01.PNW.C.2 -- Fuel Reduction and Forest Restoration Strategies that also Sustain Key Habitats, Species, and Ecological Processes in Fire-Prone Ecosystems in the Interior Northwest
formerly PNW-14

Team Leader: Ed DePuit
Phone: (509)662-4315
Email: edepuit@fs.fed.us

Research Issue:

Although the effects of past forest management practices on altering fire regimes are relatively well know, new management treatments to alleviate those problems and their potential effects on key habitats and species are not well understood. Information is needed to design treatments, and to determine the effects of treatments alternatives, including no treatment, on key ecological processes and elements of biodiversity, particularly late-successional forests, keystone species such as woodpeckers, and T&E species. Late-successional forest (LSF) and associated species, such as woodpeckers and the northern spotted owl, are critical ecological components of fire-prone landscapes, and drive much of the controversy over land management tactics and strategies. Management needs both to maintain and restore those habitats, but landscapes with altered fire, insect and pathogen disturbance regimes make that task risky and success uncertain. Managers need to know what, how, and where to be successful, so we need to study (1) where those habitats are most sustainable, (2) the stand and landscape habitat needs of dependent wildlife, and (3) the effects of alternate management treatments at stand and landscape scales.

Research and Development Approach:

There are 2 components of this program: (1) Research as the basis for designing appropriate treatments; and, (2) Development and testing of those treatments. A basic research component will provide knowledge for understanding ecological pattern and process for designing viable stand and landscape management strategies. We will: (A) Study the stand dynamics (i.e., succession and disturbance) of LSF to understand microhabitat development (e.g., large trees, snags, woody debris), and macrohabitat landscape dynamics; (B) Develop models for predicting locations of historical fire refugia of late-successional forest (i.e. where most sustainable) in the interior Northwest, primarily using the extensive landscape dataset from the Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Project; and, (C) Study habitat relationships, population dynamics, and ecological function of LSF-associated species. The second component of research will develop and apply those basic data to the development and analysis of management strategies. We will help NFS develop fuel and stand treatment options. We will do experimental and retrospective analyses of the effects of wildfire, prescribed burning, thinning, combined thinning and burning, and no treatment on biotic patterns and processes of vegetation and wildlife. Short-term retrospective studies across the region (and Stations) will provide immediate information, especially for conditions or practices that cannot be manipulated experimentally (e.g., wildfire). Longer-term experimental studies in collaboration with NFS, other Stations (RMRS and PSW in particular), and universities will be conducted. For example, PNW currently has 2 of the 11 study sites in the national Fire and Fire Surrogates Study of the Joint Fire Sciences Program, with others in Montana (1), California (3), Arizona (1), New Mexico(1), Ohio (1), South Carolina (1), and Florida (1). Other local examples on the Okanogan and Wenatchee National Forests, and elsewhere, can be cited.

Program and location(s): Managing Disturbance Regimes Program (PNW-4577) Eastside Forest Health Restoration Team, Wenatchee WA