Snag recruitment in subalpine forests

Information on snag locations and densities is useful for managing many spe cies of wildlife. Using a combination of belt transects, fixed plots, and a erial photographs, we recorded snag species, locations, and causal agents o f tree mortality in subalpine forests in the Entiat watershed in Washington State. The overall snag density tall standing dead trees) was 51 per hecta re. Subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa) and lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) we re the most common species of snags. Weather-related effects created more s nags than any other disturbance in the period between stand-replacing fires . The density of dominant and codominant snags did not differ by aspect or slope categories, but the density of intermediate and suppressed snags was highest on steep south-facing slopes. Snag densities were lowest in stand i nitiation and open stem exclusion structural stages. More study is needed t o determine if fire history data combined with aerial photo interpretation offer a potential method of estimating snag densities in subalpine forests.