Providing Conflict Prevention and Education
Partnership Coordinator Browning and Recreation Planner Andersen continue to manage the TREAD (Trails, Recreation, Education, Advocacy, and Development) contract. All re-routes have been completed and are ready to be sent off for Cultural Resource review. TREAD will now write a report detailing findings, methods, and recommendations for Quincy Lakes trails.
Browning and Andersen continue to support two interns, one in the Methow Wildlife Area and one in the LT Murray Wildlife Area, as they conduct trail inventories using the Field Maps App.
Conserving Natural Landscapes
Skagit Wildlife Area: The draft wildlife area management plan was submitted to the tribes and the Wildlife Area Advisory Committee separately on July 24. The Washington State Department Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) 30-day process is expected to begin by early September. A public workshop has been tentatively scheduled for Sep. 5 at Padilla Bay. Staff members received comments from the Wildlife Diversity Advisory Committee in July.
L.T. Murray Wildlife Area: The final draft wildlife area management plan was submitted for SEPA review in mid-June, which ended on July 14. Planning team staff members are responding to comments prior to final internal review. The plan will undergo final graphic design by Communications and Public Engagement (CAPE) prior to signature by Director Susewind in August.
Cowlitz Wildlife Area: A public scoping open house and field trip was conducted in early July for the draft wildlife area management plan. The planning team is working with CAPE and our social scientists to develop a recreational survey to gather data on use preferences and demographics on the wildlife area.
Violet Prairie Section 6 Management Plan: The draft Violet Prairie Section 6 Management Plan (unit of the Scatter Creek Wildlife Area) was submitted to the United States Forest Service (USFS) on July 20 for their initial review and feedback. This plan includes measures for the Mazama pocket gopher, Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly, western gray squirrel, Oregon vesper sparrow, and streaked horn lark.
Kiosks: Browning is working with CAPE to design and order kiosks for regions 2, 4, and 6. Kiosks will include regulatory and warning signs intended to protect visitors and wildlife.
Teanaway Community Forest: Range Ecologist Burnham conducted periodic monitoring, similar to the monitoring conducted for the last several years, and notified the grazing technical team of the results. This season is the first under a new Department of Natural Resouces (DNR) lessee and adjusted grazing plan, so it will be interesting to observe any differences.
LT Murray and Asotin Creek Wildlife Areas: Range Ecologist Burnham conducted ecological integrity monitoring at permits areas located on the LT Murray and Asotin Creek wildlife areas.
WSU Stocking Rate Tool: Burnham helped beta-test and comment on a dynamic stocking rate tool being developed by Washington State University Extension.
Weed Control:
- Spartina (0.021 acres treated, 32.5 acres surveyed)
- Yellow flag iris (0.025 acres treated, 14.5 acres surveyed)
- Japanese knotweed (0.03 acres treated, 3.66 acres surveyed)
- Invasive cattail (0.03 acres treated 3.8 acres surveyed)
- Blackberry and Scotch broom treatment at Grayland site
- Surveys throughout Willapa Bay area, showing good control, with very little found
- Treatment of knotweed at Grays Harbor Public Utility District site, under contract
Controlled Burns in Western Washington Wildlife Areas in July 2023: The drier than normal winter and spring in Western Washington inspired Scatter Creek Wildlife Area managers to consider early summer controlled burns. They reached out to district biologists and the prescribed fire team to discuss the feasibility. In years past, prescribed fire was used in the fall, but with forecasted El Nino conditions, there is a worry that the fall burning period will be quite short.
“There is a window of opportunity between too dry and too wet to complete prescribed burns,” says Prescribed Fire Planner Edwards. “Add on top of that, crew availability and an extensive amount of pre-burn work and there is not much time in hot years like this one to use fire as a restoration tool.” The consensus from the group was that burning in July was a good goal.
In July, WDFW and Ecostudies Institute burned three units in two days, two units at West Rocky Prairie and one unit at Scatter Creek. West Rocky Prairie burns targeted Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly habitat. The Scatter Creek burn was an oak site, which was logged after the 2017 wildfire. The intended ecological effects were achieved, the fire cleared out logging debris under the oaks and Scotch broom and other invasive species on the prairie.
The burn was a collaboration with input from multiple groups. The Scatter Creek Wildlife Area managers developed the plan and organized pre-burn planning, unit prep work, provided funding, and gathered the crew. District biologists assessed the site for impacts to wildlife and the prescribed fire team provided insight into fireline development and tactics to produce desired fire effects. The Chehalis Tribe added cultural insight and support for fire returning to the landscape and the Ecostudies Institute provided resources and equipment. Department of Natural Resouces enthusiastically permitted the process during a regional burn ban. The burns were met with support from the surrounding communities.
The burns provided training for WDFW and Ecostudies personnel, including Burn Boss Trainee Edwards. Prescribed fire is becoming a more commonplace and necessary tool in our state and providing a safely trained, highly capable workforce is a huge aspect of returning fire to the landscape. These skills can be applied during wildfire response, making prescribed burning a useful tool for all wildland firefighters.
For future South Sound planning, there are only two units left at Scatter Creek Wildlife Area that can be burned in these dry conditions, neither of which are Taylor’s checkerspot units. This makes the two units we burned at West Rocky Prairie earlier this month even more impressive and will hopefully relieve some of the pressure for the post-rain burn lineup.
Other areas across the state are also in the planning phases for prescribed burns to reduce hazardous natural fuel loading and improve habitat. This includes a small burn in the Long Beach area to help rebuild the Oregon silver spot butterfly habitat by reducing vegetation that is restricting native plants that help feed and support the butterfly population. In Eastern Washington, burns are being planned for implementation this fall and next year to reduce natural fuel loading created from timber harvests and decades of natural vegetation buildup that would add to wildfire devastation but will improve big game habitat.
Prescribed fires are conducted when weather and fuel moisture conditions allow fire specialists to conduct the needed operations at low fire intensities and reduce the vegetation buildup. When burns are conducted in conjunction with timber thinning operations, forests are restored by removing crowded and unhealthy trees. This helps them survive wildfires much better. Burning will reduce the thinning debris and replace nutrients back into the soil allowing needed forage to grow such as grasses and shrubs that support wildlife.
Forest Thinning:
Work in Colockum Phase 1, 863 acres, has started. Because of potential safety issues with a bridge in LT Murray Wildlife Area, the contractor has turned both of their crews to Colockum Wildlife Area and has been proceeding with work there at an increased pace. Work is anticipated to stretch into 2024.
Thinning in LT Murray Wildlife Area, approximately 588 acres, is delayed due to the safety inspection of a bridge, which would be used by trucks hauling logs. The Forest Health Program has been working with Capital and Asset Management Program (CAMP) and others to resolve the issue. As of end of the month, Scientist Tveten reached out to colleagues in the Department of Transportation and obtained steel plates for the bridge that will allow the project to proceed. The work is anticipated to start the second week of August. Tveten’s knowledge and contacts saved the Department at least $5,000 and resolved this issue quickly. Longer-term, we need to determine who “owns” the bridge, when it may need to be life cycled, and potentially get it on the capital budget list. This work will be happening over time.
Thinning in West Rocky Prairie, approximately 95 acres, was initiated and completed by the end of July. This work supports cultural resources, where tribes burned and managed the area for oaks and camas for thousands of years. The project also supports oaks and a variety of Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) species. Whereas West Rocky area is a difficult spot with all the competing resources and conflicts, the forest health team has worked with Diversity and through the restoration pathway to advance this project and mitigate, where necessary.
Providing Education and Outreach
The Ambassador Program just completed its fifth week of programming this past weekend. Teanaway Junction is seeing the highest number of visitors at about 50 each weekend. Ambassadors are continuing the educate visitors on how to recreate responsibly.
Conducting Business Operations and Policy
Recruitment:
- Range Ecologist Burnham worked with Human Resources (HR) and cross-program staff members to evaluate the referred candidates and interviewed them for a Fish and Wildlife biologist position.
- Biologist Zimmerman worked with HR to recruit for crew and also for the (somewhat) recently reallocated Natural Resource Scientist.
- Forest Health Scientist Tveten and team recruited for the vacant forester position. Three offers were refused by candidates. Given the time of year, the team decided to wait until after field season before reposting. Reasons for turning down the position included location and pay.
- Section Manager Walls completed the position description for the natural resources scientist for the Ecological Assessment project. The description is currently in HR review.
State Noxious Weed Control Board: Biologist Heimer prepared and gave an overview presentation to the State Noxious Weed Control Board in Olympia about what WDFW has been doing over the last couple of years.
Oregon Spotted Frog Project: Biologist Heimer received the imazapyr soil and litter residue results from Washington State Department of Agriculture’s (WSDA) Hop & Chemical Lab. The samples were taken from plots where reed canary grass (RCG) was treated at different rates to determine efficacy. The RCG control is important in maintaining Oregon spotted frog breeding habitat. The residue sampling was done to give researchers an idea of what imazapyr concentrations had on developing embryos that may be exposed to in the treatment sites. Soil sample results were all “No Detects”. Litter samples showed an increasing concentration of imazapyr residue associated with higher application rates 242 days after treatment.
Stewardship Section Budget: Section Manager Walls completed the Public Lands supplemental package for Forest Health. This will restore $2 million in funding to bring it back to total of $6 million. Walls also completed support on spending plans for the section, as well as the Ecological Assessment project proviso that was funding in this session.
Ecological Assessment project: Section Manager Walls has worked closely with Lands Division Manager Wilkerson, Lands Planning and Recreation Manager Sisolak, and Science Division Manager Martorello on developing the needs, questions, and first steps for the Department side of the Ecological Assessment work. They will determine, and their work feeds into, and is part of discussion with Department of Natural Resorces, Parks, and tribes on recreational impacts. The key first steps are getting a handle on the existing tools to evaluate ecological integrity, such as the Natural Heritage Program’s Ecological Integrity Assessment, and also to outline WDFW’s needs for measuring both integrity and stressors, and how that information would affect things, like planning, operational, and stewardship activities.