Mt. Trumbull ecosystem restoration project : annual report for the year, October 1, 1998 to September 30, 1999

42 Pages·1999·5.3 MB·English

by  Northern Arizona University

BLM LIBRARY
88068550
TRUMBULL ECOSYSTEM
MT.
RESTORATION PROJECT
Annual Report for the Year
October 1998 to September 30, 1999
1,
Submitted to:
Bureau of Land Management
Arizona Strip District
Prepared by:
Ecological Restoration Program
Northern Arizona University
College of Ecosystem Science and Management
School of Forestry
W. Wallace Covington, Principal Investigator
Amy
Compiled by Waltz
September 30, 1999
QH
104.5
.S6
M78
1999

TRUMBULL ECOSYSTEM
MT.
RESTORATION PROJECT
Annual Report for the Year
October 1, 1998 to September 30, 1999
Photos takenfrom apermanentphotopointin thefirst unit atMt. TnmbuUto be treatedmth a restorationprescription (96-1).
A
Trees mere thinnedto restorepresettlementforeststructure, andthe unit was burnedinprescription in October 1996. year
anda halfafterthe bum, grasses andwildfiowers have begun to come in. Researchers arefollowing successionalchangesin the
herbaceous community.
Submitted to:
Bureau ofLand Management
Arizona Strip District
Prepared by:
Ecological Restoration Program
Northern lArizona University
College of Ecosystem Science and Management
School of Forestry
W. Wallace Covington, Principal Investigator
Amy
Compiled by Waltz
September 30, 1999

TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1
INTRODUCTION
2
RESEARCH PROJECTS
3
EcologicalRestoration ofMt. Trumbullwilderness: 3
1.
Mt. Trumbull Wilderness Restoration Collaboration 3
Mt. Logan Wilderness Restoration Study 3
A Potential Wilderness Treatment: Restoration Without Wood Removal 4
2. Landscape Analysis and Ecosystem Patterns: 4
Initial TreatmentArea: Post-Treatment Ecosystem Monitoring 4
Experimental Block Study 5
Fire History 5
Dendroclimatic Reconstruction 6
High Intensity Fire Study 6
Indigenous Land Management Practices 7
Fire ecology andforest structure in northern Mexico 7
Modeling Forest Structural Change 8
Soil Characterization 8
3. Vegetation Response: 9
Alternative Fuel Treatment Study 9
Mullein (Verbascum thapsus) Removal Treatment 9
The Soil Seed Bank: Implicationsfor Ecological Restoration 10
Presettlement Ponderosa Pine Community Persistence and Stability 10
Effect ofThinning and Sprouting on Gambel Oak (Quercus gambelii) 10
4. Arthropod, Avian and MammalResponse: 10
Butterfly Response to Ecosystem Restoration .10
Responses ofBirds to Edges Created by Restoration 11
Impacts ofEdges Created by Restoration Treatments 11
Habitat relationships ofthe Kaibab squirrel and other sciurids 12
Response ofsmall mammal communities and Sin Nombre virus 12
PAPERS AND PRESENTATIONS
13
LOOKING FORWARD
15
OUTREACH
15
CONTRIBUTORS
17
SPECIAL THANKS
17
II
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Mt. Trumbull Resource Conservation ponderosa pine to different fuel treatments.
Area is typical ofmost ponderosa pine forests Abiotic measurements were completed pre-
in the Southwest. Fire exclusion, grazing and and post-thinning.
logging have caused contemporary forests to
become dense with stressed trees, at the After further restoration treatments, the
expense of the once diverse grass and herbaceous, arthropod, avian and mammal
wildflower community. Instead ofthe low populations will be remeasured to assess their
intensity ground fires that burned every 3-5 responses to ecosystem restoration. Tins
years prior to Euro-i\merican settlement, large, integrative study is possible only
current fuel loads threaten to support stand- tlirough the cooperation ofland managing
replacing crown fires. These unnatural agencies and the university and agency
conditions are not sustainable; active researchers, and will result in an intensive,
restoration is needed to reset the ecosystem comprehensive study ofecosystem restoration
on Its natural trajectory. on a landscape scale.
The project to restore Mt. Tmmbull forest to
conditions similar to those prior to Euro-
American settlement continues at Mt.
Tmmbull. This multi-disciplinary project is
jointly sponsored by the Arizona Strip District
Bureau of Land Management, Northern
Arizona University and the Arizona Game
and Fish Department.
Forests are being thinned to emulate pre
Euro-American settlement tree densities,
resulting in open forest stands dominated by
large, old trees. Once the landscape is
returned to presettlement-like stmcture, low
intensity fire can be reintroduced to the site.
The understory will then have a chance to Grasses andan elderberry bush establishedreadily in the
return, resulting in a diversity ofwildflowers seededLava Unit (96-1). This unit was burnedin
and grasses. October 1996. Aftera wet 1999 monsoon season,flower
andgrass density increased.
Researchers continued to examine current
forest and vegetation conditions, as well as
current arthropod, small mammal, and avian
populations at the Mt. Tmmbull Ecosystem
Restoration Project site in 1999. Vegetative
remonitoring was completed in 1999 in the
Lava Unit, Trick Tank Unit and a minimal
thinning unit. In addition, the artliropod,
mammal and avian studies examined potential
reference conditions, micro-habitat use and
edge-effects while completing the pre-
treatment phase ofmonitoring.
New projects initiated included studies of
mullein removal treatments, and response of
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INTRODUCTION
This document is the fourth annual report on the status of the southwestern ecological restoration
project at Mt. Trumbull, Ari2ona. The Mt. Trumbull ecosystem restoration project is a mulridisciphnan’
project joindy sponsored by the Ari2ona Stnp District Bureau of Land Management, Northern Arizona
Umversity, and the Arizona Game and Fish Department. The project goal is adaptive ecosystem
restoration of southwestern ponderosa pine ecosystems to their pre Euro-Amencan settlement conditions:
open forest stands dominated by large, old trees above a rich, diverse understory of native grasses and
wildflowers, maintained by frequent, low-mtensity fixes.
m
Featured in this report is the coordinated movement towards restoration designated wilderness
areas. Researchers, land managers, and the pubhc wiU all have important contributions to this new phase
m
ecological restoration. In addition, the coordination and collaboration that has always been a large
component of this project will be highlighted.
This report wiU summarize Northern Arizona Umversity’s progress in the 1999 fiscal year on the
project, including the 1999 research field season. It does not dupheate data presented in other Bureau of
Land Management reports. For definitions of terms and research design, please refer to the 1996 Mt.
TnimbuU Ecosystem Restoration Project Annual Report. For prelirmnary analyses of data on ecosystem
structure and composition, please refer to the Mt. TrumbuU Ecosystem Restoration Project Progress
Report (April 1997) or the Changes in Ponderosa Pme Forests of the Mt. Logan wilderness (May 1998 and
http:/ WWW.for.nau.edu/ecorest).
In this 1999 annual report, research projects are organized into four groups. The first group mcludes
the projects focused on wilderness restoration, mcluding the recent coUaboration to exarmne restoration
options on Mt. TnimbuU. The second group exarmnes landscape level research projects, mcludmg the
momtormg plot project designed to evaluate the effects of the restoration on the Mt. TrumbuU ecosystem.
Other projects foUowing this headmg are also large-scale and should help elucidate ecosystem patterns.
The third group is the vegetation response studies. This group mcludes projects studymg specific
vegetational responses to the restoration treatment, such as ponderosa pine growth response to different
fuel treatments, the effectiveness of different muUem removal methods, and the herbaceous (grasses and
flowers) response. The fourth group is the arthropod, mammal and avian response, projects exarnining
taxonomic groups at higher trophic levels, mcludmg butterflies (arthropods), mammals and birds. By
focusmg on several specific groups withm the ecosystem, we develop a better understandmg of ecosystem
structure and function. These studies developed by NAU, BLM and Arizona Game and Fish researchers
provide the most intensive study ofecosystem functionmg in an ecological restoration context to date.
Many of the miual projects highUghtcd in previous reports have been completed. In Ueu of a
summary, a reference to the location of the final reports has been Usted. At the end of the report, we have
also mcluded a comprehensive Ust of pubUcations, presentations and graduate theses and dissertations that
have been produced with the support ofthe Mt. TrumbuU project.
DetaUed sections on the ecosystem monitormg plot progress, the fire history studies, the
passerme bird smdies, and other ongoing and imtial research projects foUow. Because most of the data
coUected in the 1999 field season is stiU bemg analyzed, this document serves primarUy to present a
summar}' of work accompUshed. DetaUed analysis of the 1999 coUected data wiU be mcluded m
subsequent annual reports, pubUcations and/or theses.
9
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