Determining Reference Conditions for Southwestern Ponderosa Pine Forests

GOALS FOR LECTURE You will be able to define ecological restoration. You will be able to define reference conditions and how reference conditions are determined. You will be able to discuss reference conditions in the context of southwestern ponderosa pine forests.

WHAT IS ECOLOGICAL RESTORATION???

What is Ecological Restoration? The Society of Ecological Restoration (SER) defines ecological restoration in its mission statement as “the process of assisting the recovery and management of ecological integrity. Ecological integrity includes a critical range of variability in biodiversity, ecological processes and structures, regional and historical context, and sustainable cultural practices” (Society for Ecological Restoration 1996).

Ecological Restoration Need to identify ecological restoration goal, identify the restoration potential of a site, how to conduct the restoration, and how to evaluate the success of restoration. * REFERENCE CONDITIONS

Reference Conditions The range of historical or natural variability in ecological structures and processes that reflect evolutionary history, disturbance regimes, and abiotic and biotic conditions (Covington et al. 1997).

HOW DO YOU DETERMINE REFERENCE CONDITIONS???

PONDEROSA PINE Ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) trees grow in every state found west of the Great Plains In Colorado, ponderosa pine trees are commonly found on mesas to the montane from 5,000-9000 ft In the San Juan Mountains, pure stands of ponderosa pine can be found on sandstone substrates from 6,500-8,000 ft Drawing by Robert Petty in “Graced by Pines” 1994

PONDEROSA PINE

PONDEROSA PINE

HISTORICAL DATA

WRITTEN RECORDS Lt. Edward Beale, 1857 (northern Arizona) “A vast forest of gigantic pines, intersected frequently with open glades, sprinkled all over with mountains, meadows, and wide savannas, and covered with the richest grasses, was traversed by our party for many days.” C. DuBois, 1903 (San Juan Mountains) “Throughout the [“bull” or ponderosa pine] type there is good cattle range, consisting of blue-stem grass beneath the trees and bunch grass in the parks. The underbrush is very heavy, chiefly oak brush, choke-cherry, scarlett thorn, and wild rose. Reproduction of bull pine is poor.”

PHOTOGRAPHS Courtesy of Cline Library Special Collections, Northern Arizona University

1911

1928

1985

RESEARCH Woolsey 1910 Forest Stand Inventory 1985/87 1962 1910 DBH CLASS DBH RANGE 1985/87 1962 1910 6 4.6-7.5 68.0 45.0 6.3 9 7.6-10.5 36.1 21.8 3.2 12 10.6-13.5 18.1 11.1 2.5 15 13.6-16.5 8.8 6.6 2.2 18 16.6-19.5 4.5 4.0 2.0 21 19.6-22.5 2.3 * 1.8 24 22.6-25.5 1.3 1.4 27 25.6-28.5 0.6 0.7 30 28.6+ 0.4 0.8 TOTAL   140.0 93.6 20.8

CONTEMPORARY DATA

FIRE SCARS

EURO-AMERICAN SETTLEMENT FIRE SUPPRESSION GRAZING LOGGING

LOS ALAMOS

OTHER CONTEMPORARY DATA *SPECIES COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE *SOIL SEED BANK *BIOTIC AND ABIOTIC SOIL CHARACTERISTICS *DEAD/DOWN WOODY MATERIALS *TRADITIONAL ECOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE

SOUTHWESTERN PONDEROSA PINE REFERENCE CONDITIONS SOUTHWESTERN PONDEROSA PINE Fire- Key disturbance that regulates ponderosa pine forests *Low intensity fires (2-20 year interval) *Large diameter trees interspersed with grassy meadows *Diverse, productive herbaceous understory

WHO USES THIS INFORMATION? Governmental Agencies-National Park Service, Forest Service, BLM State and Local Government- e.g., Montezuma County (Ponderosa Pines Project), Boulder Mountain Parks Conservation Organizations-The Nature Conservancy, Grand Canyon Forest Trust General Public-e.g., where to build a house (fire-prone environment, floodplain, etc.), where to recreate, forming opinions on public land management actions

GOALS FOR LECTURE You will be able to define ecological restoration. You will be able to define reference conditions and how reference conditions are determined. You will be able to discuss reference conditions in the context of southwestern ponderosa pine forests.

QUESTIONS??

Tree Canopy Data for the Gus Pearson Natural Area, Arizona for 1876 and 1990

Components of Ecological Restoration Four Main Components: 1) Cultural * Native Americans played an important role in the evolutionary history of many ecosystems through their interactions with the natural world. * Native Americans used fire as a tool for hunting, promoting/discouraging specific plant species which differs from lightning fires in seasonality, frequency, and intensity. Instead on focusing on the ecological component of restoration first, I want to focus on other components than may not be as obvious and that some of you may not have considered to be important in ecological restoration. The first component I want to discuss is the cultural component. Specifically, Native Americans played an important role in the evolutionary history of many ecosystems through their interactions with the natural world. One example of this is their use of fire as a tool for hunting or to promote/discourage specific plant species. These fires differed in the seasonality, frequency, and intensity from natural lightning fires that occur generally in the dry summer months. So to summarize, ecosystems evolved with the presence of humans and therefore when we look at restoration we need to consider humans as a vital component of ecosystems instead of something that is separate. Because a lot of times when we look at environmental problems today, a common response for an answer to our problems is to take humans out of the ecosystems. And with ecological restoration we are saying things aren’t that simple. The ecosystems that we see today evolved with the presence of humans and therefore it isn’t the presence of humans that is the problem but the severity of their impact.

Components of Ecological Restoration Four Main Components: 2) Economical * How much will the restoration project cost to plan, implement, and monitor? * What are the economical benefits from restoration (immediate and long-term)? The second main component I want to discuss, economical, is a little more intuitive. When thinking about any ecological restoration project, one will have to inevitably think about how much the restoration project will cost to plan, implement, and monitor. And including monitoring is important even if it just consists of taking photographs before and after because that will give some way to judge the success of the project. Also you need to look at the economic benefits from restoration both immediately and long-term. Economic benefits can include a wide variety of things from increased wildlife habitat or increased water quality, to reduced fire hazard, or the creation of jobs.

Components of Ecological Restoration Four Main Components: 3) Social * Need to look at restoration as an outcome of complex interactions between nature and society and divergent social and political views within society. * Need to develop common ground among all participants when identifying and planning restoration projects. The third component I want to discuss is social. The social component looks at restoration as an outcome of complex interactions between nature and society and divergent social and political views within society. Therefore for restoration projects that are often large in scale where more people will have an interest, it is important to develop common ground among all participants when identifying and planning restoration project goals. And so this component along with the other three components including ecological which I am about to discuss were all incorporated in a large scale restoration project that occurred here in the San Juan Mountains over near Dolores in ponderosa pine forests. A group was formed called the “the ponderosa pine forest partnership” to focus on the major issues surrounding ponderosa pine restoration. People from all different backgrounds were brought together to discuss how they envisioned this project—there were scientists, ranchers, foresters, environmentalists, governmental officials, and citizens. I am going to pass around some copies of a booklet that was put together that discusses this partnership and restoration project.

Components of Ecological Restoration Four Main Components: 4) Ecological * Need to identify ecological restoration goal, identify the restoration potential of a site, how to conduct the restoration, and how to evaluate the success of restoration. * Need to identify a spatial and temporal context for ecological restoration. * REFERENCE CONDITIONS The last component that I am going to discuss is the ecological component. For any restoration project that you are going to undertake, you need to identify an ecological restoration goal, the restoration potential of a site, and how to evaluate the success of restoration. In addition, you need to identify a spatial and temporal context. What I mean by this is that every ponderosa pine forest is not the same and therefore the elevation of the forest, the slope of the forest and other variables need to be consider when designing restoration goals and also you need to determine the time period of the system in question that you are trying to restore to. In addition, you also need to incorporate climatic and biological changes that have occurred since the period of disturbance that you are trying to restore to and also the changes that will occur over time following restoration. All of these ecological questions can be assisted by establishing reference conditions for the area that is to be restored. But before I move onto reference conditions, the second objective of this lecture, does anyone have any questions with what ecological restoration is or the four main components we just discussed? Alright great, we are going to move on to reference conditions, does anyone have an idea of what this term means?