Stephen R. Shifley

Missouri Ozark Forest Ecosystem Project: site history, soils, landforms, woody and herbaceous vegetation, down wood, and inventory methods for the landscape experiment.

Describes vegetation and physical site conditions at the initiation (1991-1995) of the Missouri Ozark Forest Ecosystem Project (MOFEP) in the southeastern Missouri Ozarks. Provides detailed information on sampling protocols and summarizes initial conditions of the landscape experiment prior to harvest treatments. Summaries are by plot, by ~800-acre experimental unit, and by ecological landtype. The detailed information serves as a baseline for the century-long MOFEP experiment and for comparison with forest conditions in the regions.

Chapter 13 Application of landscape and habitat suitability models to conservation: the Hoosier National Forest land-management plan

We demonstrate an approach to integrated land-management planning and quantify differences in vegetation and avian habitat conditions among 5 management alternatives as part of the Hoosier National Forest planning process. The alternatives differed in terms of the type, extent, magnitude, frequency, and location of management activities. We modeled ecological processes of disturbance (e.g. tree harvest, prescribed fire, wildfire, windthrow) and succession using LANDIS, a spatially explicit landscape decision-support model, and applied habitat suitability models for six species of birds to the output from that model. In this way, we linked avian habitat suitability models to spatially explicit vegetation change models that include ecological processes affecting vegetation composition, horizontal and vertical structure, and configuration. The detailed and synthetic nature of our approach provides a framework and structure that (1) is readily conveyed to multiple constituencies, (2) is based on explicitly stated assumptions and relationships, (3) provides a basis for testing, refinement, and extension to other forest commodities and amenities, and (4) provides a way to consider cumulative effects of multiple forest attributes at multiple spatial and temporal scales.