Blue spruce (Picea pungens) and Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii) experience varying levels of spruce beetle (Dendroctonus rufipennis (Kirby)) colonization, yet the underlying differences and mechanisms resulting in lower colonization for blue spruce are not known. Both spruce species have important roles in subalpine ecosystems where examining changes in mortality, distribution,...
Parcellization of the rural landscape threatens the provision of social, ecological and economic benefits to society due to loss of economies of scale. A continued provision requires new approaches to forest management for multiple, interconnected goals. I used interviews, archival records and field measurements to learn how select, experienced owners...
Land management practices in much of the western US that included wildland fire suppression have led to greater fuel loads than has been typical of historical fire regimes. In response to the increased wildland fire risk, “restoration” has emerged as a forest management goal. Restoration involves removal of uncharacteristic amounts...
Wildland fires are an increasingly extensive, expensive, and frequent occurrence in dry forests of the western United States. Fuel reduction treatments are designed to reduce extreme fire behavior, promote resilient forest structure, and facilitate fire control efforts. Although there is widespread recognition that repeated treatments are needed to maintain desired...
Dataset contains a 2015 partial re-measurement of the Blue Mountains Fire and Fire Surrogate study. 8 plots were measured from each of the 16 units, selected
randomly from all plots in each unit. Species are recorded using USDA plant codes, "UNKN" is unknown species. For fine fuels, 3 Brown's transects...
Wildfire impacts have intensified in many ecosystems across the western United States due to the combined impact of fire exclusion, climate change, and land management practices. However, on many of these landscapes, fire is a fundamental ecological process that has shaped vegetation structural and compositional diversity, ecosystem function, landscape pattern,...