PARENT SESSION
Oral Session #26: Conservation Ecology: Terrestrial.
Presiding: P. Kleintjes
Tuesday, August 6. 8:00 AM to 11:30 AM. Greenlee Meeting Room, TCC.
The spatial distribution patterns of old and mature forests in PNW, USA.
Jiang, Hong*,1, Strittholt, James1, Frost, Pamela1, 1 Conservation Biology Institute, 260 SW Madison Ave. Suite 106, Corvallis, Oregon
ABSTRACT- In the Pacific Northwest (PNW) USA, complex terrain, geology, climate, and biogeographic history have created one of earth's most extraordinary expressions of temperate biodiversity. Old and mature forests play a principal role in maintaining biodiversity and forest resources in the PNW. Increased human activity over the past 50 years has resulted in a significant loss of old forests throughout the region, especially at lower elevations. In this study, the current spatial distribution of forest age classes was identified using Landsat 7 Enhanced TM Plus (ETM+) remote sensing data acquired in 2000. The impacts of public and private land management and ecoregional biogeographic differences on forests age distribution was analyzed through the use of ownership and other geographic information system (GIS) data. Using the Optimal Iterative Unsupervised Classification (OIPC) method, which compares digital photographic data, field investigation data, and other GIS data sets, we classified four major forest age classes. The results indicated a significant difference in old and mature forest area and distribution pattern between public and private lands. Old growth forest made up 12% and 25% on private and public land respectively. Percent area of mature forest was also very different between ownership categories (19% private and 54% public). The Cascades showed the highest amounts of combined old and mature forests followed by the Coast Range and Klamath-Siskiyou.
KEY WORDS: Spatial pattern, Old and mature forests, Remote sensing, Pacific Northwest