Pacific Southwest Research Station

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General Technical Report

Title: Ecological research at the Blacks Mountain Experimental Forest in northeastern California

Author: Oliver, William W.

Date: 2000

Source: Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-179. Albany, CA: Pacific Southwest Research Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture; 66 p

Station ID: GTR-PSW-179

Description: At Blacks Mountain Experimental Forest in northeastern California, an interdisciplinary team of scientists developed and implemented a research project to study how forest structural complexity affects the health and vigor of interior ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Dougl. ex Laws.) ecosystems, the ecosystem's resilience to natural and human-caused disturbances, and how such ecosystems can be managed for sustained resource values. A randomized, split-plot, factorial design has been developed to test the influences of structural diversity, cattle grazing, and prescribed fire on twelve 250-acre study units. A permanently monumented data reference system on a 100-meter (328-ft) grid will facilitate spatial and temporal analysis as well as integration of information at various scales. Intensive preliminary sampling has established baseline data on small mammal and avian diversity and behavior, forest vegetation structures and floristic diversity, historical fire patterns, bark beetle dynamics, soil properties and processes, and genetic structure of pines and understory species.

Key Words: ponderosa pine, white fir, stand development, stand structure,succession, prescribed fire, thinning, cattle grazing, small mammals, passerinebirds, bark beetles, arthropods birds, bark beetles, arthropods

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Citation

Oliver, William W.   2000.  Ecological research at the Blacks Mountain Experimental Forest in northeastern California  Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-179. Albany, CA: Pacific Southwest Research Station, Forest Service, U.S.Department of Agriculture; 66 p.