Adaptive Management Area

The following material summarizes Adaptive Management Area direction. Details regarding this direction are found in the SEIS record of decision (appendix A-2).

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 record of decision objectives, including restoration and maintenance of late-successional forest habitat outside reserves, consistent with marbled murrelet guidelines; 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.

Land Use Allocations

There are approximately 123,400 acres of BLM-administered land in the Northern Coast Range Adaptive Management Area (see map 3). Of this total 79,700 acres are designated as Late-Successional Reserve within the Adaptive Management Area. These acres include all Late-Successional/Old Growth 1 and 2 areas within marbled murrelet zone 1, and all owl additions, as mapped by the Scientific Panel on Late-Successional Forest Ecosystems.

Management Actions/Direction

Develop a plan for the Northern Coast Range Adaptive Management Area.

An individual 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, depending on the area;
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 (three to five year) timber sale plan and long-term yield projections;
Education of participants;
A list of communities influenced by the Adaptive Management Area 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.

During Adaptive Management Area 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 the Adaptive Management Area plan based on site-specific analyses. Otherwise, management actions/direction will be developed to meet the objectives of the Adaptive Management Area and the overall strategy. Development of management guidance will be coordinated with the Regional Ecosystem Office through the Regional Interagency Executive Committee.

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 and Habitat section.

With one exception, manage mapped and unmapped Late-Successional Reserves in accordance with management actions/direction stated previously. The exception involves maximum thinning age. In this Adaptive Management Area, thinning to create and maintain late-successional forest conditions may occur up to the 110-year age class (106 to 115 years).

Design management activities around these reserves to reduce the risk of natural disturbances.

Protect riparian areas in a manner comparable to that prescribed for other federal land areas. Desired conditions may be achieved in a manner different 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).

Manage coarse woody debris, green trees and snags in a manner which meets the intent of the management actions/direction for the Matrix. There are no specific management actions/direction for these forest components in the Adaptive Management Area.

Modify site treatment practices, particularly the use of fire and pesticides, and modify harvest methods to minimize soil and litter disturbance as follows:

Minimize intensive burning, unless appropriate for certain specific habitats, communities, or stand conditions. Prescribed fires should be planned to minimize the consumption of litter and coarse woody debris.
Minimize soil and litter disturbance that may occur as a result of yarding and operation of heavy equipment.
Reduce the intensity and frequency of site treatments.

Provide for old-growth fragments in watersheds where little remains. The Matrix management action/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 action/direction. The role of remaining late-successional forest stands will be fully considered in watershed analysis before they can be modified.

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/Fuels Management section) until the Adaptive Management Area plan is completed.

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