Central Cascade Adaptive Management Area

The following material summarizes Adaptive Management Area (AMA) direction. Details regarding this direction are found in the SEIS/ROD (see Appendix A).

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.

Land Use Allocations

There are 16,174 acres of BLM administered land in the Central Cascades Adaptive Management Area (see Map 1).

Management Actions/Direction

Develop a plan for the Central Cascades Adaptive Management Area. Develop and emphasize new approaches to public involvement that focus on developing partnerships in the design and development of plans and actions.

An individual public, interagency approach to planning will be developed for the Adaptive Management Area. The plan will address or provide:

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;
Strategy to guide implementation, restoration, monitoring, and experimental activities;
Short-term (3 to 5 year) timber sale plan and long-term yield projections;
Education of participants;
List of community strategies, and resources and partners being used;
Inventory of community strategies, and resources and partners being used;
Coordination with overall activities within the province;
Funding strategy; and
Integration of the community strategies and technical objectives.

Proceed with management activities in the Adaptive Management Area (AMA) 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 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 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 (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 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 Adaptive Management Area.

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

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 AMA 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.

During AMA planning, review relevant objectives, land use allocations, and management actions/direction for resource programs established in this PRMP. 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 (REO) through the Regional Interagency Executive Committee (RIEC).

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 PRMP (see Fire section) until the AMA plan is completed and approved.

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

Conduct intensive research on ecosystem and landscape processes and its application to forest management in experiments and demonstrations at stand and watershed levels.

Develop approaches for integrating forest and stream management objectives and implications of natural disturbance regimes.

Identify additional areas in the AMA where management practices can accelerate the development of late-successional conditions.