None of several types of chemotherapeutants applied before inoculation (antibiotics, metallic salts, systemic fungicides) prevented infection of sugar pine seedlings by white pine blister rust. DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide) did not enhance the action of any material with which it was applied.

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.

Nationally, there is growing public interest in and policy pressure for developing alternative and renewable sources of energy. Wind energy facilities in the Pacific Northwest expanded rapidly over the past decade, as a result of state policies that encourage wind energy development. While much of the development thus far has occurred on private lands, there is interest in expanding onto federal land. However, there are concerns about the impacts of wind energy on wildlife. Wind energy facilities have the potential to harm wildlife both directly through collisions with turbines and transmission lines, and indirectly by modifying habitat. This report synthesizes the available scientific literature on potential wind energy facility impacts to wildlife, with a focus on the Pacific Northwest (Oregon and Washington), and summarizes the current best management practices recommended in federal and state guidelines for wind energy development. Research gaps in our understanding of wind energy impacts on wildlife remain. Future research needs include long-term, multisite, experimental studies of wind energy impacts on wildlife, improved ability to estimate population-level and cumulative impacts of wind energy facilities on wildlife, and better knowledge of key wildlife species' migration and demography.

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.

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.

Interactions between forests, climatic change and the Earths carbon cycle are complex and represent a challenge for forest managers - they are integral to the sustainable management of forests. In this volume, a number of papers are presented that describe some of the complex relationships between climate, the global carbon cycle and forests.

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.

OWASHINGTON, D.C., JUNE 11, 2018—The USDA Forest Service today released a report that will serve as the scientific foundation for land management planning in western Washington, western Oregon, and northern California.

This guidebook describes major biological and physical attributes of the 243-ha(600-ac) North Fork Silver Creek Research Natural Area (RNA), Josephine County, Oregon.

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.

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.

Northwest Forest Plan—the first 20 years (1994-2013): status and trends of northern spotted owl habitats.

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.

As part of the 10-year socioeconomic monitoring of the Northwest Forest Plan, this report evaluates changes in Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) procurement contracting between 1990 and 2002 by asking, (1) How much and what kind of work did the Forest Service and BLM contract during this period, and (2) who received economic benefits from this procurement contracting? Procurement contracting is a particular focus of the socioeconomic monitoring because one expectation of the Northwest Forest Plan was that the Forest Service and BLM would create high-skill, high-wage private sector jobs in public land restoration through contracting to partially offset job losses in timber production, harvesting, and processing. This report finds that, to the contrary, the Forest Service reduced its contracting of land management activities on national forests in the Northwest Forest Plan area from a high of $103 million in 1991 to a low of $33 million in 2002. By contrast, BLM spending was fairly constant at just under $20 million annually. Both the Forest Service and the BLM changed the type of activities that they contracted, shifting from activities associated with intensive forest management such as tree planting in clearcuts to activities associated with ecosystem management. Contractors located near national forests and BLM lands and rural communities captured a similar proportion of contracts in both the earlier and later parts of the study period. However, the significant decline in Forest Service contract spending resulted in considerable decline in the amount of money flowing to rural communities through contracting. Thus, it is unlikely that federal land management contracting created a net increase in jobs to replace jobs lost in mills and logging operations in public lands communities.

Rangeland exclosures installed primarily in the 1960s, but with some from the 1940s, were resampled for changes in plant community structure and composition periodically from 1977 to 2004 on the Malheur, Umatilla, and Wallowa-Whitman National Forests in northeastern Oregon. They allow one to compare vegetation with all-ungulate exclusion (known historically as game exclosures), all-livestock exclusion (known historically as stock exclosures), and with no exclusion (known as open areas). Thirteen upland rangeland exclosures in northeastern Oregon were selected and are presented with plant community trend data and possible causes of changes over time. Key findings are that moderate grazing by native ungulates afforded by the livestock exclosures generally stimulated bunchgrasses to retain dominance and vitality; native bunchgrasses can replace invasive rhizomatous plants given a reduction in disturbance over time; shrubs increased without ungulate use in shrubland communities; and invasive annuals that established following severe disturbances to the grassland community diminished with aggressive competition from perennial bunchgrasses.

This is the second in a series of periodic monitoring reports on northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina) population and habitat trends on federally administered lands since implementation of the Northwest Forest Plan in 1994. Here we summarize results from a population analysis that included data from longterm demographic studies during 1985–2008. This data was analyzed separately by study area, and also in a meta-analysis across all study areas to assess temporal and spatial patterns in fecundity, apparent survival, recruitment, and annual rates of population change.

This report describes the evidence for invasion of Pacific Northwest streams by Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) that have escaped from marine salmon farms, and assesses the potential impact of farmed salmon invasion on native fishes inhabiting streams on National Forest System lands. The current risk to streams on National Forest lands in the Pacific Northwest from Atlantic salmon invasions appears to be low and is limited to a few areas in northwest Washington and southeast Alaska. However, long-term risks may be substantial if fish continue to escape from marine rearing pens or freshwater hatcheries. The two greatest threats appear to be that (1) Atlantic salmon could transmit a serious disease or parasite to native fishes, and (2) escaped salmon could eventually adapt to local conditions, leading to self-sustaining populations. If Atlantic salmon populations are eventually established, this species' preference for swiftly flowing stream habitats could facilitate competition with currently at-risk species such as steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss). This could result in a pattern of expansion similar to that observed in other nonnative aquatic plants and animals, in which a prolonged early colonization period is followed by a rapid phase of exponential growth as breeding populations adapt to local conditions.

During September 19-20, 2006, a conference was held at the University of Washington Botanic Gardens, Seattle, WA, with the title "Meeting the challenge: invasive plants in Pacific Northwest Ecosystems." The mission of the conference was to create strategies and partnerships to understand and manage invasions of non-native plants in the Pacific Northwest. The audience included over 180 professionals, students, and citizens from public and private organizations responsible for monitoring, studying, or managing non-native invasive plants. This proceedings includes twenty-seven papers based on oral presentations at the conference plus a synthesis paper that summarizes workshop themes, discussions, and related information. Topics include early detection and rapid response; control techniques, biology, and impacts; management approaches; distribution and mapping of invasive plants; and partnerships, education, and outreach.

The primary objectives of the effectiveness monitoring plan for the marbled murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus) include mapping baseline nesting habitat (at the start of the Northwest Forest Plan [the Plan]) and estimating changes in that habitat over time. Using vegetation data derived from satellite imagery, we modeled habitat suitability by using a maximum entropy model. We used Maxent software to compute habitat suitability scores from vegetation and physiographic attributes based on comparisons of conditions at 342 sites that were occupied by marbled murrelets (equal numbers of confirmed nest sites and likely nest sites) and average conditions over all forested lands in which the murrelets occurred. We estimated 3.8 million acres of higher suitability nesting habitat over all lands in the murrelet's range in Washington, Oregon, and California at the start of the Plan (1994/96). Most (89 percent) baseline habitat on federally administered lands occurred within reserved-land allocations. A substantial amount (36 percent) of baseline habitat occurred on nonfederal lands. Over all lands, we observed a net loss of about 7 percent of higher suitability potential nesting habitat from the baseline period to 2006/07. If we focus on losses and ignore gains, we estimate a loss of about 13 percent of the higher suitability habitat present at baseline, over this same period. Fire has been the major cause of loss of nesting habitat on federal lands since the Plan was implemented; timber harvest is the primary cause of loss on nonfederal lands. We also found that murrelet population size is strongly and positively correlated with amount of nesting habitat, suggesting that conservation of remaining nesting habitat and restoration of currently unsuitable habitat is key to murrelet recovery.

Once gathered only for subsistence and cultural purposes, wild huckleberries are now also harvested commercially. Drawing on archival research as well as harvester and producer interview and survey data, an inventory of North American wild huckleberry plant genera is presented, and the wild huckleberry harvesting patterns of early Native Americans and nonindigenous settlers are described. The social, technological, and environmental changes that gave rise to the commercial industry in the Pacific Northwest by the 1920s and the industry's demise after World War II are explained. The resurgence of the commercial wild huckleberry industry in the mid-1980s and national forest management issues related to the industry are presented as are possible strategies that land managers could develop to ensure wild huckleberry, wildlife, and cultural sustainability.

The Pacific Northwest Research Station launched a Biodiversity Initiative to assist natural resource professionals in integrating complex biodiversity concepts into natural resource management processes. We canvassed clients from various affiliations to determine the main challenges they face in biodiversity management, to define their information needs, and to understand how best to deliver biodiversity information within a collaborative framework. The biodiversity management challenges that emerged included (1) the lack of well-defined biodiversity management policies, (2) understanding and quantifying the interaction effects between a number of factors (e.g., disturbance types, management practices) and biodiversity, (3) the lack of applied biodiversity monitoring strategies, (4) difficulty in locating and accessing biodiversity information, and (5) balancing conflicting values relating to biodiversity. We also list the biodiversity information product needs of clients, as well as preferred technology transfer methods, and we discuss the future direction of the Biodiversity Initiative.

Find out the latest from the organisers of the North East's biggest sporting event of the year - the 13.1-mile route between Newcastle and South Shields

Here's how to take part in a virtual solo running challenge launched by the organisers of the Great North Run - and an update on the big event itself

NHS England announced that 207 more people died after testing positive for Covid-19 taking the total death toll in hospitals in England to 22,972

The design for a towering new tourist attraction known as the Elizabeth Landmark was selected in 2018, and divided public opinion

"The identification of this male is of vital importance to this investigation"

A total of 30,613 individuals have now been tested for the virus

Weather permitting, the string of satellites will be quite the sight over Northern Ireland's night sky

A further five deaths were recorded on Friday

The Department of Health released the latest figures this afternoon

ON TIME TRAFFIC NETWORK's COMMANDER CHUCK JOHNSON is now heard on NORTH MISSISSIPPI RADIO GROUP's stations, Classic Hits WOWW-A-W249BN (97.7 GUESS FM), Country WEBL (95.3 THE REBEL), … more

The retired Danish tennis star was once engaged to Holywood golfer Rory McIlroy

He admits to spending "around five hours a day" on the hit computer game

The Association is intent on having a new boss in place by July

The team at the UF/ IFAS Extension office show us how to create a pond, and fill it with native aquatic plants, to attract wildlife to our yards.

AHA COVID-19 newsroom     DALLAS, May 4, 2020 — The American Heart Association, together with 14 cardiovascular societies in North America, today issued joint guidance, “Safe Reintroduction of Cardiovascular Services during the COVID-19 Pandemic:...

A look at an unseen IDP camp (internally displaced persons) in northern Burma/Myanmar. A group of several hundred people from the Ta'ang ethnic group fled this year from fighting near their villages. This short film presents doubts and concerns of President's Thein Sein's peace plans with ethnic armed groups. With growing international attention and investment in Burma, it is important to hear from those most affected by conflict and questionable peace talks.

So many of us are going along on the path that we think we want, only to realize that something is missing. The same was true for today’s guest, Chelsea Yamase (@chelseakauai) who found herself heading into a potential career that was slowly killing her soul. Through a winding path of architecture, graphic design, journalism, and a myriad of side hustles, she found herself faced with the big question: pursue the unconventional life of your dreams or stick to a “real job”. She lept. Today, Chelsea is a sought after model, photographer, influencer and movement enthusiast from Hawaii with a focus on mindful living. She’s been featured in Travel and Leisure, Cosmopolitan, Condé Nast Traveler, to name a few, and and worked with numerous brands such as Canon USA, Adidas, Google, Athleta, GoPro, DJI Global and The National Parks Foundation. In this episode: How to give yourself structure that can help you take a leap into an unconventional lifestyle What can you make with what’s around you? Constraints are a path to creativity and a key gaining new perspectives As money and opportunities come in, how do you stay in alignment with your values and the work you really want […]

The post Finding True North with Chelsea Yamase appeared first on Chase Jarvis Photography.

At these gatherings in northeast Washington, the jackboot of tyranny is always said to be descending, the hand of the federal government always inches away from stealing your guns, your land, your freedom to speak or to pray.…

Northern Quest Resort & Casino is set to reopen Tuesday, albeit with strict social-distancing and other safety protocols in place, becoming the second regional casino to reopen after closures caused by the coronavirus. Resort officials expect a crowd due to pent-up interest in the community for getting out of the house (not to mention Cinco de Mayo).…

The Inlander is a community newspaper covering news, politics, events, happy hour, everything that's happening today, things to do on the weekend, in Spokane, Coeur d'Alene, the greater Inland Northwest and beyond.

The Showcase celebrity golf tournament attracts big-time athletes and pop stars each year.…

[IMAGE-1] It's not surprising the most popular destinations for Inlander readers in North Spokane involve shopping — NorthTown Mall and the Garland District were the top vote-getters in this year's poll — but looking at the overall results, one quickly realizes the region north of the river has a lot going on. Riverside State Park and the Little Spokane River were popular picks, too, along with Mt. Spokane Ski & Snowboard Park; clearly people love to get outside up north in between their trips to Bon Bon or Buffalo Wild Wings.…

Best Athlete KILLIAN TILLIE, GONZAGA BASKETBALL…

[IMAGE-1] Anticipation for the show by West Coast rap legend Snoop Dogg was clearly high (pun totally intended), since he sold out his gig at Northern Quest Resort & Casino so quickly that they added a second night. All told, Mr. D-O-Double-G sold darn near 10,000 tickets to his two shows that, combined, had him on stage for roughly two hours.…

AMC River Park Square…

For people who love playing, a day on the worst possible golf course is better than any day not swinging the clubs.…

One great thing about seeing "oldies" acts on tour is the vivid reminder you get that groups in the old days really knew how to serve their fans. Take the Commodores, for example, a group with a 52-year-history that swung by Northern Quest Resort & Casino Thursday night.…