Northern Arizona University Ecological Restoration Institute Doc Smith Northern Arizona University Ecological Restoration Institute 9/19/2018

Focus is on the TREES Perhaps too much or at least not enough elsewhere

Focus also needs to be on the UNDERSTORY This is where the diversity is!!

Huge change in plant diversity Perhaps 95 spp. of plants in the restored areas (diversity) Hundreds (thousands?) of more plants in the restored areas (abundance)

Steps Toward Reducing Catastrophic Wildfire And Restoring Keystone Ecosystem Processes Actions Results Thinning Small Trees Reduces “Ladder” Fuels Broadcast Burning Reduces “Ground” Fuels Decreasing Catastrophic Fire Risk Thinning (Logging) Trees in Understory Reduces Continuous Tree Canopy (“Aerial” Fuels) Increasing Tree Density Restores More Natural Tree Patterns and Densities and Natural Fire Regime Restoration Thinning (Logging) Old Growth Forest With Natural Fire Processes Restoration of Other Natural Processes as an Associated Benefit Time (100 Years +) Coconino National Forest 2001

Full Restoration Burned October 1999 Minimal Thinning Burn Only Fulé, P.Z., W.W. Covington, H.B. Smith, J.D. Springer, T.A. Heinlein, K.D. Huisinga, and M.M. Moore. 2002. Testing ecological restoration alternatives: Grand Canyon, Arizona. Forest Ecology and Management 170:19-41.

Big Changes in the UNDERSTORY About 4 times as many spp. of butterflies (Diversity) About 6 times as many butterflies (Abundance)

Butterfly species richness 1-3 years after forest restoration treatments. (from Waltz and Covington 2001)

Enormous increase in carabib beetles Increase in spp. --perhaps an increase of a dozen or more. (Diversity) Increases in total numbers is huge (Abundance)

Synuchus dubius (10-13 mm) Indicator species UN and TH forest generalist

Cyclotrachelus constrictus (10 mm) Indicator species of TB forest specialist

Amara spp. (3.9- 13 mm) Indicator species of WF open-habitat

Harpalus spp. (5.8-25 mm) Indicator species of WF open-habitat

More passerine birds Some studies at Mount Trumbull indicate something like 6 times the nesting rate in treated areas Some studies indicate more hatchlings but an increase in parasites (bluebirds)

More mice (and hantavirus?) There is more grain in the form of grass seeds for mice

Food for deer, elk, cattle Increases in forage from <30 lbs/acre to as much as 800 lbs/acre

Change in balance in squirrel habitat Creates a better balance in open vs. closed areas Squirrels seem to like a 40% open and 60% canopy area (ROMPA) Also more goshawk chow

` Arbuscular mycorrhizal respond rapidly to thinning

Steve and Heather Germaine found more abundance of two lizards in the open areas at Mt. Trumbull

Soils and Plants In presettlement times the openings in grasses and the clumps of trees were in place for a long time

Soil phytoliths as well as other soil characteristics point to development of grassland soils in the openings and forest soils in the clumps. Becky Kerns at NAU ERI confirmed this

Summary Understory provides a large part of the diversity in the system It is “pretty” It is appealing It provides the fuel for the return of fire to the ecosystem It is “home” to a lot of critters

It has been open with clumps for a long time Groceries are in the understory for critters and then those critters are groceries for others

It is NOT JUST ABOUT THE TREES