Lummi Natural Resources Riparian Zone Restoration Project (RZRP)

Proposed Data Collection Protocols Field Sheets Damage Codes

The Lummi Natural Resources Riparian Zone Restoration Project
The Lummi Natural Resources Riparian Zone Restoration Project (RZRP) was initiated three years ago as part of an ongoing effort to restore and enhance salmon habitat and Northwest coastal ecosystems. In that time 116 acres of municipal, state, and private riparian forests along reaches of the Nooksack River presently occupied by pioneering hardwoods such as red alder (Alnus rubra) and black cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa) have been thinned (where possible and appropriate) and interplanted with mixed coniferous seedlings. The project was designed primarily to improve salmon and wildlife habitat by encouraging the growth of mixed coniferous stands in riparian areas that are currently dominated by hardwoods as a result of human disturbance. Conifer dominated stands provide larger and more persistent large woody debris (LWD) and greater buffering of stream temperatures than do hardwood stands. The secondary purpose of the RZRP has been to generate scientific data for use in future restoration efforts.

In January of 1999 Lummi Natural Resources and the University of Washington's Center for Streamside Studies began to analyze the vegetative and environmental data collected in the three years since the RZRP's inception and to evaluate the project's success to date (complete reports can be obtained from the Center for Streamside Studies or from Lummi Natural Resources). One of the products of this analysis has been the establishment of new data collection protocols, field sheets, and comment and damage codes to improve the accuracy and utility of data collection. These materials are presented here as one example of an effective approach to data collection.

Why collect data, and why use a protocol?
There are two important reasons to collect data on management and restoration projects. First, even projects that are not designed explicitly for research can yield important results. Increasing numbers of government agencies, community groups, and private companies are interested in developing riparian habitat restoration programs, particularly since the listings of additional runs of pacific salmon species as endangered. None of these groups will be able to learn from the successes and failures of other restoration efforts unless they can be documented and disseminated. Even very small projects can suggest avenues of further research and identify promising new methods. Second, the success of any restoration project cannot be determined without some form of follow-up monitoring. Monitoring need not be frequent or extensive. For example, seedling survival may need only be checked by a simple count of live seedlings two or three years after planting, and seedling growth data may need only be collected every three to five years, depending on the goals of the project.

Once the decision is made to engage in some sort of monitoring program, an explicit data collection protocol can ensure that the proper data is collected in a consistent way. Comment and damage codes (codes used to classify such phenomena as the incidence and severity of browse, the proximity of competing vegetation, etc.) explicitly identify the sort of data to be collected, and force data collection personnel to make close calls out in the field rather than back at the office.

To this end, the Center for Streamside Studies and Lummi Natural Resources have made the RZRP protocols, field sheets, and comment codes available in the hopes that they may be useful to other organizations or individuals pursuing similar restoration projects.

How to use this information
These materials are presented as an example of how data collection protocols, field sheets, and comment codes for this sort of restoration project can be constructed. Data collection protocols need to be tailored to fit the design and intentions of each restoration project, and can vary a good deal. The RZRP monitoring program includes an initial survey of treatment sites in which a full range of site information (slope, aspect, soil type) is collected. In subsequent years data is collected only on characteristics that can be expected to vary year to year, such as seedling growth and survival and the composition of understory vegetation. Therefore, two sets of data collection protocols and field sheets are used; one for the initial survey and one for subsequent annual surveys.

Acknowledgements
Funding for the Riparian Zone Restoration Program treatments and monitoring has been provided by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), the US Fish and Wildlife Service's (USFWS) Jobs in the Woods program, the Washington State Jobs for the Environment program, and matching funding from landowners. Project evaluation, data entry, and data analysis were supported by the University of Washington's Center for Streamside Studies and by the USDA Forest Service's Wood Compatibility Initiative, Cooperative Agreement # PNW-99-9053-1-CA. Facilities were provided by the University of Washington's Center for Streamside Studies.

This information is also available as a fact sheet.

Initial Survey Protocol
Initial Data Sheet
Initial Survey Codes
Damage Codes
Annual Survey Protocol
Annual Survey Codes
Annual Data Sheet