1 San Francisco Bay Area National Park Service Natural Resources
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San Francisco Bay Area National Park Service Natural Resources and Science Symposium April 23, 2013 Abstracts PRESENTATIONS .......................................................................................................................... 3 THEME: ECOLOGICAL RESTORATION .............................................................................................. 3 1. Monarch Overwintering Habitat Stewardship Informed by Hemispherical Photography 3 2. Lichen Iinventory Data: How Useful Is It? ...................................................................... 3 3. Using Phytolith Analysis to Reconstruct Prehistoric Plant Communities for Restoration and Management at Pinnacles National Park ................................................................ 3 4. Towering Exotic Pines and Dwarfed Native Oaks: A Synthesis of Two Ecological Studies From the Marin Headlands................................................................................ 4 5. Determining Landscape-scale Changes in Forest Structure and Possible Management Responses to Phytophora ramorum in the Mt. Tamalpais Watershed, Marin County CA. ................................................................................................................................. 4 6. Sex, Genes And Biodiversity: Growing Plants for Restoration, Able to Withstand Climate Change and Using Practices to Reduce Our Own Environmental Footprint .... 5 7. Application of data from the Invasive Species Early Detection Program of the San Francisco Bay Area Inventory and Monitoring Program (SFAN I&M). ........................... 5 8. New Treatments for an Old Weed: Herbicide and HMO to Control Cape Ivy ................ 5 9. Habitat Restoration and Control of Bullfrogs within Tennessee Valley, Marin Co., CA . 6 THEME: PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT ....................................................................................................... 6 10. A Landscape of Relationships: Building Local Youth Partnerships – Part 1* ................ 6 11. A Landscape of Relationships: Building Local Youth Partnerships – Part 2* ................ 6 12. Educating Local Youth to Become the Next Generation of National Park Stewards: A Project WISE Case Study .............................................................................................. 7 13. The Richmond Green Screen, Straight Talk on Prison and the National Park Service (NPS) .............................................................................................................................. 7 14. Engaging Partnerships to Reduce Wildlife Health Impacts............................................ 8 15. Advertising Space: Endangered Species Buswraps in San Francisco .......................... 8 16. Stories, Metrics, Money, and Recovery: Promoting Species Recovery through Conservation Competitions ............................................................................................ 9 17. Bridging the Divide: Building Alignment between Park and Community Values ........... 9 THEME: WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT ................................................................................................. 10 18. Small Mammal Movements Across a Natural Edge ..................................................... 10 19. Migratory Connectivity of Songbirds in Point Reyes National Seashore ..................... 10 20. A Study of Bee Diversity at Selected Sites in the San Francisco Bay Area, California 10 21. Tricking the Winds: Six Years of Spring Raptor Migration Counts in the Marin Headlands .................................................................................................................... 11 22. Citizen Science Informs Park Management: Harbor Seal Monitoring in Marin County 12 23. Small Mammals in the Presidio of San Francisco: Engaging Youth in an Inventory Project .......................................................................................................................... 12 24. Wildlife Restoration of Mountain Lake, San Francisco ................................................ 13 25. Hawks Phone Home: At the Nexus of Technology and Biology .................................. 13 26. Tools and Techniques: Adaptive Management of the California Condor .................... 14 THEME: CLIMATE CHANGE AND RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ........................................................... 14 27. Applied Science for Conserving California’s Bay Area Ecosystems in the Face of Climate Change: The Terrestrial Biodiversity Climate Change Collaborative (TBC3) . 14 28. Observed Trends in Climate Space in Bay Area parks: Implications for Landscape Resilience ..................................................................................................................... 14 1 29. Hydrologic Balance in the Marin Coast Range Under Present and Future Climates .. 15 30. Giacomini Wetlands: Observations of Landscape Response to Restoration and Climate Change............................................................................................................ 15 THEME: THE INTERSECTION OF CULTURAL AND NATURAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT ................... 16 31. Diseases Affecting Native and Managed Landscapes in San Francisco Bay Area National Parks .............................................................................................................. 16 32. An Update on the Study of Indigenous Landscape Management Practices ............... 16 33. Working Together to Improve Water Quality in a Working Landscape ........................ 17 34. Coastal Defense and Defensible Space: Managing Vegetation at Historic Sites for Fire and Resource Protection .............................................................................................. 17 POSTERS AND EXHIBITS: .......................................................................................................... 18 1. Endangered Species of the San Francisco Bay Area: A Travelling Exhibit and Educational Kit ............................................................................................................. 18 2. Hawk Hill Tree Removal and Mission Blue Butterfly Habitat Restoration: A Community Engagement Case Study ............................................................................................. 18 3. Snapshots and Specimens: A Volunteer Botanical Bioblitz on Mt. Tamalpais ............ 19 4. A Quarter-Century of Golden Eagle Fall Migration Counts in the Marin Headlands, California ...................................................................................................................... 19 5. Fall Migration of Radio-tagged Broad-winged Hawks in California .............................. 20 6. Setting Regional Strategies for Invasive Plant Management Using CalWeedMapper 20 7. Table/Demonstration – Condor Tracking and Tagging Equipment .............................. 20 2 Presentations Theme: Ecological Restoration 1. Monarch Overwintering Habitat Stewardship Informed by Hemispherical Photography Lech Naumovich and Stuart Weiss, Creekside Center for Earth Observation, [email protected] Rob Hill is a historic monarch site in the Presidio of San Francisco that was known to provide habitat for hundreds of overwintering butterflies in the 1990s. No significant clusters have been observed in the past two decades, although individual butterflies have been seen onsite. The purpose of this project is to examine current site conditions and suitability for monarch butterflies, and make management recommendations. All larger trees were mapped with a total station and hemispheric photography was used to determine open sky, wind exposure and relative insolation during the winter months. Analysis indicated that a subset of the trees directly north of the parking lot is a high priority site for stewardship. This area receives high winter insolation and has the potential to be protected from wind in all directions. We recommend forest thinning, clearing of understory and introduction of winter nectar sources to create a more desirable monarch overwintering site. 2. Lichen Inventory Data: How Useful Is It? Shelly Benson, President, California Lichen Society, [email protected] A recent lichen inventory of the Presidio of San Francisco added 78 species to the park’s list of lichens, bringing the total to 138 species. Four species were first-time reports for California and reports for two other species resulted in range extensions of 100+ miles. Other San Francisco Bay Area network parks that have had lichen inventories include Point Reyes and Pinnacles. Inventories are a critical first step in understanding the diversity of the resource and refining species’ ranges. However, inventories alone do not allow land managers to effectively use lichens as biological indicators. Lichens are one of the most sensitive biological indicators of air quality, specifically nitrogen deposition, and climate change. The most effective way to use lichens as indicators is by measuring lichen community composition (species diversity and abundance). The next step for land managers wishing to detect ecosystem impacts is to collect baseline lichen community composition data. A Forest Service program, called the Forest Inventory Analysis Lichen Indicator, has established data collection protocols and analysis procedures for assessing lichen community composition. Regionally-specific gradient models are used to generate air quality and climate ratings. Ratings from across the region can be compared and plots can be re- visited for the purpose