Forest
Under Stress. Throughout the southwest forests are stressed
due to drought conditions. In Arizona this is the case, and the
extensive areas of pine forests
around Prescott, Flagstaff, and other cities have been devastated
by opportunistic beetle attacks. In these areas, as in other urban-wildland
interface zones, the development of cities and towns has necessitated
building of a complex infrastructure of powerlines for electricity
delivery. Every line that travels through a forest is at risk from
falling trees, and when the forests are so devastated by a disease
or insect attack, the threat from downed powerlines is substantial.
Sampling
Plan. We developed a statistically valid sampling scheme to
determine how many power line sections were at risk from one or
more hazard trees,
and to determine the chance that a tree along a power line was dying.
Several hundred powerline segments were visited in the spring and
summer of 2003.
Collaborators:
Sylvia Mori, USDA-FS-Albany; Rob Novembri, APS; Dave Shaari, UCB;
Dave Wood, UCB-ESPM-IB.
