Chapter 2—Planning for Restoration of Small Sites in Wilderness

• 2.2 Putting It All Together-Developing a Restoration Plan
  • 2.2.1 Considering the Time Required for Plant Propagation
  • 2.2.2 Research Opportunities
  • 2.2.3 Identifying Research Needs
• 2.3 Concluding Thoughts
  
  

2.2 Putting It All Together—Developing a Restoration Plan

Now that your team has considered all the options, it's time to develop a strategy likely to succeed at meeting wilderness goals and standards. In other words, your team determines the minimum tool based on step 2 of the Minimum Requirements Decision Guide. If you are completing an environmental assessment to comply with NEPA procedures, you will develop several alternatives (such as a no action alternative, a partial alternative, and a complete restoration alternative)—with each alternative being responsive in some way to the key issues identified during scoping.

The restoration plan includes pertinent wilderness goals from the land management plan or regulatory mandates and incorporates local concerns. The plan describes all the supporting actions to be taken as part of a holistic solution. These actions may include reducing use, furthering information and education programs, or recommending intensive site management techniques. An example of a good restoration plan is included in appendix D, Case Studies.

A restoration plan contains site-specific prescriptions for miniprojects that are linked to sites and trails numbered on a map (see figure 2-6). A specific prescription is developed for each miniproject, including the objective of the treatment, stabilization and site preparation treatments, soil treatments, vegetative treatments, and plant protection treatments. The needs for signs also are identified.

A project area map should show the location of specific action items, such as which trails and campsites are to be closed and which are to remain open. Sketch maps help show the design of each miniproject. For instance, a sketch map might show how a campsite could be reconfigured. Photos of each miniproject site (figure 2-22) can be included with the prescription and sketch map. Provide enough detail that a new crewleader could implement the prescription successfully.

Figure 2-22—If a site is discontinuous, identify each of
the sections to be treated. For example, the area above
the trail could be identified as site F-1 and the area
below the trail as site F-2.

Locations of suitable native materials, such as rocks and downed logs, are mentioned in the plan. Note potential sources of local fill material, topsoil, and organic matter. Strategies for rehabilitating borrow areas are addressed.

The restoration plan also addresses the best management practices for protecting wilderness resource concerns. Examples of best management practices include:

• Measures for preventing the introduction of noxious weeds, pests, or diseases
  
  
• Protocols for maintaining the genetic integrity and diversity of plant communities when collecting plant materials for the project

Select the best management practices that are responsive to the minimum tool requirement, answering the question, "What operating requirements will minimize impacts?"

Safety concerns also should be engineered into the project. What tools, supplies, personal protective equipment, and work procedures will reduce exposure to illness or accidents? How will the crew communicate if a problem occurs? Consider the logistics of an evacuation, should one be needed. Develop or revise a safety plan and job hazard analysis. Job hazards specific to restoration work include back strain (figure 2-23), knee strain, wrist fatigue, injuries related to walking, and dirt that can get into your eyes. Exposure to environmental factors becomes more prolonged because the work keeps you in one place. Consider the effects of sun, heat, cold, precipitation, and biting insects.

Figure 2-23—Lift with your legs, not with your back!
Plan restoration projects with safety in mind.

The restoration plan may include cost estimates and potential labor sources. For logistical planning, it is helpful to include specific information, such as the length and width of each miniproject, and estimates of any materials needed; the numbers of checkdams and their sizes, the amount of fill material needed, the estimated number of plants needed (by species), the amount of erosion-control blanket needed, and the number of signs that might be needed. Such detailed estimates will take much of the guesswork out of purchasing supplies, growing plants, and determining whether adequate native materials are available at the project location.

It is helpful to identify in advance where workers will camp (figure 2-24a), and any supplies they will need. If workers will stay at the area for days or weeks, determine how to arrange for food storage, water treatment and storage, and warm clothing and bedding. Careful planning will prevent further damage to vegetation. It is also important to identify a staging area where tools, supplies, and plant materials can be stored (figure 2-24b). If transplants remain in containers for more than a couple of days, they will need to be watered. If the staging area is not near water, you may need to provide water with a gravity feed system, or use another system to provide water.

Figures 2-24a and 24b—Select camping (top) and staging
(bottom) areas that can absorb the wear and tear of crew traffic.

The restoration plan may consider a phased-in approach, treating the less stable or more highly visible problems first. This is especially important when the project is not fully funded, or when all the work cannot be completed at once.

The restoration plan should include an information plan. Site-specific signs are one means of providing information, but other means may be needed to gain the support and cooperation of area users. The different ways of gaining support and cooperation are considered in more detail in chapter 4.

Training needs can be included in the restoration plan. Restoration training (workshops or on-the-job training) and certification may be needed before some measures can be implemented. Include training as part of project costs.

The plan needs to include a format for documenting accomplished work and a monitoring plan. Ongoing maintenance requirements also are addressed. Refer to chapter 4, Restoration Program Development and Support, for additional suggestions.

Using the NEPA process, you now have a preferred alternative that will be sent out with the additional alternatives for public comment. Or, if your decision falls under the criteria for a categorical exclusion (from further documentation in an environmental assessment), you have formulated your decision (provided, of course, that the decisionmaker approves). Any further analyses, such as biological assessments (sometimes required for compliance with the Endangered Species Act) or cultural resource reports, are finalized. Formal concurrences are obtained from other agencies before the decision document is signed.

2.2.1 Considering the Time Required for Plant Propagation

Restoration projects take at least 3 years (Hanbey 1992). The first year is for completing the site assessment, formulating a restoration plan, reaching a NEPA decision, and for collecting plant material used for propagation. The second year is for implementation of management strategies, including site treatments. The third year is for maintenance of the project, including any watering, signing, and initial adjustments. Each step may take much longer.

Project implementation often takes place over the course of several years or even longer. For example, at Paradise Meadows in Mt. Rainier National Park restoration treatments have been ongoing for decades because of the challenges of managing millions of visitors in a fragile subalpine setting. The maintenance phase extends into the future, because restoration projects are a long-term commitment. Monitoring may continue over many years.

So where does collecting and propagating plant material fit in this schedule? If you have a guarantee of project funding for a multiple-year project, you may hedge your bets and collect plant material as part of the site assessment during the first year. Unfortunately, this puts the cart before the horse—you haven't even determined whether restoration will be included in the preferred alternative.

If you are collecting seed, this is really no big deal; seed is easy to collect for small-scale projects. Refer to section 3.10.8, Working With Seed, to learn how to collect and store seed properly. Once funding is secured, you can arrange for plants to be grown from seed, keeping in mind that it takes at least 6 months to produce transplant-sized stock (figure 2-26). Any cuttings you collect will need to be transported to a grower immediately. Some trees and shrubs are best planted as larger stock, which may take several years to grow.

Figure 2-26-Sedges and grasses were planted during the fall
in the greenhouse at North Cascades National Park, WA.
They were transplanted nearly a year later.

If you are unsure of project funding, collect seed during the planning phase and store it. If the project is funded, deliver the seed to a grower with a goal of planting seedlings during the second year. Collect cuttings during the second year. During the third year, plants grown from cuttings would be interplanted with seedlings planted during the second year. You could obligate money for the third year's work during the second year with a small contract to cover the cost out of the second year's funds.

Plant storage also requires attention to timing. Your grower may have plants ready before you are able to plant. If so, arrangements must be made for plant care and storage.

2.2.2 Research Opportunities

Early in the planning process, it is worth discussing whether your project might provide opportunities for research. While a large body of research exists on restoration, there is still much to learn, especially with restoration in our remote and fragile wilderness environments.

Including a research element in the project design could change your project. For example, a research design might need to be laid out in defined plots (figure 2-27) that may not meet visual objectives. A certain number of replicates will be needed, requiring treated areas to be as similar as possible. This could require restoration sites to be selected based on research needs rather than recreation management objectives.

Figure 2-27-This restoration research design studied
seedling emergence using five different site treatments
in 10.76-square-foot (1-square-meter) cells.

Research will require some areas to be marked, at least temporarily. Incorporating research objectives might require additional funding. And finally, because research may require different treatments to be compared, some treatments may fail or be significantly less successful than accepted restoration treatments.

Research projects require further consideration of the minimum requirement and minimum tool process. Can the research take place outside of wilderness? If not, will the knowledge gained by the research further the purposes of wilderness? And, if research will be conducted in wilderness, how can the project be designed to accomplish research objectives while minimizing permanent or temporary impact to the wilderness environment.

Even if you don't incorporate formal research in your project, it is important to experiment with different species, new products, or different techniques on some portion of your project. Be sure to share your findings, so the art and science of restoration will continue to develop.

2.2.3 Identifying Research Needs

What are the limiting factors to successful restoration in your environment? What are the potential detrimental effects of restoration? The following suggestions may generate additional research questions (Rochefort 1990, Juelson 2001). Also refer to appendix A, Treatments To Manage Factors Limiting Restoration, as a source of ideas for research or experimentation.

• Water Limitations—Many plantings fail because of seasonally dry conditions. Regular watering programs usually are not feasible and cost effective on remote sites. Experimentation with techniques to improve water availability (figure 2-29) for plants would be a worthwhile research endeavor.

Figure 2-29-Coauthors David Cole (far left) and Vic Claassen
(far right) assess water availability on a dry site with wilderness
rangers T.J. Broom (in Forest Service jacket) and Gabe Snider.

• Soil Treatments—Research is needed to determine which techniques can be used to restore native soil characteristics, benefiting vegetative recovery. Treatments might address problems caused by compaction or missing organic layers and consider whether soil amendments and reestablishment of soil organisms would help solve such problems.
  
  
• Plant Genetic Diversity—Research is needed to identify the genetic characteristics of plant species used for restoration. This research will be used to determine scientifically the proper distances for gathering plant materials when treating a restoration site.
  
  
• Plant Propagation—Research is needed to determine how to propagate species that lack propagation protocols or that are difficult to propagate.
  
  
• Species Introductions—Restoration projects risk introducing organisms that are not indigenous to the local area. When a site is treated, little is known about the presence of such organisms and whether they will survive in the wild. Such organisms could be in imported soil, soil amendments, or plant materials. Examples of such organisms include soil or plant pathogens, soil micro-organisms, plant seeds, plant or fungal spores, and insects.

2.3 Concluding Thoughts

Good restoration planning takes time. Your team will want to be clear on what needs fixing, why it is broken, and the best methods for repair. Your aim should be to design an integrated sustainable solution that is compatible with management objectives. Adjustments can be made over time as results are monitored.