Thomas M. Quigley

Integrated scientific assessment for ecosystem management in the interior Columbia Basin and portions of the Klamath and Great Basins.

The Integrated Scientific Assessment for Ecosystem Management for the Interior Columbia Basin links landscape, aquatic, terrestrial, social, and economic characterizations to describe biophysical and social systems. Integration was achieved through a framework built around six goals for ecosystem management and three different views of the future. These goals are: maintain evolutionary and ecological processes; manage for multiple ecological domains and evolutionary timeframes; maintain viable populations of native and desired non-native species; encourage social and economic resiliency; manage for places with definable values; and, manage to maintain a variety of ecosystem goods, services, and conditions that society wants. Ratings of relative ecological integrity and socioeconomic resiliency were used to make broad statements about ecosystem conditions in the Basin. Currently in the Basin high integrity and resiliency are found on 16 and 20 percent of the area, respectively. Low integrity and resiliency are found on 60 and 68 percent of the area. Different approaches to management can alter the risks to the assets of people living in the basin and to the ecosystem itself. Continuation of current management leads to increasing risks while management approaches focusing on reserves or restoration result in trends that mostly stabilize or reduce risks. Even where ecological integrity is projected to improve with the application of active management, population increases and the pressures of expanding demands on resources may cause increasing trends in risk.

Estimating ecological integrity in the interior Columbia River basin

The adoption of ecosystem-based management strategies focuses attention on the need for broad scale estimates of ecological conditions; this poses two challenges for the science community: estimating broad scale ecosystem conditions from highly disparate data, often observed at different spatial scales, and interpreting these conditions relative to goals such as sustainability. The Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Project (ICBEMP), estimated relative composite ecological integrity by clustering conditions among proxy variables representing three component integrity ratings (forestland, rangeland, and aquatic integrity). Composite ecological integrity provides an estimate of relative system condition within the interior Columbia River basin assessment area that is responsive to changes in broad scale land management practices. Broad-scale measures can be used to assess progress toward land management goals or as an aide for managers in selecting or prioritizing areas (watersheds) for treatment. Currently, federal land managers are using estimates of current composite ecological integrity and trends in ecological integrity to prioritize management activities and understand effects of management actions.

Science and ecosystem management in the interior Columbia basin

Significant changes over the past 150 years in aquatic, terrestrial, landscape, and socioeconomic systems have altered biophysical systems in the interior Columbia basin. Changes and conflict in public policy concerns, such as resource use vs. restoration vs. conservation are especially evident in more than 34% of total forest and rangeland in the United States that are federally administered. In the last decade, design and implementation of complex land management strategies has become an issue for public land managers. In turn, the scientific community is often challenged to develop approaches for management of complete ecosystems. This paper discusses the use of science in the assessment and evaluation phases of one large-scale (multi-region) ecosystem management effort on federal lands in the Columbia river basin, the Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Project (ICBEMP), and briefly describes the evaluations of three alternative management strategies which are detailed by other papers in this issue. This paper contends that understanding the context of land management decisions is essential to defining the veracity or applicability of alternative land management strategies. Evaluating the alternatives is a complicated science process, which requires understanding the effects of each set of direction over both the short and long term, projecting the effects of those directions, making assumptions about pieces not yet developed, and modeling resource change.

Economic assessment of ungulate herbivory in commercial forests of eastern Oregon and Washington, USA

Four forest stands in eastern Washington and Oregon, USA, containing exclosures to prevent or impede ungulate herbivory, were modeled to forecast timber yields and soil expectation values (SEVs) at harvest. Contrasts of ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Dougl. ex Laws.) growth and yield inside and outside exclosures show that ungulate herbivory may either promote or depress tree volume growth. Projected income from stands with more intensive stocking management and with inclusion of regulated livestock herbivory was higher than that of less intensively managed stands without livestock for scenarios with projected rising stumpage price levels for 2040. Under an assumption of future stumpage prices held constant at 1990 levels, the reverse was true. Ungulate herbivory plus planted stock and prescribed fire in site preparation provided the highest stand value at two sites. Sites without prescribed fire fared better when fenced to prevent livestock or big game herbivory. The results illustrate that ungulate herbivory alone is not the determinant factor of the economic yield of stands, but ungulate herbivory can have substantial impact on site productivity when used in conjunction with prescribed fire, stocking control, and species selection.

Evolving Views of Public Land Values and Management of Natural Resources

Evolving views of public land values and management of natural resources. DOI:10.2458/azu_rangelands_v27i3_Quigley

An Integrated Ecosystem Assessment of the Interior Columbia Basin

Driven by the need to replace interim direction, address recent species listings as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act, and break the gridlock of implementing actions, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service (FS) and the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM), initiated an effort to develop a scientifically-sound, ecosystem-based strategy for lands they administer in the Interior Columbia Basin. The effort included an integrated assessment of 58.3 million ha in seven states describing the Basins current conditions and risks associated with different management strategies. The assessment provides the foundation for environmental impact statements outlining management direction for 31 million hectares of FS and BLM administered lands. The process produced a framework for ecosystem management, ecosystem component (social, economic, landscape, terrestrial, and aquatic) assessments, and estimates of ecological integrity and socioeconomic resiliency.

Economically optimal private land grazing strategies for the Blue Mountains of eastern Oregon

The Oregon Range Evaluation Project implemented 3 levels of grazing management intensities (strategies) on private land pastures in the Blue Mountains of northeastern Oregon. Prior to implementing each management strategy, a coordinated resource plan was prepared and a benefit-cost analysis on each practice and pasture was performed. The goal was to achieve the largest economic return from grazing for each strategy implemented. Returns above variable costs were used to select the optimal grazing sfrategy for the ecosystems represented. The commodity production strategy was found to be optimal in all ecosystems over a wide range of interest rates, management costs, and beef prices.

Technical note A regression technique for estimating the time required to digitize maps manually

Abstract A regression technique is described for obtaining estimates of the manual digitizing effort required during a mapping project. This technique is then applied with good results to a set of five maps of varying dimensions and complexity. The technique was derived from experience with one geographical information system but may be applicable to others since it has its basis in the physical dimensions of the map.