Fuel reduction management practices in riparian areas of the Western USA.

Two decades of uncharacteristically severe wildfires have caused government and private land managers to actively reduce hazardous fuels to lessen wildfire severity in western forests, including riparian areas. Because riparian fuel treatments are a fairly new management strategy, we set out to document their frequency and extent on federal lands in the western U.S.

Plant biomass and species composition along an environmental gradient in montane riparian meadows.

In riparian meadows, narrow zonation of the dominant vegetation frequently occurs along the elevational gradient from the stream edge to the floodplain terrace. We measured plant species composition and above- and belowground biomass in three riparian plant communities-a priori defined as wet, moist, and dry meadow-along short streamside topographic gradients in two montane meadows in northeast Oregon. The objectives were to: (1).