First
Progress Report
July 1986–Dec 1987
University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources
Cooperative Extension
February 1988
|
ONGOING AND PLANNED PROGRAM ACTIVITIES
Valley oak leaves and acorn.
|
|
|
General Program:
1) Improve and maintain cooperation and coordination with State and Federal resource management agencies, with County planners and administrators, with UC and CSU resource departments and faculty, and with traditional clientele.
2) Develop better contacts and rapport with environmental, preservation, and local community organizations and with the various groups using hardwood range resources.
3) Conduct a media campaign to promote awareness and knowledge of hardwood-range management problems and concerns.
4) Produce quarterly issues of the IHRM program's statewide newsletter, Oaks ’n’ Folks.
5) Develop ideas and support for a “Year of the Oak” campaign.
Improvement of Oak Regeneration:
UCCE researchers are examining effects of cutting date and stump height on sprouting success of blue oaks.
|
|
|
1) Evaluate direct seeding and use of nursery stock (blue and valley oak) for artificial regeneration. Location: Hopland Field Station, Sierra Foothill Range Station, San Luis Obispo, San Benito, San Joaquin Experimental Range, Contra Costa.
2) Evaluate alternative competition control strategies for artificial regeneration of blue oak. Location: Hopland Field Station, Sierra Foothill Range Station.
3) Establish statewide blue oak coppice study to examine regional differences in stump sprouting as a function of time of tree harvest and stump height. Location: 5 locations statewide from San Luis Obispo to Butte and Hopland Field Station.
4) Establish demonstration plot illustrating successful techniques for establishing blue oak seedlings in harsh environments. Location: Sierra Foothill Range Field Station.
5) Determine the effects of different collection dates and prestorage treatments on the germination of blue oak acorns. Location: Yuba and Butte.
6) Evaluate acorn crop for blue oak and interior live oak, collect acorns, and sow for outplanting in spring 1988. Location: Shasta.
7) Monitor resprouting of blue and interior live oaks being cut to site prep for conifer regeneration. Location: Shasta.
8) Assess regional extent of oak regeneration problems. Location: Mother Lode Region (foothill counties from Nevada to Mariposa).
9) Evaluate age distribution and recruitment of Engelmann oak. Location: Riverside and San Diego.
Blue oak seedling with lap root clipped off below ground by pocket gopher. |
Livestock, like deer, will consume unprotected oak seedlings within their reach.
|
|
|
10) Develop plan to investigate impact of grasshopper herbivory on oak regeneration. Location: Statewide.
11) Evaluate microenvironmental factors which contribute to successful oak regeneration in regional area. Location: Santa Barbara, Monterey, San Mateo.
12) Improve pocket gopher baiting strategy on oak regeneration sites. Location: UCD.
13) Evaluate feasibility of underground fencing for pocket gopher control. Location: UCD.
14) Evaluate ground squirrel control and burrow destruction on hardwood range sites. Location: Alameda.
15) Determine the effects of small rodent effects on acorns. Location: Hopland Field Station.
16) Compare the growth and survival of valley oak seedlings under alternative irrigation regimes. Location: Sierra Foothill Range Field Station.
17) Prepare oak regeneration brochure listing sources of supply, successful production methods, and proper planting and protection methods. Location: Statewide.
18) Evaluate how sowing date affects the emergence, growth, and survival of blue and valley oak acorns. Location: Sierra Foothill Range Field Station.
19) Develop handout on planting selected native and exotic hardwood trees on lands in the new Conservation Reserve Program. Location: Statewide.
20) Coordinate oak planting activity with 4-H groups. Location: San Luis Obispo.
21) Determine the effects of sowing date and root undercutting on the nursery production of blue and valley oak seedlings. Location: CDF Magalia Nursery.
22) Evaluate the effectiveness of brush piles to prevent animal damage to blue oak regeneration. Location: San Luis Obispo.
23) Identify the variation in germination and seedling growth rates of Engelmann oak. Location: Sou them California.
24) Determine the effects of angering and irrigation on planted oaks. Location: Orange.
Constructing brush piles from slash remaining after cutting oaks can provide cover for wildlife. |
Diameter is a poor indicator of age with blue oaks. Both of these oaks were over 115 years old. |
Oak trees can enhance both economic and aesthetic values of rural subdivisions. However, care must be taken to prevent premature tree death.
|
|
|
Maintenance of Wildlife Habitat:
1) Establish demonstration sites to show multiple-use management strategies on hardwood range. Location: 5 locations from San Luis Obispo to Hopland Field Station.
2) Study habitat needs for wild turkeys, coordinated with CDFG. Location: Central Coast.
3) Assess the numbers, distribution, economic status, and management problems of wild pigs, and their impact on hardwood range habitat. Location: San Luis Obispo.
4) Assess hardwood rangeland owner attitudes about wildlife management. Location: Calaveras.
5) Evaluate wildlife species and correlate with oak habitat information; establish a demonstration site. Location: Santa Rosa Plateau.
6) Evaluate data from CDFG permanent mast evaluation plots to identify factors related to high mast production years. Location: Sierra Foothill Range Field Station.
7) Participate with CDFG personnel in annual mast inventory. Location: Tehama.
8) Develop a brochure on wildlife habitat and maintenance of desired populations through multiple-use management. Location: 7 coastal counties from Santa Barbara to San Mateo.
9) Hold workshops on multiple-use management strategies for maintenance of wildlife habitat. Location: 2 locations in Central Coast region, Riverside.
10) Seek definition of wildlife habitat diversity to guide land management. Location: Eureka James Reserve.
11) Prepare a slide-tape program on hardwood-range wildlife habitat. Location: Statewide.
Consequences of Hardwood Range Conversions:
1) Survey attitudes and perceptions of local officials and landuse planners about use, change, problems, and regulation of oak woodlands. Location: Central Coast Region.
2) Survey ecological status of hardwood rangelands in different types of oak conservation easements and evaluate effectiveness of easements. Location: San Diego, Riverside, Orange.
3) Develop working definition of sensitive hardwood-range areas in southern California counties. Location: South Coast region.
4) Collect database of all owners of hardwood rangelands with less than 40 acres of land in 10 counties, and survey current management practices. Location: Placer, El Dorado, Riverside, Madera, Mendocino, Monterey, San Diego.
5) Hold workshops on oak management strategies for developers, conservation groups, agencies, and county planning staff. Location: Riverside.
6) Provide information on hardwood range to local government offices. Location: Statewide.
7) Review subdivision plan for El Dorado Hills subdivision in hardwood rangelands. Location: El Dorado.
8) Set-up advisory groups in each regional area. Location: Statewide.
9) Target information on the value that oak trees contribute to rural subdivisions to ranchers and real-estate developers. Location: Statewide.
Alternate Management Strategies:
Multiple-use management of hardwood rangelands includes firewood harvesting.
|
|
|
1) Evaluate the factors which contribute to revenue generated from recreational hunting enterprises on hardwood rangelands through interviews with ranchers who lease hunting rights. Location: Statewide.
2) Develop a multiple-use management model of hardwood rangelands incorporating cattle production, firewood harvesting, and fee hunting. Location: Statewide.
3) Establish demonstration areas illustrating multiple-use management concepts, including firewood harvesting, cattle production and wildlife enhancement. Location: Butte, San Luis Obispo.
4) Assess cottage industry potential for producing kitchen cutting boards from live oak and blue oak by evaluating treatment and processing methods. Location: Butte.
5) Monitor long-term hardwood range conditions from an integrated cattle-prescribed burning operation. Location: Madera.
6) Survey statewide successes and failures of eucalyptus plantations and assess the potential for reducing pressure on native hardwoods. Location: Statewide.
7) Evaluate potential for agroforestry systems in hardwood rangelands for additional cashflow. Location: El Dorado, Amador.
8) Utilize various educational approaches to describe the benefits of multiple-use management of hardwood rangelands using the principles of the hardwood manual. Location: Statewide.
Community planting projects to revegetate denuded sites are being encouraged.
|
|
|
9) Hold local workshops on managing small parcels of hardwood rangeland. Location: San Diego, Riverside, Los Angeles.
10) Complete a brochure on management opportunities for small parcels of hardwood rangeland and distribute to statewide list of small landowners. Location: Statewide.
11) Coordinate activities with farm advisors, various state agencies, and consultants to help landowners develop multipleuse management plans for their hardwood rangelands. Location: Statewide.
12) Begin work on a revision of the hardwood management manual utilizing new information from the IHRMP research program. Location: Statewide.
|
|
