Research results on oak regeneration techniques are being distributed to the public.

• An educational program will be held to discuss oak values, and reasons for poor oak regeneration. This will be tied in with public assistance programs like the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and the Agricultural Conservation Program (ACP).
• Field workshops will be held on oak regeneration, centered around an actual acorn collection activity or field planting.
• The growth and survival of planted oaks established as a part of this educational activity will be monitored over time to evaluate the success of this approach to increasing oak regeneration.
  

A number of other extension activities are planned. A major focus on Engelmann oak and coast live oak restoration projects will be carried out in Southern California in cooperation with developers and local conservation groups. A comprehensive leaflet entitled “How to Grow Oaks” will present all facets of oak regeneration from acorn collection and storage, to nursery practices, to actual field planting. A videotape on “How to Plant Oaks” will be developed to broaden the scope of this extension effort. A survey of nurseries that supply oak seedlings will be conducted to determine the quantity, type, and availability of oak seedlings, and supplied to groups interested in obtaining seedlings.

The research program will continue to refine the early information developed in the program. A major study is due to begin to evaluate nursery practices and the effect on oak seedling quality and performance. The mixed results of fertilizer treatments will be clarified in a new field study. A focus will also be on making oak regeneration as practical and cost effective on an operational basis as possible. A leaflet on the costs of various oak regeneration strategies will be developed in cooperation with CDF.


MAINTENANCE OF WILDLIFE HABITAT DIVERSITY

Oaks are an important component of deer habitat over much of the state.

Statement of Problem

Hardwood habitats house more wildlife species than any other vegetation type in California. At least 331 species of vertebrates breed in this richly diverse and complex environment; at least 32 species of birds and 39 species of mammals feed regularly on acorns. Public concern has focused on the need to discourage those hardwood management practices which may have a potential for adverse impacts on wildlife habitat diversity.

Accomplishments

Maintenance of critical wildlife habitat in hardwood rangelands was one of the issues which led to the development of the IHRMP. Research activity has helped to determine the diversity of wildlife present on hardwood rangelands, their season of use in various habitats, and the likely impact of management activity on various wildlife species.

Applied research includes a recently started survey of mast production in three counties in the central coast region of the state. This will help characterize periodic fluctuations in the acorn crop and will extend the range of a similar survey already conducted by the California Department of Fish and Game. Another recently initiated project by UC researchers is a survey of wildlife habitat relationships in riparian environments. This study will help to develop guidelines similar to the Preliminary Guidelines for Managing Hardwood Rangelands for riparian hardwood habitats.

California Department of Fish & Game biologists collect data on deer killed by hunters in oak woodlands.

Extension activities in this area have been diverse. Perhaps the most significant activity here has been the inclusion of wildlife habitat considerations in all landowner education programs held to date. There has been a great deal of interest in this area from ranchers, small landowners, and developers. Two more demonstration areas illustrating wildlife management techniques together with range management were established at the Sierra Foothill Range Field Station and the Chimney Rock Ranch in San Luis Obispo County.

The use of computer-based decision aids have been looked upon as helpful educational tools to inform landowners of some of the wildlife values on their hardwood rangelands. UC researchers have progressed in making the Wildlife Habitats Relationships (WHR) model available locally through Farm Advisors’ offices. The software to download locally applicable portions of the very large database onto MS-DOS compatible computers has been completed, and the process to distribute this database has been set up. This model shows the likely occurrence of various wildlife species on different habitats, in different seral stages, and quickly allows managers and landowners to focus on the likely impacts of management on wildlife species. Another major advance in this area is the development of computer-based expert systems on wild turkeys and acorn woodpeckers. This has been a promising development to capture information on the impacts of various management activities on these two pilot species. Landowners are queried about their management objectives and likely management activities, and the impacts on the target species, or the type of improvement needed to favor the species, is provided.

Development pressure on hardwood range habitat is recognized as perhaps the most important impact on wildlife. IHRMP Specialists working closely with developers and local planners in southern California have helped to apply the mitigation bank concept of habitat protection to hardwood rangelands. A successful oak habitat mitigation bank at Rancho Mission Viejo in Orange County provides a promising model of habitat maintenance that can be applied to other proposed subdivisions on hardwood rangelands.

Acorn woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorous) From California Wildlife and Their Habitats: Western Sierra Nevada, published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Forest arid Range Experiment Station, Berkeley, CA 94701.

Plans

There will be an increased emphasis on wildlife habitat considerations in the upcoming year. A number of publications oriented specifically to wildlife use of hardwood range habitats are being planned. For example, the guidebook for hardwood riparian management will be developed and a popular leaflet on hardwood rangeland values for wildlife will both be started.

A new research study on the effect of urbanization in hardwood rangelands on wildlife species will be started, and a whitepaper on the effects of habitat fragmentation will be written to focus future research activities. The use of nest boxes as mitigation for cavity nesting birds will be investigated in field studies at the Sierra and Hopland Field Stations.

Education activities on wildlife habitat considerations will continue to be incorporated with other areas of emphasis, such as ranch management, land-use planning, and recreational development. The wildlife demonstration areas will continue to play a major role in field workshops. The California Department of Fish and Game’s oak retention standards will be evaluated in cooperation with the Interagency Task Group on Wildlife, and promoted to landowners as appropriate. A weeklong workshop for professional resource managers on the use of the Wildlife Habitat Relationships (WHR) system is planned for the upcoming winter.


SHOW THE CONSEQUENCES OF HARDWOOD RANGE CONVERSION

Statement of Problem

Preliminary information indicates that in many counties, conversions of hardwood rangeland to intensive agriculture, residential, and commercial development is the most likely source of adverse impacts on fire protection, soil erosion, wildlife habitat, forage and wood availability, etc. Local government (county or city) establish their own planning policies for controlling the extent and rate of encroachment. Often this is done without adequate professional wildland expertise in forestry, range, and wildlife management.

Accomplishments

Conversion of hardwood rangelands to urban uses and to intensive agriculture has been increasingly recognized as perhaps the most important source of loss of critical hardwood rangelands. In response to this, additional emphasis has been placed on this area in the past year.

Much of the success in this area has been in small group settings and direct contact with key people. For example, direct contact with county planning staff, environmental interest groups, and development groups resulted in the formation of a planning group for the western slope of the Santa Ana Mountains. This direct access to key players in development is at least partially responsible for an improvement in the way that oaks are considered in subdivisions. The trend in the Santa Ana foothills has been for no easements prior to 1986, to requiring oak conservation easements in 1988, to planning for mitigation measures before development occurs as is currently the case for a major project planned in 1995.

Audio–Visual Programs for California’s Hardwood Rangelands Oak Regeneration in California Explaining the Hardwood Manual Actual Case History Using the Hardwood Manual A Program for Conserving Hardwood Rangeland The Oak and Cattle on the San Joaquin Range Care and Preservation of Our Native Oaks

Similar results from these small group contacts can be seen in the Sonoma and Monterey County tree ordinances that were recently considered. Input from Cooperative Extension Farm Advisors and area Specialists with the IHRMP were reflected in the language of the ordinances actually being considered. Direct contact with Cal Trans on some recent road construction through hardwood rangelands resulted in more consideration to preserving important habitat areas, and mitigation of trees lost in construction.

To help to characterize the nature of the audience for this area, two major surveys were conducted this year. Local planners of all municipalities in the hardwood range area were surveyed to determine current ordinances that pertain to oaks, current attitudes towards oak tree conservation, and educational needs. A survey was carried out in Yolo County of owners of heritage valley oak trees, to determine the attitudes and current management practices of the owners of this tree species.

Two prototype educational workshops were held to address clientele involved in subdivision of hardwood rangelands. An evening series was held for owners of small parcels in San Luis Obispo County. A workshop directed to developers, planners, and tree care professionals, entitled "Construction Among the Oaks," attracted over 200 people in Santa Rosa (see write-up).

Plans

Focus on this area will continue in the upcoming year. The local network committees will continue to function in the five pilot counties (see write-up in previous section). These activities will be refined to priority areas set by the committees.

The "Guidelines on Oak Management for Planners" workbook will be completed. Initial work for this was started during this year. An editor will be hired to pull together the diverse elements of the broad publication into a useful assessment of how hardwood rangelands can be considered by county and local planners. This material will be emphasized in a series of outreach activities to increase the consideration of hardwood rangelands in county General Plans, and reduce the impact of conversion of critical areas. Continued work is planned with local governments to provide input on tree conversion and replacement ordinances that are increasing throughout the hardwood rangeland areas of the state.

A workshop patterned after the highly successful, “Attitudes and Responsibilities Towards Oak Woodlands” will be repeated in Southern California in the upcoming year. This will be targeted at key personnel in the diverse groups involved in impacting the hardwood range resource, such as developers, ranchers, planners, and conservation groups. The objective of this workshop is to increase the dialog between the diverse groups, and to build new coalitions to ensure sustainability of the hardwood range resource.

New emphasis will be placed on targeting homeowner associations as a clientele group. A database of homeowner associations in the hardwood range resource has been collected. These groups will be surveyed to ascertain the way in which they consider hardwood range management in their association. A series of educational outreach programs will be scheduled to provide these important groups with access to the current information developed on hardwood rangeland management.

A videotape will be completed on the value of oaks in rural subdivisions. This will take the material developed as a part of an earlier study on the North Coast, and package it for realtors, developers, and homeowner associations. It is expected that this will provide additional incentives to provide management effort to maintain oaks in the landscape because of the market value they contribute to the overall property.

Multiple-use management strategies encourage consideration of hardwood values.

DEVELOPING ALTERNATIVE RANGE MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES

Statement of Problem

The traditional livestock producer who uses California’s hardwood range needs current information in order to make rational economic decisions affecting the management of the enterprise. The future economic success of a ranching operation, by necessity, may involve multiple management strategies designed to be compatible with the owner’s objectives.

Accomplishments

Development of multiple use management techniques is seen as an important issue to help broaden the market base for hardwood owners, as well as ensuring the maintenance of important resource values associated with oaks.

A number of local field research projects are underway to incorporate ranch management with maintenance of the resource values. In the South Sierra Region, a project is being completed on how supplemental feeding patterns can be used to provide protection of riparian corridors in hardwood rangelands. This has shown how location of feeding areas can reduce livestock use of critical hardwood range areas. Another project investigates the role of prescribed fire on hardwood range values. A series of burning treatments is being evaluated for the impact on oak regeneration

Blue oak (Q. douglasii) Leaf print by Ida Geary

One of the key mechanisms to extend the concepts of multiple use ranch management has been the use of demonstration areas. These are designed to show how wildlife-habitat maintenance, livestock forage production, and firewood harvesting, can all be combined in a management context. The prescriptions for these demonstration areas are derived from the IHRMP’s popular book, Preliminary Guidelines for Managing Hardwood Rangelands. Demonstration areas have been established in Butte County, Sierra Foothill Range Field Station, Hopland Field Station, and San Luis Obispo County. These have been heavily utilized in local outreach activities directed to ranchers, environmental groups, firewood cutters, and the general public. In the Butte County site, which was established several years ago, there has been widespread consensus among these diverse groups that the demonstration areas represent a good approach to management that provides for adequate resource protection. Informal networks among those who have witnessed the demonstration area indicates that this approach extends ideas on land management. A network analysis will be carried out in the upcoming year to document the impact of this activity on county management practices.

A number of counties have been holding a special series of workshops for ranch owners and managers to utilize a holistic view about the management of their properties. The interrelationship between livestock stocking and growth rate, the cost and availability of feed, alternative management enterprises to broaden the economic base of the ranch, animal health issues, and natural resource conservation, has been stressed in a series of workshops for ranch owners in Glenn and Tehama counties. Over 100 ranchers have participated in these workshop series alone. In these programs, the Integrated Hardwood Range Management Program has presented material on oak regeneration, sustained-yield firewood harvesting, and recreational hunting. These two programs have been seen as prototypes, that will be continued in these two counties and at least seven other counties, in the upcoming year. The local range/livestock farm advisor is the key person locally responsible for the development of these educational programs

Interior live oak (Q. wislizenii) Leaf print by Ida Geary

In addition to these educational activities, landowner workshops on hardwood range management have been held in Calaveras, San Luis Obispo, and Monterey counties. Over 400 ranch owners and managers attended these workshops, which emphasized multiple use management concepts. A detailed analysis of these educational workshops is underway to assess their effectiveness in extending knowledge about hardwood range management and having it applied by landowners.

In addition to these various educational activities directed to landowners, there has been a major focus on continuing education for range management professionals in cooperation with the Society for Range Management. Five workshops have been held on monitoring hardwood rangelands. Techniques for assessing forage, brush, and tree vegetation have been presented in these field workshops. The emphasis is to develop monitoring programs to evaluate if management activities are achieving their desired goals for wildlife habitat, range forage production, and sustained-wood production. A direct effect of these workshops is that these concepts have already been applied on public hardwood rangelands by participants in these workshops.

A recognition program for ranchers, named the “Hardwood Stewardship” program, has been under development in Mendocino County as a pilot project. The objective of this program is to develop standards that demonstrate wise stewardship of the hardwood range resource and to recognize those hardwood range owners who meet these standards of excellence. This recognition will provide two benefits to the IHRMP. First, it will help to document the number of owners and the acreage that are meeting standards of resource conservation. Secondly, it will provide a benchmark to assess the impact of educational activities. A local steering committee composed of a wide cross-section of conservation and landowner groups, as well as resource management agency personnel, has developed a draft set of criteria to be used to determine suitability for recognition as a "Hardwood Steward." Flyers to publicize the program, as well as a logo and award plaque, are under development. Depending upon the success of this program in Mendocino County, other counties will become involved in the next year.

Canyon live oak (Q. chrysolepis) Leaf print by Ida Geary

Plans

Efforts in the upcoming year will be to expand the educational outreach of the successful components in this area. The “Hardwood Stewardship” program will be evaluated and expanded to include additional counties. Landowner workshops will be expanded to include other counties. Special field days on hardwood range management will be held in additional counties. This will include increased participation in the "Integrated Ranch Management" educational programs to be held in seven counties this year. This series incorporates multiple-use management of hardwood rangelands with topics on animal health, livestock management, and range management. The demonstration sites illustrating multiple-use-management will continue to be the focal points of educational activities in various regional areas. Additional professional continuing educational workshops will be held on monitoring hardwood range resources.

Two major publications are scheduled for this coming year. The Preliminary Guidelines for Managing Hardwood Rangelands leaflet is scheduled for revision to incorporate new research results. A leaflet, entitled "Livestock Among the Oaks" is scheduled to be developed to discuss livestock management and oak conservation.

A new field study and demonstration will be started this year to evaluate the effect of different grazing management strategies on blue oak regeneration. This will be conducted at the Sierra Foothill Range Field Station.