Forest Management
Evaluating and managing a healthy forest
- WildEarth Guardians Hiring 18-25 year old's at Valles Caldera
- The WildEarth Guardians, in partnership with the Forest Stewards Guild, is hiring 18-25 year old's for their Valles Caldera National Preserve restoration crew. The job runs from April 25 - October 25 2016. The crew will work planting native trees, removing or building fences, felling trees for erosion control in burned areas, and noxious weed removal. This work is part of a comprehensive education and training program.
- Fire history and age structure patterns at landscape scales (webinar)
- Top-down regional climate patterns result in high spatial fire synchrony among Southwest forests. At landscape scales, however bottom-up (topography) patterns are also important in determining fire history and tree age structure variability. The distinct fire histories from these two study areas provided natural age structure experiments that indicated tree age cohorts occurred during periods of reduced fire frequencies. In some instances these periods were likely caused by climatic variability creating synchronous age cohorts across the region. At other times, extended fire intervals were a function of local topography. Overall, these studies demonstrated that landscape and climatic variations combine to produce complex spatial and temporal variations in fire history and tree age structures.
- EMNRD Crew Supervisor - Job Announcement - 10/16-10/30/15
- This position will coordinate and supervise minimum security inmates while working on Natural Resource Conservation Projects, Emergency Activities, Wild land Fire, Planned Fire (Prescribed - Rx), and District Support projects. This position will assist Camp Supervisor in the administration and coordination of the Inmate Work Camp Program. This position will ensure uniform application of policies, procedures and laws relating to the use of inmates to conduct emergency activities and natural resource projects. This position will also provide professional and technical assistance to Inmate Work Camp (IWC) staff, Forestry Employees, Cooperators and Minimum Security Inmates. THIS JOB POSTING MAY BE USED TO FILL MULTIPLE VACANCIES. This position will coordinate and supervise minimum security inmates while working on Natural Resource Conservation Projects, Emergency Activities, Wild land Fire, Planned Fire (Prescribed - Rx), and District Support projects. This position will assist Camp Supervisor in the administration and coordination of the Inmate Work Camp Program. This position will ensure uniform application of policies, procedures and laws relating to the use of inmates to conduct emergency activities and natural resource projects. This position will also provide professional and technical assistance to Inmate Work Camp (IWC) staff, Forestry Employees, Cooperators and Minimum Security Inmates. THIS JOB POSTING MAY BE USED TO FILL MULTIPLE VACANCIES.
- NAU - Working Paper 20: Controlling Cheatgrass in Ponderosa Pine and Pinyon-Juniper Restoration Areas
- Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) is widespread throughout western North America and is a significant concern for land managers conducting restoration treatments in southwestern ponderosa pine and pinyon-juniper forests. It is common on a few restoration treatment areas in northern Arizona, on severely burned mature/old growth pinyon-juniper sites at Mesa Verde National Park in southwestern Colorado (Floyd et al. 2006), throughout wildfire areas in Zion National Park in southern Utah (U.S. National Park Service 2007), and on areas consumed by wildfire in northern Arizona (Sieg et al. 2003). There is concern that cheatgrass populations may expand further with an increase in the scale and frequency of restoration treatments in southwestern ponderosa pine and pinyon-juniper ecosystems (Pierson and Mack 1990b).
- Third Annual Rio Chama Congreso - Saturday, March 10, 2018 at Ghost Ranch, Abiquiu, NM
- You are Invited to Participate with students and other citizens, agencies (Forest Service, Game and Fish, State Engineer) and non-governmental organizations (Rio Grande Water Fund, NM Association of Conservation Districts, Chama Peak Land Alliance, Rio Grande Restoration, others) and help to decide how to best address our water and land management challenges in the Chama Basin. Questions? Contact Steve Harris at home/office: 575-751-1269; 575-770-2502 cell or: steve.harris39@gmail.com.
- NM Fire Info
- The NM Fire Info website is an interagency effort by federal and state agencies in New Mexico to provide timely, accurate fire and restriction information for the entire state. The agencies that support this site are National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, State of New Mexico, Forest Service, and Bureau of Land Management. It provides FAQs and resources for New Mexicans living near fire-prone environments, plus current information on wildland fires, prescribed burns, restrictions and closures in the state.
- The Pulling Together Initiative of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) - Request for Proposal
- The program will award grants that will develop cooperative weed management areas (CWMA), support significant advances of existing CWMAs, develop or strengthen prevention and early detection/rapid response efforts, enhance education, and assist awareness projects to reduce or eliminate invasive plant species. The program is a partnership among the NFWF, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and U.S. Forest Service. Pre-Proposal Due Date: August 3, 2016 by 11:59pm Eastern Time Full Proposal Due Date: September 29, 2016 by 11:59pm Eastern Time
- TVWC Landscape Restoration Strategy
- This Landscape Restoration Strategy (LRS) was developed over seven months during 2014-2015 by the Taos Valley Watershed Coalition (TVWC). Coalition members manage or provide land use consultation on all of the adjoining jurisdictions within our focus area, which extends from the Rio Grande del Rancho on the south to the San Cristobal drainage on the north and also includes the Rio Fernando, Rio Pueblo, Rio Lucero, Rio Arroyo Seco, and Rio Hondo stream systems. Coalition members agree to focus on the goals of protecting, improving, and restoring the water quality, quantity, and ecological function of the forests and streams in the Rio Grande watershed within Taos County, to the benefit of both local and downstream water users. This LRS was developed by our membership to document our shared understanding of scientific data and community values, and to guide coordinated actions within our local watersheds.
- Albuquerque Wildlife Federation Newsletter October 2013
- Attached is AWF's October 2013 Newsletter, which includes: · Information about AWF's final volunteer service project of the year, in the Sandia Ranger District on October 19th. · An upcoming rally and crucial U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service hearing this Friday, October 4th, on the Mexican gray wolf and the management of wild wolves all across the country. · This month's speaker, Eliza Kretzmann, who will be discussing the new planning rule for the Cibola National Forest at the meeting on October 10th. · Amazing photos of longtime AWF project site Limestone Canyon with record-breaking flows of water!
- Disappearing Rio Grande Blog
- For more than 3,000 years the Rio Grande has been the lifeblood of the valleys and civilizations it flowed through. It recharged fields and forests and provided safe passage through an inhospitable desert. Now, cities and farms are sucking it dry and a warming climate is making it evaporate faster. What is left is hidden behind a border fence and fought over by the states and countries that agreed to share it. The river’s future has never been more uncertain. To understand the effects and evaluate possible solutions, reporter Colin McDonald and photojournalist Erich Schlegel are traveling the length of the Rio Grande. Along the way, they will interview and spend time with those who depend on and control the river, take photos and videos and catalog the chemistry and biology of the river from the Rocky Mountains to the Gulf of Mexico. Their work will be uploaded from the banks of the river via satellite and shared here as they spend seven months on this 1,900-mile journey.
- Monitoring the Vegetation Resources in Riparian Areas
- Winward, Alma H. 2000. Monitoring the vegetation resources in riparian areas. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRSGTR- 47. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 49 p. This document provides information on three sampling methods used to inventory and monitor the vegetation resources in riparian areas. The vegetation cross-section method evaluates the health of vegetation across the valley floor. The greenline method provides a measurement of the streamside vegetation. The woody species regeneration method measures the density and age class structure of any shrub or tree species that may be present in the sampling area. Together these three sampling procedures can provide an evaluation of the health of all the vegetation in a given riparian area. Keywords: riparian sampling, vegetation cross-section, greenline, woody regeneration
- Job Opportunity - TNC Sangre de Cristo Program Manager
- The Nature Conservancy is seeking a Program Director to work on all facets of land and water conservation within the Sangre de Cristo mountains of New Mexico. This is a new position that combines work in forest restoration and fire management at a landscape scale with freshwater conservation, economic development and community conservation. The ideal candidate will bring strong technical skills and a track record of accomplishing collaborative conservation in diverse settings with scientists, contractors, agencies, elected officials, Native American tribes, Land Grants and other stakeholders. The Sangre de Cristo Program Director will be responsible for Rio Grande Water Fund implementation in northern New Mexico and will have the opportunity to evaluate programs for the cross-border NM-CO region. This is an exciting new job as part of the small and dynamic New Mexico team. The position description is attached and the closing date is December 30, 2016. Applicants should apply online at nature.org/jobs for position #44879.
- Rio Grande Water Fund - 2018 Request for Proposals
- The Rio Grande Water Fund is announcing the 2018 RGWF Request for Proposals (RFP). The Rio Grande Water Fund is seeking proposal for three, potentially overlapping, categories: 1. Forest Restoration Treatments 2. Stream, Wetland, and Aquatic Restoration Projects 3. Capacity Building (New for 2018) The RFP is open to both public and private lands. There is no match required, but leveraged or matched funding is encouraged. With this RFP, we aim to build on the vast experience the RGWF partners have in planning and implementing restoration treatments in the focal areas of the RGWF, and we encourage all to apply. We also hope to attract new partners, including groups looking to develop new collaboratives, stand up fire and fuels crews, or build innovative tools to tackle tough problems. Deadline for submission is January 22, 2018. Applicants should use the online form available at riograndewaterfund.org to submit their proposal. If you have any questions, please email RioGrandeWF@tnc.org or call Collin Haffey at 505-946-2637.
- The NM State Land Office has extended its Invitation to Bid on the Natural Resource Management Price Agreement until 9/27/16 at 2:00 p.m.
- For those not familiar with the SLO Price Agreement for Natural Resource Management Services, here are the basics: • Price Agreements are standing contracts to provide certain services for a set price. • Price Agreements are not for specific projects. They are for various natural resource management activities. • They are divided into the following categories: 1. Vegetation Management (includes mechanical and hand thinning, chemical treatments, and slash treatments) 2. Prescribed Fire Services 3. Revegetation 4. Erosion Control, Road Management, and Post-Fire Treatments 5. Fencing 6. Project Management • A contractor can bid on any of the categories, but is not required to bid on all of them. • Bids are per acre, per hour, and daily rates depending on a particular category. Please pay close attention to the bidding requirement for each category. • Being selected for the Price Agreement does not automatically guarantee work. Contractors will be chosen for project work based on their capabilities, cost and time table, and past work experiences with the State Land Office and other land management agencies • Multiple contractors will be accepted for services. • Other state agencies, such as State Forestry and Department of Game & Fish, may utilize the Price Agreement for their project work. If you have any questions about the Invitation to Bid, please contact Sandra Lujan at State Purchasing Division at 505-827-0242. Contacts for questions about natural resource management projects are Mark Meyers at 505-827-4453 or Will Barnes at 505-827-5856.
- Wildfire Management (vs Suppression) Benefits Forests and Watersheds
- An unprecedented 40-year experiment in a 40,000 acre valley of Yosemite National Park strongly supports the idea that managing fire, rather than suppressing it, makes wilderness areas more resilient to fire, with the added benefit of increased water availability and resistance to drought. After a three-year assessment of the Park's Illilouette Creek Basin, UC Berkeley researchers concluded that a strategy dating to 1973 of managing wildfires with minimal suppression and almost no prescribed burns has created a landscape more resistant to catastrophic fire, with more diverse vegetation, forest structure and increased water storage. "When fire is not suppressed, you get all these benefits: increased stream flow, increased downstream water availability, increased soil moisture, which improves habitat for the plants in the watershed. And it increases the drought resistance of the remaining trees and also increases the fire resilience because you have created these natural firebreaks," said Gabrielle Boisramé, graduate student at UC Berkeley's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and first author of the study. The Cohesive Wildland Fire Strategy supports management of fires where possible. Managing fires is part of the Cohesive Strategy vision: to safely and effectively suppress fires, use fire where allowable, manage our natural resources, and as a Nation, live with wildland fire. Read the full article and find the published study at: ttp://wildfireinthewest.blogspot.com/2016/10/wildfire-management-vs-suppression.html.
