United States Department of Photo Series for Quantifying Natural Fuels Agriculture Forest Service Volume XI: Eastern Oregon Sagebrush-Steppe and Spotted Owl Pacific Northwest Research Station Nesting Habitat in the Pacific Northwest General Technical Report PNW-GTR-878 December 2012 Clinton S. Wright, Robert E. Vihnanek, Joseph C. Restaino, and Jon E. Dvorak ABSTRACT Wright, Clinton S.; Vihnanek, Robert E.; Restaino, Joseph C.; Dvorak, Jon E. 2012. Photo series for quantifying natural fuels. Volume XI: eastern Oregon sagebrush-steppe and northern spotted owl nesting habitat in the Pacific Northwest. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-878. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 85 p. Three series of photographs display a range of natural conditions and fuel loadings for sagebrush-steppe types that are ecotonal with grasses, western juniper, and ponderosa pine in eastern Oregon, and one series of photographs displays a range of natural conditions and fuel loadings for northern spotted owl nesting habitat in forest types in Washington and Oregon. Each group of photos includes inventory information summarizing vegetation composition, structure, and loading; woody material loading and density by size class; forest floor depth and loading; and various site characteristics. The natural fuels photo series is designed to help land managers appraise fuel and vegetation conditions in natural settings. Keywords: Woody material, biomass, fuel loading, natural fuels, sagebrush-steppe, old-growth forest, greater sage-grouse, Centrocercus urophasianus, northern spotted owl, Strix occidentalis caurina, antelope bitterbrush, Purshia tridentata, big sagebrush, Artemisia tridentata, Douglas-fir, Pseudotsuga menziesii, grand fir, Abies grandis, Pacific silver fir, Abies amabilis, ponderosa pine, Pinus ponderosa, western hemlock, Tsuga heterophylla, western juniper, Juniperus occidentalis, western redcedar, Thuja plicata, white fir, Abies concolor. COOPERATORS This publication was developed by the USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, Fire and Environmental Research Applications team with funding provided, in part, by the Bureau of Land Management, Oregon State Office and the U.S. Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Region, Fire and Aviation Management. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Special recognition is due Louisa Evers, Bureau of Land Management, Oregon State Office/U.S. Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Region, Regional Office; Joe Wagner, Bureau of Land Management, Lakeview Field Office; Brian Watts, Bureau of Land Management, Vale Field Office; Dan Crannell, Bureau of Land Management, Eugene Field Office; Gregg Riegel and Elizabeth Johnson, U.S. Forest Service, Deschutes National Forest; Jesse Plumage, U.S. Forest Service, Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest; Susan Piper, U.S. Forest Service, Olympic National Forest; David Clayton, U.S. Forest Service, Rogue River-Siskyiyou National Forest; Theresa Stone, U.S. Forest Service, Umpqua National Forest; Jennifer Sanborn, U.S. Forest Service, Fremont-Winema National Forest; Debaran Kelso, U.S. Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station; and Thomas Snetsinger, Oregon State University. Cameron Balog, Lauren Grand, Kyle Jacobson, Amy Jirka, Jeff Kelly, Alex Lundquist, Aarin Sengsirirak, Shawn Smith, and Tmth-Spusmen Wilder, U.S. Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, Pacific Wildland Fire Sciences Laboratory, worked on this project in the field and in the laboratory. AUTHORS Clinton S. Wright is a research forester, Robert E. Vihnanek is a supervisory forester, and Joseph C. Restaino and Jon E. Dvorak are forestry technicians, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, Pacific Wildland Fire Sciences Laboratory, 400 North 34th Street, Suite 201, Seattle, Washington 98103. CONTENTS 2 What Is the Natural Fuels Photo Series? 3 Why Is the Photo Series Needed? 3 How Was the Photo Series Developed? 3 Photographs 3 Photograph and Information Arrangement 4 Site and Stand Information 4 Vegetation Information 5 Forest Floor Information 5 Woody Material 5 Saplings and Trees 6 Selected Shrub Species 6 Using the Photo Series 7 Species List 8 Metric Conversions 9 Literature Cited 12 Eastern Oregon Sagebrush With Grass Photo Series 26 Eastern Oregon Sagebrush With Juniper Photo Series 34 Eastern Oregon Sagebrush With Ponderosa Pine Photo Series 46 Spotted Owl Nest Habitat Photo Series 2 WHAT IS THE NATURAL FUELS PHOTO SERIES? The first phase of the natural fuels photo series was a collection of six volumes, each representing a region of the United States (Volumes I-VI). Additional phases included new volumes (Volumes VII-X, XII) and supplemental volumes (Volumes IIa, Va, VIa). Volume I included sites in mixed-conifer, western juniper, sagebrush, and grassland ecosystems in the interior Pacific Northwest. Volume II included sites in black and white spruce ecosystems in Alaska, and volume IIa included sites in hardwood ecosystems undergoing succession to spruce. Volume III included sites in lodgepole pine, quaking aspen, and gambel oak ecosystems in the Rocky Mountains. Volume IV included sites in pinyon-juniper, sagebrush, and chaparral ecosystems in the Southwest. Volume V included sites in red and white pine, northern tallgrass prairie, and mixed-oak ecosystems in the Midwest, and volume Va included sites in jack pine ecosystems. Volume VI included sites in longleaf pine, pocosin, and marsh grass ecosystems in the Southeast, volume VIa included sites in sand hill, sand pine scrub, and white pine-invaded hardwood ecosystems, and volume XII included sites in post-hurricane fuels. Volume VII included sites in Oregon white oak, California deciduous oak, and mixed conifer with shrub ecosystems in Washington, Oregon, and California. Volume VIII included sites in hardwood, pitch pine, and red spruce/balsam fir ecosystems in the Northeast. Volume IX included sites in oak/juniper ecosystems in Arizona and New Mexico. Volume X included sites in sagebrush with grass and ponderosa pine-juniper ecosystems in central Montana. An unnumbered volume included grassland, shrubland, woodland, and forest ecosystems in Hawaii. Generally, sites include wide-angle and stereo-pair photographs (stereo-pair photographs are provided only for the spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina) nesting habitat series in this volume) supplemented with information on living and dead fuels and vegetation, and, where appropriate, stand structure and composition within the area visible in the photographs (fig. 1). This volume (volume XI) continues the natural fuels photo series and includes three series documenting sagebrush sites that are ecotonal with grasses, western juniper, and ponderosa pine in eastern Oregon that in some cases may represent habitat or potential habitat for the greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) and one series with sites indicative of northern spotted owl nesting habitat in forests in Washington and Oregon. The sites in this volume broaden the range of conditions presented in Volume I (Ottmar et al. 1998), Volume IV (Ottmar et al. 2000), and Volume X (Ottmar et al. 2007) and provide a basis for appraising and describing woody material, vegetation, and stand conditions in many sagebrush-steppe and forested ecosystems in Washington and Oregon. Line intercept, vegetation SONH series tree and Edge of height, and canopy closure seedling plots (gray) sample area Figure 1—Photo series sample area layout. The sample measurement locations area extended 180 and 150 ft from the camera for the three sagebrush series and spotted owl nesting habitat series, respectively. Thirty random azimuth line transects (one to two per node) and 12 to 13 clipped vegetation plots (one to three per arc) were located within the sample area. Trees and seedlings were inventoried in the entire sample area when present for the three sagebrush series, or with 4 point- 30 ft centered quarter points and 12 systematically located 60 ft sample plots for spotted owl nesting habitat series. Shrubs Camera point 32° sample area angle were measured prior to harvesting in the clipped vegetation 90 ft plots (sagebrush series only). SONH series clipped 120 ft vegetation plots (blue) EOSG, EOSJ, and EOSP series 150 ft SONH series point-centered clipped vegetation and shrub quarter point (1 of 4) measurement plots (green) 180 ft WHY IS THE PHOTO SERIES NEEDED? The photo series are land management tools that can be used to assess landscapes through appraisal of living and dead woody material and vegetation (i.e., fuels) and stand characteristics. Once an assessment has been completed, stand treatment options, such as prescribed fire or harvesting, can be planned and implemented to better achieve desired effects while minimizing negative impacts on other resources. The photo series has application in several branches of natural resource science and management. Inventory data such as these can be used as inputs for evaluating animal habitat (a specific objective of this volume), nutrient cycling, and microclimate, for example. Fire managers will find these data useful for predicting fuel consumption, smoke production, fire behavior, and fire effects during wildfires and prescribed fires. In addition, the photo series can be used to appraise carbon sequestration, an important factor in predictions of future climate, and to link remotely sensed signatures to live and dead fuels on the ground. Ground inventory procedures that directly measure site conditions