Changes in Downed and Dead Woody Material Following a Spruce Beetle Outbreak on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska;Forest Service research paper

摘要

The forests of the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, underwent a major spruce beetle (Dendroctonus rufipennis (Kirby)) outbreak in the 1990s. A repeated inventory of forest resources was designed to assess the effects of the resulting widespread mortality of spruce trees, the dominant component of the Kenai forests. Downed woody materials, fuel heights, and moss depths were recorded during each inventory. Changes in downed and dead woody materials are summarized by forest type and harvest activity, compiled by fuel timelag classes. Fuel heights, fine fuels, and sound large fuels increased between 1987 and 2000. Moss depths and rotten large fuels decreased. Harvested white spruce (Picea glauca (Moench) Voss) showed the greatest increase of fine fuel classes.