Proposals and Goals...
Resource Guide To Adaptive Management
Prospects for an evolving habitat conservation plan
Developing a long-term sustainable enhancement plan for degradated and suppressed forest habitat areas is an obtainable goal through careful strategic management practices and emulation in environmental policy ethics, as well as, a balance in ecosystem biodiversity on all levels.
Threats to biodiversity that are crucial to be addressed and resolve for sustainable stewardship within the Heernett Foundation properties are that of, habitat loss, degradation, pollution, and disease. All of these issues will remain focusing points within our property and local Eco-region. Ecosystem communities and their interconnectedness of plants, animals and microscopic organisms will all be taken into account and re-evaluated annually with support of the latest available scientific data. The global pressures to find ways of sustainable ecosystem management are bringing forth new and revised data each season for both successful and unsuccessful scientific ventures. This outside data along with our own practices will provide the ongoing ability to have flexible and functional stewardship practices within our program.
These processes and development of our Habitat Conservation Plan will be considered "work in progress" and "management of a moving target". The key is consistent evaluations, flexibility and application of successful concepts and tools in the field. Through out our conservation efforts and resource data collection, a focal point will be to identify within our landscape area, as many keystone and indicator species as possible for both plants and animals and to apply this information to our long-term planning goals over a period of years.
Habitat and Wildlife Enhancement
Habitat and wildlife enhancement throughout Foundation properties and the surrounding Eco-region is the primary focus and goal of our efforts and long-term planning. The focus remains on habitat restoration, enhancement and protection. The enormous task of animal, plant, soil, water, and microorganism inventory within a given landscape is overwhelming. Although for ultimate and cohesive protection, this process should be done over a period of time to develop a baseline for further data. Only in this way, of cataloging and assessing the proposed landscape can be accounted for and preserved.
Foundation goals for enhancement of ecosystem population sections would be done in-groups of several planning years to establish native species with their needed natural habitats to flourish communally and individually. Allowing these ecosystems to regenerate and develop sustainable interconnected communities through out the diverse canopy and plant structures. Within these segmented planning years, each ecosystem population section, both old and new, will be annually evaluated and projected for further planning proposals.
1. To selectively thin the current mono-crop of Doug Fir stands and plant biodiverse genetically localized native trees, shrubs, annuals and perennials through out our properties and later into our Eco-region.
The importance of reintroducing biodiverse genetically localized native plants into depressed and degradated forest systems is crucial in reestablishing flourishing and sustainable ecosystems. The current state of mono-cultured Doug Fir forests has introduced issues of disease and suppression of indigenous plant and animal life.
Retaining and reintroducing a diverse population of native plants with a localized gene pool is very important in controlling disease and insuring successful reestablishment. Plants that have evolved in our local region have remained successful here through Mother Nature's trial and error. All shapes and sizes of a particular species of plant have developed immunities and the ability to thrive in a particular Eco-region through climatic conditions, disease, and parasite infestation. These are successful demonstrations in how to help Mother Nature help herself. (As they say, there is no point in reinventing the wheel.)
This aspect is also important in the basic fact that these plants are being destroyed, due to urbanization, faster than they can reestablish themselves, so this is another way to insure that the genetic diversity will be protected and preserved for years to come. Through out the reestablishment sessions over five year increments, the seeds can be harvested and salvaged to replant and enhance other local degraded and suppressed ecosystems within the surrounding Eco-region. To share the wealth of procurement and develop ongoing enhancement plans for the surrounding Metapopulations and ecosystems is all part of the bigger conservation picture.
The goal would be to selectively thin the current mono-crop Doug Fir forest stands to 50-foot centers and plant many other diverse native species that are genetically local to this region. The richness and complexity that would be created by introducing these native plants would increase the health and vitality of our forest habitats and wildlife communities within our properties.
With the focus being on multispecies and long-term ecosystem planning, some of these new tree species would be Hemlock, Spruce, Gary Oak, Quaking Aspen, White Pine, Western Yew, Ash, Oak, Lodge-pole Pine, White Cedar, and Grand Fir. It would also be crucial to plant an under-story diversity of shrubs, annuals and perennials to provide a food source for native birds and animals, such as, Serviceberry, Hazelnut, Dogwood, Hawthorn, Oceanspray, Twinberry, Devils Club, Indian Plum, Mock Orange, Ninebark, Lady Fern, Maidenhair Fern, Deer Fern, Currant, Thimbleberry, Elderberry, Snowberry, Sitka Mt. Ash, Huckleberry, Aster, Primrose, Violet, Saxifrage, Purslane, Lily, and Iris. These plants would be obtained through collaborative work efforts by local Pacific Northwest Native plant nurseries, WSU Native Plant Salvage Group, and native plant salvage from our local area.
These plantings would be in a five-year succession period, allowing time for the trees and under-story to have time to establish and develop a communal relationship within the ecosystem. All of these reintroduced native plant species will enhance and help the depressed ecosystem blossom into a "true" Pacific Northwest upland forest. The forest will grow with lush riparian zones for wetland and stream protection, to further enhance water quality within the ecosystem as well as, providing invaluable wildlife habitat. With flexible and ethical sustainable forest management over several decades it will progress into a natural old growth forest with all of it priceless diversity and enrichment.
The sequence of actual logging practices has been outlined in the amendment provided by Professional Forestry Service, Inc., projecting less than a 5% growth rate harvest, which is enclosed. With ecosystems being more complex than we could ever begin to think and know with assuredness, caution and prudence should be exercised in attempting to manage Mother Nature. By monitoring nature's unpredictability, and conservation biology research information becoming more available, practices will be subject to change through adaptive conservation management. All properties and practices will be annually evaluated by both new and old habitat assessments and by provided concurrent landscape data research.
2. To Protect and Enhance Stream Scapes
Strategically plant needed Large Woody Debris within the stream system, as well as, placement of appropriate ladders and weirs in enhanced salmonid rearing habitat
.Enhancing water systems through out Foundation properties and the surrounding Eco-region systems is vital to the survival of stagnate and suppressed aquatic life. The key element to aquatic enhancement is water quality and quantity. Due to the fact that our water system within our impact landscape areas are type 4 and 5 headwater systems, it is imperative that our enhancement program and long-term planning is focused on these issues.
The long-term goals to provide the best source of natural water quality and quantity are to insure and protect all Large Woody Debris (LWD) and riparian zones in our water systems. These issues are critical for salmonids and other aquatic life to thrive.
Water Quality
Salmon depend on highly oxygenated water, a condition that varies dramatically with the flow rates of each system. They also depend on water neutral in pH, neither acidic nor basic. Dissolved solids such as calcium and magnesium have a direct impact on aquatic plants and animals. Calcium acts as a neutralizer to make heavy metals less toxic to fish, where as, phosphates and nitrates affect the entire food chain. The mineral presents in the stream system will cause algae and other plant life bloom rapidly, setting off a chain of events of decomposing organic material, which consumes valuable dissolved oxygen, that is crucial to salmon and aquatic life forms. An abundance of minerals in the stream system can occur naturally, such as in a landslide, or by human impacts.
Water Quantity
Quantity of water within the stream system plays a large role in the success of salmonids. Salmon depend on historical water volumes in their natural wild runs for successful spawning. Even down to the specific types of smells, mineral content and pH levels in their returning stream systems all play a part in where the salmon return and spawn. Removing volumes of water manipulates the physical attribute of quantity, but it also alters the ratio of particles and elements in the water system its self that salmon need to navigate and to survive. As well as, the simple deduction that there needs to be enough water in the system to support aquatic life and provide all the elements needed to survive.
High unusual winter flows can overpower weak returning spawners. Flush out established redds or over-wintering juveniles downstream. These high flows also move LWD in the stream system, gouging out streambanks and eroding many different spawning beds through out the watershed. Systems that flush heavily or frequently also can not accumulate the nutrients or microhabitats to support the food chain, all causing dramatic alterations to established wild salmonid runs.
Too little water makes riffles impassable and isolates fish in pools where they are vulnerable to predation, warm temperatures, and low oxygen. Some species of salmon have juveniles that need to stay in the fresh water systems as long as a year before they head out to sea. If the water volumes are to low. There won't be enough food, oxygen, and rearing areas for the juveniles. Therefore, shorting the life span of thousands of fish.
Riparian Zones
The presents of well established native riparian zones around all of our water sources will ensure the limitation of natural sedimentation problems, surface water run off, keep water temperatures cool and provide important wildlife habitat. Riparian zone areas provide a crucial link between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. These areas are fifty to one-hundred feet, depending on topography and slope of terrain and natural native plant vegetation along side of all stream system types. The native plants within a given riparian zone need to be both diverse in species and canopy stratification to improve health and vitality of the landscape and water system.
Riparian zones act as a natural filtering system for sedimentation, nutrient and litter dispersion into stream systems. They also provide LWD sources for ongoing placement and renewal pieces of needed debris to create pools and juvenile rearing areas through out the system. The upper canopy of large plants in a diverse riparian area creates important shade and cover to keep the water temperatures cool and to protect aquatic life from abundant predation. Healthy and thriving riparian zones contain Salmonberry, Serviceberry, Ninebark, Twinberry, and other fruit baring plants that are an invaluable food source, as well as, habitat for the wildlife within the particular landscape area.
Ensuring that these riparian zones flourish and provide the important elements into an enhanced habitat is a critical role in the long-term planning objectives for our Foundation. The surrounding degraded landscapes within our Eco-region need to be addressed over a course of segmented planning years, while consistently adding to and monitoring our established riparian zones. As with the long-term forest enhancement plan, native plants need to be planted within a group of secessional years as to ensure the proper establishment of cohesive plant communities. The reestablishment of these macro and micro-ecosystems will allow the surrounding plant and animal interconnected communities to grow and develop into a sustainable habitat.
Sedimentation
Sedimentation is the mobilization of soil particles though surface erosion, delivering small particles into the stream network. Surface erosion is normally associated with all different volumes of precipitation. Increased erosion can devastate the reproductive success of salmonids and other aquatic life in several different ways. Silt carried in the water can clog the gill membranes of salmonids and fish, reducing their ability to extract oxygen from the water. Spawning areas can be buried by large deposits of all size silt and sediment, as well as, blocking spawning migrations (Swanson et al. 1987). Fine sediment can choke out egg pockets - redds - in the gravel at the bottom of stream beds, smothering either the eggs or the alvins - newly hatched salmon juveniles - (Chapman 1988). The turbidity of sediment in the system creates murky water and can impair foraging efficiency (Noggle 1978), and disrupts salmonid and aquatic life social behaviors (Berg and Norhcote 1985). Sediment can fill in pools that are crucial for juvenile rearing which ultimately result in the depletion of adult salmonids.
Creating and monitoring proper riparian zones can minimize or eliminate sedimentation and erosion issues, ether naturally or by human impacts. As mentioned earlier, sustainable riparian zones are an important aspect to Foundation long-term goals and planning objectives, as well as, using biodiverse genetically localized native plants to reestablish them where necessary. Sedimentation needs to be monitored and evaluated closely, promptly addressed and reassessed annually to ensure no further damage is created.
Large Woody Debris
Large woody Debris (LWD) is the deposit of large wood pieces within the stream channel bankfull-width. The wood can be as small as a well place one- foot diameter section, creating a small pool or riffle, to an enormous thirty-foot root-wad just about damming up the stream system. Usually, the LWD is placed in the stream system naturally by falling trees or large limbs from the surrounding established riparian zone, around the bank edges and will either stay where it has fallen or the energy of the stream system its self will move and shift the wood to its final resting-place.
LWD plays a vital roll in the salmonids life strategy for survival. The wood within the active stream system creates the important pools that are needed for juvenile rearing and provides the adults with resting places in route to spawning grounds. It also creates cover in which juveniles can hide from predation and insures diversity and complexity within the stream system. The removal of LWD within stream systems has been discovered to be extremely detrimental to salmonid survival. The fact is that the logjams and root-wads are very important to slow the water velocity down and provide lots of good hiding and feeding places for salmon and aquatic life. Our watershed systems and stream systems must remain diverse and complex for salmon and aquatic organisms to have the ability to return and survive.
The placement of LWD within the stream system is important to evaluate and assess the hydrology and turbidity of the section in which the placement will occur. Due to the current data implications that there are only a few areas in our properties which only juvenile salmonids occupy the system for several months, these areas need to be accounted for and assessed during the time they are present.
Applying this kind of data and information into active enhancement plans to rejuvenate stagnate and degradated headwater areas will ultimately help create cool, quality water habitats that will benefit the struggling salmonid populations and suppressed aquatic life, as well as, the surrounding wildlife.
3. Adaptive Management and Enhancement of Wetland and Field Areas
Seasonal wetlands and marshes are needed for diversity in wildlife populations within a landscape and ecosystem area. The lowland areas, just as with any other Foundation properties, will be evaluated and assessed according to the concurrent data provided for wildlife needs. These areas, should they be known headwater and stream related areas, will be projected with needed introduced riparian zones and endemic dispersal of biodiverse genetically localized native plantings according to soil, vegetation and hydrology information. These areas will also be evaluated upon the needs of present local wildlife community, such as, Elk, deer, Cougar, Black Bear, Coyote, Fox, Turkey, and water foul. Adaptive management through out all properties and landscapes will be on the pretense that Nature is unpredictable and will be reevaluated and assessed on an annual basis to enforce adaptive management practices. Including and projecting long-term conservation and enhancement plans are vital to ensure the survival of the established endemic wildlife presents within our properties and surrounding landscape areas.
4. To release native wildlife that has been rehabilitated due to injury, as well as, captured for relocation within its original Eco-region.
Continuing to collaborate with the Olympic Wildlife Rescue Association in McCleary, WA is an important aspect in upholding our organization's focus and goal with wildlife protection and enhancement. We are fortunate as a collective group to have the ability to provide a protected area for these animals to be released and have the chance to thrive in our native forests. Providing a source large encumbered forest and wetland habitat for this established organization to rely on is crucial for our commitment to wildlife enhancement and protection.
The ability to collaborate and facilitate the needs of a struggling conservation group is important in community relations, and supplying a vital element to the success of the dwindling wildlife population within Washington State. This collective effort can be used in the future as education tools for both the young and old within the surrounding community and Eco-region. Continuing our commitment to further education and knowledge of all aspects of environmental enhancement and conservation.
5. Keeping Invasive and Exotic Plants at Bay
The issue to remove and discard invasive and exotic plants is an important one in the fact that these non-native plants compete for the same nutrients and space as the desirable native plants. These plants alter the surrounding ecosystem that precludes the more valuable diverse native wildlife to thrive and flourish. The plants that would need to be removed or cut back will be addressed according to the particular indicated species and their affect on the ecosystem in which they inhabit. As with most invasive and exotic species, removal and disposal are difficult issues to resolve in that it is vital that they are discarded in a manner that will prevent them from reestablishing in a new location and spread further. Each isolated problem area will be assessed on an individual basis and solutions will be created to address the specific needs of each area.
6. Monitoring and Recovery Plan
It is imperative that goals correspond to the best available biological information. The values underlying the goals to be accepted by the conservation management team are:
- representing in protected areas all kinds of ecosystems, natural communities, across their natural rage of variation
- maintaining or restoring viable populations of all native species in natural patterns of distribution and abundance
- sustaining ecological and evolutionary processes within a natural (historic) range of variability
- the ability to interpret ecological problems; and
- being adaptable and resilient to a changing environment.
7. Education and Community Exchange
Education and community involvement are valued priorities for the Heernett Foundation in our long-term out-reach plan and goals. Having our properties available as successful models of adaptive conservation management is an important role that we must take seriously. Bringing in and teaching other individuals how to use current habitat management concepts and tools will help motivate and encourage private land owners within our landscape and Eco-region areas to practice the same types of methodology in wildlife conservation. These ideas and goals will assuredly benefit everyone who participates in these ideals as well as the surrounding wildlife.
Our Foundation's desire to incorporate large volumes of land, both private and commercial, into vast usable wildlife habitat is an achievable goal with vision, determination, and patients. Through collaborating with the local schools and community leaders, we can collectively create methods and projects that will involve the surrounding families and local patrons to contribute their own efforts in establishing a sustainable ecosystem in which we can all take pride in.
The ideal of Stewardship is a centuries old concept. The native Indians here in North America and around the world have been successfully managing their surrounding environment for hundreds of years. Redirecting and renewing old concepts can be an enlightening and valuable contribution to our future generations. Partaking in this adventure is an admirable and crucial role our Organization will gladly invest in.
Educating and presenting new and more efficient means of being environmentally conscious and will create the momentum needed to bring about an awakening to the young and old alike. The power of association is a mighty sword in which to fight battles of all kinds. To educate and develop individuals, who are knowledgeable about conservational practices that would be willing to discuss, share, and teach others how to have environmental awareness, would be the greatest influential tool we could dare to ask for. We all need to know and acknowledge the fact that we have be doing it wrong for centuries and that we need to change or methods and thoughts now, at this moment, to have any kind of hope for the future. We are all in this together, only as a collective force and collaborative mass of knowledge, willpower and action can we make a difference for out state, for our Nation, for our children.
Mission
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