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Type: Journal Article
Author(s): Paul F. Hessburg; Brad Smith
Publication Date: 1999

From the text ...'This paper summarizes results of a study conducted under the aegis of the Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Project. We report on a midscale scientific assessment of vegetation change in terrestrial landscapes of the interior West, associated change in landscape vulnerability to fire, insect and pathogen disturbances, and management implications of those changes. Our assessment area included the interior Columbia River basin east of the crest of the Cascade Range and portions of the Klamath and Great Basins in Oregon (collectively, the basin). States included in the assessment area were eastern : Oregon and Washington, Idaho, western Montana and Wyoming, and northern California, Utah and Nevada (Figure 1). Our study had four objectives: (1) to characterize current structure and composition of a representative sample of forest and rangeland landscapes; (2) to compare existing conditions to the oldest historical vegetation conditions we could reconstruct at a comparable scale. This was done to better understand the direcction and magnitude of vegetation change occurring during the first century of active resource management; (3) to link historical and current vegetation spatial patterns with spatial patterns of vulnerability to insect and pathogen disturbances; and (4) to link historical and current landscape vegetation characteristics throughout the basin with fuel conditions, potential fire behavior and related smoke production. Our rationale was twofold: linkages in objectives 3 and 4 would enable us to better understand causal connections among historical management activities and current conditions, and they would assist us in evaluating current air quality and human health tradeoffs associated with wild and prescribed fires and tradeoffs associted with alternative insect and pathogen vulnerability scenarios.' From the 64th Transactions of the North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference. 1999; ©Wildlife Management Institute. Abstract reproduced by permission.

Online Links
Citation: Hessburg, P. F., and B. G. Smith. 1999. Management implications of recent changes in spatial patterns of interior northwest forests. Transactions of the North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference, v. 64, p. 55-78.

Cataloging Information

Regions:
Alaska    California    Eastern    Great Basin    Hawaii    Northern Rockies    Northwest    Rocky Mountain    Southern    Southwest    National
Keywords:
  • Abies amabilis
  • Abies concolor
  • Abies grandis
  • Abies lasiocarpa
  • Abies magnifica
  • air quality
  • arthropods
  • Cascades Range
  • coniferous forests
  • conifers
  • cover type
  • crown fires
  • disturbance
  • ecosystem dynamics
  • education
  • fire danger rating
  • fire exclusion
  • fire frequency
  • fire regimes
  • fire suppression
  • fishes
  • forbs
  • forest management
  • fuel accumulation
  • fuel loading
  • grasses
  • grasslands
  • health factors
  • herbaceous vegetation
  • histories
  • hydrology
  • Idaho
  • insects
  • Juniperus
  • landscape ecology
  • Larix occidentalis
  • Montana
  • montane forests
  • mountains
  • national forests
  • Nevada
  • northern California
  • Oregon
  • overstory
  • Picea engelmannii
  • Pinus albicaulis
  • Pinus contorta
  • Pinus edulis
  • Pinus flexilis
  • Pinus lambertiana
  • Pinus monticola
  • Pinus ponderosa
  • plant diseases
  • Populus
  • prairies
  • Pseudotsuga menziesii
  • public information
  • Quercus garryana
  • range management
  • relict vegetation
  • remote sensing
  • rivers
  • Salix
  • shrublands
  • sloping terrain
  • smoke management
  • succession
  • Thuja plicata
  • Tsuga heterophylla
  • Tsuga mertensiana
  • Utah
  • Washington
  • watershed management
  • watersheds
  • wilderness fire management
  • wildfires
  • wildlife
  • wildlife habitat management
  • Wyoming
Tall Timbers Record Number: 11886Location Status: In-fileCall Number: Journals-NAbstract Status: Fair use, Okay, Reproduced by permission
Record Last Modified:
Record Maintained By: FRAMES Staff (https://www.frames.gov/contact)
FRAMES Record Number: 37420

This bibliographic record was either created or modified by Tall Timbers and is provided without charge to promote research and education in Fire Ecology. The E.V. Komarek Fire Ecology Database is the intellectual property of Tall Timbers.