Sierra Nevada Aquatic Research Laboratory

30 Jun, 05 PM - 29 Jun, 05 PM

Project # HDF-03 Title: Stream condition inventory and macroinvertebrate bioassessment of stream-reaches in grazed and presently ungrazed portions of the Golden Trout Wilderness Collaborators and affiliations: Hugh Safford, US Forest Service Region 5 ecologist Project duration: 07/01/04 to 09/30/05 Funding - $17,118 US Forest Service; and $40,459 Cal Dept Fish & Game Award # SB040105 Summary: In February, 2001, the Mt. Whitney District Ranger signed a Decision Notice approving rest from grazing on the Whitney and Templeton Allotments in the Golden Trout Wilderness (GTW), Inyo National Forest. The decision was appealed but upheld after review by the Deputy Regional Forester for Resources, Bernie Weingardt. In his decision, the Deputy RF directed that a monitoring plan be developed in consultation with interested parties. The DRF found that there was ?insufficient support for the conclusions related to?effects on invertebrate species,? and that ??there are some gaps in our knowledge regarding the rate of recovery of the meadow and riparian areas (including Golden Trout habitat).? The DRF instructed that the monitoring plan should use the currently rested (Whitney and Templeton) and currently grazed (Mulkey and Monache) allotments in a comparative fashion, to monitor trend within both areas, as well as to determine the effectiveness of the Inyo NF LRMP Amendment #6 grazing standards. Under the DRF?s judgement, the District decision to rest the Whitney and Templeton Allotments will stand until an ID-Team recommends a new proposed action based on the results of the mandated monitoring. In response to the DRF?s judgement, the Inyo National Forest developed a monitoring plan with the following basic objectives: (1) To compare grazed and ungrazed areas to determine if there is a difference in ?rate of change toward improved riparian habitat conditions? (i.e. is the trajectory different in the two blocks) in the riparian meadow environment and in the stream/aquatic environment. (2) To compare grazed and ungrazed areas to determine if there is a difference in ?rate of change in erosion features? (i.e. are the sources/causes of excessive sedimentation in grazed areas?) (3) Based on 1 and 2, to determine whether maintaining grazing on the rested allotments could have achieved adequate progress toward the desired conditions (watershed function and aquatic habitat) The Inyo National Forest has embarked on a multi-year monitoring program of these key areas to provide information necessary to answer the question posed in Objective 3 above. The final (July, 2003) GTW monitoring plan is based primarily on resampling of ?key area? legacy monitoring sites, and focuses on four key resources: stream condition, stream invertebrate fauna, riparian meadow condition, and erosional feaures. ?Key areas? are sites that have been identified as most likely to rapidly and reliably respond to changed conditions (i.e. the removal of grazing). The use of a few key areas rather than many randomly chosen sites is based on the need to maximize time- and cost-efficiency (since subjectively identified key areas provide more reliable trend data than randomly chosen areas). A staggered design is being employed, in which key areas are not sampled every year, but rather in a serially alternating fashion over a number of years. This sampling design, necessitated by constraints in budgets and staffing, will provide adequate information to support a final District decision on the GTW allotments. At the same time, the political and ecological sensitivity of the situation in the GTW (grazing, wilderness, the California State fish, etc.) recommends a more in-depth and more independent assessment of grazing impacts on GTW ecosystems. To this end, the Forest Service has teamed with CalTrout/Orvis and the California Department of Fish and Game to support an independent and objective effort by the University of California?s Sierra Nevada Aquatic Research Lab (SNARL) to assess stream condition and trend and their links to grazing in the Golden Trout Wilderness. The SNARL study will sample all of the Forest Service?s legacy stream condition sites in both grazed and ungrazed allotments within the GTW, adding new sites to balance the statistical design, and adding control sites in grazing exclosures and in Sequoia National Park. All sites, between 40 and 50 in all, will be sampled in the same year, thus avoiding the confounding effects that interannual variability in climate invariably introduces into annually staggered sampling designs. The resulting database will be analyzed by SNARL and will provide an independent assessment of the impacts of grazing on stream condition in the GTW. It will also provide a baseline for future monitoring. Although funding has not yet been identified, the plan is to repeat this independent effort in 2009 and again in 2014 so as to develop a long-term picture of trends in stream condition and the stream invertebrate fauna in grazed and ungrazed areas within in the GTW.

Visit #6101 @Sierra Nevada Aquatic Research Laboratory

Approved

Under Project # 843 | Research

Development of Biological Criteria for Assessing Stream Water Quality

research_scientist - University of California, Santa Barbara

Reservation Members(s)

David Herbst Jun 30, 2004 - Jun 29, 2005 (365 days)
David Herbst Jun 30, 2004 - Jun 29, 2005 (365 days)

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Lab 1 2 Jun 30, 2004 - Jun 29, 2005