SAGEHEN PROJECT Tahoe National Forest Truckee Ranger District

SAGEHEN PROJECT Tahoe National Forest, Truckee Ranger District PSW Sagehen Experimental Forest UC Berkeley Sagehen Field Station

GTR 220 THE OBJECTIVES gather up recent research pertaining to certain key land management issues in the Sierra v consider individual management imperatives within a more wholistic ecological context v provide recommendations on certain key land management issues that are supported by the prevailing, recent scientific literature v SAGEHEN PROJECT Tahoe National Forest, Truckee Ranger District PSW Sagehen Experimental Forest UC Berkeley Sagehen Field Station

WHAT GTR 220 IS NOT v it is not a prescription v it does not represent new Standards and Guidelines there are no recommendations cast in stone; that would be a conflict with the notion of inherent variability of the landscape v economics and other relevant considerations are not addressed in this GTR v SAGEHEN PROJECT Tahoe National Forest, Truckee Ranger District PSW Sagehen Experimental Forest UC Berkeley Sagehen Field Station

CURRENT KEY LAND MANAGEMENT ISSUES ADDRESSED IN GTR 220 v Fuel dynamics and current management practices v Ecological restoration and the role of fire v How climate change may influence future management activities How do we address sensitive wildlife species habitat requirements within this context? v SAGEHEN PROJECT Tahoe National Forest, Truckee Ranger District PSW Sagehen Experimental Forest UC Berkeley Sagehen Field Station

SOME KEY FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS v Importance of vegetation heterogeneity use topographic position on the landscape as a template for landscape heterogeneity to guide silvicultural strategies v v consider modifying silvicultural approaches to mimic through decades of forest practices we have lost some key features of landscapes; e. g. large defect trees that provide structure for denning and nesting sites v consider the spatial and temporal context of both current stand conditions and management initiatives v work with the conditions you have; use local knowledge and locations to craft treatments best suited to the landscape v SAGEHEN PROJECT Tahoe National Forest, Truckee Ranger District PSW Sagehen Experimental Forest UC Berkeley Sagehen Field Station

SAGEHEN PROJECT Tahoe National Forest, Truckee Ranger District PSW Sagehen Experimental Forest UC Berkeley Sagehen Field Station

APPLICATION OF THESE PRINCIPLES a well conceived vision of the "desired future condition" of the landscape is important v consider the complex spatial and temporal context of these desired conditions when evaluating a given stand for treatment v some landscapes, and portions within landscapes, are better suited to immediate applications of these principles (e. g. plantations are much harder to move in this desired direction) v some landscapes will require multiple entries to move the trajectory of the landscape where we want v initial steps can involve just portions of a landscape; many places will require incremental steps v SAGEHEN PROJECT Tahoe National Forest, Truckee Ranger District PSW Sagehen Experimental Forest UC Berkeley Sagehen Field Station

SAGEHEN PROJECT Tahoe National Forest, Truckee Ranger District PSW Sagehen Experimental Forest UC Berkeley Sagehen Field Station

BACKGROUND Conceptual IDT meetings began in 2003 v. First meeting with UC Berkeley and Sagehen Field Station in 2004 - brainstorm ideas to manage fuels and mitigate fire hazards v. Looked at theoretical SPLATs and started the Fireshed Assessment process in 2004 v SAGEHEN PROJECT Tahoe National Forest, Truckee Ranger District PSW Sagehen Experimental Forest UC Berkeley Sagehen Field Station

BACKGROUND Made first attempt at SPLAT designation v. Used Flam. Map and FARSITE to assess preliminary effectiveness v. The Fireshed Assessment process done with input and coordination from Sagehen Field Station as a primary partner v SAGEHEN PROJECT Tahoe National Forest, Truckee Ranger District PSW Sagehen Experimental Forest UC Berkeley Sagehen Field Station

BACKGROUND Only a portion of the landscape needs to be treated and maintained to influence overall fire behavior v. Treatment prescriptions designed to significantly modify fire behavior in unit v. Range in size 50 - 1, 000 acres (average 100 - 300 acres) v SAGEHEN PROJECT Tahoe National Forest, Truckee Ranger District PSW Sagehen Experimental Forest UC Berkeley Sagehen Field Station

SAGEHEN PROJECT Tahoe National Forest, Truckee Ranger District PSW Sagehen Experimental Forest UC Berkeley Sagehen Field Station

SAGEHEN PROJECT Tahoe National Forest, Truckee Ranger District PSW Sagehen Experimental Forest UC Berkeley Sagehen Field Station

SAGEHEN PROJECT Tahoe National Forest, Truckee Ranger District PSW Sagehen Experimental Forest UC Berkeley Sagehen Field Station

BACKGROUND Data collection primarily in 2004 and 2005 with updates continuing through 2010 v Stand information q. Fuel models q. Resource surveys (wildlife, plants, hydrology, etc) q. Heritage resources q. General layout of potential treatment areas q SAGEHEN PROJECT Tahoe National Forest, Truckee Ranger District PSW Sagehen Experimental Forest UC Berkeley Sagehen Field Station

2004 FRAMEWORK DIRECTION Species specific management direction from the Sierra Nevada Forest Plan Amendment (SNFPA) Record of Decision (ROD) 2004 – AKA the 2004 Framework v. Mechanical treatments in PACs only when necessary to ensure effectiveness of fuels strategy v. Avoid treatments in PACs to the greatest extent possible v SAGEHEN PROJECT Tahoe National Forest, Truckee Ranger District PSW Sagehen Experimental Forest UC Berkeley Sagehen Field Station

2004 FRAMEWORK DIRECTION Reduce risk of insect/pathogen droughtrelated mortality by managing stand density levels v. Maintain or develop old forest habitat v. Minimize old forest fragmentation v. Consider retaining forested linkages with canopy closure greater than 40% that are interconnected v SAGEHEN PROJECT Tahoe National Forest, Truckee Ranger District PSW Sagehen Experimental Forest UC Berkeley Sagehen Field Station

SAGEHEN PROJECT Tahoe National Forest, Truckee Ranger District PSW Sagehen Experimental Forest UC Berkeley Sagehen Field Station

SAGEHEN PROJECT Tahoe National Forest, Truckee Ranger District PSW Sagehen Experimental Forest UC Berkeley Sagehen Field Station

BACKGROUND Coordination with Sagehen Field Station and UC Berkeley began in earnest in Jan 2006 and continued through Sept 2007 v. Worked with John Battles and FS R 5 fire specialists to model treatments v. Used FARSITE and Flam. Map v. Modified preliminary proposal numerous times over 1. 5 years v SAGEHEN PROJECT Tahoe National Forest, Truckee Ranger District PSW Sagehen Experimental Forest UC Berkeley Sagehen Field Station

BACKGROUND March 2009 - GTR 220 – An Ecosystem Management Strategy for Sierran Mixed. Conifer Forests (North et al. ) v. Wanted to consider the concepts from GTR 220 for the Sagehen Project v. Considered an opportunity for a larger collaborative effort v SAGEHEN PROJECT Tahoe National Forest, Truckee Ranger District PSW Sagehen Experimental Forest UC Berkeley Sagehen Field Station

BACKGROUND August 2009 - American Marten Distributions over a 28 Year Period: Relationships with Landscape Change in Sagehen Creek Experimental Forest, California, USA - Master’s Thesis by Katie Moriarty v. Management implications put forth for the Sagehen area v SAGEHEN PROJECT Tahoe National Forest, Truckee Ranger District PSW Sagehen Experimental Forest UC Berkeley Sagehen Field Station

SAGEHEN PROJECT Tahoe National Forest, Truckee Ranger District PSW Sagehen Experimental Forest UC Berkeley Sagehen Field Station

COLLABORATION Because of substantial investments (over $350, 000 to date), looking at determining treatments within existing unit boundaries v Want to collaborate on what, if anything, would be proposed within unit boundaries while considering multiple needs v SAGEHEN PROJECT Tahoe National Forest, Truckee Ranger District PSW Sagehen Experimental Forest UC Berkeley Sagehen Field Station

COLLABORATION End goal is a Proposed Action and Purpose and Need (PA/PN) document that will be used to begin NEPA process v Use input from the collaborative group to write a draft PA/PN v Expect that pieces of PA/PN (i. e. prescriptions, mitigations) written over the course of the spring with opportunities for review by the SAGEHENcollaborative group v Tahoe National Forest, Truckee Ranger District PROJECT PSW Sagehen Experimental Forest UC Berkeley Sagehen Field Station

COLLABORATION Expectation is that FS will write the PA/PN document v Want feedback and review of a full draft PA/PN from the collaborative group before it is finalized and before official NEPA scoping would begin v SAGEHEN PROJECT Tahoe National Forest, Truckee Ranger District PSW Sagehen Experimental Forest UC Berkeley Sagehen Field Station

SAGEHEN PROJECT Tahoe National Forest, Truckee Ranger District PSW Sagehen Experimental Forest UC Berkeley Sagehen Field Station

v ONGOING EFFORTS Still gathering information pertaining to vegetation conditions, historical and current v. Are two different representations of vegetation for both historical and current One is based on digital remote sensing (RSL) q. One is based on aerial photo interpretation (TNF) q Exploring a third representation using Li. DAR v SAGEHEN PROJECT Tahoe National Forest, Truckee Ranger District PSW Sagehen Experimental Forest UC Berkeley Sagehen Field Station

ONGOING EFFORTS Vegetation information combined with slope data and species habitat requirements used to help determine potential prescriptions v. Pursuing additional modeling for post treatment fire behavior and forest stand dynamics/tree growth v SAGEHEN PROJECT Tahoe National Forest, Truckee Ranger District PSW Sagehen Experimental Forest UC Berkeley Sagehen Field Station

MARTEN UPDATE Marten habitat conditions are represented by using the California Wildlife Habitat Relationships model (CWHR) v. Ranks vegetation type/canopy closure/tree size combinations into high, medium, or low habitat for marten v SAGEHEN PROJECT Tahoe National Forest, Truckee Ranger District PSW Sagehen Experimental Forest UC Berkeley Sagehen Field Station

SAGEHEN PROJECT Tahoe National Forest, Truckee Ranger District PSW Sagehen Experimental Forest UC Berkeley Sagehen Field Station

SAGEHEN PROJECT Tahoe National Forest, Truckee Ranger District PSW Sagehen Experimental Forest UC Berkeley Sagehen Field Station

SAGEHEN PROJECT Tahoe National Forest, Truckee Ranger District PSW Sagehen Experimental Forest UC Berkeley Sagehen Field Station

SAGEHEN PROJECT Tahoe National Forest, Truckee Ranger District PSW Sagehen Experimental Forest UC Berkeley Sagehen Field Station

MARTEN UPDATE Plan to address/analyze concerns for marten habitat basin-wide using relevant science: v Distribution and abundance of high quality habitat throughout the basin q. Location of current and past (i. e. ~1980) high quality habitat within the footprint of potential treatment areas q. Movement corridors throughout the basin and as they fall within potential treatment areas q. Opportunities for enhancing habitat in strategic Tahoe National Forest, Truckee Ranger District SAGEHEN locations and how to do that PSW Sagehen Experimental Forest q PROJECT UC Berkeley Sagehen Field Station