THE AUTHOR 



KENNETH E. NEIMAN, JR., is a private forest ecology/soils 

 consultant living in Moscow, ID. From 1981 to 1986, he 

 was forest ecologist assigned to the research work unit on 

 silviculture of cedar, hemlock, grand fir and Douglas-fir of 

 the Northern Rocky Mountains, Intermountain Research 

 Station, Moscow, ID. Dr. Neiman received his B.S. degree 

 in 1975 in range management and his M.S. degree in 1977 

 in forest and range ecology — both degrees from Washing- 

 ton State University. He received a Ph.D. degree in forest 

 ecology in 1986 from the University of Idaho. This paper 

 represents a portion of the research presented in his 

 dissertation. 



RESEARCH SUMMARY 



Scientists have long hypothesized that soils and plant 

 communities have predictable relationships. High correla- 

 tion between soil properties and shrub-steppe plant asso- 

 ciations has been repeatedly documented, but studies in 

 forested vegetation have produced conflicting results. The 

 objectives of this study were to investigate: spatial patterns 

 of numerically derived taxonomic soil units; relationships 

 between soil taxonomic units and plant associations; and 

 identifying soil characteristics for aid in forest habitat type 

 identification. 



Vegetation, soil, and site information were collected on 89 

 sites within six similar habitat types of the Abies grandis, 

 Thuja plicata, and Tsuga heterophylla series. Univariate 

 and multivariate statistical analyses were used to evaluate 

 naturally occurring patterns within the soil data and between 

 soil and vegetation data. Four ordination techniques were 

 used to explore potential soil pattern delineation. Factor 

 analysis and descriptive discriminant analysis techniques 

 were employed to identify physical soil property descriptors 

 for use in habitat type discriminant function formulas. 



Numerical patterns were not discernible among the 

 physical soil characteristics. Analysis of relationships 

 between forest habitat types and soil taxonomic units — 

 Order, Suborder, Great Group, and Family — proved 

 fruitless. Four soil characteristics were identified as useful 

 for classifying habitat type when used in conjunction with 

 site and vegetation data. Formulas developed from 

 discriminant functions are given for use in the field as an aid 

 to forest habitat type classification in northern Idaho. 



The use of habitat types for refinement of silvicultural 

 prescriptions and site productivity assessment in northern 

 Idaho has proven to be highly valuable to forest resource 

 managers. This study indicates that further delineation of 

 these units, based on soil variation, will allow for greater 

 accuracy in predicting site capabilities and response to 

 disturbance. 



