Understory response to timber thinning

Poster from 2006 Cascades student poster session.Thinning of overstory timber will change forest function\ud and productivity of understory vegetation. Increased solar\ud exposure promotes understory growth, and disturbance\ud caused by thinning will create an opportunity for species\ud establishment. We set up a study to collect baseline data\ud on the understory community at the Metolius Preserve. Our\ud data was collected in thinned and un-thinned areas for\ud comparing to future collected data. We ran four, 100 ft\ud transects in both of the survey areas, collecting information\ud on sapling/seedling density and height, percent cover and\ud frequency of small vegetation, (grasses/forbs/sedges),\ud percent cover for shrubs, and amount of litter/duff in\ud centimeters. The litter/duff studies were done because\ud prescribed fires will be set in certain areas to be determined\ud at a later date. This data will possibly provide insight about\ud nutrient release, and intensity of fires with different amounts\ud of litter/duff. We found that there are many different plant\ud species at the Metolius Preserve, but we will not be able to\ud present results until repeat studies in following years are\ud conducted