Proceedings of the coast redwood forests in a changing California: A symposium for scientists and managers
Authors: | Richard B. Standiford, Theodore J. Weller, Douglas D. Piirto, John D Stuart |
Year: | 2012 |
Type: | General Technical Report |
Station: | Pacific Southwest Research Station |
DOI: | https://doi.org/10.2737/PSW-GTR-238 |
Source: | Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-238. Albany, CA: Pacific Southwest Research Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture. 675 p |
Abstract
The Coast Redwood Forests in a Changing California Science Symposium was held June 21-23, 2011 at UC Santa Cruz with just under 300 registrants in attendance. Participants ranged in background from graduate level students to university forestry faculty, land managers, and conservation groups, public agencies, and land trust members. The symposium was strategically held in Santa Cruz, near the Southern end of the redwood region. Designed to present the state of our knowledge about California's coast redwood forest ecosystems and sustainable management practices, this symposium was built on earlier redwood science symposia held in Arcata, CA in June, 1996 and in Santa Rosa, CA in March, 2004.
The first day of the symposium consisted of two simultaneous field tours, one to the North County and one to the South County. The North County tour focused on active redwood timber management on corporate ownerships operating under the unique policies that dictate decision making on the central coast, and Cal- Poly's forest management and research at its Swanton Pacific Ranch. It also included a brief tour of the Big Creek Lumber Company sawmill and a visit to areas burned in the more than 7,000 acre Lockheed Fire of 2009. The South County tour traversed the range of redwood forest conditions from the old growth of Henry Cowell State Park and the uncut 120 year old young growth of Nisene Marks State Park to uneven-aged young growth stands established by individual tree selection harvesting on non-industrial forestlands.
Opening remarks started the second day of the symposium and began the academic concurrent sessions. Local historian Sandy Lydon spoke about the special history of the redwoods in the region, recounting stories from his boyhood about roaming through the forests and giving a brief synopsis of the settlement of the area. Steve Sillett, Humboldt State University forestry professor, described his experiences climbing the redwoods and his discoveries in the redwood forest canopy ecosystems, as well as his findings on tree growth from dendrochronology measurements. Ruskin Hartley, Executive Director and Secretary of Save the Redwoods League, called on the audience to set "audacious goals and collaborative actions." He maintained that nature does not develop boundaries and that in moving forward, we should focus on a shared set of goals and that public and private land should progress simultaneously. Concluding the session, Ron Jarvis, Home Depot's VP of sustainability talked candidly about the role of environmental sustainability practices and policies as part of the home improvement retailer's business model. He noted that when he began in the sustainability department he undertook a two year long project to understand where every sliver of wood from over 9,000 products originated to ensure sustainable wood practices.
Over 75 concurrent oral presentations were showcased over two days, pertaining to the topics of: Ecology (15 presentations); Silviculture and Restoration (11 presentations); Watershed and Physical Processes (22 presentations); Wildlife, Fisheries, Aquatic Ecology (10 presentations); Forest Health (10 presentations); Economics and Policy (6 presentations); Monitoring (7presentations). In addition, almost 40 posters were displayed during the evening reception, ranging in topic from post-fire response, to long-term watershed research, and community forestry models. Held outside on the warm Santa Cruz evening, participants enjoyed a strolling dinner and networking with colleagues, making the reception a highlight of the symposium.
The symposium concluded with closing remarks about the future of research in the redwood region from John Helms, UC Berkeley and Mike Liquori, Sound Watershed. In addition, a panel including Dan Porter, the Nature Conservancy, Lowell Diller, Green Diamond, and Kevin O'Hara, UC Berkeley discussed the interface of research, management, and conservation.
Titles contained within Proceedings of the coast redwood forests in a changing California: A symposium for scientists and managers
- Redwood forest conservation: where do we go from here?
- Road surface erosion on the Jackson Demonstration State Forest: results of a pilot study
- Total maximum daily loads, sediment budgets, and tracking restoration progress of the north coast watersheds
- Logging-related increases in stream density in a northern California watershed
- Physics-based simulations of the impacts forest management practices have on hydrologic response
- Erosion at decommissioned road-stream crossings: case studies from three northern California watersheds
- Large woody debris budgets in the Caspar Creek Experimental Watersheds
- Sediment production in a coastal watershed: legacy, land use, recovery, and rehabilitation
- Declining sediment loads from Redwood Creek and the Klamath River, north coastal California
- The VTAC Committee: developing guidance for an alternative regulatory pathway to the anadromous salmonid protection rules
- Assessing effects of changing land use practices on sediment loads in Panther Creek, north coastal California
- Fine sediment sources in coastal watersheds with uplifted marine terraces in northwest Humboldt County, California
- Comparison of estimated and measured sediment yield in the Gualala River
- Fluorometry as a bacterial source tracking tool in coastal watersheds, Trinidad, CA
- Use of BasinTemp to model summer stream temperatures in the south fork of Ten Mile River, CA
- Comparing hydrologic responses to tractor-yarded selection and cable-yarded clearcut logging in a coast redwood forest
- Landslides after clearcut logging in a coast redwood forest
- The impact of timber harvest using an individual tree selection silvicultural system on the hydrology and sediment yield in a coastal California watershed
- Summer water use by mixed-age and young forest stands, Mattole River, northern California, U.S.A
- Sediment yield response to sediment reduction strategies implemented for 10 years in watersheds managed for industrial forestry in northern California
- An approach to study the effect of harvest and wildfire on watershed hydrology and sediment yield in a coast redwood forest
- Delineation of preventative landslide buffers along steep streamside slopes in northern California
- Responses of redwood soil microbial community structure and N transformations to climate change
- Rangewide Genetic Variation in Coast Redwood Populations at a Chloroplast Microsatellite Locus
- Reference conditions for old-growth redwood restoration on alluvial flats
- Fog and soil weathering as sources of nutrients in a California redwood forest
- Foliar uptake of fog in the coast redwood ecosystem: a novel drought-alleviation strategy shared by most redwood forest plants
- A chronosequence of vegetation change following timber harvest in naturally recovering coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) forests
- Accounting for variation in root wood density and percent carbon in belowground carbon estimates
- Response of Montia howellii (Howell's montia) to road management in California coastal timberlands
- 'Pygmy' old-growth redwood characteristics on an edaphic ecotone in Mendocino County, California
- Size distribution of unharvested redwood forests in Mendocino County
- Structure and dynamics of an upland old-growth forest at Redwood National Park, California
- Damage and mortality assessment of redwood and mixed conifer forest types in Santa Cruz County following wildfire
- Decomposition and N cycling changes in redwood forests caused by sudden oak death
- Post-fire response of coast redwood one year after the Mendocino lightning complex fires
- The effects of sudden oak death and wildfire on forest composition and dynamics in the Big Sur Ecoregion of Coastal California
- Regeneration and tanoak mortality in coast redwood stands affected by sudden oak death
- Sonoma tree vole habitat on managed redwood and Douglas-fir forestlands in north coastal California
- Two decades of research and monitoring of the northern spotted owl on private timberlands in the redwood region: What do we know and what challenges remain? In: Standiford, Richard B.; Weller, Theodore J.; Piirto, Douglas D.; Stuart, John D, technical coordinators
- How do we know how many salmon returned to spawn? Implementing the California Coastal salmonid monitoring plan in Mendocino County, California
- Ecology and management of Martes on private timberlands in north coastal California
- A permeability study on salmonid spawning areas in northern Humboldt County, California
- Mesocarnivores as focal species for the restoration of post-logging aecond growth in the northern redwoods
- Northern California redwood forests provide important seasonal habitat for migrant bats
- Measurements of key life history metrics of Coho salmon in Pudding Creek, California
- Coast redwood live crown and sapwood
- Influence of tree spatial pattern and sample plot type and size on inventory
- Management practices eelated to the Restoration of old dorest characteristics in coast redwood forests
- Carbon storage in young growth coast redwood stands
- Variable-density thinning in coast redwood: a comparison of marking strategies to attain stand variability
- The Scotia Plantation: implications for multiaged and even-aged silviculture
- Coast redwood responses to pruning
- Using FORSEE and continuous forest inventory information to evaluate implementation of uneven-aged management in Santa Cruz County coast redwood forests
- Using wood quality measures to evaluate second-growth redwood
- Forest restoration at Redwood National Park: a case study of an emerging program
- Whiskey springs long-term coast redwood density management; final growth, sprout, and yield results
- Observations about the effectiveness of utilizing single tree selection silviculture in redwood forestlands
- The Watershed TMP: a proposal to manage the redwood ecosystem under convergent environmental, economic and social goals
- Protecting forests across landscapes and through generations: the Sonoma County Forest Conservation Working Group
- California's coast redwood in New Zealand
- Subdivide or silviculture: choices facing family forest owners in the redwood region
- Is it economical to manage jointly for wood and carbon under the Climate Action Reserve Protocol? In: Standiford, Richard B.; Weller, Theodore J.; Piirto, Douglas D.; Stuart, John D., tech
- Comparing LiDAR-Generated to ground- surveyed channel cross-sectional profiles in a forested mountain stream
- Tree height estimation in redwood/Douglas-fir stands in Mendocino County
- Prioritizing treatment of second-growth forests using LiDAR
- Land surface phenology as a coarse-filter indicator of disturbance and climatic effects across the coast redwood range
- Use of LiDAR and multispectral imagery to determine conifer mortality and burn severity following the lockheed fire