Treesearch

The Sacramento River's historic riparian habitats have been reduced by over 98 percent due to cumulative, adverse human activities. These activities continue to jeopardize the remaining riparian habitats. The results of these trends is more endangered species conflicts and listings, coupled with less fish, beautiful scenery, and other resource values. This paper provides a conservationist's perspective on how these resource losses could be stopped, and eventually reversed, through a combination of less-damaging bank protection methods, reliable mitigation for unavoidable impacts, willing...

Over the past three days we have been presented with the results of a most impressive quantity and quality of research on the effects of fire on watersheds. My attempt to summarize these papers will hardly do them justice, but hopefully will recapitulate some of their more important and generalizable findings. My comments are organized into the following categories: soil temperature, soil nutrients, soil erosion, soil hydrology and streamflow, vegetation structure, stream temperature, and impacts of firefighting.

Natural vegetation establishment and development were monitored for 3 1/2 years on a new, dredged-material island located within the breached levees at Donlon Island in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. Vegetation measurements and maps prepared annually indicate that marsh and riparian vegetation types have developed rapidly. Topographic data for the island has been overlaid with vegetation data, and the results can be used to select elevations when designing future levees, dredged-material deposition areas, and fish and wildlife habitat enhancements.

Maintenance of vegetation is a central goal of watershed management. When prescribed burning of chaparral is included in management practice, then it is important for managers to understand and use the natural chaparral fire regime to maximize vegetation response. Variations from the natural fire regime in intensity, frequency, season, and environmental conditions at the time of burning can all have substantial effects. These factors interact differently with the species that comprise chaparral. This paper focusses on the variation in responses of different groups of chaparral species to...

The Bureau of Land Management, Alturas Resource Area with the cooperation of the Tule Lake Allotment permittees and private landowners has embarked on a riparian enhancement program for the allotment which crosses many traditional boundaries and barriers in land management and land management planning. Currently in the plan development stages the concept provides for a multi-disciplinary planning document which includes all program management in one plan, the development of which is guided by a thirteen member steering committee drawn from the general public representative of a broad range...

Yellow-billed Cuckoo numbers have decreased alarmingly in recent decades. This is associated with demise of their riparian habitats. Study of habitat along the lower Colorado River and along the South Fork Kern River led to the conclusion that they require dense habitats dominated by cottonwood (Populus fremontii) and willow (Salix spp.). They nest predominantly in willow and forage primarily in cottonwood trees on insects and tree frogs. On the basis of this information habitat designs were made and revegetation efforts were undertaken to create habitat for this bird species. Factors that...