Theses and Dissertations - Department of Forest and Rangeland Stewardship
Recent Submissions
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Unmanned aerial systems for forest structure mapping: assessments of area-based and individual tree monitoring
Characterization of forest structure is important for management-related decision making, especially in the wake of disturbance. Increasingly, observations of forest structure are needed at both finer resolution and across ... -
Corporate investments for public land management: insights into the Forest Service's corporate partnerships
There is a shift in environmental governance towards devolution and neoliberalism, whereby federal land management agencies increasingly rely on external actors to help them meet their management objectives. For the U.S. ... -
Gambel oak productivity and demography: an observational study of fundamental ecological characteristics in western Colorado
Gambel oak exhibits demographic and morphological variability across its range in the intermountain West. While broadly distributed, little is known about the basic ecological behavior of this species in Colorado ecosystems. ... -
Characterizing the pine wilt disease pathosystem in the Front Range region of Colorado
Pine wilt disease, caused by the pinewood nematode (Bursaphelenchus xylophilus; PWN), is one of the most damaging invasive species in Asia. Tree mortality associated with PWN has recently been reported in Colorado and ... -
Three-dimensional finite element model to predict pole strength
A three-dimensional finite element model was used to predict the strength and location of failure of nine wood transmission poles. The poles were made from three commonly used species (western red cedar, Douglas-fir and ... -
Improve the safety and effectiveness of firelines using Dijkstra's algorithm: model development and implementation during incident
Multiple spatial indices have been developed by past research to evaluate fire management effectiveness and safety concerns and identify fire suppression operation opportunities. In this study, we will use those indices ... -
Investigating policy tools and variables to support collaborative governance and collective learning: a programmatic assessment of the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program
Collaborative governance has increased in prominence as a potential policy tool to support natural resource management within forest contexts. Until recently, there has been little formal space within the governance regime ... -
Relationships between anatomy and climate in members of the subfamily Pooideae
As climate continues to change, it will become increasingly important to accurately predict the landscape-level response of plant functional groups to climatic shifts. Relationships between vascular anatomy and climate ... -
Change in piñon-juniper woodland cover since Euro-American settlement: expansion versus contraction associated with soil properties
Woodland and forest ecosystems across western North America have experienced increased density and expansion since the early 1900s, including in the widely distributed piñon-juniper vegetation type of the U.S. Southwest. ... -
Forest range shifts under climate change: microenvironment impacts to tree recruitment at a climatic ecotone
Warming across the western United States is projected to cause dramatic shifts in tree species recruitment, with the most pronounced changes in composition at range edges where species are at their thresholds of reproductive ... -
Climate change adaptation on public lands: policy, vulnerability assessments, and resilience in the U.S. Forest Service
To view the abstract, please see the full text of the document. -
Phenotypic and experimental variation in Beauveria bassiana isolates from the Rocky Mountain region
The ubiquitous insect-killing fungus Beauveria bassiana is widely used as a biological control agent to treat a variety of arthropods ranging from mites to beetles. Dendroctonus rufipennis has been responsible for the death ... -
Reforestation practices and microsite effects on the performance of contrasting sympatric tree species: a case-study for adaptive silviculture
In the central-southern Rocky Mountain region, warming climate in low-elevation Engelmann spruce forests may limit future viability of spruce but favor sympatric species like ponderosa pine, prompting consideration of both ... -
Skill of managers and the wisdom of herds: examining an alternative approach to grazing management in larkspur habitat, The
The many species of larkspur (Delphinium spp. L.) are among the most dangerous poisonous plants on rangelands in the western United States, causing death losses estimated at 2-5% (up to 15%) per year for cattle grazing in ... -
Evidence for regional variation in the thermal biology of Dendroctonus rufipennis (Kirby) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae, Scolytinae) in Colorado
Dendroctonus rufipennis (Kirby) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae, Scolytinae), the spruce beetle, is native to the forests of western North America where it is the primary cause of Engelmann spruce Picea engelmannii Parry ex ... -
Examining emerging water quality markets through a collective action lens
Water quality trading (WQT) is a collective action mechanism increasingly employed to address water quality concerns arising from nonpoint source pollution. Yet, many established WQT programs have experienced little or no ... -
Climate change adaptation in wildland fire management and governance in Alaska
In the sparsely populated landscape of Alaska, natural resource-dependent rural communities are experiencing the effects of a rapidly changing climate. Warming average temperatures have caused increases in wildland fire ... -
Aboveground woody biomass estimation of green ash trees (Fraxinus pennsylvanica Marsh.) along Colorado's Northern Front Range in response to the invasive emerald ash borer (Agrilus plannipenis Fairmaire)
The invasive emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire) has killed hundreds of millions of ash trees (Fraxinus spp.) in forests and urban areas across the United States. Green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica Marsh.) is ... -
Prioritizing restoration and fire preparedness at the public-private boundary
System processes, like wildfire, will continue to threaten life and property, particularly if land managers cannot work across the public-private boundary at large enough scales. Addressing the wildfire challenge will ... -
Integrated eco-socio-economic analysis of forest transition and forest restoration in Vietnam, An
Forests provide numerous benefits to human well-being, so changes in forest cover have large societal impacts from local to global scales. Several studies in Vietnam and elsewhere have found single solutions for increasing ...
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