A contingent valuation methodology was applied to old-growth forests and critical habitat units for the Northern Spotted Owl in Oregon to esimate the economic value to the public in knowing that rare and unique ecosystems will be protected from fire for current and future generations. Generalizing to the whole state,...
Arsenic concentrations exceeding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) current Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) of 50 micrograms per liter are widespread in ground water in the Willamette Basin. The Oregon Water Resources Department and the U.S. Geological Survey began a cooperative study in the Willamette Basin in 1996. One goal...
This biological assessment (BA) documents the potential effects of existing Forest Service (FS) Land and Resource Management Plans (LRMPs), or 'Forest Plans' and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Land Use Plans (LUPs) on the Canada Lynx (Lynx canadensis), hereafter referred to as the lynx. LRMPs and LUPs are collectively referred...
On March 24, 1999, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) published its final decision to list the Upper Willamette River evolutionarily significant unit (ESU) of chinook salmon as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The effective date for the final listing was May 24, 1999, and the ESU is...
Chinook salmon are the largest of any of the salmon in Oregon. Mature fish range from less than 2 pounds to more than 70 pounds. In the late 1800s, chinook salmon were almost the only species taken for canning in the Columbia River, with production peaking at 43 million pounds...
Metro received grant funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 1995 to gather digital, or computerized, geographic data for the Clackamas River watershed. This atlas was produced as one way to share the information collected with resource managers, policy makers, and people living in and interested in the Clackamas...
Coastal cutthroat trout is one of three cutthroat subspecies found in Oregon. The coastal subspecies, which is closely related to steelhead/rainbow trout and Pacific salmon, displays the most diverse and flexible life history of any of the Oregon salmonids. Coastal cutthroat can be found in streams and rivers from the...
Anglers and naturelovers prize steelhead trout for their mystique and power. Oregon has two subspecies of steelhead (so-called because of the metallic appearance of maturing adults) or rainbow trout: a coastal form and an inland form.
Coho salmon have been the most important variety of salmon caught commercially in Oregon. Until recently, coho were also the most common variety in most coastal streams. Based on records from salmon canneries, coho in Oregon north of Cape Blanco (near Port Orford) numbered about 1.25 million adults annually 100...
The authors varied the number of red alder retained with 300 Douglas-fir per acre on a high-quality site in coastal Oregon. Alder densities of 0, 20, 40, and 80 per acre were tested. The authors' fifth treatment eliminated nitrogen-fixing alder, but substantial nitrogen fertilizer. Treatment 6 had neither thinning nor...
An analysis of lumber prices provided regressions for price trends during the period 1971-95 for composite lumber grades of major timber species found in the Pacific Northwest west of the crest of the Cascade Range. The analysis included data for coastal Douglas-fir and hem-fir lumber; coastal and inland Pacific Northwest...
Off-channel features such as alcoves and side channels can have important ecological functions for large rivers such as the Willamette River. Some species and age classes of fish may select these features instead of the main channel to feed, avoid predation by other fish, escape fast water, or seek out...
Little research has been directed toward determining the status and ecological role of riparian areas in agricultural landscapes of the Willamette Valley, Oregon. A research project has been designed to contribute to the development and evaluation of alternative future scenarios and to improve the basic understanding of the role of...
Fire history from years 1150 to 1985 was reconstructed by analyzing forest stands in two 1940-hectare areas in the central-western Cascade Range of Oregon. Serving as records for major fire episodes, these stands revealed a highly variable fire regime. The steeper, more dissected, lower elevation Cook-Quentin study area experienced more...
Repeated thinning to five growing-stock levels resulted in widely differing tree sizes and volumes per acre after 30 years. Largest trees but the least cubic-volume yield per acre were produced in the heaviest thinning level, whereas highest board-foot yields were found in intermediate thinning levels. partial defoliation by larch casebearer...
The Oregon Department of Forestry, in cooperation with the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development, offers this publication as a guide for cities and counties to use in the development of urban forest practice regulations.
Corvallis scientists report on a multi-organization study that looked at biodiversity as a two stage problem. The first stage is finding those places over a region of study that have the greatest combined biodiversity, and the second stage is studying those important places to see what effects changes in land...
Six high-use destination areas were studied in the Alpine Lakes, Mount Jefferson, and Three Sisters Wildernesses in Washington and Oregon. Exit interviews were conducted with visitors, and recreation impacts and visitor encounter rates between groups were quantified. Encounter rates were extremely high and impacts were substantial but localized. Visitors were...
We compared the potential fire behavior and smoke production of historical and current time periods based on vegetative conditions in forty-nine 5100- to 13 500-hectare watersheds in six river basins in eastern Oregon and Washington. Vegetation composition, structure, and patterns were attributed and mapped from aerial photographs taken from 1932...
This report presents results of an investigation of water and streambed-sediment quality in selected tributaries of the South Umpqua River. Concentrations of inorganic constituents in water (major and minor ions, nutrients, and trace elements) and streambed sediment (primarily trace elements), along with standard field parameters, are tabulated for samples collected...
This analysis was performed for two reasons: 1) the KWG needed a way to focus and synthesize the results of applied research on the condition and trends of natural resources, and the factors affecting those resources; and 2) a detailed watershed analysis was needed to supplement watershed assessments planned for...
The purpose of this pilot program was to determine whether or not forward looking infrared (FLIR) videography could be used to develop thermal maps of the mainstem Klamath River to access habitat limitations due to high stream temperatures for fall chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha).
Seedlings were thinned to spacings of 5, 9, 12, 15, and 18 feet and measured periodically. Twenty-seven years after treatment, quadratic mean diameters increased curvilinearity (p < or = 0.05) as spacing increased, but total height did not differ significantly (p < or = 0.05) with spacing. Corresponding basal areas...
The Lower Alsea River Watershed Analysis contains information which characterizes the processes and trends for resources of concern, and provides a context relating the function of this lower portion of the watershed to the Alsea River Basin as a whole. Critical problem areas both inside and outside federal lands are...
This report presents the concentrations of major ions, nutrients, and trace elements in water and bottom sediments collected in the four-tributaries during the low-flow condition of September 9-13, 1996. Stream-water chemistry results are contrasted, and trace-element concentrations compared with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency chronic aquatic life toxicity criteria. Bottom -sediment...
Experimental prescriptions compare agroforestry systems designed to increase financial returns from high-elevation stands in the southern Oregon Cascade Range. The prescriptions emphasize alternative approaches for joint production of North American matsutake mushrooms (also known as North American pine mushrooms; Tricholoma magnivelare) and high-quality timber. Other agroforestry byproducts from the system...
As the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management turn toward ecosystem and adaptive models of forest stewardship, they are being called on to develop meaningful and lasting relations with citizens. These new management styles require not only improved strategies for public involvement but also methods to examine the...
The goal of this project is to recommend a broadly-acceptale efficient and effective methodology for characterizing streamside riparian attributes in forested settings at the site grain for regional monitoring. The authors consider monitoring design in the context of three interacting constraints: ecological functions, capabilities of technologies, and user needs. The...
Watershed assessment is a process for evaluating how well a watershed is working. The purpose of this assessment was to determine how natural and human-induced changes have impacted the sustainability of salmon populations in the Nehalem River Watershed. Both historical and current information is included regarding the watershed’s ability to...
[v. 1. Text] -- [v. 2]. Summary of state agency measures -- [v. 3]. Land use designation and regulation -- [v. 4]. Watershed councils -- [v. 5]. Watershed projects -- [v. 6]. Science team information and products -- [v. 7]. Information related to habitat restoration projects -- [v. 8]. Responses...
Based on oral interviews with tribal informants, current and former state and federal fisheries personnel, review of records and literature, and presence/absence sampling, it is apparent that Pacific lamprey were once abundant in ceded area streams of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (John Day, Umatilla, Walla Walla, Tucannon, and Grande Ronde...
Mixed-conifer stands of grand fir (Abies grandis (Dougl. ex D. Don) Lindl., Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca (Beissn.) Franco), and ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Dougl. ex Laws.) were fertilized with nitrogen and combination treatments of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and sulfur to test their effects on trees and associated insects during...
This book is a guide to the plant associations of the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area. It includes general descriptions of the physical and biological setting of the Recreation Area: its climate, geology, landscape; soils, wildlife, and ecological processes. Analysis of quantitative field data identified 52 plant associations occurring in...
The purposes of this report are to describe the quality of shallow ground water in alluvial aquifers of the Willamette Basin and to identify relationships between shallow ground-water quality and various natural and anthropogenic factors. Several natural and anthropogenic factors (soil characteristics, cumulative thickness of clay above open interval of...
We describe concepts, rationale, and analytical procedures for characterizing physical habitat in wadeable streams based on raw data generated from methods similar or equal to those of Kaufmann and Robison (in PB99-139156). We provide guidance for calculating measures or indices of stream size and gradient, sinuosity, substrate size and stability,...
Throughout the Applegate watershed, dense, overstocked, immature stands of mixed
conifers and hardwoods and declining stands of mature conifers present significant
and complex silvicultural problems. Stand stagnation is common, as is loss of largediameter
conifers from insects and wildfire. Treatments designed to maintain or
encourage development of large-diameter conifers have...
A pandora moth (Coloradia pandora Blake) outbreak began in 1991 in a ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Dougl. ex. Laws) spacing study area that also included scattered sugar pine (P. lambertiana Dougl). The relation of defoliation to five tree spacings (with and without understory vegetation) was examined, and stand growth reduction...
This document presents information from various land managers and researchers to guide livestock management in riparian areas using their unique responsiveness to accomplish management objectives. Riparian areas, as interfaces between the aquatic and upland components of the ecosystem comprise mosaics of landforms, communities, and environments within the larger landscape. The...
The objective of this Biological Opinion (BO) is to determine whether the action to restore emergent vegetation to wetlands on Sauvie Island is likely to jeopardize the continued existence of Upper Willamette River chinook salmon and Lower Columbia river chinook salmon or destroy, or adversely modify proposed critical habitat.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has worked cooperative with the Unified Sewerage Agency of Washington County (USA) since 1990 to assess water quality in the Tualatin River Basin. The objectives of this study were to: assess the occurrence and magnitude of trace element and selected organic contaminants in streams of...