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Author(s):
James P. Menakis
Year Published:

Cataloging Information

Topic(s):
Fuels
Fuel Treatments & Effects
Mechanical treatments
Fuels Inventory & Monitoring
Ecosystem(s):
Montane dry mixed-conifer forest, Ponderosa pine woodland/savanna

NRFSN number: 13371
Record updated:

The objective of thesis was to summarize 80 years of changes associated with several cutting regimes in the Lick Creek Drainage. The Lick Creek Drainage was first selectively cut in 1906, followed by several commercial and precommercial thinnings occurring in the late 1950's through the early 1980's. Permanent plots were installed in 1948 and 1955 and remeasured throughout the 1950's and 1960's, with the last remeasurement occurring in 1991. Remeasurement data was summarized by stand structure, and growth and yield. The 1906 stand structure was reconstructed from back dating increment core measurements and stump measurements. The results showed that the pre-cutting stand structure of the Lick Creek area was composed of mostly park-like ponderosa pine stands consisting of large diameter trees that were fairly open spaced. By 1991, the basal area per acre of Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) increased 20 percent, and the number of trees per acre increased about 3.5 times, with most of this increase in diameters less than 6 inches. Periodic annual diameter growth of survivor trees ranged from 0.11 to 0.19 inches per year, with an average of about 0-14 inches per year at around 11 inches dbh, over the last forty years. Cumulative volumes estimates ranged from 1,662 to 4,764 cubic feet per acre, with a few of the cutting regimes being comparable with Meyer's (1938) even-aged stand tables. The lack of intermediate measurements between several cutting periods prevented making definitive conclusions about the effects of varying cutting regimes on stand structure, growth and yields.

Citation

Menakis, J.P. 1985. A summary of ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) management activities in the Lick Creek Drainage of the Bitterroot National Forest. Missoula, MT. University of Montana. 81. p. Thesis

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