Topic: Soils and Woody Debris

Land surface properties, such as vegetation cover and soil moisture, influence the partitioning of radiative energy between latent and sensible heat fluxes in daytime hours. During dry periods, soil-water deficit can limit evapotranspiration, leading to warmer and drier conditions in the lower…

Land-use change, primarily from conventional agricultural expansion and deforestation, contributes to approximately 17% of global greenhouse-gas emissions. The fate of cleared wood and subsequent carbon storage as wood products, however, has not been consistently estimated, and is largely…

Grasslands are structured by climate and soils, and are increasingly affected by anthropogenic changes, including rising atmospheric CO 2 concentrations. CO 2 enrichment can alter grassland ecosystem function both directly and through indirect, soil-specific effects on moisture, nitrogen…

Aims Postfire logging recoups the economic value of timber killed by wildfire, but whether such forest management activity supports or impedes forest recovery in stands differing in structure from historic conditions remains unclear. The aim of this study was to determine the impact of…

Rehabilitation and timber-salvage activities after wildfire require rapid planning and rational decisions. Identifying areas with high risk for erosion and soil productivity losses is important. Moreover, allocation of corrective and mitigative efforts must be rational and prioritized. Our logic…

From May 24-28, 2010, an international symposium on western redcedar (Thuja plicata) and yellow-cedar (Callitropsis nootkatensis [syn. Chamaecyparis nootkatensis]) was held at the University of Victoria on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. The symposium was entitled “A Tale of Two…

A first-of-its-kind study, conducted in a forest of old-growth ponderosa pine and white fir in Oregon’s Crater Lake National Park, explored the relationships among seasonal prescribed burning, an array of soil attributes, and mycorrhizal fungal fruiting patterns. This three-fold approach not…

Technology is playing an increasingly pivotal role in the efficiency and effectiveness of fire management. The First Order Fire Effects Model (FOFEM) is a widely used computer application that predicts the immediate or ‘first-order’ effects of fire: fuel consumption, tree mortality, emissions,…

Thinning to reduce hazardous fuels often generates large amounts of woody residues, such as small-diameter logs, tree tops, and branches. This publication discusses several options for economically and effectively using and disposing of woody material.

The Malheur National Forest is located in the Blue Mountains on Oregon’s eastern side, the portion of the state that lies east of the Cascade Crest. In the mid 1990s, researchers and land managers conceived a suite of experiments to explore the effects of prescribed fire on forest health. The…