FOREST PROGRAM
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Annual Review of ONRC Research

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ONRC Research
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1997
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External Research
1995
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External Research 1999

Title:
Cumulative Impact Estimation for Landscape Scale Forest Planning.

Principal investigator(s); affiliations(s):
Dr. Peter Scheiss; University of Washington

Award:
$37,682

Project description:
This project is designed to develop, evaluate, and document a GIS-based approach to estimating cumulative impact for landscape scale forest planning. The necessary components already exist, including software (ArcGrid and Arc Macro Language), models (especially those in the Watershed Analysis manual) and data sets (topography, soils, stand data, etc.). This project will assemble existing models of forest management impacts into a framework that estimates relative cumulative environmental impacts of alternative plans. The final software package will input roads, harvests and schedules of alternative landscape level management plans, and it will output maps, charts and total estimates of cumulative impact. Investigators plan to compare a long-span road- minimizing alternative to a conventional skyline alternative for a portion of the DNR Hood Canal district along the Hamma Hamma River.

Project deliverable(s):
During the Spring of 1999, the senior class of Forest Engineering undergraduates of the University of Washington, under the direction of Dr. Peter Schiess, developed a harvest plan for 10,000 acres of the North portion of the Hoodsport planning area.

Final Report Available online: Web link

Title:
A Report on Trends in Social and Economic Indicators for Local Areas of Clallam and Jefferson Counties.

Principal investigator(s); affiliations(s):
Dr. Robert Lee, University of Washington, College of Forest Resources

Award:
$2,200

Project description:
This project builds on research initiated in 1998 and summarized in the report entitled, “Big changes in Small Places: A Report on Trends in Social and Economic Indicators for Local Areas of Clallam and Jefferson Counties.” The first year’s research revealed several important indicators of changes taking place at the sub-county level that had been clouded by aggregation of data at the county or state level. The most pertinent indicators were Department of Social and Health Services records of program usage, average test scores by several grade levels for school districts, and changes in business activity recorded by periodic economic censuses. Additional research will select the time series variables most relevant for tracking social and economic change at the sub-county level, update the times series, involve communities of interest in reviewing and validating the indicators, display results for local review by communities on the Peninsula, prepare a report and referred publication and recommend procedures for maintaining better records at the sub-county level, and recommend how sub-county data could be used in monitoring the Northwest Forest Plan.

Project deliverable(s):
Final report is in progress.

Big Changes in Small Places: Assessing Social and Economic Trends at the Local Level in Clallam and Jefferson Counties - DRAFT, April 2001

Figures

Title:
Effect of Marine Derived Nutrients on Insect Production in Salmon Spawning Streams.

Principal investigator(s); affiliations(s):
Dr. Robert Gara; University of Washington

Award:
$2,200

Project description:
A primary trophic interaction of anadromous salmonids appears to involve the release of marine-derived nutrients (MDN) from spawning adults and later from their spawned-out carcasses. Other research has found that many types of organisms inhabiting or visiting streams and riparian areas utilize MDN. This MDN fertilization, repeated with each spawning, benefits juvenile salmonids that may remain in streams for up to three years after hatching, depending on species. To discover how macroinvertebrates facilitate the transfer of MDN from adult to juvenile salmonids, this project will quantify the pathways of MDN to macroinvertebrates by monitoring the response of aquatic macroinvertebrate production to salmon carcass decomposition. These production estimates will provide a measure of the total energy available to higher consumers, including juvenile salmon. In addition, the project will evaluate the relative importance of the different pathways of MDN to aquatic macroinvertebrates by monitoring changes in production in each of the major trophic categories of aquatic macroinvertebrates. Finally, the project will determine if juvenile salmon benefit from MDN at the study sites, as has been shown elsewhere.

Project deliverable(s):

Title:
Development of Ornithological Radar as a Tool to Increase the Accuracy and Efficiency of Inland Surveys for Marbled Murrelets

Principal investigator(s); affiliations(s):
Brian Cooper; ABR, Inc.

Award:
$42,000

Project description:
The goal of the study is to develop and test radar techniques to improve the efficiency and accuracy of the terrestrial survey protocol for Marbled Murrelets, which currently is based solely on audio-visual methods. Specifically, the project will compare radar and audio-visual techniques and address the following null hypothesis: There is no difference between radar methods and standard audio-visual methods in number of days needed to detect presence of murrelets in a stand. Previous radar studies funded by ONRC in 1996 and 1997 (Cooper and Blaha 1998) found that many more murrelets were detected by radar than by audiovisual observers. These results suggested that radar could be used to improve the efficiency of the survey protocol by more quickly and more accurately determining the presence or absence of birds (especially at low-use sites). If these radar techniques were found to improve the current survey protocol, results from this study would provide land managers with a tool to more accurately, more quickly, and less expensively assess murrelet presence in a stand.

Project deliverable(s):
Cooper, B.A., Raphael, M.G., and D.E. Mack. 2003. “Refining a landscape-scale habitat model and inland monitoring program for marbled murrelets in the Olympic Peninsula.” Report to Olympic Natural Resources Center and USDA Forest Service, PNW Research Station.

Title:
Understanding the Risk of Nest Predation to Marbled Murrelets in Managed Landscapes.

Principal investigator(s); affiliations(s):
Dr. John Marzluff; University of Washington

Award:
$26,424

Project description:
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has identified three possible threats to the continued survival of the Marbled Murrelet: habitat loss, gill- net mortality, and increased predation following fragmentation due to forestry. The main management solution directed at reducing nest predation has been the creation of forest buffers around areas used by murrelets. However, no data currently exist to test the effectiveness of such buffers as predation deterrents. Creation of buffers creates an economic loss to landowners. This project builds upon data collected during the 1995-1997 to assess the effectiveness and necessity of buffers around nesting habitat to determine the conditions under which conservation is and is not enhanced. The approach is to identify the mechanisms responsible for correlations between buffer width and the viability of a rare species. This enables managers to understand how their actions influence wildlife and increases the likelihood that effective management strategies can be developed. If buffers are found to be effective in some settings but ineffective in others, managers can adjust their timber harvest strategies to satisfy the nesting requirements in some areas while maximizing timber production in other areas. This is a cooperative project involving private, state, and federal land managers to assure research is relevant to their management needs and facilitate implementation of results.

Project deliverable(s):
Marzluff, J.M. and 9 others. 1999. “The influence of stand structure, proximity to human activity, and forest fragmentation on the risk of predation to nests of marbled murrelets on the Olympic Peninsula.” Olympic Natural Resources Center, University of Washington.

1998 Report