Disturbance

Seminar: New Insights into Old Forests

Event Date:

Wednesday, January 24, 2018

Event Brief Description:

New insights into old forests: Forest ecology and conservation in the area of the Northwest Forest Plan. Dr. Tom Spies

January 24, 2018 4PM, LINC 302

About the Seminar: The 1994 Northwest Forest Plan for federal forests was designed to conserve populations of species associated with complex old-growth forests within the range of the northern spotted owl. Over the last 24 years we have learned that the ecology of old growth forests in the region is more diverse than we appreciated when the plan was developed. Improved knowledge of historical fire regimes can inform old-growth forest conservation based on ecosystem perspectives, but it can also be a challenge to existing conservation approaches based on individual species associated with one type of old growth. In addition, recent research indicates that forest conservation is more than just protecting existing areas of old-growth from disturbance: disturbance processes and other successional stages must also be considered.

About Dr. Spies: Thomas Spies is a Senior Scientist at the USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station in Corvallis, Oregon. He is also a courtesy professor in the College of Forestry at Oregon State University. He received his Ph.D. in forest ecology 1983 from the University of Michigan. His research interests include, old-growth forest ecology and conservation, remote sensing, landscape ecology, fire ecology, and coupled human and natural systems. He is editor of the 2009 book “Old-growth in a New World: A Pacific Northwest Icon Reexamined”, which explores the social, ecology and policy dimensions of old-growth forests. He is currently leading a USFS effort to synthesize science and monitoring results to inform revision of national forest plans in the area of the Northwest Forest Plan. http://fpf.forestry.oregonstate.edu/faculty/thomas-spies

WebEx Address: https://oregonstate.webex.com/oregonstate/j.php?MTID=me0bf783a44637fd96c48f76817298f6c

Spring/Fall 2017

Seminar: The USGS Debris-Flow Flume: Past, Present, and Future

Event Date:

Thursday, November 30, 2017

Event Brief Description:

GEOTECHNICAL LECTURE SERIES: The USGS Debris-Flow Flume: Past, Present, and Future
RICHARD M. IVERSON, PH.D., Senior Research Hydrologist, U.S. Geological Survey
ABSTRACT: The U.S. Geological Survey debris-flow flume is a unique, large-scale experimental facility located at the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest in the Willamette National Forest, Oregon. Research on the dynamics of debris flows, landslides, and related phenomena began there in 1992 and continues today. More than 160 experiments have been conducted to date. Detailed instrumental monitoring of reproducible, appropriately scaled experiments at the flume has yielded data that have served to both motivate and test new mathematical models of landslide and debris-flow processes, and some of these models are now in widespread practical use. This presentation will provide a brief overview of the factors that spurred development of the debris-flow flume facility and of the scientific advances that have resulted from experimentation there.
BIOGRAPHY: Richard (Dick) Iverson is a senior scientist at the USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, Washington, where he has worked for more than 33 years. Previously he received a B.S. degree from Iowa State University as well as two M.S. degrees and a Ph.D. from Stanford University. His research focusses on the dynamics of debris flows and landslides as well as other geomechanical phenomena. In the early 1990’s he oversaw design and construction of the USGS debris-flow flume at the H.J.Andrews Experimental Forest, and since that time he has been in charge of science and operations at the facility. Iverson is a fellow of the Geological Society of America and the American Geophysical Union, and has received the Kirk Bryan Award, E.B. Burwell Award, Jahns Lectureship, and Langbein Lectureship from these organizations.
Location: Kearney 112, OSU Campus
Date: November 30, 2017
Time: 4:30 PM

Multi-decadal legacy of clearcutting reaches into neighboring forests

Clearcuts often create stark boundaries between forest habitats. These ecological “edges” can seriously affect neighboring undisturbed ecosystems for some distance in from the edge, perhaps representing a multi-decadal legacy of has clearcutting. A new study led by David Bell took on the question of how historical timber harvests have affected the structure of neighboring old-growth forests in western Oregon.

fire

Much of the Andrews Forest watershed has experienced more recent fire over the last 150 years, ranging in severity from ground low-severity understory fire that killed few adult trees to so-called stand-replacing fires that killed most or all of the old-growth trees that established approximately 500 years ago.

Summer streamflow deficits from regenerating forest

There is much discussion about how plantation forestry affects streamflow in dry (lowflow) seasons, especially as climate change may exacerbate water scarcity. Analysis of 60‐year records of daily streamflow from eight paired‐basin experiments in the Andrews Forest revealed that the conversion of old‐growth forest to Douglas‐fir plantations had a major effect on summer streamflow.

Harvested Area

The first timber harvest at the Andrews Forest occurred in 1951 to study the effects of logging on hydrology, sediment yield, and nutrient losses. Later harvests were done to test different harvesting techniques. Learn more about the history of the Forest on our History page.

First Harvest

The first timber harvest at the Andrews Forest occurred in 1951. Scientists initiated three sets of experimental watersheds designed to study the effects of logging on hydrology, sediment yield, and nutrient losses. Treatments included clearcutting and partial cutting, and one watershed was left in its “natural” forested condition as a control. Learn more about the history of the Forest on our History page.