Blue Mountain Habitat Restoration
Over 70 species of birds and wildlife choose
aspen and ponderosa pine stands as their preferred habitat. Yet because
of fire exclusion, grazing, and drought, aspen stands have declined by
as much as 95% over the last 150 years. Add past logging practices to
that list, and ponderosa pine have suffered as well.
Working with researchers, U.S. Forest Service and private landowners, Wallowa
Resources developed a program to restore aspen and ponderosa pine stands in
Wallowa County. Two main goals of the program are:
1) To create and maintain more natural conditions in currently degraded stands
of aspen and ponderosa pine through fence-building (to exclude herbivory) and/or
prescribed burning (to restore fire).
2) To assess avian community composition and habitat conditions in order to
measure the "success" of our restoration efforts throughout the decade (2000
- 2010).
This project is well underway. Site establishment, data
collection and restoration activities started in 2000 and have continued
to the present. The baseline assessment of avian community composition
and habitat conditions has been completed. Critical habitat restoration
activities, including fencing, vegetation management and prescribed burning,
have been completed across the study area. Learn More! 
Originally planned to last 10 years, this project has caught the attention of many partners. Plans are to continue restoration efforts into the future, expanding the project to other sites across the Blue Mountains .
Cost Share Program . Wallowa Resources offers a cost share program to help landowners protect aspen on their property. If you are interested in participating, please contact Brinda at WR: 541-426-4819
More about Blue Mountain Habitat Restoration
Site Selection. By mid-summer 2000,
eleven permanent study sites had been established in the study area:
five in aspen habitat and six in ponderosa pine habitat. During the 2001
season, a sixth aspen study site was added to the project. All sites
were located on Wallowa Whitman National Forest with the exception of
two aspen sites located on private property within the larger study area.
Site selection was jointly undertaken and agreed upon by Wallowa Resources,
USFS, and Sustainable Ecosystems Institute.
Data Collection. During the 2000-2001 avian breeding
season, the following field protocols were implemented:
• Point-count surveys to measure relative avian abundance;
• Nest searching and monitoring to measure fledging rates and nesting
success;
• Micro-habitat sampling around nests to describe nest-site characteristics;
• Habitat feature sampling at the site level to describe overall stand
structure and condition;
• Mist-netting and color banding to allow for re-sighting of individually-marked
birds; and,
• GPS coordinates of all point count stations, and photo points of
all sites.
During the 2002 field season, the sampling of habitat
features (protocol 4) was repeated to capture a third year of vegetation
data. This was completed in conjunction with fence monitoring and maintenance.
The combined bird-count data for the 2000 and 2001 field seasons' totals 3,234 individual birds representing 71 species in the aspen stands, and 3,026 birds representing 60 species in the pine stands. Nest search efforts yielded a total of 637 nests of 39 species in the aspen stands, and 179 nests of 24 species in the pine stands.
Data collection was coordinated and led by Sustainable Ecosystems Institute (SEI) under a sub-contract from Wallowa Resources. During both the 2001 and 2002 field seasons, Wallowa Resources supervised Oregon Youth Conservation Corps crews who participated in some of the vegetation sampling.
Restoration Activities. Restoration activities have taken place since 2000. As of April 2005, the combined activities have resulted in approximately 7.5 miles of exclosure fencing protecting over 125 acres of aspen plots, conifer removal at one aspen site (Target Springs) and 1,940 acres of prescribed burning of the ponderosa pine sites. Twelve landowners have participated in a cost-share program to restore aspen stands on their property.
 |
| A buck and pole fence surrounds an aspen stand on property belonging to the Marks family. The Marks were one of the first families to partner with WR to restore aspen on private land. As of spring 2005, twelve landowners have participated. |
Monitoring. Every Aspen site that has been protected is being monitored through data collection and photo points. Data is collected yearly and photos are taken every third year.
The Future. Wallowa Resources is committed to seeing this project through to the completion of the long-term research and restoration objectives. Continued support and participation is anticipated from the USFS and Idaho Partners in Flight. Critical steps include the annual assessment, maintenance and enhancement of site conditions - including fence maintenance, fence effectiveness, and habitat conditions. Repetition of avian and vegetation monitoring is planned for the 2005-2006 field seasons, and the 2010-2011 field seasons. Data analysis and reporting will be conducted after each of these monitoring events.
Wallowa Resources will also continue to respond to other private land interest in this work, and facilitate replication and expansion of this work as appropriate.
