Page 19 - Sierra Meadows Strategy

The desired conditions and associated goals described in this section apply to the Strategy Area as a whole and are intended to (1) guide and track the overall success of the Strategy and (2) guide development of ner-scale desired conditions, objectives, actions, and outcomes. The desired conditions describe conditions we would like to have achieved within fteen years, both ecologically and for human use and management; while the goals provide a set of quantitative targets we need to meet in order to build this future together.
Desired Conditions
The desired conditions are broadly de ned outcomes for the Strategy Area. These can be further re ned and speci ed
for watershed and project scale planning. We used desired conditions drafted by Region 5 of the Forest Service as a starting point (basis for desired condition found in USDA Forest Service 2014, and draft plans at http://tinyurl.com/r5earlyadopters). The Meadows Partnership members re ned and elaborated upon the draft Forest Service text and ultimately agreed upon the Desired Conditions described below:
Meadows are diverse and complex.
• Meadows often include a mosaic of habitats and successional plant communities that support native plant and animal populations. Meadow species composition is predominantly native, where graminoid species are well represented and vigorous, and regeneration occurs naturally. Ground cover
is resilient, protecting against erosion. Species composition
is diverse, recognizing that species composition and diversity are dependent on both hydrologic conditions and disturbance factors. Natural processes, including disturbances, and management activities are suf cient to maintain desired vegetation structure, species diversity, and nutrient cycling. Healthy stands of willow, alder, and aspen are present within and adjacent to meadows where they would naturally occur. Meadows with perennial streams contain a diversity of age classes of hardwood shrubs along the stream bank, where the potential exists.
• A diversity of healthy meadow types exists, including types that are dependent on water inputs to create wet rooting conditions from surface, subsurface, or groundwater, throughout the growing season, through mid-summer, or only in the early spring25. These types occur on different geomorphic surfaces, such as alluvial fans, terraces and oodplains, local depressions, and lake edges, and include meadows that act
as ground water recharge areas and as surface water source areas. The range of meadow types are well distributed according to their potential in the Strategy Area and support diverse soils and plant community types.
• Meadows support diverse native plant, terrestrial and aquatic animal species, including aquatic species dependent upon cool and high quality water ows in downstream reaches.
Healthy watershed and meadow hydrology and geomorphology are intimately linked and well understood.
• Meadows are depositional features in the landscape with ne textured mineral or organic soils, where sediment and water from the contributing area are temporarily stored (for short periods to 1 to 10s to 100s and 1,000s of years) as these elements migrate downslope. Meadows typically exhibit a high degree of hydrologic connectivity, both laterally across the oodplain and vertically between surface and subsurface ows. Depending on their particular hydrology, meadows can provide important ecosystem services such as high quality water puri cation and groundwater recharge. Meadows are resilient and recover from natural and human disturbances. Meadows buffer the downstream effects of large uctuations in sediment and water input from upslope areas, thereby ameliorating effects of increased climatic variability on downstream resources.
• The hydrologic, edaphic, and other needs of wet and headwater meadows, such as fens, are well understood and maintained
to ensure that these unique meadow types and their dependent plant and wildlife species are supported, fully functional, and resilient to variations associated with climate change. Soil in these meadows can accumulate organic matter and are spongy and moist, generally as a result of a shallow water table which slows litter decomposition in relation to plant growth and litter production. Such soils have high water holding capacity and function to lter, store and release water over an extended period of time. Wet meadows with highly organic soils may continue to accumulate organic material in their soil for hundreds and thousands of years83 and therefore be net long-term carbon sinks. The balance between organic matter accumulation in the soil and emission of wetland associated greenhouse gases (e.g., methane and nitrous oxide) into the atmosphere has been determined over multiple years and for a range of wet meadow types. Unusual water and soil chemistry in meadows supporting highly organic soils that receive important amounts of water from groundwater sources (e.g., fens) host unusual plant species and are protected to support landscape beta diversity83,84.
• The role of beaver in creating dynamic meadow habitat for ora and fauna is well understood and non-lethal solutions to beaver management are in widespread use.
• The watersheds are resilient to climate changes including prolonged drought, changing patterns of precipitation, and warmer conditions. Insect outbreaks, increased risk of severe re, severe erosion, and tree mortality are minimized through active management of watersheds.
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