United States Department of Agriculture Forest Resources Forest Service Rocky Mountain of the Coconino Research Station May 2003 National Forest Larry T. DeBlander Mark Fleck About the author __________________________ Larry T. DeBlander is a Forester with the Interior West Forest Inventory and Analysis Program, Rocky Mountain Research Station in Ogden, Utah. Mark Fleck is an Ecologist with the Interior West Forest Inventory and Analysis Program, Rocky Mountain Research Station in Ogden, Utah. Contents __________________________________ Page Description of the Forest ........................................................................................ 1 Total forest land: highlights of our inventory ..................................................... 2 Nonreserved timberland: highlights of our inventory ...................................... 9 The inventory methods ......................................................................................... 11 Documentation ....................................................................................................... 13 For further information ......................................................................................... 13 Rocky Mountain Research Station 324 25th Street Ogden, UT 84401 Forest Resources of the Coconino National Forest Larry T. DeBlander Mark Fleck The Interior West Forest Inventory and Analysis (IWFIA) previous estimates and summaries for this area. Additional program of the USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Re- data collected for the Coconino National Forest, used search Station, as part of its national Forest Inventory and separately or in combination with IWFIA data, may pro- Analysis (FIA) duties, conducted forest resource invento- duce varying results. ries of the Southwestern Region (Region 3) National For- ests. This report presents highlights of the Coconino Na- tional Forest 1995 inventory including population Description of the Forest estimates and summaries of commonly requested vari- The Coconino National Forest administers 1,849,510 ables. Any trends or disturbances (such as, fire) that have acres (USDA 1996) of which 85 percent is classified as for- occurred after 1995 will be discussed in future reports of est land and 15 percent nonforest or water. This report de- the Coconino National Forest. scribes the characteristics of the forest land sampled on The information presented in this report is based solely the Coconino. Forest land is land that is at least 10 percent on the IWFIA inventory sample (USDA 1995). The data stocked (or formerly stocked) with live tally tree species could be summarized in other ways for different purposes and is greater than 1 acre in size and 120 feet wide. Based (see “For further information” on the inside back cover for on the tree species present, forest land can be further sub- the national FIA database and related contacts). Supple- divided into two land categories: timberland and wood- mental documentation and inventory terminology can be land (fig. 1). Timberland is forest land with mostly timber found in USDA (2002a), O’Brien (2002), or on the World species typically used in the wood products industry, such Wide Web at http://www.fs.fed.us/rm/ogden. Changes in as ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir. Woodland is forest terminology or procedures may limit comparisons with land with mostly woodland species that often have a multistem growth form and are not typically used for in- dustrial wood products, such as pinyon pine, junipers, and oaks. On the Coconino, 53 percent of the total forest land is timberland while 47 percent is woodland. Nine percent of the total forest land area administered by the Coconino is reserved land, meaning that it has been 15% 45% Timberland Woodland Nonforest/water 40% Figure 1—Percent of total area by land category, Coconino National Forest. 1 withdrawn from management for production of wood products, such as wilderness areas. The first section of this report presents summaries of timber and woodland species for all forest land, including reserved designations. The sub- sequent section addresses nonreserved lands only and includes estimates for timber species sampled on the Coconino. Total forest land: highlights of our inventory Forest type—Forest resources are often de- scribed using a forest type classification. Forest type refers to the predominant tree species in a stand, based on plurality of tree stocking. Stocking is an expression of the extent to which growing space is effectively utilized by live trees. Figure 2 presents the distribution of forest land area on the Coconino by forest type. The ponderosa pine forest type is the most common forest type, compris- by forest type for 255 plots that contained at least one for- ing nearly 48 percent of the total forest land area. Pinyon- est condition. juniper and pure juniper types comprise a combined 44 percent of the total forest land area. The remaining 8 per- Number of live trees—Forest land can also be examined cent comprises a variety of timber and woodland types in- by looking at the composition of tree species. Figure 3 cluding Douglas-fir, aspen, white fir, miscellaneous west- shows total number of live trees for all sampled tree spe- ern softwoods, and cottonwood (timber forest types), plus cies on the Coconino for three diameter classes. Ponde- deciduous woodland oak, maple woodland, mesquite, and rosa pine makes up the plurality of live trees at 45 percent. miscellaneous western hardwoods (woodland forest Gambel oak makes up 14 percent and New Mexico locust types). 6 percent, with most of these less than 5 inches in diam- A field plot may sample more than one condition eter. Douglas-fir, common or twoneedle pinyon, and Utah (stand). A forest condition is generally defined as an area juniper together make up 17 percent of the live trees on the of relatively homogeneous vegetative cover that meets the Coconino; white fir and oneseed juniper, 4 percent each; criteria for forest land. Forest type is one of several attributes alligator juniper, 3 percent; and aspen and southwestern that define and separate conditions identified on the plot. white pine, 3 percent. Bigtooth maple, Arizona pinyon Table 1 presents the number of conditions and the condi- pine, singleleaf pinyon, and Rocky Mountain juniper to- tion proportions sampled on the Coconino National Forest gether make up 3 percent. The rest of the live trees, which Ponderosa pine Pinyon-juniper Juniper Douglas-fir Deciduous woodland oak Aspen Misc. western softwoods Forest type Maple woodland Mesquite White fir Misc. western hardwoods Cottonwood 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% Percent forest land Figure 2—Percent of total forest land area by forest type, Coconino National Forest. 2 Table 1—Number of conditions and condition proportions are grouped in the other timber and other woodland spe- on forest land by forest type and land category, cies categories, are found in limited amounts on the Coconino National Forest, 1995. Coconino. Other timber species includes Arizona cypress, Engelmann spruce, corkbark fir, and narrowleaf cotton- Number of Condition a b wood; other woodland species includes western honey Forest type conditions proportions mesquite, Arizona white oak/gray oak, Emory oak, redberry Timberland juniper, and velvet mesquite. Species that are scarce may Ponderosa pine 147 120.9 not be encountered with the extensive sampling strategy Douglas-fir 6 3.7 used for this inventory. Aspen 3 2.7 Number and weight of dead trees—Standing and down White fir 1 0.9 dead trees are important to forest ecosystems because Cottonwood 1 0.5 they provide habitat for many species of wildlife, function Misc. western softwoods 4 3.0 as nutrient sinks, and protect the soil from erosion. Ap- Total timberland 162 131.7 proximately 28.1 million standing dead trees (snags) and Woodland 23.9 million down dead trees (1 inch diameter and greater) Pinyon-juniper 79 69.4 are on Coconino forest land, with 17.8 snags per acre. Dif- Juniper 43 41.1 ferent size snags provide habitat components for many Deciduous woodland oak 4 3.2 wildlife species. Figure 4 shows the number of snags by Mesquite 2 1.3 forest type for three diameter classes. Of the total num- Maple woodland 1 0.7 bers of snags , 59 percent are between 1 inch and 4.9 Misc. western hardwoods 1 0.5 inches diameter, with nearly two-thirds of these occurring Total woodland 130 116.2 within the ponderosa pine forest type. Of the total num- bers of snags, 27 percent are between 5 and 10.9 inches di- Grand total 292 *247.8 ameter, with approximately half of these occurring within aNumber of conditions by forest type that were sampled. The sum the ponderosa pine forest type. Snags 11 inches diameter of these numbers is often greater than the total number of plots or larger make up 14 percent of the total, with 2.5 snags because a plot may sample more than one forest condition. per acre. Most of these large snags are found on ponde- bSum of the condition proportions of plots by forest type that were sampled. The sum of these numbers is often less than the total rosa pine (37 percent) and pinyon-juniper (33 percent) for- number of plots because of nonforest condition proportions (from est types. No snags were sampled in the mesquite, miscel- plots containing both forest and nonforest conditions) that are not laneous western hardwoods, or cottonwood forest types. included here. The amount of dead material can contribute significantly *Number does not add to total due to rounding to forest fuel loads and fire potential. Approximately 1.8 million tons of down dead trees and 2.2 million tons of 100 90 80 70 60 1" - 4.9" 50 5" - 10.9" >=11" 40 Million trees 30 20 10 0 Aspen oneedle pinyon White fir pinyon pecies locust Mountain pine Singleleaf s her timber ambel oak pecies uniper ona pinyon Douglas-fir Tw j s white pine Utah juniper G New Mexico outhwestern gator juniper Ot cky li her woodland S onderosa pine neseed juniper Ariz Bigtooth maple Al P Ot Ro O Timber Woodland Species Figure 3—Number of live trees 1 inch diameter and greater on forest land by species and diameter-size class, Coconino National Forest.