Conservation of biodiversity serves a number of human needs, including maintenance of ecosystem services that are critical to the sustainability of all life. Effective biodiversity conservation will require better landowner incentives for restoration and protection of ecosystems. Many services produced from healthy, functioning landscapes are not well recognized in current conservation incentive structures, including sequestering or storing carbon in trees and soil, providing fish and wildlife habitat, filtering water, and reducing damages from natural disasters. Most existing incentive programs pay landowners to protect and restore a specific service rather than the suite of services produced from well-functioning ecosystems.

The United States, in partnership with 11 other countries, participates in the Montreal Process. Each country assesses national progress toward the sustainable management of forest resources by using a set of criteria and indicators agreed on by all member countries. Several indicators focus on nontimber forest products (NTFPs). In the United States, permit and contract data from the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management, in addition to several other data sources, were used as a benchmark to assess harvest, value, employment, exports and imports, per capita consumption, and subsistence uses for many NTFPs. The retail value of commercial harvests of NTFPs from U.S. forest lands is estimated at $1.4 billion annually. Nontimber forest products in the United States are important to many people throughout the country for personal, cultural, and commercial uses, providing food security, beauty, connection to culture and tradition, and income.

Provides current information on lumber and plywood production and prices; employment in the forest industries; international trade in logs, lumber, and plywood; volume and average prices of stumpage sold by public agencies; and other related items.

A gradient-analysis-based model and grid-based map are presented that use the potential vegetation zone as the object of the model. Several new variables are presented that describe the environmental gradients of the landscape at different scales. Boundary algorithms are conceptualized, and then defined, that describe the environmental boundaries between vegetation zones on the Olympic Peninsula, Washington, USA.

The concept of ecosystem services has emerged as a way of framing and describing the comprehensive set of benefits that people receive from nature. These include commonly recognized goods like timber and fresh water, as well as processes like climate regulation and water purification, and aesthetic, spiritual, and cultural benefits. The USDA Forest Service has been exploring use of the framework of ecosystem services as a way to describe goods and services provided by federal lands and attract and build partnerships with stakeholders and nongovernmental organizations. More recently, the agency has sought place-based example applications of the ecosystem service framework to explore its possible use as a tool to guide forest management, and better illustrate the concept for policymakers, managers, and potential national forest partners.

Climate change presents a major challenge to natural resource managers both because of the magnitude of potential effects of climate change on ecosystem structure, processes, and function, and because of the uncertainty associated with those potential ecological effects. Concrete ways to adapt to climate change are needed to help natural resource managers take the first steps to incorporate climate change into management and take advantage of opportunities to counteract the negative effects of climate change. We began a climate change adaptation case study at Olympic National Forest (ONF) in partnership with Olympic National Park (ONP) to determine how to adapt management of federal lands on the Olympic Peninsula, Washington, to climate change. The case study began in the summer of 2008 and continued for 1½ years. The case study process involved science-based sensitivity assessments, review of management activities and constraints, and adaptation workshops in each of four focus areas (hydrology and roads, fish, vegetation, and wildlife). The process produced adaptation options for ONF and ONP, and illustrated the utility of place-based vulnerability assessment and science-management workshops in adapting to climate change. The case study process provides an example for other national forests, national parks, and natural resource agencies of how federal land management units can collaborate in the initial stages of climate change adaptation. Many of the ideas generated through this process can potentially be applied in other locations and in other agencies.

Late-successional and old-growth (LSOG) monitoring characterizes the status and trends of older forests to answer such questions as: How much older forest is there? Where is it? How much has changed and from what causes? Is the Northwest Forest Plan (the Plan) maintaining or restoring older forest ecosystems to desired conditions on federal lands in the Plan area? This assessment is the second in a continuous monitoring cycle. We initially reported on LSOG status and trends from 1994 to 2003 in the "10-year report." This document, the mid-cycle "15-year report," updates the assessment to 2006 in Washington and Oregon and to 2007 in California. The next major assessment will be the 20-year report.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (the Recovery Act) aimed to create jobs and promote economic growth while addressing the Nation's social and environmental needs. The USDA Forest Service received $1.15 billion in economic recovery funding. This report contains key findings and lessons learned from a socioeconomic assessment of Forest Service Recovery Act projects. The assessment examines how Forest Service economic recovery projects at eight case-study locations around the United States are contributing to socioeconomic well-being in rural counties affected by the economic recession of 2007-2009. It also investigates how Forest Service mission-related work can be accomplished in a manner that creates local community development opportunities. This report is a companion to general technical report PNW-GTR-831, which contains the full case-study reports.

The Landscape Treatment Designer (LTD) is a multicriteria spatial prioritization and optimization system to help design and explore landscape fuel treatment scenarios. The program fills a gap between fire model programs such as FlamMap, and planning systems such as ArcFuels, in the fuel treatment planning process. The LTD uses inputs on spatial treatment objectives, activity constraints, and treatment thresholds, and then identifies optimal fuel treatment locations with respect to the input parameters.

The past decade has seen resurgence in interest in gathering wild plants and fungi in cities. In addition to gathering by individuals, dozens of groups have emerged in U.S., Canadian, and European cities to facilitate access to nontimber forest products (NTFPs), particularly fruits and nuts, in public and private spaces. Recent efforts within cities to encourage public orchards and food forests, and to incorporate more fruit and nut trees into street tree planting programs indicate a growing recognition among planners that gathering is an important urban activity.

Scientists have had little information about how prescribed fire and cattle grazing—common practices in many Western ponderosa pine forests—affect plant abundance and reproduction in the forest understory. Pacific Northwest Research Station scientists began to explore how these practices affect vegetation in a five-year study of postfire vegetation in eastern Oregon ponderosa pine forests where cattle have been routinely pastured from late June or early July through early to mid August. For this area of eastern Oregon, they found that excluding cattle grazing during peak growing season increased native plant cover and grass flowering capability in ungrazed areas compared to grazed areas. Because vegetation was measured prior to releasing cattle on the land, the study's results tend to reflect lasting grazing impacts rather than simple consumption.

Concerns about forest health and the threat of wildfire across the Western United States increasingly provide the impetus for communities to find land management solutions that serve multiple interests. Funding and procedural changes over the past decade have positioned federal agencies to put greater emphasis on multistakeholder partnerships and public outreach efforts. Partnerships build slowly over time, but can result in a healthier resource, reduced fire risk, greater stability for agency planning processes, and more resilient communities. Drawing on interviews with stakeholders representing broad interests in a partnership between the Northeast Washington Forestry Coalition and the Colville National Forest, we examine some of the critical factors leading to the partnership's success and identify challenges along the way. We illustrate how the citizens of Colville, Washington, overcame conflicts by learning to communicate their interests and use existing resources to advance a variety of goals, ranging from fuels reduction and active forest management to roadless area and wilderness management. We highlight a set of important organizational themes that have emerged from Colville to provide managers and other stakeholders with ideas for similar efforts.

Cofiring of biomass and coal at electrical generation facilities is gaining in importance as a means of reducing fossil fuel consumption, and more than 40 facilities in the United States have conducted test burns. Given the large size of many coal plants, cofiring at even low rates has the potential to utilize relatively large volumes of biomass. This could have important forest management implications if harvest residues or salvage timber are supplied to coal plants. Other feedstocks suitable for cofiring include wood products manufacturing residues, woody municipal wastes, agricultural residues, short-rotation intensive culture forests, or hazard fuel removals. Cofiring at low rates can often be done with minimal changes to plant handling and processing equipment, requiring little capital investment. Cofiring at higher rates can involve repowering entire burners to burn biomass in place of coal, or in some cases, repowering entire powerplants. Our research evaluates the current status of biomass cofiring in North America, identifying current trends and success stories, types of biomass used, coal plant sizes, and primary cofiring regions. We also identify potential barriers to cofiring. Results are presented for more than a dozen plants that are currently cofiring or have recently announced plans to cofire.

This report traces the flow of Oregon’s 2008 timber harvest through the primary timber processing industry and provides a description of the structure, operation, and condition of Oregon’s forest products industry as a whole. It is the second in a series of reports that update the status of the industry every 5 years. Based on a census conducted in 2009 and 2010, we provide detailed information about the industry in 2008, and discuss historical changes as well as more recent trends in harvest, production, and sales. To convey the severe market and economic conditions that existed in 2008, 2009, and 2010, we also provide updated information on the industry and its inputs and outputs through 2010.

National forest managers are charged with tackling the effects of climate change on the natural resources under their care. The Forest Service National Roadmap for Responding to Climate Change and the Climate Change Performance Scorecard require managers to make significant progress in addressing climate change by 2015. To help land managers meet this challenge, Forest Service scientists conducted three case studies on national forests and adjacent national parks and documented a wide range of scientific issues and solutions. They summarized the scientific foundation for climate change adaptation and made the information accessible to land managers by creating a climate change adaptation guidebook and web portal. Case study teams discovered that collaboration among scientists and land managers is crucial to adaptation planning, as are management plans targeted to the particular ecosystem conditions and management priorities of each region.

Provides current information on lumber and plywood production and prices; employment in the forest industries; international trade in logs, lumber, and plywood; volume and average prices of stumpage sold by public agencies; and other related items.

We monitored coarse woody debris dynamics and natural tree regeneration over a 14-year period after the 1991 Warner Creek Fire, a 3631-ha (8,972-ac) mixed severity fire in the western Cascade Range of Oregon. Rates for tree mortality in the fire, postfire mortality, snag fall, and snag fragmentation all showed distinct patterns by tree diameter and species, with Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco) more likely to survive a fire, and to remain standing as a snag, than other common tree species. Natural seedling regeneration was abundant, rapid, and highly variable in space. Densities of seedlings >10 cm height at 14 years postfire ranged from 1,530 to 392,000 per ha. Seedling establishment was not concentrated in a single year, and did not appear to be limited by the abundant growth of shrubs. The simultaneous processes of mortality, snag fall, and tree regeneration increased the variety of many measures of forest structure. The singular event of the fire has increased the structural diversity of the landscape.

This report documents the results from the first “5-year” round of understory responses to the Tongass-Wide Young-Growth Studies (TWYGS) treatments, especially in relation to their effects on food resources for black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus sitkensis). Responses of understory vegetation to precommercial silviculture experiments after their first 4 to 8 years posttreatment were analyzed with the Forage Resource Evaluation System for Habitat (FRESH)-Deer model. The studies were conducted in western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla)-Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) young-growth forests in southeast Alaska. All four TWYGS experiments were studied: (I) planting of red alder (Alnus rubra) within 1- to 5-year-old stands; (II) precommercial thinning at narrow and wide spacings (549 and 331 trees per hectare, respectively) in 15- to 25-year-old stands; (III) precommercial thinning at medium spacing (420 trees per hectare) with and without pruning in 25- to 35-yearold stands; and (IV) precommercial thinning at wide spacing (203 trees per hectare) with and without slash treatment versus thinning by girdling in >35-year-old stands. All experiments also included untreated control stands of identical age. FRESHDeer was used to evaluate the implications for deer habitat in terms of forage resources (species-specific biomass, digestible protein, and digestible dry matter) relative to deer metabolic requirements in summer (at two levels of requirements—maintenance only vs. lactation) and in winter (at six levels of snow depth).

The economic linkages between national forests and surrounding communities have become increasingly important in recent years. One way national forests contribute to the economies of surrounding communities is by attracting recreation visitors who, as part of their trip, spend money in communities on the periphery of the national forest. We use survey data collected from visitors to all units in the National Forest System to estimate the average spending per trip of national forest recreation visitors engaged in various types of recreation trips and activities. Average spending of national forest visitors ranges from about $33 per party per trip for local residents on day trips to more than $983 per party per trip for visitors downhill skiing on national forest land and staying overnight in the local national forest area. We report key parameters to complete economic contribution analysis for individual national forests and for the entire National Forest System.

This report is a compilation of six briefing papers based on literature reviews and syntheses, prepared for U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service policy analysts and decisionmakers about specific questions pertaining to climate change.

This guidebook contains science-based principles, processes, and tools necessary to assist with developing adaptation options for national forest lands. The adaptation process is based on partnerships between local resource managers and scientists who work collaboratively to understand potential climate change effects, identify important resource issues, and develop management options that can capitalize on new opportunities and reduce deleterious effects. Because management objectives and sensitivity of resources to climate change differ among national forests, appropriate processes and tools for developing adaptation options may also differ.

Indigenous populations are projected to face disproportionate impacts as a result of climate change in comparison to nonindigenous populations. For this reason, many American Indian and Alaska Native tribes are identifying and implementing culturally appropriate strategies to assess climate impacts and adapt to projected changes. Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), as the indigenous knowledge system is called, has the potential to play a central role in both indigenous and nonindigenous climate change initiatives. The detection of environmental changes, the development of strategies to adapt to these changes, and the implementation of sustainable land-management principles are all important climate action items that can be informed by TEK. Although there is a significant body of literature on traditional knowledge, this synthesis examines literature that specifically explores the relationship between TEK and climate change. The synthesis describes the potential role of TEK in climate change assessment and adaptation efforts. It also identifies some of the challenges and benefits associated with merging TEK with Western science, and reviews the way in which federal policies and administrative practices facilitate or challenge the incorporation of TEK in climate change initiatives. The synthesis highlights examples of how tribes and others are including TEK into climate research, education, and resource planning and explores strategies to incorporate TEK into climate change policy, assessments, and adaptation efforts at national, regional, and local levels.​

Existing models and predictions project serious changes to worldwide hydrologic processes as a result of global climate change. Projections indicate that significant change may threaten National Forest System watersheds that are an important source of water used to support people, economies, and ecosystems. Wildland managers are expected to anticipate and respond to these threats, adjusting management priorities and actions. Because watersheds differ greatly in: (1) the values they support, (2) their exposure to climatic changes, and (3) their sensitivity to climatic changes, understanding these differences will help inform the setting of priorities and selection of management approaches. Drawing distinctions in climate change vulnerability among watersheds on a national forest or grassland allows more efficient and effective allocation of resources and better land and watershed stewardship. Eleven national forests from throughout the United States, representing each of the nine Forest Service regions, conducted assessments of potential hydrologic change resulting from ongoing and expected climate warming. A pilot assessment approach was developed and implemented. Each national forest identified water resources important in that area, assessed climate change exposure and watershed sensitivity, and evaluated the relative vulnerabilities of watersheds to climate change. The assessments provided management recommendations to anticipate and respond to projected climate-hydrologic changes. Completed assessments differed in level of detail, but all assessments identified priority areas and management actions to maintain or improve watershed resilience in response to a changing climate. The pilot efforts also identified key principles important to conducting future vulnerability assessments.

"Essential travel does not include visits to second homes, camp sites, caravan parks or similar"

This list of recent publications and other products of the Pacific Northwest PNW Research Station is published four times a year. The first section shows items published by the PNW Research Station. The second section shows publications available elsewhere. In each section, items are grouped alphabetically by authors within categories. The list is available online and in pdf format.

The U.S. Forest Service's Pacific Northwest Research Station today released a new report that outlines a climate adaptation strategy for yellow-cedar in Alaska.

Moss growing on urban trees is a useful bio-indicator of cadmium air pollution in Portland, Oregon, a U.S. Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station-led study has found. The work—the first to use moss to generate a rigorous and detailed map of air pollution in a U.S. city—is published online in the journal Science of the Total Environment.

Information can be used to investigate air pollution in the city.

The U.S. Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest (PNW) Research Station today welcomed Dr. Felipe Sanchez as its acting Station Director. Sanchez replaces Robert Mangold, who retired last month after three years with the station.

First Forest Service researcher to receive honor.

The U.S. Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest (PNW) Research Station is pleased to announce the arrival of Matt Rollins as the Threat Characterization and Management (TCM) Program Manager.

This report provides new cost estimates for carbon sequestration through afforestation in the United States. We extend existing studies of carbon sequestration costs in several important ways, while ensuring the transparency of our approach. We clearly identify all components of our cost estimates so that other researchers can reconstruct our results as well as use our data for other purposes. Our cost estimates have five distinguishing features: (1) we estimate costs for each county in the contiguous United States; (2) we include afforestation of rangeland, in addition to cropland and pasture; (3) our opportunity cost estimates account for capitalized returns to future development (including associated option values) in addition to returns to agricultural production; (4) we develop a new set of forest establishment costs for each county; and (5) we incorporate data on Holdridge life zones to limit afforestation in locations where temperature and moisture availability prohibit forest growth. We find that at a carbon price of $50/ton, approximately 200 million tons of carbon would be sequestered annually through afforestation. At a price of $100/ton, an additional 100 million tons of carbon would be sequestered each year. Our estimates closely match those in earlier econometric studies for relatively low carbon prices, but diverge at higher carbon prices. Accounting for climatic constraints on forest expansion has important effects on cost estimates.

Carbon storage and flux estimates for the two national forests in Alaska are provided using inventory data from permanent plots established in 1995–2003 and remeasured in 2004–2010. Estimates of change are reported separately for growth, sapling recruitment, harvest, mortality, snag recruitment, salvage, snag falldown, and decay. Although overall aboveground carbon mass in live trees did not change in the Tongass National Forest, the Chugach National Forest showed a 4.5 percent increase. For the Tongass National Forest, results differed substantially for managed and unmanaged forest: managed lands had higher per-acre rates of sequestration through growth and recruitment, and carbon stores per acre that were higher for decomposing downed wood, and lower for live trees and snags. The species composition of carbon stores is changing on managed lands, with a carbon mass loss for yellow-cedar but increases for red alder and Sitka spruce. On unmanaged lands, the Chugach National forest had carbon mass increases in Sitka spruce and white spruce, and the Tongass National Forest had increases in western redcedar and red alder.

This handbook and financial app is a guide to help communities quickly determine if biomass energy projects might work for them so that this option is not overlooked. Its purpose is as a screening tool designed to save significant time, resources, and investment by weeding out those wood energy projects that may never come to fruition from those that have a chance of success. It establishes technical, financial, and social criteria and indicators to evaluate proposed biomass investment options. Through showcasing of successful projects using text, photos, video interviews, and diagrams, it facilitates virtual project planning and interaction with experts. The interactive wood energy financial app allows estimation of capital investment costs to facilitate project design and screening across a variety of wood energy options. The calculator can be accessed from the eBook or from the Web.

The North Cascadia Adaptation Partnership (NCAP) is a science-management partnership consisting of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service Mount Baker-Snoqualmie and Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forests and Pacific Northwest Research Station; North Cascades National Park Complex; Mount Rainier National Park; and University of Washington Climate Impacts Group.

We developed a process to address terrestrial wildlife species for which management for ecosystem diversity may be inadequate for providing ecological conditions capable of sustaining viable populations. The process includes (1) identifying species of conservation concern, (2) describing source habitats, and other important ecological factors, (3) organizing species into groups, (4) selecting surrogate species for each group, (5) developing surrogate species assessment models; (6) applying surrogate species assessment models to evaluate current and historical conditions, (7) developing conservation considerations, and (8) designing monitoring and adaptive management. Following the application of our species screening criteria, we identified 209 of 700 species as species of concern on National Forest System lands east of the Cascade Range in Washington state. We aggregated the 209 species of conservation concern into 10 families and 28 groups based primarily on their habitat associations (these are not phylogenetic families). We selected 32 primary surrogate species (78 percent birds, 17 percent mammals, 5 percent amphibians) for application in northeastern Washington, based on risk factors and ecological characteristics. Our assessment documented reductions in habitat capability across the assessment area compared to historical conditions. We combined management considerations for individual species with other surrogate species to address multiple species. This information may be used to inform land management planning efforts currently underway on the Okanogan-Wenatchee and Colville National Forests in northeastern Washington.

On February 4, 2014, a seven-member expert panel provided objective technical information on the potential effectiveness and feasibility of activities to manage raptors (northern harriers and great horned owls) to aid the recovery of western snowy plovers.

We reviewed the literature to synthesize what is known about the use of fire to maintain and restore oak forests, woodlands, and savannas of the upper Midwestern United States, with emphasis on Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan.

This report addresses the need for developing consistent regional guidelines for stand-level management that integrates goals and objectives for dry forest restoration and habitat management for the northern spotted owl.

A conservation and management strategy for yellow-cedar in Alaska is presented in the context of climate change.

Sitka, Alaska, has substantial hydroelectric resources, limited driving distances, and a conservation-minded community, all suggesting strong opportunities for achieving a low community carbon footprint.

Understanding the capacity to reduce wildfire risk and restore dry forests on Western national forests is a key part of prioritizing new accelerated restoration programs initiated by the Forest Service.

If you’re a local businessperson, an entrepreneur, a tribal partner, a community organizer; a decision-maker for a school district, college, or hospital; a government leader; a project developer; an industry leader; or an equipment manufacturer, the Alaska Community Handbook will be helpful to you.

Cities have become more committed to ecological restoration and management activities in urban natural areas.

Over the past decade, wood-energy use in Alaska has grown dramatically.

These proceedings report invited presentations and contributions to the 2015 Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Symposium, which was hosted by the Research and Development branch of the U.S. Forest Service.

The Aquatic and Riparian Effectiveness Monitoring Program focuses on assessing the degree to which federal land management under the aquatic conservation strategy (ACS) of the Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP) has been effective in maintaining and improving watershed conditions. We used stream sampling data and upslope/riparian geographic information system (GIS) and remote-sensing data to evaluate condition for sixth-field watersheds in each aquatic province within the NWFP area.

The Aquatic Conservation Strategy (ACS) of the Northwest Forest Plan guides management of riparian and aquatic ecosystems on federal lands in western Oregon, western Washington, and northern California.

Moss accumulates pollutants from the atmosphere and can serve as an inexpensive screening tool for mapping air quality and guiding the placement of monitoring instruments. We measured 22 elements using 346 moss samples collected across Portland, Oregon, in December 2013.