Timber Damage Research Articles

Forest Disturbances and Nonindustrial Forest Landowners: Management of Invasive Plants, Fire Hazards and Wildlife Habitats After a Hurricane

AbstractThere is limited research about the interacting impacts of hurricane damage and forest disturbances like invasive species and wildfires on nonindustrial forest land management. We administered a mail survey to 1,000 randomly selected nonindustrial private forest landowners in the Panhandle of Florida who owned forestlands in the counties most severely affected by Hurricane Michael. Results show that most landowners did little to no forest management to prepare for the hurricane. Following Hurricane Michael, 34% of respondents reported increased invasive plants whereas 82% experienced timber loss, 62% had damaged wildlife habitats, and 53% had increased vulnerability to wildfire hazards. Landowners who experienced timber damage from Hurricane Michael were more likely to reduce fire hazard, eliminate or reduce invasive plants, perform road and trail maintenance, improve wildlife habitat, reforest both salvage harvested and areas that were not salvage harvested, search for information on the internet about forest management, and pass their forestland to family.Study Implications: Forest disturbances such as hurricanes, invasive species, and wildfires are predicted to increase in severity and frequency, consequently affecting forest productivity, sustainability, and management. Despite significant impacts on forest lands, there is limited understanding of how these disturbances may affect nonindustrial private forest landowner management behaviors. This article highlights the attitudes, experiences, and perceptions of nonindustrial private forest landowners, including their awareness and overall forest management plans regarding invasive species control, wildlife habitat improvement, and reducing wildfire hazards after a hurricane. We assessed the important factors that contribute to landowners’ willingness to take action to address these interacting forest disturbances.

Colonization of oak stumps by the oak pinhole borer in temperate forests and the efficacy of pheromone traps: Implications for pest management

IntroductionThe present changes in climate and land use have led to an increase in pest population densities. The oak pinhole borer, Platypus cylindrus, is one of the ambrosia beetles, which are known to infect wood tissue with fungi from their mycangia. These fungi are responsible for cellulose degradation. This species is now responsible for more frequent timber damage throughout Europe. Therefore, it is assumed that there is a high risk of P. cylindrus outbreaks in the future with possible subsequent oak diebacks. We focused on (1) the influence of stump diameter on P. cylindrus attraction and abundance; (2) the trapping efficacy by a specific pheromone and the impact on nontarget arthropods; and (3) interannual changes in trap catches.MethodsThe research was performed from 2015–2017 with a postharvest survey of stumps. We further analyzed the catches of P. cylindrus and of nontarget arthropods on pheromone traps compared to ethanol-baited traps.Results and discussionIn total, 12,504 adults were trapped during the 3 years of the study. P. cylindrus abundance was positively correlated with stump diameter and interannual changes. The type of compound used for trapping positively affected the trapping efficacy. However, the pheromone type did not have an impact on nontarget beetles. We consider oak stumps to be a reservoir the oak pinhole borer. Therefore, we recommend their debarking or removal, especially in the case of stumps with a larger diameter (over 61 cm).

Intelligent Timber Damage Monitoring Using PZT-Enabled Active Sensing and Intrinsic Multiscale Entropy Analysis

Timber has been commonly used in the field of civil engineering, and the health condition of timber is of great significance for the whole structure in practical scenarios. However, due to mechanical load and environmental impact, timber-based constructions are vulnerable to termite attack, microbial corrosion and fractures within their service lives. Thus, the damage monitoring of timber structures is very challenging under real situations. This paper presents an intelligent timber damage monitoring approach using Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT)-enabled active sensing and intrinsic multiscale entropy analysis. The proposed approach adopts PZT-enabled active sensing to collect the signals depicting dynamic characteristics of the timber structure. The proposed intrinsic multiscale entropy analysis utilizes variational mode decomposition (VMD) to deal with the collected response signals. Decomposition of the response signals into a set of band-limited intrinsic mode functions (BLIMFs) denoting nonlinear and nonstationary characteristics. Then multiscale sample entropy (MSE) is employed to extract quantitative features, which are adopted as health condition indicators of timber structures. Finally, the convolutional neural network (CNN) fulfills the intelligent timber damage monitoring by using the quantitative features as the effective input. The research findings reveal the efficacy and superiority of the proposed method.

Timber damage identification using dynamic broad network and ultrasonic signals

Timber has been widely utilized as a type of green material in the construction industry. However, the anisotropic and highly heterogeneous nature of timber increases the difficulty of damage identification, which is critical for maintaining structures in which it is used. In this paper, we propose a timber damage identification dynamic broad network, namely TimberNet, that can quickly realize damage identification via a one-shot calculation. Ultrasonic signals are fed into the dynamic network to automatically extract features for damage identification, avoiding excessive artificial involvement in feature selection. Furthermore, the proposed method allows incremental updating of the damage detection model and greatly reduces the updating time and computational cost. Comparison studies with some well-known algorithms demonstrated that the damage identification accuracy of TimberNet is about 30% higher than that of the Naïve Bayes classifier. Moreover, its training efficiency and inference speed are 12 times and 2.1 times greater than those of the one-dimensional convolutional neural network (1DCNN), respectively. Finally, a series of validation experiments indicates the robustness of the proposed method in timber damage identification.

A Novel Piezoceramic-Based Sensing Technology Combined With Visual Domain Networks for Timber Damage Quantification

Early detection of timber damage is essential for the safety of timber structures. In recent decades, wave-based approaches have shown great potential for structural damage assessment. Current damage assessment accuracy based on sensing signals in the time domain is highly affected by the varied boundary conditions and environmental factors in practical applications. In this research, a novel piezoceramic-based sensing technology combined with a visual domain network was developed to quantitatively evaluate timber damage conditions. Numerical and experimental studies reveal the stress wave propagation properties in different cases of timber crack depths. Through the spectrogram visualization process, all sensing signals in the time domain were transferred to images which contain both time and frequency features of signals collected from different crack conditions. A deep neural network (DNN) was adopted for image training, testing, and classification. The classification results show high efficiency and accuracy for identifying crack conditions for timber structures. The proposed technology can be further integrated with a fielding sensing system to provide real-time monitoring of timber damage in field applications.

Possibilities of forest property insurance against the risk of fire in Slovakia

Fire is considered one of the major natural hazards that damages European forests and causes losses for forest owner. The forest fires endanger the financial stability of forest enterprises, which may cause their economic decline. One possibility how to cover these losses is to insure forest land against this kind of specific risk of forest land management. The aim of the present paper is to analyse possibilities of forest fire insurance for forest owners and enterprises in the Slovak private insurance market. The market analysis was based on document analysis of general terms and insurance conditions of chosen private insurance companies and interviews with insurance agents. The results show that forest owners and enterprises have only few options for forest property insurance concerning the specific risk of forest fires. Only one commercial insurance company provides such forest fire insurance product for forest owners. This insurance covers material damage to forest land and timber damage.

Biodynamic timber sheet pile walls: vegetation retaining structure

Timber sheet pile walls are widely used for the protection of stream banks in different parts of the world. However, there is a tendency to create more sustainable types of stream banks not only because exploitable wood is more difficult to obtain, but also because of disturbance to the natural habitat of plants and animals due to hard embankments. In the Netherlands alone, about 2500 km of engineered timber sheet pile wall embankments exist, primarily made with tropical hardwood, besides an even much larger amount of ‘non-engineered’ small-size timber-based embankments. As an alternative, the authors propose to use a mixed timber sheet pile-vegetation system, where locally available timber can be applied in combination with natural vegetation. Unlike the usual bioengineering scheme, vegetation is not seen as an element, which could replace the timber sheet piles. Instead, a new perspective is tested, where the vegetation is included as a ‘structural’ element which can even counteract the consequences of time-dependent biological degradation of the timber sheet pile. By doing so, both long-term durability as well as reliability of the stream bank is improved. A comprehensive design strategy was developed based on well-established sub-models from the literature on plant growth, root reinforcement as well as timber damage accumulation. The timber sheet pile wall-vegetation system is illustrated in an example case study. Preliminary analysis including only the mechanical reinforcement of vegetation shows that there is a decrease in moment and shear acting on the timber sheet pile with growth of the vegetation. Consequently, the damage accumulation due to load duration effects on the timber decreases and the service life of the system increases. Thus, using vegetation in combination with highly degradable timber could possibly negate the need for using hardwood timber, or more generally, save resources that are currently used for these structures.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS OF STORM DAMAGE TO CONIFEROUS FORESTS IN LATVIA

INTRODUCTION
 Storms are the primary factor reducing carbon sequestration in Europe’s forests, thus negatively affecting the ability of countries to fulfil their targets related to greenhouse gas balance (emission vs. sequestration). The impact of storms is rising due to an increase in forest cover, a preference for less wind-firm species (namely the Norway spruce) as well as the aging of forests in Europe (leading to greater vulnerability). Furthermore, climate change will affect the amount of damage. The frequency of windstorms and/or high speed wind gusts is expected to increase. The largest storms in our region occur mostly in autumn/winter – in the future this is likely to increase due to conditions in which it is more likely that tree anchorage is weak, due to the soil not being frozen and being saturated with water. From a sustainable forestry perspective, it is important to note that recreational use of those forests affected by storms as well as secondary damage (e.g. by bark beetle) will also be substantially reduced. Forest owners suffer direct financial losses as a result of storms. The aim of this study is to estimate the losses caused by storms and evaluate measures that could be used to reduce storm damage.
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
 Forest owners suffer direct damage as a result of a loss of timber value from stem cracks (which is estimated to account for 20% of the volume of first (bottom) logs reduced to fire-wood quality), increased logging costs as well as additional regeneration, tending and precommercial thinning. The cost of these processes and the timber prices used in calculations are obtained from the Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia; information on the amount of timber damage during storms in the last decade is provided by the State Forest Service. To obtain information on the possibility of reducing storm damage, growth models (LSFRI Silava) are used in addition to assessments of vulnerability to storm damage (ForestGALES). The financial impact of damage-reduction measures is given as equivalent annual annuity (EAA) - interest rate 4%.
 RESULTS
 During the last decade, windstorms in Latvia alone have caused direct economic losses to forest owners of around €164 million, an average of €9 per m3 of wood from salvage logging. Vulnerability to damage increases as tree height increases (as critical wind speed decreases). Lower planting density slightly increases the critical wind speed (by 3-9%) (for Scots pine: 1500 trees ha-1vs current 3000 tree ha-1) and notably reduces the financial impact of storm damage: EAA for pine stands planted on the best soils is €15 ha-1 with sparser planting, and -€11 ha-1 with denser planting. If final harvest is planned by the stand age (101 years in majority of cases in Latvia), the financial impact of wind damage is higher in the best growing pine stands (site index Ia): in sparse stands the affect of wind damage reduces EAA by 38%, while stands with a lower site index are reduced by 25%. The reason for this is that faster-growing trees reach certain height, at which they are vulnerable to smaller (in terms of m s-1) critical wind speed, at earlier age. For example, the above-mentioned sparse Ia stand has a critical wind speed of ≤20ms-1 for 38% of its total rotation period, compared to 26% for the I stand. Thus, harvesting by constant age reduces the financial gain from the best-quality sites and silvucultural treatments aimed at increasing tree growth (e.g. planting best-growing genotypes). Therefore, harvesting by target diameter is recommended.
 CONCLUSION
 Major damage to forests mean owners are less willing to invest – thus reducing future potential wood flow for the industry. Therefore, changes in legislation concerning criteria for initial stand density and target diameter are recommended to minimize the negative economic impact of climate change (adapt).

A Feasibility Study on Timber Damage Detection Using Piezoceramic-Transducer-Enabled Active Sensing.

In recent years, piezoelectric-based transducers and technologies have made significant progress towards structural health monitoring and damage evaluation for various metal and concrete structures. Timber is still commonly used as a construction material in practical engineering; however, there is a lack of research on the health monitoring of timber-based structures using piezoelectric-based transducers and methods. This paper conducts a feasibility study on timber damage detection using surface-mounted piezoelectric patches, which enable the stress-wave-based active sensing approach. Typical damage modes in timber frame structures, such as surface cracks and holes, were investigated in this study. In the active sensing approach, one piezoceramic transducer is used as an actuator to generate stress waves, which propagate along the surface of the timber structure, and other piezoceramic transducers function as sensors to detect the propagating stress waves. Defects, such as a crack or a hole, induce additional attenuation to the propagating stress wave. Based on this attenuation, the proposed method can detect the defects using the wavelet-packet-based damage index, demonstrating its implementation potential for real-time timber damage detection.

Synchrony, Weather, and Cycles in Southern Pine Beetle (Coleoptera: Curculionidae).

Spatial synchrony and cycles are common features of forest insect pests, but are often studied as separate phenomenon. Using time series of timber damage caused by Dendroctonus frontalis Zimmermann (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) (southern pine beetle) in 10 states within the southern United States, this study examines synchrony in D. frontalis abundance, the synchronizing effects of temperature extremes, and the evidence for shared cycles among state populations. Cross-correlation and cluster analyses are used to quantify synchrony across a range of geographic distances and to identify groups of states with synchronous dynamics. Similar techniques are used to quantify spatial synchrony in temperature extremes and to examine their relationship to D. frontalis fluctuations. Cross-wavelet analysis is then used to examine pairs of time series for shared cycles. These analyses suggest there is substantial synchrony among states in D. frontalis fluctuations, and there are regional groups of states with similar dynamics. Synchrony in D. frontalis fluctuations also appears related to spatial synchrony in summer and winter temperature extremes. The cross-wavelet results suggest that D. frontalis dynamics may differ among regions and are not stationary. Significant oscillations were present in some states over certain time intervals, suggesting an endogenous feedback mechanism. Management of D. frontalis outbreaks could potentially benefit from a multistate regional approach because populations are synchronous on this level. Extreme summer temperatures are likely to become the most important synchronizing agent due to climate change.

Silviculture to Restore Oak Savannas and Woodlands

Variability in historic fire regimes in eastern North America resulted in an array of oak natural communities that were dominant across the region. In the past century, savannas and woodlands have become scarce because of conversion to agriculture or development of forest structure in the absence of fire. Their restoration is a primary goal for public agencies and conservation organizations. Although they can be restored with a long-term regimen of prescribed burning, a combination of fire, timber harvesting, and forest thinning produces the desired structure and composition more efficiently. Prescribed fire is useful for sustaining oak savannas and woodlands, but it must be used judiciously to minimize timber damage and decreases in value. Integrating fire within a modified shelterwood approach promotes competitive oak reproduction and is flexible enough to produce savannas or woodlands. Sustaining these communities requires the replacement of the overstory during periods of no fire.

Visual assessment and diagnosis of a timber railway station warehouse in Foz do Tua

Aiming at the rehabilitation of a timber warehouse in the Tua train station for a new use, it was necessary to assess the level of conservation of the building’s elements and determine whether intervention measures were required. This work summarizes the assessment made of the timber elements by means visual inspection and non-destructive testing. The main results, obtained in the diagnostic survey, were the conservation level of the timber warehouse, the visual strength grading of the timber elements and damage maps indicating the main pathologies and its probable causes.

THE PARALLEL APPLICATION OF TWO PROBABILITY MODELS, LOGIT AND PROBIT, FOR THE ACCURATE ANALYSIS OF SPRUCE TIMBER DAMAGE DUE TO THINNING OPERATIONS

THE PARALLEL APPLICATION OF TWO PROBABILITY MODELS, LOGIT AND PROBIT, FOR THE ACCURATE ANALYSIS OF SPRUCE TIMBER DAMAGE DUE TO THINNING OPERATIONS

Landowner Opinions Regarding Wild Pigs in Georgia, USA

Wild pigs, present in over 140 (of 159) counties in Georgia, cause significant problems. They are hunted and trapped for recreation, yet they are responsible for over $150 million in damage to property and crops. Research suggests that the public has divergent approaches to wild pig control, lacks knowledge about effective control strategies, undertakes a range of legal and non-legal control activities, and suffers significant financial losses from wild pigs. Not all landowners experience similar amounts of damage and therefore attitudes regarding the significance of the wild pig problem in Georgia differ widely among citizens. Respondents from a previous wild pig survey in Georgia (farmers in ¼ of the state) felt most control measures were ineffective and that state and federal agencies should provide more assistance. Previous respondents perceived a decline in some native game species and blamed wild pigs. I conducted a statewide survey of 3,000 landowners in February 2015 to assess broader perceptions towards wild pigs, estimate economic losses from wild pig damage, and determine attitudes toward wild pigs. Overall response rate was 38% (n = 1,109). Analysis suggests that farmers have more direct contact than other landowners with wild pigs and therefore shoulder more of the costs related to damage (e.g., crop loss, food plot, and timber damage). Statewide, respondents favor measures to reduce wild pig populations. Respondents believe wild pig populations are increasing due to lack of hunting, natural reproductive potential, and illegal trap and transfer. Generally, respondents felt that self-implemented lethal control measures were not effective at reducing wild pig populations or damage.

Contestation over Resources: The Farmer-Miner Dispute in Colonial Zimbabwe, 1903-1939

Abstract The formative years of settler occupation in colonial Zimbabwe were characterised by conflict at various levels of the economic and governmental structures. While historians have explored some of these conflicts, the history and environmental implications of the long-standing dispute between miners and farmers over timber, water, grazing rights and land damage caused by mining operations on farms on the Gold Belt, have received astonishingly little attention from either historians or other social scientists. Focusing on the period, 1903-1939, the study argues that when farmers raised concerns about miners' activities, this was not about 'precautionary stewardship' of the environment designed to stop entrepreneurial practices harmful to the environment. This was a struggle over the ownership of the means of production by two competing forms of capitalism - a characteristic intra-class as well as intra-racial conflict. This dispute simultaneously represents an ecological narrative of settler colonisation and entrenchment in colonial Zimbabwe.

Fire impacts and crowning in the boreal forest: study of a large wildfire in western Quebec

Within the context of studying the ecological impacts of wildland fires in the boreal forest, a spatial analysis of a major wildfire was conducted. The fire covered nearly 500 km 2 in the north-western part of Quebec’s boreal forest in the summer of 1995. The spatial distribution of different fire impacts on the forest canopy was obtained using timber damage assessment maps. Fire impacts varied throughout the burned area, ranging from areas where trees had completely burned crowns (43%) to remaining patches of trees with green foliage (3%). The effects of local stand and site factors on crown fire, as assessed by the fire impacts, were evaluated using geographic information systems. Despite the large extent and high intensity of the wildfire created by extreme fire weather conditions, stepwise logistic regression and analysis by log–linear models indicated that variations in surface material, stand composition, and estimated stand age played a role in the presence or absence of crowning at the stand level. However, it appears that height and density of stand, as well as topography, did not have a significant influence. Our study presents the variability of fire impacts and its implications, and it provides a better understanding of the relationships between landscape components and fire crowning. Résumé.Dans le cadre de l’étude de la dynamique de la for&ecircumflex;t boréale, une analyse d’un grand incendie a été réalisée. À la fin de l’été 1995, cet incendie a couvert un territoire de près de 500 km 2 dans la partie nord-ouest de la for&ecircumflex;t boréale québécoise. La distribution spatiale des impacts du feu sur la voute forestière a été obtenue à partir de cartes d’évaluation des dommages aux for&ecircumflex;ts causés par le feu. Dans la zone br&ucircumflex;lée, la gamme des impacts de l’incendie varie d’étendues où les arbres présentent des cimes complètement br&ucircumflex;lées (43%) à des secteurs où le feuillage des arbres est demeuré vert (3%). L’effet de facteurs biotiques et abiotiques sur l’occurrence d’un feu de cime a été établi à l’aide d’un système d’information géographique. Une régression logistique pas à pas et une analyse de modèles log-linéaires ont révélé que certaines modalités des dépôts de surface, de la composition et de l’âge du peuplement ont joué un rôle important dans l’occurrence d’un feu de cime au niveau du peuplement. Par contre, il semble que la hauteur et la densité du peuplement, ainsi que la topographie, n’aient pas eu d’effets significatifs. Notre étude met en lumière la variabilité et l’importance des impacts d’un incendie, tout en permettant de mieux comprendre la relation entre les composantes du territoire et le comportement des incendies.

Controlling Forest Damage by Dispersive Beaver Populations: Centralized Optimal Management Strategy.

The beaver (Castor canadensis) population in the United States has caused severe damage to valuable timberland through dam-building and flooding of bottomland forest. Traditionally, beavers have provided a source of livelihood to a small group of people. However, recent low pelt prices have failed to stimulate adequate trapping pressure, and thus have resulted in increased beaver populations and damage losses. The low trapping pressure has left the burden of nuisance control on property owners. Since beaver populations are mobile, beaver extermination in controlled parcels results in beaver immigration from neighboring less controlled parcels. Beaver migration from less controlled to controlled parcels imposes an external cost (negative diffusion externality) on the owners of controlled parcels because they must incur the future cost of trapping immigrating beavers. Unless all land owners agree to control the beaver population simultaneously, the diffusion externality can decrease the incentive of individual landowners to control nuisance beavers, thereby driving a wedge between social and private needs for such control. This study attempts to develop a bioeconomic model that incorporates dispersive population dynamics of beavers into the design of a cost-minimizing trapping strategy. Attention is focused on the situation where all landowners in a given habitat share a common interest in controlling beaver damages, and thus collectively agree to place the area-wide control decision in the hands of a public agency on a cost-sharing basis. The public manager is assumed to minimize the present value of combined timber damage and trapping costs over a finite period of time, subject to spatiotemporal dynamics of beaver population. These dynamics are summarized by a parabolic diffusive Volterra-Lotka partial differential equation, and the population control problem is cast in the framework of a distributed-parameter-control model. The cost-minimizing area-wide trapping model accounts for net migration at each location and time, and characterizes the beaver-control strategy that leaves sufficient beavers to strike an optimal balance between timber damage and trapping costs. The marginality condition governing this trade-off requires that avoided timber damage (measured as the imputed nuisance value, or "shadow price," of the beaver stock in the area) be balanced by trapping cost. The optimality system for this problem is solved numerically. The validity of the theoretical model is empirically examined using the bioeconomic data collected for the Wildlife Management Regions of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Empirical simulation generates discrete values for optimal beaver densities and trapping rates across all individual operational units over time. The optimal trapping program causes the initially uneven population distribution to eventually smooth out across the habitat. The sensitivity analysis alternates trapping-cost and timber-damage parameters between high and low values. Increased trapping costs decrease the level of trapping in the initial years of the optimal program, thereby leaving more beavers in the habitat. This triggers more intensive trapping during the later years of the program, requires more beavers to be trapped over the entire time horizon, and results in a higher overall program cost. Alternatively, increased timber-damage potential calls for increased trapping in the initial years of the program. Fewer beavers are maintained in the habitat and less trapping is required in the later years. Perhaps surprisingly, this results in a smaller number of beavers trapped over the entire time horizon.

Insect Damage to Timbers from the Indigenous Forests—Preliminary Results

SYNOPSIS Logs crosscut in the indigenous forests of the southern Cape were inspected for insect damage. The main timber species were Ocotea bullata, Podocarpus latifolius, P. falcatus, Rapanea melanophloeos, Olea capensis subsp. macrocarpa, Platylophus trifoliatus and the naturalised exotic Acacia melanoxylon. Some insects collected were identified as members of the families Scolytidae, Platypodidae, Cerambycidae and Buprestidae. The insects infestations were common but the severity of timber damage was low for the majority of tree species. The relative extent of bark and wood damage varied between species. Total damage varied significantly between depots. Insect damage, however, did not influence the price of the timber because of the low intensity of damage.

On the Economics of Timber Damage Appraisal for Public Forests

Abstract Damage appraisal is the basis for fire-suppression decisions. Where timber is managed for production of maximum site rent, appraisal is a rather straightforward matter of applying standard financial criteria in a "with and without" procedure. Where the aim is maximum mean annual increment, as it often is on public forests, this procedure may yield seemingly incongruous results: if the goals and constraints guiding management allow prorating a loss by substituting one part of the inventory for another, the value of the damage may be less than the value of the specific resource in the absence of any damage. This is a consequence of maximizing wood rather than value. Ignoring "with and without" in public decisionmaking may result in overexpenditure for fire suppression.

Dynamics of dense-snow avalanches interpreted from broken trees

Research Article| September 01, 1975 Dynamics of dense-snow avalanches interpreted from broken trees Arthur I. Mears Arthur I. Mears 1Natural Hazards Consultant to the Colorado Geological Survey, Denver, Colorado 80203 Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Author and Article Information Arthur I. Mears 1Natural Hazards Consultant to the Colorado Geological Survey, Denver, Colorado 80203 Publisher: Geological Society of America First Online: 02 Jun 2017 Online ISSN: 1943-2682 Print ISSN: 0091-7613 Geological Society of America Geology (1975) 3 (9): 521–523. https://doi.org/10.1130/0091-7613(1975)3<521:DODAIF>2.0.CO;2 Article history First Online: 02 Jun 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Search Site Citation Arthur I. Mears; Dynamics of dense-snow avalanches interpreted from broken trees. Geology 1975;; 3 (9): 521–523. doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/0091-7613(1975)3<521:DODAIF>2.0.CO;2 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietyGeology Search Advanced Search Abstract Mountain development in Colorado occasionally is done below slopes subject to snow avalanches. For such development, it is necessary to evaluate quantitatively the hazard, so that buildings may be designed for tolerable impact loads or the flowing snow may be avoided or diverted. The evaluation must usually be done by indirect methods because large avalanches are seldom observed.In this paper a method, which may be used in conjunction with existing equations of avalanche flow, to calculate the velocities and impact pressures associated with dense, flowing avalanches is discussed. The method is limited to slopes showing timber damage, a type common to proposed development. This content is PDF only. Please click on the PDF icon to access. First Page Preview Close Modal You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.