David L. Loftis

A Practical Decision-Analysis Process for Forest Ecosystem Management

Abstract Many authors have pointed out the need to firm up the ‘fuzzy’ ecosystem management paradigm and develop operationally practical processes to allow forest managers to accommodate more effectively the continuing rapid change in societal perspectives and goals. There are three spatial scales where clear, precise, practical ecosystem management processes are needed: the regional assessment scale, the forest-level scale, and the project-level scale. This paper proposes a practical decision analysis process for ecosystem management at the project-level scale. Goals are the focal point of management. To achieve them requires a formal, structured goal hierarchy, desired future conditions, several interesting alternatives, scenario analysis, and monitoring and evaluation of the results. The proposed process is firmly grounded in the body of theory and practice organized in the scientific literature under the heading of multi-objective decision analysis. An illustrative example of this decision analysis process is presented using the Bent Creek Experimental Forest of the Pisgah National Forest near Asheville, NC as a test case.

Probability of occurrence and habitat features for oriental bittersweet in an oak forest in the southern Appalachian mountains, USA

Abstract Oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus), an introduced vine from southeast Asia, has become a serious threat to native forests in the eastern United States. It is typical of many exotic species in that quantitative ecological relationships are unavailable for assessment or management. We devised a rapid survey technique useful for hazard rating and modeled the probability of occurrence of oriental bittersweet in relation to environment, competition, and disturbance in stands of deciduous hardwoods in mountainous terrain. Oriental bittersweet was present on 39% of the study area, which has been managed by the selection system of silviculture and was recently disturbed by hurricane-force winds. Bittersweet was significantly associated with (1) topographic variables indicative of mesic environments, (2) density of midstory arborescent vegetation, (3) overstory canopy gaps, (4) past silvicultural harvests, (5) overstory canopy composition, and (5) scarification of the forest floor. Search distance from plot center to the first individual of bittersweet was significantly less (P=0.04) on mesic than xeric sites. We developed a logistic regression model with five significant (P

Oak Regeneration: Serious Problems Practical Recommendations (Symposium Proceedings)

An Historical Perspective of Oak Regeneration F. Bryan Clark, USDA Foresf Service, Retired, Anmndale, VA 22003 Concerns about oak management in the middle ages led to forest ordinances in France designed to ensure oak establishment. Oak was an early export from the American colonies because it was scarce and expensive in England. Probably the first government sponsored forest research in the United States was attempts in Florida in the early 1800’s to establish live oak (Quercus virginiana) for shipbuilding. With the advent of technical forestry in this country there were references in early papers and textbooks to oak regeneration and the shelterwood method. This interest was primarily for academic study and followed European descriptions, but some of the earliest oak regeneration research related to concerns about areas without advance reproduction. In the late 1930’s understory oaks were described in relation to past treatment. In the 1950’s and 1960’s researchers and ecologists began to quantify oak reproduction under various stand conditions on different sites. Mostly they found lots of understory oaks, but there were exceptions. Researchers thought these exceptions might be important and started to look more carefully at the response of oaks to harvest cutting. Even-aged cuttings quickly showed that on good oak sites without substantial numbers of vigorous advance oak the stands of the future would be quite different. The new stands generally contained less oak. At the same time observers noted that oak types were changing in some areas. More recently, comparisons of repeat forest surveys show a decline of oak types in some states. Increased prices for oak timber suggest that accelerated harvesting is adding to the ecological changes taking place. We find ourselves with a growing knowledge about oak ecology and silviculture but without a convincing history of being able to prescribe with certainty ways to increase the amount of oak in new stands. Considering the tremendous value of oak forests there is an urgency to improve oak management and to give high priority to long-term research. INTRODUCTION Is oak regeneration really a problem? Experts believe that on many sites now occupied by oak, regeneration will become increasingly difficult. How can that be? Oaks are the most prevalent forest types in the United States and dominate much of the East’s landscape. Volume growth exceeds commercial removals. It is even more contusing to remember that the present stands were born out of very harsh efforts to either convert forest lands to agriculture through tire and grazing or to

Fruit Production in Mature and Recently Regenerated Forests of the Appalachians

Abstract Fleshy fruit is a key food resource for both game and nongame wildlife, and it may be especially important for migratory birds during fall and for resident birds and mammals during winter. Land managers need to know how land uses affect the quantities and species of fruit produced in different forest types and how fruit production varies seasonally and as young stands mature. During June 1999–April 2004, we quantified fleshy fruit abundance monthly in 31 0.1-ha plots in 2 silvicultural treatments: 1) young 2-age stands with low basal area retention, created by shelterwood-with-reserves regeneration cuts (R; harvested 1998–1999); and 2) uncut mature closed-canopy stands (M) in 2 common southern Appalachian, USA, forest types (upland hardwood and cove hardwood [CH] forests). Over the 5-year study period, total dry pulp biomass production was low and relatively constant in both M forest types (𝑥̄ = 0.5–2.0 kg/ha). In contrast, fruit production increased each year in R, and it was 5.0 to 19.6 times greater in R than in M stands beginning 3–5 years postharvest. Two disturbance-associated species, pokeweed (Phytolacca americana) and blackberry (Rubus allegheniensis), produced a large proportion of fruit in R but showed different patterns of establishment and decline. Huckleberry (Gaylussacia ursina) recovered rapidly after harvest and was a major producer in both silvicultural treatments and forest types each year. Several herbaceous species that are not associated with disturbance produced more fruit in CHR. Few species produced more fruit in M than in R. Fruit production by most tree species was similar between R and M, due to fruiting by stump sprouts in R within 1–3 years postharvest. Fruit availability was highest during summer and early fall. American holly (Ilex opaca), sumac (Rhus spp.), and greenbriar (Smilax spp.) retained fruit during winter months but were patchy in distribution. In the southern Appalachians, young recently regenerated stands provide abundant fruit compared to mature forest stands and represent an important source of food for wildlife for several years after harvest. Fruit availability differs temporally and spatially because of differences in species composition, fruiting phenology, and the dynamic process of colonization and recovery in recently harvested stands. Land managers could enhance fruit availability for many game and nongame species by creating or maintaining young stands within forests.

Appbuilder for DSSTools : an application development environment for developing decision support systems in Prolog

Abstract A programming environment for developing complex decision support systems (DSSs) should support rapid prototyping and modular design, feature a flexible knowledge representation scheme and sound inference mechanisms, provide project management, and be domain-independent. We have previously developed DSSTools (Decision Support System Tools), a reusable, domain-independent, and open-ended toolkit for developing DSSs in Prolog. DSSTools provides modular design, a flexible knowledge representation scheme, and sound inference mechanisms to support development of any knowledge based system components of a DSS. It also provides tools for building the DSS interface and for integrating other non-Prolog components of a DSS such as simulation models, databases, or geographical information system, into a multi-component DSS. DSSTools does not provide project management, and its complex syntax makes rapid prototyping difficult. AppBuilder for DSSTools is a GUI-based application development environment for developing DSSs in DSSTools that supports rapid prototyping and project management. AppBuilder’s easy-to-use dialogues for managing and building knowledge based and top-level control components of a DSS free developers from having to memorize complex syntax and reduce development time without sacrificing the flexibility of the underlying toolkit. AppBuilder has been used to develop the Regeneration DSS, a system for predicting the regeneration of southern Appalachian hardwoods. AppBuilder is an application development environment for both prototyping and developing a complete DSS.

Predicting Forest Regeneration in the Central Appalachians Using the REGEN Expert System

REGEN is an expert system designed by David Loftis to predict the future species composition of dominant and codominant stems in forest stands at the onset of stem exclusion following a proposed harvest. REGEN predictions are generated using competitive rankings for advance reproduction along with other existing stand conditions. These parameters are contained within modular REGEN knowledge bases (RKBs). To extend REGEN coverage into hardwood stands of the Central Appalachians, RKBs were developed for four site classes (xeric, subxeric, submesic, mesic) based on literature and expert opinion. Data were collected from 48 paired stands in Virginia and West Virginia to calibrate the initial RKBs. Paired stands consisted of one mature uncut hardwood stand adjacent to a regenerating clear-cut stand with similar site characteristics that was harvested within the previous 20 yr. Data from 17 additional paired stands was collected a year later to validate the performance of REGEN. Predicted values were within 4 percentage points of measured values on average, and model error was typically less than 20 percentage points for species groups. These results confirmed the suitability of REGEN to predict the future species composition of stands regenerated using the clear-cut method in the Central Appalachians of Virginia and West Virginia.

Effects of Various Silvicultural Systems on Regeneration in Mixed Hardwood Stands of the Southern Appalachians

This study investigated the effects of clear-cutting and several other commonly used silvicultural systems on regeneration at seven sites in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia and West Virginia. These even-aged oak dominated stands ranged in age from 63 to 100 yr and were located on medium quality oak sites (site indices from 18 to 23 m, base age 50). The treatments evaluated included a clear-cut, commercial harvest, shelterwood, leave-tree, group selection, preharvest herbicide, and control. Mixed model ANOVA was used to analyze treatment response in five species groups: (a) oak (Quercus spp.); (b) maple (Acer spp.); (c) black cherry (Prunus serotina Ehrh.), and yellow-poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera L.); (d) miscellaneous overstory hardwoods; and (e) midstory species that typically do not occupy main canopy positions in mature stands. Response variables included stem density, importance value, average height for all regeneration, and the tallest 365 stems ha−1. Comparisons were made among treatments, species groups, and between regeneration of sprout and seedling origin. Alternative systems with residual trees reduced the regenerations overall mean height growth compared to the clear-cut by 0.34 to 0.74 m. Current conditions indicate oak will be a lesser component of the future stand, represented mostly through stump sprouting, and maple will likely increase in proportion among all treatments.

Experimental forests and ranges : 100 years of research success stories

In 2008, Forest Service Research and Development celebrated the Centennial Anniversary of these Experimental Forests and Ranges. This publication celebrates the many scientists who over the course of decades conducted the long-term studies that began and are continuing to shed light on important natural resource issues. Story suggestions were solicited from the Experimental Forest and Range Working Group and were selected to demonstrate the array of research issues being addressed on these living laboratories. Gathering a wealth of information from her interviews with scientists, Gail Wells proceeded to write these “…wonderful success stories from 100 years of research.” Studies established decades ago on many of these sites are still going strong. Experimental forests and ranges provide a valuable, long-term stream of information about the land and its resources. Over the years, researchers have built an impressive body of science to support good land management and further understanding of natural processes. Their research sheds light on many important questions. These experimental forests serve as living laboratories that help us connect the future to the past.

Structure and Species Composition of Upland Hardwood Communities After Regeneration Treatments Across Environmental Gradients

Early successional habitats can be created with a broad array of silvicultural techniques that remove all or most canopy trees in one to several cuttings and small to large patch sizes. Composition and early structural development of the resulting vegetation can be variable. Arborescent species composition is a function of regeneration sources already present and those that arrive during or after the cutting. The suite of species available for regeneration of a site, large or small, is a cumulative effect of disturbances and varies across multiple environmental gradients that include moisture, elevation (temperature), and soil chemistry.

12th Central Hardwood Forest Conference

This conference was the 13th in a series of biennial meetings that have been hosted by numerous universities and research stations of the USDA Forest Service in the Central Hardwood forest region in the eastern United States. The purpose of the Conference has remained the same since its inception -- that is to provide a forum for the formal and informal exchange of information concerning the ecology, siliviculture, and management of the Central Hardwood forest by wide range of subjects was presented representing research efforts to understand this diverse forest resource. An especially noteworthy shift from previous conferences was the increase in oral and poster presentations related to forests in riparian zones and other wetlands and water quality issues. Altogether, there were 60 oral and 33 poster presentations accepted for this conference yielding these proceedings containing 58 peer-reviewed papers, 23 research notes, and 9 abstracts.