Overview

Mountain meadows — a small portion of the largely forested western Cascade landscape — serve many important ecological and societal functions. Fire suppression and changes in climate and grazing pressure have led to recent and rapid conifer encroachment into meadows throughout the Pacific Northwest. Faced by gradual loss of these habitats, land managers have begun to experiment with prescribed fire as a potential tool for restoration.

To improve our understanding of the ecology and dynamics of mountain meadows, and to guide strategies for their restoration and maintenance, we are engaged in a program of research and adaptive management at Bunchgrass Ridge, Oregon.

Our studies are designed to yield useful short-term products for scientists, managers, and the public, and in doing so, to provide opportunities for further study, additional experimentation, and education.

We bring together scientists and resource specialists with a long, successful history of collaboration in and around the H. J. Andrews (HJA) Experimental Forest, a Long-term Ecological Research (LTER) site. Our goal is to build an ecological basis for maintaining and restoring meadows throughout the western Cascades, using Bunchgrass Ridge as a center for research, adaptive management, and outreach.

Participants include scientists and land managers from the University of Washington, Oregon State University, University of Victoria, PNW Research Station (Corvallis), H. J. Andrews Experimental Forest/LTER, and the U.S. Forest Service (McKenzie River District, Willamette National Forest). For a full list of participants, click here.

Other contributors

Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde	Mazamas	Native Plant Society of Oregon	Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation	Washington Native Plant Society

PNW Science Findings