Mature & Historic Tree Stands

Meeting announcement box

The Mature and Historic Tree Stands Management Symposium

Save the date: Thursday March 29 2018.

Time: 9 30 am - 4 30 pm.

Location: East Bay Regional Parks Training Facility

11500 Skyline Blvd, Oakland, CA 94619

Cost: $15.

Registration

For general registration click here.

For webinar registration click here.

For East Bay Regional Park District Staff Registration click here.

Speakers & Topics

Diana Moanga - Ecological Indicators

David Ackerly - Climate Change

Peter Anqwin - Risk & Hazard

Denice Britton - Assessment of Tree Stands

Bill Stewart - Carbon

Kimberly Rodrigues - Conflict

Liam Maier - Fire and Fuels

Joe McBride - Eucalyptus in California

Mature and Historic Tree Stands (MHTS) Management Toolkit

Diana Moanga, Igor Lacan, Richard B. Standiford, Joe R. McBride, and Van Butsic

The project is overseen by Igor Lacan (UC Cooperative Extension San Mateo-San Francisco Counties), Rick Standiford, Joe McBride and Van Butsic (UCCE/ESPM and ESPM, respectively).

A brief description of the project follows.

Tree stands composed primarily of mature, aging, or senescent trees occur in many cities and wildland-urban interface (WUI) areas in California, where they present unique management challenges.

Many of these stands are composed primarily of Eucalypts, Monterey pines or Monterey cypresses that are approaching the latter half of their lifespan. In addition, many stands have been invaded by pests, some have been burned, and most have been neglected. At the same time urban development has continued to add ever more houses and residents adjacent to these stands, increasing the likelihood of conflicts and leading for demands that the trees be removed. On the other hand, the continued interaction between the residents and trees has also accentuated the benefits that those stands provide to people and wildlife. This has resulted also in calls for the preservation of the tree stands, and controversy over any management action that is perceived as intending to remove trees.

Local tree managers are thus faced with both the local residents’ conflicting views regarding the trees, as well as with the ecological and arboricultural realities of these stands, e.g., their advanced age; inappropriate stand density or stocking levels; local accumulation of fuels; scattered foci of mortality or pests; occasional hazardous trees located in heavily-used areas, etc. Yet, despite a considerable body of knowledge developed about the California eucalypts and other tree species, no recent effort has been made to provide the tree managers with a research-based toolkit that would help them manage the stands.

The overall purpose of the project is to enable better management of aging and mature tree stands by compiling the existing research on eucalyptus and other species’ ecology and silviculture together with the literature on individual tree management (arboriculture) and tree stand management (forestry) as well as the current tree-related legislation and policy (including carbon-related policies). By synthesizing these three domains of knowledge we will provide landowners and tree managers with a uniquely useful toolkit, enabling them to make better decisions and long-term plans.

Project has 3 sub-goals:

(1) Assess the management needs related to aging and mature stands, focusing on the differences between the stands in urban-wildland intermix and the entirely “urban” stands.

(2) Review, compile, and annotate the pertinent research, management practices, relevant policies, and applicable laws, resulting in an annotated “Annotated Bibliography of Mature and Historic Tree Stand Management”

(3) Prepare and disseminate a “Toolkit” that synthesizes the body of knowledge on California eucalyptus together with the research-based (and evidence-based) management strategies, and includes guides to navigating the relevant policies and applicable laws. A one-day workshop with invited speakers from UC, Agencies, and Universities, will serve as a primary means of disseminating the toolkit.