The management plan aims to (1) maintain natural beauty and biodiversity while minimizing fire risk and allowing recreation, (2) be financially self-sustaining through timber sales, and (3) assess the forest over 20 years to prioritize upgrades. Field assessments identified trees by species, size, height and density using various sampling methods to understand stand structure, fuel loads, and regeneration. Project upgrades will be limited by harvest revenues and may require multiple cycles to complete.
1. Management Plan for Edgewood Quarter
Produced for a homeowners’ association by Unregistered Amateur Foresters (UAFs) Andrew
Gonzales, Ribka Tanzil, Abby Runté and Allie Loux
2.
3. Objectives and constraints
Homeowner goals:
- maintain natural beauty and tree species
diversity
- minimize fire risk to nearby homes
- maintain habitats for diverse wildlife
● special consideration for songbirds
- allow for hiking and horseback riding
trails
Project constraints:
- management cost needs to be covered
by harvested timber
- may limit number of recommended
upgrades possible per harvest, some
projects may have to wait for next
management assessment (20 years)
4. Assessment Methods
● Saplings
○ Criteria : < 2”DBH + ≥1-ft tall identifiable species
○ Range : within the 1/1000 = ~3-ft radial plot
● Small Trees : Spp, DBH, Total Ht., HtCB for all trees
○ Criteria : ≥ 2” - 10” DBH
○ Range : 1/100 acre (=11.7-ft radial plot)
● LARGE Trees: Spp, DBH, Total Ht., HtCB for all trees
○ Criteria : > 2” - 10” DBH & shooting/ looking for 8-10 in-trees
○ Using PRISM (either BAF25 or BAF40)
● Fuel load
quarter section in the Meadow Valley area, NW ¼ of Section 25 T24N R8E MDBM, encompassing 160 acres.
minimize fire risk to the 42 ½ acre homes that are clustered around the outer east side of this parcel, to maintain the scenic beauty and habitats for the maximum number of wildlife species with special attention to songbirds, and to allow for hiking and horseback riding trails throughout the property.
One significant constraint is that the Homeowners’ Association wishes to cover the cost of this property management by the income generated by timber harvested during the management process.
Ribka: INVENTORY METHODS/ things we do out in the field:
Record Regeneration by Tallying all Saplings
Criteria : < 2”DBH + ≥1-ft tall identifiable species)!!!
Range : within the 1/1000 = ~3-ft radial plot
Record data for small Trees: Spp, DBH, Total Ht., HtCB for all trees
Criteria : ≥ 2” - 10” DBH
Range : 1/100 acre (=11.7-ft radial plot)
Record data for LARGE Trees: Spp, DBH, Total Ht., HtCB for all trees
Criteria : > 2” - 10” DBH & shooting/ looking for 8-10 in-trees
using PRISM (either BAF25 or BAF40)
Fuel load
Ribka: Introducing the 160-acre inventory plot!!!
5 different identified stand types, but all of the 20 plots are located within the 3 stand types → SHOW ABBY’S MAP, MAYBE???
Dense = 96 acres (13 out of 20 plots)
Thinned = 25.1 acres (4 out of 20 plots)
Regeneration = 19.2 acres (3 out of 20 plots)
Meadow = 8.64 acres (0 out of 20 plots)
Serpentine = 11.2 acres (0 out of 20 plots)
Ribka: Average Diameter of each Species in the 3 different Stand Types
DENSE = avg. DBH of PP is 38.6” (DOMINANT) → SO, did find a pretty big PP!!!! (even though only a few them exist in this Dense stand)
Largest & Tallest PP = 57” DBH & 184-ft tall
DENSE = avg. DBH of DF is 11.7”
QMD obtained from FORSEE’s Stocking-Current Status
Ribka: the # of LARGE trees inventoried/ recorded within each stand type & sorted by species (total of 20 plots)
DENSE = > 35 DF found in the overall 13 plots → QMD of DF = ~10”
notice: keeping the SNAGS for the sake of wildlife habitat
Total # of trees (of all size) counted in all 20 plots (160acres) = 165 (all tree sizes + including 10 snags)
numbers obtained from summing all the # of trees recorded from all plots (sorted by the plot’s stand type)
Ribka: the # of SMALL trees recorded within each stand type & sorted by species
difference: presence of Black Oak!! (only found 1 tree in Dense stand & 1 tree in the Regen stand)
Total # of trees of all size in 160 acres (all of the 20 plots) = 165
large trees = 113 counted
snags = 10 counted
small trees = 42 counted
Ribka
A vast majority of the advance regenerating trees are white fir and Douglas-fir because they are much more shade tolerant than the pine species. However, many of the white fir trees are infected with dwarf mistletoe and are not growing very well due to the structurally debilitating canker wounds.
Ribka
Ribka: % cover is measured to the closest 5% increment
some spp. do NOT show up, since the % cover is <5% (e.g.: Thimbleberry and dogbane)
Most of the species grow low to the ground, getting up only 1 or two feet into the understory, but Pacific dogwood and deer brush both can grow very tall. Both of these species are also very palatable to foraging species and provide a large food source both within and outside the confines of the dense stand.
Potential thinning of the stands could encourage growth of many of these species. Wood rose readily grows in open stands and continues growing in the understory. It may also encourage the ingrowth of deer brush into the opened stands from peripheral shrub patches. The regeneration patch is completely overgrown with deer brush, but a more balanced distribution of the species across the landscape may yield healthier growth patterns.
Ribka: average height is measure to the closest .5-ft increment
e.g.: 0.61 ft → counted as: 0.5-ft
Thimbleberry and dogbane are shown in the average height table but not the percent cover category because all inventoried specimens are calculated to the closest 5% cover. This shows that the ground cover of each of these species is very small, but the height is great enough to rank within the height classes we have outlined.
