Condition of Forests in San Diego County:  Recent Conifer Tree Mortality and the

Institutional Response

Presented byCalifornia Department of Forestry

Mark Rosenberg

Visit our web site at: http://frap.cdf.ca.gov or http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/rsl/projects/mapping/zone-map.shtml

Epidemic Begins• In 2001 a massive pine bark

beetle epidemic became evident

• Drought-induced

• Approximately one million acres have experienced severe tree mortality

• Adjacent to major metropolitan areas in San Diego, Riverside and San Bernardino Counties

• Risks from fire and falling trees pose a major threat to public safety, private property, and ecosystem health

Summer 2001

Spring 2002

Spring 2003

Epidemic Begins

Local Emergency Declared

State Emergency Declared

Chronology

Tree Mortality

Examples of Tree Mortality as of April 2003

Tree Mortality

• Tree Mortality is Dispersed across approximately 80,000 acres of public and private lands in San Diego County

• 80% of the mortality areas are on State and Private lands

• 40% of Mortality areas are residential in nature

• Current Estimates of Conifer Mortality are 500,000 Tons but projections suggest mortality could reach as high as 2 Million BDT

Mortality In San Diego

Challenges

• Too Many Hazard Trees to remove all at once

• Rapidly evolving forest mortality

• Increasing risk from falling trees and extreme fire events

• Increased ignition sources from falling trees and increased fuel loading from dying vegetation

• Many diverse assets at risk

• Many different entities with responsibilities and liabilities

How are the Agencies addressing these Challenges?

Public Response

• Forest Area Safety Taskforce (FAST) coordinating overall public and private response

• Identify and Prioritize areas for Tree Removal

• Federal Funding for Tree Removal activities (FS, NRCS, and others)

• New County Programs for Hazard Tree Removal and Fire Safe Clearance

Land Ownership

BLM

7%NPS

0%

Other Public

29%

Private

53%

USFS

11%

Public Response

• Using decision support tools, including GIS, to provide Operational Support capabilities for tree removal, evacuation planning, treatment priorities, etc.

• Conducting Monitoring activities using aerial survey, remote sensing and FIA inventory

Coordinated Strategy

Decision Support Activities

• Provide tree mortality estimates

• Help Prioritize & Track treatments

• Assess Wood Utilization and Disposal options

Analysis support to Agencies Includes

San Diego county all ow ners current m ortality ins ide treatm ent area by priority asset class

All w / slope ≤ 30%61%

Secondary roads30% Primary roads

1%

Housing7%

Transmission1%

San Diego county current m ortality acres w ithin treatm ent and non treatm ent areas

Treatment41%

Non treatment59%

Treatment Priorities

San Diego county current m ortality acres by ow nership outs ide treatm ent areas

Private12%

State/local38%

Tribal15%Federal

35%

High Priority Treatment areas

• Within 150 feet of Electricity Transmission Lines

•Within 200 feet of Primary Roads

•Within 200 feet of Secondary Roads

•Areas within Falling Distance of Homes, communication sites and other assets

• Areas having a housing density of less than one house per 20 acres and slopes less than or equal to 30%

Monitoring Forest Recovery

• Mapping Forest Mortality

• Assessing Impacts to Habitats

• Modeling Potential Fire Behavior

• Monitoring Forest Recovery Using Remote Sensing, GIS and Ground based inventories

Mapping and Monitoring Activities

• Mapping New Tree Mortality on public and private lands every 3 months

• This year we will Update seamless vegetation/habitat data across all lands

• Re-Measure approximately 100 ground plots on public and private lands

• Assess impacts of mortality on key ecosystem Assets.

Ground Based Plots

• Systematic random grid locations

• 2.5 acre sample framework

• 5 point cluster plot• GPS locations• Sample vegetation

profile

Inventory Measurement and Analysis

• Species Occurrence• Species Frequency• Species Cover/Layers• Mortality• Biomass/Volume• Growth• Condition

San Diego county habitat types

Grassland

6%

Desert Shrub

20%

Shrub

44%

Desert Woodland

0%Wetland

0%Agriculture

5%

Hardw ood

5%

Conifer

4%

Water

1%Urban

15% Barren

0%

Conifer 99,591

Hardwood 141,357

Shrub 1,154,758

Grassland 161,975

Desert Shrub 553,941

Desert Woodland 954

Wetland 7,831

Agriculture 146,783

Barren 6,904

Urban 416,363

Water 19,294

ALL 2,709,750

Habitat Total

Land Cover in San Diego County

San Diego county habitat types

Forest

9%

Shrub

44%

Grassland

6%

Urban/ other

22%

Desert

20%

Summary Remarks

• There is a critical need to treat ALL fire hazards in urban interface areas

• Forest Mortality, Shrub lands and Urban Areas are Intermingled with each other and therefore should be treated in an integrated fashion.

• Public will AND a Coordinated response is required

• Commitment to Long term Monitoring Needed

• Adaptive Management Practices Essential

Thank You

Contact Information

Visit our web sites at:

www.frap.cdf.ca.gov

www.fs.fed.us/r5/rsl/projects/mapping/zone-map.shtml

Mark Rosenberg

Email: mark.rosenberg@fire.ca.gov

Phone: (916)445-5366