Exploring Forest Structure Patterns Among Ownership and Federal NWFP Land Use Allocations in the Forested Western Cascades of Oregon

Exploring Forest Structure Patterns Among Ownership and Federal NWFP Land Use Allocations in the Forested Western Cascades of Oregon
Author: Elena Stephany Becerril Salas
Publisher:
Total Pages: 61
Release: 2021
Genre:
ISBN:

Disturbances resulting from natural forces and human intervention -- such as the creation of artificial boundaries, has led to the importance in understanding the best approaches necessary for sustaining critical ecosystem functions and forest structure health. The 1994 Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP) offers an example of federal policies that consider the promotion of sustainable timber harvesting, new forest management approaches, and the protection of late successional, old growth habitats. In this study, I use airborne lidar data to develop a comprehensive high-fidelity census of forest structure patterns across a 530,817-hectare region in the NWFP allocated western Cascades of Oregon. To make sense of forest structural patterns and their arrangement across land-use allocation boundaries and ownership types, I addressed the following questions. (1) What forest structures exist across the study area and how do they correspond with commonly recognized forest development stages? (2) How are these structures distributed across ownership classes and federal administrative land use allocations? (3) 20+ years after the adoption of the NWFP, are the structurally complex forests the plan sought to protect and promote present, and if so, in what amounts and by what ownerships and administrative units? Results: (1) Six Structure classes were identified across the Western Cascades of Oregon. (2) Forest Structure classes were distributed among clusters of structurally simple and complex forest classes that created assemblages among private vs. public ownership type and Land use Allocations. (3) Hight Presence of structurally complex forest Classes were seen among NWFP Land Use Allocations.

Forests of Eastern Oregon

Forests of Eastern Oregon
Author: Sally J. Campbell
Publisher:
Total Pages: 44
Release: 2003
Genre: Forest surveys
ISBN:

This publication provides highlights of forest inventories and surveys from 1993 to 2001. About 35 percent of eastern Oregon is forested. The amount of forest land in eastern Oregon has increased by about 650,000 acres from the 1930s, with increases in juniper forest land accounting for most of the change. Thirty-one tree species were tallied in forest inventories during the 1990s, with ponderosa pine the predominant species in all ecological provinces in eastern Oregon. The Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and other federal agencies manage about 71 percent of eastern Oregon forests; about 27 percent is privately owned; and the remaining 2 percent is managed by the Oregon Department of Forestry and other nonfederal public agencies. The volume of wood in eastern Oregon forests is about 25.7 billion cubic feet, of which about 312 million cubic feet per year were harvested between 1987 and 1999. In the same time period, annual mortality and removals exceeded annual growth for all ownerships. Down wood is an important forest component and shows increases with forest age. Insect defoliators, bark beetles, root diseases, and dwarf mistletoes are present on over 72 percent of forest land in eastern Oregon. Year-to-year defoliation or mortality trends can be detected with aerial surveys. Introduced plant species are present on over 50 percent of private and other public forest land. Diversity of lichens (indicators of air pollution, climate, and forest age and structure) is greatest in the Blue Mountains Province and lowest in the Intermountain Province. No ozone injury has been detected on sensitive forest trees and plant species in eastern Oregon.

Ownership Patterns Drive Multi-scale Forest Structure Patterns Across a Large Landscape in Southern Coastal Oregon, USA

Ownership Patterns Drive Multi-scale Forest Structure Patterns Across a Large Landscape in Southern Coastal Oregon, USA
Author: Vivian Griffey
Publisher:
Total Pages: 49
Release: 2020
Genre:
ISBN:

Globally, the physical structure of forests results from their environmental setting, disturbance history, and human management practices. Human management practices today arguably have the greatest impact on the types and patterns of forest structure through direct management and modification of disturbance regimes. Previous studies have found that land ownership affects forest cover, patch dynamics, structure, and ecosystem function and services. However, these assessments of forest structure across landscapes and ownerships have been limited by the availability of high-fidelity data across a large spatial extent. To expand upon prior research, I used airborne lidar to assess the multi-scalar patterns of forest structure across a large (471,000 hectare), multi-owner landscape of the Oregon Coast Range. I examined forest structure patterns by identifying six statistically distinct classes of forest structure and then examining their distribution across and within ownership types. I used these structure classes to examine their area within each ownership class, mean patch size, and intermixing at multiple scales. I found that the six different forest structure classes in the study area can be interpreted as two assemblages, production-style forests principally on private lands and structurally complex forests principally on public lands. I found that land ownership objectives manifested in the physical landscape pattern of forest structure as measured by mean patch size and intermixing of structures. Finally, I found that landscape pattern of forest structure varied across scales as well as between ownerships. These results can be used to aid in monitoring and implementation of conservation strategies, for instance, in the monitoring of structurally complex forest and Northern Spotted Owl habitat and implementation of the Oregon Forest Practices Act.

Canopy Structure on Forest Lands in Western Oregon

Canopy Structure on Forest Lands in Western Oregon
Author: Anne C. S. McIntosh
Publisher:
Total Pages: 40
Release: 2011-01
Genre:
ISBN: 9781437929645

This is a print on demand edition of a hard to find publication. This study quantified and compared vertical and horizontal patterns of tree canopy structure and understory cover along a successional gradient of forests and among stands with different thinning histories on non-federal lands in western Oregon. Analyses focused on three dominant forest type groups: wet conifer, wet hardwood, and dry hardwood. Most of the cover in moist stands was in the upper tree layer, but cover in dry hardwood stands was more evenly distributed among layers. Findings suggest potential limitations of simple stand succession models that may not account for the range of forest types, site conditions, and developmental mechanisms found across western Oregon. Charts and tables.

Characteristics of Remnant Old Growth Forests in the Northern Coast Range of Oregon and Comparison to Surrounding Landscapes

Characteristics of Remnant Old Growth Forests in the Northern Coast Range of Oregon and Comparison to Surrounding Landscapes
Author: Andrew N. Gray
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
Total Pages: 52
Release: 2011-05
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1437926126

Old-growth forests provide unique habitat features and landscape functions compared to younger stands. The goals of many forest mgmt. plans in the Pacific NW include increasing the area of late-successional and old-growth forests. This study describes existing old-growth forests in the northern Oregon Coast Range that might serve as examples of desired future conditions and developmental pathways. Results suggest that although old-growth forests can develop along multiple pathways, stand composition and productivity constrain development such that expecting all late-successional stands to have the full complement of old-growth attributes may not be realistic. Illustrations. This is a print on demand report.