200-year Experiment Changes Face Of Forest Management
Science Daily — CORVALLIS - A 200-year study of rotting logs in the Oregon Cascade Range is only 10 percent complete, but findings from this research have already helped save hundreds of millions of dollars, improved forest health and shattered conventional wisdom about the decay of woody debris.
It also has attracted the interest of forest managers from around the world.
This work was begun 20 years ago by scientists from the College of Forestry at Oregon State University with 530 logs at the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest near Blue River, Ore. The research was seen as a way to more rigorously document the process of wood decay and the value it provides in nutrient release, soil enhancement and other issues.
Even though the study is far from complete, it has already achieved many of these goals and raised other important questions that will continue to affect modern silviculture and the understanding of forest ecology, said Mark E. Harmon, the Richardson Chair and Professor of Forest Science at OSU. The work has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S.D.A. Forest Service.
"Much of what we've found has run contrary to the conventional wisdom and is not what we expected," Harmon said. "And this long-term, intensive study of the decay of forest debris and logs has raised considerable awareness of this issue among forest managers."
Two decades ago, forest harvest operations usually "cleaned up" a site after logging, removing most of the debris at considerable cost and effort. As this and other studies showed the compelling ecological value of that material, the debris is now largely left where it is, making the forest healthier in the long run and saving hundreds of millions of dollars in unnecessary work.
