Vegetation Management Projects
Effects of Vegetation Management on Native Plants and Animals
February 2012-present
New riparian management techniques are focused on promoting native species diversity and maintaining flood capacity. These techniques include removing and controlling non-native blackberry, active restoration of native plant species, limbing the lower branches of existing trees to promote taller, shadier canopies and to allow maximum flow during floods. Do these techniques meet the multiple objectives of controlling floods and increasing the abundance of native species? What are the effects on other organisms (e.g., birds and fish)? Can successional processes be ‘fast-forwarded’ to result in taller, shadier, riparian communities with an understory dominated by native plant cover?
Vegetation measurements of this project are part of an SCWA-SSU contract to Caroline Christian (Department of Environmental Studies and Planning).