Information on many aspects of botanical resources is needed for an adequate understanding of the status, structure, and function of Alaskan ecosystems managed by Department of Interior land managers. This project addresses ecological restoration, brown bear habitat, plant and fungal inventory, and forest regeneration after wildfire and salvage logging. Restoration is needed to control erosion, restore habitat, and reduce visual impact on areas disturbed by construction, mining, and visitor use. However, the commonly used revegetation methods and materials are often inappropriate for conservation areas because they introduce exotic plants or native plants from distant sources into the local gene pool, and create visually and ecologically discordant landscapes. This ecological restoration research initially developed methods and native plant materials for revegetation of sites disturbed by construction and visitor use in Denali National Park and Preserve (DNPP). In addition, experiments on the germination requirements of the major species used in restoration were conducted at the Duke University Phytotron. The research was expanded into an experimental restoration of a placer-mined watershed in DNPP. Research elements include reconstruction of stream channels and floodplains, bioengineering techniques for bank and floodplain stabilization, revegetation methods for riparian plant communities, and long-term evaluation of stream and floodplain morphometry, aquatic invertebrates, water chemistry, plant community succession, mycorrhizae, and other soil microflora. The project subunit addressing berry availability and quality is part of a larger study of factors driving brown bear population dynamics on the north flank of the Alaska Range. Fall nutritional status affects both female bear fecundity and cub survival. In this area, fall nutritional status is largely dependent on berry availability. The primary berry food sources in the study area are blueberry (Vaccinium uliginosum), crowberry (Empetrum nigrum), and soapberry (Shepherdia canadensis). The project is determining distribution patterns for soapberry, blueberry, and crowberry plants, measuring interannual variation in berry crops, and determining nitrogen content and relative importance of plant nitrogen fixation to bear diet. Another subunit is inventories for essential ecosystem components such as higher plants and fungi. The inventory of the fungi of Alaskan National Parks is an ongoing partnership effort, with mycologists from several universities volunteering their time. The forest regeneration study is providing long-term (12 years) data which is currently needed by national parks and other public lands with white spruce beetle kill. The white spruce regeneration study compares treatment combinations of planting methods (seedlings, direct seeding with and without shelters, natural seedfall ) and five site preparation methods on salvage logged areas.