Cataloging Information
Fuel Treatments & Effects
Mechanical treatments
Prescribed Fire-use treatments
Fire-dependent lodgepole pine stands comprise significant acreages of mid and upper-elevation forests in the Northern Rockies, providing wood products, wildlife habitat, livestock forage, water, recreational opportunities, and expansive viewsheds. Many lodgepole pine stands are in late-successional stages and at risk to pests and catastrophic-scale fires. Tenderfoot Creek Experimental Forest is located on the Lewis and Clark National Forest in the Little Belt Mountains of Central Montana. Twenty percent of the lodgepole pine stands on the experimental forest were found to be two-aged and another 30 percent were in an indistinct mosaic of a duel-fire complex. This paper describes preliminary results of the Tenderfoot Research Project designed to evaluate two-aged harvest methods in lodgepole pine stands by integrating silviculture and prescribed fire. Research studies evaluate the effects of harvesting and prescribed fire on several resources such as water quality and quantity, wildlife, forest fuels, and vegetation response.