Foundations of Collaboration Take Homes: 1. Landscape scale - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

 Joint Chief’s Landscape Restoration Partnership Project FY2014 -2016  Pilots Measuring Mon Success: U. Oregon Pilot & R9/NRS Foundations Work  Foundations of Collaboration Take Homes: 1. Landscape scale priority implementation 2. Existing strong partnerships Adaptive management 3. (science and stakeholders informing future decisions) 4. Communication 5. Multiple social/ecological benefits (restoration economy and across border problem solving) BEFORE AFTER

 Monongahela NF Facts:  ~ 1 million acres  High elevation with rain shadow effect (Allegheny Front)  Recreation Resources = over 1 million visitors, Wilderness within days drive ~100 million  Biodiversity Hotspot = Appalachian endemics and broad species assemblage  Headwaters of six major watersheds of the Ohio and Potomac  Drinking water for millions from Washington DC to New Orleans) “Where the Rivers Begin”

Early 1900s: • Industrial logging • Fires • Weeks Act (Eastern NFs created for watershed protection)

“We are confronted by insurmountable opportunities.” - Pogo

2006 Forest Plan Revision  Forest Goals  Forest Objectives  Forest Standards  Forest Guidelines  Monitoring and Evaluation  Land Management Prescriptions  3.0 -Vegetation Diversity Monongahela National Forest  4.1 - Spruce/Hardwood United States Restoration Department of Agriculture Land and Resource Forest Service  5.0 - Designated Management Plan September 2006 Wilderness  6.1 -Wildlife Habitat Emphasis  6.2 - Backcountry Recreation  8.0 - Special Areas

• Understory Spruce Release:  Non-commercial release ( TNC’s Ecological Restoration Team ) • Mined Land Restoration • Ecological Commercial Release (TNC Stewardship Contracting) Coming Soon!

Acquired by USFS in late 1980s after mass  extraction (coal and timber)  2500 acres mined (>1500 acres in “arrested succession”)  non-native grasslands and conifers  Cheat Mountain Area = high priority CASRI site (connectivity, resilience,ETS habitat improvement) USFS FY2015-20 Strategic Goals - Objective A:   “restore deteriorated lands and waters (such as abandoned mine lands …”

 Short Term Goal  Native spp. to create ESH (RGS, WTF)  Long Term Goal  Spruce ecosystem trajectory  Methods – Site Prep  Site Prep Ripping and Knocking  Wetland Construction  Planting (contract and outreach)

“ The vast possibilities of our great future will become realities only if we make ourselves responsible for the future.” - Gifford Pinchot go go. restore. store. pl play ay

Darrin Kelly Partnership Coordinator Monongahela NF (304)642-5696 dpkelly@fs.fed.us www.restoreredspruce.org www.phcwpma.org