Trees and logs important to wildlife in the interior Columbia River basin.

Abstract

This publication provides qualitative and quantitative information on five distinct structures: living trees with decayed parts, trees with hollow chambers, trees with brooms, dead trees, and logs. Information is provided on the value of these structures to wildlife, the decay or infection processes involved in the formation of these structures, and the principles to consider for selecting the best structures to retain.

National inventories of down and dead woody material forest carbon stocks in the United States: Challenges and opportunities

“…In 2001, the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program of the USDA Forest Service began a national field survey of DDW components such as FWD and CWD (Woodall and Williams, 2005;Woodall and Monleon, 2008). Before this, most DDW data had been collected for localized studies focused on wildlife (Maser et al, 1979;Harmon et al, 1986;Bull et al, 1997), fuels (Rollins et al, 2004), or C (Heath and Chojnacky, 2001;Chojnacky and Heath, 2002). Although most DDW studies were not C focused, dead wood measurements that can be used to produce volume or biomass estimates may also be converted to estimates of dead wood C. This approach is used with the FIA survey.…”

Iskuulpa Watershed Management Plan : A Five-Year Plan for Protecting and Enhancing Fish and Wildlife Habitats in the Iskuulpa Watershed.

“…Other processes that may contribute to snag recruitment include root rot, endemic or epidemic populations of insects, floods, drought, and wildfire. These mortality agents may target different tree species and age classes; thus resulting in a mix of snag species and sizes across the landscape (Bull, et al 1997). Events and decay processes that create dead tree habitat will maintain the snag resource through time.…”

“…Snag-dependent wildlife therefore need a continual supply of snags over time to meet their life history requisites. To provide that continuum of snag habitat, future snags must be planned for by leaving green trees to eventually become snags in managed stands (Bull\, et al 1997). Because woodpeckers are territorial, snags need to be distributed across the landscape to attain the maximum density of cavity nesters.…”

Fuel and stand conditions in an isolated, unmanaged forest landscape in central Oregon

“…These changes have altered fire ecology, led to unprecedented fuel accumulations (Harmon et al, 1986;Stephens 2004) and an increasing risk of catastrophic wildland fire (Agee, 1998;Hessburg et al, 2000;Hessburg and Agee, 2003;Moore et al, 1999). Researchers have demonstrated the ecological importance of snags and coarse woody debris (CWD) for structural diversity and wildlife management issues (e.g., Bull et al, 1997;Harmon et al, 1986;Rabe et al, 1998), and many studies have evaluated the effectiveness of fuel reduction treatments in managed forests following prescribed burning, chemical application, or thinning (e.g., Agee and Skinner, 2005;Bilgili, 2003;Brose and Wade, 2002;Stratton, 2004). Such management techniques intend to mimic the role of fire and restore forest structure and function to historical levels, yet little is known about fuels and ecosystem functioning in natural, unmanaged landscapes (Weatherspoon and McIver, 2000).…”