Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest Research Articles

ArchaeoSRP

AbstractFor much of its history, archaeological research has relied on site-specific projects, regional comparisons, and theory building from case studies. However, recent research themes concerning the emergence of complex social-ecological systems and long-term land-use legacies require a new approach to archaeological data. Large-scale syntheses of archaeological data provide an effective way forward to address these new research themes. In more concise terms, “big questions” require “big data” to help answer them. The archaeological information collected by the USDA Forest Service is one such “big dataset” and represents an incalculable investment in time, resources, and expertise. This article explores this concept and presents an R package (ArchaeoSRP) designed to extract archaeological information from USDA Forest Service site record files. We demonstrate the functionality of this R package through a case study examining the archaeological data for the Cle Elum Ranger District, within Central Washington's Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest. Our results reveal the efficiency of using automated methods to extract, organize, and synthesize district-level archaeological data, which, in turn, reveal patterns of precontact and historic land use that were otherwise not distinguishable.

The Genetic Diversity of Cranberry Crop Wild Relatives, Vaccinium macrocarpon Aiton and V. oxycoccos L., in the US, with Special Emphasis on National Forests.

Knowledge of the genetic diversity in populations of crop wild relatives (CWR) can inform effective strategies for their conservation and facilitate utilization to solve agricultural challenges. Two crop wild relatives of the cultivated cranberry are widely distributed in the US. We studied 21 populations of Vaccinium macrocarpon Aiton and 24 populations of Vaccinium oxycoccos L. across much of their native ranges in the US using 32 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. We observed high levels of heterozygosity for both species across populations with private alleles ranging from 0 to 26. For V. macrocarpon, we found a total of 613 alleles and high levels of heterozygosity (HO = 0.99, HT = 0.75). We also observed high numbers of alleles (881) and levels of heterozygosity (HO = 0.71, HT = 0.80) in V. oxycoccos (4x). Our genetic analyses confirmed the field identification of a native population of V. macrocarpon on the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest in the state of Washington, far outside the previously reported range for the species. Our results will help to inform efforts of the United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) and the United States Forest Service (USFS) to conserve the most diverse and unique wild cranberry populations through ex situ preservation of germplasm and in situ conservation in designated sites on National Forests.

Using GIS and the Ecosystem Management Decision Support Tool for Forest Management on the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, Washington State

Using GIS and the Ecosystem Management Decision Support Tool for Forest Management on the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, Washington State

A Geospatial Analysis of Bark Beetle-Induced Wildfire Risk Zones in the Okanogan Wenatchee National Forest

Over the past 30 years mountain pine beetle (MPB) outbreaks have become widespread throughout the western US and Canada. MPB attacks leave acres of dead trees that may predispose forest landscapes to large fires. With the use of field work and geospatial technology, these outbreaks can be better mapped and assessed to evaluate forest health. This study is designed to map and classify bark beetle infestation in Washington's Wenatchee National Forest. Field work on seventeen randomly selected sites was conducted using the point-centered quarter method. Recent MPB outbreak areas were classified using National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) imagery. A link between MPB attack and forest fires was then quantified using MODIS fire data. Lastly, a predictive infestation model was constructed using the following geophysical parameters: disturbance indices, Landsat TM5 classification of groundcover as well as vegetation stress using hyperspectral data. Selected imagery from the Hyperion sensor was used to run a minimum distance supervised classification in ENVI, in attempt to detect the early “green stage” of infestation. This study detected MPB spread and assessed the fire risk related to infestation.

Forest Structure Within Barred Owl (Strix varia) Home Ranges in the Eastern Cascade Range, Washington

Competitive interactions with Barred Owls (Strix varia) are an important factor contributing to the decline of the Northern Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis caurina) population. Understanding the degree of similarity in fine-scale habitat associations for Spotted Owls and Barred Owls will help land managers evaluate whether there are specific vegetation conditions that could favor Spotted Owls over Barred Owls. From March 2004 to September 2006, I tracked 14 radio-tagged Barred Owls in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest in the eastern Cascade Range, Washington. I analyzed forest structure characteristics from 170 plots sampled within areas used by the radio-tagged owls. I identified three forest types present within the Barred Owl home ranges, including: (1) open ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), (2) simple-structure Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), and (3) complex-structure grand fir (Abies grandis). I compared individual forest structure characteristics and the three forest types to the intensity of Barred Owl use based on repeated measures of seasonal utilization distribution values at each plot using hierarchical mixed-effects models. Intensity of Barred Owl use during the breeding season was higher in areas with greater abundance of grand fir trees, taller and more diverse tree heights, more total trees per ha, more trees 12.7–22.9 cm dbh, more tree canopy >4.9 m, and less ground-cover vegetation <0.6 m. During the nonbreeding season, intensity of Barred Owl use was higher in areas with more trees 12.7–22.9 cm dbh, more total trees per ha, gentle slopes, and increased tree species diversity. Barred Owls used the structurally diverse grand fir forest type more intensively than the other two types during the breeding season. Intensity of use did not differ across the types during the nonbreeding season. Forest structure characteristics used by Barred Owls in this study were within the range of conditions reported to be used by Spotted Owls in the eastern Cascade Range.

Landscape Evaluation for Restoration Planning on the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, USA

Land managers in the western US are beginning to understand that early 20th century forests displayed complex patterns of composition and structure at several different spatial scales, that there was interplay between patterns and processes within and across scales, and that these conditions have been radically altered by management. Further, they know that restoring integrity (see Definition of Terms) of these conditions has broad implications for the future sustainability (see Definition of Terms) of native species, ecosystem services, and ecological processes. Many are looking for methods to restore (see Definition of Terms) more natural landscape patterns of habitats and more naturally functioning disturbance regimes; all in the context of a warming climate. Attention is turning to evaluating whole landscapes at local and regional scales, deciphering recent changes in trajectories, and formulating landscape prescriptions that can restore ecological functionality and improve landscape resilience (see Definition of Terms). The business of landscape evaluation and developing landscape prescriptions is inherently complex, but with the advent of decision support systems, software applications are now available to conduct and document these evaluations. Here, we review several published landscape evaluation and planning applications designed with the Ecosystem Management Decision Support (EMDS) software, and present an evaluation we developed in support of a landscape restoration project. We discuss the goals and design of the project, its methods and utilities, what worked well, what could be improved and related research opportunities. For readability and compactness, fine and broad-scale landscape evaluations that could be a part of multi-scale restoration planning, are not further developed here.

Influences of forest roads and their edge effects on the spatial pattern of burn severity

Previous research has shown that forest roads are an important feature in many landscapes and have significant effects on wildfire ignition and cessation. However, forest road effects on burn severity have not been studied at the landscape level. Therefore, the overarching goal of our study is to identify the influences of road edge effects on the spatial patterns of burn severity. We analyzed six fires within the Okanogan–Wenatchee National Forest on the eastern slope of the Cascades mountain range of central Washington.We generated two categories for assessing road variables: (1) Primary Road Effect Zone (area within 150m of the nearest road) and (2) Secondary Road Effect Zone (area from 150m to 300m to the nearest road). A regular sampling grid including one out of every 9cells was created for each fire.These grids were intersected with burn severity data in the form of the Relative Differenced Normalized Burn Ratio (RdNBR), road distance category, stream distance, elevation, slope, terrain shape index, heat load index, canopy cover, and fuel type. We fit spatial regression models with RdNBR as the dependent variable.We found that high burn severity is less likely to occur in the Primary Road Effect Zone for most fires, although one fire exhibited the opposite relationship. Forest road edge effects were hypothesized to be an important determinant of burn severity because fragmentation created by roads alters the roadside fuel profile and environment and because road corridors create barriers to fire spread. Recognizing roadside effects on burn severity patterns highlights the need for further study of the range of effects that roads have on fuels and the fire environment and the potential for incorporating road effects into landscape-level assessments of fire risk.

Lessons Learned from the Implementation of VDTT and EMDS for the Management Planning of the Okanogan Wenatchee National Forest (WA, USA)

The development and use of decision support systems for forest management (FMDSS) have considerably increased worldwide in the last decades in accordance with the recognition of the multifunctional role of forests. The Vegetation Dynamics Development Tool (VDDT) and Ecosystem Management Decision Support (EMDS) system are used for forest planning purposes in the Pacific Northwest Region of the United States Forest Service (USFS). Lessons learned have been explored using case study methods. Important working knowledge derived from success or failure according to the users’ perspective concern data availability for modeling, expertise needed to run the tool, the models’ level of resolution, and communication between the modelers and the team involved in forest planning. Lessons learned coming from developers highlight the success of the DSS evaluating the models’ characteristics, the tool's innovation and the integration of the best available science into the models.

Surface fuel treatments in young, regenerating stands affect wildfire severity in a mixed conifer forest, eastside Cascade Range, Washington, USA

Previous studies have debated the flammability of young regenerating stands, especially those in a matrix of mature forest, and no consensus has emerged as to whether young stands are inherently prone to high-severity wildfire. This topic has recently been addressed using spatial imagery, and weak inferences were made given the scale mismatch between the coarse resolution of spatial imagery and the fine resolution of mechanisms driving fire severity. We collected empirical stand and fire-severity data from 44 regenerating stands that are interspersed in mature, mid-elevation forests in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest (OWNF) on the eastside of the Cascade Range in Washington, USA. These stands are mixed-species plantations that were established to promote regeneration of seral to late-seral tree species (Douglas-fir, subalpine fir, Engelmann spruce, western larch) in small patches within a larger lodgepole pine forest. In 2006, the 70,925ha Tripod Fire burned through all the plantations and the surrounding lodgepole pine matrix. To understand what drives fire effects in plantations, especially those that exist in spatially heterogeneous forests, we compared fire severity in plantations with and without fuels-reducing site preparation (i.e., fuel treatments), using three metrics to quantify severity: mortality (%), exposed mineral soil (%), and char height (m). We built generalized linear models for each severity metric and tested for a difference in all severity metrics between treated and untreated units using Permutational Multivariate Analysis of Variance. Units without fuel treatments have more severe fire effects: mortality is 77% in untreated units and 37% in treated units (p=0.0005). Other variables contribute to differences in fire severity, including species composition, canopy closure, and canopy base height. Canopy base height and canopy closure both exhibit a reverse relationship with mortality from what was expected: the higher the canopy closure and the lower the canopy base height, the lower the mortality. In other words, stands that have trees closer together with crowns near the ground are more likely to have lower mortality. Overall, the results suggest that young stands in some dry mixed conifer forests can be resilient to wildfire if surface fuel loading is low upon stand establishment.

The Montane Bee Fauna of North Central Washington, USA, with Floral Associations

The mountains of north central Washington contain a variety of habitat types, from shrubsteppe to high alpine meadows. While native bee surveys of some surrounding areas like the Columbia Basin are fairly complete, little work has been done in the mountains of north central Washington to document the diversity of bees found therein. We conducted a survey of native bees in the Tonasket Ranger District of the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest during summer 2004. Collections yielded a diverse bee fauna (140 species in 24 genera) visiting diverse floral elements (57 plant species in 18 families). These preliminary data suggest that a rich bee fauna exists in the Okanogan Basin and surrounding mountains.

Long-term post-wildfire dynamics of coarse woody debris after salvage logging and implications for soil heating in dry forests of the eastern Cascades, Washington

Long-term effects of salvage logging on coarse woody debris were evaluated on four stand-replacing wildfires ages 1, 11, 17, and 35 years on the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest in the eastern Cascades of Washington. Total biomass averaged roughly 60 Mg ha −1 across all sites, although the proportion of logs to snags increased over the chronosequence. Units that had been salvage logged had lower log biomass than unsalvaged units, except for the most recently burned site, where salvaged stands had higher log biomass. Mesic aspects had higher log biomass than dry aspects. Post-fire regeneration increased in density over time. In a complementary experiment, soils heating and surrogate-root mortality caused by burning of logs were measured to assess the potential site damage if fire was reintroduced in these forests. Experimentally burned logs produced lethal surface temperatures (60 °C) extending up to 10 cm laterally beyond the logs. Logs burned in late season produced higher surface temperatures than those burned in early season. Thermocouples buried at depth showed mean maximum temperatures exponentially declined with soil depth. Large logs, decayed logs, and those burned in late season caused higher soil temperatures than small logs, sound logs, and those burned in early season. Small diameter (∼1.25 cm), live Douglas-fir branch dowels, buried in soil and used as surrogates for small roots, indicated that cambial tissue was damaged to 10 cm depth and to 10 cm distance adjacent to burned logs. When lethal soil temperature zones were projected out to 10 cm from each log, lethal cover ranged up to 24.7% on unsalvaged portions of the oldest fire, almost twice the lethal cover on salvaged portions. Where prescribed fire is introduced to post-wildfire stands aged 20–30 years, effects of root heating from smoldering coarse woody debris will be minimized by burning in spring, at least on mesic sites. There may be some long-term advantages for managers if excessive coarse woody debris loads are reduced early in the post-wildfire period.

Vegetation Response to Thinning and Burning in a Ponderosa Pine Forest, Washington

We evaluated, over nine years, the effects of thinning and burning on vegetation response in a ponderosa pine/pinegrass forest. Ponderosa pine forests in the eastern Cascade Mountains of Washington support dense, stands in which crown fires are probable, owing to post-settlement sheep grazing (increased tree seedling establishment), logging, and fire exclusion. In 1991, the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest began to apply long-term management techniques to mitigate post-settlement changes in ponderosa pine forests. We used a randomized complete block design with a linear regression component to analyze post-fire responses of the vegetation. Thinning and burning had little effect on the canopy layer of ponderosa pine, western larch, and Douglas-fir, but small grand fir trees, and nearly half of the saplings of all species, were killed. Shrubs in the middle forest layer were top-killed, but resprouted during the first post-fire growing season, and increased dramatically after 3 yr and 9 yr. Frequency and c...