Forest Health

Objectives

Reduce tree mortality and restore the vigor, resiliency, and stability of forest stands that are necessary to meet land use allocations objectives.

Land Use Allocations

There are no specific land use allocations for forest condition restoration. There is the potential for restoration treatment in all allocations.

Management Actions/Direction

Management Actions/Direction - All Land Use Allocations

Design and implement silvicultural treatments in stands that are in a condition, or that will soon be in a condition, which prevents management objectives from being achieved. Treatments are intended to restore the ability of stands to respond to other management and to reduce the risk of mortality from insects, disease, and wildfire. Treatments will consist of thinning of stands, forest fertilization, reduction of understory vegetation, reduction of fuel ladders, and restoration of more stable plant communities.

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

Design forest condition restoration treatments to be consistent with the long-term objectives of the allocation in which the treatment is proposed. Develop treatments in an interdisciplinary manner.

Design restoration treatments to maintain or improve soil productivity, meet coarse woody debris and snag objectives, maintain or improve hydrologic functions, and maintain the natural richness of tree species.

Develop forest condition restoration treatments at the stand level based on the combination of stand condition and trend, on the functional characteristics of the ecosystem, and on characteristics of the site.

Design treatments, as much as possible, to prevent the development of undesirable species composition, species dominance, or other stand characteristics. Design treatments to incorporate and restore ecosystem function. Employ the principles of integrated pest management and integrated vegetation management to avoid the need for direct treatments. Use herbicides only as a last resort.

Off-Highway vehicle use will be limited to designated roads in areas which are infected with Port-Orford root disease.

Management Actions/Direction - Riparian Reserves

Design and implement forest condition restoration treatments in a manner that contributes to the attainment of Aquatic Conservation Strategy and riparian reserve objectives.

Management Actions/Direction - Late-Successional Reserves

Design and implement forest condition restoration treatments that provide habitat benefits for late-successional associated species, or that have negligible effects on such species. Design treatments to be consistent with the LSR assessment.

When possible, avoid introducing nonnative plant species, including grasses, into late-successional reserves. If introduction of a nonnative species is proposed, complete an assessment of the impacts and avoid any introduction that would retard or prevent achievement of late-successional reserve objectives.

Evaluate the impacts of nonnative plant species existing within late-successional reserves. Develop plans and recommendations for eliminating or controlling nonnative plant species that are inconsistent with late-successional reserve objectives. Include an analysis of effects of implementing such programs on other species within the late-successional reserves.

Prior to the use of prescribed fire as a forest condition restoration treatment, develop an interdisciplinary fire management plan specifying how prescribed fire applications will meet the objectives of the late-successional reserve. Until the plan is approved, proposed activities will be subject to review by the Regional Ecosystem Office. Apply prescribed fire in a manner that retains the amount of coarse woody debris determined to be appropriate for the site based on watershed analysis.

Management Actions/Direction - Adaptive Management Areas

Emphasize cooperation across agency and ownership boundaries.

Management Actions/Direction - Connectivity/Diversity Blocks

Maintain 25 to 30 percent of each block in late-successional forest at any point in time. The percentage of habitats will include habitat in other allocations, such as riparian reserves. The size and arrangement of habitat within a block should provide effective habitat to the extent possible.

Management Actions/Direction - General Forest Management Area (all)

Retain snags within forest condition restoration treatment units at levels sufficient to support species of cavity nesting birds at 40 percent of potential population levels. Meet the 40 percent minimum throughout the matrix with per-acre requirements met on average areas no larger than 40 acres.

Management Actions/Direction - Special Habitats

In project areas containing special wildlife and plant habitats (e.g., talus and meadows), maintain ecologically significant buffers around the special habitat. This could be increased, decreased, or manipulated, based on site-specific circumstances. Ecologically significant buffers will be determined by interdisciplinary teams.