Christopher R. Keyes

I joined the College of Forestry and Conservation faculty in August 2007 as Director of the Applied Forest Management Program (AFMP), a research and demonstration program of the Montana Forest and Conservation Experiment Station based at the University of Montana. The AFMP’s mission is to develop and promote knowledge and techniques for the sustainable active management of Montana’s forestlands. Previously I was Assistant Professor of Silviculture at Humboldt State University in Arcata, California (2001-2007). My current research program is focused on applied aspects of forest stand dynamics, and on the development of operational tools for the ecologically-appropriate silvicultural management of forest structure, composition, and health of western forest ecosystems.

Ph.D. Silviculture / Forest Regeneration Ecology; 2002; Oregon State University
M.S. Silviculture / Forest Stand Dynamics; 1996; University of Montana
B.A. International Development; 1990; College of the Holy Cross

Silviculture (FOR347; spring semester)

My primary research themes are consistent with the AFMP’s current Research Initiatives, and include:

• Forest Renewal: Regeneration Dynamics and Reforestation Strategies.

Rationale: Attention to the reforestation phase is fundamental to sustainable forest management, yet the formulation of best reforestation practices is inhibited by significant and persistent gaps that exist in our understanding of basic relationships in seedling recruitment and growth. A clearer understanding of these relationships, as well as the treatments that can be applied to influence them, is necessary to develop optimum practices for reforestation.

Current studies focus on ponderosa pine seedling recruitment processes and influences; growth of ponderosa pine seedlings beneath variable-retention cuts; operational treatments for intensive coppice management of redwood sprout clumps.

• Forest Protection: Silviculture and Dynamics of Canopy Fuels

Rationale: The relationship of stand structure to crown fire potential is quite clear, but questions exist about appropriate treatment strategies to enhance sustained resistance to crown fire initiation and spread. Treatments typically fail to adequately consider changes to fuel dynamics and potential fire behaviors that occur in the years and decades following treatment as stands develop. In some cases, an interpretation of existing knowledge of forest stand dynamics for fire behavior and fuel treatment contexts is necessary to determine the efficacy and persistence of silvicultural hazard fuel treatments. In other cases, new research is necessary to determine the effect of such treatments on forest fuel dynamics.

Current studies focus on assumptions in modeling fire behavior for fuels treatment planning; reconciling the discordant objectives of fuels management and old-growth forest restoration; modeling crown fuel dynamics in response to hazard fuels treatments.

• Forest Restoration: Silvicultural Techniques to Restore Degraded Forests

Rationale: Principles of silviculture and forest stand dynamics have direct application in meeting forest objectives focused primarily on ecological attributes. Such applications are most apparent in forested parks and reserves, but can also be relevant in commercial and multi-use timberlands, such as family forestlands managed for diverse values, or production forests managed within the confines of a registered Habitat Conservation Plan. In many cases, novel adaptations of traditional silvicultural practices offer the greatest opportunity to promote in degraded forests those desirable elements of pre-settlement or pre-disturbance forest structure and composition.

Current studies focus on thinning as a tool for restoration of late-successional structure and composition to upland mixed redwood stands; development of efficient techniques for variable-density thinning in young, even-aged mixed stands; assessment of threats to old-growth fire-dependent ecosystems, and potential for silvicultural techniques to promote their vitality, resiliency, and resistance to allogenic disturbance.

*Refereed

Journals

Keyes, C.R. and D.A. Maguire. 2007. Seed rain of ponderosa pine beneath partial overstories. New Forests 34:107-114.*

Keyes, C.R., D.A. Maguire, and J.C. Tappeiner. 2007. Observed dynamics of ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa var. ponderosa Dougl. ex Laws.) seedling recruitment in the Cascade Range, USA. New Forests 34:95-105.*

Keyes, C.R. 2006. Role of foliar moisture content in the silvicultural management of forest fuels. Western Journal of Applied Forestry 21(4):228-231.*

Keyes, C.R. and J.M. Varner. 2006. Pitfalls in the silvicultural treatment of canopy fuels. Fire Management Today 66(3):46-50.

Keyes, C.R., D.A. Jaramillo, B.M. Woolley, and M.S. Lancaster. 2005. Creation times and costs for five tree-based wildlife cavity structures (California). Ecological Restoration 23(3):207-208.*

Keyes, C.R. and K.L. O’Hara. 2002. Quantifying stand targets for silvicultural prevention of crown fires. Western Journal of Applied Forestry 17(2):101-109.*

DeBell, D.S., C.R. Keyes, and B.L. Gartner. 2001. Wood density of Eucalyptus saligna grown in Hawaiian plantations: Effects of silvicultural practices and relation to growth rate. Australian Forestry 64(2):106-110.*

Keyes, C.R., S.A. Acker, and S.E. Greene. 2001. Overstory and shrub influences on seedling recruitment patterns in an old-growth ponderosa pine stand. Northwest Science 75(3):204-210.*

Keyes, C.R. 2000. Natural regeneration of ponderosa pine: Pest management strategies for seed predators. Forestry Chronicle 76(4):623-626.

Keyes, C.R. and M.G. Keyes. 2000. Silvopastoral agroforestry: A key to longleaf pine restoration. Ecological Restoration 18(2):93-99.

Conference Proceedings

Chittick, A.J. and C.R. Keyes. 2007. Holter Ridge Thinning Study, Redwood National Park: Preliminary results of a 25-year retrospective. Pp. 270-280 in Proceedings of the Redwood Region Forest Science Symposium. USDA Forest Service General Technical Report PSW-GTR-194.*

Keyes, C.R. 2006. Foliar moisture contents of North American conifers. Pp. 395-399 in Fuels Management – How to Measure Success: Proceedings of the 1st Fire Behavior and Fuels Conference. USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-41.*

Keyes, C.R. and D.A. Maguire. 2005. Positive seedling-shrub relationships in natural regeneration of ponderosa pine. Pp. 95-107 in Proceedings of the Symposium on Ponderosa Pine: Issues, Trends, and Management. USDA Forest Service General Technical Report PSW-GTR-198.*

Keyes, C.R. and P.J. Matzka. 2005. Intensive management of stump sprout reproduction in coppice-regenerated coast redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens). Pp. 51-55 in The Thin Green Line: A Symposium on the State-of-the-Art in Reforestation (Proceedings). Ontario Forest Research Institute Forest Research Information Paper No. 160. Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada.*

Reports

Keyes, C.R. 2007. Brandy Creek Forest Restoration Demonstration Project, Whiskeytown National Recreation Area (California). Report on file at Whiskeytown National Recreation Area Headquarters, National Park Service, P.O. Box 188, Whiskeytown, CA 96095. 17 p.

Keyes, C.R. 2007. Cuneo Creek Forest Restoration Project at Humboldt Redwoods State Park: Summary of Findings. Report on file at California Department of Parks and Recreation, North Coast Redwoods District Headquarters, Eureka, CA. 7 p.

Leonzo, C.M. and C.R. Keyes. 2007. Second-Growth Encroachment in Relictual Forest Ecosystems at Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, California. Report on file at Whiskeytown National Recreation Area Headquarters, P.O. Box 188, Whiskeytown, CA 96095. 83 p.

Keyes, C.R. 2007. Panther Creek Forest Restoration Project: Final Report. Report on file at California Department of Parks and Recreation, North Coast Redwoods District Headquarters, Eureka, CA. 15 p.

Keyes, C.R. 2005. Ecological Basis for Old-Growth Forest Restoration: 25-year Assessment of Redwood Ecosystem Response to Restorative Thinning. Report on file at Save-the-Redwoods League, San Francisco, CA. 67 p.

Keyes, C.R. 2005. Forest Restoration and Reforestation Strategies for Humboldt Redwoods State Park. Report on file at California Department of Parks and Recreation, North Coast Redwoods District Headquarters, Eureka, CA. 41 p.

Theses

Keyes, C.R. 2002. Recruitment of Ponderosa Pine Seedlings Beneath Partial Overstories. Ph.D. dissertation, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR. 193 p.

Keyes, C.R. 1996. Structures and Silvicultural Strategies to Prevent Crown Fires in Northern Rocky Mountain Forests. M.S. thesis, University of Montana, Missoula, MT. 116 p.