Search results

Photo-Monitoring Restoration Effectiveness Analysis: Multi-Photo Averages form.

Photo Monitoring Restoration Effectiveness Analysis: Multi-Photo Score Trend form

An article that explains the assembly and use of a simple piezometer for groundwater and surface water levels, interactions and riparian assesment.

A short article on how to assemble a simple piezometer for groundwater and surface water levels, interactions and riparian assesment.

We're people of northern New Mexico, living in and around the upper Pecos and Canadian River watersheds. A nonprofit organization of young, old and in-between, students and retired people, office workers, engineers and wildlife professionals -- all concerned about the land. Government and private landowners need good information on which to base their decisions for the long-term health of the environment. We do ecological monitoring to help fill that gap. Monitoring is done by community members under the direction of professionals.

The ERI is nationally recognized for mobilizing the unique assets of a university to help solve the problem of unnaturally severe wildfire and degraded forest health in the region. The ERI works to help land management agencies and communities by providing comprehensive focused studies, monitoring and evaluation research, and technical support.

The ERI library contains approximately 600 items relating to ecological restoration. The library includes articles involving ecological and sociopolitical research, congressional testimony, newsletters, press releases, slides, videos, audio files, working papers, and white papers.

This poster presents research on the effectiveness of aerial seeding conducted on private lands by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) following the Trigo Wildfire of April 2008, which burned 13,709 acres of ponderosa pine and mixed conifer in the Manzano Mountains of central New Mexico. The general objectives of this research were to: - determine the effects of fire severity on the recovery of forest understory vegetative communities and determine how different plant species respond to fire severity; - determine the response of intentionally seeded grass species used in restoration efforts by the NRCS (annual rye grass, Lolium multiflorum, and tall wheat grass, Thinopyrum ponticum) to high and low fire severity; and - evaluate the relative recovery responses of native and exotic plant species to fire severity.

- The Estancia Basin Watershed Health, Restoration and Monitoring Steering Committee (Steering Committee) oversees forest thinning projects and monitoring of forest and watershed health in the Estancia Basin in coordination with the New Mexico Forest and Watershed Restoration Institute. The primary goals of the Steering Committee are to improve forest health and create defensible space from wildfire. Funding for this project has been provided by the New Mexico Water Trust Board. - SWCA Environmental Consultants (SWCA) was awarded a contract in 2007 to conduct monitoring for forest thinning effectiveness on the eastern slopes of the Manzano Mountains for the Steering Committee. SWCA finalized a comprehensive monitoring plan in March 2008 which is available online at the New Mexico Forest and Watershed Restoration Institute’s website (http://www.nmfwri.org/images/stories/pdfs/Estancia_Basin_Monitoring/ Estancia Basin Monitoring.pdf)—that provides background information, research questions, and a discussion of methods relative to forest thinning and monitoring. - The principal goals of forest and watershed monitoring are to determine the effectiveness of standard prescribed forest thinning on soils, hydrology, water yield and quality, vegetation, and wildlife. SWCA is responsible for planning and implementing forest thinning monitoring in order to evaluate these resources. - Data from permanent monitoring study sites provide information on rainfall, ambient and soil temperatures, soil moisture, soil surface profiles to assess erosion over time, soil surface stability, soil chemistry, bird and small mammal composition and relative abundance, and vegetation composition, structure, and cover.

Estancia Basin Watershed Health Restoration Monitoring Study SWCA Progress Report for mid-fall 2008, October 16 – November 14, 2008