Research
Additional
information
about this project
PNW
Funded Projects
2001
2000
1999
1998
1997
1996
1995
PNW Project Overview 1996
Ecology of Aquatic and Riparian Ecosystems: An Examination of Forest Management Alternatives
Principal
Investigators:
Dr. Peter
A. Bisson, USDA Forest Service, PNW Research
Station, Olympia, Wa
Dr. Martin G. Raphael, USDA Forest Service, PNW Research
Station, Olympia, Wa
Dr. Lawrence
L.C. Jones, USDA Forest Service, PNW Research
Station, Olympia Wa
Dr. Robert Bilby, Weyerhaeuser
Company, Technology Center, Tacoma, Wa
Awarded: $42,550
Project
Description:
This
proposal requests funds for the first year of an anticipated multi-year
study of the ecology of aquatic and riparian ecosystems in which different
forest management approaches will be used to achieve conditions that
support native riparian plant assemblages and viable populations of fish
and wildlife in western Washington. During the first year, field crews
will survey ecosystem conditions (fish, amphibian, and small mammal
communities; water quality and microclimate characteristics) at different
locations on the Olympic Peninsula and in coastal river basins of
southwestern Washington. From this examination, sites will be selected to
serve as long-term research areas in which experimental silvicultural
techniques will be used to promote desired conditions where past
management actions have altered riparian ecosystems in undesirable ways.
Effects of riparian treatments on biotic communities and selected
ecological functions affecting productivity and biodiversity will be
monitored to assess restoration effectiveness. The project goal is to
examine as wide a variety of riparian management options as possible,
therefore sites will be deliberately chosen to provide a range of
potential treatments, forest conditions, landforms, and stream sizes.
Because the project will eventually include partnerships between federal,
state, private and tribal organizations, researchers for this project
intend to establish a research
consortium to coordinate funding, provide sites and labor for riparian
manipulations, contribute scientific expertise, and provide other in-kind
services.
Project Status:
Project
continued with 1998 funds.
Project
Progress:
Researchers
began baseline surveys of riparian ecosystems conditions (fish,
amphibians, and small mammal communities) at 16 different locations on the
Olympic Peninsula with different riparian buffers characteristics.
In 1997, the number of sites that were sampled more than doubled and
the study was expanded to sample plant communities and birds.
The sites will become part of a regional network of reference sites
that will serve as long-term research areas in which experimental
management techniques will be used where appropriate to protect or restore
ecologically healthy riparian zones.