Restoring Composition and Structure in Southwestern Frequent-fire Forests

Restoring Composition and Structure in Southwestern Frequent-fire Forests PDF Author: Richard Truman Reynolds
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Forest resilience
Languages : en
Pages : 76

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Book Description
Ponderosa pine and dry mixed-conifer forests in the Southwest United States are experiencing, or have become increasingly susceptible to, large-scale severe wildfire, insect, and disease episodes resulting in altered plant and animal demographics, reduced productivity and biodiversity, and impaired ecosystem processes and functions. We present a management framework based on a synthesis of science on forest ecology and management, reference conditions, and lessons learned during implementations of our restoration framework. Our framework focuses on the restoration of key elements similar to the historical composition and structure of vegetation in these forests: (1) species composition; (2) groups of trees; (3) scattered individual trees; (4) grass-forb-shrub interspaces; (5) snags, logs, and woody debris; and (6) variation in the arrangements of these elements in space and time. Our framework informs management strategies that can improve the resiliency of frequent-fire forests and facilitate the resumption of characteristic ecosystem processes and functions by restoring the composition, structure, and spatial patterns of vegetation. We believe restoration of key compositional and structural elements on a per-site basis will restore resiliency of frequent-fire forests in the Southwest, and thereby position them to better resist, and adapt to, future disturbances and climates.

Restoring Composition and Structure in Southwestern Frequent-fire Forests

Restoring Composition and Structure in Southwestern Frequent-fire Forests PDF Author: Richard Truman Reynolds
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Forest resilience
Languages : en
Pages : 76

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Book Description
Ponderosa pine and dry mixed-conifer forests in the Southwest United States are experiencing, or have become increasingly susceptible to, large-scale severe wildfire, insect, and disease episodes resulting in altered plant and animal demographics, reduced productivity and biodiversity, and impaired ecosystem processes and functions. We present a management framework based on a synthesis of science on forest ecology and management, reference conditions, and lessons learned during implementations of our restoration framework. Our framework focuses on the restoration of key elements similar to the historical composition and structure of vegetation in these forests: (1) species composition; (2) groups of trees; (3) scattered individual trees; (4) grass-forb-shrub interspaces; (5) snags, logs, and woody debris; and (6) variation in the arrangements of these elements in space and time. Our framework informs management strategies that can improve the resiliency of frequent-fire forests and facilitate the resumption of characteristic ecosystem processes and functions by restoring the composition, structure, and spatial patterns of vegetation. We believe restoration of key compositional and structural elements on a per-site basis will restore resiliency of frequent-fire forests in the Southwest, and thereby position them to better resist, and adapt to, future disturbances and climates.

Resorting Componsition and Structure in Southwestern Frequent-Fire Forests

Resorting Componsition and Structure in Southwestern Frequent-Fire Forests PDF Author: United States Department of Agriculture
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN: 9781508532194
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 88

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Book Description
Ponderosa pine and dry mixed-conifer forests in the Southwest United States are experiencing, or have become increasingly susceptible to, large-scale severe wildfire, insect, and disease episodes resulting in altered plant and animal demographics, reduced productivity and biodiversity, and impaired ecosystem processes and functions. We present a management framework based on a synthesis of science on forest ecology and management, reference conditions, and lessons learned during implementations of our restoration framework. Our framework focuses on the restoration of key elements similar to the historical composition and structure of vegetation in these forests: (1) species composition; (2) groups of trees; (3) scattered individual trees; (4) grass-forb-shrub interspaces; (5) snags, logs, and woody debris; and (6) variation in the arrangements of these elements in space and time. Our framework informs management strategies that can improve the resiliency of frequent-fire forests and facilitate the resumption of characteristic ecosystem processes and functions by restoring the composition, structure, and spatial patterns of vegetation. We believe restoration of key compositional and structural elements on a per-site basis will restore resiliency of frequent-fire forests in the Southwest, and thereby position them to better resist, and adapt to, future disturbances and climates.

The Effects of Thinning and Similar Stand Treatments on Fire Behavior in Western Forests

The Effects of Thinning and Similar Stand Treatments on Fire Behavior in Western Forests PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Forest fires
Languages : en
Pages : 38

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Book Description


Wildland Fire in Ecosystems

Wildland Fire in Ecosystems PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Animal ecology
Languages : en
Pages : 92

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Book Description


Introduction to Prescribed Fire in Southern Ecosystems

Introduction to Prescribed Fire in Southern Ecosystems PDF Author: Thomas A. Waldrop
Publisher: Government Printing Office
ISBN: 9780160943959
Category : Gardening
Languages : en
Pages : 32

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Book Description
Prescribed burning is an important tool throughout Southern forests, grasslands, and croplands. The need to control fire became evident to allow forests to regenerate. This manual is intended to help resource managers to plan and execute prescribed burns in Southern forests and grasslands. A new appreciation and interest has developed in recent years for using prescribed fire in grasslands, especially hardwood forests, and on steep mountain slopes. Proper planning and execution of prescribed fires are necessary to reduce detrimental effects, such as the impacts on air and downstream water quality. Check out these related products: Trees at Work: Economic Accounting for Forest Ecosystem Services in the U.S. South can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/trees-work-economic-accounting-forest-ecosystem-services-us-south Soil Survey Manual 2017 is available here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/soil-survey-manual-march-2017 Quantifying the Role of the National Forest System Lands in Providing Surface Drinking Water Supply for the Southern United States is available here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/quantifying-role-national-forest-system-lands-providing-surface-drinking-water-supply Fire Management Today print subscription is available here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/fire-management-today Wildland Fire in Ecosystems: Fire and Nonnative Invasive Plants can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/wildland-fire-ecosystems-fire-and-nonnative-invasive-plants

Wildland Fire, Forest Dynamics, and Their Interactions

Wildland Fire, Forest Dynamics, and Their Interactions PDF Author: Marc-André Parisien
Publisher: MDPI
ISBN: 3038970999
Category : Electronic books
Languages : en
Pages : 342

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Book Description
This book is a printed edition of the Special Issue "Wildland Fire, Forest Dynamics, and Their Interactions" that was published in Forests

Ecological Silvicultural Systems

Ecological Silvicultural Systems PDF Author: Brian J. Palik
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119890934
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 342

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Book Description
ECOLOGICAL SILVICULTURAL SYSTEMS Unleash the natural power and adaptability of forests with this cutting-edge guide For generations, silvicultural systems have focused largely on models whose primary objective is the production of timber, leading to drastically simplified forests with reduced ecological richness, diversity, and complexity. Ecological silviculture, by contrast, focuses on producing and maintaining forests with “all their parts”—, that is, with the diversity and flexibility to respond and adapt to global changes. Ecological silviculture seeks to emulate natural development models and sustain healthy forests serving multiple values and goals. Ecological Silvicultural Systems provides a comprehensive introduction to these approaches and their benefits tailored to diverse types of forests, designed for forest management professionals. It provides a series of exemplary models for ecological silviculture and surveys the resulting forest ecosystems. The result is a text that meets the needs of professionals in forestry and natural resource management with an eye towards sustaining healthy forest ecosystems, adapting them to climate change, protecting them from invasive species, and responding to changing market forces. Ecological Silvicultural Systems readers will also find: Detailed treatment of forest ecosystems in North America, Europe, South America, and Australia A broad field of contributors with decades of combined expertise on multiple continents Discussion of pine woodlands; temperate hardwood forests, boreal forests, temperate rainforests, and more Ecological Silvicultural Systems is a useful reference for professional foresters, wildlife habitat managers, restoration ecologists, and undergraduate and graduate students in any of these fields.

Restoring Mixed-conifer Forests with Fire and Mechanical Thinning

Restoring Mixed-conifer Forests with Fire and Mechanical Thinning PDF Author: Jessica Rae Miesel
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Conifers
Languages : en
Pages : 190

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Book Description
Abstract: The forests of northern California experienced frequent, low-intensity fire prior to Euro-American settlement, but more than a century of grazing, logging and fire suppression has resulted in changes in tree community structure that contribute to infrequent, high-intensity fires in these forests today. Although ecosystem restoration for reduction of wildfire hazard has received substantial attention in recent years, many ecological questions remain unanswered. For example, it is not yet clear how large-scale forest manipulations, such as reduction of tree density via forest thinning or prescribed fire, differentially affect soil fertility, nor how impacts on soil nutrient availability in turn affect forest productivity. My research in the Klamath National Forest of northern California investigates the impacts of experimental restoration treatments (prescribed fire, mechanical thinning, and their combination) on soil physical, chemical and microbial parameters and forest floor C and N content, and the time lag and duration of response of leaf nutrient concentrations of two dominant tree species to each treatment. Results showed that significant differences existed among treatments in terms of soil nutrient status and microbial activity, with the effect of fire either mediated or enhanced by thinning; however, for most variables the magnitude of effect was small. Prescribed fire had different effects on soil nutrients and microbial activity in unthinned areas than in areas that had been mechanically thinned prior to fire, and the species composition of trees that remain following thinning significantly affected soil nutrient availability and forest floor C and N content. Thinning also affected conifer needle nutrient concentration and size whereas fire alone does not, and the time since treatment as well as the magnitude and direction of response differed between tree species and among treatments. These results provide an intermediate-term evaluation of the effects of fire and thinning on soil and vegetation, and increase understanding of the link between the above- and belowground components of a mixed-conifer ecosystem. This study contributes to an ecosystem-level understanding of forest restoration strategies, and provides information that is directly applicable to fire and forest management policies in the western United States.

Old Growth Ponderosa Pine and Western Larch Stand Structures

Old Growth Ponderosa Pine and Western Larch Stand Structures PDF Author: Stephen F. Arno
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Forest fires
Languages : en
Pages : 24

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Book Description


Insects and Diseases of Mediterranean Forest Systems

Insects and Diseases of Mediterranean Forest Systems PDF Author: Timothy D. Paine
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319247441
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 888

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Book Description
Insect and disease issues are often specific to the Mediterranean forest systems rather than shared with the temperate forests. In addition to the specific native insects and diseases, the forests are subject to the invasion of exotic species. The forests are also at risk from high degrees of human activity, including changing patterns of forest fires, land management activities, intensive plantation forestry using introduced timber species from other Mediterranean climate zones, and atmospheric deposition. Combined with elements of global climate change that may disproportionately affect Mediterranean climate systems, this creates a number of significant management issues that are unique to the Mediterranean forests. It is our goal that the information contained in this volume will contribute to understanding the unique aspects of Mediterranean forest systems and to protecting these critical resources.