Peck, J.E. and P. Muir. 2001b. Estimating the biomass of harvestable epiphytic bryophytes in Central Western Oregon. Northwest Science 75(2):99-106.
To address the need for inventory estimates for
the nontimber forest product of epiphytic "moss" (a mixture of
bryophytes), we inventoried 100 randomly selected 1/8 ha sites in 50-200 year
old upland and riparian forests below 915 m elevation in central western Oregon.
All commercially harvestable moss was removed from each site, using
methods commonly employed by commercial harvesters, and weighed.
Although harvestable epiphyte mats were found in 29% of the sites, only
6% had enough moss for the site to be considered harvestable by commercial
standards (>50 kg/ha). The
commercial moss biomass inventories across all sites, which ranged from 0 kg/ha
to 217 kg/ha, are substantially lower than those previously reported for
northern Oregon. We examined
relationships of harvestable moss occurrence and abundance to environmental
variables to facilitate the understanding and prediction of harvestable moss
biomass on the landscape. Harvestable
moss was most likely to be found in low elevation (<500 m) areas, within 50 m
of perennial water, on sites that supported more than 10 m 2/ha in
hardwood basal area, and on sites that lacked dry-site shrubs such as Berberis
nervosa, Gaultheria shallon, and Holodiscus
discolor. Our inventory method
is presented and its applicability to other regions is discussed.