Tables summarize volume and values of United States trade in wood products from 1978 to 2005. Import and export data are shown for 21 commodities aggregated from over 1,700 wood products. Data were obtained from an earlier report by Chmelik and others and the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. Trade in each commodity is delineated by trading partner and shipments through each of four regional aggregations of U.S. customs districts. Data show that the United States is a net importer of wood products and Canada is the dominant supplier.

We examine the use of woody residues, primarily from forest harvesting or wood products manufacturing operations (and to a limited degree from urban wood wastes), as a feedstock for direct-combustion bioenergy systems for electrical or thermal power applications. We examine opportunities for utilizing biomass for energy at several different scales, with an emphasis on larger scale electrical power generation at stand-alone facilities, and on smaller scale facilities (thermal heating only) such as governmental, educational, or other institutional facilities. We then identify west-wide barriers that tend to inhibit bioenergy applications, including accessibility, terrain, harvesting costs, and capital costs. Finally, we evaluate the role of government as a catalyst in stimulating new technologies and new uses of biomass material.

This report synthesizes the literature on the role of informal economic activity in the United States postindustrial economy. Informal economic activity is expanding in the United States and is likely to continue in the foreseeable future. The formal and informal economic sectors are inextricably intertwined, with individuals and households combining elements of both sectors to construct their livelihoods. Although the informal economy is often thought of as the domain of economically marginal individuals and households, virtually everyone participates in the informal economy to some extent. However, the literature highlights how factors such as social status and household position in the formal economy affect whether participation in informal economic activity is exploitative or empowering. The nontimber forest products sector serves as a case study of why it is important to consider informal economic activity when developing natural resource and economic development policy. We recommend steps policymakers can take to identify and encourage positive aspects of the informal economic activity. We also highlight several areas of research to improve understandings of the role of informal economic activity in postindustrial societies.

Privately owned forests provide many public benefits, including clean water and air, wildlife habitat, and recreational opportunities. By 2030, 44.2 million acres of rural private forest land across the conterminous United States are projected to experience substantial increases in residential development. As housing density increases, the public benefits provided by private forests can be permanently altered. We examine factors behind projected patterns of residential development and conversion of private forest land by 2030 in northwestern Washington, southern Maine, and northwestern Georgia. Some key factors affecting the extent of future residential housing include (1) population growth from migration into an area; (2) historical settlement patterns, topography, and land ownership; and (3) land use planning and zoning.

Sold prices for national forest stumpage provide geographically specific price references for timber. This report presents "sold" price series for western national forests between 1984 and the first 3 months of 2007. Selected trends in stumpage prices and sold volumes as well as issues related to species aggregation in the data are also discussed.

Four types of tree shelters were evaluated in southwestern Washington for their effects on seedling microenvironment and performance of two tree species. Shelter types were fine-mesh fabric shelters, solid-walled white shelters with and without vent holes, and solid-walled blue unvented shelters. Summer mean and daily maximum air temperatures were increased by 0.8 degrees C and 3.6 degrees C, respectively, in solid-walled tree shelters. Shelter color and shelter venting did not influence air temperatures. Tree shelters only affected vapor pressure deficit late in the growing season. Midday photosynthetically active radiation within shelters ranged from 54 percent of full sun in fine-mesh fabric shelters to 15 percent of full sun in blue solid-walled shelters. In the first year after planting, height and diameter growth of western redcedar (Thuja plicata Donn ex D. Don) were significantly increased by all shelter types, with blue solid-walled shelters resulting in the greatest height growth. However, in blue solid-walled shelters, photosynthesis and stem diameter growth of Oregon white oak (Quercus garryana Dougl. ex Hook.) seedlings were significantly less than for unsheltered seedlings.

This paper describes a growth model for young plantations of Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco) growing in the Pacific Northwest. The overall model has three major components. The first is a yield model for diameter and height distributions describing stands prior to pruning or precommercial thinning. The second component is an annual per-acre net increment model adapted from a recent model for Douglas-fir plantations in New Zealand; thinning and pruning are features of the model. The third component is growth equations for cohorts of individual trees; the results from this component are adjusted to match those from the second component. Fitting data are from Stand Management Cooperative experiments, with top heights generally below 75 ft. An intended use of the model is the evaluation of pruning regimes, in conjunction with the ORGANON model for growth at older ages, and TREEVAL model for clear-wood recovery and economic evaluation.

This report examines socioeconomic changes that occurred between 1990 and 2003 associated with implementation of the Northwest Forest Plan (the Plan) in and around lands managed by the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest in Washington state. Our findings are based on quantitative data from the U.S. census, the USDA Forest Service and other federal databases, historical documents, and interviews with Forest Service employees and members of five case study communities: Naches Valley, Cashmere, Entiat, Twisp, and the Upper Okanogan Valley. We explore how the Plan affected the flow of socioeconomic benefits associated with the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, such as the production of forest commodities and forest-based recreation, agency jobs, procurement contract work for ecosystem management activities, grants for community economic assistance, payments to county governments, and opportunities for collaborative forest management. The greatest socioeconomic change stemming from the national forest during the study period was the sharp decline in timber harvest activities, a change that had been underway prior to the Plan. This decline not only affected timber industry jobs in local communities, but also resulted in declining agency budgets and staff reductions. Communities' responses differed. Communities with greater economic diversity were able to absorb the changes in forest management, whereas communities more heavily dependent on timber experienced an additional destabilizing effect.

Old growth revisited: integrating social, economic, and ecological perspectives.

Wood has become an important energy alternative in Alaska, particularly in rural areas where liquid fuel costs can be substantial. In some cases, wood fuel is readily available to communities, increasing the attractiveness of wood energy. Wood energy systems in rural Alaska can also lead to employment gains as well as benefits to local cash economies. Many Alaska villages are now considering wood as a fuel source for community heating, several have completed feasibility studies, and others are moving forward with design and construction activities. Cordwood is readily available in many regions of Alaska, although not always in commercial quantities. However, for many small-scale applications, efficient cordwood systems could be a viable energy option. In this paper, we provide a qualitative review of factors such as wood fuel availability, cordwood system size, wood fuel cost, wood quality, labor, fuel drying, and underground piping. Other general observations are noted, based on case studies of operating cordwood systems in Alaska.

In spring 2006 and 2007, sawmill capacity and wood utilization information was collected for selected mills in southeast Alaska. The collected information is required to prepare information for compliance with Section 705(a) of the Tongass Timber Reform Act. The total estimated design capacity in the region (active and inactive mills) was 289,850 thousand board feet (mbf) Scribner log scale in calendar year (CY) 2005 and 284,350 mbf in CY 2006. The estimated design capacity of active mills was 259,850 mbf for CY 2005 and 247,850 mbf for CY 2006. This is a 2.9-percent decrease in active design capacity from CY 2004 (255,350 mbf) to CY 2006. The estimated volume of material processed during CY 2006 was 32,141 mbf Scribner log scale. This is a 3.6-percent increase over CY 2004 (31,027 mbf Scribner log scale).

The Fire and Fire Surrogate (FFS) project is a large long-term metastudy established to assess the effectiveness and ecological impacts of burning and fire "surrogates" such as cuttings and mechanical fuel treatments that are used instead of fire, or in combination with fire, to restore dry forests. One of the 13 national FFS sites is the Northeastern Cascades site at Mission Creek on the Okanogan- Wenatchee National Forest. The study area includes 12 forested stands that encompass a representative range of dry forest conditions in the northeastern Cascade Range. We describe site histories and environmental settings, experimental design, field methods, and quantify the pretreatment composition and structure of vegetation, fuels, soils and soil biota, entomology and pathology, birds, and small mammals that occurred during the 2000 and 2001 field seasons. We also describe the implementation of thinning treatments completed during 2003 and spring burning treatments done during 2004 and 2006.

Many stands in southeast Alaska harvested since 1950, especially where there has been a high degree of disturbance of mineral soil, have regenerated to red alder (Alnus rubra Bong.) and are now approaching maturity. The availability of red alder raises questions addressed in this study about the recovery of lumber from this resource. Information in this study was obtained from trees estimated to be 46 years old on a site outside of Ketchikan. Rates of recovery using a thin-kerf portable band mill were higher than those reported by larger production mills in Washington and Oregon. Grade yields of the Alaska material are comparable to those attained in other regions. This study determined that there were no significant differences in material characteristics that would set this Alaska log resource apart from red alder in the other regions of North America. The potential value of the products is sufficient to allow production in Alaska for use in the manufacturing of value-added products within the state or shipment of finished lumber to domestic or export markets.

This synthesis provides an ecological foundation for management of the diverse ecosystems and fire regimes of North America, based on scientific principles of fire interactions with vegetation, fuels, and biophysical processes. Although a large amount of scientific data on fire exists, most of those data have been collected at small spatial and temporal scales. Thus, it is challenging to develop consistent science-based plans for large spatial and temporal scales where most fire management and planning occur. Understanding the regional geographic context of fire regimes is critical for developing appropriate and sustainable management strategies and policy. The degree to which human intervention has modified fire frequency, intensity, and severity varies greatly among different ecosystems, and must be considered when planning to alter fuel loads or implement restorative treatments. Detailed discussion of six ecosystems--ponderosa pine forest (western North America), chaparral (California), boreal forest (Alaska and Canada), Great Basin sagebrush (intermountain West), pine and pine-hardwood forests (Southern Appalachian Mountains), and longleaf pine (Southeastern United States)--illustrates the complexity of fire regimes and that fire management requires a clear regional focus that recognizes where conflicts might exist between fire hazard reduction and resource needs. In some systems, such as ponderosa pine, treatments are usually compatible with both fuel reduction and resource needs, whereas in others, such as chaparral, the potential exists for conflicts that need to be closely evaluated. Managing fire regimes in a changing climate and social environment requires a strong scientific basis for developing fire management and policy.

Forests of the Pacific Northwest have been an epicenter for the evolution of truffle fungi with over 350 truffle species and 55 genera currently identified. Truffle fungi develop their reproductive fruit-bodies typically belowground, so they are harder to find and study than mushrooms that fruit aboveground. Nevertheless, over the last five decades, the Corvallis Forest Mycology program of the Pacific Northwest Research Station has amassed unprecedented knowledge on the diversity and ecology of truffles in the region. Truffle fungi form mycorrhizal symbioses that benefit the growth and survival of many tree and understory plants. Truffle fruit-bodies serve as a major food souce for many forest-dwelling mammals. A few truffle species are commercially harvested for gourmet consumption in regional restaurants. This publication explores the biology and ecology of truffle fungi in the Pacific Northwest, their importance in forest ecosystems, and effects of various silvicultural practices on sustaining truffle populations. General management principles and considerations to sustain this valuable fungal resource are provided.

Population growth in Oregon, Washington, and Alaska is expected to increase demand for outdoor recreation on public land. This trend will be tempered by changes in the sociodemographic composition of the population. Among sociodemographic characteristics, different ages and incomes correspond to different participation rates. Although older Americans are participating more, participation is still lower among this group for active pursuits. Hence, as the population ages, demand for passive activities may increase. Low-income people participate at a much lower rate than higher income people in outdoor recreation, and the growing disparity between the wealthy and poor may create inequities in opportunities for participation. State recreation planning documents for Oregon, Washington, and Alaska have identified this issue as a significant concern for recreation providers. Another important factor in recreation trends in the region is ethnicity: different ethnic groups participate in outdoor recreation at different rates, exhibit some different preferences for specific activities, and use recreation sites in different ways. In Alaska, the number of Asian/Pacific Islanders is expected to quadruple by 2025; in Oregon, the Hispanic population may triple by 2025; and in Washington, both these segments of the population may double.

The compilation of papers in this proceedings is based on a symposium sponsored by the Insect and Diseases Working Group (D5) at the 2007 Society of American Foresters (SAF) convention in Portland, Oregon. The selection of topics parallels the research priorities of the Western Bark Beetle Research Group (WBBRG) (USDA Forest Service, Research and Development), which had been recently formed at the time of the symposium. Reflecting a unique partnership within the Forest Service, each paper was jointly prepared by a research scientist with the WBBRG and one or more entomologists with Forest Health Protection (USDA Forest Service, State and Private Forestry). Among these papers is a description of the currently elevated impacts of bark beetles in the Western United States; descriptions of the current state of knowledge of bark beetle response to vegetation management and also to climate change; discussions of the complex interactions of bark beetles and fire and of the complex ecological and socioeconomic impacts of infestations; an overview of the use of semiochemical (behavioral chemicals)-based technology for conifer protection; and a case study exemplifying efforts to assess risks posed by nonnative invasive bark beetles.

The Cooperative Alaska Forest Inventory (CAFI) is a comprehensive database of boreal forest conditions and dynamics in Alaska. The CAFI consists of fieldgathered information from numerous permanent sample plots distributed across interior and south-central Alaska including the Kenai Peninsula. The CAFI currently has 570 permanent sample plots on 190 sites representing a wide variety of growing conditions. New plots are being added to the inventory annually. To date, over 60 percent of the permanent sample plots have been remeasured and approximately 20 percent have been remeasured three times. Repeated periodic inventories on CAFI permanent sample plots provide valuable long-term information for modeling of forest dynamics such as growth and yield. Periodic remeasurements can also be used to test and monitor large-scale environmental and climate change.

This guidebook describes Benjamin Research Natural Area, a 258-ha (637-ac) tract originally established to represent an example of the western juniper/Idaho fescue (Juniperus occidentalis/Festuca idahoensis) plant association. Subsequent field surveys indicate the predominant vegetation is best characterized as the western juniper/low sagebrush/Idaho fescue plant association. Current vegetation is dominated by western juniper woodland with an understory vegetation mosaic that varies with soil depth. Low sagebrush (Artemisia arbuscula Nutt.) occurs as the major shrub in shallow or rocky soils, and Wyoming big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata Nutt. ssp. wyomingensis Beetle and Young) predominates in areas with deeper or more finely textured soil.

Over half (56 percent) of America's forests are privately owned and managed and provide a vast array of public goods and services, such as clean water, timber, wildlife habitat, and recreational opportunities. These important public benefits are being affected by increased housing density in urban as well as rural areas across the country.

Quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) is a valuable species that is declining in the Blue Mountains of northeastern Oregon. This publication is a compilation of over 20 years of aspen management experience by USDA Forest Service workers in the Blue Mountains.

Timber availability, aboveground tree biomass, and changes in aboveground carbon pools are important consequences of landscape management.

This guidebook describes Woodcock Bog Research Natural Area (RNA), a 114-ha (281-ac) area located within the Klamath-Siskiyou ecoregion in southwestern Oregon. The RNA includes a hanging fen and stream segment on ultramafic rock and derived soils. Numerous plant species occur within the fens that are endemic to the Klamath-Siskiyou Mountains of southwestern Oregon and northwestern California. Cobra lily (Darlingtonia californica), and sedges (Carex spp.) characterize the area. The site also supports very dry, open serpentine forest stands of Jeffrey pine (Pinus jeffreyi), along with denser stands of Port-Orfordcedar (Chamaecyparis lawsoniana), Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), and other conifers typical of the region.

This study considered three aspects of residential wood energy use in Alaska: current conditions and fuel consumption, knowledge and attitudes, and future use and conditions. We found that heating oil was the primary fuel for home heating in southeast and interior Alaska, whereas natural gas was used most often in south-central Alaska (Anchorage). Firewood heating played a much more important role as a secondary (vs. primary) heating source in all regions of Alaska. In interior Alaska, there was a somewhat greater interest in the use of wood energy compared to other regions. Likewise, consumption of fossil fuels was considerably greater in interior Alaska.

The Forest Service system of experimental forests and ranges (EFRs) and other sites of long-term silvicultural, watershed, and ecological research have contributed to science and natural resource management for more than a century. An important aspect of the success of EFR programs is strong collaboration between the research and land manager communities. This guide offers suggestions for effective research management partnerships based at EFRs and other long-term research sites. Keys to success include mutual understanding and respect, shared commitment to learning, and joint projects and communications programs.

Lichens are one of several forest health indicators sampled every year for a subset of plots on the permanent grid established by the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service. This report reviews analysis procedures for standard FIA lichen indicator data. Analyses of lichen data contribute to state, regional, and national reports that evaluate spatial pattern and temporal trends in forest biodiversity, air quality, and climate.

From May 24-28, 2010, an international symposium on western redcedar (Thuja plicata) and yellowcedar (Callitropsis nootkatensis [syn., Chamaecyparis nootkatensis]) was held at the University of Victoria on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. The symposium was entitled "A Tale of Two Cedars" and brought together local, regional, national, and international experts to present cultural, biological, management and economic information on the two species. Although some papers or posters focused on just one of the cedars, many of the presenters covered both species and discussed the similarities and differences between them. This proceedings includes abstracts or short papers from all of the formal presentations or posters presented at the symposium.

Sustaining farm and forest land has been an important goal in the United States because of the role these lands play in the livelihoods of rural residents while also providing desired open space benefits. However, land use policies to protect rural lands often involve a tension between balancing public interests regarding economic and open space goals with the private interests and property rights of farm and forest land owners.

Scientists, land managers and policy makers discussed whether riparian (stream side) forest management and policy for state, federal and private lands in western Washington are consistent with current science. Answers were mixed: some aspects of riparian policy and management have a strong basis in current science, while other aspects may not.

This guidebook describes Cherry Creek Research Natural Area, a 239-ha (590-ac) area that supports old-growth Douglas-fir-western hemlock (Pseudotsuga menziesii- Tsuga heterophylla) forest occurring on sedimentary materials in the southern Oregon Coast Range.

This study presents results of statistical tests for stumpage market integration on 62 national forests in the Western United States. Quarterly stumpage prices from 1984 to 2007 obtained from cut and sold reports for USDA Forest Service Regions 1, 4, 5, and 6 (Northern, Intermountain, Pacific Southwest, and Pacific Northwest, respectively) were analyzed to establish the presence and extent of national forest timber markets.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has formally declared that greenhouse gases (GHG) pose a threat to public health and the environment. This is significant because it gives the executive branch the authority to impose carbon regulations on carbon-emitting entities. United States GHG emissions have increased by approximately 17 percent between 1990 and 2007, and the EPA now has the authority to design regulation to reverse this trend.

This report is a compilation of four briefing papers based on literature reviews and syntheses, prepared for USDA Forest Service policy analysts and decisionmakers about specific questions pertaining to climate change. The main topics addressed here are effects of climate change on wildlife habitat, other ecosystem services, and land values; socioeconomic impacts of climate change on rural communities; and competitiveness of carbon offset projects on nonindustrial private forests in the United States.

Conservation of biodiversity serves a number of human needs, including maintenance of ecosystem services that are critical to the sustainability of all life. Effective biodiversity conservation will require better landowner incentives for restoration and protection of ecosystems. Many services produced from healthy, functioning landscapes are not well recognized in current conservation incentive structures, including sequestering or storing carbon in trees and soil, providing fish and wildlife habitat, filtering water, and reducing damages from natural disasters. Most existing incentive programs pay landowners to protect and restore a specific service rather than the suite of services produced from well-functioning ecosystems.

This guidebook describes Camas Swale Research Natural Area, a 127-ha (314-ac) area that supports dry site, old-growth Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) forest. Major plant associations present within the area include the Douglas-fir/salal/western swordfern (Pseudotsuga menziesii/Gaultheria shallon/Polystichummunitum) plant association, Douglas-fir/Oregongrape (Pseudotsuga menziesii/Berberis nervosa) plant association, Douglas-fir/poison oak (Pseudotsuga menziesii/Toxicodendron diversilobum) plant association, and Douglas-fir/hazelnut-trailing snowberry/western swordfern (Pseudotsuga menziesii/Corylus cornutavar. californica-Symphoricarpos mollis/Polystichum munitum) plant association.

Rehabilitation and timber-salvage activities after wildfire require rapid planning and rational decisions. Identifying areas with high risk for erosion and soil productivity losses is important. Moreover, allocation of corrective and mitigative efforts must be rational and prioritized. Our logic-based analysis of forested soil polygons on the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest was designed and implemented with the Ecosystem Management Decision Support (EMDS) system to evaluate risks to soil properties and productivity associated with moderate to severe wildfire and unmitigated use of ground-based logging equipment. Soil and related data are from standard National Cooperative Soil Surveys. We present results from one national forest management unit, encompassing 6,889 soil polygons and 69 438 ha. In the example area, 36.1 percent and 46.0 percent of the area were classified as sensitive to impacts from severe wildfire and unmitigated use of logging equipment, respectively, and there was a high degree of correspondence between the map of units sensitive to wildfire and the map of units sensitive to heavy equipment. We discuss options for extending the current model and considerations for validating key model components.

The United States, in partnership with 11 other countries, participates in the Montreal Process. Each country assesses national progress toward the sustainable management of forest resources by using a set of criteria and indicators agreed on by all member countries. Several indicators focus on nontimber forest products (NTFPs). In the United States, permit and contract data from the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management, in addition to several other data sources, were used as a benchmark to assess harvest, value, employment, exports and imports, per capita consumption, and subsistence uses for many NTFPs. The retail value of commercial harvests of NTFPs from U.S. forest lands is estimated at $1.4 billion annually. Nontimber forest products in the United States are important to many people throughout the country for personal, cultural, and commercial uses, providing food security, beauty, connection to culture and tradition, and income.

A gradient-analysis-based model and grid-based map are presented that use the potential vegetation zone as the object of the model. Several new variables are presented that describe the environmental gradients of the landscape at different scales. Boundary algorithms are conceptualized, and then defined, that describe the environmental boundaries between vegetation zones on the Olympic Peninsula, Washington, USA.

The concept of ecosystem services has emerged as a way of framing and describing the comprehensive set of benefits that people receive from nature. These include commonly recognized goods like timber and fresh water, as well as processes like climate regulation and water purification, and aesthetic, spiritual, and cultural benefits. The USDA Forest Service has been exploring use of the framework of ecosystem services as a way to describe goods and services provided by federal lands and attract and build partnerships with stakeholders and nongovernmental organizations. More recently, the agency has sought place-based example applications of the ecosystem service framework to explore its possible use as a tool to guide forest management, and better illustrate the concept for policymakers, managers, and potential national forest partners.

Climate change presents a major challenge to natural resource managers both because of the magnitude of potential effects of climate change on ecosystem structure, processes, and function, and because of the uncertainty associated with those potential ecological effects. Concrete ways to adapt to climate change are needed to help natural resource managers take the first steps to incorporate climate change into management and take advantage of opportunities to counteract the negative effects of climate change. We began a climate change adaptation case study at Olympic National Forest (ONF) in partnership with Olympic National Park (ONP) to determine how to adapt management of federal lands on the Olympic Peninsula, Washington, to climate change. The case study began in the summer of 2008 and continued for 1½ years. The case study process involved science-based sensitivity assessments, review of management activities and constraints, and adaptation workshops in each of four focus areas (hydrology and roads, fish, vegetation, and wildlife). The process produced adaptation options for ONF and ONP, and illustrated the utility of place-based vulnerability assessment and science-management workshops in adapting to climate change. The case study process provides an example for other national forests, national parks, and natural resource agencies of how federal land management units can collaborate in the initial stages of climate change adaptation. Many of the ideas generated through this process can potentially be applied in other locations and in other agencies.

The Forest Inventory and Analysis program collected, analyzed, and summarized field data on 73 forested field plots on the islands of Kosrae, Chuuk, Pohnpei, and Yap in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM).

Late-successional and old-growth (LSOG) monitoring characterizes the status and trends of older forests to answer such questions as: How much older forest is there? Where is it? How much has changed and from what causes? Is the Northwest Forest Plan (the Plan) maintaining or restoring older forest ecosystems to desired conditions on federal lands in the Plan area? This assessment is the second in a continuous monitoring cycle. We initially reported on LSOG status and trends from 1994 to 2003 in the "10-year report." This document, the mid-cycle "15-year report," updates the assessment to 2006 in Washington and Oregon and to 2007 in California. The next major assessment will be the 20-year report.

The Landscape Treatment Designer (LTD) is a multicriteria spatial prioritization and optimization system to help design and explore landscape fuel treatment scenarios. The program fills a gap between fire model programs such as FlamMap, and planning systems such as ArcFuels, in the fuel treatment planning process. The LTD uses inputs on spatial treatment objectives, activity constraints, and treatment thresholds, and then identifies optimal fuel treatment locations with respect to the input parameters.

The past decade has seen resurgence in interest in gathering wild plants and fungi in cities. In addition to gathering by individuals, dozens of groups have emerged in U.S., Canadian, and European cities to facilitate access to nontimber forest products (NTFPs), particularly fruits and nuts, in public and private spaces. Recent efforts within cities to encourage public orchards and food forests, and to incorporate more fruit and nut trees into street tree planting programs indicate a growing recognition among planners that gathering is an important urban activity.

Scientists have had little information about how prescribed fire and cattle grazing—common practices in many Western ponderosa pine forests—affect plant abundance and reproduction in the forest understory. Pacific Northwest Research Station scientists began to explore how these practices affect vegetation in a five-year study of postfire vegetation in eastern Oregon ponderosa pine forests where cattle have been routinely pastured from late June or early July through early to mid August. For this area of eastern Oregon, they found that excluding cattle grazing during peak growing season increased native plant cover and grass flowering capability in ungrazed areas compared to grazed areas. Because vegetation was measured prior to releasing cattle on the land, the study's results tend to reflect lasting grazing impacts rather than simple consumption.

Concerns about forest health and the threat of wildfire across the Western United States increasingly provide the impetus for communities to find land management solutions that serve multiple interests. Funding and procedural changes over the past decade have positioned federal agencies to put greater emphasis on multistakeholder partnerships and public outreach efforts. Partnerships build slowly over time, but can result in a healthier resource, reduced fire risk, greater stability for agency planning processes, and more resilient communities. Drawing on interviews with stakeholders representing broad interests in a partnership between the Northeast Washington Forestry Coalition and the Colville National Forest, we examine some of the critical factors leading to the partnership's success and identify challenges along the way. We illustrate how the citizens of Colville, Washington, overcame conflicts by learning to communicate their interests and use existing resources to advance a variety of goals, ranging from fuels reduction and active forest management to roadless area and wilderness management. We highlight a set of important organizational themes that have emerged from Colville to provide managers and other stakeholders with ideas for similar efforts.

The U.S. Forest Service has adopted the concept and language of ecosystem services to describe the beneficial outcomes of national forest management. We review the economic theory of ecosystem services as it applies to public lands management, and consider what it implies about the types of biophysical and other data that are needed for characterizing management outcomes as changes in ecosystem services. Our intent is to provide a guide to policymakers, managers, researchers, and others for evaluating and describing the tradeoffs involved in the management of public lands. Characterizing ecosystem services fundamentally is about explaining the benefits of national forests to the American public, with an emphasis on addressing their interests and concerns about how public lands are managed. Our hope is that this report will foster dialog about what people value about national forests and how public land management agencies might best go about securing those benefits.

In spring and summer of 2010 and 2011, sawmill production capacity and wood utilization information was collected from major wood manufacturers in southeast Alaska. The estimated mill capacity in southeast Alaska for calendar year (CY) 2009 was 249,350 thousand board feet (mbf) (log scale), and for CY 2010 was 155,850 mbf (log scale), including idle sawmills. Mill consumption in CY 2009 was estimated at 13,422 mbf (log scale), and for CY 2010 was 15,807 mbf (log scale). Wood products manufacturing employment in southeast Alaska increased from 57.5 full-time equivalent positions in 2009 to 63.5 in 2010 despite the loss of 23,500 mbf of capacity in two sawmills owing to fires, the decommissioning of one large sawmill (65,000 mbf), and equipment sales at two small mills (5,000 mbf).

Cofiring of biomass and coal at electrical generation facilities is gaining in importance as a means of reducing fossil fuel consumption, and more than 40 facilities in the United States have conducted test burns. Given the large size of many coal plants, cofiring at even low rates has the potential to utilize relatively large volumes of biomass. This could have important forest management implications if harvest residues or salvage timber are supplied to coal plants. Other feedstocks suitable for cofiring include wood products manufacturing residues, woody municipal wastes, agricultural residues, short-rotation intensive culture forests, or hazard fuel removals. Cofiring at low rates can often be done with minimal changes to plant handling and processing equipment, requiring little capital investment. Cofiring at higher rates can involve repowering entire burners to burn biomass in place of coal, or in some cases, repowering entire powerplants. Our research evaluates the current status of biomass cofiring in North America, identifying current trends and success stories, types of biomass used, coal plant sizes, and primary cofiring regions. We also identify potential barriers to cofiring. Results are presented for more than a dozen plants that are currently cofiring or have recently announced plans to cofire.

This report traces the flow of Oregon’s 2008 timber harvest through the primary timber processing industry and provides a description of the structure, operation, and condition of Oregon’s forest products industry as a whole. It is the second in a series of reports that update the status of the industry every 5 years. Based on a census conducted in 2009 and 2010, we provide detailed information about the industry in 2008, and discuss historical changes as well as more recent trends in harvest, production, and sales. To convey the severe market and economic conditions that existed in 2008, 2009, and 2010, we also provide updated information on the industry and its inputs and outputs through 2010.