High Altitude Revegetation Workshop and

Central Rockies Chapter of the Society For Ecological Restoration

2015 Conference

March 10-12, 2015 Fort Collins, Colorado

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Table of Contents

Conference Organizing Committees ...... 1

Tuesday March 10, 2015...... 2 8:00 – 12:00 Preconference Workshop – Learning to Adapt: Monitoring Throughout the Restoration Process (special registration event)...... 2 1:00 Opening Remarks, Randy Mandel CeRSER and Mark Paschke HAR, Ballroom AB ...... 3 1:05 Welcome, John Hayes, Dean of the Warner College of Natural Resources, CSU ...... 3 1:15 Keynote address: “Novel ecosystems – targets or turn-offs? Jim Harris, Cranfield University ...... 3 1:50 – 3:10 Session 1: Novel Ecosystems, Moderated by Mark Paschke...... 4 3:30 – 4:50 Session 2: Complex Projects, Moderated by Randy Mandel...... 5 4:50 – 7:00 Poster Session / Mixer, Ballroom CD (Poster abstract start on page 27) ...... 6 7:00 – 9:00 Student – Professional Mixer (special registration event – ticket required), The Mayor of Old Town, 632 S, Mason Street...... 6

Wednesday March 11, 2015 ...... 7 8:15 Keynote address: “Developing strategies for forest restoration in changing environments” Peter Fulé, Northern Arizona University ...... 7 8:50 – 10:10 Session 3: Forest Ecosystems I, Moderated by Brett Wolk ...... 7 10:30 - 11:50 Session 4: Mining and Energy Development, Moderated by Rebecca Hufft ...... 9 1:20 Keynote Address: “Are exotic annual grass monocultures restoration opportunities?” Susan Meyer, U.S. Forest Service...... 11 1:55-3:15 Session 5: Grassland and Shrubland Ecosystems, Moderated by Mindy Wheeler...... 12 3:35-4:55 Session 6: Multi-trophic Interactions, Moderated by Kristina Hufford...... 14 6:30-9:00 Evening Pubtalk / Book-signing event, New Belgium Brewery. Kevin Fedarko, Author of “The Emerald Mile” The epic story of the fastest ride in history through the heart of the Grand Canyon (special registration event – ticket required) ...... 15

Thursday March 12, 2015 ...... 16 8:15 Keynote address: “Wetland restoration in the western U.S., issues and opportunities” David Cooper, Colorado State University ...... 16 8:50-10:10 Session 7: Wetland/Riparian Ecosystems, Moderated by Andrea Borkenhagen...... 16 10:30-11:50 Session 8: High Elevation/Latitude Ecosystems, Moderated by Akasha Faist...... 18 1:20-2:40 Session 9: Case Studies, Moderated by Timothy Hoelzle...... 20 3:00-4:20 Session 10: Forest Ecosystems II, Moderated by Casey Cisneros ...... 22 4:20 Closing comments: Randy Mandel CeRSER and Mark Paschke HAR ...... 24

Conference Sponsors ...... 25

Poster Abstracts ...... 27

iii Conference Organizing Committees

Executive committee Mark Paschke Chair HAR / Past President CeRSER Randy Mandel President CeRSER / Vice Chair HAR Brett Wolk Vice President / President Elect CeRSER Andrea Borkenhagen Secretary CeRSER Mindy Wheeler Secretary HAR Cini Brown Treasurer HAR Tim Hoelzle Treasurer CeRSER Casey Cisneros Outreach Director CeRSER

Scientific and non-scientific program Mark Paschke Committee Chair Randy Mandel Kristina Hufford Akasha Faist Rebecca Hufft Tamera Minnick Denise Arthur

Pre-conference workshop Casey Cisneros Committee Chair Brett Wolk Jim Bromberg Sara Copp Jeremy Sueltenfuss

Advertising and media relations Andrea Borkenhagen Committee Chair Mindy Wheeler Jayne Jonas-Bratten Cini Brown

Vendors and Sponsorship Randy Mandel Committee Chair John Giordanengo Casey Cisneros Pete Stahl

Logistics Tim Hoelzle Committee Chair Randy Mandel Akasha Faist Mark Paschke Anita Kennedy John Giordanengo

1 Tuesday March 10, 2015. 7:00 Organizing committee meeting, 322 LSC

7:30 – 1:30 Registration desk open, Lory Student Center, 2nd Floor Registration Booth

8:30 – 1:00 Vendor and Poster set up, Ballroom CD.

8:00 – 12:00 Preconference Workshop – Learning to Adapt: Monitoring Throughout the Restoration Process (special registration event). 8:00 Workshop overview. Casey Cisneros, Larimer County Natural Resources, Ballroom AB

8:10 Introduction: Setting monitoring goals to evaluate restoration success and for use in adaptive management. Greg Aplet, The Wilderness Society, Ballroom AB

8:55 Break

9:05 Breakout A Sessions 1-6 (special registration events) Room 304: Measurement techniques – Wetlands. Andy Herb, Alpine Ecological Resources LLC, and Brad Johnson, Colorado State University Room 306: Measurement techniques – Wildlife. Chuck Anderson, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, and Joanna Lemly, Colorado Natural Heritage Program Room 308: Measurement techniques – Plants. Chris Davis, US NPS, Rocky Mtn National Park Room 310: Digital Data Collection, Management, and Manipulation. Greg Newman, Colorado State University Room 312: Designing a monitoring program of appropriate size and sampling intensity. Jeff Beck, University of Wyoming

9:55 Coffee Break, Ballroom CD

10:15 Breakout B Sessions 1-6 (special registration events) Room 304: Measurement techniques – Wetlands. Andy Herb, Alpine Ecological Resources LLC, and Brad Johnson, Colorado State University Room 306: Measurement techniques – Forestry. Kristen Pelz, Colorado Forest Restoration Institute Room 308: Measurement techniques – Plants. Chris Davis, US NPS, Rocky Mtn. National Park Room 310: Digital Data Collection, Management, and Manipulation. Greg Newman, Colorado State University Room 312: Designing a monitoring program of appropriate size and sampling intensity. Jeff Beck, University of Wyoming

11:05 Break

11:15 Conclusion: How to adapt a restoration plan based on monitoring data. David Cooper, Colorado State University, Ballroom AB

2 1:00 Conference Opening Remarks, Randy Mandel CeRSER and Mark Paschke HAR, Ballroom AB 1:05 Welcome, John Hayes, Dean of the Warner College of Natural Resources, Colorado State University

1:15 Keynote address: “Novel ecosystems – targets or turn-offs? Jim Harris, Cranfield University

Professor Jim Harris' research is wide ranging across microbial ecology and how the diversity of the microbiota and their spatio-temporal distribution affect ecosystem processes, ecological restoration, systems ecology, ecosystem theory, policy implications and resilience. This has been applied in disturbed landscapes, urban areas, semi-natural and agricultural systems, in the assessment and treatment of wastes such as landfill leachate and other wastewaters; restoration ecology and in the quantitative assessment of ecosystem goods and services. Other research he is involved in focuses on how ecosystem principles can be used in managing modern society - from land restoration, through water treatment to the design of urban systems. His work has been used to develop policy for the EU, the Canadian Government, the IUCN and World Council for Protected Areas. He is a Member of the NERC Peer Review College and Moderating Panel; a Member of the NERC Food Security Evaluation Working Group; a Member of the NCUB food Security Working Group; a Member of the UKWRIP Agriculture Action Group, a Coordinating Editor Restoration Ecology; Past Chair of the Society for Ecological Restoration; Past Council Member British Society of Soil Science. Jim was appointed Chair in Environmental Technology at Cranfield in January 2002

The world is changing rapidly, with huge pressures on terrestrial and marine ecosystems leading to rapid re- configuration of many ecosystems. Why restoration in the “traditional” sense can still work in many places, managers on the ground often face a starker reality – what do we do with the resources available? I will also explore the conceptual basis of novel ecosystems and attempt to address the following questions: Where do novel ecosystems fit in with prevailing restoration concept and theory? Does irreversibility actually exist? Are novel ecosystems really ecosystems? Is it a dangerous concept in the public policy arena? I shall also explore the emerging consensus around this topic, and the suggestions for decision support being discussed in the literature and put in place on, and in, the ground.

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1:50 – 3:10 Technical Session 1: Novel Ecosystems, Moderated by Mark Paschke. 1:50 Restoring whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) ecosystems in the face of climate change. Robert Keane, US Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station, Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory coauthors: Lisa M Holsinger, Mary F Mahalovich and Diana F Tomback The combined effects of mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) outbreaks, fire exclusion policies, and the exotic disease white pine blister rust (caused by the pathogen Cronartium ribicola) has caused a severe decline in high elevation whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) forests across western North America. Predicted changes in climate may exacerbate this decline by (1) accelerating succession to more shade tolerant conifers, (2) creating environments unsuitable for whitebark pine, (3) increasing the frequency and severity of mountain pine beetle outbreaks and wildland fire events, and (4) facilitating spread of blister rust. Since more than 90 percent of whitebark pine forests occur on public lands in the U.S. and Canada, a trans-boundary, a range-wide whitebark pine restoration strategy was developed to coordinate and inform restoration efforts across federal and provincial land management agencies. This restoration strategy, however, failed to fully address projected effects of climate change on whitebark pine restoration efforts and existing stands. In this report, we present guidelines for restoring whitebark pine under future climates using the rangewide restoration strategy structure. For each of the strategy’s guiding principles and restoration actions, we provide information useful for developing and implementing restoration plans to account for predicted changes in climate. The information on adjusting whitebark pine restoration effects for climate change impacts come from two sources: We conducted a comprehensive review of the literature to assess climate change impacts on whitebark pine ecology and management and then we used the spatially explicit, ecological process model FireBGCv2 to simulate various climate change, management, and fire exclusion scenarios The paper is written as a general guide to be used with the rangewide strategy for planning, designing, implementing, and evaluating fine-scale restoration activities for whitebark pine by public land management agencies by addressing climate change impacts.

2:10 Camp Hale-Eagle River headwaters restoration project. Marcus F Selig, Southern Rockies Region, National Forest Foundation Camp Hale and the Eagle River headwaters area is a high-elevation landscape that supports numerous resources and recreational activities and also has a rich history. The White River National Forest has previously proposed several restoration and management plans for Camp Hale and the upper Eagle River watershed, but none has been fully accepted by the communities and stakeholders invested in the area. In 2011, the National Forest Foundation (NFF), in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service, identified Camp Hale and the Eagle River headwaters area as one of its Treasured Landscapes campaign sites and initiated a multi-year conservation campaign to restore the area and enhance its ability to satisfy a multitude of functions. The goals of this conservation effort are twofold. First, the project brought together local, regional, State, and Federal stakeholders and other interested parties to collaboratively develop a shared vision for future improvements to the site. Second, NFF will partner with local nonprofits, private companies, municipalities, contractors, and the U.S. Forest Service to implement the shared vision. This presentation will provide an overview of the project’s collaborative planning efforts to date and the plan for accomplishing on-the-ground restoration over the next several years. The presentation will also discuss the stakeholder group’s Master Plan, which represents the shared vision for the future of the project area. The shared vision identifies desired conditions and recommends specific actions for achieving those desired conditions. Notably, the Master Plan calls for the reestablishment of 180 to 270 acres of high-elevation wetlands and four to five miles of additional stream channel.

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2:30 Restoration needs in beetle-killed forests of north-central Colorado. John D Stednick, Department of Forest and Rangeland Stewardship, Colorado State University coauthor: Kristen A Pelz The effects of beetle killed forests on hydrologic processes was thought to emulate timber harvesting effects; and result in decreased canopy cover, decreased precipitation interception and summer evapotranspiration. Hypothesized changes in hydrologic process rates would result in increased soil moisture and increased stream flow. Watersheds with varying areas of beetle killed forest in Northern Colorado were selected for study. A progression of beetle-killed watershed areas was used to assess water resources changes in quantity and quality. Surprisingly, water yield increases or hydrograph changes were not detectable at any level of beetle kill. Similarly water quality changes were not detectable. The forest canopy may be lost, but understory vegetation composition, as a function of forest type, is able to utilize any increased water or nutrient availability. Thus the need for 'forest restoration' in beetle-killed forests to improve water resources is unwarranted.

2:50 Nonnative plants and their economic importance. Joseph M Debebe, USDI BLM, Pinedale WY. Nonnative plants or exotic plants are introduced to a given local area by various means. The introduction could be intentional or non-intentional. Most introduced plants are aggressive and out- compete the native plant communities resulting in adverse effects to the ecosystem. Native plant communities are becoming alarmingly endangered, some native plants eliminated from their natural habitat. Establishment, adaptation and resource requirements of native plants is different from nonnative plants. The aggressive nature of adaptation by nonnative plants makes them very competitive with the native plant communities. There are some ecologically and economically important nonnative plant communities that might be used for site establishment for reclamation and restorations. The nonnative plants to be used for site stabilization should have noncompetitive growth characteristics that may include annuals, biennials, and those that don’t cross pollinate with similar native plant species. A case study of Halogeton and Russian thistle, which are exotic plants found in the Pinedale, WY vicinity, as temporary cover crops have improved plant species diversity by conserving moisture and protecting newly growing, sown seeds from grazing. It is very important to examine the values and characteristics of nonnative plant species for reclamation and restoration purposes at the same time it is also very important to understand the loss of native plants at alarming rates needs to be brought to the attention of land managers and property owners.

3:10 Break, Ballroom CD 3:30 – 4:50 Technical Session 2: Complex Projects, Moderated by Randy Mandel. 3:30 Stream restoration strategies in the wake of Colorado’s September 2013 floods. Christopher A Sturm, Colorado Water Conservation Board, State of Colorado Department of Natural Resources The Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) has been leading many stream restoration efforts since the September 2013 floods. The strategy has focused on building local watershed coalitions, enabling watershed scale master planning, and implementing stream restoration projects. The foundation of this approach is based on the CWCB Colorado Watershed Restoration Program. The Program exists to provide grant funds and technical assistance for stream restoration projects designed to protect or restore the ecological processes that connect land and water while protecting human life and property. This philosophy is integral to all stream restoration activities in which the CWCB is involved. The CWCB flood recovery team, i.e. the Stream Recovery Team, formed shortly after the September 2013 floods. The team included many state and federal agencies as well as technical consultants. The focus of the team was to implement emergency channel stabilization projects, develop watershed coalitions, award master planning grants, participate in regular coalition meetings, and provide technical support. Over a year later the watershed coalitions have completed the master plans, and they are prioritizing stream restoration projects. The Stream Recovery Team now exists to build capacity in the newly created watershed coalitions, identify funding opportunities, coordinate multi-objective projects in order to leverage resources, and facilitate the implementation of flood resilient projects

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3:50 Sampling & Analysis for CDOT Innovative vegetation practices study. Denise C Wilson, Wilson Associates, Inc., Golden, CO coauthor: Michael Banovich Successful revegetation after construction projects is a constant challenge for CDOT. In the summer of 2014, the TerraLogic Forensic Vegetation Survey Team sampled roadside vegetation and soil at five locations, including Hwy 40 over Berthoud Pass, and the Powers Blvd at I25 project in Colorado Springs. We then compared the data with the adjacent landscape in order to quantify the coverage, native plant abundance, and ecological continuity of CDOT’s revegetation. This research is included in a broader study on “Innovative Vegetation Practices for Construction Site Plant Establishment.” This presentation will summarize the methodology, results and recommended improvements to revegetation practices. These enhancements can be immediately applied to improve the success of revegetation projects statewide.

4:10 Partnering with Mother Nature on river restoration through downtown Fort Collins, CO: Relinquishing control to a type-a partner. Rick Bachand, City of Fort Collins Natural Areas Department coauthor: Rachel Steeves In 2013 the Fort Collins Natural Areas Department initiated a series of three large river and floodplain restoration projects within the downtown Fort Collins, CO Poudre River corridor. Combined, the projects resulted in 1.5 miles of riverbank improvements, creation of 11.3 acres of new wetlands, 28 acres of riparian forest, and 9 acres of native grassland. We describe the challenges encountered during the projects including the high-spring flows, and share the remarkable outcomes when restoration projects are constructed with ecological processes in mind.

4:30 Increasing federal focus on regulatory mitigation: Is habitat equivalency analysis the answer? Timothy B Hoelzle, Great Ecology, Denver, CO coauthors: Jessica H Quinn, Ashley N Tuggle In recent years, federal agencies in the United States have developed policies that place a greater emphasis on quantitative techniques to assess habitat mitigation requirements. This is evidenced by the 2013 Presidential Memorandum, Modernizing Federal Infrastructure Review and Permitting, and the Department of the Interior (DOI) Secretarial Order 3330, which emphasize requirements for a coordinated, science-based strategy to strengthen mitigation practices at the landscape-scale to effectively offset impacts of large development projects under the purview of the DOI. One approach to determining mitigation requirements for these types of projects is the Habitat Equivalency Analysis (HEA) model. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) developed HEA as a habitat-based approach to determine injury liability and compensation in Natural Resource Damage (NRD) frameworks by evaluating habitat quality over spatial and temporal extents to assess impacts to habitats (i.e., environmental contamination) and determine habitat restoration requirements to fully offset impacts. However, HEA is now gaining traction in non-NRD regulatory contexts under the auspices of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Clean Water Act (CWA). For HEA to achieve regulatory mitigation goals outside of NRD frameworks, practitioners must consider and understand its benefits as well as the modifications needed to better adapt it to permitted projects. These modifications include 1) removal of punitive considerations of the model’s application, 2) consideration of whether a discount factor is appropriate for the temporal scale of the habitat restoration project, 3) development of a transparent process for selecting habitat metrics that assess environmental impacts and restoration success, and 4) adaptations to meet legal statutes under NEPA and CWA. The HEA model can be applied outside of its original context to meet new federal policies (i.e., DOI Order 3330), but practitioners must carefully consider how to adapt the model to meet this new application.

4:50 – 7:00 Poster Session / Mixer, Ballroom CD (Poster abstract start on page 27) 7:00 – 9:00 Student – Professional Mixer (special registration event – ticket required), The Mayor of Old Town, 632 S, Mason Street.

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Wednesday March 11, 2015 7:30 – 9:30 Registration desk open, Lory Student Center, 2nd Floor Registration Booth 8:10 Announcements, Ballroom AB

8:15 Keynote address: “Developing strategies for forest restoration in changing environments” Peter Fulé, Northern Arizona University

Peter Fulé studies the interactions between forests, fires, and climate. He uses historical ecology techniques, including dendrochronology (tree-ring analysis), to study these interactions during past centuries. Experimental studies in forest restoration are used to test methods of restoring resilient forest ecosystems. Simulation models of vegetation change under alternative climate change scenarios and management activities are applied to forecast future forest development and test strategies for forest conservation. Dr. Fulé does research in the US, Latin America, and the Mediterranean region.

Restoration and conservation of dry forest ecosystems in the western U.S. and related systems worldwide is challenging due to ecosystem degradation, severe wildfires and other disturbances, and changing climate. How can restorationists address these complex, interacting problems? Do management treatments make a lasting difference or will climate override their effects? Could well-intentioned treatments even be counter-productive over time? While there are many unknowns regarding future ecological trajectories, we do have a solid base of empirical science for developing restorative prescriptions. New tools are increasingly becoming available for modeling management strategies over decades to centuries under alternative future climate scenarios. Simulation models cannot produce reliable forecasts because of inherent uncertainties in our understanding of climate and ecosystem changes, but they do provide a range of potential future outcomes, which are useful for guiding management actions today. The strengths and weaknesses of building climate change into forest modeling are important to understand for making informed decisions.

8:50 – 10:10 Technical Session 3: Forest Ecosystems I, Moderated by Brett Wolk 8:50 Characterizing historical forest structure in Front Range ponderosa pine – dominated forests to guide restoration prescription development. Paula J Fornwalt, USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fort Collins, CO coauthors: Michael A Battaglia, Benjamin M Gannon, Peter M Brown, Laurie S Huckaby, Antony S Cheng In the Front Range, concerns about the resilience of ponderosa pine - dominated forests in the face of recent large, severe wildfires and climate change have led to increased implementation of landscape-scale restoration efforts. In 2012, we implemented a project to inform restoration prescription development by characterizing historical (ca. 1860) non-spatial and spatial forest structure using tree-ring based reconstructions. We collected data from 179 0.5-ha plots that are distributed across the ponderosa pine zone of the Front Range, from south-central Wyoming east of Laramie to central Colorado west of Colorado Springs. Data were collected both to characterize historical forest structures (including species composition, tree density, basal area, size and age distributions, and spatial arrangements of trees and openings), and to examine how historical forest structures varied across environmental gradients such as aspect, elevation, and soil properties. Initial results indicate that historical forests were structurally diverse, but that current stands are generally denser with increased basal areas and smaller trees. Furthermore, trees in the plots historically were often, but not always, spatially aggregated. Additional analyses will explore how reconstructed forest structure attributes vary with respect to environmental gradients. These reconstructions provide quantitative metrics of historical forest structures to help guide forest restoration prescription development in ponderosa pine forests across the Front Range.

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9:10 Wildfire risk reduction monitoring. Claire J Griebenow, Colorado Forest Restoration Institute, Colorado State University coauthors: Brett H Wolk, Antony S Cheng, and Chad M Hoffman The Colorado Forest Restoration Institute has developed a statewide monitoring program to measure the effectiveness of fire hazard reduction treatments. This approach has been implemented on non- federal lands throughout Colorado through the Wildfire Risk Reduction Grant program. Our main objective is to quantify the change in fuel hazard conditions pre- and post-treatment across a variety of vegetation types, elevation gradients, geographic scales, and treatment methods. Comprehensive fuels data is collected for ground, surface, vegetation, and tree canopy layers and analyzed in the Fuel Characteristic Classification System. Initial results indicate most treatments are effective at changing potential crown fire behavior when aggressive, but effectively reducing surface fuels remains challenging. Our data indicate current practices for reducing surface fuel loads may be insufficient to achieve some fire hazard reduction and forest restoration goals. Intensive monitoring on private lands is currently rare, and this information will fill a critical gap to aid administrators and land managers in planning future forest treatments, especially regarding appropriate tools to use. Though this monitoring strategy was not developed through a collaborative process, the monitoring program has remained open, with land managers and interested citizens involved with the assessment. By designing simple, yet comprehensive, monitoring methods and accessible results, land managers and citizens from a wide range of backgrounds can better understand the effects their management has on fuel hazard, fire risk, and forest restoration.

9:30 Private lands forest restoration on Colorado’s Front Range. Joseph B Hansen, Jefferson Conservation District, Denver, CO coauthor: Garrett J Stephens Since Euro-American settlement, montane forest conditions have changed along Colorado’s Front Range. Disruptions to historic fire regimes by anthropogenic influences, such as logging, livestock grazing, and fire suppression, have contributed significantly to this change resulting in increased stand densities, shifts in tree and understory plant composition, and increased potential for widespread high- severity wildfire. To protect values at risk, alter potential wildfire behavior, and restore components of forest ecosystem function, Jefferson Conservation District (JCD) administers forest restoration projects utilizing mechanical treatments on private lands in Jefferson, Clear Creek, and Gilpin Counties. In an effort to apply forest ecology to on-the-ground management, JCD’s treatments, guided by biophysical site conditions, seek to create landscapes that are more resilient to disturbance and that promote diversity of tree age-classes, understory plant communities, and wildlife habitat. Whole-tree harvesting with complete wood utilization occurs where slopes and terrain allow. With financial support from grants, cost-share programs, and landowner contributions, JCD hires local contractors to implement forestry work on single-landowner parcels and, where feasible, across multiple adjacent properties. Prescriptions consider landowner goals and site operability limitations while seeking to achieve resource benefits at a meaningful scale.

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9:50 It’s not about the trees: Key role of mini-meadows in restoration of ponderosa pine forests. Megan S Matonis, Graduate Degree Program in Ecology, Colorado State University coauthors: Dan Binkley Historical conditions in many ponderosa pine forests included distinct tree groups separated by mini- meadows. Tree groups and mini-meadows have different impacts on habitats for wildlife, fire behavior, nutrient cycling, etc. Mini-meadows provide the greatest source of plant biodiversity in ponderosa pine forests. However, restoration scientists and practitioners are focused largely on the size and arrangement of tree groups, not on the size and shape of mini-meadows. A focus on tree groups leads managers to control the number of trees per group and the number of groups per acre. In contrast, a focus on mini-meadows requires consideration of how tree removal and the distances between tree groups shapes forest openings. We explored how the shape and size of mini-meadows impact the cover and composition of understory vegetation. We sampled cover by species, pine litter depth, and canopy openness in mini-meadows and the spatial arrangement of overstory trees at five ponderosa pine sites in Colorado. Mini-meadows were of various shapes and sizes, and all were created by restoration treatments. We compared cover by functional groups (graminoids, shrubs, and forbs, native vs. invasive species) among meadows of different sizes and determined the impact of meadow size on species composition. Understory cover increased strongly with distance to overstory trees. This pattern was particularly strong for native and invasive forbs. Understory cover was greater in locations where surrounding trees were >15 m away. Locations with higher numbers of native species also had more non-native species, but cover and richness of non-native species was highly variable among meadows. Overall, findings suggest that managers need see the forest for more than just the trees to enhance biodiversity and understory cover.

10:10 Break, Ballroom CD 10:30 - 11:50 Technical Session 4: Mining and Energy Development, Moderated by Rebecca Hufft 10:30 Reclaiming greater-sage grouse habitat within a gas field: A ten-year perspective. Richard S Carr, C- M Environmental Group Inc., Reno, NV coauthors: Aimee J Davidson, Timothy L Lingle, and James H Sewell Shell Rocky Mountain Production Company (Shell) was active in the Pinedale Anticline Project Area (PAPA) natural gas field in SW Wyoming from 2001 through fall 2014. Well-pad and pipeline reclamation in the PAPA through 2003 utilized the then-current BLM standard grass-dominated seed mix, which created suitable sites for grazing, but was not conducive to restoring critical sage grouse habitat. In 2004, Shell initiated the Pinedale Anticline Revegetation Project to reintroduce native plant species supportive of sage grouse and ungulate habitat to numerous reclaimed drill locations over the length of the Pinedale Anticline gas field. Along with newly-seeded reclaims, many of the earlier “grass” locations were over-seeded with a new “Habitat” seed mix. Various seeding methods have been tested through above-normal to droughty precipitation years. All seeding efforts were carefully documented and reclaims have been monitored annually using standard qualitative and quantitative methods; data now look back ten years. BLM reclamation standards for the PAPA were upgraded in 2008 to include seed mixes similar to those modeled by Shell; the standards are currently more stringent than most on federal lands in the Rocky Mountain region. Most Shell reclaims seeded prior to 2008 would meet the new standards – though not required – with the exception of forb frequency and diversity, due in part to the commercial availability of native forb seed. Vegetative production data collected in 2014 indicate that the reclaimed lands are more similar to Historic Reference Plant Communities outlined in ecologic sites established in the area. The variety of species in the reclaims also appears more abundant relative to Greater Sage-Grouse utilization than the adjoining native habitat. This presentation will include comparative observations of production and cover data relative to preferred sage grouse habitat as defined in Guidelines to manage sage grouse populations and their habitats by Connelly et al.

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10:50 Reclamation overview for the oil and gas industry in Colorado; Regulatory requirements, challenges, and successes. Denise T Arthur, Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) is committed to protecting public health and the environment and fostering the responsible development of Colorado’s oil and gas resources. Included in this commitment is the responsible restoration of the lands disturbed due to oil and gas development. The disturbance footprint for individual oil and gas locations are relatively small in scale; however as more development occurs there is the potential for increasing cumulative disturbances, which could have effects on the broader landscape. Increasing disturbances may relate to the addition of more, oil and gas wells, pipelines, roads, and other facilities. Final and interim reclamation/restoration, as well as stormwater controls, on these disturbed lands have many challenges. The focus of the presentation will be a brief overview of State wide oil and gas development, the regulatory reclamation requirements, field restoration challenges, and examples of reclamation successes and failures.

11:10 Innovations, successes and failures for reclamation in the BLM Pinedale field office. Brian L Roberts, USDI BLM, Pinedale, Wyoming The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in Pinedale, WY has experienced a variety of successes and failures with different techniques, used to enhance reclamation. These techniques involved planting seed mixes, seed establishment, irrigation, grazing, snow fences, wildlife fences and reclamation monitoring. Objectives were to achieve successful reclamation. Methods included one and two-stage seed mixes, irrigation techniques, grazing techniques, fencing techniques for capturing moisture and limit animal access to reclamation sites, and using baseline reference sites and ecological site descriptions for reclamation monitoring. Results represent the pros and cons with each technique, which would enable practitioners to decide how, what and when reclamation establishment and reclamation monitoring techniques would be best applied.

11:30 Defining restoration success in Wyoming’s natural gas fields: Suggestions for using reference sites and ecological site descriptions. Michael F Curran, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY coauthor: Peter D Stahl In recent decades, restoration ecology as a science and the practice of ecological restoration have experienced rapid advancements. These advancements are due, at least in part, to increases in anthropogenic land disturbance and increased remediation requirements associated with natural resource extraction. Restoration ecologists should aim to strengthen relationships between the academic community, the practitioner community, and regulatory agencies to better ecological restoration as a practice. The Society for Ecological Restoration International has concurred upon ecosystem attributes, which are indicative of restoration success. However, restoration success is often defined to practitioners by agencies with regulatory jurisdiction over specific areas of land. On federally owned lands in Wyoming, both the state of Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality and US Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) have regulatory authority. Differences occur between, and among, these regulatory agencies and all measure restoration success in comparison to reference sites on adjacent, undisturbed lands. Disparities in regulatory restoration success standards and inadequate selection of reference sites make implementing restoration plans difficult for practitioners and cause complications in assessing restoration success. The scientific community should learn from and attempt to provide constructive improvements to practitioners and regulatory agencies. Land reclamation data was obtained from an oil and natural gas operating company, a restoration practitioner company, and regulatory agencies. Evaluation of regulatory success standards and selection of reference sites were made from an ecological perspective. This talk aims to highlight some problems with current reference site selection, as well as make suggestions for improving selection in the future. Also, as the NRCS, US Forest Service and BLM have recently signed an interagency agreement to use Ecological Site Descriptions (ESDs) for future land management, this talk will discuss suggestions for improving ESDs and how they can be incorporated into restoration success criteria.

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11:50-1:15 Lunch, Ballroom CD

12:00-1:15 CeRSER Business Meeting (all CeRSER members and those interested in joining CeRSER are encouraged to attend), Ballroom AB The Central Rockies chapter of the Society for Ecological Restoration (CeRSER) is a network of people interested in restoration that live and/or work in Colorado and Wyoming. Grab your lunch, watch fun pictures, and get an overview of what the CeRSER is all about. This will be an opportunity for both current and perspective CeRSER members to see the cool things we do, preview upcoming events, and contribute to the future direction of CeRSER – your regional network of restoration professionals.

1:20 Keynote Address: “Are exotic annual grass monocultures restoration opportunities?” Susan Meyer, U.S. Forest Service.

Dr. Meyer is a Research Ecologist with the US Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station. She works at the RMRS Shrub Sciences Laboratory in Provo, Utah, where she has spent almost thirty years researching many aspects of the ecological restoration of shrublands, including numerous studies on the seed and seedling establishment ecology of native shrubs, grasses, and forbs. More recently she has focused her attention on one of the main obstacles to restoration success in semi-arid shrubland ecosystems, namely the invasive annual cheatgrass. This has included extensive work on the genecology of cheatgrass as it interacts with a series of fungal pathogens that make their living taking advantage of the abundant resources that it provides. The ultimate goal of this research is to find a way to reduce cheatgrass in the context of restoration seeding by manipulating its fungal natural enemies to destroy the host that feeds them.

Exotic annual grass invasion has resulted in the conversion of millions of acres of shrubland vegetation in the interior West to fire-prone dysclimax grassland that is ecologically impoverished and greatly diminished in resource values. Faced with ever-increasing burned areas and limited resources for restoration, land managers have traditionally focused their efforts on newly burned areas, where success is deemed more likely. This system of triage has left huge acreages of re-burned monocultures in a category considered ‘untreatable’. A major obstacle to restoration in these areas is competition from the annual grasses, which respond plastically to resource availability, resulting in total depletion of soil water in the late spring. This leaves perennial seedlings high and dry the following summer. Economically feasible and environmentally benign methods for annual grass control in this context have been largely lacking. Our research is aimed at understanding the role of naturally occurring soilborne fungal pathogens in annual grass population dynamics, with an emphasis on cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum). Land managers have observed that cheatgrass can experience complete stand failure (‘die-off’) over large areas, but these usually return to full cheatgrass cover within a few years. We have shown that native grasses seeded into a previous-year die-off have enhanced establishment relative to seedings into intact cheatgrass stands. Patterns of die-off and recovery are likely caused by a complex interaction among multiple soilborne pathogens and the soil microbial community. Our most recent work suggests that die-off pathogens are nearly ubiquitous in cheatgrass monocultures and can be triggered to cause epidemic disease through the addition of carbohydrate carbon. They are again suppressed by the microbial community the following year, permitting seedling establishment. This introduces the exciting possibility that cheatgrass die-off could be manipulated as a restoration tool, opening the way for restoration of the millions of acres of annual grass monoculture that have been written off as lost.

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1:55-3:15 Technical Session 5: Grassland and Shrubland Ecosystems, Moderated by Mindy Wheeler. 1:55 Smooth brome (Bromus inermis) population expansion under a prescribed grazing regime on reclaimed lands in southeastern Montana. Rachel A Ridenour, Cedar Creek Associates, Inc., Fort Collins, CO coauthors: Erik M Mohr, Jesse H Dillon, Steven R Viert, and Pete R Martin The Rosebud Coal Mine in southeastern Montana has revegetated disturbed areas since Western Energy began operations in the early 1970s. Reclamation has primarily targeted the post mining land use of livestock grazing. Smooth brome (Bromus inermis) has not been included in seed mixes at the Rosebud Mine since 1978, however, because of invasion from surrounding areas and reintroduction to reclaimed areas due to ‘direct-haul’ topsoil metrics, this taxon has shown continued expansion under grazing pressure. This case study presents specific information on reclamation and revegetation metrics, livestock grazing rates and utilization, and vegetation monitoring results in the interest of tracking smooth brome population expansion. Initial vegetation monitoring results from several completely revegetated areas revealed only minor composition of smooth brome during the early years of community growth. Moderate rotational grazing was implemented to increase vegetation diversity and to demonstrate the land’s productive capabilities for the post-mining land use of grazing. Intermittent vegetation monitoring through 2010 has revealed a significant increase in smooth brome composition (populations) under normal and proper grazing pressures in these areas. The elevated cover levels of smooth brome has led to management and regulatory issues with regard to acceptable levels of this invasive yet arguably beneficial introduced grass in the landscape.

2:15 Re-establishment of Wyoming big sagebrush using container grown seedlings. David C Balthrop, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY coauthor: Peter D Stahl Wyoming big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata ssp. wyomingensis) has declined in distribution and abundance over the past 50 years due to ecological and anthropogenic landscape alterations such as wildfire, invasive species, eradication, energy development and agricultural conversion. This decline has resulted in significant amounts of historical Greater Sage-Grouse habitat left unsuitable for the bird’s survival requirements and in need of restoration. The typical method of broadcast seeding has proven costly and ineffective for areas with already established vegetation, giving the need to implement new restoration techniques. This study attempts to develop an effective method for transplanting Wyoming big sagebrush seedlings propagated from locally adapted seed and soil that will maximize the amount of soil moisture available to them through snow catchment fencing, fabric mulch and seedling planting density. 648 sagebrush seedlings were planted in the spring of 2014 onto a 2 year old burn site using a randomized complete block design. Preliminary results show that the use of polypropylene fabric mulch to eliminate interspecific competition and retain soil moisture significantly increases the production and survival rate of transplanted seedlings. As of October 2014, survival for seedlings with and without fabric mulch was 90.4% and 76.8% respectively, with a three-fold increase in height and width for seedlings planted with the fabric mulch treatment. Management implications for this method include planting shrub islands on burn areas in order to reintroduce a seed source or planting into critical habitat areas where sagebrush has been lost or damaged.

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2:35 Nitrogen mineralization in two mountain big sagebrush plant communities: An ecological process-based key to state-transitions? Crystal Y Tipton, Department of Forest and Rangeland Stewardship, Colorado State University coauthors: Troy Ocheltree, Kevin Mueller, Maria Fernandez-Gimenez, and Chris Dickey In their state-and-transition model (STM) for the Mountain Loam (now Deep Clay Loam) ecological site in northwest Colorado, Kachergis et al. (2012) propose the existence of alternate stable states in the mountain sagebrush steppe separated by functional thresholds. The model includes a transition from mountain big sagebrush shrubland with a diverse understory (“Diverse”), to heavy mountain big sagebrush shrubland associated with sparse understory (“Dense”) in the absence of shrub management and fire for more than 60 years. While shrub dominance on the Dense state may be explained by the loss of fine fuels in the herbaceous understory, thereby reducing vulnerability to fire, the mechanism driving understory loss is unknown. Identification of the ecological processes involved in such a switch would provide evidence for the existence of functional thresholds in this system and provide key information for potential restoration pathways. We hypothesize that the loss of herbaceous understory in the transition from Diverse to Dense states can be attributed to a shift from fast to slow N-cycling rates as relatively recalcitrant sagebrush litter comprises an increasingly greater proportion of the litter pool over time. To test this hypothesis, we measured N mineralization rates in both states through a series of in situ soil incubations over the 2014 growing season and compared quantity and nutrient quality of the litter pools in each state. Results of these analyses and discussion of implications for modeling and management will be presented.

2:55 Seeding, soil surface, and brush mulch effects on plant community development of disturbed mountain sagebrush sites. Danielle B Johnston, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, Grand Junction, CO Even after decades of recovery, restored areas may not resemble nearby undisturbed areas; post-restoration plant communities are often overly dominated by seeded grasses. High elevation sites with minimal erosion and exotic plant invasion risks may recover more favorably without the influence of seeded grasses. At 4 disturbed mountain big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata ssp. vaseyana) sites (2342m - 2676m) in the Piceance Basin of northwest Colorado, I compared unseeded plots to plots seeded with native species at 17.8 (kg/ha) PLS (60% of which was grass). Seeded/unseeded treatments were crossed with 2 additional treatments designed to improve soil heterogeneity, foster germination, and control exotic species: soil surface (flat or pothole-sized holes), and brush (woody debris at .024 m3/m2 or none). By 5 years post-treatment, the annual forbs which initially dominated unseeded plots had declined to 10% cover. Unseeded plots had 23.5% grass cover (about 2/3 of that of seeded plots), 6.8% forb cover (about 1/3 that of seeded plots), and 27% shrub cover (nearly double that of seeded plots; p < 0.0001). Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) became established at the lowest elevation site in the experiment, where an interaction occurred between the seed treatment and surface treatment (p < 0.0001). Seeding reduced cheatgrass cover, and in the absence of seeding, the rough surface treatment also reduced cheatgrass cover from 13.0% to 2.5% (p < 0.0001). The brush treatment was effective at reducing annual forb cover, increasing perennial grass cover, increasing perennial forb cover, and increasing shrub cover by 10-25% (p < 0.03). High elevation Piceance sagebrush sites have high resiliency; seeding grasses may not be necessary at these sites, although seeding forbs may be beneficial. Rapid plant community recovery can be promoted by brush mulching, and a rough soil surface may help minimize risk of invasion by cheatgrass.

3:15 Break, Ballroom CD

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3:35-4:55 Technical Session 6: Multi-trophic Interactions, Moderated by Kristina Hufford. 3:35 Something to chew on: insect herbivores and post-restoration plant communities. Jayne L Jonas, Department of Forest and Rangeland Stewardship, Colorado State University coauthors: Catherine Cumberland, Mark W. Paschke Insect herbivory can regulate plant populations and structure plant communities in natural systems. Much less is known about the effect insect herbivory has on plants in early seral post-disturbance habitats, such as those subject to restoration. In addition, invasion by exotic plant species can have dramatic impacts on native plants and restoration success can be limited by pressure from invasive plant species. Though invasive species may be superior competitors for space and resources, it is also possible that their dominance is enhanced by native insect herbivores, particularly if native plants are more preferred food sources than invasive plants. There is pressing need to understand relationships between insect herbivores and invasive plants, particularly with regard to their potential for impacting restoration success. The objective of this study was to assess impacts of grasshopper herbivory and the invasive grass Bromus tectorum (cheatgrass) on mortality and growth of 17 commercially available native plant species. Field and greenhouse experiments were conducted using moderate densities of a ubiquitous generalist pest grasshopper (Melanoplus bivittatus). The presence of grasshoppers had stronger and more consistent impacts on plants in both field and greenhouse studies than cheatgrass. After six weeks in the greenhouse, grasshoppers were associated with 36% mortality over all native species compared to 2% when grasshoppers were absent. Herbivory was also associated with an approximately 50% decrease in native plant biomass in both greenhouse and field studies. However, effects of herbivory varied among species. Artemisia tridentata, Chrysothamnus viscidiflorus, and Coreopsis tinctoria were among the most negatively impacted species when exposed to grasshoppers, while Oenothera pallida, Pascoyrum smithii, Leymus cinerus were unaffected. These findings suggest restoration seed mixes should be planned with care, particularly during years when grasshopper populations are forecasted to be high or when plant species most sensitive to herbivory are among key restoration targets.

3:55 Can bees, cactus, and energy development coexist on the Colorado plateau? Richard Alward, Aridlands Natural Resource Consulting, Grand Junction, Colorado coauthors: Steve Boyle, Vincent Tepedino The Colorado Plateau region of western Colorado and eastern Utah hosts several rare endemic plants, including three federally threatened Sclerocatus species. These lands, both public and private, are under increasing pressure from oil and gas, and potentially oil shale, development. Dispersed development, such as that associated with oil and gas exploration and production, has been shown to have indirect and far-reaching ecological effects on plant communities and their associated pollinators that extend well beyond any physical footprint and direct loss of individuals and habitat. Mechanisms include modification of nearby habitats via dust deposition, alteration of runoff, and introduction of invasive plants or other changes in plant communities that influence spatial and temporal availability of pollen and nectar sources. At least two of three Sclerocactus congeners cannot produce seeds without flower visitation by pollinators, typically generalist halictid bees. Pollinator limitation on fruit production has been previously found in S. brevispinus, but not in S. wetlandicus, and had not been investigated in S. glaucus. Over two years of observations, we detected slight differences in cactus sizes, size class frequencies, and reproductive output associated with proximity to oil and gas disturbance. However, cactus response to variation in annual precipitation, from extreme drought in 2012 to merely dry to wet in 2013, was frequently an order of magnitude larger than responses potentially linked to development. Pollen augmentation experiments revealed pollinator limitation in seed production in S. glaucus, including evidence that this effect may be more pronounced when one or more well pads are within 400 meters of occupied habitat. Understanding the potential effects from dispersed development on rare plants and their associated pollinator communities is critical not only for assessing the nature and extent of the threats, but also for proactively developing protection, mitigation, and restoration practices for land managers.

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4:15 Invertebrate communities of oil and gas well pads in the Atlantic Rim, Wyoming. Megan E Wilson, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY coauthor: Timothy Collier Reclamation of oil and gas well pads in the western United States has historically been focused on the re- vegetation of disturbed sites. This includes seeding with native plants, especially grasses. However, little study has been directed towards how different reclamation practices affect invertebrate communities. Understanding how invertebrate communities interact within food webs in reclaimed sites is relatively unstudied, although it has important ecological implications and must be implemented to reclaim disturbed land fully. We have collected insect specimens and monitored vegetation composition from reclaimed and undisturbed coal bed methane well pads in the Atlantic Rim, Washakie Basin, Wyoming to compare how reclamation practices are affecting invertebrate communities. The most abundant invertebrates sampled and the focus of future research, were ants (Formicidae) within the genera Formica and Pogonomyrmex.

4:35 Restoring two threatened Physaria species in Colorado’s Piceance Basin: Soil feedback study. Sasha L Victor, Department of Forest and Rangeland Stewardship, Colorado State University coauthor: Mark W Paschke Physaria obcordata and Physaria congesta are Threatened plants endemic to the Piceance Basin of northwestern Colorado. Since the listing of both species in 1990, management efforts have focused largely on protecting critical habitat. However, this unique habitat is also a prime energy development area, necessitating additional measures to protect and restore both species. Overall objective of our research is to determine the best approach for establishing new populations of P. obcordata and P. congesta in suitable but unoccupied habitats in Piceance Basin. In recent years researchers have shown that the relative abundance of some species is strongly correlated with plant soil feedbacks and rare species can be can demonstrate strong negative feedbacks with pathogens from their own root systems (Klironomos 2002). For this presentation we will focus on a soil feedback experiment, based on this theory, where we set out to determine if there is any feedback between occupied and unoccupied soil and if any detected feedback is microbial or nutrient based. Seeds from both species were germinated and grown in the Restoration Ecology Lab at Colorado State University. Plants were grown for 12 weeks, inoculated with soil three times, and measured every other week. Measurements included height, number of live leaves, basal or crown diameter, leaf area (calculated from digital photographs) and estimated biomass (calculated using leaf area). We found no significant difference in estimated biomass between soil occupied status for either species. P. obcordata did have a significant difference in estimated biomass between seedlots. Based on these results it is our recommendation to land managers that restoration research can precede within occupied or unoccupied sites without the threat of soil microbial feedbacks. The non-destructive, image analysis methods used here to estimate biomass may prove useful to others studying rare or listed species.

6:30-9:00 Evening Pubtalk / Book-signing event, New Belgium Brewery. Kevin Fedarko, Author of “The Emerald Mile” The epic story of the fastest ride in history through the heart of the Grand Canyon (special registration event – ticket required) Kevin Fedarko lives in northern New Mexico and works as a part-time river guide in Grand Canyon National Park. In addition to his travel narratives in Outside, where he worked as a senior editor, Fedarko’s work has appeared in Esquire, National Geographic Adventure, and other publications, and has been anthologized in The Best American Travel Writing in 2004 and 2006. Fedarko was a staff writer at Time magazine from 1991 to 1997, where his work helped garner an Overseas Press Club Award for a story on the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin. Fedarko earned a Masters of Philosophy in Russian history at Oxford in 1990.

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Thursday March 12, 2015 7:30 – 8:30 Registration desk open, Lory Student Center, 2nd Floor Registration Booth 8:10 Announcements, Ballroom AB

8:15 Keynote address: “Wetland restoration in the western U.S., issues and opportunities” David Cooper, Colorado State University

David J. Cooper is a Senior Research Scientist and Scholar in the Department of Forest and Rangeland Stewardship and with the Graduate Degree Program in Ecology at Colorado State University. He works on wetland and riparian ecology and hydrology projects throughout western North America, Europe and the Andes. His specialization is the hydrologic processes that support wetlands, vegetation dynamics and composition, effects of river regulation on riparian communities, and the restoration of disturbed wetlands particularly in mountain regions.

Wetland and riparian ecosystems throughout western North America have been disturbed or destroyed by filling, drainage, dewatering, exotic plant invasions, mining, river damming, overgrazing and many other processes. Wetland restoration attempts to recreate the ecological processes that formed and maintained wetlands. Any restoration plan must consider impacts to the wetland and the watershed that supports it because wetlands are the least insular of any western ecosystem, as their water supply originates largely outside its boundary. Each type of wetland has distinctive hydrologic and geomorphic processes that support it and variation in disturbance regime and stability over time scales from years to millennia. Restoring wetland and riparian ecosystems that have been lost or disturbed is essential in maintaining the health of watersheds, a particular concern in the arid western U.S. In this talk I’ll review some of the main issues affecting wetlands and many riparian areas, and some experience in restoration, as well as challenges for the future.

8:50-10:10 Technical Session 7: Wetland/Riparian Ecosystems, Moderated by Andrea Borkenhagen. 8:50 Vegetation response to environmental flows and restoration actions in the Colorado River Delta. Karen J Schlatter, Sonoran Institute, Tucson, AZ coauthors: Mathew R Grabau, Francisco Zamora-Arroyo The Colorado River delta was once a several-million acre expanse of marsh wetlands, riparian forest, and estuarine habitat located near the river’s mouth in Northwest Mexico. The diversion of Colorado River flows in the mid-1900s for human use resulted in the gradual drying of the Delta and subsequent loss of over 90% of original habitat. However, el niño floods in the 80s and 90s inundated the region, which caused a significant regeneration of native riparian habitat. Today, despite the highly altered hydrologic regime and dominance of the invasive species, salt cedar along the river corridor, remnant patches of native riparian habitat are still supported in some areas by shallow groundwater. An experimental pulse flow of water was delivered to the Colorado River delta in the spring of 2014. Approximately 105,000 acre-feet of water was delivered over 8 weeks as part of the U.S.-Mexico binational agreement, Minute 319, an addition to the 1944 U.S.-Mexico Water Treaty. The purpose of the pulse flow was to improve hydrologic and ecosystem conditions in the riparian corridor of the delta in Mexico. Targeted restoration sites located downstream of the pulse flow delivery point were not expected to receive the high magnitude flows needed to scour riverbanks and create conditions required for native riparian tree recruitment. As such, areas within the site were cleared of saltcedar and arrowweed prior to the pulse flow release to encourage revegetation of native riparian tree species. Some areas were also seeded with riparian tree seed to promote establishment. Vegetation transects were monitored to assess seedling establishment following the pulse flow release in areas of varying levels of management to understand the effectiveness of different restoration treatments. Preliminary observations indicate that the pulse flow resulted in native tree establishment in cleared areas and little to no native tree establishment in uncleared areas.

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9:10 Fire effects on riparian vegetation & implications for restoration. Kristen M Kaczynski, Department of Forest and Rangeland Stewardship, Colorado State University coauthor: David J Cooper Severe wildfires infrequently occur in large heterogeneous riparian valleys. Riparian areas may affect fire behavior and the pattern of burning due to saturated soils and patchy fuels that may have high moisture content in live and dead stems. We examined the effects of a severe fire on dominant riparian vegetation: thin- leaf alder, river birch and willow. We mapped the canopy stem mortality and basal resprouting of 4507 first year post fire and 643 second year post fire individuals that had been the dominant woody canopy. To examine the effect of herbivory on resprouting willow stems, we established a paired experiment with 22 willows exclosed in cages to prevent browsing and 22 uncaged control plants. Aerial seed rain sticky traps were established on transects throughout the study area and pre-fire seed rain density was compared with post-fire seed rain densities. Fire effects on willow were severe, with 91% of individuals having complete canopy loss. Fifty one percent of thin-leaf alder individuals and 71% of river birch individuals also had complete canopy loss. Seventy four percent of river birch, 45% of willow and 35% of thin-leaf alder exhibited basal resprouting in the first summer post fire. Willows inside exclosures had greater biomass at the end of the growing season compared with willows outside exclosures. Summer browsing resulted in significantly lower willow biomass compared with exclosed plants and the additive effect of summer and winter browsing resulted in control plants having 64% reduction in biomass. Post-fire aerial seed rain was 90% lower than pre-fire densities. Fire dramatically altered the riparian vegetation. Willow seed rain was nearly eliminated because most stems were killed by fire. Resprouting woody riparian vegetation was prevalent however, ungulate browsing of the resprouting willow stems could limit the regrowth of a tall willow riparian overstory.

9:30 Wetland restoration: lessons from the field. Andy M Herb, AlpineEco Nursery, Denver, CO Spending a career working as an ecologist focused on restoration in the Rocky Mountain Region will teach a person many lessons. Most of my lessons have come from very long days in the field delineating, assessing, and restoring wetlands. This presentation outlines numerous important lessons-learned while designing and implementing various wetland restoration projects across Colorado, including specific work associated with a reservoir, a new roadway, voluntary floodplain restoration, and mine reclamation. These case-studies are in each of the three US Army Corps of Engineers Wetland Delineation Regions in Colorado, including the Great Plains, Western Mountains and Valleys, and Arid West. The lessons vary from specifics of plant selection and different planting techniques, to selecting and implementing appropriate success monitoring methods; and from crafting meaningful performance standards, to the nuances of Section 404 permitting and dealing with earthwork contractors. The presentation will provide a summary of each project with specific information on the restoration design and approach, as well as detailed explanations of a list of lessons-learned for each project.

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9:50 Rehabilitation of an impaired mountain stream. Case study: Tributary Creek, Jack Waite mine site, Idaho Panhandle National Forest, Idaho. Brian M Murphy, CDM Smith, Denver, CO coauthors: Wade Jerome, Bill Adams The presentation will describe the stream rehabilitation of a highly degraded stream within the Jack Waite Mine Site, Idaho. The main challenge in this project was balancing the goals of stream restoration and environmental remediation with construction execution in a high-elevation, remote, mountainous environment. The presentation will provide an overview of the design process, but will primarily focus on implementation, including an overview of pre- and post-site conditions, as well as lessons learned working in a high-altitude environment. Tributary Creek is a highly degraded stream within the Jack Waite Mine Site in the Idaho Panhandle National Forest, Shoshone County, Idaho. Historic mining activities disturbed the entire Tributary Creek drainage, impacting water quality, geomorphology, and aquatic habitat. The Jack Waite mine operated from 1909 until the early 1960s, primarily mining silver, lead, and zinc ore. During mine operations, four tailings piles were constructed along Tributary Creek by placing tailings along and over the stream channel. Mine cleanup activities to protect human health and the environment are being led by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). During the cleanup process, it was recognized that Tributary Creek is in need of long-term aquatic rehabilitation for westslope cutthroat trout habitat and potential Bull Trout recovery habitat area. In addition to the removal of tailings and other mine waste from the Tributary Creek watershed and consolidation of this material to on-site repositories, the cleanup project has included re-developing a natural stream channel and floodplain that replicates historic geomorphic and hydraulic characteristics, including planform and bedform. As part of the steam channel design, a local undisturbed reference reach was identified to use as an analog to mimic appropriate stream geometry and slope criteria. In addition, the design team reviewed U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Habitat Suitability Index (HSI) models for habitat preferences of the target fish species. Stream habitat features (steps, pools), structures (root wads, weirs), and riparian vegetation were incorporated into the design to aid in stream habitat recreation.

10:10 Break, Ballroom CD

10:30-11:50 Technical Session 8: High Elevation/Latitude Ecosystems, Moderated by Akasha Faist. 10:30 Recreating peatland initiation conditions: Methods for reclaiming peatlands. Andrea Borkenhagen, Department of Forest & Rangeland Stewardship, Colorado State University coauthor: David J Cooper Creating ecosystem initiation conditions and integrating assisted successional strategies can provide a cost- effective process for building new peat forming landscapes. Peatlands initiate on mineral soils with a combination of mosses, plants and woody debris. Our research demonstrated that it is possible to recreate those conditions and establish fen moss species on mineral soil. We tested the establishment of five common brown moss species (Drepanocladus aduncus, Bryum pseudotriquetrum, Campylium stellatum, Tomenthypnum nitens, and Aulacomnium palustre) introduced in a 1:10 mixture to clay loam mineral soil. To evaluate optimal hydrologic conditions for moss species establishment, we tested four depth to water table treatments (0, -10, -20, and -30 cm). We recreated plant communities similar to those found during peatland initiation using cover treatments of tall herbaceous plants, short woody plants, and wood-strand mulch. After three years, each moss species occupied a distinct niche along the hydrologic gradient. A water table at or near the soil surface significantly increased moss cover and biomass, although some moss species were able to establish in treatments with deeper water tables. Cover treatment also facilitated moss establishment and significantly increased moss cover and biomass. Peatlands may take thousands of years to develop, but reclaiming a carbon-accumulating ecosystem and establishing the foundations for peatland succession is possible.

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10:50 High elevation wetland restoration on abandoned mine sites: Gunnison, Summit, and Park counties, Colorado. Tara Tafi, Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety, Gunnison, CO Historic Mining practices often left large areas of mine and mill wastes in riparian and wetland areas. These mine waste materials located within riparian areas can contaminate surface and ground waters, severely impact wetland hydrology, and preclude the development of vegetation in wetland and adjacent upland areas. Between 2011 and 2014 the Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety (DRMS) completed three wetland restoration projects in conjunction with larger reclamation projects. Wetlands restoration work was completed at the Smith Hill Mine, located at 9,600 feet in Gunnison County, the Saints John Mine, located at 10,800 feet in Summit County, and the London Mine, located at 11,200 feet in Park County. The three restoration sites had similar challenges though each is unique in their location, soil chemistry, mine waste type, and reclamation methods. The Smith Hill Project was implemented in 2011, and was the first of the three projects to be designed and completed. Several important lessons were learned throughout the reclamation/restoration at Smith Hill. The lessons learned from Smith Hill were incorporated into the design of the Saints John, and London wetland reclamation and restoration projects. These design changes contributed to increased efficiency, lower costs and improved restoration implementation. Wetland restoration has been successful at the Smith Hill and Saints John sites. The London Mine restoration was completed in the fall of 2014 utilizing many methods that were implemented at the other sites.

11:10 Plant community responses to revegetation treatments following the high park fire: Management implications. John H. Giordanengo, AloTerra Restoration Services, Fort Collins, CO coauthors: Jeremy P. Sueltenfuss and Robert Murphy The Front Range of Colorado, with a history of fire suppression that can lead to substantial increase in fuel loads and tree canopy density, and due to its arid conditions and natural fire-prone conditions, has experienced several catastrophic wildfires over the past two decades: Hayman Fire, 2002 (137,760 acres), Buffalo Creek Fire of 1996 (12,000 acres), Waldo Canyon Fire, 2012 (18,247 acres), the High Park and Hewlett Fires of 2012 (combined 90,000 acres), and the West Fork Fire Complex (110,404 acres). The value of property loss from Colorado’s 2012 fires alone exceeded $583,000,000, with suppression costs of those fires exceeding $100,000,000. These costs do not include the cost of emergency watershed protection, restoration, and infrastructure recovery, estimated at over $5,000,000 for the High Park Fire. Communities impacted by such fires, Colorado Springs, Denver, Fort Collins, Greeley, Loveland, and many others, have a legitimate concern for the effectiveness of post-fire emergency watershed protection measures. It has long been recognized that vegetation cover can influence sediment production and infiltration by reducing the velocity of overland flow, increasing surface roughness, creating soil pores through root activity, and by the soil binding properties of roots. However, little data exists describing he impacts of post-fire revegetation treatments on plant community succession. This talk will summarize two years of post-fire revegetation data, with a focus on total plant cover, plant species diversity and richness, weed abundance and diversity, and other plant community responses following revegetation treatments in a high severity burn site within the 2012 High Park Fire area. From our data, and in the context of the post-fire and erosion control literature, we draw conclusions about the potential effects of post-fire seeding efforts on plant species richness, exotic plan invasion, native plant cover, and hill slope sediment loss.

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11:30 Grazing induced microtopographical inversion: Or not all bumps are the same. Brad Johnson, Department of Biology, Colorado State University Hummock-hollow (H-H) microtopography is an important feature of many wetland types in Colorado, particularly high elevation fens, and it is often the primary form of within-site habitat heterogeneity. While an essential feature of healthy wetlands, in wetlands receiving long-time cattle grazing, microtopography appearing similar to natural hummocks and hollows is commonly indicative of severe habitat degradation. Whereas natural H-H microtopography is a process of localized, accelerated aggradation of soil and organic matter that create rises up from the wetland base level. Grazing induced “ridge-trough” (RT) microtopography is a process of degradation in which a dense network of cattle trail toughs is incised down into the wetland surface, leaving behind truncated ridges of the remnant wetland surface that resemble hummocks. Continued hoof sheer eventually removes the entire ridge and the process begins again on a new base level. Ridge-trough microtopography characteristically has steep, unstable poorly vegetated ridge faces. RT microtopography alters the local hydrologic regime and the soil chemical environment by providing pockets which can hold readily evaporable open water, and ridges which greatly increase the wetland evaporative surface area and which wick salts to the surface. Restoration of grazing induced RT microtopography in high elevation wetlands is important but how to do so is uncertain. Removal of cattle grazing is an obvious treatment, but the effectiveness and response time are not known. This study measured morphological responses of R-T microtopography on an extremely rich fen own by Denver Water in South Park over 11 years following the cessation of cattle grazing. Monitoring showed significant responses including revegetation, reduction in ridge height and slackening of face angle, however, extreme microtopography commonly remained even after the extended rest.

11:50-1:15 Lunch, Ballroom CD

12:00-1:15 HAR Committee Meeting, room 322

1:20-2:40 Technical Session 9: Case Studies, Moderated by Timothy Hoelzle. 1:20 Fluvial and wetland restoration on Silver Creek in Idaho. Jeffrey M Klausmann, Intermountain Aquatics Inc., Driggs, ID coauthor: Dayna S Gross Silver Creek is a historic and world renowned trout fishery near Hailey Idaho. Much of the stream and tributaries are owned and managed by the Nature Conservancy (TNC) as the Silver Creek Preserve. In 2010 TNC conducted a watershed analysis and identified increasing water temperature and associated low dissolved oxygen levels as the main threats to Silver Creek. The impounded section of the creek, known as Kilpatrick Pond, which was originally constructed to impound water for crop irrigation delivery, contributed a significant amount of warm water into the system because of its large surface area. This affected over 15 miles of creek downstream, exceeding the temperature threshold for rainbow trout over 90 times in 2013. Working with the adjacent landowner TNC embarked on a major restoration project in early 2014 to make improvements to the dam, remove decades of sediment build-up, reduce surface area and create a more natural channel cross section to enhance sediment transport and habitat diversity through the Kilpatrick Pond reach. Regulatory constraints and high public awareness made working in the active channel very difficult. Tracked excavators and a suction dredge were used to remove sediments. A major design feature involved the construction, stabilization and revegetation of a new bank feature in the active channel. Initially this feature served as a retaining wall and fill was placed and graded behind it to narrow the channel and restore wetlands. A wetland was created in uplands adjacent the project to generate dry fill. Revegetation efforts involved the planting of native wetland species in several planting formats including pre-vegetated coir. Irrigation demands and reservoir filling severely constrained the wetland revegetation window and necessitated careful design of wetland revegetation zones. Soil handling techniques and high planting densities were used to impede colonization of unwanted species including reed canarygrass and cattail.

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1:40 Successful succession of irrigated meadows to native plant communities in South Park, Colorado. Denise E Larson, ERO Resources Corporation, Denver, CO coauthors: Jenelle M Kruetzer, Moneka M Worah Increasing demands for municipal water supplies will result in increasing the transfer of irrigation water to municipal uses. As part of the transfer process, revegetation of the lands from which irrigation is removed is typically required. Beginning in 2001, ERO Resources Corporation (ERO) conducted extensive review of formerly irrigated lands and reviewed all pertinent literature for transitioning irrigated hay meadows to desirable upland vegetation. This review was associated with Centennial Water and Sanitation District (Centennial) purchasing water rights from two ranch properties in South Park, Colorado. ERO assisted Centennial with developing a Vegetation Management Plan (VMP) to provide for a suitable vegetative cover on the meadows during the transition from irrigated hay meadows to their pre-irrigated state. ERO determined that disturbance from reseeding the meadows would create erosion problems and would not speed up the transition to upland vegetation. A less intrusive VMP was developed that focused on natural succession with methods proposed to correct any negative results such as invasion of noxious weeds, other undesirable plants, or large unvegetated areas. The VMP established success criteria over a 15-year period. The success criteria were based on evaluation of formerly irrigated lands, as well as native grasslands in the area, that have not been irrigated. The vegetation on the formerly irrigated meadows was monitored on an annual to biennial basis for noxious weeds, and vegetative ground cover was monitored every five years. Vegetation was monitored using a point intercept method along permanently placed transects located randomly across the hay meadows. Ten years after the irrigation was removed, both ranches have met the success criteria established for year 15 of monitoring, thereby exceeding the goals established for revegetation. These results indicate that succession to native plant communities in previously irrigated meadows can occur within a decade with minimal intervention.

2:00 Provisional seed zones for restoration: Alternative methods for delineating seed transfer guidelines. Taylor M Crow, Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY coauthors: Kristina M Hufford, Alex C Buerkle Ecological restoration frequently attempts to reestablish native plant communities from seed to stabilize soils, provide habitat for wildlife, and improve overall ecosystem structure and function. However, few data are available to guide selection of seed sources appropriate for restoration sites. We are exploring alternative methods for delineating seed collection zones using single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data, corroborated by traditional common garden experiments. The increasing ability to characterize genetic structure of species at low cost can improve our understanding of intraspecific variation, and provide restoration practitioners with data to make informed decisions for restoration seed sourcing. We collected seed and plant tissue from 48 populations across the range of the keystone shrub species, true mountain mahogany (Cercocarpus montanus H.B.K., Rosaceae), in order to conduct common garden studies and characterize genetic variation among populations. Over six thousand SNP markers were identified from sequence data for delineation of provisional seed transfer zones. The provisional seed zones will be compared with field data to test the effectiveness of genetic markers at different scales for detection of adaptive variation critical for plant establishment. Our long-term goal is to assess a variety of methods to delineate seed zones for many species and enable practitioners to more easily establish best practices for selection of seeds used in restoration.

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2:20 Growing our futures: Native plant horticulture training. Michael E Keefer, Keefer Ecological Services Ltd, Cranbrook, BC coauthors: T Brigham, T Mellott Resource development practices in British Columbia are shifting toward the use of native plant species in reclamation. Increased demand for native plants creates opportunities for industry, local communities and First Nations to work collaboratively toward the use of native plant species in the restoration of ecosystems. The Growing our Futures: Native Plant Horticulture training program was created collaboratively by staff at Royal Roads University and Keefer Ecological Services with input from West Moberly and Saulteau First Nations. The program was piloted at two separate First Nations-owned native plant nurseries in 2013: Twin Sisters Native Plant Nursery located in West Moberly BC, and Tipi Mountain Native Plants located in Cranbrook, BC and with the Tsawout First Nation in 2014. Time in the field was a key component of the training program; students participated in field visits to strengthen their plant identification skills, to view mine reclamation sites and to gain hands-on experience in a variety of activities, including seed gathering and the collection of cuttings for vegetative propagation. The program also included guest lectures from community Elders and mentors who helped ensure that Traditional Knowledge, plant-related protocols and other community knowledge was appropriately incorporated into the training program. The response from students participating in the program was very positive. One student stated: “I am really happy and feeling very blessed to be a part of this. My mind has never felt so full in a good way!” In this paper, we provide an overview of the three deliveries of the Growing our Futures: Native Plant Horticulture training program, and will discuss successes and lessons learned, and describe future directions for this program in 2015 and beyond.

2:40 Break 3:00-4:20 Technical Session 10: Forest Ecosystems II, Moderated by Casey Cisneros 3:00 The Yin and Yang of monitoring: Lessons learned from development of monitoring programs on federal and private lands. Brett H Wolk, Colorado Forest Restoration Institute, Colorado State University Without collecting monitoring information, it’s impossible to determine if natural resource management actions are meeting desired goals and objectives. The development and type of monitoring program you chose can depend on stakeholder interest, legislation, and the end user of the data (e.g. the need to demonstrate progress towards effective management or for use in an adaptive management framework). There are diverse ways to develop a monitoring approach, ranging from independent third party monitoring to collaboratively developed and implemented assessment strategies. Participating in a monitoring program that uses similar methodologies across large areas has several advantages, including a more accurate evaluation of smaller individual projects, while also making information more applicable to a broader group of stakeholders. Two monitoring programs that span a large geography and diversity of management actions have recently been implemented in Colorado. The development, implementation, and assessment using monitoring data with the USFS Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program and the Colorado Department of Natural Resources Wildfire Risk Reduction Grant Program will be compared and contrasted. Goals of monitoring remain constant across agencies and stakeholder groups – to describe the resource changes induced by management – but the methods to get there can be very different. The power of monitoring across agencies and large spatial scales will be demonstrated using case study examples. Does one method lead to different outcomes and more informative monitoring? By comparing benefits and drawbacks of different approaches to building a monitoring program, we can glean lessons learned that will improve future assessment strategies of natural resource management.

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3:20 Are trees regenerating following high-severity fire in ponderosa pine – dominated forests of the Colorado Front Range? Marin E Chambers, Graduate Degree Program of Ecology, Colorado State University coauthors: Paula J Fornwalt, Michael A Battaglia Wildfire is an important disturbance in ponderosa pine - dominated forests of the Colorado Front Range and the West, but the past two decades have witnessed fires of increased size and severity. The ability of ponderosa pine and other co-occurring conifers (such as Douglas-fir) to regenerate in the large, high-severity burn patches created by such fires is unclear, as seeds of these species must disperse into severely burned areas from surviving trees and seed production is episodic. We are currently investigating tree regeneration in five Colorado Front Range fires to quantify post-fire tree regeneration in large, high-severity burn patches, and to examine how regeneration is governed by abiotic and biotic factors such as distance from seed source, aspect, and elevation. Within the fires, we collected post-fire tree regeneration and other data in 100m2 plots that were distributed along transects; transects were anchored at live forest edges and extended out into the high severity burn areas up to 250 m. Our preliminary results indicate that ponderosa pine and other conifer regeneration is occurring in high severity burn areas, but at low densities (transects averaged ~100 regenerating stems ha-1,). Additionally, preliminary results illustrate that as distance from seed source increases, the density of tree recruitment decreases, with most regeneration occurring within 100 m of the live forest edge. Future analyses will further investigate how other abiotic and biotic factors influence conifer recruitment. Results of this study will provide managers with information about conifer recruitment dynamics that will aid in post-fire restoration efforts.

3:40 Regeneration of lodgepole pine and aspen in forests with mountain pine beetle-caused mortality. Kristen A Pelz, Colorado Forest Restoration Institute, Colorado State University Aspen (Populus tremuloides) and lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia) co-occur in the Southern Rockies where mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) has caused extensive lodgepole pine mortality since the late 1990s. Both species excel in post-disturbance high light environments, but it is uncertain how these stands will recover following overstory loss. Will lodgepole pine and aspen regenerate in sufficient quantity to revegetate these forest stands or is restoration necessary? I visited a random sample of aspen and lodgepole stands (n = 33) across northern Colorado and southern Wyoming to measure regeneration and overstory mortality. Lodgepole regeneration is occurring in 85% of stands, but 15% of stands with dense grass or sedge understories had little lodgepole regeneration. Aspen is regenerating in all stands, with sucker densities above 1000 stems ha-1 in all stands. Surprisingly, neither lodgepole nor aspen regeneration density was related to overstory mortality level. Animal damage is currently affecting aspen in these forests. Over 50% of stands had damage to 60% or more of suckers, but 30% of stands had < 20% of stems damaged. Browsed stems were significantly shorter for their ages, and were all below the 2.5 m height threshold for elk browsing. However, the results suggest that sufficient quantities of down lodgepole pine may protect aspen from damage and allow it to successfully recruit to the overstory. Multiple regression analysis showed that down lodgepole basal area, followed by browsing pressure, were the most important predictors of sucker height (mean and maximum) and proportion of suckers browsed. Overall, the vast majority of aspen and lodgepole forests are regenerating successfully and will likely remain mixed forests of both species in the future. However, in limited areas dense sedge or grass cover may preclude lodgepole regeneration and stands could shift towards a single-species forest dominated by aspen.

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4:00 Short-term ecological effects of restoration treatments in ponderosa pine forests of the Colorado Front Range. Jennifer S Briggs, Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center, US Geological Survey, Denver CO coauthors: Paula J Fornwalt, Jonas A Feinstein In 2010, Colorado Front Range National Forests were awarded a Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration (CFLR) grant to facilitate the implementation of restoration treatments across 32,000 acres of ponderosa pine-dominated forests. We contributed to a collaborative, multi-party monitoring program by assessing the effects of restoration treatments on diverse ecosystem properties, including overstory conditions, understory plant communities, wildlife habitat use, surface fuels, and tree regeneration. In 2011, we collected pre-treatment data on 99 plots (1/10 ac) and stand transects (100 m) across 8 units that were planned for restoration treatments, and in nearby untreated control areas. We collected post-treatment data one year after treatments occurred. Preliminary analyses indicate that treatments significantly reduced tree density and basal area (by ~50% and ~30%, respectively) and doubled the total percentage of open areas within stands. However, stand structure decreased in complexity overall, as indicated by an increased ratio of single- vs. multi-story stand structure, low variation in size of openings, no change in number of clumps of trees, and smaller sizes of clumps. One year post-treatment, understory plant communities were unchanged in total species richness (mean = 31 species/plot) and cover (mean = 11.5%). Meanwhile, litter cover decreased and woody surface fuels increased. For most wildlife species or species groups, changes in use were not detected and abundance of sign was highly variable across sites. A small but significant decrease in use of treated sites was apparent, however, for all species/species groups combined, and tree squirrels in particular. Our findings suggest that restoration treatments in these areas represent progress toward desired conditions (as identified in the CFLR monitoring plan) for many ecosystem properties, but that adaptive management plans should focus on increasing the spatial heterogeneity of stand structure and identifying longer-term effects on understory plants and wildlife.

4:20 Closing comments: Randy Mandel CeRSER and Mark Paschke HAR

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Poster Abstracts

Effects of the September 2013 floods on St. Vrain Creek, Left Hand Creek, and Boulder Creek Plains reaches in Boulder County Parks and Open Space Department properties. Laura L Backus, Institute for Arctic and Alpine Ecology, University of Colorado coauthors: Susan K Sherrod One year after September 2013 flooding of St. Vrain, Boulder, and Left Hand Creeks, we conducted ecological studies in Boulder County Parks and Open Space riverine properties noting revegetation trends and comparing observations to a 2008 study. Flood effects and post-flood natural revegetation varied with the type of inundation. In reaches of scouring flows, such as South St. Vrain Creek canyon and areas immediately downstream of dam breaches, fast-moving flood waters removed all or nearly all riparian vegetation, caused major channel changes, and, over very large areas of the floodplain, both deposited cobble and exposed the cobble substrate. In Boulder Creek’s eastern channelized reaches and in St. Vrain Creek reaches which were by-passed when high flows avulsed into new channels, slower moving inundation flows submerged the riparian zone, leaving most mature trees intact, but covering the understory with sand and silt as well as jumbles of woody debris. In comparison to pre-flood conditions, 2014 observations of the channel generally included increased evidence of and potential for erosion as well as improved hydrology. The width, structure, and diversity of riparian communities generally decreased, as did the supply to the channel of woody debris and leaves. In some sites, the presence of woody seedlings increased the number of age classes. Relatively few plants have begun to colonize cobble areas. Native cottonwood and willow seedlings are concentrated where sand and are cobble just above the water table. Vegetation in the drier cobble areas is very sparse; most colonizing species are non-natives, including State of Colorado Noxious Weeds. Woody species that are late summer seed producers were rarely encountered in the post-flood seedling assemblages. We infer that due to the September timing of the floods, most of these seeds had washed out of the riparian zone. Beginning in 2015, late summer seed producers, mainly non-native locust, Chinese elm, Russian-olive, and possibly tamarisk, likely will begin to dominate the woody revegetation. Restorationists have a narrow window of opportunity to develop techniques for massive plantings of native species into cobble and to remove non-native species before weed infestations become very difficult and expensive to control.

Functional storm water retention and viable habitat, Eric Blewitt, High Plains Environmental Center coauthors: Peter Helmuth

Background: • Storm water retention is necessary for a cohesive interaction with nature within the suburban setting. • Many opportunities are being lost to utilize these spaces as habitat corridors within manmade environments. Objectives: • Maintain the primary functions of detention ponds and stream drainages to attenuate floods and improve water quality while creating and improving wildlife habitat. • Manage vegetation to insure proper drainage functions are maintained while allowing habitat values to be expressed to the extent possible. Methods: • Create an ecosystem that is diverse and practical as possible • Mimic existing ecosystems that are found in CO • Use appropriate native plant materials from the closest ecotypes available. Results: • Species diversity can been seen in ponds treated with these management practices. Better water filtration and flow control can be achieved in densely vegetated storm water retention sites. Micro pools and undulating edges create atypical habitat opportunities and diversify the species list. Implications: • Economics of creation vs. restoration of sites • Storm water regulations (inlet and outlet flows)

27 • Educate the need for habitat in the built environment Swastika/Dillon Canyon reclamation project: Site characterization and monitoring of disturbed reclamation areas. Karen M Caddis, Ecosphere Environmental Services coauthors: Zoe Isaacson, Karin Freeman The New Mexico Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources Department, Abandoned Mine Lands Program (AMLP) completed reclamation work on historic coal mine sites on the Vermejo Park Ranch outside of Raton, New Mexico in 2012. Restoration work incorporated geomorphic reclamation principals to relocate a straightened stream channel away from coal waste piles to its historic location and included re-incorporating appropriate channel sinuosity, re-contouring and capping coal waste piles, and revegetating the disturbance footprint. Ecosphere Environmental Services was originally contracted by AMLP to complete wetland mitigation monitoring tasks for restoration work completed under the project’s USACE Nationwide 27 Permit. However, flash floods in 2013 resulted in significant damage to the reclamation areas, requiring development of new monitoring methodologies and characterization strategies for determining reclamation success in the flooded areas, baseline characterization, and future monitoring protocols. This included establishing new monitoring transects, re-evaluation of the realigned stream channel, and collection of baseline inventory data to reflect post-flood conditions. The baseline data was used as a metric for future vegetation monitoring and to assist the AMLP and USACE in modifying the wetland mitigation and monitoring plan and preparation of an Adapted Mitigation/Maintenance plan to serve as the guiding document for future monitoring. AMLP’s and Ecosphere’s goals, which were accomplished, included: • completing an initial survey of the reclamation area to characterize conditions following the flash flood events of 2013; • determining the current quality and general stage of recovery of jurisdictional wetlands within the reconfigured stream channel; • identifying areas where supplemental planting could increase the recovery success of jurisdictional wetlands; • identifying areas damaged by flooding that required in-channel stabilization or grade control work to ensure protection of buried gob piles, connection to the water table, and long-term stability of the channel; and • preparing a report that outlined field study findings and provided planting and stabilization recommendations.

Native seed collection and increase in Boulder County. Carrie Cimo, Boulder County Parks and Open Space, Longmont, CO. coauthors: Claire De Leo and David B Hirt In response to a lack of local native seed availability, Boulder County Parks & Open Space, the City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks, and Wildland Restoration Volunteers began a seed collection and increase program in 2007. While collecting of local ecotypes of native seed has been happening for 17 years, we have worked with various government agencies, non-profits, volunteers, and private growers to increase some of those species in an agricultural setting for 7 years. Over that time, we have had our share of successes and failures. After growing 16 grass and forb species, we have learned which species grow well in seed increase fields and which do not. In some cases, our local ecotypes were grown at a rate comparable to commercial varieties ($11.71/ PLS pound), however other species cost over $5,000 a PLS pound. This talk will explore various options for increasing local seed, along with the benefits and pitfalls of each and their associated costs. Our goal is to inform and hopefully inspire others as to how to focus their efforts and succeed with a local seed program of their own.

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Litter reduction by prescribed burning improves cheatgrass management. John B Coyle, Department of Bioagricultural Sciences and Pest Management, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO coauthors: Kallie C Kessler, Scott J Nissen, Paul J Meiman, George K Beck Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) is a highly successful invasive species primarily because it fills an open niche in native plant communities. It also produces large amounts of litter over time. We hypothesized that removing accumulated litter with a prescribed burn before applying herbicides would improve herbicide efficacy, extending the duration of control. In January 2012, two cheatgrass infested sites were burned. In March 2012, post-emergent applications of glyphosate, imazapic, and tebuthiuron were made in a split-plot design. Aboveground biomass was collected at 6, 18 and 27 months after treatment (MAT) to evaluate treatment effects. In non-burned areas, all herbicide treatments were similar to the control 27 MAT; however, burning combined with imazapic or tebuthiuron reduced cheatgrass biomass 27 MAT by 81% ± 4.6 SE and 84% ± 19.3 SE, respectively. Remnant species responded positively to burning and herbicide treatments. Native cool season grass biomass increased after burning while native warm season grass biomass increased following tebuthiuron treatments. The impact of litter on imazapic and tebuthiuron availability was also evaluated. Herbicide interception increased in a linear relationship with increasing litter. For every 50 g·m-2 increase in litter there was a 7% increase in the amount of herbicide intercepted, meaning that 75% of the applied herbicide was intercepted by 360 g·m-2 of litter. A simulated rainfall event of 5 mm, 7 days after application, removed a significant amount of herbicide. This indicates that at sites with surface litter, timely precipitation could be critical for herbicide efficacy; however, when burning was used to remove litter and was followed by herbicides with residual soil activity, cheatgrass control was extended. Due to cheatgrass’ relatively short seed viability in the soil, extending herbicide efficacy to several years could help to reduce the soil seed bank.

Community responses to selective imazapic treatment for cheatgrass management in Rocky Mountain National Park. Christopher Davis, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO coauthors: Cynthia S Brown, Scott Esser Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum L.), an invasive Eurasian winter annual grass that competes with native species and alters fire regimes, has invaded much of the Western United States in the last century and, more recently, montane and subalpine ecosystems of Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP). Control of this invasive species is a priority on restoration sites in RMNP. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of imazapic for cheatgrass control and its effects on non-target native species. In 2008, permanent monitoring plots were established in imazapic treatment sites in RMNP, with one reference and one imazapic treatment plot at each site. Imazapic (23.6% a.i.) was selectively applied to cheatgrass for three consecutive years, and application to native species was avoided. Plant community data were collected for six consecutive years, before, during, and after treatment. Plant species and functional group cover were estimated using modified Daubenmire cover-classes and analyses of species cover, richness, and diversity were performed using a repeated measures analysis of variance model. Cheatgrass was reduced more than fivefold to approximately 5% absolute cover between 2008 and 2013 in treatment plots. There was no change in absolute cover of native grasses, shrubs, or forbs in treatment plots and native species richness and diversity did not change in treatment plots. Bare ground was greater in treatment plots but did not change over time in response to imazapic treatment. Although cheatgrass cover was reduced, cover of native species did not increase following imazapic treatment. These results suggest that selectively treating cheatgrass with imazapic effectively controls cheatgrass while avoiding damage to native plant species, however post-treatment revegetation may be needed for full plant community recovery.

29 Development and application of wood-strand material for post-wildfire erosion control and revegetation. J Dooley, Forest Concepts, Auburn, WA coauthor: M Perry Soil erosion is a significant risk on burned areas following wildfires due to loss of vegetation, fine surface debris, and fireline construction. Erosion may be triggered by wind resulting in loss of topsoil and ash with resulting air quality effects, or by rainfall that displaces seeds, creates rills, and moves topsoil downslope. A range of materials are commercially available to reduce the erosive effects of wind and/or rainfall, including agricultural straw, hydraulic mulches, and rolled erosion blankets. Each of the conventional materials have limitations sufficient enough that federal agencies supported development of a new all-wood strand material beginning in 2002. Withdrawn Restoration impacts on understory species in a Colorado Front Range ponderosa pine – Douglas-fir forest. Elizabeth K Ertl, Graduate Student, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO coauthor: Paula J Fornwalt Land managers in Colorado’s ponderosa pine – dominated forests are faced with many challenges concerning forest health and resiliency, such as higher tree densities, greater risk of crown fire, and depauperate understory plant communities. Forest restoration treatments that decrease stand density, minimize ladder fuels, and increase canopy openings have recently been implemented throughout these forests, yet the impacts of such treatments on understory plants is less clear, especially over the long-term. To address this knowledge gap, we are quantifying changes in understory species richness, cover, and composition following restoration treatments at a 380-ha site located near Deckers, CO. The site was chosen by the Pike National Forest as a priority area for restoration and was one of the first areas on the Forest to receive such treatments in 2002. In 2004, we established 15 randomly-located 0.1 ha plots in treated stands, with 5 north-, 5 south-, and 5 east- or west-facing plots. We also established 20 randomly-located control plots in nearby untreated stands, with comparable slopes, orientations and elevations to treated plots. Data collection occurred in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2014 (2, 3, 4, and 12 years post-treatment). Preliminary data analyses generally showed long-term increases in native understory species richness and cover in treated plots. Exotic species richness and cover also generally exhibited long-term increases in treated plots, although values were low. The most dramatic understory responses occurred on north-facing slopes, perhaps because these slopes experienced the greatest reductions in stand density. Future analyses will examine treatment effects on richness and cover within species life form and longevity groups, as well as treatment effects on community composition. While analyses are still ongoing, results to date nonetheless suggest that restoration treatments stimulate native understory plants in the long- term, but may also increase exotics.

Citizen science starting young: Science, practice, and stewardship for K-12 and beyond. Margaret L Gaddis, PhD student, University of the Rockies, Colorado Springs, CO coauthor: Dominique Naccarrato This presentation will summarize the evolution of the Youth Ecological Literacy Program, a school-based experiential ecology program in Chaffee County, Colorado, administered by the Greater Arkansas River Nature Association (GARNA), in partnership with other local non-profit associations. Our research design will be proposed for ongoing monitoring efforts of the lands studied in this program. Finally, a visionary road map will provide direction for launching and sustaining citizen science restoration programs based on the developed model. The Youth Ecological Literacy Program, now in year five, is ready to commence research and monitoring efforts on the restoration of the Monarch Spur Trail in Salida, Colorado. The trail is a heavily used non- vehicular corridor through residential and in-town agricultural lands that provides sustainable transportation options for humans, and habitat for passerine birds. The habitat within the trail easement also provides forage and shelter for other native fauna of the region. The trail serves as an outdoor classroom for the nearby elementary school and GARNA's Youth Ecological Literacy Program, teaching students about the importance of habitat and biodiversity, and providing service learning opportunities. Citizen-driven efforts to restore the trail to its native ecology primarily include the scientific and service work of students and adult volunteers. In presenting this programming and research, we hope to provide a model for other practitioners interested in commencing a citizen science based restoration program. We also hope to solicit additional partnerships to grow a practice network for citizen science in the American west.

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Effects of superabsorbent polymers on native plant and cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) establishment under drought conditions. Magda Garbowski, Graduate Student, Colorado State University coauthors: Cynthia S Brown, Danielle B Johnston Restoration of semi-arid lands in the western U. S. is hindered by invasion of exotic species such as cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) and unpredictable weather. Adaptive restoration strategies that promote diverse native plant communities and suppress invasion of non-native species are necessary to maintain biodiversity and natural resources into the future. With their ability to absorb moisture when soils are wet and slowly release it, superabsorbent polymers (SAPs) may buffer seeded species against negative impacts of low precipitation while decreasing cheatgrass abundance. Recent research indicates that incorporating SAPs into soil can reduce cheatgrass cover by up to 50%. We implemented a study to investigate the impacts of SAPs and precipitation on establishment of native species and cheatgrass in restoration of disturbed land. The experiment was established in 2014 at two sites in Colorado, one on the Western Slope and one on the Front Range. Three treatments were fully crossed at both sites: (1) cheatgrass addition, (2) drought (70% reduction of ambient rainfall), and (3) SAP incorporation. We will collect plant density, soil moisture, and plant water status data for two additional growing seasons at both locations. Elucidating the effects of precipitation and SAPs on soil resources and plant establishment will provide new insights into the mechanisms driving early plant establishment in restoration. This understanding will help restoration practitioners adapt to variable and changing climates and inform new restoration strategies.

Reestablishment of vegetation on disturbed high mountain lakeshores following dam removal, Rocky Mountain National Park, USA. Amy C Goodrich, MS Candidate, Colorado State University coauthors: David Cooper, Kristen Kaczynski Dam removal has entered the public spotlight in recent years, due to growing safety, economic, and environmental concerns related to dams. Removal is increasingly seen as a way to address not only the risks associated with aging and/or obsolete dams, but also as a tool for ecological restoration. In 1982, then-79-year-old Lawn Lake Dam in Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) failed, emptying nearly the entire reservoir pool in a matter of hours down Roaring River and into Fall River, resulting in three deaths, and extensive monetary damages and destruction of natural resources within the Park and adjacent town of Estes Park. The presence of three remaining “Significant Hazard”-classified dams within the Park, coupled with NPS-wide guidance stating that non-essential dams within the National Park System should be deactivated and removed, drove a policy decision to remove the three additional dams between 1988 and 1990. These dam removals returned their respective reservoirs to previous natural lake water levels, and re- exposed nearly 13 hectares of scoured shoreline, denuded of vegetation by approximately 80 years of inundation. Active revegetation efforts by the Park were limited to minimal planting at stream outlets, and the remaining disturbed areas were left to undergo passive restoration. In the years immediately following removal, limited revegetation data were gathered at a handful of plots established at the disturbed lakeshores. However, until the present, no published analyses of these short-term data were made available, and these lakeshores had not since been officially revisited for collection of subsequent data to examine longer-term vegetative effects. In 2014, vegetation surveys and soils collection were conducted in 142 plots at nine high mountain lakeshore sites, including the four previously-dammed lakes and five undisturbed reference lakes. Data are being analyzed to examine the long-term impacts of damming and dam removal on lakeshore vegetation communities, exploring relationships of this disturbance to current vegetative composition, cover by species, and richness, as well as identifying unique site characteristics.

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Establishing perennial vegetation in areas dominated by cheatgrass – The need for control. Lynn M Kunzler, Senior Reclamation Specialist, Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining, Salt Lake City, Utah coauthor: Paul B Baker Establishing a desirable perennial vegetation cover in areas infested with cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) is difficult at best. With today’s cost for revegetation, it becomes important to maximize the potential success, otherwise revegetation efforts may be futile. Control of cheatgrass is important to successful establishment of a perennial vegetation community. Control may be via chemical (herbicides) or mechanical. This paper is a follow-up on a revegetation project that was conducted in November of 2003 and reported at High Altitude Revegetation Workshop in 2006. Ten years after reclamation, data showed that perennial vegetation has established long term, but only on areas where cheatgrass either did not exist (clay playas), or where chemical (Plateau® herbicide) or mechanical methods were used to control cheatgrass.

Conservation on private lands: Creating partnerships and adapting agricultural practices to restore functional landscapes for wildlife. Colin K Lee, Private Lands Wildlife/Wetland Biologist, Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory, USDA-NRCS Area 2 Office, Greeley, CO coauthors: Gillian Bee, Laura Quattrini, and Tammy VerCauteren Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory (RMBO) is a Colorado-based nonprofit organization founded in 1988 to address a need for bird conservation and related public education in the western United States. RMBO's biologists, educators and natural resource managers work on solutions for bird and habitat conservation through a full-circle approach of Science, Education and Stewardship. The goal of RMBO’s Stewardship Program is to promote voluntary collaborations, which result in win-win solutions for landowners and wildlife. With the vast majority of land ownership in the United States in private hands, the primary focus has been to work with private landowners. Currently, a team of 12 Private Lands Wildlife Biologists work directly with agricultural producers to identify the wildlife-habitat potential of the land and modify or develop on-the-ground practices that maintain or increase agricultural production while creating beneficial wildlife habitat. With this approach, standard agricultural practices can be used as tools to restore or mimic natural processes that create structure and functional landscapes for wildlife. RMBO successfully partners with federal and state agencies, and other non-governmental organizations to expand technical expertise and leverage funding. Examples of habitat enhancement projects include: CRP management, grassland and shrubland management, wetland and riparian restoration, and invasive species control. The unique full-circle framework of RMBO allows for the Stewardship and Science programs to collaborate closely to promote science-driven strategies in the development of conservation efforts. International efforts ensure conservation needs for birds on wintering grounds are also being addressed. Our ongoing presence in local communities strengthens relationships among private landowners and state, federal and private conservation entities. This has led to a voluntary coalition of landowners and resource professionals committed to bird habitat conservation in the Great Plains, Rocky Mountains, Intermountain West, and Mexico.

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Ecoregional Seed Network. Randy Mandel, Senior Restoration Ecologist, Golder Associates coauthor: John Giordanengo The unmet demand for ecotypic seed, cuttings, and containerized plant materials within our ecoregion exists in large part due to a historic revegetation focus on mass-produced plant cultivars, a lack of consistent demand for ecotypic genotypes, and a scarcity of proper storage and production facilities. Furthermore, adequate investment in research and development for ecotypic plant materials has failed to keep pace with the burgeoning demand from a rapidly growing restoration industry. Finally, the challenges of reliably tracking the collection, production, storage, and distribution of ecotypic materials through the supply chain has discouraged many would-be providers from entering the market and has created an atmosphere of mistrust among some consumers. Considering these challenges, there are a multitude of factors that require us to develop a sustainable ecotypic network for our region now. The Southern Rockies Seed Network formed in 2014, thanks to the dedication of over 40 agency and industry partners in Colorado and Wyoming to develop ecotypic native plant materials for the restoration industry. The business model for network was developed by a diverse cadre of native plant materials specialists, natural resources business entrepreneurs, and ecology professionals dedicated to developing a sustainable revenue model for our network. As such, our presentation will focus upon momentum, opportunities and challenges currently faced by the ecotypic network as we manifest from vision to reality. We will describe in detail our business model and key current activities of the network, as well as visit about how like-minded restorationists can become further involved, together combining our mutual efforts, resources and needs into a synergistic whole through which we can better address the needs of the restoration marketplace and green industry.

Pedogenic processes affecting soil morphology and quantifying vegetation parameters for a uranium repository evapotranspiration cover. Robert C Murphy, Soil Scientist / Chemist, Cedar Creek Associates, Fort Collins, CO coauthor: Jesse Dillon At a uranium superfund site in northwest New Mexico, surface stored overburden resulted in aeolian transport of radium and uranium contaminated soil and subsequent deposition in a residential community. EPA ordered removal actions have resulted in 1.4 million tons of contaminated earthen material being temporarily stored until a long-term (1,000 year) repository can be evaluated, designed, and constructed in accordance with the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act (UMTRCA). Cedar Creek Associates is currently conducting predesign studies investigating multiple facets of the repository’s eventual performance. The project goal is isolation of the contaminated materials from fluvial, aeolian, and biological transport, which will be achieved through a vegetated evapotranspiration cap. Soil properties affecting liquid and gas transport within the soil matrix must be quantified to parameterize the modeling software used in addressing precipitation, evaporation, plant transpiration, storage, and deep drainage. These parameters will evolve over time as pedogenic processes take place, and the disturbed soil profile begins to reflect the new set of environmental conditions. To begin understanding the processes governing local soil morphology, field studies were implemented in the fall of 2013. An order 1 soil survey was conducted within the potential borrow sources across three separate vegetation analog communities (Reclaimed, Grassland, and Shrubland), along with an investigation into root density. Clay illuviation and calcification were identified as the two main pedogenic processes governing soil morphology. An unexpected root distribution, where root density increased to nearly that of the soil surface’s A horizon was found in the BC horizon where water had perched atop the low porosity calcified C horizon. This project also quantified leaf area index using three methods: a direct approach using vegetation harvest, an indirect approach using point intercept ground cover transects, and an indirect approach extrapolating the biomass of the direct approach. The reclaimed community exhibited the highest peak LAI that ranged from 0.42 to 0.91. The grassland community exhibited the middle LAI value, which ranged from 0.27 to 0.64. The shrubland community exhibited the lowest peak LAI that ranged from 0.15 to 0.52. These values were extrapolated to an annual LAI distribution for integration into the water balance model.

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Petition for rulemaking to the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. Trevor J. Pellerite, Colorado Prairie Initiative, Boulder, CO In an effort to protect Colorado’s shortgrass prairies, the Colorado Prairie Initiative has submitted a petition for rulemaking to the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. The proposed changes would require the use of native plants as a default in reclamation on non-crop lands, and require operators to submit a reclamation plan and schedule prior to commencing drilling operations.

Sustainability implications of soils amendments in coal mine restoration. Jon Plybon, Colorado Mountain College, Loveland, CO Ecosystem services are essential for human survival, and yet these critical services are in substantial decline. Anthropogenic disturbances have resulted in the degradation of nearly two-thirds of the planet’s ecosystems. Conservation of intact ecosystems and restoration of degraded ecosystems are both crucial for sustaining human systems. This report reviews a pilot project comparing a number of different soil amendments and the efficacy of those amendments in establishing vegetation and soil health in an area damaged by coal mining waste in Western Colorado. It is a continuation of the United States Forest Service Upland Restoration Project at Coal Basin, a watershed that has experienced significant impacts from the coal mining industry over the last century. This project was conducted to determine the cost-effectiveness and utility of using soil amendments for landscape-scale restoration. Environmental and social impacts of the various amendments were also evaluated to determine which approach provided the most sustainable method for restoring damaged soils. Although the results of this study are preliminary, the anecdotal evidence indicates that compost provides the most benefit with the least economic cost and environmental risk. Continued monitoring and experimentation is required for a more definitive analysis of soil amendments in coal mine restoration.

Effectiveness of biochar, mulch and Biosol amendments on ecological restoration of decommissioned forest roads. Matt Ramlow, PhD Student/Research Assistant, Colorado State University coauthors: Chuck Rhoades, Francesca M Cotrufo Road decommissioning is a common practice used by land managers for watershed and forest restoration, however few studies have compared the effectiveness of different surface amendments in rehabilitating decommissioned roads. Forest road decommissioning projects typically involve decompaction of the soil followed by surface amendments targeted at reestablishing soil organic matter, biogeochemical cycling within soils and native plant communities. This study will compare three surface amendments (mulch, biosol fertilizer and biochar) applied to recently decommissioned roads in the Roosevelt National Forest that were decompacted and seeded with native grasses. This research will evaluate how the different surface treatments impact carbon and nitrogen cycling, gas fluxes from soils and revegetation of native plants. Soil chemical and physical properties and vegetation recovery will be monitored over a four year period to evaluate the long-term impacts of such treatments. Outcomes of the treatments will be compared in terms of percent improvement in plant recovery, available nitrogen concentrations and GHG fluxes relative to the control. These results can help provide critical information to resource managers regarding the effectiveness of using different surface amendments in road decommissioning. In addition this study will identify the environmental impacts and benefits of applying biochar to degraded forest soils which is relevant to bioenergy systems considering the use of low-economic value forest biomass for biofuel production.

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Directing plant establishment after road construction through soil resource manipulation in Rocky Mountain National Park. Lindsay N Ringer, Department of Bioagricultural Sciences and Pest Management, Graduate Degree Program in Ecology, Colorado State University coauthors: Cynthia S Brown, Victor P Claassen, and Meagan Schipanski Road construction increases plant invasion potential through altered soil resource availability. After disturbance, bare ground has decreased soil structure, and increased plant-essential nutrients and soil moisture, which can favor establishment of non-native species. Non-native species on roadsides can serve as propagule sources, thus, enabling invasion of undisturbed native vegetation and threatening natural biodiversity. In Rocky Mountain National Park on newly constructed roadsides, we tested whether seeded native species can be favored over non-native species using soil amendments that (1) supply nitrogen (N) and increase water holding capacity following rainfall (yard waste compost), (2) extend water and N availability (super-absorbent polymers), and (3) reduce readily available N, water loss, and soil temperature fluctuations (wood mulch). Soil amendments were incorporated before and mulch was applied after hydro-seeding in fall of 2013. In summer of 2014, we measured plant cover, soil N availability, and soil gravimetric water content. We observed greater variability in plant cover among sites than soil treatments but on average native cover was 60% higher in polymer (P) treatment than unamended control (Ct) (15 ± 0.09 %). Non-native cover was 66% and 57% greater than Ct in compost (Cm) and compost+polymer (CmP) treatments, respectively, and was 83%, 64%, and 32% lower than control in mulch+polymer (MP), polymer (P), and mulch+compost (MCm) treatments, respectively. Soil water content was generally higher in M than other treatments and highest in MCm. N availability was 80% higher in Cm treatments than Ct mid-growing season. Treatment combinations with mulch had lower N availability than Ct and other treatments in the late-growing season. Like plant cover, the effects of soil amendments on nitrogen and water availability varied among sites. These first year results show that chosen amendments alter availability of N and water, which can benefit native more than non-native species.

Germination and growth of native and invasive plants on soil associated with biological control of Tamarix. Rebecca A. Sherry, US Geological Survey, Fort Collins, CO coauthors: Patrick B. Shafroh, Jayne Belnap, Steven Ostoja and Sasha C. Reed Introductions of biocontrol beetles in the genus Diorhabda are causing dieback of exotic Tamarix spp. in riparian zones across the western U.S., yet factors that determine the plant community following Tamarix dieback are poorly understood. Tamarix-dominated soils are generally higher in nutrients, organic matter, and salts than nearby soils, factors which may direct the trajectory of community change. To assess physical and chemical drivers of secondary invasion after beetle-induced Tamarix dieback, we conducted separate germination and growth experiments on soil and litter collected beneath defoliated Tamarix trees. Focal species were two native (Aristida purpurea, Sporobolus cryptandrus) and two common invasive exotic plants (Acroptilon repens, Bromus tectorum), planted alone and in combination. Nutrient, salinity, wood chip, and litter manipulations examined how Tamarix litter affects the growth of other species in a context of riparian zone management. Litter and wood chip treatments delayed and decreased germination. A thinner layer of wood chips increased growth slightly, but deeper levels retarded growth. Time to germination was lengthened by most treatments for natives, was not affected in Acroptilon, and was sometimes decreased in Bromus. Tamarix litter, Tamarix litter leachate, and fertilization with inorganic nutrients increased growth in all species, but the effect was larger in exotic plants. Salinity of 4 dS/m benefitted Acroptilon, which also showed the largest positive responses to added nutrients. As natives showed only small positive responses to litter and fertilization and large negative responses to competition, Acroptilon and Bromus are likely to perform better than native species following Tamarix dieback.

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Continuation of monitoring the trail restoration & plug succession rates on Mt. Yale, Collegiate Peaks Wilderness, CO. Andrea B Stuemky, Regis University, Arvada, CO coauthor: Catherine Kleier Over the past summer, an ecological study on plug transplants and succession rates was conducted as a continuation of a previous study started in 2012, on Mt. Yale near Buena Vista, CO. According to last year’s monitoring, the plug succession rate regarding elevation was positive (p-value= .011) for plug survival rate; however, when plugs were mixed among grasses and forbs ( p-value = .006), they showed an even higher success rate (Kleier & Locke, 2011). In efforts to maintain the trail restoration in this area, a second study was conducted to determine the long term survival rates of the transplanted plugs along the Denny Gulch social trail between the elevations of 11,020 to 13,170 feet. This study elucidates that cushion or mat plants should be used as well as grasses for trail restoration efforts due to their survivorship and facilitation abilities.

Prioritizing wetland restoration in a watershed context. Jeremy P. Sueltenfuss, Colorado Natural Heritage Program, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO Wetlands are widely acknowledged as an integral component of regional hydrologic cycles through their role in flood abatement, storm water retention, groundwater recharge, and water quality improvement, though are often put at risk by current and historic land management activities. Recognizing the value of wetlands, watershed groups and various agencies are actively incorporating wetlands into watershed plans and restoration activities. Though restoration is often opportunistic in location and treatment, limited resources necessitate prioritization of projects in space and by desired function. It is important, in any restoration activity, to clearly outline the desired outcomes for the restoration project. Restoration in a watershed context should identify functions needing improvement for that watershed, and focus restoration efforts on wetlands that could provide those functions. New wetland mapping methodologies created by the US Fish and Wildlife Service and further enhanced by the Colorado Natural Heritage Program aim to identify likely functions provided by current and potentially restorable wetlands. A current endeavor for two high elevation watersheds in Colorado, the Upper South Platte and the Arkansas Headwaters, uses these remote sensing methodologies to create an online “toolbox” for restoration activities. The toolbox will allow watershed groups to identify wetlands providing important services that need protection, degraded wetlands in need of rehabilitation, and locations that could support, and historically did support, highly functioning wetlands and the identification of their associated ecosystem services.

Broncos Parkway water quality swale restoration study. Jeremiah Unger, Maintenance Technical Coordinator, Southeast Metro Stromwater Authority The Broncos parkway water quality swale is located in Unincorporated Arapahoe County within the Southeast Metro Stormwater Authority Service area. The water quality swale (swale) was installed to treat surface run-off from Broncos Parkway before discharge to Lonetree Creek. This study was conducted to determine the most effective native vegetation establishment along the swale slopes with a combination of treatment methods such as: soil treatments, erosion control treatments, and planting techniques along the slopes of this swale. Sampling technique included both plant count (quantitative) and percent ground cover (qualitative). The results of this study indicate a simple native seed mix with no erosion control measures allows for the most vigorous growth. The site has no irrigation and limited access so a sustainable, quickly established and low maintenance solution needs to be found. Further studies may provide more suitable seed mixes or design implementations to advance the area of a native vegetation establishment for post construction of these necessary stormwater treatment systems.

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In-stream erosion pin study. Jeremiah Unger, Maintenance Technical Coordinator, Southeast Metro Storm-water Authority The study of urban hydrology is a mature science and the degradation of natural channels is well documented. Few inexpensive tools exist to measure the amount of erosion along non reinforced stream bank channels at particular bank cuts. A two year study to measure the effectiveness of Horizontal Erosion pins was conducted along Cottonwood Creek and Big Dry Creek in the Southeast Metro Stormwater Authority (SEMSWA) district in Centennial, Colorado Information was obtained from such a study providing quantitative data to help policy makers determine when to repair bank cuts along urban streams.

Vegetation management and restoration in urban-to-exurban prairie dog colonies in the northern Colorado Front Range. John Vickery, Colorado Native Plant Society. Denver, CO Northern Colorado Front Range prairie dog colonies comprise a small but significant portion of our open space lands. Typically, these colonies receive relatively little vegetation management attention. Ostensibly, it is difficult to justify the expenditure of quite limited resources in areas where it is judged that there will be little lasting benefit. Meanwhile, with reduced predation in a fragmented landscape, prairie dog densities are often too high to be sustainable. The result is one or more of the following: degradation of soil quality, sites dominated by nonnative plants, a loss in native plant diversity, and the deterioration of remnant native plant communities and the wildlife habitat value of the site. However, many of these sites have more native plants than is generally appreciated. Some plants appear to be resistant to long-term, continuous grazing and/or clipping or they are left intact—neither eaten nor clipped. Initial surveys reveal that some three dozen species in some twenty plant families are represented by these ‘survivors’. Although common annual and/or weedy plants are well-represented among the survivors, the largest component of the species richness consists of perennial forbs. The use of these natives may offer a strategy for the successful management of active colonies and the restoration of depopulated sites that may be recolonized. A proposed approach to vegetation management includes the following components: Weed management; Control of nonnative plants that prairie dogs prefer not to eat; Restoration—planting native species for which prairie dogs have a low preference; Maintenance of some exotic plant populations for forage; and Control of prairie dog density. However, the advisability and feasibility of restoration is limited by two main constraints: 1) the high cost of prairie dog population management; 2) the small intersection between survivors and commercially available and affordable plant materials.

Challenges in ecosystem restoration after the 2011 Black Forest Fire. Judith P. von Ahlefeldt, Landscape Ecologist, Black Forest Conservation Forestry Association, Colorado Springs, CO. The poster will address challenges of ecosystem restoration of a forested community of private landowners in the Black Forest of Colorado, which suffered a devastating fire June 11-20, 2013. Challenges include not only technical and operational restoration issues, but also communication challenges, social /cultural beliefs and attitudes, and interactions with County Government and FEMA programs.

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Revegetation following channel restoration in cobble-bed systems: Riparian research on the Encampment River, Carbon County, Wyoming. Randall J Walsh, Senior Ecologist, Stantec Consulting, Fort Collins, CO. The geomorphology of a river valley and characteristics of a river channel influence the frequency, duration, and intensity of flooding. Periodic flooding and bank inundation influences the size and structure of the stream channel and the characteristics of the riparian vegetation. Land use changes within many watersheds – including drainages of the Upper Platte Valley of southern Wyoming - have resulted in river systems that exhibit reduced dynamics, simplified gradients, and disconnected landscape components. A primary goal of ecological river restoration is to assist in the recovery of degraded stream systems by strengthening the hydrological, geomorphological, and ecological processes that sustain their integrity and resilience while working to achieve the desired future conditions defined for the landscape. The Wyoming Game & Fish Department (WGFD), Trout Unlimited (TU) and the Saratoga-Encampment- Rawlins Conservation District (SERCD) have invested significant resources restoring, enhancing, and improving the Encampment River, its fishery, and the greater watershed. While restoration projects have been successful in meeting many important objectives, revegetation efforts along the constructed reaches has proven difficult due to the coarse cobble substrate native to the system. In addition, constructed banks retain very few fine sediments, as these tend to migrate when the substrate is moved and graded. In response to these challenges, a research project was initiated in 2013 which examines methods and materials to improve riparian revegetation along constructed reaches, and to evaluate both ecological and geomorphological responses to these revegetation efforts. This presentation will discuss this ongoing research effort, present preliminary results, and discuss the applicability of these findings to similar systems in the Intermountain West.

Late Additions:

Biotic remediation of cadmium- and lead-polluted watersheds. Gordon J Kersten, Graduate Student, University of Denver. coauthors: Brian Majestic and Martin F Quigley Metal pollution in the environment is toxic to human and wildlife health, and is found in acidic mining waste. Toxic heavy metals, such as cadmium and lead, are dispersed through air, water, and soil and can cause neuronal damage in humans and stunting in vegetation. Over 450 abandoned mine features significantly pollute watersheds in Colorado and require remediation. Metal polluted watersheds can be remediated using plants to take up metal contaminants in their stems and leaves for permanent removal from the ecosystem. Phytoremediation is cheaper and more sustainable than traditional chemical and physical techniques. Willows (Salix spp.) are effective hyperaccumulators because they have broad genetic variability and grow very quickly while sequestering metals in their upper tissues. However, whether three common Colorado native willows (Salix monticola, S. drummondiana, and S. planifolia) differ in lead and cadmium uptake rates and sequestration has not been tested robustly. If these species do hyperaccumulate effectively, they could be propagated for specific remediation sites throughout Colorado. I collected 160 individual willow samples in Colorado near the significantly polluted watersheds and grew clones at varying concentrations of lead and cadmium for four weeks. I measured biomass growth, survival, and leaf counts as measures of resistance and growth. To test whether these three native Colorado species are effective hyperaccumulators, I am currently measuring the sequestration of the metals in leaf and stem samples via inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP- MS). Results can be used to advise land managers and native plant databases for watershed remediation projects based on metal specific resistance, uptake, and sequestration.

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