Management Planning
The Watershed Research and Training Center is actively involved in writing comprehensive management plans for tracts in the Hayfork area. The plans seek to guide ecosystem managers in making decisions about the resource base by providing long term goals and objectives for an area. Management plans are built on real data that has been collected to inform planners of the condition of the resources. Data commonly collected to aid in the planning process includes a compilation of Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data, data from the USFS Roads Analysis Process (RAP), an assessment of current land use zoning and historic land uses, and a Watershed Assessment. Below is an example of projects The Watershed Center has done involving management planning.
Big Creek Watershed Management: Collaborative Plan for Hayfork's Municipal Water Source
This project will develop a comprehensive watershed management plan for the town of Hayfork's municipal watershed. The plan will define goals and objectives, outline strategies, and prescribe activities to restore and protect water quality and beneficial uses in the more than 19,000-acre Big Creek Watershed. A collaborative approach will be employed to draw on multi-disciplinary expertise and incorporate a diverse range of interests representing both the public and private lands to draft & adopt a widely supported plan for this critical at-risk watershed. The completion of this project will provide a comprehensive management plan that will describe the ecological processes and environmental resources (including hydrologic, terrestrial, and aquatic) in the watershed, along with the most efficient and effective ways to manage for both the short and long term.