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Forest management on federal lands in western Oregon and Washington changed dramatically with the listing of the Northern Spotted Owl as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act in 1990. In 1993, federal scientists and land managers were directed to produce a regional plan to protect and resort late-successional forest habitat and species while simultaneously providing for a sustainable level of timber production.  The resulting Northwest Forest Plan (NFP) also called for the development of new silvicultural systems to meet these multiple objectives. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Pacific Northwest Research Station (PNW), U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and Oregon State University (OSU) established the Density Management Study (DMS) in 1994 to develop and test options for young stand management to meet NFP objectives in western Oregon. The DMS demonstrates and evaluates alternative approaches to managing 40- to 70-year-old forest stands on low-elevation sites in western Oregon to create and maintain late-successional forest characteristics.
Scientific and management objectives of the DMS include the following:
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evaluate effects
of alternative forest density management treatments
on important late-successional habitat attributes (large
trees; standing and down dead wood; understory trees,
shrubs, and herbs; vertical distribution of tree canopy;
and spatial distribution of trees, shrubs, herbs, and
dead wood) |
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determine
treatment effects on selected plant and animal taxa
(amphibians, arthropods, mollusks, nonvascular plants,
and fungi) |
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assess the combined effects of density management and alternative riparian buffer widths on aquatic and riparian resources |
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use DMS sites to develop operational approaches to implementation of new prescriptions and improve methods for effectiveness monitoring of plant and animal taxa |
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use DMS sites to share results of on-the-ground practices and study findings with land managers, regulatory agencies, and policy-makers |
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use results from DMS to conduct a long-term adaptive management process where management implications and policy changes are regularly evaluated and changed as needed |
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For additional information about this research program, visit the DMS
web site or see the CFER
Annual Report. (3.6 MB)
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