UPPER MONUMENT CREEK LANDSCAPE RESTORATION Allan Hahn District

UPPER MONUMENT CREEK LANDSCAPE RESTORATION Allan Hahn – District Ranger Mike Picard – ID Team Leader

PURPOSE To inform the government organizations, agencies, public organizations, and interested citizens about the Upper Monument Creek Project

OUTLINE • • Upper Monument Creek Landscape Forest Service NEPA Process Forest Service Purpose and Need Forest Service Proposed Action Summary Questions Conclusion Upper Monument Creek Project

UPPER MONUMENT CREEK LANDSCAPE Upper Monument Creek Project • • Approximately 67, 000 acres Municipal Watersheds Significant Recreation Use Area Major Mountain Views from Plains Includes 7 Lakes and Reservoirs Includes 3 Powerline Corridors Extensive Wildlife habitats Varied Timber resources

UPPER MONUMENT CREEK LANDSCAPE Upper Monument Creek Project

FOREST SERVICE NEPA PROCESS Upper Monument Creek Project

WHAT IS ADAPTIVE NEPA? Upper Monument Creek Project Adaptive NEPA starts with Adaptive Management and then assesses those adaptations during the analysis process. Adaptive Management: • Identifies Desired Conditions. • Identifies Management Options to achieve the desired state. • Requires Monitoring to assess whether or not the desired conditions are being achieved. • Requires a Review Timeline or Evaluation Points to know if desired conditions are being achieved at a desired rate.

UPPER MONUMENT CREEK PURPOSE • The site specific purpose for the proposed action will focus on transitioning forested plant communities across the landscape towards desired future conditions that are more characteristic of a resilient forest. • Resilient forests are better equipped to protect the following identified values at risk - infrastructure, and natural resources, and contribute towards the long-term sustainability of a full range of natural resource values including wildlife habitat, protecting aquatic resources and public drinking water. Upper Monument Creek Project

UPPER MONUMENT CREEK NEED • The size, severity, and behavior of recent wildfires on the Pike National Forest and across the Front Range have demonstrated the risks posed by current forest conditions, particularly in areas where homes and communities are intermixed with wildlands. • The past decades saw significant increases in the human and environmental costs of wildfire across the region. • Without strategic intervention the UMC landscape, and the surrounding communities and municipal watersheds are susceptible for more significant fires. • There is a need to reduce vulnerability to similarly uncharacteristic and devastating events. Upper Monument Creek Project

• In response to the conditions described above, the proposed action is to treat up to 25, 000 acres within the 67, 000 acre analysis area. • Combinations of mechanical thinning with product FOREST SERVICE removal, mastication, hand thinning, and prescribed PROPOSED fire will be used to move vegetation types towards ACTION the desired conditions for the analysis area. • Emphasis will be on retention of older trees in all forest types, opening up densely closed stands of mid to late seral classes, creating a more open forest environment and improving shrub and grass diversity. • The forest ecosystems that will be the primary targets for treatments will be the ponderosa pine, dry mixed conifer, aspen, and mesic mixed conifer, with some treatments in the lodgepole and oak/ponderosa types. Upper Monument Creek Project

FOREST SERVICE PROPOSED ACTION Upper Monument Creek Project

ASPEN ENHANCEMENT – PATCH CUTS Pre-treatment density v 120 sq. ft. of basal area Post-treatment density • 30 sq. ft. of basal area Upper Monument Creek Project

PRE- & POST-TREATMENT COMPARISON Aspen enhancement, treatment in progress

DRY MIXED CONIFER – THINNING Pre-treatment density v 130 sq. ft. of basal area Post-treatment density • 50 sq. ft. of basal area Upper Monument Creek Project

PRE- & POST-TREATMENT COMPARISON v Mechanized thinning, dry mixed conifer. v Retention of ponderosa pine, removal of Douglas-fir Upper Monument Creek Project

PRE- & POST-TREATMENT COMPARISON: MECHANIZED THIN, VARIABLE SPACING

PONDEROSA PINE – OPENING CREATION, REMOVAL OF DOUGLAS-FIR Pre-treatment density v 115 sq. ft. of basal area Post-treatment density • 25 sq. ft. of basal area

PRE- & POST-TREATMENT COMPARISON v Conversion to ponderosa pine, removal of Douglasfir and spruce. v Mechanized thinning

SUMMARY • Extensive review of the Analysis area has demonstrated a need for some intensive treatments. • The Forest Service has determined that a full Environmental Impact Statement is the best analysis document and process for this project. • To be successful the PSICC needs the support and cooperation of all of the affected governments , organizations, and individuals. • The EIS will take about 1. 5 years to complete. • Project implementation is expected to take a decade. Upper Monument Creek Project

QUESTIONS?

CONCLUSION Whenever you do a thing, act as if all the world were watching. Thomas Jefferson Upper Monument Creek Project