Applegate Adaptive Management Area

The following material summarizes Adaptive Management Area (AMA) direction that is an extract from the SEIS ROD.

Objectives

Develop and test new management approaches to integrate and achieve ecological and economic health and other social objectives.

Contribute substantially to the achievement of SEIS ROD objectives including provision of well-distributed late-successional habitat outside reserves, retention of key structural elements of late-successional forests on lands subjected to regeneration harvest, restoration and protection of riparian zones, and provision of a stable timber supply.

Specific emphasis for the Applegate AMA includes "development and testing of forest management practices including partial cutting, prescribed burning, and low impact approaches to forest harvest (e.g., aerial systems) that provide for a broad range of forest values, including late-successional forest and high quality riparian habitat" (see appendices A and E).

Land Use Allocations

The Applegate AMA includes lands managed by BLM (150,752 acres) and the Forest Service (127,409 acres).

Management Actions/Direction

A management plan will be prepared for the Applegate Adaptive Management Area. An single public-interagency approach to planning will be developed for the Adaptive Management Area. The plan should address or provide:

A shared vision of the Adaptive Management Area (e.g., the kind of knowledge the participants hope to gain). Identification of the desired future conditions may be developed in collaboration with communities;
Learning that includes social and political knowledge, not just biological and physical information;
A strategy to guide implementation, restoration, monitoring and experimental activities;
A short-term (3 to 5 year) timber sale plan and long-term yield projections;
A list of communities influenced by the AMA projects and outputs;
An inventory of community strategies, and resources and partners being used;
Coordination with overall activities within the province;
A funding strategy; and
Integration of the community strategies and technical objectives.

Seek innovative approaches to achieve technical and social objectives. Develop localized, idiosyncratic methods that will best reflect the needs of the land and communities. These approaches rely on the experience and ingenuity of resource managers and communities rather than traditionally derived and tightly prescriptive approaches that are generally applied in management of forests.

The AMAs are intended to be opportunities for learning. They provide a geographic focus for innovation and experimentation with the intent that such experience will be widely shared. Research and monitoring in the AMAs will further clarify standards and guidelines to meet intended objectives. Opportunities exist for education and technical training across agencies and communities.

Proceed with management activities in the adaptive management area while the plan is being developed. Initiation of activities will not be delayed by requirements for comprehensive plans or consensus documents beyond those needed to meet existing legal requirements for activities.

Apply the management actions/direction in the Special Status and SEIS Special Attention Species section.

Manage coarse woody debris, green trees and snags in a manner that meets the intent of the management actions/direction for the Matrix. There are no specific management actions/direction for these forest components in the AMA. More site-specific direction is anticipated to determine appropriate amounts of these components for southwestern Oregon.

Plan use of prescribed fire within the Applegate AMA to meet specific habitat requirements. Retention of habitat components such as coarse woody debris and standing snags must be considered based on the natural role of fire.

Implement harvest objective and use of fire with intent of maintaining soil productivity and nutrient cycling capability.

Minimize intensive burning, unless appropriate for specific habitats, communities, or stand conditions. Prescribed fires should be planned to minimize the consumption of litter and coarse woody debris. However, fire will be utilized within the Applegate AMA based on the natural role of fire and the reasons to reintroduction;
Minimize soil and litter disturbance that may occur as a result of yarding and operation of heavy equipment; and
Reduce the intensity and frequency of site treatments.

Provide for old-growth fragments in watersheds where little remains. The Matrix management actions/direction for retaining late-successional forest in fifth field watersheds (see Matrix section for details) will be considered as a threshold for analysis in Adaptive Management Area planning rather than a strict management actions/direction. The role of remaining late-successional forest stands will be fully considered in watershed analysis before they can be modified.

During AMA planning, review relevant objectives, land use allocations, and management actions/direction for resource programs established in this Resource Management Plan. They may be modified in AMA plans based on site-specific analyses. Otherwise, management actions/direction will be developed to meet the objectives of the AMA and the overall strategy. Development of management guidance will be coordinated with the Regional Ecosystem Office through the Regional Interagency Executive Committee.

Explore and support opportunities to research the role and effects of fire/fuels management on ecosystem functions.

Emphasize fire/fuels management cooperation across agency and ownership boundaries.

Follow the hazard reduction management actions/direction in this resource management plan (see Fire section) until the Adaptive Management Area plan is completed and approved.

Use accepted wildfire suppression strategies and tactics, and conform to specific agency policy.

Develop research and monitoring objectives that are clear and measurable to gain information needed in forest ecological and social systems. Develop education framework that enhances agency and community capacity. Adaptive management is, by definition, information dependent.

Adaptive management areas are intended to provide flexible experimentation with policies and management. These areas should provide opportunities for land managing and regulatory agencies, other government entities, nongovernmental organization, local groups, landowners, communities, and citizens to work together to develop innovative management approaches. Broadly, AMAs are intended to be prototypes of how forest communities might be sustained.

Management Actions/Direction - Late-Successional Reserves

A portion of the Munger Butte late-successional reserve (32,937 acres) is located in the Applegate AMA.

Manage mapped and unmapped late-successional reserves in accordance with management actions/direction stated previously. Management around these reserves will be designed to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire disturbances.

Site-specific standards and guidelines may be developed for the LSRs within the Applegate AMA based on research and monitoring objectives, consistent with LSR objectives and the adaptive management process (see Implementation on page E-13 specified in the SEIS ROD).

Management Actions/Direction - Riparian Reserves

Protect riparian reserves in a manner comparable to that prescribed for other Federal land areas. Desired conditions may be achieved in a different manner than that prescribed for other areas, and research projects may be conducted within riparian zones. During analysis of riparian reserve widths, consider the contribution of these reserves to aquatic and terrestrial species. Through watershed analysis, take into account all species that were intended to benefit by the prescribed riparian reserve widths (i.e., fish, mollusks, amphibians, lichens, fungi, bryophytes, vascular plants, American marten, red tree voles, bats, marbled murrelets, and northern spotted owls).

More site-specific standards and guidelines will be developed for riparian reserves within the Applegate AMA based on watershed analysis, research, and monitoring objectives.