PARENT SESSION
Poster Session 37: Forest Ecology.
Thursday, August 5 Presentations from 5:00 PM to 6:30 PM, Exhibit Hall A 1.
Simulating dead wood dynamics over the next centuries in a landscape characterized by disturbance: The coastal province of Oregon, USA.
Kennedy, Rebecca*,1, 2, 3, Olsen, Keith2, Pabst, Robert 2, Spies, Thomas1, 2, 1 USDA Forest Service, Corvallis, OR2 Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR3 rebecca.kennedy@oregonstate.edu, Corvallis, OR
ABSTRACT- The overall goal of the project was to simulate the potential effects of forest management on dead wood dynamics over long time periods across the Coast Range Ecoregion of Oregon. We conducted this work using a dead wood dynamics model, a growth and yield simulation model, several proposed structural retention scenarios and management prescriptions that represented diverse ownership types, and current plot data from across the region. Variability in dead wood amounts across the region was great, reflecting the legacy of past differences in management across ownership types, variation in site productivity, and disparities among projected future treatments. After harvest, those scenarios which at harvest retained higher amounts of green trees and snags had higher amounts of snags during subsequent decades. The volume of logs declined as residual logs decayed, and the volume of new logs increased slowly over the simulation period. Scenarios often had very different levels of logs or snags based on differences in live tree and dead wood retention at harvest. Disparities in subsequent treatment of developing stands had in general less effect on snag and log amounts than initial retention. Scenarios frequently differed widely in snag amounts during the simulation period. These latter differences occurred because of variation among scenarios in the initial amounts and types of dead wood, variation in the effects of stand development and thinning on live trees, and variation in the amount and type of retained live trees. The analysis demonstrates that management practices can affect dead wood amounts and attributes for many decades and even centuries after harvest. Differences among levels of retention of live and dead materials at harvest may have important implications for the habitat of dead-wood-associated wildlife.
Key words: coarse woody debris, forest dynamics modeling, dead wood, Pacific Northwest forests