DEP

PACIFIC NORTHWEST RESEARCH STATION AR TMENT OF AGRICULT URE

Science Accomplishments
The Pacific Northwest Research Station is a leader in the 

scientific study of natural resources. We generate and communicate 

impartial knowledge to help people understand and make informed 

choices about natural resource management and sustainability.

2

Station scientists prepare for a research prescribed fire at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington.

Ellen Eberhardt
A Message From the Station Director .....................

5

PNW Research Station: The Setting ............................7

Finances and Workforce ...........................................................8

Funding Partners in 2013 .........................................................9

Sharing What We’ve Learned............................................10

Featured Research...........................................................................15

Communities......................................................................................15

Fuels, Fire, and Smoke .......................................................... 21

Resource Management ...................................................... 31

Riparian Areas, Fish, and Water.................................. 41

Understanding Forests and Ranges .................... 51

 Wildlife ..................................................................................................... 61

Honors and Awards ...................................................................... 67

PNW Research Station Organization....................... 68

Contents

3

Janelle Cossey

Technicians with the Forest Inventory and 

Analysis team set a course to their next plot. 
44 PACIFIC NORTHWEST RESEARCH STATION Strawberry Mountain Wilderness, Oregon. 

Tom Iraci
2013 SCIENCE ACCOMPLISHMENTS 5

Robert Mangold

if the timing of the burn 

would affect the growth of 

ponderosa pine. Our scientists found that repeated 

prescribed burning in the 

fall or spring does not affect 

ponderosa pine growth in 

the Blue Mountains region. 

To safely reduce fuels, 

land managers need to 

know the amount and type 

of fuels present. To help 

with this, station scientists 

mapped fuelbeds in northeastern Oregon and compiled a handbook that 

included fuelbed descriptions and fire behavior 

predictions. They shared this information and 

provided training at a workshop with resource 

managers from the Forest Service and Bureau 

of Land Management. 

Along with ecological components, accelerated forest restoration in eastern Oregon and 

Washington has a social component. Station 

social scientists are developing a protocol for 

public engagement. The intent is to build a pathway for future collaboration and engagement. 

As climate change triggers further changes in 

our environment, communicating new findings 

to those who manage working lands is critical. 

Reduced snowmelt, drought, more frequent 

fires, and higher temperatures are some of the 

challenges already facing Pacific Northwest 

landowners. This is why the Secretary of 

Agriculture created seven climate hubs around 

A Message From the Station Director

2013 was a good year. Since I arrived 

last January, I’ve spent a lot of time 

listening to employees and partners. 

I’ve enjoyed visiting our laboratories 

throughout the region and developing 

a sense of the work that is underway. 

As Forest Service Research and Development, we have an important mission 

to uphold. A key piece of carrying out 

our mission is communicating our 

research results so that they can be 

applied toward sustainably managing 

our Nation’s natural resources. We want 

to provide the best available science 

to land managers—especially those working 

on the national forests of Alaska, Oregon, and 

Washington. 

To position the station for the future, we 

are developing a new strategic plan. I asked 

employees and stakeholders to help shape our 

core values and priorities for the next 5 to 10 

years. Among other goals, we are emphasizing a 

quick response to information needs by national 

forests in the Pacific Northwest. Currently, we 

are working closely with national forests and 

conservation collaboratives to produce science 

that can be used to increase the pace and scale 

of restoration of forests on the east side of the 

Cascade Range. 

Station scientists are conducting a variety of 

research projects to help accomplish this goal. 

One need is to efficiently reduce fuels build-up 

in east-side forests. Prescribed burns are one 

option, but land managers wanted to know 

Tim LeBarge

the country. We are honored to host the 

Northwest Regional Climate Hub at our Corvallis Forestry Sciences Laboratory. We will be 

working with the USDA Agricultural Research 

Service and Natural Resources Conservation 

Service, and with many other partners, to 

gather and disseminate information that forest 

landowners, farmers, and ranchers can use to 

adapt and adjust their resource management 

as the climate changes. 

Working with partners has been, and continues to be, instrumental in how we accomplish 

our work. We distributed 22 percent of our 

total funds to cooperators in 2013, a 4-percent 

increase from 2012, despite a drop in incoming 

funds. I appreciate the work and commitment to 

high-quality science by our scientists, support 

staff, volunteers, university partners, and 

collaborators at other federal, state, tribal, and 

nongovernmental organizations. 

The station has many strengths—particularly 

in our scientists and support staff. I want to 

make the Pacific Northwest Research Station a 

great place to work, where employees can thrive 

and meet their full career potential. In the 

coming years I will focus on providing a work 

environment where this is possible.

Stay in touch and work safely.

Sincerely,

Station Director Robert Mangold
Andrew Gray

Cindy Miner

6

A field trip to the Olympic Habitat Development 

Study on the Olympic National Forest, Washington. 

Installation of a house post honoring the Tlingit People at the entrance 

to the new Forestry Sciences Laboratory in Juneau, Alaska. 

Alexi Hoeft

Metlako Falls, Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, Oregon. Andrew Gray
2013 SCIENCE ACCOMPLISHMENTS 7

Seattle

Olympia

Wenatchee

6

7

Fairbanks

Anchorage

Juneau

Sitka

2

1

3

4

Portland

Corvallis Prineville

8

12

9

11

La

Grande

Seattle

Olympia

Wenatchee

Fairbanks

Anchorage



Juneau

Sitka

Portland

Corvallis Prineville

La

Grande

WASHINGTON

5

10

OREGON

ALASKA

PNW Research Station: The Setting

 Laboratories and Centers

• Alaska Wood Utilization and 

Development Center (Sitka)

• Anchorage Forestry Sciences Laboratory

• Boreal Ecology Cooperative Research 

 Unit (Fairbanks)

• Corvallis Forestry Sciences Laboratory

• Juneau Forestry Sciences Laboratory

• La Grande Forestry and Range 

Sciences Laboratory

• Olympia Forestry Sciences Laboratory

• Pacific Wildland Fire Sciences 

Laboratory (Seattle)

• Portland Forestry Sciences Laboratory

• Wenatchee Forestry Sciences Laboratory

• Western Wildland Environmental Threat

Assessment Center (Prineville)

 Experimental Areas

1. Bonanza Creek Experimental Forest

2. Caribou-Poker Creeks Research Watershed

3. Héen Latinee Experimental Forest

4. Maybeso Experimental Forest

5. Olympic Experimental State Forest

6. Entiat Experimental Forest 

7. Wind River Experimental Forest

8. Cascade Head Experimental Forest

9. Starkey Experimental Forest and Range

10. H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest

11. Pringle Falls Experimental Forest

12. South Umpqua Experimental Forest 

 The Pacific Northwest Research Station 

is one of seven research units in the U.S. 

Department of Agriculture, Forest Service

 Headquarters are in Portland, Oregon

 11 laboratories and research centers in 

Alaska, Oregon, and Washington

 12 active experimental areas (forests, 

ranges, and watersheds)

 Research is conducted in more than 

20 research natural areas

 317 employees (271 permanent and 

46 temporary)
8 PACIFIC NORTHWEST RESEARCH STATION

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

Incoming funding

Dollars in millions

45

40

35

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

Base research appropriations Support from clients

Finances and Workforce

Two sources of funding support the workforce of the Pacific Northwest (PNW) Research Station:

federal appropriations, which contributed 82 percent of the funds in fiscal year 2013,

and direct client support, which comes from organizations in need of scientific information.

The numbers below are for the fiscal year October 1, 2012, to September 30, 2013:

Incoming funding

Base research appropriations: 

$38.2 million (82%)

Client support: 

$8.4 million (18%)

Total funding: $46.6 million

Distribution of funds

Permanent employee cost: 

$30.2 million (65%)

 Support and operations: 

$6.1 million (13%)

Distributed to cooperators: 

$10.3 million (22%)

Of the $10.3 million to cooperators, 

91% went to educational institutions

Workforce statistics

Total station workforce: 317 employees

Permanent workforce: 271 employees

Of the permanent workforce, 

78 employees (28%) are scientists

Temporary workforce: 46 employees

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

250

225

200

175

150

125

100

75

50

25

0

Support Scientists

Permanent employees by type

Number

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

Total positions Permanent positions Temporary positions

Total employees

600

500

400

300

200

100

0

Number
2013 SCIENCE ACCOMPLISHMENTS 9

Funding Partners in 2013

Educational Institutions

Colorado State University

Michigan Tech University

Mississippi State University

Northern Arizona University 

Oregon State University

Portland State University

Stanford University 

University of Minnesota

University of Alaska

University of Guam

University of Hawaii 

University of Idaho

University of New England

University of Oregon

University of Redlands

University of Washington

Virginia Polytechnic Institute

Washington State University 

Western Washington University

Willamette University

Nonprofit Organizations

Cascadia Conservation District

Earth Economics

Earth Systems Institute

Forterra NW

San Diego Zoological Society

Student Conservation Association, Inc.

Sustainable Northwest

Western Forestry and Conservation Association 

Woodland Park Zoological Society 

World Forestry Center

Other Federal Agencies

Department of the Interior, Geological Survey

Department of Health and Human Services

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 

Goddard Space Flight Center

Private Industry and Associations

Conservation Biology Institute

State Agencies

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife

Cooperators Who Received Funding From the PNW Research Station for Studies

Clients Who Provided Funding to the PNW Research Station for Studies

Educational Institutions

Oregon State University

University of Oregon

Municipal Governments

Seattle City Light

Nonprofit Organizations

National Fish and Wildlife Federation

The Nature Conservancy

Other Federal Agencies

Department of Agriculture, Animal 

and Plant Health Inspection Service

Department of Agriculture, National 

Institute of Food and Agriculture

Department of Defense, Army Corps of 

Engineers Institute for Water Resources

Department of the Interior, Bureau of 

Land Management

Department of the Interior, Geological Survey

Department of the Interior, National 

Park Service, Mount Rainer National Park

Department of the Interior, Fish and 

Wildlife Service

National Aeronautics and Space 

Administration, Goddard Space Flight Center

Private Industry

Eco Logical Research, Inc.

State Agencies

Alaska Department of Fish and Game

Oregon State Marine Board

Washington State Department of Natural Resources

Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission
10 PACIFIC NORTHWEST RESEARCH STATION

Number of publications

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

600

500

400

300

200

100

0

Sharing What We’ve Learned

The station produced 258 

publications in fiscal year 2013. This 

includes station series reports, journal 

articles, books or book chapters, theses 

and dissertations, and other products.

 103,368 hard copies of station 

publications distributed

 25,830 electronic publication downloads for the station’s Web site and 

Treesearch (www.treesearch.fs.fed.us)

 4,336 station publications available 

online via the station’s website and 

Treesearch

 11 issues of PNW Science Findings 

published, about 8,000 copies of each 

issue distributed or downloaded 

Web Visitors

 Total number of visits: 105,445

 Total number of unique visitors: 67,516

 Total number of page views: 210,368

 Percentage of new visitors: 61.84%

137 journal articles (53%)

33 station series (13%)

41 books or chapters (16%)

2 proceedings (1%)

36 other (14%) 9 theses and dissertations (3%)
2013 SCIENCE ACCOMPLISHMENTS 11

Our Most Popular Publications

All of the station’s publications are available online. The station’s 

top 10 most frequently downloaded publications are listed below. 

Some of these publications are decades old but still relevant today.

1. Effects of climatic variability and change on forest ecosystems: a 

comprehensive science synthesis for the U.S. (2012; PNW-GTR-870) 

2. Natural vegetation of Oregon and Washington (1973; PNW-GTR-008) 

3. Tangled trends for temperate rain forests as temperatures tick up 

(2013; Science Findings 149) 

4. Adaptation: Planning for climate change and its effects on 

federal lands (2013; Science Findings 148) 

5. Production, prices, employment, and trade in Northwest 

forest industries, all quarters 2011 (2012; PNW-RB-264) 

6. Ecology and management of commercially harvested 

chanterelle mushrooms (2003; PNW-GTR-576) 

7. Adaptive management of natural resources: theory, concepts, 

and management institutions (2005; PNW-GTR-654) 

8. Responding to climate change in national forests: a guidebook 

for developing adaptation options (2011; PNW-GTR-855) 

9. FRAGSTATS: spatial pattern analysis program for quantifying 

landscape structure (1995; PNW-GTR-351) 

10. Ecosystems, their properties, goods, and services (2007; 

Climate change 2007: impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. 

Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment 

Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) 

Twitter

During fiscal year 2013, the station’s Twitter account increased to 

928 followers—up from 766 in 2012. Reporters, natural resource 

professionals, and nonprofit groups comprise the majority of 

subscribers, who receive instant electronic alerts (tweets) to station 

news releases, new publications, and other information.

RSS Feeds

Readers can receive alerts about new publications by subscribing to a Really

Simple Syndication (RSS) feed at www.fs.fed.us/pnw/RSS/index.shtml.
SHARING WHAT WE’VE LEARNED

12 PACIFIC NORTHWEST RESEARCH STATION

Symposia, Workshops, and Tours

Oregon, workshop provided 90 participants 

with hands-on opportunities to apply the 

models using their own data. 

Blue River Environmental Writers Gathering: 

This biannual gathering of about 20 writers 

from the Pacific Northwest is an important 

event that helps build the arts and humanities 

program at H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest 

in Oregon. 

Eastern Oregon University Workshop: A 2-day 

workshop at Eastern Oregon University highlighted natural resource issues and discussed 

current challenges in resource management. 

Thirty-five participants from agricultural and 

ranching industries attended. 

Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Client 

Meeting and Data Workshop: PNW-FIA organized a forum with 60 regional stakeholders in 

Anchorage, Alaska, to share current research 

activities using FIA data, provide information 

and updates, and obtain feedback from partners to improve the program. The program also 

hosted a hands-on workshop that taught 24 

participants how to analyze and summarize FIA 

data using PNW-FIADB, a user-friendly database.

H.J. Andrews Day: More than 120 people 

attended the annual day-long tour of H.J. 

Andrews Experimental Forest to learn about 

current and past research. Participants included 

scientists, students, federal, state, and utility 

managers, and the general public.

Air Resource Advisor Workshop: Fifteen Air 

Resource Advisors from across the Nation 

attended a workshop in Seattle. Participants 

were taught how to use, understand, and interpret smoke dispersion and trajectory models; 

setup and operate monitoring equipment used 

on wildfires; and communicate with the Incident 

Management Team (IMT) and state and local 

officials. Air Resource Advisors are new members of the IMT who provide information on 

smoke dispersion and effects, collect data, and 

serve as liaisons. 

Blue Mountains Elk Habitat Modeling Workshop: 

Station scientists and key partners presented 

revised versions of newly developed models that 

predict and map elk nutritional resources and 

habitat use in the Blue Mountains of eastern 

Oregon and Washington. The 2-day Pendleton, 

NOVUS Research Coordination Network 

Meeting: Researchers from around the world 

attended this meeting at H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest as part of an effort to unify 

records of disturbance and ecosystem response 

at multiple time scales. The experimental forest 

was chosen to host this meeting and provide a 

field trip for its productive research history on 

this topic. 

NW Climate Science Center Boot Camp: 

This week-long program at H.J. Andrews 

Experimental Forest provided training to 

graduate students from universities in Oregon, 

Washington, and Idaho who are researching 

climate and ecosystem responses to climate 

change. 

Olympic Habitat Development Study Tours: 

Station scientists led two 1-day tours of the 

Olympic Habitat Development Study in Washington, with 12 participants learning about 

variable-density thinning and accelerating the 

development of old-growth characteristics. 

Silviculture Options Study Field Tour: A dozen 

members of the Washington Forest Farmers 

Association learned about the Silviculture 

Options Study on Capitol State Forest in 

Olympia, Washington. The 15-year-old 

project demonstrates results from different 

approaches to harvesting and regenerating 

Douglas-fir trees. 

In 2013:

~1,500 people participated in symposia, 

workshops, and webinars sponsored by

the station.

~1,000 people went on field trips led by

station researchers.

~1,380 people participated in conservation 

education activities sponsored by the 

station.

The station sponsors learning events each 

year, often in partnership with other agencies, 

organizations, and universities. A few events 

are highlighted below.
2013 SCIENCE ACCOMPLISHMENTS 13

Starkey Tours: Sixty members 

of the Society of American Foresters Oregon Chapter toured 

the Starkey Experimental Forest 

and Range in eastern Oregon 

to learn more about long-term 

ungulate research at the site. 

Visitors to the site in 2013 also 

included 30 Eastern Oregon 

University wildlife students, 30 

Union Primary school students, 

two dozen Central Oregon Community College students, and 70 

key partners.

Stream Sediment Symposium: 

The station cosponsored this 

event at Oregon State University in Corvallis, which brought 

together leading researchers to 

discuss knowledge of in-stream 

sediment. One hundred and fifty participants 

attended onsite, and more than 80 watched 

online via a livestream video. 

Tours at the Thornton T. Munger Research 

Natural Area: Outreach tours at the Thornton 

T. Munger Research Natural Area adjacent to 

the Wind River Experimental Forest included 

about 30 University of Washington’s Ecosystem 

Science and Resource Management students, 

10 Concordia University students, 30 enrollees 

of the World Forestry Center’s International 

Educators Institute Workshop, and nearly two 

dozen university and federal agency researchers. Participants learned about ongoing projects 

and helped install research equipment. 

Conservation Education

Station scientists make time to share their 

expert knowledge with students and their 

teachers through programs ranging from classroom activities to week-long field camps. A few 

activities from 2013 are highlighted below.

Alaska Field Exploration: A social scientist led 

groups of Alaska teachers on an exploration of 

southeast Alaska’s coastal temperate rain forest 

as part of the Pedagogy of Place Institute, based 

at the University of Alaska Southeast in Juneau. 

The 3-day workshop at this professional development institute for K-12 teachers incorporated 

local Tlingit culture bearers as speakers and 

field trip co-leaders.

Amphibian Monitoring: The station taught 50 

high school freshmen and sophomores about 

Becky Bittner

Students with the Inner City Youth Institute prepare for a kayaking trip on the Willamette River , Oregon. 
credit

SHARING WHAT WE’VE LEARNED

14 PACIFIC NORTHWEST RESEARCH STATION

local amphibian species and then helped them 

to sample for the animals in two ponds located 

on the 120-acre campus of Clark Agricultural, 

Sciences, and Environmental Education High 

School, in Brush Prairie, Washington. 

Endangered Species Panel: Station scientists 

served as expert panelists who provided guidance and feedback to about 30 eighth-grade 

student researchers from Oregon’s Jane Goodall 

Elementary and Middle School. The students 

worked on research projects on topics ranging 

from Oregon amphibians to marine species. 

Forests Inside Out! In its fifth year, the PNW 

partnership with the nonprofit World Forestry 

Center conducted Forests Inside Out! This summer conservation education program is a series 

of 2-day immersive and unforgettable indoor 

and outdoor experiences for 400+ children ages 

6 to 10 and family members from diverse and 

underserved communities in the greater Portland metropolitan area. The program promotes 

active, healthy outdoor lifestyles for young children and their families and creates positive and 

direct associations with urban forests, natural 

areas, and national forests. Eight high school 

and college-age students from the Portland area 

were hired to act as mentors for the program. 

Inner City Youth Institute: The Inner City Youth 

Institute (ICYI) encourages underrepresented 

youths to pursue higher education and careers 

in the natural resource and environmental 

fields. ICYI participated in a natural resources 

career fair held at Mount Hood Community 

College and sponsored forest ecology programs 

in Portland inner city high schools and a summer camp for Portland high school students. 

The 2013 week-long camp began at Oregon 

State University, where participants stayed in 

the dorms, explored campus, and participated 

in team-building exercises. The teens headed 

for the coast and met with a PNW scientist to 

collect survey data for future elevation mapping 

analyses, and then camped out at Cape Perpetua State Park, met with interpretive rangers 

from the Siuslaw National Forest, toured the 

Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area, visited 

the Oregon Aquarium, and sailed in a 64-foot 

sailing research vessel, Ocean Watch, off the 

coast of Newport. The camp concluded with 

student presentations to parents and sponsoring 

agency representatives. ICYI is a partnership 

between the Forest Service (Pacific Northwest 

Region and PNW), Oregon State University’s 

4-H program, and the Bureau of Land Management. About 200 students participated in ICYI 

programs.

Mount St. Helens Outreach: Two hundred 

students from five high schools across Washington state participated in a terrestrial and 

aquatic ecology curricula based on lessons 

from 32 years of research on the Mount St. 

Helens volcano. The students were introduced 

to concepts, terminology, and theories of 

disturbance ecology.

Oregon Natural Resources Education Program:

A workshop at Oregon State University provided 

more than 50 primary and secondary education students with an introduction to natural 

resource issues and management. 

Science Fairs: Station scientists participated as 

judges in the 2013 Washington State Science 

and Engineering Fair. Judges interacted with 

many middle school and high school students 

who had exhibits at the fair and offered feedback on how the students could improve their 

science projects. The station also sponsored an 

“Outstanding Natural Resource Science Award” 

and an “Outstanding Statistical Thinking 

Award” and taught a teacher workshop. Station 

employees also judged entries to the Oregon 

State Science Fair held in Portland and sponsored a natural resource science award. 

Trout International: Station scientists led an 

international fish education project connecting 

students in Oregon and Northern Ireland in the 

experience of raising and releasing native trout. 

Each school day, students in both countries 

monitored the condition of the trout hatching 

tanks and recorded their observations. They 

also designed special projects around the hatching experience, including keeping essay diaries 

of the developing fry. The project culminated for 

the students in the spring, when each classroom 

took a field trip to release their fry into a pond 

or stream. More than 200 students participated 

in the 10-week experience.
Communities

The health of our Nation’s natural resources reflects the 

long-term health of our communities—both rural and urban.  Station 

scientists study the connections between forests and people from social 

and economic perspectives.  Their findings are used by cities, 

public health officials, rural development councils, federal and state land 

managers, and others to strengthen and enhance communities and help 

people benefit from trees and forests.

County sign highlights local resources. Seattle’s Belltown P-Patch community gardens. 15 Andrew Gray

Melissa Poe

Communities
Highlights in 2013

16

Communities

Unique, interactive mapping project 

reveals human ties to landscape

Mapping human connections on and off a 

forest helps land managers better anticipate 

how changes to access in other jurisdictions 

affect their own management unit. This 

knowledge can initiate discussions with other 

government agencies, private landowners, and 

resource partners working in collaboration 

for “all-lands” conservation.

The Human Ecology Mapping Project is 

a multiyear study to understand and map 

human activities and values in the forests of 

Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. Using a 

Web-based mapping tool and a series of 

community workshops, the project identified 

and displayed the diversity of recreational, 

cultural, historical, and economic connections 

Workshop participants map priority areas as part of 

the Human Ecology Mapping project. 

Renee Bodine

held by agencies, tribes, resource users, and 

residents. The maps were digitized and analyzed 

with GIS (geographic information system) 

tools to reveal existing patterns, such as highintensity sites, areas of overlapping use, and 

treasured places with barriers to access. These 

sociocultural data layers can be integrated with 

biophysical data layers for use in planning. By 

understanding changing patterns of resource 

use and human activity area-wide, national 

forest planners can make informed decisions 

about their own management unit.

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

Partners: Institute for Culture and Ecology, 

Northwest Sustainability Institute, Puget 

Sound Institute

Washington’s Green-Duwamish 

Watershed joins Urban Waters 

Federal Partnership Network 

The Green-Duwamish River Watershed is home 

to some of the most economically and ethnically 

diverse neighborhoods in the Nation. Recent GIS 

mapping efforts confirm that the urban forest 

canopy and a range of other determinants of 

equity are unevenly distributed in the watershed, resulting in affluent residents enjoying 

greater amenities than lower income residents. 

Established in 2013, the Green-Duwamish Urban 

Waters Federal Partnership is helping scale 

these findings and implications, bringing 

	 Scientists map human connections

to forests so that land managers

can better anticipate how changes

to access in other jurisdictions may

affect their own management unit.

	 Washington’s Green-Duwamish

Watershed joins Urban Waters

Federal Partnership Network. Key

efforts include salmon recovery,

environmental justice initiatives,

and creating jobs.

	 Research finds a link between

trees and human health.

	 Resource-use land area declines

in Washington state while rural

housing density increases over

30 years.

	 Study in eastern Oregon finds

that 70 percent of surveyed

landowners were concerned

about invasive plants, and 46

percent had treated invasives

on their land.

COMMUNITIES
COMMUNITIES

2013 SCIENCE ACCOMPLISHMENTS 17

together a common framework for federal, tribal, state, regional, and local agencies in their effort to design protection 

and recovery projects. 

The Green-Duwamish Urban Waters 

Federal Partnership establishes ties with 

civic and nongovernmental organizations 

such as Community Coalition for Environmental Justice and the Duwamish 

River Cleanup Coalition to understand 

their environmental justice concerns. 

The partnership serves as a coordinating 

mechanism for many existing stewardship groups, agencies, and other organizations such as the Puget Sound Federal 

Caucus, the Green Cities Research Alliance, and the Water Resources Inventory 

Area. Efforts focus on salmon recovery 

and connecting ongoing environmental 

justice initiatives to provide residents 

with skills, and protect human health, 

with the added goal of creating local jobs. 

Contact: Dale Blahna, dblahna@fs.fed.us

Partners: Duwamish River Cleanup 

Coalition; Earth Economics; Forterra; 

King County; NOAA; U.S. Environmental 

Protection Agency; USDA Natural Resources 

Conservation Service, State and Private 

Forestry, Urban and Community Forestry; 

University of Washington; U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service, Geological Survey; 

Watershed Ecosystem Forum; Washington 

State Department of Natural Resources 

Urban and Community Forestry 

Kathy Wolf

A community garden in the Seattle metropolitan area. 

Urban foraging helps residents connect 

with nature and supports broader goals 

of environmental justice

The city of Seattle and many partners are 

undertaking stewardship activities to support urban natural spaces and sustainability. 

One popular way people interact with urban 

nature is through 

the gathering of 

edible plants and 

mushrooms. Little 

is known about 

what people are gathering and how these plants 

are used, the ecological impact of foraging, the 

characteristics of gatherers, and the social and 

economic importance of the activity for diverse 

populations. This project fills some of those 

knowledge gaps and promotes the integration 

of local ecological knowledge and values of 

diverse ethnic groups into urban ecosystem 

planning and management in the Seattle area. 

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

Partners: Institute for Culture and Ecology, 

Ursinus College, USDA Forest Service Northern 

Research Station

Project promotes 

integrating local knowledge 

and diverse values into

 urban ecosystem planning.
COMMUNITIES

18 PACIFIC NORTHWEST RESEARCH STATION

Loss of trees to invasive insect 

associated with negative impact on 

human health across 15 states

Since 2002, the emerald ash borer has killed 

100 million ash trees across the Midwestern 

United States. Scientists explored the impact 

of losing these urban trees on human health. 

This is the first study 

to use a natural experimental design to look 

at the public health 

benefits of trees. The beetle invasion spreads 

over space and time, enabling researchers to 

weed out other possibly confounding influences 

Urban trees improve the quality of life for city dwellers. 

Mountain to Sound Greenway Trust

on human health outcomes. They found that 

the deaths of these trees were associated with 

increased death rates in humans through 

cardiovascular and lower respiratory mortality. 

Specifically, the emerald ash borer is associated 

with more than 6,000 additional lower respiratory deaths, and over 15,000 additional cardiovascular deaths in counties with infestations.

This study has raised awareness that trees 

can be considered part of a city’s public health 

infrastructure. And, planting trees is something cities can do fairly easily. The Arbor Day 

Foundation has acknowledged the importance 

of these study findings and has used them in 

campaigns to spread the word about the value 

of trees.

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

Partners: Drexel University, National Institute of 

Standards and Technology, USDA Forest Service 

Southern Research Station and Northern Research 

Station

Resource-use land area declines in 

Washington state while rural housing 

density increases over 30 years

Changes in human land use patterns have 

wide-ranging social, economic, and ecological 

implications. Station scientists and partners 

assessed changes in land use and housing 

density across Washington 

between 1976 and 2006. 

They found that the 

population in Washington 

increased by 2.5 million 

people, leading to the 

conversion of 1.16 million acres of forest and 

agricultural land to residential and urban 

land uses. Nonfederal forest lands in western 

Washington declined 4.7 percent over 30 years 

(an annual rate of 0.2 percent—the equivalent 

of losing a football-field-sized area every 

42 minutes). Agricultural lands in western 

Washington declined at a rate of 0.7 percent 

per year, for a net loss of 22 percent over 30 

years. Housing density on these resource lands 

also increased, particularly around agricultural 

areas. Low-density residential lands increased 

Trees can be part

of a city’s public

health infrastructure.

A football-field-sized

 area of nonfederal

 forest land is lost

 every 42 minutes in

 western Washington.
COMMUNITIES

2013 SCIENCE ACCOMPLISHMENTS 19

Andrew Gray

substantially, more than doubling over 30 years 

in eastern Washington.

The loss of nonfederal forest land in Washington to development could represent a significant 

impact on resource availability, including timber 

production as well as wildlife habitat. Increased 

density of houses in and near resource lands can 

also affect the land’s resource production and 

habitat quality. It also makes it more difficult to 

fight wildfire. Providing comprehensive, consistent information on the type and location of land 

use changes in Washington enables assessAn agricultural area near Sequim, Washington, with recent housing developments on previous agricultural 

and forest resource lands. 

ment of desirable and undesirable impacts and 

provides a foundation for future assessments 

and comparison to development in neighboring 

states.

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

Partners: Oregon Department of Forestry, USDA 

Forest Service Forest Health Monitoring Program 

Citation: Gray, A.N.; Azuma, D.L.; Lettman, G.J.; 

Thompson, J.L.; McKay, N. 2013. Changes in land use 

and housing on resource lands in Washington state, 

1976–2006. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-881. Portland, 

OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, 

Pacific Northwest Research Station. 51 p. http://

www.treesearch.fs.fed.us/pubs/42975 

Landowner efforts to mitigate invasive 

plants are linked to awareness 

Station scientists investigated perception of 

risk among nonindustrial private forest owners 

in Oregon’s ponderosa pine zone regarding 

invasive plants. They found that 70 percent of 

surveyed landowners were concerned about 

invasive plants, and 46 percent had treated 

invasives on their land. 

Owners’ perceptions of invasive plant risks 

fell along a spectrum, ranging from a lack of 

awareness or concern, to the view that invasive 

plant infestations have discrete causes and 

controllable consequences, to the perception 

that incursions by invasive plants have diffuse 

causes and uncontrollable effects. Awareness or 

concern about invasive plant species were predictors of whether owners treat their parcels to 

control invasive plants. Holding wildlife habitat 

or biodiversity as an important forest management goal was also a predictor of whether 

owners treated their parcels to control invasive plants. Some owners were sensitive to the 

risks of invasive plant infestations from nearby 

properties, and a surprisingly high percentage 

of respondents had cooperated with others in 

forest management activities previously. 

These findings suggest three promising 

approaches to increasing the frequency of 

invasive plant mitigation by private forest land 

owners: (1) raise awareness and concern about 

invasive plants and their impacts on forest 

management goals that owners care about, 
COMMUNITIES

20 PACIFIC NORTHWEST RESEARCH STATION

(2) provide assistance to help owners mitigate invasive 

plants that they feel unable to control, and (3) engage 

owners in coordinated efforts across ownership boundaries to address invasive plant risks.

Contact: Paige Fischer, paigefischer@fs.fed.us

Community education programs 

for improving wildfire preparedness 

are effective

A desire to help communities improve their level of 

preparedness for wildfire has led to diverse educational 

campaigns and approaches. These campaigns have been 

difficult to document and assess. Researchers explored 

measures of success for 15 communities in the United 

States that undertook efforts to reduce their wildfire risk. 

These case studies suggest that a variety of strategies 

can be used to increase learning and bring about change. 

This information can help move environmental education research from the traditional context of measuring individual gains to measuring community impacts. 

Agency staff could use strategies based on this work to 

devise educational activities that enhance information 

exchange and build social capital. 

Contact: Linda Kruger, lkruger@fs.fed.us

Partners: Southern Oregon University, University of 

Florida, University of Minnesota, USDA Forest Service 

Northern Research Station

Citation: Monroe, M.C.; Agrawal, S.; Jakes, P.; Kruger, L.E.; 

Nelson, K.C.; Sturtevant, V. 2013. Identifying indicators of 

behavior change: insights from wildfire education programs. 

Journal of Environmental Education. 44: 180–194.

A Forest Service volunteer helps remove knapweed, a noxious weed in the Columbia River basin.

Tom Iraci
5

Roger Ottmar

21

Our understanding of fire and its role in nature has grown more 

nuanced over the past century.  Fire plays a key role in many ecosystems, and 

without it, the forest can become unbalanced. The question now is how to reintroduce 

fire to landscapes where it has long been excluded—so that benefits of fire are gained 

as costs are minimized.  Fire-related research at the station provides sciencebased knowledge and tools so that land managers and fire professionals can reduce 

fuels and minimize overall risk to property and human health.

Fuels, Fire, Smoke

Researchers prepare to launch a balloon into a smoke plume to measure 

emissions during an operational-scale fire at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. Ignition of a 200-hectare forested burn block at Eglin Air Force Base. Roger Ottmar

Fuels, Fire, Smoke

Roger Ottmar
22

Novel integrated fire experiment 

conducted at Eglin Air Force Base, 

Florida

Three operational-scale fires (200 to 400 ha) 

and six fine scale (100- by 200-meter blocks) 

replicate units at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, 

were ignited in fall 2012, allowing researchers 

to conduct simultaneous experiments on fuels, 

meteorology, fire behavior, heat balance, smoke, 

and fire effects. A grass or grass/shrub fuelbed 

The RxCADRE-prescribed burns are yielding a comprehensive data set of fire behavior, fire effects, 

and smoke chemistry and dynamics. This information will be used to test, evaluate, and validate 

next-generation fire models. 

Roger Ottmar

dominated eight of the research blocks while 

one operational block was a managed southern 

pine forest. 

This prescribed Fire Combustion and 

Atmospheric Dynamics Research Experiment 

(RxCADRE), involving 90 scientists and technicians, will provide a high-quality, integrated fire 

data set for testing, evaluation, and validating 

next-generation fire models. The project targeted critical data needs outlined by members 

of the fire modeling community.

 Operational-scale fire experiments

at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida,

provides information on fuels,

meteorology, fire behavior, heat

balance, smoke, and fire effects.

Discovery Channel covered the event.

 New guide synthesizes research

on fuel management in dry mixedconifer forests of the northern

Rocky Mountains, Cascade Range,

Klamath Mountains, northern

California, and Utah.

 New fuel consumption models

developed for smoke management

in shrub-dominated ecosystem.

 New tool maps a community’s

expected risk from fire and

embers during fire; potential to

improve firefighter safety and

prevent damage.

 Fuel treatments reduce carbon

storage compared to periodic

wildfire but ensure smaller pulses

of carbon emission.

Highlights in 2013

Fuels, Fire, Smoke

FUELS, FIRE, AND SMOKE
2013 SCIENCE ACCOMPLISHMENTS 23

All data collected and accompanying metadata is being uploaded into the Forest Service 

Research and Development archival repository 

and will be available to scientists around the 

world by September 30, 2014. The Discovery 

Channel Canada gathered footage and broadcast 

a 6-minute segment. The International Journal 

of Wildfire has agreed to sponsor a special 

issue, scheduled for 2014, with 10 articles 

dedicated to the RxCADRE project. 

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

Partners: Department of Defense, Air Force, Eglin 

Air Force Base, Jackson Guard and Eglin Air Force 

Base Test Wing; Georgia Institute of Technology; 

NASA; San Jose State University; University of Alaska; 

University of Idaho; University of Montana; USDA 

Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, 

Southern Research Station, Northern Research 

Station, and Pacific Southwest Research Station; 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 

More information: 

http://watch.discoverychannel.ca/#clip918742 

Scientists analyze approaches 

that link estimates of air quality 

and health impacts from smoke 

Many U.S. state and tribal agencies and other 

countries use a visual range measurement to 

estimate short-term concentrations of particulate matter (PM) in the air. This PM concentration estimate is then linked to a public health 

warning scale to inform the public about potential health impacts from smoke from wildfire. 

This method is often used where monitoring 

data do not exist, such as in many rural areas.

Concerns about the use of a human-sighted 

visual range, presence of pollutants other than 

smoke in the air, its usage in higher humidity 

environments, and the potential for public 

messaging conflicts at state and international 

borders were voiced in many discussions within 

the National Wildfire Coordinating Group 

Smoke Committee. To explore these concerns, 

station scientists analyzed the approach and 

pinpointed its limitations. Because visual range/

Station scientists check an instrument for measuring smoke concentrations downwind from a research burn 

conducted at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. 

Randy Gon
FUELS, FIRE, AND SMOKE

24 PACIFIC NORTHWEST RESEARCH STATION

Dry mixed-conifer forest in the Colville National Forest. 

Andrew Gray

PM/health impact approaches may differ by not 

only state or tribe but by country, this report 

is also the first published summary of national 

and international approaches to linking visual 

range, PM concentrations, and air quality health 

impact indices for wildfires.

Contact: Susan O’Neill, smoneill@fs.fed.us

Partners: Joint Fire Sciences Program; National 

Wildfire Coordinating Group Smoke Committee; 

USDA Forest Service Fire and Aviation Management; 

USDI National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service

Guide to fuel-management practices 

published for dry mixed-conifer forests 

in the northwestern United States

Managers seek synthesized, scientifically sound 

knowledge to help them plan, implement, and 

monitor a successful fuel treatment program. 

They need to understand when treatments will 

be beneficial, the pros 

and cons of different 

treatment approaches in 

specific situations, how 

to integrate fuel treatments with other resource 

planning and management objectives and 

constraints, and the economic challenges and 

opportunities of committing to a fuel treatment program. To meet this need, a new guide 

synthesizes research on fuel management in the 

ecologically complex dry mixed-conifer forests 

of the northern Rocky Mountains, Cascade 

Range, Klamath Mountains, northern California, 

and Utah. 

This guide was targeted to meet manager 

needs, determined via extensive interviews, and 

differs from other syntheses. For example, the 

authors emphasize fuel treatment design in light 

of the full range of potential fire weather and 

behaviors, address other factors (e.g., climate 

change, disease, insect, snow, and wind) that 

modulate treatment effectiveness and longevity, 

recommend fuel treatment maintenance for 

these forests where regeneration and growth 

make for rapid ladder fuel development, and lay 

out a strong case for monitoring fuel treatment 

effectiveness over time. A unique component is 

an analysis of current fire hazard, fuel treatment effectiveness, and economic evaluation of 

treatment options, based on Forest Inventory 

and Analysis data. 

Contact: Jeremy Fried, jsfried@fs.fed.us 

Partners: Humboldt State University, 

USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain 

Research Station, University of Montana

Citation: Jain, T.B.; Battaglia, M.A.; Han, H.-S. [et al.]. 

2012. A comprehensive guide to fuel management 

practices for dry mixed conifer forests in the 

northwestern United States. Gen. Tech. Rep. 

RMRS-GTR-292. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department 

of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain 

Research Station. 331 p. 

http://www.treesearch.fs.fed.us/pubs/42150 

Interviews with land

 managers shape

 management guide.
FUELS, FIRE, AND SMOKE

2013 SCIENCE ACCOMPLISHMENTS 25

New fuel consumption models 

developed for smoke management in 

shrub-dominated ecosystem 

Despite the many ecological benefits of prescribed fire, resulting smoke can degrade air 

quality, potentially impair visibility, and negatively affect human health and safety. Burning 

shrubs, such as sagebrush in the interior West 

and understory species associated with pine 

forest in the Southeast, can emit large amounts 

of smoke. These emissions are regulated by the 

federal Clean Air Act, so emissions measurements or estimates are necessary to manage 

air quality impacts. This means that accurate 

estimates of fuel consumption in shrubdominated ecosystems during prescribed 

fires are critical for managing terrestrial 

and atmospheric fire effects.

Station scientists conducted field measurements of prefire fuel characteristics, dayof-burn environmental conditions, and fuel 

consumption in shrub-dominated sites in 

the interior West (sagebrush) and southern 

Coastal Plain (pine flatwoods). Ecosystem- and 

season-specific statistical models for predicting 

fuel consumption from easily measured 

variables were developed that improve the 

ability of fuel, fire, and air quality managers 

to accurately predict fuel consumption and 

emissions during prescribed fires. These 

models are being integrated into CONSUME, 

a software application used for estimating 

fuel consumption and emissions for smoke 

management planning and regulation. 

Contact: Clint Wright, cwright@fs.fed.us

Partners: Department of Defense, Eglin Air Force 

Base; Florida State Parks, Pumpkin Hill Preserve State 

Park; The Nature Conservancy; USDA Forest Service, 

Apalachicola National Forest; USDI Bureau of Land 

Management, Cody (Wyo.), Rawlins (Wyo.), Burns 

(Ore.), Dillon (Mont.), and Lewistown (Mont.) Field 

Offices; USFWS Sheldon-Hart Mountain National 

Wildlife Refuge Complex and St. Marks National 

Wildlife Refuge; USDI National Park Service, Lava 

Beds National Monument

New photo series published for 

quantifying fuels

Researchers created a new photo series for 

quantifying natural fuels in eastern Oregon 

sagebrush-steppe and in northern spotted owl 

nesting habitat in the Pacific Northwest; and 

grasslands, shrublands, 

oak-bay woodlands, and 

eucalyptus forests in the 

East Bay area of California.

The sites were photographed, inventoried, and 

compiled in field guides to assist land and fire 

managers who are planning and implementing 

management activities and managing wildland 

fires in Washington, Oregon, and California. 

A technician ignites a controlled burn in pine flatwoods of the Apalachicola National Forest. 

Clint Wright

Tools for fire

managers

in California,

Oregon, and

Washington.
Tool

An enhanced CONUS-wide fuels 

map uses Fuel Characteristic 

Classification System (FCCS) 

and satellite imagery 

Description: 

This new product links mapped FCCS 

fuelbeds to estimates of dominant 

vegetation cover from satellite imagery 

(MODIS) to refine fuel-loading estimates at 

each point (pixel) on the map. By including 

observed vegetation cover, mapped 

output more accurately describes the 

actual fuels on the ground. This is critical 

for estimating fire effects, such as smoke 

exposure in local airsheds and air quality 

downwind, as well as carbon emissions 

that contribute to greenhouse gases. 

Regular updates using updated MODIS 

products (e.g., Vegetation Continuous 

Fields) will keep the data set current with 

ongoing application to fire, smoke, and 

carbon management. 

Users: 

This will be a key product for modelers of 

air quality and the carbon cycle. It will be 

useful for regulators creating emissions 

inventories (e.g., Environmental Protection 

Agency and the Western Regional Air 

Partnership) that can also provide inputs 

for Earth-system models (e.g., NASA and 

the National Center for Atmospheric 

Research). 

Contact: 

Don McKenzie, donaldmckenzie@fs.fed.us

Partners: 

Michigan Technological University, NASA, 

University of Washington

26 

The field guides are published as two separate 

general technical reports by the Pacific Northwest Research Station. Data and images were 

also incorporated into the Digital Photo Series 

(http://depts.washington.edu/nwfire/dps), a 

Web-based tool for searching and viewing 

the content of all Natural Fuels Photo Series 

volumes. 

Contact: Clint Wright, cwright@fs.fed.us

Partners: USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest 

Region, Fire and Aviation Management; 

USDI Bureau of Land Management, Oregon 

State Office; East Bay Regional Park District

Citations:

Wright, C.S.; Vihnanek, R.E.; Restaino, J.C.; Dvorak, 

J.E. 2012. Photo series for quantifying natural fuels. 

Volume XI: eastern Oregon sagebrush-steppe and 

spotted owl nesting habitat in the Pacific Northwest. 

Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-878. Portland, OR: U.S. 

Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific 

Northwest Research Station. 85 p.

Wright, C.S.; Vihnanek, R.V. [In press]. Stereo photo 

series for quantifying natural fuels. Volume XIII: 

grasslands, shrublands, oak-bay woodlands, and 

eucalyptus forests in the East Bay of California. 

Gen. Tech. Rep. Portland, OR: U.S. Department 

of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest 

Research Station. 

A prescribed fire in sagebrush lands near Steens Mountain in southeast Oregon. 

Clint Wright
27

FUELS, FIRE, AND SMOKE

Fuelbeds mapped in northeast Oregon

Scientists used the Fuel Characteristic 

Classification System (FCCS) to develop a set of 

past, current, and future fuelbeds for the Blue 

Mountains and other areas of northeastern 

Oregon that include the 

Umatilla, WallowaWhitman, and Malheur 

National Forests 

and Bureau of Land 

Management (BLM) land. They compiled a 

fuelbed pathway handbook of 11 fuelbed 

types, pathway schematics, fuelbed names and 

descriptions, fire behavior predictions, fire 

behavior fuel model assignments, and general 

photographs assigned to the fuelbeds. Fiftyfive of the fuelbeds were matched to vegetation 

attributes from the Umatilla, Malheur, and 

Wallowa-Whitman National Forests data set and 

mapped for this area. In March 2013, a 1-day 

“hands-on” workshop was conducted with forest 

land managers on how to use the FCCS fuelbeds 

and associated fuelbed map.

Defining and mapping important fuelbeds 

will enable managers to better plan restoration 

and wildlife habitat projects and account for 

potential fire hazard, smoke from wildland fire, 

and carbon. Custom fuelbed handbook, fuelbed 

fire behavior outputs, fuelbed map, and fire 

behavior maps were shared with the Forest 

Service Pacific Northwest Region and BLM 

land managers.

Julie Johnson

The FCCS fuelbeds and associated fire behavior have been used for developing policy direction for other areas of northeastern Oregon. 

Contact: Roger D. Ottmar; rottmar@fs.fed.us

Partners: USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest 

Region, Malheur, Umatilla, and Wallowa-Whitman 

National Forests; USDI Bureau of Land Management, 

Oregon Vale District

Fire behavior model performs more 

accurately when using actual weather 

data rather than default inputs

Resource managers regularly use computer 

models to help make wildfire management decisions. For example, the Fire and Fuels Extension 

of the Forest Vegetation Simulator (FFE-FVS) is 

widely relied upon to estimate forest fuel levels 

before wildfires occur, as well as to guide silvicultural activities like reforestation and dead 

tree management after fires happen. Despite 

its widespread use, the accuracy of the model’s 

outputs was not well tested. To remedy this, 

researchers compared the predictions of FFEFVS to the actual postfire conditions for forests 

burned in the Cold Springs Fire in Washington. 

They found that its performance for estimating total surface fuels and tree mortality was 

better when using real weather data than when 

the default inputs were used. As such, using 

site-specific information over model default 

values could substantially improve the accuracy 

of FFE-FVS results. 

Contact: Susan Hummel, shummel@fs.fed.us

Partner: University of Washington

Researchers compared model 

predictions to the actual 

postfire conditions for forest 

stands burned in the Cold 

Springs Fire in Washington. 27

Northwest Interagency

Coordination Center’s

Predictive Service uses

m FCCS fuelbeds.
28 

FUELS, FIRE, AND SMOKE

New fire hazard exposure tool 

can improve firefighter safety and 

potentially prevent damage 

The high cost of wildfire in the wildland-urban 

interface (WUI) provides a constant motivation 

to improve how we plan for and manage fire in 

these communities. Researchers have created 

a measurement scale (like the Richter scale for 

earthquakes) that maps a community’s expected 

risk from fire and 

embers during a 

WUI fire and allows 

users to predict the 

likely response of 

individual buildings, based on details such as 

whether a wooden deck has been treated with 

fire retardant. Work like this offers a foundation 

for standard testing of WUI structure materials 

and field guidance for homeowners, community 

organizations, and fire officials for assessing 

WUI fire risks. 

Contact: William Mell, wemell@fs.fed.us

Partners: Engineering Laboratory of the 

National Institute of Standards and Technology

Fuel treatments reduce carbon storage 

compared to periodic wildfire but 

ensure smaller pulses of carbon emission

Hazardous fuel treatments in dry 

western forests generally reduce carbon 

storage over time compared to periodic 

wildfires, but the treatments ensure 

smaller pulses of episodic carbon 

emissions while reducing the potential for large crown fires. This is a key 

finding from a comprehensive literature 

synthesis that analyzed how different 

types of fuel treatments affect carbon 

dynamics across a broad range of forest 

ecosystems.

In general, small but regular pulses of 

carbon emissions from fuel treatments 

Maintaining a defensible space and using nonflammable 

roofing material are critical for homeowners living in the 

wildland-urban interface. Above, homes along the border 

of the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest in Arizona.

result in lower overall carbon storage than no 

treatments with or without wildfire. Type of 

treatment, periodicity of treatment, assumptions 

about carbon emissions, and specific forest 

type all affect long-term carbon storage relative 

to the effects of no treatment and periodic 

wildfires. 

Periodic (every 20 to 40 years) hazardous 

fuel treatments result in lower forest carbon 

storage compared to no treatment. However, a 

regular treatment schedule ensures that carbon 

emissions over time are small and predictable 

compared to emissions caused by wildfire. 

Methods and assumptions used to calculate 

carbon budgets can have a significant effect 

on inferences about the effects of management 

actions.

Contact: David L. Peterson, peterson@fs.fed.us

Partners: USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest 

Region and Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest; 

University of Washington

A prescribed burn such as this one emits a relatively small 

carbon pulse. 

Roger Ottmar

Kari Greer

Researchers created a

scale for a community’s

 expected risk from

fire and embers.
FUELS, FIRE, AND SMOKE

2013 SCIENCE ACCOMPLISHMENTS 29

Modeling shows long-term forest 

carbon stocks not affected much by 

management 

How do fuel reduction treatments affect longterm forest carbon stocks in fire-prone forests? 

Assessing this has been difficult because of 

uncertainties regarding treatment and wildfire 

impacts on any given landscape. 

To reduce some of this uncertainty, scientists 

performed a sensitivity analysis to determine 

how landscape-wide carbon stocks over 80 

years are affected by treatment lifespan, fire 

impacts, forest recovery rates, forest decay 

rates, and the longevity of wood products. Their 

results indicate a surprising insensitivity of 

long-term carbon stocks to both management 

and biological variables. After 80 years, a 

1,600-percent change in either forest growth 

or decomposition resulted in only a 40-percent 

change in total system carbon, and a 1,600-

percent change in either treatment application 

rate or efficacy in arresting fire spread resulted 

in only a 10-percent change in total system carbon. There was no indication that thinning and 

prescribed burning increased long-term forest 

carbon stocks through the aversion of wildfire 

mortality and combustion. On the other hand, 

the analyses suggest that the carbon costs to 

reduce wildfire effects through fuel treatment 

appear relatively small.

The simulations showed that long-term, 

system-wide carbon stocks are more influenced 

by the capacity of fuel treatment to halt wildfire 

spread to adjacent stands than by 

stand-level efficacy in reducing fire 

impacts. This supports the notion 

that treatment placement is much 

more important than treatment 

intensity. Similarly, the sensitivity 

analysis found the rate at which 

forests reestablished after fire was 

more important to maintaining 

long-term carbon stocks than either 

disturbance frequency or intensity.

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

Salvage logging followed by 

fuels treatment significantly 

reduced fuel loadings, fuelbed 

depth, and smoke emissions 

Salvage logging, or the removal of 

dead merchantable timber following disturbances, is a controversial 

management practice on federal 

and private lands in North America. Most field studies have examined salvage 

logging effects following wildfires. Station 

scientists, however, examined the effects of 

salvage logging after a major windstorm. They 

found that salvage logging, followed by piling 

and burning of slash, significantly reduced fuel 

loadings, fuelbed depth, and smoke emissions. 

These results illustrate potential differences 

between the effects of salvage logging after 

Salvage logging after the 2013 Elk Complex Fire in Idaho.

windstorms and the effects of salvage logging after wildfire. This information will help 

National Forest staff to prepare documents in 

accordance with the National Environmental 

Policy Act. 

Contact: Morris C. Johnson, mcjohnson@fs.fed.us

Partners: USDI Bureau of Land Management, 

University of Washington

Kari Greer
FUELS, FIRE, AND SMOKE

30 PACIFIC NORTHWEST RESEARCH STATION

Ponderosa pine growth in 

Blue Mountains unaffected by 

repeated prescribed burning

Prescribed burning is increasingly used to 

reduce fuel loads and the risk of uncharacteristically severe wildfires. Repeated burns 

at regular intervals are required to maintain 

reduced fuel loads. Fuels managers generally 

have two opportunities when weather and 

moisture conditions permit burning: spring and 

fall. Because the effects of seasonal differences 

in conjunction with repeated burning on the 

growth of ponderosa pine is poorly understood, 

scientists conducted an experiment in the Blue 

Mountains of eastern Oregon. Sample trees 

were evaluated for growth 5 and 10 seasons 

after the initial prescribed fires. Scientists found 

that repeated prescribed burning in the fall or 

spring does not affect ponderosa pine growth. 

This information is useful to forest managers in 

the Blue Mountains region; they can implement 

repeated prescribed burns in both spring and 

summer without negatively affecting the growth 

of ponderosa pine.

Contact: Doug Westlind, dwestlind@fs.fed.us

Partners: Joint Fire Sciences Program, 

USDA Forest Service Malheur National Forest

Low-intensity fire in a ponderosa pine stand.

Kari Greer
Resource

Management

Andrew Gray

Resource Management

As conceived by Gifford Pinchot, managing our forest resources to 

benefit society is at the heart of the Forest Service mission.  Pinchot 

established a research branch of the Forest Service to experiment, learn, and 

share new knowledge.  The station continues this tradition, producing 

needed information and tools so that Pacific Northwest forests continue 

producing benefits for people.

Woody material can be converted to biofuel or used to generate electricity. 

31

Demonstration of the green tree retention method, Willamette National Forest, Oregon.

Eini Lowell
Resource 

Management

32

Highlights in 2013

Science-based tools used for recreation 

management decisions

Balancing human uses with resource protection is a complicated task for resource professionals on national forests. Through a series 

of studies to better understand the decisionmaking process, station scientists found that 

resource managers faced with complex recreation management decisions could benefit from 

defining priorities at a smaller scale and using 

science-based decision tools.

The study shows that science-based decision 

tools are being used in National Environmental 

Policy Act assessments for recreation and travel 

management. Science-based decision models 

could also be used to help guide specific site 

decisions and help resource managers develop 

solutions that suit local conditions. 

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

Partners: University of Washington, Virginia Tech

Climbers ascending Mount Thielsen, Oregon.

Keith Routman

 Heavy biomass removal from

nutrient-rich, productive soil did

not negatively affect 10-year tree

growth. In nutrient-poor soil, tree

growth was greater when logging

debris was retained on site.

 Applications of verbenone reduced

mountain pine beetle infestation

of lodgepole pine trees in treated

areas when populations built

gradually, or when outbreaks in

surrounding untreated forests

were of moderate severity.

 Northwest Advanced Renewables

Alliance is assessing sites in

western Oregon and Washington

with potential to become part of a

sustainable biofuels supply chain.

 New maps depict sensitivity of

summer streamflow in Oregon

streams to climate-related

groundwater discharge and

timing of snowmelt.

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

2013 SCIENCE ACCOMPLISHMENTS 33

Productive soil shows no negative effects 

on 10-year tree growth after heavy 

biomass removal or soil compaction 

Branches and needles—byproducts of logging—

are sometimes removed from the site and used 

as a source of renewable energy. Concern has 

arisen that removal of this biomass and all the 

nutrients it contains, along with compaction from 

heavy equipment used to collect the biomass, 

could negatively affect soil productivity. The 

Fall River Long-Term Soil Productivity Study in 

western Washington was designed to assess 

potential impacts of biomass removal on 

Douglas-fir tree growth on productive soil. This 

trial is an affiliate site in the North American 

Long-Term Soil Productivity Study. 

Scientists found that the size and 10-year 

growth rate of planted Douglas-fir trees were not 

significantly affected by heavy biomass removal 

treatments. They also found that soil compaction, 

without other soil disturbance or displacement, 

had no negative effects on tree growth or tree 

size over this time period. Thus, this productive 

site with deep, nutrient-rich, low-density soils 

demonstrated substantial resilience to management practices that may be a concern on other 

types of sites.

These results and their comparison with 

results from other locations will provide 

guidance to managers interested in maintaining long-term productivity of their soils.

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

Partners: University of Washington, 

Weyerhaeuser NR Company

Douglas-fir seedlings growth increases 

when logging debris retained on lownutrient site

Scientists conducted a 4-year study on two 

recently harvested forest sites in western 

Washington and Oregon to determine how 

logging debris and competing vegetation 

interact to affect 

growth of planted 

Douglas-fir seedlings. They found 

that stem growth 

of seedlings with 

40-percent debris cover and competing vegetation was greater than that of seedlings with 

zero or 80-percent debris cover because the 

intermediate cover of debris both reduced herb 

abundance and increased availability of soil 

water and nitrogen. Where competing vegetation was removed, seedling growth was greatest 

with 80-percent debris cover because it reduced 

soil temperature and evaporation, resulting in 

greater availability of soil water and nutrients. 

Forest managers of Green Diamond Resource 

Company and Port Blakely Tree Farms, LLC, 

are using the information to justify retention 

A researcher collects a soil sample that will be analyzed to determine how retention of logging debris 

affected nutrient levels. 

Tim Harrington

Washington Department

 of Natural Resources

and timber industry

apply findings to aid

forest regeneration.
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

34 PACIFIC NORTHWEST RESEARCH STATION

of moderate levels of logging debris in 

combination with herbicide treatments 

to provide short-term control of compet-

ing vegetation and increased growth of 

planted conifers. 

The Washington Department of Natu-

ral Resources is using this information 

regarding the benefits of retaining logging 

debris on low-nutrient sites to aid forest 

regeneration to inform planning for bio-

mass energy harvesting, animal damage 

control, and wildfire hazard reduction.

Contact: Timothy B. Harrington, tharrington@

fs.fed.us

Partners: Green Diamond Resource 

Company; Port Blakely Tree Farms, LLC; 

University of Minnesota; Weyerhaeuser NR 

Company; Virginia Tech

Variable-retention harvests provide 

flexibility for regenerating complex, 

diverse forests 

Variable-retention regeneration harvests 

are being advocated as a means to create 

early-seral habitat in young, managed 

forest stands that currently have limited 

abundance and diversity of understory 

vegetation important to some types of 

wildlife. Patterns of conifer regeneration 

were studied over 12 years as part of a 

regional-scale experiment in variable-re-

tention harvest in the Pacific Northwest, 

the DEMO Study.

Early survival of planted conifers 

differed by species when overstory trees 

were retained in aggregated clumps or as 

broadly dispersed individuals. Through 

the first decade, seedling growth was less 

when a greater percentage of overstory 

trees were retained (40 percent versus 

15 percent) or when overstory trees were 

retained as dispersed individuals. Natural 

regeneration tended to be more abundant 

in areas of dispersed overstory retention 

than in the openings of the aggregated 

treatments. The ability to manipulate 

retention pattern and level to influence 

the abundance and species of regenera-

tion provides managers with flexibility 

in developing structurally complex and 

compositionally diverse forests. 

This study assesses the effectiveness of 

Northwest Forest Plan overstory retention 

standards for harvests in meeting longterm objectives for forest regeneration 

and near-term objectives for providing 

early-successional wildlife habitat. Vari-

able-retention harvests are the basis of 

“Ecological Forestry” pilot projects being 

implemented by the Bureau of Land Man-

agement and under consideration by some 

national forests in the region.

Contact: Paul Anderson, 

pdanderson@fs.fed.us

Partners: University of Washington; USDA 

Forest Service Gifford Pinchot National 

Forest, Umpqua National Forest; Washington 

Department of Natural Resources

Alaska yellow-cedar seedling. Robin Mulvey

34
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

2013 SCIENCE ACCOMPLISHMENTS 35

Residual density of overstory 

trees affects growth of planted 

conifer seedlings

A growing number of landowners and 

managers have expressed interest in harvest 

treatments that retain a partial overstory 

of trees to reduce the visual impact of the 

harvest and benefit wildlife or other ecosystem 

components. Past discussion has suffered from a 

lack of data on the effects of retaining overstory 

trees on the growth of both the overstory and 

understory components of two-age stands. A 

study on three sites in western Washington 

compared the effects of six levels of overstory 

decide on appropriate retention levels 

and species to plant.

Contact: Leslie Brodie, lbrodie@fs.fed.us

Partner: Washington Department of 

Natural Resources

Natural pheromone repels 

mountain pine beetles in gradual 

and moderate outbreaks 

The mountain pine beetle is native 

to western North America and its 

episodic breakout can kill millions of 

trees. Recent outbreaks, however, have 

exceeded the historical range of variability, affecting ecosystem goods and 

services at broad spatial scales. 

Forest Service scientists found that 

applications of verbenone reduced 

mountain pine beetle infestation of lodgepole 

pine trees in treated areas when populations 

built gradually, or when outbreaks in surrounding untreated forests were of moderate severity. 

Verbenone is a naturally occurring compound 

produced by microorganisms in female bark 

beetles; when present in a tree, it indicates to 

other bark beetles that the tree has already 

been colonized. Verbenone did not protect trees 

when mountain pine beetle populations rapidly 

increased.

This work has had a significant impact on 

the way mountain pine beetle is managed in 

lodgepole pine across the western United States. 

density on growth of Douglas-fir, western 

hemlock, and western redcedar seedlings.

Scientists found that harvesting overstory 

trees resulted in only minor damage to the 

residual trees and no major differences in 

10-year growth rates between treatments 

following logging. Nine years after planting, 

understory growth rates differed by species 

and retained overstory level, with the poorest 

growth at the highest retention levels. Overall, 

Douglas-fir seedlings were largest in diameter, 

western hemlock seedlings were tallest, and 

western redcedar seedlings were most browsed 

by wildlife. This information will help managers 

A two-age stand is developing on this study site in Washington’s Capitol State Forest. 

Leslie Brodie
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

36 PACIFIC NORTHWEST RESEARCH STATION

The number of verbenone pouches annually 

applied from 2008 to 2010 ranged from 50,000 

to 58,000 across Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah, 

and Wyoming. In 2011, more than 67,000 verbenone pouches were purchased and utilized. An 

additional 49,000 in 2012, and 55,000 in 2013, 

were placed across this same geographic area. 

Verbenone is also being used extensively in the 

private sector by homeowners who are attempting to deter beetle attacks in the trees immediately surrounding their homes. 

Contact: Robert Progar, rprogar@fs.fed.us

Partners: USDA Forest Service State and 

Private Forestry, Forest Health Protection 

in Regions 1, 2, 4, and 5

Quarterly report on timber production 

and employment is a perennial favorite 

Since it was first issued in October 1963, the 

Production, Prices, Employment, and Trade in 

Northwest Forest Industries quarterly report 

has provided current information on imports 

and exports of logs, lumber, veneer, plywood, 

paper, and chips in the Pacific Northwest. It also 

includes harvest levels, employment in forest 

industries, and forest production figures from 

Oregon, Washington, northern California, and 

Alaska. The report has a worldwide distribution 

and a large and dedicated following, which has 

increased over the years. People who regularly rely on these data are industry leaders, 

stockbrokers, lawyers, policymakers, students, 

consultants, and scientists.

Feedback for this product has been tremendous, particularly since an online version was 

introduced in 2010. Requests for information 

have come from the Forest Service and other 

federal agencies; the Oregon Department of Forestry; the Washington Department of Natural 

Resources; universities in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington; and private land management and consulting firms. When the printed 

publication is released, information from it is 

often reported in newspapers around the Pacific 

Northwest, and it is one of the top 10 most frequently downloaded publications produced by 

the Pacific Northwest Research Station.

Contact: Xiaoping Zhou, xzhou@fs.fed.us

PNW helps national renewable 

biofuels project engage community 

and industry leaders

The Northwest Advanced Renewables Alliance 

(NARA) is a 5-year USDA research and outreach 

project focused on developing a biofuels industry in the Northwest. The aim is to turn one of 

the region’s most abundant resources—woody 

biomass—into jet fuel. The NARA project brings 

together scientists from universities, government laboratories, and private industry. The 

project is working to form regional alliances and 

find communities that might fit into a sustainable biofuels supply chain. Two potential sites 

were identified in the northern Rocky Mountains that could process 1 million bone-dry tons 

of biomass annually for jet biofuel production. 

Scientists are currently assessing possibilities in 

western Oregon and Washington.

The station helps NARA conduct outreach and 

extension activities. The NARA has sponsored 

conferences, arranged webinars, and held client 

No vacancy: This pouch, laced with the pheromone 

verbenone, tricks bark beetles into thinking the 

tree has already been colonized. 

Robert Progar

Northwest Advanced Renewables Alliance (NARA) 

is determining the feasibility of producing jet fuel 

from woody biomass in Oregon and Washington. 

NARA
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

2013 SCIENCE ACCOMPLISHMENTS 37

and stakeholder meetings. The outreach team 

works with community stakeholders to tailor 

business strategies to local needs. The NARA 

has created a Web site (http://www.nararenewables.org), which generates an average of 50 hits 

a day. 

Contact: Eini Lowell, elowell@fs.fed.us

Partners: USDA National Institute of Food and 

Agriculture, Washington State University

Status of biomass cofiring facilities has 

implications for forest management 

As a renewable energy source, biomass has 

substantial potential in the United States. One 

method for implementing biomass utilization 

for energy production is to “cofire” biomass 

alongside coal in existing coal-fired boilers. 

Supplementing coal in this way can reduce 

emissions of sulfur dioxide and potentially 

lower costs. Many coal facilities have tested 

this method. Cofiring in small amounts can 

often be done with minimal changes to processing equipment. Station scientists summarized trends and success stories of biomass 

cofiring, and explained some of the technical 

challenges that arise. Potential feedstocks for 

these plants are diverse, but could include 

biomass salvaged from insect infestations 

or fire, which could create opportunities for 

forest management. 

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

Partners: USDA Forest Service Forest 

Products Laboratory

Tool

FIA database user tools 

(PNW-FIADB) 

Description: 

This updated version of user-friendly 

database tools includes remeasurement 

data, expanded reporting features such 

as error estimates, and a large set of 

data summary tables that can be easily 

exported into spreadsheet or text editing 

software. This tool integrates a full public 

FIA database with documentation using 

a simple interface allowing users to begin 

working with complex FIA data to answer 

meaningful forest resource questions. 

Users: 

The database and tools are used by resource 

managers and policymakers to inform 

questions for decisionmaking. For example, 

data are used to model changes in carbon 

pools under various management scenarios 

and to assess trends in forest resource 

availability.

How to get it: 

PNW-FIADB is available on the Web: 

http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/rma/fia-topics/

inventory-data/

Contact: 

Karen Waddell, kwaddell@fs.fed.us

Susan Charnley

Biomass power plant in Burney, California.
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

38 PACIFIC NORTHWEST RESEARCH STATION

Potential explored for biomass 

energy and other renewable sources 

in Sitka, Alaska

In southeast Alaska, energy issues are at the 

heart of the economic viability and sustainability of many communities. A complicating 

factor in energy management strategies is the 

two-tiered nature of energy generation: some 

communities in Alaska enjoy relatively low-cost 

hydroelectric power while other, often smaller 

communities depend exclusively on the costly 

use of diesel generators. With generally increasing fossil fuel prices, there is growing interest in 

renewable energy and energy conservation.

Scientists identified opportunities for Sitka 

to increase its energy independence through 

community energy management strategies. 

Hydroelectric power could be expanded and displace fossil fuels for current residential heating 

and future transportation needs, for example. 

However, this will require careful management 

of new electrical generating capacity, as well 

as a community-wide commitment to energy 

conservation. 

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

Adopting principles of the fast 

food industry brings efficiency and 

predictability to commercial tourism 

in Alaska, but at what cost? 

Streamlining commercial outdoor recreation 

experiences, such as cruises, can help the tourism industry increase the diversity and number 

of visitors, and can help improve accessibility. 

This is happening in Alaska, where one of the 

Cruise tourism continues to grow in southeast Alaska. Here, two ships dock at Juneau. 

fastest growing industries is outdoor recreation and tourism. Commercial recreation has 

increased in the Tongass National Forest in the 

past decade, influenced in part by cruise lines. 

The scale of the increase in the tourism industry 

in Alaska has led to “McDonaldization” of some 

activities, which has the benefit of increasing 

the number of people exposed to nature-based 

activities. Tourism industry managers and 

Sitka, Alaska.

Linda Kruger
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

2013 SCIENCE ACCOMPLISHMENTS 39

planners must weigh these benefits against the 

ability to customize activities and be flexible. 

For the recreation and tourism industry in 

Alaska, the implications of this study reflect 

the tradeoff between tighter control of tourism 

activities and the possibility of undermining the 

wilderness experience. 

Contact: Linda Kruger, lkruger@fs.fed.us

Partners: Downstream Strategies, 

Oregon State University 

New analysis and tools help managers 

predict sensitivity of streamflows to 

climate warming 

Reduced summer streamflows from climate 

warming is a major issue facing resource 

managers and water users across the western 

United States. Summer streamflows in the 

Pacific Northwest are largely 

from melting snow and 

ground-water discharge. 

As the climate warms, 

diminishing snowpack 

and earlier snowmelt will cause reductions in 

summer streamflow. For planning purposes, 

simulations of future conditions need to capture 

smaller scale topographic controls and other 

important watershed processes. Deep aquifers, 

for example, play an important role in mediating 

streamflow response to climate change, so 

ground water needs to be explicitly incorporated 

into sensitivity assessments. 

To meet this need, scientists developed and 

applied an analytical framework for characterizing summer streamflow sensitivity to a 

change in the timing and magnitude of recharge 

in a spatially explicit fashion that incorporates 

ground-water processes. They then developed 

detailed maps of low flow sensitivity for Oregon 

and Washington landscapes that provide a 

robust, practical, and scalable approach for 

assessing risk to water resources at the landscape scale. These maps are being used by 

resource planners in the Forest Service, Bureau 

of Land Management, and Oregon Watershed 

Enhancement Board. 

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

Partner: USDA Forest Service Pacific 

Northwest Region 

This map shows the sensitivity of watersheds in Oregon and Washington to a change in the 

magnitude of July streamflow; warmer colors indicate higher sensitivity. Watersheds in the 

Cascade Range (high sensitivity) are the primary source of water for these two states.

Resource planners

 use new maps to

 assess risk to

 water resources.
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

40 PACIFIC NORTHWEST RESEARCH STATION

Powerful new budgeting tool helps 

Army Corps maintain infrastructure

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers manages 

$800 billion in infrastructure across the United 

States including dams, reservoirs, levees, coastal-protection structures, canals and locks, and 

recreation areas. Corps headquarters annually 

receives about 20,000 funding requests from 

field units to maintain, repair, or construct 

infrastructure. In recent years, the annual 

budget for infrastructure maintenance has been 

about $5 billion. Until advent of this decision-support technology, Corps business-line 

managers manually sifted through thousands 

of lines of spreadsheet reports to develop the 

Corps’ annual budget allocation to projects. A 

major shortcoming in this budget-allocation 

process routinely cited by federal oversight 

agencies has been lack of a rational, 

transparent, and repeatable process 

for managing this annual investment. 

The solution provided by this 

research directly addressed the latter 

shortcoming. Senior Corps executives 

reviewed progress on this project 

at the end of FY2012 and approved 

continuing development toward a full 

enterprise version delivered via Web 

services.

This research supports the Corps by 

streamlining and optimizing budgetallocation decisions. It expedites 

assembling and analyzing alternative 

budget portfolios, and explicitly 

considers value to the Nation of infrastructure 

condition and Presidential direction to the 

Corps on national goals of energy independence, 

economic competitiveness, and jobs. Progress in 

FY2013 moves the system significantly closer to 

a full production, enterprise system. 

Contact: Keith Reynolds, kreynolds@fs.fed.us

Partners: InfoHarvest, Inc.; Rules of Thumb, Inc.; 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; University of Redlands

Bonneville Lock and Dam, Columbia River, Oregon and Washington.

Kevin Wingert, Bonneville Power Administration
Fish, and Water

Riparian Areas, 

41

Riparian Areas, Fish, and Water

Walk down by a stream and you enter a different world. The air is cooler, laced 

with the smell of water.  The vegetation growing along the banks is different than what 

is found just upslope. Within the stream, minnows dart, micro-organisms respire, and salmon 

may even spawn.  Research by station scientists has revealed how closely linked 

aquatic systems are to the surrounding terrestrial ones. This information is being used to 

manage both so they continue to be productive and resilient. 

Olympic State Experimental Forest, Washington.

Pete Bisson

Field work in the Copper River Delta, Alaska.

University of Oregon
Riparian Areas 

Fish, and Water

42 

Ensatina salamanders are associated with down wood and often are found in headwater 

drainages of the Oregon Coast Range and western Cascade Range.

 Riparian reserves with upland thinning

retained headwater amphibian species in

western Oregon, but fewer bank-dwelling

salamanders were detected in treatments

with the narrowest buffers (20 to 50

feet) over a 15-year time period.

 Broad-scale patterns of salmon distribution can be understood by exploring

fine-scale relationships between life

stages of fish and the distribution of

habitats.

 Study documents influence of water

temperature on salmonid life histories.

 Modeling indicates that managing

for shade in riparian areas can mitigate increases in summer stream

temperatures.

 Near-pristine forested streams

are showing changes in nitrogen

concentration, increasing in some

while decreasing in others.

Highlights in 2013

Riparian reserves with upland thinning 

retained headwater amphibian species 

in western Oregon 

The Density Management and Riparian Buffer 

Study of western Oregon was established 

to examine the stand-scale effects of thinning with alternative stream buffer widths 

on aquatic-riparian 

resources, including 

sensitive vertebrates 

such as amphibians. 

This is the first study to report on the effects 

of the interim riparian reserves of the federal 

Northwest Forest Plan and two narrower 

riparian buffer widths (20 feet to 50 feet), 

with upland thinning. 

Ten years after thinning, scientists found 

that amphibian counts along streambanks 

decreased within stream reaches with the 

two narrowest buffers examined. Instream 

amphibian counts did not decrease with any 

buffer width, and species occurrences were 

retained both instream and along stream 

banks. Risk to aquatic-dependent vertebrates 

is a high-profile consequence of timber 

harvest with riparian management. These 

results will be useful to understand and 

manage risk to species of alternative riparian 

management approaches, and in particular, 

will inform future discussions of riparian 

buffers in west-side forests.

Contact: Deanna H. Olson (Dede), 

dedeolson@fs.fed.us

Partners: Oregon State University, 

USDI Bureau of Land Management 

Loretta Ellenburg

Two narrowest

buffers negatively

affected amphibians.

RIPARIAN AREAS, FISH, AND WATER
RIPARIAN AREAS, FISH, AND WATER

2013 SCIENCE ACCOMPLISHMENTS 43

Maybeso Experimental Forest, southeast Alaska.

Report summarizes two 

decades of thinning and 

riparian management 

research for western 

Oregon and Washington 

The adoption of the Northwest Forest Plan in the 

early 1990s brought about 

fundamental shifts in forest 

management practices on federal lands in western Oregon 

and Washington. Commodity-driven clearcut regeneration harvests gave 

way to thinnings of young stands intended to 

accelerate the development of late-successional 

forest habitats and conserve important aquatic 

and riparian ecosystems. 

Density Management in the 21st Century: West 

Side Story presents abstracts and peer-reviewed 

papers from a 2011 regional conference highlighting more than 20 years of research related 

to the new practices of forest thinning and associated aquatic and riparian conservation measures. Collectively, the contributions summarize 

many important forest dynamics and ecosystem 

responses to partial overstory harvests. 

Targeting resource management practitioners, 

decisionmakers and researchers, the collected 

works provide a reference to the current and 

future roles and issues of density management 

as a tool for forest ecosystem management. 

The various research synopses will be directly 

applicable to project-level planning and environmental analyses (NEPA), as well 

as providing context for large-scale 

planning and policy discussions. 

Contact: Paul Anderson, 

pdanderson@fs.fed.us

Partners: Oregon State University, 

USDI Bureau of Land Management

Citation: Anderson, P.D.; Ronnenberg, 

K.L., eds. 2013. Density management in 

the 21st century: west side story. Gen. 

Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-880. Portland, OR: 

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest 

Service, Pacific Northwest Research 

Station. 249 p.

Publication reviews ecology and 

management of riparian zones in 

the coastal temperate rain forest 

of southeast Alaska

Riparian zones include zones of influence 

beyond the near-stream areas of coastal southeast Alaskan forest streams. Wetlands that 

extend well into the upland mosaic are notable 

contributors to riparian function. Impacts to 

riparian zones such as climate change must be 

considered along with past disturbance such as 

harvest. 

A review of coastal Alaskan forest management in the context of stream function and 

riparian zones provides a perspective for managing these systems into the future. Riparian 

zones are complex and their interaction with 

surrounding landscapes and response to disturbance must be understood to implement management plans on national forests and achieve 

future desired functions in these systems. 

This is a new framework for assessing longterm impacts to riparian ecosystems applicable 

to all lands in coastal southeastern Alaska, with 

potential applications to south-central Alaska 

and coasts of British Columbia.

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

Partner: USDA Forest Service Tongass 

National Forest

Tom Iraci
Dede Olson

RIPARIAN AREAS, FISH, AND WATER

44 PACIFIC NORTHWEST RESEARCH STATION

Efficiency of riparian microclimate 

monitoring is increased by new 

modeling methods 

Scientists used statistical modeling to identify cost-effective approaches to monitoring 

relative humidity in riparian areas. The strong 

relationships between relative humidity and air 

temperature, topography, and vegetation cover 

allowed for relative humidity estimation. Using 

more extensive, less expensive sampling of air 

temperature and site attributes, patterns of 

relative humidity for small stream basins could 

be discerned from relative humidity measurements at a strategically distributed subsample of 

three to five locations. The methods developed 

provide a means toward decreasing the costs of 

monitoring microclimate attributes of importance to riparian area function. 

This finding could influence possible modifications to the Riparian Standards and Guidelines of the Northwest Forest Plan. Information 

about relative humidity patterns within riparian 

areas and adjacent uplands are necessary to the 

design of effective buffers that protect stream 

and riparian habitats during and after timber 

harvests. 

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

Partners: Oregon State University, USDI Bureau of

Land Management

Use riverscape to guide salmon habitat 

restoration and recovery planning

Native fish are adapted to survive in the 

dynamic and interconnected network of streams 

that has come to be called the riverscape. 

Scientists sought to understand how broadscale patterns of salmon distribution can be 

understood by exploring fine-scale relationships 

between life stages of fish and the distribution 

of habitats. Understanding how connection 

between habitats throughout a system affects 

fish populations over time can help to guide 

in-stream restoration by directing the focus of 

restoration activities toward specific locations 

within the stream network and filling essential 

gaps in habitat for different life stages. 

In this research, scientists explored interannual patterns of distribution by juvenile coho 

salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) in multiple 

subbasins on the mid-coast of Oregon. They 

established that juvenile coho salmon distribution expanded and contracted around stream 

sections that were continuously occupied (core 

areas). They also established that network 

descriptions of habitat, such as the proximity 

A thinned riparian buffer as part of the Density Management and Riparian Buffer Study in western Oregon.
RIPARIAN AREAS, FISH, AND WATER

2013 SCIENCE ACCOMPLISHMENTS 45

among seasonal habitat, better explain juvenile 

coho salmon density than more traditional 

in-stream habitat variables such as pool depth. 

This research contributes to an effort to 

explain the processes behind spatial and 

temporal patterns of freshwater habitat use by 

salmonids in the Pacific Northwest, thereby 

enhancing understanding of the complexity of 

biological and environmental interactions over 

broad scales. Such understanding has important 

management implications with regard to habitat 

restoration planning, conservation, and population recovery assessment. 

Contact: Rebecca Flitcroft, rflitcroft@fs.fed.us

Partners: Oregon State University, 

Western Oregon University

First documentation of the influence 

of water temperature on salmonid 

life histories 

Water temperature influences a variety of 

behavioral and physiological processes in 

salmonids. For species like Oncorhynchus mykiss

that can be either anadromous (steelhead) or a 

fresh water resident 

(rainbow trout), 

understanding the 

influence of temperature on life-history expression is critical for 

their management. Increases in temperature 

elevate the energy needed for survival and, thus, 

may reduce energy available for growth and 

maturation. 

Researchers found that for O. mykiss reared 

under contrasting temperature regimes, warmer 

water temperatures reduced rates of freshwater 

maturation and increased anadromy. Females 

were more likely than males to become anadromous, regardless of rearing temperature, a 

pattern that mirrors findings from populations 

throughout the west coast of North America. 

Individual variation in metabolism also influenced life histories: females with relatively fast 

metabolic rates had an increased probability of 

becoming anadromous. These results indicate 

that a combination of sex, metabolic rate, and 

water temperature are important determinants 

of salmonid life histories.

These studies reveal a suite of processes 

influencing life-history expression in salmonids. 

The results will inform conservation and recovery programs for steelhead populations listed 

A station scientist conducts a survey for salmonids 

in the Wynoochee River, Olympic National Forest. 

Sockeye salmon in the Copper River, Alaska.

University of Oregon

Jamie Glasgow

A suite of processes

influence life-history

expression in salmonids.
RIPARIAN AREAS, FISH, AND WATER

46 PACIFIC NORTHWEST RESEARCH STATION

under the Endangered Species Act. The influence of temperature on O. mykiss life histories 

had not been documented previously, and these 

results will be crucial for anticipating the effects 

of climate change. 

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

Partner: Oregon State University

Managing shade in riparian areas can 

mitigate increases in summer stream 

temperatures 

Salmon populations are currently limited 

throughout much of their former range, which 

has prompted stream restoration to improve the 

amount and quality of available habitat. These 

restoration projects are 

expensive, and there is 

concern that the return 

on society’s investment 

will not be realized because increased air 

temperatures from climate change may make 

streams too warm to support salmon. 

Scientists examined the likely future effects of 

climate change on stream temperature along 23 

miles of the upper Middle Fork John Day River 

that contains most of the remaining spawning habitat for spring Chinook salmon. There, 

climate change projections suggest that mid- to 

late-summer decreases in stream discharge 

could be as great as 10 percent, before accounting for withdrawals for irrigation. Air temperatures could increase by as much as 9 or 10 °F 

by the middle of the next century. 

Preliminary results show that, under current 

discharge and riparian vegetation conditions, 

a 7 °F increase in air temperature will increase 

the maximum stream temperature by about 

3 °F; decreasing stream discharge by 30 percent 

increases stream temperature by 1 °F. In 

contrast, future maximum stream temperatures 

could be colder, even under a future climate 

when air temperatures are 7 °F warmer than 

present, if currently open, unshaded meadow 

reaches were converted to riparian forests. 

The temperature of the stream under a 

future, warmer climate depends on the height 

and density of riparian vegetation. Growing 

100-foot-tall trees with 50-percent canopy 

density along the full 23-mile study reach would 

Tree seedlings have been planted along the Middle Fork John Day River to help keep the water cool even 

as summer air temperatures increase.

Steve Wondzell

decrease maximum stream temperatures by 

as much as 12 °F. These heights and canopy 

densities are easily obtainable by native riparian 

forests within the region.

These results are important to Oregon’s 

Intensively Managed Watershed program in the 

Middle Fork John Day, and to both the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs and The Nature 

Conservancy, each of which owns portions of 

the Middle Fork. These three entities and their 

partners have embarked on ambitious stream 

restoration projects along the upper Middle 

Fork John Day River. 

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

Partners: Oregon State University, 

USDI Geological Survey

Riparian management

can keep water cool

even as climate warms.
Tom Iraci

RIPARIAN AREAS, FISH, AND WATER

2013 SCIENCE ACCOMPLISHMENTS 47

In-stream habitat restoration promotes 

increased density of chinook salmon and 

greater growth in steelhead trout

Station scientists and cooperators evaluated 

the effectiveness of in-stream habitat resto-

ration structures to enhance rearing habitat for 

juvenile salmonids from 2009 to 2011. Habitat 

restoration structures 

consisted of engi-

neered log jams and 

rock barbs extending 

from streambanks in 

the Entiat River watershed of the upper Colum-

bia River basin. More chinook salmon were 

found in microhabitats with restoration struc-

tures compared with those without restoration 

structures early in the season in all 3 study 

years. Increased water depth at restoration 

structures appears to be a key factor leading 

to increased chinook abundance. Steelhead 

trout were much more variable in their use 

of restored versus unrestored microhabitats: 

numbers didn’t always increase in response to 

habitat improvements, but steelhead did grow 

larger in treated habitat units compared with 

untreated units.

These results are being used by restoration 

planners and by a larger monitoring program to 

further improve the design and implementation 

of additional restoration structures in the same 

watershed and in other watersheds throughout 

the upper Columbia River basin. The Bureau of 

Reclamation has used this information to make 

Entiat River, Washington. 

Bureau of Reclamation

uses findings to inform

design of restoration

structures in Entiat River.
Tom Iraci

RIPARIAN AREAS, FISH, AND WATER

48 PACIFIC NORTHWEST RESEARCH STATION

Olympic Knotweed

Working Group

pursues restoration

strategy.

Based on a variety of reviews, meetings, 

workshops, site visits, and other feedback, 

the scientific underpinnings of many habitat 

restoration efforts in the Columbia River basin 

have been improved. Most notably, this effort 

increased attention to monitoring and evaluating restoration projects so that habitat managers can learn from their experiences and pass 

this information along to other practitioners. 

This report was used by the Bonneville Power 

Administration as well as federal, state, tribal, 

and nongovernmental organizations to help 

identify habitat restoration opportunities where 

food web improvements could be implemented, 

and to make improvements in existing projects 

and programs.

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

Partners: Bonneville Power Administration, 

Columbia River Intertribal Fisheries Commission, 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

Active restoration of native species may 

be needed after noxious weed removal 

along riverbanks

Invasive Japanese knotweed and other species 

in the genus spread aggressively along rivers, 

establishing dense stands and reducing the 

diversity of native riparian plants and the functioning of riparian areas. 

Programs to eradicate 

invasive knotweed with 

repeated herbicide applications often assume that 

the system will naturally recover with native 

species. Studies on eradication efficacy, however, typically measure the amount of knotweed 

reduced, not the reestablished species diversity 

or plant origins. 

Researchers working in western Washington 

found that herbicide applications successfully 

reduced invasive knotweed and cleared sites 

for colonization by native 

plants, but also released 

other exotic invaders. 

Passive reestablishment 

of native riparian plants 

depended on site habitat 

conditions and stream 

size. Small streams with 

dense canopy cover and 

stable channels had 

primarily native plants. 

decisions on the design of projects for future 

implementation in other reaches of the Entiat 

River.

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

Partners: National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration-Fisheries, Integrated Status and 

Effectiveness Monitoring Program (ISEMP), USDI 

Bureau of Reclamation, Cascadia Conservation 

District, Upper Columbia Salmon Recovery Board

River food webs are an important 

consideration for river restoration 

Well-functioning food webs are fundamental 

for sustaining rivers as ecosystems and maintaining associated aquatic and terrestrial communities. The current emphasis on restoring 

habitat structure—without 

explicitly considering 

food webs—has been less 

successful than hoped in 

terms of enhancing the 

status of targeted species. 

As an illustration, scientists examined how 

the Columbia River basin, site of one of the largest aquatic-riparian restoration programs in the 

United States, would benefit from implementing a food web perspective. This complements 

ongoing approaches and enhances the ability 

to meet the vision and legal obligations of the 

Endangered Species Act, the Northwest Power 

Act (Fish and Wildlife Program), and federal 

treaties with Northwest Indian tribes while 

meeting fundamental needs for improved river 

management. Columbia River Gorge, Oregon and Washington.

Bonneville Power

Administration uses

report to identify

habitat restoration

opportunities.
49

Shannon Claeson

A researcher conducts a vegetation survey in a plot along the Satsop River, Washington, as part of a noxious weed study. 

Invasive Japanese knotweed spreads 

aggressively along river banks, as it has 

here along Wildcat Creek in western 

Washington. Active restoration of 

native plants is often needed after the 

noxious weed has been eradicated. Shannon Claeson

In contrast, exotic forbs and shrubs were more 

abundant than native plants along a larger river. 

Large rivers tend to have little canopy cover and 

wide flood plains subject to seasonal flooding, 

which promotes exotic plant seed movement 

and survival. 

Noxious weed control programs can benefit 

from including posttreatment plant community 

surveys to determine if continued management 

is needed to achieve restoration objectives. For 

example, successful reestablishment of native 

vegetation following knotweed removal may 

require active restoration, such as methods to 

control other exotic plants or replanting native 

species as riparian conditions change. These 

strategies are being pursued by the Olympic 

Knotweed Working Group, an organization 

promoting communication and collaboration 

among government, tribal, and private noxious 

weed control groups.

Contact: Shannon Claeson, sclaeson@fs.fed.us

Partners: Center for Natural Lands Management; 

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington State 

Office

49
Rhonda Mazza

RIPARIAN AREAS, FISH, AND WATER

50 PACIFIC NORTHWEST RESEARCH STATION

Long-term nitrogen trends differ in 

pristine forested streams

Much of what is known about changes in 

stream water quality comes from studies 

where basins have been affected by human 

activity. Much less is known about trends over 

time in relatively undisturbed systems. This 

research intentionally focused on relatively 

undisturbed streams in seven experimental forests: H.J. Andrews, Hubbard Brook, 

Coweeta, Luquillo, Fraser, Marcel, and Fernow. 

These sites span a wide range of climatic, 

hydrologic, and vegetation conditions across 

the country and are largely undisturbed by 

land use or land cover changes.

Scientists found that even these near-pristine forested streams are showing changes in 

nitrogen concentrations; stream nitrate has 

declined in the Pacific Northwest, in the Northeast, and in Puerto Rico, but has increased in 

the Mountain West and the South. 

Other key findings are that direction of 

trends in reference watersheds vary with 

length of record used, and that adjacent 

watersheds within a site do not necessarily 

show similar responses. The study is part of a 

larger effort to understand the effects of forest 

management and disturbances on water quality and to inform nutrient criteria standards, 

using natural variability of high frequency 

stream chemistry concentrations. An additional feature of this project is the development of a publicly accessible stream chemistry 

Research at the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest has yielded many insights about ecological processes. Above, a scientist prepares an experiment for testing the uptake processes of 

nitrogen in a stream. 

database (StreamChemDB, http://web.fsl.orst.

edu/streamchem/) to store and facilitate 

sharing of long-term stream chemistry data.

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

Partners: Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, 

National Council for Air and Stream Improvements, 

Oregon State University, University of New 

Hampshire, University of Pennsylvania, USDA 

Forest Service International Institute of Tropical 

Forestry, Northern Research Station, Rocky 

Mountain Research Station, Southern Research 

Station
Understanding

Forests & Ranges

Pringle Falls Experimental Forest, Oregon.

Since 1925, the station has dedicated its efforts to understanding forests and 

rangelands.  Resilient forests are a promise to generations to come—a promise 

to replenish the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the places from which we 

gain sustenance.  Scientists provide understanding of how forests function and 

change through long-term studies and inventories.  Information is analyzed 

and tools are developed to help identify management options and make decisions for 

resilient forests that meet society’s needs. 

Understanding Forests and Ranges Alexi Hoeft

Dominique Bachelet

Field trip to the Olympic Habitat Development Study, Olympic National Forest, Washington. Old-growth Douglas-fir trees, Drift Creek Wilderness, Oregon. 51
50

 Estimates of aboveground carbon flux

and storage in trees were developed

for Tongass and Chugach National

Forests and the entire circumboreal

forest biome. These estimates are

important for understanding future

global carbon balance and dynamics.

 New study documents abundance of

nonnative plant species across 24

states in the Midwest and Northeast.

Land managers can use this information to target forest stands where

management actions will be most

effective.

 Using DNA sequencing technology,

scientists identify genes in Douglas-fir

that are responsible for climate sensing and climate adaptation.

 Douglas-fir Seed-Source Movement

Trial yields information that will help

tree breeders determine which seed

sources will be well adapted to a particular environment.

 Host tissues in species affected by

sudden oak death may have the

ability to interfere with the growth

of the responsible pathogen.

Highlights in 2013

Carbon flux and storage in 

live trees on Chugach National 

Forest is changing

Station scientists developed the first 

estimates of aboveground carbon flux 

and storage in trees within the national 

forests of Alaska. While the Tongass 

National 

Forest had 

no detectable 

change in 

aboveground tree carbon, the Chugach 

National Forest had an average annual 

increase of 182,000 metric tons of 

carbon. Managed and unmanaged forest 

within the Tongass National Forest had 

substantially different storage and flux 

in log, tree, and snag carbon pools. 

Species shifts on the Tongass National 

Forest included an increase in red alder, 

an increase in western redcedar on 

unmanaged lands, and a decrease in 

yellow-cedar on managed lands.

As of 2013, national forests are 

required to assess baseline carbon 

stocks, a prerequisite to including 

carbon services into forest management 

decisions. The Chugach National Forest, 

an early adopter of the new Forest Service planning rule, is using these results 

in its forest assessment.

Contact: Tara Barrett, tbarrett@fs.fed.us

Partners: USDA Forest Service Alaska 

Region, Chugach National Forest

Jon Williams

FIA crew measuring a snag on the Tongass National Forest.

Chugach National Forest

uses estimates to assess

baseline carbon stocks.

Understanding

Forests & Ranges

52 

UNDERSTANDING FORESTS
UNDERSTANDING FORESTS AND RANGES

2013 SCIENCE ACCOMPLISHMENTS 53

Taking stock of circumboreal forest 

carbon with ground measurements, 

airborne and spaceborne LiDAR 

The boreal forest contains a large proportion 

of global forests but is largely inaccessible from 

the ground. It contains large stores of carbon 

in its vegetation and soils, and it will likely be 

subject to increasingly severe climate-driven 

disturbance. In this study, scientists used a combination of ground-, airborne- and space-based 

measurement techniques to derive the first 

satellite LiDAR-based estimates of aboveground 

carbon for the entire circumboreal forest biome.

The maps developed in this study establish a 

baseline for future quantification of circumboreal carbon, and the described technique should 

provide a robust, repeatable method for future 

monitoring of changes in the aboveground 

carbon content. These regions are expected 

to warm significantly in the future, and monitoring the effects of warming on these stocks 

is important to understanding future global 

carbon balance and dynamics. 

Contact: Hans Andersen, handersen@fs.fed.us

Partners: Canadian Forest Service, NASA Goddard 

Space Flight Center, Norwegian University of Life 

Sciences, Russian Academy of Sciences, Sigma 

Space Corporation, Université Laval (Canada), 

University of Maryland

In eastern deciduous forest, oaks less 

affected by persistent drought than 

conifers or maples 

How will forested ecosystems respond to the 

predicted increases in the frequency and severity of seasonal droughts? To begin to answer 

this question, scientists measured tree sap flow 

during an exceptionally dry growing season at 

the Shale Hills Critical Zone Observatory in central Pennsylvania. They found that oaks were 

less affected by repeated drought cycles than 

either conifers or maples. Each of these three 

types of trees has a distinct type of sapwood.

Increases in the frequency or intensity of 

summer droughts in the study region could have 

multiple consequences on forest function across 

a broad range of scales. Although oaks are not 

thought to be climax species at most sites in the 

region, long-term changes in summer precipitation regimes could alter successional time 

courses or climax species composition, resulting 

in increased dominance of oaks and other species with similar sapwood structure. 

At the individual tree level, persistent drought 

is known to have a cumulative effect on wholetree architecture with consequent impacts on 

forest canopy function. The gradual accumulation of a structural and physiological legacy 

in response to prior environmental conditions 

restricts the ability of trees to respond rapidly 

to more favorable growth conditions. Thus, after 

release from several years of episodic droughts, 

tree- and stand-level carbon and water fluxes 

would be expected to recover slowly as trees 

embark on new architectural trajectories.

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

David Woodruff, dwoodruff@fs.fed.us 

Partners: Pennsylvania State University, 

National Science Foundation Critical Zone 

Observatory Network

Deciduous forest around North Branch Township, Pennsylvania.

Nicholas A. Tonelli
UNDERSTANDING FORESTS AND RANGES

54 PACIFIC NORTHWEST RESEARCH STATION

High-elevation stands of young 

true firs and western hemlock can 

be very productive

True fir–hemlock forests at higher elevations 

in the Cascade Range and Olympic Mountains 

provide protective cover for watersheds and 

contribute much to the region’s scenic and 

recreational resources. 

On some ownerships, 

the forests are important 

for timber production. 

Very little information, 

however, has been available on growth of the 

true firs and high-elevation true fir-hemlock 

mixtures. This project created a wide range of 

densities in young stands at multiple sites in 

Washington and Oregon and followed responses 

for 20 years.

At the widest spacings, researchers found an 

increase in diameter increment of the largest 

trees, but height increments declined. 

Researchers found no gains in tree size by 

retaining more than 400 trees per acre in early 

thinning, and considerably lower stocking may 

be appropriate in view of the likelihood that 

future management of public lands may involve 

relatively long rotations and infrequent entries. 

Although true fir-hemlock stands have slower 

initial growth than Douglas-fir, their ability to 

maintain growth to advanced ages and to support high stand densities can result in very productive stands on high-elevation sites unsuited 

to Douglas-fir.

Contact: Robert Curtis, rcurtis@fs.fed.us

Partner: USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest 

Region

Introduced plant species found on twothirds of forest inventory plots in the 

Northeast and Midwest United States

Introduced plant species have significant 

negative impacts in many ecosystems and are 

found in many forests around the world. However, there are few data sources that enable the 

assessment of introduced species occupancy in 

native plant communities over broad regions. 

Vegetation data from 1,302 forest inventory 

plots across 24 states in the Northeast and 

Midwest United States were used to examine 

and compare the distribution of introduced 

species in relation to forest fragmentation 

across ecological provinces and forest types, 

and to examine correlations between native 

and introduced species richness. 

Scientists found 305 introduced species 

recorded, with multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora) 

Mature hemlock forest.

Pete Bisson

No gains in tree size

by retaining more

than 400 trees per

acre in early thinning.
UNDERSTANDING FORESTS AND RANGES

2013 SCIENCE ACCOMPLISHMENTS 55

being the most common species. Sixty-six 

percent of all forested plots had at least one 

introduced species, where they made up 7 

percent of the plant flora in intact stands, but 

14 percent of the flora on forest edges. 

The study is the first to document the abundance of nonnative plant species over a broad 

region—specifically, 24 states and 14 ecological 

provinces. Because it compares the distribution 

of introduced species to native species in relation to forest fragmentation across ecological 

provinces and forest types, the study can help 

managers target forest stands where management actions will be most effective. 

Identifying seemingly benign introduced 

species that are more prevalent than realized 

will also help focus attention on newly emerging invasive plants.

Contact: Bethany Schulz, bschulz@fs.fed.us

Partner: USDA Forest Service Northern 

Research Station

New coupled model approach allows 

development of climate-informed 

state-and-transition models 

Station scientists developed a process that 

links the mechanistic power of dynamic global 

vegetation models with the detailed vegetation 

dynamics of state-and-transition models to project local vegetation shifts driven by projected 

climate change. They applied this approach to 

a central Oregon landscape using three climate 

change scenarios to assess potential future 

changes in species composition and community 

structure. 

Managers and other land stewards are 

using results to better anticipate potential 

climate-induced shifts in local vegetation and 

resulting effects on wildlife habitat. The Pacific 

Northwest Region of the Forest Service has Garlic mustard (Allaria petiolata) transforms 

forest understories and was found on 7 percent 

of the plots in the Northeast and Midwest. 

requested new models using this approach for 

the Blue Mountain Ecoregion as part of the Blue 

Mountains Restoration Strategy.

Contact: Becky K. Kerns, bkerns @fs.fed.us

Partners: University of Washington, Conservation 

Biology Institute, Washington Department of 

Natural Resources, Common Futures LLC, USDA 

Forest Service Pacific Northwest Region

New approach uses LiDAR data to assess 

sunlight availability in forest stands 

LiDAR technologies employed over forested 

landscapes provide a detailed representation 

of tree crowns and ground surfaces. A study in 

Pacific Northwest forests showed that LiDAR 

data can be used to assess actual sunlight illumination regimes within forests. 

The approach used overcomes limitations 

known to reduce the utility of satellite or 

airborne imagery for assessing light conditions. 

The method used explores the detailed, threedimensional nature of the LiDAR, and uses 

ray tracing to determine if a component of a 

forested scene, such as ground or vegetation, 

receives direct sunlight from a given sun 

location. The process can be repeated for as 

many sun locations or time intervals as needed 

to provide location-specific daily, seasonal, or 

periodic assessments of sunlight availability. 

The methodology was evaluated using precisely 

georeferenced and timed field observations 

of ground illumination conditions in eastern 

John M. Randall, The Nature Conservancy, Bugwood.org
UNDERSTANDING FORESTS AND RANGES

56 PACIFIC NORTHWEST RESEARCH STATION

Oregon. Remarkable agreement between 

recorded and derived lighting conditions 

was observed.

The methodology introduced in this study 

enables assessment of sunlight regimes wherever high-density LiDAR data are available. It 

has various potential applications including 

contributions to forest growth and yield models, 

assessment of regeneration potential, stream 

shading, and in support of management and 

tactical decisions.

Contact: Demetrios Gatziolis, dgatziolis@fs.fed.us

Various aspects of plant growth respond 

differently to environmental cues

The timing of periodic life-cycle events in 

plants (phenology) is an important factor determining how species and populations will react 

to climate change. Station scientists evaluated 

annual patterns of basal-area and height growth 

of coast Douglas-fir seedlings from four seed 

sources that were planted in four diverse environments as part of the Douglas-Fir Seed-Source 

Movement Trial. 

Variations in the height- and basal-area 

growth metrics were correlated with different 

aspects of the seed-source environments: for 

height growth, precipitation, and for basal-area 

growth, minimum temperature. Our results indicate that multiple aspects of growth phenology 

should be considered along with other traits 

when evaluating adaptation of populations to 

future climates.

Genetic variation in growth phenology is a 

potentially important resource for mitigating 

some of the effects of climate change. Phenological traits can be considered with other factors 

in determining whether a genotype is well 

adapted to a particular environment. Distinction 

should be made between different aspects of 

growth phenology. Variation in diameter-growth 

phenology appears to be an adaptation to a 

different set of environmental factors than 

budburst or height-growth phenology. 

This type of information will be important 

in deciding how to make recommendations on 

selecting seed sources for planting.

Contacts: Connie Harrington, charrington@fs.fed.

us; Brad St. Clair, bstclair@fs.fed.us

Partners: Hancock Forest Management, Port 

Blakely Tree Farms, USDA Forest Service J. Herbert 

Stone Nursery, USDI Bureau of Land Management, 

Washington Department of Natural Resources

A researcher measures the diameter of a seedling in the Douglas-Fir Seed-Source Movement Trial at the 

J. Herbert Stone Nursery in Central Point, Oregon.

Connie Harrington
UNDERSTANDING FORESTS AND RANGES

2013 SCIENCE ACCOMPLISHMENTS 57

Sterols and tannins in host tree tissues 

influence the growth and sporulation of 

sudden oak death pathogen

Sudden oak death, caused by Phytophthora 

ramorum, is rapidly changing the composition 

and structure of forests in California and other 

parts of the world. Host resistance to infection 

varies widely within and among species, but 

little is known about the complex physiological 

and biochemical interactions contributing to 

resistance. However, it is known that P. ramorum must capture sterols from its host tissues 

by secreting small proteins, called elicitins, to 

grow and sporulate. A recent study suggests 

that tannins in host tissues could potentially 

Scientists identify Douglas-fir genes 

used to sense season and climate

Douglas-fir and other conifers have exceptionally large and complicated genomes, with over 

18 billion DNA “letters” (G, A, T, C). The size and 

complexity of the Douglas-fir genome has hampered efforts to identify 

the genes responsible for 

climate sensing and climate adaptation. Recent 

improvements in DNA sequencing technology, 

however, have made it possible to sequence all 

the expressed genes from Douglas-fir to create 

a “transcriptome atlas.”

This atlas is now being used in conjunction 

with field experiments, including the DouglasFir Seed-Source Movement Trial, to determine 

how genes and pathways are used in trees that 

are climatically adapted to the local weather, 

and in trees that come from different climatic 

zones. When genes are linked to ecologically or 

economically important traits (such as drought 

or heat tolerance), this information can be used 

in marker-assisted breeding to select trees that 

are adapted for unique climate conditions. The 

current atlas includes 25,000 well-characterized 

gene sequences, and it identifies nearly 270,000 

variants within these genes.

This atlas of genes will complement traditional breeding and hasten progress toward 

making healthier, more productive trees for 

future climates. Whereas traditional breeding 

methods require years of trait measurement and 

a decade or more for breeding, DNA variation Fallen coast live oak (Quercus agrifolia) in California killed by sudden oak death. Dave Shaw

interfere with the elicitin-mediated acquisition 

of sterols and thus affect the growth, sporulation, and virulence of P. ramorum. 

Tree improvement and breeding programs 

can produce trees with increased resistance, 

but the development time can be accelerated, 

and quality of the new stock maximized when 

knowledge of traits contributing to resistance is 

acquired. The new information from this study 

furthers our understanding of host tree resistance to P. ramorum.

Contact: Rick Kelsey, rkelsey@fs.fed.us

Partners: Colorado State University, 

Santiago de Compostela University (Spain), 

USDA Agricultural Research Service

Gene atlas can help

dramatically shorten

 breeding cycle.
UNDERSTANDING FORESTS AND RANGES

58 PACIFIC NORTHWEST RESEARCH STATION

associated with traits of value can be identified in young seedlings, 

leading to a dramatically shortened breeding cycle. 

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

Partners: Oregon State University, University of Minnesota—Morris, 

USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Region J. Herbert Stone Nursery, 

USDA National Institute for Food and Agriculture 

Seed transfer zones developed for bluebunch wheatgrass 

Seed zones and seed transfer guidelines developed from common 

garden studies are important for selecting plant material that is 

adapted to current and future climates. Scientists from the Pacific 

Northwest Research Station and their collaborators recently completed a common garden study of bluebunch wheatgrass (Psuedoroegneria spicata), an important restoration species for rangelands 

and forest lands of the interior western United States.

They found genetic variation among wheatgrass populations that 

influenced growth, reproduction, flowering phenology, and leaf 

morphology. Populations from warm, arid source environments 

were smaller, with earlier phenology, and had narrower leaves than 

those from moister environments. Later blooming was generally 

associated with populations from colder climates. Differences 

among native populations associated with source climates indicate 

that genetic variation across the landscape is adaptive and should 

be considered during restoration. 

The seed zones and population movement guidelines developed 

from this research are being incorporated into the restoration 

plans of national forests in the Pacific Northwest Region and of the 

Bureau of Land Management to ensure that restoration activities 

use plant materials most suitable for the site.

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

Partners: USDA Agricultural Research Service, USDA Forest Service 

Rocky Mountain Research Station and Pacific Northwest Region, 

USDI Bureau of Land Management

Brad St. Clair

Bluebunch wheatgrass is often used to restore rangelands and burned forested areas. Above, 

the Blue Mountains near Pullman, Washington. 
UNDERSTANDING FORESTS AND RANGES

2013 SCIENCE ACCOMPLISHMENTS 59

Nitrogen “loving” lichens increase 

in response to all types of nitrogen, 

challenging basis for pollution standards

Lichens are among the most nitrogen-sensitive 

organisms in boreal, temperate, and Mediterranean forest ecosystems. Shifts in lichen 

indicator species are commonly used to develop 

critical loads for nitrogen (N) deposition and 

critical levels for N gases, especially ammonia 

(NH3). Critical load and critical levels quantify 

how much N an ecosystem can tolerate before 

its sensitive components are affected. They 

serve as guidelines for setting pollutant emissions limits and are currently used by the Environmental Protection Agency and the United 

Nations Economic Commission for Europe 

(UNECE).

Scientists studied lichen communities at 

forest monitoring sites that had an unprecedented diversity of N measurements: NH3, nitric 

acid (HNO3), nitrogen dioxide (NO2 ), ozone 

(O3), and N in throughfall. This study was the 

first to directly compare effects of N gases and 

depositional pollutants. The study area in the 

Transverse Ranges of the Los Angeles Basin also 

provided a unique perspective because N emissions are dominated by oxidized N gases (NOx) 

from motor vehicle emissions; most prior work 

had focused on agricultural regions, thus on N 

emissions dominated by NH3. 

Their results challenge the widespread 

misconception that eutrophs (nitrogen-loving) 

lichens respond specifically to NH3, a core 

premise behind lichen-based critical levels for 

NH3 used by the UNECE. The scientists concluded that eutrophs are accurate, sensitive 

bioindicators for developing critical loads and 

risk assessments of total N deposition. Eutrophs 

are not suitable for developing critical levels or 

NH3 mapping unless NH3 is the only N pollutant 

in the vicinity. 

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

Partners: Arizona State University, USDA Forest 

Service Pacific Southwest Research Station 

Visually striking fungal mats are 

“nutritional hotspots” in Pacific 

Northwest forests

The critical roles soil organisms play in 

ecosystem dynamics are often overlooked in 

ecosystem management because the function of 

little-known organisms is poorly understood. A 

single genus of symbiotic fungi, covering up to 

40 percent of the forest floor in some Douglasfir forests, significantly contributes to the 

availability of nutrients for plant growth. These 

mat-forming fungi serve as vital biotic links in 

how forests function, affecting tree survival and 

growth, as well as nutrient cycling, and serving 

as a major food source to many forest animals. 

Long-term ecological research spanning more 

than 20 years has shown that fungal mats are 

common features of the organic soil horizons of 

coniferous forests of the Pacific Northwest. 

Piloderma mats are some of the most visually 

striking ectomycorrhizal mats; they lace the 

soil with thick golden-yellow or cream-colored 

Piloderma fungal mats help make soil nitrogen 

available to plants.

Jane Smith

cord-like rhizomorphs. Recent research shows 

that through their production of extracellular 

enzymes, Piloderma fungal mats are adept at 

breaking down complex organic substrates, 

making nitrogen available for plant uptake and 

growth. 

Assessing the changes in communities and 

biogeochemical processes that occur with natural variations in temperature and moisture will 

aid in predicting long-term nutrient availability 

and soil-carbon storage responses to climate 

change. A better understanding of biogeochemical processes across seasons will assist in the 

development of best management practices 

aimed at mitigating the potentially negative 

effects of climate change.

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

Partners: Oregon State University, USDA Forest 

Service Willamette National Forest
UNDERSTANDING FORESTS AND RANGES

60 PACIFIC NORTHWEST RESEARCH STATION

Forest mapping study may help identify 

regions with multiple threat potential, 

including wildfires

Station scientists developed a way to combine 

and display forest threat data at its appropriate spatial scale, and in a way that transcends 

county boundaries by using readily available GIS 

analytical tools. Resulting maps 

show locations where threats 

and threat combinations are 

more prevalent relative to the 

landscape as a whole. 

The maps are intended 

to assist policymakers and 

managers to identify locations where particular 

threats may be more concentrated relative to 

others and to identify where multiple threats 

intersect. This information can then be used 

when deciding how to allocate budgets to mitigate threats. The maps were published in June 

2013 and are being used by the National Fire 

Protection Association in presentations about 

wildfire risk.

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

Partner: Oregon State University

The relationship between fire severity 

and changes to forest structure varies 

depending on forest type

The details of how fire modifies forest structure 

are difficult to evaluate because of complex 

interactions between fire, forest type, and forest 

However, the estimated fire severities at which 

these transitions occurred differed for each 

forest type.

Managers have been using fire as a management tool to thin forests for decades. This work 

suggests that even the low severities associated 

with prescribed burns will thin forests and 

create new gaps. Knowledge of the relationship 

between fire severity and forest structural 

change can help answer questions related to 

the level of fire severity that is likely needed to 

return forests to structural conditions similar to 

those prior to fire suppression.

Contact: Robert J. McGaughey, 

bmcgaughey@fs.fed.us

Partners: USDI National Park Service, 

Yosemite National Park; University of 

Washington

structure. Using a combination of airborne 

LiDAR data and Landsat-derived Relativized 

differenced Normalized Burn Ratio (RdNBR), 

researchers were able to measure the vertical 

and horizontal structure of canopy material 

and landscape patterning of canopy patches 

and gaps and relate these measurements to 

fire severity. 

Each of the three forest types studied (ponderosa pine, white fir-sugar pine, and red fir) 

showed an individual trajectory of structural 

change as fire severity increased. Compared to 

stands outside fire perimeters, increasing fire 

severity generally resulted first in loss of canopy cover in lower height strata and increased 

number and size of gaps, then in loss of canopy 

cover in higher height strata, and eventually the 

transition to open areas with few or no trees. 

This map highlights where threats (wildfire, insects, and disease) exist, overlap, and intersect with urban 

and exurban development.

National Fire

Protection

 Association uses

maps to inform

public about

wildfire risk.
Wildlife

Marbled murrelet. Fisher with prey. 61

Wildlife

Tracks in the snow, a glimpse of a nest high above, flattened 

grass where deer have bedded—it’s easier to see where the wildlife was 

than where it is.  For those who patiently look closer, however, more 

clues and sometimes even the animal itself appears.  Station research 

is revealing how land management can minimize its effects on forest 

inhabitants and even be used to improve their habitat. 

© Susan C. Morse

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Wildlife

The Tongass-Wide Young Growth Studies 

(TWYGS) are the primary means for monitoring 

the effects of young-growth management under 

the Tongass National Forest land and resource 

management plan. The adaptive management 

approach used here has garnered wide support 

from resource managers, scientists, and other 

land management agencies. Findings from this 

study are being used as part of a multiagency 

initiative to improve deer habitat on Prince of 

Wales Island. This will increase sport and subsistence hunting opportunities and support 

a healthy population of predators, such as 

wolves and bears. 

Contact: Thomas Hanley, thanley@fs.fed.us; 

Michael McClellan, mmcclellan@fs.fed.us

Partner: USDA Forest Service Tongass 

National Forest

Sitka black-tailed deer.

 Findings from the Tongass-Wide

Young Growth Studies indicate

thinning treatments may improve

deer habitat in young-growth

forests in southeast Alaska.

 Scientists analyze habitat

selection by fishers from northcentral British Columbia to

the southern Sierra Nevada

in California. The fisher is a

candidate for listing under the

Endangered Species Act.

 Marbled murrelet and northern

spotted owl habitat modeling

helps inform management options

in southern Oregon.

 Mapping of rapid worldwide

emergence of viral amphibian

pathogen continues; occurrence

linked to temperature range.

Highlights in 2013

Thinning treatments show promise in 

improving deer habitat in young-growth 

forests in southeast Alaska

Forest management on federal, state, and private lands in southeast Alaska is rapidly shifting 

from an emphasis on logging old-growth forests 

to intensive management of young-growth 

forests. Public concerns 

about wildlife habitat, 

especially for Sitka blacktailed deer, have been an 

important driver in the 

policy shift as unmanaged young-growth forests 

are typically dense and lack understory vegetation. Deer are important in local subsistence 

economies and are considered a management 

indicator of broader habitat quality for wildlife.

Multiagency initiative

uses findings to

increase sport and

subsistence hunting. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

62 

WILDLIFE
WILDLIFE

2013 SCIENCE ACCOMPLISHMENTS 63

Management can hasten reintroduction 

of wood decay fungi, creating wildlife 

habitat in coastal Alaska forests

Wood decay fungi are particularly important 

components in the rain forests of coastal Alaska 

where the lack of fire allows trees to reach old 

ages. The fungi soften wood, leading to cavities 

in live trees, which serve as essential habitat for 

mammals and birds. Young forests that establish after timber harvests generally lack these 

cavities, and waiting for wood decay in live trees 

to return through the natural process of stand 

development can take more than 150 years. 

Forest Service scientists found that the process could be hastened by accidental or strategic 

wounding of the tops or boles of young trees 

during commercial thinnings, or direct inoculation of fungi into trees. They also found slash 

from harvests created a physical barrier to deer 

for about 9 years after thinning and continued 

to shade understory plants for another 4 years. 

The Tongass National Forest can use this 

information on forest health-wildlife interactions to decide how best to use resources to 

manage forests for multiple benefits. 

Contact: Paul Hennon, phennon@fs.fed.us

Partner: USDA Forest Service Tongass National 

Forest 

Habitat preferences of fishers described

Throughout the Pacific coastal region, fishers 

needing to rest tend to pick sites with steeper 

slopes, cooler microclimates, denser overhead 

cover, a greater volume of logs, and a higher 

prevalence of large trees and snags than are generally available. In areas within that region where 

fishers have not been studied and data on selection of resting sites are lacking, these findings 

provide empirical support for management or 

conservation actions for fishers that promote the 

retention or development of these environmental 

attributes. The fisher has been designated by the 

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a candidate for 

listing under the Endangered Species Act within 

its range in the Pacific coastal states. 

Prior to this study, the generality of observed 

patterns beyond the boundaries of each study 

area was unknown. So, researchers conducted 

a formal meta-analysis of habitat selection 

by fishers among eight studies located from 

north-central British Columbia to the southern 

Sierra Nevada in California, including all areas 

that currently contain established fisher populations. This is the first study to investigate the 

broader applicability of habitat selection patterns 

for fishers derived from multiple independent 

radiotelemetry studies conducted over a broad 

geographic area. 

Contact: Keith B. Aubry, kaubry@fs.fed.us

Partners: Artemis Wildlife Consultants; Humboldt 

State University; University of Wyoming; USDA Forest 

Service Pacific Southwest Research Station, Rocky 

Mountain Research Station; U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service 

Timothy Catton

A fisher uses a very large snag as a resting place. 
Tom Iraci

WILDLIFE

64 PACIFIC NORTHWEST RESEARCH STATION

Marbled murrelet and northern spotted 

owl habitat modeling helps inform 

management options

The Oregon governor’s office used information 

provided by the Pacific Northwest Research 

Station to assess the ecological effects of 

proposed alternatives for managing lands 

under the 1937 Oregon & 

California Lands Act. The 

“O&C” lands are a checkerboard pattern of different 

federal and county ownerships. 

into the future, under each scenario. The 

governor’s task force used this information to 

better inform discussions about the feasibility 

of the proposed alternatives and to weigh 

consequences of each alternative on timber 

revenue as well as conservation value. 

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

Partners: Oregon Department of Forestry, 

USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Region, 

USDI Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish 

and Wildlife Service 

Global surveillance of amphibian 

fungus continues, odds of occurrence 

associated with temperature range

The rapid worldwide emergence of the 

amphibian pathogen Batrachochytrium 

dendrobatidis (Bd), the amphibian chytrid 

fungus, is having a profound negative affect 

on biodiversity. The 

amphibian chytrid 

fungus has been 

reported in 52 of 82 

countries sampled to date, and in 516 of 1,240 

species. After analyzing these data, scientists 

found that the disease is associated with species 

richness and the occurrence of previously 

reported unexplained amphibian declines 

at sites. They found the odds of occurrence 

decreased with increasing temperature range 

at a site, linking disease emergence to climatic 

considerations. 

In October 2012, Oregon Governor John 

Kitzhaber convened a panel of conservationists, O&C county commissioners, and timber 

industry representatives to advise him on issues 

related to management of the federally owned 

O&C Lands. The station contributed to the effort 

by advising the task group on how murrelet 

and owl habitat might be affected under seven 

different land management scenarios.

Station scientists developed detailed “wall-towall” maps of marbled murrelet and northern 

spotted owl habitat, both current and 50 years 

Northern spotted owl.

Governor’s task 

force uses maps

to inform plans

for O&C lands.

Maps used to support

 international and

 national efforts.
WILDLIFE

2013 SCIENCE ACCOMPLISHMENTS 65

The global data set is helping to inform 

surveillance efforts, decontamination priorities, 

risks of water and animal transport, and 

amphibian conservation objectives. The 

project has led to a more rapid cycle of science 

development, science networking, results 

reporting, and management impact at the 

global scale. 

The Bd-maps data have been used to inform 

the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) 

for disease listing, and amphibian trade policy 

in the United States and elsewhere. Regionally, 

Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management 

fire managers have used the data to plan water 

draws for firefighting.

The amphibian chytrid fungus has been reported in 52 of 82 countries sampled to date, and in 516 of 1,240 species. Source: www.bd-maps.net.

Contact: Deanna H. Olson (Dede), 

dedeolson@fs.fed.us

Partners: Imperial College, London; 

London Zoological Society; Oregon 

State University; Bd Mapping Group
WILDLIFE

66 PACIFIC NORTHWEST RESEARCH STATION

Elk unlikely to become pregnant in 

consecutive years

Researchers studied an elk herd at the Starkey 

Experimental Forest and Range to determine 

how energetic costs of reproduction in the 

current year affect survival and reproduction in 

the subsequent year. They observed no difference in survival probabilities between pregnant 

and non-pregnant elk. They did find that female 

elk that gave birth in the current year were 

less likely to become pregnant the following 

year. Increased body condition and higher 

precipitation contributed to greater probabilities of becoming pregnant in a particular year, 

regardless of reproductive state and previous 

recruitment. Costs associated with reproduction 

led to a reduced probability of future reproduction rather than a reduction in survival. Adult 

survival is maintained through variation in 

reproductive effort, resulting in high and stable 

adult survival but more variable reproduction.

Wildlife managers can use this information to 

estimate recruitment in elk herds based on winter precipitation and body condition. Potential 

tradeoffs between current and future reproduction is an important consideration when making 

predictions about population trajectories and 

determining how changes in resource availability influence population demographics.

Contact: Martin Vavra, martinvavra@fs.fed.us

Partner: University of Nevada, Reno

New ways developed to analyze humananimal interactions and movements 

Researchers developed a statistical approach 

for analyzing movement data based on the 

concept that animals are moving on a spacetime surface with regions or points of attraction 

or repulsion. They demonstrated the approach 

by analyzing movement data from a long-term 

controlled experiment to evaluate responses of 

elk to four recreation activities: (1) all-terrain 

vehicle (ATV) riding; (2) mountain biking; 

(3) horseback riding; and (4) hiking. These 

activities varied in space and time at the Starkey 

Experimental Forest and Range, as implemented 

in a controlled, manipulative experiment over a 

3-year period. 

The new approach proved useful for analyzing animal movements and animal responses 

to human activities in time and space at fine 

scales and across large landscapes. Elk avoided 

all four types of recreation, with distinct areas 

of repulsion and avoidance in relation to the 

presence of recreationists. Analyses of movement patterns and responses with the surface 

function demonstrated a strong avoidance by 

elk to ATV riding up to 1 kilometer from the 

disturbance. Elk avoidance of mountain bikes 

was detected up to 500 meters from biking 

activities, and avoidance of horseback riders 

and hikers was detected up to 200 meters from 

these disturbances. Results have a variety of 

implications for analyzing human activity data 

and for managing recreation on public lands.

Contacts: Michael Wisdom, mwisdom@fs.fed.us; 

Alan Ager, aager@fs.fed.us 

Partner: USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest 

Research Station

Study assessed avoidance behavior by elk to different forms of recreation. Above, a packhorse train near 

Hell’s Canyon, Oregon.
2013 National Silviculture Awards

Robert Deal, a research forester, was honored by the U.S. Forest Service 

for applied research that has had a direct and lasting impact on forest 

management on the Tongass National Forest, and his key role in advancing 

ecosystem services management.

AndrewYoungblood, a retired research forester, was honored by the 

U.S. Forest Service for developing new silviculture knowledge and 

applications, for major contributions to the fundamental understanding 

of vegetation dynamics, and the influences of natural disturbances 

and silvicultural manipulations. 

Climate Action Reserve Recognizing Our Team Award

Olaf Kuegler, mathematical statistician, and Glenn Christensen, forester, received 

the Climate Action Reserve Recognizing our Team Award for their outstanding 

work as a partner in developing standards for a forest carbon offset protocol.

Endangered Species Recovery Champions

Research wildlife biologists Martin Raphael and Bruce Marcot were recognized 

by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for their contributions as advisors in the 

development of models and tools used to define critical habitat for the northern 

spotted owl. 

Jim Sedell Research Achievement Award

Peter Bisson, emeritus research fish biologist, was recognized for his long-term 

research contributions to fisheries and watershed management. 

National Forest System Invasive Species Program Award for 

Innovative Control and Management 

Robert Progar, a research entomologist, was recognized by the U.S. Forest Service 

for developing and implementing the concept of inundative release of Aphthona

spp. flea beetles, a biological control agent, to control invasive leafy spurge.

Oregon State University Extension Association 4-H Award

The station received this award from the Oregon State University Extension 

Association for “Excellence in Natural Resources, Environmental Education 

Team” and was recognized as cooperator of the year for its contributions to 

the Inner City Youth Institute. BeckyBittner is the station’s lead in this effort.

Honors and Awards

67

Rhonda Mazza

Trillium ovatum. 
Dominique Bachelet

Station Director

Robert Mangold

P.O. Box 3890

Portland, OR 97208-3890

Phone: 503-808-2100

E-mail: rmangold@fs.fed.us

Assistant Director for Administration

Lesley Kelly

P.O. Box 3890

Portland, OR 97208-3890

Phone: 503-808-2102 

E-mail: lakelly@fs.fed.us

Assistant Director for 

Communications and Applications

Cynthia Miner

P.O. Box 3890

Portland, OR 97208-3890

Phone: 503-808-2135

E-mail: clminer@fs.fed.us

Program Managers

Ecological Process and Function

Beatrice Van Horne

Forestry Sciences Laboratory

3200 SW Jefferson Way

Corvallis, OR 97331

Phone: 541-750-7357

E-mail: bvhorne@fs.fed.us

Goods, Services, and Values

Simon Kihia

Forestry Sciences Laboratory

1133 N. Western Ave.

Wenatchee, OR 98801

Phone: 509-664-1712

E-mail: smkihia@fs.fed.us

Focused Science Delivery

R. James Barbour

Forestry Sciences Laboratory

P.O. Box 3890

Portland, OR 97208-3890

Phone: 503-808-2542

E-mail: jbarbour01@fs.fed.us

Land and Watershed Management

Susan Alexander Forestry Sciences Laboratory

11175 Auke Lake Way

Juneau, AK 99801

Phone: 907-586-7801

E-mail: salexander@fs.fed.us

Resource Monitoring and Assessment

Gretchen Nicholas

Forestry Sciences Laboratory

P.O. Box 3890

Portland, OR 97208-3890

Phone: 503-808-2034

E-mail: gnicholas@fs.fed.us

Threat Characterization and Management

Vacant

Pacific Wildland Fire Sciences 

 Laboratory

400 N. 34th St., Suite 201

Seattle, WA 98103

Western Wildland Environmental 

 Threat Assessment Center

Nancy Grulke

3160 NE 3rd St.

Prineville, OR 97754

Phone: 541-416-6583

E-mail: ngrulke@fs.fed.us

PNW Research Station Organization

68

Drift Creek Wilderness, Oregon Coast Range. 
Online Supplements

2013 Science Accomplishments of the Pacific

Northwest Research Station is available online, 

along with PNW research program reports 

and all 2013 publications by PNW scientists, 

at http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/sa/2013/.

Credits

Assistant Director for Communications 

and Applications—Cynthia L. Miner

Managing Editor—Rhonda Mazza

Writer—Rhonda Mazza

Publishing Director—Frank Vanni

Graphic design—Keith Routman and 

Rhonda Mazza

Front cover photographs—(left) Cladonia 

amaurocraea, by Sarah Jovan; (right) installing a water temperature data logger, Prince 

William Sound, Alaska, by Steve Wondzell

Back cover photographs—(left) pine marten, 

by John Hutmacher; (right) view of Mount 

Adams, Washington, by James Dollins

All uncredited photographs— 

U.S. Forest Service staff

United States 

Department of 

Agriculture

Forest 

Service

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination 

in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national 

origin, sex, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, marital status, 

family status, status as a parent (in education and training programs 

and activities), because all or part of an individual’s income is derived 

from any public assistance program, or retaliation. (Not all prohibited 

bases apply to all programs or activities.) If you require this information 

in alternative format (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.), contact the 

USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (Voice or TDD). If you require 

information about this program, activity, or facility in a language other 

than English, contact the agency office responsible for the program or 

activity, or any USDA office. To file a complaint alleging discrimination, 

write USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, 

S.W., Washington, D.C. 20250-9410, or call toll free, (866) 632-9992 

(Voice). TDD users can contact USDA through local relay or the Federal 

relay at (800) 877-8339 (TDD) or (866) 377-8642 (relay voice users). You 

may use USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Forms AD-3027 or 

AD-3027s (Spanish) which can be found at: http://www.ascr.usda.gov/

complaint_filing_cust.html or upon request from a local Forest Service 

office. USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. 

Keith Routman

Opal Creek, Oregon.
March 2014

Pacific Northwest Research Station

1220 SW Third Ave., Suite 1400

P.O. Box 3890

Portland, OR 97208-3890

www.fs.fed.us/pnw/