STUDY CODE: FS072 ABSTRACTOR: Tim Harrington DATE: 920625 KEYWORDS: Site #1 - Interspecific competition, intraspecific competition, replacement series, Nelder plot, Douglas-fir, red alder Site #2 - Nelder plots, intraspecific competition, red alder Site #3 - Interspecific competition, intraspecific competition, replacement series, Nelder plot, Douglas-fir, red alder Site #4 - Interspecific competition, intraspecific competition, replacement series, Nelder plots, Douglas-fir, red alder PARAMETERS: Sites #1,#2,#3,#4 - Tree height, stem diameter, crown width, biomass; plant water stress; % vegetation cover, slash biomass, soil and litter nutrient capitals, soil water content, % sky (fisheye photographs) Site #2 - including nitrogen fixation VEGETATION ZONE: Sites #1, #2, #3 - Tsuga Heterophylla Site #4 - Borders PISI and TSHE zones COMMUNITY TYPE: Site #1 - TSHE/GASH/VAOV2 with PSME (dominants), PICO, PIMO, ARME, ALRU Site #2 - TSHE/ACCI/GASH with ACMA Site #3 - TSHE/RHMA/GASH with PSME (dominants), THPL Site #4 - TSHE-PISI/OPHO/ATFI with abundant RUSP, ALRU TAXA: Sites #1,#3,#4 - PSME, ALRU Site #2 - ALRU SOIL TYPE: Site #1 - Shelton gravelly and very gravelly sandy loams Site #2 - Siuslaw Nat'l Forest SRI #43; residuum and minor colluvium-derived Site #3 - Willamette Nat'l Forest SRI #23 (unit 1) and #162 (unit 2) Site #4 - Siuslaw Nat'l Forest SRI #22F (NE slope) and #23F (SW slope) AREA/REGION: Site #1 - Puget Trough/southwestern Washington Site #2 - Interior Oregon Coast Range Site #3 - Western Cascades of Oregon/H.J. Andrews Expt. Forest Site #4 - Oregon central Coast Range/Cascade Head Expt. Forest SITE LOCATION: Site #1 - Belfair, Washington Site #2 - Alsea, Oregon Site #3 - Blue River, Oregon Site #4 - Lincoln City, Oregon PERMANENT PLOTS: Site #1 - Belfair, Washington site; location: T23N, R2W, S36 Site #2 - Alsea Nelder site, unit #TRI 3505, 154 C3 Site #3 - Alder unit #1 (L116), location: T15S, R5E, S27 and Alder unit #2 (L115), location: T15S, R5E, S25 Site #4 - Ex Mix research site, location: T65, R10W, S22 and S15 STUDY PURPOSE/GOALS: By replacement series experiments, measure the effect of species interactions on individual plant response, species response, and unit-area productivity; identify limiting environmental resources and their effect on each species; identify combinations of relative density with strong competitive or synergistic effects on growth, including the importance of nitrogen fixation. By Nelder experiments, measure the effect of alder intraspecific competition on individual plant response, unit-area productivity, and resource availability. SITE CHARACTER: Site #1 - Glacial moraines and till plains; soil has a 30+ cm thick glacially-derived hardpan at 1 m depth which causes perched water table in winter; extremely sandy nature of soil leads to very low water content values during summer drought condition; location: T23N, R2W, S36. Surrounding forest= 75-year-old PSME. Site #2 - Abundant vine maple, bigleaf maple; presence of Phellinus weirii;site appears to be frost-prone; extremely poor survival of planted red alderwill result in this study site being abandoned in 1986. Site #3 - Moderate slopes 15-45%, soil is colluvium and residuum derived; unit 1 if north-facing, unit 2 is west-facing; some Phellinus weirii is present in west half of unit 1; intermittent stream present on east edge of unit 1 (contains mountain beaver colony); unit 1 location= T155, R5E, S27; unit 2 location= T155, R5E, S25. Site #4 - Moderately deep to shallow landtype derived from residuum; seep area on southwest slope; heavy wildlife browse on all vegetation (elk and deer); location = T65, R10W, S22 and S15; local pockets of duff present (2-3' deep), 10-30% slope. STUDY DESIGN: A two-phase experiment on each of sites 1,3, and 4 (site 2 has only phase I experiments): Phase I: circular Nelder plots replicated 3 per site; each plot contains 360 red alder with spacing varying on a 107' radius from 0.7 to 20'. Phase II: Replacement series plots- plot size=27m x 27m; tree density fixed at 3 m or 4.2 m spacing; 15 treatments replicated 3 per site representing following PSME/ALRU proportions: 1/0, 0.9/0.1, 0.7/0.30, 0.5/0.5, 0.25/0.75, 0.1; two sub-experiments included: 1) red alder removal at 5 and 10 years in the 0.5/0.5 PSME/ALRU proportion, 2) red alder interplanting at 5 years (see comments below) METHODS: Sites were planted in spring, 1984-86; soil and litter nutrient samples collected just after planting; vegetation cover and woody debris measured June 1985-86, 1988, 1989; soil water and plant water stress were measured 1985-89; tree growth measured September 1985-1991. UPDATE HISTORY: SITE 1 (BELFAIR, WA) March 1985 Douglas-fir and red alder seedlings planted; tall hardwoods and shrubs cut by Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR) crews (juvenile delinquents). February 1986 Replanted alder wildlings from Washington Irrigation and Development Company Land near Centralia, Washington; Douglas-fir supplied by Doug Belz (Washington DNR); double planted except near center of Nelders February 1987 Replanted alder wildlings and Douglas-fir supplied by Washington DNR. March 1988 Replanted alder. April 1988 ARCO seedlings hand-pulled by Washington DNR crews. August 1988 Most 1988 replants are dead (alder). Glenn Ahrens suggests that we take statistics on what's there and discuss serious redirection of the study on this site. We do not have a replacement series. Nelder densities are not close enough to calculate gradients across arcs to allow use of nominal spacing figures in analysis. Since nominal rep. series spacings and proportions were not successfully established on this site, further measurements should be done within a new framework (objectives->methods-> analysis) or not at all. Alder mortality continues in older, previously established trees. June 1989 Doug Belz sprayed planting spots for the fifth-year delayed planting of alder; he used a mixture of Goal and Roundup herbicides. Competing hardwoods and shrubs were removed from Nelder 20 using cut surface applications of undiluted Garlon 4; SALIX, ARME, CEVE also removed throughout site. Severe defoliation by tent caterpillar of about 80% of the red alder seedlings. August 1989 Trees recovered some from defoliation, a few more have died though. Visited site with DNR staff; DNR people were mostly at management level interested in any method to improve productivity on these glacial soils via nitrogen- fixers. Left them with statement that rep. series design not workable here, but we will try to devise an analytical approach for study of the red alder / Douglas-fir mixtures that develop. March 1990 Fifth-year delayed planting of alder; Doug Belz supplies excellent seedlings from the Washington DNR nursery at Olympia; rotten wood mulch is place around each seedling after planting (this may have caused heat injury). September 1990 Most alder from the fifth-year delayed planting dead. No measurements of trees or environment planned on the Belfair site for the foreseeable future. SITE 3 (H.J. Andrews Exptl. Forest) November 1985 Plot layout; flagging. March 1986 Treble superphosphate fertilizer applied to Nelders before planting; Douglas-fir and red alder planted by USFS contract crews. April 1986 Neutron-probe soil moisture tubes installed; soil nutrient samples taken, bulk density samples taken. April 1987 Douglas-fir and red alder mortality replanted. Discovery is made that about 50% of all planted alder are Sitka alder; original seed sown in nursery was collected in the 1970's with no attempt to delineate Alnus rubra from Alnus sitchensis. May 1987 Big game repellent applied to all trees to reduce browse damage. August 1987 Sitka alder seedlings hand pulled from replacement series plots. October 1987 Nelders cleared of all vegetation by USFS contract crews in preparation for replanting entire plots to red alder. March 1988 Entire Nelder plots and portions of the replacement series plots are replanted with USFS contract crews. June 1988 Vegetation transect data collected; fisheye photographs taken. July 1988 Pulling of Sitka alder from replacement series plots essentially completed. August 1988 Allometric harvests done; soil samples collected for calibration of the neutron probe. Substantial mortality of 1988 replants (alder) occurred. Another replanting is planned for 1989. Deer browsing on fir prevalent. Bad year for grasshoppers -- many alder defoliated. Heat damage to basal stem common. April 1989 Alder and fir mortality replanted; excellent alder wildlings collected near Alsea, Oregon. Alder protected with styrofoam cups around base of stem and Reme' bud caps around terminal shoot. Planting conditions: snow has disappeared from sites by first day of planting, however a snow cat is required to transport planters to sites. April 4th: 45 degrees F and rain. Hot spell April 5-18. June 1989 Vegetation transect data collected. August 1989 PVC pipe installed to mark locations of neutron probe tubes. Observed some stem necrosis which apparently had moved from ground level to top of cup. 1989 is a very mild summer--good for establishing alder Mountain beavers evidence abundant along stream in plot 25 during spring-summer 1989; trapped winter 1989. Still active signs 4/89. Some replanting missed in the center of the Nelder plots; mountain beaver still in draw on plot 25. April 1990 Replanted about 300 alder seedlings from the Washington DNR nursery at Olympia. September 1990 Alder flea beetle caused mortality only on arcs 2-6 of Nelder 30. May 1991 Flea beetles emerged, present throughout site 2; Washington DNR alder stock all dead from winter kill; No other plantings affected. September 1991 Installed new tree measurement system: 25 central trees per replacement series plot designated by x and y coordinates; trees 1,1 and 5,5 marked with tagged metal posts painted red. Flea beetle damage slight, mostly in center of Nelder 20. SITE 4 (Cascade Head Exptl. Forest) February 1986 Marked planting spots and applied treble superphosphate fertilizer to Nelder plots (used 50-lb. bags--put 1-1/2 bags plus approximately 5 pounds on each half Nelder). Stan Dill & Dave Hibbs cut marked snags which had been left after clearcutting of the previous stand. March 1986 Douglas-fir and red alder planted by USFS contract crews; Douglas-fir plantings on east side of site were done twice due to poor root placement the first time. Neutron-probe soil moisture tubes installed; soil samples taken, bulk density samples taken. June 1986 Vegetation and woody debris inventoried using line transects. January 1987 Douglas-fir and red alder mortality marked with flagging for replanting. Trees replanted by Hebo R.D. staff using extra alder from the site which had been planted along spur road. Soil samples collected for calibration of neutron probe; adjacent mature forest sampled for woody debris and pre-harvest stocking. July 1987 Invading alder seedlings pulled. December 1987 Douglas-fir protected from deer browse with Vexar tubing. March 1988 Mortality replanted on a rainy day; alder were pulled from site. June 1988 Vegetation transect data collected; fisheye photographs taken. Brush cut to 6" height in a 3'radius around Douglas- fir, but probably less than half of all trees were treated. Work done by USFS contract crews. July 1988 Vexar tubing pulled up; pulling of invading alder seedlings continued. Biomass collections for allometric equation development; perhaps the last year for collecting roots. Invasion of alder, spruce, and hemlock continues. Some further efforts should be directed toward pulling wildlings. We pulled many seedlings this year in a reasonably systematic converage of the site, however obviously not all were removed. Mountain beaver getting established on slopes and in Nelder 20 & 30; brush needs systematic experiment-wide treatment to prevent overtopping of Douglas-fir. Elk racking and wind breakage common in established alder; basal diameter measurements at original mark often belowground. September 1988 Missing corner posts for rep. series plots replaced. March 1989 Replanting missing fir; large-diameter Vexar installed around all fir, including replants. July 1989 USFS contract was supposed to cut all brush to a 6" height in a 4' radius of each Douglas-fir using a machete. We flagged most fir that were hidden in the brush, and flagged all alder for treatment as well. August 1989 Installed PVC pipe to mark locations of neutron probe tubes. Results of USFS manual cutting contract were poor: about 50% of fir were treated, entire plots were missed. Crews did not cut around the alder. USFS Silvicultural Studies Tour; about 30 people attended from the Siuslaw National Forest. Glenn Ahrens presents the research. September 1989 Diameter of alder now being measured at breast height only; need measurement protocols for trees forked below dbh; should number and measure each dominant stem. Many fir in alder plots being overtopped by salmonberry and other shrubs. January 1990 We hand slashed around Douglas-fir that had been missed by the USFS contract crews -- mostly in plots containing planted alder. September 1990 Tree measurements still did not resolve problem with forks on alder. Also need to start crown length measures, particularly in Nelders. January 1991 Finish remaining tree measurements. March 1991 Fifth-year delayed planting of alder; stock had nursery disease, Septoria, about 35% died back to ground. July 1991 Fifth-year removal of red alder in treatment 8 (0.5 PSME/0.5 ALRU); trees cut to 2-4" height using chainsaws; in addition, we systematically cut all invading alder throughout the site; very few trees were missed. August 1991 Measured height to base of live crown on Nelder plots. February 1992 1991 tree growth measurements; installed new system: 25 central trees per replacement series plot designated by x and y coordinates; trees 1,1 and 5,5 marked with tagged metal posts painted red. March 1992 Replanted mortality from fifth-year delayed planting of alder; 22.5% replanted or 140 trees (1-0 alder from Humboldt Nursery--good stock). April 1992 Field tour of site for Oregon Society of American Foresters annual meeting at Salishan; over 100 people visited Nelder 10 and several of the rep. series plots. Glenn Ahrens and Tim Harrington present current results from the research. Very little sprouting with low vigor observed on red alder cut last July during the fifth-year removals in treatment 8. COMMENTS: Here are the treatment definitions which are applicable to all card types: TMT DEFINITION --- -------------------------------------------------------- 1 replacement series, D.fir/red alder proportion=1.0/0.0; 3 m x 3 m spacing in a 27 m x 27 m plot; both species planted at study initiation. 2 replacement series, D.fir/red alder proportion=0.9/0.1; 3 m x 3 m spacing in a 27 m x 27 m plot; both species planted at study initiation. 3 replacement series, D.fir/red alder proportion=0.9/0.1; 3 m x 3 m spacing in a 27 m x 27 m plot; red alder planted at beginning of sixth year; fir planted at study initiation. 4 replacement series, D.fir/red alder proportion=0.7/0.3; 3 m x 3 m spacing in a 27 m x 27 m plot; both species planted at study initiation. 5 replacement series, D.fir/red alder proportion=0.7/0.3; 3 m x 3 m spacing in a 27 m x 27 m plot; red alder planted at beginning of sixth year; fir planted at study initiation. 6 replacement series, D.fir/red alder proportion=0.5/0.5; 3 m x 3 m spacing in a 27 m x 27 m plot; both species planted at study initiation. 7 replacement series, D.fir/red alder proportion=0.5/0.5; 3 m x 3 m spacing in a 27 m x 27 m plot; red alder planted at beginning of sixth year; fir planted at study initiation. 8 replacement series, D.fir/red alder proportion=0.5/0.5; 3 m x 3 m spacing in a 27 m x 27 m plot; both species planted at study initiation; red alder removed at beginning of sixth year via cutting in early July. 9 replacement series, D.fir/red alder proportion=0.5/0.5; 3 m x 3 m spacing in a 27 m x 27 m; both species planted at study initiation; red alder removed at beginning of eleventh year via cutting in early July. 10 replacement series, D.fir/red alder proportion=0.25/0.75; 3 m x 3 m spacing in a 27 m x 27 m plot; both species planted at study initiation. 11 replacement series, D.fir/red alder proportion=0.25/0.75; 3 m x 3 m spacing in a 27 m x 27 m plot; red alder planted at beginning of sixth year; fir planted at study initiation. 12 replacement series, D.fir/red alder proportion=0.0/1.0; 3 m x 3 m spacing in a 27 m x 27 m plot; red alder planted at study initiation. 13 replacement series, D.fir/red alder proportion=0.0/1.0; 3 m x 3 m spacing in a 27 m x 27 m plot; red alder planted at beginning of sixth year. 14 replacement series, D.fir/red alder proportion=1.0/0.0; 4.2 m x 4.2 m spacing in a 27 m x 27 m plot; fir planted at study initiation. 15 replacement series, D.fir/red alder proportion=0.0/1.0; 4.2 m x 4.2 m spacing in a 27 m x 27 m plot; alder planted at study initiation. 16 Undisturbed mature or old-growth forest adjacent to study site; plots used to sample woody debris and stocking of pre-harvest stand; one set of plots was located adjacent to each block of plots from the main study (TMT=1-15). blank If TMT=' ' for formtype 7, data are measurements of trees located off plot which were taken to develop the regression of TREEDBH vs. STUMPDIA and STUMPHT. 0 Half of a circular Nelder plot (r=32.43 m); not fertilized. 50 Half of a circular Nelder plot (r=32.43 m); fertilized with treble superphosphate at 129 kg P/ha Regarding the Nelder plots, here are tree densities for each ARC: ARC DENSITY (TREES/HA) --- ------------------ 1 196721 2 101219 3 64672 4 37864 5 23016 6 13623 7 8048 8 4759 9 2804 10 1660 11 984 12 584 13 345 14 238 15 not calculated