| Research Click
on section for detailed information! Our mission is
to develop and deliver scientific knowledge and technology that
will help people sustain our forests. We focus our research and
development activities on questions and issues that affect the people
and the ecosystems of the Rocky Mountain region.
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Air Quality Impacts on High-elevation
Ecosystems |
| Issues are ozone and nitrogen. |
| Develop methods to identify and quantify the effects
of atmospheric deposition on high elevation ecosystems. |
| To help managers improve monitoring systems and air quality standards to protect vegetation. |
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| Monitoring
Air Quality |
GLEES |
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Atmospheric-Biospheric Interactions |
| Issues are carbon dioxide and ozone. |
| Model the interaction between trace gases, vegetation,
and soil. |
| To help managers develop air quality standards for ozone to protect vegetation. |
| To learn more about tracking carbon storage in forests. |
| Ameriflux |
GLEES |
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Ecology and Ecophysiology of White Pines |
| Issues are blister rust, fire, and forest health. |
| Study the ecology, genetic structure and adaptive
variation of five-needle pines. |
| To help managers develop potential management
options to mitigate the impacts of the exotic blister rust on
bristlecone, limber and whitebark pine ecosystems. |
| To help managers develop potential management
options for reforestation after fires in the central Rockies. |
| Anna Schoettle |
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Forest Insects |
| Issues are bark beetles and seed and cone insects. |
| Models to estimate probabilities of infestation and extent of mortality based on stand conditions. |
| Models to define the contribution of insects to
fuel loads in forests. |
| To help define the impact of insects on western forest ecosystems for managing vegetation. |
| Insects
and Fire Tree Mortaliy |
Insect and Fire Dependent Ecosystems |
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Landscape Pathology, Disease Economics, and Impact Assessment |
| Issues are diseases and natural disturbances. |
| Develop methods and metrics to quantify impacts
of diseases on commercial and non-commercial forests. |
| To evaluate natural disturbances as a silvicultural tool. |
| To help integrate pest assessment and evaluation
into forest management decision support systems. |
| Remote Sensing to Examine Disturbances Effects |
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Bio-Based Products and Bio-Energy
Program |
| Issues are forests overstocked with large amounts
of small-diameter trees that have heightened fire danger, threatened
biodiversity, and are more costly in terms of management |
| Determine the ecological role of small-diameter
trees in Rocky Mountain ecosystems |
| Develop efficient and ecologically sound harvest
techniques for small-diameter trees and estimate the impact
of vegetation management on the long-term availability of small-diameter
trees |
| Quantify quality of wood from small-diameter trees
and management’s influence on that quality |
| Small
Diameter Utilization Program |
Four Corners Sustainable Forests Partnership |
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Silviculture and Mensuration in the Central Rocky Mountains |
| Issues are stand dynamics, regeneration, and sustainability. |
| Study stand dynamics, including regeneration,
of aspen, spruce-fir, and ponderosa pine forests. |
| Research vegetation manipulation and primarily silviculture. |
| To help managers balance production of multi-resource
production and the sustainability of forested ecosystems. |
| Manitou Experimental Forest |
Black
Hills Ponderosa Pine |
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Fire |
| Issues are fuel reduction, natural disturbances
and fire risk, and white pine blister rust. |
| Develop methods of fuel reduction alternatives,
for treating high fuel levels, that would restore a more natural
mix of ecological conditions and that would allow reintroduce
fire as a management tool. |
| Incorporate satellite imagery of disturbance into determining fire hazard and spread of wildfire. |
| Identification and selection of white pine genotypes
(limber, bristlecone) that display hardiness and resistance
to the white pine blister rust pathogen so that they may be
used to restore burned areas and sustain the ecosystems.. |
| RMRS
Fire Plan Research |
National
Fire Plan Research |
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