The Priest River Experimental Forest

Every forest has a story to tell. By looking closely at its habitants, that story can be interpreted. Much of this narrative is written in the trees: their age, their tolerance to shade, and the rate at which they grow are all characteristics that can imply a lot about their environment. Exploring these relationships and how they connect with each other can indicate the health and history of the land. Heiberg Forest, located in northern New York, was once used for agricultural purposes in the 1800-1900’s. (Nowak, Lecture Notes) Much of the land once used for farming was left to regrow back into a young forest. The life history of different tree species can be determined by examining the most common species in Heiberg.

So what are Aspen trees and Pine trees? Aspen trees and Pine trees are a type of trees which are used to make paper or products which relate to paper. For example, tissue, cardboard, matches, paper, wooden furniture, houses, etc. There are quite a lot fo types of Aspen trees, but the main three types of Aspen trees are Quaking Aspen, BigTooth Aspen and European Aspen. (Lovetoknow Corp. "Aspen Trees.") Aspen trees bark are usually white with some black spots, Their logs are also usually really thin. (Lovetoknow Corp. "Aspen Trees.") Their leaves are usually round and is different for different species of the Aspen trees. (Lovetoknow Corp. "Aspen Trees.") Aspens also have small flowers called

Fire has long been understood to have an impact on the ecosystem of our native woodlands, but it is only recently that we have come to understand its importance in maintaining the ecosystem. This report takes samples of the flora structure and growth in two different areas of Anstey Hill Recreation Park. The first was last burnt in 1995, and the second burnt in 2012. The results of these samples can be compared to data sampled in 2011, when the 2012 burnt area had not been burnt since Ash Wednesday in 1983.

The topography of the island is also of note. The west end of the island features a closed-canopy forest with more hardwood trees. The east end of the island is better characterized as a “boreal forest,” a term used to describe regions that are mostly covered by coniferous forests. It is good to note that the balsam fir is found on both ends of the island, but that samples used in the study from the west end of the island were, on average, older, but shorter, than those samples found on the east side of the island.

The beautiful rare Daintree Rainforest land stretches out into a dense rainforest, that lays on lowland mountain ranges. With “fast flowing streams, waterfalls, and gorges” that twist and turn between the mountains that lead to the white sandy beaches that collide into the Coral Sea (“About the Daintree Rainforest”). The closely spaced trees cover (“Tropical Rainforest Biome”) the colorful flowers and plants throughout the rainforest (“About the Daintree Rainforest”). The Daintree Rainforest is a tropical rainforest biome that is “located on the northeast of Queensland, Australia” (“About the Daintree Rainforest”). Logging has been a problem to the one hundred and thirty-five million year old rainforest because they see the Daintree Rainforest

The ancient forests of the Northeast aren’t the only aspect of the bioregion that’s fate have been at perpetual risk since the early settlement of Europeans. There is no question that forests still dominate the landscape of Northeastern region accounting for “60% of the total land area, and in New England alone, the coverage is 80%”. Still the species that exist within the understory of the forests have undergone an equally dramatic transformation because of human interaction with the land and the harvest of its resources. Some species in the understory of the mixed forests of the Northeast have been driven out of the region, are under intense ecological pressure, are on the brink of extinction, or have already gone extinct in the region. Perhaps one of the most harmful and impactful effects colonization of the Northeast has had on the resources of the land is the introduction of non-native species and diseases into the region. Over time the overall makeup of the forests have changed drastically as an example, “…the American chestnut once made up as much as 25% of the trees in some areas and was economically the most important hardwood in the Eastern forests”. The introduction of chestnut blight at the turn of the century accounts for

Based on the current conditions of the area, we hypothesis that tree survivability will be highest in elevations above 3,000 feet and below 3,300 feet, highest in slopes between 0 - 45 degrees, and highest in aspects between 0 - 33 degrees. Tree survivability will also be highest in area with the best soil, water quality, and forest health conditions for successful tree sapling growth.

This tree resides in Oregon’s Willamette Mission State Park, where in 1834 the first white settler arrived to teach Native Americans. With the Black Cottonwood nearby, the missionary expanded until the 1861 great flood devastated their farm. Unfazed, this robust Black Cottonwood simply kept growing. Today, it’s nearly 300 years old. This tree now revels in the peace and quiet of its bordering 1,600 acres of woodland.

USDA - US Forest Service - AEM (n.d.). Mount St. Helens Research. Retrieved September 17, 2013, from

Looking further into the impacts of the Rodeo-Chediski fire the trees saw the greatest impact of the fire. Almost 90% of the trees suffered complete crown kill (Ffolliott, 2008). Either some trees had survived with low severity, were harmed, or dead because of the drought and the fire combined. Even though some of the trees that had faced high severity apparently after having seen what trees had survived the fire yet by 2004 two years after the fire they had died (Ffolliott, 2008). The wildfire also impacted the standardization structure, post-fire mortality of trees, and stocking of tree reproduction on the Steamer Ridge Watershed (Ffolliott, 2008). After the fire had finally been contained the density of the forest had been forever changed.

This region is “heavily influenced by natural disturbances”. Species here have adapted to large wildfires; some, including the jack pine and black spruce, require these fires to reproduce. Heat is needed to release their seeds, and seed germination only occurs in favourable conditions produced by the fires.

The reduction of vegetative cover during and after fire can have a severe negative impact on several different factors including: water quality, soil erosion, wildlife and threatened or endangered species, introduction or spread of invasive and exotic species, and economic or social impacts to the surrounding communities. We will implement a vegetation monitoring protocol that will help guide us in restoration and recovery efforts of the High Park fire scar and the surrounding areas and watershed. A collaboration with the US Forest Service will be aggressively pursued in the hopes that a combined use of the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program and our separate vegetation monitoring protocol can be utilized. We will use the burn severity field data collection points and cross-reference them with the FIA data points to see if there is any overlap between them. If there is then the FIA data points will be given preference as those points can possibly provide more information than solely High Park Fire data collection points. If there is not the ability to utilize the FIA data collection points, due to privacy, cost, or unforeseen reasons, then the High Park Fire data collection points will be

In our experiment of field ecology at A-mountain, the purpose were to understand the specific factors that affect the distribution and abundance of plant species at north facing slope and south facing slope. The availability of plants in certain area depends on temperature, availability of water, sunlight and nutrients. A-mountain which is in Arizona has different desert plant that includes; grass, brittlebush, bursage, creosote bush, mesquite, palo verde, fishhook barrel, hedgehog, pincushion, teddy bear cholla, staghorn cholla, chain fruit cholla, prickly pear and others.. and some are specifically found on either north or south side of the mountain. The fact that the south slope receive more direct sunlight than the north facing slope, soil moisture will evaporate faster in south side of the mountain than in the north side thus the availability of different drought resisting plant whereas in north side where there is a slower evaporation due to lack of direct sunlight hence few drought resistant plants compared to south side (Wyant, unpublished data). We predicted that to the south side of the mountain there be will more diversity, evenness and drought tolerant plants species than the north side.

If we look at the vegetation of Minnesota, we can see three different types of categories: needleleaf forest, hardwood forest, and tallgrass prairie. The needleleaf forests include pine, spruce, and fir, with tamarack in the bog areas. The hardwood forest was also known as the Big Woods and was about 100 km in its width. The hardwood forest consisted of oak, maple, and basswood, with ash, elm, cottonwood, and box elder. In the south and west side of the hardwood forest, we can see the tallgrass prairie.

In Area 2, the species with the highest dominance value was the Oregon White Oak (70.6%). Oregon White Oaks provide shelter, housing, and food to various animals as well. Diversity of birds is often higher in Oregon White Oaks than in an adjacent coniferous forest. Using the dominance data, it tells us that at this moment in time Oregon Oak and