CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE IHRMP, 1988

1. Improvement of oak regeneration.
   
2. Maintenance of wildlife habitat diversity.
   
3. Analysis of the consequences of conversion of hardwood rangelands.
   
4. Development of alternative management strategies for hardwood range owners.
   
5. Development of networks of landowners, county planners, environmentalists, developers, and resource management agency staff to promote best management practices on California hardwood rangelands.
   

CALIFORNIA’S MAJOR OAKS Shaded portion shows the distribution of California’s five major oak species.

The five Extension specialists working the program are Richard Standiford (Program Director, Berkeley), Robert Schmidt (Hopland Field Station), William Tietje (San Luis Obispo), Tom Scott (Riverside) and Doug McCreary (Sierra Field Station). Neil McDougald and Pete Passof (Farm Advisors in Madera and Mendocino Counties respectively) and Ted Adams (Wildlands Specialist at the Davis Campus) are also working closely with the program.

The five regionally-based Natural Resources Extension Specialists are in an excellent position to provide a coordinating role with others involved in hardwood range management, because their job assignment emphasizes local and regional concerns within the framework of the broader statewide program.

A variety of research projects and education programs in the five major areas listed above have been initiated by these extension specialists and farm advisors. A newsletter, Oaks ’n’ Folks, is published three times a year to update the progress of the program. Living Among the Oaks, a publication directed to homeowners, was published by the program in 1987. Other planned publications will focus on conservation, livestock management planning and land-use practices, and wildlife habitat maintenance.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and the University of California fund a competitive grants program for research in integrated hardwood rangeland management. Research priorities are identified by an external Policy Advisory Committee made up of representatives from environmental groups, the Range Management Advisory Committee to the State Board of Forestry, resource management professionals, and other research organizations. Decisions are made on awards by a committee made up of representatives of these organizations. Projects have been funded which focus on such topics as regeneration, genetics, grazing management, land use planning, oak rangeland ecology, and wildlife management. Progress of this research is reported at an annual workshop of researchers, extension specialists, county farm advisors, and agency staff.

PARTNERS IN THE IHRMP University of California California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection California Department of Fish & Game Board of Forestry, Range Management Advisory Committee HARDWOOD RANGE POLICY ADVISORY COMMITTEE, 1988-89 Woody Barnes, State Board of Forestry John W. Menke, UC Davis Harold Heady, UC Berkeley Ken Mayer, California Department of Fish & Game Jim Griffin, UC Berkeley Richard Wade, Cal Oak Enoch Bell, U.S. Forest Service, PSW Deborah Jensen, California Native Plant Society Bob Bosworth, Range Management Advisory Committee

The California State Board of Forestry was instrumental in initiating the Integrated Hardwood Range Management Program. A close liaison is being maintained between UC, the State Board of Forestry, and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection in the administration of the program. We intend that the program will bring about a better understanding of the problem of maintaining California’s hardwood rangelands and an appropriate educational program to achieve the conservation of this valuable resource.