US Forest Service Research and Development Tenderfoot Creek Experimental Forest - Rocky Mountain Research Station - RMRS - US Forest Service
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Tenderfoot Creek Experimental Forest

[image] The Tenderfoot Creek Experimental Forest, established in 1961, is representative of the vast expanses of lodgepole pine found east of the Continental Divide in Montana, southwest Alberta, and Wyoming. Lodgepole pine stands on the forest form a mosaic typical of the fire-prone forests at moderate to high altitudes in the northern Rocky Mountains. The forest stands are classified as one-aged (47 percent of the forested area) and two-aged (53 percent) that were created by past stand replacement and mixed severity fires. Engelmann spruce and subalpine fir grow in the area's sparse but species-rich wetlands, whereas whitebark pine, lodgepole pine and subalpine fir grace the higher ridgetops. The forest encompasses 3,692 ha of the headwaters of Tenderfoot Creek in the Little Belt Mountains on the Lewis and Clark National Forest in Meagher County, Montana. It is approximately 64 km north of White Sulphur Springs, Montana, and 114 km southeast of Great Falls, Montana. Lodgepole pine and mixed lodgepole pine with Engelmann spruce and subalpine fir stands occupy 3,513 ha, wet meadows cover 126 ha, and drier grass and scree slopes make up another 84 ha. Elevations range from 1,840 to 2,420 m.

Climate

The climate is generally continental with occasional influence of the Pacific maritime climate along the Continental Divide from Marias Pass south. Annual precipitation averages 880 mm, and ranges from 594 to 1,050 mm from the lowest to highest elevations. Monthly precipitation generally peaks in December or January at 100 to 125 mm per month and declines to 50 to 60 mm per month from late July through October. About 70 percent of the annual precipitation falls during the November through May period, usually as snow. Intense summer thunderstorms are relatively rare, and most overland flow and associated soil erosion are associated with snowmelt.

Mountain soils generally are at field capacity at the beginning of plant growth in early spring. At lower elevations and on dry south-facing slopes, soil-moisture stress stops plant growth for shallow rooted plants by mid-July. At higher elevations, growing seasons are shorter and killing frosts rather than moisture stress limit growth. Freezing temperatures and snow can occur every month of the year at Tenderfoot Creek and throughout the Little Belt range. For hardy native plants, growing seasons average 45 to 75 days, decreasing to 30 to 45 days on the higher ridges.

Soils

The most extensive soil groups are the loamy skeletal, mixed Typic Cryochrepts and clayey, mixed Aquic Cryoboralfs. Rock talus slopes are prominent on the perimeter of the landscape, but rock outcrops are confined chiefly to areas adjacent to main stream channels. Soils in the grassland parks range from well to poorly drained. Seeps and springs are common over the entire forest.

The geology of Tenderfoot Creek is characterized by igneous intrusive sills of quartz porphyry, Wolsey shales, Flathead quartzite, and granite gneiss. The northern part of the forest occupies the highest elevations and steepest upland topography and is underlain by igneous intrusive granitic rocks. The arched bedrock in the area was formed from metasediments of Cambrian Age consisting mainly of argillites and quartzites. Glaciation has influenced the landform, producing broad basins in which the streams are beginning to regain a water-carved dendritic pattern.

Vegetation

Four forest habitat types are present at Tenderfoot Creek: subalpine fir/grouse whortleberry; subalpine fir, blue huckleberry; subalpine fir, bluejoint; subalpine firwhitebark pine/grouse whortleberry. Besides these four climax types, a portion of the Tenderfoot Creek is dominated by the lodgepole pine/huckleberry community type. In this case, however, the community type is attributable to the subalpine fir/grouse whortleberry habitat type because of the extensive and continuous presence of fir regeneration and old growth throughout the forest. Within each habitat type are stands of different age classes occurring intermittently. There are also four other general land descriptions classified for the forest: talus slopes, rock outcrops, grassland parks, and wet meadows.

Long-Term Data Bases

Long-term data bases maintained at Tenderfoot Creek include information on: timber inventory (1957 and 1963), soil types and maps (1966), fuels analysis (1974 and 1999), ecological habitat type descriptions (1975), GIS layers (current through 2003), streamflow (1992 to present), water quality, sediment, climate, and vegetation (current through 2003).

Research, Past and Present

There was no research at Tenderfoot Creek before 1991 other than the collection of basic data on soils, timber inventory, and habitat typing. Hydrologic and climatic monitoring sites and equipment were installed in the early 1990s to develop pretreatment baseline information for the Tenderfoot Research Project, which is testing an array of management treatments for regenerating and restoring healthy lodgepole pine forests through emulation of natural disturbance processes but avoiding catastrophic-scale disturbances. Prescribed burning for seedbed preparation and fuels reduction is a major portion of the research project.

Major Research Accomplishments and Effects on Management

Research treatments were completed in 2000 and prescribed burning as part of the over all research design was mostly completed in 2002 with the remainder completed in the fall of 2003. Posttreatment data were collected on water quantity, sediment production, water nutrients, fuel loading, noxious weeds, populations of pollinating insects, windthrow, understory and overstory vegetation response, and snow loading.

Collaborators

Collaborators working at Tenderfoot Creek include scientists from the Lewis and Clark, Helena, Gallatin, Beaverhead-Deerlodge, and Bitterroot National Forests; USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service; Montana State Departments of Water Quality and Fish, Wildlife and Parks; Montana State University; University of Montana; Bitterroot Ecosystem Management Research Project; USDI Geological Survey, and Mississippi Basin Carbon Project.

Research Opportunities

Opportunities for research at Tenderfoot Creek abound for those interested in evaluating new techniques and options for managing lodgepole pine communities in the northern Rockies, including fuels management, and vegetation response and development following harvesting, prescribed burning, water production, water quality, and associated ecological processes.

Facilities

Permanent structures at Tenderfoot Creek include 10 flumes, one open-channel measurement site and two SNOTEL sites. Three travel trailers parked near the forest during summers provide temporary quarters for field crews; a fourth equipment trailer is located on site. Other features include internal access roads for stream monitoring (Tenderfoot Creek and Lonesome Creek) and for access to new research. All other roads are within or on the border of three of the four boundaries of Tenderfoot Creek. The western boundary is accessed by trails only. The main road along Tenderfoot Creek is closed to motorized vehicles except for administrative use.

Lat. 46°55' N, long. 110°53' W

Contact Information

Tenderfoot Creek Experimental Forest
US Forest Service

Rocky Mountain Research Station
Forestry Sciences Laboratory
800 East Beckwith, PO Box 8089
Missoula, MT 59807
Tel: (406) 329-2125

Forest website

Related Links
Tenderfoot Creek Experimental Forest Website
 

The material for the Experimental Forests pages was originally published in:

Adams, Mary Beth; Loughry, Linda; Plaugher, Linda, comps. 2004. Experimental Forests and Ranges of the USDA Forest Service. Gen. Tech. Rep. NE-321. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Research Station. 178 p. GTR-NE-321 - 5.5 mb pdf

Information has been updated since original publication.

Rocky Mountain Research Station
Last Modified: Monday, 28 April 2008 at 17:14:32 EDT (Version 1.0.5)