Forest Monitoring and Inventory After Chernobil Accident; S. Smirnov
Pacific Southern Oscillation and Ohio Droughts/Fires; Yaussy & Sutherland
Two Centuries of Fire in a Pinus Pungens Community; Sutherland et al.
Monitoring Forested Wetland Losses; W. E. Frayer
Small-scale Wind Event in Old-growth Bottomland Hardwood Stand; Guldin et al.
Recovery of Loblolly Pine Plantations from Hurricane Hugo; Dunham & Bourgeois
MONITORING OF THE NORTH SIBERIA FORESTS UNDER ECOLOGICAL CATASTROPHE
CONDITIONS CAUSED BY AIR-TECHNOGENIC POLLUTION
Dr. Boris I. Kovaliov
Western Forest Management Enterprise of LESPROEKT
211021 Brynsk, Nikitina str., 14
ABSTRACT
The area of the environment damage at the down part of Yenisey River
(Siberia, Russia) caused by air-technogenic pollution is about 80 thousand sq.
km. The annual pollution volume exceeds 2.3 million tonnes. Forest decline
is observed over 0.9 million hectares, including 0.4 million hectares of dead
near-tundra forests. The conception of forest monitoring for the affected
territory has been developed and is under implementation now. The main
principles of the conception, method of its realization and the preliminary
results are described.
SOME ASPECTS OF CREATION OF SYSTEMS OF FOREST ECOLOGICAL MONITORING
AND FOREST RESOURCES INVENTORY ON THE TERRITORIES POLLUTED BY
RADIONUCLEIDS AFTER CHERNOBIL AS ACCIDENT
Dr. Sergey I. Smirnov
Chief of Forest Monitoring Department
Western Forest Management Enterprise of "Lesproekt"
241021 Bryansk, Nikitina str., 14
ABSTRACT
Some problems related to creation of forest ecological monitoring and
forest resources inventory systems in the woodlands of Bryansk region (Russia)
polluted by radionucleids after Chernobil AS accident are considered, and the
experience of conducting landscape-ecological survey and creation of such
systems in the forests after anthropogenic catastrophic events gained by
"Lesproekt" is summarized.
Some words about "Lesproekt"--
"Lesproekt" founded in 1947 is a state association responsible for national
forest inventory, accounting and valuation of forest resources in Russia. The
main products of "Lesproekt" are forestry projects which determine the aims
and long-term strategy of forestry management, normatives of timber and
non-wood resources use for the forest enterprises and plan their actvities for
the period of 10-15 years. The annual bulk of forest inventory and management
works fulfilled by "Lesproekt" in 1992 was over 45 million hectares.
RELATIONSHIPS OF THE SOUTHERN OSCILLATION OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN
AND DROUGHTS AND WILDFIRES IN THE OHIO RIVER VALLEY
Daniel A. Yaussy and Elaine Kennedy Sutherland
USDA, Forest Service
Northeastern Forest Experiment Station
Delaware, OH
ABSTRACT
Current thinking implies that global climate change will not occur as
gradual change in temperature or precipitation, but in catastrophic events
such as droughts, floods, violent storms, etc. Increased drought incidence
and severity will increase the probability of wildfires in forest ecosystems
and dictate the amount of area burned by wildfires. This study investigates
the effect of the 'el Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) climatic phenomenon on
the occurrence of drought and wildfire in the Ohio River Valley. The ENSO
phenomenon is measured by the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI), and drought is
determined by the Palmer Drought Stress Index (PDSI). We used the amount of
area burned by wildfires to associate drought with fire, since it is less
dependent on human population density than the numbers of fires reported.
Although droughts and wildfires in the Valley are apparently related to the
ENSO, they are spatially, as well as temporally, scattered.
The text of this presentation
TWO CENTURIES OF FIRE IN A SOUTHWESTERN VIRGINIA
PINUS PUNGENS COMMUNITY
E. K. Sutherland, H. Grissino-Mayer, C. A. Woodhouse, W. W. Covington,
S. Horn, L. Huckaby, R. Kerr, J. Kush, M. Moore, and T. Plumb
ABSTRACT
Fire exclusion in fire-dependent forest communities can alter stand
structure and composition. The objective was to construct a fire history of
two Pinus pungens Lamb. communities growing in southwestern Virginia. Tree-
ring analysis of fire-scarred P. pungens specimens and a tree survey were used
to determine species composition and age distributions. From 1798-1944, fires
burned approximately every 10 years. After acquisition by the United States
Department of Agriculture Forest Service (ca. 1935) the study area burned
only once (1944). Most of the population derives from two large cohorts
established in the 1850's and 1930's, but some trees established during nearly
every decade before 1950. Few, if any, trees have established since then.
There appears to be a linkage between tree establishment and major fire
occurrence. Recent regeneration failure appears to be coincident with fire
exclusion. Continuing fire exclusiion will probably result in decline of the
P. pungens communities, as they succeed to Quercus-dominated communities.
The text of this presentation
Monitoring Forested Wetland Losses--A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service System
Has Detected Something Expected, Something New, and a Total Surprise
W. E. Frayer, Professor and Dean
School of Forestry and Wood Products
Michigan Technological University
ABSTRACT
Forested wetlands (swamps) are the most prevalent wetlands in the 48
contiguous states. In the 1980's, forested wetlands comprised 51,747,800
acres, or 50.1% of the wetlands in the 48 states. Forested wetlands have also
experienced the largest losses. Between the 1950's and 1970's an average
annual net conversion of over 310 thousand acres from swamps to agriculture
was experienced. In the period from the mid-1970's to the mid-1980's, this
average annual net loss had dropped to about 109 thousand acres. However,
during this latter period, an average of 115 thousand acres a year was
converted from swamps to uses other than agriculture. Also during the latter
period (and coming as a surprise to the designers of the survey), an average
annual net loss of over 140 thousand acres was caused by other factors.
The text of this presentation
ECOLOGICAL CHARACTER OF A SMALL-SCALE LINEAR WIND EVENT
IN AN OLD-GROWTH BOTTOMLAND HARDWOOD STAND IN SOUTHCENTRAL ARKANSAS
James M. Guldin, Brian R. Lockhart and Lance Peacock
ABSTRACT
The Moro Bottoms Research Natural Area, a 200-acre bottomland hardwood
stand in the Moro Creek flowage near Fordyce AR, is a relict old-growth stand
of oaks, sweetgum, and cypress which the Arkansas Nature Conservancy acquired
from Georgia-Pacific Corporation in 1986. As an element of that acquisition,
a 100% inventory of the stand was obtained on the area. During a summer
evening in 1989, a line of thunderstorms moved across southcentral Arkansas,
affecting forest vegetation in a localized manner. These winds promoted
windthrow in a number of forested landscapes; including the Moro Bottoms RNA.
Following the windstorm, a 100% inventory of all windthrown trees was taken,
providing a unique data set to scrutinize the ecological effects of the
windstorm. There were 47 different species of woody stems on the tract, of
which ten were uprooted. Sweetgum and the several white oak species were
proportionally resistant to uprooting, whereas the red oaks were
disproportionally uprooted. A larger proportion of overstory trees of
intermediate diameter (22"-30" dbh) were uprooted than of small (12"-20") or
large (32"-40") and very large (42"+) diameter. Analyses focus upon the
influence of site, diameter, azimuth, and species identity on probability of
uprooting, and on the fortuitous happenstance of a 100% predisturbance
inventory in characterizing the ecological pattern of windthrow.
The text of this presentation
LONG-TERM RECOVERY OF PLANTATION-GROWN LOBLOLLY PINE FROM HURRICANE HUGO
P. H. Dunham and D. M. Bourgeois (1)
ABSTRACT
A study to quantify the long-term recovery of plantation-grown loblolly
pine from damage inflicted by Hurricane Hugo was installed on the Coastal
Plain of South Carolina approximately four months after the storm. Permanent
plots were established in nine plantations, ranging in age from 2 to 20 years
but predominantly age 5 and younger. Several traditional and non-traditional
tree variables are being measured including stem angles measured at up to six
points on the stem. Photographs of selected trees and scenes are also being
taken at each remeasurement. First-year results include a relative low
mortality of 6%. Of this 6%, none were non-leaning trees, 19% had moderate
lean (>45 degrees from vertical) and 81% had severe lean (45 degrees or more).
The average angle of all mortality trees was 60 degrees from vertical. There
is a statistically significant but weak negative correlation between initial
age and stem recovery. For all leaning trees, the average positive change in
stem angle between 1990 and 1991 generally decreased as the age of the stand
increased, particularly for those stands initially older than age 5. One-year
diameter growth was approximately the same for non-leaning trees and those
with moderate lean, but greatly diminished for severely leaning trees.
Stem-length growth was generally greatest on the non-leaners and somewhat less
on trees with moderate lean. Stem-length growth for trees with severe lean
initially was approximately half that measured for non-leaners. Tentatively,
the study will be monitored for eleven years, at which time some destructive
sampling may be done to look at possible wood quality effects from the
hurricane.
(1) Biometrics Center Leader and Biometry Project Assistant, respectively.
Both authors can be reached at: Westvaco Corp., P.O. Box 1950,
Summerville, SC 29484; phone (803) 871-5000, fax (803) 875-7185.
The text of this presentation