Dec 13, 2004. Trench Society launches model grasslands restoration project. Waldo North will be largest restoration project ever undertaken in the Trench.
For immediate release:
December 13, 2004
ROCKY MOUNTAIN TRENCH NATURAL RESOURCES SOCIETY
Trench Society Tackles Model Grasslands Restoration Project
The Rocky Mountain Forest District and Rocky Mountain Trench Natural Resources Society have joined forces on a large-scale pilot project that could lead to enhanced grasslands on Crown land throughout the East Kootenay.
The Waldo North pilot project, covering 2,059 hectares (5,088 acres) at the north end of the Waldo Range Unit near Jaffray, will determine if grassland benefits can be produced at a faster pace and at less cost than current restoration projects in the Trench. A significant feature is a temporary harvesting licence that will allow the Society to use timber revenue to offset costs.
“This is the biggest grasslands restoration project undertaken in the region to date,” said Maurice Hansen, coordinator of the Trench Society, a partnership of eight East Kootenay environmental, hunting, ranching and wildlife organizations. “It’s a major breakthrough for the Society. Getting access to the timber on site is an important advance in the grasslands restoration program in the Trench.”
Subject to final approvals, the Society will be issued a one-time licence to log the site. Galloway Lumber Co., which holds the timber tenure, has agreed to the temporary licencing arrangement.
Rocky Mountain Forest District Manager Tony Wideski says monitoring the project’s methods and evaluating results will allow government to assess if the Society’s restoration approach can be used as a model on other Crown range units.
“We will use several key measures to evaluate success,” Wideski said. “These include the pace of restoration treatments under the pilot as compared to previous restoration projects, a careful accounting of the costs associated with the pilot to determine if a portion of project costs can be covered by timber revenue, and whether restoration costs can be reduced through economies of scale. It is also important to determine if the applied treatments restore the ecosystem to a properly functioning level.”
The Trench Society is leading the two-year project, with facilitation and support from forest district staff. An extensive planning process is underway and operations are expected to start sometime in 2005. A grant from the Columbia Basin Trust’s Community Environmental Projects Program will contribute to planning costs.
“Carrying out this project is going to be a big challenge,” Hansen said. “The planning, financing and marketing involved are all on a larger scale than any previous restoration project in the Trench but it is the sheer size of Waldo North that makes it especially important.”
Restoring the project site’s rangeland plant community will require a coordinated sequence of treatments -- logging, thinning and prescribed burning -- to remove as many trees as necessary to re-create historic conditions.
Innovative features of the project include logging and thinning methods that result in minimal ground disturbance and leave a minimum of woody debris; planning for prescribed burns over the long term; and incorporating weed control measures.
The Society selected the site on the northeast side of Lake Koocanusa because it is a classic example of a grassland-open forest ecosystem altered by forest ingrowth.
Waldo North provides seasonal grazing for Bar X Ranch cattle, winter range for migratory elk, and supports a year-round homesteader elk population, but forest ingrowth has severely curtailed the site’s capacity to meet the multiple demands placed on it.
Over the past 50 years, forest ingrowth on Crown land in the Trench has converted an estimated 45 per cent of open forests and grasslands to closed forest condition. The consequences for plants, animals and people are far-reaching, Hansen said.
“Species that depend on grasslands for survival are threatened. We see social conflict when cattle and elk compete for forage that diminishes in quality and quantity year after year. Dense thickets of trees are more susceptible to insects and disease, and have limited commercial value. Rural and urban communities are at higher risk of interface fire because of the increased fuel load.”
The Trench Society coalition is dedicated to restoring the East Kootenay’s grasslands. Member organizations are the Cranbrook Archery Club, East Kootenay Environmental Society, East Kootenay Wildlife Association, Kootenay Livestock Association, Rocky Mountain Naturalists, The Land Conservancy of BC, Waldo Stockbreeders Association and Windermere District Farmers Institute.
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