Action Items

Consensus Briefing Statement

One or two page statement, designed for management.

Should have meaningful graphics.

Boiler Plate statement as to where this statement comes from.

Limit to 3 or 4 key issues that can be addressed given limited time and funding.

These are due 30 days before the meeting.

Assignments (Same as Nov. 9, 1999 White paper assignments)

    Disrupted Fire - Nate Stephenson, Scott Stephens

    Air Pollutions - Annie Esperanza, Trent Proctor

    Gene Pollution - Bill Libby, Debbie Rogers

    Climatic Change - Nate Stephenson, Bill Libby

    Disrupted hydrology - Jim Borders (should this be Boachers?)

    Invasive (including pathogens) - Doug Piirto

    Habitat impacts - direct - ???

    Habitat fragmentation - ???

Dave Dulitz - Mountain Home State Forest

Two publications at printer

Commercial Thinning to reduce fire hazard documents cost and fuel reduction achievements.

Remeasurement of growth plots from the 1950Õs -growth of dense giant sequoia stands. Giant sequoia can grow at very high density.

Marti Harris - Save the Redwoods League

Creating a central place for contacts and access web site, including a calendar section, searchable annotated bibliography with hyperlinks, and a collection of complete data on large tree failure rates. The site needs a home and continuing support for web maintenance and development.

Bill Libby - Univ. of Calif.

Field Trip

Placer Grove as good place to discuss issues common to giant sequoia groves

It features several levels of genetic variability along with pure stands of giant sequoia vs. sequoia with mixed species, and giant sequoia in association with manzanita.

White Papers

Nate Stephenson - USGS

Planning for the effects of Global Change on Sierra Nevada Ecosystems

A book on global change in forests of Sierra Nevada is in production. It will discuss:

The physical environment over space and time

Disturbance variations over space and time (fire).

Forest processes over space and time

Discussion arose regarding the relationship of Giant Sequoia Coop with Monument

Gail Parn - USFS

Placer grove is not included in the monument

An inventory report was distributed

A fuels management report distributed

There is a need for a management plan for the Placer Grove - there has been very little management in the grove

Forks House Grove -

1914 non-local planting of giant sequoia - some thinning is occurring for fire protection and esthetics.

Tom Henry - USFS

Seven inventory reports available now (ask Lou Jump).

Cooperating with Mountain Home and BLM for watershed inventories.

Monument

Formation of the monument was a 60 day process

There are 350,000 acres with 30,000 in the watershed influence zone.

He distributed a handout that describes the Monument -

There is 3 year window for creation of a management plan, but currently no money to produce the plan.

Most uses are expected to continue under present management.

Monument lands will be withdrawn from commercial timber base.

Management plan will look at permitted activities from the monument and influences on the groves. New standards and guidelines will influence future permitting.

Science Advisory Board -

The National Academy of Science will help set up a Science Advisory Board.

An across the board panel 5-7 expected. Lots of questions yet to be answered - if you are interested, put together a letter and resume and send to Secretary.

There are issues of transitioning even-aged stands to uneven-aged.

The USFS will bring in the public to define desired conditions in the Monument anticipating large numbers of people (700-800 expected at meetings).

Management shifting from forest to recreational management.

Relationship to President BushÕs proclamation - largely overlaid by Monument Proclamation, the applicability of Mediated Settlement Agreement is in question. This will probably be addressed in Monument Management Plan.

Other issues will be addressed in Sierra Nevada Framework.

Concern was expressed regarding the impacts on in-holdings like Mountain Home State Forest. We expect increased recreational use and increase scrutiny of practices - and lots of unknowns. Concern that decline in timber flow will cause loss of mills which may reduce management options.

Commercial logging - will mechanical methods to preserve grove cause products to flow off of Monument.

Coop - officially ends Sept. 30 needs renewal or to end

The University would like coop to continue - the Monument adds one more entity with different goals and objectives that need to be dealt with. The Monument may become a signatory.

USPS - The Coop needs to set direction and show products. Will the coop fill the Science Advisory Board role? The white Papers key to outreach and tools for teaching.

Doug Piirto representing Cal Poly feels that coop should continue - need a chair to set agenda to move membership forward and assure that assignments are finished.

Save the Redwoods League proposed to be signatory to the Coop - may be some legal issues to consider under Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA).

Coop is to provide information for managers - not advisory.

BLM supports Coop and wishes it to continue.

There was a suggestion to expand the Coop to address issues pertaining to giant sequoia in managed stands outside of native groves.

We should document achievements.

A simple renewal may be more practical - if the coop wants to change the charter, add organizations, that should be explored later.

Jeff Manley USPS

New visitor center at Giant Forest will open in spring

All trees in the restored grove are planted.

Restoration sites will be monitored .

Nova and other film crews will be filming some burning projects.

Grant Grove - the significant tussock moth outbreak will lead to hazard tree removal timber sales. The environmental assessment showed that the public did not want control, rather mitigations of hazard following the outbreak.

Fire Management plan - Regarding prescribed burning in an around sequoia groves, we are looking at mechanical methods because of air quality concerns.

Setting up an inventory monitoring network with Yosemite and DevilÕs Postpile - with web site for dissemination.

Expect a major revamp of fire and fire ecology web sites.

Russ Lewis BLM

Case Mountain - 1999 Accomplishments.

Completed hydrological inventory.

Completed riparian condition inventory.

Cooperative agreement with private landowner to conduct research.

PSW conducted martin and fisher survey but neither martin nor fishers were found.

Inventory of all sequoias 225 3Õ-16Õ in diameter were located with GPS and mapped.

Developed a slide presentation and public tours.

Case Mountain Plans for 2000.

Geological inventory.

Fuels reduction - inventory - pulling slash from specimen trees and disburse.

Continue of inventory on private lands.

Integrated resources inventory.

Public tours and research camp..

Scott Stevens UCB

A part of the nationwide fire and fire surrogates study will be installed at Blodgett Forest Research Station this summer.

Doug Piirto - Cal Poly

Canopy gaps for redwood mountain and Converse Basin mapped should be available this summer as a thesis.

Frieder Schurr - BFRS

Whitakers Forest

Full inventory conducted in summer 1999.

All old growth stumps and standing old growth tree were enumerated, and mapped with GPS.

223 Old Growth giant sequoia

349 Stumps from 1870Õs regeneration

Question of ÒAncientÓ vs. young growth

BFRS uses bark and branch characteristics to separate ancient from young growth. Young growth is regeneration resulting from the 19870Õs harvest or later.

Jim Boachers USGS Hydrology

Early studies incorrectly classified giant sequoia as phreatophytes and hydric communities.

Ground water flow systems may be important to presence of giant sequoia groves, but this is speculative and not well studied and difficult to assess.

Topographic flow accumulation associated with catchment and larger scale is important variable.

Possibility of nested ground water flow systems - may be important in giant sequoia location.

At Case Mountain they mapped streams and seeps looking at water chemistry to get an idea of the age of the water.

Use of daily stream flow differences and conductance can tell you a lot about subsurface flow - but need base line information.

Group Opening Size Research Study

Circular group openings of .25, .75, 1.5, and 2.5 acres were planted with ponderosa pine, Douglas-fir, sugar pine, incense cedar, white fir, and giant sequoia, on north/south and east/west transects in an 80 year old naturally regenerated Sierra mixed conifer stands at Blodgett Forest.

By age 3 giant sequoia are tallest and incense cedars come close.

Incense cedar and giant sequoia grow slightly larger in larger openings.

There is little difference in distance to edge at this time except for the average tree or largest trees. The smallest trees are clustered near the edge.

In the smallest opening largest trees clustered to the north edge

Sunlight is not limiting in 3/4 acre openings and up.

There is a 40% net increase in incense cedar protected from deer browsing

Compartment 451 Group Selection

Giant sequoia by age 28 are up to 80Õ in height and up to 27Ó diameter with very little mortality at tight spacings.

In the closest spacing (6 X 6Õ) trees average 6Ó in diameter.

Giant Sequoia Spacing Trial

Decreasing density increase both diameter and height growth.

Diameter growth is initiated 4-6 weeks earlier than height growth.

Giant sequoia initiates growth just as soon as conditions permit, and will end growth when conditions are no longer favorable - in contrast to other conifers largely reliant on photo period.

Soil moisture is likely the limiting factor.

By age 10 Height ranges from 13.4Õ to 22.2Õ, DBH ranges from 3.4Ó to 7.4Ó

Giant Sequoia will translocate nutrients from the foliage to the trunk and root system during the winter months and return it to the foliage during the growing season. When nutrients are tranlocated in the trunk, the foliage takes on a golden appearance.

Giant sequoia appears to occupy all of the available growing space, even at the widest spacing.

Available phosphorus may be a limiting factor at higher density about 7X7Õ hexagonal.

White Papers Bill Libby - presented his White Papers on Global Climate Change which should be consulted for details.

Giant sequoia needs to be considered in Millennial terms.

Discussion followed on wording of the climate change direction, science, and politics reported.

One or two page statement, designed for management.

Should have meaningful graphics.

Boiler Plate statement as to where this statement comes from.

Limit to 3 or 4 key issues that can be addressed given limited time and funding.

These are due 30 days before the meeting.

Assignments (Same as Nov. 9, 1999 White paper assignments)

Disrupted Fire - Nate Stephenson, Scott Stephens

Air Pollutions - Annie Esperanza, Trent Proctor

Gene Pollution - Bill Libby, Debbie Rogers

Climatic Change - Nate Stephenson, Bill Libby

Disrupted hydrology - Jim Borders (should this be Boachers?)

Invasive (including pathogens) - Doug Piirto

Habitat impacts - direct - ???

Habitat fragmentation - ???

More detail, literature review used to support and flesh out the Consensus Briefing Statements

Should be in November

A Conference Call will be scheduled for 2nd week in July to plan the meeting.

BLM is hosting with help from USFS.