Sixth Progress Report January 1993 - July 1994 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources College of Natural Resources, Berkeley Department of Environmental Science, Policy & Management STATE of CALIFORNIA Resources Agency California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection California Depart of Fish and Game July 1994 |
CHAPTER 3 - HARDWOOD RANGELAND MANAGEMENT IN WILDLAND AREAS
As a result of educational emphasis on sustainable oak management practices directed at landowners and resource professionals, there has been a considerable decline in the acres of firewood harvesting and range improvement that leave oak stand canopy density at levels below what might be considered optimum for resource protection and economic viability. The 1992-93 IHRMP progress report provided a discussion of ongoing social and biological monitoring trends, and documented that landowners are now much more likely to include habitat protection in their management strategies and to retain higher oak canopy levels in firewood harvesting and thinning operations. Current Situation Despite this documented decrease in rangeland clearing and overall improvement of management as it affects oak woodland habitats over the past eight years, large-scale firewood harvesting and perceived overcutting on wildland areas of hardwood rangelands, is still a lightning rod for public concerns about hardwood rangeland management. In fact, large-scale firewood harvest in the wildland areas of the northern Sacramento Valley generated so much public outcry directed at the State Board of Forestry, that this continued concern was the primary issue leading to the May 1993 hardwood hearings mentioned previously. Since the date of the Board of Forestry hearing, there has been considerable headway in addressing the public concerns. Previous IHRMP research and educational efforts have emphasized a number of key ecological factors, including: the importance of maintaining minimum oak canopy levels; maintenance of large blocks of denser canopy classes with linkages through corridor systems; minimum disturbance of riparian zones; and the importance of snags, dead and down material, and good acorn-producing trees as important elements of wildlife habitat. The landowner surveys mentioned above have shown that owners recognize many of these ecological principles and do incorporate them into their management decisions. The Board of Forestry's decision to encourage local areas to develop their own conservation strategies was at least partially predicated by this encouraging trend. One of the most notable examples of complying with the Board of Forestry's desire to encourage local conservation planning has taken place in the Northern Sacramento Valley. Tehama County governmental officials, local organizations and local citizens volunteered to take the initiative to come up with their own oak conservation strategy that was responsive to the issues in their area. Their willingness to step up and take action at the 1993 hearings was a major factor which led the Board to endorse this local-based approach. In a fairly brief time, a diverse cross-section of the residents of Tehama and Glenn counties (two areas where firewood harvest concerns were concentrated) were able to utilize materials developed by the IHRMP and formulate agreeable management standards (see Bioregional Planning). These accomplishments built upon previous educational thrusts directed at this audience of wildland owners and managers. The more urban-based educational outreach efforts described in chapter 2 are necessary first steps to encourage similar local conservation efforts. In the future, the groups in the Northern Sacramento Valley will be evaluating monitoring trends to ascertain if landowners are adopting these standards and how incorporation of these is affecting landscape level habitat patterns. Several other counties with major wildland areas of hardwood rangelands are on their way to developing a similar strategy. New Program Efforts A new study was started during the past year in Shasta and Tehama counties to evaluate sustainable firewood harvesting practices. This project, funded by CDF and carried out by UC specialists and farm advisors, is designed to provide localized information on the effects of firewood harvest on regeneration and stand dynamics. Nineteen ranches, which had carried out some level of firewood harvest in the past 10 years, were visited in the two counties. Complete documentation of "before" and "after" stand conditions were collected. Preliminary results have shown the importance of blue oak stump sprouting as a stand regeneration process in this area, and the relatively rapid growth and canopy expansion that takes place following harvest. This information will be used to supplement existing stand growth models that have been developed, and will be incorporated into the Northern Sacramento Valley Sustainable Landscape Project, as well as in educational efforts directed at landowners and firewood cutters. Two IHRMP-funded projects have continued to look at the effect of oak canopy manipulation on wildlife habitat. These projects are located at Camp Roberts in the Central Coast, and the Sierra Field Station in the Northern Sierra Nevada foothills. These two studies are designed to show how biodiversity is affected over time as canopy is reduced, mimicking the effects of firewood harvest. These results will also be useful as stand and landscape level prescriptions are developed on management practices that maintain habitat characteristics of hardwood rangelands. Three different studies are underway to evaluate the genetic diversity of important hardwood rangeland tree species. These studies are using molecular, common garden, and physiological approaches to evaluate genetic mechanisms which lead to oak distribution and adaptation to climatic variability. This information will have great use in design of restoration projects and in discussions with landowners and resource managers about genetic conservation strategies in land management decisions. Later in this chapter are several case studies showing additional areas of emphasis of the IHRMP in the more extensively managed wildland areas of the state.  Future Program ThrustsFuture work will broaden the thrust of the IHRMP to coordinate efforts with the range watershed program being conducted by UC Cooperative Extension and the Range Management Advisory Committee. The audience and land type is virtually the same for these two programs, and coordination of efforts will make educational programming more efficient and allow landowners to take a more holistic view of all of the resources on their land. New efforts in improving utilization of timberland hardwood species may bear dividends in increased value added products for hardwood rangeland tree species (see case study). If these opportunities do develop, additional emphasis on environmental thresholds will be necessary to prevent over-exploitation of trees. Fuel management programs are becoming a priority in forest, woodland, and brushland areas of the state, and will need to receive additional IHRMP emphasis in future years. Fuels have built up on both wildland and wildland-urban interface zones of hardwood rangelands due to the dramatic decline in prescribed burning over the past 40 years. New emphasis on historic fire frequency and intensity, and stand structures which existed during periods of higher fire frequency are needed. Cost efficient strategies to increase fuel treatments which still provide for adequate habitat protection are necessary. Endangered plant and animal species are having an effect on hardwood rangeland owners and managers in different parts of the state. Additional program thrusts will be made in this area. Future outreach efforts will be made to increase the awareness of landowners about the habitats of several threatened and endangered plant species using the California Natural Diversity Database. Group consensus building efforts are underway to protect threatened fish stocks, which involve hardwood range landowners. Tehama County Hardwood Advisory Committee When the Board of Forestry met in May 1993 to consider regulating hardwood harvesting, the President of the Tehama County Cattlemen's Association and a Tehama County Supervisor were on hand to testify against regulation. They argued that if there were problems in hardwood management, they were local problems and should be handled at the local level. They also argued that state regulation would not necessarily be effective, and that it would infringe on the private property rights of landowners. The Board agreed and decided to support local efforts toward oak conservation, rather than statewide regulation. It directed counties to assess the status of their hardwoods and develop appropriate management strategies that would result in long term conservation. Tehama County took this charge seriously. Within weeks they formed a Hardwood Advisory Committee to look at hardwood issues in the County and develop a conservation plan. The Committee was composed of people representing a wide range of interests. Their common bond was that they all had a stake in hardwoods and hardwood management. In addition to the Cattleman and Supervisor mentioned above, the Committee included a commercial firewood harvester (who became the Committee's Chair), several landowners, agency personnel, a member of the County Planning Commission, a member of the Sierra Club and the local farm advisor. The Committee met regularly for over six months, and while they didn't agree on everything, they came up with a Hardwood Conservation Resolution supported by the entire group. This Resolution was submitted to the County Board of supervisors who endorsed it at their May 1994 meeting. The Resolution consisted of several parts. It recognized the importance of private property rights, but also, that responsible stewardship by private landowners is necessary to sustain oak woodland resources. It set forth a series of specific management guidelines, including minimum canopy retention standards, the preservation of wildlife corridors and habitat, and landscaping practices to protect trees during construction. It also outlined an aggressive education program, focused on hardwood rangeland landowners of 40 acres or more. These landowners would receive the latest information on hardwood management, be provided with sources of public and private assistance, and be invited to hardwood workshops. Finally, the Resolution established a permanent Hardwood Advisory Committee that would meet semi-annually to evaluate and substantiate the progress of educational programs on hardwood management, and the effectiveness of the management guidelines in sustaining oak woodland habitat in Tehama County. It's too early to tell how effective this approach will be. Time will tell. But hats off to all those involved in this process for seizing the initiative and quickly coming up with a local hardwood conservation strategy as requested by the Board of Forestry. California's Native Grasslands
California's native plants are of interest to several groups, but until recently, the native grasses have not had an organized "following" outside the academic community. There are over 300 species of native grass in California, and two-thirds are perennial. The California Native Grass Association (CNGA) was organized in 1991 in response to the growing interest in this group of plants and the native grasslands of the state that once covered millions of acres. It is the perennials that are of immediate interest to CNGA and the spectrum of interests it represents. Although no native perennial grass is known to be extinct, the character of the state's grasslands has changed substantially during the past 200 years in response to the influence of European settlement. The most dramatic part of change has been displacement of the native perennial grasses by annual grasses, most of which were introduced from the Mediterranean region. Agricultural development and abuse of grasslands by grazing livestock during prolonged drought periods helped the process. This has degraded biological diversity, changed the quality of habitat and affected populations of both plants and animals. Competition from annuals in the grasslands is suspected of being one of the major obstacles to recruitment of young oak trees in the oak-grassland savanna.
There is another problem; despite the ubiquity of native grasses, there is a lack of information on plant performance, response to alternative management strategies and historic genetic architecture. Knowledge of the latter would be extremely helpful, because this structure can describe the degree of genetic difference between populations of a species that results (in part, at least) from responses to habitat variation within the its range. Lack of needed information can compromise restoration efforts; plant material selected may not represent the best adapted gene pool. Planning restoration to address the growing public mandate requires use of the best information now available. Development of policy must recognize this and the fact that limitations of current knowledge will influence future decisions. It may be necessary to suggest limited use of some species that could restrict development of desired plant communities and impact ecosystem processes. The knowledge gap (inadequate information on performance and genetic structure of natives) can be narrowed by extrapolating from research in other environments and incorporating development of new knowledge in the design of restoration projects. Many public agencies want to move ahead using current knowledge while cooperating in the development of needed information. The objective of a restoration project must be well defined so that the composition of the planting can be tailored to site conditions and proposed management. A native grass may not always be the appropriate choice, especially for revegetation of some drastically disturbed sites. Adoption of a "decision tree" based on taxonomic categories, breeding systems, intensity of use and other considerations would permit inclusion of a range of objectives from revegetation to restoration.
Some type of zonation will be necessary to support recommendations and choices. Two maps of California presented in The Jepson Manual-Higher Plants of California (University of California Press, 1993), one based on climate zones and the other identifying geographic subdivisions of the state, provide basic information to help define zones for collection and use. Other sources of information, such as soil maps and geographic information systems, would be used to refine these zones. Problems associated with production and marketing of seed also must be recognized. Species characteristics affect the amount of seed produced and the difficulty of harvest. Thus, the yield per unit area together with scale of production affect grower costs. Narrowly defined projects requiring relatively small amounts of difficult-to-produce seed are more expensive to pursue than those with a broader geographic dimension. Seed production often is a protracted process in the wild. Potentially important genetic components are lost if seed is not collected throughout the entire production period. In commercial production, the indeterminate nature of many native grasses can make harvest of the full genetic spectrum an unrealistic target, and the loss of genetic information is aggravated when seed from a cultivated crop is used to produce stands for future harvests. This often unavoidable loss needs to be considered in restoration and revegetation projects. Stability of Blue Oak Woodlands 1932-1992  There has been concern about the long-term stability of blue oak woodlands since the start of the IHRMP because of the absence of seedling and sapling regeneration in several short-term regeneration surveys. A study conducted by Barbara Allen-Diaz (of UC Berkeley) and Barbara Holtzman (formerly of UC Berkeley and now at SF State University) as part of the CDF-funded IHRMP research was designed to look at the longer-term ecological processes governing blue oak stand dynamics to evaluate if long-term declines in blue oak stands as a result of these observations were evident.This study relocated and resurveyed 97 plots established throughout the state in the 1930s as part of the statewide Vegetation Type Map (VTM) program. The plots chosen for resurvey were located in the central and north coast, the northern Sacramento Valley, and the northern Sierra Nevada foothills. Past data on species composition and cover, tree stand structure and environmental factors were compared with the recent survey to determine the changes that have occurred in these woodland habitats. This research showed that approximately 15 percent of the plots were converted from blue oak woodlands to other uses, primarily residential subdivisions due to rapid population growth and demand for housing. However, in the absence of these land use changes, the plots were remarkably stable over the sixty-year period, with the mean basal area of most oak species increasing due to growth and recruitment. The number of blue oak trees was constant or increased on the majority of plots studied. Foothill pines declined markedly, while interior and coast live oaks increased. Many of the blue oak cover types described in earlier IHRMP research by Allen-Diaz and Holtzman were stable. These results suggest that during the past 60 years, if suburban conversion did not take place, traditional land management practices on these predominantly privately-owned blue oak woodlands (94 percent of the research plots) resulted in sufficient recruitment events to maintain stable blue oak stands with little evidence of change due to the widely publicized lack of natural regeneration. Many of today's "new" ideas are simply old ideas with a new twist or new technology. Many landowners today are finding it more difficult to subsist on traditional markets of livestock and forage production. In many cases, this group represents an "at risk" group that can no longer maintain a livelihood exclusively from ranching operations. Once these landowners realize that their traditional livestock operation can no longer provide for sustained economic growth or maintain a desired way of life, they have few options available to them. They can: 1) obtain a source of income from a non-ranching job, 2) sell the land and abandon ranching altogether, or 3) develop alternative markets for other land base resources. The IHRMP has concentrated on the last option as a means of insuring landowner incentives to maintain land holdings in large contiguous blocks. It is becoming widely recognized that single ownerships of large oak woodland parcels have far more open space values (water quality, air quality, biological diversity values) than smaller, multi-ownership parcels that, when combined, equal the size of the single owner parcel. These larger contiguous parcels have fewer infrastructure components than the multi-ownership acreage and consequently have less far reaching impacts on the integrity of the oak woodlands. The key to helping landowners visualize any new resource based enterprise is based on the realization on the part of the landowners that he or she is not simply a rancher, but rather, a controller of vast natural resources including water, open space, wildlife, and trees. In other words, helping the landowner recognize that they have control over the oak forest. Once they recognize the forest's potential they can then begin to visualize alternative enterprises. As California's urban based population continues to grow the desire to experience the State's rich resources is witnessed by the migration of people to the rural reaches of the state during summer months, weekends, and even in marketing strategies of large corporate companies. For example, most large automobile makers advertise their line of outdoor, utility vehicles based on commercials that evoke images of "getting away" to the outdoors. It is common to see automobile ads (TV and print media) that show people having fun in their new 4X4 vehicle driving in the desert, forests or ocean beaches. How often do these ads show people driving their new utility vehicle back and forth to work in commute traffic? When in fact, that is how the majority of these vehicles are used, Recognizing that this urban population is eager to "escape" is key to developing marketing strategies for alternative resource-based enterprises. Non-Consumptive Recreation Dude ranches, bed and breakfast accommodations, riding clubs, and camping are all enterprises that have been tried in California. Each has enjoyed varied degrees of success. In each of these examples, the landowner must recognize that he/she is moving from the solitude of ranching to the people oriented business of resort operations. For the individual who enjoys the company of others, these enterprises have proven very successful In many cases, the successful examples of non-consumptive enterprises have collaborated with existing channels of business advertising e.g. chambers of commerce, tourism boards, etc. to help distribute information about their enterprise. In some cases, collaborative efforts between the oak woodland owners and adjoining agricultural enterprises have proven successful. An example of this is a dude ranch directing its customers to local wineries for wine tasting. Recent Hollywood movies like "City Slickers" have helped make the idea of visiting a dude ranch an attractive vacation alternative. Consumptive Recreation Generally, the term "Consumptive Recreative" identifies hunting and fishing as the main reason for utilizing resources. Today, more and more anglers are recognizing the need to take a "catch and release" attitude toward fishing. This approach reduces the consumptive aspect of sport fishing and recognizes the pressures of modern day angling on fish populations. Some landowners have sold trespass rights to credible angling clubs, e.g. fly fishing clubs, rod and gun clubs, etc., and have allowed members to fish private ponds and lakes completely free of competing anglers. This concept appeals to anglers who are looking for a high quality experience rather than the quantity of fish caught. However, in many cases, because of catch and release attitudes and minimal fishing pressures on these private waters, the quality of the experience is enhanced by the sheer number of fish caught and released. Landowners have several approaches to choose from in developing hunting programs. The most common is to lease hunting rights to a known group of individuals (a hunting club arrangement) for the period of the hunting season or year. An alternative approach is to sell individual hunts either guided or non-guided on a day-by-day basis. The third alternative is to lease hunting rights to an organized business that develops its own membership, dues schedule and reservation system. (The Golden Ram and Wilderness Unlimited are two active hunting organizations in California). Each approach has a different schedule of investment and return to the landowner. Hunting offers a variety of income producing opportunities to the landowner. Traditional hunting strategies in oak woodlands have relied on a landowner selling trespass rights to a "deer club". Usually, this club has a stable membership of individuals from one or several families. Membership in the club is often restricted to immediate family members as they become old enough to hunt. This approach has been very successful from the landowner perspective since it reduces the potential for poaching and vandalism while increasing the potential for resource protection through self-regulation and patrols. Newly emerging strategies include cooperative agreements between adjoining landowners that allows increasing acreages and potentially increasing availability of game species. For example, one landowner may have deer and pigs on his/her property while a neighbor may have deer and turkeys. Through a cooperative approach the ranchers could now market all of these species to customers, enhancing the marketing potential by increasing both the number of species available for harvest and expanding the hunting season. Another strategy employs a program administered by the California Department of Fish and Game. The Private Lands Management (PLM) program allows landowners to develop species management plans, implement habitat improvements and set species hunting season and bag limits which legally vary from statewide standards. The PLM program allows landowners to market late season and alternative species hunts that would not otherwise be available in California. Selected species currently being marketed through this approach include black-tailed deer and tule elk. The program has given landowners the ability to market late season trophy hunts, high quality primitive style hunting (black powder and archery) and alternative species hunts (tule elk). In many cases, the program has given the landowner the ability to maximize the economic potential by developing new markets through the use of charitable donations, ticket drawings, and guide services.  Firewood Harvests As mentioned before, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection has conducted aerial monitoring of firewood harvesting over the past three years. Most of the principal hardwood rangeland counties in the state were surveyed three times over the four-year period. This survey data was designed to show general trends in harvest and the level of canopy reduction which occurred. This was not inclusive of all harvests in hardwood rangeland areas, but was felt to include most major acreages cut. Aerial observers estimated pre-cut canopy cover of harvested areas by comparing the adjacent uncut areas, post-cut canopy cover, and acreage of harvest. Locations were recorded which allowed cuts to be located spatially on the CDF Hardwood Rangeland GIS. Some harvest areas were undoubtedly missed in this survey. It was felt that light harvests would quite possibly not be discernible from the aircraft. Table 3-1 shows the general harvest levels over the four years in which the aerial monitoring was conducted. Cords harvested were estimated by converting crown cover before harvest and after harvest to volume using the relationships described in previous IHRMP research. This shows that 27,000 acres had some harvest, with almost 315,000 cords harvested. Given the conservative nature of the aerial monitoring described above, this is no doubt a low estimate of hardwood rangeland cordwood harvested. Over 50 percent of the cords harvested in the state were in Shasta and Tehama counties alone, although these two counties represent less than 10 percent of the hardwood rangeland acreage in the state. On a general regional analysis, there did not appear to be a major impact to the hardwood rangeland resource as a result of firewood harvest, with the exception of Shasta and Tehama counties. Overall, about 0.1 percent of the total hardwood rangeland acreage had firewood harvesting. There is still some concern since the level of harvest in these areas exceeds the recommendations of the IHRMP's Preliminary Guidelines for Managing Hardwood Rangelands (Passof et al, 1986), and the Fish and Game retention standards in 96 of the 120 firewood areas surveyed. This may create some locally significant impacts in some watersheds and will be investigated in more detail in upcoming landscape analysis of harvest areas. Since the light partial cutting recommended by IHRMP educational documents was probably not included in the sampling, this may not accurately reflect typical harvest practices (see results of the educational program section). Since the level of harvest in Shasta and Tehama counties was so much higher than the rest of the state, a preliminary estimate of the cut versus growth was made to determine the sustainability of current hardwood rangelands. Harvest was assumed to take place on private land acreages since virtually all harvest occurred on private land. Crown cover was converted to volume in cubic feet and cords as described above. The growth of each of the four canopy classes in the CDF Hardwood Rangeland GIS was estimated using general growth equations developed by the IHRMP. Growth per county was developed by multiplying growth per canopy class times acres per class. An annual accounting was made to shift acreage from its precut canopy class to postcut canopy class. Since two of the sampling periods were longer than one year, growth was adjusted accordingly. This general analysis showed that for Tehama County, cut approximately equals growth on private lands. Private hardwood rangelands in that county are currently at close to their productive potential at this time. In Shasta County, cut has exceeded growth by 30 percent over the four-year period. Current levels of harvest will gradually decrease the volumes, and hence canopy cover, of private hardwood rangelands. Implications This preliminary analysis shows that on a statewide basis, a relatively small percentage of hardwood rangeland acreage is harvested. There is a downward trend in the annual acreage harvested, at least partially due to the attention given to the negative environmental effects of complete tree removal. However, with the relatively low growth of hardwood rangelands, coupled with large acreage of harvest units and heavy canopy reduction in Shasta and Tehama counties, a renewed attention to the impact of firewood harvesting is needed in this area. CDF is funding the development of a "Sustainable Landscape' project in the Northern Sacramento Valley to allow the cumulative impacts of this level of harvesting on water quality and wildlife habitat to be evaluated on a landscape or watershed basis. Some preliminary discussions between local agency resource managers, agricultural groups, and environmental groups have taken place to develop strategies to reduce the level of harvest in these two counties. The "Sustainable Landscape" project will allow local people to evaluate the impacts, and determine the appropriate policy actions to be followed. Table 3-1. General summary statistics of CDF aerial monitoring of hardwood rangelands over 4-year period (Fall 1988 to Fall 1992) for the four CDF regions.
Factors Affecting Blue Oak Recruitment and Regeneration A recent study, funded by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF), examined how environmental and management factors influence recruitment success and stand stability in blue oak - a species widely believed to be regenerating poorly over much of its extensive range. This project was carried out by Phytosphere Research, a consulting firm based in Vacaville, and UC Davis biostatistician Christina Drake. A major objective was to determine how management practices (such as grazing and clearing), stand characteristics (such as tree canopy and understory vegetation), and site factors (such as slope, aspect, soil type and precipitation) affect the likelihood of blue oak recruitment. To evaluate these relationships, one hundred fifth-acre plots were assessed at each of fifteen study locations distributed throughout the blue oak region. The results of this study demonstrated that blue oak recruitment, as indicated by the presence of saplings having basal diameters of one cm or larger and diameters (DBH) of 3 cm or less was relatively sparse. Only 15% of the 1500 plots evaluated contained saplings. Moderate numbers of saplings were only found at four locations, while very few saplings were found at seven locations, and none at all at four locations. Based on the balance between mortality and sapling recruitment at the plot level, 13 of the 15 study locations appeared to be experiencing a net loss in blue oak density and canopy cover. Recruitment success was associated with several factors. Across all locations, there were generally fewer saplings in heavily grazed areas. On the other hand, fire history was not consistently related to the presence of saplings. Most locations with low levels of blue oak sapling recruitment also exhibited little or no regeneration of other trees and shrubs. Where saplings were present, they were more likely to be in the open than under the canopy, but were rarely found in plots lacking a canopy. The authors of the report concluded that most of the blue oak saplings that were found apparently developed from small persistent seedlings (seedling advance regeneration) that were released when gaps appeared in the overstory. Regeneration could therefore be inhibited by factors that 1) depleted the reserve of persistent seedlings in the understory, 2) inhibited the transition from seedling to sapling, and 3) prevented saplings from advancing to the tree stage. Since the overall process of recruitment can be constrained by a number of different factors at several developmental stages, there is no guarantee that relieving a single constraining factor will promote sapling recruitment. A copy of this report can be obtained from the Strategic Planning Program within CDF. The California Spotted Owl and Hardwood Rangelands The California spotted owl is one of three subspecies of spotted owl. Its range extends throughout the Sierra Nevada, into forested mountain peaks in southern California, and along the central coast region. When the northern spotted owl subspecies was designated as "threatened" under the endangered species act in 1990, this led to formation of a Steering Committee composed of various state and federal agencies to assess the California spotted owl subspecies. Two working subcommittees were commissioned, namely; the Technical Advisory Team to assess ecological issues affecting the owl and to recommend management strategies to ensure future viability of the subspecies; and the Policy Implementation Planning Team to assess the economic and social impacts of recommended conservation strategies and suggest policy initiatives to minimize impacts and implement least-cost conservation strategies.
California spotted owls are known to utilize a variety of hardwood stands for nesting, roosting, and foraging. Over 8 percent of the nesting pairs currently mapped in the Sierra Nevada province are in various hardwood cover types (both foothill/riparian, and montane hardwoods). In Southern California, over 70 percent of the mapped nesting pairs are on hardwood cover types (live oak/big cone Douglas-fir, and riparian/hardwood stands). Preliminary studies of California spotted owl use of hardwood rangeland habitat suggests that as more private hardwood rangelands are included in future mapping exercises, the number of nesting pairs in this habitat may increase. The California spotted owl population in the Sierra appears to be fairly stable, but subdivision pressure, especially in hardwood rangeland areas, may cause habitat fragmentation. Land use planning in hardwood rangelands may help to minimize these impacts. The owl population in southern California appears to be declining, providing an incentive to address subspecies conservation to reduce conditions requiring an endangered species act listing. A special southern California assessment team is being set up to develop conservation strategies. The role of hardwood rangelands and riparian hardwoods in providing movement corridors for owls between isolated island populations on forested mountain ranges is an important research and management priority. The conservation planning process recognized that fire exclusion policies have led to fuel accumulations that represent a major risk to owl habitat in both the Sierra Nevada and Southern California. Firesafe planning and management strategies to mimic the natural role of fire in hardwood rangelands should help reduce this risk. The Integrated Hardwood Range Management Program needs to maintain a liaison with conservation planning activities for the California spotted owl to help ensure that there is an adequate distribution of habitat to maintain a viable population of this subspecies. Upcoming Resource Symposium California's 10 million acres of hardwood rangeland provide an abundance and variety of economic, natural resource, and aesthetic values. The past decade, the long-term sustainability, of these values has been the subject of intensive research and education programs. Efforts have focused on regeneration of oaks, management strategies to ensure sustainability, wildlife habitat relationships, analysis and monitoring of the oak woodland resource, landscape ecology concepts and, especially recently, factors influencing conversion of hardwood rangelands to urban uses or intensive agriculture. It has been almost five years since the State of California held a symposium on the condition and issues of the state's oak woodland resources. During this time, a lot of new information has come forward, much of it funded by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the University of California IHRMP, the California Department of Fish and Game, the U.S. Forest Service Research Stations, and other agencies. Plans are currently underway to hold the next research symposium at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, in March 1996. The symposium will provide the latest information about California's hardwood rangelands and allow discussion between researchers, policy makers, landowners, and the interested public.  The symposium will open with discussions by keynote speakers of such topics as the status of the resource and current trends, wildlife habitat fragmentation, biodiversity in oak woodland habitat, ecosystem planning, and land-use policy. So far, the symposium format includes the following major topics:
The proceedings of the Oak Woodland Symposium will be published. Within the next several months, a call for papers will go out and as the March 1996 date approaches, agenda, enrollment, and accomodations information will be distributed widely to interested parties.
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