The Forest Landscape Assessment Tool (FLAT) is a set of procedures and tools used to rapidly determine forest ecological conditions and potential threats.

The ecosystem services concept describes the many benefits people receive from nature. It highlights the importance of managing public and private lands sustainably to ensure these benefits continue into the future, and it closely aligns with the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) mission to "sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the Nation's forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations.".

This assessment evaluates the effects of future climate change on a select set of ecological systems and ecosystem services in Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula and Chugach National Forest regions. The focus of the assessment was established during a multi-agency/organization workshop that established the goal to conduct a rigorous evaluation of a limited range of topics rather than produce a broad overview.

Southeast Alaska is a remote area, located approximately 700 miles north of Seattle, Washington. Most of the region’s goods are imported by barge, creating logistical and economic challenges not faced by many other parts of the United States. In this context, we used life cycle assessment (LCA) to evaluate the potential environmental impact on global warming potential (GWP) of converting home heating systems from heating oil to wood pellets in southeast Alaska. Once the current level (status quo) was established, we evaluated imported pellet utilization at 20-, 40- and 100-percent penetration into the residential heating oil markets. We also modeled local production of wood pellets in southeast Alaska, assuming a 20-percent penetration. Our research found that reductions in GWP resulting from the conversion to wood pellets ranged from 10 to 51 percent, with the greatest reductions being associated with the highest levels of imported pellets. The scenario of producing wood pellets in southeast Alaska to meet local needs had a reduction in GWP of 14 percent (versus the status quo).

The economic linkages between national forests and surrounding areas are one of the important ways public lands contribute to the well-being of private individuals and communities. One way national forests contribute to the economies of surrounding communities is by attracting recreation visitors who, as part of their trip, spend money in communities on the peripheries of national forests. We use survey data collected from visitors to all forest and grasslands in the National Forest System to estimate the average spending per trip of national forest recreation visitors engaged in various types of recreation trips and activities. Average spending of national forest visitors ranges from about $36 per party per trip for local residents on day trips to more than $740 per party per trip for visitors downhill skiing or snowboarding on national forest lands and staying overnight off forest in local areas. We report key parameters to complete economic contribution analysis for individual national forests and for the entire National Forest System.

The ‘Gene Conservation of Tree Species—Banking on the Future Workshop’ provided a forum for presenting and discussing issues and accomplishments in genetic conservation of trees, and notably those of North America. The meeting gathered scientists, specialists, administrators and conservation practitioners from federal, university, non-governmental and public garden institutions worldwide. The 81 submissions included in this Proceedings are from oral and poster presentations at the 2016 workshop held in Chicago, Illinois. They update the science and policy of genetic conservation of trees, showcase current successes, and provide guidance for future efforts. This Proceedings is complemented by 11 related papers gathered in a special issue of the journal New Forests (Vol 48, No. 2, 2017). In addition to plenary talks that provided overviews of some national and international efforts, there were concurrent sessions with themes of Conservation Strategies, Pest and Pathogen Resistance, Genetic Conservation, Tools for Tree Genetic Conservation, Conservation Program Case Studies, Designing Seed Collections, Ex Situ Conservation, and Science in Support of Conservation. The meeting was also the venue for special sessions on Coordinating the Red List of North American Tree Species, Innovative Approaches for Assessing and Prioritizing Tree Species and Populations for Gene Conservation, Community Standards for Genomic Resources, Genetic Conservation and Data Integration, and Development of Seed Zones for the Eastern U.S., and a group discussion on Improving Genetic Conservation Efforts.

This report describes and documents the OpCost forest operations cost model, a key component of the BioSum analysis framework. OpCost is available in two editions: as a callable module for use with BioSum, and in a stand-alone edition that can be run directly from R. OpCost model logic and assumptions for this open-source tool are explained, references to the literature used in all of the submodels included in OpCost are provided, and guidance is offered on how to change the default hourly machine rates associated with overall logging cost calculations. OpCost enhancements such as cost component breakout, and identifying the least-cost harvest system, are also described and explained.

This research models a wood pellet heating system at the Tlingit-Haida Regional Housing Authority in Juneau, Alaska, used to provide thermal energy to a 929-m2 warehouse, as an alternative to a heating system that burns more costly fossil fuels. Research objectives were to evaluate project economics of the pellet system and to conduct cost:benefit analysis on key variables (initial capital cost, fuel oil cost, and wood pellet cost). Economic results of interest included net present value, payback, internal rate of return, and cost:benefit ratio. Monte Carlo simulations were conducted using RETScreen software with the parameters of heating oil cost, wood pellet cost, fuel price escalation, and heating load. Cost:benefit analysis was conducted for capital cost versus wood fuel cost and also versus alternative fuel cost. This research found that economic performance was favorable over a wide range of normal operating conditions, even when paying a relatively high price for wood fuel. A pellet production facility in southeast Alaska could lead to lower wood fuel costs and even more favorable regional economics.

Coal is the primary fuel source for electrical power generation in interior Alaska, with more than 600,000 tons burned annually at five different power plants. Woody biomass could be used as part of this fuel mix, offering potential environmental and economic benefits. In this research, debarked chips were cofired with locally mined coal at the Aurora Power Plant facility in downtown Fairbanks, Alaska. During two days of testing, aspen chips were successfully cofired with coal at average rates of 2.4 percent and 4.8 percent of total energy value. Combustion gases were analyzed during combustion of 100- percent coal, as well as at two different blends with aspen chips, for levels of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, oxygen, and nitrogen compounds. Carbon monoxide was suggested as the combustion gas most influenced by changes in woody biomass blend rate. The potential logistic and operational challenges when cofiring were also observed. Cofiring biomass at low levels in grate-combustion systems could be performed with relative ease, with only minor impacts on plant operations, including fuel storage, handling, and performance.

Invasive nonnative plants may be responsible for serious, long-term ecological impacts, including altering fire behavior and fire regimes. Therefore, knowing how to successfully manage invasive plants and their impacts on natural resources is crucial. We present a summary of research on invasive plants and fire that has been generated through the Joint Fire Science Program—focusing specifically on ecology of species invasions, the interactions between fire and invasives, and the responses of invasives to different management practices. Selected findings include (1) prescribed fire may increase invasive species in some ecosystems; (2) fuel treatments that leave some overstory canopy, minimize exposure of bare ground, and target sites that already host species capable of resprouting may be less likely to promote invasives; and (3) postfire seeding should be approached with caution, as it can increase invasives.

To increase timber production and manage other forest resource values, some land managers have undertaken logging debris and vegetation control treatments after forest harvest. We explored the roles of clearcutting on plant community composition and structure at three sites where logging debris was dispersed, piled, or removed and vegetation was annually treated or not treated with herbicides for 5 years. Without vegetation control, a competitive relation was identified between exotic and native ruderal (i.e., disturbance-associated) species. When exotic ruderal cover changed by 4 percent, native ruderal cover changed by 10 percent in the opposite direction. This relation was independent of site, but site was important in determining the overall dominance of ruderals. Five annual vegetation control treatments increased Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco) growth, but decreased richness and cover of other species at the rate of one species per 10 percent reduction in cover. Debris treatment effects were small and found on only one site.

This is a state-of-the-science synthesis of the effects of forest harvest activities on peak flows and channel morphology in the Pacific Northwest, with a specific focus on western Oregon and Washington. We develop a database of relevant studies reporting peak flow data across rain-, transient-, and snow-dominated hydrologic zones, and provide a quantitative comparison of changes in peak flow across both a range of flows and forest practices. Increases in peak flows generally diminish with decreasing intensity of percentage of watershed harvested and lengthening recurrence intervals of flow. Watersheds located in the rain dominated zone appear to be less sensitive to peak flow changes than those in the transient snow zone; insufficient data limit interpretations for the snow zone. Where present, peak flow effects on channel morphology should be confined to stream reaches where channel gradients are less than approximately 0.02 and streambeds are composed of gravel and finer material. We provide guidance as to how managers might evaluate the potential risk of peak flow increases based on factors such as presence of roads, watershed drainage efficiency, and specific management treatments employed. The magnitude of effects of forest harvest on peak flows in the Pacific Northwest, as represented by the data reported here, are relatively minor in comparison to other anthropogenic changes to streams and watersheds.

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