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\"The North Pacific temperate rainforest, stretching from southern Alaska to northern California, is the largest temperate rainforest on earth. This book provides a multidisciplinary overview of key issues important for the management and conservation of the northern portion of this rainforest, located in northern British Columbia and southeastern Alaska. This region encompasses thousands of islands and millions of acres of relatively pristine rainforest, providing an opportunity to compare the ecological functioning of a largely intact forest ecosystem with the highly modified ecosystems that typify most of the world's temperate zone. The book examines the basic processes that drive the dynamic behavior of such ecosystems and considers how managers can use that knowledge to sustainably manage the rainforest and balance ecosystem integrity with human use. Together, the contributors offer a broad understanding of the challenges and opportunities faced by scientists, managers, and conservationists in the northern portion of the North Pacific rainforest that will be of interest to conservation practitioners seeking to balance economic sustainability and biodiversity conservation across the globe. Gordon Orians is professor emeritus of biology at the University of Washington. John Schoen is a senior science advisor at Audubon Alaska. Other contributors include Paul Alaback, Bill Beese, Frances Biles, Todd Brinkman, Joe Cook, Lisa Crone, Dave D'Amore, Rick Edwards, Jerry Franklin, Ken Lertzman, Stephen MacDonald, Andy MacKinnon, Bruce Marcot, Joe Mehrkens, Eric Norberg, Gregory Nowacki, Dave Person, and Sari Saunders\"-- Provided by publisher.

The North Pacific temperate rainforest, stretching from southern Alaska to northern California, is the largest temperate rainforest on earth. This book provides a multidisciplinary overview of key issues important for the management and conservation of the northern portion of this rainforest, located in northern British Columbia and southeastern Alaska. This region encompasses thousands of islands and millions of acres of relatively pristine rainforest, providing an opportunity to compare the ecological functioning of a largely intact forest ecosystem with the highly modified ecosystems that typify most of the world's temperate zone. The book examines the basic processes that drive the dynamic behavior of such ecosystems and considers how managers can use that knowledge to sustainably manage the rainforest and balance ecosystem integrity with human use. Together, the contributors offer a broad understanding of the challenges and opportunities faced by scientists, managers, and conservationists in the northern portion of the North Pacific rainforest that will be of interest to conservation practitioners seeking to balance economic sustainability and biodiversity conservation across the globe.

The forests of southeastern Alaska remain largely intact and contain a substantial proportion of Earth's remaining old-growth temperate rainforest. Nonetheless, industrial-scale logging has occurred since the 1950s within a relatively narrow range of forest types that has never been quantified at a regional scale. We analyzed historical patterns of logging from 1954 through 2004 and compared the relative rates of change among forest types, landform associations, and biogeographic provinces. We found a consistent pattern of disproportionate logging at multiple scales, including large-tree stands and landscapes with contiguous productive old-growth forests. The highest rates of change were among landform associations and biogeographic provinces that originally contained the largest concentrations of productive old growth (i.e., timber volume >46.6 m 3 /ha). Although only 11.9% of productive old-growth forests have been logged region wide, large-tree stands have been reduced by at least 28.1%, karst forests by 37%, and landscapes with the highest volume of contiguous old growth by 66.5%. Within some island biogeographic provinces, loss of rare forest types may place local viability of species dependent on old growth at risk of extirpation. Examination of historical patterns of change among ecological forest types can facilitate planning for conservation of biodiversity and sustainable use of forest resources. Los bosques del sureste de Alaska permanecen en su mayoría intactos y contienen una proporción sustancial de los bosques lluviosos templados maduros de la Tierra. Sin embargo la tala a escala industrial ha ocurrido desde los 1950s dentro de un rango relativamente estrecho de tipos de bosque que nunca se ha cuantificado en una escala regional. Analizamos los patrones históricos de tala de 1954 hasta 2004 y comparamos las tasas relativas de cambio entre tipos de bosque, asociaciones de formaciones terrestres y provincias biogeográficas. Encontramos un patrón consistente de tala desproporcionada en escalas múltiples, incluyendo grandes fragmentos y paisajes con bosques maduros productivos contiguos. Las tasas más altas de cambio estuvieron entre las asociaciones de formaciones terrestres y provincias biogeográficas que originalmente contenían la mayor concentración de bosque maduro productivo (p.ej.: volumen de madera >46.6 m3/ha). Aunque solo 11.9% de los bosques maduros productivos han sido talados a lo largo de la región, los fragmentos se han reducido al menos en 28.1%, bosques de karst en 37%, y paisajes con el volumen más alto de bosque maduro contiguo en 66.5%. Dentro de algunas provincias biogeográficas aisladas, la pérdida de tipos raros de bosque puede ubicar la viabilidad local de especies dependientes del bosque maduro en riesgo de extirpación. Examinar los patrones históricos de cambio entre tipos de bosque ecológicos puede facilitar la planeación para la conservación de la biodiversidad y el uso sustentable de los recursos forestales.

Context Climate change may affect the distribution and performance of many high latitude species. Plants producing fleshy, edible fruits are ecologically, economically, and socially important components of Alaskan forests, but the potential impacts of climate change on their regional distribution and local abundance remain largely unknown. Objectives This study investigated how climate change may impact the regional occupancy and local abundance of blueberry ( Vaccinium alaskaense and V. ovalifolium ) and salmonberry ( Rubus spectabilis ) in Southeast Alaskan forests and evaluated environmental correlates of their local abundance. Methods Species distribution models were used to compare projected suitability for blueberry and salmonberry presence under historical (1990–2020) and future climate scenarios (SSP2-4.5, SSP 3–7.0 and SSP 5–8.5) for 2050, 2075, and 2100 in Southeast Alaskan forests. Relationships between projected suitability and local cover were assessed, as were environmental predictors of local cover. Results Suitability for blueberry and salmonberry presence declined in all future scenarios but was nonetheless projected to remain high. Suitability was positively correlated with the cover of blueberry but not salmonberry in Southeast Alaskan forests. Forest stand attributes including forest type, shrub and tree cover, and stand age and size were often stronger predictors of blueberry and salmonberry cover than climate or topography. Conclusions Regional blueberry and salmonberry occupancy in Southeast Alaska is unlikely to substantially decrease over the twenty-first century, but declining suitability may drive reduced local abundance of blueberry. Relationships between forest conditions and blueberry and salmonberry cover suggest that management actions could promote abundance despite challenges posed by climate change.

DNA metabarcoding has become a powerful technique for identifying the species present in a bulk environmental sample. The application of DNA metabarcoding to wildlife diet analysis is a particularly promising tool for exploring trophic interactions. The extent to which molecular approaches agree with traditional approaches, and how this varies with the quality of field‐collected scats, is unknown. Here, we compare diets from wolf scats profiled using both mechanical sorting and metabarcoding of amplified vertebrate DNA sequences. Our objectives were to (1) compare findings from mechanical sorting and metabarcoding as a method of diet profiling and (2) use results to better understand diets of wolves on Prince of Wales Island, a population of conservation concern. We predicted metabarcoding would reveal both higher diversity of prey and identify rare species that are overlooked with mechanical sorting. We found that there was substantial overlap in the diets revealed using both methods, indicating that deer, beaver, and black bear were the primary prey species, but metabarcoding revealed a more diverse diet with greater occurrence of rare species. However, there was a large discrepancy in the occurrence of beaver in scats (52% and 25% from mechanical sorting and metabarcoding, respectively) explained by the high rate of false positives with mechanical sorting methods. While the number of wolf sequence reads for fresh scats was nearly eight times higher than in degraded scats, neither the number of prey sequence reads nor the quantity of DNA to be sequenced varied between fresh and degraded scats suggesting that metabarcoding is sensitive enough to determine prey assemblages in degraded scats. Even using scats from extremely wet conditions hostile to DNA preservation, we found that metabarcoding was more effective than mechanical sorting in describing diet.

The 6.7 M ha Tongass National Forest in southeast Alaska, USA, supports a world-class salmon fishery, is one of the world’s most intact temperate rainforests, and is recognized for exceptional levels of carbon stored in woody biomass. We quantified biomass and soil organic carbon (C) by land use designation, Inventoried Roadless Areas (IRAs), young and productive old-growth forests (POGs), and 77 priority watersheds. We used published timber harvest volumes (roundwood) to estimate C stock change across five time periods from early historical (1909–1951) through future (2022–2100). Total soil organic and woody biomass C in the Tongass was 2.7 Pg, representing ~20% of the total forest C stock in the entire national forest system, the equivalent of 1.5 times the 2019 US greenhouse gas emissions. IRAs account for just over half the C, with 48% stored in POGs. Nearly 15% of all C is within T77 watersheds, >80% of which overlaps with IRAs, with half of that overlapping with POGs. Young growth accounted for only ~5% of the total C stock. Nearly two centuries of historical and projected logging would release an estimated 69.5 Mt CO2e, equivalent to the cumulative emissions of ~15 million vehicles. Previously logged forests within IRAs should be allowed to recover carbon stock via proforestation. Tongass old growth, IRAs, and priority watersheds deserve stepped-up protection as natural climate solutions.

Setting aside habitat is a common strategy to maintain viable wildlife populations, but underlying assumptions or effectiveness are rarely evaluated. The Tongass National Forest prioritized habitat management for sensitive species in Southeast Alaska's rainforest, and standards and guidelines were established for northern goshawks (Accipiter gentilis). I used guidelines from other portions of its range and data from Southeast Alaska, USA, to evaluate the conservation strategy. I used published data and nests from this study to define choice habitats; published juvenile movements and female use areas were used to estimate an “average” post-fledging area and female breeding range, respectively. I used nest-tree locations (n= 136) to delineate corresponding virtual post-fledging areas and female home ranges, within which I calculated acreage of 4 cover-type and 4 land-use categories. About 30% of nests had >51% of post-fledging areas in choice habitat; 60% of nests had >51% in unsecure (unprotected from development) land-use designations, whereas 16% had >51% in a protected old-growth designation. The female range was similar to post-fledging areas, but the proportions predominantly (>75%) available for development (land use that modifies landscapes) or with 26–50% of total area in choice habitat were larger than post-fledging areas, and half as many nests had >51% of area in choice habitat. Among cover types, choice habitat averaged 39.4% of the post-fledging area. These findings increase uncertainty about conservation measures contributing sufficient habitat to sustain well-distributed, viable populations of northern goshawks throughout Southeast Alaska and demonstrate the need and feasibility of evaluating assumptions of conservation plans.

We studied den use and den-habitat selection by the Prince of Wales Island flying squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus griseifrons) at multiple spatial scales in fragmented temperate rain-forest habitats because of the role dens play in the distribution, reproduction, and population density of this endemic subspecies. We observed differences in spatial patterns associated with den use between juveniles and adults: juvenile core denning areas were almost an order of magnitude larger than those of adults, and juveniles used about one-half the number of dens per month as adults. Female juveniles exhibited both the largest mean and maximum movements between consecutive dens among all age and sex classes. At the microhabitat scale of den selection snags were not selected over live trees, but flying squirrels primarily used cavities in snags and live trees. Flying squirrels also selected dens in the largest diameter live trees and snags, in snags with intermediate levels of decay, in live trees with more conks and visible bole entries, and in western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla). At the broader scale of den selection flying squirrels chose den locations in neighborhoods with higher-volume forests and lower levels of fragmentation, although not lower absolute amounts of edge, than was available across the landscape. Our results suggest that extensive modification of landscapes from clear-cut logging and the creation of an early-seral matrix appeared to influence spatial patterns of den use in flying squirrels and den selection at the broader scale. When compared to patterns in a more-intact landscape, den selection at the microhabitat scale did not relate to differences in landscape context, suggesting additional factors might play an important role in den use across the region.

We repeated bird and vegetation surveys in 1991-1992 and 2005-2006 among young managed stands and old-growth forests in southeast Alaska to evaluate whether pre-commercial thinning of managed stands influenced the bird community. We compared decadal changes in bird densities and forest vegetation among 3 stand types: managed stands originating from clearcuts 35 years ago that were left untreated (unthinned), managed stands thinned at uniform spacing (thinned), and old growth with no prior timber harvest. We did not detect differences in decadal trends in avian densities between thinned and unthinned stands for 15 of 16 common bird species using a repeated-measures design. Thinning did not result in greater recruitment of overstory-nesting species as predicted. This was likely because of 1) similar increases in tree heights (x̄ = 9-10 m) and canopy cover (x̄ = 29-43%) between unthinned and thinned stands across decades and 2) the relatively young successional stage of these stands, which had only begun to recruit medium and large size conifers (dbh ≥ 36 cm). Decadal trends in densities of most (88%) understorynesting bird species did not differ between thinned and unthinned stands. Shrub cover decreased by 22% and 31% across decades in thinned and unthinned stands, respectively. Bird community composition in managed stands reflected the general decadal changes in forest vegetation with a shift in dominance from understory species in the early 1990s (80-85% of total bird density) to an equal abundance of understory (45-54%) and overstory species in the mid-2000s. The latter was more similar to old-growth stands, which were dominated by overstory species (67-71%). Overstory-nesting birds in old growth increased in density by 49% across decades. Densities of cavity-nesting species remained unchanged in managed stands and less than densities in old growth across decades, possibly because of a lack of large trees and snags for nest sites. Overall, thinning of clearcut stands, the primary silvicultural system in the region, had few measurable benefits to birds nearly 20 years after treatment. Monitoring over the 70-100-year harvest rotation may be necessary to fully test whether thinning accelerates succession of bird communities in clearcut stands. However, partial harvests that retain large trees and snags should also be explored as alternatives to better maintain late-succession avifauna throughout the harvest rotation in southeast Alaska.

To understand how a highly contentious policy process influenced a major conservation effort, I examined the origins, compromises, and outcomes of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980 (ANILCA) for the Tongass National Forest. Tongass wilderness designation was among the most controversial issues in the ANILCA debate, and it faced strong opposition from influential lawmakers, land managers, and Alaska residents. To investigate the influence of this opposition on Tongass conservation outcomes, I conducted a gap analysis of Tongass reserves and a policy analysis of the ANILCA debate and traced the influence of specific interests through the amendments, negotiations, and resulting compromises needed to enact ANILCA. Overall, I found that Tongass reserves comprise a broadly representative cross-section of ecosystems and species habitats in southeastern Alaska. Redrawn reserve boundaries, industry subsidies, and special access regulations reflected compromises to minimize the impact of wilderness conservation on mining, timber, and local stakeholder interests, respectively. Fragmentation of the Admiralty Island National Monument--the most ecologically valuable and politically controversial reserve--resulted from compromises with Alaskan Native (indigenous peoples of Alaska) corporations and timber interests. Despite language to accommodate \"reasonable access\" to wilderness reserves, ongoing access limitations highlight the concerns of Alaska residents that opposed ANILCA several decades ago. More broadly, the Tongass case suggests that early and ambitious conservation action may offset strong political opposition; compromises needed to establish key reserves often exacerbate development impacts in unprotected areas; and efforts to minimize social conflicts are needed to safeguard the long-term viability of conservation measures.