EMERGING ISSUES

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This last year has seen a number of issues emerge related to hardwood range and oak woodlands. These issues are born out of California's continuing population growth which is expanding into what historically has been undeveloped areas. Issues such as bio-regional planning, conservation of biological diversity, endangered species, water quality, impacts of a continuing drought, and manipulation and transplanting of large, established individual oak trees have all demanded both personnel and fiscal resources.

Efforts to Conserve California's Biological Diversity

Klamath bio-region example of grassroots bio-diversity efforts The Klamath bio-region includes efforts of the Mattole Watershed Alliance, The Clear Lake Basin Committee the Sonoma County Oak Network Committee, and the Garberville to Sonoma sub-group of the Klamath Province. Each group works independently of each other but communicate and share information through meetings, educational activities and regional events.

The memorandum of understanding (MOU) to preserve California's biological diversity originally signed by ten state and federal agencies, in August of 1991, has spawned a grass-roots movement throughout California that has involved a number of people and organizations. Many of the "bio-regional" councils that have formed as a result of the MOU are in areas of oak woodlands. These bio-regions include: the Klamath, Sierra, Central Coast, Upper Sacramento River, San Francisco Estuary, San Joaquin Valley, Mojave and Coast Sage Scrub. Currently, the most active regional councils have been the Klamath and the Sierra. The IHRMP program has been very active and visible in the southern Klamath region supporting efforts in Sonoma, Mendocino, Lake, and Humboldt Counties.

The bio-regional effort is working to develop programs in the following areas: biodiversity related policies, land management, land use planning, land and reserve acquisition and exchange, private landowner assistance, educational outreach, monitoring, inventory and assessment, restoration, and research technology.

Natural Communities Conservation Planning (NCCP) Program

In 1991, Governor Pete Wilson launched the Natural Communities Conservation Planning Program (NCCP) program. It is a voluntary cooperative approach to protecting wildlife habitat before it becomes so fragmented or degraded by development, or other uses, that listing of individual or multiple species under the State or Federal Endangered Species Act is required. The program has attempted to conserve entire ecosystems while allowing for compatible and reasonable economic growth. The NCCP program is currently being pursued as a pilot project in the coastal sage scrub habitat of Southern California, which is home to the California gnatcatcher and numerous other potentially threatened species.

The IHRM Program has been heavily involved in the NCCP program in the area. Working with local UCCE advisors, consultants, development and construction interests and other UC Riverside researchers, the IHRMP has been instrumental in building partnerships in order to generate a cooperative approach to problem solving. This approach is viewed as a consensus building process focusing on the critical habitat resources of the coastal sage scrub. The goals of the NCCP program are to be achieved through the establishment of permanent, enforceable conservation agencies designed for specific habitats and suites of species.

Water Quality in Oak Woodlands

During the last year, issues related to water quality have moved to the forefront of discussions. Concern over Non-Point Source Pollution (NPSP) have focused on grazing, road building, suburban development and harvesting activities. Regional Water Quality Control Boards have made NPSP a high priority and have directed their staffs to address its effects on wildlife and fisheries and their habitats. IHRMP specialists and advisors have responded by cooperating with other UCCE academics, local landowners, ranchers, commodity groups, resource agency personnel, and environmental organizations to develop educational programs aimed at helping people understand the complexities of the topic and the ecological and economic consequences of current and pending legislation. Workshops, field tours, in-service training, and local publications have been used through the state to 1) increase public awareness of the situation, 2) answer landowner questions related to NPSP and 3) identify future educational needs and research focusing on water quality concerns.

Endangered Species

Continued listing of invertebrate, vertebrate, and botanical species in California under the State or Federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) is causing increased anxiety in local agricultural communities. Although many of the most recently listed species are threatened by residential expansion, the agricultural community is having to carry much of the burden of species protection merely because they own much of the last remaining suitable habitat. An example of this can be found in the continual addition of species listings associated with vernal pool habitats. Vernal pools are seasonable wetlands found in oak woodlands that provide suitable habitat for an array of hydrophilic (water loving) plants, and aquatic invertebrates (fairy shrimp, clam shrimp, tadpole shrimp, and others). During the last year several invertebrate and botanical species have been listed. The difficulty in developing protection plans for these species continues to be the general lack of information needed to make sound management decisions. Efforts are underway at the Hopland Research and Extension Center to develop a hardwood management plan that will develop Best Management Practices (BMPs) for the protection and management of these seasonal wetlands as well as other sensitive components of oak woodlands.

The most obvious sensitive vertebrate species that has become of central concern during this last year has been the California Spotted Owl. It is closely related to the threatened Northern Spotted Owl. Although the California Spotted Owl nests in older trees in coniferous forests, it also nests in hardwood rangeland in the Southern Sierra Nevada, Central Coast, and in Southern California. There is also sound evidence that suggests the subspecies is migratory on the west slope of the Sierra Nevada, summering in higher elevations and spending the winter months in the foothills. As additional information on this subspecies is developed, it will increasingly be considered in hardwood rangeland management recommendations.