The Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS) is a suite of computer modeling tools for predicting the long-term effects of alternative forest management actions. FVS was developed in the early 1980s and is used throughout the United Sates and British Columbia. The Third FVS conference, held February 13-15, 2007, in Fort Collins Colorado, contains 20 papers. They describe the use of FVS on the stand and landscape scale, and to analyze fuels management in the presence of insects and fire. Several papers compare FVS predictions of the effects of insects and disease to field measurements. FVS is continually evolving and improving in technology and capability to meet the needs of its ever increasing user community. Papers describe new methods for data acquisition and preparation for input to FVS, new economic analysis capabilities within FVS, new methods for simulating forest regeneration, new developments in calculating growth and mortality, and future plans for incorporating the effects of climate change in model simulations.

CLICK HERE to download sample native plants from Real Gardens Grow Natives For many people, the most tangible and beneficial impact they can have on the environment is right in their own yard. Aimed at beginning and veteran gardeners alike, Real Gardens Grow Natives is a stunningly photographed guide that helps readers plan, implement, and sustain a retreat at home that reflects the natural world. Gardening with native plants that naturally belong and thrive in the Pacific Northwest’s climate and soil not only nurtures biodiversity, but provides a quintessential Northwest character and beauty to yard and neighborhood! For gardeners and conservationists who lack the time to read through lengthy design books and plant lists or can’t afford a landscape designer, Real Gardens Grow Natives is accessible yet comprehensive and provides the inspiration and clear instruction needed to create and sustain beautiful, functional, and undemanding gardens. With expert knowledge from professional landscape designer Eileen M. Stark, Real Gardens Grow Natives includes: * Detailed profiles of 100 select native plants for the Pacific Northwest west of the Cascades, plus related species, helping make plant choice and placement. * Straightfoward methods to enhance or restore habitat and increase biodiversity * Landscape design guidance for various-sized yards, including sample plans * Ways to integrate natives, edibles, and nonnative ornamentals within your garden * Specific planting procedures and secrets to healthy soil * Techniques for propagating your own native plants * Advice for easy, maintenance using organic methods

In dry, open coniferous forests of the montane West, stand-replacing wildfires and land use activities alter the composition and abundance of native grasses and forbs by degrading the habitat and accelerating the invasion of exotic annuals. On these lands, native forbs and grasses delayed or prevented from recovery by natural processes may require intervention through supplementary seeding. However, effective seeding of native plants requires that their seed traits and the potential outcome of the seeding be better understood. This study evaluated seeds and seedlings of 13 native forbs and 5 grasses common in the dry Pinus ponderosa/Purshia tridentata/ Festuca idahoensis plant communities east of the Oregon Cascades crest and their potential for establishment in a landscape altered by past grazing and a recent, stand-replacing wildfire. Their potential for germination and establishment was examined in the laboratory and in 20 test plots located within the burned boundary of a 2002 wildfire. Seed collection, handling, testing, and sowing procedures are described. Data on seedling emergence, height, second-year survival and cover are presented in tables and figures. Onsite emergence and early growth data helped to reveal cause of early mortality related to biological and site conditions, including invasive competition, and differences in early growth and site occupancy. The study supports the efficacy of using multiple and functionally diverse species in a seeding program. Additional information on each of the 18 species is included in an appendix.

In the turn-of-the-twentieth-century Northwest, the lives and passions of an American physician and her Swedish naturalist husband helped shape a territory on the cusp of change--from the author of Sources of the River and The Collector. Dr. Carrie Leiberg, a pioneer physician, fought hard for public health while nurturing both a troubled son and a fruit orchard. Her husband, John Leiberg, was a Swedish immigrant and self-taught naturalist who transformed himself from pickax Idaho prospector to special field agent for the US Forest Commission and warned Washington DC of ecological devastation of public lands. The Leiberg story opens a window into the human and natural landscape of a century past that reflects all the thorny issues of our present time.