Deforestation/Forest
Issues
Problems/Case Studies
"Cancer Cure
or Conservation" Pauline A. Lizotte, Valencia Community
College, and Gretchen E. Knapp, Illinois State University. State
University of New York at Buffalo's National Center for Case Study
Teaching
This case is based on the
controversies surrounding harvesting of the Pacific yew from 1989
to 1997 to develop paclitaxel (Taxol), a revolutionary anti-cancer
drug. The case was designed to expose students to basic
conservation biology concepts by examining competing needs among
scientists and other stakeholders in a real-life
science-and-society scenario.
Developed for a undergraduate
introductory biology course for non-majors, the case could also
be used in an environmental science course or in a course on the
impact of science and technology on society.
"The
Deforestation
of the Amazon: A Case Study in Understanding Ecosystems and
Their Value". Phil Camill, Carleton College. State
University of New York at Buffalo's National Center for Case Study
Teaching
In this case, students
examine tropical deforestation in the Amazon from the perspective
of three dominant stakeholders in the region: a peasant farmer, a
logger, and an environmentalist. As part of the exercise, students
perform a cost-cost analysis of clearing a plot of tropical forest
in the Amazon from the perspective of one of these stakeholder
groups.
Developed for a course in global
change biology, this case could also be used in courses on
general ecology, environmental science, environmental ethics,
environmental policy, and environmental/ecological economics.
"Unveiling the
Carboniferous". Biological
Inquiry: A workbook of investigative cases.
Waterman, Margaret, and Stanley, Ethel. Campbell-Reese.
pp. 59-70.
Students
learn about the geological production of coal, the cooling and
warming of earth's climate, glaciation, and the evolution of
plants. Internal fertilization and reproductive strategies
are introduced as students discover ways that evolution
increased diversity. Available in resource cabinet outside
Rm. 207 SCIC.
"Burning Issues". John S.
Peters. College of Charleston National and local
(Francis Marion NF) forest fire management policy.
- Part
1
- Are our forests "sick"? - This part of the problem
gets students to explore their pre-existing conceptions
about forest fires from predominant messages sent through
the popular media (i.e. Smokey the Bear and preventing
forest fires). Students read two articles (see below)
about the role of fire in forest
succession. A follow-up class discussion allows
students to reconceptualize their understanding of fire's
important role in forest ecosystem succession, and how
descriptions of forest fires as "devastating" or forests as
"unhealthy" or "recovering" after a fire simply reflect
anthropomorphic descriptions what human's value about
forests rather than on-going and natural aspects of
the many stages of forest succession. Supplemental
Readings from Project Learning Tree: The Changing
Forest: Crisis
in
our Forests and Season
of
Fire
- Part
2 - Francis Marion NF and Urban Sprawl - This
stage of the problem deals with proposals to extend
development into and around Francis Marion National Forest
(FMNF), one of the few remaining Longleaf Pine forests which
once dominated the east coast. Students explore
the impact of human development near the forest on
maintaining this fire-adapted community.
- Part
2
- 2nd Option - The Healthy Forest Initiative - Forest
thinning: Firefighting or logging?
Other Burning Issues problem
resources:
CNN Video Clips - available in
the resource cabinet outside Rm. 207 SCIC
"Deforestation"
(Japan) : Environmental Science 5th Ed. CNN Ed (2:52 min)
Nearly 30 years ago, Japan
experienced a booming economy and population growth, partly due to
tariff reductions on imports. Today, about 2% of the Earth's
population resides in Japan, and the economy isn't as strong as it
was in previous years. However, that hasn’t stopped the
large population growth. Japan consumes nearly 1/3 of the
timber resources that are bought and sold in international
markets, making Japan one of the greatest contributors to global
deforestation. Deforestation, known as the cutting or
removal of trees from a forest without adequate replacement, is a
major issue that Japanese officials have tried to address.
The large percentage of timber usage is attributed to the building
of over 1 million new homes with wood products each year. In
previous years, Japan depended on tropical rainforests from
Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines for wood products.
After many years of overusing the forests of the South Pacific,
Japan has moved on to using wood products from temperate forests
in North and South America, Russia, and Australia. Some
Japanese officials believe that they are helping to save the
environment from global deforestation since they have abandoned
logging operations in tropical forests. Environmentalists
disagree, reasoning that no matter where in the world you cut
timber it still causes deforestation. The worksheet includes
the URL to the World Trade Organization web site. (Student
worksheet provided on CD)
"Deforestation"
(Cardamom Mountains of Cambodia): Environmental Science 6th Ed.
CNN Ed (2:35 min)
The Cardamom Mountains are home to
many of Cambodia's rare and endangered species such as the
Indochinese tiger, Asian elephants, and the Malaysian sun
bear. Until recently, the area was subject to uncontrolled
deforestation and widespread poaching. In 2002, Prime
Minister Hun Sen, along with the Cambodian government, signed into
law the creation of the Central Cardamoms Protected Forest, a
1,000,000 acre (400,000 hectare) area in Cambodia's Central
Cardamom Mountains. When added to the existing two wildlife
sanctuaries (Mt. Samkos Wildlife Sanctuary and Mt. Aural Wildlife
Sanctuary), the total land under protection exceeded 2,200,000
acres (1,000,000 hectares), an area the size of Yellowstone
National Park. Prior to the protected forest, the Cardamoms
were home to the Khmer Rouge until their downfall in 1998.
After 1998, the area was designated to logging companies, but in
January 2001, the Cambodian government banned commercial
logging. Illegal logging and wildlife poaching still
threaten the protected area; however, the Cambodian government
assigned rangers and military police to actively monitor and
enforce the laws of the protected areas. (Student worksheet
provided on CD)
"Deforestation"
(Global Forest Watch): Environmental Science 7th Ed. CNN Ed (2:18)
Nearly 10 years after the Rio
Earth Summit and over 32 years since the first Earth Day,
researchers are finding that the growing deforestation crisis is
more severe than previously thought. Deforestation, known as the
cutting or removal of trees from a forest area without adequate
replacement, is a growing crisis throughout the world. According
to the World Resources Institute (WRI) initiative Global Forest
Watch, a vast amount of the world's remaining old growth and
primary forests are disappearing, and at the current rate of
destruction, many believe nearly 40% of the world's forests will
be gone within 10 to 20 years. In Indonesia, illegal logging has
caused the decline of half of its forests in the past 50 years. In
other areas, such as Russia, only one-quarter of the taiga remains
undisturbed. The worksheet contains the URL for the Global Forest
Watch website. (Student worksheet provided on CD)
"Land
Management": Environmental Science 7th Ed. CNN Ed (1:45)
Wildfires can be both essential to
natural ecosystems and dangerous to human life and property.
During 2002, the government spent nearly $1 billion fighting
forest fires that consumed almost seven million acres of U.S.
federally managed forests, including 35,000 acres in New Mexico,
42,000 acres in Alaska, and 42,000 acres in Arizona. To prevent
further wildfire destruction, the Bush administration proposed the
Healthy Forests Initiative, which plans to prevent wildfire
destruction by expediting forest-thinning and restoration
projects. The plan proposes the immediate thinning of backcountry
forests by easing regulatory restrictions and making it harder for
environmentalists to stop or delay forest-thinning projects.
Environmental groups believe that the Bush plan will only prevent
the public from changing or appealing logging decisions. The
worksheet includes the URL for the White House website.
(Student worksheet provided on CD)
"Healthy
Forests Initiative": Environmental Science 6th Ed. CNN (2:27 min)
Wildfires can be both essential to
natural ecosystems and dangerous to human life and property.
Currently, there are over 470 million acres of U.S. federally
managed forest, and at least 190 million acres are considered at
risk. During 2002, the U.S. learned of this risk as the
Biscuit fire burned over ½ million acres in southern Oregon, and
the national total exceeded over 6.5 million acres of U.S. forest
land burned. To prevent further wildfire destruction,
President George W. Bush proposed to Congress a law to expedite
forest thinning and restoration projects, known as the Healthy
Forests Initiative. The plan proposes the immediate thinning
of backcountry forests by easing regulatory restrictions and
making it harder for environmentalists to stop or delay that
work. Environmental groups believe that the Bush plan only
prevents any chance of the public changing or appealing any
logging decisions. The worksheet includes the URL for the
White House website. (Student worksheet provided on CD)
"Sudden Oak
Death": Biology 6th Ed. CNN Ed 2002 (1:56)
Scientists have identified the
organism causing oak deaths in California as a species of
Phytophthora, but many questions remain. It is not known how the
disease is spread, if spores can survive in the soil, or how long
it persists in dead wood. Scientists do know that infection makes
trees vulnerable to beetles and to other fungi, and that it is
devastating oak woodlands. The dead trees are also creating a fire
hazard. The worksheet includes the URL for the University of
California at Davis Cooperative Extension site about sudden oak
death. (Student worksheet provided on CD)
Francis Marion NF/Longleaf
Pine Ecosystems and Forest Fires Articles
"What's at Stake in Forest
Plan-Locals Fear Loss of Habitat and Beauty" Bartelme,
Tony. The Post and Courier. 26 March 2006.
The federal government has plans
to sell thousands of acres of national forest. This article
addresses the concerns of the public and of scientists. There is
worry about how this will effect the local economy and also how
some protective species will be effected.
Under Fire - The Francis Marion
National Forest is a place of beauty and mystery, but outside
forces threaten to overwhelm this treasure" Bartelme,
Tony. The Post and Courier. 16 October 2005.
This article addresses the need to
burn The Francis Marion regularly. It addresses the benefits and
how this burning could bring the majestic long leaf pine forest
back. Many species of animals and plants may become extinct if the
controlled burning does not occur. But there are also problems
that occur during burns, such as car accidents because of smoke,
private property damage, and there is also the possibility that
the fire can become uncontrolled.
"Bush
plan
to sell acreage in national forest draws fire AH: Push
to sell tracts in Francis Marion, other US forests sparks
debate". Bartelme, T. Post and Courier, Feb 15, 2006.
"The Bush administration
wants to sell a fraction of America's public forestland, including
less than 1 percent of the Francis Marion National Forest. But the
proposal has touched off intense political brush fires here and
across the country."
"Leaders
pledge
to protect national forest". Bartelme, T and Walker T. Post and Courier, November
10, 2005.
"MOUNT PLEASANT-Local leaders are
considering a "blood
pact" to stop future annexations, sewer
lines and other measures that might encourage development between
Mount Pleasant and the Francis Marion National Forest - a rare
case of rivals cooperating on a potentially contentious land-use
issue. More than 200 people packed Mount Pleasant Town Hall
Tuesday night to support efforts to protect this rural area from
urban sprawl, and town officials responded by postponing plans
that could lead to future annexations."
"The
relation
of understory grasses in longleaf pine ecosystems to fire and
geography". Kaplan, JA. 2005 UNC Chapel Hill -
Student Research Paper
"Longleaf pine forests are
a fire-dependent community that once dominated the
southeast. In order to manage the remaining fragments, it is
important to consider the history of the area and the role of fire
throughout history. One of the main fuels for ground fires
in longleaf pine forests are the grass species of the understory
community, and the function and ecology of these grasses influence
the trajectory of the forest ecosystem. There are, however,
areas within the longleaf range that lack the dominant grass
species, wiregrass (Aristida stricta), from either natural gaps in
wiregrass distribution or from the disappearance of wiregrass
through disturbance. With the arrival of the Europeans, the
longleaf forest was described as "park-like", with open
midstories, grassy understories, and large, sparse trees.
However, the condition of these forests was greatly modified by
Native Americans for thousands of years with the use of
intentional fires for hunting and farming. The influence of
fire, disturbance, and agriculture of Native Americans, as well as
the later European settlers affected the understory diversity in
general, the dominance of grass species in particular, and the
fire dynamics in the longleaf areas."
"Fire in longleaf pine stand management: An economic
analysis". Busby, RL, and Hodges, DG. Proceedings of
the Soceity of American Foresters 1999 Convention Portland, OR.
"A simulation analysis of
the economics of using prescribed fire as a forest management tool
in the management of longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill.) plantations was
conducted. A management regime using frequent prescribed
fire was compared to management regimes involving fertilization
and chemical release, chemical control, and mechanical
control. Determining the cost-effectiveness of the
management alternatives was accomplished by estimating the growth
response needed to recover the costs associated with the
silvicultural treatments and making comparisons among the
alternatives. The results show prescribed fire would require
the least growth response to pay for the expenses required to
implement the alternatives. Fire retained its
cost-effectiveness for a range of rotation lengths and sawtimber
stumpage values."
"Under
fire
AH: The Francis Marion National Forest is a place of
beauty and mystery, but outside forces threaten to overwhelm
this treasure." Bartelme, T. Post and Courier, March 2006.
"Twomey runs the Francis Marion's burn program for the U.S. Forest Service, and he knows this forest
needs fire
to live. Without fire, many of its plants and animals will vanish,
as they have in so many other places in the South. He knows fire
makes the Francis Marion one of the rarest forests in the country.
But he also knows that wildfires are like untamed animals; they're
too dangerous to be around people. And the Francis Marion National
Forest is increasingly surrounded by people and their cars and
homes."
"Special
report
road to controversy AH: A road project fires debate about
future of the Francis Marion National Forest Part 2 of 4".
Bartelme, T. Post and Courier, Oct 17, 2005.
"Even though Steed Creek
Road is one of the least traveled routes in Charleston and
Berkeley counties, federal and state engineers are planning a $10
million to $12 million upgrade. If completed, this new Steed Creek
Road will have the same wide lanes and paved shoulders as the
state's busiest high-speed highways.It also will plunge a dagger
into the heart of the Francis Marion
National Forest, conservation groups say. They fear it will draw
more traffic into the forest and hurt efforts to burn the area on
a regular basis. They say the project violates the federal
Endangered Species Act. Lawsuits are in the wind."
"Special
Report
Pressure Point AH: Growth is marching into the Francis
Marion National Forest Part 3 of 4". Bartelme,
T. Post and Courier,
October 18, 2005.
"Builders and investors are
quietly snapping up thousands of acres inside the Francis Marion National Forest - a land rush that threatens efforts to
save endangered species and restore what biologists say is one of
the most unique forests in the country."
"Awendaw
Mayor
wary of area pact AH: Regional agreement could limit
town's growth, Alston says". Walker, T. Post and Courier, Dec 9,
2005.
"Awendaw - The mayor said
he isn't interested in signing a regional growth management
agreement to discourage development in rural East Coopernear the
Francis Marion National Forest if it means his town can't continue
to grow.Eleven leaders of county and municipal governments and
public utilities are reviewing the proposal to slow development on
thousands of acres in and around the national forest."
"Francis
Marion
Pact Would Protect National Forest." Coastal Conservation League
"The Francis Marion
National Forest is a 250,000-acre ecological treasure just 15
minutes north of Mt. Pleasant. Large stands of the
increasingly rare longleaf pine/ grassland ecosystem can be
found here, complete with many threatened and endangered
species. Recently, Mt. Pleasant Mayor Harry
Hallman and Charleston Mayor Joe Riley joined together with other
public entities in the area to protect the forest from Sprawl."
Goodwin heart
pine company
This manufacturer using
longleaf pine has a website that introduces consumers to the
ecosystem of the longleaf pine providing extensive background
information of the virgin forest, naval stores, and history of the
pine.
Image
of
longleaf alliance Google
image search.
Sherpa
Guides:
The Natural Georgia Series: The Fire Forest
The website provides images
and background to the conservation of, inhabitants, and cultural
history of the longleaf pine ecosystem.
Health
Forest
Initiative Articles
"Wildfires 101".
Sierra Club
"It's time for the
Forest Service to make protecting our communities from fire its
number-one mission.
It's time to stop pointing fingers and to find common ground.
Whatever our differences with the timber industry, the Forest
Service and the Bush Administration on other forest management
issues, we should all agree that every community at risk deserves
protection and that the highest priority is providing protection
where it is needed most: in the Community Protection Zones.No
community should be left at risk because the Forest Service has
chosen to divert funds and personnel away from projects to secure
Community Protection Zones and left workers in lower-priority
backcountry areas." The site also includes printable tip
sheets and articles debunking Bush's Healthy Forest
Initiative.
"Pros
and
Cons of healthy forest initiative" Open Forum.
Bischel, DA. SFGate.com, October 31, 2003.
"The Healthy Forests
Initiative establishes local control, putting forest management
decisions in the hands of local foresters committed to sustaining
entire forests -- wildlife, watersheds, fish, trees and soil. It
also clears roadblocks that prevent much needed action on the
ground, streamlining the appeals process and procedures within
federal agencies that manage federal forestlands while encouraging
public participation early in project planning....The Healthy
Forest Initiative recognizes that we must thin our forests, yet
not place an unnecessary burden on taxpayers. By allowing some
trees, not old growth, to be harvested and used in products we
depend on everyday, we can create jobs, revive rural communities
and help fund the very process of returning our forests to health
and grandeur. Now, thanks to bipartisan support, a more efficient
system brings renewed hope for our national forests."
"Fireproofing the Forests" Nash, Madeleine J. Time
Magazine. August 18, 2003. 52-56.
This article describes how
thinning out the younger, smaller trees might be beneficial to the
health of a forest. It explains the process of thinning and
describes some benefits and controversies surrounding the process.
"Healthy
Forests Report". March 3, 2006.
"The Department of the
Interior and the USDA Forest Service implement the National Fire
Plan (NFP) and Healthy Forests Initiative (HFI) to help save lives
of firefighters and citizens and to reduce the risk of
catastrophic fire to our communities, forests, and
rangelands." The report includes such areas of discussion
and data presentation as byproducts of the forest, hazardous
materials, and fire risks.
"Healthy
Forests:
An inititative for wildfire prevention and stronger communities".
August 22, 2002.
From the Office of the
President of the United States of America, this is an executive
summary of forest fires. "The American people, their
property, and our environment, particularly the forests and
rangelands of the West, are threatened by catastrophic fires and
environmental degradation. Hundreds of millions of trees and
invaluable habitat are destroyed each year by these severe
wildfires. These unnaturally extreme fires are causes by a
crisis of deteriorating forest and rangeland health, the result of
a century of well-intentioned but misguided land management.
Renewed efforts to restore our public lands to healthy conditions
are needed."
"Treating
Slash" Northern Arizona University. Ecological
Restoration Institute.
"Restoration thinning of
ponderosa pine forests often results in large quantities of slash
that can be challenging to treat. As is true of most aspects of
forest restoration, there is no one-size-fits-all approach for
dealing with slash. In fact, there are several options commonly
used in southwestern forests, each with its own advantages and
disadvantages. It is important for land managers to understand the
long-term implications of slash removal methods on ecosystem
processes. This paper presents standard methods for disposing of
slash, as well as the ecological and logistical tradeoffs
associated with each method."
"USDA Healthy Forest
Initiative."
"President Bush has taken a series
of actions to expedite high-priority fuel-reduction and forest
restoration projects in our nation's forests and rangelands,
including the December 2003 signing of the Healthy Forests
Restoration Act. The primary goal of these projects is to reduce
the fire danger and return our forests and rangelands to a
healthier state."
"Effects
of
thinning treatment on fire behavior". Northern Arizona
University Ecological Restoration Institute.
The article describes the
threat of fire on the ponderosa pine forests. Thinning of
canopy and ladder fuels will reduce crown fire potential.
Prescribed fire is explained, necessary for reducing fuel loads
and nutrient cycling. Research and data are examined.
"California
fires
reignite forest thinning debate". Steven Milloy.
Fox News. October 31, 2003.
Logging projects may be the
suspicious motive for the "necessary" thinning of forests to
prevent excessive burning. The controversy is addressed in
the article.
"Sacred
redwood"
The link addresses Bush's
"unhealthy" forest initiative, provides helpful redwood images,
and describes forest watch along with endangered species.
"Forest-thinning
inititaive debated". Kenworthy, T. USA-Today.
June 2, 2003.
This article promotes the
skepticism necessary to look at forest thinning as a healthy
initiative to prevent excessive destruction by forest fires.
A group of governors were described as touring areas where
thinning appears to promote the need for forest thinning; however,
areas such as the area of the Hayman fire of 2002, a different
scene would be apparent. The thinning controversy is
addressed.
General
Information
about fire: Forest managment practice/role of fire in forest
ecosystems
"Tiny Pine Beetles Wiping Out
Forests" Struck, Doug, The Washington Post. 5 March 2006.
Canadian forests are under attack
by a tiny pine beetle. The range of attack is increasing and the
beetle is now being seen in places that it had never been in
previously. This change is probably due to the increased warmth in
the climate caused by global warming. The winter is no longer
severe enough to kill off the beetle.
"Controlled Burning in Forests Helps
Restore Habitat" Wiggers, Ernie. The Post and Courier. 9
March 2006.
This article focuses on the needs
and benefits of using controlled burning in our forests. The
suggestion is that it helps to maintain the ecosystem of the
forest. Controlled burning also reduces the accumulation of forest
debris, which fuels catastrophic fires.
"Seeing
the
forests for their green: Economic benefits of forest
protection, recreatation, and restoration". Sierra
Club.
The executive summary is
organized in lesson format to educate the public about the
importance of the timber industry to the economy.
"Forest
Fires:
Beyond the heat and hype". Sierra Club.
Through education, the
Sierra Club hopes to eliminate the fear and risk of forest
fires. The benefits of fire are also addressed.
"Restoring
America's
Forests". Sierra Club. July 18, 2002.
The value of American
forests and the need to protect and renew them is addressed in
this executive summary.
"A
citizen's call for ecological forest restoration: forest
restoration principles and criteria". DellaSala, D,
Martin, A, Spivak, R, Schulke, T., Bird, B, Criley, M, van Daalen,
C, Kreilick, J, Brown R, and Aplet, G. Ecological Restoration, 21:
1 March 2003.
The need to restore forest
ecosystems after the degradation of logging, fire suppression,
road building, live-stock grazing, mining, and invasion by exotic
species is addressed.
"Financial
results
of Ponderosa pine forest restoration in southwestern Colorado".
Lynch, DL. USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-22. 2001.
"From 1996 to 1998, the
Ponderosa Pine Partnership conducted an experiment forest
restoration project on 493 acres of small diameter ponderosa pine
in the San Juan National Forest, Monetzuma County, Colorado.
The ecological basis and the financial analysis for this project
are discussed. Specific financial results of the project
including products sold, revenue collected, harvesting-costs
incurred, and profits or losses realized are reported.
Restoration costs are also compared with fire suppression costs
experienced both in Colorado and nationwide. Using data
collected since the conclusion of the project, the future
potential for financing fire restoration in southwestern Colorado
is explored."
"Fuels
treatments
and forest restoration: An analysis of benefits."
Ecological Restoration Institute. May 2003.
"In contemporary ponderosa
pine forests throughout the Southwest the need to thin dense
stands in order to reduce the risk of catastrophic fires has
become evident. Numerous thinning prescriptions have been
implemented. While many prescriptions focus solely on
lowering fire risk by removing ladder fuels and reducing crown
connectivity, others explicitly aim to alter both forest structure
and functioning. This publication examines the benefits of
restoration that can lower fire damage danger-while also
increasing the overall biological diversity and long-term health
of treatment areas."
"The
road-ripper's
guide to wildland road removal." Bagley, S. 1998
Wildlands Center for Prevent ing Roads.
The chapters to this report
include Why Remove Roads?, Understanding roads, watersheds, and
soil erosion, and understanding road removal. This is done
in efforts to heal forest ecosystems.
"Should
we
protect private homes from forest fires?" Denver Post
Editorial. August 16, 2001, Baker, WL.
Federal land management
agencies have allocated approximately $2 billion to the
issue. Fire suppression can harm ecosystems. The
editorial asserts that federal funding should be directed towards
stopping irresponsible development near forest ecosystems.
"Effects
of
prescribed fire in Ponderosa pine on key wildlife habitat
componenets: Preliminary results and a method for
monitoring." Randall-Parker, T. and Miller, R.
ISDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-181. 2002.
The effects of prescribed
burns were monitored in ponderosa pine forests on snags, down
logs, oaks, and old ponderosa pine trees using a
"Pre-fire
treatment
effects and post-fire forest dynamics on the Rodeo-Chediski burn
area, Arizona". Strom, BA. Northern Arizona
University, May 2005.
Excerpt from
findings: "Prescribed burning without cutting was associated
with reduced burn severity, but the combination of cutting and
prescribed burning had the greatest ameliorative effect.
Increasing degree of treatment was associated with an increase in
the number of live trees and a decrease in the extremity of fire
behavior as indicated by crown base height and bole char height."
"The
Society
for Ecological Restoration International Primer on Ecological
Restoration".
This paper educates
the public on the definition of ecological restoration and the
effects on ecosystems along with the way restoration is
accomplished.
"A
Ponderosa Natural Area Reveals Its Secrets"
"Monument Canyon Research
Natural Area preserves an unlogged 259-hectare stand of old-growth
ponderosa pine in the Jemez Mountains of New Mexico. This
preserve, established in 1932, is the oldest research natural area
in the state." The changes in the research area are
discusses, such as the death of the older trees as they compete
with newer saplings.
Ecological Restoration
Institute Website, Northern Arizona University.
"The Ecological Restoration
Institute (ERI) at Northern Arizona University (NAU) is nationally
recognized for mobilizing the unique assets of a University to
help solve the problem of unnaturally severe wildfire and degraded
forest health. The ERI focuses principally on landscapes where
unprecedented wildfires, insect infestations and disease outbreaks
threaten ecological and human community sustainability. The ERI's
role is to assist land management agencies and communities with
their collaborative efforts in healing our forest landscapes by
providing comprehensive focused studies, monitoring and evaluation
research, and technical support. Our goal is not just discovery of
knowledge, but work that makes a difference on the ground in our
western forests."
Firewise.org - Firewise.org is a multi-agency effort
to involve homeowners, community leaders, property owners, among
others, to use resources to reduce the risks of forest
fires.
"Mycorrhizal
management:
A look beneath the surface at plant establishment and growth".
Michael P. Amaranthus, Ph.D. This article originally appeared in
The Spring
1999 issue of
Florida Landscape Architecture Quarterly.
"Little things run the
world. This is especially true when it comes to getting plants
established. Under natural conditions plants live in close
association with soil organisms called mycorrhizal fungi. These
fungi colonize plant roots and extend the root system into the
surrounding soil. (Figure 1.) Estimates of amounts of mycorrhizal
filaments present in healthy soil are astonishing. Several miles
of filaments can be present in less than a thimbleful of soil
associated with vigorously growing plants. The relationship is
beneficial because the plant enjoys improved nutrient and water
uptake, disease resistance and superior survival and growth."
"NOVA
online: Fire Wars: How plants use fire (and are used
by it)" Pyne, SJ.
"These rhythms mean that
fires thrive in a kind of habitat. Fires in grasslands burn one
way; fires in rainforest another; fires in temperate conifers in
several ways, sometimes skipping along the surface, sometimes
soaring through dense crowns. Indeed, varieties of each kind of
fire exist. Even grassfires may burn with the wind or against it;
they may creep and smolder or rage at the pace of a galloping
horse. But rough patterns do emerge, and biota adapt to these
patterns, much as they would to patterns of rainfall."
"Landscape
ecology
of large, infrequent fires in Yellowstone Park".
Teaching Issues and Experiments in Ecology.
The Ecological Society of
America established a new journal, Frontiers in Ecology and the
Environment, in 2003. Frontiers is intended for a wide audience
and includes synthetic articles with particular relevance to
environmental issues. Frontiers Issues to Teach Ecology is
designed to help ecology faculty use selected articles in ecology
courses plus do classroom research on their teaching. This
specific article is Turner, M.G., W.H. Romme, and D.B. Tinker.
2003. Surprises and lessons from the 1988 Yellowstone fires.
Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. 1 (7): 351-358.
"Fire
Management at Carolina Sandhills NWR". US Fish and
Wildlife Service.
A key aspect of the
Carolina Sandhills NWR is its role as a demonstration project
for the protection and enhancement of the longleaf
pine/wiregrass ecosystem that covers much of the Refuge. Fire
is one of their most important management tools. Prescribed
burning is conducted several times each year on different
portions of the Refuge.This mimics the natural fires that
historically burned through longleaf pine/wiregrass areas on a
three to five-year interval. Those natural fires were of low
intensity, fueled by grasses and pine litter. The prescribed
fires used at Carolina Sandhills NWR suppress the growth of
hardwood trees, creating an open park-like situation preferred
by the red-cockaded woodpecker (RCW) and many other animals
and plants native to this ecosystem."
"Fire regimes
in Sierrian mixed-conifer forests". USGS.
Swetnam, T, and Baisan, C.
The article discusses fire
ecology and using the study of tree rings to learn more about the
effects of fire on a forest ecosystem. Effective data images
to describe findings are also included.