Conservation measures for aquatic species throughout the Pacific Northwest rely heavily on maintaining forested riparian zones. A key rationale for this strategy is that the presence of standing and downed trees next to streams will provide a continuous source of wood, which is an important structural component of aquatic habitat.

The condition of aquatic habitat and the health of aquatic species, particularly salmon, are a significant concern in the Pacific Northwest. Land management agencies use fish and riparian guidelines intended to maintain or improve aquatic habitat.

Participatory (collaborative, multiparty, citizen, volunteer) monitoring is a process that has been increasing in popularity and use in both developing and industrialized societies over the last several decades. It reflects the understanding that natural resource decisions are more effective and less controversial when stakeholders who have an interest in the results are involved in the process. An adequate number of such projects have now been organized, tried, and evaluated such that sufficient information exists to recommend a comprehensive approach to implementing such processes. This handbook was written for managers and scientists in the United States who are contemplating a participatory approach to monitoring biological resources, especially biodiversity. It is designed as a how-to manual with discussions of relevant topics, checklists of important considerations to address, and resources for further information. Worksheets for developing, implementing, and evaluating a monitoring plan are posted on a companion Web site. The subject matter is divided into 3 stages of a monitoring project encompassing a total of 22 topical modules. These modules can be used in any sequence on an ongoing basis. Stages and modules include (1) planning-documentation, goals, indicators, collaboration, decisions, context, organization, participants, communication, incentives, design, and resources; (2) implementation-training, safety, fieldwork, sampling, data, and quality; and (3) followthrough-analysis, reporting, evaluation, and celebrations. Collaboration always involves colearning, so documenting choices, plans, and activities with the Web site worksheets is integral to the manual's effectiveness.

Cost of private timber management practices in the United States are identified, and their relationship to timber production in general is highlighted. Costs across timber-producing regions and forest types are identified by forest type and timber management practices historically applied in each region. This includes cost estimates for activities such as forest establishment practices such as reforestation and afforestation on crop and pastureland. Establishment costs for reforestation in the Southern United States are less than in other regions, although regional differences in establishment costs are less evident in hardwood than in softwood stands. Also, included in the list of timber management costs ate the intermediate management treatments of precommercial thinning, herbicide, and fertilizer application. Intermediate management treatments are less costly in the southern United States than in other regions. Trends in timber management costs reported as part of the management costs reporting.

The Northwest Forest Plan (the Plan) identifies adaptive management as a central strategy for effective implementation. Despite this, there has been a lack of any systematic evaluation of its performance.

Changing patterns of land use are at the heart of many environmental concerns regarding U.S. forest lands. Of all the human impacts to forests, development is one of the most significant because of the severity and permanency of the change.

Change is the only constant in forest ecosystems. Quantifying regional-scale forest change is increasingly done with remote sensing, which relies on data sent from digital camera-like sensors mounted to Earth-orbiting satellites. Through remote sensing, changes in forests can be studied comprehensively and uniformly across time and space.

Roger Lake Research Natural Area (RNA), a 174.7-ha reserve in north-central Washington, contains a rich diversity of landforms, plant communities, and wildlife habitats. Spreading outward from the lake itself, sedge and sphagnum fens give way to upland coniferous forest, granitic cliffs, and a relictual, high-altitude big sagebrush-whitebark pine (Artemisia tridentata-Pinus albicaulis) meadow. Five sensitive plant species and several vertebrate species that are rare in the region occur in the RNA. Dynamic ecological processes in action in the RNA are revealed in the paludification of the forest edge; aging, broken beaver dams; and widespread bark beetle-induced conifer mortality.

The importance to society of environmental services, provided by forest ecosystems, has significantly increased during the last few decades. A growing global concern with the deterioration of forests, beginning perhaps most noticeably in the 1980s, has led to an increasing public awareness of the environmental, cultural, economic, and social values that forests provide. Around the world, ideas of sustainable, close-to-nature, and multi-functional forestry have progressively replaced the older perception of forests as only a source for timber. The international impetus to protect and sustainably manage forests has come from global initiatives at management, conservation, and sustainable development related to all types of forests and forestry. A few of the more notable initiatives include: the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, UNCED); regional follow-ups to the Earth Summit such as the Montreal Process and Helsinki Accords; the forest elements of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD); and the Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC).

Incidence and effects of tree damage by black bear (Ursus americanus altifrontalis) in a 50-year-old, coast Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco var. menziesii) plantation are described. Bears girdled or partially girdled 35 dominant or codominant Douglas-fir trees per acre, but only in that portion of the plantation that had been interplanted at age 4 with red alder (Alnus rubra Bong). No red alder were damaged. Bears damaged Douglas-fir in this stand on at least four occasions between 1929 (planting) and 1991. Fully girdled Douglas-fir (six per acre in 1976) died within 2 to 14 years. Of the 29 per acre partially girdled trees, 17 percent died in the 16 years of observation, compared to 9 percent of nondamaged trees. Crosssectional growth of surviving damaged trees exceeded that of matched, nondamaged trees by about 30 percent at three heights on the bole: 6 ft, 4.5 ft, and immediately above the damaged area. Death of six large Douglas-fir trees per acre reduced live stand volume of this species for about 6 years after bear damage until growth of the remaining trees compensated for the volume lost to mortality. Confirmation of the stimulating effects of bear damage on subsequent tree growth is needed at other locations.

Current efforts to improve the scientific basis for fire management on public lands will benefit from more efficient transfer of technical information and tools that support planning, implementation, and effectiveness of vegetation and hazardous fuel treatments. The technical scope, complexity, and relevant spatial scale of analytical and decision-support tools differ considerably, which provides a challenge to resource managers and other users who want to select tools appropriate for a particular application. This publication provides a state-of-science summary of tools currently available for management of vegetation and fuels. Detailed summaries include a description of each tool, location where it can be obtained, relevant spatial scale, level of user knowledge required, data requirements, model outputs, application in fuel treatments, linkage to other tools, and availability of training and support. Streamlined summaries in tabular format allow users to rapidly identify those tools that could potentially be applied to a specific management need. In addition, an interdisciplinary team process is described that facilitates application of tools and decisionmaking at different spatial scales.

The Fall River research site in coastal Washington is an affiliate installation of the North American Long-Term Soil Productivity (LTSP) network, which constitutes one of the world's largest coordinated research programs addressing forest management impacts on sustained productivity. Overall goals of the Fall River study are to assess effects of biomass removals, soil compaction, tillage, and vegetation control on site properties and growth of planted Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco). Biomass-removal treatments included removal of commercial bole (BO), bole to 5-cm top diameter (BO5), total tree (TT), and total tree plus all legacy woody debris (TT+). Vegetation control (VC) effects were tested in BO, while soil compaction and compaction plus tillage were imposed in BO+VC treatment. All treatments were imposed in 1999. The preharvest stand contained similar amounts of carbon (C) above the mineral soil (292 Mg/ha) as within the mineral soil to 80- cm depth including roots (298 Mg/ha). Carbon stores above the mineral soil ordered by size were live trees (193 Mg/ha), old-growth logs (37 Mg/ha), forest floor (27 Mg/ha), old-growth stumps and snags (17 Mg/ha), coarse woody debris (11 Mg/ha), dead trees/snags (7 Mg/ha), and understory vegetation (0.1 Mg/ha). The mineral soil to 80-cm depth contained 248 Mg C/ha, and roots added 41 Mg/ha. Total nitrogen (N) in mineral soil and roots (13 349 kg/ha) was more than 10 times the N store above the mineral soil (1323 kg/ha). Postharvest C above mineral soil decreased to 129, 120, 63, and 50 Mg/ha in BO, BO5, TT, and TT+, respectively. Total N above the mineral soil decreased to 722, 747, 414, and 353 Mg/ha in BO, BO5, TT, and TT+, respectively. The ratio of total C above the mineral soil to total C within the mineral soil was markedly altered by biomass removal, but proportions of total N stores were reduced only 3 to 6 percent owing to the large soil N reservoir on site.

A recurrent theme in the development of U.S. forest policies has been the assertion of strong positive relations among communities, economies, and natural resource management. Now as a new round of federal land management planning is getting underway, questions are being raised about the strength of that assertion and how to view communities following a decade of reduced federal harvests. This report examines these questions considering the 433 communities in six Bureau of Land Management districts in western Oregon. It discusses the ways that forest-based communities have been considered in the context of federal forest management planning, and it summarizes information on socioeconomic conditions and trends for communities in western Oregon.

Morels are prized edible mushrooms that fruit, sometimes prolifically, in many forest types throughout western North America. They are collected for personal consumption and commercially harvested as valuable special (nontimber) forest products. Large gaps remain, however, in our knowledge about their taxonomy, biology, ecology, cultivation, safety, and how to manage forests and harvesting activities to conserve morel populations and ensure sustainable crops. This publication provides forest managers, policymakers, mycologists, and mushroom harvesters with a synthesis of current knowledge regarding these issues, regional summaries of morel harvesting and management, and a comprehensive review of the literature.

This report reviews the growing literature on the concept of agency-citizen interactions after large wildfires. Because large wildfires have historically occurred at irregular intervals, research from related fields has been reviewed where appropriate. This issue is particularly salient in the West where excess fuel conditions indicate that the large wildfires occurring in many states are expected to continue to be a major problem for forest managers in the coming years. This review focuses on five major themes that emerge from prior research: contextual considerations, barriers and obstacles, uncertainty and perceptions of risk, communication and outreach, and bringing communities together. It offers ideas on how forest managers can interact with stakeholders for planning and restoration activities after a large wildfire. Management implications are included.

This publication provides information about prescribed fire effects on habitats and populations of birds of the interior West and a synthesis of existing information on bird responses to fire across North America. Our literature synthesis indicated that aerial, ground, and bark insectivores favored recently burned habitats, whereas foliage gleaners preferred unburned habitats.

We review 12 large-scale silviculture experiments (LSSEs) in western Washington and Oregon with which the Pacific Northwest Research Station of the USDA Forest Service is substantially involved. We compiled and arrayed information about the LSSEs as a series of matrices in a relational database, which is included on the compact disc published with this report and available online at http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/research/lsse. The LSSEs are both spatially and temporally large scale, with experimental treatment units between 5 and 100 acres and proposed study durations of 20 to 200 years. A defining characteristic of the LSSEs is that a broad range of response variables are measured to characterize the response of forest ecosystems to experimental treatments. We discuss the general value and limitations of the LSSEs and highlight some possible roles that can be played by the LSSEs in addressing management issues emerging at the beginning of the 21st century.

Two series of single and stereo photographs display a range of natural conditions and fuel loadings in sagebrush with grass and ponderosa pinejuniper types in central Montana. Each group of photos includes inventory information summarizing vegetation composition, structure, and loading; woody material loading and density by size class; forest floor depth and loading; and various site characteristics. The natural fuels photo series is designed to help land managers appraise fuel and vegetation conditions in natural settings.

The work described in this report was initiated during the Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Project (ICBEMP). The ICBEMP produced a broad-scale scientific assessment of ecological, biophysical, social, and economic conditions for the interior Columbia River basin and portions of the Klamath and Great Basins. The broad-scale assessment made extensive use of potential vegetation (PV) information. This report (1) discusses certain concepts and terms as related to PV, (2) describes how a PV framework developed for the broad-scale ICBEMP assessment area was stepped down to the level of a single section in the national hierarchy of terrestrial ecological units, (3) describes how fine-scale potential vegetation types (PVTs) identified for the Blue Mountains section were aggregated into the midscale portion of the PV hierarchy, and (4) describes the PVT composition for each of the midscale hierarchical units (physiognomic class, potential vegetation group, plant association group).

Given increasing need and decreasing capacity, the Forest Service outdoor recreation research program must strategize how best to address current and future priorities. The papers compiled here were presented at the National Workshop on Recreation Research and Management held in Portland, Oregon, February 8-10, 2005. Papers are organized around four themes: Understanding Forest Recreation Visitors, Recreation Planning & Monitoring, Recreation Management, and Special Issues in Recreation.

Hemlock dwarf mistletoe (Arceuthobium tsugense [Rosendahl] G.N. Jones) is a small, inconspicuous parasite that has significant effects on tree growth and stand structure in coastal forest ecosystems of western North America. Most previous research focused on the effects of hemlock dwarf mistletoe on timber production. Previous clearcut harvesting of large areas that removed virtually all infected trees and forestry practices that established even-aged stands of trees effectively prevented or minimized future hemlock dwarf mistletoe impacts. Under this regime, further research on hemlock dwarf mistletoe was considered unnecessary. However, current forestry practices that restrict clearcut harvesting to small openings and retain live trees to preserve attributes of old-growth forests create conditions that appear highly favorable for enhanced seed production by hemlock dwarf mistletoe, early spread of the mistletoe to infect young trees, and, consequently, increased growth impacts to residual trees over time. More information is needed on the biology and impacts of hemlock dwarf mistletoe in coastal western hemlock retention harvested forests in the United States of America and Canada. Further work is recommended to develop sampling and monitoring procedures to determine hemlock dwarf mistletoe spread and impacts. We also need to investigate several unusual aspects of hemlock dwarf mistletoe biology and development such as long-distance seed dispersal and persistence in old-growth forests. Detailed tree, stand, and forest-level models are needed to monitor and project hemlock dwarf mistletoe effects over a wide range of ecological conditions and management regimes in coastal forests.

This proceedings compiles papers presented by extensionists, natural resource specialists, scientists, technology transfer specialists, and others at an international conference that examined knowledge and technology transfer theories, methods, and case studies. Theory topics included adult education, applied science, extension, diffusion of innovations, social marketing, technology transfer, and others. Descriptions of methods and case studies collectively covered a wide range of current approaches that include combined digital media, engagement of users and communication specialists in the full cycle of research, integrated forestry applications, Internet-based systems, science writing, training, video conferencing, Web-based encyclopedias, and others. Innovations transferred were best management practices for water quality, forest reforestation practices, a land management system, portable timber bridges, reducedimpact logging, silvicultural practices, urban forestry, and many others. Innovation users included forest-land owners; land managers; logging industry; natural resource professionals; policymakers; public; rural and urban communities-and those in the interface between these two; and others. Technology transfer and related efforts took place in countries throughout the world.

Many of America's national forests and grasslands--collectively called the National Forest System--face increased risks and alterations from escalating housing development on private rural lands along their boundaries. National forests and grasslands provide critical social, ecological, and economic benefits to the American public. This study projects future housing density increases on private rural lands at three distances--2, 3, and 10 miles--from the external boundaries of all national forests and grasslands across the conterminous United States. Some 21.7 million acres of rural private lands (about 8 percent of all private lands) located within 10 miles of the National Forest System boundaries are projected to undergo increases in housing density by 2030. Nine national forests are projected to experience increased housing density on at least 25 percent of adjacent private lands at one or more of the distances considered. Thirteen national forests and grasslands are each projected to have more than a half-million acres of adjacent private rural lands experience increased housing density. Such development and accompanying landscape fragmentation pose substantial challenges for the management and conservation of the ecosystem services and amenity resources of National Forest System lands, including access by the public. Research such as this can help planners, managers, and communities consider the impacts of local land use decisions.

Soil disturbance is a visually apparent result of using heavy equipment to harvest trees. Subsequent consequences for growth of remaining trees, however, are variable and seldom quantified. We measured tree growth 7 and 11 years after thinning of trees in four stands of coast Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii (Mirb. Franco)) where soil disturbance was limited by using planned skid trails, usually on dry soils. The three younger stands had responded to nitrogen fertilizer in the 4 years before thinning, but only one stand showed continued response in the subsequent 7- or 11-year period after thinning. The most consistent pattern observed was greater growth of residual trees located next to skid trails. The older stand also showed greater growth in trees located next to skid trails, whereas tillage of skid trails failed to benefit growth of nearby residual trees for the first 7 years after tillage. We conclude that traffic that compacted soil only on one side of residual trees did not reduce growth of nearby trees.

The demand for water is rapidly increasing, but the uses to which that water is put and the values society places on water are changing dramatically. Water is the source of life, the sustenance for living, the resource needed for manufacturing, mining, agriculture; the element required to grow our lawns, to water our landscaping, to shower us with refreshment; it is the place where we play; it provides the snow for our winter recreation, and it provides the habitat for much of our wildlife. Water in contemporary American society is more than a simple physical entity, its symbolic values, and noninstrumental uses are growing in significance. As with many Native American cultures, water is as much a symbol as it is something to extract and use in the production of commercial products. This book is about the issues associated with these symbolic values and uses of water: the challenges they present--in our language, in our allocation mechanisms, in our communication--the conflicts raised; and the potential for resolving the difficult, contentious and complex issues concerning the use of water for various purposes. It is as much about framing the questions about symbolic values of water as it is anything else.

Timber markets in the United States are areas where timber prices tend to be uniform because of the continuous interactions of buyers and sellers. These markets are highly competitive, volatile, and change relentlessly. This paper looks at how market interactions in the Pacific Northwest have responded to changes in underlying determinants of market behavior and government actions that have influenced supply or demand. Several messages emerge from timber markets about price reporting and changing definitions of price, long-term price trends, timber as an investment, impacts of market intervention, relations among different markets, and implications for future stewardship. The enduring message is that landowners and managers respond to price signals arising from market interactions, and their actions create the forests inherited by future generations.

We describe a protocol to monitor the effectiveness of the Tongass Land Management Plan (TLMP) management standards for maintaining fish habitat. The protocol uses juvenile coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) in small tributary streams in forested watersheds. We used a 3-year pilot study to develop detailed methods to estimate juvenile salmonid populations, measure habitat, and quantitatively determine trends in juvenile coho salmon abundance over 10 years. Coho salmon have been shown to be sensitive to habitat alterations, and we use coho salmon parr as the primary indicator in the protocol. A priori criteria for type I and type II error rates, effect size, and sample sizes for the protocol were derived with estimates of variance computed from the 3-year pilot study. The protocol is designed to detect trends in abundance of coho salmon parr, as well as coho salmon fry and Dolly Varden (Salvelinus malma), in small streams managed according to TLMP standards and guidelines and to compare these to trends in unmanaged (old-growth) watersheds. Trends are adjusted to account for statistically significant habitat covariates. This information provides an important element in monitoring land management practices in the Tongass National Forest. The methods we describe may have application to monitoring protocols elsewhere for fish populations and land management practices.

Over a 3-day weekend in the spring of 2004 a group of scientists interested in extending understanding of place as applied in recreation research and management convened a working session in Portland, Oregon. The purpose of the gathering was to clarify their understanding of place-related concepts, approaches to the study of people-place relations, and the application of that understanding in recreation management for the purpose of integrating perspectives from different disciplines, discussing approaches to understanding and measuring sense of place, and other questions around the study and application of place-related concepts. Topics that generated the most discussion included how social processes influence place meanings, how place meanings are shared and negoitated within social groups, and when and how place meanings and attachments focus, reduce, or avert conflict in natural resource planning and management. This collection of papers is a result of that meeting.

This paper synthesizes the existing literature about traditional and local ecological knowledge relating to biodiversity in Pacific Northwest forests in order to assess what is needed to apply this knowledge to forest biodiversity conservation efforts. We address four topics: (1) views and values people have relating to biodiversity, (2) the resource use and management practices of local forest users and their effects on biodiversity, (3) methods and models for integrating traditional and local ecological knowledge into biodiversity conservation on public and private lands, and (4) challenges to applying traditional and local ecological knowledge for biodiversity conservation. We focus on the ecological knowledge of three groups who inhabit the region: American Indians, family forest owners, and commercial nontimber forest product (NTFP) harvesters.

Privately owned forests provide many public benefits, including clean water and air, wildlife habitat, and recreational opportunities. By 2030, 44.2 million acres of rural private forest land across the conterminous United States are projected to experience substantial increases in residential development. As housing density increases, the public benefits provided by private forests can be permanently altered. We examine factors behind projected patterns of residential development and conversion of private forest land by 2030 in northwestern Washington, southern Maine, and northwestern Georgia. Some key factors affecting the extent of future residential housing include (1) population growth from migration into an area; (2) historical settlement patterns, topography, and land ownership; and (3) land use planning and zoning.

Sold prices for national forest stumpage provide geographically specific price references for timber. This report presents "sold" price series for western national forests between 1984 and the first 3 months of 2007. Selected trends in stumpage prices and sold volumes as well as issues related to species aggregation in the data are also discussed.

This synthesis provides an ecological foundation for management of the diverse ecosystems and fire regimes of North America, based on scientific principles of fire interactions with vegetation, fuels, and biophysical processes. Although a large amount of scientific data on fire exists, most of those data have been collected at small spatial and temporal scales. Thus, it is challenging to develop consistent science-based plans for large spatial and temporal scales where most fire management and planning occur. Understanding the regional geographic context of fire regimes is critical for developing appropriate and sustainable management strategies and policy. The degree to which human intervention has modified fire frequency, intensity, and severity varies greatly among different ecosystems, and must be considered when planning to alter fuel loads or implement restorative treatments. Detailed discussion of six ecosystems--ponderosa pine forest (western North America), chaparral (California), boreal forest (Alaska and Canada), Great Basin sagebrush (intermountain West), pine and pine-hardwood forests (Southern Appalachian Mountains), and longleaf pine (Southeastern United States)--illustrates the complexity of fire regimes and that fire management requires a clear regional focus that recognizes where conflicts might exist between fire hazard reduction and resource needs. In some systems, such as ponderosa pine, treatments are usually compatible with both fuel reduction and resource needs, whereas in others, such as chaparral, the potential exists for conflicts that need to be closely evaluated. Managing fire regimes in a changing climate and social environment requires a strong scientific basis for developing fire management and policy.

Quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) is a valuable species that is declining in the Blue Mountains of northeastern Oregon. This publication is a compilation of over 20 years of aspen management experience by USDA Forest Service workers in the Blue Mountains.

The Forest Service system of experimental forests and ranges (EFRs) and other sites of long-term silvicultural, watershed, and ecological research have contributed to science and natural resource management for more than a century. An important aspect of the success of EFR programs is strong collaboration between the research and land manager communities. This guide offers suggestions for effective research management partnerships based at EFRs and other long-term research sites. Keys to success include mutual understanding and respect, shared commitment to learning, and joint projects and communications programs.

Development of a regional lichen gradient model from community data is a powerful tool to derive lichen indexes of response to environmental factors for large-scale and long-term monitoring of forest ecosystems. The Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service includes lichens in its national inventory of forests of the United States, to help monitor the status of forested ecosystems.

Scientists, land managers and policy makers discussed whether riparian (stream side) forest management and policy for state, federal and private lands in western Washington are consistent with current science. Answers were mixed: some aspects of riparian policy and management have a strong basis in current science, while other aspects may not.

This study presents results of statistical tests for stumpage market integration on 62 national forests in the Western United States. Quarterly stumpage prices from 1984 to 2007 obtained from cut and sold reports for USDA Forest Service Regions 1, 4, 5, and 6 (Northern, Intermountain, Pacific Southwest, and Pacific Northwest, respectively) were analyzed to establish the presence and extent of national forest timber markets.

This report is a compilation of four briefing papers based on literature reviews and syntheses, prepared for USDA Forest Service policy analysts and decisionmakers about specific questions pertaining to climate change. The main topics addressed here are effects of climate change on wildlife habitat, other ecosystem services, and land values; socioeconomic impacts of climate change on rural communities; and competitiveness of carbon offset projects on nonindustrial private forests in the United States.

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.

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.

In a sun-baked, grassy clearing on the east side of the Cascade Range in central Washington, Pacific Northwest (PNW) Research Station landscape ecologist Miles Hemstrom and a group of ecologists and land managers from the Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR) gather in the shade of a ponderosa pine.

Mule deer populations in central Oregon are in decline, largely because of habitat loss. Several factors are likely contributors. Encroaching juniper and invasive cheatgrass are replacing deer forage with high nutritional value, such as bitterbrush and sagebrush. Fire suppression and reduced timber harvests mean fewer acres of early successional forest, which also offer forage opportunities. Human development, including homes and roads, is another factor. It is this one that scientists with the Pacific Northwest Research Station and their collaborators investigated in a recent study.

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.

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.

The U.S. Forest Service has adopted the concept and language of ecosystem services to describe the beneficial outcomes of national forest management. We review the economic theory of ecosystem services as it applies to public lands management, and consider what it implies about the types of biophysical and other data that are needed for characterizing management outcomes as changes in ecosystem services. Our intent is to provide a guide to policymakers, managers, researchers, and others for evaluating and describing the tradeoffs involved in the management of public lands. Characterizing ecosystem services fundamentally is about explaining the benefits of national forests to the American public, with an emphasis on addressing their interests and concerns about how public lands are managed. Our hope is that this report will foster dialog about what people value about national forests and how public land management agencies might best go about securing those benefits.

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.

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.

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.

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.