This thesis describes a project completed in the Klamath Siskiyou bioregion. I collaborated with Frank Kanawha Lake (Karuk descendant and Ph.D.), a United States Forest Service (USFS) research ecologist who specializes in traditional ecological knowledge, ethno-biology, and fire ecology. Together we hypothesized that identifiers of biophysical diversity (dominant vegetation, fire histories) may be correlated to particular geological types (soil, parent...

Dwarf forms of Pinus rigida inhabit a variety of environments where stress factors (nutrient deprivation, drought, wind, and salt spray) and fire disturbances are strong selection factors within the local biological community. Pinus rigida morphology in stressed and disturbed communities ranges from medium sized trees to dwarf and prostrate trees forms. I selected three communities where Pinus rigida exhibited stress adapted morphology including the...

Numerous conservation professionals in the central and southern Appalachians have taken a strong interest in the restoration of high elevation red spruce communities for its unusually high conservation value. These communities have been drastically reduced due to widespread exploitative logging and subsequent fires that occurred near the turn of the 20th century. Recognizing the importance of these communities for biodiversity, threatened and endangered...