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Recommendations for
El Dorado-Doudy Draw TSA Trail Alignment from FOBOS and the Science Advisory
Group*
Synthesize and Supplement Baseline Data
For
this TSA, an “Inventory Report” (2/24/06) described the natural, cultural,
and agricultural resources, and numerous maps have been prepared. To
supplement these and provide the kind of specific, integrated information
that will enable the staff and public to assess the proposed alignment
of trails, we recommend two things: (1) synthesis and integration of
all existing data, and (2) addition of key data needed to fill gaps and
locate trails in a way that will minimize impacts. An initial list of
recommended natural resource data is attached (A). Considerations for
trail exclusions are provided in attachment B.
Create Interactive Visual Displays
The baseline data,
described above, needs to be stored in an electronic relational database
with location tags and linked to a GIS display that allows staff, and
eventually the public, to interactively select and display various options
and see the multiple resource variables that will be impacted or not,
and identify trail alignments that maximize the conservation of resources.
Such visualizations have proven to be extremely valuable in educating
lay audiences and providing easy-to-understand options/tradeoffs for
decision-making.
Design the Monitoring Plan
To streamline the design
and reduce staff time required, we recommend using well-developed protocols
for monitoring and assessment, such as those developed by the Northern
Colorado Plateau Group for the National Park Service (more),
and including multiple permanent sites along trails and at control sites
for measuring soil nitrogen and plant composition. Protocols to be used
and the ongoing monitoring plan must be carefully defined, fully funded
and sustained. An initial list of items we recommend as essential in
the monitoring plan is attached (C & D). The monitoring plan would
be linked to criteria that would trigger trail closure when impacts are
unacceptable. An initial list of criteria tied to possible trail closure
also is attached (E).
Test An Enhanced Process
By starting now, we could
use the above options to shift the public participation process from
months of meetings filled with verbal dueling to a consensus-building
process based on easily understood information that emphasizes conservation
of resources and recreational access while providing the basis for adaptive
management.
Use Interpretative Displays
Consider development of
strategically placed, engaging interpretative displays that will convey
the fragility and/or uniqueness of this area, species of interest, and
the rationale for any use restrictions.
Action Items:
- Hire a consultant to facilitate the synthesis
of data into a relational database with location tags to facilitate
integrated data displays, identify data gaps and subsequent acquisition
plans, and assist the IT/mapping staff in the preparation of interactive
visual displays.
- List the expected losses to open space natural resource
values for having chosen to build and operate each proposed trail alignment
and use these to guide the development of the monitoring plan. The
clear and realistic articulation of the sacrifice of some part of open
space holdings to satisfy the need to meet recreational demands sets
up an open accounting procedure.
Attachments
A. Natural Resource Data – an initial list
- Elk migration
routes and wintering areas.
- Black bear heavy use areas.
- Prairie
dog colonies.
- Preble's jumping mouse habitat.
- Other mammals on
the Colorado Natural Heritage Program list
- Goshawk and other accipiter
nest sites.
- Golden eagle, prairie falcon, and peregrine falcon nest
sites.
- Flammulated owl nesting habitat.
- Shrub-nesting bird habitat.
- Wild turkey roosts and prime foraging areas.
- Plant communities
and ecotones that serve as important habitat (e.g., native grass-forest
interface as deer habitat).
- Specific extent of plant communities
of special concern (especially including Colorado Natural Heritage
Program listed plant species, relict old/stable grasslands on ancient
pediment soils, and old-growth ponderosa pine forests).
- Plant habitat
of special concern, such as seeps supporting rare orchids or cliffs
supporting rare ferns.
B. Development of Avoidance Criteria for Trail Placement
- Areas
that that cannot be crossed such as Old Pediment communities or Sites
of Sensitive Animal Species Occurrence
- Set-back limits for animal
habitat features.
C. Fully established and fully funded monitoring protocols must determine:
- Impacts of trail use on large mammals, wild turkeys, shrub-nesting
birds, and nesting raptors.
- Spatial / dimensional impacts of trail
use on native plant community species composition and stability, including
weed occurrence and spread along and adjacent to trails as well as
outward into what previously could have been non-invadable entities.
- Rate
of compliance with users (hikers, bikers, horses) on-trail & dogs-on-leash
requirements
- Parameters that indicate conditions of trails over time
(e.g., changes in width and depth; sediment erosion and accumulation
– where and how much; effects on vegetation and weed invasion (see#2
above); what conditions/impacts should dictate trail closure, either
temporary or permanent).
D. Other Monitoring Input:
- Trail impact monitoring for plants and
vegetation should be accomplished at permanently located sites where
the changes in plant community composition at specific distances out
from the more or less linear disturbance are observed in a repeatable
way. A control at least 5 to 10 m away from the trail should be included
for each site. Sample size should be adequate in dimension (e.g. transect
length) and number (i.e. replication) to allow avoidance of local aberration
as a confounding factor in eventual conclusions.
- Monitoring procedure
should be efficient enough to help assure its prosecution into the
future.
- Establishing a soil nitrogen baseline and monitoring this attribute
over the years will provide valuable future guidance to other trails
and also the behavior of vegetation near existing trails. Nitrogen
and water availability are the two variables believed to be greatly
affected due to trail installation and use, particularly on a subset
of nutrient-limited soils found in or near proposed activities.
E. Development of criteria that would dictate trail closure (temporarily
or permanently)
- Impacts on native vegetation
- Invasion by alien
plant species
- Impacts on wildlife
- Indicators of trail conditions
over time (e.g., changes in width and depth; sediment erosion and accumulation)
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