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Uncompahgre Plateau Collaborative Restoration Project Multi-Party Monitoring

WHY MONITOR FOREST RESTORATION PROJECTS?
Resource management often follows an “adaptive management” approach, which allows people to review whether or not they are making progress toward the goals of their project. Monitoring is an essential part of adaptive management because it provides reliable feedback on the effects of a project.

WHAT IS MULTIPARTY MONITORING?
Multiparty monitoring involves a diverse group of community members; local, regional, and national interest groups; and public agencies. It is designed to promote mutual learning, as participants work together to better understand project efforts and impacts. By collaboratively identifying issues or ”good questions to ask” we can assess how well a project is meeting desired outcomes, respond to diverse concerns, and identify how management can be adapted to improve results in the future.

BENEFITS OF MULTI-PARTY MONITORING
•Education
•Team Work
•Conflict Conflict Resolution
•Community Engagement
•Trust
•Fun
i•Relationships

February 11, 2011 Stakeholder Meeting Presentations:

Out of the classroom and into the woods

The Montrose High School AP Biology class, along with their teacher Rusty George, spent the school day outside on the Uncompahgre Plateau getting hands-on experience in forestry and ecology work. The class learned how to collect vegetation data involved in the monitoring efforts of a larger forest restoration effort: The Uncompahgre Plateau Collaborative Forest Restoration Project. This science-based restoration project is a joint effort between the USDA Forest Service, Uncompahgre Partnership, CSU’s Colorado Forest Restoration Institute, conservation groups and forest product industry which seeks to enhance the resiliency, diversity and productivity of native ecosystems on the Uncompahgre Plateau.

“Students had an opportunity to learn about forest ecology and management through actual field protocols for gathering information,” said Rusty George. “The student’s enthusiasm was exciting and they loved being out in the forest.” Tim Garvey, siviculturalist for the Forest Service, explained to the students the need for treatments in the forest, including reducing the risk of large, severe wildfires. "It is heartening to see in these young citizen scientists, such keen interest in the ecology and management of their local public lands."

In addition to school field trips, the USDA Forest Service and Uncompahgre Partnership have also established a summer forestry intern program. “We have had seven Montrose high school students work for us over the past two summers and they have done excellent work under the supervision of Biology teacher Rusty George”, said Tammy Randall-Parker, Forest Service Ouray District Ranger. “The high school students and their monitoring helped us to get a Forest Restoration grant that will support forest monitoring work for many years to come.”

“We are interested in promoting environmental education and community-based conservation efforts”, stated Pam Motley, education coordinator for the Uncompahgre Partnership. “We hope to continue involving high school students in our work. Passing this knowledge and awareness onto youth is vital to future forest health and the communities of western Colorado.”

“The Forest Service is very appreciative of our great working relationship with Montrose High School”, Randall-Parker said. “We need to recruit some of these students to be our future workforce and the more these students know about forest management issues will help the Forest Service better manage our lands in the future.”

Local High School Students get hands-on learning through the 'Forestry Intern Program' sponsored by the US Forest Service and UP

Click here, to read the Montrose Daily Press article about the program.

The UP and US Forest Service, as a part of the Uncompahgre Mesas Forest Restoration and Demonstration Project, have hired 4 local students to work on the large-scale forest restoration project. The intern program promotes community-based conservation efforts. It allows local kids to get outdoors and learn about forest ecology and biology. This is great real world experience for any student who is interested in pursuing a degree in natural sciences.

Adam Thorpe and Eric Shellhorn mark trees within a treatment area.

Eric Shellhorn learns how to determine the age of a onderosa pine by reading a core sample.

Forestry C.S.I. —Restoration and Resiliency

The Uncompahgre Mesas Forest Restoration and Demonstration Project collaborative group visited the Uncompahgre Plateau, CO twice in the summer of 2008 to gather "forensic" data in a variety of forest stands.   Like the crime scene investigators on television, a team of volunteers from local and state conservation groups, representatives from the timber industry, CSU graduate students, Colorado State Forest Service volunteers, USFS employees, members of Colorado Forest Restoration Institute (CFRI) and the New Mexico Forest and Watershed Restoration Institute (NMFWRI) worked together to look for clues such as charred and decomposing logs to assist in determining what historic forest composition and structure may have been pre 1880. This information will be used in developing treatment strategies in a landscape-scale restoration project.

The “Unc Mesas” group, which began meeting in Summer 2007, is interested in enhancing the resiliency, diversity and productivity of the native ecosystem in the 17,000-acre Uncompahgre Mesas area of the Uncompahgre Plateau, CO using best available science and collaboration.

Why 1880? This date signifies a time that pre-dates European settlement. Many forest community types in Colorado have been altered during the last 120 years by logging, grazing, proliferation of roads and vehicular traffic, fire exclusion and other activities. The changes to these forests have, in some cases, increased the potential for catastrophic fire and adversely affected many biological processes and aesthetic values.

Although the field data collected will not provide a complete history of the system, it will assist in forming an idea of what the forest would look like without intervention, and assist our collaborative group in its goal to restore the ecosystem to a more natural condition, consistent with the historical ranges of variability (HRV) for the various vegetation community types, and to reduce the risk of unnatural crown fires both within stands and across the landscape.

Workshop participants were instructed by Dr. Dan Binkley, CFRI, on methods for gathering data including coring trees to determine ages and typical features that indicate pre 1880 evidence. Dr. Binkley stated, “The majority of the pre 1880 trees are no longer standing. Therefore, we have to look for stumps, logs and snags. The measurements taken will give us an idea of the vegetation type, spatial arrangement (clumping vs. open) and the age of trees.”

Dr. Binkley provided a report of the findings to the group later and the data was used by the group to assist the USFS in determining treatment strategies for the Unc. Mesas area this winter. Tammy Randal-Parker, USFS-Ouray District Ranger, stated, “This is a new way of doing things. By moving to a larger scale, we can save costs and time.” This method can also provide accurate views of the condition of the landscape as a whole that may have been lost when working project-by-project.

During the June field trip, Dr. Bill Romme (CSU) stated, “We need to look at restoration on a landscape level. At a stand level, the forest may be within HRV while at a landscape level, we find homogeneity and a system that is out of balance. Restoration has a precise definition: to take a system that is degraded and put it on a trajectory to HRV.”

How will we pay for this restoration work? Although it is generally agreed that ponderosa pine stands are in need of true restoration measures, its commercial value is low. It is costly to process ponderosa pine and it garners much less profit than other forest types. The group is therefore pursuing the feasibility of harvesting timber from higher elevation forest types such a Douglas fir and using this income to perform restoration in lower elevation stands. Dr. Romme stated, “We can use commercial harvesting of timber at higher elevations and still be within HRV.”

This project is funded in part by a Collaboration Support Program Grant and a Matching Grant from the National Forest Foundation and a Keystone Grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.


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			Uncompahgre Plateau Collaborative Restoration Project Multi-Party Monitoring WHY MONITOR FOREST RESTORATION PROJECTS? Resource management often follows an “adaptive management” approach, which allows people to review whether or not they are making progress toward the goals of their project. Monitoring is an essential part of adaptive management because it provides reliable feedback on the effects of a project. WHAT IS MULTIPARTY MONITORING? Multiparty monitoring involves a diverse group of community members; local, regional, and national interest groups; and public agencies. It is designed to promote mutual learning, as participants work together to better understand project efforts and impacts. By collaboratively identifying issues or ”good questions to ask” we can assess how well a project is meeting desired outcomes, respond to diverse concerns, and identify how management can be adapted to improve results in the future. BENEFITS OF MULTI-PARTY MONITORING •Education •Team Work •Conflict Conflict Resolution •Community Engagement •Trust •Fun i•Relationships February 11, 2011 Stakeholder Meeting Presentations: Feb 11 Meeting Notes UP CFLRP Introduction - P. Motley UncMesasSummary - D. Binkley Roadless - D. Binkley Aspen Browse Study - B. Romme Biomass Study - C. Lockwood Riparian - C. Speas Travel Management - W. Young Invasive Species - B. Hoefling and K. Liston Map of NEPA-Ready UP CFLRP Projects Map of UP Road Decommishing 2011 USFS Implementation Prioritization 2011 USFS Monitoring Prioritization Out of the classroom and into the woods The Montrose High School AP Biology class, along with their teacher Rusty George, spent the school day outside on the Uncompahgre Plateau getting hands-on experience in forestry and ecology work. The class learned how to collect vegetation data involved in the monitoring efforts of a larger forest restoration effort: The Uncompahgre Plateau Collaborative Forest Restoration Project. This science-based restoration project is a joint effort between the USDA Forest Service, Uncompahgre Partnership, CSU’s Colorado Forest Restoration Institute, conservation groups and forest product industry which seeks to enhance the resiliency, diversity and productivity of native ecosystems on the Uncompahgre Plateau. “Students had an opportunity to learn about forest ecology and management through actual field protocols for gathering information,” said Rusty George. “The student’s enthusiasm was exciting and they loved being out in the forest.” Tim Garvey, siviculturalist for the Forest Service, explained to the students the need for treatments in the forest, including reducing the risk of large, severe wildfires. "It is heartening to see in these young citizen scientists, such keen interest in the ecology and management of their local public lands." In addition to school field trips, the USDA Forest Service and Uncompahgre Partnership have also established a summer forestry intern program. “We have had seven Montrose high school students work for us over the past two summers and they have done excellent work under the supervision of Biology teacher Rusty George”, said Tammy Randall-Parker, Forest Service Ouray District Ranger. “The high school students and their monitoring helped us to get a Forest Restoration grant that will support forest monitoring work for many years to come.” “We are interested in promoting environmental education and community-based conservation efforts”, stated Pam Motley, education coordinator for the Uncompahgre Partnership. “We hope to continue involving high school students in our work. Passing this knowledge and awareness onto youth is vital to future forest health and the communities of western Colorado.” “The Forest Service is very appreciative of our great working relationship with Montrose High School”, Randall-Parker said. “We need to recruit some of these students to be our future workforce and the more these students know about forest management issues will help the Forest Service better manage our lands in the future.” Local High School Students get hands-on learning through the 'Forestry Intern Program' sponsored by the US Forest Service and UP Click here, to read the Montrose Daily Press article about the program. The UP and US Forest Service, as a part of the Uncompahgre Mesas Forest Restoration and Demonstration Project, have hired 4 local students to work on the large-scale forest restoration project. The intern program promotes community-based conservation efforts. It allows local kids to get outdoors and learn about forest ecology and biology. This is great real world experience for any student who is interested in pursuing a degree in natural sciences. Adam Thorpe and Eric Shellhorn mark trees within a treatment area. Eric Shellhorn learns how to determine the age of a onderosa pine by reading a core sample. Forestry C.S.I. —Restoration and Resiliency The Uncompahgre Mesas Forest Restoration and Demonstration Project collaborative group visited the Uncompahgre Plateau, CO twice in the summer of 2008 to gather "forensic" data in a variety of forest stands. Like the crime scene investigators on television, a team of volunteers from local and state conservation groups, representatives from the timber industry, CSU graduate students, Colorado State Forest Service volunteers, USFS employees, members of Colorado Forest Restoration Institute (CFRI) and the New Mexico Forest and Watershed Restoration Institute (NMFWRI) worked together to look for clues such as charred and decomposing logs to assist in determining what historic forest composition and structure may have been pre 1880. This information will be used in developing treatment strategies in a landscape-scale restoration project. The “Unc Mesas” group, which began meeting in Summer 2007, is interested in enhancing the resiliency, diversity and productivity of the native ecosystem in the 17,000-acre Uncompahgre Mesas area of the Uncompahgre Plateau, CO using best available science and collaboration. Why 1880? This date signifies a time that pre-dates European settlement. Many forest community types in Colorado have been altered during the last 120 years by logging, grazing, proliferation of roads and vehicular traffic, fire exclusion and other activities. The changes to these forests have, in some cases, increased the potential for catastrophic fire and adversely affected many biological processes and aesthetic values. Although the field data collected will not provide a complete history of the system, it will assist in forming an idea of what the forest would look like without intervention, and assist our collaborative group in its goal to restore the ecosystem to a more natural condition, consistent with the historical ranges of variability (HRV) for the various vegetation community types, and to reduce the risk of unnatural crown fires both within stands and across the landscape. Workshop participants were instructed by Dr. Dan Binkley, CFRI, on methods for gathering data including coring trees to determine ages and typical features that indicate pre 1880 evidence. Dr. Binkley stated, “The majority of the pre 1880 trees are no longer standing. Therefore, we have to look for stumps, logs and snags. The measurements taken will give us an idea of the vegetation type, spatial arrangement (clumping vs. open) and the age of trees.” Dr. Binkley provided a report of the findings to the group later and the data was used by the group to assist the USFS in determining treatment strategies for the Unc. Mesas area this winter. Tammy Randal-Parker, USFS-Ouray District Ranger, stated, “This is a new way of doing things. By moving to a larger scale, we can save costs and time.” This method can also provide accurate views of the condition of the landscape as a whole that may have been lost when working project-by-project. During the June field trip, Dr. Bill Romme (CSU) stated, “We need to look at restoration on a landscape level. At a stand level, the forest may be within HRV while at a landscape level, we find homogeneity and a system that is out of balance. Restoration has a precise definition: to take a system that is degraded and put it on a trajectory to HRV.” How will we pay for this restoration work? Although it is generally agreed that ponderosa pine stands are in need of true restoration measures, its commercial value is low. It is costly to process ponderosa pine and it garners much less profit than other forest types. The group is therefore pursuing the feasibility of harvesting timber from higher elevation forest types such a Douglas fir and using this income to perform restoration in lower elevation stands. Dr. Romme stated, “We can use commercial harvesting of timber at higher elevations and still be within HRV.” This project is funded in part by a Collaboration Support Program Grant and a Matching Grant from the National Forest Foundation and a Keystone Grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.