Growth-climate Relations of Lodgepole Pine in the North Cascades National Park, Washington

A forest cover type classification was developed for the North Cascades National Park Service Complex in north central Washington, U.S.A., based on 425 reconnaissance-level plots. Detrended correspondence analysis (DECORANA) was used to ordinate the data. Temperature and available moisture were identified as primary environmental gradients. Two-way indicator species analysis (TWINSPAN) was used to classify the data, resulting in eight forest cover types: ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa), whitebark pine – subalpine larch (Pinus albicaulis – Larix lyallii), mountain hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana), Pacific silver fir (Abies amabilis), western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla), and hardwood forest. The coniferous forest cover types, with the exception of ponderosa pine, were defined to have open and closed canopy components; each cover type includes a variety of plant associations. The cover types were integrated into a geographic information system used to create a cover type map that was 85% accurate. The forest cover types of the park complex are unique not so much for within-community diversity as for the close juxtaposition of cover types with interior and coastal climatic influences.

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Do dams also stop frogs? Assessing population connectivity of coastal tailed frogs (Ascaphus truei) in the North Cascades National Park Service Complex

Conservation Genetics ◽

10.1007/s10592-016-0919-1 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 18 (2) ◽

pp. 439-451 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Jared A. Grummer ◽

Adam D. Leaché

Keyword(s):

National Park ◽

National Park Service ◽

Population Connectivity ◽

North Cascades ◽

Ascaphus Truei ◽

The North ◽

Park Service

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Aeromagnetic map of part of the North Cascades National Park, Washington

Open-File Report ◽

10.3133/ofr84511 ◽

1984 ◽

Author(s):

Keyword(s):

National Park ◽

North Cascades ◽

The North

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Fire regimes of western larch – lodgepole pine forests in Glacier National Park, Montana

Canadian Journal of Forest Research ◽

10.1139/x91-237 ◽

1991 ◽

Vol 21 (12) ◽

pp. 1711-1720 ◽

Cited By ~ 71

Author(s):

Stephen W. Barrett ◽

Stephen F. Arno ◽

Carl H. Key

Keyword(s):

National Park ◽

Fire Regime ◽

Lodgepole Pine ◽

Fire Suppression ◽

Fire Regimes ◽

Fire Spread ◽

Glacier National Park ◽

Western Larch ◽

The North ◽

North Fork

We conducted a detailed investigation of fire frequencies, patterns of fire spread, and the effects of fire on tree succession in the western larch – lodgepole pine (Larixoccidentalis – Pinuscontorta var. latifolia) forests west of the Continental Divide in Glacier National Park, Montana. Master fire chronologies for 1650 to the present were constructed based on tree fire scars and fire-initiated age-classes. Two kinds of primeval fire regimes were identified: (i) a mixed-severity regime ranging from nonlethal underburns to stand-replacing fires at mean intervals of 25–75 years and (ii) a regime of infrequent stand-replacing fires at mean intervals of 140–340 years. The former regime is characteristic of the North Fork Flathead valley and appears to be linked to a relatively dry climate and gentler topography compared with the McDonald Creek – Apgar Mountains and Middle Fork Flathead areas, where the latter fire regime predominates. Fire frequency in the entire North Fork study area was 20 fire years per century prior to 1935 and 2 per century after 1935. In the other two study areas it was 3–5 per century both before and after 1935. We suggest that fire suppression has altered the primeval fire regime in the North Fork, but not in the central and southern areas.

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Geology and Mineral Resources of the Northern Part of the North Cascades National Park, Washington

10.3133/b1359 ◽

1972 ◽

Keyword(s):

National Park ◽

Mineral Resources ◽

North Cascades ◽

The North

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Do Dams Also Stop Frogs? Assessing Population Connectivity of Coastal Tailed Frogs (Ascaphus truei) in the North Cascades National Park Service Complex

10.1101/062844 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Jared A. Grummer ◽

Adam D. Leaché

Keyword(s):

National Park ◽

National Park Service ◽

De Novo ◽

A Priori ◽

Population Connectivity ◽

North Cascades ◽

Ascaphus Truei ◽

The North ◽

Park Service ◽

Skagit River

AbstractWe investigated the effects of three hydroelectric dams and their associated lakes on the population structure and connectivity of the coastal tailed frog, Ascaphus truei, in the North Cascades National Park Service Complex. Three dams were erected on the Skagit River in northern-central Washington state between 1924 and 1953 and subsequently changed the natural shape and movement of the Skagit River and its tributaries. We collected 183 individuals from 13 tributaries and generated a dataset of >2,500 loci (unlinked SNPs) using double digestion restriction site-associated DNA sequencing (ddRADseq). An analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) identified ~99% of the genetic variation within groups, and the remaining variation among groups separated by dams, or the Skagit River. All populations exhibited low FST values with a maximum of 0.03474. A ‘de novo’ discriminant analysis of principal components revealed two populations with no geographic cohesiveness. However, testing groups that were partitioned a priori by the dams revealed distinctiveness of populations down-river of the lowest dam. Coalescent-based analyses of recent migration suggest that up to 17.3% of each population is composed of migrants from other populations, and an estimation of effective migration rates revealed high levels of migration heterogeneity and population connectivity in this area. Our results suggest that although the populations down-river from the lowest dam are distinguishable, a high level of A. truei population connectivity exists throughout the North Cascades National Park Service Complex.

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Glacier change (1958–1998) in the North Cascades National Park Complex, Washington, USA

Journal of Glaciology ◽

10.3189/172756506781828782 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 52 (177) ◽

pp. 251-256 ◽

Cited By ~ 163

Author(s):

Frank D. Granshaw ◽

Andrew G. Fountain

Keyword(s):

Stream Flow ◽

National Park ◽

Glacier Change ◽

Glacier Area ◽

Volume Loss ◽

North Cascades ◽

Glacier Shrinkage ◽

The North ◽

Global Estimates ◽

Topographic Characteristics

AbstractThe spatial characteristics for all glaciers in the North Cascades National Park Complex, USA, were estimated in 1958 and again in 1998. The total glacier area in 1958 was 117.3 ± 1.1 km2; by 1998 the glacier area had decreased to 109.1 ± 1.1 km2, a reduction of 8.2 ± 0.1 km2 (7%). Estimated volume loss during the 40 year period was 0.8 ± 0.1 km3 of ice. This volume loss contributes up to 6% of the August–September stream-flow and equals 16% of the August–September precipitation. No significant correlations were found between magnitude of glacier shrinkage and topographic characteristics of elevation, aspect or slope. However, the smaller glaciers lost proportionally more area than the larger glaciers and had a greater variability in fractional change than larger glaciers. Most of the well-studied alpine glaciers are much larger than the population median, so global estimates of glacier shrinkage, based on these well-studied glaciers, probably underestimate the true magnitude of regional glacier change.

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