Planting a Legacy Rick Strachan '78 - College of Forestry - Oregon ...

ange of fire-related factors: wildlife, naturalregeneration, soil, fire severity and pre-fireconditions, including past salvage logging.These and other studies will help to fillcritical information gaps. A 2001 ForestService review found only 21 studies worldwideon the environmental effects of postfirelogging. Only 14 compared loggedareas to unlogged controls.Nevertheless, dead and living trees havelong been harvested after fires. And relyingon both natural regeneration and planting,foresters have traditionally sought to spurtree growth as quickly as possible, saysDavid Hibbs, OSU professor of ForestScience and coordinator of OSU’sCooperative Forest Ecosystem ResearchProgram. As a result, forest managers have arich bank of practical experience in reachingthat goal. For their part, researchersfocused on barriers to plant growth, theproductivity of plant communities andforest succession over decades. One example:the College of Forestry’s ForestryIntensive Research program, begun in 1980to evaluate reforestation options on shrubdominatedsites in southwest Oregon.In recent years, a shift in social valueshas led to a change in science. Hibbs notesthat the view of fire as destruction hasbroadened to include a focus on the ecologicalfactors that support forest regeneration.This view recognizes that fire is part of anatural system that sets the stage for anentire ecosystem.The shift is important because it impliesa changing response to fire. To some, practicessuch as ground-based salvage loggingare generally inconsistent with naturalecosystem restoration. On the other hand,forest managers maintain that quick actionsuch as logging, tree planting and evendisposal of logging debris can spur treegrowth in places dedicated to timber“In a more open landscape,fires typically stayed lowand large trees survived.Now when fires occur, theyoften kill everything. There’sno habitat left.”David Hibbs,Professor, Forest Scienceproduction. Such practices are expensive,and logging provides a source of revenue tohelp offset the costs.The need to resolve the debate bringssome urgency. A century of fire suppressionhas led to dramatic changes, especially in dryforests, adds Hibbs. Trees occupy formergrasslands, and forests that had an openCollege Newsunderstory have become dense. This thickergrowth may benefit spotted owls and otherforest dwellers, but the additional wood alsoprovides the fuel for more intense fires.“In a more open landscape, fires typicallystayed low and large trees survived. Nowwhen fires occur, they often kill everything.There’s no habitat left,” says Hibbs.Moreover, a return to historical fire regimesis not possible. “We’re in a whole new ballgame,”he adds.Ongoing studies receive funding fromsources that include the Forest Service, theBureau of Land Management and otherfederal agencies operating through the JointFire Science Program. They could helpanswer a variety of questions about post-firemanagement on a site-by-site basis: howmany, if any, trees to cut; what harvestingtechniques to use; whether and how tocontrol competing vegetation; what, whenand where to replant. These studies willimprove the scientific basis for a range ofmanagement options, providing guidance toforest managers and researchers.Learn more about projects underway inthe Cooperative Forest Ecosystem Researchprogram at fsl.orst.edu/cfer/Reprinted from Terra: A World of Research andCreativity at Oregon State University, Vol. 1, No.2,Summer, 2006 (oregonstate.edu/terra)Vegetation and wildlifeContinuing their study of salvage logging,plant and tree growth, wildlife and fire risk arethe team that produced the Science paper. Ledby OSU Forest Science Professor Beverly Law,the team includes Donato and John Campbellin Forest Science, Joe Fontaine and DougRobinson in Fisheries and Wildlife and BooneKauffman of the Forest Service. In particular,they are interested in the effects of re-burn.What are the consequences of a second highseverity fire within two decades of the first fire?Riparian zonesAreas along rivers and streams provide importantecological habitats and may respond to firein a different manner than surroundinguplands. Graduate student Jessica Halofsky isworking with Hibbs to understand fire behaviorin riparian zones.ShrubsMost shrubs come back after fire from rootsprouts or the seed bank, but if they aredamaged or killed by logging operations, willthey recover? OSU graduate student MariaLopez and Hibbs will begin a study thissummer to answer that question. Shrubsprovide an important food source and coverfor wildlife, and some types of shrubs providenutrients to growing trees.Soil fungiSoil fungi play a crucial role in forest ecosystemsby recycling nutrients. Matt Trappe, aPh.D. student in the Environmental SciencesProgram, is studying the effects of prescribedburning on mycorrhizal fungi in an old-growthponderosa pine forest in Crater Lake NationalPark. Trappe is working with KermitCromack, OSU professor emeritus, and JimTrappe and Efrén Cázares of the Departmentof Forest Science, to understand fungal activityafter fire.Fall 2006