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Except in remote areas, most prescribed fires will have some effect on members of the public. It is therefore important for land managers to work with the public before, during, and after a prescribed burn. To do this effectively, managers need to…
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Adequate and reliable erosion prediction tools are needed for sound forest resources management. Numerous watershed models have been developed during the past. These models, however, are often limited in their applications largely due to their…
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Preliminary estimates of harvesting costs for forest fuel reduction treatments in the West are presented. Cost estimates were made for typical stands based on Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) plots that represented forest stands in 12 western…
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Western United States forest wildfire activity is widely thought to have increased in recent decades, but surprisingly, the extent of recent changes has never been systematically documented. Nor has it been established to what degree climate may be…
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Little is known regarding how fire exclusion influences nitrogen (N) cycling in low elevation forests of western Montana. Nor is it clear how the change in fire frequency that has resulted from forest management has influenced ecosystem function in…
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Little previous work has been conducted on effects of natural, high-severity wildfires on nitrogen (N) dynamics. We measured aboveground plant biomass, foliar N, and net N mineralization 2 years after stand-replacing fires in lodgepole pine (Pinus…
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Although lidar data are widely available from commercial contractors, operational use in North America is still limited by both cost and the uncertainty of large-scale application and associated model accuracy issues. We analyzed whether small-…
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Spatial variation in vegetation and coarse wood is a major source of forest heterogeneity, yet little is known about how this affects ecosystem processes. In 15-year-old postfire lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia Englem.) stands in…
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Alternative silvicultural treatments such as thinning can be used to restore forested watersheds and reduce wildfire hazards, but the hydrologic effects of these treatments are not well defined. We evaluated the effect of two shelterwood-with-…
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This report studied the feasibility of using biomass for renewable energy production as an alternative to onsite burning. Due to the relatively low value of biomass, accurate estimates of volumes and costs of collection and transport are necessary…
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Forests provide numerous benefits for society, including fibre, wildlife and recreation. Forest managers are challenged to balance ecosystem health with maintaining public forest lands for multiple uses. During the first half of the last century,…
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Mountain ecosystems within our national parks and other protected areas provide valuable goods and services such as clean water, biodiversity conservation, and recreational opportunities, but their potential responses to expected climatic changes…
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Snags create nesting, foraging, and roosting habitat for a variety of wildlife species. Removal of snags through postfire salvage logging reduces the densities and size classes of snags remaining after wildfire. We determined important variables…
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Numerous wildfires in recent years have highlighted managers' needs for reliable tools to predict postfire mortality of ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Dougl. ex Laws.) trees. General applicability of existing mortality models is uncertain, as…
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Assessment of crown fire potential requires quantification of canopy fuels. In this study, canopy fuels were measured destructively on plots in five Interior West conifer stands. Observed canopy bulk density, canopy fuel load, and vertical profiles…
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We reviewed the behavior of wildfire in riparian zones, primarily in the western United States, and the potential ecological consequences of postfire logging. Fire behavior in riparian zones is complex, but many aquatic and riparian organisms…
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Administrative planning rules and legal challenges can have significant economic impacts on timber salvage programs on public lands. This paper examines the costs of the delay in salvage caused by planning rules and the costs associated with the…
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Natural and recurring disturbances caused by fire, native forest insects and pathogens have interacted for millennia to create and maintain forests dominated by seral or pioneering species of conifers in the interior regions of the western United…
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Several strategies are available for reducing accumulated forest fuels and their associated risks, including naturally or accidentally ignited wildland fires, management ignited prescribed fires, and a variety of mechanical and chemical methods (Omi…
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Federal land managers and the public engage in many decisions about stewardship of wilderness in the United States, including decisions about stewardship of fire. To date, social science research lacks a holistic examination of the decision-making…
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