Treesearch

Cimarron NG covers 108,175 acres of prairie and other vegetation types in Morton and Stevens Counties, Kansas. The USDA Forest Service manages the land, its resources, and their uses. Located in the extreme southwestern corner of Kansas, Cimarron NG is associated with the Rocky Mountain Region (Region 2) of the Forest Service. Region 2 also administers the Grand River, Buffalo Gap, and Fort Pierre National Grasslands of South Dakota; Ogalala National Grassland of Nebraska; Thunder Basin National Grassland of Wyoming; Pawnee and Comanche National Grasslands of Colorado; and numerous...

A mapping technique was used to measure the annual downslope deposition of granitic sediments eroded from forest roads on three headwater watersheds in the mountains of central Idaho. Frequency distributions were developed to determine sediment travel distance, and a dimensionless relationship was developed to describe the relation between the percentage of total volume and total length of sediment deposit. By combining the two relations, land managers can assess the risk of sediment reaching streams to help guide road location and design.

The upper 16.8 miles of the Rio Cebolla watershed were studied to identify water-related management concerns. Land ownership is divided among private individuals, the New Mexico Game and Fish Department, and the U.S. Forest Service. Recreation is the predominant activity, particularly fishing and camping. Other major land users are residents of the Seven Springs Community, cattle grazers, and fish hatchery employees. In 1994-95 a program to reintroduce now vanished Rio Grande cutthroat trout into the less accessible reaches of the river was undertaken.

The knowledge shared and the energy generated by this symposium should not be lost as we leave for our homes and our jobs. We have a great wealth of experience, knowledge, and energy assembled. How can we continue to communicate with each other, share information, involve others, and influence decision makers? The steering committee for this symposium in hopes of stimulating continued cooperation and collaboration included the "Commitment to Action and Feedback Form" with the agenda. Our hope is you will fill out the form and leave it with the steering committee. We will also spend a...

Ecological condition of riparian habitats along the East Fork of the Gila River, Main Diamond Creek, lower South Diamond Creek, and Black Canyon Creek are all in very heavily degraded condition. Channel cross-sections show extensive entrenchment, high width-to-depth ratios, and numerous reaches where banks are sloughing into the stream, especially on the East Fork of the Gila River. Species of floodplain vegetation typifies degraded channel conditions. Absence of woody species disallows bank stabilization except where entrenched to large cobble. Data from channel cross-sections and...

Personnel on the Santa Fe National Forest used methodologies adapted from Bevenger and King (1995) to collect base line particle size data on streams within grazing allotments currently scheduled for permit reissuance. This information was used to determine the relative current health of the watersheds as well as being used in the development of potential alternatives to current grazing practices, where deemed necessary.

GIS was used to prioritize watersheds for treatment needs across the USDA Forest Service Southwestern Region. Factors in this analysis included soil condition, riparian habitat, population centers and mining sites.

The determination of the ecological condition of wetland and riparian habitats has been the focus of research by many scientists, because of the importance to understand the processes and related functions of these systems. Research on montane wetland and riparian systems has shown the relative importance of native aquatic plants in maintaining these systems in a functional condition. The presence or absence of key species is used as an indicator of the ecological condition, and desired ecological condition of wetlands and riparian habitats can be expressed in terms of the species compositi...

Riparian ecosystems in the southwestern United States provide valuable habitats for many living organisms including native fishes. An analysis of habitat components important to native fishes was made based on the literature, case histories, and unpublished and observational data. Results suggest a natural, surface water hydrograph and lack of introduced species of fishes being the two most critical habitat components delimiting sustainability of native fishes in the Southwest. Vegetation. channel characteristics and instream hydrological features (i.e. depth, velocity, and substrate) are...

Historically, wet meadow recovery projects have relied on heavy earth moving equipment to harden nick points and install gully plugs or terraces to trap and detain sediments. We experimented with a variety of simple hand-built structures fashioned of logs, rocks, geotextile fabrics and/or sandbags designed to disperse runoff, rewet surface and subsurface soils and stimulate the growth of wetland dependent vegetation adapted to erosion control and sediment detention. We utilized workers from a variety of labor pools to implement projects.