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Photo Monitoring Restoration Effectiveness Analysis: Multi-Photo Score Trend form

This 2014 Annual Report provides summaries of monitoring data collected during the 2014 calendar year for the Estancia Basin Watershed Health, Restoration and Monitoring Steering Committee (Steering Committee). Details about research questions and the background and administration of this monitoring project may be found in the Estancia Basin Watershed Health and Monitoring Project: Monitoring Plan Evaluation (2008 Monitoring Plan) (SWCA Environmental Consultants [SWCA] 2008), which is available at the New Mexico Forest and Watershed Restoration Institute (Restoration Institute) website (http://www.nmfwri.org/images/ stories/pdfs/Estancia_Basin_Monitoring/EstanciaBasinMonitoring.pdf). The 2008 Monitoring Plan provides detailed information on the background knowledge of forest thinning in the Southwest and presents the goals and methodologies for the Estancia Basin forest thinning monitoring project. The 2008 Annual Report (SWCA 2009) also provides important background information about the Trigo wildfire monitoring project that was initiated in 2008. Previous annual reports for 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013 summarize overall monitoring findings from those 6 years, and they also may be found at the Restoration Institute website.

SCOPE OF SERVICES FOR THE ESTANCIA BASIN WATERSHED HEALTH, RESTORATION, AND MONITORING PROJECT - POST-FIRE MONITORING STUDY In April 2008, a large area of the Estancia Basin watershed was burned in the 13,709-acre Trigo wildfire. This burn area encompassed a large portion of the Cibola National Forest and also included 3,712 acres of private land on its eastern fringe. Fire creates significant impacts to watershed health, which in turn impacts water yield and groundwater recharge. Since three large wildfires (Ojo Peak, Trigo, and Big Spring) have now burned a considerable portion of the eastern slopes of the Manzano Mountains, the impacts of wildfire on Estancia Basin watershed health are likely significant. SWCA Environmental Consultants (SWCA) is currently monitoring the effects of thinning treatments in the area as part of the Estancia Basin Watershed Health, Restoration and Monitoring Project since 2007. That project is overseen by the Estancia Basin Watershed Health, Restoration and Monitoring Steering Committee (Steering Committee), with funding from the New Mexico State Water Trust Board. The Steering Committee recently awarded SWCA additional funding to develop and implement post-fire monitoring to evaluate wildfire impacts to Estancia Basin watershed health. SWCA developed this proposed scope of services, task list, study plan, and budget that will investigate the impacts of wildfire on forest and watershed health, and to enhance our knowledge of forest disturbances and their impacts on hydrology of the Estancia Basin. Of the three major wildfires, Ojo Peak, Trigo, and Big Spring, SWCA has chosen to focus efforts on the Trigo fire. Replicated study sites across watersheds will be more comparable if they are located within an area that burned at about the same time. The Trigo fire also was the largest of the three, it was centrally located within the study region and relative to the existing forest thinning monitoring site, and it burned more watersheds than the other two .

SOUTH MOUNTAIN WEATHER STATION: HISTORY, DATA SUMMARIES, AND CONTINUED OPERATION

An article that explains the assembly and use of a simple piezometer for groundwater and surface water levels, interactions and riparian assesment.

- The Estancia Basin Watershed Health, Restoration and Monitoring Steering Committee (Steering Committee) oversees forest thinning projects and monitoring of forest and watershed health in the Estancia Basin in coordination with the New Mexico Forest and Watershed Restoration Institute. The primary goals of the Steering Committee are to improve forest health and create defensible space from wildfire. Funding for this project has been provided by the New Mexico Water Trust Board. - SWCA Environmental Consultants (SWCA) was awarded a contract in 2007 to conduct monitoring for forest thinning effectiveness on the eastern slopes of the Manzano Mountains for the Steering Committee. SWCA finalized a comprehensive monitoring plan in March 2008 which is available online at the New Mexico Forest and Watershed Restoration Institute’s website (http://www.nmfwri.org/images/stories/pdfs/Estancia_Basin_Monitoring/ Estancia Basin Monitoring.pdf)—that provides background information, research questions, and a discussion of methods relative to forest thinning and monitoring. - The principal goals of forest and watershed monitoring are to determine the effectiveness of standard prescribed forest thinning on soils, hydrology, water yield and quality, vegetation, and wildlife. SWCA is responsible for planning and implementing forest thinning monitoring in order to evaluate these resources. - Data from permanent monitoring study sites provide information on rainfall, ambient and soil temperatures, soil moisture, soil surface profiles to assess erosion over time, soil surface stability, soil chemistry, bird and small mammal composition and relative abundance, and vegetation composition, structure, and cover.

This poster presents research on the effectiveness of aerial seeding conducted on private lands by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) following the Trigo Wildfire of April 2008, which burned 13,709 acres of ponderosa pine and mixed conifer in the Manzano Mountains of central New Mexico. The general objectives of this research were to: - determine the effects of fire severity on the recovery of forest understory vegetative communities and determine how different plant species respond to fire severity; - determine the response of intentionally seeded grass species used in restoration efforts by the NRCS (annual rye grass, Lolium multiflorum, and tall wheat grass, Thinopyrum ponticum) to high and low fire severity; and - evaluate the relative recovery responses of native and exotic plant species to fire severity.

This manual describes how to monitor three rangeland attributes: soil and site stability, hydrologic function, and biotic integrity.

Low-intensity rapid assessment method of photographic monitoring (photo monitoring) to evaluate thinning effects on soils, vegetation and wildfire fuels across many of the individual land-owner thinning treatment project sites, using repeat photographic points and comparative analysis of the repeat photographs. (DRAFT)

Photo Monitoring Restoration Effectiveness Analysis: 2-Photo Comparisons form.