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The Integrated Hardwood Range Management Program (IHRMP) was started on July 1, 1986, with a mission:
"To maintain and where possible increase the acreage of California's hardwood range resource to provide wildlife habitat, recreational opportunities, wood and livestock products, high quality water supply, and aesthetic value."
The University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, the California Department of Forestry and Resource Management, and the California Department of Fish and Came have all actively participated in the IHRMP with an aggressive program of research, monitoring, and education directed at conservation of California's hardwood rangeland resources. This coordination of efforts between these public agencies has been one of the key accomplishments of the IHRMP. Joint planning sessions are regularly held to prevent duplication of resources.
The IHRMP is engaged in a continual planning and updating of its priorities and goals. The early years of the program focused on the development of ecological and managerial practices at a stand or single landowner level. Early priorities for both the research and education program were stand level regeneration and multiple use management of ranch ownerships. In recent years, there has been an increasing recognition of the major impacts of urbanization and land use planning in the maintenance of high quality hardwood rangeland habitats. This has resulted in an emphasis on landscape level management that cuts across several ownerships, stand types, and habitats within a region. The development of spatially based monitoring data in a geographic information system (GIS) has helped to facilitate this trend to landscape management.
 The current goals and objectives of the IHRMP are shown below.
Goal 1: Develop methods to sustain hardwood rangeland ecosystems and landscapes.
Objectives:
- Ensure that hardwood rangelands have sufficient recruitment to sustain desired structure
- Identify practices that maintain high quality water
- Identify sensitivity of oak ecosystems to disturbance
- Slow rate of loss of plant and animal species
Goal 2: Maintain wildlife habitat on hardwood rangelands.
Objectives:
- Develop management information and recommendations for wildlife species
- Develop management practices to maintain threatened and endangered species
- Maintain landscape components of habitat (corridors, riparian zones, etc.)
- Integrate wildlife habitat into landscapes altered through urbanization
- Identify sensitivity of wildlife to disturbance
Goal 3: Restore degraded hardwood rangelands.
Objectives:
- Develop and implement planting techniques to successfully reestablish oaks
- Define targets for habitat restoration
- Develop habitat restoration techniques for shrubs, native grasses, and other ecosystem components
- Ensure sufficient supply of native plant materials in nurseries
Goal 4: Ensure that state, regional, county, and local land use planning incorporates all information available to conserve hardwood rangeland ecosystems.
Objectives:
- Incorporate hardwood rangeland conservation into General Plans
- Develop mitigation techniques and standards for altered hardwood rangelands
- Make planners and local policy makers aware of hardwood rangeland values
- Provide expertise that helps minimize urban/wildland interface conflicts
- Coordinate hardwood rangeland conservation with fire-safe planning efforts
Goal 5: Maintain economically viable private hardwood rangelands
Objectives:
- Evaluate markets for hardwood rangeland products
- Educate landowners about management alternatives
- Encourage new markets that enhance profitability
Goal 6: Help focus general public awareness about importance of hardwood rangeland habitats
Objectives:
- Coordinate youth education programs
- Work with homeowner organizations to increase awareness of hardwood rangeland values
- Conduct environmental education programs for the general public
Goal 7: Maintain statewide information base about the trends, conditions, and extent of hardwood rangelands
Objectives:
- Maintain statewide Geographic Information System on hardwood rangelands
- Conduct short-term monitoring to evaluate losses of hardwood rangelands
- Develop techniques and methods to monitor hardwood rangelands
- Distribute information to managers and policy makers
This progress report highlights some of the major accomplishments of the IHRMP between July 1, 1991 and December 31,1992. The results of educational efforts, technical assistance, and monitoring trends will be helpful in assessing future policy needs to ensure the sustainability of the hardwood rangeland resource.
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