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A Large-Scale Experiment in Structural Retention Harvests in Pacific
Northwestern Forests
Welcome
Forest management practices on public lands have changed significantly
in the last decade in response to growing concerns that traditional
approaches have led to widespread loss and fragmentation of old-growth
ecosystems and to declines in the biological diversity associated
with late seral forests. New standards and guidelines contained
in the Northwest Forest Plan specify the minimum levels and spatial
patterns of live trees and coarse woody debris that must be retained
on lands subject to timber harvest ("matrix" lands and
Adaptive Management Areas). Although these recommendations represent
the collective knowledge, experience, and professional judgement
of the biologists and ecologists who contributed to the Northwest
Forest Plan, the ecological consequences of these new approaches
have not been rigorously tested.
In the early 1990s several private research institutions and public
interest groups sought federal funding for research to address this
need. In 1992, the Pacific Northwest Region (Region 6) of the USDA
Forest Service received Congressional direction to establish a major
silvicultural experiment in Washington and Oregon "using new
forestry and landscape management techniques." The Demonstration
of Ecosystem Management Options (DEMO) study evolved as a regional
interdisciplinary experiment to examine the responses of diverse
groups of forest organisms and processes to variation in the amount
or pattern of live trees retained through harvest.
With funding from the Pacific Northwest (PNW) Research Station,
DEMO is the collaborative effort of scientists and managers associated
with the USDA Forest Service Region 6, the PNW Research Station,
the University of Washington, Oregon State University, the University
of Oregon, the Gifford Pinchot and Umpqua National Forests, and
the Washington Department of Natural Resources.
For further information please contact Charley
Peterson or Keith Aubry
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