Clearwater Basin Collaborative Restoring America’s Forests Oct. 3-5, 2011, Truckee, CA Photo: William H. Mullins Kelly Creek CBC Landscape Assessment Preliminary Results Landscape Health Subcommittee Ryan Haugo, The Nature Conservancy 9/26/12 Photo: William H. Mullins

WHY? Shared Vision (5-75 years) for forest management Where, how much, what types of forest management? What are the restoration needs in the Basin?

Overview and core concepts Basin-wide summaries Forest structure Fire Bark beetles Mechanical limitations “Tale of two-subbasins” Wrap up & Discussion

Landscape Assessment 30,000+ ft. level (Terrestrial/Aquatic; Static/Dynamic) MOU Project Collaboration On the ground CBC Agreement, CBC Principles, CBC Input for Forest Plan Revision

Forests are dynamic Photo: John Marshall

Low Severity Forests Frequent, low severity fire Low elevations, dry sites

Infrequent, high severity fire Higher elevations, wetter sites High Severity Forests

Mix of fire frequencies / severities Many elevations, mesic sites Mixed Severity Forests

Multiple tools Photo: John Marshall

Western White Pine

Overview and core concepts Basin-wide summaries Forest structure Fire Bark beetles Mechanical limitations “Tale of two-subbasins” Wrap up

Forest Structure Tree size, density, canopy cover Compare current to historic reference – “Percent Departure” Historic = reference point only! But… Assume moving to historic = increased health and resilience in future

Forest Structure Landfire Refresh 2008 – Historic references – Current conditions USFS, USGS, BLM, TNC Satellite + ground

Clearwater Basin - “Sub-basins”

Clearwater Basin Forest Types

Forest Structure Departure

Active Treatment Analysis What changes/ how many acres to eliminate forest structure departure 1 st Order Approximation!

Thinning from below: Removal of small and medium sized trees to canopy cover <70%. Stand replacement: Removal of all existing trees Other thinning: Any other thinning that is not stand replacement May be fire or mechanical treatment!

Growth with fire: Growth but maintain moderately open canopy Growth without fire: Growth with closed canopy

Fire Missoula Lab “Large Fire Simulator” – Current fuel conditions and management strategies Best available data, but… Question accuracy within Clearwater Basin

Large Fire Probability

Bark Beetles 2002 – 2009 Aerial Detection Surveys Photo: Yellowstone NP

‘02-’09 Bark Beetles

Mechanical Treatment Limitations Beyond 1,500 ft. of existing roads Slopes >55%, Slopes 35-55% Within 75ft of fish bearing streams: Non-FS lands Within 300ft of fish bearing streams: FS lands Within 150ft of non-fish bearing streams: FS lands

Overview and core concepts Basin-wide summaries Forest structure Fire Bark beetles Mechanical limitations “Tale of two-subbasins” Wrap up

“Tale of Two Sub-basins”

Upper North Fork Clearwater 828,000 acres South Fork Clearwater 581,000 acres

Overview and core concepts Basin-wide summaries Forest structure Fire Bark beetles Mechanical limitations “Tale of two-subbasins” Wrap up

Photo: William H. Mullins SUMMARY Better understanding of current conditions Identified restoration needs across Basin Snapshot look at how much of what types of treatments needed across Basin Provide estimates for mechanical treatment limitations

APPLICATIONS Define and prioritize treatment and restoration objectives for individual subbasins Set target levels of treatment Define landscape health needs for CBC agreement Provide input to Forest Plan Revision Photo: William H. Mullins

NEXT STEPS CBC interpretation of results Peer Review of methods Incorporate aquatic assessment Future considerations such as elk habitat, white pine restoration, fire risk Dynamic modeling

DISCUSSION Questions? Heading in the right direction? Other applications for CBC? Photo: William H. Mullins

CBC VOTE Photo: William H. Mullins Landscape Health Subcommittee is requesting a vote from the full CBC to support the continued development of this assessment and the use of resulting information to inform the CBC’s work on forest management.

A : Early Development D : Late-Seral Open E : Late-Seral Closed C : Mid-Seral Open B : Mid-Seral Closed

A : Early Development D : Late-Seral Open E : Late-Seral Closed C : Mid-Seral Open B : Mid-Seral Closed Growth w/ low severity fire Growth w/ fire suppression Stand regeneration Growth w/ fire suppression Thin from below/prescribed fire Growth w/ low severity fire Thin above/fire?? Growth w/ fire suppression Thin above/harvest selection Thin below w/prescribed fire Growth w/ fire suppression Stand regeneration Growth w/ fire suppression Thin above/harvest selection/fire Thin below/prescribed fire/growth

Upper North Fork South Fork