Tenderfoot Creek Research Project seedling, sapling and variable radius plot tree data

This data publication contains seedling density, sapling density and variable plot radius tree data associated with the Tenderfoot Creek Research Project sampled between 1997 and 2007. Experimental shelterwood harvests combined with prescribed burning were implemented in the Tenderfoot Creek Experimental Forest between 1999 and 2003. These data contain pre- and post-treatment data. Post-treatment sampling occurred three-, four-, and in some cases seven-years after thinning and burning treatments. In addition to seedling and sapling densities, tree data include height, bole diameter, damage, vigor, condition (live or dead), crown position and crown depth. Species measured include lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta), subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa), Engelmann spruce (Tsuga engelmannii) and whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis).
The Tenderfoot Creek Experimental Forest was established in 1961 as an experimental watershed in a representative lodgepole pine forest typical of those east of the Continental Divide. Lodgepole pine forests cover approximately 50 million acres in the western US and is the third most extensive forest type in the American Rocky Mountains. The mixture of silviculture and prescribed burning treatments were designed to manage fuel loading and promote two-aged stand structures found commonly in lodgepole pine dominated forests in the Northern Rockies. Vegetation data were collected to quantify the effects of these treatments on stand structure and forest regeneration.
Fuel loading, overstory tree mortality, and fire-related tree injury data were also collected as part of the Tenderfoot Research Project. See the Cross Reference section for access to these and other data collected at the Tenderfoot Creek Experimental Forest. Original metadata date was 10/29/2014. Minor metadata updates on 03/02/2015. Minor metadata updates on 12/14/2016.