Hello Zuni Mountains Collaborative partners and friends!
As we ramp up for another season of caring for the land, water, and communities (human and non-, alike) of the Zuni Mountains, let us take a moment to review and reflect on what effect our management actions have had over the past few years.
Ecological monitoring provides a snapshot of the health and condition of the landscape and, when done over a long period of time, it paints an image of if and how that condition is changing. This is an important and worthwhile exercise in its own right; however, much of the data collected in the CFLRP footprint are analyzed to determine the impact of our forest restoration activities.
In 2021, staff from the Forest Stewards Guild remeasured growth and resilience metrics from a handful of permanent forest inventory plots in the 6,500-acre Bluewater project area. Originally measured in 2005 (pre-treatment) then again after first-entry treatments (thinning and burning) in 2015-2018, the plots which were chosen for remeasure in 2021 had all experienced some type of re-entry management action since the prior reading. This selection allowed Collaborative members to track the ongoing impact of multiple entry thinning and burning. Their findings, which mirror those published in 2020, are detailed below.
Forest Monitoring Background
In the 2020 data analysis, researchers compared pre-treatment forest health metrics to measurements taken after a single entry of mechanical thinning or burning and determined that:
Number of trees per acre was within the resilience envelope (range of acceptance) for bark beetle outbreak, crown fire, and drought.
The average tree diameter increased across the landscape, signaling the protection of large and old trees.
Tree canopy bulk density (the density of available canopy fuel in a stand) decreased, indicating decreased potential for uncharacteristic crown fire.
Updated Results
In the most recent data analysis, researchers compared the results of the 2020 analysis to measurements taken after two or more forest restoration treatment entries and found that:
Number of small trees decreased, mature trees were preserved, average diameter of ponderosa pine increased, and overall tree density was reduced.
Average crown height (distance from the ground to lowest live branches) increased, signaling a lowered probability of surface fire being able to burn into the living canopy.
Prevalence of large and old trees on the landscape remained steady with 5-6 mature trees (greater than 18" DBH) per acre.
Taken as a whole, these changes to stand structure are associated with a substantial reduction in the hazard of uncharacteristic crown fire, an increase in forest resilience to drought, pests, and disease, and an increase in resistance to wildfire induced mortality in ponderosa pine. This restoration work lays the groundwork for a return to a historical fire regime while preparing for the impacts of climate change in the Zuni Mountains.
