Given the vital role of forest ecosystems in landscape pattern and process, it is important to quantify the effects, feedbacks, and uncertainties associated with forest disturbance dynamics. In western North America, insects and wildfires are both native disturbances that have influenced forests for millennia, and both are projected to increase...
Silviculture systems that involve commercial thinning may provide higher quality wildlife habitat than traditional clearcut systems, yet such systems have not been vigorously tested. This prospective study examined forest floor animal abundance and habitat relationships under three different silviculture conditions: clearcuts, commercial thins, and uncuts. Eighteen stands, six per treatment,...
The Demonstration of Ecosystem Management Options (DEMO) study is a large-scale, multi-year, interdisciplinary project examining the effects of various levels and patterns of green-tree retention on multiple forest features. Six retention levels and patterns were examined and replicated across six blocks of predominately Douglas-fir forested land in western Oregon and...
Thinning of young Douglas-fir forests has the potential to enhance structural diversity and improve habitat for wildlife. I examined the effects of thinning and thinning intensity on abundance and demographic characteristics of forest-floor small mammals in the Coast Range of Oregon 5 and 6 years after thinning had occurred. Thinning...