Description:
Experimental prescriptions compare agroforestry systems designed to increase financial returns from high-elevation stands in the southern Oregon Cascade Range. The prescriptions emphasize alternative approaches for joint production of North American matsutake mushrooms (also known as North American pine mushrooms; Tricholoma magnivelare) and high-quality timber. Other agroforestry byproducts from the system are ornamental conifer boughs, pine cones, and Christmas trees. Management practices concentrate on increasing the physiological efficiency and vigor of trees, and on altering leaf area index, tree species composition, and stand age-class structure to increase matsutake reproduction. Programs of thinning and branch pruning test regulating flows of energy and moisture to mushroom mycelia in the upper soil. Experimental prescriptions incorporate monitoring to evaluate ecosystem responses to management and to accelerate adaptive learning.