State of Forests in San Diego County: Recent Conifer Tree Mortality and the Institutional Response

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State of Forests in San Diego County:  Recent Conifer Tree Mortality and the Institutional Response Presented by California Department of Forestry Mark Rosenberg Visit our site at: http://frap.cdf.ca.gov or http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/rsl/ventures/mapping/zone-map.shtml

Tree Mortality Epidemic Begins Chronology Epidemic Begins In 2001 a huge pine bark scarab plague got to be apparent Drought-incited Approximately one million sections of land have encountered serious tree mortality Adjacent to real metropolitan ranges in San Diego, Riverside and San Bernardino Counties Risks from flame and falling trees represent a noteworthy danger to open security, private property, and biological system wellbeing Summer 2001 Local Emergency Declared Spring 2002 State Emergency Declared Spring 2003

Examples of Tree Mortality as of April 2003

Tree Mortality In San Diego Tree Mortality is Dispersed crosswise over roughly 80,000 sections of land of open and private terrains in San Diego County 80% of the mortality regions are on State and Private grounds 40% of Mortality zones are private in nature Current Estimates of Conifer Mortality are 500,000 Tons however projections propose mortality could reach as high as 2 Million BDT

Challenges Too Many Hazard Trees to expel at the same time Rapidly developing woodland mortality Increasing danger from falling trees and extraordinary fire occasions Increased start sources from falling trees and expanded fuel stacking from kicking the bucket vegetation Many various resources at hazard Many diverse substances with duties and liabilities

How are the Agencies tending to these Challenges? Open Response Forest Area Safety Taskforce (FAST) organizing general open and private reaction Identify and Prioritize regions for Tree Removal Federal Funding for Tree Removal exercises (FS, NRCS, and others) New County Programs for Hazard Tree Removal and Fire Safe Clearance

Public Response Coordinated Strategy Using choice bolster instruments, including GIS, to give Operational Support abilities to tree expulsion, departure arranging, treatment needs, and so on. Directing Monitoring exercises utilizing flying study, remote detecting and FIA stock

Decision Support Activities Analysis support to Agencies Includes Provide tree mortality gauges Help Prioritize & Track medicines Assess Wood Utilization and Disposal choices

Treatment Priorities High Priority Treatment zones Within 150 feet of Electricity Transmission Lines Within 200 feet of Primary Roads Within 200 feet of Secondary Roads Areas inside Falling Distance of Homes, correspondence locales and different resources Areas having a lodging thickness of short of what one house for each 20 sections of land and inclines not exactly or equivalent to 30%

Monitoring Forest Recovery Mapping Forest Mortality Assessing Impacts to Habitats Modeling Potential Fire Behavior Monitoring Forest Recovery Using Remote Sensing, GIS and Ground based inventories

Mapping and Monitoring Activities Mapping New Tree Mortality on open and private terrains at regular intervals This year we will Update consistent vegetation/living space information over all grounds Re-Measure roughly 100 ground plots on open and private terrains Assess effects of mortality on key biological system Assets.

Ground Based Plots Systematic arbitrary lattice areas 2.5 section of land test structure 5 point bunch plot GPS areas Sample vegetation profile

Inventory Measurement and Analysis Species Occurrence Species Frequency Species Cover/Layers Mortality Biomass/Volume Growth Condition

Habitat Total Conifer 99,591 Hardwood 141,357 Shrub 1,154,758 Grassland 161,975 Desert Shrub 553,941 Desert Woodland 954 Wetland 7,831 Agriculture 146,783 Barren 6,904 Urban 416,363 Water 19,294 ALL 2,709,750 Land Cover in San Diego County

Summary Remarks There is a basic need to treat ALL fire risks in urban interface ranges Forest Mortality, Shrub lands and Urban Areas are Intermingled with each other and along these lines ought to be dealt with in a coordinated manner. Open will AND a Coordinated reaction is obliged Commitment to Long term Monitoring Needed Adaptive Management Practices Essential

Thank You

Contact Information Visit our sites at: www.frap.cdf.ca.gov www.fs.fed.us/r5/rsl/ventures/mapping/zone-map.shtml Mark Rosenberg Email: mark.rosenberg@fire.ca.gov Phone: (916)445-5366