In the face of rapid environmental and cultural change, orthodox concepts in restoration ecology such as historical
fidelity are being challenged. Here we re-examine the diverse roles played by historical knowledge in restoration,
and argue that these roles remain vitally important. As such, historical knowledge will be critical in shaping...
We sought to determine 1) the relationship between seedling
establishment rates of target native prairie species and field
levels of three soil nutrients (phosphate, nitrate, and ammonium)
recorded in fall, winter, and summer, 2) the effect of fire on
these three nutrients, and 3) the overall effect of fire on...
This report describes results of baseline monitoring at the Ni-les’tun tidal wetland restoration site, Bandon National Wildlife Refuge, Coquille River estuary of Oregon. Baseline monitoring provides a basis for comparison to post-restoration conditions, allowing future determination of project effectiveness. The report focuses on 2010-2011 baseline data, but it also includes...
Slickspots are soil inclusions with unique loamy soils that provide habitats for many endemic plants worldwide, including those within sagebrush steppe. Sagebrush-dominated communities are declining and require restoration, but restoration techniques commonly used may impact negatively some intermixed communities found on soil inclusions including those on slickspot soils. Slickspot soils...
Western juniper (Juniperus occidentalis ssp.
occidentalis Hook) encroachment into mountain big sagebrush
(Artemisia tridentata spp. vaseyana (Rydb.) Beetle)
steppe has reduced livestock forage production, increased
erosion risk, and degraded sagebrush-associated wildlife
habitat. Western juniper has been successfully controlled
with partial cutting followed by prescribed burning the next
fall, but the...
Streams make up only one percent of the watershed. Nonetheless, they are an essential component to watershed health. Streams are home to wildlife and fish. Well-functioning streams contribute to water quantity and quality. And streams play an important role in flood and erosion control.
Restoration to achieve Stage 0 is a valley-scale, process-based (hydrologic, geologic and biological) approach that aims to reestablish stream depositional environments to maximize longitudinal, lateral, and vertical connectivity at base flows and facilitate development of dynamic, self-formed and self-sustaining wetland-stream complexes. The term Stage 0 originally described complex multi-channel conditions...
Relatively recent increases in ponderosa pine abundance have effected unprecedented changes to ecosystem structure and function. Efforts to restore ponderosa pine systems are often focused on the manipulation of tree structure and the re-introduction of a more natural fire regime. Successful restoration should also incorporate understory components but information addressing...
Biological plant invasions are diminishing the ecological integrity and function of ecosystems worldwide. A primary example of this is in the Great Basin of the United States, where invasive annual grasses, like cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum L.) and medusahead (Taeniatherum caput-medusae L. Nevski), are dominating many sagebrush-steppe ecosystems. In these invaded...
Riparian ecosystems play numerous and essential roles related to the quality and
flow of water, and food/habitat for fish, and varieties of wildlife. Due to lateral and linear linkages throughout the landscape, these zones influence the integrity of the terrestrial as well as the entire aquatic-riverine ecosystem. Since Euro-American settlement...
Within the sagebrush steppe ecosystem, invasive annual grasses are of growing management concern as they outcompete native vegetation, change the fundamental nutrient cycling processes, decrease biodiversity, and increase frequency of wildfires. The most widely used and effective management tool to decrease invasive annual grass abundance, is the use of pre-emergent...
Increased demands on our coastal ecosystems, due to increased
development, over-fishing and population growth are threatening many
environmental goods and the amenities associated with these well
functioning ecosystems. Few to no markets exist for ecosystem services,
such as those provided by healthy sea grass beds or water quality benefits
associated...
Riparian vegetation is an essential component for the maintenance and/or repair of channel stability and function. Sedges within low-gradient riparian systems provide the structure necessary for sediment trapping leading to channel narrowing through bank building processes. Planting success in riparian restoration projects has often failed due to inappropriate species selection,...
Reducing the cover of non-native species is one of the challenges of ecosystem restoration. The goal of this study is to identify native species traits that will increase native species cover and reduce non-native species cover in the first growing season at upland and wetland prairie restoration sites. Native and...
The practice of modern silviculture on U.S. public lands has been stymied by a legacy of litigation and policy changes since the late 20th century. Forestry in the 1980s was focused on physical science strategies and failed to consider the social complexities of multi-use forest management. Emblematic of the challenges...
The Willamette Valley (Oregon) Prairie Plant Trait Dataset is a compilation of plant traits of species important in upland prairies, wetland prairies, vernal pools, and emergent wetlands, and in the restoration of prairies and wetlands of the Willamette Valley of Oregon. These species are also found widely throughout the Pacific...
"This report is organized as follows. First, the
objectives and methods used are outlined. Background
information follows, including what is known about the
extent, past alterations, and condition of wetlands in
Oregon today; the status of wetland restoration in the U.S.
and in Oregon; definitions of important terms; the functions...
The widespread fragmentation, channelization, and simplification of river ecosystems has had acute environmental impacts, including degradation of water quality and habitat and biodiversity loss (Vörösmarty et al., 2010). These concerns have incited an increased focus on reestablishing ecological and hydrogeomorphological functions and improving habitat that has been lost in riverine...
The semi-arid sagebrush steppe ecosystem is one of the largest biomes in
North America. The steppe provides critical habitat and forage for wildlife and is
economically important to recreation and livestock industries. However, the ecosystem
is threatened primarily due to several negative effects associated with expansion of the
exotic annual...
Reforestation-based restoration of severely burnt plantations is one of the primary management activities following wildfire on U.S. federal lands. Restoration effects on early-seral plant and cryptogam communities have not been documented. The objectives of this study were, in severely burnt plantations two to four years post-fire, to examine the: (1)...
On April 18 and 19, 2006, the Independent Multidisciplinary Science Team (IMST) and the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB) jointly convened a technical workshop in Corvallis, Oregon on effectiveness monitoring of aquatic habitat and watershed restoration activities. The immediate goal of the workshop was to create an opportunity for monitoring...
Medusahead (Taeniatherum caput-medusae [L.] Nevski) is an exotic annual grass invading western rangelands. Successful
revegetation of invaded-plant communities can be prohibitively expensive because it often requires iterative applications of
integrated control and revegetation treatments. Prescribed burning has been used to control medusahead and prepare seedbeds
for revegetation, but burning has...
Wyoming big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata ssp. wyomingensis [Beetle & A. Young] S.L. Welsh) plant communities with degraded native herbaceous understories occupy vast expanses of the western United States. Restoring the native herbaceous understory in these communities is needed to provide higher-quality wildlife habitat, decrease the risk of exotic plant invasion,...
Question: Most results of restoration efforts are species-specific and/or site-specific and therefore are not general enough to be easily applied to other species and other sites. Our research addresses the issue of species-specific results by investigating the feasibility of using plant traits instead of taxonomic species to characterize species responses...
The practice of river and stream restoration has
increased with heightened environmental concerns and
awareness. Many of these projects use structural
modifications in an attempt to mimic natural landscapes.
These structural modifications represent an active approach
to river and stream restoration. Active restoration
projects are well funded and extensively constructed....
This report documents vegetation monitoring and mapping conducted by Green Point Consulting during summer 2006 at six tidal wetland restoration and reference sites in the Siletz Bay National
Wildlife Refuge of Oregon, and the upper Yaquina River estuary (near Toledo, Oregon). Vegetation at all sites except one had been monitored...
Despite relatively mild weather, black bears (Ursus americanus)
in southwestern Washington entered dens and remained for an average
of 126 days. Bears entered their dens during a 5-week period which
began on 21 October. A significant difference (P < 0.05) was found
among the average dates of den entrance of...
It is generally accepted in stream ecology that habitat heterogeneity and patchiness at multiple scales increases ecosystem resilience through niche diversification. Heterogeneous stream habitats include a complex mosaic of hydraulic features, large woody debris, anabranches, substrata and channel forms - this complexity tends to increase as streams progress towards later...
Pacific salmon are an integral part of ecosystems, industry, culture, and food source. Rapid declines and extirpation in many populations and species have caught the interest of environmentalists, scientists, recreational anglers, commercial fishers, general public, and economists. Billions of dollars have been spent to restore, return, improve, sustain dwindling populations...
This publication is for people involved in the important task of rehabilitating and restoring Oregon’s threatened or degraded habitats. Growing numbers of private landowners, local organizations, and government entities are embarking on projects to restore the health or function of their riparian areas, wetlands, prairies, savannas, and other habitats. Choosing...
North American beavers (Castor canadensis) are ecological engineers that improve biodiversity and can improve the health of riparian ecosystems. Beavers are generalist herbivores with some evidence of species preference, utilizing woody material for both food source and dam construction. In the South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve, Charleston, Oregon, a...
Habitat for pollinating insects is declining, which is a concern for agricultural communities that rely on pollination services. Meanwhile, solar energy development is increasing as communities seek to source energy renewably. Land under solar panels is traditionally unused, so some communities are planting pollinator habitat under solar panel canopies to...
For the past decades, around 20% of the natural coral reefs were lost and > 20% more is currently deteriorating. Due to the recognition of positive impact to fishery resources enhancement by artificial
reefs (ARs) deployment, Taiwanese government has started deploying ARs as a measure to improve the environment of...
The spatial ecology of a species is a vital component of informed management and restoration plans, yet little is known about how animals use restored or constructed habitat. We assessed home ranges, core areas, and habitat selection of the federally threatened Giant Gartersnake (Thamnophis gigas) using rice agricultural habitat and...
The Olympia oyster is a foundation species that increases habitat structure for associate species in estuarine systems of the Pacific Coast of North America (Kimbro & Grosholz, 2006). This oyster provides ecosystem services in the form of water filtration (zu Ermgassen et al., 2013), habitat for commercially valuable species such...
Freshwater wetlands in the Sacramento Valley provide breeding, wintering, foraging and stopover habitat for migratory and resident birds. With a loss of 95% of historic freshwater wetlands, the restoration of wetlands on private land could provide important habitat for birds. Documentation and monitoring of bird use on previously restored wetlands...
The Altar Valley is an important working landscape that supports biodiversity and vulnerable species in Pima County, Arizona (Huckelberry 2000). This semi-desert grassland, alluvial valley and 713,807-acre watershed composed of 39 subbasins serves as an aquifer to a portion of southwestern Tucson. This region of Southern Arizona has been identified...
The social sciences have the capacity to contribute to natural resource management through investigations of human dynamics associated with the environment. Sense of place (SOP), the formed relationships between an individual and the environment, has been considered a fundamental aspect of human well-being and can contribute to more holistic understanding...
The use of native plants in restoration and afforestation has increased worldwide as their benefits to habitat quality, ecosystem services and local community well-being become widely known. In many restoration and afforestation sites, the most cost-effective and efficient way to establish plants is to use seedlings. Unfortunately, there is a...
The Southern Oregon Forest Restoration Collaborative (SOFRC), the Model Forest Policy Program (MFPP) and the Rogue River-Siskiyou Forest Service (RRSFS) have a shared vision to enhance the resiliency of our communities and forests. In 2012, the Collaborative took the leadership role to engage in the Climate Solution’s University (CSU) Plan...
Monotypic stands of crested wheatgrass (Agropyron cristatum [L] Gaertm. and Agropyron desertorum [Fisch.] Schult.), an
introduced grass, occupy vast expanses of the sagebrush steppe. Efforts to improve habitat for sagebrush-associated wildlife by
establishing a diverse community of native vegetation in crested wheatgrass stands have largely failed. Instead of concentrating
on...
In ecological restoration, species that are sown to increase the native plant
diversity range in establishment ability. Some species readily establish, while others
rarely do. This study set out to investigate some of the potential processes influencing
species establishment, as well as the traits that are associated with the success...
Crested wheatgrass (Agropyron cristatum [L] Gaertm) has been seeded on more than 5 million hectares in western North America because it establishes more readily than native bunchgrasses. Currently, there is substantial interest in reestablishing native species in sagebrush steppe, but efforts to reintroduce native grasses into crested wheatgrass stands have...
Restoration of invaded aridlands is required to reduce the exorbitant ecological and monetary losses related to noxious weeds. An understanding of how reduced and increased levels of soil N and P influence interference between medusahead and squirreltail is imperative to understanding how squirreltail may be used in restoration of medusahead...
Because invasive annual grasses can strongly influence soil resource availability and disturbance regimes to favor their own
persistence, there is a great need to understand the interrelationships among invasive plant abundance, resource availability, and
desirable species prominence. These interrelationships were studied in two salt desert sites where the local abundance...