Publications

Forest ecosystems in the western United States evolved over many millennia in response to disturbances such as wildfires. Land use and management practices have altered these ecosystems, however, including fire regimes in some areas. Forest ecosystems are especially vulnerable to postfire management practices because such practices may influence forest dynamics and aquatic systems for...

Current land-management decisions that affect the persistence of native salmonids are often influenced by studies of individual sites that are selected based on judgment and convenience. Although this approach is useful for some purposes, extrapolating results to areas that were not sampled is statistically inappropriate because the sampling design is usually biased. Therefore, in recent

Salmon (Oncorhynchuss pp.) are an important resource for terrestrial wildlife. However, the salmon requirements of wildlife populations and the role wildlife play in nutrient transport across ecosystems are largely ignored in salmon and habitat management. Any activity that reduces the availability of or access to salmon by wildlife may adversely affect wildlife populations and...

In semiarid regions such as the Great Basin, riparian areas function as oases of cooler and more stable microclimates, greater relative humidity, greater structural complexity, and a steady flow of water and nutrients relative to upland areas. These qualities make riparian areaʼs attractive not only to resident and migratory wildlife, but also to visitors in recreation areas such as...

No abstract available.

The populations of the ecologically dominant ungulates in the Serengeti ecosystem (zebra, wildebeest and buffalo) have shown markedly different trends since the 1960s: the two ruminants both irrupted after the elimination of rinderpest in 1960, while the zebras have remained stable. The ruminants are resource limited (though parts of the buffalo population have been limited by poaching...

The annual spring opening of the Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park presents a unique avalanche forecasting challenge. The highway traverses dozens of avalanche paths mid-track in a 23-kilometer section that crosses the Continental Divide. Workers removing seasonal snow and avalanche debris are exposed to paths that can produce avalanches of destructive class 4. The starting...

We present a tree-ring based reconstruction of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) which demonstrates that strong, low-frequency (60-100 yr) variability in basin-wide (0-70??N) sea surface temperatures (SSTs) has been a consistent feature of North Atlantic climate for the past five centuries. Intervention analysis of reconstructed AMO indicates that 20th century modes were...

Little Ice Age (14th-19th centuries A.D.) glacial maxima and 20th century retreat have been well documented in Glacier National Park, Montana, USA. However, the influence of regional and Pacific Basin driven climate variability on these events is poorly understood. We use tree-ring reconstructions of North Pacific surface temperature anomalies and summer drought as proxies for winter...

Biological and physical properties of rivers and streams are inherently difficult to sample and visualize at the resolution and extent necessary to detect fine-scale distributional patterns over large areas. Satellite imagery and broad-scale fish survey methods are effective for quantifying spatial variability in biological and physical variables over a range of scales in marine...

In January 2004, two natural avalanches (destructive class 3) derailed a freight train in John F. Stevens Canyon, on the southern boundary of Glacier National Park. The railroad tracks were closed for 29 hours due to cleanup and lingering avalanche hazard, backing up 112km of trains and shutting down Amtrak’s passenger service. The incident marked the fourth time in three winters that...

Climate change and ecological change go hand in hand. Because we value our ecological environment, any change has the potential to be a problem. Geographers have been drawn to this challenge, and have been successful in addressing it, because the primary ecological response to climate changes in the past — the waxing and waning of the great ice sheets over the past 2 million years – was...