Progress 06/01/04 to 11/30/05
Outputs
The Olympic Experimental State Forest (OESF) was established to provide habitat and biodiversity values while being managed as a commercial forest. A Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) complicates implementation of this combination of goals and responsibilities which include maintenance of habitats found only in old forests. An assessment process first developed to provide the desired conditions for riparian management was used to assist evaluation of habitat conditions and economic viability relative to acceptability thresholds for a variety of site conditions. The assessment process relies on a non-parametric, multivariate, statistical assessment of whether or not treated stands will produce desired future conditions similar to target stands for specific species such as the Northern Spotted Owl. The Landscape Management System (LMS) was used to project stand conditions and economic consequences under various treatment options for use in the assessment procedure. The
assessment can also be used to characterize whether treatments meet legally described habitat conditions. Desired target conditions have been provided by DNR and inventory data made available for most stands on the OESF. The analysis of inventory data showed that trees per acre and diameter along with multiple layering provided the best discrimination of whether a stand was an old forest or not. Productive owl nests all were contained in the stands identified as old forest conditions. Best economic treatments that also achieved the desired future conditions most quickly and therefore over a greater percentage of time were developed for different site classes and initial densities. Only one thinning was needed to reach best conditions for low density and high sites while two thinnings were generally best for more dense and higher sites. The project benefited by a recently completed analysis supported by NCSSF comparing northwest templates for producing desired riparian conditions and
southern templates for producing older diverse forest conditions.
Impacts
The report will support more cost effective decisions for implementing multiple thinning old forest restoration treatments for the sustainable management of the OESF. Findings will benefit current collaboration between the DNR and public stakeholders in discussions about potential management alternatives and effectiveness for achievement of the dual objectives of revenue provision to trust beneficiaries and accelerated old forest habitat restoration for species such as the northern spotted owl. These treatments developed experimentally on the OESF are expected to ultimately be adopted for the DNR Westside Habitat Conservation Plan resulting in better species protection and better economic recovery for trust beneficiaries. Results can be used to inform habitat restoration alternatives for other western Washington ownerships.
Publications
- Lippke, Bruce, Kevin W. Zobrist, C. Larry Mason. 2007.Templates for Forest Sustainability on the Olympic Experimental State Forest. Report for Olympic Natural Resources Center and Working Paper #8. Rural Technology Initiative, College of Forest Resources, University of Washington, Seattle Washington Zobrist, K.W. 2005. Management templates that integrate ecological and economic objectives. Western Forester 50(5): pp. 8-9. Zobrist, K.W. October 2005. Management Templates for Increased Biodiversity and Economics in Intensively Managed Loblolly Pine Plantations. RTI Fact Sheet #38. UW Seattle, WA. Zobrist, K. September 2005. Increasing Biodiversity in Intensively Managed Loblolly Pine Plantations: A Literature Review. RTI Fact Sheet #37. UW Seattle, WA. Zobrist, K., K. Gehringer, and B. Lippke. 2005. A sustainable solution for riparian management. Western Forester 50(4):20. Zobrist, K.W., Gehringer, K.R., Lippke, B.R. 2005. A sustainable solution for riparian management.
Pages 54-62 in R.L. Deal and S
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Progress 10/01/04 to 10/01/05
Outputs
The Olympic Experimental State Forest (OESF) was established to provide habitat and biodiversity values while being managed as a commercial forest. A Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) complicates implementation of this combination of goals and responsibilities. An assessment process first developed to provide the desired conditions for riparian management will be used to assist evaluation of habitat conditions and economic viability relative to acceptability thresholds for a variety of site conditions. This process can be used to identify management strategies that will sustain biodiversity or specific habitat as well as economic viability. These strategies can then be incorporated in a series of management templates, which are a set of easy-to-use implementation guidelines for forest managers, regulatory agencies, and policy-makers. The assessment process relies on a non-parametric, multivariate, statistical assessment of whether treated stands will produce desired
future conditions similar to target stands for specific species, or not. The Landscape Management System (LMS) is use to project stand conditions and economic consequences under various treatment options for use in the assessment procedure. The assessment can also be used to characterize whether treatments meet legally described habitat conditions. Desired target conditions have been provided by DNR and inventory data made available. The assessments will be used to identify best treatments that will be used to produce templates that facilitate simple and flexible implementation of management activities that produce the desired target structures with best economics. Analysis of whether habitat definitions described in legislation can be improved will be undertaken by comparisons to stands with known and occupied habitat.
Impacts
Work is ongoing to identify the desired stand conditions, Establish economic and ecological performance thresholds evaluate alternative management pathways, on representative stands, and create and validate the templates. The project will benefit by a recently completed analysis supported by NCSSF comparing northwest templates for producing desired riparian conditions and southern templates for producing older diverse forest conditions.
Publications
- Zobrist, K.W. 2005. Management templates that integrate ecological and economic objectives. Western Forester 50(5): pp. 8-9. Zobrist, K.W. October 2005. Management Templates for Increased Biodiversity and Economics in Intensively Managed Loblolly Pine Plantations. RTI Fact Sheet #38. UW Seattle, WA. Zobrist, K. September 2005. Increasing Biodiversity in Intensively Managed Loblolly Pine Plantations: A Literature Review. RTI Fact Sheet #37. UW Seattle, WA. Zobrist, K., K. Gehringer, and B. Lippke. 2005. A sustainable solution for riparian management. Western Forester 50(4):20. Zobrist, K.W., Gehringer, K.R., Lippke, B.R. 2005. A sustainable solution for riparian management. Pages 54-62 in R.L. Deal and S.M. White, eds. Understanding Key Issues of Sustainable Wood Production in the Pacific Northwest. General Technical Report PNW-626. Portland, OR: USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. Zobrist, K., Hinckley, T., Andreu, M., Gehringer, K., Hedman, C.
Lippke, B. July 2005. Final proje
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Progress 10/01/03 to 09/30/04
Outputs
Funds were not received on time and no activity was started prior to 9/30/04)
Impacts
none yet
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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