Proceedings High Altitude Revegetation Workshop No. 16 March 2004 Edited by Warren R. Keammerer and Jeffrey Todd Information
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Proceedings High Altitude Revegetation Workshop No. 16 March 2004 Edited by Warren R. Keammerer and Jeffrey Todd Information Series No. 99 Proceedings HIGH ALTITUDE REVEGETATION WORKSHOP NO. 16 Colorado State University Fort Collins, Colorado March 3-5, 2004 Edited by Warren R. Keammerer 5858 Woodbourne Hollow Road Keammerer Ecological Consultants, Inc., Boulder, CO and Jeffrey Todd Todd Consulting Service 14338 W. 58th Place Arvada, CO Information Series No. XX Colorado Water Resources Research Institute Colorado State University Printed Copies Available From: Cooperative Extension Resource Center General Services Center Colorado State University Fort Collins, CO 80523 Phone: 970/491-6308 FAX: 970/491-2961 PREFACE The 16th biannual High Altitude Revegetation Conference was held at the University Park Holiday Inn, Ft. Collins, Colorado on March 3-5, 2004. The Conference was organized by the High Altitude Revegetation Committee in conjunction with the Colorado State University Department of Soil and Crop Science. The Conference was attended by 207 people from a broad spectrum of universities, government agencies and private companies. It is always encouraging to have participants from such a wide range of interests in and application needs for reclamation information and technology. Organizing a two-day workshop and field trip is a difficult task made relatively easy by the sharing of responsibilities among the members of the HAR Committee. In addition to the invited papers and poster papers presented on March 3-4, a “field tour” of the Hydraulics Laboratory on the Foothills Campus of Colorado State University was conducted on March 5, 2004. We appreciate and thank the organizers of the field tour. We would also like to acknowledge and thank all of the people who took time to prepare invited papers and poster papers. These Proceedings are their product, and we express our gratitude to them. The Proceedings include 15 papers and 6 abstracts grouped into eight conference sessions, 7 poster papers and 2 poster paper abstracts. For current information on upcoming High Altitude Committee events, visit our website at www.highaltitudereveg.com. Warren R. Keammerer and Jeffrey Todd Editors -ii- TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE ii TABLE OF CONTENTS iii KEYNOTE ADDRESS Chaired by: Wendell Hassell, Chairman of the High Altitude Revegetation Committee Cottonwoods and Cranes: A Platte River Nexus (Abstract Only) W. Carter Johnson, Professor of Ecology, Department of Horticulture, Forestry, Landscape & Parks, South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD 1 ECOSYSTEM HEALTH Chaired by: David L. Buckner, ESCO Associates, Inc., Boulder, CO Edward Spence, USDA-NRCS, Lakewood, CO Alpine Vegetation Response to Atmospheric Nitrogen Deposition and Feedbacks to Ecosystem Function William Bowman, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO Katherine N. Suding, University of California, Irvine, CA Timothy R. Seastedt, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 2 Effects of Atmospheric Nitrogen Deposition on High Elevation Colorado Forests Jill Baron, U.S. Geological Survey and Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University, Ft. Collins, CO Jorin Botte, Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University, Ft. Collins, CO Rick Shory, Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University, Ft. Collins, CO 10 Revegetation Strategies and Technologies for Restoration of Native Shrub/Grass Communities on Xeric Salt Cedar (Tamarix spp.) Infestation Sites Kenneth D. Lair, USDI Bureau of Reclamation, Lakewood, CO Sarah L. Wynn, USDI Bureau of Reclamation, Lakewood, CO 15 FIRE ECOLOGY Chaired by: Jeff Connor, Rocky Mountain National Park, Estes Park, CO Steve Spaulding, Ute Pass Christmas Trees, Inc., Cascade, CO Fire, Landscapes and Restoration – The Benefits of Getting the Ecology Right (Abstract Only) Merrill R. Kaufmann, U.S. Forest Service, Ft. Collins, CO 36 -iii- National Fire Plan to Healthy Forest Restoration Act, What’s Happening Below the Treeline (Abstract Only) Robert Leaverton, Pike and San Isabel National Forests and Cimarron and Comanche National Grasslands, Pueblo, CO 37 Community Collaboration: Colorado’s Front Range Fuels Treatment Partnership (Abstract Only) David Hessel, Colorado State Forest Service, Broomfield, CO 38 CLIMATE CHANGE? Chaired by: Mike Ellis, Ellis Environmental Engineering, Golden, CO Observations of High Elevation Temperatures and Precipitation in Colorado during the Past Century (Abstract Only) Nolan J. Doesken, Colorado State University, Ft. Collins, CO 39 The Unwelcomed Arrival of Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) to High Elevation Ecosystems: Propagule Pressure, Intrinsic Traits, Local Adaptation or Environmental Change? Cynthia S. Brown and Helen Rowe, Colorado State University, Ft. Collins, CO 40 Snow and High Elevation Landscapes: Relating Environmental Heterogeneities to Cover, Decomposition and Gopher Activity Christopher A. Hiemstra, Colorado State University, Ft. Collins, CO 52 CASE STUDIES Chaired by: Denise Arthur, ESCO Associates, Boulder, CO Nancy Dunkle, National Park Service, Denver, CO Riparian Vegetation of Colorado: Use of Ecological Classification in Restoration Gwen Kittel and Pat Comer, NatureServe, Inc., Boulder, CO 64 Vegetation Establishment on Copper Smelter Altered Soils near Anaconda, MT Warren R. Keammerer, Keammerer Ecological Consultants, Inc., Boulder, CO 80 Case Studies in the Ecological Balance of Restored Area Plant Cover and Diversity: Implications for Mined Land Bond Release David L. Buckner, ESCO Associates, Boulder, CO 110 MOUNTAIN LAND USE Chaired by: Deborah B. Keammerer, The Restoration Group, Boulder, CO Can Mountain Resorts Survive Prosperity? Michael C. Ireland, Pitkin County Commissioner, Aspen, CO 116 -iv- Speaking Western: Honest Conversations in the New West Richard L. Knight, Colorado State University, Ft. Collins, CO 126 U. S. Highway 40, Berthoud Pass, Colorado – Effective Preservation and Restoration Mike Banovich, Colorado Department of Transportation, Denver, CO Ina Zisman, Colorado Department of Transportation, Dumont, CO 132 ECOREGION ISSUES Chaired by: Victor Claassen, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA Jody Nelson, Kaiser-Hill Ecology/PE Group, Golden, CO. The Challenges of Bringing Native Plant Materials into the Marketplace Randy H. Mandel, Rocky Mountain Native Plants, Rifle, CO 143 Seed-Source Selection in Western Revegetation (Abstract Only) D. Terrance Booth, High Plains Grasslands Research Station, Cheyenne, WY Kenneth P. Vogel, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska 148 Native Roadside Vegetation: The Iowa Model Daryl Smith, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA 149 VEGETATION COVERS FOR HAZARDOUS MATERIALS Chaired by: Carl Mackey, Washington Group International, Commerce City, CO Donna Mickley, USDA Forest Service, Golden, CO Designing Sustainable Covers for Uranium Mill Tailings W. Jody Waugh, S. M. Stoller Corp., Grand Junction, CO 157 Integrating Restoration Principles into Alternative RCRA Cover Design Carl V. Mackey, Washington Group International, Commerce City, CO 174 POSTER PAPERS Organized by: Russell Haas, USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service, Denver, CO; Mindy Wheeler, WP Natural Resource Consulting, Salt Lake City, UT; and Krystyna Urbanska, Swiss Fed Institute of Technology, Zurich, Switzerland Field Application of Laser Point Device for Line and Point Intercept Method Jack Alexander III, Julia Kluck, Amy Vowell, and Brenda Kury, Synergy Resource Solutions, Inc., Sparks, NV 182 Engineering Naturally: Lefthand Creek Channel Improvement Project Laura Backus, Carter & Burgess, Inc., Denver, CO 185 -v- Vegetation Characteristics on Different Soil Treatments in a Created Urban Wetland (Abstract Only) Thomas O. Bates and Milton J. Trlica, Colorado State University, Ft. Collins, CO 194 Regenerating Infiltration Capacity in Drastically Disturbed Decomposed Granite Substrates M. J. Curtis and V. P. Claassen, University of California – Davis, Davis, CA 195 Riparian Plantings in the Southwest High-Elevation Areas David Dreesen, Gregory Fenchel, Danny Goodson and Joel Lee, USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service, Los Lunas, NM 201 A survey of Reclamation and Retoration Projects in the Sierra Nevada Mountains Ed Kleiner, Comstock Seed, Gardnerville, NV 210 High Altitude Revegetation Experiments on the Beartooth Plateau, Park County, Montana and Park County, Wyoming Liz Payson, ERO Resources, Denver, CO Jennifer Corwin, Federal Highway Administration, Lakewood, CO Richard Trenholme, ERO Resources, Denver, CO 219 Snake River Gravel Pit Revegetation (Abstract Only) John T. Windell, Jim Meining and Brad Windell Aquatic and Wetland Company, Ft. Lupton, CO 226 Colorado State Highway 160 East of Wolf Creek Pass – Revegetation and Wetland Challenges Diane Yates, Carter & Burgess, Denver, CO Michael Banovich, Colorado Department of Transportation, Denver, CO 227 PARTICIPANT LIST 232 SUMMARY OF SUMMER TOURS 245 HIGH ALTITUDE REVEGETATION COMMITTEE 274 -vi- COTTONWOODS AND CRANES: A PLATTE RIVER NEXUS W. Carter Johnson Professor of Ecology Department of Horticulture, Forestry, Landscape & Parks South Dakota State University Brookings, South Dakota ABSTRACT The long-running conflict over water and endangered species on the Platte River is fundamentally a vegetation issue. Detailed knowledge of vegetation history and current dynamics of cottonwood- dominated riparian woodlands is needed to assist managers in understanding the past causes of woodland expansion and to prescribe flows to maintain or increase channel widths