Peck,
J.E. 1996b. Moss Harvest Monitoring Plan. Report to the Siuslaw National Forest,
Corvallis, OR
This report summarizes the current status of three commercial moss harvest monitoring projects: a landscape-level approach to monitoring harvest impacts at three levels of harvest intensity, an experimental evaluation of the impacts of these three harvest levels in the riparian zone, and monitoring of moss regrowth on Acer circinatum stems harvested in 1994. The landscape-level monitoring involves comparing the baseline (1996) bryophyte communities in each of three areas within the Stewardship Area to the communities present in 2001, after five years of moss harvest. These areas will be harvested at three levels of harvest intensity: no harvest (control), harvest without restrictions, and harvest only below 40 ft in height and removing no more than 30 lbs of moss per acre (wet weight). For the riparian experiment, twenty-four long-term monitoring plots were established and pre-harvest baseline data on epiphyte composition and abundance recorded in 1996. Plots were harvested according to these three treatments and then remeasured immediately following harvest. The immediate harvest impacts on moss diversity and composition are relatively minor, but the reduction in abundance and the slow rate of recovery may have substantial impacts on ecosystem fuction. This report also includes a Monitoring Plan, which details instructions for the continued monitoring of these experimental plots, and an Expansion Plan that outlines the methods appropriate for the establishment of additional control, survey, and experimental plots within this and other Stewardship Areas.