C. Natural Resources Management Plan
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C. NATURAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT PLAN FINAL BIDWELL PARK MASTER MANAGEMENT PLAN UPDATE TABLE OF CONTENTS Section Page 1 INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................................................... C.1-1 1.1 Relationship to the Master Management Plan.....................................................................................C.1-1 1.2 Purpose and Organization of the Plan.................................................................................................C.1-1 1.3 Natural Resource Goals and Objectives Summary .............................................................................C.1-1 1.4 Sensitive Resources.............................................................................................................................C.1-2 1.5 Adaptive Management Framework.....................................................................................................C.1-3 1.6 Public Education and Involvement .....................................................................................................C.1-3 2 NATURAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT PLAN DEVELOPMENT PROCESS.......................... C.2-1 3 VEGETATION MANAGEMENT........................................................................................................... C.3-1 3.1 Oak Woodlands...................................................................................................................................C.3-1 3.1.1 Overview of Bidwell Park Oak Woodlands .................................................................................C.3-1 3.1.2 Oak Woodland Management Objectives ......................................................................................C.3-1 3.1.3 Oak Management Issues...............................................................................................................C.3-1 3.1.4 Oak Management Guidelines and Recommendations..................................................................C.3-3 4 INVASIVE PLANT MANAGEMENT .................................................................................................... C.4-1 4.1 Overview of invasive plants................................................................................................................C.4-1 4.1.1 Invasive Plant Ecology .................................................................................................................C.4-1 4.1.2 Invasive Plant Effects ...................................................................................................................C.4-1 4.2 Invasive Plant Management Objectives ..............................................................................................C.4-2 4.3 Invasive Plant Management Issues .....................................................................................................C.4-2 4.3.1 Invasive Plant Population Profiles................................................................................................C.4-2 4.3.2 Wildlife Habitat Provision............................................................................................................C.4-2 4.4 Invasive Plant Management Guidelines and Recommendations ........................................................C.4-3 4.4.1 Population Mapping and Baseline Assessment ............................................................................C.4-3 4.4.2 Prioritization and Treatment Identification ..................................................................................C.4-3 4.4.3 Park Staff and Volunteer Training and Education........................................................................C.4-4 4.4.4 Treatment Methods.......................................................................................................................C.4-7 4.4.5 Post-Treatment Restoration........................................................................................................C.4-10 4.4.6 Treatment and Long-Term Monitoring and Adaptive Management ..........................................C.4-10 5 FIRE MANAGEMENT............................................................................................................................. C.5-1 5.1 Fire Overview......................................................................................................................................C.5-1 5.1.1 Fire Ecology.................................................................................................................................C.5-1 5.1.2 Fire History of Bidwell Park.........................................................................................................C.5-2 5.1.3 Bidwell Park Fire Environment....................................................................................................C.5-3 5.2 Fire Management Objectives ..............................................................................................................C.5-3 5.3 Fire Management Issues......................................................................................................................C.5-3 5.3.1 Wildlife Habitat ............................................................................................................................C.5-4 5.3.2 Combined Impacts........................................................................................................................C.5-4 5.3.3 Public Safety.................................................................................................................................C.5-4 5.4 Fire Management Guidelines and Recommendations.........................................................................C.5-5 5.4.1 Wildfire Reduction and Management...........................................................................................C.5-5 5.4.2 Prescribed Burning.......................................................................................................................C.5-7 5.4.3 Post-fire Rehabilitation.................................................................................................................C.5-9 Final Bidwell Park Master Management Plan Update City of Chico Park Division C-i Natural Resources Management Plan 6 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES .................................................................................................................. C.6-1 7 REFERENCES........................................................................................................................................... C.7-1 TABLES C.4-1 Attributes of Invasive Plants within Bidwell Park ..............................................................................C.4-5 C.4-2 Comparison of Invasive Plant Treatment Methods.............................................................................C.4-8 C.5-1 Potential for Extreme Wildfire within Bidwell Park...........................................................................C.5-3 C.6-1 List of Additional Resources...............................................................................................................C.6-1 ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS APHIS Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service BPMMP Bidwell Park Master Management Plan CAL-IPC California Invasive Plant Council CDF Department of Forestry and Fire Protection CEQA California Environmental Quality Act GIS geographic information systems GPS geopositioning systems I incipient populations NRMP Natural Resources Management Plan PG&E Pacific Gas & Electric SOD Sudden Oak Death U ubiquitous populations UHF Ultra High Frequency VMP Vegetation Management Program WIMS Weed Information Management System WS widespread populations Final Bidwell Park Master Management Plan Update Natural Resources Management Plan C-ii City of Chico Park Division 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 RELATIONSHIP TO THE MASTER MANAGEMENT PLAN The Bidwell Park Natural Resources Management Plan (NRMP) is intended to provide a basic resource management framework for Bidwell Park (Park) that supports the goals and objectives of the Bidwell Park Master Management Plan (BPMMP). Chapter 2 of the BPMMP includes Park-wide resource assessments. Chapter 3 of the BPMMP contains the policy basis (goals and objectives) and implementation approach (strategies and guidelines) for Park operations. The NRMP provides information on how to achieve the goals and objectives provided in the BPMMP. It supplements the implementation strategies and guidelines in the BPMMP with more detailed information on a defined set of resources and establishes a framework for adding additional resource management information in the future. Resources to add to the NRMP may include soils, additional natural communities, vegetation elements, invasive animal species, or other physical or biological resources. The NRMP has its basis in the 1990 BPMMP for the Park (Hardesty Associates 1990) that contained a suite of natural resource management elements (oak renewal, fire plan, invasive plants and vegetation management). During the 2005 BPMMP update, these natural resource elements were shifted from the BPMMP to this separate, focused NRMP that is included as an appendix to the BPMMP. Although the basic organization of the 1990 plan has been retained, major portions of each section have been revised to address changes in resource conditions, Park management priorities, and approaches to resource management. 1.2 PURPOSE AND ORGANIZATION OF THE PLAN The purpose of the NRMP is to provide a functional framework for managing resources within the