Southern Rowe Mesa Restoration Project. Scoping Report

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1 Southern Rowe Mesa Restoration Project Scoping Report Purpose and Need The purpose of this project is to promote a mosaic of healthy forest stands and natural grasslands on approximately 17,500 acres on Rowe Mesa on the Pecos/Las Vegas Ranger District of the Santa Fe National Forest, San Miguel County Township (T) 14N, Range (R) 12E, portions of sections 24-26, 35, and 36; T14N, R13E, portions of sections 19, 24, 25, and 28-36; T13N, R13E, portions of sections 1-12, 15-17, 20-34, 26-29, and 31-36, T12N, R13E, portions of sections 1-3, 10-15, and 24; T12N, R14E, portions of sections 5-8, and To achieve this objective, select stands of piñon pine, juniper, and ponderosa pine trees that have encroached into the understory of woodlands and into meadows would be reduced by thinning, followed by prescribed burning. The forest has become much denser than it was historically because of the cessation of the lowintensity fires that used to burn in the understory and remove many small trees. The dense stands of small trees in the Mesa forests would now support high-intensity fires that may kill most trees in the forests. Thinning the abundant small trees and restoring low-intensity prescribed fires would restore the ecological condition of the pinon/juniper and ponderosa pine ecosystem, thus improving habitat for wildlife, increase grass diversity and abundance, and restoring soil conditions. It would also reduce the threat of high-severity crown fires that can cause widespread tree mortality and soil erosion. Forests across Rowe Mesa have become unnaturally dense, small trees are encroaching into understory and meadows, and ground vegetation has become sparse. We propose to restore healthy forests and meadows by removing abundant small trees and maintaining the site production through prescribed thinning and burning. Background Forest stands have become unnaturally dense in the Rocky Mountains, due to the establishment of many young trees in the understory. Forest stands are now threatened with unnaturally severe fires, that can cause high levels of canopy mortality. In addition, woody encroachment into meadows threatens to convert grasslands into woodlands. These changes in vegetation can reduce the amount of habitat diversity for wildlife species that are adapted to open stands of trees interspersed with meadows. The primary cause of increased tree densities and tree encroachment into meadows in areas like the Santa Fe National Forest has been the elimination of a pattern of frequent low-intensity fires. The Collaborative Forest Restoration Program (CFRP) encourages a variety of partners to collaborate on the design, implementation and monitoring of restoration projects on public lands. Partners in this CFRP include: the University of Arizona, Santa Fe National Forest Pecos/Las Vegas Ranger District (SFNF PLVRD), Santa Fe Forest Supervisors Office (SFNF SO), the Four Corners Institute, the Quivira Coalition, Wildearth Guardians, and Crane Collaborations. 1 Page

2 Existing Conditions The project area currently consists of overstocked forest stands of piñon pine, juniper and ponderosa pine overstory interspersed with meadows. The density of trees in the forest stands ranges from 607 trees/acre in piñon pine/juniper stands to 525 trees/acre in ponderosa pine stands. Many large trees were cut in the past for timber or other uses, leaving fewer large trees in the stands. And most trees in the stands are small-diameter young trees that grow very slowly due to crowding. Understory grasses have become sparse beneath the dense, shaded forest. The understory consists of few grasses, such as blue grama, western wheat, sand dropseed, little bluestem, sideoats grama, and shrubs such as Gambel oak. In meadows, soils indicate that trees have encroached into grasslands in the absence of frequent fire, resulting in a reduction in grass cover desirable for wildlife habitat diversity. Grass cover is generally too sparse to support natural low-intensity fires in the uplands. Slopes are gentle, and no wetlands or boggy areas exist within the project area. Figure 1. Pre-treatment: Dense, flammable stands Figure 2. Post-treatment: Open woodlands with abundant grass cover Desired Conditions Following treatment, there would be a mix of open forest stands and grasslands. Forests stands would be dominated by larger trees with an open understory of fewer younger trees. Tree density would be lower, with stands composed of piñon pine, juniper and ponderosa pine trees of all sizes and ages. Grasslands would have scattered, mature ponderosa pine stands and individual large-diameter piñon and juniper. Grass cover would be more abundant, both in the grasslands, and beneath forest stands. Forest stands, and denser grass cover would make the forest and meadows safe for the return of low-intensity fires. The work would protect old and large trees by using such guidelines as the New Mexico Restoration Principles. What Are We Proposing To Do? We propose to thin trees in forests and meadows to reduce the threat of crown fire, improve wildlife habitat, improve grass cover, and provide wood products for the public. In years to 2 Page

3 come, open forest stands and meadows would be maintained by low-intensity prescribed burning and other maintenance treatments. Public Involvement Initial public outreach has been conducted through meetings held at: Pecos Municipal Building on January 26, 7:00 PM; Arroyo Hondo Fire Station on February 9, 7:00 PM and Rowe Fire Station on March 2, 4:30 PM. The proposal has been developed with the initial concerns in mind, including the use of mastication, general concern of the project, and prescribed burning techniques. Proposed Action A variety of treatments are proposed to achieve the desired condition in the project area. These include: Removal of overstocked piñon, juniper, and ponderosa pine trees through mechanical thinning (chainsaw) and mastication, where practical according to the guidelines of the New Mexico Restoration Principles. Retention of large, mature ponderosa pine, piñon and juniper trees. Broadcast or pile burning of slash. Broadcast burning encourages the reestablishment of understory grasses and forbs, and prevents the reestablishment of thickets of trees. Low-intensity maintenance burns and maintenance treatments will be conducted by the Forest Service on a periodic basis. This prevents woody encroachment into again crowd the forest and grassland ecosystems, and allows remaining trees to grow well. Prescribed burning would be conducted in a mosaic pattern for the benefits of vegetation and wildlife. This successional pattern provides various stages of vegetation and treatments would continue to provide prey base nesting, foraging and denning and habitat for wildlife. The activities described above would be accomplished through a variety of methods, such as fuelwood, viga and latilla harvest as well as thinning. The activities would be provided for commercial and personal use through a combination of contracts and personal use permitting. Prescribed fire would be accomplished through pile burning and broadcast burning of areas that have been thinned of fuels. Broadcast and pile burning of thinning slash would follow approximately one year after tree removal, under weather conditions that are optimal for prescribed burning and would be conducted by the Pecos/Las Vegas Ranger District. Natural fuels burning would occur according to a maintenance schedule of approximately every seven years. Maintenance treatments would be conducted by the Pecos/Las Vegas Ranger District as deemed necessary to prevent the reestablishment of an unnaturally dense forest stand and encroachment of trees into meadows. The restoration work would utilize labor from local communities. This project would complement similar work done by the Forest Service and by three prior CFRP forest restoration projects on Rowe Mesa over the past decade. The planning phase of this project was funded by a CFRP award to the University of Arizona. The project could provide 3 Page

4 jobs for a local woodcutting crew. Wood products, such as firewood, vigas, latillas, fenceposts, and other products from the project would be made available by permit. How Will This Project Affect Forest Users? Restoration of the forests stands and meadows will temporarily affect public use. During active thinning treatments, the public would have limited access to areas being thinned. Immediately following thinning, the public will be allowed by permit to collect downed trees for personal and commercial wood products. Prescribed burning will be done when the right conditions present themselves for burning. Prescribed burning will be coordinated with permittees so that they have burn information ahead of time and can coordinate grazing plans. Following treatments, however, the abundance and nutritional value of grasses would improve. A robust shrub recovery after treatments would also be expected, which will increase forage and cover for wildlife, such as deer and turkey. 4 Page

5 Figure 1. Southern Rowe Mesa Restoration Project 5 Page