Pacific Southwest Research Station

Giving you access to more than 45,000 online USDA Forest Service Research publications.

Keep in Touch

PSW on Twitter

Tweets by @usfs_psw

In The News

• Fires Are Sometimes What a Forest Needs the Most - Motherboard (March 21, 2018)
• Scientists investigate fire, long-term resilience - Lake Tahoe News (Feb. 26, 2018)

Recent News Releases

• Institute to celebrate Palau's acceptance into global monitoring network March 22
  (March 15, 2018)

PSW Publications List

• October 2017-January 2018
• Subscribe

PSW on the USDA Blog

• New tool helps California land managers predict tree mortality
  (February 5, 2018)

More About Us

• Staff Directory
• Research Programs & Projects
• Faces of Research

• Research topic: Tree mortality in California
• Institute to celebrate Palau’s acceptance into monitoring network March 22
• Scientists team up to investigate forest resilience in the face of future fires
• Research entomologist earns national award for sharing science
• Video: Learn about Rapid Ohia Death affecting ohia trees on Hawaii Island

Learn about our latest research on tree mortality in California, with videos and information on drought, bark beetles, wildfire risks and restoration strategies.

Celebrating the induction of the Republic of Palau's Ngarkok Nature Reserve into the Smithsonian Institution’s Forest Global Earth Observatory Network.

Researchers from the California Academy of Sciences and PSW team up for a study to reduce high intensity wildfires and contribute to healthier forest ecosystems.

Research entomologist Chris Fettig recently received the Forest Service's 2017 Research and Development Deputy Chief's Award for Science Delivery.

The Ohia: The Story of Hawaii's Tree is a video featuring PSW researchers explaining the Ohia tree and the impacts of Rapid Ohia Death.

Science that makes a difference.

The Pacific Southwest Research Station is a world leader in natural resources research through our scientific excellence and responsiveness to the needs of current and future generations.

We represent the research and development branch of the USDA Forest Service in the states of California and Hawaii and the U.S. affiliated Pacific Islands. Our mission is to develop and communicate science needed to sustain forest ecosystems and their benefits to society.

New application for measuring ponderosa pine in northern California

General Technical Report 259 explains how to use the OP-Yield spreadsheet.

In 1978, PSW researchers Bill Oliver and Robert Powers developed yield tables for ponderosa pine plantations. Forty years later, Martin Ritchie and Jianwei Zhang have developed a spreadsheet adaptation of the Oliver and Powers yield tables called OP-Yield. It features some updated functions and greatly increased flexibility that offers land managers and land owners dynamic tables that overcome some of the limitations of the original model.

This General Technical Report explains how to use the OP-Yield spreadsheet and describes the 14 user-specified values that are used to generate forecasts. These forecasts can help managers anticipate needs for both pre-commercial and commercial thinning and anticipate when stands will be at risk for high bark beetle mortality.

For more tools developed by PSW researchers, and information from the Research Data Archive, visit our Research Tools & Data page.

Proceedings of the Coast Redwood Science Symposium—2016: past successes and future direction. Proceedings of a workshop

(GTR-PSW-258)

There is no more iconic tree or more closely watched forest ecosystem than coast redwood. With its limited range and high value, the coast redwood forest is a microcosm of many of the emerging science and management issues facing today’s forested landscapes.

Natural range of variation for yellow pine and mixed-conifer forests in the Sierra Nevada, southern Cascades, and Modoc and Inyo National Forests, California, USA
(GTR-PSW-256)

We conducted an indepth assessment of the natural range of variation of yellow pine and mixed-conifer forests for the assessment area, focusing on ecosystem processes and forest structure from historical data sources from pre-Euro-American settlement times.

The California Spotted Owl: Current State of Knowledge

(GTR-PSW-254)

This conservation assessment represents a comprehensive review by scientists of the current scientific knowledge about the ecology, habitat use, population dynamics, and current threats to the viability of the California spotted owl (Strix occidentalis). It is based primarily on peer-reviewed published information with an emphasis on new scientific information that has emerged.