Abstract of research plan for:  Effects of fuel reduction and forest restoration activities on forest understory composition and diversity. 

In fire-prone ecosystems of the interior Northwest, resource managers have begun to experiment with reducing fuel loadings and manipulating forest structure, thus redirecting the future trajectory of stand development.  Increasingly, managers are employing thinning and prescribed burn treatments to achieve both short- and long-term changes in stand structure.  A fundamental goal of these activities is to restore some of the structural elements, species, and ecosystem processes that characterized these forests prior to widespread suppression of wildfire.  However, the potential consequences of these activities for other forest attributes are not fully understood.  For example, basic information on plant community responses to thinning and fire are essential if resource managers are to assess conditions and trends, or are to develop sound management strategies that enhance wildlife habitat and other components of biological diversity.

This recently initiated research seeks to address this need through:  (1) a comprehensive review and synthesis of the current-state-of-knowledge on understory responses to forest management in fire-prone forest ecosystems; and (2) a large-scale sampling effort to quantify the role past management practices, time since “treatment,”  and physical environment on vegetation composition, structure, and diversity.  We are addressing the following questions: