Monitoring forest vegetation in the North Coast and Cascades Network: 2012 annual report
Acker SA, Boetsch JR, Bivin M, Whiteaker L, Cole C, Weaver JD. 2013. Monitoring forest vegetation in the North Coast and Cascades Network: 2012 annual report. Natural Resource Data Series. NPS/NCCN/NRDS—2013/452. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado
Late-successional, coniferous forest is critical for ecosystem function and biological conservation in the Pacific Northwest. Such forests are well-represented in the North Coast and Cascades Network (NCCN) of the National Park Service. As part of monitoring natural resources within the NCCN, we track trends in tree recruitment, growth, and mortality. Sampled forests span the range of environments in network parks, at elevations from near sea-level to almost 1800 m. Field activities in 2012 consisted of site selection for San Juan Island National Historical Park (SAJH) and annual checks for tree mortality at Lewis and Clark National Historical Park (LEWI), Mount Rainier National Park, North Cascades National Park Service Complex, and Olympic National Park. For SAJH, after evaluating 200 point locations in the office, we determined that 70 were suitable for final evaluation in the field. Most rejections were due to insufficient distance from roads or trails, or non-target vegetation. We evaluated 61 points in the field, 11 of which met the criteria for permanent plots. Most rejections were due to non-target vegetation. The data for 2012 represent the first observations of annual tree mortality for LEWI. Average mortality was higher than for the other combinations of elevation and park. The rate of tree mortality averaged over all elevations and parks was 0.79%, within the range for our first three measurements. As in previous years, most newly-dead trees died standing. As in two of the three previous years, a particular cause of death could not be identified for the majority of newly-dead trees.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Acker, Steven; Boetsch, John; Bivin, Mignonne; Whiteaker, Lou; Cole, Carla; Weaver, Jerald
- Date of Issue
- 2013-03
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- LEWI , MORA , NOCA , NRSS , OLYM , SAJH
- Keywords
- annual report, Bark Beetle, coniferous, Disease, Forest, forest monitoring, Generalized Randomized-Tesselation Stratified, Growth, GRTS, Insects, late-successional, Lewis and Clark National Historical Park, Monitoring, Mortality, Mount Rainier National Park, North Cascades National Park, North Coast and Cascades Network, Olympic National Park, Permanent Plot, San Juan Island National Historical Park, tree recruitment
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Focal Species or Communities | Forest/Woodland Communities