the actual 

spacing of standing trees differed from the target 

spacing in both directions (greater than target in 

some stands, and less than target in others). Very 

little defect was found in the young-growth resource.

➤ A decade later, variable-density thinning continues 

to accelerate the development of structural and biological complexity in young, second-growth forests 

in western Washington.

➤ Five years into the Fall River Long-Term Site 

Productivity Study, initial results show that 

when competing vegetation was not controlled 

in a young Douglas-fir plantation, surface soils 

were drier and tree growth was reduced.

➤ Early results from a long-term study indicate that 

selection and breeding of Douglas-fir does lead 

to improved growth rates, validating current tree 

improvement programs in the Pacific Northwest.

➤ Chanterelle mushroom productivity and overall 

fungal species diversity decreased most significantly 

at the highest thinning levels, with an 80-percent 

reduction in trees.

➤ The Fuel Characteristic Classification System (FCCS) 

was formally released in 2005. The FCCS is more 

comprehensive than previous systems, allows fire 

managers to build customized fuel classes, and has 

stronger links to fire behavior models.

➤ In 2005, BlueSkyRAINS, a Web-based smoke 

modeling system, was improved to provide realtime smoke predictions from large wildfires 

throughout the country. The system helps 

managers prioritize prescribed fires and make 

decisions about fire suppression operations.

➤ Early results found that after prescribed burning, 

little hillslope erosion occurred from volcanic ash 

and volcanic-derived soils in the Blue Mountains. 

However, no rain-on-snow events have occurred 

yet on the study sites.

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➤ In northeastern Oregon, pileated woodpecker 

foraging was more abundant in stands left untreated or treated with mechanical fuel reduction 

only, likely because their main prey item, ants, 

were more abundant in these stands.

➤ In the Blue Mountains, prescribed fire treatments 

resulted in a short-term reduction in mycorrhizal 

fungi populations, which are critical to the recovery 

of aboveground ecosystems after fire.

➤ Genetic research is providing risk management tools, 

such as seed transfer guidelines, to facilitate the restoration of native plants in east-side ecosystems.

➤ A broad range of clients identified major challenges 

in biodiversity management, including the lack of a 

clear mandate for biodiversity management, uncertainty about the effects of disturbances on biodiversity, the lack of monitoring protocols, conflicting 

social and economic values, and difficulty in 

locating information.

➤ After extensive timber harvest in an area, female elk 

and their calves were able to maintain weight gains, 

but adult elk of both sexes were more vulnerable to 

hunting, owing to the loss of cover and increased 

road density.

➤ FishXing (“fish crossing”) was redesigned. The new 

FishXing 3.0 offers improved modeling capabilities 

for calculating fish movement through culverts and 

multimedia help, tutorials, and case studies for 

assessing fish passage through culverts.

➤ In western Oregon forests, the distribution of 

eight common nonnative plant species varies with 

management history and stand structure. Most of 

the eight nonnative plants are more likely to be 

found in young forest stands with open conditions.

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Accomplishments

Sustainable forestry and wood 

production is a compelling issue 

at the international, national, 

regional and local level.

Barriers and opportunities identified for sustainable 

wood production in the Pacific Northwest

Barriers and opportunities for sustainable wood production in the Pacific Northwest will be primarily 

related to future markets, harvest potential, land use changes, 

and sustainable forestry options, rather than to traditional 

sustained yield outputs. For this analysis, sustainable wood 

production was defined as the capacity of forests, ranging 

from stands to ecoregions, to generate wood, products, and 

services on a long-term basis, in the context of human activity 

and use.

The study of sustainable 

wood production issues in 

the Pacific Northwest found 

that private forest lands will 

be the region’s main source 

of wood. Recent declines in 

industrial timber harvest 

west of the Cascade crest 

could be arrested, and 

potential is high for continued growth in nonindustrial private timber harvest. 

The amount of forest land 

in the Pacific Northwest is 

decreasing, most commonly through conversion to development. Visual impacts of timber harvest strongly influence 

public perceptions of forestry, and large, unsightly harvest 

areas may diminish public confidence in forest managers. 

Riparian harvest restrictions may make forestry unprofitable 

for small, family forest landowners, sometimes resulting in 

the land being converted to other uses. Finally, significant 

technological changes have occurred in the lumber manufacturing sector, and the price premium for Douglas-fir has 

largely disappeared.

Regional and national policymakers can use these findings 

to develop policies that encourage sustainable forest management, and forest landowners and managers can use the 

findings in identifying markets and management opportunities. Station scientists are presenting these findings to forest 

landowners and managers, including the Society of American 

Foresters, consulting foresters, state and private forest landowners and managers, and the Oregon Small Woodlands 

Association.

Contact: Robert Deal, rdeal@fs.fed.us, 

Focused Science Delivery Program

Partners: Canadian Institute of Foresters, Society of American 

Foresters, Washington County Small Woodlands Association

More information: General Technical Report PNW-GTR-626. 

Understanding Key Issues of Sustainable Wood Production in the Pacific 

Northwest. http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr626.pdf.

Bob Deal

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Nontraditional goods and services 

may be essential market incentives 

for sustainable forest management

People are raising their expectations 

for forest management, looking for it 

to produce broad societal benefits as 

well as private benefits. Until recently, 

forest management decisions were 

influenced mainly by land management 

goals, market conditions, expectations 

of financial returns, and regulations. 

The new expectations for broad societal 

benefits raise questions about what 

incentives land managers or owners 

need to maintain forests that provide 

the expected array of goods and 

services.

Evidence from the Douglas-fir region 

of the Pacific Northwest suggests that 

landowners and managers rely on timber prices going up in the future to cover the costs of forest 

management. New economic studies, however, project fairly 

stable timber prices in coming decades, and some changes 

proposed for sustainable forest management, such as more 

live trees retained and more stream protection, would reduce 

financial returns. Although the stable timber prices projected 

are likely sufficient incentive for intensive timber management, they may not be enough incentive for sustainable forest 

management that includes ecological health, biodiversity, and 

ecosystem services as 

well as timber yield.

These two factors, stable 

prices and increased 

costs, make it seem 

unlikely that sustainable forest management 

can succeed without 

other incentives. New 

alliances and new 

approaches are emerging, however, that take 

advantage of markets 

for nontraditional forest goods and services 

as well as traditional 

ones. Nontraditional 

forest goods and services may include certified sustainably 

produced wood, carbon credits, and other ecosystem service 

credits. These new approaches may give forest landowners 

enough market incentive to implement costly practices that 

have mostly broad societal benefits.

Contact: Richard W. Haynes, rhaynes@fs.fed.us, 

Human and Natural Resources Interactions Program

Nontraditional forest goods and services may give private forest landowners financial 

incentives for management practices that otherwise reduce financial returns.

Development pressures on private forests 

will be significant in the Pacific Northwest

The Pacific Northwest population is projected to 

increase more than the national average, growing 

more than 50 percent by 2050—an addition of more than 

4 million people in Oregon and Washington. As might be 

expected, then, the amount of developed land in the Pacific 

Northwest is also projected to increase faster than the 

national average, and development pressures on private 

forests will be significant. Increases in developed areas are 

likely to affect forest lands in a number of ways. Direct 

effects include the conversion of forest land to developed 

uses, which means less wildlife habitat and outdoor recreation area. Less obvious effects include forest fragmentation, 

which can fragment wildlife habitats also, and subdivision 

into smaller parcels, which typically means forests are less 

likely to be actively managed. Roads can alter watershed 

functions and become corridors for invasive species, and 

houses scattered in forest areas are vulnerable to wildfires.

These findings come from land use projection models, 

which Station scientists are linking to other regional and 

national computer models, thus increasing their ability 

to analyze changes in land uses at different scales. With 

the linked models, they are better able to evaluate alternative policy scenarios and provide information on possible 

consequences. Organizations using these findings include 

the Oregon Department of Forestry, Washington Department of Natural Resources, the USDA Forest Service (2005 

Resources Planning Act Assessment Update), and nongovernment organizations such as land trusts.

Contact: Ralph Alig, ralig@fs.fed.us, Human and 

Natural Resources Interactions Program

Partners: Oregon Department of Forestry; Pacific Forest Trust; 

The Nature Conservancy; USDA Forest Service, State and 

Private Forestry and Washington Office Strategic Planning; 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

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There has been a more than sevenfold increase 

in the market volume of kiln-dried lumber production 

from Alaska over the past 4 years. 

Web-based, 3-D visualizations of watershed

changes in the Oregon Coast Range

Description: The coastal landscape analysis and modeling study 

(CLAMS) provides detailed dynamic mapping of the Oregon Coast 

Range, including forests, streams, wildlife habitats, land uses, 

and human decisions. It includes data from many sources, and it 

models how both ecological and social changes might affect the 

landscape.

The updated CLAMS Web site has 3-D visualizations of how some 

Coast Range watersheds could change over the next 100 years, 

under current policies. The time-lapse animations show the sorts of 

vegetation landscape patterns that could emerge from contrasting 

forest management strategies.

Outcomes: The animations offer people new perspectives on what 

the outcomes of current policies might be. Policymakers, watershed councils, and the general public have used the GIS layers and 

visualizations to help them prepare watershed restoration plans 

and understand how actions at the site level fit into the broader 

landscape.

How to get it: http://www.fsl.orst.edu/clams.

PNW Research Station contact: Tom Spies, tspies@fs.fed.us, 

Ecosystem Processes Program

Partners: National Commission on Science for Sustainable Forestry, 

Oregon Department of Forestry, Oregon State University

Partners: PNW Human and Natural Resources Interactions 

Program, PNW Managing Disturbance Regimes Program

New Tool

Progress in gauging broad-scale forest 

benefits depends on better understanding of society’s values about forests

Forest policies are intended to provide broadscale benefits to society, such as healthy ecosystems, wildlife habitats, clean water, beautiful 

forests, and wood products. Economists like 

to measure benefits in terms of quantitative 

outputs, and the easiest outputs to measure 

have always been volume of timber harvest and 

forest inventory. Economists have struggled to 

describe other forest benefits in meaningful 

ways.

A review of the forest benefits issue clarifies 

the challenges of gauging broad-scale forestry 

benefits. The challenges include (1) difficulties in measuring the changes that occur in 

socially valued forest outputs (habitat, water 

quality, aesthetics, for example) as a result of 

policy and management decisions; and (2) 

evaluating society’s preferences or values for 

those outputs. These challenges are magnified 

as researchers move from evaluating the local 

effects of a site-specific decision such as closing one hiking trail or thinning a particular 

stand, to evaluating the effects from landscape 

or regional decisions—for example, the effects 

of regionwide tree harvest rules or a network 

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Scientists are helping managers understand the effects of various thinning 

spacings in southeast Alaska forests on wood product volume, quality, 

and value.

Kiln-dried lumber, value-added products, more efficient recovery, 

and Alaska-specific grading rules are some ways to get higher 

economic returns from Alaska timber.

of habitat reserves on wildlife or water quality. Progress in 

evaluating forest benefits will depend on (1) improved understanding of society’s multiple forest objectives, and how and 

why they change over time; (2) evaluation of public preferences for particular management and policy objectives; and 

(3) educating managers, policymakers, researchers, and the 

public about forest benefits and their values.

Contact: Jeff Kline, jkline@fs.fed.us, Human and 

Natural Resources Interactions Program

In southeast Alaska, tree spacing and wood 

quality show effects from precommercial 

thinning 20 years ago

Southeast Alaska has hundreds of thousands of acres 

of young-growth forests. These forests are often precommercially thinned and may be commercially thinned one 

or more times before regeneration harvest. Station scientists 

are examining how precommercial thinnings affect the wood 

quality of western hemlock and Sitka spruce. The study uses 

sample trees cut in 2005 from young-growth, even-aged 

stands that had been thinned about 20 years ago on Prince 

of Wales and Mitkof Islands. All stands include a known 

precommercial thinning treatment and a no-treatment control. The actual spacing of standing trees differed from the 

target spacing in both directions (greater than target in some 

stands, and less than target in others).

Before the sample trees were cut, they were assessed with 

sound wave technology—a nondestructive technology being 

evaluated for accuracy in measuring wood quality in standing 

trees. Logs were shipped to the Ketchikan Wood Technology Center, where they were scaled and graded, acoustically 

tested, and sawn into lumber. Each piece was kiln dried, 

planed, and graded, and then put through both nondestructive and destructive mechanical properties testing. Destructive testing uses machines that measure the force required to 

stretch and bend boards to their breaking point.

Scientists expect to correlate the characteristics of standing trees and managed stands—tree size and species, stand 

type, and thinning prescription—to the volume, quality, and 

mechanical properties of the lumber eventually produced.

Contacts: Eini C. Lowell, elowell@fs.fed.us, and 

Robert A. Monserud, rmonserud@fs.fed.us, 

Human and Natural Resources Interactions Program

Partners: Alaska State Department of Natural Resources; 

Ketchikan Wood Technology Center; USDA Forest Service, 

Alaska Region, Tongass National Forest, Forest Products 

Laboratory, and Southern Research Station

Volume of kiln-dried lumber increases more 

than sevenfold in Alaska

The Alaska Wood Utilization Research and Development 

Center (WUC) continues research and technology transfer 

projects to benefit Alaska’s wood products industry. The 

WUC staff’s work has contributed to the more than sevenfold 

increase in the market volume of kiln-dried lumber production from Alaska over the past 4 years. Kiln-dried lumber 

has a significant price premium over undried lumber 

and is required for most value-added products. An 

estimated 17 dry kilns in Alaska are now drying more 

than 800,000 board feet of lumber annually, resulting 

in direct employment of 34 full- and part-time workers. In southeast Alaska, the WUC staff are assessing 

the sawmill capacity relative to timber harvest levels 

on the Tongass National Forest and evaluating wood 

energy potential for local communities.

The WUC staff are exploring the potential to improve 

markets for Alaska wood products. They are conducting market research on which Alaska species have 

the most potential for lumber sales in the continental 

United States. In partnership with the Ketchikan 

Wood Technology Center, Alaska WUC staff are 

helping to establish Alaska-specific grading rules that 

recognize the superior strength of wood from Alaska 

tree species. Under the new grading rules, selected 

properties of Alaska yellow-cedar are up to 30 percent 

Bob Szaro

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Small-diameter ponderosa pines from the 

Southwest appear to work well for high-quality 

oriented strand board and may have potential 

for appearance-grade lumber. 

above the old values. Other tree species show improvements 

of 10 to 15 percent under Alaska-specific grading rules, with 

the exception of selected properties of western hemlock.

Contact: David L. Nicholls, dlnicholls@fs.fed.us, 

Human and Natural Resources Interactions Program

In southeast Alaska, low numbers of residual 

trees leave stands vulnerable to wind damage

Variable-retention harvesting with low numbers of leave 

trees should be reserved for wind-sheltered sites on southeast 

Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, where wind is the most 

important large-scale natural disturbance. Variable-retention 

harvesting is used to keep old-growth 

features such as snags and large, old trees 

in stands used for timber production. 

Scientists have found, however, that low 

levels of tree retention can leave partially 

cut old-growth stands highly vulnerable 

to wind damage.

Scientists reported that in the first 5 

years after harvest, the control units, 

uncut old-growth stands, lost only 2 to 

6 percent of their large trees to windthrow and other causes. 

In stands where 75 percent of the basal area (total cross-section area of all trees in the stand) was retained, 5 to 8 percent 

of the trees died. But in stands where only 25 percent of the 

basal area was retained, and thus the postharvest stand was 

fairly open, 18 to 55 percent of the residual trees died. Most 

tree death in the partially harvested stands was attributed to 

windthrow, a consequence of the powerful fall and winter 

storms in southeast Alaska.

Managers can use these results to plan successful variableretention harvests. They might reserve low-retention treatments for wind-sheltered areas, or increase the number of 

trees retained so that standing-tree target levels are met 

even after postharvest blowdown.

Contact: Mike McClellan, mmcclellan@fs.fed.us, 

Resource Management and Productivity Program

Partners: USDA Forest Service, Tongass National Forest, 

PNW Managing Disturbance Regimes Program

Equation predicts fuel consumption 

and smoke production in boreal forests

The understory of much of Alaska’s boreal 

forests contains deep layers of moss, duff, 

and peat that can serve as a major source 

of fuel for fires. Fires can burn and smolder 

in these fuels for long periods, producing 

smoke for weeks.

Using fuel consumption and smoke emissions data gathered from wildfires in Alaska 

in 2004, scientists developed a forest floor reduction equation. The equation predicts fuel consumption and smoke 

production by using a forest’s floor fuel moisture content and 

preburn floor depth. This equation was incorporated into a 

new fuel consumption and smoke emissions model called 

Consume 3.0, released in September, 2005. This model 

allows managers to better predict moss, duff, and peat fuel 

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Reduced Impact Logging SIMulator (RILSIM)

Description: RILSIM is a Windows®-based, free, 

financial-analysis software that permits users to 

rapidly compare the cost of reduced-impact logging 

against the cost of conventional logging, especially in 

tropical forests. It runs on low-cost computer systems 

with little memory and limited hard drive capacity; 

easy to install and use by people with little computer 

experience, and has context-sensitive help system. 

The RILSIM software is currently being translated 

into Portuguese, for use in Brazil, and into French, 

for use in West and Central Africa.

Outcomes: The software allows users to evaluate 

logging technologies and their costs under local conditions. The objective is to promote the adoption of 

reduced-impact logging technologies by demonstrating to operators that they can both save money and 

reduce environmental effects with these technologies.

consumption and smoke production during wildland fires in 

Alaska to assist in smoke management planning and predicting fire effects.

Contact: Roger Ottmar, rottmar@fs.fed.us, 

Managing Disturbance Regimes Program

Partners: Alaska Fire Service, Joint Fire Science Program, 

National Fire Plan

Small-diameter ponderosa and lodgepole pines 

are suitable for a new composite lumber product

Vast expanses of forest land in the interior West are covered 

with pine trees, many of which are small (less than 7 inches 

diameter at breast height). These small trees are part of the 

woody biomass volume 

produced by thinning 

and fuel treatments or 

postfire rehabilitation 

work, but their quality 

for wood products is a 

concern. In cooperation 

with partners, Station 

scientists are investigating the wood properties 

of green versus fire-killed 

ponderosa pine and 

lodgepole pine trees from 

central Oregon and their 

suitability for TimTek®, 

a new composite lumber 

product. Preliminary evidence from lab tests suggests that 

both the green and the fire-killed pines have the requisite 

mechanical properties and compare favorably to southern 

pine species for use in this product.

Contacts: Eini Lowell, elowell@fs.fed.us, and 

Susan Hummel, shummel@fs.fed.us, 

Human and Natural Resources Interactions Program

Partners: Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs; 

Mississippi State University; USDA Forest Service, 

Deschutes National Forest

Free software estimates costs and revenues 

associated with harvesting small-diameter 

ponderosa pines

Station scientists are addressing the many challenges in economically and efficiently using small-diameter timber common across the Western United States. They have now 

completed the Harvest Cost Revenue (HCR) estimator and 

delivered it to potential users in the Southwest. The HCR 

estimator is a Windows®-based, public-domain engineering 

program for estimating the costs of harvesting small-diameter 

ponderosa pines and the revenue generated from sale of wood 

fiber removed during fuel treatments.

Small-diameter ponderosa pines from the Southwest are 

unsuitable for all but the least demanding structural uses, 

making it difficult to find economically competitive uses 

for them. Research shows that the small ponderosas appear 

to work well for high-quality oriented strand board and 

may have potential for appearance-grade lumber as well as 

engineered and composite wood products used in signs, 

Research shows that smalldiameter green and fire-killed 

pines may have suitable quality 

for a new composite lumber 

product.

New Tool

Human and Natural Resources Interactions Protgram

How to get it: Download installation software and 

user’s guide from http://www.blueoxforestry.com/

RILSIM. Or request the free package, with user’s 

guide and CD-ROM, from: Gary Man, gman@fs.fed.

us, Asia-Pacific Program Coordinator, International 

Programs Office, USDA Forest Service, 1099 14th St., 

NW, Suite 5500 W, Washington, DC 20005.

PNW Research Station contact: Dennis Dykstra, 

ddykstra@fs.fed.us, Human and Natural Resources 

Interactions Program

Partners: Blue Ox Forestry; University of Florida; 

U.S. Agency for International Development; United 

Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, Center 

for International Forestry Research; USDA Forest 

Service, International Programs Office.

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guardrails, and laminated beams. Station scientists are also 

investigating the costs of specific fuel treatments in the 

wildland-urban interface, to identify priority treatment 

areas commensurate with available funding.

Contacts: Eini Lowell, elowell@fs.fed.us, Human and Natural 

Resources Interactions Program; Dennis Becker, drbecker@umn.edu, 

University of Minnesota

Partners: Colorado Wood Utilization and Marketing Program; Greater 

Flagstaff Forests Partnership; Northern Arizona University; Northern 

Arizona Wood Products Association; Skyline Forest Resources; Southwest (formerly Four Corners) Sustainable Forests Partnership; USDA 

Forest Service, Southern and Rocky Mountain Research Stations, Southwestern Region, and Coconino, Fishlake, and Dixie National Forests

history influences its response to VDT. Shrub and tree growth 

may be limited in forest understories dominated by aggressive 

species such as salal and swordfern, even after VDT.

Variable-density thinning is increasingly being used as 

a management strategy for accelerating complexity and 

old-growth characteristics in forests on state, federal, and 

private lands throughout the Pacific Northwest.

Contact: Todd Wilson, twilson@fs.fed.us, 

Ecosystem Processes Program

Partners: University of Washington; U.S. Department of Defense, 

Army; USDA Forest Service, Olympic National Forest

Western Agenda 2020 

partnership has positive 

effect on other forestry 

research programs

The national Agenda 2020 program began as the forest products 

industry leaders’ vision for their 

industry in 2020. These leaders 

formed a collaborative research 

partnership to help make the 

vision a reality. The national 

Agenda 2020 partnership among 

the USDA Forest Service, forest 

products industry, and universities helps the country reduce 

its dependency on fossil fuels, 

increase carbon sequestration, 

promote sustainable development 

in rural communities, and increase 

the global competitiveness of the 

industry. The national Agenda 2020 program has a strong 

suite of sustainable forestry projects funded by USDA Forest 

Service Research and Development, in collaboration with the 

American Forest and Paper Association, in highpriority areas such as soil and tree productivity, molecular 

biology and biotechnology, and management.

The regional Agenda 2020 partnership involves the three 

western research stations (Rocky Mountain, Pacific Northwest, and Pacific Southwest), universities, and timber industry partners. The collaborative spirit of the regional Agenda 

2020 partnership has a positive effect on other forestry 

research programs throughout the country, serving as a standard for competitive funding, accountability, and producing 

relevant outcomes. Over a 3-year period, the partnership has 

been a major source of new funding for research on forest 

sustainability, increasing the number of collaborative studies 

through a combined investment of about $4 million, with 

about $1 million from timber companies and $3 million 

from the research stations.

In 2005, the western Agenda 2020 partnership funded a 

dozen new proposals for research to be completed over 

the next 3 years. These projects address long-term site 

productivity, genetics, and tool development, and reflect 

The Agenda 2020 program, a collaboration among the Forest Service, timber industry, and 

universities, supports leading-edge research and development in the forest sector.

A decade later, variable-density thinning 

continues to accelerate forest complexity

Ten years after stands across western Washington 

were experimentally thinned by using a technique 

known as variable-density thinning (VDT), scientists are 

measuring the approach’s effectiveness in accelerating structural and biological complexity in young, second-growth 

forests.

Variable-density thinning is a silvicultural technique that 

creates small gaps in forests through variations in thinning 

intensity. It is designed to promote different rates of tree 

growth and encourage the development of all the forest’s layers, including the understory, midstory, and overstory. Scientists have found that many, but not all, birds and mammals 

in the VDT stands are heading toward abundance and richness levels typically found in complex natural forests. The 

Keen’s mouse, for example, a species common in older forests and rare to absent in younger ones, increased from rare 

to moderately abundant in VDT stands. Willow flycatchers 

and orange-crowned warblers, too, were routinely detected 

after VDT was applied, but were absent from unthinned 

forest. Scientists have found that a forest’s past management 

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stronger funding linkages and collaboration among 

the stations. The Agenda 2020 program has improved 

collaboration among the forest products industry, USDA 

Forest Service, and academic scientists to all parties’ 

mutual benefit by focusing research on issues vital to 

the forest products industry.

Contact: Charley Peterson, cepeterson@fs.fed.us, 

Resource Management and Productivity Program

More information: http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/about/

programs/rmp/Agenda2020-collaboration.shtml

Partners: American Forest & Paper Association, Boise Corporation, 

National Council on Air and Stream Improvement, Oregon State 

University, Port Blakely Tree Farms, Potlatch, University of Idaho, 

University of Washington, Weyerhaeuser Company

Surface soils are drier when competing 

vegetation is uncontrolled in young 

Douglas-fir plantation

The Fall River Long-Term Site Productivity Study has yielded some initial 

findings, only 5 years into a study that will 

continue for many years. Decisions made at 

the time of timber harvest can affect the 

growth of the new stand for decades. Located 

on a highly productive site in western Washington, the Fall River study is testing how the 

amounts of slash and large wood left on site 

after harvest and the treatment of slash and 

competing vegetation affect short-term tree 

growth, soil moisture, nutrient dynamics, 

and long-term productivity.

After 5 years, the initial results show that when competing 

vegetation was not controlled, surface soils were drier and tree 

growth was reduced. Scientists also found that compaction 

changed the physical properties of the soil, but compacted 

soils had higher soil moisture during the summer and tree 

growth was equal to or more than tree growth in noncompacted areas. However, if compaction was followed by tillage 

of the soil, the soil physical properties were returned to conditions similar to noncompacted soils. Soil solution chemistry 

also changed as a result of the clearcut timber harvest, with 

soil solution from the clearcut unit having more total nitrogen 

than soil solution from the adjacent uncut stand. However, 

given the total nitrogen pool in the soil, the amount that is in 

solution and could be leached is quite small. 

The early growth differences and information on soil characteristics will help scientists 

predict the longer term impacts of these forest 

practices on productivity. The initial findings 

from Fall River are already influencing management practices, management guidelines, 

and new research projects.

Contact: Connie Harrington, charrington@fs.fed.us, 

Resource Management and Productivity Program

Partners: American Forest and Paper Association, 

National Council for Air and Stream Improvement, 

University of Washington, Weyerhaeuser Company

The regional Agenda 2020 partnership serves as 

a standard for competitive funding, accountability, 

and producing relevant outcomes.

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Douglas-fir seedling growth rates respond best 

when both understory and overstory competition 

are reduced

A long-term study continues at three sites near Olympia, 

Washington, on how overstory and understory competition 

affect seedling growth rates for three conifer species: Douglasfir, western redcedar, and western hemlock. Three years after 

an overstory of Douglas-fir and the understory vegetation 

were removed or reduced at controlled rates, seedlings of 

the three conifer species are demonstrating a wide range 

of growth responses. Reductions in the overstory density 

Douglas-fir seedlings grew fastest when both understory and 

overstory competition were reduced, but western redcedar 

seedlings were influenced mainly by understory competition 

with little response to changes in overstory density.

stimulated increased growth of Douglas-fir and western 

hemlock seedlings, but had little influence on western 

redcedar seedlings.

All of the three conifer species increased their growth rates 

after reductions in understory density. For Douglas-fir, 

however, the increased growth rate occurred only when 

understory density was reduced in areas that had also been 

clearcut. Even a low density of overstory trees affected the 

growth rate of Douglas-fir, with the competitive effect being 

equivalent to that of a vigorous plant community around 

Douglas-fir seedlings in a clearcut. These early findings have 

been shared with professional groups on field tours.

Contact: Tim Harrington, tharrington@fs.fed.us, 

Resource Management and Productivity Program

Partner: Washington State Department of Natural Resources

Local climate and soil conditions affect Douglas-fir 

seedling response to logging slash and competing 

vegetation

Actions at the time of timber harvest can have long-term 

effects on soil moisture, nutrient dynamics, and other factors 

related to Douglas-fir productivity. Yet little is known about 

the long-term effects of different levels and configurations of 

logging slash on planted trees. A long-term study supported 

by the Agenda 2020 program is underway at two sites, one on 

Washington’s Olympic Peninsula and the other in the western 

Cascade Range, to help answer these questions. Scientists 

are monitoring changes in soil water, soil temperature, and 

Genetically improved Douglas-fir grew 28 percent 

more in stem volume than unimproved Douglas-fir, 

a result that helps validate current tree improvement 

programs in the Pacific Northwest.

Tim Harrington

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nitrogen after conventional (stem-only) harvesting, conventional harvesting with piling of logging slash, and whole-tree 

harvesting. The treatments are being compared both with and 

without control of competing vegetation.

The first-year results found that the seedling responses to the 

three logging slash treatments differed between the two study 

sites. On the Olympic Peninsula site, whole-tree harvesting 

and removal of competing vegetation resulted in warmer and 

wetter soils, which stimulated increased growth of Douglas-fir 

seedlings. But at the western Cascade Range site, more seedlings survived where the piles of logging slash kept the soils 

wetter and cooler. Site differences in climate 

and soil texture may play an important role 

in these contrasting responses. To better 

understand these findings, scientists began 

a new study on the responses of individual 

Douglas-fir seedlings to experimentally controlled levels of logging slash (0, 40, or 80 

percent cover). The two study sites are affiliated with the North American Long-Term Soil 

Productivity research network, and network 

members toured the Olympic Peninsula 

site in July, 2005. Additional studies at the 

sites include research on the movement of 

soil nitrogen (University of Washington and 

Oregon State University) and research on the 

rates of wood decomposition (Michigan Technological University).

Contact: Tim Harrington, tharrington@fs.fed.us, 

Resource Management and Productivity Program

Partners: Green Diamond Resource Company; 

Michigan Technological University; Oregon State 

University; Port Blakely Tree Farms; University of 

Washington; USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain 

Research Station

Understory vegetation shows little response to 

low-intensity commercial thinning in secondgrowth Douglas-fir

On the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest in the western 

Oregon Cascade Range, the uneven-age management project 

is testing silvicultural systems for converting even-aged young 

stands to more structurally and biologically complex unevenage conditions with greater biodiversity, while yielding wood 

products. The silvicultural system being tested will use frequent, low-intensity, commercial thinnings and will maintain 

continuous cover in the stands with trees of diverse species 

and sizes. The initial commercial thinning was done in 2000.

Scientists found that although understory vegetation cover 

had declined immediately after the thinning, it returned to 

pretreatment levels by the third year after the initial thinning. 

Understory vegetation cover, species diversity, and density 

and height of woody shrubs in the third year was little different from pretreatment levels. Shrub abundance did increase 

across all thinning treatments but the increase was limited to 

shrubs less than 3 feet tall and thus did not increase connectivity between the understory and overstory. The uneven-age 

management study has been selected as one of three studies to 

be in a synthesis of young-stand management research, being 

prepared as part of the American Forest Resources Council/

Bureau of Land Management Settlement Agreement.

Contact: Paul Anderson; pdanderson@fs.fed.us, 

Resource Management and Productivity Program

Partners: Oregon State University; USDA 

Forest Service, Willamette National Forest and Central 

Cascades Adaptive Management Area; Willamette University

Crew monitors the response of Douglas-fir seedlings to the level of logging slash and 

amount of competing vegetation.

Tim Harrington

Selection and breeding of Douglas-fir does 

lead to improved growth rates

Millions of dollars have been invested in the genetic 

improvement of Douglas-fir, yet few studies have 

been done to see if genetic improvement has actually 

resulted in higher forest productivity. To address this 

knowledge gap, scientists established genetic-gain trials 

on five sites in the northern Oregon Cascade Range to 

compare the actual growth rates of genetically improved 

stands to the predicted growth rates based on individual 

trees in previous genetic tests.

Early results from this long-term study indicate that selection 

and breeding of Douglas-fir does lead to improved growth 

rates, and the actual genetic gains in growth are similar to 

the gains predicted from the performance of individual trees. 

Averaged over the five sites, genetically improved Douglas-fir 

grew 28 percent more in stem volume than unimproved 

Douglas-fir, a result that is similar to the prediction of a 

25-percent gain for the genetically improved trees. These 
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results help validate current tree improvement programs in 

the Pacific Northwest, and eventually the results will be 

important for developing new growth models for genetically 

improved trees. The trial will be a long-term study, following 

performance of these trees to maturity.

The genetic gains in tree growth varied widely at any single 

site. Actual growth gains differed widely and many variables 

such as animal damage affected trees, so the 30 to 50 replicates allocated across the study sites are essential for accurately estimating how much gain in growth can be attributed 

to tree improvement. These results have influenced the design 

of similar studies in Idaho, Washington, British Columbia, 

and Ontario.

Contact: Brad St. Clair, bstclair@fs.fed.us, 

Resource Management and Productivity Program

Partners: Longview Fibre Company; Oregon State 

Department of Forestry; Oregon State University; 

Port Blakely Tree Farms; Quinault Indian Nation; 

Rayonier Timberlands; University of Washington; 

USDI Bureau of Land Management; Weyerhaeuser 

Company

Wood quality in young western hemlock 

is related to rapid growth rates

The shift from older to younger trees in timber 

harvest could result in a decline in wood quality 

properties such as strength and stiffness. Studies of 

young-growth wood quality have focused mostly 

on Douglas-fir so far, but a new study provides 

information on the wood quality characteristics 

of young-growth western hemlock. The tested wood samples 

were taken from young managed stands in northwestern 

Oregon that represented a range of sites and growth rates.

Scientists found that the wood quality of young-growth western hemlock is related to tree growth rates. For the first 25 

to 30 years, rapid growth rates reduced the wood density of 

individual growth rings, earlywood density, latewood density, 

and the proportion of latewood. (Earlywood grows early in 

the growing season and is less dense; the denser, stronger 

latewood grows late in the season and forms the dark band 

in tree rings.) After 25 to 30 years, rapid growth rates still 

reduced the proportion of latewood, an important characteristic for wood quality. Although intensive management and 

The Fuel Characteristic Classification System 

has stronger links to fire behavior models 

than previous systems.

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rapid growth rates may lead to lower wood densities in young 

hemlock, the practices may also result in more uniform wood 

from pith to bark and thus reduce wood quality problems 

associated with the transition from juvenile to mature wood. 

Overall, then, intensive management and rapid growth rates 

in young western hemlock are not expected to have a major 

adverse effect on wood quality.

Contact: David Marshall, dmarshall@fs.fed.us, 

Resource Management and Productivity Program

Partners: Oregon State University, Willamette Industries

Chanterelle productivity and fungal diversity 

decrease most at highest thinning levels

In the Pacific Northwest, ectomycorrhizal fungi, which 

form symbiotic relationships with plant roots, are 

extremely diverse. It is this diversity, in fact, that contributes 

to the resilience of the region’s forest ecosystems following 

disturbance. Some ectomycorrhizal fungi have commercial 

value also. Chanterelles, for example, are some of the best 

edible mushrooms and among the region’s most sought-after 

commercial species.

Because chanterelles grow symbiotically with tree roots, they 

can be affected by the removal of trees. Scientists examined 

the effects of forest thinning and tree retention on chanterelle 

productivity and fungal species diversity in two multiyear 

studies. They found that chanterelle productivity decreased 

most significantly at the highest thinning levels, with an 

80-percent reduction in trees. Seven years after thinning, 

however, chanterelle productivity 

appeared to be rebounding. Overall 

fungal species diversity also was most 

affected at the highest thinning levels, 

when only 15 percent of trees were 

retained. These findings support the 

use of dispersed green-tree retention in 

combination with aggregated retention 

to maintain fungi production and ecosystem function.

Contact: Randy Molina, rmolina@fs.fed.us, 

Ecosystem Processes Program

Partners: Cascade Center for Ecosystem 

Management; Oregon State University; 

University of Washington; USDA Forest 

Service, Gifford Pinchot, Umpqua, and 

Willamette National Forests

Refinements enhance fuel classification tool

Fuels are living or dead vegetation that is capable 

of burning. In fire management and control, knowledge of fuels is essential to understanding a fire’s behavior, 

severity, and hazard. Scientists developed a Fuel Characteristic Classification System (FCCS) that is more comprehensive 

than previous systems. It helps managers characterize and 

classify fuelbeds and their components, such as trees, grasses, 

and duff, and it enables managers to build customized fuel 

classes. The FCCS has stronger links to fire behavior models 

than previous systems; 

for each fuelbed, the 

system can determine 

the potential of surface and crown fire 

behavior and fuel 

consumed. Also, the 

FCCS contains a 

fuelbed database that 

has been mapped to 

provide users with 

a national map of 

wildland fuels.

The FCCS was formally released in 

August 2005 and is available for download via http://www.

fs.fed.us/pnw/fera/fccs/. It will help managers make fuel 

treatment decisions and improved fire hazard assessments. 

The new national wildland fuels map also will provide input 

for regional modeling of carbon dynamics and validation of 

emissions estimates. 

Contact: Roger Ottmar, rottmar@fs.fed.us; Don McKenzie, 

donaldmckenzie@fs.fed.us, Managing Disturbance Regimes Program

Partners: Joint Fire Science Program; National Fire Plan; 

University of Washington; USDA Forest Service, Pacific 

Northwest Region; USDC National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration Fisheries; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; 

USDI National Park Service

BlueSkyRAINS applied to 

the Western United States

BlueSkyRAINS is an interactive, 

Web-based predictor of regional 

smoke concentrations from wild and 

prescribed fires. Principal elements of 

the system are available in every region 

of the country and are changing the way 

fire and smoke are managed. Better 

information from BlueSkyRAINS about 

the cumulative effects of smoke is helping managers prioritize fire treatments 

and make decisions about fire suppression operations. BlueSkyRAINS has 

been used on dozens of wildfires and 

hundreds of prescribed fires throughout the Northwestern 

United States and southwest Canada.

In 2005, the application was improved to provide realtime predictions from large wildfires throughout the 

country. Scientists also began work on a demonstration 

project of the system in the Western United States 

(http://www.blueskyrains.org).

Contact: Susan O’Neill, oneill@fs.fed.us, Sim Larkin, larkin@fs.fed.us, 

Managing Disturbance Regimes Program

Partners: USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain, North Central, 

Southern, and Pacific Southwest Research Stations; USDI; U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency

The new Fuel Characteristic Classification System has an extensive fuelbed 

database with information about the 

properties of duff, grasses, and trees 

that fuel wildfires.

BlueSkyRAINS merges the technology of 

Rapid Access INformation System with 

the latest available science on smoke dispersion from BlueSky to yield an interactive, Web-based regional smoke forecast.

Managing Disturbance regimes Program

Roger Ottmar
44 2005 SCIENCE aCCOMPLISHMENTS 44

Study measures effects of prescribed fire 

on stream sediments

Wildfire effects such as the loss of vegetation and 

acceleration of erosion can affect water quality and 

fish habitat. To reduce long-term fire risk by reducing fuels, 

managers often use prescribed fires, which are assumed to 

pose less of a threat to 

water and fish.

Station scientists studied the influence of 

prescribed fire on 

erosion and stream 

sedimentation in the 

Blue Mountains of 

northeastern Oregon 

and southeastern 

Washington. Preliminary results showed 

large differences 

between the rates of 

hillslope erosion measured from plots and the amount of 

sediment measured in watersheds, suggesting that periodic 

processes control sediment production and transport. Analyses indicated that erosion rates were related to a hillslope’s 

aspect and its amount of bare ground, but were not influenced by prescribed fire. Further study is needed to test this 

finding, however, as none of the treated or control sites have 

experienced intense rain or rain-on-snow weather events, 

which could account for the very low erosion rates observed 

in the study to date. These findings are relevant for planning 

fuel reduction treatments in watersheds that supply drinking 

water or that are home to salmonids.

Contact: Steve Wondzell, swondzell@fs.fed.us, 

Aquatic and Land Interactions Program

Partners: USDA Forest Service, Umatilla National Forest

Pileated woodpeckers respond differently to 

fuel reduction treatments

The pileated woodpecker uses standing and down 

coarse woody debris such as snags and logs for 

foraging, roosting, and nesting, and it is often used as a 

management indicator species. Snags and down logs, however, can be the target of fuel reduction treatments.

Scientists studied the effect of fuel reduction treatments that 

included mechanical thinning and prescribed fire on pileated 

woodpeckers in the Starkey Experimental Forest and Range 

in northeastern Oregon. They found that pileated woodpecker 

foraging was significantly more abundant in stands that were 

untreated or that were treated with mechanical fuel reduction 

only, likely owing to the abundance of ants, pileated woodpeckers’ primary prey, in these stands. In stands that were 

mechanically thinned and burned by prescribed fires, foraging habitat and prey were lost, at least in the short term.

These findings suggest that prescribed burns over large areas 

could negatively affect pileated woodpecker populations over 

time. They are being used by wildlife biologists on Forest 

Service districts to guide the retention of coarse woody 

debris in fuel reduction projects.

Contact: Evelyn L. Bull, ebull@fs.fed.us, 

Managing Disturbance Regimes Program

Partners: USDA Forest Service, La Grande Ranger District

More information: PNW-RP-564. Short-Term Effects of Fuel 

Reduction on Pileated Woodpeckers in Northeastern Oregon–

A Pilot Study. http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_rp564.pdf.

Belowground fungi populations decline 

after prescribed burns

Fuel treatments such as prescribed fire and thinning 

can potentially affect belowground mycorrhizal fungi, 

which form symbiotic relationships with the roots of plant 

species and aid in the uptake of nutrients and water. Because 

of their role in nutrient and water transfer, mycorrhizal fungi 

are critical to the recovery of aboveground ecosystems after 

fire.

Scientists studied the effects of prescribed fire and thinning 

on mycorrhizal communities in the Blue Mountains of Oregon 

and Washington. They found that prescribed fire treatments 

resulted in a short-term reduction in mycorrhizal species richness. Thinning alone, they found, increased small-diameter 

fuels on the ground, increasing the risk of high-intensity 

Prescribed fires in the Blue Mountains did not initially affect hillslope 

erosion, although treated sites had 

not yet had a rain-on-snow event.

Bridgett Naylor

Managing Disturbance Regimes Program
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wildfires. Forest managers are using these findings to balance 

concerns for fuel reduction with concerns for preserving the 

belowground mycorrhizal community and critical soil components and processes.

Contact: Jane E. Smith, jsmith01@fs.fed.us, 

Ecosystem Processes Program

Partners: Oregon State University; USDA Forest Service, 

Wallowa Valley Ranger District

Ponderosa pine mortality is related to season of burn

In east-side forests, managers often conduct prescribed 

burns in both spring and fall to complete their fuel treatment 

program. Concern has emerged, however, that spring burns 

might kill more trees and result in increased black stain root 

disease, an opportunistic fungal pathogen that infects and 

kills several species of trees by attracting insects that may 

carry the fungus.

Scientists studied this issue in the southern Blue Mountains 

in Oregon. They found that the percentage of ponderosa pine 

mortality was higher after fall prescribed burns than after 

spring burns. They found no evidence, after 8 years of study, 

that the season of burn influences the occurrence of black 

stain root disease. This finding is relevant to managers planning prescribed fire programs.

Contact: Walter G. Thies, wthies@fs.fed.us, 

Managing Disturbance Regimes Program

Partners: USDA Forest Service, Malheur National Forest 

and Pacific Northwest Region

Scientific support provided in development of postfire 

recovery plan for B&B area in central Oregon

The B&B and Link Fires burned nearly 94,000 acres in the 

central Oregon Cascade Range in 2003, burning much of the 

Metolius Basin. For the past 2 years, Station scientists and 

Oregon State University provided scientific and technical 

support to the interdisciplinary team working on a postfire 

recovery plan for the Metolius Basin. Just a partial list of the 

issues includes spotted owl habitat, late-successional reserves, 

water quality, fish habitat, forest restoration, timber salvage, 

invasive plants, wilderness, and recreation.

Scientific support began with a series of workshops, meetings, and individual scientist visits with the team writing the 

environmental impact statement (EIS) for the B&B postfire 

recovery. Scientists helped the team frame the questions 

they would address in the EIS, offered scientific input as the 

report was being written, and provided critical technical 

review of the draft EIS. The final EIS, released in July 2005, 

had been reviewed by federal and nonfederal scientists who 

held a range of opinions about the need for and effectiveness 

of proposed management actions. Scientific input throughout 

the process helped produce a final plan with a firm scientific 

foundation.

Contact: Jamie Barbour, jbarbour01@fs.fed.us, 

Focused Science Delivery Program

Partners: Oregon Board of Forestry; Oregon State University; 

USDA Forest Service, Deschutes National Forest and 

Sisters Ranger District

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Native grasses and forbs tested for 

performance in burned areas

Large fires can leave forest and range lands bare of the 

more vulnerable native species and open to invasive plants. 

After the Eyerly Fire burned 23,000 acres on the Deschutes 

National Forest and nearby land in central Oregon, surveys 

showed that invasive plants such as medusahead, cheatgrass, 

and knapweeds were increasing. Station scientists saw an 

opportunity to study the feasibility of using native grasses 

and forbs as rehabilitation tools after fires. Scientists collected 

the seeds of 18 native grasses and forbs that perform well in 

burned areas. They evaluated seeds for 

damage and moisture content and then 

tested seeds for viability and germination, 

in partnership with the Oregon State 

University Seed Laboratory.

The 18 test species were seeded in plots on 

parts of the Eyerly burn where the fire was 

stand-replacing and invasive plants were 

present. Scientists measured germination, 

seedling survival, and growth in 2005, and 

they are using the results to develop guidelines for a seed mix of native species that 

establish quickly after disturbance and 

can be grown in nurseries. Other study 

components included the field collection 

of more native plant seeds; Lucky Peak 

Nursery in Boise, Idaho, is cooperating in 

the outgrowing and evaluation of the 2005 

native species seed collections.

The early findings on the biology and performance of these 

native species have been shared with managers, and additional requests for study results have come from California, 

Wyoming, and Idaho. The research is a step forward in 

developing information and techniques for the effective 

use of native plant seed mixes for postfire seeding programs 

and native plant restoration programs.

Contact: Nan Vance; nvance@fs.fed.us, 

Resource Management and Productivity Program

Partners: Lucky Peak Nursery; Oregon State University; 

USDA Forest Service, Deschutes National Forest

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Conifer species grow at different rates after 

planting in harsh, postfire conditions

After the 2002 Timbered Rock Fire in southwest Oregon’s 

Rogue River watershed, scientists partnered with managers 

to include a reforestation research project in the postfire 

management plan. Scientists established 

a long-term study to test silvicultural prescriptions and vegetation management in 

the restoration of mixed-conifer forests, 

with initial work focused on how reforestation prescriptions influence plant community development, fuel loading, and fire 

risk. The six reforestation treatments are in 

two distinct groups differentiated by levels 

of shrub competition and fuel loads.

In the first year, all conifer species planted 

had survival rates higher than 85 percent, 

but growth rates differed. The Douglas-fir 

seedlings grew substantially but ponderosa 

and sugar pine seedlings grew only a little, 

possibly showing differences in how the 

species acclimate to planting in the harsh 

site conditions. Early species differences in 

growth occurred across all treatments; early 

growth is associated with seedling physiology and species establishment strategies. 

These initial growth differences, along with 

experimentally controlled vegetation treatments, set the stage 

for young forests on the study sites to develop along different 

trajectories.

Contact: Paul Anderson; pdanderson@fs.fed.us, 

Resource Management and Productivity Program

Partners: Oregon State University; USDI Bureau of 

Land Management, Medford District

New decision-support system helps to 

evaluate fire danger

Fuels play a major role in determining the danger a fire poses, 

as they can contribute to a fire’s intensity and resistance to 

control efforts. To help evaluate forest fuel and fire danger 

conditions, scientists developed a prototype decision-support 

application by using the ecosystem management decision 

support system and NetWeaver software. The prototype 

recently was tested by using an area of about 10 million 

acres in Utah.

This prototype provides a tool that can be used to support 

strategic planning at national and regional scales, and 

tactical planning at local scales, and can be readily adapted 

to consider factors other than fuels and fire danger.

Contact: Paul Hessburg, phessburg@fs.fed.us; Keith Reynolds, 

kreynolds@fs.fed.us; Robert Keane, rkeane@fs.fed.us,

Managing Disturbance Regimes Program

Partner: USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station

Forest Service fire crews are an important part of a strategy to reduce high fire suppression 

costs.

Forest Service fire crews are more cost-effective than 

contract crews, as long as project work is available

The use of contract fire crews has increased dramatically 

in the last 5 years, sparking concern that this practice may 

be contributing to record-high suppression costs. When 

comparing costs between contract crews and Forest Service 

crews, however, the analysis must take into consideration 

that the price of a contract crew reflects the full cost of the 

crew, including transportation and workers’ compensation 

insurance, but the full cost of the Forest Service crew is not 

as easily measured.

Analysis of Forest Service cost records revealed that if a 

Forest Service crew is provided with continuous work—

either fire suppression or alternative work such as trail 

maintenance—then its daily cost is approximately 70 percent that of a contract crew. However, if a Forest Service 

crew spends its time on stand-by or “busy work” when not 

assigned to fires, then it quickly loses its cost advantage. 

This is because contract crews can be laid off when firefighting work is not available, but Forest Service crews must be 

employed throughout the season and are laid off only at 

season’s end. Ad hoc Forest Service crews formed by temporarily reassigning permanent employees are up to 40 percent 

more expensive per day than dedicated fire crews largely 

comprising temporary employees. Workers’ compensation 

and unemployment claims for Forest Service fire crews had 

a minor effect on overall costs.

Results suggest that managers can reduce costs by choosing 

a mix of agency and contract fire crews for an upcoming 

fire season. The analysis resulted in a model that provides 

a framework for considering the tradeoffs between agency 

and contract crews. The cost-saving strategy involves using 

Tom Iraci
48 2005 SCIENCE aCCOMPLISHMENTS 48

as many Forest Service crews as managers can supply with 

continuous work through the fire season, including slack 

firefighting periods, and supplementing them with contract 

crews during periods of high demand.

Contact: Geof Donovan, gdonovan@fs.fed.us, 

Human and Natural Resources Interactions Program

Monitoring system gives managers early 

warning of moth outbreaks

In the Western United States and southern British Columbia, 

the Douglas-fir tussock moth poses a 

serious defoliation threat to Douglasfirs and true firs. Outbreaks of the 

moth often occur with little warning 

and can cause direct or indirect tree 

mortality and, subsequently, greater 

fire risk owing to increased fuels.

Since 1979, scientists have worked 

with federal and state partners to 

establish a pheromone-based Early 

Warning System throughout the 

tussock moth’s range, primarily in 

California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, 

and Washington. The system uses 

pheromone-baited traps to attract 

male moths, allowing managers to 

track changes in moth population numbers. In the more than 

20 years since its establishment, the system has provided a 

1- to 3-year early warning for seven of nine outbreaks. Early 

My Fuel Treatment Planner (MyFTP) assists 

managers in estimating costs, net revenues, 

economic effects, and surface fuels associated 

with various fuel reduction treatments.

warnings could probably have been produced for the 

remaining two outbreaks if enough monitoring plots 

had been distributed over the affected area.

The Early Warning System for Douglas-fir tussock moth has 

a record of success for identifying locations where moth 

populations are increasing. The 1- to 3-year early warnings 

can give managers time to develop treatment options.

Contact: Kathy Sheehan, ksheehan@fs.fed.us (PNW Region); 

Rick Kelsey, rkelsey@fs.fed.us, Managing Disturbance Regimes Program

Partners: California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection; 

Idaho Department of Lands; Montana Department 

of Natural Resources; Oregon Department of Forestry; 

USDA Forest Service, Intermountain, Northern, Pacific 

Northwest, Pacific Southwest, Rocky Mountain, and 

Southwestern Regions; USDI Bureau of Land Management and Bureau of Indian Affairs; Washington 

Department of Natural Resources

New technique is sensitive and 

inexpensive for plant genetics work

Genetic resource management is a critical factor 

in the restoration of native plants and conservation of threatened and endangered plants, and it 

often requires insight into the amount of seed- or 

pollen-based gene flow, either for estimating the 

geographic limits of gene flow, or detecting contamination from adjacent areas or other species. 

The established technique of DNA sequencing 

is accurate but expensive, so scientists explored an alternative approach for screening genetic variation in plants. They 

screened fragment-length variation in noncoding DNA in 

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Genetic research is providing risk management 

tools to facilitate native plant restoration in 

east-side ecosystems

Little is known about genetic variation within native 

grass, forb, and shrub species commonly used in restoration projects. Genetics research is now underway to develop 

risk management tools, such as seed transfer guidelines, for 

these plants. Seed transfer guidelines, which have existed for 

decades for Pacific Northwest tree species, recommend how far seeds of a particular species 

can be transferred from their collection site. The 

risks of using poorly adapted seeds include 

spring budding too early for the new location 

and insufficient cold or drought hardiness, 

among others.

Research was started or expanded on two 

native plants used in restoration. Two series 

of common-garden studies have been established to study genetic variation in antelope 

bitterbrush, an important winter range browse 

species for deer, elk, and antelope. With the 

help of cooperators, additional seed collections 

have been obtained to broaden the study of 

molecular genetic variation in the species’ range. 

Bluebunch wheatgrass seeds were collected in 

summer 2005 to begin a common-garden study 

on this native grass frequently used in restoration projects.

Use of fragment-length variation in DNA is providing a sensitive and inexpensive 

method that can be used to track seed- or pollen-based gene flow in plants.

My Fuel Treatment Planner

Description: My Fuel Treatment Planner (MyFTP) assists managers in estimating 

costs, net revenues, economic effects, and surface fuels associated with various fuel 

reduction treatments. The spreadsheet application is simple to use yet based on years 

of data. MyFTP provides insights on how to think through economic analyses and 

interacts compatibly with existing planning tools. It was recently incorporated into 

the analytical process for the FIRESHED program, which is used for all Forest Service 

fire hazard reduction projects in California, and it is being piloted at 10 other locations around the Western United States. MyFTP was developed as part of the fuels 

synthesis project, which accelerates the delivery of research information to field-going 

specialists.

Outcomes: MyFTP is now available for general use and is being incorporated into 

national training required for fuel specialist certification. Presentations on MyFTP 

have been given nationally to fuel specialists, silviculturists, and other field managers.

How to get it: MyFTP and all documentation needed to load and use it can be found 

at http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/data/soft.htm.

PNW Research Station contact: Jamie Barbour, jbarbour01@fs.fed.us, Focused 

Science Delivery Program

Partners: PNW Human and Natural Resources Interactions Program, 

PNW Managing Disturbance Regimes Program

New Tool

chloroplasts and mitochondria, for 

a number of grass, forb, and shrub 

species.

Scientists found that seed- and 

pollen-transmitted genetic variation in plants can be detected by 

fragment-length variation in 

DNA from chloroplasts and mitochondria. Results showed that 

chloroplast-length mutations are 

as frequent as base substitutions, 

and that diversity estimates from 

length variation are indistinguishable from DNA sequencing. Thus, 

when combined with automated 

detection methods, chloroplast 

fragment-length screening offers 

a precise method of tracking gene 

flow that can be used for many 

plants, and at one-tenth the cost 

of DNA sequencing. This new 

method is now being used to identify cases of hybridization in plant 

species (a key factor in the spread 

of invasive plants), estimate the 

persistence and expansion of planted genotypes in restoration 

projects (important in determining the extent of restoration 

success), and estimate the frequency of pollen contamination 

in conifer seed orchards. These studies are in both the Pacific 

Northwest and Intermountain Regions.

Contact: Richard Cronn, rcronn@fs.fed.us, 

Resource Management and Productivity Program

Partner: Oregon State University

Nan Vance
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The principles used to develop seed transfer guidelines for 

tree species could be used as a template in developing guidelines for other native plants. However, grasses, forbs, and 

shrubs show far greater variation in lifespans, breeding strategies, and other attributes. Tree seed zones should be considered at best as surrogate seed zones for native plants until 

species-specific seed transfer guidelines are developed.

Contact: Randy Johnson, randyjohnson@fs.fed.us, 

Resource Management and Productivity Program

Partners: Native Seed Network; The Nature Conservancy; 

USDA Agricultural Research Service, Western Regional Plant 

Introduction Station; USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain 

Research Station, Pacific Northwest Region, and Pacific 

Southwest Research Station; USDA National Research Institute 

Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service; 

USDI Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, 

and National Park Service; U.S. Department of Defense

Contact: Randy Molina, rmolina@fs.fed.us, 

Focused Science Delivery Program

Partners: Boise Cascade Corporation; Chelan-Douglas Land 

Trust; Collins Pine Forest Products Company; Colville Tribe; 

Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs; Defenders of Wildlife; 

Ecotrust Forest LLC; Green Diamond Resources; Inland Empire 

Public Land Council; Longview Fibre; National Council for Air 

and Stream Improvement; Northwest Ecosystem Alliance; Oregon 

Department of Fish and Wildlife; Oregon Department of Forestry; 

Oregon Natural Resources Council; Oregon State University; The 

Campbell Group; The Nature Conservancy; USDA Forest Service, 

Pacific Northwest Region; USDC National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration Fisheries; USDI Bureau of Land Management, Oregon 

State Office; USDI Fish and Wildlife Service; Washington Department 

of Fish and Wildlife; Washington Department of Natural Resources; 

Washington State University Forestry Extension Service

Extensive timber harvest increases vulnerability 

of elk to hunting

Extensive timber harvests result in the loss of forest 

cover and an increase in road density. Scientists 

studied how timber harvests and their results affect elk 

and cattle at the Starkey Experimental Forest and Range 

in northeastern Oregon.

Scientists harvested timber in mosaics, or patches, within 

a 3,500-acre fenced area, thus reducing the availability of 

forest cover. They found that elk distribution patterns 

changed in response to the harvest, whereas cattle distribution was not impacted. Examinations of weight gain in 

female elk and their calves and cattle in the experimental 

area suggested that both were able to maintain weight gains 

with as much success as animals in a control area. Scientists 

did find, however, that the vulnerability of elk to hunting 

increased with timber harvest, owing to enhanced hunter 

access from loss of cover and an increase in road density. 

These findings suggest that to keep elk populations at preharvest levels after extensive timber harvest, modifications 

in hunter access would be necessary.

Contact: Martin Vavra, mvavra@fs.fed.us; Michael Wisdom, 

mwisdom@fs.fed.us, Managing Disturbance Regimes Program

Off-road recreation affects elk behavior

With a dramatic increase in off-road recreation on national 

forest lands in recent years, land managers are concerned 

about the effects that unrestricted off-road recreation could 

have on mule deer and elk.

Scientists studied the effects of four typical off-road recreation 

activities—mountain biking, all-terrain vehicle (ATV) use, 

hiking, and horseback riding—on deer and elk behavior. 

They found that ATV use and mountain biking were the 

two most disruptive activities. Elk responded to these 

disturbances by fleeing the area. Mule deer did not respond 

in the same way as elk, but did increase their movement 

rates. These results can inform decisions on managing 

recreational activities on national forest lands.

Contact: Michael Wisdom, mwisdom@fs.fed.us,

Managing Disturbance Regimes Program

Biodiversity can be a natural and 

cultural asset. The biodiversity 

initiative will help develop 

science-based tools to meet 

challenges in managing for 

biodiversity.

Challenges identified 

for biodiversity 

management

Managing for biodiversity is a central 

theme in many aspects of 

forest management, but 

people define “biodiversity” 

in many ways, have different goals for it, and use a 

variety of approaches for 

managing biodiversity. The 

PNW Research Station 

launched a biodiversity 

initiative focused in Oregon 

and Washington to help 

natural resource professionals integrate biodiversity 

objectives into management. Scoping included 5 workshops, with about 100 clients 

total participating; one-on-one interviews; and Web-based 

surveys. People participating came from state and federal 

agencies, private forestry companies, and environmental 

groups, and included wildlife biologists and forest managers.

Challenges most often mentioned included the lack of a clear 

mandate for biodiversity management, uncertainty about the 

effects of disturbances on biodiversity, the lack of monitoring 

protocols, conflicting social and economic values, and difficulty in locating information. Station scientists formed several 

working groups, each with a representative mix of clients, 

to develop specific products requested. These products 

include publications that synthesize existing information, 

including fact sheets, general technical reports, and professional journals; field trips where people can see a variety of 

management approaches; and regional workshops that offer 

tools and insights on how to manage for biodiversity. One 

workshop held already was attended by 40 biologists, and 

two regional conferences are planned.

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FishXing, an acclaimed tool for assessing 

fish passage, is revised

Roads and improperly designed culverts can be 

barriers to fish migration, but well-designed and 

well-placed culverts can restore passage for fish and other 

aquatic life. Scientists developed FishXing (pronounced 

“fish crossing”), a software application designed to help 

engineers, hydrologists, and fish biologists evaluate and 

design culverts for fish passage. This tool was recently 

redesigned and relaunched as version 3.0. It can be accessed 

at http://www.stream.fs.fed.us/fishxing. The new version 

offers many new features, including a module designed to 

model fish movement through culverts by using the most 

recent science and a multimedia help and tutorial system.

FishXing is widely used in the Northwest, nationally, and 

abroad. Its use results in significant cost savings by reducing 

the uncertainty in the assessment of culvert sites. Thus, FishXing provides management agencies with a better scientific 

basis for making culvert design and replacement decisions.

Contact: Michael Furniss, mfurniss@fs.fed.us, 

Aquatic and Land Interactions Program

Partners: CalFed; Federal Highway Administration; Humboldt State 

University; Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; USDA Forest Service, 

San Dimas Technology Development Center and Washington Office, 

Stream Technology Systems Center

Model identifies potential of landslides to 

reach streams

The impact of landslides on fish habitat has been much 

debated. Because of concerns that landslides may degrade fish 

habitat, managers typically try to minimize landslide occurrences. Recent scientific work, however, suggests that when 

landslides occur in older forests, fish habitat may be improved 

over the long term because large wood and gravel—primary 

habitat components—are introduced into streams.

Scientists developed a model that identifies sites in western 

Oregon where landslides are likely to begin and then assesses 

the potential of landslides to reach a fish-bearing stream. This 

is the first model that identifies both the origin and projected 

travel path of landslides over such a large area.

The model allows managers to identify and prioritize 

landslide initiation sites most likely to deliver materials to 

fish-bearing streams. Managers can then consider specific 

actions, such as avoiding these initiation sites when building 

Female elk and their calves and cattle in the 

experimental timber harvest area were able to 

maintain weight gains with as much success as 

animals in a control area.

The FishXing Web site includes case studies with photos, showing culvert problems and design solutions. Users can adjust the 

model to fit their specific situations.

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roads and harvesting timber, or conversely, possibly thinning 

stands in these sites to create large trees that may eventually 

help form fish habitat.

Contact: Kelly Burnett, kmburnett@fs.fed.us, 

Aquatic and Land Interactions Program

Partners: Earth Systems Institute, National Council for 

Science for Sustainable Forestry

Scientists study effects of stream forest buffers on 

small vertebrates

Stream buffers protect habitat for riparian and aquatic species, 

and headwater streams play a role in determining the nutrient 

content and habitat conditions downstream. Scientists compared the effect of different types of headwater stream forest 

buffers on small vertebrates in two regions in western Washington. They installed fixed-width or patch buffers or no 

buffer at all (as a control) and then sampled vertebrate species. In one region, scientists found two rodents, Keen’s 

mouse and shrew-mole, were less abundant after buffer treatments. Other species, such as the southern red-backed vole, 

Trowbridge’s shrew, and deer mouse, increased in abundance 

as the treatments were done and the forest canopy opened.

These findings support the development of a long-term 

stream conservation strategy as part of the Washington 

Department of Natural Resources’ habitat conservation plan.

Contact: Martin Raphael, mraphael@fs.fed.us, 

Ecosystem Processes Program

Partners: Washington Department of Natural Resources

Riparian buffers protect near-stream microclimate 

and vegetation of headwater streams

Scientists are studying how the thinning of second-growth 

forests affects headwater streams and their riparian zones. 

The newest finding, from study sites in western Oregon, is 

that uncut riparian strips 60 to 90 feet wide are enough to 

buffer the near-stream microclimate and vegetation of headwater riparian zones from the effects of upslope commercial 

thinning. In the first 5 years after the initial thinning, these 

riparian buffers prevented substantial change in near-stream 

air temperature and relative humidity.

Earlier findings from this study showed that headwater 

streams substantially influenced the microclimate within 

45 to 75 feet of the stream. Recent analyses demonstrate 

that light- to moderate-intensity thinning upslope was found 

to have no discernible effects on the understory vegetation 

cover or forest floor characteristics within the uncut stream 

In western Oregon, uncut riparian strips 60 to 90 feet 

wide are enough to buffer the near-stream microclimate 

and vegetation of headwater riparian zones from the 

effects of upslope commercial thinning.

2005 SCIENCE aCCOMPLISHMENTS 5

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buffers. Within the thinned areas upslope, understory vegetation and forest floor responses were slight for the lightly and 

moderately thinned stands but stronger in 1-acre patch-cut 

openings. Scientists and managers are using these research 

findings as they develop prescriptions for the second round 

of thinning at the study sites, scheduled for 2008. Ongoing 

study results are shared with managers and other scientists 

through field trips and presentations.

Contact: Paul Anderson; pdanderson@fs.fed.us, 

Resource Management and Productivity Program

Partners: Oregon State University; USDA Forest 

Service, PNW Aquatic and Land Interactions 

Program; USDI Bureau of Land Management

In western Oregon forests, distribution 

of common nonnative plants varies 

with management history

The distribution of eight common 

nonnative plant species varies with 

management history and stand structure in 

western Oregon forests. The eight species, 

which included Himalayan blackberry, 

Scotch broom, and nonnative thistles, were 

selected for this study because they can be 

easily and accurately identified in the field, making them 

ideal for a study of factors related to their distribution in 

forests.

For most of the eight species, distribution was more closely 

associated with a low density of overstory trees than it was 

with climate. Nonnative species were significantly more 

abundant in stands that had been recently clearcut or 

thinned and thus were more open, than in stands with 

no cutting. High-elevation plots had fewer nonnative species, but this trend may reflect the proximity of low-elevation 

plots to nonnative plants in fields and roadsides rather than 

any constraints of higher elevation climate. Most of the eight 

nonnative plants are more likely to be found in young forest 

stands with open conditions. However, some shade-tolerant, 

evergreen, nonnative plants, such as English ivy and English 

holly, spread easily in established, mature forests.

This trend was detected through analysis of 

forest health inventory data; the finding can 

be used to guide intensive surveys for nonnative plants. It is also a step toward understanding the ecology of invasive plants.

Contact: Andrew Gray, agray01@fs.fed.us, 

Forest Inventory and Analysis Program

More information: Science Update 9. Invasive Plants 

in 21st Century Landscapes. http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/

pubs/science-update-9.pdf.

Small patches of large trees 

may sustain biodiversity

When forests are thinned, some species, like 

birds and mammals, are highly mobile and 

can migrate to new areas if a habitat becomes unsuitable. 

Other species, like mollusks and amphibians, are much less 

mobile and have limited ability to leave changed habitats.

Scientists examined the effects of thinning and leave 

islands—small patches of trees left after thinning 

treatments—on both microclimate and the diversity and 

abundance of sensitive, low-mobility plants and animals 

in western Oregon. They found substantial differences in 

microclimate and vascular plant species 

composition. Less dramatic differences 

were found for arthropods, amphibians, 

and mollusks. The smallest leave 

islands, about 1⁄4 acre, had conditions 

similar to those of thinned plots and 

higher proportions of exotic species; the 

larger islands, about 1 acre, had higher 

proportions of old-growth-associated 

plant species and were most similar 

to unthinned plots. Scientists found 

that within thinned forests, the larger 

leave islands most effectively preserved 

characteristics of unthinned forests and 

supported several groups of species.

These findings suggest that leave islands 

may provide refugia for sensitive, lowmobility species in managed forests and 

help to maintain species persistence.

Contact: Dede Olson, dedeolson@fs.fed.us, 

Aquatic and Land Interactions Program

Partners: Oregon State University, 

USDI Bureau of Land Management

Riparian and Aquatic State-and-Transition Model

Description: A new model can be used to evaluate the effects of alternative management decisions on watershed resources. The new model uses a 

state-and-transition framework, with “states” being distinct conditions and 

“transitions” being changes from one condition to another. The best-known 

state-and-transition models are used to analyze changes in forests and 

other vegetation, as a result of disturbances such as fire or logging.

The new model uses riparian-aquatic states that combine riparian vegetation and channel/valley floor morphology, and transitions from disturbances such as floods, debris flows, grazing, and forest changes. The model 

could be used to analyze possible responses of streams and riparian forests 

to succession, natural disturbance, and human activities.

Outcomes: The preliminary version (1.0) offers a potential tool to forest 

planners for evaluating the relative effects of management alternatives on 

the future condition of riparian forests, aquatic habitat, and fish habitat. 

Three groups of planners are already considering using this model in forest 

plan revisions.

How to get it: Contact Steve Wondzell, swondzell@fs.fed.us, and Pete 

Bisson, pbisson@fs.fed.us, Aquatic and Land Interactions Program; Miles 

Hemstrom, mhemstrom@fs.fed.us, Focused Science Delivery Program

New Tool
54 2005 SCIENCE aCCOMPLISHMENTS 54

Goal 4: Communicate science findings 

and enhance their application

➤ A 2-day conference examined the knowledge gained 

in the first decade under the Northwest Forest Plan. 

Monitoring results and syntheses of new science 

information were presented on the northern spotted 

owl, late-successional old-growth forests, watershed 

conditions, and socioeconomic characteristics.

➤ ArcFuels, a new library of macros that can 

be embedded in the ArcGIS system, integrates 

commonly used vegetation, fire, and fuel models, 

making it easier to analyze the effects of fuel 

treatments on potential fire behavior.

➤ A conference generated a synthesis of the latest 

science information on climate change, its possible 

effects on natural resource management, and how 

carbon sequestration, carbon trading, and biomass 

energy might fit into the picture.

➤ At an international workshop held in Oregon, 

people discussed theories, methods, and case 

studies concerned with improving the ability 

of forest science organizations to influence the 

adoption of the innovations they generate.

➤ In the 25 years since the cataclysmic 1980 eruption 

of Mount St. Helens, ecological response has been 

rapid. The type and intensity of disturbance differed 

greatly across the landscape around the volcano, 

and the pace of ecological change differed greatly 

along these disturbance gradients.

➤ The Station used the 25th anniversary of the Mount 

St. Helens 1980 eruption as a chance to tell people 

about the ecological research findings related to the 

volcano. Communications products included a Web 

site, brochure, poster, major book, press releases, 

media tours, and magazine articles.

➤ A new wetland assessment tool is being used by 

government agencies and private corporations to 

evaluate changes in wetland functions over time.

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A decade later, conference examines the state of 

Northwest Forest Plan knowledge

The Northwest Forest Plan (the Plan) was adopted 

in 1994 for almost 25 million acres administered by 

the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and other 

federal agencies in the range of the northern spotted owl. In 

April 2005, key findings and monitoring results from the first 

10 years of the Plan were presented at a major conference 

sponsored by the PNW Research Station, Pacific Northwest 

Region, Bureau of Land Management, and other partners. 

Nearly 500 people attended the conference on “Science and 

the Northwest Forest Plan: Knowledge Gained Over a 

Decade,” in Portland, Oregon. A total of 24 students and 

faculty and 10 people from nongovernmental organizations 

received sponsorships to attend the conference.

Central themes were to evaluate the success of the plan in 

achieving its objectives over the last 10 years and to review 

relevant new scientific information. Scientists presented key 

monitoring findings and syntheses of scientific information 

on topics such as old-growth forests, watersheds, spotted 

owls, marbled murrelets, other threatened and endangered 

species, aquatic conservation, socioeconomic changes, and 

adaptive management. The conference attendees discussed 

challenges facing the Plan, and they also considered management implications and policy options for meeting these 

challenges. The monitoring results are being published as a 

series of PNW Research Station general technical reports.

Contacts: Becky Gravenmier, bgravenmier@fs.fed.us, Station 

Director’s Office, and Becky Bittner, bbittner@fs.fed.us, 

Communications and Applications Program

Partners: Oregon State University; USDA, Forest Service and 

Natural Resources Conservation Service; USDC National Oceanic 

and Atmospheric Administration; USDI Bureau of Land Management, 

Bureau of Indian Affairs, Fish and Wildlife Service, Geological Survey, 

and National Park Service, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; University of Washington

More information: http://www.reo.gov/monitoring/.

New framework aims to make adaptive 

management more successful

Adaptive management was a crucial underlying element of 

the Northwest Forest Plan (the Plan), but the 10-year review 

showed that adaptive management was not fully implemented. Scientists and managers generally agreed, however, 

Federal agencies and partners reviewed the first 10 years under 

the Northwest Forest Plan and discussed challenges they faced 

in the next 10 years.

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that adaptive management would be crucial in the next 10 

years to achieve the original Plan goals and to meet challenges 

such as large fires, invasive species, and droughts.

In response, PNW Research Station developed a proposal 

outlining a systematic framework for adaptive management 

in the Plan area. The Northwest Forest Plan Regional Interagency Executive Committee (RIEC) reviewed this framework and agreed to implement it, with some refinements. A 

technical team led by PNW Research Station and the Pacific 

Northwest Region is (1) developing the adaptive management 

framework further; (2) assisting the RIEC in developing 

overarching, regional questions to guide monitoring and 

adaptive management; (3) developing a study design template 

for extensive management experiments that could be applied 

to various projects across the region; and (4) developing a 

long-term vision for monitoring.

Contact: Becky Gravenmier, bgravenmier@fs.fed.us, 

Station Director’s Office

Partner: USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station

Workshop held on managing old forests in 

disturbance-prone ecosystems

Station scientists hosted a workshop on managing for oldforest structure in disturbance-prone ecosystems. The 

workshop, held at Pringle Falls Experimental Forest south 

of Bend, Oregon, included scientists and resource specialists from the Forest Service Pacific Northwest Region and 

The Nature Conservancy. The objective was to share current 

thinking about methods and tools for managing old forests 

in dry, disturbance-prone ecosystems, such as the Klamath 

Mountains, southwestern Oregon, and eastern slopes of the 

Cascade Range.

Many old forests in these dry provinces have a 

profusion of small to mid-sized, fire-intolerant 

trees in dense, multistoried arrangements. This 

multistoried structure provides favorable conditions for high-intensity fires, as well as outbreaks of budworm, tussock moth, and bark 

beetles. Along with sharing information, the 

participants discussed research needs and new 

ways of folding research and learning objectives into management activities to increase 

the rate of learning and the speed with which 

new information gets used in the field.

Contact: Miles Hemstrom, mhemstrom@fs.fed.us, 

Focused Science Delivery Program

Partners: USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Region, PNW Ecosystem Processes Program, PNW Human 

and Natural Resources Interactions Program

More information: Science Update 11. Conserving Old 

Forest in Landscapes Shaped by Fire. http://www.fs.fed.

us/pnw/pubs/science-update-11.pdf.

Science information contributed for strategy 

to accelerate fuel treatments in old forests at risk

One challenge clearly highlighted in the Northwest Forest 

Plan (the Plan) conference was the need for more active management of fire-prone forests within the Plan area to protect 

late-successional and older forests. These dry, fire-prone 

forests, including the Klamath Mountains, southwestern 

Oregon, and eastern slopes of the Cascade Range, are at risk 

owing to uncharacteristic fuel conditions, climate variability 

(including drought), and high fire risk. In response, PNW 

Research Station developed a background paper that provided 

considerations for addressing risk to dry, fire-prone, latesuccessional and older forests in the Plan area. Forest Service 

and Bureau of Land Management managers are using the 

paper in developing a strategy to accelerate fuel treatments 

in the late-successional forests especially at risk.

Contact: Becky Gravenmier, bgravenmier@fs.fed.us, 

Station Director’s Office

Partner: USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station

Adaptive management is seen as a crucial process for the next 10 years under the 

Northwest Forest Plan, to meet challenges such as large fires, invasive species, 

droughts, diseases, and climate change.

Much of the mature and old forest in dry areas is currently 

susceptible to insect outbreaks and high-intensity wildfires.

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Vegetation and fuel treatment workshop 

provides discussion of current approaches 

and continues development of new products

Over the last few years, scientists have generated a wealth 

of new information and management tools to be used in 

treating fuels and reducing fire risk. In 2005, the PNW 

Research Station sponsored a workshop to provide managers 

and resource specialists with an overview of current fuel 

and vegetation treatment approaches, identify research needs, 

and begin development of several new products that help 

managers. About 60 people participated, including scientists, 

managers, and resource specialists from the Forest Service, 

Bureau of Land Management, universities, state agencies, 

and nongovernment organizations.

Scientists and managers began work on joint action items. 

A key product is the completion of a “consumer’s guide” 

synthesis to evaluate existing tools and models for fuel and 

vegetation treatments at various scales. From the workshop, 

scientists and managers are developing a recommended set 

of fuel and vegetation treatment tools that can be supported 

regionally with training and technical assistance. The workshop is one part of the Station’s ongoing work to provide 

synthesis and education about the new findings, models, 

and tools related to fuel and vegetation treatment.

Contacts: Becky Gravenmier, bgravenmier@fs.fed.us, 

Station Director’s Office; Dave Peterson, peterson@fs.fed.us, 

Managing Disturbance Regimes Program

Partners: USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Region; 

USDI Bureau of Land Management, Oregon State Office

Vegetation, fire, and surface fuel models 

integrated into ArcGIS

Modeling the effectiveness of fuel treatments on a 

landscape is a complex problem. Poor integration 

among the models themselves, data, and desktop geographic 

information systems information adds to the difficulty of 

analyzing different fuel treatment scenarios.

Scientists developed “ArcFuels,” a library of macros embedded in the ArcGIS system that provides better linkages among 

commonly used data and models. These macros simplify the 

analysis and visualization of forest management scenarios’ 

effects on potential fire behavior at the stand and landscape 

scales. This approach shows promise as a general method of 

integrating spatial data and models for project-level planning.

Contact: Alan Ager, aager@fs.fed.us, 

Managing Disturbance Regimes Program

Partners: USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station

Fuel treatment fact sheets deliver research 

information to the field

The fuels synthesis project accelerates the delivery of research 

information to fuel specialists and other field-going specialists. Information is provided about how to initiate or conduct 

a wide range of activities related to fuel treatments in the dry 

forests of the Western United States. The topics covered are 

economic uses, social issues, forest structure and fire hazards, 

and environmental consequences. For each topic, a complete 

synthesis is given in a general technical report and key information is highlighted in a series of two-page fact sheets.

The fuel treatment fact sheets are written 

in a jargon-free, easy-to-digest format,

featuring practical information.

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About 50 fact sheets have been developed. They are written in 

a jargon-free, easy-to-digest format, featuring practical information. For example, the fact sheets on social issues include 

sheets on effective communication with the public, best ways 

to communicate risks to the public, working with communities on fire plans, and the social impacts of wildfires. The 

fact sheets on economics include sheets on how to estimate 

treatment costs for prescribed fire, mastication (mowing), and 

thinning. At a national silviculture workshop in 2005, over 

150 CD-ROMs with all 50 fact sheets on them were distributed. The fact sheets can be printed or downloaded from the 

Web site below.

Contact: Jamie Barbour, jbarbour01@fs.fed.us, 

Focused Science Delivery Program

More information: Fuels synthesis project Web page. http://

www.fs.fed.us/fire/tech_transfer/synthesis/synthesis_index.htm. 

Fact sheets at http://www.fs.fed.us/rm/publications/online/

rmrs_fuels_plan.html.

Partners: USDA Forest Service, PNW Human and Natural 

Resources Interactions Program, PNW Managing Disturbance 

Regimes Program, Rocky Mountain, North Central, and 

Pacific Southwest Research Stations, Washington Office 

Fire and Aviation Management

Workshop on postfire restoration has two-way 

information flow between scientists and managers

Station scientists held a workshop on postfire restoration and 

rehabilitation in May 2005. The workshop was an opportunity for managers to learn from scientists what information is 

available on various postfire land management topics, and for 

scientists to understand what information managers need to 

make informed and defensible decisions. Besides promoting 

collaboration between science and management, other goals 

of the workshop were to identify synthesis topics and shape 

a research agenda for fire restoration and rehabilitation.

Contact: Jamie Barbour, jbarbour01@fs.fed.us, 

Focused Science and Delivery Program

Partners: USDA Forest Service, PNW Managing Disturbance 

Regimes Program, Pacific Northwest Region, Pacific Southwest 

and Rocky Mountain Research Stations

Station expertise in landscape modeling 

contributes to national LANDFIRE project

The national LANDFIRE project is a wildland fire, ecosystem, 

and fuel mapping project that will generate consistent, comprehensive, landscape-scale maps and data describing vegetation, fire, and fuel characteristics across the United States. 

Scientists from several Stations are working on research 

projects that provide the foundation for LANDFIRE.

Scientists from PNW Research Station were among the more 

than 30 experts who attended a LANDFIRE modeling workshop to develop draft models. The PNW Research Station 

ICWater makes critical information quickly available 

to incident commanders via secure Web links, to help 

them decide what threat a contaminant incident poses 

to the public and what first responder actions would 

effectively reduce the threat.

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expertise on integrated landscape modeling was used, and a 

presentation was given on the use of vegetation development 

dynamic tool (VDDT) models for midscale landscape analysis. 

(These models show the condition of vegetation and changes 

to other conditions.) These models have proven useful for 

integrating a variety of natural disturbances and management 

activities to examine the potential effects of different management approaches. The presentation showed how national 

models can be stepped down to more detailed local models 

that might be used in forest planning and other landscape 

analyses at similar scales. The workshop 

produced VDDT models for the major ecosystems in the Pacific Northwest, for use in 

the LANDFIRE rapid assessment.

Contact: Miles Hemstrom, mhemstrom@fs.fed.us, 

Focused Science Delivery Program

Partner: Joint Fire Science Program, 

National LANDFIRE Project

Climate change brought into natural 

resource management

The PNW Research Station held a 

conference presenting the latest 

science information on climate change and 

possible effects on natural resource management in the Western United States. 

About 115 people attended, coming from 

government agencies, universities, tribes, 

nongovernmental organizations, large and 

small forest landowners, and private companies across the 

Western United States and Canada. After expert presentations, small groups identified their major issues related to 

climate in the management of water supplies, fisheries, fire 

and fuels, insects and diseases, invasive species, threatened 

and endangered species, wildlife, silviculture, and ecosystem 

restoration. The groups then identified the information 

sources and methods they currently use to address climate 

change, and their most critical needs for new science and 

management tools.

New Tool

ICWater: Incident Command Tool for Protecting Drinking Water

Description: Over 3,000 towns and cities across the 

country depend on drinking water that flows from 

national forest land. Drinking water sources are vulnerable to terrorist attack and accidental spills, and rapid, 

effective response can minimize consequences of water 

contamination to the public. The Incident Command 

Tool for Protecting Drinking Water (ICWater) Webbased tool is for incident commanders (ICs), who direct 

first responders in emergencies. This tool makes critical 

information quickly available to ICs via secure Web 

links, to help them decide what threat a contaminant 

incident poses to the public and what first responder 

actions would effectively reduce the threat.

ICWater improves the speed with which ICs can obtain 

critical information during water contamination emergencies, such as where the hazardous substance is going, 

what drinking water intakes are in its path, and when 

and in what concentration the hazardous substance will 

reach the intakes. In addition to emergency response, 

the tool can also be used for planning and training, 

forensic uses (upstream tracing), and for accidental as 

well as deliberate spills.

Outcomes: The PNW Station is leading a consortium 

of federal agencies and private partners to develop 

ICWater. An operational version was tested in 2005, and 

ICWater will cover all surface drinking water sources in 

the 50 states when it becomes fully operational in 2006. 

Discussions are underway to coordinate interagency 

deployment of the tool, and federal, state, and local ICs 

are being trained on how to use it.

How to get it: See the Web site at http://eh2o.saic.com/

ICWATER/ or contact Doug Ryan at dryan01@fs.fed.us.

Partners: Defense Threat Reduction Agency, Federal 

Emergency Management Agency, Science Applications 

International Corporation, Technical Support Working 

Group (interagency), U.S. Environmental Protection 

Agency

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Conference attendees also discussed ways that natural 

resource managers might respond to climate change, and how 

carbon sequestration (carbon taken out of air and stored as 

new growth in plants), carbon trading, and biomass energy 

might fit into the picture. A working group was established 

that will examine the potential influences of climate change 

on management options in the Western United States.

Contact: Gary Benson, gbenson@fs.fed.us, 

Focused Science Delivery Program

Partners: USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research 

Station; Western Forestry and Conservation Association

Completed science consistency reviews are 

used as a model by other regions

The PNW Research Station continues to provide science 

support for regional land use planning by federal land 

management agencies. The PNW Research Station and the 

Pacific Northwest Region are implementing the science 

consistency review process that they developed jointly. 

The process ensures that components of regional land use 

plans get scientific review and are consistent with the best 

available science. Science consistency reviews have been 

completed for the invasive plant species risk assessment 

process and climate change assessment for the OkanoganColville-Wenatchee forest plan revision. Findings from the 

review of the climate change assessment are being used as a 

model by other Forest Service regions and federal agencies 

in their plan revision processes. Science consistency reviews 

are underway for the processes to be used in evaluating 

terrestrial and aquatic habitats and selecting management 

indicator species.

The PNW Station has also provided scientific support to 

the BLM for revision of their management plan for western 

Oregon BLM lands. Scientific support has included sharing 

databases, providing expertise on data management and use 

of the Northwest Forest Plan data sets, and providing advice 

on the use of various modeling applications.

Contact: Becky Gravenmier, bgravenmier@fs.fed.us, 

Station Director’s Office

Partners: USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Region; 

USDI Bureau of Land Management, Oregon State Office

International conference explores transfer of 

forest science knowledge, technology

The Station held an international conference in May 

in Troutdale, Oregon, that discussed the transfer 

of forest science knowledge and technology. The event’s 

nearly 100 attendees—scientists, managers, communications and technology transfer specialists, and extension 

staff members—learned about theories, methods, and 

case studies concerned with improving the ability of 

forest science organizations to influence the adoption of 

the innovations they generate. The four-day conference’s 

audience and presenters came from the United States, 

Canada, Portugal, Chile, Ghana, Russia, Ireland, and 

Switzerland. The event concluded with a day-long field 

trip to the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument 

in recognition of the 25th anniversary of its 1980 eruption.

Contact: Becky Bittner, bbittner@fs.fed.us,

Communications and Applications Program

Partners: International Union of Forestry Research 

Organizations; Oregon State University; University of 

Washington; USDI Geological Survey

Writers-in-residence at the H.J. 

Andrews Experimental Forest visit 

the site of the long-term log decomposition study among other 

sites, as they consider the place 

of humans in nature.

Scientists collaborate 

with writers in LongTerm Ecological 

Reflections program

Since its establishment in 

1925, the Station has been 

conducting research on 

and learning from landscapes across the region by 

using the tools of science. 

Recently, Station scientists 

partnered with the Spring 

Creek Project for Ideas, 

Nature, and the Written 

Word, a nature-writing 

program in Oregon State 

University’s Department 

of Philosophy, to bring the 

tools of the humanities 

into the scientific learning 

process.

Researchers from the H.J. 

Andrews Experimental 

Forest have worked with 

the Spring Creek Project to bring scientists, philosophers, 

and creative writers together to consider long-term ecological 

change and the place of humans in nature. This collaboration, 

known as the Long-Term Ecological Reflections program, 

occurs on experimental forests and the Mount St. Helens 

National Volcanic Monument—Forest Service lands dedicated 

to learning. The program includes a writers-in-residence program, an immersive creative writing experience, and special 

events.

Although new, this program is demonstrating new ways to 

link the science and humanities for restoration and conservation work. The program also is producing a fresh body of 

literature from national forest lands by the nature-writing 

community, work that is receiving significant national exposure. Writers-in-residence journals and other information 

are at http://springcreek.oregonstate.edu/project.html.

Contact: Fred Swanson, fswanson@fs.fed.us, 

Ecosystem Processes Program

Partners: Oregon State University; USDA Forest Service, 

Pacific Southwest Research Station

John Laurence