Clearwater Basin Collaborative

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

2. 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?

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

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

6. Forests are dynamic Photo: John Marshall

7. Low Severity Forests • Frequent, low severity fire • Low elevations, dry sites

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

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

11. Multiple tools Photo: John Marshall

12. Western White Pine

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

14. 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

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

16. Clearwater Basin - “Sub-basins”

17. Clearwater Basin Forest Types

18. Forest Structure Departure

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

22. 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!

23. Growth with fire: Growth but maintain moderately open canopy • Growth without fire:Growth with closed canopy

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

27. Large Fire Probability

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

29. ‘02-’09 Bark Beetles

30. 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

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

33. “Tale of Two Sub-basins”

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

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

39. 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

40. Photo: William H. Mullins 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

41. 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

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

43. Photo: William H. Mullins CBC VOTE 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.

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

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

47. Upper North Fork South Fork