Efforts to amend the Tongass National Forest Land Management Plan have necessitated the development of several management scenarios to assist with planning efforts.

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.

Forest disturbances are increasing in extent and intensity, annually altering the structure and function of affected systems across millions of acres. Land managers need rapid assessment tools that can be used to characterize disturbance events across space and to meet forest planning needs.

Southeast Alaska is a remote area, located approximately 700 miles north of Seattle, Washington. Most of the region’s goods are imported by barge, creating logistical and economic challenges not faced by many other parts of the United States. In this context, we used life cycle assessment (LCA) to evaluate the potential environmental impact on global warming potential (GWP) of converting home heating systems from heating oil to wood pellets in southeast Alaska. Once the current level (status quo) was established, we evaluated imported pellet utilization at 20-, 40- and 100-percent penetration into the residential heating oil markets. We also modeled local production of wood pellets in southeast Alaska, assuming a 20-percent penetration. Our research found that reductions in GWP resulting from the conversion to wood pellets ranged from 10 to 51 percent, with the greatest reductions being associated with the highest levels of imported pellets. The scenario of producing wood pellets in southeast Alaska to meet local needs had a reduction in GWP of 14 percent (versus the status quo).

The economic linkages between national forests and surrounding areas are one of the important ways public lands contribute to the well-being of private individuals and communities. 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 peripheries of national forests. We use survey data collected from visitors to all forest and grasslands 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 $36 per party per trip for local residents on day trips to more than $740 per party per trip for visitors downhill skiing or snowboarding on national forest lands and staying overnight off forest in local areas. We report key parameters to complete economic contribution analysis for individual national forests and for the entire National Forest System.

This research models a wood pellet heating system at the Tlingit-Haida Regional Housing Authority in Juneau, Alaska, used to provide thermal energy to a 929-m2 warehouse, as an alternative to a heating system that burns more costly fossil fuels. Research objectives were to evaluate project economics of the pellet system and to conduct cost:benefit analysis on key variables (initial capital cost, fuel oil cost, and wood pellet cost). Economic results of interest included net present value, payback, internal rate of return, and cost:benefit ratio. Monte Carlo simulations were conducted using RETScreen software with the parameters of heating oil cost, wood pellet cost, fuel price escalation, and heating load. Cost:benefit analysis was conducted for capital cost versus wood fuel cost and also versus alternative fuel cost. This research found that economic performance was favorable over a wide range of normal operating conditions, even when paying a relatively high price for wood fuel. A pellet production facility in southeast Alaska could lead to lower wood fuel costs and even more favorable regional economics.

This report highlights key findings from a comprehensive vegetation survey of all forested land across the state of Oregon. A total of 5,180 forested field plots in Oregon were visited by Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) crews over a 10-year period from 2001 to 2010. Oregon has 30 million acres of forest, covering nearly half the state. The structure and composition of Oregon’s forests differ considerably across the state, particularly east versus west of the Cascade Range. Western Oregon forests are dominated by higher productivity classes (85 to 224 cubic feet per acre annual growth) and are composed of Douglas-fir and western hemlock, while forests in the east typically exhibit lower productivity (0 to 84 cubic feet per acre annual growth) and are composed of ponderosa pine, western juniper, and lodgepole pine. The Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management administer the majority of forested land in Oregon; these public forests managed by federal agencies tend to have older, larger trees. Private owners, both corporate and noncorporate, own nearly half of the forested land in western Oregon, particularly in areas of high productivity. Understory vegetation in Oregon forests is more abundant in younger, moist forests. Non-native species are present in many of Oregon’s forests, most notably cheatgrass in the east and Himalayan blackberry in the west. This report includes estimates of forest growth, removals, and mortality for ownership groups across the state. The FIA program will continue to revisit and remeasure all the field plots over 10 years to report on changes in Oregon’s forest resources.

In frequent-fire forests of the interior Western United States, historical (prefire suppression) conditions are often used as a reference to set management objectives, guide prescriptions, and monitor treatment effectiveness. We quantified the historical size, density, composition, and spatial patterns of dry mixed-conifer forests in the Blue Mountains of Oregon to establish reference conditions that could be used for ongoing forest-restoration efforts.

Coal is the primary fuel source for electrical power generation in interior Alaska, with more than 600,000 tons burned annually at five different power plants. Woody biomass could be used as part of this fuel mix, offering potential environmental and economic benefits. In this research, debarked chips were cofired with locally mined coal at the Aurora Power Plant facility in downtown Fairbanks, Alaska. During two days of testing, aspen chips were successfully cofired with coal at average rates of 2.4 percent and 4.8 percent of total energy value. Combustion gases were analyzed during combustion of 100- percent coal, as well as at two different blends with aspen chips, for levels of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, oxygen, and nitrogen compounds. Carbon monoxide was suggested as the combustion gas most influenced by changes in woody biomass blend rate. The potential logistic and operational challenges when cofiring were also observed. Cofiring biomass at low levels in grate-combustion systems could be performed with relative ease, with only minor impacts on plant operations, including fuel storage, handling, and performance.

Study objectives were to evaluate yearly fluctuations in herbage canopy cover and production to aid in defining characteristics of range condition guides. Sites are located in the forested Blue Mountains of central Oregon. They were selected from those used to develop range condition guides where soil, topographic, and vegetation parameters were measured as a characterization of best range condition. Plant community dominants were ponderosa pine/pinegrass, ponderosa pine/bitterbrush/Idaho fescue savanna, low sagebrush/bluebunch wheatgrass, and rigid sagebrush scabland. None of the sites were grazed during the previous 30 years or during the 27-year study. Each location was permanently marked by fence posts, and a meter board was placed 10 m down an established transect line. Photographs (color slides) were taken down the transect with closeups left and right of the meter board. Sampling was limited to August 1-4 each year when canopy cover and herbage production were determined. Both total canopy cover and herbage production varied by about a 2.4-fold difference on each site over the 27 years. Apparently "good range condition" may be something of a "running target" and lacks a well-defined set of parameters. Canopy cover is a poor parameter for characterizing range condition. Three of the four plant communities were dominated by bunchgrasses. Abundance of seedheads is commonly used to indicate good range health. But on these sites, seedheads were not produced about half the time. Because these sites were in "good range condition," lack of seedhead production may indicate maximum competition in the community. Maximum competition and maximum vigor do not seem to be synonymous. These bunchgrass communities varied in their greenness on the first of August each year from cured brown to rather vibrant green suggesting important annual differences in phenology. The pinegrass community, being dominated by rhizomatous species, showed surprising variance in seedhead production. Pinegrass did not flower, but Wheeler's bluegrass, lupine, and Scouler's woolyweed were quite variable, averaging inflorescences only 75 percent of the time.

In dry, open coniferous forests of the montane West, stand-replacing wildfires and land use activities alter the composition and abundance of native grasses and forbs by degrading the habitat and accelerating the invasion of exotic annuals. On these lands, native forbs and grasses delayed or prevented from recovery by natural processes may require intervention through supplementary seeding. However, effective seeding of native plants requires that their seed traits and the potential outcome of the seeding be better understood.

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.

Invasive nonnative plants may be responsible for serious, long-term ecological impacts, including altering fire behavior and fire regimes. Therefore, knowing how to successfully manage invasive plants and their impacts on natural resources is crucial. We present a summary of research on invasive plants and fire that has been generated through the Joint Fire Science Program—focusing specifically on ecology of species invasions, the interactions between fire and invasives, and the responses of invasives to different management practices. Selected findings include (1) prescribed fire may increase invasive species in some ecosystems; (2) fuel treatments that leave some overstory canopy, minimize exposure of bare ground, and target sites that already host species capable of resprouting may be less likely to promote invasives; and (3) postfire seeding should be approached with caution, as it can increase invasives.

Nonnative plants affect the composition and function of natural and managed ecosystems and have large economic effects through lost or degraded land use and eradication costs. In spite of their importance, very little comprehensive information on the abundance, distribution, and impact of nonnative invasive plants is available.

The Fuel Reduction Cost Simulator (FRCS) spreadsheet application is publicdomain software used to estimate costs for fuel reduction treatments involving removal of trees of mixed sizes in the form of whole trees, logs, or chips from a forest. Equipment production rates were developed from existing studies. Equipment operating cost rates are from December 2002 prices for new equipment and wage rates for the Pacific Northwest. These cost assumptions can be modified by the user. There are four ground-based systems, four cable systems, and two helicopter systems. Cost estimates are in U.S. dollars per 100 cubic feet, per green ton, and per acre.

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.

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No announcement on lockdown relaxation

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Staff will now be wearing masks and face shields

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